This weekend I did my first sprint triathlon. Initially I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do this race since it was only 3 weeks before my Ironman, but my coach convinced me that it would be a good thing to get some speed work in before the Ironman. Since Amy was visiting that weekend she decided to race as well and do her very first triathlon. This meant that I wasn’t focusing as much on my race preparation, but rather get everything ready for her. I wanted her to have a good first experience. This meant that my race preparation wasn’t as detailed as for other races. But I wasn’t worried since it was a sprint triathlon (400m swim, 24km bike, 5k run).
Results top 12
About 30 elite started at 7am and 3 minutes later it was my turn. I positioned myself on the front line at the swim and went out really hard. But I still lost contact with the 2-3 leading people. So I swam most of the course by myself. Once out of the water there was a long run to the transition which was also factored in as part of the swim time. I did the swim/run in 7min35sec and after a short transition of 63seconds I was on the bike.
I started at a pretty good clip and I overtook many other athletes mostly from the elite wave. After a 5-10min I was thinking that I might go to easy and started pushing harder. I really enjoyed myself during that part of the race. At the turnaround I noticed that there were only around 15 people in front of me. On the way back I was on the lookout for Amy. She yelled that I was 11th place overall. I overtook one more athlete and was almost done with the bike part when it happened. In a 90 degree left turn my back wheel lost traction and slipped away underneath me. It all happened very quickly and the next thing I am realizing is that I am sliding over the road. Because of the shock there was no pain during the fall, but I remembered very clearly that I was just cringed together and was waiting for the movement to stop, while I was sliding over the tar. (The GPS analysis revealed later on, that I fell at a speed of 35km/h).
I got up and the first thing I was thinking is that I might have ruined my chance to race at the Ironman. I made my anger, frustration some space by cursing. I realized that I wasn’t seriously injured (no broken bones) which meant that I would try to finish this race. I didn’t even hesitate, I knew I wanted to try it right away. Even though the pain started to set in more and more. A nice volunteer helped me to put my chain on again and I started to bike again. Front break was twisted. After exactly 90 seconds (see GPS file for the bike) I was back on the bike again. I didn’t know how many people overtook me, but I know a couple have gone past me. Blood was dripping from my hands and my elbow, shoulder, hip and shin were bright red and covered in blood. I was angry and all I could think about is that this accident could destroy everything I have been working for in the last 6month. Before I noticed it I was riding at the same speed again. But I took it really easy on all the turns.
Amy running and smiling
Back in the transition area I had problems to put on socks and shoes. The second transition wasn’t as smooth and quick as I am used to and I was contemplating to give up. But then I was thinking the chances of making it worse during the run are slim and at least I would find out if there is a serious problem. So I kept going. I started with a decent pace and was soon overtaking people again. (Unfortunately not all of them did the triathlon some of them were just finishing up there 5k or 10k run). But this time I didn’t enjoy the run. All the sweat was burning in my rashes and I had trouble breathing. At the time I was thinking that was due to the fact that I was running fast.
This was a weird running course since it included left turns on an in and out loop. In the pre-race briefing we were told to run on the left side on that part which I did. I crossed a couple people which were also running on their left side and then in a left turn I ran into a runner on my side. Both of us stopped so we just bumped into each other a little. She was listening to her IPod and looked surprised. Before she could say anything I was already running again. After that, I topped the whole thing by stumbling into a hole and twisting my foot. At that point I was definitely ready to be done. This was about 10min into the run, the rest of the time I was just focusing on keeping myself going. Eventually, I crossed the finish line. I didn’t even care about my time all I needed now was a medic to clean my road rashes.
At the medic table I met Ben (founder of VO2Multisports) which had his road rashes taken care of. Coincidentally, he slipped and fell at the same location as I did. He helped me to calm down a little and told me that I should be fine for my Ironman. Eventually, I calmed down from the shock and race stress and all that was left was pain. Because, of my trip to the medic I missed Amy’s transition from the bike to the run. When I checked the transition area her bike was already there (even though in different spot :-P). So I hurried to the car to get the camera and went back to the course to cheer her on and take some pictures. Before long she came running around the corner with a BIG smile. At least someone is having a good day! She finished her first triathlon in 1:37:01 and was visible happy about it.
I finished the race in 01:07:03 and finished in 2nd place in my AG and missed first by only 8 seconds. Besides the fall, I had a pretty good race. I was able to push 250Watts for the 15miles and still ran a 3:40min/km on the run. The fact that they handed out free doughnuts at the awards ceremony made me forget my injuries. More good news came when I inspected my Aerohelmet, not a single scratch.
Amy and I talked a lot about the race. She really had a good first experience even though she wasn’t used to the equipment. 40min before the start we were still adjusting the seat height of my bike and she did the swim in my wetsuit which she never used before. Considering that and that she did finished much faster than we expected including an almost PR on the run is simply amazing. Whereas she was also enjoying the scenery and the view during the bike ride and making fun of me for not even notice the view.
Now 3 days later most of the rashes have healed and are only oozing a little. But the biggest one on the hip and the ones on my knuckles are still open and bleeding and oozing. Till they are closed, I am not supposed to swim because of risk for infection. Unfortunately, this is now definitely affecting my training schedule. Since this week was supposed to be the swim overload. Not much I can do than hope for the best.
Another bigger problem is that my chest is still hurting. Breathing hard is still painful but it has definitely gotten better over the last days, so hopefully that is back to normal soon.
BIG THANKS to Amy for taking care of me. I was so glad to have someone around in the first two days when I had this injury.
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