Lisa Bentley 11x IRONMAN Champion
St. Croix 70.3 Update
Hello from Caledon...
I have been racing in St.Croix for over 10 years. This race is tough and that is why I came back to race it in 2009! Now, with 2 months of consistent running under my belt, I figured that even if I was not at full speed yet, I was at least fit enough to battle this hot, windy, hilly race which favours the experienced, strong and ‘never give up’ kind of athlete. I figured that that was me and so I booked the trip. What I may lose in speed, I would make up in perseverance!
The plan was to arrive on Thursday so that I could get settled with the course and not have to rush like I did in New Orleans. But, a delay in Miami caused 32 passengers, including myself, to miss our flight from San Juan to St. Croix. The two other flights to St. Croix were oversold and so we had to overnight in San Juan and wait until 8 a.m. to fly for 28 minutes to St. Croix. Dave took control of the situation and found a beach for us to swim. Our little Canadian triathlon contingent of Tyler Lord, Ayesha Rollinson, Jen Coombs’ sister Stephanie (Jen took the direct flight and made it all the way) and I made the best of San Juan.
On Friday we arrived in tact at 9 a.m. and made our way to the group swim at the Harbour. I did a little run, got groceries and then took my bike for a spin. It wasn’t shifting properly despite the fact that it was shifting perfectly before I left. Travel is so hard on our equipment. I could not source out a bike mechanic at this stage since the evening pre race celebration called “Jump Up’ was underway but I was all set to meet a mechanic at 8 a.m. on Saturday.
Saturday, I woke up anxious to get my bike working. He fixed the problem and I went for a ride. Yes, the original problem was fixed but now my chain was dropping right off when I was in my easiest gear – a gear that I desperately needed in order to get up the biggest climb in triathlon known as “The Beast”. It is a 600 ft climb that varies from 14% to 21% grades. Yes, I desperately needed my chain to stick in my 39-23 gear. We returned to the bike mechanic and he found that my SRM cable was broken and he figured that was the problem. So we removed my SRM and he test rode my bike and said it was fine. I still wasn’t convinced but I could not ride up and down hills all day testing it out or I would be too tired for the race. Dave tested it up some hills and I felt pretty confident that it would be fine.
Race day began for me Saturday night when I went to bed since once again, I was too excited to sleep. I just laid there all night waiting for my 4:20 a.m. alarm. It finally rang and off we went to transition. The swim went off fast and furious as usual. I could see the pack that I wanted to be in – the Jo Lawn (multiple Ironman Champ), Mirinda Carfrae (70.3 World Champ) group - but I was about a body length behind it. I was still getting a draft as I worked hard to bridge that body length. At about halfway, the body length grew and I found myself swimming without that beautiful draft but still within sight of the group. I exited the water about 2-2.5 minutes down on the leaders Joanna Zeiger, Nina Kraft and Jen Coombs and about 30 seconds behind the Jo Lawn pack.
I felt amazing on the bike. I love the hills and I found a nice rhythm early on. I had my electrolyte bottles snugly fit into my cages and extra packs of salt pills so that I would not suffer the same fate of losing my nutrition in New Orleans 70.3. By 6 miles, I had caught a few girls including Jo and Jen. I would sneak away on the climbs and they would catch me back on the descents and flats. But finally, when I got to The Beast, I was able to get away. I love The Beast. It is such a tough climb but I love it. The best thing was that my gears and my chain behaved beautifully and I skipped up the hill gapping Jo, Jen and Tara Norton.
At around 30 miles, I could feel something was weird with my left cycling shoe and pedal. I looked down and saw that my shoe was moving in a different direction from the cleat. I had 40 km left to go with some fairly significant climbs. But I had to preserve my shoe, so I committed to pedalling full circles and staying seated for all hills.
At 39 miles, the leather upper completely separated from the carbon sole and cleat of my cycling shoe. Yes, my shoes are ‘well worn’ – I love them – and never want to change them. Yes, I am working in a new pair of Louis Garneau cycling shoes at home but they were not yet grooved in the way I wanted them so I brought my old tried and true shoes (not LG) to St. Croix. So now, with 17 miles to go, the carbon sole and cleat are attached to my pedal and my foot is in the air!!
My first reaction was to ask for a Power Bar at the next aid station with the idea that I would stick the Power Bar between the sole and the leather and hope that it would bind the two together like glue. So I slowed down at the aid station asking for a Power Bar but they only had Power Gel. So I stopped – yes – 0 km per hour – stopped!! I was having the ride of my life and I stopped. I begged for tape – ‘did anyone have any tape’. A volunteer ran to his car and grabbed some electrical tape. Then, we taped my foot to the carbon sole and to the pedal. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of my shoe because we taped it pretty tight, but it didn’t matter – I just wanted to finish the race. At this stage, I have been stopped for anywhere from 2-4 minutes but none of that mattered. Had this happened going up the Beast, I would have crashed. Had this happened further from an aid station, I would have lost more time. Had this happened in training, I would have worn my LG shoes!!!!
Off I went with the fire in my belly. Now I had been passed by Amanda Lovato and Jo Lawn and so I went hard and rode the last 10 hilly miles in their neighbourhood. I was able to get away a little bit on the last big climb but we essentially got off our bikes together.
Onto the run, I felt like magic. My energy was good and my body felt great. I finally felt like a runner again. I carried my Fuelbelt to ensure that I would stay hydrated and energized. I caught Tara Norton and ran with Amanda for a few miles. She was running so darn well and it was great to key off of each other as we hunted down the other women. I got away from Amanda on a climb and never looked back. I caught a few other women and I was closing hard on Nina Kraft in the last few miles, but I never could make up that last 30 seconds. I finished the race in 5th place but only 1 minute out of 3rd place. Oh yes, the ‘what ifs’ have entered conversation but when my cycling shoe ‘broke’, the only ‘what if’ that mattered was getting to the finish line.
On Saturday before the race, I was interviewed by TSN and they asked if anyone could beat Zeiger and Carfrae. My response was ‘yes’. I said that St. Croix was a crap shoot – there were so many factors on the day that came into play – heat, wind, hills, equipment. I didn’t know that I would be the ‘crap’ part of the ‘shoot’.
The great news is that I had a fabulous race – probably my best executed race ever in St. Croix. I had a terrific swim. I was aggressive and strong on the bike. And I ran faster on this hilly, hot course than on the flat New Orleans run with just 4 more weeks of running. So my fitness is going in the right direction and that makes me excited.
My next race is Florida 70.3 in 12 days. So in the next week and a half, I need to recover, break in some new cycling shoes, get a new SRM cable and a bike tune up and pack my bike like a carton of eggs so that the travel doesn’t hurt my little Cervelo anymore. Oh yes, and get an electrical tape sponsor since this is now part of my race kit!
Lisa Bentley
www.lisabentley.com
