ITU Long Course Champs 2009 – Korea
I arrived in Korea on the Thursday before the race. I decided to do this race pretty late but thought it would be a great way to earn a little money and also test the new nutritional strategy I’d been working on with Chrissie. All expenses paid and some great prize money on offer meant that despite the distance and HUGE amount of travelling (both getting to Korea and also once there) it was a good race to do. Unfortunately a LOT of other TOP Pro’s had the same idea and the field was much stronger and deeper than most of us expected.
The course was largely uphill on the bike, with a split transition meaning the run was up at over 1400m altitude. Not a problem for me though, having spent the last few weeks training in Boulder. However, the drive of the course with all the other athletes had opened our eyes to a MUCH harder bike that we expected. The first 40k was flat with a small amount of ascension but the final 40km was almost completely up, up, up with no small amount of steep climbing in there. It was definitely going to be a long tough day at “the office”.
With all the travelling to and from various hotels and venues for the race organisers in the 2 days before the race, not much training had been done, so when race morning arrived I was feeling very fresh and ready to go.
A mass start, small beach run began proceedings for the 2lap 3km swim. After my disappointing (compared to training times) Florida and Blenheim swims, I was determined to remain relaxed this time and quickly found my rhythm in the wavy sea waters. I lead a small group (that I assumed was the 3rd pack) for the first lap and glancing at my watch as we exited the water for the small run before starting the 2nd lap, I was really pleased to see both that I was under 20mins for the 1500m and also that I was actually leading the 2nd pack! The new 2XU V1 suit was working a treat and had me cutting though the water nicely. The rest of the swim went well, other than avoiding the numerous Korean AG’ers who had started 2 minutes behind us, still on their 1st swim lap and were already hanging onto the swim buoys!!!
I was out of the water in under 40 minutes, just slightly ahead of my desired time, a great start. The announcer said I was almost 4 minutes down on the leader(s) however!!! WOW they must have been swimming quickly.
Onto my lovely Ceepo Venom and off to start the 80k bike; it was nice to know I didn’t have such a HUGE gap to bridge to the leaders like I’ve been used to. So I set about reeling in the next person up the road.
The bike course starts off worming through the small town, with GIANT dried sting-rays hanging in shop windows and happy locals all out clapping and cheering. Once onto the main roads, I settled down onto my TT bars and began progressing through the athletes in front.
I knew it could well be a long day in the saddle despite only being 80k long, it was such a tough bike course. So I kept repeating the mantra in my head “Ride with humility” whilst monitoring my cadence to ensure I didn’t drop much below my desired 85rpm. As I sped through the Korean countryside on the Ceepo, it was really funny to wave a the race helpers (generally school kids) at each intersection and see and hear their excited squealed giggles in reaction. Clearly the site of a westerner, wearing tight lycra and silly big pointed helmet was amusing to them… I’ve no idea why…?
By 40k the road began to go up the first major climb. But by now I had rider number 1 in my sites. Jimmy Johnsen from Denmark who is a regular podium and top 5 finisher in 70.3’s and IM’s. It was nice to catch up with him so soon into a race. This helped give me confidence that despite my speed at times feeling slow, sticking to my race plan of pacing and cadence wasn’t having too many detrimental effects on gaining time back on the leaders. A small pack of 4-5 guys was about 200m up the road, and Jimmy was sure this was the leaders. I was surprised with this as I felt sure I couldn’t have caught up 4 minutes on them ALL within 40km. Jimmy and I road together for the remainder of this first big climb, other when I dropped my chain and had to stop and put it back on again. But by the time we hit the top at about 55km, we’d all but caught the “leaders” up. As we passed the aid station at the 60km mark Jimmy fell off my wheel with some mechanical problems so I pushed on to catch the 3 guys I could now see up the road.
We started the final LONG and STEEP climb of the day at this point. I kept to my race plan and reeled them in slowly but steadily. By 70km I was along side Tim Marr and asked who else was “up the road”. He said Cam (Watt) was just 10-15s ahead, but that Kieran (Doe) was “out of sight”. That meant I was now in 3rd/4th place…. I was REALLY pleased with this news. Tim and I caught Cam up with about 5km to go as we neared the top of the climb. It was now VERY foggy up so high and we could barely see 50m ahead to the next corner. This also meant that I had NO idea when transition was looming. I took one foot out of my shoes a good minute before the fence around the Olympic Training centre where T2 was, suddenly appeared through the fog.
