I raced in the Mooloolaba World Cup on the Sunshine Coast of Australia over the weekend. The field was really small, with only 25 starters, but with a number of 2008 Olympians on the start line, I was in good company. The swim was moved to the channel because the ocean surf was "too rough". It was a pretty crazy swim because about 12 of us were all swimming together, pretty much on top of each other for about 90% of the swim and no one really knew where to go as we hadn't seen the course before. I came out of the water with the main group and had a great transition to get out on the bike. I worked hard to try to catch some of the girls who were strung out just up the road, however, my legs felt terrible and I couldn't find the right gear or cadence to ride at. As we turned into the brutal headwind at the far end of the course I lost the wheel in front of me and fell off the group. That, was the deciding moment in the race and despite my best efforts to grit my teeth and get back on, I ended up back in the 2nd pack. We were about 35 seconds down for most of the ride but came into T2 about a minute down to the leaders. I had specific instructions for the run, "do not go out too hard," so I set a steady tempo and tried to build my effort so I could run athletes down. I only ended up making up one place, but was pleased with my run on the day after such a hard bike and on such a hilly runny course. The 14th place finish is great as it will improve my world ranking and should throw me into the top 100 in the world, making it easier for me to get starts at races later this season. There is always more to work on, but overall it was a really solid day and another step in the right direction.
You can head to www.triathlon.org to pull up the full results and to view some of the images and the video from the event.
This weekend, I race in New Plymouth, New Zealand at an ITU points race. It should be another tough race with plenty of hills to climb on my bike and on the run. I'm looking for a less conservative effort on the run to see what I can do. I've trained lots of hills, so hopefully I can put some of that training to work. It promises to be a tough day, but I'm excited to see what I can pull out of myself, especially coming off of a hard race like Mooloolaba.
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