I will start by saying that although I still don't see my season including any amazing races with breakthrough results, I do think this race was one I could really be proud of. It was a little bit strange to be doing a race that was completely new for me. It was also really weird that none of the course was set up until race morning and even then I couldn't wrap my head around everything during my warm up. I had to trust that once we got going everything would be ok. The pre race meeting seemed to skip over a lot of details. There was no discussion of the penalty box. They changed the swim start after the meeting. The locations of the mount, dismount, and lap turn around remained a surprise until I was actually in the race. With everything so fuzzy, there was a lot of potential for distractions and frustration going into the race. But I realized how important it was to just stay calm and address one challenge at a time. When I got to the site half an hour earlier than they had said, I was surprised to see check in had already been open for a while. The normal procedures did not seem very thorough. I found my spot in transition marked with a tiny sticker on a kid-sized rack filled with bikes on both sides. There were also no equipment discard bins. It was an interesting set-up to say the least. While many people complained about things, I decided it was just better to laugh at the whole situation and move on. I may have had to use different techniques to un-rack and rack my bike, but it seemed much worse for really tall guys like Riley trying to make their bikes stay up on a rack so short!
I completed my warm up and focused on keeping loose and relaxed. Lately I have been inspired by a certain video that was popular on the internet. It featured a hurdler that danced during her warm up and someone cleverly put catchy music to it. I won't give away too much, go ahead and watch it for yourself. Anyways, I downloaded the song to play before my race. I really don't know how I looked during my warm up but I think I channeled this athlete's positive energy.
The swim start was not quite as chaotic as I can imagine it was for 70 guys since we only had about 40 Junior and Elite women combined in our race. But it was different from usual because we started treading water and holding onto a rope. Seeded positions meant nothing. I wasn't too excited about this because I have strong beach starts but my thoughts on the line were not negative, only kind of strange. I thought how the only benefit to this kind of start would be that you could literally pee on the start line. You can't say that too often. I didn't by the way. Only on my way to the line. I also thought how it was interesting to be right next to my team mate Sarah on a start line because she is usually in higher level races. I commented this to her as we treaded water.
For a while I was stuck in not a very ideal position. I could tell the faster part of the field was off to the right to be closer to the buoy, but I was uselessly swimming with two girls directly to my right, with none of us getting a draft advantage, and with no way to get where I wanted. I just kept going and at about 300m I was able to get on someone's feet and move over. I was glad to finally have a good draft in a race and I stayed there almost until the end when she got away. I could tell a bike pack would be forming with the girls ahead of me but I wasn't quite with them. I thought to myself, that's my pack and I need to catch them. The run to transition was almost half a kilometer which is much longer than usual and with a small hill. Everyone was dying after coming out of the swim but I pushed myself hard to catch up and get in that pack. My transition was not as good as usual. I actually dropped my helmet and then had to untwist the straps. But I passed two girls while running with my bike and was in a good position after the mount line. I biked hard and didn't worry about getting my feet in my shoes for a while. I was lucky enough to get on the wheel of one of the elite women and quite a few girls got on behind me. I could tell she was ready to work hard and I was excited. After she took a long turn she pulled off. Suddenly I heard wheels skidding behind me. I didn't turn around and tried to remain focused but our group was flustered to know that three riders at the back had gone down. I continued to show leadership within my pack and got the girls to pull off in a safer way to try to avoid any more mishaps. Unfortunately I was once again with some weaker and inexperienced riders and along with a couple other girls spent most of the time doing the hard work at the front. I also surged to the front during both laps in order to guarantee a safe turn around for myself. This was also an advantage when the pack accordions out around turns and the riders at the back have to do more work to catch up again. We were also caught off guard when the lap turn around was not near transition where we expected but I was glad to be second from the front and we avoided any more crashes during the bike. I took off my shoes and dismounted way too early but I was rather safe than sorry this time, especially when I couldn't see the dismount line.
My second transition also was not good. I couldn't see my spot and was at number 104 on the tiny stickers by the time I realized I needed to go back to 90. Once there I struggled to rack my bike by the front brakes in between two bikes already squished together. I took off on the run and went at a much faster pace than I knew I could hold with a girl from my pack named Taylor. My hope was that I could push myself hard and mentally break a few of my competitors by passing them early on and then hanging on for the rest of the run. I did pass a few including Nicole. But as I fell off the fast pace I could tell she was still there hanging on with an invisible bungee cord. I tried not to look back and refocused on running up to the next person, which was Hannah. She had been in the pack ahead of mine, which I really wish I could have been part of, and they had worked really well together.
I tried to keep my distance on Nicole and realized at the turn around how close I was to Ashlyn. This made me really excited because I had pretty much accepted the fact that she was faster in Junior races. In duathlons and training we have been very equal in the bike and run, but as soon as there's a swim I don't have a chance of keeping up at this point. But in triathlon anything can happen and while I was having a pretty good run to be getting myself up from a pack behind, she was obviously struggling that day. I kept gaining and with about a kilometer to go I made my move to pass. One reason I love having her as a training partner is she is one tough cookie and even though it hurt she hung on as much as she could. As I slowly broke away from her I heard Nicole coming up right behind me. Matched stride for stride, we kept increasing the pace. By this point I wanted to beat both her and Ashlyn so badly. I had worked so hard in the bike and run to get myself back where I wanted to be and I was pushing myself so hard to do it. After the first two races, Nicole and I had also been tied for points in the national ranking and this would break the tie. As I could see the finish line I kept asking myself how badly I wanted it. Although I was completely dying, the answer was clear to me. However, with the slight hill just meters from the finish she managed to find one final gear I didn't have left. She got a few strides on me as I just about fell over from exhaustion. My legs and my lungs hurt so much. I waited until crossing the line to collapse in the ground. Then I waiting to stand and get my head close to a garbage bag to throw up whatever had been in my empty stomach. Ashlyn came in shortly after. Although I was disappointed I hadn't won the sprint finish, I realized I had done everything I possibly could in the race and had to be proud of it. I ended up in 17th place.
Here is the link to the women's results: http://www.sportstats.ca/displayResults.xhtml?racecode=102748
Unfortunately the swim and run times mean nothing because they include the really long transitions but I think my run was solid. And you really can't compare times in different courses and conditions in triathlon races. Also, the elite women we raced with are separated on a different sheet of results. As for the girls that crashed, two got back up and finished, while one was covered in bandages but apparently nothing really serious. I got a chance to chat with some really great people after the race. Some old friends, some new ones. It's something I love about going to races like these. I can't believe how quickly the season is going by, but I am ready to rock it in Kelowna in two weeks!
Also, after the race we actually got to have some fun. Our team had a great time with a BBQ and Olympic triathlon viewing party at Corey's aunt's place. Although it was too bad nothing had been organized with friends from other provinces, we made the most of our evening and headed out to downtown Ottawa. We had a nice dinner and watched some street performers before relaxing on the grass in front of Parliament to watch a light show. What a tiring day! It will be great to recharge with a couple days at the cottage before turning the focus to getting ready for my last race.
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