World's Race Review
London was a fun city to be in for a week, although I can¹t say I¹m a
fan of the weather (too much rain). My brother and I were out
sight-seeing during the week leading up to the race and I ended up
with a cold on Friday night (sore throat, stuffed up nose, and feeling
pretty lethargic). Saturday wasn¹t much better so I was pretty upset,
having worked hard all year and looking at having a sub-par race due
to a bad cold. However, race adrenaline kicked in Sunday morning and I
was able to feel somewhat energized, although my nose was still pretty
clogged up. Having stood in bare feet for about an hour prior to the
race start it was almost a relief to be able to put my feet in the
water as it felt warmer than the ground I had been standing on. I
don¹t think I would have minded having the full length swim, however
it is what it is. I didn¹t have a great swim, swallowed water multiple
times and got hit and kicked far more than I am used to, however I
kept a calm head and didn¹t let that ruin my race. I exited the water
somewhere around 10th place, which is what I was expecting, and
managed to pass about five of those people in the long run-up to
transition. Heading out onto the bike I pushed hard right off the bat
and was quickly able to position myself in 2nd place, somewhere around
the 3km mark. There was one Aussie ahead of me but didn¹t seem to be
gaining or losing ground on me so I kept up the steady but relatively
hard pace. Around the 7km mark a Kiwi caught up to me and I worked
hard to stay with her for the first lap. However, I was getting pretty
fatigued trying to maintain her pace and I made a judgement call that
given her body type (slightly stockier), probably wasn¹t going to be a
fast runner. I let her go on the second lap although kept a strong
pace myself. I knew this decision could come back to bite me in the
ass later but given my experience at a race earlier in the year where
I gave it everything on the bike and had nothing left for the run, I
knew that I needed to save a little bit for the run. Approaching T2 I
caught the Aussie who was still ahead of me, but was caught by a few
people in transition as my hands were so cold that they didn¹t want to
function for me. In the end I had to start running with my shoelaces
not tightened as I couldn¹t get my fingers to co-operate for me. I
passed the couple of people who had caught me in transition in the
first hundred meters or so, leaving only the Kiwi ahead of me. After
about 2.5km I had warmed up enough to be able to tighten my shoelaces,
and my feet no longer felt like blocks of ice. Nothing was going to
stop me from going for gold so I kept running as hard as I could and
caught the Kiwi at about 4.5km. I didn¹t let up the pace though as I
had no idea who was behind me, so I just kept running as hard as I
could. I could feel my IT band getting very tight on the second and
third laps but tried to ignore it. The Canadians were awesome as there
seemed to be someone cheering for me around the entire run course.
Coming down the finishing chute was better than I had ever imagined as
it feels pretty awesome when someone announces you as the World
Champion. :P Upon crossing the finish line I felt like my cold
hit me in full force with a pounding head and feeling very weak. But I
was ecstatic about the finish (and that I had over 2 minutes on 2nd
place) so was able to celebrate with the other Canadians who were
finishing their races. I also was happy to see Keith having a great
race (since he hadn¹t run for three weeks and didn¹t know if he would
be able to in the race). All in all it was a spectacular experience
and I look forward to Edmonton next September.
London was a fun city to be in for a week, although I can¹t say I¹m a
fan of the weather (too much rain). My brother and I were out
sight-seeing during the week leading up to the race and I ended up
with a cold on Friday night (sore throat, stuffed up nose, and feeling
pretty lethargic). Saturday wasn¹t much better so I was pretty upset,
having worked hard all year and looking at having a sub-par race due
to a bad cold. However, race adrenaline kicked in Sunday morning and I
was able to feel somewhat energized, although my nose was still pretty
clogged up. Having stood in bare feet for about an hour prior to the
race start it was almost a relief to be able to put my feet in the
water as it felt warmer than the ground I had been standing on. I
don¹t think I would have minded having the full length swim, however
it is what it is. I didn¹t have a great swim, swallowed water multiple
times and got hit and kicked far more than I am used to, however I
kept a calm head and didn¹t let that ruin my race. I exited the water
somewhere around 10th place, which is what I was expecting, and
managed to pass about five of those people in the long run-up to
transition. Heading out onto the bike I pushed hard right off the bat
and was quickly able to position myself in 2nd place, somewhere around
the 3km mark. There was one Aussie ahead of me but didn¹t seem to be
gaining or losing ground on me so I kept up the steady but relatively
hard pace. Around the 7km mark a Kiwi caught up to me and I worked
hard to stay with her for the first lap. However, I was getting pretty
fatigued trying to maintain her pace and I made a judgement call that
given her body type (slightly stockier), probably wasn¹t going to be a
fast runner. I let her go on the second lap although kept a strong
pace myself. I knew this decision could come back to bite me in the
ass later but given my experience at a race earlier in the year where
I gave it everything on the bike and had nothing left for the run, I
knew that I needed to save a little bit for the run. Approaching T2 I
caught the Aussie who was still ahead of me, but was caught by a few
people in transition as my hands were so cold that they didn¹t want to
function for me. In the end I had to start running with my shoelaces
not tightened as I couldn¹t get my fingers to co-operate for me. I
passed the couple of people who had caught me in transition in the
first hundred meters or so, leaving only the Kiwi ahead of me. After
about 2.5km I had warmed up enough to be able to tighten my shoelaces,
and my feet no longer felt like blocks of ice. Nothing was going to
stop me from going for gold so I kept running as hard as I could and
caught the Kiwi at about 4.5km. I didn¹t let up the pace though as I
had no idea who was behind me, so I just kept running as hard as I
could. I could feel my IT band getting very tight on the second and
third laps but tried to ignore it. The Canadians were awesome as there
seemed to be someone cheering for me around the entire run course.
Coming down the finishing chute was better than I had ever imagined as
it feels pretty awesome when someone announces you as the World
Champion. :P Upon crossing the finish line I felt like my cold
hit me in full force with a pounding head and feeling very weak. But I
was ecstatic about the finish (and that I had over 2 minutes on 2nd
place) so was able to celebrate with the other Canadians who were
finishing their races. I also was happy to see Keith having a great
race (since he hadn¹t run for three weeks and didn¹t know if he would
be able to in the race). All in all it was a spectacular experience
and I look forward to Edmonton next September.
