This past Saturday, I competed in a World Cup race in Edmonton, Canada. World Cup races are different from most of my other races in that they are typically more competitive (each country can only send 8-10 athletes) and they are worth more points and money. I ended up having a mixed race. On one hand, I was pleased because I got 13th which is my best World Cup finish so far (my previous best was 18th in both Newfoundland and Rio). I also earned money for being in the top 15. For those two reasons, I was pleased. However, I did not have a great race overall due to my swim and run both being off this past Saturday.

I learned a valuable lesson right before the swim. The race officials ended up calling it a non wetsuit race, but the temperature was right on the bubble. Normally, I prefer to race without a wetsuit, so I was pleased with the call. However, I guess I did not realize how cold the water really was. I dove into warm-up without even thinking about it and quickly realized I had made a mistake. As I was warming up, my arms got so tight and heavy from the cold that I could hardly lift them out of the water. I tried to get warm again right before the start of the race, but it did not work. I was still shaking so hard when the gun went off! Needless to say, I felt like I was swimming as fast as I could, but not going anywhere. I ended up with a swim that was not terrible, but not even close to the swims I have been having in my past few races.

I talked to my coach about it after the race and he suggested that if I ever find myself in that situation again that I warm-up in the wetsuit and then take it off before the race. I guess I also could have just done my regular bike and run warm-up and then stretched really well instead of the swim warm-up. Now that I think about it, I did notice that a few of the better swimmers skipped getting in the water before the race. Oh, well! A lesson learned! The cool thing about this sport is that I continue to learn things!

My swim did not end up hurting me as much as I feared. I was concerned at first because I came out of the water alone. The faster swimmers were off ahead of me, but there was a nice gap to the people behind me. I got on the bike and felt great! It was extremely windy, but I even felt strong in the wind. I was pleasantly surprised to feel strong because I had struggled in the wind in the New York race (and the wind in Edmonton was much stronger)! I caught and passed one girl pretty quickly, so I continued to work to catch a Canadian friend of mine ahead. I knew it would be better to ride with someone than fight the wind alone. As soon as I caught up to her, we started to work together until a group of strong cyclists caught up to us. We all formed a large chase pack. It was great because the group worked well together and we eventually caught five or six more girls. By the time we finished the bike, the only girls ahead of us were the original lead group of five that unfortunately had a good two to three minute lead on us.

Overall, I was very encouraged by my bike. After having a rough swim, I did not really expect to feel so good on the bike. I was able to cover a break at one point and I felt great on all the technical corners. Once again, Bruce's cornering lessons paid off!

My run, however, was a different story. I just felt really flat. I was not sick or anything, I just did not have it on the run Saturday. My training has been going well, so I was really hoping to feel great on the run. I guess it was not to be for this race. From the two to four mile mark I thought my run was coming together, but then it kind of went backwards for the final two miles of the race.

On a positive note, it was nice to have a decent finish even with an off swim and run. I still really enjoyed the race as well as my time in Edmonton with Chad, Erin and my father.

If anyone ever has a chance to visit Edmonton, be sure to take it. It really is a great city. Chad and Erin got to explore it more than I did, but it was my third time there and each time I like it more and more.

Off to Bellingham in a week and a half and another chance to tackle the infamous 18-20% half mile long hill (that we do 6 times).

Thanks for everyone's support and encouragement.

All the best,
Kelly