Mon premier Europeen saison finit!

So I've finished my first European season. It has been amazing. The experience has been wonderful and the highlights have been many.

 

The obvious ones would have to include;

• Winning the Long Course World Champs in Germany in August
• Racing across cobblestones and under the Eiffel Tower in Paris in July
• Racing my first ironman in the pro field in Spain finishing in the top 10 in a good time.

The less obvious but probably more real highlights are:

• Learning to love the many and fantastic training options throughout our region, the Aravis Valley and surrounds,
• Struggling with and coming to more friendly terms with my swim
• Beginning to feel a part of my team, TMT Triathlon
• Swimming with triathlete friends from Australia past the castle under the cliffs in Lac d'Annecy

• Appreciating the ever growing practical and emotional support from Rob and the boys both at races and throughout my training (as a team we have grown stronger and our results are Team Hemphill's not mine)
• Watching the Tour de France pass through our village with Cadel in yellow and watching on TV as they rode over many cols I had also riden on (albeit somewhat slower!)
• Getting some great guidance from good people and slowly building and learning to trust my own internal guidance better
• Most of all though, meeting the many, various and wonderful people at races, in training and through our travels.

Of course it has not all been sunshine, fresh pastries and smiley faces. We had a month of rain and cold when we first arrived in France exhausted and disoriented in our new world that we hoped to make a home in, I lost a good friend, feeling like an alien at school events and realising how hard it must be for the boys each day as they go through their own significant transition, cold cold descents off cols through sleet and/or rain, occassional injury and illness concerns, mechanical troubles (generally with our car and scooter not bikes as they are much better designed, built and looked after), and of course the tired muscles, body and soul - sometime all at the same time.

Overall it has been overwhelmingly a fantastic, rich life experience. Like all good experiences, not without its challenges, but with plenty of great rewards too.

But for now, after enjoying a short holiday with the family in Barcelona, the Pyrenees and Avignon it is time to settle down for a quieter, more stable period of recovery, more focussed language learning and building a triathlon based business for next summer in the Aravis so we can stay in this great part of the world.

Thanks to Valdora, Jaggad, TMT and Louisa for your assistance throughout this season. For now, my new Valdora roadie and I are off to get in a few more rides before the snows fall and stay on the roads and I need to swap wheels for skis for the winter.

A bientot
C

Challenge Barcelona-Maresme Race Report

 

Enjoying the bike course: Challenge Barcelona-Maresme

   Last weekend I finished my first European season in Spain at the Challenge Barcelona-Maresme ironman race. It was a great race to end on and I was pretty happy with my result, crossing the line in 10:17, 8th in the female pro field. It was my first ironman (in fact my first marathon too) and first race in a selective pro field.

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...



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.

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.



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!

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 :-)