I Want To Beat Chrissie Wellington

I Want To Beat Chrissie Wellington.  That was my goal in March when I signed up for the Timberman 70.3 triathlon.  To  help with motivation, I cut a picture of her out of a tri mag and stuck it on the fridge (I actually did this for awhile but then I got a coupon for Bushtakah which then covered her…).

If you didn’t know, Chrissie won the womans race in 2008.  In fact she pretty much WINS all the races she enters.  I figured that if she didn’t get any faster (yeah right!) and I did, then we’d have a sprint finish to the line.  This of course is hypothetical because I start 40mins behind her in my age group waves (damn wave starts!).

Fast forward to last Friday and my dream of beating her was in jeopardy.  No I wasn’t injured.  My problem was  I stretched my base miles too far and was now coming off good form.  August has been a hard month and if I had known back in March how I was going to feel, Timberman would have been a no go.  However, like many of you I had paid my entry fee and damned if I was going to skip out!

So on Friday we (myself and girlfriend who would also be competing) made our trip east to Plymouth and then drove the course on Saturday morning.  I got a good description of the course from Ryan Cain but they had changed the bike from last year so I’m glad we looked it over.

For those that have done this race before know that the bike course is tough compared to a lot of Ironman 70.3s .  Those that haven’t done Timberman, I’d compare the start and finish to the Northern part of the Gats.  Really rolling with some steep climbs.  The middle (35-miles) is mostly flat with some great new pavement.  Picture Rockcliffe parkway.  After previewing the course I knew that most people were going to lose time on the first and last sections.  As for the run it was hilly but not devastating (get Ryan to give you a description he pretty much painted a picture).

Sunday morning arrived and so did the 2000+ athletes who all decided to drive.  It resembled the 417 at 4pm.  It took 45mins to get a parking spot which was in a side ditch (thank you 4WD!).  There was actually no need to panic as the race was delayed because of a serious accident.

Race time.  I never get worked up for races.  I’m the person who is just goes about their business and lets the body do it’s thing.  Not really knowing how far I could push my tired body was my only concern.  Although I didn’t spend much time worrying about it.

Swim was pretty uneventful.  If you know me, you know I’m not a great swimmer.  I got out in an ok time and managed to not go anaerobic.  Chrissie here I come.

On the bike I just punched it.  Knowing that the first section was so important I climbed hard passing loads of people.  My legs responded but I really lacked the extra gear I had before.  I tried to stay under the red, recovering on the downhills and kept the throttle high.  The mid section of the course is so much fun.  You have great sight lines and the pavement was beautiful.

Pedal, pedal, pedal.  The last section of the course as I said was quite hard.  It’s either up or down.  Very technical and if you pushed too hard at the beginning, this is where it’s going to hurt.  I was still going well but knew I had slowed down.  It was about this time when I knew my Chrissie goal was dwindling.

Exiting into T2 I felt good.  Not great but good enough to slog out 21.1K.  I wasn’t sure if I could pull off a great run to beat her (I needed a 1:17 for a half).  I got to see her and the rest of the pros on the run course.  She looked strong as did Potts; both would win the days event.

My first loop was an indication that this wasn’t going to be my day.  I hurt.  Typically I can make myself hurt at faster speeds but my form just wasn’t there.  I was running out of a gas.  Even my cruise control felt slow.

When I finished I figured maybe, maybe top 5 in my age group.  I knew that for how I felt, and how hard August had been, my time was ok.  Chrissie didn’t disappoint and she won (the womans race and beating me) with a time of 4:15.  That was the time I figured in May I would have needed to beat her but I was 8mins back.

So the moral of this story, don’t let Bushtakah get in the way of your goals.

But seriously, Chrissie was an awesome competitor.  I’ve never been at the same race as her and I’m glad to have done this one.  In the words of my hippie bicycle mechanic, “She’s a rockstar!”.  Triathlon has such few “rockstars”; people who like Lance Armstrong can draw people to events.  Seeing how hard Chrisse competes and instead of relaxing after, she was standing in the hot sun giving out the finishing medals!  My girlfriend was estatic to have her  first 70.3 medal put on by the Ironman World Champion.  I think that’s great.

So no I’m not disappointed that I got beat.  I’m glad I got to witness a true champion and one that I’m glad is taking the sport we love to new places.  It’s great to see.

However, next year is going to be different

Happy Training

Cliff