Vancouver 2008

I recently returned from Vancouver, BC, host of the ITU World Triathlon Championships. I traveled there with my coach Matt and teammate Cedric. The entire weekend was cloudy, cold and rainy. I was not entirely prepared for this race; I had been back in training for about a month and my fitness was relatively lacking. The water temp was a frigid 55F and rain persisted for the entire first two days we were there.

Race morning was cold and cloudy but dry. A stiff wind had whipped up 3-5ft swells in the English Bay, and after over 600 women had started their race, directors decided to cancel the swim for the remaining competitors due to high seas. Apparently the kayaks on the swim course were overwhelmed; both by the number of people needing help and because they were taking on water and capsizing from the waves. SURPRISE! It's a duathlon! The swim was replaced with a "3k" run, which was more like a 2k run. The bike course was a tad under 37k, which for a World Championships, is embarrassingly short.

I started the 1st run in the back of the field, knowing my run is my weakest link, and made sure not to go out too hard and blow up. I came into T1 about a minute back from the leaders and had a smooth transition to the bike. Despite having to surge my way past HUGE packs of drafting racers my pacing was pretty good on the bike. The drafting was pretty blatant. We're talking 30+ racers packed within a 50m stretch of road. Oh well.

I had a great T2 after the bike and was feeling good on the run for the first 3k. I then promptly blew up and struggled through the rest of the run. I brought it home for a 32nd place finish in my age group, which is surprisingly 10 places better than I did at last year's Worlds. For some reason there was not as strong of competition this year. All in all I'm not dissapointed in my performance; I expected as much given the lack of preparation.

My "A" race for the season will be Age Group Nationals in Portland OR. I should have plenty of time to get back into peak shape by then!