October 21, 2007
15k run, 76k bike, 7.5k run
We all need good friends in our corner. Sometimes it doesn’t take much—maybe a word of encouragement, advice, or just planting a seed that you cultivate into something much bigger than you could’ve ever imagined on your own.
Elizabeth Fedofsky probably has no idea what seed she planted in this noggin, but I thank her for it, and hope to return the favor to her and other friends who may not recognize their potential . . . or maybe just need a little kick in the pants, like I did.
As I mentioned in my last race report, Liz planted the seed of winning short course nationals, and then thought how cool it would be to win long course, too. After long course, I thought, “man, she’s good.” But then pesky Liz didn’t let me just enjoy the experience of my first Team USA world championship race. Nope. She had to come back, get under my skin and into my mind with her advice to me on race day:
“National Champion is COOL. But World Champion is cooler. Say that out loud: World Champion. When you toe that line on Saturday, tell yourself “I can be a world champion today.” YES I CAN YES I CAN YES I CAN. Every step you take is a step to becoming a world champion. You will wake up a world champion and you will do what it takes.”
Um, Liz, what have you been smokin’? Liz may have been speaking Chinese to me, but I did trust her. She has a laundry list of athletic accomplishments, most recently a top-10 age group finish in Kona, as well as a Halfmax National Championship title (just ahead of Sport Factory stud/teammate Alex Lonergan). I trusted her.
Race Day, 5am: I performed my race day ritual of eating two Powerbars sitting up in bed, in total peace and quiet, trying to visualize the day ahead of me. As I promised Liz, I repeated that silly little mantra, and I gotta admit, I giggled to myself the whole way through it, while trying not to choke on the Powerbars. I couldn’t say it with a straight face. It just sounded so far away, and I felt ridiculous putting myself in a category that I just didn’t think I was a part of. In my mind, I was trying to sit at the lunch table with the cool kids, but I really wasn’t that cool.
7:28am: The women were to take off at 7:35. I knew my Mom, Alex, Dad, and Debra were somewhere in the mass of neurotic, crazy athletes and their supporters, and they were trying to find me before the gun went off. Didn’t they think to look behind the porta-potty? Get with the program, guys. I know most people go inside them, but there I was, graceful as ever, whizzing one last time before I toed the line. My dad finally spots me making my way through the women at the start line, and he comes rushing up, emotional, and with tears running down his face. “I’m just so proud of you, Amy! I love you so much!” Um, Dad, I haven’t done anything yet, but thanks! Actually I’m just as emotional, and this got my tears flowing. I weaseled my way to the front of the line (I know… I’m ballsy) and before we knew it, the gun went off.
Run #1: 15km (9.3miles): I took off and tried to settle into a comfortable pace. If anyone knew what that was, though, it wasn’t me. How the hell do you approach a race of this distance? I was hoping to hold 6:45-6:50 pace/mile. Right away I realized this was no U.N. Peacekeeping Mission. A little pipsqueak from Canada kept elbowing me (her elbow hit my waist). Aren’t all Canadians nice?! Excuse me… you may be faster than me, but I could step on you! Pick on someone your own size, sister. She finally dropped me like a hot potato, and I couldn’t be happier. I made a mental note of her uniform so that I could catch her on the bike!
I finished the 1st run in 9th place overall. For some reason, I had a sense of calm going into transition. I just got my ass handed to me on that run (in terms of overall contenders), but I was extremely happy with my pace/mile (faster than I had hoped), and that is all I can ask for. I knew this was worlds and I knew these chicas would be fast. I just tried to stay within myself, and I did.
Run #1 time: 1:01:13; 6:34 pace/mile
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Bike: 76km (47miles): Ahh, the fun part. I love the bike! I love the bike! I love the bike! Let me preface this by saying that this course scared the crap out of me. The day before, 3 out of 5 people in our group got flat tires when we previewed the course. It was a 4-loop course of approx. 12 miles in each loop. They say Richmond is in Virginia , but after riding it once, I was convinced we were in Richmond , Nicaragua . It was a VERY well-run event, but the road conditions were really rough: potholes the size of Texas , uneven parts, bumps, humps, grates . . . just plain scary (sorry Jeff!). Oh and there were a gazillion twists, turns, and other highly technical aspects of the course . . . all of which is NOT my forte’. I’ve been told that I corner like an ocean liner (yes, by my coach!), so I don’t normally look forward to technical courses like this one. Another “angel-friend”—Kristin Villopoto—calmed my nerves the night before with some valuable tactical advice. She would know; Kristin won long course worlds a couple years ago but had to cut her season short this year due to injury.
I got on the bike and just started kickin’ it. I was having a blast picking off the speedy girls who beat me in the first run. New Zealand , South Africa , and then Great Britain– Bye bye. My personal favorite: adios Canada . I was cautious the first couple loops but quickly acquired a nice set of cojones in taking the turns and just being more aggressive. I loved the fact that we did 4 loops, because we saw the spectators so often (yeah and I’m the jackass that’s flying down the hill, yelling, “HEY DAD!! LOOK!! HERE I COME!!” – swear to god…). I was just having a ball. By the 3rd loop I knew I was in 2nd place overall. This was an incredible feeling. It was worlds!! I was just hoping for an age-group podium spot. The woman ahead of me, Gail Kattouf, ran a smokin’ fast first run (6min avg pace) and is also a friend of mine. She was about 5min ahead of me getting on the bike, and I never did catch her. I can honestly say that I was so damn excited about being in 2nd place, that I didn’t care. There’s nobody I’d rather come in 2nd to than Gail. She’s genuinely very nice and I respect her competitively. The bike split wasn’t as fast as I had thought I could do, but given the technical course, it turned out to be slower for everyone. I had the fastest bike split of the amateurs and only 2 female pros beat me on the bike. (Now that 1st run is a different story!)
