I had a personal disaster in Roth.
Bizarre injury getting out of a lake on the Wednesday before the race. It looked someone had taken a double Stanley knife to the bottom of my foot and it hurt like hell - freshwater barnacles WTF!!! Needless to say I was in pain and limping like a gimp all the way up to race day. Lets put it this way I would have pulled out of the race if I'd been back in England.
To the race,
I was feeling good in myself and in top form fitness wise. Personal Bests in training for the swim and bike in the lead in and 6 months of injury free running 5 days a week for 6 months.
I set off in the Elite AGers wave and was going pretty well when after 400m bang hamstring cramp in my right leg (suspicously the dodgy leg!). Lost the draft and feathered the swim from there on in trying to prevent the cramping. Got out of the swim thinking oh well at least 60mins at worst - 68mins on the watch WTF!!! Now I know something is seriously wrong. Put it to the back of my mind as its a long day and I can bring it back with a fast bike.
Wrong - on to the bike and the hamstring wasn't the problem now. I immediately had a painful back spasm down my right side (the dodgy leg side! Mmmmmmmm). This was so painful I swear a tear formed - a very small one obviously but a tear all the same. I would have pulled to side of the road and bailed after 10miles but this was a AAA race after all so I took a large dose of HTFU and kept going. After 30miles I knew this had been a bad move but the bike course is a difficult one to drop out from as it has split transitions and its not obvious how to drop out unless you just want to sit there for hours plus I wanted to go up the Solar Berg at least once. The pain was so great that my HR was in the 160s (IM pace is 120bpm for me), my RPE was through the roof but my actual power was deep in zone 1 ie no effort at all normally. Again WFT!!! Now the hamstring and the back had gone I couldn't put any power down or get in to aero position at all. In fact even sitting up hurt as well. Only getting out of the saddle gave any relief. To cut a long story short. I finished the bike (5:50hrs terrible but at least I know what no effort and agony means timewise now) and managed to prevent myself from blubbing for both physical and psychological reasons.
There was no way I could of run a step without causing a serious injury.
However, the race has caused quite a lot of reflection both good and bad and I really don't know if I want to do IM Wales now. Do I need/want a coach anymore etc.
One thing I do know is that I love training and I do love all 3 sports (well maybe not swimming that much at the moment). I saw a good quote the other day and I will leave with that...
“Commitment is doing what you said you were going to do, long after the mood you said it in has left you."
Neilly G
No, that's the definition of madness along with doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
ReplyDeleteSad for you that you were unable to realise your goal at Roth.
I'm loving not racing, and truly enjoy just exercising when I feel like it and in a manner I know isn't hurting my long term health. But I know everyone's different.
Just because Einstein said it doesn't mean he was right in the context of endurance. He was a Physicist after all! None of those geeks have any common sense. I'm a Chemist I know. On a serious note the commitment quote isn't saying that.
ReplyDeleteSorry it didn't go to plan Neill. I was monitoring your progress on the web and it was apparent that all was not good.
ReplyDeleteLook forward, recover and then decide what you want to do in the future. I quite liked your final quote although there has to be a sub=text about being big enough to change the plan!
All the best
Thanks Mick.
ReplyDeleteI think the main thing is there was there nothing wrong with the plan. My fitness was tiptop. I was just very unlucky. That's why the Einstein quote is bollox in this context. Now if same thing were to happen a couple more times, I wouldn't just be unlucky any more and Einstein comes in to play.
Hope your knee's feeling better.
Mate, gutted for you, likewise was following online and could see all was not well.
ReplyDeletelooks like i am going to have a similar race report in a week or so.
Thanks Roy.
ReplyDelete