December 29, 2012

Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote

Long overdue race report for my last big race of 2012. that was a success, with a good result and in a wonderful place!

In the ironman world, Lanzarote is a special place. For many, this is as close as it gets to experience tough conditions like in Hawaii, and racing there earns you a giant “tough as nails” badge if you finish the race. It’s hot, it’s windy and there is absolutely nothing flat on the island, nor is there any shade. No matter what you do or where you go, it’s pretty hard work and it makes any race there pretty epic! At the beginning of the year, I read the news that there would be a brand new 70.3 event organised on the island. After about 5min to think about it, I registered (let’s worry about logistics later, right?), excited at the opportunity to go and see for myself how hard the place can be in. Although the full IM was on my radar, it was probably already full at the time, and to be honest I really wasn’t ready for it, so the half was quite well fitting at the end of a year full of racing!

So here I was, with a race very late in the season, in a place that’s renown for hosting one of the toughest events on the calendar. I’ve had a hectic middle of year and a knee injury had me walking large parts of the run leg there.

I only started to run again late in August, which was far from ideal. But by the time October ended, I had clocked more than decent times including 70 miles on my feet in the month, which was for me pretty exceptional by any of my standards! So even though I managed to catch a bug from one of these pesky sneezing people on the train that knocked me down for the whole week before traveling, I went to the volcanic island in a pretty good mood and feeling ready. I also had great company: Ellen got excited about the event, and although she initially wanted to only support me, she found out a few weeks before the race that there were still places, an decided to join in!! Talk about goal setting and determination! She’s fantastic :-)

We arrived two days before the race, so we had a full day to get around and do a little recce of the bike and swim courses. That was a bit of a shock with some wind and nowhere to hide from the uphills on the bike, while the one lap we swam of the swim course quickly highlighted that it was going to be a battle to get around during the race, because of some pinch points where everyone would pile on everyone else. Mind you, we knew where we were going and the first views of the island confirmed the hilly/no respite bit…

Hilly from the start!

Friday also had the race briefing (where we almost had an altercation with the giant lady who would eventually win the pro female race!), bike racking, and weather related last panic given the forecast saying that the wind would pickup the next day.

Busy race briefing

And pickup it did! We could hear it howling during the night and it even rained hard! Although it was a bit calmer on race morning, the wind was still quite present. Not a great sign. But at least it wasn’t wet and cold!

I decided to be a smurf on race day with the brilliant D3triathlon kit which is easily recognisable, and also to have my go pro camera mounted under my handlebars to capture the bike course on film.

For the start, we probably went down the lagoon a bit too late, and I didn’t have the warmup I wanted (slaps wrist… Again). Also, I crucially didn’t take enough time to understand where people where seeding themselves. When the gun went, I was only towards the front of the second AG pack, when I should really have been at the back of the sub 30min group that started ahead. That prove to be an error that saw me fighting my way through arms, elbows and feet for the next 1.6Km, until I finally found a bit of clear water to “sprint” towards the swim exit. The watch was saying around 33min, which was fantastic news considering the scrap for clear water and my usual swim times. What we expected from reccing the swim course did come true: plenty of swimmers got caught in the net (literally) that was on the right hand side of the first leg, and plenty more stood up in the lagoon and walked around the blockage. This photo is a zone about 300m AFTER the start… And people are standing.

In the net...

Knowing about it I managed to swim around, but I did have to slow down quite a bit, so that wasn’t the best course design for sure!

T1 was alright, albeit a bit slow, and that’s something I’ll have to get on top of for the next races as I can’t afford anymore to lose these precious minutes when I know I can be faster! There was also quite a steep ramp to get from the lagoon up to T1, and that’s where Ellen unfortunately fell and injured her knee (she’s barely recovered to this day, so it was quite a fall!) and ended her race. Gutting!

I still took the time to turn the camera on (I’ll have a full film of the bike course later on! 20GB to edit… gulp!) and almost managed to fall while jumping on the bike, but I was finally in my element!

Always enjoying the bike!

But the island didn’t want it to be easy! Not at all! What we thought was wind on our recce day was, in fact, barely a light breeze! Now the wind was quite something. The way down to Famara the day before was a blast at 60Kph doing almost nothing. On race day it was a struggle to reach 45kph.

