St.Malo

Race reports seem to be the theme of the week amongst triathlete bloggers. So if you have had enough race reports for one week, stop right here.

Last weekend was my first Canadian Junior Series race of the season and I couldn't have been any happier for the race date to finally arrive. I had been doing a lot of prep work in the weeks leading up to the race so I was ready to rock and roll!

I was well taken care of by two of the best massage therapists Marcelle and Noreen. And spoiled by my chiropractor Dr.Alban Merepeza who has worked with a lot of athletes from different countries at various Olympics and sporting events. He did a fantastic job making sure that my body was in tip top shape.

St.Malo is a great weekend get away place and I figure that most Winnipegians go there in the summer time. I liked the simplicity of the place but it was hard to communicate without cell reception. Oh well! Maybe that was a good thing.

Most of the travelling and race preparation was pretty smooth, except my bike! It got beat up in transit. When I was putting it together I lifted it up holing onto one of the handle bar drops and "crack" the whole drop snapped right off. Just my luck! My dad really helped me out and drove to Winnipeg and bought my bike new handle bars. We got them on just in time for the race.

The race itself was a great experience and was executed well. There were some rough patches (like my swim and run) and some positives (the bike). It seems like I just wasn't able to put the pieces of the puzzle together on that day.

My swim from the get go just wasn't there on the day but I didn't panic and did my best to come out of the water in as small as possible gap from the other girls. When my coach Lorri yelled "42 seconds from the leaders". I knew there was a lot of work to be done. Right from the start of the bike I could see a small pack of girls form in front of me. I just got into my aerobars and hammered. I was luck to have Alizee a Quebec triathlete with me, because we worked really well together to catch the girls. Eventually Alizee and I managed to break from that chase pack around two corners and we bridged up to the leaders. I came into T2 and my legs felt like jelly. I knew the run was going to be a long one. I did my best but I was missing that "ompf" I needed and finished in a solid 6th.

I am ready and super excited to race again in a week at PATCO. Hopefully I will have some better luck in Edmonton!