Emma-Kate Lidbury Blog: Antwerp 70.3
Triathlon does a lot of things for a lot of people, me included. It’s taught me how to hurt, suffer, be strong, let go and laugh at myself. I’ve learnt when to shut up, put up, push harder, eat more, eat less, drink more, drink less, be selfish, be selfless, be a friend and be a fighter. It’s also given me some totally ridiculous gifts, of which few will come in handy in other walks of life. The most recent (courtesy of Antwerp 70.3 at the weekend) are:
1. Learning to moonwalk down the stairs (going down ‘normally’/facing forwards hurts my legs too much. DOMS Or delayed onset muscle soreness really does suck!)
2. Learning to drain blisters. I’ve now perfected the ‘double drainer’ thanks to too much spare time on the ferry and too many safety pins. Yuk. Sounds gross…and it is.
3. Bursting blood blisters. I watched in amazement as blood catapulted across my living room after I’d ever so gently stuck a safety pin under my black toenail (it wasn’t black before the race I hasten to add!). Wish I’d got it on video, the YouTube hits would have been out of this world!
4. That’s enough, I think I’m embarrassing myself…
So, as you can tell, Antwerp was an adventure. For me, it was Half Ironman #2. Would I love it as much as last year? Would I do as well, go faster, race harder? The answer to those questions is yes, yes, yes and yes. I had a great swim, I really felt strong in the water. I’ve had a few swims this year when I’ve just felt completely empty – Windsor was probably the worst – but on Sunday I was just all there. Once out on the bike, I was surprised at how long it took me to get into a rhythm but after 30 mins of sticking at it I was going well. I’ve mostly been training on my own this season and nearly always listen to an iPod on the bike so the first thing I noticed was the silence. No music, just me, myself and I. Oh, and the wind and rain. Cheers Antwerp. Rough weather aside, I was chuffed to feel so strong from 50k-90k. Last year, it was totally the other way around. And the run? Well, that was always going to be a trip into the unknown…
I’d not run much through the winter and spring because of plantar fasciitis but was hopeful that high bike volume would help see me through. The run at Antwerp is three 7km loops through the city centre. It’s torture at times as you run past bars where people are sitting enjoying a lazy Sunday lunch, eating great smelling food, quaffing wine and sipping their Leffe (my fave Belgian beer). It takes all my sports psych skills to focus back in on the race once I see someone sitting there guzzling a Leffe. Or worse still a cherry beer. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm….Anyway, yes, three loops, eyes off the beer. Lap one was the usual jelly legs and constant positive self-talk. Lap two I felt awesome and thought I might be on for a sub-1:25 run split. Lap three…good God, it felt like someone had poured Leffe into my legs, followed by 10 tonnes of concrete. I think the lack of run conditioning came to bite me on the backside in the last 5-7km, but given my run mileage this year I can’t be disappointed with it. Unfortunately on this lap I dropped from 4th to 5th pro chick, but hung in there to clock a finish time of 4:16, six minutes quicker than last year. Happy days. Now it’s back to moonwalking until the DOMS subsides…
Happy training & racing
EK