17.09.11 another long distance race, just a bit different than normal…
I had decided to do this race short term and the preparation hasn’t felt very specific, neither many long bike rides nor long runs, swimming was difficult as well, but that wasn’t my main concern, 1k was not too far…
A big thank you to my cousin’s husband, who did me the huge favor to send me my road bike to Spain, the poor Specialized has been sitting in storage since February. I’m still a nomad and lucky to have friends and family around who keep sending me stuff I need, without them I wouldn’t have been able to race! (And yes, Ellen I’m referring to you ;)
7a.m.
Challenge Doñana is different as I said, to start with cycling is something new and I was a bit concerned about the big bunch… As I’m riding alone a lot, finding me in a 300 cyclist’s bunch intimidated a bit. The gun came off and we started (neutralized), riding out of Sanlucar, the group was slowing down a lot at the beginning, so nothing to fear about. The moment when the front car opened the race, the first group went away quite quickly, I knew this before; I had almost 180k to ride so I decided to stay with the second one, not wanting to blow up after 20k. When we left the main road to the right in direction Jerez, I wasn’t too concentrated and just a few moments later my group was 10m away and hell, no way to catch them…
Next step: waiting for the next group, but this one wasn’t ideal because: hey men, aren’t you able to lead a bit????? I was riding with 10 or 12 guys, but not the pace I’d liked, so I went away, on the 3k “off road”, a section with very bad ground, I was happy not to be in a bunch. I could avoid the big holes and went out of the danger zone without puncture. It was impressive to see how many people flatted there! On both sides of the road heaps of people changing tubes, as I said: lucky me I wasn’t one of them!
On the next steep but short hill a guy from Huelva passed me, thanks for that wheel that made the km between El Cuervo and the next crossroad far easier! Until another one who has had a flat before passed us, and he went away…
Alone again, no groups coming from behind, but always with the group in front of me, observing them but not able to reach them, until Arcos, where I picked up some mates from Jerez… I had heard about the historical centre of Arcos before, but I did NOT expect that climb, cobblestones, 17+% climb and a very small plain strip in the middle to ride on… Anyway, I made my way up there, and from the top on I never rode alone, these funny mates from Jerez made it lot easier, but long way to go, very few aid stations and nooooooo water.
Arcos de la frontera
I reached transition after 5h40min, grabbed the bag, made it into my neo, because I did not know the current or no current I would have in the water. At the beginning of the swim I was drawn to the left by the current but later I think I made my more or less straight way to the other side of the river. Out of the water JJ was waiting there, telling me that I was 2nd of the amateur women and I knew that I could do it, because my running is good.
yep, thats me ;)
T2: the worst in a long time. Get out of the neo, clear feet with the water bottle in the transition bag (no water on the way to T2), put the socks on (wet legs), grab gels and salt sticks, cap, another small water bottle to carry on, shoes, neo in the bag, swim goggles and cap… it took me forever to get the heck out of there.
During the first meters of running, I was willed to change my garmin into run mode, but, hello! A plain display and a strange beeping made me know that: he had decided to get a portion of Guadalquivir water and it didn’t feel very well! My first thought: I need to know the hour of the day to get the gels in on time… It is not an Ironman, but I have to run 30km, its hot and windy and this combination is a nice one for dehydration. I asked some people on the beach what time it is and from that moment on, at every aid station and some competitors I met. The first 10k felt really good, the tide was still low and the sand hard, perfect to run a nice pace (no idea what pace it was, Garmin was beeping, but no useful information). I got the first girl on k4 or 5, or maybe 6… I reached Dani from my club and kept running. Bit by bit the water came in, forming little creeks I tried to avoid (wet shoes are not my favorite). Around k15 the running started to feel worse. The sand became softer, my legs more tired, but I kept going. I couldn’t help start to sing a Manu Chao song “la marea va subiendo, subiendo mama…” (high tide is coming in, it’s coming Mom….).
km1
I had 2 things in my mind, Manu Chao’s song and JJ’s words: look for the hard sand, always look for the hard parts to run on. On km 27 I got angry, hell, there IS NO HARD sand!!!!
On the last aid station I said something like: “please, no more sand” to the guys there and the surprising answer was: just one more km, you get off the beach then and have the last two on the road. I did not know that, and was released, even though the way up to the costal walk was hard, the last 2k lonely but okay.
Finish line was nice, I didn’t feel the same like in Austria and it will be hard to repeat what I did there, but it was okay. Lucky to go over it as the first amateur woman, thinking that it was the season final. Maybe it wasn’t but that’s about to decide. JJ was waiting for me there, with my finisher medal. I can’t say why but I didn’t enjoy this finish as I should have… Maybe Austria was too good, maybe I underestimate this race. I enjoyed the race, the beautiful surroundings, the different design, the run in the national park Doñana, but there was something missing. I definitely didn’t spend the dedication, time and love I spent on my IM preparation this year. For me it was one more race, a long one, 8h 45min to be exact. After a week or so I started to realize what I did. I know now that there is way to go on my bike performance. I know now that I did a really good swim and I knew before that I love running and I do quite well on that; At least in long distance races.
My special thanks to 3 J’s, the double for being there, for making me company on the training rides, runs and swims, for believing in me and everything else.
And the single one to my coach, good work mate ;)
beautiful views on the way back
