Pics..

Just a few race pics from the World Championships in Budapest...I'm back in the swing of school and enjoying some down time from training right now!

Worlds

Where to begin... I am incredibly satisfied with this race and the experience I have had in Budapest...I had set some goals for myself before I came, hoping for a top 10 finish but I didn't put any expectations on myself because my training wasn't where it should have been...I had swam 4 times since July, taken a week off biking and hadn't done any speed workouts on the run, I had done what I could but wasn't thinking it was enough, in the end I wanted to make my family, SV, and friends proud... these are the people who have supported, believed and loved me (and Barrie Shepley too, back in April he thought I could do really well here) so I knew that if I did my best, my loved ones would be proud and I would be satisfied with this race experience.

Friday and Saturday were pretty crummy here... constant rain... SV and I went downtown to watch the Men's Elite race, we got to the bridge before most of the crowd did and were able to get a really great spot... when the pack of men came by on their bikes I was so surprised... they were so close and so FAST... really truly amazing... it is impressive to watch on tv, but it doesn't do the race justice. The Elite's course was different than the age group course, more spectator friendly, the route had them doing loops so we got to see the men go by us at least 5 times on their bikes and then they did 4 laps on the run.. the roads were slick and there were some crashes on the bike, leading to 3 top men being eliminated from the race. Once these guys hit the run it was down to 2 men... the pure effort on their faces was awesome...I find people who can push that hard and make it look easy incredible... these guys were running a 30 minute 10 km and it looked so effortless to them, they seemed relaxed and strong but their faces showed how hard they were working.... there was a great sprint to the finish and Brownlee was able to take the win from Gomez... watching the next 5 guys sprint into the finish for that 3rd place position was amazing... how after 10km hard could they find that speed? We watched the medal ceremony and then came back to the hotel to get our uniforms and bikes and then went down to the race site to check in our bikes.

It was raining again and when we got to the transition zone it was a grassy, muddy mess... all the rain and the sprint race had turned the transition area into a giant puddle. We racked our bikes and I was happy to see that I was near the bike exit... I wouldn't have to run far with my bike to start the ride, although I would have a long run up to my bike in my wetsuit.... what I didn't realize was that when we got off the bike for T2, everyone had to run down the length of the transition zone and then back up to their bikes, so that there was only one direction through transition.... so even though I could just grab my bike and run 100m at the start of the bike, I still had to do the entire transition area with my bike at the end of the ride... I guess this was to make it fair to all athletes and to keep the transition area moving safely....

After racking our bikes, showing our uniforms (this was the first year that age groupers had to have their last names on the front and back of their race uniforms) we came back to the room ordered in some pizza and watched some US Open tennis...

Race morning was early, we were up at 4:45 am... my wave was to head off at 7:40 am and SV was to go at 8:20 am... we had some Meusli and 2 slices of bread with Nutella (not my usual pre-race meal, but it worked) and we took a cab down to the race site. The transition zone was still a mess and they were getting ready to start the first wave... it was a nice morning, the sun wasn't out yet but it wasn't raining and as far as I could tell there was very little wind. I got my area set up and met some of the other Canadian women in my age group (we were all racked together which was nice). They weren't letting us do a swim warm up so I did some arm circles and put my wetsuit on... I headed down to the swim start when the Mens 30-34 wave started and was feeling a little nervous, I haven't done a race where it was just a wave of women, this was going to be very different. The lady who was starting all the athletes was great, at one point she said to all of us "this is going to be the best race of your life, or at least the best race of today", lol, I loved it.