Now would be the time when I’d know if the pacing strategy I’d used would help make the legs feel better. It was also the time when I’d find out if the new approach to my nutrition that I worked on with Chrissie, would help me execute the type of run split that my training has indicated possible, but over the last couple of years has been evasive. As I threw on the Newton’s, Tim and Cam got the jump on me out of T2, as did Rasmus from Denmark, who’d ridden up to us just as we entered T2. They were only about 20,30 and 50m up the road respectively, but in the dense fog, I could barely make them out.
As I ran, I could feel a stitch doing its best to break out in my stomach/chest, so I decided to keep things really easy to begin with and wait for it to hopefully settle. My legs felt awesome, like I’d barely done the previous 80k on the bike, this was a GREAT SIGN. I waited patiently for the stomach cramp to go and kept the pace steady. Even with this though I could see I was catching both Cam and Tim; Rasmus had got off to a flier and was passing them both and running into second.
We descended down a short steep hill into the fog and the first turn at 1.1k. Back up and past T2 gave me a chance to see where the guys behind me were and I took time splits on the next 2-3 to check at the next turn to see if I was pulling away. Running up the hill eased the cramps and going back past T2 I past Cam and moved into 4th. Tim was now about 25m up the road as we hit the 2nd turn point at 3.3k. We headed back down towards and past T2 on this first mini-loop section of the run. By the time we hit the 1st turn again at 5.5k I was running shoulder to shoulder with Tim. My legs still felt fantastic and the 2XU calf guards I was wearing (and had been throughout the bike leg too) were clearly doing their job perfectly and keeping my lower legs feeling fresh. We climbed back up to pass T2 and I increased the pace a little to try and drop Tim. It worked, and I was now in 3rd place. I was pleased to still just about be able to see Rasmus up the road through the fog too. With the stitch now gone I was ready to increase the pace and catch him. Kieran, I’d seen was over 2km ahead and unless he blew, too far to be caught. But by the time I hit the 2nd turn point at the end of the mini-loop section at the 6.6km I was within touching distance of Rasmus. We ran past the turn onto the next part of the run, which would be largely off-road finishing at the luxury High 1 Hotel.
I decided to really let go as we headed down the road towards the 10km mark where the road turned into trail, and see if I could pass and drop Rasmus. I passed him just as we headed up a small incline and onto the trail. The run course profile showed it as being slightly downhill from start to finish and not too undulating with it. With my legs still feeling good and the Newton’s springing me off even this rough, rocky trail, I opened up on another down hill in an attempt to put some distance between me and Rasmus and secure 2nd place. At times, the trail was more like an X-terra run course and it just kept going down and down. At about 12km I turned to see If Rasmus was still with me and was a bit disappointed to see him little more than 30m back. I continued on, or should that be down, as the trail now getting muddy in the foggy drizzle wound through the woods. I was half expecting my old implosion problems to rear up but there was no real sign and my pace and legs still felt good. Suddenly the trail stopped going down and as I rounded a corner I could see through the fog that in front of me was a BIG and STEEP hill. The path appeared to wind all the way up it… but the course profile didn’t show anything like this…we wouldn’t be going up there surely!!! Sadly though, we were. Naturally my pace went from 6th gear to 2nd in a few strides and I began the long slow climb.
I had to keep reminding myself that despite feeling like I was barely even running, everyone else would have to get up this hill and I told myself that they would slow down even more than me – no need to panic!!! I continued up and up, trying to dispel the thoughts in my head about what I’d expected from the run course. At about 14k I took a gel just to be safe, but this has also in recent races coincided with a dip in energy and run performance. It would be part experiment to take it now. Sadly within about 2minutes, my energy levels began to drop and my paced slowed even more. Rasmus was breathing down my neck now and as we past 16km and up another incline, he passed and put about 20m into me. The camera crew on the motorbike that had been following us the whole way, was to-and-fro’ing between us as I slowed more finding it harder to keep the legs turning over. I focussed hard though, determined not to let the gap grow too much.
Finally I began to feel better by about 18km as we broke out of the woods and could just see the hotel in the distance through the Fog. A steep down hill and then very steep (17%) run up hill to the finish was all that was left…. All that was left. Rasmus was only 30-40 meters in front but I just couldn’t catch him. I looked around and saw no one in sight behind me and just focussed on getting up the final killer climb to the finish shoot.
I crossed the line in 4h30, just 30s behind Rasmus, but nearly 8 behind Kieran who’d destroyed the swim and bike course almost completely on his own. I was delighted it was over, but more so to have come 3rd and especially to have felt the running legs return again in a race. Hopefully it bodes well for my forthcoming IM and executing a race there that I believe I can and mixing things up a little.
Thanks to my sponsors 2XU, Ceepo, Newton, High5, Total Fitness Music and Sigma Sport for all their help and support.
