My good friend Jenny had recommended The Lisboa Triathlon to me after she narrowly missed out on the title last year (beaten only by an Olympian!) It makes for a fantastic day of racing with a Kids Event, a 70.3 Half-Ironman and an Olympic Plus - which is the event Chris, Jacqui, Mark and I opted for. Otherwise known as 'The Battle of The Sexes' the women receive a headstart from the men and it's the first 3 across the line, regardless of gender, that take the glory. It has never been won by a woman before and it was our chance to give the guys a run for their money (although we did not quite realise how much money.....more about that later!)
Whilst my last race at the European Duathlon had gone really well, I had pretty much had 4 weeks of no training thanks to tonsilitis without the tonsils (yep, apparently it can happen!). 56 antibiotics and 4 boxes of strepsils later I did a few tentative sessions in the few days before we flew out to Portugal which were quite frankly, hideous! I couldn't even run around the block without walking. I also realised I was a whopping 4kg over race weight. Fortunately in Women's Health Magazine it had an article on how to shed that extra 4kg (although it did not recommend doing it over 4 days!) Ah well, it was a chance for sun, sea and sand and if I couldn't race, what better place to spectate!
My excuse for being a little on the heavy side
We stayed in the VIP Arts Hotel, which was also acting as the Race Hotel and had a great time wondering the streets of Lisbon taking in the culture. We had a day to build our bikes, suss out the swim and acclimatise to the heat (something I am not very good at - my perfect weather conditions for a race are more along the lines of a wet and windy Bala!). The race itself was very well thought out and the organisers even offered a race briefing the day before and a Pasta Party. With athletes flying in from Canada, Brazil, Morocco, Finland, Mozambique, it really was an international triathlon at it's best!
Race Day came and I was surprisingly calm. I was so calm I actually forgot I was racing. I popped a couple of strepsils for breakfast and then spent the morning laughing with Jacqui who couldn't get out the lift quick enough with her bike and ended up yo-yo-ing between floors for most of the morning before she could make her exit! (When you laugh this hard you probably don't need to do sit ups for a week!)
With a simple transition check in (and some rather posh name labels) it wasn't long before we were good to go! The swim was a deep water start and the women gathered between the buoys all eager to go. The hooter sounded and we were off. How exciting! I had a good start and after a while realised there was no-one with me. WOW! I was out in the lead on my own! The TV crew on their boat pulled up along side me and seemed to be zooming in with their cameras so I tried to give them a wave but this is harder than I thought and after two attempts I went back to swimming normally! Back on land Chris and Mark were watching, waiting for the men's start. They later told me how they could see one girl streaks ahead on the swim who was "fantastic" - you can imagine my delight when I told them that the lead swimmer out in front was me! The swim felt effortless and as I got out the water to run up the ramp I had a cheeky look back to see the gap (it was over a minute to the first pack, and just shy of 2 minutes to the next). The crowd went absolutely wild, banging railings and pans and cheering. I felt like a celebrity!
Out in first! You can just see the next swimmer coming round the last yellow buoy
A quick T2 and off I went over the cobbles to start the bike section. It was during this time that I thought "this race is amazing!" Firstly I had the lead motorbike next to me. Secondly I had another motorbike that was like the papparazzi snapping away! And thirdly the bike leg was on a freeway completely closed to traffic in Lisbon City Centre on a Saturday afternoon! Things like this just don't happen in the UK! A quarter of the way through the bike when I made a 180 turn was the first chance I had to see how far behind everyone else was. As I came whizzing back the first person I saw was Jacqui! I gave her a huge cheer as she worked up the climb to the turnaround point. Then all I saw was tarmac, tarmac and more tarmac. Our lead was huge! A little later on when the men came into view I nearly fell off my bike when Mark cheered for me as he went zooming past the other way. Onto lap 2 and the bike was still going well. I didn't have the power or the edge that I would have liked but given how ill I have been I was pleased to just maintain a constant speed and take confidence that when training starts, the speed will come.
Despite having the lead motorbike I still managed to go wrong on the bike twice!! The first time I didn't mind too much as I just had to turn around quickly and get going again in the right direction but the second time was when I had completed the bike section (2 laps for the Olympic Plus) they turned my bike to send me on a third lap (as the 70.3 athletes had to complete 4 laps!) After a quick bit of panic and confusion they then let me go again but with my feet already out of my bike shoes and a bumpy cobbled path it was tough to get going again for the final 150m stretch! Back into transition there were more huge cheers and waiting for my arrival was the marshal on his bike who would be leading the way for the first runner.
