1/20: Life in the Fast Lane... PATCO Championship (La Paz, Argentina) Race Report

La Paz is a quaint Argentine town on the Río Paraná, about 7 hours north of Buenos Aires. My first trip there was in 2007, early in my pro career when the 2008 Olympic dream drove me to race frequently in countless exotic places. Seeking to improve my US ranking, I made the trip alone (flying 11 hours overnight, navigating the streets of downtown Buenos Aires to find the bus station, and then making the road trip through the flat, green farmland of central Argentina known as Las Pampas by 8 hour bus ride). I stayed with la Familia Pérez that year and was so taken with the family, the town, the variety of visitors, amateur racers, and spectators, and the race itself (then in its 23rd year – the most popular triathlon in all of S. America) that I returned in 2010 for another warm welcome. The second trip only strengthened my ties with friends there and cemented my appreciation for the uniqueness and energy of the event. Despite having taken my focus away from Olympic qualification, I chose to go back one final year. This time, I wanted to share it with Brendan, as well as an athlete I’m coaching who’s still new to the ITU scene (Lindsey Jerdonek). My personal objective had nothing to do with ranking points, and everything to do with enjoying the experience. Mission accomplished.

When in 2007 I forgot to transfer my cassette (bike gears) to the race wheel and discovered the blunder upon bleary-eyed arrival, la Señora Pérez accompanied me through the streets of La Paz. Desperately we sought a bike shop that may help. No such luck. But we ran into Daniel, an age grouper from Buenos Aires who had gotten lost during his pre-race ride. With the help of Daniel, my host sister Gabriela, and her boyfriend Juan Manuel (they are heavily involved with race production every year), we managed to locate a bike expert who sold me a cassette that worked. (Later, my sponsor David Greenfield of Elite Bicycles (www.elitebicycles.com) marveled at how he had managed it – somehow Caíno had made a 9-speed cassette work on a 10-speed bike). Daniel and I stayed in touch via email over the years; he even helped me and several other Americans with our travels in 2010. When I was considering going back in 2012, I contacted him to see if he would be there. Though he wasn’t feeling very race-ready after recent injury, he decided to go race and offered not only to pick us up at the airport but to drive us all the way to La Paz himself. So the planning began.

Our travels went smoothly. I didn’t sleep well on the plane, but I had none of my common problems like lost bags, passports dropped in toilets, or missing bikes. We met Daniel at the airport, stopped in at his home in Buenos Aires for a light breakfast, and then took a driving tour of the city. Afterward, we started our journey up to La Paz, arriving there about 9pm on Friday evening. By this point we were exhausted but went through race registration (where I was reunited with Gabriela and Juan Manuel immediately as well as several other Paceños whom I’d met in previous years). Then we attended a pre-race dinner with Daniel (who was celebrating his 54th birthday) and finally he dropped us off at Familia Pérez, which has become my casa en La Paz. Saturday morning Lindsey, Kevin (another American), and I went to swim in the río, accompanied by Nicolás (the wonderful boyfriend of my other Argentine host sister Rocío) and his friend (also Nicolás), who paddled together in a canoe nearby. We wanted to test out the current (strong as usual) and scope out the best way to navigate our 1.5-lap course. Later I refreshed my memory of the 9-lap bike course and enjoyed waves and friendly beeps from people passing by on foot or in cars (some of them recognized me, others just were excited about the triathlon). At one point while Brendan and I were running, a group of young boys started running behind us and alongside for as long as they could, unable to contain their excitement. It was like Rocky. I even heard music.

 

 

We enjoyed a big outdoor lunch Saturday in a restaurant on the town plaza, which positioned us perfectly to see Daniel twice during his race. After the pre race briefing that night, my US teammates and I discussed possibilities for team tactics during the bike, most of my planning under the assumption that I may need to chase to get to the front pack (a customary setup for me in ITU racing). I had another short night of sleep (it seems I wake with the sun, no matter how late I go to sleep – and in La Paz they go to sleep late!!) and felt a few pre-race nerves when I considered the compounded sleep deficit. But our race was not until 2pm. I thought of my swim coach’s words: “it doesn’t matter how you feel, just do what your body knows how to do.”

I did a morning run and had a big breakfast, then packed things for a bit. I had agreed to a noon interview (expecting it to be a short chat with a journalist) and was surprised when my interviewers arrived with video equipment and set up in the home’s interior garden. After 45 minutes we concluded to pose for several photos. Thankfully I had packed most of my race gear beforehand and only had to gather a few things before heading down to transition area, but when I got there I noticed that in my rush, I’d forgotten to bring my swim cap, to pack one last gel, and to save time for a bike warm up. Several others hadn’t brought their caps (many thought they were meant as a souvenir) so the director made a last minute decision that we could wear our own caps. This change was great for spectators – Brendan could identify my green blueseventy cap easily (www.blueseventy.com) and could see most of the swim from the river port! After setting up transition, greeting several other excited Paceños, and doing a short swim warm up, we were lined up to get into three boats that would take us up river to the swim start. Once we arrived there, we wanted to test out the depth of the water at the pontoon but were instructed to line up immediately. Right before it was time to take our start positions (which you pick based on your ranking number), a photographer who’d been wading in the water in front of the pontoon suddenly plunged much deeper – apparently there was a nice drop-off very near where I had chosen a start position. Fortunately he had lifted his arm to keep his camera dry, but it was clearly deep enough, at least at that spot, to dive. We had been instructed to jump in at the sound of the horn, but asked if we would be permitted to dive. The starter agreed. Now a new dilemma: do I dive without knowing the exact depth in front of me, or do I jump, to be safe? I figured everyone else would dive, so at the sound of the horn, I dived as shallow as possible – success!

