WTS Madrid Race Report (Coughing Up Blood)

Friday 31st of May, I did my last training session and went on to the course of the World Triathlon Madrid to check out the bike course, register and get some CO2 cartridges. I went back to the hotel feeling amazing and had no doubt in my mind that I was going to beat the 2:20 time I had set myself. Boy was I wrong! It's a long post explaining the details, but I end up with some conclusions and some exciting news.

An early start on Saturday 1st June began in the usual way, with breakfast and shower and then headed down to Casa de Campo. The temperature was a chilly 7 degrees by 7am, so it was still cold. By the time I racked my bike and figured out where to leave my bag, it was 45 minutes till the start and the officials decided that our wave was going to have a wetsuit swim. Good news, I thought, since this usually means that I can shave off almost a couple of minutes from my swim time.

I did my warm-up, then went on to do my swim warm-up in the lake, all the time feeling amazing. Swam back to the pontoon, got on and waited for the gun. Start was as frantic as ever, I actually had a good position, probably swimming in a group of 10 at the lead. Then, 5 minutes into the swim, it just hit me!!! I started coughing uncontrollably and I spat out blood! A minute later, it happened again, so I started to slow down, but then the coughing didn't stop. I decided to slow right down and move to the side a bit not to spit in the middle of other swimmers, good thing as I started to throw up as a result of how severe my cough was.

My 1.5km swim, which I should have completed in under 20 minutes, took me a gruelling 39 minutes with no breath left in me. I thought I'll just take it easy on the bike to recover and surely I can make up for that lost time later on. I got on the bike to start my 5 laps, and on hitting that first steep hill I figured that this wasn't going to be my day, so my target was just to finish and forget about the time. I took my first energy gel washed down with a sports drink, and I immediately started to cough up blood and throw up again. This went on lap after lap, the trouble being that my body wasn't retaining any fluid or energy that I put in, as well as I was just becoming more out of breath with my lungs not functioning well. Add to this the shivers that I got every time I hit the top of that hill on the bike with some cold winds, which made it a rather bleak experience.

I finished the bike completely spent, and as I started my run, I just had no energy left in me and I couldn't take in one full breath by that stage. My target then was to just average somewhere around 10km per hour, instead of my planned 15km/hr, which meant I could stop to cough and throw up before continuing. I tried to drink in some water on the run course, but it still went out straight away. My body just went into shut down mode completely, and I have probably never felt so weak in my life! A terrible feeling I really don't want to ever feel again...

I completed the race, and as I crossed the line, the first thing I wanted was to find paramedics to just do something to stop that blood coming out with every cough. I found the paramedics, but they couldn't speak English. I tried in my mixture of English, French, Italian and hand gestures to explain to them what the problem was, and they saw me spitting out the reddest liquid they could see and they still couldn't figure out I needed help. It was only when another competitor, a lady wearing number 337, who offered to help translate when they understood that I wasn't able to breathe and I was out of energy. By that time I have regained a little bit of stamina, enough to make me stand up and saw Lisa come over to where I was. I decided to leave them to try and help others who may be in more need than me.

I could barely walk out, went with Lisa very slowly to transition to get my things out and just sat down on the grass for a good 5 hours taking in 2 litres of sports drink sip by sip to try and get back to life.

I checked my times on the board and I was actually surprised to find that I didn't finish last. I came 80th in my age group (out of 107), with a total time of 2:53:22. My run time was 51:54, bike 1:13:31, swim 39:20, with snail paced transitions of 5:41 and 2:58. Of course I'm disappointed that I couldn't get a better result, but on the day, this was beyond better than anything I could imagine doing. Knowing that racing while feeling like death and still not coming last, and that my normal training times would have placed me in the top 20 in my age group, is enough for now. The whole experience was more than worth the effort. I have raced a World Championship race, I have witnessed elite men and women triathletes and paratriathletes do amazing things and the whole atmosphere was just brilliant (although the organisation was somewhat lacking, but this just adds to the charm).

There are some conclusions that I took away from this. First, a little cough or a mild chest infection that I would normally live with as if it doesn't exist affects me in very different ways when I'm racing. I got away with it this time, but it could have ended up much worse if I pushed harder. I should be man enough to pull out of a race if I feel the start of such chest infection again, and just enjoy being there. It is now Monday afternoon, I'm on strong antibiotics, still coughing up a bit of blood, and still can't take in a full breath, so I have to take this as a warning sign for the future if I decide to race with a chest infection.

Second, I need to work out better race nutrition plan, where I should try and minimise the number of gels I take with me, try to take some water in addition to the sports drink, and maybe add a bit of caffeine half way through the race.

Third, I need to get stronger on the bike. I really have to be more comfortable on long hills. I'll try to find a riding group near me to get that done in a group setting, at least once a week or once every fortnight, just to get things going. I guess another sign was spotting the couple who run the triathlon club near where I live, who happened to be in Madrid on holiday. I shall definitely be paying them a visit this coming weekend at the swimming pool.

With the above in mind, I shall not be aiming to do any other races until the World Championship final in London, focusing on training and maybe laying out a plan for getting sponsored starting 2014.

The most positive aspect I can think of now is that my muscles haven't suffered much during that race, since they really didn't do much effort more than what they're used to in training, apart from going on empty for a while. This means that I do not feel any aches or pains, which means that once my lungs are functioning normally again, I can go straight back into training without having to worry about muscle recovery, which I would normally do after a race.

My next training block is a 5 week block, where I shall really focus on cycling and swimming, and try to get my 10km run time to under 40 minutes. Then I'll have an easy 5 weeks until the 3rd week in August, after which I shall go for a solid 3 weeks of hard work before tapering for the World Triathlon Championship Final in London on 15 September.

Now, the news that I have is that in the next couple of weeks I shall have completed my triathlon coaching certificate and will be launching a triathlon coaching website! I am very excited about this, since I have always enjoyed sharing my passions with others, starting with scuba diving, to investments and now triathlon and nutrition! As always, I shall keep you updated once the coaching business is up and running, hopefully by mid June.

Now I should go find which gate I should be boarding my flight home from.

Hasta luego...