Leading up to this race, training had been going great.  Specifically, my power on the bike has improved greatly, my ability to hold technique with a quicker cadence in the swim, and my run has been coming along in training, slowly but surely.  I was happy with the progress and excited to see how the race would reflect it!

Swim: probably my best swim ever in a triathlon... Came out of the water second overall, ahead of all the men, and only behind Jessica Deglau (who is a past Olympic swimmer:))  I was at about 10:43 when I exited the water, which was a better time than most of my other races.  After the start of the swim, which went really well, I found myself on the feet of the first two guys, one of who I knew was Jake Van Allen.  I had a better line than Jessica, but I knew she would be coming up to my right.  As soon as she did, I was ready, and shifted onto her feet.  I stayed there until we were getting close to the far turn buoy, and then I lost her feet.  I made an easy switch right back to the other group, but soon moved up and passed them.  I felt great in the swim, specifically in technique and smooth power.  I was really happy with how it had gone when I jumped up out of the water to head to transition.
​
T1: had a pretty good transition... Slightly on the cautious side I would say, with a slight lack of urgency, but still made up lots of time on the rest of the field I think, and left on the bike right with Jessica.

Bike: rode strong until the hills started, and then after starting the hills I decided to hold it back slightly, going strong and holding a good cadence, but keeping my breathing under control. Jessica passed me back on the hills, but I kept her in my sight and didn't worry about it too much, as I was prepared to power it on the flats and downs to make it up. I knew she is a really good runner though, so I knew I had to pass her back and get a gap to give myself the best opportunity.  As soon as I knew the big uphills were over, and we were on a slight decline with a tailwind (thanks for the tip Luke!) I took off and passed her, going hard on the pedals the rest of the way, but maintaining (guessing) around BP+5, so still in control.  I ended the bike with the fastest female bike split of the day by almost a minute, so that was nice to do:).

T2: good quick transition, trying to get my cadence up immediately as I ran in with my bike. Left T2 with almost a minute of a lead on Jessica (in second) although I didn’t know what the gap was.

Run: this run is quite hard... Two REALLY steep hills practically right away, and I didn't feel very good up them, although I kept a strong cadence that got me up. There was some flat and gradual uphill to the turnaround. Jessica passed me just after the hills. I was a bit surprised to see her, cause I felt like I was running well, but she had a good stride and great turnover going. I tried to go with her, but just couldn't. Shortly after the turnaround, my calves started to relax, and I picked it up a notch. The last 2.5km felt GREAT. I felt like I was driving, really pushing hard, and moving well. Probably the best I've ever felt running in a race, as I finally felt the drive feeling coming off the back of each stride. Finished in second place.  I was surprised how slow both my bike and run times were, but everybody’s times were really slow for time, so I don’t think they reflect how the race went as much as some do.  Congrats to Jessica on an amazing run to finish off a great battle of a race. :)  Also, LOVED racing on my new ON Cloud Racers!!  They felt absolutely awesome, and felt like they gave me a definite spring propelling me forward.

Finish: 2nd place overall for females / 10th overall for men and women
Overall: a great experience and I'm looking forward to taking the things I learned into the next 4 weeks of training before my next race!:)

Things to improve:
1. Continued work on my cadence in the swim.  It was WAY better, and more consistent, but since the technique held, my cadence can again be sped up to improve my overall speed.
2. Rolling.  Working on my calves specifically with a roller, as well as by stretching, will play a huge part in my success.
3. Keeping my stride a bit more up hills.  I know everyone shortens up their stride on hills, but I felt like mine got tiny.  There is definitely grounds for improvement here.

