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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Worlds- Auckland 2012

Here it is- the race report from worlds... almost 3 weeks later. I've been meaning to get this up, but things have been hectic lately- so I'm trying to be productive and use my study break to write this.

I flew out from Victoria on the 14th of October with Alex and we arrived in Auckland early morning on the 16th. After a frightening drive into town (those taxi/shuttle drivers are maniacs, and combined with being on the WRONG side of the road, ya, that was scary) we arrived at our cool hotel. We stayed in an apartment style room that was complete with two separate bedrooms, a large bathroom, kitchen and nice little living room. We spent the rest of the week doing some light training, meeting people on the Canadian team and exploring Auckland. I think the take-away highlight from this trip for me was how neat it was to be a part of the team. We Canadians really stuck out. I mean, you can't miss 300+ people walking around in an 80s themed track suit of bright red pants and a white hoodie, now can you? The reception and friendliness that we received from the people of Auckland was amazing!

On to the race. I went into worlds with a goal of having a solid race. I wasn't expecting any spectacular result, given being injured from May to September with no running possible, but I was hoping that my base would carry me through to something respectable.

Swim
The AG swim was, if I were to sum it up in one word: chaos. The wave of 18-19 and 20-24 females all left the pontoon at once into 14 degree salt water, and it was a fight to keep myself from panicking. The course was like a T shape, with the base of the T being protected in between Queen's wharf and Cook's wharf, and the top of the T being out in the open ocean. I had never swam with current, or in the ocean for that matter, and found it incredibly difficult to site the buoys or follow any sort of direction... I was basically swimming blind... but so was pretty much everyone else. In the end, not my best swim, but I was simply thankful to be out of that water!

T1
This being worlds, the transition zone had to be large enough to accommodate 3000+ athletes, which meant for approximately 680m of running out of the water, to your bike and to the mount line. My time was 4min for all of that. Yikes. But then again, check the results page and no one had the normal 80s T1.

Bike
The bike course got a lot of hype for its hills. Come ride in Victoria or the Koots and you will wonder why people were scared. Yes, there were gradual climbs and two steep climbs on the 2 loops of 20km course, but nothing extremely difficult. I chose to ride my road bike, instead of my tri bike for this course, but looking back I am sure that the Cervelo would have been fine on the hills. The hardest part of the bike was the flat section- wind sucks. I would definitely choose to ride more hills over battling that headwind coming back into the city! Overall I am happy about my bike leg!

T2
Enter another 680m of running. The positive? My legs got a chance to relax from the bike to the run.

Run
This part of the race I basically felt like I was winging it. Having only done my first real run workout a week before, I had no idea what was going to happen. I knew that the neuroma wouldn't give me pain, but I didn't know how my body would react to being pushed to 10k race pace. I discovered that I just didn't have the run fitness to "push" and keep a fast pace, but I was good for going at a steady pace, and managed to run under 49min, with given my circumstances I was super happy about.

Overall, I am so happy that I decided to not call it quits (which at one point was a valid option) and not travel to Auckland. These past 6 months have been an incredible learning experience (patience really is a virtue) and I think I have come out a stronger and more determined athlete. Thanks to my mum, grandparents and friends/family for putting up with me. And thanks especially to coach Noa for helping me think positively through this injury and for keeping my head in the game! Afterall, the goal is long-term, not just one race! The race reminded me that I love triathlon, and I love racing. It gave me fuel to the fire to have a stellar 2013 season. For now, lots of studying and a couple weeks of easy training!

I'll leave you with some pictures of the trip!

 Goofing around at the opening ceremonies parade

 Yeah, we stand out alright!

Elite women's swim

 Auckland 

Part of the run course