I always like a
challenge and I'm generally overconfident in my abilities so, when I
first heard there was a triathlon officially branded “Sufferfest”
I was immediately interested. We were at one of our Ironman program
meetings and lead up race options were being discussed, most at the
the table were targetting the Geelong Long Course which was scheduled
6 weeks before the Melbourne IM. As per my last blog enrty, my plans
were to act as cheer squad at that race so I wouldn't be joining the
field, then Ollie mentioned the Sufferfest and added that, being
three weeks out from IM Melbourne,, it was just about the perfect
timing. As he continued to talk and about race prep and the training
load going forward I was already making use of my smartphone's web
capabilities and looking up the event. On the way home I told the
wife the good news, holiday in Warrnambool!
To start this report I
will skip past the – let's call it discussion – that preceded the
aggreeance that this was a good idea and begin with the road trip.
Friday before the race:
The plan was to take
some time to enjoy the trip so the wife and I out in for leave for
the Friday preceding and the Monday following and booked
accommodation accordingly, initially figuring, even if we didn't stay
over on the Sunday night, it would be good to have a place to crash
and clean up at after the race. To ensure the kids didn't miss too
much school, we would pick 'em up after the bell on Friday and head
out. As luck would have it though, The Boy had his Year 7 camp on the
same week and would be returning on the Friday afternoon. This was a
mixed blessing; one- he would already have a bag packed and ready to
roll, however; two- he would be buggered and faced with another long
drive. Fortunately, this second point made for some quite funny
vision in the back seat as he doggedly fought with the sandman whilst
we crossed the Westgate bridge. (I have footage, may post later...).
Unfortunately, due to the school camp buses returning late, we found
ourselves leaving town with the entire population on Melbourne...
We arrived at our
destination close to 10:30 pm Friday night.
Saturday morning:
Over the course of the
previous days and weeks I had spent a bit of time checking out the
literature being sent by the Sufferfest organisers, including course
maps and profile. The most recent one included a link to a
“MapMyRide” page for the bike course which illustrated the hill
we would need to climb on each of the four laps. On either side it
was a little over a kilometre long with the front side being the
steeper, but, from the summary it was ranked a category 5 with an
average gradient of 2.1%. No problem.
After the sun had come
up (because I left my bike lights at home) I went out to ride the
course and become familiar with it. That's when I first encountered
this:
That's not 2.1% (later
someone told me they believed it to be 8% at least)
I had just purchased a
pair of gel flasks which I plan to use during the big race so would
trial them here. I had added a couple of gels to one and strapped its
holster to my top tube. The first time I used it I found it was a
little fiddly to get back in whilst rolling and also, the gel was a
little too thick to easily access via the spout. I made note of these
facts and decided to try to water down the gels slightly and, upon
returning home, apply a velcro patch to the flask and holster the ore
easily place it before restrapping it in.
Ride done – difficult
but manageable so happy – returned to our apartment for a few
hours.
At the race briefing,
that race director rated the return side of this hill to be “where
we sort the men from the boys” as it's a gradual but solid climb
for about 1.5km. He also warned of the severe crosswinds that are
likely to hit as you're descending at “easily over 70km/h” which
will push you over to the other side of the road. Oh, we also can
have wild rabbits darting across it so be careful. He continued by
informing us that the run starts with a pretty brutal hill climb then
back down to the beach where it's flat out to the breakwater and back
(read this as, there is a nasty climb on the return trip aswell) oh,
and there can be snakes out there on the run course – it's not
ideal but we'll just have to deal with it.
Now I get why it's
called Sufferfest, little less happy but now excited to see what I
can do.
Sunday – Race Day
Nervous, excited, ready
(?)
Let's start with a
question, when was the last time you were at a race and ,upon
visiting the portaloos, you found there to be no line and plenty of
toilet paper. Great start! Especially since this would be the first
time I raced in my new wetsuit and, due to its tight fit, I'd been
worried about the time I would need to get into it vs the time
available minus time stuck in bathroom queues. One tick for race
organisers, second big tick for the sunscreen stand, complete with
two 1L pump bottles and mirrors to ensure completely rubbed in.