​Day #2 of double header: (Vernon Kal Rats)
Recovery between: immediately post race I got into the lake to quick cool down my muscles, drank chocolate milk, ran down, and stretched. I felt sore, but not too bad as I went to bed that night. When I woke up, however, my hamstrings and calves were TIGHT. I had forgotten to wear compression, and was regretting it as I got ready. I threw on compression socks, and wore them all morning, but that probably wasn't the best thing either.
Setup: got there early enough and was efficient enough that I actually got a warmup in this time. :) I was ready to go, and lined up next to Andrew and Nathan Champness, with knowledge of where Carmelle (a really strong female swimmer) was. The plan? To find one of their 3 sets of feet and stick on them.
Swim: opposite of the day before, my start was great! I immediately got onto Andrew's feet, and was able to get my rotation going really well, with the wetsuit feeling fantastic! About 75m out I lost Andrew's feet, but saw Carmelle come up a little bit to my right, so I slide in beside her. Unfortunately, at about the halfway point I lost her feet as well, but was clear of anyone else at that point, and focused on getting maximum power out of my strokes, without overusing my legs. I came out of the water in 5th overall, behind 3 men (including Nathan and Andrew) and Carmelle. MUCH better swim, and feeling good heading into transition:). 
Unfortunately the swim time was the same as last year, although I honestly though it was one of my best tri swims to date. Multiple people I talked to thought their's were slow as well though, so I'm not reading too far into the time.
T1: I knew I needed a quick transition. The last time I beat Carmelle was because of my transitions, and I knew that, so I made sure I maximized them. I had a really quick one and got out right behind her, having made up close to 30 seconds I think.
Bike: felt awesome! I used a pair of draft legal aerobars for the first time (thanks to Brock lending them to me;)) I passed Carmelle after heading out a bit, but we stayed within probably 20m of each other, as we both had a really strong bike. 
My bike split was almost 2 whole minutes faster than last year on this course, which I was super stoked about.:) Carmelle passed me back on the downhill leading back to transition, but I kept her just close enough that I still got the top lady's bike split (by one second to her and Ginny). 
T2: ha a great transition and headed out on the run in first, just ahead of Carmelle. It was my race to lose, and that's all I could think.
Run: felt bad right from the start, but you are never really supposed to feel good in a race, so I was talking myself through that when Carmelle came up next to me and passed me. I got on her heals and stayed with her until we turned the corner close to a km in. As soon as we hit the first (of many) hills, she was gone though. I tried to go with her, but I had a cramping feeling all through my legs. I had the energy and felt recovered in that way, as well as in my respiratory system as I was breathing good still, but my legs were shot from the back to back. I knew Ginny, Mel Spooner, and a few others would be charging up behind me, so I knew I had to tough it out and hold on if I wanted to stay in the top two. I cramped up after I ran down the hill and turned back up it, and had a painful last couple kms, but was happy to cross the line in second place for overall female participants.
Overall: 
I was really happy with my swim, although the time didn't show it. My bike was probably a best for me, and definitely a PB on the course. My run was just hard, and understandably slower than I would have liked. 
3 things to improve on:
1. Just cadence in my swim. It was a great swim, and I had good technique, but if my cadence continues to improve it will make a world of difference.
2. Compression and muscle relaxing in some way between races if I ever do the back to back again.:)
3. My run... Lots to work on, and therefore lots to improve on before Edmonton!:)

​About 3 weeks out from this race I decided to make it a double header. I decided that after racing the junior elite race on Saturday, I was going to race the adult Kal Rats sprint on Sunday as well. So I had basically set myself up for a really long and painful weekend of racing! :)
In the week leading up, it didn't exactly end up being a taper. As we have been doing some of the Tuesday night time trials this year, we went for this one as well. Only difference? It was the Knox Mountain race. It was a tough, mass start race that I pushed really hard from right away and payed for later, barely surviving to the top at BP+everything. Although Wednesday was easier, I did a hill climbing clinic with Luke and the X-Elle group on the Thursday, but felt really good in it, so may have gone a little harder than was smart:). On top of that, I was still recovering from whooping cough, and had a provincial exam and final exam happening that week, meaning all late nights of studying, and little rest. Thankfully the day before went well and was relaxing, setting me up mentally prepared for the race the next day.
Unfortunately, we got there a little later than we probably should have. Warm-up was cut short as a result, and I rushed through getting my wetsuit on, not having a chance to get in the water and re-fit it or move it around. That proved to be a costly mistake.

