Upon my arrival home, or back to Victoria (my new home), from the Penticton training camp; training progressively got more challenging. Both in terms of intensities and general time spent training. I finally began to feel more confident on group rides; I didn't get dropped after the first ten minutes. Swim times in the pool were also steadily improving and becoming more consistent. I do not quite have an internal swim clock yet, so open water swimming was more difficult in terms of pacing. Running was also improving, my long runs were often 20km and I felt consistent with all efforts being put forth on the track. Looking back, the past 6-7 weeks has been the hardest, busiest and most rewarding weeks ever.
So with all that under my belt, it was time to race an Olympic distance. The night before Kelowna I am pretty sure I just stopped talking to everyone; I got so nervous. The morning of was deemed a wet-suit legal race...annnnd I didn't wear one. I had an OK swim, but I know that I can go faster. I played it safe, maybe a little too safe. But I clocked the fastest T1, and was first onto the bike for a good lap, then got passed by 2 girls but managed to stay close behind. I was super happy with my bike time especially because it was a distance which is totally foreign to me. The run was HARD. My calves and hamstrings felt really tight and started to have minor cramps after 1km. I tried to pick up the cadence and felt better, but at 5km I felt DONE. Nothing in me wanted to do another lap. After hearing Noa, Tyler, Derek and my family cheering not only my name, but also 'Cobra', I knew that I could do another lap. I finished my first 10km of the season, I can't say I really raced that 10km, because I really just ran out of steam at 6-7km and from then I just needed to finish. I finished 5th in my age group and 34th woman overall... not too shabby for my 5th triathlon!
It was a tough day, and I had a blast and I am eager to only learn more about pacing and racing. I am taking the next two weeks off training, going to a family reunion in Hawaii, and relaxing/recharging etc. Big things await for when I return to the schedule Sept.5th. Until then, the next posts will be irregular: holiday time, hiking, ocean swims, food: all good normal things.
Ciao
.jpg)