We were off, swimming out ahead and then left to get into the current down river. Instead of my usual obsession about getting on fast feet and hoping to stay close to the front pack, I concentrated on getting making smart use of the current, sighting well, etc. Lately I have been doing weekly vision therapy sessions with hopes of improving my overall nearsightedness. One measure of the therapy’s success would be how well I could see the buoys and how well I handled tricky bike sections. It must be working -- I had no trouble seeing the buoys and swam a good line. On the way back up river (into the current) I made sure to get as close to the port’s wall as possible (and could see Brendan way up above, looking down at us). At a couple of points the water was so shallow that I couldn’t pull without my hand plunging into the mud, so I popped up to dolphin dive. Well timed, luckily, the dolphin dives helped to re-establish contact with the front pack. I realized with about 500m to go that I was right in the thick of it (this is VERY unusual for me). When I reached the swim exit, I burst up the stairs two at a time to pass a few people as I approached my transition area. I was pretty quick in T1 and was trailing a pack of 5 or so by a few seconds as I mounted and headed up the first hill. Once at the top of the hill I was on the pack, and I caught my Gu dangling from the bike’s top tube (Brendan had questioned whether I had taped it well enough – he was right that I hadn’t). It was earlier than I normally eat my first gel but I took it, got some water, and then started to race.

Almost a year and a half had gone by since my last draft-legal race. I thought it would be fun to sit in the pack and let someone else do the work, but about 30 seconds in, I decided that would be no fun at all. Halfway up the course’s main hill in lap 1, I swung wide and stood up to sprint and get away from the pack, but a savvy rider sitting a couple positions back yelled at the girl leading the pack, who covered my jump. I tried that several more times to no avail, but did the lion’s share of the work pushing the pace up front, with concern that people in pack #2 may have better running legs than mine. We put quite a bit of time on the chasers, but I was growing frustrated at being one of 3 main pullers. After 6 laps, I realized I wasn’t going to get away on my own, and I did allow the 2 other main pullers to do a bit more work to try to rest my legs. But I got to the front whenever I felt the pace was too slow –you’re supposed to go fast in a race. I made sure to be at the front in the u-turns and in the more technical parts of the course, and I definitely made sure to enjoy of leading our pack into T2. The crowd roared and I was first off the bike.

I fumbled through T2 and had trouble getting my shoes on. Need more Bodyglide next time. About 5 or 6 girls got out ahead of me, two Canadians leading the way and surging very fast up ahead. I knew I had not trained to go that fast and did not try. Sometimes you have to go out too hard to maintain contact, but I knew if I went out that hard, I would only have contact for a few seconds before fading anyway. So I ran “my own race” and gradually closed in on several ahead. Eventually Jillian (who ended up finishing second) and I were running shoulder to shoulder and closing in on the girl in 2nd place. I was focusing on keeping my breathing under control as I felt my usual side stitch coming, but when we got close enough to her, I surged ahead to pass hard. Jillian came with me, and we were now in 2nd and 3rd positions with about half a mile to go. We jockeyed for position and on the last corner, Jillian pulled ahead. I sprinted as well, but not hard enough to pass her back – she finished 3 seconds ahead. 2 Americans on the podium!! I was pleasantly surprised at my 3rd place finish – going into the race I would’ve expected something between 4th and 10th. My post-race energy level was also better than expected. I was not exhausted and I wasn’t limping around. My base work and training for longer distances is paying off.

The medal ceremony was a ton of fun (as usual in La Paz) with lots of music, an energetic announcer, and confetti blowing all around us. The crowds lingered for the awards, and after finishing up and collecting my things, we had more photo ops with random townspeople. They really make you feel like a celebrity there!! After a nice walk home and some time spent packing my bike, showering, and having some good talks with Lindsey and Kevin, we got to spend our last evening with our host family. We all enjoyed pizza and empanadas outdoors in the garden – a great time was had by all. I look back at the trip and cannot believe how fast it went by (though the travel part seemed to take forever). My host family kept saying “next time you come…” and it’s hard to believe that there may not be a next time. I haven’t finalized my race schedule for this year, but had intended to make that my last ITU race. (I may change that intention if I qualify for the final Olympic Trials race in San Diego in May). For now, my next race is IM 70.3 Panamá on February 12. It won’t be a similar experience, but I always enjoy racing in Spanish speaking countries. It should be fun!

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