Swim: My swim start was terrible. Immediately fell off the pace, and couldn't get my arm rotation going. My new wetsuit had been feeling awesome  leading up to the race, but unfortunately my lack of preparation and fitting it limited my shoulder movement a bit.  Learned from that mistake.  After the first buoy it started to feel better, but by that point, the packs were separated and apart.  With the swim being so short, it was over before I knew it.

T1: decent transition. Nothing went majorly wrong within the transition area, except that my elastic to hold my shoes in place had snapped. My problem, however, occurred at the mount line, or should I say after it... I ran right past the mount line, running for the corner at the end of the street. I was trying to catch on to Lincoln, who was just behind another pack, but gave up valuable time as I ran an extra 50m before realizing my mistake.  As we call it with Brock, 'racer brain'.

Bike: The bike part felt slightly off. I didn't feel like I had the power I had been feeling in training, as I soloed the whole ride and stayed the same distance away from the pack ahead of me, not losing any noticeable time, but not gaining any either. One pack behind me closed in on me, coming off the bike not far back. The 10k bike felt so short and my legs didn't feel quite awake yet when we hit the ground running from the dismount, but more like I'd just done a hard repeat of something without the necessary warm-up.

T2: pretty slow T2 as a couple kids made up time on me. Tried to get my running cadence up immediately.

Run: felt like a continuation of the bike, where I wasn't yet warmed up. I felt uncoordinated, and like I needed to do some warm-up laps to get my legs into it first. I set my sights on who I thought was the top junior girl, and slowly ran her down. I felt better and better as the run wore on, and felt like I was hitting my stride on the last lap (of 4) in the 3km run. My cadence was probably the best I have managed in a race, although it was with a much shorter stride than I wanted.  Unfortunately I didn't realize that one of the girls who ran off the bike just ahead of me was a junior as well, as I thought I had passed first place. Still, she had an amazing run, and was clearly faster run than me, and I'm going to have to improve on that as I continue through the summer. 

Overall: placed second for junior elite ladies. I am disappointed at the short distances the race series has, however it is still race experience and good to try out the shorter stuff sometimes.
3 things to improve on:
1. Warm up - this is CRUCIAL for me, and I need to put an emphasis on it every time.
2. Knowing my transition set-up pre-race, including where the mount/dismounts are.:)
3. My ability to open up my stride length on the run.
(Bonus: 4. Don't line up next to Brock and Lincoln on the start line... we bumped into and kicked each other around to start the swim:)

Before I explain how the days went, I better explain the couple days before…  Ever since the Cherry Blossom Triathlon I’ve had a cough – a bad one.  It just wasn’t going away.  We got it checked out (along with Brock’s), and were told it was just viral and would go away soon.  Still there.  About 7 weeks after it started, and with a HUGE weekend of cycling about to happen, it was getting super frustrating, as my training had been limited and hadn’t been going really well because of it.  The day before the first race, and I woke up with a fever, sore throat, and head ache.  ‘Oh great’ is all I could think.  The decision?  No fever?  Race.  Fever?  No race.  I took the day off and planned to miss track in the morning so that I could sleep in and hopefully recover.  Perfect!  The next morning, I woke up without a fever, but still with the other lagging effects of whatever I had.  Racing anyway, so better make the best of it!:)
 
Race #1 – Time Trial (22km)
The time trial was interesting, to say the least.  Coming off of two days of no training, being somewhat sick still, and checking for a fever before the start in the rain, I didn’t know what to expect.  Looking around, I immediately didn’t think it was my race to win.  TT bikes, aero helmets, and speed-suits.  Thanks to Luke’s generous lending of some of his equipment, I had race wheels on, as well as aero bars, although I had never used them before.  With a 30 second time interval, and me going first in my group, I set off, trying to not let anyone catch me.  I didn’t see anyone for the first 7 or 8 kms, but then got passed by two people before the turnaround, and another right after.  I wasn’t surprised, but was disappointed every time I heard the ‘whoosh, whoosh, whoosh’ of the tires coming up and past me.  Unfortunately, not long after one girl passed me on the way back, she went down to the pavement around a corner.  I had just gotten out of aero when I saw her down.  It freaked me out to the point where I slowed right down, since I didn’t see her move.  I looked around and saw 4 or 5 adults running to her, though, so decided I wouldn’t really help the situation, and started to accelerate again.  Thankfully, she was ok and raced the next day, but I rode a bit scared back to the start/finish.  The one thing I noticed, however, was that at every hill, I gained back time.  I was happy with that, as I have definitely worked on my hills over the past year.  I finished 4th in the small age group, and third in Provincial standings for U19.  Not my ideal race outcome, but I was happy to get to bed that night, hoping to rest and heal up for the next morning.:)
 
