Minneapolis Triathlon

Racing in Minneapolis was probably one of the most professional race experiences I have had as a professional triathlete. There were a lot of people that helped make that happen, but I have to commend Lifetime Fitness for putting together a team of people that could pull off an event like this. I expected race day to be hot; however, Mother Nature had other plans. The storm clouds rolled in and we were hoping the thunder and lightning were going to hold off long enough for us to get our swim in. In fact, it was even a little chilly on the start line!

Luckily the race started without a hitch and the men started 10:43 back of us for the equalizer. The first man or women to cross the line would receive an additional $5000. I wasn’t able to hold the feet of McLarty and ended up leading the main chase group through most of the swim. I exited the water in a pack of three other women. The water was warm (84 degrees) so I was looking forward to getting out! We exited almost 90 seconds back of McLarty and Haskins. I had a good T1 and started pushing the pace on the bike immediately.

Sarah Haskins showed me a lot of the bike course the day before and I’m so happy I got a preview because the course wasn’t super technical but the road surface was on the bumpier side. With a light rain it made for slick conditions and I played it very safe around the corners. About 40 minutes into the bike I saw my good friend Sara McLarty up the road. I worked hard to chase but had to be sure to do a decisive pass because the road was so narrow that it was impossible to catch up without moving into the draft zone. I was able to make the pass cleanly and worked hard trying to catch Haskins up the road. I was getting a lot of conflicting information- I was told everything from 1min to a 3 min gap. I really didn’t know what to expect until I got to T2 and counted on the announcer for the time gap.

Turns out I had kept the gap the same for the majority of the course but lost a lot of time in the more technical section with blind corners that I didn’t preview the day before. The funny part was that Haskins was the one saying to me, “Are you sure you don’t want to see it?”- I should have listened! Either way I had the second fastest bike split of the day! I went onto the run 2:30 back and was ready to push the run. I heard from some reliable sources on the course that I had put over 2 minutes on the rest of the girls on the bike. The men were about 90 seconds behind me starting the run.

Matt Reid passed me right at the half way point on the run. I was eventually passed by a couple more men on the second lap of the run, but crossed the line very satisfied with my 2nd place in the women’s race and I think it was, 6th place in the equalizer. I am still leading the Lifetime Series which is exciting. I also received my official invite to Hy Vee! I’m writing this race report on my way to London where I will be racing the London Triathlon. I’m looking forward to trying to improve upon my 4th place finish from last year. Thanks for reading!!

Philly Tri

One of the aspects I like about racing in Philly is that the boys and girls start together. Some athletes don’t like this, but it gives me more feet to chase, so I enjoy it! I felt ok in the swim but not my best. The course is a straight shot down the river, and I exited with a group of 3 other women and some men of course.

The bike course in Philly is super hilly. It’s a nice change of pace to be honest- so many tt courses are out and back, flat and fast so it was good to have some hills along with good technical corners. I rode hard and by the end of the bike course I had caught race leader, Sara McLarty. I came off the bike with the fastest bike split of the day and the lead going onto the run. I ran in the lead through a mile and then was passed. I matched their pace and ran with them through 4 miles and then after multiple attacks a gap formed that I just couldn’t close. I ran very solidly and crossed the line in 2nd place.

This performance kept me in the lead of the Lifetime Series.

DC Tri 51.50

My preparation leading into DC wasn’t exactly ideal. I had a cyst on my back that became infected suddenly and it needed to be removed. Five days prior to race day I had the surgery to remove the cyst and it’s contents. YUM! I’ve never had surgery and I was amazed by how sore you were when the local anesthetic wore off. I ended up doing very little leading into the race. I was very excited to race in DC since I am a new American citizen. The DC tri is famous for it’s amazing views of the capitol as you race towards the finish. I also had the opportunity to race in front of some very close friends who live in DC.

Jarrod came to DC with me to help out with a charity event as well as help me out with the travel. I felt pretty good on race day and felt I would be able to race without too much pain. I knew the swim was going to be the biggest struggle for me and not too long into the swim my body just shut down. I think I made it to about 500m feeling ok, but I just hit a brick wall. I felt terrible but did my best to not get too upset about it because the beauty of a non draft race is that you’re never truly out of the race. I came into T1, and knowing that I was behind and hit the bike very motivated to make up time. At about 10k I had moved into 2nd place and worked hard with Becky Lavelle to push the pace and make time on race leader and swim stud, Sara McLarty.

I went out onto the run feeling great! I moved into 1st place at about mile 1 and ran the entire course holding onto about a 40 second gap on 2nd place. Jarrod gave me splits along the way, which was incredibly helpful- I wish he could be at every race. I was so happy as I ran towards the capital- it was more emotional than I expected. This was my first win of the year and hope I can squeeze out a few more as the season progresses!

Cap Tex Triathlon

My first trip to Texas! I was really looking forward to this trip because I have family in Austin that I knew would make the trip that much more special. The swim was pretty uneventful for the women, but most of the mens race was sent off course! I didn’t feel awesome in the water and though I was moving fairly well, our group lost over a minute to super swimmers McLarty, Haskins, Duffy, Oeink and Brandon.

I mounted my bike very motivated to catch up. I picked off a few people and came off the bike in 4th place. I went onto the run with 2nd and 3rd place not too far up the road. I moved into 2nd place by the half way point of the run. Haskins was way up the road, so I knew my goal was to continue to run hard and hold on to my place.

Finishing in second place, put me 2nd in the Lifetime Series!

Monterry World Cup

The race started at 8am due to the warm temperatures, so I was up early and on the course warming up before the sun had risen. I was warming up with my teammate Gwen Gorgensen on the bike course, when we encountered a barrier that was going across the course. To make a long story short, I crashed, slowly but I went down. It was a stupid mistake, but I didn’t want to make a big deal of it. The rest of warm up went smoothly and avoided any further crashes.