Entering the water we were to put our hand on the pontoon and look at her... the water took my breath away, it was 16 degrees and my feet were cold... but we were only in the water for a minute before they started us... it was a quick start and I was glad to get going, just telling myself to swim hard as it would generate some heat. It didn't take me long to realize that I was leading the wave in the swim, no one in front of me and I couldn't see anyone around me... I settled into a rhythm but my feet were still cold. I passed a man from the 30-34 wave, which had started 10 minutes before me... and then I caught a bunch more... I hit the beach and was happy to be done the swim, I wasn't wearing a watch so I wasn't sure what my time was but I felt like I had a pretty good swim... the run to my bike was a long one, SV was halfway up transition zone by his bike cheering me on and told me I was the first woman and had about 200m on the next girl... the ground was slippery and muddy and I was so happy to finally get to my bike.

The bike course was 3 loops and I figured my first loop would be the least busy loop, unfortunately I was mistaken... having never done a looped course or a flat course I didn't realize how crazy it would be... starting the ride I was thrown in with the younger waves that were on their second and third loops along with the men that I had passed on the swim... triathletes everywhere! I saw a lot of drafting going on but I also saw people serving time in the penalty boxes. I had been passed by one girl at the start of the bike, she was from GB, so I was assuming I was riding in second place. I focused on doing my ride and staying out of other athletes draft zone and I didn't have any girls pass me on the bike, I felt like I was riding strong. I knew that the bike loops were short and the bike wasn't going to be 40km... I didn't mind the flat course and used every turn around as a chance to get out of my saddle... on the 3rd loop told myself to push harder because I was feeling comfortable, it really does make a difference when there are no hills... I got to the dismount line and saw that the bike was only 35 km, I knew SV would be disappointed but I was glad to be heading into the run, I was feeling good...the run through the transition zone with my bike was a long muddy one... I figured they were making us do the rest of the bike in the T2 zone, lol. I was passed by another girl in my age category coming into T2 and my goal was to keep her in my sights on the run.

Starting the run I realized my feet were still cold from the swim and running through the cold muddy transition zone but I knew they would come around. I was feeling strong and could see the girl in front of me. The first 5km we ran along the river to downtown and then had 2 loops in the city where we would finish, the course was beautiful and flat, I was feeling really strong and the girl in front of me wasn't pulling away but I lost her as we approached the bridge to the city as the course became very busy with athletes doing their loops... the crowds were thick and people were cheering Go Canada... it made me feel strong and it was awesome to have that energy... the loops were great, I was passing lots of athletes at this point and was only being passed by men... I could no longer tell who was the girl I had been chasing and at the turn around points I had no idea of which girls were in my age category, so I didn't know who was chasing me. I just told myself to keep running strong and push hard. As I crossed the bridge for the 3rd time I told myself to just go, I thought I was in 3rd place and I wanted to stay there...I told myself to just run the last half of the loop strong and not let someone else pass me in the final bit and that I would be disappointed if I did... as I turned into the finishing shoot I missed the man who was trying to hand me a Canadian flag to finish with but I wasn't turning back to get it... I felt great crossing the line and shook hands with the girl who had finished in front of me. I was pretty sure I was 3rd and I felt great. A girl from HUN came up and told me great race (I saw later that she was only 11 seconds behind me, chasing me down!)

I was able to see SV out on his first loop on the run and he was running strong (he had hurt his calf and taken 3 weeks off running and to see him looking smooth and strong made me so happy, we hadn't been sure he would be able to run let alone run so well!!)

My results: swim (20:01) bike (56:17, which is about 37km/hr) run(40:37). Overall I felt it was a solid race for me, I am very happy with my run split as I didn't think I could pull out a 40 minute 10km off the bike but glad I was able to!

In the end, I thought it was a great event. I know a lot of people complained because they did an extra loop on the run route, but I believe it is up to every athlete to know what the heck they are supposed to do... the routes were posted and it was easy to see that you had to cross the bridge 3 times, not 5... and if you didn't take the time to ask or clarify then you shouldn't complain that you made an error.... It was a disappointment that the bike course was 5km short but again that is something that is outside of my control and I am not going to complain about it... every race that we enter has the potential to be short or long... but every athlete out there is doing the same distance so it is fair and even though all of our finishing times are faster than they would have been if the bike was 40km, to me it doesn't really matter... but I don't base a race off my overall finishing time like some athletes do... so I guess I can understand their need to complain about it being short.... SV would rather a race have a long bike and short run but he didn't complain about it! Yes I found the water cold, SV didn't think it was too bad...I was glad that I didn't get in earlier in the week to swim in the water because it probably would have worried me (only because I had a really bad cold water experience) but again it was something that I couldn't have controlled and the water was cold for everyone...

