First real race report of the year! This weekend I started off the National Junior Series in Pike Lake, Saskatchewan. Returning after two years, I started in a much better seeded position that last time. I was ranked fifth at the start, which was a nice confidence booster, although I knew that would be a very difficult position to maintain. Honestly, I was very worried about the swim. I was trying to not even let myself think about coming out of the water too far back to even bike with anyone or be a competitor on the run. I haven't swam 750m hard in almost a year! I was really hoping for a wetsuit swim at least, to even myself out with the better swimmers. But the water heated up a lot in the past week and it was no wetsuits race for us Juniors.
However, I was able to focus before the race and get myself into a positive attitude. I think my warm up went great. I lined up and waited to be announced with just the right amount of nervous energy and excitement. I think I chose a great spot on the start line, and once the gun went off I just went for it. I couldn't really tell what was happening in the chaos but apparently it looked like I had a great start. By the time we got around the second buoy though, I was left with no feet to swim on. It was kind of discouraging and I couldn't help wondering if I was last or almost at the back. But later I snuck a peak behind me and was surprised to see I was leading a line of swimmers. The people ahead of me were too far ahead to catch, but as some of the group started to swim beside me I was able to tell I was among girls I raced close to last year. This was very motivational and I went hard for the last stretch with hopes of having a solid pack with me on the bike.
My transition happened in slow motion and I remember thinking quite a few things as I "stood there" putting on my helmet and grabbing my bike. But I was told that to the spectator it looked as quick and fluid as usual. Lately I often find myself having good transitions and even passing people, while my brain turns to auto-pilot and everything feels slow and controlled. I don't actually remember putting my goggles and cap into the box, but I did. I do remember thinking: 'I feel like I'm going to throw up,' 'my shoulders feel really heavy and painful,' and 'wow that was actually a decent swim, I need to stay with this pack!' Once riding I somehow got my shoes on before the hill while it seemed that the other girls were slowing to do the same. I actually didn't really notice the hill. Weird, it seems so steep two years ago! But at the top I found myself forming a small group with Jessie and Elsabet, who didn't manage to get their shoes on for several kilometers. I've often raced with them and we seemed to work well together. Two more girls caught up to us and our pack of five also worked well, catching Megan who was on her own. The group of six girls was probably the biggest out there today in the Junior women's race. At the turn around we got a peek at where our competition was. There were two smaller groups of about three ahead of us and I think we were starting to gain on the second group. I felt comfortable with the pace, able to take my pulls and felt smooth. However, with about 5km to go the two stronger girls attacked. The timing sucked for me and Elsabet. I had been at the front for too long because the one girl pulled to the side but kept a fast pace, not letting me pull off. They went for it when I was tired. Elsabet had just gotten to the back and it's hard to respond when you are expecting to settle into someone's wheel after your turn. It was a bit of a mess, as Jessie and Megan managed to get back onto the girls attacking, but the two of us couldn't. We worked together for the remainder of the bike, and actually kept the gap about the same once the other four settled into a pace again.
I was mentally ready for the dismount and transition, but was thrown off a bit when there was a bike in my spot on the rack. The official seemed to have been trying to move something but jumped out of the way when I headed for it. I quickly got mine on too, making sure it was allowed by the official. It would suck to get a penalty for something so dumb. I'm still not sure what happened; I heard the officials were moving the bins around while we were gone, and that may have confused people and shifted where people racked their bikes or something. Anyways, I started the run and Gary told me all five girls were within a minute. I caught one of them pretty soon, I'm guessing she was a much stronger cyclist than runner. I did not catch anyone else though, and was caught by two girls. Adeline was in the pack behind me and was able to pass me, as well as one other girl that had been farther back alone on the bike and was a fast runner but was still a lap behind. I was glad that I didn't really lose any placings. Although I didn't feel like anything was particularly bad about my run, there was also nothing particularly good either. I felt kind of heavy and didn't have a lot of spring in my stride. I did not feel like I could power up the hills like I normally do. I also wasn't close enough to anyone to have that extra bit of motivation. I was kind of disappointed when I saw my run split was about 22 minutes, worse than I thought. But from where I came off the bike compared to others I don't think I could have pulled off a higher placing unless I had a really amazing run. I finished in 10th place with a time of 1:09:21.
Great job to everyone that raced, hope you all managed to have some fun out there. Congrats to Amelie, Gabrielle, and Hillary for the podium finishes in my race. Also to my Manitoba friends who started their first season as Juniors. Ashlyn did amazing, placing 7th, and Hannah and Maddy had a great start to Junior racing with 13th and 15th. On the guys side it was a great day for Manitoba. They had an ideal situation coming off the bike with the three guys together in the lead. Congrats on the win Tyler, and also Riley M for coming 3rd and Riley U for coming 5th. Also in the guys race were Patrick and Corey in 16th and 19th. Good job to all the guys, hope it was also a great experience. I also always love seeing my friends from other provinces. Canada has some great athletes that I've had the pleasure of getting to know quite well over the past couple years! There are always lots of friendly faces to catch up with.
Overall, I think this race was a decently solid start to the season for myself. I feel better that not all hope is lost for my swim. I am still able to nail the start and those transitions. For the bike I did what I could with the situation and the run wasn't great, but it happens. I'm happy to have completed the first series race and I'm confident I will improve from here. I really look forward to PATCO in two weeks in Edmonton. I am so lucky to have the chance to mix it up with the best Junior Elites from many countries and I'm excited to do some damage on one of my best courses. But for now I have tried really hard to scrub those sharpie numbers off my body and hope to get some rest before Grad! My focus has only been on the race but now I can finally enjoy myself and celebrate with my friends!
Results can be found here:
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