Geneva

Last weekend I popped over the French/Swiss border to Geneva for the Geneva European Cup. Another beautiful place to visit and one tough race!

This race was back to the more standard Olympic distance of 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run. Double to distance of my previous two races.

After being bashed to oblivion in Edmonton and Holten I was relieved to have a relatively smooth swim thanks to the smaller field and longer swim. The pace was high from the start and by the first buoy at 300m the field was strung out in a long line. This meant that wrestling people around buoys and fighting for position was not so much a factor in the swim, but the speed was killer. Knowing that maintaining my position in the swim was vital if I wanted to be in the front pack on the bike I made sure to stick on the feet in front of me and not let any gaps open up, and putting in a surge if any did. I managed to hang on to the front pack through the swim but paid for it as soon as we hit the shore. Unfortunately my fitness wasn't where I'd hoped it would be at and I struggled through the swim to bike transition, something that is usually my strength, and lost contact with the pack.

Swim start

On the long run from the swim to the bike

The bike course was 6 laps of a 7km loop incorporating a steep hill almost a km long. Part way through the first lap I was caught by a group of 4 girls from behind. We worked well together and caught a couple more girls in front who had dropped off the front pack but lost time on the leaders every lap. The hill on the bike played a huge factor in the race, splitting the front pack and spacing out the field. By the 6th time up the hill my quads were cramping and I was well and truly ready to get off my bike!

The 4 lap run was by no means easy either - hot and hilly (albeit flat compared to the ride!). With tired legs it was not a fast 10km but I managed to catch a few girls from the pack in front to finish in 14th. No-where near where I'd like to be but a solid result considering where my fitness is currently at.

One of the real challenges I've had over the past month is getting in any solid training to maintain fitness amidst all the travelling and racing. Now it's time to knuckle down, do some hard work and get back the fitness that's been lost before evaluating where to race next.

Gillian

Holten European Cup

The Netherlands is an amazing country to go to if you like riding a bike. For starters, it's dead flat and the plethora of bike paths/lanes/roads lining almost every single street make cycling a breeze. The place is full of bikes where ever you look and (at least in Holten) there's no such thing as anti cyclist rage!

Bike racks at the station; narrow road through town with bike lanes either side

Flying in from Canada on Tuesday I had a few days to explore the quiet country town of Holten and the surrounding farming area before the race. One definite perk of doing a sport that involves cycling and running is that sight seeing can be done whilst training!

Exploring: an old thatched roof house; cycling through the Holterberg National Park; Pelmolen in Rijssen; a nice cobblestone road; gardens at de Oosterhof, Rijssen

Holten clearly takes pride in hosting this triathlon, a race that has been run annually since 1985, including an ITU race (either European cup, European Championship or World cup) since 2002. This year the event began on Thursday and encompassed the U23 European team and individual Championships, the ITU European cup race (my race), numerous different kids and age group triathlons and aquathons, as well as opening ceremony and after parties! When I arrived on Tuesday the town was already decorated with banners and flags promoting the triathlon, with most of the houses and lamp posts through town sporting flags like such:

The town came to life on race day with spectators lining the streets of the run course. The event had a festival-like feeling with at least 5 brass bands playing along course, speakers pumping out the radio, jumping castles and other inflatable play structures for the kids, and plenty of stalls for tri junkies to stock up on the latest kit.

One of the many bands playing

The race started out at the Domelaar, a lake situated about 10km from town. The swim was 1 lap of 750 meters in the lake, a wetsuit swim. The bike course was then 10km from the lake into the centre of town and two 5km laps from town through the edge of the Holterberg national park and back into town, encompassing some cobblestones and probably the only hill in the whole country. T2 was set up in the centre of town and the run was two 2.5km laps through town, finishing in front of a grandstand area set up for the race.

Holten was an amazing experience but unfortunately I didn't have the race I'd been hoping for and left feeling bitterly disappointed. Despite feeling good early in the week and thinking I'd recovered well from racing and jet lag, it caught up with me coming into the weekend. I woke up on race day feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. Knowing I’d pulled out many a good training session at the end of a hard week when I’d been feeling about the same I put it to the back of my mind and prepared for the race as per normal.

Swim start

Once again I was swallowed up in the swim, this time right from the start. I felt like almost as soon as I'd surfaced I had girls swimming on top of me. It seemed like no-one was swimming straight. I had people not just locking arms like my race the previous weekend in Edmonton, but using me to push off – grabbing my shoulders, arms, back. A few times I had to do a few strokes of polo drill just to try and get a breath. Learning from Edmonton I started wide coming around the first buoy and cut in onto the feet in front rather than getting bashed and pushed under and made up a few places. Heading back towards shore it calmed down a little and I made up ground but found myself trapped behind girls not swimming fast enough and with girls either side of me, I couldn’t get around. From what I could see I was in the main pack so didn't worry too much and just maintained position for the rest of the swim. Coming out of the water I felt very disorientated and almost fell flat on my face. Not the best transition I've ever done by far but enough to get me onto the bike still in the main bunch.

As soon as we were on the bike the field split. 3 girls had already broken away out of the swim. A few of the girls I was with put on the pace to catch the girls up the front before they got away. I rode with them but was having difficulty breathing out of the swim and dropped off just before they reached the front chase pack. I was relegated to the second chase pack of about 10 girls watching the front chase pack disappear into the distance. A very frustrating place to be in, knowing that if I'd just managed to hold the wheel for a bit longer I would have made it into the pack where the draft advantage would have been much greater, and the pace would have slowed a little.
I felt pretty rubbish for most of the ride but started to feel better on the last lap. My run was still far from what it should have been but I managed to run with a few other girls in my pack, finishing in 21st.

Again I learnt many things about racing, recovering from travel and racing, the holes in my preparation and what I need to work on for my next race, and next season. Despite having the worst race I've had for a while I really enjoyed the experience of the race and my time in Holten. It's definitely a race I'd like to come back and do again!

Gillian

Edmonton ITU world cup

I had my first taste of world cup racing in Edmonton last weekend.

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!

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