8TH October 2011 - Race report part 2. The Bike
THE BIKE - 180.1 km
5 hours 57 min 18 sec
1328/1918 overall
285/476 females
53/78 in 35-39 age group
0-14 km - I set off at what I thought was a fairly conservative pace. The first 14km (which is the out and back down Kuakini Highway, then up to the Queen K) I had planned to just settle into a rhythm, sip on some water and as long as my stomach was ok, take my first gel 15 min into the bike. I found I was incredibly out of breath for this first section, but was otherwise ok. My heart rate monitor didn’t start working for the first 2 hours of the bike, so I had to just go by perceived exertion. By the time I got onto the Queen K highway I was feeling OK and reminded myself to start taking in the “bonus food” (which is anything above my nutrition plan that I can stomach during the 1st half of the bike). The rest of my nutrition plan was:
2 Perpetuem solids every 30 min (from 30 min into the bike) until 3 hrs then drop to 1 per 30 min if my stomach started to struggle with solid food.
1 gel at 15 min past each hour of the bike
An endurolyte electrolyte tablet every hour (on the 45 past each hour of the bike)
Any bonus fuel I could stomach (eg powerbars, bananas, sips of energy drink)
14-60 km – This section is the Queen K highway, through the lava fields to Kawaihae. You pass landmarks such as the Natural Energy Lab (at about 20 km) and Waikoloa (at 50 km), which had a HUGE Aussie fan contingent. On the way to Waikoloa I passed a girl called Megan, who had Aussie gear on. I cruised alongside for a minute, and she told me she was from Sydney, and about to move to Melbourne. I shouted back –“come and join Melbourne Tri Club – it’s great!!” This section of the course involves “big” rollers – sustained climbs, but not my kind of 25 km sustained climb, more like 2 km at a time. Lots of people overtook me on these, but I just ignored that, and focused on pushing over the top and keeping my heart rate up on the descents, when I expected others may take more of a break. I overtook quite a few females on these sections. I was feeling strong as I approached Kawaihae (60 km). Up to this point my heart rate monitor wasn’t working, so if anything I felt I had been a little on the conservative side, but reminded myself that anything lost on the bike at this point would stand me in good stead for “my leg” – the run. At the end of the Queen K there was a big crowd, and there was a buzz of helicopters as the lead male, Chris Lieto came back the other way.
60-95 km – As you roll past Kawaihae, you pass the harbour on the left, then there are a couple of short sharp climbs and descents past an industrial area, and then you veer right to start the climb to Hawi. (68 km) I was really looking forward to this, as I love climbing, but I found that the first 8-10 km wasn’t very steep and the more powerful cyclists were still powering past me. Then at about 80 km, after a short descent, the climb REALLY started. The next 15 km was steeper, and the roles were reversed as I got in my climbing rhythm and started reeling people in. The pros were all streaming past on the other side of the road, so there were plenty of amazing athletes to see! I remember seeing Julie Dibens MILES ahead of any of the rest of the women’s field, and started looking out for Chrissie Wellington, but hadn’t seen her in at least the first 8-10 females. I said to a guy as I passed him “where’s Chrissie?” he said “I know, there’s no sign of her”. I thought, “She must have crashed or had a mechanical, there’s no way she would still be this far down on the field”. I honestly loved this section, I just got into a good zone, and was able to sustain a really good effort. After the race most of the people I spoke to talked about the headwind on this section, and how tough they had found it, but that wasn’t my recollection at all. Besides, I was picturing the hideous winds we had encountered on Tuesday, on our drive up there, and it was nowhere near that bad!!
60-95 km – As you roll past Kawaihae, you pass the harbour on the left, then there are a couple of short sharp climbs and descents past an industrial area, and then you veer right to start the climb to Hawi. (68 km) I was really looking forward to this, as I love climbing, but I found that the first 8-10 km wasn’t very steep and the more powerful cyclists were still powering past me. Then at about 80 km, after a short descent, the climb REALLY started. The next 15 km was steeper, and the roles were reversed as I got in my climbing rhythm and started reeling people in. The pros were all streaming past on the other side of the road, so there were plenty of amazing athletes to see! I remember seeing Julie Dibens MILES ahead of any of the rest of the women’s field, and started looking out for Chrissie Wellington, but hadn’t seen her in at least the first 8-10 females. I said to a guy as I passed him “where’s Chrissie?” he said “I know, there’s no sign of her”. I thought, “She must have crashed or had a mechanical, there’s no way she would still be this far down on the field”. I honestly loved this section, I just got into a good zone, and was able to sustain a really good effort. After the race most of the people I spoke to talked about the headwind on this section, and how tough they had found it, but that wasn’t my recollection at all. Besides, I was picturing the hideous winds we had encountered on Tuesday, on our drive up there, and it was nowhere near that bad!!
