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| Enjoying the bike course: Challenge Barcelona-Maresme |
I enjoyed the race and learned lots. I look forward to doing a few more next year, improving again by building on this season's experience.
So to the race...
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| The 1st buoy is just out there girls...somewhere |
The swim was through stunningly clear Mediterranean water off the Costa Maresme coast of Spain, near Barcelona. However it was pretty dark as we started. Dawn broke as we rounded the second marker. I swam with the first bunch with three other pro women. It was a good swim for me coming out of the water in 1:03 with only 3 women having swum faster than our group. Also as I was drafting effectively with only occasional spurts as the group lifted a bit, I swam really within myself and didn't raise my HR too much or take in much sea water.
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| Heading out of T1 |
T1 was pretty smooth so I was soon out onto the flat, fast coastal ride. There were 3 laps, 2 of 69k and one shorter one to make up the 180k. One of the interesting, very Spanish course management issues was to avoid the cactus that fell off the cliffs along the coast onto the road. No good for bike tyres! They swept the course ahead of the day, but still a few had fallen by the race.
My bike was steady but solid. I felt good the whole way despite the wind picking up by the last lap and ate and drank to plan. I rode my own race dropping back 50m behind a couple of the women who were all vying with each other ahead. By the time we came into T3, I was 5th after a bike of 5:15 and we were still all close. I was feeling great despite being 10m ahead of my target time and at that point on track for a sub 10h first ironman.
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| 2 laps down, 2 to go! |
By the run it was a very warm (31oC) to take on the 4 laps of 10.5k through the towns of Callela and Pineda and across the fields to Santa Susanna.
A few lessons here! I got a bit excited and ran the first 5k too fast, moving into 4th by the 4k mark. However I think I could have managed the pace by just pulling back a bit and holding my position if I had not also gone fuel low. I had only taken on water in the last 10k of the bike and first 3k of the run as I had been worried about settling into the run.
This proved too long without energy sending my internal battery flat for a while. The legs felt good but there was nothing left to power them. It took another full lap and a half taking in copious coke/water and gels to get back to a reasonable pace. Despite fantastic encouragement from spectators and most importantly, Rob and the boys including a 100m sprint by Liam keeping up with me yelling "Go Go Go Mummy Go", unfortunately I got passed by 4 girls in that time. Although I did move up on them in the last lap as I regained a faster pace I was just too late to pass them back. The last lap I ran with a French triathlete from Les Lions who was fantastic for both keeping a good rhythm and enjoying the experience. Thanks Yannick, great pacing!
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| Race and season over |
So all up 10:17:02 across the finish line. I could have gone better in the run had I managed my fuel differently, but I have no real disappointment, as overall I did better than I had hoped and have the tempting possibility of going even better with the experience of this one behind me. The other women in the pro field, particularly Julia and Celia were truly lovely and made me feel welcome racing at this level and distance for the first time. Thanks.
So if you are in the Northern Hemisphere and getting to the end of your season too, enjoy the offseason. If you are in Oz or elsewhere south of the equator, enjoy your training, race smart and recover well.
Keep coming back to have a look as I have lots of interesting articles to add that I have been too busy with training and racing to finish. For now though, time to build some Lego with the boys. See you soon :-)
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