Hamburg Sprint WTS/Relay

I arrived in Hamburg with one of the best welcomes: the ITU shuttle picked me up from the airport, and dropped me off at the hotel where Pat Lemieux was waiting with water, a banana, and a huge hug.  It had only been seven days since I’d seen him, but his embrace put a permanent smile on my face. The few days before the race were spent resting and enjoying good food, one of the best hotel breakfasts of the series, and company with my parents and Patrick.  Race day came and I was excited for the first WTS Sprint and Relay of the season.  The weekend kicked off with the Sprint race.  The swim was an unusual point to point swim (instead of a loop).  We dove off a pontoon, swam around buoys and through a dark tunnel to the exit.

The gun sounded and I dove in with confidence.  I got to the first buoy and was annihilated.  I was held under water, swam on top of, literally grabbed and pulled backwards, and pushed into a kayak.  This sounds brutal (and it was), but it’s fairly typical.  I took a deep breath like I normally do, and looked back to see if there was open water for me to get out of the chaos.  Good news: There was plenty of open water.  Bad news: I was dead last out of my 60+ some competitors.  What happened? How could I be dead last?  There was no time for those thoughts.  I put my head down and focused on swimming by as many people as I could.  I made it a game, swimming through and around as many people as possible.  I exited the water and ran on the blue carpet to my bike.  Some more good news/bad news: My bike was extremely easy to find as there were not many bikes left in transition…usually I would be panicking, but for some reason I remained calm and focused on suffering.

I started the five-lap bike course in worse position than I’d ever been.  I put my head down and caught one wheel in front of me.  Pretty soon, a few girls from the front pack got dropped, and a few from behind caught.  I haven’t watched the replay yet, and I wasn’t near the back of the pack often, so I’m not even sure how many were in our pack – maybe ten? I tried my best on the bike, but I could see we were losing time almost every lap. There was no time for thinking, as I put all of my energy into putting myself in position for a good finish.

I came into T2 about 1:10 down, which is a lot of time to make up in a 5km.  In the race, I had no idea what the time gap was.  There are usually people screaming time gaps, and holding up white boards with splits; however, I was so focused I barely noticed the crowd.  I started running, fast.  There was no time to waste.  I could barely breathe because my throat was so parched, dry, and exhausted.  My body was hurting, aching, and begging for me to stop.  But, it was a good hurt, and after lap one of the two lap run, I knew there was only one thing to do: put my head down and remain focused.  I crossed the finish line in sixth.

Some may think I should be thrilled – I had the run of my life.  However, I had a bad swim, which potentially cost me a podium spot.  I go into every race hoping to execute on the processes I’ve been working on: my swim and bike, usually not caring how my run will be.  So, when I finished this race, I was frustrated and angry.  Thankfully, about an hour later, I was able to eat some delicious German food with my parents, and watch the men race.  The crowds were insane: I think the crowd enthusiasm and size was only second to the London Olympics!

The next day was the WTS Relay.  The team consisted of two females (Sarah Groff and me) and two males (Ben Kanute and Cameron Dye).  Each person completes about a 300m swim, a 6k bike, and a 1.5m run.  Our team was super energetic, and ready to go on Sunday! Sarah dove in the water and swam amazingly, she dominated the bike, and she ran into the exchange zone in first.  The pressure was on! Ben did exactly what he needed to do.  He had a great swim, and was riding in a pack with stars like Alistair Brownlee.  Ben came off the bike in great position and had a better run than team USA ever could have asked for.  He tagged me and I dove in the water forth, right behind teams Australia and New Zealand.  I found the feet of Kate Mcilroy (NZ), who helped me swim quickly to the exit.  I excited the water in second (behind Great Britain’s Non Stanford).  This was a complete turnaround from the swim the day before.  I was thankful for the decent swim, as I had three others and a country to represent.  I rode the two-lap course and by the end, we had a group which included runners Anne Haug and Ashleigh Gentle.  Unfortunately, Non had an accident on the bike.  No one ever wants to see a competitor go down, especially when it’s someone so kind, nice, and genuine.  Thankfully we hear she is OK and on her way to a speedy recovery.

In T2, I put on my shoes and ran as fast as I could.  I started running and could have sworn I felt others on my right shoulder, but I made the turn into the exchange zone in first.  Cameron finished off our relay.  He swam and road like a rock star, and finished with a solid run in third.  I couldn’t be more proud of team USA.

My next race will be in Stockholm, Sweden.  And then I have the finale in London.

Hamburg relay photoUSE

Above: Relay Photo

Below: Parents, Nancy and Joel, with me after the Relay

Hamburg parents win relayUSE

A non race blog

This past year, I joined a new training group led by Jamie Turner. With a new coach came lots of changes and investments. I spent the winter in Australia, and on May 12th I moved to the Basque Country in Vitoria, Spain. I didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was if I wanted to be the best athlete I could be, I needed to be in a daily training environment with Coach Jamie Turner and the crew. Jamie coaches about 10 athletes. There are four solid young ladies I train with, about five young gentlemen as well, and a few others who join intermittently. Most of the other athletes have lived here in Vitoria previously. They have the town dialed, which is nice for me whenever I have a question or get lost. Jamie and the crew found the apartments we live in a year or two ago and they are perfect! We all have two-bedroom apartments which include a kitchen, washer, bathroom, two bedrooms, a living room, and an outside porch-type area. We also have internet and TV (however, I never turn on the TV unless I feel like learning a bit of Spanish). It’s nice to have my own apartment, yet be able to walk next door or shout across the patio to my neighbors/training partners/friends if I get bored or need anything.