Posing with the marshal who lead the way for the first runner
So the run. Ah, the run. The definition of a run is to "move at a speed faster than a walk, never having both or all the feet on the ground at the same time." With that in mind I think it is safer to call mine a bum shuffle!! It was not my finest hour!!! Gone were my legs that raced a sub 19 min 5k 4 weeks ago. This was quite simply, a case of survival. The run was made up of many dog legs so plenty of opportunities to see the other athletes. It was great to see that Jacqui was still in second and I knew she would catch me, it was just a case of when. I probably only held on for about 2k until she trotted past and I shouted "Go Love! Run like the wind! Do it for the girls!" (at least that's what it sounded like in my head - It was probably more of a grunt accompanied with some flying snot in reality!) I spent most of the run thinking I could be on the beach with a pina colada (or two!) and wanted this agony to be over. Towards the end of the first lap I thought I better start getting my brain into gear as there was still no sign of the third lady or the leading man. When the men did come into sight we still had a huge lead and Mark again cheered (he had way too much energy!) "Hold onto that podium Sami!" Being an Olympic Plus, the bike and run sections were longer than that of a normal Olympic Distance and I really felt it with every metre extra!
Tired is an understatement!
Eventually the finish came into sight. I knew Jacqui would be waiting for me so the first thing I did as I came into the finishing shoot was give her a huge wave (before collapsing into a heap in some shade!). Less than 60 seconds later, the first man (Dave from GBR) came in to complete the podium - I was so lucky to hold on for second after his fast finish! What an event! We didn't have to wait long before Chris finished in 10th place (recording the fastest bike split by some 3 minutes!) and I'm pleased to say I finally got my breath back to re-pay the cheers as Mark crossed the line with a huge smile on his face!
On the Podium! Girl Power! Huge congrats to Jacqui & Dave
We wanted to stay to watch the 70.3 event but unfortunately we had to check out of our hotel as we were off for part 2 of the holiday over in a beach resort so had to dash off after our podium shots. As I was packing I was keeping an eye on the News Feed for the PRO women as I knew Alice Hector who was racing. The feeds mentionned a French and a Portugese girl but no sign of Alice until eventually they commented "Apologies to those who are following but it seems #16 is the current female leader (and has been all day until now)." It seems the organisers didn't know who she was.....well they do now! Hot on the heels of winning the Israman, Alice came home to win the Lisboa 70.3 title which was a fantastic result and it's great to follow her successes. (You can read more about her race here).
Post race celebrations
For the last few days of the holiday we went over to Costa de Caparica which was a lovely little place by the beach. I finally got my Pina Colada and we reminisced about the events of the last few days. We popped into the Old Town of Lisbon to absorb some culture and take as many photos as humanly possible! It wasn't until one evening when browsing the race results that we saw that the winner of the Battle of the Sexes Race won a whopping €750!!! WOW! You have never seen someone reach for the phone so quick so that we could contact the race organiser to arrange for Jacqui to collect her prize money and for me to collect my trophy! Jac and I are not elite athletes, and are not accustomed to winning money, so you can imagine my delight when Jacqui shared her winnings with me.....which was completely unexpected and the thought of a shopping trip to Lisbon that evening to shop like we have never shopped before made me burst into tears! What a lucky girl I am (Thank you Jacqui!! xx)
Lisbon
So I'd like to thank Jenny for recommending the race. I'd also like to thank my usual support crew and sponsors; we had a fantastic time. I'd like to also say a massive well done to Jacqui, the photos of her finishing lifting the banner are amazing and an experience I hope she will cherish always. You'll be able to read about Jac's race here. A big well done also to Chris, finishing in the top 10 at his first ever open water triathlon is amazing (& without the headstart I wouldn't have beaten him!) And finally a big well done to Mark, who doesn't always get to race all that much as he's too busy looking after us, so well done to him on his first tri of the season too! Unfortunately I'm not out of the woodwork yet in terms of being healthy, but I'm hoping that one event soon I'll actually be able to race at 100%!
My final thought of the blog: If you are looking for something new, or something different, I would highly recommend this event. Whatever level of ability, there is something here for everyone. It's easy to get to, cheap to enter, extremely well organised and the race venue and course is just fantastic. The 10th edition of this race takes place on 2nd May 2015 and race entries are already open. Why not give it a try?
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