| Dan Robert's reports on his Geelong 70.3 race |
| Written by Daniel Roberts |
| Tuesday, 09 February 2010 16:06 |
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My Geelong race morning began with the alarm at 4:45am, however the nervous rush that normally comes over me the morning of a goal race was not there. I could only put this down to the fact that I felt well prepared and my body was feeling good.Pre Race - going through transition to set up my station was a blur and quick as the announcements were continuously saying that the race start was only 35 minutes away. On the Start Line - Entering the water with Dee and Dwayne, my goal was to stay with Dwayne as long as possible. The gun went and for what I was about to experience as the roughest swim I have ever done. Keeping Dwayne (The Fish) Hogan in sight there were times when we were almost swimming on top of each other in the middle of a tight bunch. This went on until we hit the first turn buoy and changed direction swimming parallel with the beach. In the heavy commotion of arms and legs, yelling and near drowning, I lost the “Fish” and went on to swim the rest of the course trying to minimize the pummeling going on. Exiting the swim, the short run up the sand and into the transition area felt really good, with my legs not feeling any early fatigue from not being used overly much in the swim. Finding my bike fast was a welcomed relief after the issues I finding it in the Shepparton Half Ironman late last year. This good feeling however was short lived. As I was running out of T1 I noticed my aero drink bottle was loose and not looking secure. While still trying to move forward I was attempting to fix it as another athlete, in the rush to get out on the course, hit my back wheel which turned my front wheel and knocked my bike to the ground. As the bike fell I hit my right shin into the chain wheel and cut some serious gouges in my leg that I was unaware of till after the race was over. At that moment my adrenaline was running and I was focused on getting the drink bottle in order and starting my ride. Heading up the hill and through the gardens I remembered them to be exactly as they were, rough and narrow. Then out onto the road I quickly found a familiar rhythm and set about trying to take back some time from those faster swimmers now in front of me on the bike. I could see Dee up the road. She was looking strong, and with some encouraging words exchanged and a quick drink, I worked hard to bridge another gap to a group of riders who obviously did not understand this race to be a non drafting event. At this stage I was feeling strong and was not yet digging too deep. After leaving the drafters behind and catching up to Dwayne and Ross, I set a goal of keeping to about 40-43km/ph. This was successful for the majority of the first lap through which I had only to for the hill half way around then ramping it up again at the top.While I do not like having a whine about drafting, preferring instead to put the time and energy into my race, there were times where managing to ride to non-drafting rules did get stressful. On several occasions I had the feeling keeping the legal distance between myself and the racer in front was going to derail the rhythm that I was working hard to maintain. While there seemed to be one guy after the other, usually on a road bike, ride past like he was in a sprint to the line, only to sit up right in the gap I had left. There his fitness caught up with him and slowed him way down leaving me in turn to pick up the pace again and ride past him and often the rider in front of him to avoid blocking. This went on for another lap, with the pleasing thing being that I was still riding within a range that kept me below pain threshold. This along with the fact that I was holding a serious average significantly above my normal speed was encouraging and helped me to believe that I was in for a good race. It was only at 5km to go on the last lap that I started to hurt a lot and I started to slow slightly.Into T2 my legs felt OK as I ran to rack my bike, a steady transition saw me onto the run course looking for a new rhythm. This however didn’t come for some time; the first lap of 7km was painful. I felt like I was not moving much more than a shuffle and to top all, my right foot started to get really sore along with my Achilles. Eventually my right foot went completely numb. This, I was to find out at the end, was due to the gouges I had in my leg from the incident at T1. It was only on the second lap coming through the aid station near the boat ramp that I was passed by two guys in my age group that were moving along fast. I automatically said to myself “This is not going to happen!” and I put the hammer down to stay with them. Soon I was thinking, “This is going to blow me to pieces and I am going to end up walking the last 14km”. But behind this I found confidence that all the work with my coach Eric (Cadence) Hanssen would help me set a rhythm and focus on working each lap at a time. In the end hanging onto these two age groupers helped me run into a good pace, I found my running legs and was soon put time into them. Heading into the compound area down the hill there were Luke Whitmore, Tarryn Whitmore, Eric Hanssen, Paul Attard and Dan Peters along with others (apologies if i have missed anyone) giving me the best encouragement. It was like I had just been handed a second pair of legs. This feeling from experience only lasts until you run out of sight and then it feels like someone has suddenly removed every working muscle in your legs. While could still hear Eric yell out “Catch the guy in front of you! Now is the time! PUSH! PUSH! PUSH!” I just went for it. Coming down the hill to turn past transition I really dug deep to pass the guy in front and kept right on going as I new that it was not long until I passed my other group of supporters; my family who I had heard cheering all day and my girlfriend Kiera who was full of encouragement every time I saw her. Together they gave me the energy I needed to pass an old friend of mine who seemed to have the whole Tribal Club cheering for him. As I reached the corner that would give us both the finishing straight, I had put about ten seconds into him. I crossed the finish line in a time of 4 hours 34 minutes, a personal best by almost 15 minutes. Later in the day I was very pleased to learn I had secured a slot to race at the Half Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Florida.My special thanks go to all the athletes that DTR Management represents. You inspire me everyday to be better and faster, to Eric Hanssen whose training program and encouragement since my return from injury has gone along way to helping me achieve this goal, to my Family, Mum, Dan, to Matt and Luke for their tireless support and encouragement, and to my Girlfriend Kiera Ballis for putting up with the endless hours I spent training outside of work, my consistent need for early nights and good food, I owe a lot of this to you. Thank you and looking forward to the experience that will be IRONMAN 70.3 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Dan Roberts - DTR Sports Management |
