Leader of the Pack...for 5.5km anyway...

The first race of the year done.

Here’s a quick summary of the race:

Swim: Awesome start, got through the surf unscathed and out front. Couple swimmers to my left that came to the first buoys first, so I tucked in behind. It was probably the most civilized World Cup swim I’ve ever been in. It’s so much nicer at the front of the pack! Only problem was around 1k, my swim cap came right off my head, so I had 500m of swimming with my hair swirling around my eyes and face. I screwed up my exit from the water (mainly due to the fact that I had a mat of hair blocking my view!) and it put me a bit farther back on the exit but still front pack.

Bike: I had to work a bit to make up the ground I lost coming out of the water but got on the lead pack fairly quickly. The ride was a bit disappointing, no one really willing to work. I tried to get the group going but the effort seemed not to work. This lead to the chase pack almost catching us in T2 and bringing along some strong runners with it (& the eventual winner).

Run: I came out of transition slightly behind and worked hard to run up to the girls ahead. I was running in a group of 5 women at the front of the race (!). I was feeling great, relaxed and positive—then around 5.5k I had a small lapse in concentration and a gap opened up between me and the other girls….I wasn’t able to close it after that. I managed to stumble my way around the course, the heat was having it’s way with me, tried to minimize the damage, but was passed by 4 girls in the last 1km, but I managed to steal a spot back at the line with a sprint to get in there for 9th.

Since this finish equals my best world cup finish, I’m happy with this result. Also, as my first race back post-stress fracture, I wasn’t expecting much, I also know that I can run faster and just need to tweak a few things before the next race.
I’m trying to find some photos that I can post, but if you go to http://triathlon.org/multimedia/slideshow/C495/ there a couple good pics in there.

Now, I have 10 more days in Noosa, a short flight to Sydney, and then the first World Championships Series race on April 11th. The competition is sure to be even fiercer but after last weekend, I know I’m ready for that step up!

More later,
Lisa