It has taken me way too long to write this Nice race report. However, I did want to write a little something about the Nice race since it was my first European World Cup (Results).

The Nice World Cup actually took place on a Friday morning which was a bit different since most of my races are usually on a Saturday or Sunday. I arrived in Nice on the Tuesday afternoon before the race and was very glad that I had a couple of days to regroup from the travel over to Europe, as well as adjust to the time change. I never did get to the point where I could fall asleep in the evenings (I guess to me it felt like I was going to sleep at 4:30 in the afternoon), but it was nice to have those two days to learn my way around the area before having to race.

I felt fortunate that I was staying in a hotel room with Susan Williams. She is currently one of the top five triathletes in the USA. Susan has also been racing the ITU Circuit since 1998, so she was able to give me a lot of helpful tips. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to spend time with her and ask her about her many different triathlon experiences.

Race morning arrived and I woke up not feeling as spunky as I would have liked. I did my best to avoid thinking about how I felt and tried to focus on getting ready for the race. By the time I got to the start line for the swim, I actually felt a little better.

We started the swim from the beach and did two loops in the Mediterranean. I was relieved that we did not have to get out of the water and run on the beach in between the two loops like we usually do, because the beach in Nice is not made of sand. It is made of rocks and the rocks really hurt to walk on! The swim itself was a bit rough. I never felt like I got into a good rhythm. I just tried to swim as well as I could that day which was only good enough to come out in the third pack.

The bike portion of the race consisted of 8 flat loops on the main strip in Nice. It was a great course for spectators, but it did not lend itself to helping groups make moves on the course. The bike groups stayed the exact same throughout the race. None of the groups were able to catch the group ahead of them. I think a hill or two would have helped break up the packs a little bit.

While I felt strong on the bike, I was frustrated that I was only in the third pack. I knew that it would be very difficult to get a great place overall because there were so many girls in the two packs ahead of me. I decided to just focus on seeing how many people I could pass and to try to stay ahead of the strong runners in the packs behind me.

The run took place on the same main strip as the bike course only we did four shorter loops to make up the 10k distance. Once again, the course was completely flat and very spectator friendly. While I really only ran fair, I was pleased because I accomplished my goal of passing some of the runners ahead of me and holding off some of the good runners behind me. I also felt like I got stronger as the race went on. I ended up passing two girls in the last mile and I caught up to, but just missed passing one more.

I would have liked to have placed much better than the 30th place that I got, but I did earn some more points. I also felt like there were some real positive things to come out of the race, especially my being able to pass some girls late in the race. That was a huge improvement for me because in the past I often got passed at the end.

I also gained a lot more respect for how challenging the competition is at the European World Cups. While I had previously heard how competitive the races in Europe are, I really did not fully appreciate it until the Nice race. All of the competitors were really strong! I also noticed that the swimming ability of the athletes was so much better! I have always been very confident in my own swimming ability, but these girls showed me a whole new level of swimming! Back to the pool/lake for more training for me!

All and all, the Nice World Cup was a very good experience for me. I feel like I once again learned a lot more about ITU World Cup racing and I got to experience racing against an extremely strong race field of close to 70 girls. As a bonus I did get to take the afternoon after the race and head to Monaco for a little sight seeing. Monaco was great.