Lake Summerside Race report.

Wowza.  I have been a BAD blogger.  Oh well.  not my fault.  I have been just having such a good time spending time with the boy i like love and swimming in 30.5m long outdoor pools and working at Way Past Fast and catching up with old and new friends.  


but, i raced today.  it has been a little weird, because post-hawaii, I had a week of nothing (for recovery) the a week of "let's get back into it" and then, this week... a taper week.  HA!!!!  So, basically, I have not had crazy ridiculous regular training weeks for about 5 weeks, prior to hawaii.  So, i was a little unsure of my fitness level, but, very sure of my feeling of being rested.  


Today's race was the first of 2 races in 2 weeks.  Today, and next sunday.  So, not a long race report, but, the key is that it was a PERSONAL BEST!  yay!   I shaved at least 3 minutes off my pb (which was made on a short course) and 10minutes off my next fastest time.  SO, good day.  here it is!


here is my Lake Summerside report.  Pretty much, one of the best things about the day was that the course is all of about 10 minutes away from where I am living this summer, and so I got to warm up by riding my bike there.  and the race started at 9am.  so, I didn't have to wake up early. i got to sleep in my own bed.  I get to sit in the living room with my feet up to recover.  Lovely.  Lovely. Lovely way to spend a day.  I fricken love this sport.  



the basics:

swim was OK.  first lap was a little panicy, people went WAY off course, because the buoys were not aligned very well.  second lap felt much better.  it was my first cold water, wetsuit swim of the year, and those always are a bit of a challenge for me. Time (with a 200 run out to the timing mats): 26:30. 15th overall/3rd AG

Bike:  the concrete was marginal at best (i'm in alberta... they have BAD winters that just tear up the roads).  and, there was a LARGE cross/head wind.  The ride was a 2-lap out and back... so, the wind was quite a challenge for 3/4 of it.  I was moving much faster than a girl who i raced against last year, who beat me (but, i knew she would still go faster... i.e. RAGING fast runner), which i was happy about.  BUT then... on one turn where there was only one volunteer, i was meant to turn right.  i cruised right on a head.... straight.  It took me a good 30 seconds to realize what i did (shit!  F-BOMB!  multiple times... i kinda felt bad for the man and young child who were out on the balcony of the house... to whom i asked "have you seen any cyclists?!?!"  he answered "uhhhh, i don't know."  what the... you either did, or you didn't.  not that hard!).  So, i wasted probably about 2 minutes trying to figure myself back out again.  so, lap two... i had to dig it in to try to catch her again... it was a complete deja vu, but, with more wind.  time: 1:15.48, with t1 which was mostly uneventful.  avg 32.9km/hr, overall 20th/3rd AG

Run: honestly, not much to say here.  it was a flat, out and back x4, with a slight downhill on the out, and (obviously) a slight uphill on the way back.  found that i didn't need any nutrition, and was able to keep a fairly solid pace... (splits for the 4 laps, about 2.5km each, except for the last one that was long, because of the addition of the quite long finish shoot:  12:32,12:29,12:54,13:38).  I am never going to catch people during the run, so, i always just head out, and try to push myself as much as possible... however, sometimes I feel as if i only have one pace for anything that i run (i know that is not true).  I know that most of the people who are faster than me have been doing this for MANY years (i always google stalk them post-race), so I just have to be patient.  its just annoying, that's all ;)  Time (with T2, which was slow because i opted for socks!) 51:36, which might be the fastest olympic distance run I have ever had.  avg: 5:10/k, overall 35th/3rd AG

final time: 2:33.53.  That was good for a 6th female (of 40), 16th overall, and 3rd in my agegroup (um, yes.  My age group included 2 ITU Canada age-group athletes.  #1 girl flew in for a 2:18...)

SUPER happy... still things to improve on (I.e. paying attention to the course! working on running).  but, it is a PB for sure, by at least 3 minutes; the last PB I had though, had a VERY short swim.  If i disclude that race, this is a 10min PB.  woot!!!




OH YEAH!  and, i won a 150$ gift certificate for Merrell Shoes!  and, my man was there, taking race photos... probably got about 250 photographs, or so.  should have some pretty good ones in there.  I told him that I think, when we go to Vancouver, he should set up a mini-race photography business.  that would bea neat.