Racing in the Lone Star State

It seems like it has been about a month since I race in Dallas on June 1, but in reality it has only been a day more than a week!

The Thursday before the race, Lucas and I stepped off a plane into muggy Dallas, TX to get set for the Pan American Cup taking place on Saturday.

The venue for this race was definitely one of the nicest I have been to!  The logistics were amazing--the airport is an easy 20 minute freeway drive away from the hotel and the race itself takes place at the hotel--virtually no travel once you're there!!

Convenient Swim Venue!

Leading up to the race I knew weather was certainly going to be a factor, the forecast kept changing from no rain and super hot, to a higher and higher chance of thunderstorms every day.  The day before it looked as though the women would finish just in time for the storms to start, but the men would not be so lucky.  In actuality, it was just windy and threatening to storm while the women were racing (thank goodness for clouds), and then the sun decided to come out right in time for the men's race.

The water temperature of the lake was perfect, practically pool water, which I was super excited for--no shivering; off to a good start!! The method of start for the swim was a dive off the side of the lake, which was also much to my advantage with my swimming background.  The only unfortunate thing about the swim is that it ended up being a couple minutes short, and I really wish I would have kicked it up a notch a little earlier before exiting the water.  Regardless of the length and late acceleration, I came out of the water 3rd!  I haven't been in the front pack of a swim yet in an ITU race, and this has been a point of frustration for me coming from a swimming background; definitely a highlight of the race!

Transition was kind of crazy and an obvious point of improvement for me in the future; it's not my skills that are lacking anymore, it's my intensity.  The other girls had such ferocity running into and out of transition, whereas I look like a little girl running through a daisy field...  Building this aggression in transition will help me to get a better position earlier in the game and not have to fight for the spot I want!

The bike was a good experience.  In the previous two draft legal races this season I have been in small packs of 3-5 where it is very easy to organize and work together (as long as everyone is willing).  This pack was 10 right out of transition and 11 by the end of the bike.  The benefit to this large pack was the amount of energy I saved in the draft, however, the downside was the lack of organization.  It was tough to make any moves to get further away from the packs behind us.

Finally the run... I started out a little behind because I made a silly move on the last lap of the bike.  I was near the front most of the final lap and the final turn was very close to transition.  Right before this turn, everyone rushed to the front to get into T2 first. If I would have been smart, I would have maintained my position, instead I watched everyone go by me--don't know what I was thinking! I didn't think twice about it while in the race and moved on--I had a plan for the run, I was ready to have a good run off the bike for the first time this season.  I started out strong and made up some of the distance that I lost out of T2.  The first couple of laps were good, I could feel my energy building and I

On the run, probably before I bonked :)

was slowly getting closer to the girls in front of me.  The fourth lap came around and I was starting to get that fog where you know you're racing, but you just can't think anymore (aka brain running out of glucose!) and next thing I know volunteers are yelling at me because I'm running on the wrong side of the road! Ran into a little bit of a bonk... I tried my best to snap out of it; grabbing cold sponges and water at every station.  The girls from the pack behind me were starting to get dangerously close. I told myself to hold them off as long as possible... sure enough, lap 5 started and I was passed by the first girl of the second bike pack and I knew there were others behind her that could very well run me down.  I told myself, "2500 meters left, no one else passes you!" I tried to stick with the girl that passed me, but she was going WAY faster than me and instead I settled into the best pace I had left and held my position to the finish.  I've never felt so unstable crossing a finish line, and realized it was a lack of nutrition that really restricted my performance.  I was still extremely excited because I went 4 minutes faster than in Sarasota (I didn't know the swim was short at the time) and I still felt I raced the best I could.  I ended up 11th, which is the highest finish I've had in an ITU race so far this season :)

Lessons:
-Even when it's hot and you don't feel like taking in nutrition, you still need it!
-Transitions are part of the race, obviously when you're trying to catch a pack, but for optimal positioning as well!!
-I am finally becoming a swimmer again! :)

Lucas, best support crew ever :) <3

Thank you to my wonderful boyfriend, Lucas for coming with and making this trip essentially stress free!  Thank you to my coach, Brian Grasky for continuing to make me faster, and thank you to Trisports.com for your support this season!
No race is ever perfect, and this one was certainly far from it, but I came away from the experience excited for my next opportunity to race this format and it certainly solidified my desire to race the ITU circuit!

Until next time :)

@nicoletruxes