Preparation
The week before this race an old calf injury popped up again. On Tuesday before the race I visited my physio and after doing some exercises and checks he gave me the green light to do the race.
Goals for this race were to save the legs on the bike (as far as possible on this hilly course!) to be able to first of all complete the bike and then to have a decent run:
- Swim: under 32min
- Bike: keep the power numbers in check, on the flats not over 250W and on the climbs not to far over 300W
- Run: heart rate based around 140 bpm
Location
Start, T1/T2 and finish line are all located at "Les Lacs de l'Eau d'Heure" a lake close to Cerfontaine, south of Charleroi in Belgium.
Stay
As the race venue wasn't to far away and there was no need to leave the bike the day before the race, we didn't opt to stay close to the venue and just made the trip on race morning.
Note: DNF so no official timings available for me for this race.
Swim 0:32:32
- One loop mass beach start swim, last year I got beat up on the frist few hundred meters of the swim, so I opted to start near the side this time to avoid the washing machine.
- Still pretty crowded until the first turning buoy, but nothing as nasty as last year. After that I had open water most of the time. From around half way I was swimming side by side with another athlete. I decided to just keep my pace instead of dropping onto his feet, as I didn't feel gassed. Guess he felt the same so we kept on swimming side by side all the way till the swim exit. Exiting the swim he gave me a fist bump so that was a nice comradery.
- 1:42/100m pace and almost 3 minutes slower than last year, so probably took it a little to easy this time around (2023: 0:29:47)
T1
- Painful transition zone due to the rough tarmac, besides some slight cramping in my hamstrings a smooth transition.
Bike 2:45:26
- 2 laps of 46k each, very rolling terrain, barely any flat, exact same course as last year so I was familiar with it.
- Didn't fell strong during any point in the race, felt like I was fading away pretty bad in the second lap, but the charts afterwards don't really support this. Heart rate, power and cadence seem to have remained rather steady over the entire ride, just way to low overall.
- After around 1 hour into the ride I already started to feel very uncomfortable in the aero position, my gut not being happy at all. I tried to sit up from time to time to lower the pressure on my intestines but it didn't help to much.
- Over 10 minutes slower than last year on exactly the same course and similar weather conditions. 861 meters of elevation, 33.3 km/h average, 226W NP, significant lower power output and average speed compared to last year:
- 2023: 2:32:46, 251W NP, 36.0 km/h avg,
T2
- From the moment I jumped of the bike I knew I was in trouble as my intestines hurt pretty bad. I walked my bike through T2 as running hurt to much. Put on my running shoes and entered a porta potty in the hope visiting the toilet would bring me some relieve.
Run
- 3 laps of 7k, very rolling the first half of the lap.
- But it didn't help at all, after I don't know how much time on the toilet I tried jogging out of T2. I could barely run a few hundred meters before I had to stop because my intestines were just hurting to much. Grabbed some coke in the first aid station hoping that would bring me some relieve but no luck as it wasn't a stomach but an intestines issue. I was hoping it would get better over time, but the entire lap I could barely jog a few hundred meters before I had to stop because of the pain. It didn't get any better over the entire lap (7k in 47') so I decided to DNF at the end of the first lap.
Overall - DNF
- The entire day felt like a waste of time with a horrible weak bike and a painful attempt to run.
Some lessons learned
- Not sure if switching from one gel every 45' to one every 30' was a part of the problem, but try it out on training before trying it again.
- Last year I had a similar problem in this race, although back then I think it was rather my stomach, as it got better after drinking coke and this time it seemed to be rather my intestines. Maybe driving up to the race, which is almost a 2 hour drive isn't to great to do it on race morning and is part of the cause as well.
- Don't eat an oatmeal sports bar the morning of the race, possibly it was part of the problem as well
Result
- Run 0:32:32
- T1
- Bike 2:45:26
- T2
- Run
- Total DNF
Tags: OpenLakes 70.3 race report, race report OpenLakes 70.3
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