Last weekend I had the pleasure of lining up with 55 others in the warm waters of Seneca Lake in Geneva, NY for an ITU Pan-AM Cup race. The field looked strong with many top americans and canadians ready to rip.
I flew over on Wednesday from Vancouver and took that week very light. I have recently been feeling tired, sluggish and looking forward to a break from racing and training. But not yet, for this race i would have to put everything into it in hopes of scoring a good result. I was put up with two other athletes with a perfect homestay, Noel and Sandy, who lived right in Geneva. They were the best homestay i've had and made our stay very comfortable.
Race started at 3:15 and a good crowd was on hand to cheer. The swim start was pretty bogus, they didn't have a pontoon set up so it was a choatic, no ranking required, deep-water start. Needless to say when the rope was lifted I got off to a great start and was like 5th into the first bouy. The rest of the swim was choppy and i battled to hang on some good feet of DJ Tache. Very similar to Edmonton i exited at the back of the pack (front pack this time) and couldn't hang in on the first 2km of the bike. Really gotta work on that. Luckily another athlete was in the same boat and then a couple others caught up and we started to work. Hats off to Sean Bechtel who did the majority of the work and by the 5th of 8 loops we were in the front group. THis was a new experience for me and as a result i felt pumped to try a break away, but i held back and just did a few pulls cause i knew it would be an all out run. A break did end up going on the last lap and they got about 30s on the main group.
Onto the run I immediatley noticed i didn't have the spark in my legs like in May/June. I felt similar the week before in Squamish as well on the run. Its like i settle into a grinders pace and just try to fight it out, whereas before it was easy and i felt light on my feet. Anyways, the run wasn't gracefull but i ended up 14th, not bad not bad. One funny note was i missed the finish chute so i ended up having to run about 150m extra and actually ran backwards thru the finish to stop my time. Should have seen the faces on the officials when this athlete comes dodging thru a crowd of athletes who are in the finishing coral to run backwards thru the finish, they had definitely not seen that one before. They didn't DQ me because they felt i didn't gave an advantage by doing so, YOU BET I DIDN"T!!
Now i am at home in Revelstoke for this week and taking what i think is essentail half way thru the season, a good break. Im planning on watching the TDF, helping out around the house and maybe hitting up some local hotsprings this week. No training whatsoever.
Sounds like its time for beer(s)....
LOok for a Mid-Season Report tomorrow or the next day
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