Job done suited up with
time to spare!
2km swim – things I
learned. It's very hard to spot a predominantly white banned placed
on the side of a white bridge (these were to be used as guides as to
where to swim under the bridge; I never did see the one on the return
trip)
Find a landmark for the
swim exit before the race – by the time we were heading back to the
beach the sun had risen directly behind the swim exit which totally
cut visibility to silhouettes of the skyline.
80km bike – things I
learned. Check your Garmin. I looked at it upon completing the second
ascent of the hill to guage how long I could expect the ride to take.
Apparently the first lap took 39 minutes, fine, this'll be a 3:20
bike leg. Completing the second lap I checked again to see if I was
maintaining my pace, 39 minutes still displayed... Crap, that's the
swim time, must have hit Stop instead of Lap in T1, fine, hit Start
and continued. 3 laps down, interested to see how long an actual
timed lap took, Garmin tells me 39 minutes – AARGH! I hit a bunch
of buttons and finally get it to start timing, then another button or
two to get it to be timing the bike leg and continued the final lap
of the bike.
Nutrition – have a
back up plan. I had thought to pack a couple extra gels in either my
spare flask, the food box on my bike, or in the pocket of my tri top.
In the end, since I had successfully tested the bike mounted flask
the day before and had addressed the flow rate problem I
decided to keep it simple. As I returning from the cycle turn point
the first time I took my first portion of gel and returned the flask
to the holster and when to strap it down only to watch it leap out
and hit the ground. I swore loudly but continued forward, switching
to a new plan to focus on ,hydration and grab the electrolyte drinks
from the aid stations instead of the water I had planned on. Not
really a great plan so, when I spotted the flask on the side of the
road in lap two I actually stopped and grabbed it, this time, placing
in my front food box instead of the traitorous holster (it had one
job!)
Loose tri tops – I
guess I've lost more weight/size than I thought. I'm wearing an XL
Elite (read athlete cut) top, yet in the wind at speed the neckline
and chest area of the suit flutter. My evidence that it might be a
little too loose came in the form of a butterfly that inadvertently
crossed my path a little too close and was gobbled up by my neckline!
I had the unzip briefly to clear it. (Aren't you supposed to get
butterflies before the event!?)
20km run – things I
learned
Check the course before
race day. They were not kidding about that hill! It just kept rising,
turned a corner, then rose again.
Careful what you wish
for. When a group of kids at an aid station ask you if you want a
splash, be prepared. Almost 19km in I said to the them “yeah, go
on” then got hit solidly by about 8 to 10 cups of water courtesy of
their young enthusiasm and the fact they were all holding 2 cup each.
I felt for the dude following me as I doubt they had a chance to
reload in time to offer him a drink or splash.
Wrap up
This was the inaugural
event for Sufferfest, there was only a small field and yet it was an
exceptionally friendly one. At most of the races I'm at I know a lot
of people, on course as well as off, so there's always been great
support. Today, there were only a handful of familiar faces, yet a
surprisingly large number of fellow competitors on course were
encouraging each other, or at least popping a thumbs up when fatigue
made words difficult. There were apparently 153 volunteers out there,
meaning the ratio to competitors was very high.
The course was tough
but fun with just the right level of difficulty and, upon crossing
the finish line the support was great. I was immediately handed a
bottle of water, box of chocolate milk and an electrolyte drink, I
was given a Sufferefest necklace (like a small dog tag I guess) and
someone found me in the crowd to hand me my finishers t-shirt. Fruit
salad and ice cream devoured whilst soaking in an ice bath and the
day was done.
The plan coming into
this event was to roll around the course and trial the nutrition plan
– I finished by giving it a fairly solid crack and, according to
the race commentator, finished in a time of 5:18.
Hopefully I've learned
the lessons I needed to today, I fix the problems I encountered and,
in three weeks from now, I'll have a new medal to add to my growing
collection.
Can't wait to go around again next year!
No comments:
Post a Comment