Julie Dibens, the 2009 Ironman 70.3 World Champion, 2010 Ironman World Championship 3rd place finisher, three-time XTERRA World champion and two-time Abu Dhabi International Triathlon winner, will be racing a major event at 12:51 PM Pacific Daylight Time today. Dibens, who has been in recovery from a March 2012 operation to address long standing foot and knee issues, will be the only triathlete included in a world-class 15-woman invitational time trial held in conjunction with the Tour of California men’s stage race.

This event, which was won by London Olympic cycling gold medalist Kristin Armstrong in 2011 and 2012, will be contested over a 19.6-mile course in San Jose which concludes with a climb up Metcalfe Hill which rises 1,000 feet over 3 kilometers. With Armstrong retired, this year’s favorite is Allison Powers of the NOW and Novartis for MS cycling team, who finished second to Armstrong last year. The race offers a $10,000 purse.

Dibens has been carefully approaching a return to triathlon, running for 25 minutes a session three times a week, but is at a much higher level of fitness on the bike. After getting an invitation to race this event 8 weeks ago, Dibens has ramped up the intensity of her bike workouts and has posted promising performances in local Colorado time trials.

Dibens spoke to Slowtwitch last night on the eve of this event – a key test in her hoped for return to triathlon at the age of 38.

Slowtwitch: How do you feel coming into the Tour of California women’s time trial race after 18 months on the sidelines?

Julie Dibens: I'm excited to do it. I really missed having a goal race the last 18 months. It’s fun for me after sitting out last year -- not quite ready to get to a triathlon start line.

ST: What do you know about your 14 competitors?

Julie: I am not fully up to date on all the female cyclists. But I understand they selected some of the best women time trial cyclists in the world. I do know Allison Powers came second last year and she should be the favorite this year to win it.

ST: Since your recovery from your foot and knee operations has taken quite a while, how well and how hard can you ride?

Julie: Last year while working my way back from surgery, I was able to do as much easy riding as I wanted -- but not much intensity. The big challenge for me was to get ready for this time trial – to get used to riding really hard. When I am preparing for a half or full Ironman, most of it is under threshold riding. But to be competitive with top cyclists you need to do threshold and above at real high intensity. It is a real challenge.

ST: So what training has helped the most?

Julie: Getting the strength back in the knee. I am doing a lot of stuff in the gym which has given me the confidence I can ride hard. I guess I was apprehensive last year to do that type of riding partly because I did not have that incentive to push myself at really high intensity. I did not think it was worth it to risk it. But when I found out I was invited to do this event, I really started ramping up my workouts.

ST: What were your injuries and what operations did you have to address them?

Julie: I had foot surgery in March of 2012 for a plantar plate repair on my second and third toes. I have had this condition for 8 years and fought with it through my entire triathlon career. I also had knee surgery at the same time – which was related in some degree to my foot injury. The knee surgery involved a lateral release of the IT band and they did a cartilage transplant – which they took from a cadaver.

ST: Have you had to face the possibility this might signal the end of your fine career?

Julie: Leading up to the operation and during my long recovery after, it made me question whether I would be able to compete hard at triathlon again.

ST: What was your last triathlon?

Julie: The last race I've finished was Coeur d’Alene in 2011, which I won. After that I started but did not finish Ironman 70.3 Worlds in Las Vegas and Ironman Hawaii.

ST: When were you able to start running again?

Julie: I tried to start running when I was at Kona last year to do some coverage but my knee started swelling. So we had to ramp back to the drawing board do more strength work that allowed the knee to heal. Now I am running up to 3 times a week at 25-30 minutes at a time. When I started to work towards this time trial, I decided to leave my running at that level with the goal to up the bike intensity. Once I am through this TT, I will do more running and see what happens.

ST: Have you done time trials in preparation for this race?

Julie: I've done three and I am happy with the results. The first was the Frostbite TT in Ft. Collins, Colorado, the second was the Haystack TT in Boulder and the third was two weeks ago in Denver.

ST: What was the level of competition?

