Posted on Oct 26, 2008 in Race Reports
After racing in Portland, I headed directly to the east coast to spend a few days with family before heading to Lorient France for a world cup race. I have never been to France and was excited for the trip and ready to have a good race after the frustrating mechanical issues in Portland. The town of Lorient was a very friendly seaside town in south Brittany. The people were very nice and welcoming. The race course pleasantly surprised me again as both the bike and run were quite hilly. I stayed the first night at a hostel and moved into a hotel downtown as the hostel wasn’t quite the ideal place to stay. The karaoke the night I arrived along with constant opening and closing of the doors kept me up most of the night not to mention being on a top bunk. Luckily, Katie one of the USAT coaches let me stay with her a few nights in a normal hotel. The team and coaches for the race had a few dinners together, and I was impressed with the food though I am sure the waiters were annoyed with our antics and string of questions about the menu. It is always nice to spend some time bonding with the other team USA athletes at the world cup races. Race morning came quickly; the day was gorgeous sunny but not hot and windy but not too bad. I had breakfast at the hotel, opting not to have the football size croissant race morning. The race went well. In the swim, I found myself at the front of the main pack behind a small breakaway group. I was fourth out of the water and happy that I was able to stay out of the mayhem that seems to be worse when there are wetsuit swims. On the bike, I worked with my pack to bring in the riders ahead Sarah Groff came back to us first then the small breakaway came back. When they were reeled in, I knew everyone would sit back so I threw in a surge and managed to get a gap on the group. It was early for a breakaway, and I knew I would only stay away if the pack let me go. Unfortunately, they chased a bit and reeled me in about three quarters of a lap later. I then sat back and worked through on the bike but didn’t try to take on too much of the work at the front. Unfortunately like every world cup, so many of the girls just sit back for the whole ride it is a frustrating experience. Once off the bike, I tried to focus on having a steady run. It wasn’t great but I was happy to run a 37 and finish 16th overall. While I was happy with the race overall, I definitely want...
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Posted on Oct 26, 2008 in Race Reports
I was a bit unenthusiastic about pro nationals mostly because it has been a long season already and I had a string of three races planned that started with the nationals in Portland. And I was sad that Jeff wasn’t able to make the trip, but the race wasn’t in Portland as we thought rather about 45 minutes out of the city at Hagg Lake so he opted out as logistics for getting out there turned into a nightmare. But my attitude completely changed once I got to Hagg Lake and saw the course. It was beautiful and perfect for me: incredibly hilly for both the bike and run exactly what I like and works to my strengths. When I arrived at the race site on Friday, I was pleasantly surprised and started to get a very excited for the race, my first ITU style, drafting race, since June. Race day was beautiful for us; we started late in the morning so it had time t warm up and the sun was trying to breakthrough the cloud cover. It was the perfect temperature where I was never cold but never hot either. The swim wasn’t my best; I picked the wrong feet to follow and was SOL when the feet I chose were dropped off the back of the front pack. Definitely a lesson to not be happy at the back on the front pack but rather try to get closer to the front so that I at least have a shot at staying with the small pack around the buoys. I came out of the swim in the second pack and felt good the second I got on my bike. I rode with our group for about 2 laps and then made my move and rode very aggressively over the next two laps to close the minute gap up to the lead pack. Entering my 4th lap through transition, I was only 8 seconds off the leaders and was definitely going to bridge. Then disaster….I hit the corner at the top of the hill going down into transition and my tubular tire came off the rim. At the time, I wasn’t sure why I hit the deck. I got up quickly fixed my chain tried to ride and the wheels wouldn’t move. I checked the brakes tried to go again and the bike still wouldn’t go. Hmmm what is wrong. .. Needless to say, after about a minute and a half of chaos, a spectator volunteered that my tire was off the rim. I checked and indeed they were correct a six inch section of the tire had come unglued and was off the side of the rim. I popped the tire back on adjusted the font brake as it was rubbing again and was off…a minute and 45 seconds later with a few bruises and scraps and...