This was my first World Championships and I have never experienced anything like this... it was great to be out there representing our country and being part of a team... cheering on other Canadians out on the course and having a large group of athletes to be part of during and after... it was a very well organized race and I was impressed with how well they were able to put some 2500 athletes through such an event. The awards ceremony was great and I have to admit I had so much pride getting on stage and accepting my medal... it was a great moment! Trading uniforms with other people from other countries was a blast and again it was awesome to have so many countries wanting the Canadian uniform, Canadians Rock!!

Now it is time to rest and recover, it was a fun summer of trying new things and experiencing racing, but the body is ready for a rest (it isn't used to all this fast stuff, lol) I look forward to some down time...

World Championships

SV talks me into some crazy things... here I am on the Canadian Team sitting in a hotel in Budapest getting ready to race on Sunday in the Olympic Distance World Championships. It has been a pretty good experience so far, we are officially registered, know the race course and are finding our way around the city. We had our first team training and meeting yesterday and the Sprint team does their race tomorrow, along with the Elite Men's race.

I was nervous heading here, I have never been on a plane for as long as I was for this trip, leaving the girlies made me sad and stressed (although they are having a great time with ma and pa!), the Hungarian cuisine scared me a little and the whole unknown had me a little shall I say uncertain. However, SV and I have been making out alright. Our first meal here didn't give me a lot of confidence but we have done much better since....we are managing to find our way around the city easily and we have been able to keep our exposure to the "stressed" triathletes to a minimum....and we have met some great new people as well.

The jet lag was pretty intense, we slept 12 hours last night but I think come Sunday we will be good to go (I feel human today compaired to yesterday that is for sure). We headed out with Team Canada and went for a ride on the bike course...the race description said they are great roads...not going to agree with that as there are a lot of pot holes and a section of the road that is under construction (but is supposed to be paved by Sunday) but it is very flat... the route has 3 turn arounds in each lap, with three laps.... this is very new for me, I have never done a flat race or a race with laps, so I am excited for the new challenge...I also like that the turnarounds are in roundabouts rather than pylons, should make the course a little less congested.... the one concern I do have is the amount of people that will be on the course, they have penalty boxes and you will have to serve any drafting/blocking penalty on the route, but with such a flat course and so many athletes I am hoping that it won't be too difficult to have my own ride (the first laps should be fine but lap 2 and 3 have me a little nervous) SV has told me to just do my ride and try to get by any slower athletes as quick as possible... sounds like good advice to me.

The swim may not be as pleasant as we had hoped, the water on Wednesday for the Aqua-thon was only 14 degrees... they are telling us it should be 18 for us on Sunday... we are going to do the swim course tomorrow afternoon so I hope it is a little warmer... we won't be able to have a warm up swim on Sunday so tomorrow is our only chance to try it out...

The weather hasn't been the greatest since we got here, our cabbie told us that the weather here is usually beautiful up until October but the last week or so has been cold, and it has rained all day today... but he told us it will be nicer tomorrow and even better Sunday... SV and I went out and did a short run today, we ran down to the river and then to where the race finish line is and the bridge that we will be running across 3 times on race day... again very flat run course but despite the rain, it is a very beautiful route, rain or shine I think I will enjoy the run for sure! The finish area seems exciting and seeing it all set up today got me pumped. I look forward to running in my race outfit and being cheered on by the spectators... it made me feel very proud to be somewhere so far from home representing our country.

