So I made the flight home from Copenhagen with no Dramas. A slight headache from the beers from the after party but that disappeared by about the time I arrived in Hong Kong. I found some nice seats in Hong Kong airport which don't have any intermediate hand rails and had a real good sleep.
I arrived into Auckland Airport with Tracy to meet me, and she has changed quite a bit since I have left. Someone has been growing quite fast inside her. I am not allowed to post a photo of Tracy so its first bike will have to do :)
I had the first week off any real exercise, one bike, one swim and a cycle to catch up with some athletes to check on their form etc. The second week was about the same until Saturday when I decided I would go out for a Ironman brick session with Erin and Candice, two of the girls I coach. So we had 3+ hrs on the bike with some 50min efforts to keep things interesting. Then we where lucky enough to have the inaugural Cambridge Half Marathon starting at 12pm so we finished the ride, and got straight into the run. I just about missed the start by time I had packed the bikes in to the car etc.
The legs on the bike didn't feel to bad, but the heart rate felt like it was through the roof. Onto the run and I have to say Candice's and Erin's form is a lot better than mine after 2 weeks off!, the first 10k where not to bad, but after that it was all downhill :) my left leg started cramping badly so it was a slow jog in to the finish. Quite a good session to kick start the body, even though it was not very enjoyable last 40min at all. I don't think I am going to try a IM a week apart or two weeks for that matter unless I trained through the first one and got rolling very quickly after the first one.
So I am back into the training this week, time to build a bigger engine for next season
So I am just back to New Zealand after Challenge Copenhagen on the weekend. Three flights and just over 40hrs door to door and it’s good to be home.
Some positives out of the race, but a few big negatives too...
Race day started with me just about false starting the entire field, they had some music playing and I knew it was very close to start time when a little bang went off on the song playing and off I went. I only got a couple of steps and there was a lot of yelling and I realised we hadn’t been given the cannon. So quickly back to behind the line and only about 10secs later and we where off with the proper bang. Bayliss and a few other swimmers quickly opened up a gap from the start and I settled into the second group where I remained the rest of the swim. I had a quick look at the watch and read 49.30 so I knew the damage would not be too excessive to front.
Onto the bike and a group formed containing all the strong Danish guys + Bastie + Dejan. We picked up Berkel and Jimmy at about the 30k mark. Bjorn Andersson was starting his demolition of the cycle course and continued with it the entire ride.
At the 40k mark I picked up my first every drafting penalty. I thought our group was riding really clean, we had a motorbike with us the nearly 90% of the time. Then next thing I know a marshal on a motorbikewho I hadn’t seen all day came up to me when I was rolling through some corners. I had to do a double take and look behind as I wasn’t sure if it was for me or someone else. About 1min later the same marshal gave Berkel a penalty, I am not sure his was for either as he definitely wasn’t in the draft zone.
Rolling in to the second loop I tried to put some pressure and split the group but everyone seemed to be riding about the same and after about 40k of trying there was only a couple that had been popped . And then with about 25k to go my legs started to fall apart! Not exactly what I wanted to happen. Bastie and Berkel then rode off and I lost some time coming into transition with Jimmy and Dejan. The next part was very hard mentally as I knew I had to serve my penatly, so I stood around for the 4min trying to keep positive. I was little relieved to see about 50 numbers on the board so knew I wasn’t the only one with quite a few numbers from the top 10 seeds.
Out on to the run, and the legs felt pretty good and I settled in to a nice rythum, a couple of toilet stops on the first lap and I could also see the damage to the front which was a lot to Bjorn but I was still in the mix with the rest. I was running along at about 2.42 pace and was feeling good. I caught Bayliss midway through the first lap, and the next 18k ticked over nicely picking up a couple of guys. I was on the coke and gels. At the 26k mark I had a Red Bull which within a couple of minutes I knew it was a big mistake. If anyone reading saw the video of me at Challenge Wanaka it was quite similar, everything started coming out and my stomach was in knots. My stupid mistake in using something different, so a good lesson. So I ended up having a little sleep on the side of the road and a couple of IV drips later I was feeling a lot better. A DNF besides my name, not the best way to finish my trip to Europe. Jimmy and Tim had a great battle for the win which was a super exciting race for the spectators.
Big thanks to the Challenge Orgainsers for putting on another great race and Angela for coming over to watch from London and looking after me.
Next up for me is a little down time then time to work on getting stronger before a big New Zealand season.
So I arrived in Copenhagen on Wednesday night to some stormy weather. A little trip on the metro and I was at the very nice Bella Sky hotel. You dont get many building like this in NZ!
Yesterday I got registered, had the press conference, a trip to the supermarket, a few movies and not much else :)
Today is pretty much the same, a little exercise, the race briefing and some more movies. Saturday will be the same again and then it will be game on Sunday morning. The past year has gone super quick and it definitely does not feel like a year ago I was on the startline to Challenge Copenhagen.
