Rebekah Keat's Blog

TWO HALF’IRONMANS IN A WEEK OUCH!

Going  into the race I knew it would be tough,and a big ask to have my body repeat last weeks effort!
Yes that may sound a little crazy,but not to me! I did race two Half Ironman’s in one week Challenge France last weekend and Challenge Kraichgau Germany Sunday!
Let me tell you it was a task I thought I may find challenging, but at the same time with Brett’s guidance I was also confident. Firstly  I was sure I would have no problem recovering and secondly that I could do the repeat, and be just as strong in the second race!
So our plan went really well I had a solid swim,but again made the mistake of starting the opposite side to ‘the pro males’ ‘Macca’ and the likes.I stayed away too scared to think what they would be thinking”why is Bek behind us?? ” and afraid of getting punched.
This probobly cost me the lead pack as Brett will no doubt agree,so next time maybe I will try to play footsies with Macca as Lucie does so well at this..any tips Luce?
During the swim I was trying so hard to drop two people sitting beside me,but I just couldnt get rid of them.I excited the water realising it was James and Keegan and also Lilsbeth was there so we all came out together,then I didnt mind so much haha!
Onto my Cervelo,my baby, and I felt strong right from the start and continued to push through-out and hold off the lead age group/pro mens pack which inc fellow team mate Keegan until the 75km mark…when they went by me!
I was so excited to finally be leading on the bike,with head down and bum up i forgot to drink and was severly reminded when I jumped off the bike to try and run!
 ….My legs jsut didnt want to go,my head was saying ‘fricken run” but the legs needed some hydration which i managed to get in by the second lap and started to feel half decent.
I passed Lilly around the same point each lap,she was running great and looking amazing, and had taken over second place with a huge lead, I was really happy for her!
So my run was a little bit of a struggle for me, which is unusual  as this is usually my strong point,but you live and learn!
I was happy overall with my race and ofcourse my secong win in a week!
The event was extremely well run and the Pro and age group athletes were treated like royalty!
The atmosphere was fantastic with the end of the race I even managed a can can with Thomas Helreigels brother Steffen who is the race director!The mercurycontinued to rise and temperatures hit 30 degrees,but the tunes continued pupming at the finish with hundreds of spectators gathering to take in the highs of a great day…awesome atmosphere that ‘s what i love about this sport!
Personal thanks to Doc for giving me the confidence in myself to ‘backup’, and his athletes performances over the weekend were two 1sts, three 2nd’s, a 3rd a 4th and a 5th in international events…not too shabby???
 Next up is another awesome event, a Challenge race of-course, Roth Challenge in 4 weeks.    Between now and then we are going to be putting in some really big weeks and very tough sessions, but I know it will all be worthwhile!

Me flying high                   Macca was aprehensive!                            

My first ever Challenge race was Quelle Challenge Roth last year,it was such an awesome event !

I knew I would have to try and get to some of the Half Ironman events also,so I competed in Challenge  France Half Ironman on Sunday!

 The womens field was quiet strong with the French Duathlon Champion, New Zealand National Champion Gina Fergusson and my very own team mate Lucie Zelenkova!

The swim was in chilly 16 degreee water, so I opted for no warm up swim, so that I stayed warm.I was not so sure it was such a good idea as the initial shock of the cold water was bone chilling!

After an average swim start, mainly because I felt like an iceberg, I found myself on some fast feet at the back of the front pack!

  I soon realised it was my team mate James Cunnama who’s feet I had,shoot I hope he is having a good day i thought as I would usually swim a little faster in the pool!

Thankyou James you did have a great day(4th behind Macca and sub 4hours),we exited only around 2 mins behind the leaders in Chris Macca and Lucie Z who had quite easily managed to tap on the back of  the world champion(great job Luce)!

Out of the warmth of my Blue seventy and onto the Cervelo tt machine, I spent the first 30 km trying to warm up,knowing it always takes me at least 30 minutes to feel good and my legs to get some warmth in them!

 I settled into a good groove not sure exactly of where I was placed , but I knew I was top 5 female.

A time check thanks to Felix ”2 mins down” at about 40km,I knew I was holding Lucie and Gina and I had to try to decrease the defecit to get me in a good position for the run.

 I didnt want to be too much further down,as I knew Gina was a great runner and Lucie had run 1.24 for her last race! So I had my work cut out for me and knew I was in for a very fast run if I was to win this!

I jumped off my P3 and slid on my Bolts,  and that is by name is by nature wow I felt like I was literally bolting and I needed to as  i heard the time check  …”still about 2 mins down” !

Doc had told me go out solid and negitive split the run,so I tried not to push too hard for the 1st of a 2 lap run as to really bring it home on the 2nd!

The run literally went uphill for 5km and down for 5km, so it was murder on the first half and heaven on the second,the course was almost an exact version of the run loop we have here in Leysin which was definatly an advantage!  

After only about 2km I passed Gina quite quickly and thought,uh oh maybe i am going too fast,but my competitive nature took over ,as it does and I just kept pushing.

By the 6km mark i had pulled in my team mate Luce who was leading the race, I was feeling better and better so I pushed the whole run and managed to come home with a win by about 7 minutes.

Thankyou to Guy for an awesome event a great course and an extra ordinary presentation,which involved me being flown above the crowd by a crane(see picture), and dumped into the stage area to get my trophy…it was awesome!