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 Swim
Comments: My coach told me beforehand that the shoulder would probably not be an issue on race day due to all the adrenalin and on top of that the shot from the PT had finally kicked in and I was able to pull a little harder in the water with the left arm then the days before! Still not 100% but good enough to get a decent swim in! The run into the ocean ( first time for an ocean swim in a TRI and first time for a run in) went awesome! I started to the left, mostly due to the fact that I wanted as few people as possible on my left side in fear of them kicking my shoulder and was pretty much almost in the front pack right away. Lots of newcomers and first timers in my wave. I tried to find someone to draft but that turned out a bit more difficult than I thought as most of the people swam slower or were too far away so I just concentrated on my own swim. There was hardly any waves or current so swimming straight was not really a problem and the first buoy came before I could even think about it. Once again after the turn the sighting became more difficult due to the sun but I had people around me and I trusted them to swim in the right direction and limited sighting as much as possible in the beginning as it was almost impossible to see the buoy anyways. Kept trying to find someone to draft but swam that part mostly alone as well. After the second buoy I finally had someone in front of me who kept my pace and I was able to draft him for a while but then he slowed down and I went by him and towards the swim exit by the beach. What would you do differently?: I think I could have pushed myself a little more on the swim but somehow did not dare due to the shoulder!  Transition 1
Comments: That sure was a long T1 and the total distance to cover was about 400m. I was quite worried with all the barefoot running as I hate barefoot running and got injured on my foot last year during a Tri where we had to run barefoot down a hill to transition so the thought of running such a distance without shoes was quite disturbing! The run started in deep sand, then stones and afterwards red soft carpet which was nice. I went into the female changing tent and all I did there was take my wetsuit off and grab my helmet as shoes and sunglasses were on the bike already! That took no time at all. Also grabbed some water on the way out and poured it over my face to get rid of the salt. The distance to run with the bike was probably about 150-200m which is actually quite long. The day before I thought that it might be a good idea for this race to try the "Shoes on the bike" thing. So far I have never done it because A: I was scared to even try it as I was convinced I would fall flat on my face right out of transition in front of everybody there and B: I was biking in bike shoes and not Tri-shoes until now. And after a few practise runs in the parking garage the day before I decided to give it a go and it was so easy! Once I was on the bike I was in the shoes in no time! Not even the barefoot running was an issue and this transition went just great! To compare times, T who is a transition genius and has always one of the fastest transition times in all the races did this transition in 3:35 so I guess my 4 minutes were not too shabby! :) What would you do differently?: Nothing!  Bike
Comments: The bike started with a 180degree turn and then it was just straight and flat for a long time on really good pavement! My strategy for the bike was to divide the ride into 3 segments of 10miles each and go a bit harder each segment. Well that kind of went out of the window right away and I just pushed right from the start as it was just simply so much fun! I overtook a lot of people and got tired of counting at 100 ;) it was pretty much just pushing and catching the person in front of me and overtake and then repeat! and then suddenly we hit a big bridge which can be actually considered a hill. I kind of thought the ride was flat and did not really expect this but it looked a lot worse than it was and I just span up in a very easy gear. On top I met T who was coming the other way and yelled briefly at him but he was too fast to even look at me. I kept biking and pushing but caught myself from time to time of being a bit too comfortable and I kept hearing my coach's words: If you are comfortable you are not going fast enough!!! I also had long figured that I was probably biking in tailwind and some parts just felt way too easy! The turnaround came after 20.8km and I was starting to freak out a bit about that as the way back was pretty much almost the same way except for a small detour and seeing the map in my mind I knew that this detour would never be an extra 9km which meant the bike must be way short! I got a little mad then and started pushing even harder as I figured I would probably be biking only about 42km instead of 50! And yes we had tailwind before and I was pushing now into quite a strong headwind! I had some GU chomps after the turnaround and was glad I managed to get 4 of them down! I also sipped on water the entire time. The bridge came again and biking up in headwind I switched into the small chainring spinning up in an easier gear and overtaking a lot of people again! At the top I was so happy that it was over and that this was the last hill of the race I kind of switched over to the big chainring a little too fast and the chain got stuck in the back somehow! WTH!!?! I was a the beginning of the downhill part then and slowed down while I kept on biking and tried to change gears a bit to get it working again but it was stuck and I realized I had to stop and try something else. This was the worst timing ever as I was just getting some good speed to go down that hill! Stopped at the side and just grabbed the chain and moved it higher in gears and moved the lever up and down once and then it worked! Yeah! And then I just flew down the hill trying to make up some speed as that little incident cost me at least a minute!!!! I had just reached my goal avg km/h (33.5 before) pace before and that little episode costs me 1.7km/h avg (31.8 after) and I had only one goal for the rest of the ride to get up to that and that meant I had to go fast! Had another 4 GU chomps but that was pretty much all I could manage. About 5km before the bike finish I caught myself once again of being a bit too comfortable although I was biking quite a good pace and from then on I kept pushing even harder! I finished my aerobottle about 3km before the finish and decided to just not drink for the reminder even though I had way less water than planned. The aerobottle only takes about 0.7 litres. The one problem I had towards the end was that I had no idea where transition would start and when it would be a good time to get out of my shoes! There on that road everything pretty much looks exactly the same so I hardly had an reference. Took an estimate then and when out of my shoes which turned out was about a minute before I was done! I guess that was OK! The total distance according to my Garmin was 41.6km which means the bike was about 8km (!) short! Not so happy about that! What would you do differently?: Maybe push a little harder.... Transition 2
