Victoria 70.3

​After Texas 70.3, I had a couple weeks to recover/train and get ready for St. Anthony's Olympic triathlon which is a local race for me.   I felt like it took me a little longer than usual to recover and get going again after Texas. When race day came for St.  Anthony's,  I felt a little off.  My power was quite a bit lower on my bike than I had planned and I felt like I was dragging myself through the run.  I still did manage to do well enough to come in 7th place.  Best I have placed at St. Anthony's and won some $. On a good day I feel like I could have done much better even though it was an improvement from past races on that course. 

I took the month of May to build back up with my training, spent some time in Boulder, CO (I loved it there!) and had some great training throughout the month.  I was def feeling ready to race at Victoria 70.3.

I've never been to this part of Canada, but I knew I would like it!  It is a beautiful area.  I read some things about the race, a hilly bike course and a run on a path around the lake.  I envisioned the bike course and run a little differently, but it was a very unique race. 

Race morning, conditions were pretty good,  It could have been a little colder but at least it wasn't hot.  There was a chance of rain but it held off. 
The lake water was just under the wetsuit cut off for us pros (19.5C). I had a great swim and got out of the water with a few girls behind me and a couple not far in front of me. I quickly transitioned out of my wetsuit and onto the bike.  

Starting out on the bike there were some hills, corners and turns.  That pretty much sums up the whole bike course.  Hill after hill, some decending into a turn or corner.  I have some work to do with cornering on the bike and decending.  I wouldn't say this is one of my strengths and it is partially because I live in FL and train a lot more in the wind and flats.  For how technical and hilly this bike course was, I felt like it went well, even though it was not my favorite terrain. I did ride some of the course the first day I was there and we drove a few of the hills towards the back half of the course just so I would know what to expect. A lot of the course I didn't see, maybe that was better. I could just be surprised! I rode with some girls for the first half of the ride and we started to seperate a bit more towards the end. I came off the bike in 9th place.  

I was stoked to be done with the bike ride and onto the run.  Starting out on the run, the trail was pretty narrow, curved around a bit, some roots and rocks and mostly dirt. It was all in the woods.  A few ups and downs.  I felt like I was doing an adventure race! It was a pretty cool run.  I moved into 8th place and I could see a girl ahead of me,  for about 6 miles I was trying to catch her but I wasn't making much progress.  We were practically running the same pace at that time.   After about 10 miles my hips started hurting a bit from running on the uneven surface of the trail.  Overall I felt like I had a strong run for this being on a trail.  I ended up finishing in 8th place.  One of my best finishes at the Ironman 70.3 distance.   To me, this was one of the most challenging 70.3 races I have done. This was a competitive field of ladies and I feel like 8th place is an improvement for me, especially on this course!

My next race will be Coeur d'Alene 70.3 in a couple weeks.  I'll be riding some more hills between now and then... I know more hills will be awaiting me there! :)