Kelowna Recap- 16th place

Kelowna was an amazing trip. I can't possibly hope to convey how beautiful Canada was; crossing the mountains literally blew my mind! I am so thankful for my father, who came along to support me and share the driving, after a couple of trips together, we've really become a great road-trip and race team :)

This trip truly was brought to you by Athletes Lounge! The likeleyhood of my 200k mile Subaru making it over the Rockies without causing a major delay was very slim, and the store saved me once again.

I'm going to be brief with this post as it already late (apologies) and my training is at an all-time high in preparation for Elite Nationals on Sept 15th.

Kelowna was far from a perfect race and as my second professional draft-legal experience, it was just as full of learning opportunities as the first. I took one step too many running into the water, and I face-planted into the water, at less than optimal velocity, filling my goggles up with water. It only caused a split-second delay, but it was enough to get me caught in traffic to the first buoy and I missed out on the lead pack. I managed to claw my way through the field and finished the swim 40 seconds back of the 9 leaders, and at the front of the chase group. Upon mounting my bike, I discovered that my front tire was flat, (due to a faulty valve) and had to stop after two miles for a wheel-swap. This meant I had to chase for about 4 miles to catch back up to my group, using precious energy in the process. Our group grew to 12 by halfway through the ride, and we came into transition 2 as a group. I had a strong start on the run, and definitely improved on my performance in Dallas, but still not as fast as I need to be. Improvement is the key though, and in this crucial rookie season, I'll take it. I had a blast racing, and it certainly is a privilege to race at such a high level with such talented athletes.

In the past week, I have had time to reflect and speak with my coach, and know what I need to fix in order to make it as a professional. To all of those who have believed in me, supported me, and stood by me, thank you so much. It means the world, and it keeps me going during the toughest days. I've got a lot of work to do.

Race Next week.. Finally!

I've essentially been given a green light to go off of my blood thinners for several days in order to race the Kelowna Pan American Cup this upcoming weekend. The idea being that I am at less risk for death by throwing my clot while briefly NOT on blood thinners than I would be if I were to race in an aggressive pack while ON the medication. (For those who are unfamiliar with blood thinners, the risk is that I would crash on the bike and either: bleed uncontrollable from an open wound, or hit my head and suffer a brain bleed.

My doctor would not have given me a tentative "go ahead" on this plan unless the clot was almost dissolved and was no longer at risk for breaking free. So this also means that I should be off of the medicine and back out on the roads for good very soon!

In the meantime, this is my new definition of riding outside :)

The race this weekend will be my first since Dallas PanAm Cup at the beginning of June. I missed the Magog race I was hoping to attend roughly a month ago due to the clot. I've been following my workout plans that my coach, Bryant laid out at the beginning of the summer, with race simulations and multiple computrainer sessions per week. I'm the strongest I've ever been and the internal pressure that builds up before races has been driving me to push myself even harder in workouts and I can't wait to unleash it in Canada next weekend.

There are some strong athletes on the start list, with both swim and run specialists in attendance. This could prove to be a different dynamic than most Continental Cup races because the course has a decent hill in it, and from what I can tell, is a loop rather than an out-and-back. This means that there are less opportunities to see your competitors on the bike, and some may be planning a breakaway, hoping to capitalize on the concept of "out of sight out of mind." The hills means that athletes who haven't spent much time on the bike may struggle. In the past, strong swimmers have sometimes been able to get a gap on the field coming out of the water and maintain it throughout the race. This will require me to be very vigilant during the early stages of the race and be willing to risk a blow-up to stay with the leaders. Olympic distance racing is all about pain threshold and efficient/intelligent use of bursts of energy. At the end of the day, it will come down to how well I'm able to execute my run, and I'm confident in my preparation to put down a fast split.

And the beat goes on

It's been a little bit since I did an update, but not much has changed. Work still needs to be done.

Still on Blood thinners. Getting my clot looked at again soon, but right now it's still holding on for dear life.

I've been swimming a lot
       -Swim meets for speed
       -Open water buoy-buoy efforts
       -Miles.
I've been sweating my butt off on the computrainer
       -Dozens of max efforts in a workout
       -Long threshold blocks with accelerations
       -Miles.
I've been running some stellar workouts with some stellar guys
       -All out transition runs
       -1 mile, 2 mile, 800, 400 repeats. I've done them all
       -Miles.

Putting in the work, channeling my anger over the lack of competition and storing it up for when I get to race again. Kelowna Pan American Cup!

Congrats to Sarah Groff and Galen Rupp for their awesome performances, USA!