The swim was a big confusing mess, but I knew this was going to be the case after racing on the course last year. I exited at the back of the first pack. I had a good T1 and settled into the main group. The bike was uneventful, it became clear that it was going to come down a fast run.

The run was not nearly as hot as it was expected to be. The pace out of T2 was super fast as usual and I settled into my pace. As each lap went by I was feeling stronger and stronger. I worked hard with another athlete from Spain. She was about a foot shorter than me, but we traded off pushing the pace and we were able to drop the girls that were running near us. I had an excellent finish, placing 17th in my first world cup of the season.

St. Anthony's Triathlon

The winds were strong on race day and it resulted in a change of swim venue. The swim course was 1000m and there was an approximately 800m run to T1. I was just off the back of the lead pack out the water, and worked hard during the run to T1 and immediately pushed the pace on the bike.

I was able to catch "the pack" within a few kilometers on the bike and move into second place. There were 6 girls riding together, or pacing off each other. Regardless of drafting rules and all the officials out there, not a single penalty was called on our group, so I have to assume that everyone behind me wasn't drafting. Packs are going to happen when you have this many talented people racing together; we're competitive, this is our living, no one is going to let anyone get up the road if they can help it. However, this is exactly why draft legal racing was created.

I came off the bike with Blatchford, McLarty, Luxford, Cleaver, and Groff. Running out of T1 Blatchford was setting the pace; I got on her shoulder and planned on holding on for as long as I could. She dropped me just before the 1 mile marker, but I put in another surge to get back on her shoulder. I stayed with her through 3 miles, but after a surge from Liz I was no longer able to match her pace. I stayed in 3rd place until 4 miles and then Sarah Groff came by me. I did my best to stay with her, but I moved into 4th. I had a solid gap on 5th and worked hard to keep 3rd place as close as possible. I crossed the line in 4th place, extremely satisfied with my race. I've race St. A's three times, my first time I was 10th, last year I was 6th and this year 4th.

Thanks for reading!

MIT & Nautica South Beach

MIT

On March 20, I raced the Miami International Triathlon. It was my first Olympic distance race of the season. I was really nervous going into the race for some reason. I usually get nervous for my first one of the season. I had a great warm up and everything and donned some clear goggles for our early morning start.

The gun went off and I got on the fast feet of Christine Jeffrey. I was hoping we'd be able to hold onto McLarty but she was gone right away. I came out of the water in 3rd place and took off on the bike. I had a rough start after getting sent off course briefly. I began riding and I honestly thought I was going ok, but I was getting caught by girls about half way through the bike and that I had out swam by over a minute. I upped the pace with the girls around me and rode most of the second loop pacing off of two other girls.

I came off the bike with a bunch of girls and I fell slowly off the pace. I felt flat and finished up 6th place, and pretty disappointed with the race. More importantly I was motivated to get back to training. I spent three weeks doing tt sessions with Sara Haskins, literally getting schooled on how to ride steady watts. It was a fantastic opportunity and I'm so grateful to have her as a training partner. I had a great three weeks of training and I was really looking forward to a little redemption in South Beach.

Nautica South Beach Triathlon

I had never been South Beach before, and it is nothing like I could have imagined. I completely missed the pro meeting because I couldn't find parking. I have never seen so many people! It was insanity. I couldn't wrap my mind around how we were going to have a triathlon at this place the next day.

Race morning started early with a 4am wake up call. I ate breakfast and got a ride down to the race site with my awesome homestay. I set up transition and went for a run warm up with Haskins. We couldn't even find the swim start at first because it was so dark! I got in a short swim up and before I knew it, we were toeing the line.

I had a good start and knew I wanted to get behind some fast boys in the water. It was kind of cool starting with the boys. I lost Haskins and McLarty in the water and focused on catching people throughout the swim. I caught and swam through three different groups of boys and exited the water a minute back of McLarty and Haskins. I went onto the bike in fourth place and moved into third about 5 miles into the bike. I knew I was riding better than in MIT and did my best to stay focused on keeping the pace fast. I got slowed down a few times on the course, once by a bus that stopped across the bike course and another time by a group ride of about 50 cyclists that decided to cross the course. I couldn't believe it!!!

I went onto the run in 3rd place, 2:40 down from second place. The run course was out and back on a boardwalk in South Beach. It was not closed to pedestrian traffic. It wasn't too busy at that hour in the morning, but there were plenty of walkers and runners on the course. Near the turn around I could see that Haskins had a big lead, but that McLarty wasn't too far ahead of me. Shortly afterwards I got to see where the people behind me were. Nicole Kelleher and Becca Wassner were not too far behind. I felt like I was moving well and that there was a good chance I'd be able to hold them off.

At mile four I passed McLarty, and hoped that my pace would be good enough for 2nd place because I was starting to feel the heat of South Beach. Not too long after I passed McLarty, Nicole passed me, and I matched her pace for about 400m. It wasn't even 9am yet, but I was beginning to overheat, and I had to slow my pace. With a mile to go, I knew it was do or die and time to dig in for 3rd place. With about half a mile to go to the finish Becca came by me and I just couldn't respond. I always wonder whether you should look back and I almost did a few times, but I didn't so I would stay focused on being in third and part of me sort of wished I had just looked back! Maybe if I had seen how close she was I could have dug that little bit deeper. Who knows, either way I was very happy with 4th place. My bike split was over 2 minutes faster on essentially the same course, my run split was solid and so was my swim.

Next I will race at the St. Anthony's Triathlon. It should be extremely competitive so I'm looking forward to the opportunity to really push the pace against some the best girls in the sport!