In all my years of triathlon this was the first time I got to race in Canada! I was super pumped to see somewhere new, and its always been a bucket list spot for me to visit. (and go back for that matter!), though i'm more drawn to the beauty of the outdoors of Canada than the big cities. Aussies who share a similar sense of humour with the Canuks also made the place seem so inviting.
I had mixed emotions heading into this race. I was extremely excited for the opportunity to race at the highest level again, but also not really sure what to expect. After a lot of change and a lot of work to improve my weakness, I really had no idea if it was too soon to expect improvement, if i was going to have my a** handed to me, or be leaps and bounds ahead.
On top of that my run prep had been a bit skewed after my run in with a tree root that left my ankle fat and blue and unable to walk just a few weeks prior. Of course after this there is a trajectory of time that follows of time off, whinging, cursing, healing, and building back up to where you left off. You cant alter time and i needed to buy back more of it, but that was impossible, so the run form would be a bit more unknown race day. I strapped it up and just as long as i could get through unscathed it would be a win on that front.
A smaller than normal field fronted the man made lake in Edmonton for a really cool swim around a little island. Just before the hooter sounded i watched a group of ducks swim very slowly across about a meter in front of us! 35 ppl about to jump on their heads! They cant start us now, these poor things are going to die! I dont know what happened to them cos the hooter went and I was off! I wish them luck! It was a pretty stacked swimmers field that always throws more challenges my way. With my new technique thrashing away i was in touch until around the last 200m. going slughtly offline was costly as fatigue was creeping in and i just fell short before the exit.
Fight or flight kicked in, in T1, as the group headed out of transition..Frantic to get on but a few seconds too slow. So the next 20km was a TT chasing the group ahead. After a tough bike for everyone climbing up a large hill 6 times, losing time on the leaders but holding the chase pack meant the race would be finally won up the road, but a good run would move you up the ranks. My ankle did all I asked of it, gave me a solid run to finish 20th, and success in the 'beat your start number game' ;)
But for now its been back to the daily grind to improve.
Flick
I had mixed emotions heading into this race. I was extremely excited for the opportunity to race at the highest level again, but also not really sure what to expect. After a lot of change and a lot of work to improve my weakness, I really had no idea if it was too soon to expect improvement, if i was going to have my a** handed to me, or be leaps and bounds ahead.
On top of that my run prep had been a bit skewed after my run in with a tree root that left my ankle fat and blue and unable to walk just a few weeks prior. Of course after this there is a trajectory of time that follows of time off, whinging, cursing, healing, and building back up to where you left off. You cant alter time and i needed to buy back more of it, but that was impossible, so the run form would be a bit more unknown race day. I strapped it up and just as long as i could get through unscathed it would be a win on that front.
A smaller than normal field fronted the man made lake in Edmonton for a really cool swim around a little island. Just before the hooter sounded i watched a group of ducks swim very slowly across about a meter in front of us! 35 ppl about to jump on their heads! They cant start us now, these poor things are going to die! I dont know what happened to them cos the hooter went and I was off! I wish them luck! It was a pretty stacked swimmers field that always throws more challenges my way. With my new technique thrashing away i was in touch until around the last 200m. going slughtly offline was costly as fatigue was creeping in and i just fell short before the exit.
Fight or flight kicked in, in T1, as the group headed out of transition..Frantic to get on but a few seconds too slow. So the next 20km was a TT chasing the group ahead. After a tough bike for everyone climbing up a large hill 6 times, losing time on the leaders but holding the chase pack meant the race would be finally won up the road, but a good run would move you up the ranks. My ankle did all I asked of it, gave me a solid run to finish 20th, and success in the 'beat your start number game' ;)
But for now its been back to the daily grind to improve.
Flick
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