I think my season now is definitely over and I have to say: what a season! On thing is for sure: I improved a lot due to hard training, no working and believing in myself, my body and my coach.
I thought that my season had finished with the Doñana Challenge, but it hasn’t. In between squeezed a sprint triathlon in (Malaga, where I got 2nd and was quite surprised about that result) and then I followed the advice of Jaime and signed up for the Spanish long distance triathlon championships, which originally had been organized in Ibiza but changed to Orihuela, Alicante. That made the race more accessible for me. I grabbed an invitation for the elite category from the Andalusian federation and followed the express training plan, 3 weeks, the first one 11h, second 20h, third 18h, dropped about 1,5 kg, noticed that I had missed swimming lots of meters, love running sessions on the track and need a powertap.
Thursday 3 I picked up the huge rental car Kia Picanto, headed to Marbella, did some training and shopping, slept @ Jaime and Lu’s place and Friday morning on the road again, 5h to the province of Alicante.
Friday and Saturday passed by quickly, with lovely company of Carlos 46 times IM, Alex, Fernando and Saleta, aka “what are the you 4 doing there?” à foto cafeteria moviles
Race preparation, pasta dinner, not so early to bed and as usual not sleeping too deeply the night before the race. I wasn’t nervous. Or better I had no concern about none of the disciplines, just a bit about the wind maybe. The only thing that was crusing thru my mind was the prediction that I would make podium in this race and even more because Eva Ledesma was ill in bed. I have to say: well, I have raced an under 10h IM this year, but I still don’t see me as such a good athlete. I mean, when I started with triathlon, I always got 3rd from the end…
Anyway, I concentrated on my skills, what has to be would be…
Race morning started at 5am with breakfast in the room and coffee of the machine. I arrived really early to T1, prepared bike and bags ad myself and the wind was heavy already. The elite boys went first thru the 200m canal to the imaginary startline. In the race meeting we were told that the swim would be a go out and come back, once at the start line, we were told to swim a triangle, first buoy, then second on the left from the first one and back to the start buoy. Well, if you think in a quiet lake, that’s okay, but it wasn’t. The gun came off and I swam next to Anne, we had met just that morning preparing the bikes. Same pace and same orientation style, will say, stop every now and then to get the buoy spotted well. Before we reached the first one we had to cross a small forest in the middle of the lake, made it, first buoy done, second as well (crossing with athletes already, strange!), 35minutes. And then the big “????” started. We turned in the second buoy and I had absolutely NO idea where to go. By the time we were 3, Anne, an age grouper and I, and Anne said: the village is over there, lets go there. And so we did. About 10minutes later I started to spot the 3rd buoy and felt much more comfortable. I came out of the water about 5m behind Anne, grabbed the bag, changed quickly and was first girl on the bike, with a funny strong headwind. Uphill, then downhill, the official behind me all the time. After the first turn to the right riding felt much better, headwind had turned into light side wind but already helping a bit. We were flying on this part of the leg, tailwind and perfect roads.
Around km 35 I was overtaken by another girl, spotted her powertap and thought: you don’t go too far lady, and she didn’t. She was in front of me for a long time, I became first again about at km 50 or 60 but not for long. And that second time she went away and I was not willed to force too much to get her. I’m quite sure she passed her set watts at that moment of the race ;)
The last part of the bike leg was easier than expected, T2 went well despite I forgot to take off the cycling jersey. Out on the run, 2 loops kind of a Y and good to control the first one. When we crossed the first time I took the time to the turning point, doubled it and that meant that I was about 3min behind. At the second turn same difference. She looked strong and so did I. Running didn’t feel as easy as it did in Austria, but it was okay. I could force, but had no real idea about my pace; Garmin is still sitting in hospital… on the third part of the loop I couldn’t spot the first girl and none of the helpers was able to give any reference of time between me and her. I only thought, go tiger, everything is possible, 30k is a long way to run and everything can happen. I knew that there was no danger coming from behind, that’s why my focus was completely on the first girl.
The next reference I got was kind of smashing. What has been 3minutes had turned into 10minutes. And the wind! Can’t you shut the f… up???? On the way out to the turning points the headwind was devastating. Imagine a invisible hand holding you back… that’s what it was sometimes. But the same way as we say on the bike: what goes up must come down, if you run the same way out and back, the wind will help you. I still haven’t seen the third girl, knew that the first was almost out of reach, but kept forcing, you never know, everything can happen. Anyway, sometimes the idea hopped into my mind: second. Second elite woman in the Spanish long distance championships. Second. That’s more than I had ever imagined. There might be people saying: she came second because the good ones did not race. No. I got second because I raced. Second. 4k to go I crossed with the Gurutze, the first girl, animated her, looked at my watch and kept going, 4k to go. 20minutes later I crossed the finish line. Second!
Finisher medal, hug from Ximo and drug testing. Wow! That’s what it’s like to race elite. No problem at all. Later the ceremony of the elite category, a hot shower and something to eat, back to the hostel and relax.
Now I can name myself vice champion (although I am not vice champion, because I’m not Spanish). This is unreal. I was the one that got into T1 with 3 bikes left there. I was the one that always was one loop behind on the run. The slow one…
I think I should start to believe it. But I prefer understatement. Because the moment you think you know it all, you gained this or that, the race will give you a lesson to learn. I believe in me, in my training and in my mental capacity, which is a good one I have to say. And I have a goal. Next year maybe or the other, or the other, but I will get it. The base is set, but it will be hard to work and train again.
I got an invitation as a nominee for the annual sports gala of Marbella. Meanwhile I can tell you that I did not get the title, it is hard to compete with the number 25 world ranking golf player… but hey, my legs are faster ;)