Race #2 - Criterium (22km)
The Crit was cool, scary, and fun all at once.  I had only ever done one crit before in my life, and that was about 2 years ago after barely starting with BPR, and lets just say it didn’t go very well.:)  After learning the rules, and scouting out the short 1.2km loop, it was obvious that there was going to be A LOT of accelerations, as each loop had two 180s per.  Prior to the race, Luke told me not to work for anybody, but to stay up in the top 1/3rd of the pack so that I was able to neutralize any breaks.  Due to there being smaller fields in both the U17 and U19 categories, they combined the two so that there would be a bigger group.  After the first 3 laps or so, there was a major acceleration off the front, which somewhat shocked me, but definitely woke me up into the race early on.  Most of the pack was able to neutralize the break, although I believe we dropped a couple girls.  From that point on, there was an attempted break at least every 2 laps, but I was able to hang on for all of them, sometimes taking the whole straightaway to catch back on and others hanging in there.  I started to realize that it was definitely my positioning on the corners that was causing me to have to max it out on each lap, so I tried to switch that up a little.  At almost exactly the half-way point, I started wheezing quite heavily, partially because I could no longer breath out of my nose at all and was having a hard time breathing in general, and partially because I was physically taxed from the race already.  Not long after that, at maybe lap 14 or 15, I had a decision to make.  The group of girls who were quite obviously the strongest went off the front, and I was near the front of the group that was being dropped.  I heard Luke shout at me “close it” and “this is it, this is the break” as I went by.  I remember thinking to myself, “I can’t close it, I can’t even breath”, but I knew I had to get that out of my head.  I changed around my thoughts into “I don’t want to bike the rest of this thing at the back or solo”.  So I dug my head down and gave everything I had to catch the breakaway.  Somewhat to my surprise, I did, pulling up several of the rest of the girls in the process.  Latching back onto the wheel, I was exhausted, but super happy with myself.  Whatever happened at that point I was happy with the race, but a strange sense started to creep into me that I hadn’t had before that point in the race.  “I can win this” is all I started to say.  The pace slowed slightly, but I’m sure we all were anticipating that to only be the calm before a major storm.  With 2 laps to go, I made my way to the front, and went around the far corner in the lead, getting a really good line.  I had a slight gap on the rest of the field, and so powered out of the corner.  Suddenly, to my left, one of the girls who had been pushing the pace the whole time shot out and past me, and I new I had to get on her wheel.  It took a max acceleration, but I did, only to see her immediately give me the signal to take my pull at the front.  We had a gap, but I was spent, and although I tried, I just couldn’t do it.  We were caught by the pack, and went around the last lap all together.  Luke told me to head to the front, so that’s what I tried to do.  Approaching the last turn, I was sitting in I think the second slot in the pack, but then the break happened.  As I was preparing for the turn, a group went by me to my left, and half the girls responded, while the other half, like me, lost all positioning on the corner and any chance for a medal.  It was a split second that determined the entire race.  I had a poor corner, but a good acceleration and strong sprint to the line, passing a couple girls on the last stretch.  I believe I finished 7th in the combined category, and 4th for my age group, although that translated into 3rd out of the provincial competitors.  I was happy with the race, but felt like I could have been there to take the win.  Three things I can definitely improve on from this crit for future ones are:

1. The aggressiveness I need to gain for this kind of race
2. The incredible value of positioning on corners
3. Staying in the slip stream more, and taking advantage of other girls working at the front.

