Challenge St. Andrews Race Report

Last year I raced in St. Andrews and loved it, so I decided to return as this race matched up well a few weeks after Mt. Tremblant 70.3. I have an amazing homestay (Thank you Peggy & Bob!) and settled right into the quaint waterfront town. If you've never visited the Maritimes I highly recommend this area of Canada.

Race morning dawned clear and calm - perfect weather for racing.

I swam solo around the lake (this seems to be usual for me when the field isn't huge) and came out of the water last pro female in 29:06. Time to get to work!

This is me heading out on the bike. I wasn't going to post this since it's blurry, but then I thought it actually was kind of artsy and figured why not - since it's the only photo I have of me on the bike. Immediately onto the bike and my legs felt awful, as if I was pedaling squares. They felt heavy, as if they had been filled with sludge the previous evening. I told myself to just keep pushing, and they would come around. Sometimes it can take an hour for my legs to feel better.

I passed one girl and hoped I might be gaining on the others. As I reached the hour mark I came to terms with the fact that my legs were NOT feeling better at all. At this point I think my mindset changed completely to "well just race faster so it will be over sooner and everything will stop hurting!!"  I rode a 2:37.

Onto the run and I still held out hope my legs would start to feel better. I got into a nice rhythm, but the legs did not improve. I ate, drank, tried to enjoy the scenery and mostly tried to HTFU and finish so my legs would stop killing me. Yeah, it was just one of those days. Some days you have it and others you don't. I ended up running 1:32 and finished 4th in 4:44. It would be easy to be sad about this, especially after finishing 2nd here last year and having a great race, but honestly I wasn't overly sad. I've raced in this sport long enough to know when I am fit and when I fought as hard as I could (I am and I did). There are just some days when the legs don't have fight in them, and there is no point beating myself up about it.

Great scenery!

A big thank you to Peggy, Bob, Vicky and David for being out on the course cheering me on - it was so nice to see friendly faces out there!

Next up is Ironman Sweden!

THANK YOU:
Zoot - fast TT shoes, flexible wetsuits, awesome training and racing apparel.  

Microscope World - my other great job.

Profile Design - fast TwentyFour wheels, aero bars and hydration. I love the Aero HC system.
Powerbar - gels, hydration and recovery for ultimate performance.
Nytro - my local (but they sell all over the world!) bike shop with all things racing/training.
Extreme Endurance - thanks for helping me recover quick to race again!
Rudy Project - great helmets and sunglasses, awesome colors!
Bont - best cycling shoes around.