Open Water Nationals...Ft. Myers, FL...After the 5K race...two Canadian swimmers and me!

Lake Placid, NY Open Water Training Camp

The World Championship Open Water team all met in Lake Placid for a training camp before going to Montreal for the competition. There were 8 athletes...4 male and 4 female...and 6 members of the coaching/medical staff. Margy Keefe qualified to swim the 5K from a pool competition...Erica Rose qualified to swim the 10K and 25K at open water Nationals in Ft. Myers...Erica Watts qualified to swim the 25K from nationals but had to leave the team at the end of the camp and was replaced by Rendy who also swam the 25K at nationals...I qualified to swim the 5K and 10K at nationals. On the men's side: Scott Kauffman (my teammate from U of F) qualified for the 5K from Ft. Myers...Chip Peterson qualified to swim the 5K from the pool competition and the 10K from the open water nationals...John Kenny qualified for the 10K and 25K...Sean Seaver qualified in the 25K. So that is the USA team for the Open Water events!
It was really fun to get to know all these people...and all the staff. Everyone was really excited about how fast this team is going to be. The training camp was a really good idea because some of the team was really new to open water and this was a great time to learn the techniques and practice some of the small things that make a big difference in the race.
We stayed at the OTC (I will compare it to the OTC in Colorado later:) so rooming and food was all taken care of...the surprise part was where we were training: in a beautiful lake (same lake they use for the Lake Placid Ironman in 2 weeks!). It is called Mirror Lake and no motor boats are allowed on it...perfect for swimming. But that's not all that was perfect...they set up a course that was identical to the world championship course: two rowing lanes with small buoys every 10 meters and larger buoys at the turns.
I had a great time swimming here...too bad there is not an equivalent in Colorado Springs! Since I'm attempting to keep my triathlon training going...I had my bike and run stuff with me and took advantage of the amazing roads around the OTC. Lake Placid is a very rural area so even the highways are not busy...meaning biking conditions are great. I rode along a beautiful river which is also part of the Ironman course...and did some trail running through beautiful pine trees.
*Since our departure from Lake Placid I have wrote an e-mail to my triathlon coach in Colorado Springs to start to convince him to plan training time at the Lake Placid OTC next year!*
Our 4 days were over way too fast and we started to pack up for the bus ride to Montreal. I look forward to returning soon! I was able to keep my bike out of the bike box for the travel...always a bonus! News from Montreal next.

One Really LONG Day

Sunday, 9:00am....NYC Pro Women Triathlon start
11:03am...I finish the race in 11th place
12:00pm...awards are presented, I cheer for all the USA people on the podium
12:30pm...I say good-bye to my parents in Central Park
1:00pm...I'm in my room at the YMCA packing my bike into my bike box, shove my clothes into my rolling bag and say 'bye' to all my teammates and coach
2:30pm...grab bike box, rolling bag and backpack and head down to the lobby
3:00pm...get on shuttle to airport with Libby (USATri National Teams Director)
3:30pm...I get dropped off at the Delta terminal for my 5:30pm flight to Boston, walk inside with all my stuff, wait in line, then find out I'm in the WRONG terminal and have to take a bus to the right one
4:00pm...I'm finally at the right terminal with all my bags, check my bags all the way to Lake Placid, pay $25 to get my bike on the plane, get moved to the 4:30pm flight because there are seats available
4:10pm...as I'm about to walk through security I see a Delta Rep looking at the bag tag on my bike box, I head back to the counter to see what is wrong, she tells me that Delta does not fly to Lake Placid and when I get to Boston I have to pick up my bags and go to a different terminal to check in with Continental
4:20pm...I board the plane to Boston, sit down and fall asleep
5:30pm...wake up when the plane pulls into the gate, locate my bags in bag check and find the bus that will take me to the other terminal
6:00...check in at Continental, I am told that my bike box might be too big to fit in the plane, I am charged $80 anyways
6:30...finally have time to sit down and have meal, by this point I was starving!!
7:30pm...board the smallest commercial plane I have ever been on, fly to the Lake Placid airport which is the smallest commercial airport I have ever been to
9:30pm...land in Lake Placid, get picked up by OTC van and head to the third USA Olympic Training Center that I have been to this year
10:00pm...get my room key at the front desk, drag my stuff to my room, fall asleep!!!