 
​
Race #3 - Road Race (63km)
Finally, the road race…  With the combination of the two age groups again, the distance was only 63km: 3 loops of a 21km course, with each loop containing a hill 4-5km long right at the beginning.  After the last two days, I knew who the strong riders were.  My goal was to stick on their wheels at all costs, but that is easier said than done.  Once the horn went, I got right on to one of their wheels, but to my surprise, we went out at a super easy pace, with plenty of chatter and talking among us.  This made me even more nervous though, as I was just expecting something to happen.  As soon as we hit the hill, it did.  Gears clicked up, and I was suddenly in sprint panic mode to stay on.  Having never ridden the hill before, I had no idea what to expect.  It wasn’t overly steep, but just long, and it took a lot of energy out of me to stay there.  I lost my wheel probably 750m from the top, and had to work like crazy to pull back onto it.  Unfortunately, I pulled up 3 other girls who were behind me with me, but at least I was still in the race!:)  Once the course flattened out again, the pace also slowed.  I got my HR way down into my high FFA / low STF for a little bit during that time, and then the pace wound up.  The rest of that lap was awesome.  We pace-lined it for all the flats and rolling hills, and I led the group down the steep and corner-ridden descent, which was super fun!  I absolutely loved the experience of working with a group of experienced cyclists, as almost all of the girls seemed to know exactly what they were doing, as we maximized all our work with minimum output.  We went through the first lap together, but unfortunately didn’t stay that way for long.  Half-way up the next hill, there was a gap between the person behind me and me.  Suddenly, there was a gap between me and the person ahead of me too.  It had happened a couple times already, and I had closed it, but for whatever reason, this one made a lasting impact.  ¾ of the way up the hill, and I had lost the group.  I could still see them just a little bit up the road when we reached the top, but it was just slightly too far to go after.  Two of the girls behind me caught me, and we stayed together for the rest of the race.  In all honesty, I asked myself multiple times, “could I have closed that gap one more time?” and my answer is that I probably could have, had I buried myself.  I don’t know if it was unhealthy fear, or a proper calculation that made me not, but I do know if I could do it again, I would have tried to close it, whatever the consequences.  But that is what this race was for: a learning experience.  The rest of the race was long and quite boring to be honest.  We slowed considerably, not on purpose, but without the group to accomplish anything else.  I could tell that the motivation wasn’t really there, as the other two in my group were of the lower age and could guarantee themselves a podium if they just stayed ahead of the group behind us, but I couldn’t go solo.  I began to cramp up in the middle of that second lap, and it progressively got worse until the end, despite me taking on quite a bit of fuel and electrolytes.  When I stood to try to outsprint the other two in my group, I cramped up again, losing the sprint by a little ways.  What did I take out of the race?  Well, on a positive side, I saw how a group can work together and maximize their output.  This is something I have noticed draft legal triathlon racing lacking a bit, as many people do not have the cycling experience to properly coordinate a group.  It was super fun to be a part of, and a great experience for me for sure!  On a learning side, however, it was great to see I could ride with these girls, but it was also hard to realize how I may have been able to close the gap and didn’t.  Another lesson learned from the race.  Finally, considering that I found out I had whooping cough after the race was over, I was pleased with how I was able to finish, but just frustrated at my lack of ability up-hill, where I found it the hardest to breath, despite knowing climbing to be one of my strengths.
 
All in all, this was an awesome weekend filled with ups and downs, lessons, achievements, realizations, and a few breakthroughs.  It was exciting to hear that several of the girls who kept beating me are representing Canada at Junior Worlds coming up, so that will be fun to watch the results!  Also, it was a neat weekend in that I got to see Brock and Lincoln do their entire crits, Brock finish an absolutely gutsy road race for a bronze, and Lincoln hammer the front of his pack by me before being outsprinted before the line.  Different culture, environment, and type of race than triathlon, but its always fun to mix it up!  The learning experience for all three of us from the weekend was also invaluable.
 
A huge thanks to coaches Luke and Stacey for their support all weekend (including lending us spare wheels and aero bars), Cannondale for the awesome bike I got to ride all weekend, and Dr. Snow from Valeo for continually helping me to heal up and be ready for events like this.

Race #2…  Positives and NegativesJ
 
Well, this race was interesting.  There were several positives to take out of it, but definitely a lot of frustration as well.
 
