Two wrongs made a right: doing a crappy time on race day, after a crappy season's training, was a good result. To be fair the weather did throw a few spanners into the works.
I've done the Lake Wanaka Half, the half-distance event at Challenge Wanaka, four times now and it's fair to say I'm addicted. It's such a beautiful course. The lake is one of the best open-water swimming locations I've been to (certainly the best fresh-water one), the bike is nice and hilly and very scenic, and the run is just a stunner, especially along the outlet track. To have this bucket-list event only a few hours drive from home (and what a road trip it is) makes me feel very lucky.
2015 was going to be the year I stepped back a bit and tried to put the past few years of injury problems behind me and try to get a decent race buildup in. Instead I ended up with more problems resulting in setbacks with all three disciplines. It's amazing how badly four months off swimming can affect your times!
I was very close to pulling the plug around Christmas but I dug my heels in and decided I'd go to Wanaka and walk the bloody run course if I had to. In the end I was able to get enough run distance in by cutting down to two runs per week and just going at a steady pace with some hill climbs added to simulate Gunn Rd. My podiatrist deserves a medal for getting me through the training as adjustments for one problem would cause trouble elsewhere due to my need to train through it.
I also only had one open-water swim before going to Wanaka. Lake Pegasus was about as manky as it's ever been and after a couple of laps I emerged with a sore throat that thankfully disappeared after a couple of days. As the swim went very well I decided I didn't need to go back (a few weeks later the lake was closed due to cyanobacteria).
My next open water swim was in Wanaka on the Tuesday before the race, but I only made it as far as where the race start line is. The lake was pretty rough and while I could have got around the course, it wasn't worth it for a course recce / training session. So I put that off until Wednesday morning which thankfully matched the forecast and I had a nice calm lake.
The wife had some commitments in Wellington for a couple of nights so she took off on Wednesday afternoon to return on Friday evening. While she was away I just hung around doing race prep... registration, bike check, sort out the transition bags etc, and otherwise being a bit bored. I followed my checklists from last year, to which I added lots of annotations as usual. I don't think I'll ever have a race where I don't think of changes to make.
The weather had been fairly rough in the few days before the race with plenty of wind and a decent amount of rain and I was hoping things would settle down - the forecast seemed to indicate it might but it had been changing by the day.
Race morning came and by the time we got down to the lake the wind was fairly calm and the chop had largely disappeared, but there were still big waves coming in from further up the lake. I took a Sea Legs pill, just in case! The start had been delayed by 15 minutes as a couple of the turn buoys had been dragging their anchors in the wind an hour earlier when the full-distance race started. In the end they parked some large boats out there to keep them in place.
After the 2013 race when conditions had been fairly difficult, I knew I could handle just about anything the lake could throw at me so I wasn't too worried (just the usual race-morning nerves). I was mostly concerned about wind on the bike, but it seemed fairly calm at the time which helped to alleviate the nerves a little.
I got around the swim course in good shape, just struggled a bit with sighting in the waves. I used the landmarks I'd picked up from my Wednesday recce and didn't get too far off course. I don't mind going a little wide as it keeps me out of the traffic. The last leg was its usual self, heading right in to the sun. No chance of seeing the buoy, and it's quite a long section so I tend to get a bit paranoid about getting lost. Every year I tell myself to buy some polarised goggles, which I never do, and every year I simply sight on Mt Iron and end up almost swimming right into the turn buoy which becomes visible with about 50-100m to go. This time was no exception.
I took a bit long in transition but not too bad considering I hadn't practiced all year. I got everything done and was heading out towards Glendhu bay on the bike feeling quite good. This year I got some food in pretty much straight out of transition but I think that may have been a little early; the body might not have adjusted to being on the bike yet. My heart rate tends to be really high coming out of cold water so it might pay to give it 10-15 mins to settle down before trying to eat. I also had a fairly aggressive nutrition plan after last years blowup. It had me eating solid food quite regularly, and I think it was a bit much that early on.
The wind was back up by now and I'd get a good crosswind blast coming around some of the spurs, which kept me on my toes. I knew the wind would be quite interesting around Hawea which is very exposed but I just concentrated on the race - and the amazing views across the lake.
Coming back into Wanaka is one of my favourite parts of the bike course with the smooth road and the crowds but you need to concentrate with all the road cones and other riders, the raised pedestrian crossings, then the traffic as you climb out the other side of town. The wind coming off the lake wasn't as strong as I was expecting so I wondered if it was settling down again.
I always get a bit anxious about the approach to the Albert Town bridge as it's quite a narrow path, but there's really nothing to worry about as long as you keep your speed down. On one of the bigger climbs on the way out towards Hawea I went past a girl who was standing beside the road holding her broken chain. She looked quite upset and I felt really sorry for her but really that's racing. Hopefully the support mechanic wasn't too far away. Then just a little further up the same hill and round a bend, there was a guy standing there holding his broken chain. Got to be careful changing gear when climbing. No worse time to snap it than during a race!
