Monterrey Race Report

I’ve been overwhelmed by all of the messages that I've received since my race on Sunday! I’m not the kind of person that likes any sort of attention, which is why I am reluctant to start a blog, but this race has made me realize the supportive group of family and friends that I have behind me. So thank you!

In February I made the decision to put school on hold and move to Victoria to train. This was a difficult and stressful choice, but trying to balance training and school was like having two full time jobs, and there were simply not enough hours in the day to do well in both. This allowed me to get my race season started earlier with some good training behind me.

I had no expectations going in to Monterrey and was excited to get my season started. I always get extremely nervous on race day, and this time was no different! I finally started to relax after the hectic swim start when I found myself in a good position near the front. There was a wall of 4 girls swimming side-by-side directly in front of me, so I was able to tuck in behind them. Our pack of around 8 girls came out of the water a minute behind super swimmer Hayley Piersol, who we caught after about 2 laps on the bike. It was pretty chaotic ride as the course was very technical, and any sort of organization that we had quickly diminished every time we went around a corner. I did my fair share of work, with about 5 other girls taking pulls at the front. We somehow managed to stay away from the chase pack and had about a 30 second lead coming into transition. I went out onto the run fairly conservatively as I’ve not had very consistent run training these past few months. The first 2 laps felt comfortable and I found myself separated from the rest of the pack, however I could see that the Japanese girl was making time on me every lap. I ran the last 2 laps waiting for her to blow by me, but surprisingly the gap slowly started to get bigger in the final few kilometers. I ended up with the fastest run split of the day and a very unexpected and surprising win.

I know that it is still very early so I can’t let this result get to my head, but it's certainly a nice way to start the year. I really need to work on my mind-set heading into these races, as I get way too worked-up and nervous for no reason. I think I said to Patrick about 10 times before the start: “I HATE this feeling, this isn’t even fun, why do I do this to myself???!”… haha.. As soon as I start I realize that racing can be fun, I don't hate it, and I do it because it feels awesome to have a good race and know that all of the hard work is paying off!

Thanks to Patrick, Bill, TriCan, all of my teammates, family and friends. And Bill from ProCity for the bike-fit!! Still in discussion about what my next race will be, but for now it’s back to work J

Thanks for reading,

Paula