Mazatlan Race Report

So i am finally back home in London. We left Value Village at 4 in the morning and drove straight through. I arrived home at 2 am after what felt like forever. Got home, just through everything in my front hall, had a little talk with my dad, and then had the best sleep of my life in my own bed.

So now the race report from the Mazatlan Pan American Champs.

I woke up at 4 am for my race at 6:30. Woke up, hopped in the shower and did a poor job at shaving down. Ate three peanut butter and honey sandwiches, relaxed for a bit, and by then it was 5:30 and time to go down to the race site. I checked in, went to the bike rack and guess what, my bike doesnt fit on the rack because my bike is too big to swing under the rack so i have to rack it on the back of my seat. I did an easy 10 min run,, same on the bike. i went to the water for my warm up, and it was still dark. I entered water, got out past the breakers, and only swam about 300m before i headed back in because i couldn't see anything. so i headed back in and by that time it was 10 minutes before race time.

So we are sitting on the beach, waiting for them to set up the swim bouys, quite amusing actually. They were getting them out there in seadues, one guy took off trying to get past the breakers. Just when you thought he was either going to wipe mout or make it through he got though, but the rope snapped sending the bouy back to shore. They finally got 2 of the 5 bouys out there at 7:00, so we started anyway.

I had a pretty good start considering my starting number. i was 36 out of 64, so i was right in the middle. The guys on the right had a huge advantage becuase the 1st bouy was off to the right. The horn went and i started well. A few good dolphin dives under the waves and i was through. I got to the 1st bouy in about 10th. i swung to the outside and just let it rip. i moved my way all the way into second, where i stayed for the maajority of the swim. With about 100m or so to go we hit the breakers again. I was just concentrating on swimming, then all of a sudden a way fell on me and sucked me under. I found myself fighting to get back to the surface. i finally did, and not a moment to soon. i ended up coming out of the water 20 seconds behind the leaders, so it looked like i was more effected by the waves than others.

The bike came and it was brutal, nobody was working. Greg Billington crashed right beside me and almost took me out too. The crash caused us to lose half of our pack. Willy took off, and i am pissed that i didnt go with him. I was one of the very few people that were working. two packs ended up coming together. Willy ended up putting 1 minute on us. i got off the bike cleanly and started the run.

I felt so bad right from the start. I was running a little behing Hogan, and then started to pick it up to see if i could drop them. At about 3 km into the run i started to experience stomach problems. I started to dry heave from all of the salt water i swallowed during the swim. For 1km i was basically slowed to a trot. with 1km to go i had to really dig deep because some other canadians were gaining on me. I fought through the last km to finish in 11, and second canadian.

Overall the race was not a complete disaster. I finished 11, second of 4 canaidians in the top 15, so i should be going to worlds. I learned that I have the swim fitness to be up there at worlds and if i had of had a good run i could have medaled despite my lack of speed work at this time. the next time you hear from me i will be in Victoria British Columbia training with the Canadian national team until after Worlds. I also want to wish my friend Andrew Yorke good luck for his 10km track race this weekend.

CH

On my way Home

So I am sitting in the Mexico City airport right now with nothing to do, so I figured that I would give a brief race report to everyone on how I did this weekend in Mazatlan. The race did not pan out as I wanted to. I finished 11, second of the four Canadians in the top 15, so I should still get my World's spot. I had a great swim until the last 100m were I, plus everyone else got hammered by the waves, and my run was sub par due to some dry heaving due to the amount of salt water that was swallowed in the swim. Although I didnt have the greatest race, I still made the Worlds criteria. When I get back to Clermont I will give a more detailed race report because the energy just isnt there after 4 hours of sleep thanks to some peer pressure by the BC boys.

CH

Safe and Sound in Mexico

So i arrived in Mazatlan safe and sound, and it isn't very exciting here. After all the bad things that have happened to me over the past two weeks, i am due for something stellar. I got an ear infection, but the doctor didn't diagnos it properly, so i have been on antibiotics for over a week with no effect. I then found out that my bike fork was broken 5 days before i flew here, so i had been riding on a broken fork for god knows how long. I ordered my new 3T Funda Pro fork and got it the day before i left. Drove to Orlando and got it, then came back to find out that my Uncle had taken my bike box home with him(AHHHHH, this is not happening the day before i leave), so i had to borrow another persone bike box. So after all this happening to me you would expect the airline to lose my luggage, or my frame arrive cracked, but it didnt happen, so thank god.