Since Challenge Roth, I had a few very easy days and then started rolling again. The body seems to have pulled up well and I have been ticking off some good training. I have just done a Barry Magee weekend running so the legs have had a good working over.
A few things I have noticed in Germany
At the pool, a lot of people like to do breaststroke, more than any other country I have been too. Lucky the pool is normally pretty empty so there are never any lane rage issues
Another pool observation, the women seem to love to wear bath robes to the pool
The signage on German roads is outstanding, you not only get the street names but always the direction you are headed, makes getting lost a lot harder.
The road surface here is super, the NZ goverment, local councils, transit etc, need to come for a lesson in building roads.
A really dumb thing I did in Germany
So this past weekend I was suppost to fly to London to see some family. I was flying out of Frankfurt but didnt even consider checking if there was more than one airport when I jumped on the train. And guess what? Frankfurt has two airports, and I ended up at the wrong one, completely missing my flight......
My routine of the past couple of weeks is to get the training done and then settle down for some Tour De France action in the afternoon, so next week might be a little different. Also it was great to see our Kiwi runners smashing it on the weekend also, Nikki Hamblin and Nick Willis both breaking the national records.
At the beginning of the day I knew my gold medal was going to be a podium finish and that’s exactly where I ended up, 3rd place in the biggest race in Europe, Challenge Roth. I have never experienced a crowd like it, I thought Challenge Copenhagen was pretty special with over 100,000 people on the course last yr in the middle of town. But the German people, over 180,000 of them packing the climbs and run course made an unbelievable atmosphere. Turning the corner and approaching the Solaberg for the first time, I had goosebumps on my arms and couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing. During the run I used a Ipod for the first 20k and numerous times, I couldn’t even hear the music for the crowd noise. I said during the press conference it was like been at a rock concert and that wasn’t a joke!
It’s a definite must do race if you are ever coming to Europe or want to experience something very special.
So to my race, I was pretty relaxed race morning and rode the 1km on a Cruiser bike to the start area. The swim is down one side of a canal and back up the other side. My swimming has been going really well and prior to the race that was what I was least worried about, but it ended up being my worst section of the race. I got a little pumped at the start and after 1500m or so found myself just of the back of the second bunch. From there the gap stretched and I ended up leading the rest of the swim with the 3rd bunch. Out of the water in about 30th position and there was not many bikes left in the Pro rack which was not the best start to the day. Time 51min30sec
Long distance races are all about keeping going and not giving in, so I knew I just had to quickly forget about it and get on with the bike. I slowly started picking off riders and formed a little group with two other athletes Rota and Fuches. I had no idea how far back from the main group I was and the German bike axes who where further of the front. Riding up the Greding climb I could see a large pack of men about 1min up the road. By time we had got to the Solaberg we had bridged the gap and I knew I was back in the race apart from Andreas Raelert who was doing a demolition ride. The rest of the ride I tried to keep the pace steady, look after the nutrition and get the legs ready for the run.Riding up the Solaberg was insane with the noise and crowd. I think there must of been at least 20guys together at the top of the Solaberg, but by time I jumped off the bike the group was down to about 6 guys.
So I was off the bike in 11th with a 4hr26min ride but had no idea of this during the race. My german is not the best, just a couple of words J so couldn’t understand any of the people yelling at me.
Into the run and the legs felt pretty good for the first 10k, by time I was at the first turn around I could see Raelart and Kienle where a long way up the road, but everyone else ahead was in striking distance. The legs started to feel pretty heavy after 15k but I was still catching/moving along ok. At the 27k mark I saw James on the side of the road, and was into 4th with Ritter not far ahead. I then caught Ritter running through the forest and finally had a push bike with me, what I was wanting at the start of the day, meaning I was in third. The last couple of kilometres where through town and back on to the pavement, they where pretty tough but I knew I had third in the bag unless I blew pretty bad. So I tried to enjoy the last section, even if the photos don’t show it! So the run ended up being a 2hr54min and total time 8hr16min.
I have massive respect for Raelert who absolutely smashed the course for the win, and has moved the bar so much higher and Kienle with another great race. Also Chrissie Wellington, she again showed what a amazing athlete she is.
I am super stoked to get on the Podium, its definitely a career highlight so far. I am still waiting to lay down a really good run this year which I know is waiting in the legs, so some more work before Challenge Copenhagen in 4 weeks time and hopefully I can put together a complete performance.
A big thanks to my homestay family, it’s been so easy preparing for the race and to Felix and the Challenge crew, another great race in the Challenge family of events.
Also, check out the Utube video at the bottom of page, world famous table run after the prize giving between Felix and a young french pro