It was my first Junior Elite Draft Legal race of the summer.  Held in Vancouver, the North-Shore triathlon was the first race in the BC Junior and Youth Elite Provincial series.  Unfortunately, my category was extremely small, so immediately it didn’t look like there would be a lot of drafting happening on the bike.  The distance was a Super Sprint triathlon, or just under a 400m swim, 10km bike, and 3km run.  I prefer the longer distances, but was looking forward to having some fun and literally going all out for 35 or 40 minutes in a short tri.
 
The swim went well… It was probably one of my best triathlon swims to date.  It was a super odd swim, as the pool was 37m long, rather than 25 or 50, so I couldn’t think about stroke count at all.  I started off swimming hard, but not sprinting.  I tried to be quick on the turns, but not waist breath trying to have long walls, but rather kept my breathing quite consistent and relaxed in the swim.  I pushed it quite hard, but not quite to the point where I was tired from it.  Because the distance was odd, I don’t know kinda the speed I swam at, but compared to the others I was racing (and Lincoln’s time) it was a solid swim.:)  I came out of the water in 2nd, about 20 seconds behind 1st place. 
 
T1 was terrible… I had decided to put my shoes on while on the bike still, even though there was a big hill coming out of transition.  I had planned to do it that way because I usually jump onto my bike and slide my feet right into my shoes, which are held in place, open, by elastic bands.  Unfortunately, when I tried to mount my bike, something had happened to the elastics I had set up, and my shoes were inconveniently upside-down.  This caused me to have to take some time, and get at least one foot in while practically stopped right at the bottom of the hill.  2 more girls in my group went past me in the process, so I was in 4th by the time I headed out on my ride.  I left on the bike probably 35 seconds down from the leader.
 
My bike, however, was great!  I felt understandably tired in my legs from the swim, but was able to push some really solid power despite it.  I passed the two girls right away, making a pull out to the side so they wouldn’t be able to latch on and draft off of me, and then focused on catching the girl out in front.  It was a super short 10km bike (two 5km out-and-backs), so I knew I didn’t have much time.  At the first turnaround I could tell I had made huge progress on the top girl, and by the time I was done the first 5km I had caught her.  I made an attempt or two to get away, but then we worked together for the rest of the second loop and put more time into the girls behind us.  I really focused on staying aero and powering lots of watts in a medium cadence for the first lap, and then focused on reserving my energy and trying to take deep breaths whenever I was drafting in lap 2.  We came off the bike together and headed for T2.
T2 wasn’t my best either, as I was just a bit clumsy, and I’m not sure what I was doing that took me so long.  I lost an easy 10 seconds in T2, opposite to my fast transitions in the first race of the year.
 
The run…  Immediately I knew something wasn’t quite right… I was excited for the fast 3km run, and that I could see the leader of the race right in front of me, but I was already gasping for air.  One of my strengths has always been my ability to keep a calm breathing rate and frequency while running (or biking), and usually run 3:3s for at least the first half of most of my races, but I started at 2:2s and felt really restricted.  Not long in, I felt like I was breathing through a bed sheet, gasping a bit.  I slowed right down, and it was a real fight to just keep running forward.  I don’t think I have ever really wanted to walk before in a triathlon, but I was close.  My lower stomach/abs started to cramp up, and that didn’t help.  I was really frustrated, especially when a girl went breezing past me.  I was frustrated because my legs felt great, and I wanted to go for it, but I couldn’t breath well.  The last little bit to the finish line was mostly downhill, which is usually nice, but suddenly my whole lower stomach cramped quite bad, and I was kind of leaning over a bit down the hill towards the finish, and breathing 1:1s (I don’t think I ever have before), if that. 
 
