Austin Pan American Cup - 3rd Place

Well, this week has been an interesting one. I became very ill after the Oklahoma race due to poor water quality in the river where we swam, and spent the majority of the week lying down with serious gastrointestinal problems. I went back and forth all week about the race and whether I should bother starting. As late as Saturday morning I decided I was not going to race. I had done almost no training, been able to eat almost nothing and couldn't sort out how I could possibly have a remotely decent showing. Something that I was also very frustrated by because looking at the field I knew that I had a good chance to podium and perhaps win if I was on my game.

Saturday evening I decided to race. I got in 2 semi days of training and figured I'd give it a whirl and if everything was terrible and I felt totally disgusting then I'd just call it a day and be no worse off for it.

This morning, during my early morning wake up prep, I was very stiff and heavy and unsure of what the race would bring. It brought more of the same - a sluggish and heavy body. Nothing too surprising after the week I had. I had a mediocre swim, but got into the front group on the bike. I just focused on controlling what I could control and on taking care of myself the best I could during the race and ultimately, despite my body really refusing to work, I ended up finishing in 3rd place. I know on a good day, in good form, I could have done better. This was acutally the most terrible I have felt racing all year. But, sometimes learning how to cope with adversity and how to still race well despite a less than desirable lead up is a good thing, because rarely do things all go as you plan them to.

Todays finish moves me up to the #1 US ranking (at least for the week until some of the other girls race!) and to 18th in the World. 3 races, 3 podiums... can't say I'm too upset!

Look for results on www.triathlon.org or on www.captextri.com.