30 June 09: Bonus Race in Belgium

On Sunday I had a little week-after-ironman bonus race at the ITU Long Distance Series race–which means double-olympic distance– in Brasschaat, Belgium. Long story short, let’s just say I prefer to race an ironman the week after an ironman;  because, first,  to be honest, I have a little bit of difficulty getting excited about non-iron-distance races, and second, because, well, it turns out that shuffling through a marathon at ironman pace is one thing, but running 20km at half-ironman pace is another thing entirely . . .

Still it was great fun to mix it up with some girls that I don’t often get a chance to race with, like Charlotte Kolters (2nd at the ITU Long Distance Worlds last year) and Nina Kraft (many-time Ironman champ). I had an average swim but quickly made up for it on the bike, and enjoyed being able to just smash myself from start to finish and feel like I had the power to keep pace with anyone who came by. I haven’t done a race this flat–dead flat–for a long time. The only problem was that it was Belgium, and those who have watched Belgian cycling races on TV will know what I am talking about when I say that there were a whole lot of turns onto little roads and blind corners. And those who have ridden with me can imagine that I lost a bit of time on those. I did the best I could on a technical course and am generally really happy that my cycling legs seems to be a permanent fixture in my life right now–perhaps not a coincidence with the German Cycling Machine also being a permanent fixture . . .

The good news is that my running legs managed not to escape from my T2 bag while I was on the bike. Despite the fact that I had done everything I could to bury myself on the bike from the word go–because that’s what you do when it’s less than iron-distance–I put on my K-Swiss and started running on legs that felt fresh. I did the first 5 kilometers in 21 minutes, which is about right for my non-speedster self  for a half-ironman-type pace. The bad news is that at that point, my run legs decided to have a rest on the side of the road while watching me pay the price for this silly little stunt I had requested of them for three more laps . . . Like I said, I have never asked anything above-ironman-pace of my legs one week post-ironman and now I see what sort of capacity they have for it: approximately five kilometers. I spent a very painful last 15 kilometers reminding myself that this was my first proper training day for Ironman Lake Placid (July 26)–or more accurately, the Ironman Lake Placid-UK double!

I ended up finishing sixth, which earned me $700EURO, or the most anyone has ever paid me to do a half-ironman-ish distance (Now you see why I stick to the long stuff!).

It is Tuesday now and I have a voucher to cash in. More on that tomorrow!

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