Being only a sprint distance, half of the usual Olympic distance I knew it was going to be a hard fast race. Despite knowing this I was still taken aback by the speed and aggressiveness of the racing - a clear step up from the racing I've done before and a bit of a wakeup call!
.jpg) |
| Hawrelak Park |
The race was held in Hawrelak Park, one of the many parks along the North Saskatchewan River that runs through the middle of Edmonton. The swim was a 1 lap 750m in the duck pond, which interestingly, had been chlorinated for the event (and strongly enough that you could smell it)! A slightly more unusual format had us doing an 11km loop on the bike followed by two 5km loops. The course climbed in and out of the river valley a total of 4 times through the 21km making it somewhat challenging. The run was then a two lap, 5km climb in and out of the river valley to finish it off.
Knowing that in the past the water had sometimes been above the 20 degree mark I was hoping that it might be warm enough for a non-wetsuit swim this year, although with all the rain I thought it unlikely. Sure enough in race briefing on Friday we told the water had been measured in several places between 17 and 18 degrees - definitely a wetsuit swim. I was then surprised come race day when I went down to put on my wetsuit and do my swim warm up that there were girls warming up without wetsuits on. Clearly I'd missed the memo at check-in as when I asked one of the TOs they confirmed it was a non wetsuit swim! I was happy about this as no wetsuits mean a more spread out field, advantaging the stronger swimmers and increasing the likelyhood of several packs forming on the bike rather than one big mass.
 |
| Swim start |
The third time we were lined up for introductions after a 30 minute delay due to issues with closing the roads we were finally introduced and jogged down to the start line. Before starting I was feeling good and was confident that I could put in one of the fastest swims of the day and come out close to the front. I had a good start and was one of the front swimmers until about 20m in. Then everything turned to chaos and I'm still not quite sure what happened. About 50m from the start and in almost the direct line of the swim was a water fountain. Girls from the left were moving right to get around it and girls from the right were moving left to get the most direct line to the first swim buoy. From there until the first swim buoy I was swallowed in the mass of arms and legs flying everywhere but remained towards the front tucked in behind 4-5 girls in the lead. I don't think my heart rate has ever been so high in the swim and at some points is was impossible to take a breath. All the hypoxic work I had been doing in training came in handy! After being kicked in the eye half losing my goggles and then kicked in the mouth rounding the first buoy, which was a wide 180 degree turn, I was pushed out of position to the outside. Out of the slipstream and taking the longer line around the outside I continued to drop back places through the swim, eventually exiting in 20th. With so many girls of a similar speed packed into a small space, skills in fighting for and maintaining position (including remaining calm when you can't breathe or your arms keep getting tangled with others'!) become at least as important as swim fitness - definitely something I need to work on!
The first hill out of transition really split the field. The front pack consolidated their ~15 second lead, and a few packs formed behind. I took the hill hard, getting away from some of the girls I came out with but not quite catching the first chase pack of 4 girls ahead of me. The pack behind were working well and caught me at about 4km. About half way through the bike we caught the first chase pack but were still losing time to the lead pack. We continued to work well but entered T2 1 min 20 seconds down on the lead pack of 10 girls.
 |
| On the high level bridge, one of the landmarks on course |
 |
| Heading onto the run |
I transitioned well and was first out onto the run from my pack. Whether I was lacking race fitness, was feeling the effects of poorly managed hydration & nutrition on the bike, or just wasn't in the right mental state (probably all of the above) I did not have a great run. I finished in 22nd, significantly lower than I had hoped for but on reflection, still not a result to be scoffed at. Most importantly I learnt a lot from the race, and know what to expect next time. It's good to know how my swim, bike, and run compare to the other girls racing at world cup standard. Having been really pushed on both the swim and bike it will help me not to get complacent about my stronger 2 legs in training!
It was definitely a special experience racing in a world cup and I look forward to doing more in the future!
I’m now in the Netherlands preparing for the Holten European cup on June 29.
Gillian
No comments:
Post a Comment