Wednesday, September 28, 2011

excuses...race report...race report

So I had nothing really exciting to post about in the month of August... it consisted of a smart decision to take a week off running to avoid a hip injury...which also resulted in a DNF at nationals in Kelowna. And then Worlds were at the beginning of September but facebook, twitter and blogger were all blocked in China so no updates could be done there...and then basically since I've been home I have been in MAJOR catch-up mode with school. So those are my somewhat pathetic excuses for why you haven't heard from me in awhile. I'm sorry. Anyways I will backtrack a little bit and review Kelowna and my prep for worlds...and then of course worlds race report. So Kelowna....this was my first time doing this course and I can see why everyone just loves it. Leading up to the race I was pretty tired. This was my 2nd nationals and it was weird not feeling completely rested for it.
My Kelowna race played out like this:
-had a horrible swim start...my goggles got foggy and for some strange reason I waited for about 150m before pulling them off...the rest of my swim was me playing catch-up to the leaders
-I think I was the 2nd last person to make front pack on the bike that out of the water...out of T1 I caught a couple of people so the chase wasn't too hard
-the bike was amazing! I loved the course with the all the corners. I felt totally in control and so strong
-T2 was alright and exited in about 4th position.
-First loop of the run was terrible and starting the 2nd lap my hip started to get sore...I told Patrick when I ran by and he told me to stop
-Very sad but I thought better to DNF at Canadian Nationals then at World Championships (like I did last year)...even though any DNF sucks!

Now on to prep for Worlds:
-was trying really hard to stay focused and not get to the point of burn out and just wanting the season to be over (like I have the last two years)
-started swimming really really fast...the fastest I've swam all year
-had my best run workout of the year with a Tuesday 1km set
-was super pumped that training was going well and headed to China excited and ready to go!
-it seemed like we were in China a really long time before our race and for some reason I was unaware of the significant hill on the bike course...panicked a little
-went though the ups and downs of tapering by feeling amazing and then feeling crazy tried...but come race morning I knew I was ready

Worlds Race Report:
-it was raining and cold which totally sucked and made me to half of my normal swim warm up
-when we were lining up I just wanted to start! Got a somewhat good spot on the pontoon with Joanna right beside me
-I thought I had a pretty good start but looking at the video footage Im pretty sure I was the last to actually enter the water.
-met up with Christine at the first bouy which was actually really comforting and we exited the water side by side in 7th and 8th position
-the bike was alright...first hill was the worst but the other two times I just spun up with minimal effort
-ALMOST crashed on one corner but somehow stayed up...and at the end of the last lap I dropped my water bottle (yelled and didn't take anyone out! ooops)
-worked the little riser into transition hard and got a little gap heading into T2
-left T2 in first and went out fast
-got passed by a couple of girls but tried to stick with them
-worked the 2nd half and the hills really hard
-gave it my all
-place 8th
-content

Now doing school and a lot of down time...off season is here!