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Posted on Sep 15, 2008 in Training Updates
It has been lonely in Colorado this week. No training mates, no head coach, no assistant coach, and no Jeff as he flew home for a long weekend with his family…so it was just me and my volunteer assistant coach Amos. Looking at my schedule, Thursday to Sunday were jam-packed with some workouts that weren’t going to be fun. Luckily, I had Amos to motivate me each day. Friday was going to be a tough day; the weather was bad: cold and rainy, and the schedule called for a track workout and hard swim in the outdoor pool. So Amos gave me long look in the morning and said he would disrupt his busy day to accompany me on my workouts to make sure I gave it 100%. At the track, Amos watched from the dry warmth of the car and kept me on task for the entire session. Later at the pool, Amos came on the deck and bravely fought off his drowsiness to keep me motivated. It was a good day, and I have to thank coach Amos for all his inspiration and for working hard to stay awake on the job. There may be coaching regime changes in the future as Amos is now eyeing the absentee assistant coach’s job. He is thinking of all the treats he can buy with the extra...
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Posted on Sep 10, 2008 in Race Reports
It was weird to be back in LA again. The last few months have been a blur, and it seems like just yesterday that I left my LA family to come back to Colorado. While I was out there for the race, it was great to catch up with my home-stay family. Sam and the kids had a very busy summer too; it was great to catch up and hear their news from the last few months. Their son, Wing, has grown, acquired some new teeth, and learned so many new words. I also got to see the dogs, and we all had a moment of silence for Fudge up in heaven. Good old Flicka was as needy as ever, and Babes still has some junk in the trunk. The family even headed out to Venice to cheer me on as I biked past during the race which was so nice. The race in LA went as well as I could have hoped. I really enjoy the ocean swim and had a good start and decent swim. Once on the bike, my legs felt good and I enjoyed working the hills. I biked most of the way with Becky in sight; she would drop me on the flats and I would crawl back to her during the hilly sections. I took the lead for about 2 seconds on the fast downhill into T2, and Becky quickly took it back. On the run, I did my best to be steady and smooth thinking about my form. Becky took off and had a great run to finish strong another win. I was happy to finish second and enjoyed the second lap of the run. Overall, I was happy with the race but definitely think there is room to improve for next...
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Posted on Sep 10, 2008 in Race Reports
I love going to Chicago (so many memories there and so many good times) and really enjoy racing there…but for the last two years this race has been tough for me. This year, nothing really went wrong I just struggled on the day. When I needed it, I didn’t have any pop and being flat on race day against a strong field of great women athletes isn’t going to bring home any podium places. The trip to Chicago was easy; any race that is only a few hours away by plane is a treat. Our race started at 11am and race morning was a bit hot and humid. In hindsight, I really should have been more vigiliant about my hydration on Saturday and Sunday morning that is a rookie mistake I need to prevent in the future. According to the race officals, the water temp dropped magically from 76 to 71 in the 12 hours before the race so it was a wetsuit swim. Judging by the overheating going on in my wetsuit, I would say the water was probably closer to 76 than 71 but all the other women had to deal with the same issue. On the bike, the windy city delivered its wind and we had a headwind going north and a tailwind coming back south along lake shore drive. The bike was not my best; I told my legs to go and they just weren’t having a great day out there. I watched Becky take off on the bike, and she had a great ride and made me feel like I was just spinning out there. Getting off the bike, I was with two other athletes in 3/4/5 positions. On the run, I melted; it wasn’t quite a death-march maybe a very sick march. I did my best to hang on to my position and finished in 6th. All things considered the race was okay; it was a tough day out there but at least I finished better than last year and didn’t give up when things weren’t going my way. Other than the race, Chicago was very nice. I was able to catch up with my parents as well as Uncle Hugh and Aunt Karen and their wonderful daughters. It was nice to have a small cheering section during the race and spend some time relaxing with everyone after the race. Uncle Hugh was great to carry my race bag around for a few hours after the race…..only to find out it was an imposter. Overall, it was a fun weekend with great weather in one of my favorites cities; next year maybe I’ll pull through with a good race...
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