The first few weeks in Vitoria weren’t at all what I was expecting. I’d heard I was going to be hot and sweaty. However, we came at the end of winter, and it was overcast, 10 degrees Celsius, and rainy almost every day. The weather was freezing and not enjoyable. It didn’t help that the first few weeks I was here, boyfriend Pat was back in MN doing some racing himself. I’d FaceTime those back home, but internet was spotty and I often found myself guessing about the conversation as I would hear about one out of every three words.

It took me a long time to get over the jetlag of flying from USA to Japan to Vitoria, so I spent the first few days/weeks sleeping and recovering. I started to learn the locale, with Jamie taking me to the shops and Charlotte showing me different restaurants and grocery stores around town. Thanks to them I now know where to get the best coffee/tortilla (Ramon’s) and fresh foods. However, I am still searching for some good peanut butter...

The first week Grace and the girls would bike with me to the pool; I thought I would never know my way. I’m horrible with directions, and this town isn’t the easiest to memorize. The center of town is almond shaped on a map, however I’m convinced there is no pattern nor easy way to navigate. Thankfully the town isn’t that big and I can’t get too lost. I now at least know a few different routes to the pool.

Time passed quickly. Daily, I’d realize there was something else I needed to buy: a sweet Specialized town bike, a rice cooker, a good knife and some cutting boards. Pretty soon, it was time to race and Pat was in Spain to join me. The weather turned, making it more enjoyable for me to ride my town bike around for various errands and food adventures.

Weekly, I try to find a new Menu Del Dia, or menu of the day in Spain. It’s a massive lunch usually served between 1-3pm, consisting of a huge starter (I like to get the paella), a main (usually some sort of meat with potatoes), and a dessert. It also comes with bread and whatever you want to drink (once I was given an entire bottle of wine as my drink!) It’s easy to see why everyone takes a siesta after finishing a true menu del dia!

I also enjoy Pintxo Pote: it’s basically a Thursday night pub crawl, where you go to different bars and are able to get a glass of wine and a pintxo (like an appetizer) for 1-2Euros. I’m not the type to go on a pub crawl, but I do enjoy trying a pintxo or two. However, I can normally only drink one and half glasses of wine before handing the glass off to Patrick.

The training here is ideal: trails to run on are less than a minute from my door, and the riding views are spectacular. There are so many people cycling that the cars all slow down to pass cyclists. It’s also not uncommon to go out for a ride, and have a few random riders draft behind you. It’s fun to see so many other cyclists.

No one here speaks English. The first week, I struggled a lot, but I’m slowly getting better. Pat always says it’s Russian Roulette when we order food at a restaurant, but I would say 90% of the time I know what I’m ordering.

I’m really looking forward to the next month, as my friend Tristine Schmidt is coming to visit for a week, as are my parents. I feel very fortunate to have friends and family who are able to visit. I can’t wait to show them around my new Basque home.

Jamie and Pat enjoying a café y tortilla post swim with me

Pintxo Pote with Brendan, Charlotte, and Beata

Enjoying a Menu Del Dia with Pat

Natalie making me a sushi dinner

A quick view of my Spanish apartment.

Madrid WTS, stop #4 in the series

(picture: Preview of Madrid course with JT) Time has gone quickly from my last race in Yokohama. I flew directly to my summer home in Vitoria, Spain. The first few days were spent doing errands, mixed in with some training for Madrid. Vitoria has been great so far. My favorite thing to do is search out the best “menu del dia” (menu of the day). This is more food than you can imagine for less than 10 Euro. I have my own townie bike that I use as my grocery-getter and as transport to the pool. Vitoria is a very bike friendly town: all cars slow down to pass a cyclist. I wish every city was like this!

I was shifting my focus to thinking about the upcoming race in Madrid, but I was having flashbacks of Madrid being my first WTS back in 2011. That race started and ended before I knew it and the challenging bike course had me lapped out before the half way point.

The course in Madrid has remained the same since then, starting with a 2-lap swim in shallow water (the day before I was previewing the swim with my squad and I could stand in multiple spots, and the water was so dirty I couldn’t even see the bottom).

The bike course is on a 5km circuit with the first 2km being mostly uphill.  The bike starts with a 1 minute kicker into a gradual climb.  After a 2km climb, there is a fast descent which continues on to a flat section across the bottom and back to the finish. The profile of the run on paper would make one think you would need hiking boots, but in person, it proves to be rather flat.

This race was going to be a good test for me: I was back to a non-wetsuit swim, with a challenging bike course (both hilly and technical), and a tough run.

SWIM:

I was first out on the pontoon and decided to go left as that seemed to be the shortest way to the buoy. Looking back at the replay, it’s hard to tell, but I am pretty sure there was a false start and I ended up in the water almost last. I struggled through the swim and forced myself to go back to what Jamie stresses about keeping my form.

BIKE:

I had pre-rode the course with Pat on Friday, and we did efforts on the hill to simulate the race. Pat stressed the importance of being on the front, and how hard I would have to go the first time up the hill. I headed to T1 knowing I was going to have to suffer. I made some mistakes and wasn’t riding at the front, which caused me to not catch the front group. I was upset after the race, but I got some perspective when I remembered what happened two years ago.

RUN:

Starting the run, I was over a minute down to the leaders. I knew I would just have to run my own race. The first lap always seems to start slowly, but I think I am just so happy and thankful to be running that the pain doesn’t feel so bad.

Next up for me is Kitzbuhel. This is a type of race that has never been done before in ITU: There’s a 750swim, a 12km bike with 9km climbing, and a 2.5km uphill run.

I don’t know what this race will bring for me, but I am excited to be a part of it.

Thank you to Jamie Turner, Beata Komlo, and my sponsors: Hincapie, HED, Specialized, ASICS, NYAC, Oakley, USAT, Blueseventy, David Hobbs Honda, and Shimano.