Comments: Stopped my bike and jumped off and then just started running with the bike as fast as I could towards the transition area. My legs felt great and I was really looking forward to run! Put my bike on the rack, grabbed my other water bottle from the bike to drink some during transition and poured the rest over my head and then ran into the female changing tent. I had decided beforehand that I would wear socks although it was only 5km but I have orthopedic inserts in my shoes and it is really uncomfortable to run on that material without socks so I thought these few seconds of putting them on was well worth it! So socks on, shoes on, grabbed my visor and off I went! I decided against taking my asthma spray which was something I would regret later! Whole transition distance according to the Garmin was 441m! What would you do differently?: Nothing!  Run
Comments: I started running and found my pace right away! My big goal for this run was to get a new 5km PB and not just barely break it but crush it! So I settled on a 5:30/km pace and kept it there to start with and decided to push each km just a tad harder. At this point I started to feel the sun for the first time as the wind on the bike had cooled us down the entire time and you did not feel the heat. But surprisingly again I just enjoyed it more than it was bugging me but I was sure glad that I only had to run 5km and not 10 at that point! The first km was over before I even realised it! After 1.5km I noticed that my breathing was getting a little more difficult and I immediately regretted not taking my asthma spray in transition. The moment I started to try pushing a little harder I was kind of limited by my breathing which was a bit annoying as I think I could have run a bit faster! Not much but still a bit. The first aid station came after 2km where I took two sponges wrung them out over my head and then I also took a sip of water but not a lot ( did not feel like I needed it) and poured the rest over me. The turnaround came at exactly 2.5km which made me really happy as I was afraid the run would fall short too! Same aid station as before came after 3km and again I took sponges and had a sip of water and poured the rest over my head as well! The best thing about this run was that I was overtaking a lot of people once again which is definitely a new experience for me as usually people rather overtake me on the run. This time it was different! T overtook me with about 1.5km to go and I was actually surprised that it was so late. But of course I also estimated to be a bit longer on the bike than I was. I decided to start pushing a bit harder with 1km to go but found that I was pretty much right on my limit. I had a woman about 100m in front of me and with once again hearing my coach's word of not being comfortable I tried to run up to hr but only got as close as about 10m before she started to run faster too and then the gap kept growing again. At this point I decided to just run my own pace to the finish and not worry about anyone else anymore. The turn in onto the red carpet and towards the finish line came with about 200m to go and I started to increase speed a bit more. And I tried to focus on getting a good finish picture in (instead of the usual one where my head is down to stop my Garmin) and I was so occupied by that, that I did not realise another woman coming up on my left and when I saw her we only had 10 m to go and I just sprinted the last bit like a maniac which she did as well. At that point I did not even know if she was in my wave or not as there were 3 waves for the sprint that started ahead of mine which was the last one but it turned out she was in my wave and we ended up with the same finish time. I got my new PB during the run like I wanted and beat my previous time by 1min and 27 sec! Really happy about that. What would you do differently?: Nothing, well except take my asthma spray in T2! Post race
Warm down: I had a huge smile on my face when I finished as I enjoyed every second of this race but at that point I actually also felt quite exhausted and just dropped down on the ground for a few seconds but got up quickly when a few volunteers came and asked me if I was alright and if I needed help which I didn't! T was still in the finish area when I finished as he had just finished the short course a few minutes earlier. We got our medals and then went to sit down in the cold tent with some water. It was nice to be in the shade and I think I never realised how hot the sun was burning down while I was running. T was quite tired and really sore as he had problems with cramps again during the run. I felt surprisingly fine but of course I also only did half the distance than what he did but of course I kept wondering if I could have gone harder if I felt that good just 10min after! But adrenaline and endorphines were still quite high at that point! After a while we walked over to the food area and they had a huge cold buffet for the competitors! Definitely quite different from what we are used to in Iceland! We had some food and some more water and just sat around and enjoyed being done! At some point we walked over to the information desk and they had put up results there and I could not believe my eyes when I saw that I got 5th of the women in the sprint and 2nd in my AG! From that point on I could not stop smiling! What limited your ability to perform faster: Well not being able to train at all for 7 weeks in Nov/Dec 2011 did not help with preparation for this TRI but maybe it was actually also good for my body to have gotten some rest. This race was done on base fitness which was gained during the last 8 weeks. I managed to loose 49lbs since Oct 20th and did the race at 170lbs which of course made a huge difference in my performance (last year I did not compete below 200lbs). I can't wait to find out what I can do after I get to my goal weight (27lbs to go :)) Profile Album Last updated: 2011-09-13 12:00 AM
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United Arab Emirates
Abu Dhabi Triathlon
25C / 77F
Sunny
Overall Rank = 5/150
Age Group = F35-39
Age Group Rank = 2/36
I have been really looking forward to this race ever since T and I signed up in September 2011! We have never traveled that far East (usually we go West) and this was a whole new area of the world for us. We had already thought about this race last year but were intimidated by the heat there at that time and us living in Iceland it would mean the deepest winter for us and all bike training on the trainer, nothing at all outside!
