Monday, June 13, 2011

This blog brought to you by the number 7




It has been 7 days since I raced in the Madrid WCS race, where I finished 7th, and I have 7 days to go until the WCS race in Kitzbuhel, Austria. That means two things: 1) I’m a very lazy blogger and 2) two weeks between races means that I’m the midst of that odd inter-race phase where you somehow have to get the mix between recovery and prep. Do too much and you show up to the race and feel flat. Do too little and you also feel flat. Hopefully we get the balance right.


Back to my race in España... After crashing out in Sydney, I was keen to get in a solid WCS result, but was skeptical that my fitness was adequate enough. We haven’t done much quality training yet and have been conservative with our training for the past few weeks (acclimatization to altitude is tricky), so I wasn’t feeling super confident in my fitness. Once the gun went off, however, I just tried focus on “keeping my nose clean” (Coach’s words) in the swim and bike and to try to survive the run. I was fortunate enough to come out of the water in a good position and to thus be part of the front pack on the bike. Between the heat heat and hills, the bike course in Madrid is pretty tough and it took its toll on a number of athletes. Since it tends to lead to more interesting racing, I wish we had more courses like it (minus the heat, perhaps!). While I was definitely outclassed by the likes of supergirls Findlay and Jenkins, I was able to put together a solid enough run to finish 7th place, right ahead of a fast-charging Laura Bennett (I definitely dropped pace the last few ks= room for improvement). With two of us in the top-8, it was a good day for the U.S. women. The only thing that completely ruined my day was that I had to spend an eternity in the drug testing tent, unable to chow down on the delicious post-race feast provided by the race organizers. Oh comida española, tan sabrosa... garrrrr.


As I type, I realize that I wrote an incredibly lame post-race report. I blame the cold temperatures in Davos for constricting the blood vessels in my brain and thus hampering my thought process. Hopefully my next one after the race in Kitz will be a bit more thrilling. Or maybe I’ll just include more exclamation marks to try to trick my readers into thinking that I wrote a super exciting account of my race. Everyone loves enthusiastic punctuation, right?!


I wish you sweet dreams of paella and jamón serrano. Although salty might be a more apt adjective...

Until next time,

SG

2 comments:

Gregwh said...

You should definitely belly up to the blackjack table with those numbers. Great to have USA triathletes to cheer for. Persist!

Gregwh said...

Congratulations on your podium in Kitzbuhel Sarah! Way to hang in there on the run and Barry got the pronunciation of your name right in the end. After last year, this must feel so good and you were clearly the happiest person out there. That is triathlon at its best.