For all those who have never been to Mexico or think that they can judge Mexico by seeing Cancun, it is a whole different world where i am. It is so dirty here, whether is be the ocean, streets, and even the people, all dirty. There are two things that have risen my spirits are how wavy the water is. I love the surf for two reasons, it separates the men from the boys, and it plays into my strenght as a good swimmer. The other thing is the heat. Because i have been training in Clermont Florida for the past 2 months, i have subjected myself to the heat, while most other people haven't.

I have not looked at the course (except for the swim), but it looks as though it is going to be pancake flat (AHHHHHH). The roads are in pretty bad condition, and when i went out for a ride today on my new fork i wasnt too excited about biking on the roads with all the crap that was on them.

The race meeting is tonight, so i will get to see my competition and eye them down with my new aero haircut, a mohawk courtesy of Sean Bechtel, who hopefully doesn't drop the triathlon business to go to barber school. i am feeling really fit, and i am expecting big things this race.

I just want to thank everybody who has helped me get here and hopefully to worlds, my coach Len Gushe(who set a wrold record in the 400Im in a time of 4:48 the other day) C3 for allowing me to train with them, Sean Bechtel, Nat Faulkner for riding me into the ground and putting up with me in their house for a week, my parents for supporting me no matter what happens, Epic Cycles in Clermont for heping me with all my bike problems, Simon Dearing for driving me to the airport at 6am, and hopefully my new training partner Andrew Yorke come this september for keeping me motivated. This race is for you guys.

CH

Getting back to blogging

So after a few weeks of just being lazy when it came to updating my blog, i am getting back into the swing of things. During march break i competed at the Escape from Florida triathlon, then attended C3's camp, and i am now logging good workouts.

The Escape from Florida triathlon went alright for me. I had a good swim, not stellar, but good, got owned on the bike, considering the wind and the fact that i was on a road bike it went alright. Then the run came, i started onto the sandy beach and just bid my time until the dirt road came where i took off. I ran extremely strong, and considering that fact that i did it all by myself, and the you only ran on pavement for almost 1km of the 5km run. I ended up 9th elite, and having the second fastest run.

After the triathlon, C3's camp began. It lasted a week, and i put in a lot of miles. Over that week i ran 90 km, basically all easy mileage, probably 500km of biking, and a lot of swimming (most open water. All in all it was a fun week and it was nice to see all of my buddies again.

Now that C3's camp is done, i am training all by myself again, but it is going well.i have put in some really solid swims, bikes and runs since. the other day i did 15x100lc on 1:20 averaging 1:12's. So i have good swimming fitness right now, so the goal of leading out patco is still there. Unilt next time, which my goal is not to make it another month until my next post.


exiting the water, 3rd out of the water


1st loop of the bike


just out for a stroll on the beach


done the first triathlon of the year

Some solid workouts

So now that Len is gone, I have no way to get groceries. So I stalked up before he left, and I think that I timed the amount of food just right so that i will have enough food to get me to Barrie's camp which starts on friday.

Tuesday
I am usually not a very good long course swimmer, but the last few days have been getting better. I have been doing some sprint sets for the last few days working on my speed and body position. For some reason they had the pool at long course on Tuesday, but i did the set of 48x25m on 30s fast. I actually felt pretty good during this set. there was no way to tell what i was going for it because i was stoppin in the middle of the pool, so i can only estimate. After the swim, i ran down to the track, stretched, and did a 15km tempo back to the house. i did 4 km on the track, and then the real pain began as the hills were the next thing to come. i ended up doing it in 50:35, whiich i think is amazing for me right now.

Wednesday
I woke up this morning, and my arms were exhausted. to make matters worse, my swim was longcourse. No problem, i was doing som tethered swimming. after a 15 min warm up, i but on the belt and attached the surgical tubing to the staring blocks and began my set of 30 on, 30 off 15 times. After about 5 i was getting exhausting, but i stayed in the same spot for most of them. i took a mintue break from the last repeat, and then did an all out 50. i dont consider myself a sprinter, but for 35 metres a felt amazing, the last 15 was something else. i could feel my exhausted legs and arms start to fade. i still went low 28, which isnt bad considering how much i have done this week. After the swim i went out for a ride. I rode to sugarloaf and did 6 repeats. it didnt go as i planned. my legs were so exhausted that i was nowhere near where i wanted to be. oh well.