When you start out cycling, they put you in the lower categories and let you work your way up. Even though you are a pro in triathlon, that does not mean you are a pro cyclist. My first race I was a Cat 4. I won it.

ST: How fast were you?

Julie: I am not sure, but I think I finished with an average speed of 26 or 27 miles per hour over an 11 mile course. The one in Boulder I averaged almost 30 miles per hour. It was a very fast course – the last part was downhill.

ST: Do you have any goals for this Tour of California women’s time trial?

Julie: Not really. Nobody really knows how I will do. For me, it is very exciting to go in there with no great expectations. I love to be competitive and at least be in the mix so I can walks away feeling that it was OK.

ST: It’s a report card on a work in progress?

Julie: I would love to at least give a good honest effort. The course is 19.6 miles and I rode it this morning [Thursday]. It is very challenging. Straight off the start line there is a short climb. There are a few other climbs, a very technical descent, then some long flat sections. It finishes with a 3 kilometer climb which averages a 10 percent grade. It is a lot of fun.

ST: Do you anticipate any pain?

Julie: Don’t think it will hurt a lot – especially after 6-8 weeks of high intensity workouts. My foot is fine. I do not feel it. My knee gets little twinges, but in my mind I do not even think about it.

ST: Any questions whether you will return to triathlon at the highest level?

Julie: I am definitely aiming at returning to triathlon. I still want to get back. I believe I still have the ability, I still have the motivation, and I still have the hunger. Do I have questions if my knee can hold up to the test? My doubts won’t stop me from trying.

ST: Are there any side issues that stem from the operation?

Julie: Even though there is no pain with my foot, I still have mobility issues. For years I was compensating for the condition with my toes. I have done a lot of work trying to improve my mobility of my toes and my knee. I spend a lot of time doing mind numbingly boring exercises teaching my muscles how to fire correctly. When I run for 45 minutes, I do not feel pain. But in 8 hours later I might get swelling. The symptoms come out later. That is why I have to be really good at sticking to the plan of my advisers. I am working with Dave Scott as coach and Christine Bell as my physical therapist.

ST: What do you hope to gain from this race, whatever the outcome?

Julie: Professional cyclists operate in a very different fashion from triathletes. It is fun to get a fresh take. Hopefully I can learn some things we don’t do as triathletes that they do as cyclists. I hope that will carry over.

ST: What advice and support have you received from Trek and other sponsors?

Julie: Trek sent out a mechanic to check out the course with me. He is heavily involved with two of the teams and they are giving me some insight on equipment for the time trial.

ST: What is your ride setup?

Julie: My Trek Speed Concept gearing will be different. I will be running a 27 on back for the last climb. There is talk of some people switching to a road bike at the bottom of the climb. But I will ride my TT bike the whole way. I have spent so much time on my TT bike, I am used to it doing anything on it. A lot of the pro cyclists spend 90 percent of their time on road bikes.

ST: Are you worried you may not recover well enough to return to pro triathlon?

Julie: Yeah that is definitely a possibility. It’s a thing I have battled with the last 18 months. But I still have the motivation, the hunger and belief in my ability to do it. So for now I want to keep trying to get up there. If it does not improve, there will be a day when I will say enough is enough. There definitely have been tough days in the last 18 months.

ST: Were you tempted back in 2005 and 2006 to try to switch to cycling when your foot was giving you problems?

Julie: I was tempted back in 2005-2006 when I first had surgery on my foot and talked to British cycling about the possibility to try out for Olympics. I was interested – but not enough to give my triathlon dream up. I realized I would not be able to do the two sports together. It would be kind of stupid to run and swim while trying to make the Olympics in cycling. Those two sports do not make you better cyclists. In fact it slows you down. It would not be a possibility. The two sports do not have the same mindset. Since then my dreams are all in triathlon.

ST: How seriously were you considered by British cycling?