Anyway, I finished, in third in the small junior elite category.  Wasn’t what I was hoping for, and I was super frustrated with how the run went, especially since I was right there after the bike, but have to live and learn from it.  I’ve had a really bad cough ever since my last race, and I guess it played a big part.  I went to the doctors, and apparently it is just a viral infection, so I’ll have to just let it recover.  But there are definitely some things I need to work on that are in my control, like:

1. Still, I need to continue to work on improving my arm rotation majorly in my swimming, which means my coordination and my strength to sustain my stroke while my arms speed up has to improve.
2. For the bike, I need to remember to drink more little sips of Eload throughout the ride.  I only managed one or two quick ones in this race, and that probably had at least a small part in my run.
3. Improve my transition speed… J  And be smarter in my bike shoe set up… I think the elastics might have slipped off where I had attached them to on my bike.
4. Make sure I show up early enough to races to do my full warm-up (Spiro, Majo’s routine, and a really good swim one) before the race start.  I was rushed this time, and didn’t get it all in, which also didn’t help as I didn’t open up my diaphragm, etc. when warming up.

 
So… After all that, I would say I’m 75% happy with how it went, 20% disappointed and frustrated, and the rest excited that I have some things to focus on to get better! Right now, it’s about always improving, and learning from each race, and then not making the same mistakes next time.  It’s fun to analyze where I went wrong, and then direct that into improvement for next time…  Can’t wait to race again after some more solid training weeks!  Next race(s): Haymen’s Classic Cycling Provincials, followed by a double-header triathlon weekend in Vernon for me…  Excited to try an actual road cycling race for the first time at Hayman’s, and then test my ability to recover between races in Vernon… Sounds super fun, and I can’t wait! :)

​Better late than never I guess…  So here goes!  My race report for the Kelowna Cherry Blossom Triathlon:
 
The day on a whole went according to plan in a lot of ways, although, just like any race there are things to improve and do better on next time.
 
Swim:
My goal for the swim was to hold technique, speed, and stroke count consistent for the entire swim, while being the fastest lady in the water.  I also wanted to improve on my swim time of 11 minutes from last year.
While I did hold my technique quite consistent, my stroke count and speed slipped a little bit as the swim wore on.  I started the swim second, and ended up being 4th out of the water, with one of those who passed me being a lady.  I didn’t hit all my goals, but my end swim time definitely showed improvement from last year, as I swam about 10:15 to improve by 45 seconds from 2015. 
 
I had a really good transition.  I passed back the other lady in T1, and made up time on the other two in front of me as well.  I ran out, hopped on my bike, and as I’d had some really good bike sessions lately, felt confident that I could have a really good ride.
 
Bike:
My goal for the bike was to keep control of my breathing, but to push it, HARD.  I wanted to try to improve on my previous time of 40:30 from last year.  One other goal I had set for the bike was to try for the QOM on one of the laps, as I had just missed it the year before.
 
I immediately passed one of the guys who had been ahead of me, moving me into 2nd on the course.  I realized that a bunch of the top men who started behind me would soon catch and pass me, but my goal was to stay ahead of all other ladies.  Once I was done the first lap, I started chasing other people down who were just starting their first lap.  It was fun to set those little goals.  For the QOM, I had decided that I was going to pace it up the first climb, go hard on the second, and then steady on the third.  I did manage to have the fastest lady’s time up on my second lap, so I won a coffee basket from Cherry Hill Coffee shop… (Even though I don’t drink coffee, my mom enjoyed itJ.)  My final time on the ride was 39:26, so about a minute faster than last year.  My splits were quite consistent, getting a little bit faster on the second than the first, and then holding it close on the last lap.  I really enjoyed my first race on my speedy new Cannondale!:)
 
My bike to run transition was also super quick.  I didn’t have any trouble, and headed out quite quickly on the run.
 
Run:
Last year I held back at the beginning, and then built slowly, based on breathing, to where I gave it everything I had the last 750-1000m.  This year, the plan was to go out faster, but still controlled, for the first 3km.  The turnaround was right at the 2km-to-go mark, so the goal was to accelerate out of the turn, and hammer the last 2km.  I also wanted to chase down as many people as I could see on the run.
 
