The trajectory of my season is certainly what I was hoping for! Second place with the fastest women’s bike split is right on target. Marching forward one race at a time from well off the back in Oceanside to actually poking my nose out to the front for a WHOLE MILE of the run is definitely motivating- although I do wish I held on for more miles, of course. Meredith Kessler is just having a stunning season and with a super strong race with no weakness AT ALL in any split this weekend my second place to her is great. She is the top echelon of the sport this year so even racing close to her is showing the work I am doing is effective. Congratulations to Kate Bevilaqua for coming third and it was great to see fellow Canuck Tenille Hoogland in 5th.
Racing such amazing chicks is fun!
It is exciting that the training I am doing with Adam Zucco at Trainingbible coaching is starting to pay off. I was nervous about a program that prescribed training through the entire months of May and June but obviously that was what the doctor ordered to start finding some speed later in the year. At this level, if you are out of form sometimes you actually need to train just to TRAIN to be fast and that is exactly where I was at. Playing catch up midseason is no one’s first choice but I am thankful that with some help from Adam I am finding the front of the race!
Ready to rip!
On Sunday I had a strong swim to exit third and was pretty stoked to hold the leaders in my Blueseventy wetsuit for longer than ever. I still was dropped and thus swimming alone behind them pulling the pack but every race I get a bit closer this year. Best wetsuit swim ever!
The bike course in Lake Stevens has changed since last I raced here and I think it made it much faster as there were fewer very steep climbs. Instead it seems there were lots of high speed rolling sections where a large climb would be preceded by a long descent to roll into it- making for big ring riding for nearly the entire way. It was great to have my Trek Speed Concept kitted with a Powertap disc wheel so I can see what my power efforts looked like after the race as I don’t look when I am actually racing. It was great to see Steve from Powertap destroying it out there as well – way to go qualifying for Vegas buddy!
Superfast Sponsor Steve
My bike was a climbing machine with some fancy 11-speed Di2 and a nice large cassette to keep the cranks spinning. It was a beautiful and interesting course and I was excited to feel strong on both the climbs and the flat sections so I would say that with the fastest women’s bike split the changes I made the week of IM 70.3 Tremblant with Nestor at Studeo DNA are starting to reap benefits. Thanks buddy! Meredith was the class of the field on the bike last weekend in Vineman so outsplitting her really was a great ride.
The run was the sole source of disappointment and that is 100% due to my resignation rather than fighting for a better run split. I think I was torn thinking “okay she really isn’t slowing down” when we went into the second lap of the run as she was pulling away. I thought about saving my legs for the next race. I had a very large gap to third so you can look at that two ways: you are safe in position and relax or use the time to take some risk. In hindsight, I wish I had taken more risk. I wish I had seen Meredith and said to myself: “okay you only need to stay for 5km so hang in there” rather than thinking “Does she know how big the hill is coming up?” Haha! I needed to break it down to smaller chunks. Meredith is awesome and she ran a pro man run split and I was never going to beat her in a footrace on Sunday but I wish I had used everything I had to stay closer- but I didn’t. I am sorry that I wasn’t confident enough in my ability to go harder… I opted to be safe. With my newfound confidence this will be remedied in my next race so I can be more satisfied. Lesson learned.
The great news is I am pulling up great from the race, I am building some confidence and I am getting back in action. I couldn’t run at all in February and I am finally cracking down into the 1:20s for my off the bike run so all is looking good as we march forward to Ironman 70.3 Worlds in Vegas Sept 8th. I am finished qualifying so my lead up to the race is now being formulated.
First up is some solid training on the dirt to build some strength. I am off to Fernie, BC to destroy some awesome singletrack in the Trans Rockies (http://www.transrockies.com/trc/tr3) event this weekend. So excited!
Big thanks to Trek Bikes, Bontrager, Shimano, Powerbar, Rudy Project, Blueseventy, Polar USA, Champion System, Powertap, USANA, SciCon Bags, Synergy Health Management and Trek Procity Victoria. You guys rock and we just keep getting better this season. Thank you so much!
The post race festivities included a trip to the awesome Purple Café and Wine Bar in downtown Seattle to start my 36 hours of not exactly ideal behaviour. This was highlighted by Mike ordering poutine off the menu. Frankly, I am not sure why as it tasted like an instant heart attack: but it was heavenly.
Poutine. With pork belly. And some sassy old world red. Ah-mazing.
We then hit the Bruno Mars concert and he rocked our socks off. That sexy little man is a very talented performer. Good times!
Post race concert
The morning after was kicked off with the best French pastry outside of France at Belle Epicurean at the Fairmont and we capped our Seattle trip with some coffee culture when we stopped in at Stumptown for a hit of awesome java. Ahhh…. So fun.
But now back to work. Two days of off the program and I am feeling guilty. Coach Adam would be so proud.