The guaranteed sunshine and warm water for swimming aside, my sister Michelle lives in Arizona and so this race offers me the perfect opportunity to spend time with her and her partner Greg (both of whom were persuaded to take part!). Having completed the race last year, I was content that my anxiety levels on the swim would be relatively low and that I would stand a fighting chance of a reasonable performance.
Although I am relatively new to triathlon and I know it is most certainly an experienced sport, I haven’t yet felt content in terms of my results as I feel I am capable of more; an ironic viewpoint on my part as it’s my own self belief that ultimately tends to let me down. That aside, my goal was to finish inside 6 hours with a top ten age group finish.
Nine weeks prior to the race I found out I was magnesium deficient, which was presenting with a heart arrhythmia, sodium deficiency, muscle spasms/cramps and an array of other challenges that occurred both in, and out, of exercise. My race day nutrition was therefore going to be significantly more important for me to get right.
Having suffered in last year’s event, I was careful leading up to the race not to repeat some rookie mistakes and I was very conscious of balancing adequate rest with tapering, pre-race nerves, hydration and nutrition. The latter being somewhat of a nemesis for me as no matter how hard I try I appear to be unable and, maybe a little unwilling, to consume enough of the ‘good stuff’. Although, in all fairness, I am sure research suggests that there is some goodness in dairy milk chocolate and if this counted as good fuel, there really would be no stopping me!
Given the endurance of the event and my magnesium deficiency, I knew (because I was told a million times) that it would be unlikely that I would get through the entire race without some sort of issue arising but in the main I chose to do the sensible thing and participate in typical ostrich style processes as long as possible and allowed only the odd ad hoc casual thought to enter my mind that I would manage ‘just fine’ if it all started to go against me.
A few days before the event, in an attempt to help settle the nerves, Greg (who is a former national state swim champion) took us to Suguaro Lake; an intimidating and somewhat ridiculously large reservoir filled with gigantic catfish, trout and bass fish… needless to say, I did not want to get in that water! But Greg eventually managed to persuade me in despite my protests! I am still not entirely sure if it was his repetitive instruction to “reach, rotate and finish your stroke”; his constant warning that we were not leaving the water until we swam out to an incredibly far reaching buoy (so far reaching I was convinced it actually sat outside Arizona state waters!); that I managed to swim at least half the race distance in a relaxed state or that I simply reached that point were I passed caring (possibly confused with utter exhaustion) but at the end of it, I was surprised that I enjoyed it in the end and even wanted to get back in.
Race day: the swim was a non-technical straight forward rectangle shaped out and in with only five turns. I got in the water ahead of my anticipated swim start time, which is a tactic I may reconsider in the future as it helped me to get a better position for the race as the swim is always busy and results in various altercations. The knocks and leg pulling were tolerable but there appeared to be an inordinate volume of people swimming a full circle or simply stopping dead in the water in front of me which made it difficult for me to settle into a rhythm, not to mention it also meant that swimming too close to someone’s nether regions was a very real risk!
I was not swimming as well as I had been leading into the race albeit I was moving still forward. On a good day my swim will never be something to write home about and therefore getting to the end without panicking is, uncomfortably, something of an achievement for me. After the hustle and bustle at the start the swim, and even though it remained busy throughout my time in the water, I felt better swimming in the bubbles knowing there were others around me. The water itself was very murky with zero visibility which was quite disconcerting but not as disconcerting as the volunteer who clearly had an overwhelming desire to create waves as he sped back and forth on his boat for what felt like the duration of the swim. I swear he passed me at least 10 times in the space of 200 meters; after about my third glance I began to visualise leaping out the water as if I were a killer whale just to see how he fancied being tossed around in the human soup pot!
As I turned at the last buoy, I began to relax seeing the end was in sight with about 80 meters of the swim left, but at almost the same time someone pulled hard on my legs and I cramped in both hamstrings and my right calf. In order to try and let my legs recover from this, I spun around and continued the swim on my back. So, there I was, floating on my back as if there was no tomorrow in amongst all the other swimmers who were frantically putting in their last efforts to finish. I remember thinking that I was just thankful to be on the home straight and when I eventually got out the water to say I felt relieved would be understatement!
The bike course is described as ‘very technical with 3 loops’ including 60+ turns and 3 x 180 hairpins per lap. Having cramped on the swim, I figured the race was gone for me, but in my wisdom, I decided that the best solution would be to go as fast possible on the bike in the hope of keeping my overall time better than last year (patience and common sense arguably being overrated in such an event right!?)!
Coming out of transition from the swim, the bike starts with a slight downhill into open straight road, turning into the bend but I felt like my legs had nothing to give! I had no strength to push on the pedals and felt weak from the outset. I immediately opted to start the energy supplements earlier than planned in the hope that I would feel stronger as the race progressed. I slipped down a couple of gears to my normal cadence, took to the bars and decided to concentrate on speed rather than power. There was a good head wind at a few parts of the course but fortunately for me, there was an even better tail wind throughout the majority of my cycle.
Whilst I felt good in general I did not feel strong at any part of the bike and the few efforts I tried felt so dismal I quickly made the decision that my best option would be to concentrate on benefiting from the tail wind and staying as aero as possible which I managed comfortably save for the few hairpin turns. Admittedly, I even enjoyed the frantic shouts from the volunteers yelling for me take my hands off the bars as I approached the corners and felt somewhat amused that I actually felt bold enough to do it!
Coming off the bike I was pleased to find that my legs felt ‘normal’, having lost my watch at the start of the swim I was careful not to go out too fast. The course itself is flat with only 2 slight up and downhill gradients which occur in the first mile. Just as I allowed myself to think “you’ve got this” I hit the downhill and my quads tightened in a contraction like state but not a jaw stopping cramp. It was enough to make me hesitate and I almost stopped to walk. Then I recalled vividly that when I stopped last year, my legs cramped immediately, and it became a walk/jog for the duration of the run, so I decided to keep going! I spent the next few minutes pondering if I should stop and stretch it out; take more salt tablets and hope for the best or keep the pace I was running at if it meant I could keep running. The heart and lungs felt good, the run felt slow, too slow even at such an early stage but my quads were not in good shape and the last thing I wanted was a walk jog the half marathon.
In the moment and despite my frustration, it was an easy compromise in settling for a slower run rather than the alternative. I did benefit from spotting Greg on the course about half a lap in front of me and knowing that he planned to walk and jog the run course I opted instead to see if I could take the win between us and close the gap having started about 40 minutes behind him. He became my goal, with about 1200 meters left approaching the last turn I gave him a high five and as I ran on he suddenly shouted to ask if I was on my last lap…… all I heard was “Holly Hannah I better move my ass”! He lifted his pace by nearly a minute per mile to ensure that he at least physically crossed the line in front of me.
Approaching the line was a little bitter sweet if I am honest, not least because Stuart and the kids were absent, but whilst on one hand it was a fantastic atmosphere; great time away; glorious sunshine; progress from last year; very enjoyable and an accomplishment regardless of the outcome, rightly or wrongly, I wanted more. Maybe that will come next year in Emilia-Romagna…