A few observations I have so far:

--people really like the Canadian Team uniform (they will like them a lot more on Sunday as the see-through quality becomes apparent! I chose the bathing suit option as a race outfit.... something I would never normally do, but the options of uniforms led me to choose the lesser of the 3 evils... SV went with the one piece tri suit and mine at least came with a shammy and the seam of my outfit doesn't need to be strategically placed to hide anything :) but we are in Europe so being out there is expected right, lol) I am on the look out for which team uniform I like best and hope to be able to do some swapping on Sunday night at the closing ceremonies....

--I hadn't realized how wonderful we have it in Canada, to be able to go to a restaraunt and have an enjoyable meal... here the service is very slow and people smoke everywhere...I really prefer my meals without a side order of cigarette smoke.

---the city of Budapest is prettier than I thought it was going to be, don't get me wrong there are some depressing looking areas but the buildings and setting is very pretty (I can't wait for a sunny day to enjoy it to its fullest).

---the bridges are gorgeous. I have this thing with bridges (think this is part of why I want to someday do the NYC marathon)... Budapest has 4 amazing bridges (that we have seen) all so very different from each other but I hope to get pictures of them all so that I can show you... the Szechenyi Bridge, which we ran today and will be crossing 3 times on race day is gorgeous and I tried to take it all in today because I know on race day I will not appreciate its beauty but honestly the views from both sides of this bridge are impressive... although the river Danube below isn't beautiful (brown)

---I am a small town girl... yesterday our bike ride took us through the city... I am very comfortable on my bike but I have never ridden in a large city and I was stressed... the amount of cars, stop lights and finding our way around was intense... I found it so crazy and I tried to only focus on following SV (or other team members) but as we were heading back to the hotel we took one of the bridges that I find very beautiful and I thought I was going to die, lol... it was crazy, I could not do that every day of my life, but I was actually impressed with how great the traffic was with us on our bikes, a few people did get close to us but no one honked their horn or tried to cut us off... something that occurs almost every ride back home. So although I did not enjoy riding in the city and was concerned about safety the drivers here in Budapest seem to respect cyclists more.

--SV and I won't be able to race each other here at the World Championships. My wave is set to head off 40 minutes before he starts, I think we may get a chance to see each other out on the bike course or run course and I will get to see him cross the finish line but other than that it will just be us and athletes from around the world.

Tomorrow we are going to head down to watch the Men's Elite race, I am very excited to see such a fast paced race... these guys will be running a 30 minute 10 km run after doing the bike and swim... should be impressive. We will head down to swim after and then check our bikes into the transition area.... I think I am ready to go, I may not have done all the training I could have done, life and loved ones are more important though.... but I think I will do alright, all I can do my best and at the end of the day if I put in a 100% effort I can't be anything but proud

Different

I thought it was time for a new look for my blog...don't get me wrong LA naked on a bike will always have a special place in my heart but I thought it was time to make a few changes....

I never used to make change so freely...it is so easy to get caught up in what is comfortable and simple, not that it is always what you like or want but what you are used to....I am realizing that I am not that person any longer...yes I like a routine and getting things done the way I like them, but I find I am much more open to going outside my comfort zone...I have really challenged myself in the last year and a half and it made me start to wonder if I had changed a lot... this past weekend I realized that I had changed, not to becoming someone new but changed back into me...the me I really am. Spending time with loved ones has a way of opening your eyes...loved ones that have been there through all the hard times, the ones that know the good and the bad and have always been there to help you through it...the ones in the end who know you better than yourself...This past weekend I was able to spend some time with 3 of those great loved ones...my sisters and brother (1 official the other 2 by love!) and to realize how hard it was for them to see me not being me for so long...and how happy they are to have me back with them! I missed you guys!

Different isn't always bad or strange...in my case I am happy to say that different is wonderful...I feel stronger than I ever have (physically and mentally) I am healthy and incredibly happy and I am working towards many different goals in my life and I finally believe that I can do anything...and to have my loved ones recognize that the person they have loved and missed for many years is finally back makes me feel even stronger!