The race has three unique distances. Long Course which is 3/200/20, Short Course which is 1.5/100/10 and Sprint which is 750/50/5.
I originally signed up for the Short Course, the same as T but changed my entry to Sprint distance after a forced 8weeks of absence from training in Nov and Dec last year! I just started back training on Jan 9th and with some injury issues in the past my coach thought it was wise to just do the Sprint distance. I was a little bumped out at first because one of the main reasons for us going there was to get to bike on the Yas Marina F1 racing circuit and the Sprint Bike does not go all the way there so I wouldn't get to bike there!
But in the end this turned out to be the best decision especially as my working schedule changed and I got sent to Spain and Canary Islands for 8 days from Feb 14th to Feb 21st which was supposed to be my heaviest training week. In Spain I was not able to swim and of course did not have my bike which made training quite challenging but I still managed and it was nice to soak up some sun before leaving on vacation!
We flew from Iceland to Germany on Feb 24th and then spend the weekend at my parents house. We borrowed a bike trainer from a neighbor so we were able to bike during the 3 days there.
My left shoulder started to hurt a bit during the flight out but I didn't think much about it at first and then Once in Germany I hardly slept through the night because I was in really bad pain and I couldn't believe the timing!
Took quite some pain killers over the weekend t make it somehow bearable and was just praying that it would get better again before the competition because at that point I could not even lift my arm halfway up without being in really bad pain!
I tried to get to my Dad's PT on Monday morning but unfortunately he was not available!
On Tuesday we flew from Frankfurt via Doha (Qatar) to Abu Dhabi and landed there late on Tuesday evening.
We had booked a room in the race hotel and already at the airport we met other competitors as they were easily identified by dragging their bikes around. The hotel was just simply awesome and a complete different standard than anything I have ever stayed at ( and I stay at a lot of hotels in my work all 4 stars and better but this was still a whole other world!)
On our first morning we had breakfast next to Rasmus Henning and saw a lot of other Pros as well! This was really cool!
Wednesday went into putting the bikes together and getting our race package and I also got some numbers for some physical therapists in Abu Dhabi as the shoulder was not really good yet and I was getting a little worried with just 3 days to the competition! After then we went for a quick bike ride out in Abu Dhabi. We got warned by some locals that biking in Abu Dhabi is absolutely crazy and that drivers will not expect us and also not be considerate to us at all. Not a nice thought while we started biking especially as this was my first ride outside in about 5 months!! And crazy it was! I was pretty much scared the entire time and on the way back we were lucky and found a bike path on the other side! Not the best to bike on but a lot safer!!!
After the bike I went to see one of the PTs that I contacted and she quickly diagnosed my with inflammation in the rotator cuff! Not good! She said she could not really help me much as this needed something heavier like a cortisone shot to make it better! She had a friend who was a PT and allowed to give shots and she managed to get me an appointment with him the next morning but he already said on the phone he would not give me a cortisone shot just 2 days before the race!
Thursday morning I started with going to that PT and he did some pressure point massage which hurt like hell and then gave me an anti-inflammatory shot which should help me get through the swim somehow! He also told me to keep moving the shoulder rather than resting it and told me to swim a bit that day which I did when I got back to the hotel. Swam in the ocean by the hotel without the wetsuit, just for 10 min and that was quite painful.
Then I went running in the early afternoon when it was hottest outside to get used to the heat a bit more.
In the evening we went to the race briefing and pasta party at the Hilton Beach Club which was probably one of the nicest and fanciest pasta parties we have ever experienced!
Friday morning, the day before the race, we went to a scheduled swim practise session at the beach where the race would be held and swam the race course. I was in wetsuit by then and the shoulder was slightly better but still not really good. After some breakfast at the hotel I went for my scheduled bike-run brick in the heat. That day was the hottest and it went up to about 32C/90F! Rest of the way was packing our stuff and then checking in the bike and transition bags in the later afternoon!
Race morning I got up with Torben at 5:30am and we had some breakfast. He was scheduled to start at 7:40am and I at 9:15am meaning I had about 1,5 hours after his start which was not such a good thought...
The race actually started 30min late which made it even longer. After Torben started and I took some pictures of him at the swim start and in T1 I finally got my stuff all ready and then realised at 9am that I was quite hungry (no wonder as it had been 3,5 hours since breakfast) and I had some my GU chomps which was the only nutrition I brought.
And then finally it was my turn to start! :)