Saturday, January 5, 2008

More from Vina...

Training has been going really well since I arrived here. Nothing too hard, just some basic pre race prep to try to keep myself fresh and ready to race.

Yesterday, I took a bike ride with a group of other athletes. Despite fearing for our lives for some portion of the ride, dodging stray dogs, jumping massive pot holes and merging and crossing 4 lanes of "highway" traffic, it all turned out alright and I was able to get a good hour of time in. It was the first time in more than 2 weeks that I have been on my bike outside. As a result of this, as I packed my bike and took it off the trainer, I ended up with 3 front skewers and none for my rear wheel. Brilliant! I am borrowing one from another American athlete, thank goodness, otherwise it would have been a real disaster.

Today, there was just a bit more training and my first dip in the Pacific Ocean down here. The water is quite cold. I would not have expected it to be, but it will certainly be a wetsuit swim. I got my short swim in and then decided to practice riding a few waves. The surf is pretty massive and I got washed not once, but twice in a row, as I attempted to ride them to shore. I think the trick is to pull out just before the big final barrel rolls. Otherwise, you end up ass-up eating a whole lot of sand. My adventures seemed to have frightened a few of the other female competitors who were a bit timid to tackle the surf after watching me tumble about. I can't remember the last time I was covered in so much sand. I had sea water running from my nose for a few hours afterwards. I expect there will be a bit of carnage tomorrow because of the surf and I'm quite looking forward to it!!

I will be wearing #67. Though, the start number matters little as the buoy is 400m straight out and the surf is nuts. There will be 22 women in the field, which is nice because it means there is some chance that a few packs will form. I am looking for a ripper of a swim and then to just tackle it all with everything I've got.

I can't wait... the build up is killing me!!

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