Pictures from Canada

Coteau du Lac- Top 10!

This weekend I traveled to Montreal, Canada to compete in a Continental Cup. I actually raced here on the same course last year, when I was still technically a junior. I did this because I wanted to get experience and ease my transition from the sprint distance draft legal format to the olympic distance racing as a U23/elite. My race from last year was FAR different from this year, which is a good thing! Last year I had a so so swim, got dropped by 2 bike packs, and was lapped by the lead runners on the run, finishing close to last with a time of 2:17. This year, I just missed the front pack of swimmers, was in a very strong chase pack, and ran 2 minutes faster than last year on a day when my legs decided to stay sleeping. My finish time was just over 2:10, seven minutes faster than last year on a nearly identical course, leaving me in 9th place for the day.

Overall, I am very pleased with my performance. As a young athlete, I have found that the most important thing to value is improvement and being patient. If I can keep making leaps from year to year, I am doing something right! Working with my new coach from D3 Multisport, Mike Ricci, since the beginning of 2010 has been great for me, as both an athlete and a person. I have pushed myself harder than ever before, experienced new types of training, and spent time getting to know one of the best coaches in the world, who has in turn helped me get to know myself better as an athlete. Together, we are figuring out what works best for me as an athlete and making huge fitness gains in all three disciplines. I am very excited for what is to come.

More FISU pics.

FISU World Champs!

Hey to my followers!

My most recent race (FISU World University Games) was an incredible experience. The race was in Valencia, Spain which meant I would be embarking on my first adventure to Europe. After nationals I received a phone call telling me I had been selected as 1 of 5 women for our American team. What an honor to represent the US! I was extremely excited and anxious to experience international competition, and take the next step in my 2010 racing season.

The travel to Spain did not start the trip off on a great note, but as many athletes I am sure can relate, international travel is extremely stressful and you just have to prepare yourself for the obstacles you will face. My main obstacle on this trip- being stuck in the Paris airport for 10 hrs on Friday. NO FUN! Our flight leaving DC was delayed 3 hrs, and I arrived at 940 AM in Paris for a 1005 departing plane. Apparently, from where we landed to my gate for Valencia was about 45-60 mins of shuttles, trains and walking. No luck for me! So, after a brief meltdown caused by stress, exhaustion and hunger (I took care of two out of the three with a nap and nutrition) I was able to take a deep breath, muster up some optimism, and put a smile on my face realizing the incredible opportunity to compete at World University games.

What was supposed to be a 1005 Am flight to Valencia with a 12:15 pm arrival ended up being a 735 pm departure from Paris and 10pm arrival to my destination! When the flight landed I was incredibly happy, and anxious to shower, eat and get some rest. I arrived at our apartments around 1115pm, woke up some of our female team members (sorry!), showered and got to sleep anticipating a busy pre race day ahead. I knew tomorrow would be a better day!

We woke pretty early, got some breakfast and rode over to the race site as a team. I was fascinated with the beauty and unique landscapes surrounding us. The race venue was fantastic as well- right along the beach, palm trees, a blue carpet transition area (that must mean it's legit!) With seeing all of this, I got incredibly excited for race day. I was going to put all of the travel troubles behind me and just focus on having a great performance.

The water was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. We all started out in our wetsuits but willingly took them off and swam comfortably in the sunshine and 20+ celsius calm water. After swimming a bit and practicing some beach entrances and exits, we headed back to the apartments to rest and put our feet up. We had a brief race meeting, some lunch and went on a police escorted bike ride of the course. Well, we attempted to. We ended up waiting around for awhile once reaching the race site, and decided to be impatient Americans and take off to find it for ourselves. We practiced some crucial turns out on the course, but didn't hang around long. We all were getting pretty tired from being out in the sun, and on our feet.

Before I knew it, 450 AM race morning arrived! I jumped out of bed, had some water, and went out onto the boardwalk to do a run warm up. I felt pretty good and was getting anxious for what was to come. Race start was 8AM, so we headed over to the race site around 615, to give ourselves plenty of time to set up, warm up and get ready to go fast!

All the Americans were together in transition, which was great! We all set up our bikes, shoes etc, and heard it was a wetsuit legal swim, so squeezed into our suits and headed down to the beach. We were called out by country, which put us right in the middle of the field ( race numbers 24-28), so we anticipated an aggressive swim. About 15 seconds before the race start I took a deep breath, got rid of all the nerves and told myself to "just race and trust your training." And then the gun sounded and we were off!

The Swim:

The swim was a two loop course with a 50m run on the beach in between loops. The beginning of the swim was definitely rough, but that is to be expected. I settled into a solid pack of swimmers and tucked in behind the front row, getting a nice draft. Nothing too exciting happened in the swim, but I exited at the front of a pack of about 15 girls and ran for what seemed like eternity to T1.

T1: Could have gone better! Got my wetsuit off, but not in a speedy manner.

Bike: Anyways, I went out of t2 with 2 other Americans (Lauren Goldstein Kahl and Alex Weber) along with two other girls from countries I am unsure of. We tried to work efficiently to catch the bunch in sight down the road (front pack of swimmers), but we unable to bridge the gap and eventually got eaten up by a large pack of girls. The bike was pretty uneventful after this, as most of the girls in the pack just sat in (typical!) and weaved through the 4 lap course consisting of several 180 degree turns and interesting roads.

T2: I made my way to the front of the pack to set myself up for a good transition and exit onto the run. I came off the bike towards the top third of the pack and had a really speedy transition.

Run: After not really doing any work on the bike, and feeling pretty rested, I wanted to see just how much I could push myself on the run. I felt great heading out of transition and for the entire time I was out there(36:25- short course by a bit) I just thought about my cadence. I have been working on that quite a bit in training, and it really transferred over on race day. I was very pleased overall, and extremely happy with my running progress. I ended up 12th, and was the second American athlete to finish. Gwen Jorgensen, with the fastest run of the day by FAR, came in second, and our third athlete was Lauren Goldstein-Kahl, in 13th right behind me. The three of us earned the US team a second place overall in the team standings. This was truly awesome, as we got to get up on the podium and represent the USA.

The trip to Spain was an incredible opportunity. In every race, I am learning more and developing as an athlete. International travel is something I will probably be experiencing more frequently over the next few years, so it was good to get a trip under my belt and realize that it doesn't always go smoothly. I enjoyed meeting some new athletes that were part of the American team, as well as athletes from the various other countries that participated in the FISU World University Games. Overall, I really enjoyed the brief, but fun filled trip to Valencia. It is an experience I will never forget! A big thanks to USAT for choosing me as part of the team. What an honor!

Up next- Continental Cup in Montreal, Canada on June 26th! Then on to Treasure Island on July 10th.

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer and racing again as much as I am. = )

Jessica