Bike time: 2:15:03; 21mph avg.
Run #2: 7.5km (4.6miles): I ran into transition, and much to my shock, there’s Gail, putting her shoes on, right next to my rack! I had no idea we were that close. I told her, “let’s go—1 and 2!” I really thought I’d be the “two” in that equation, especially given the ass-whoopin’ she handed me on the first run. I was just so excited to be there!! As we were running out of transition almost neck-to-neck, the announcer was getting everyone fired up, and it was invigorating: “Oh look at this!! We are gonna have a tight women’s race!! The top two contenders for the world championship title are both American (more hootin’)—Gail Kattouf and Amy Kloner! This is going to be a good race, people!”
I felt like a part of the crowd. I couldn’t get the shit-eatin’ grin off my face because I realized we were causing all this hooplah. It was just too much. Normally, I would DREAD going into a final run so close to another athlete, but like I said, this was just beyond my expectation already at that point, so I was just soaking it all up. I saw my family and they were all jumping up and down, screaming. Now THAT was cool. I smiled and gave them a thumbs up. My plan was to just tuck in behind Gail and try to hang on for dear life and then have a puke party the last 100m of the race—all out, nothing left.
I started to pull away right out of transition, though (divine intervention?!), and figured I better roll with it for as long as it lasted. I tried to stay steady and ignore the quad-spasming that was freaking me out. Then, that whole “I can be a world champion” mantra kept creeping back in my head. Holy cow… is this happening?? Remember how I said I wasn’t scared or nervous running out of transition with Gail? Well, now that I was about a minute ahead, with 2.5miles to go, I was getting nervous. Now I could taste it . . . and I didn’t want to lose it. I held on with everything I could muster and gave my Dad a high five as I ran past him towards the finish line. I could tell he was crying again.
So was I.
I crossed the line with almost a 90second lead, first overall amateur. I promptly vomited violently, and then just started shaking with tears. I absolutely could not believe it.
Run #2 time: 30:56; 6:39pace/mile
Total Race Time: 3:48:32
To win a race of almost 4hrs by only 90 seconds is nothing. Gail finished 2nd and we were the first two amateurs to cross the line, as well as the first two Americans to cross the line, including the pros. I was so happy and proud to share the podium with such a talented athlete. Race results can be found here: http://www.duathlonworlds.com/duathlon_recap.htm
I sent my mom into a frenzy looking for my cell phone, before I could barely catch my breath. “I have to call Matt!!” I’m pretty sure he was just as surprised as I was, but he played it off pretty well. My coach has been incredible. I am so lucky to have his guidance and I’m 110% sure I wouldn’t have scratched the surface of any of this without him. Thank you.
It was a very gratifying weekend, and it was awesome to share it with my teammates, who all had fantastic races: Angela Meyer took home the bronze in the (25-29) age group, and Jay Sinclair finished 9th in (40-44) and Dan Arnett finished 11th in (30-34)— very competitive age groups. Jay and Angela are also both coached by Matt, and Dan is coached by /Sport Factory coach Brett Daniels. Congratulations to them all!
My race photos are here:
If you click on each one, you can open them up. I’m warning you, that aero helmet ain’t pretty. Apparently USAT thought it’d be humorous to post the most hideous of the shots with me in that odd-looking contraption in the last newsletter. Thanks guys. How embarrassing!
Also, if I look a little “bustier,” it is no illusion. That’s right— the fact that our Team USA uniforms had no back pockets actually helped me increase 2 cup sizes, just by stuffing all my gels and sunglasses into the top of the jersey! Thank you, Speedo!! Ha ha!!
Video: There’s a cool little video clip of the race if open this link and click on the VIDEO tab. At the very end they actually have a shot of me crossing the line… or should I say diving for it? I was hurting, it’s not pretty—I just wanted to get there! I’m pretty sure that’s my mom screaming in the background.
Next up: The last one of this never-ending season!! Ironman 70.3 world championships in Clearwater , FL on 11/10/07. This will be a 1.2mi swim, 56mi bike, 13.1mi run. Bye bye my good, loyal friend: Duathlon. Time to face the tri-music again and jump back in the water. The season could not possibly end on a bad note for me, so this will just be one last great effort. I want to continue to work on my swim over the winter so I can be more competitive in TRIs, but I will do my absolute best next weekend and look forward to having my best buddies there to support me—Jill, Julie, Mike, Mark, and Andrea. It should be a total circus with these guys in the crowd, and I can’t wait. My teammates Jon Adamson, Dan Arnett, and Kris Kester will also be racing.
Best of luck to you guys who are racing IM FL this weekend! K.Patton, E.Simontis, P.Kindzia, J.Caplan . . . lots more I’m sure. Race safe, smart, and have a blast.
~amy
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