GREY: The colour of the sky everywhere I go these days. A rain cloud seems to be stalking me. Rain & clouds from the past few weeks in Calgary even followed me all the way to Des Moines, Iowa for the ITU World Cup event. I landed in a storm and took off in a storm. It poured pretty much continuously for 3 days, so much they had to cancel the kids race the day before ours due to lightening and flooding! Then race morning, I opened the curtains only to see this:
That's the only picture I took in Des Moines! I was certain that they would cancel the swim due to the lightening in the area but the rain fortunately stopped for the ITU races.RED: The colour of my back. Since it was still raining when I left the hotel for the race, sunscreen didn't even cross my mind! The sun did manage to pop out just long enough for the last part of the bike and the run. Since my skin has not seen the sun since I returned from Australia, I was a little crispy after the race. Made for an uncomfortable plane ride home!
GREEN: The colour of our grass after all this rain (still not as nice as our neighbours lawn!)...and the colour of a payday at the races! Hy Vee in Des Moines puts on a great race, takes care of the athletes and has the biggest prize purse in Triathlon. The $ went 50 deep, so it was nice to see 100 athletes lined up at the end of the race to get paid!!
Since I made the decision to race DM only 2 weeks out, I wasn't expecting too much on the day, especially since my last triathlon was in April in Sydney. Coach & I made the decision to use this race as part of my prep for my 'tour de Europa' coming up in July.
The race went something like this: In the water, I rolled with the punches, literally, had my suit pulled around a buoy, made up some lost ground on the second lap, excited front pack (minus the 2 ex-swimmers vying for the swim prime out front). On the wheels, my legs were lacking a bit of snappiness but I stayed out of trouble and in the mix. On the first lap of the run, my legs had forgotten the shock of running that hard off the bike, was passed by Emma Snowsill (the eventual race winner and superstar runner) like I was in the 'Fun Run', fell back a few spots but then found my legs and moved back up 5 spots. Finishing off in 14th place. Good hit out before the next round of races and a decent finish for a stacked World Cup field earning me a solid pay-cheque.
Up next: a few more weeks in Calgary to sharpen my racing skills and then the Tour de Europa begins....more on that next post!
Cheers,
Lisa
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