I regestered for the escape from forida triathlon taking place this Sunday, so we will see where my fitness is right now.

Now I remember why I hate days off

So i spent my day off at my grandparents house. Got a nice free, good meal, watched some satellite tv, considering where i am now only has 12 channels. So after spending the day there. i arrived home tyo find everything still in order. Now that Len is gone, i have no ride to the pool, so i hitched a ride with Blake Becker, a ironman pro on the Timex team. my set was 20x100LC, 10 descending on 1:40, a minute break and then 10 on 1:40 best average. After taking the day off before, i just couldn't find my groove. The times i was holding were miserable compared to what i am capable of. There is something about long course swimming that limits my potential. I just cant get my body to that hydro plaining position. The one good thing i can say about getting back to training is that i had an excellent bike today doing 2X 11.7km TT pn rolling hills.

Finally starting to feel good

After about a week of swimming, i am finally getting back into the groove. I did a 1500y time trial yesturday with len gushe. It was not amazing, but i went 16:00. Len beat me by 10 seconds, it was not that i died (i actually even splitted my 750's) but he picked it up. then today i did 400lcm 200 pull, 200 kick, and on the lsat one i went pretty quick. My running mileage is getting better. I did a 13 km tempo run on a hilly route, and averaged 3:30's, then 2 days later i did the orange road in 1:02. My biking is getting better now that i can ride outside. I guess that we willl find out how my training is coming next saturady when i do the local triathlon.

Getting back into the groove

Well it has been a week since i arrived in Florida and I love it here. The training is great with a great outdoor pool, although it is a little warm. The biking is fantastic with hills to one side and flats to the other, but with some hillbillies (whose stature in society is rated by how many wrecked cars on their lawn) being a**holes make it dangerous, but also amusing at times, and the running is great. The last few days have been ugly in the pool. I had a hard in the set 9 x 400 on 5:30 LC decendng. i started out on 5:20 and went down to 4:52. it wasnt the best set i have done, but i haven't swam in a week. today was much better with 40 x 50y on 35, i averaged 30, so i was moving. As for biking, did 6 x sugarlaof, fun fun fun. it went alright. I am not the strongest on the bike right now, but i was only 10 seconds slower than my personal best on the hill, so i am in not bad shape. My running is coming along, did 3 miles on the track decending 1-3 on 6:30 the other day. started out 5:20, then 5:08, then 4:48 in pissing rain. i could barely see 50m in front of me. So that is an update on my training so far.

Living the Professional Life

So i have arrived in Florida safe and sound. I am currently staying at my grandparents right now at golfers heaven. It doesn't interest me, but it is relaxing. So when i arrived at their house, i relized that i had forgot a few things, so today i got them from the local bike shop. I also picked up a pair of compression socks, they're pretty sweet. I am sure all of the old golfers think that i and mentally ill or something for wearing them, but then again, old people like to wear their high black socks, so we will never know. I start doing the serious training on Friday becasue that is when i wiull meet up with len at the pool, so until then i am just doing some light long training sessions, just putting in the km's. I finally got my new pair of Oakleys, and they look sweet.

I finally started my online courses last Thursday. It will take a while to get used too, but as long as i stay motivated to doing it, I should be fine. I bought a laptop, so i will be able keep up the blogging and school down in florida

So I finally started swimming again last week, and it was ugly. After basically taking 3 weeks off because of Brazil, exams, and my shoulder and being exremely sick, it made for a very tough week back. With the first distance set coming Wedn.esday morning, it caused me to be extremely sore for the rest of the week. The times that i was holding in the pool were not even worthy of a 13 year old girl. Usually I can tell right when the set starts if it is going to be good based on how well by body rises out of the water when i am going fast, but the past few days i have felt like a brick going throught the water. In a set that we do almost every other week (400's best average on 6), i was over 20 seconds slower per 4 hundred. hopefully i get my fitness back the first week in florida, which i leave for on tuesday.