I remembered how exposed the Hawea dam is from the 2013 race so it was no surprise just how strong the wind was when we turned off the Haast highway. Obviously it hadn't settled down at all. I've never had to lean so far into a cross wind before, it was quite an experience and I was glad it wasn't gusting. It made a pretty effective tail wind when heading towards Luggate.
Nutrition-wise I'd been eating too much early on which made me feel a bit bloated, so I'd stopped taking food for a while to let things settle down. I went back to just eating solid food when I felt like it, with gels at regular intervals. Obviously need to work on my nutrition, but I knew that anyway and hadn't been able to get the training to the level where I could do so. I'd done better than last year as I didn't blow up on Airport Hill, the heartbreaking climb on the highway just out of Luggate. That's probably the part of the course that's mentally hardest for me as I'm starting to look forward to Riverbank Rd which is so close but so far away. It's a 100km/h zone with a reasonable amount of traffic so you need to be careful passing other riders. But it is close enough to town that there are plenty of supporters out there.
Once on Riverbank Rd I tend to relax, it's a nice easy road which is mostly flat, and once you hit the Cardrona Rd it's nearly all downhill back into Wanaka with thoughts of T2 starting to run through my head. Although this time the downhill was balanced by a stiff head wind.
T2 went smoothly if slowly (again, no real training for it this season) and I headed out on the run course. Normally I shoot out of T2 about 30sec/km faster than I think I'm running, but this time I was just nice and steady. I wasn't feeling great for the first couple of km which is unusual for me, and I thought the run was going to be a real struggle. It didn't take long for things to come right, although my pace wasn't great and my heart rate was too high. I'd been training conservatively at 5:30/km pace and was hoping to hold that through the run but in the end I settled in at 6:00/km. I was quite comfortable holding that pace even through the second half of the run.
I had one bad patch with about 3 or 4km to go, a similar spot to where I had some difficulties last year (although the trouble last year was due to inadequate nutrition). I came right after having my last gel at the last aid station and really picked up the pace to finish strongly over the last 2km. Looking at my Garmin data my heart rate was skyrocketing during that time so it must have been the allure of the finish line.
While I was in the recovery tent waiting for my finishers shirt the heavens opened and it started bucketing down. I really felt for the full-distance athletes who were still on the bike course getting drenched. Once I had my shirt and recovery bag I decided I'd just find the wife, who'd be out there getting soaked, and go straight home. If the weather had been nicer I might have stayed in the tent eating the free food, then have a dip in the lake afterwards (it's very refreshing after a race). The walk home felt quite long in the cold & wet, thankfully not cold enough to get hypothermic.
As Murphy's Law would have it, the day after the race was a stunner, sunny and calm. Monday was even better with a glass-flat lake in the morning when we left to come home. with incredible conditions right up through the MacKenzie country.
So my takeaways from the race... my swim was ok, unspectacular but about what I could expect in the conditions. My bike was shocking, largely due to overeating which made me reluctant to push hard, plus not being confident enough in the wind so I ended up sitting up more than I should have. Fair enough when Simone Maier and Alyssa Godesky were blown off their bikes. I think my lacklustre run performance was just a basic lack of fitness due to all of my training issues. But it was definitely the most comfortable run I'd had on that run course - usually I start fading about 10km in.
The weather obviously played a big part - looking at the forecast in the days leading into the race my thoughts were flipping between "oh shit" and "bring it on". The latter is obviously the better attitude - you don't go to Wanaka chasing fast times. You go there because it's an amazing race on a spectacular course, and getting out of your comfort zone gives you better stories to tell. Not many people outside triathlon can relate to splits and power figures but talk about the huge waves, brutal wind and pouring rain will bring a wide-eyed stare instead of a blank one, especially if you apply some artistic license. On a great day Challenge Wanaka is a tough race. On a tough day it's a great race.
So now I'm in a rest phase. My plan is 4 weeks total rest with another 2-4 weeks off running but I'll see how it goes as I want the legs & feet to settle down. Not that I'm getting a lot of rest; I've been working through a long list of DIY which might have been pushing my luck a bit (my back is sore and my feet have been niggling), not to mention a couple of long walks on the hills. But I want to make use of all this spare time while the weather is good.
My plan for the coming year is a bit different to last year, although the goal is much the same. I want to focus on strength. So I want to do some steady hill runs, climbing on the bike and slowly rebuild my steady running speed to where it should be (the 5:30 pace I've been training at is not exactly difficult for me). I'm also going to take a leaf out of Sutto's book and do some low-cadence bike work. I'd done a little bit of it last year, more as a drill for pedalling technique, but I've decided to take it a bit further and work it into my strength-building programme. Plus I'll get back into the gym. Once Spring rolls around I should be in a good position to start building the mileage and get some good long hill sessions.
As for racing, my only concrete plan is to go back to Wanaka next year. Any racing during winter will depend on whether I'm up to it training-wise (this really applies to the Christchurch Half Marathon). I have a few other races I'd like to do but they're too early for me to be ready for them, so maybe next year. Anyway if I can keep the injuries under control I might be able to have a decent season... (oops that's what I said a year ago so I'd better be careful).