What did start to happen in the second half of the climb was that I started to get “hot feet”. Anyone who has had this on the bike will know exactly how painful it can be. I had only had it once before, during the Alpine Classic. There are multiple theories about what it is – the most accepted is that swelling (from heat) around the metatarsal bones of the feet cause pain receptors to be activated. The pain is like a vice is slowly being closed on your foot, and is really difficult to get rid of, without stopping and taking your shoes off…..Clearly not an option!! I tried to stem the onset of the pain by loosening my shoes, and pouring plenty of water on my feet, but it had started by then, and I knew I would have to try to just block it out. On the way up, I saw Sean on his descent, and made a note of the time – 4hrs 15 into the race. I noted where we were at that point and thought “I must work out how far behind him I was”, when I passed the same point on the descent. (It was 40 minutes later) I also started looking out for Kristy, as I got closer to Hawi. I saw her as we passed a ranch, probably about 5 km from the top of the climb. I also made a note of the time at this point, and I passed it on my descent 20 minutes later. I can remember being pretty pleased that I was only that far behind her so far into the ride.
95-125 km – 95 km into the ride is the turnaround in the quaint little town of Hawi. There was a great atmosphere here – the crowds were really vocal, and I was grinning from ear to ear – after all, what comes next is the descent!!!
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| Enjoying the descent from Hawi!! |
Woohoo!! I was FLYING the first 4-5 km of the descent (60 plus kph) I thought about maximising my opportunity, just as I had in France, and I pedalled every time my speed slowed slightly. I also kept thinking “hold your nerve” throughout the cuttings, where the famous sidewinds hit you as you are descending. Again, these were nowhere near as bad as they could have been, but I still really needed to keep my focus to not get shunted by some of the gusts. Once the steepest section of the descent was over, I focused on keeping a decent effort up. My nutrition had gone really well to this point, but I had started to feel a little bloated just before the end of the climb, so I had cut back the perpetuem to 1 solid per 30 minutes, and I stopped eating anymore powerbars. The hot feet started to return with a vengeance, and was only slightly improved on each little descent, as the wind cooled my feet where I had wet them. I got to Kawaihae, and the “little kicker” as Sean called it, at 122 km. This didn’t feel bad at all, and I was feeling in good shape other than the annoyance of the feet as I approached the Queen K.
125 – 140 km – Kawaihae to Waikoloa. As soon as I turned onto the Queen K the headwind hit me. “Not fair!” I initially thought, as this had been headwind on the way out too! (I have since found out that the wind changed and us slowcoaches at the back copped it both ways!!). But then I remembered my pre – race promise to just take everything as it came on race day, and I shifted my focus to what Sean had advised for this section, which was to keep a constant effort on the climbs and descents. I was sitting on an average speed for the ride so far of about 30.4 kph when I turned onto the Queen K, and with every few kilometres I could see this average dropping. The hot feet were becoming more than just an annoyance, and I was struggling to keep cool. I remember in this part of the race looking down at my compression socks, which are dark blue, and they were white with salt from my sweat. My shorts had salt crystals clinging to them! But my legs still felt fairly strong, and I still felt well fuelled.
140 – 180 km - At Waikoloa I knew I had 40 km to go, but there were a couple of big climbs ahead of me. My feet were absolutely killing me by now, and I was starting to hurt, physically and mentally into the headwind. I could still see my average speed falling, by now it was down to about 30.2 kph, and I desperately wanted to hang onto the 30 kph average, for a bike time of sub 6 hours.
I thought about Pete waiting for me back in Kona. I thought of all the friends that would be watching Ironman Live at home. I thought about my friends who have recently come though accidents or injuries. And I thought about my Dad. I don’t often find the time to speak to him back in the UK, but I had a little imaginary chat with him out there on the Queen K! I thought of when I was a teenager and I would be so “into” whatever my latest challenge was. He always made me believe that my dreams were possible, and whatever the outcome, I always knew that he was proud. Somehow, I realised that if I didn’t break that 6 hours, it didn’t matter, what mattered was that I finished the bike in a positive way, and gave it the best shot I could.
I thought about Pete waiting for me back in Kona. I thought of all the friends that would be watching Ironman Live at home. I thought about my friends who have recently come though accidents or injuries. And I thought about my Dad. I don’t often find the time to speak to him back in the UK, but I had a little imaginary chat with him out there on the Queen K! I thought of when I was a teenager and I would be so “into” whatever my latest challenge was. He always made me believe that my dreams were possible, and whatever the outcome, I always knew that he was proud. Somehow, I realised that if I didn’t break that 6 hours, it didn’t matter, what mattered was that I finished the bike in a positive way, and gave it the best shot I could.
From 150 km to 170 km was the hardest part of the bike. This included some long climbs, through the lava fields, and I just focused on each climb. I was actually passing a lot of people though, and I still felt physically strong.
With 10 km to go, just around the airport – TAILWIND!!!! It was so bizarre, I had been ready for the continued slog all the way into town, into headwind, and lo and behold, it changed! I checked my average – 30.1 kph. Wow, I might just make the 6 hours after all!! I started to smile, and really enjoyed flying back towards Kona.
When I got to the turn off the highway, with 3 km to go a film crew drew up alongside me. I chatted to them and said “my leg of this race is still to come!.” They said “Are you ready?” and I said “OH YES!!” I flew into town, and into transition, ready for “my leg” – the run.