Julie I think back in 2005 the guy who sat down with me used to be one of the British Triathlon sports scientists. He then went on to become the head coach of women’s cycling. I knew him for a while used to test me on bike and run and knew my capabilities. He would not have sat down with me if he did not think I had some potential to do well. He wanted to listen to me and see how passionate I was about cycling and whether I was willing to commit to switching sports. We both agreed it would have been necessary. To play any sport at the top level everyone takes it so seriously. They are all so dedicated and driven. You can’t do two sports at same time. He used Paula Radcliffe the British runner as an example. When she was training for the Olympics, she did not go out swimming and cycling at the same time. That would be detrimental to running performance. If I were to training to be the best cyclist in the world, I could not run and swim six times a week. That takes energy away from your performance.

ST: But if your triathlon dreams cannot come true, might you contemplate a switch? At age 42, Jeannie Longo won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Julie: If it comes to the day when I decide I am done trying to make it in triathlon, I might give it a try.

ST: Your bike split at Kona in 2011 was virtually even with Karin Thuerig [4:44:15 to Thuerig’s 4:44:19] and she was a World Championship Time Trial Gold Medalist and an Olympic medalist.

Julie: I raced against her at Kona in 2011. We both rode 4:44 and our splits were within 5 seconds of each other. She finished 6th, but with my foot injury, I had to withdraw.

ST: Was that modestly encouraging?

Julie: There is a big difference between racing 4 hours 45 minutes and racing 45 minutes.

ST: What do you take from her example? Or from former triathlete Kristen Armstrong winning gold at London?

Julie: I didn’t watch Kristen Armstrong win gold in London. But it was awesome. I didn’t know her when she was a triathlete but I know people who raced against her. It was awesome she managed to go from one sport to another.

ST: You haven’t had that feeling of anticipating competition for a while. Can you describe it?

Julie: Fun. I really missed the whole buildup to a race from 6-8 weeks back. Having that focus and motivation to get through the sessions, pre-riding the course, getting all the equipment ready. It is obviously a very different experience. Today was weird. The day before a triathlon there is so much to do. Typically you will do a swim, a bike and a run. There will be a press conference, a pro meeting, you will rack your bike, and you will lay out all your equipment out. But today all I needed to do was to go out for a ride on the course. And we will not start until 12:51 PM tomorrow. Triathletes are used to starting at 7 AM. This is so different. So in some ways I do not quite feel like this is a race. But I can just feel the adrenaline go through my body and I am excited and anxious to get into a race mindset

ST: What was the closest you’ve come to that pre-race feeling in the 18 months out of action?

Julie: The closest I have been to that feeling was going to Kona last year to watch it and be part of that coverage. The emotions that went through me that day were pretty intense. There was excitement to be part of such a great spectacle and great frustration because that is what I went to do so badly. I really want to go out at Kona and see if I can improve on what I have done before.

Amgen Tour of California Women’s Time Trial
San Jose, California
May 17, 2013
19.6 mi.

Results

1. Evelyn Stevens (Specialized-lululemon) 55:49 – 21.3 mph
2. Alison Powers (NOW and Novartis for MS) 56:45 – 21 mph
3. Kristin McGrath (Exergy Twenty16) 57:13 – 20.8 mph
4. Jade Wilcoxson (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 58:52 – 20.2 mph
5. Mara Abbott (Exergy Twenty16) 58:58 – 20.2 mph
6. Alison Tetrick (Exergy Twenty16) 59:15 – 20.1 mph
7. Brianna Walle (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 59:41 – 19.9 mph
8. Julie Dibens (Trek) 59:48 – 19.9 mph
9. Taylor Wiles – (Specialized-lululemon) 59:50 – 19.9 mph
10. Robin Farina (NOW and Novartis for MS) 59:59 – 19.8 mph
11. Jasmine Glaesser (Team TIBCO) 1:00:45 –19.6 mph
12. Katie Compton (Trek Cyclocross Collective) 1:00:49 – 19.6 mph
13. Lauren Stephens (Team TIBCO) 1:01:54 – 19.2 mph
14. Rae Shaw (Vanderkitten) 1:02:33 –19 mph