New York City Triathlon Race Report

After Alcatraz, I had a whole month to train for my next group of races. The first race after 3 long weeks of hard training was the NYC Triathlon on July 10th. The U23 team departed Colorado Springs on the morning of the 8th. Our flight out of COS was at 6am...and we assumed that our shuttle to the airport would depart at 4:45. Well, we all know what assumptions do...they make an @$$ out of U and ME!!
At 4:55ish, Matt, Manny, Jasmine and I realized that we were not getting a ride to the airport and drastic action needed to be taken. Jasmine and I both ran to get our car keys and pulled up to the front to load our 4 bike boxes and 4 rolling bags into my car and three other people into Jasmine's car. I promise that I obeyed all speed limits on the way to the airport:) and we made it there in plenty of time to check our bags and catch the plane to Chicago and then on to NYC.
As part of the U23 team, I was staying in the YMCA in NYC...it was an interesting experience because this Y was a lot different from the Y's that I am used to...it was 14 stories tall in the middle of the city and right next to Central Park. It's location was perfect because we did part of the race in Central Park (the other perfect part was the cost of a room versus the cost of any hotel in NYC:) Every room in the building was a single so we each got our own space to hang out...it wasn't very much space...but it had all the requirements (i.e. a bed and a TV).
A quick assembly of our bikes was followed by a delicious dinner with the whole team. The next morning we got up early for a bike ride in Central Park...two loops, each loop about 10K...checking things on the bike and doing some speed play stuff to get our legs moving. After the bike ride we swam in the Y pool, located on the 3rd floor, 25 yards by 4 lanes...it was really cute and really old!!
A quick trip to the city for the pre race meeting followed by dinner in times Square and then a good night's sleep before the race! I was so excited for race morning because my parents came up to NYC to watch me race (well, they came to see some Broadway shows and I happened to be racing:)haha.
The cool thing about the NYC pro race was that we had 2 different transition areas...T1 was located right at the edge of the Hudson river where we swam...but T2 was in the middle of Central Park. In the morning we dropped our run shoes at T2 and then continued on our bikes to T1 to set up all the other stuff. That's where Mom and Dad were waiting...it was great to see the 'rents because I've been away from home for so long and it's great to have some of my own cheering section at the race!
After I set up the bike...we walked the whole 1500m swim course to the start. This swim was in the fast flowing Hudson River which meant that all the swimming would be in one direction (with the current to my dismay!) As we walked on the river's edge I peered into the infamous Hudson and the first thing I laid my eyes on was a dead rat floating belly up in the race course!
Ummmmmmmmmmmmm....that was almost the end of my race:):) haha
Denny had one last team meeting before the women were called to line up for the start on the floating dock. It was about 2 feet above the water so we had a dive start...and the race was started!
I was swimming in the Hudson River in NYC...not something I ever planned on doing...but it was time to race and not time to think about all the things I could be touching in the water:) I knew that the swim was going to be fast, thanks to the current, so I swam as fast as I could and exited the water in 13 minutes (yep, a 13:00 open water 1500m...that would be a world record:). I looked back as I ran to T1 and saw a nice large gap before the next women to exit...I grabbed my bike and hauled @$$ out of transition!
The bike course was out and back on the Henry Hudson Hwy...Unfortunately on the way out we had a nice head wind. I worked as hard as I could for as long as I could stay in front but around mile 10 I looked back and saw a huge pack of 20+ women reeling me in. As I was swallowed by the group I was thrilled to see Jasmine, Sarah, Jenna and Kelsey in the group!
The 5 of us worked together at the front to keep the pace of the pack high to hurt the runner's legs. We brought the pack into T2 with all of us at the front and took off on the run.
The run course was 3 laps in Central Park and I focused on staying smooth so that I could finish strong. I knew that I had to let the leaders do their thing (I am nowhere near the running speed as some of these ladies) and worry about my own race...I did that by working hard on the first lap and then relaxing a bit on the 2nd lap so that I would be able to finish with a strong kick and maybe catch some girls who were struggling at the end. I was excited to see that my room mate, Sarah, was leading the front runners for the whole race...she ended up 2nd overall in a sprint to the finish!
I finished 11th overall with a respectable race...I wasn't very happy with my run time but I knew that I put a lot of energy into the swim and bike! After hanging out with Mom and Dad for a bit after the race...they headed off to see another Broadway show and I headed back to the Y to pack my bike and head back to the airport! I had to be a bit speedy in the packing because I had a flight at 5:30pm after the race...boy, I was TIRED! Next post will tell you why I a flight so soon after the race!!