I felt good out of transition.  I knew I had a little bit of a gap on the only other lady who I knew how much ahead I had to cross the finish line in.  I needed a 30 second gap.  I held consistent on the first 3km still, controlling my breathing, and trying to keep my cadence up with a good lean in my form.  As soon as I hit the turnaround, two things happened.  The first was that I accelerated as planned, and felt good, as it was downhill or flat for most of the rest of the race.  The second was that I saw the other lady closer than the 30second gap I needed to win.  That was all the motivation I needed.:)  I sped up my cadence and opened up my stride a bit more.  It was a painful last 2kms, but after coming 3rd a year ago, I really wanted to win it this year.  I ran the last 2km much faster than the first 3, and felt really strong doing it.  It was a good realization of what I was capable of.  I ran a 22min flat, almost a minute faster than the year before.  I was happy with the run, and actually a little surprised that the time wasn’t faster because of the way the last 2k felt.  I didn’t catch anybody on the run, but only Ian (Crosthwaite) and two other men went by me during the run, so that wasn’t too bad. J
 
Overall:
I ended up winning the race for the ladies, but just barely! (17sec) It was a lot of fun, and I’m actually really glad it was close because it made me push the last 2km even harder.  All in all it was a solid overall race.  I took off about 3min from my overall time on the same course last year, but was extremely happy because it was an even split of about a 1min improvement on each discipline!  It was really great to get my legs under me, as I was quite nervous for the race, but now know I have a baseline to build off of in the summer.  It was also super exciting to win it, as that was my first win since I was 12 in a Kids of Steel raceJ. 
 
The three major things that stand out to me as the biggest areas I can improve on in my next races and throughout the summer are:

1. My swim rotation…  This comes from a bit of a better warm-up before the event, as well as continued work on it in practices for the next little while.
2. My ability to start the run at a higher speed…  I felt really good speeding it up with 2km to go, and wonder if maybe I can do it with 3 to go next time, and so on.
3. My cadence on the run…  Something I need to continue to improve on for sure!

 
The biggest positive thing for me was to see the huge improvements in all aspects of my triathlon, which has to be attributed to my coaches, John, Luke, and Andrew.  Thanks for all the work you’ve put into helping me improve this winter, so I can do this!

​First Blog Post!
 
Instead of looking too far back into what I’ve done over the last few months/year, I’m going to start my first blog post as a pre-curser to the upcoming summer of racing! 
 
Every day I’m getting more excited!  I can’t wait until my first race of the season in May.  I’m really pleased with how much solid training I’ve been able to do this winter, and how I’ve improved every day, and the difference I feel it making in all facets of triathlon.  I have started riding outside again with Coach Luke and the rest of the group, while doing lots of focused swimming and long runs.
 
I also had a Balance Point Assessment a couple of days ago, and despite some hard sessions the day before, I had some very positive results, showing a positive trend of improvement through my training.  Every one of the 2-hour assessments I’ve done have been such a huge help and become a real necessity in my training in order to know and understand how to train smarter, more efficiently, and ultimately race faster.   By determining my limiters and strengths, Luke helps me know how to make the changes I need.  I would highly recommend this Assessment as a baseline or measuring stick as you set your goals for the season!
 
Looking ahead to the summer, I have 8 races planned, including non-drafting local races, Provincial DL Series races, a Canadian Junior Elite DL race, and possibly even a road cycling race.
 
2016 Race Schedule:

• Cherry Blossom Sprint Triathlon (May 1st)
• North Shore Vancouver - BC Junior Elite Race Series #1 (May 23)
• Hayman’s Classic Road Cycling Provincials (June 10-12)
• Vernon Triathlon - BC Junior Elite Race Series #2 (June 26)
• Peach Classic Sprint Triathlon (July 17th)
• Kelowna Apple Triathlon - BC Junior Elite Race Series #3 (Aug. 20)
• Edmonton ITU Junior Elite Triathlon - Canadian National Junior Elite Series Finale (Sept. 4)
• Peachland Sprint Triathlon (Sept. 11th)

 
This schedule might sound a bit crazy, but I am absolutely looking forward to every one of those races, and love the training because it fuels my passion for triathlon!  It’s exhilarating to me to think about triathlons, watch triathlons, train for triathlons and most of all, race triathlons!  Can’t wait for the season to begin!
   
Thank-you for reading!!
Janae

(My brothers and I snowshoeing earlier this winter) :)