The part next to the beach before the start of the climb to Teguise was also covered in deep sand, which isn’t particularly great when pushing hard, low on tri bars…

Climbimg to Teguise I felt ok and caught up quite a few people. It was fairly easy given that the wind was now almost behind, and I settled comfortably all the way up to the village before the first speedy part of the day. Teguise was already buzzing with support crews, being so close to transition and with slow passing athletes, so it was nice to soak up some cheer! From Teguise to Tahiche I reached 75kph in the tailwind and my 53-12 was too small to keep pedalling. But after this nice respite, it all changed with the left turn towards the bottom of the Tabayesco climb: strong head wind for the next 25Km. What looks like a nice long descent on the course profile ended up being possibly the hardest bit of the course, pushing almost 240W to maintain only 28kph downhill!! Wind, wind, wind and more wind. Funnelled between each side of the road all the way to the turnaround, there was no escaping from the 25mph gusts! Well, no legal one anyways and the muppet who sucked my wheel for about 1.5km down there got what he deserved when the officials came by. One caught, at last!! Turning around at the petrol station before the big climb of the day was a relief! Tail wind for a massive 500m (!!) before 10K at 4.5% average… I loved that climb! Well, I love climbing full stop, but I had never been on a proper mountain climb on “Jaelousy” so I was a bit apprehensive. But the 39-27 was “just” right and I’m glad the gradients didn’t go steeper. Overall it was fantastic! The views are gorgeous and you wouldn’t believe once you’re at the top that the little white squares you see at the bottom are the houses you passed some 40min earlier! Great, great climb! I never went overboard and I believe I could rven have pushed a bit harder, but I felt comfortable all the way up passing everyone that was in view.

The only way is up

Then, for the reward! Tail wind down the other side, hold on to your hats, leave the brake levers alone, and test your nerves!!! 82kph top speed on the tri bars, super smooth roads, nice long bends and a grin big like THAT!!

Never mind the fact that after passing through Teguise a second time it’s a headwind struggle downhill again, this descent made it all worth it! I was concentrating going through Teguise on the way down because the road surface there is properly crap, but I know there were even bigger crowds along the road and that’s always a nice thing! The end of the bike course was, you guessed it, hilly and in a head wind. Having slightly tight hamstrings made it a bit slow, but I managed to get aeound the bike leg in a respectable 2h53' with about 1400m of ascent. Not too bad. Could do better as only did 192W average, but not too bad overall. I’ve got to say that the wheels combo I had - Zipp 404/808 - didn’t give me any problem whatsoever. Even for my lightweight 60Kg, the 25mph wind wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be with those wheels.

For once, after such a hard ride, I wasn’t too displeased with the idea of leaving the bike behind and get on my feet! T2 was a bit wired as we were asked to leave our bikes at the far end of the racks one after the other, instead of bringing them back to their numbered spots, but it made things easy I guess.

Grab bag, fiddle around to get new socks and kit on, and try to run! As usual, I started too fast as my legs were itching to do something else than pedal, but this time I knew about it and gradually slowed down until I was running alright on around 4'35"/km. Things were going alright and I was taking in coke and water regularly, and grabbing sponges and ice cubes to cool me down. That seemed to work well, but I got a massive cramp on lap 2 just before transition which cost me quite some time. I’m sure some guys of my AG passed me at this point as I had a solid right leg for a couple of minutes and it took some time to get back to speed afterwards. I noticed Ellen on the side of the road right after that and my first instinct was that she had pulled out from the bike leg. I didn’t know what had happened at this point, and with only 7Km to go, I had a job to finish. It wasn’t a pretty finish as everything was tightening up, and the damn Spanish oranges were again too appealing not to gorge on them at aid stations… I had a couple of bad patches during the run, but I did beat the wind and got around in an unimpressive 1h38 to round up my second official 70.3 of the year in 5h12'32", 80th man overall and 15th in my AG. Job done!

Lanzarote take 1: Done!

All I wanted then was a BEER! After abstaining for all this time before the race, I had deserved it big time!! Ellen caught up with me and that’s when I heard what had happened. Really gutted for her, but sure she will bounce back soon!!

Overall this race was a good experience and a nice introduction to the island. Not too hot in November, but it did deliver on the wind! The swim course could do with a few changes and I’m sure Club la Santa will be on it for next year’s edition. The rest of it was brilliant, and I can’t recommend it enough taking part in it if you want a tough challenge late in the year! It’ll be in October in 2013, so a bit earlier.

I’m now very much looking forward to the full IM in May next year. That’s going to be another monster, but that one’s on the bucket list of races to do. Only 6 months of hard training to do! Easy, right?