Mazatlan World Cup Race Report ~ Mazatlan, Mexico ~ May 7, 2006
I spent the days before the race preparing by training on the course so I was familiar with all aspects of it. I was also preparing mentally so I wouldn’t lose control like I did in my last World Cup in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary.
I woke up on race day at 6 am, and found some coffee and ate oatmeal, showered, and put my number decals on (we didn’t have any other race numbers besides the ones tattooed on us, so that was nice). I got to the race site by bike at around 7:10. It was pretty crazy – even though there were only 48 in my race, there are lots of media people and fans watching us get ready to race. I set up my bike and had to ask 5 times to find a pump for my tires. I skipped the run warmup because I didn’t have time. Things are pretty tight in World Cups – the transition area didn’t open until 7 and the race starts at 8. I picked up my swim cap, and went to warm up for 5-10 minutes in the water. I practiced the ramp a few times, then we were all lined up. I stayed relatively calm compared to last year. I tried to focus on having fun.
We were swimming a 2 lap rectangular course in a marina. I’m glad it wasn’t in the ocean. They had made a change to the swim course that we found out on race morning. The original course was a bit unfair for athletes with a bad starting position because the first buoy was to the left of the pontoon. But now they added a first buoy that was straight out from the pontoon. I was happy for the change but slightly worried that it would be a tight bottleneck at that first buoy since it was less than 200 m away. As the starter called our names we jogged down to the pontoon, picked our spots (I was to the right of the buoy – a left turn) and then we heard, take your mark – HONK! I didn’t even have time to take my mark, but I had an alright start.
I went out as hard as I could. I wasn’t timing my kick right because I was moving my arms fast. I pulled ahead of the two girls to my right and left, and I kept up my pace around the buoy which didn’t give me many problems since I had clear water. I started getting a little tired by the 2nd buoy but I tried to keep up the pace. After the 2nd buoy the group formed more into a line, but around the 3rd buoy I kind of lost the feet I was on and had to catch up. I had a clean (but slow) exit up the ramp and dove in right as they called my name. I was right behind a Spanish girl named Burgos. I was feeling a little tired for the 2nd lap but not like I would last year. I didn’t really look up ahead of the 2 girls I was behind but I think I should have because after rounding the last turn, they seemed to slow a bit, so I looked ahead and saw a gap to the next big group. I went out around them hard, trying to bridge the gap – I desperately wanted to be in that group… it was just like what happened at Worlds last year. As I exited the water, they had a big spray wash set up to rinse us off, and I ran hard into transition hoping that I could have a speedy enough transition to catch the pack. I came out of the water in 21:
I’m really glad that I went around the girls in my swim group because they were really fast at getting their bikes and I almost got left behind (T1 time). The fans were watching my every move as I put on my helmet, snapped it (they were saying vamos vamos vamos!), unracked my bike and took off running. I mounted my bike and got going as fast as I could then got my shoes on before the hill. The bike course was 7 laps, with a 180 at one end, and two roundabouts at the other end, one going through our transition area. The short hill was a bridge about 0.5k out and was short enough to stay in the big ring. I went out hard but so did the 3 other girls with me. I was really happy to see who I came out with – some women that are experienced. So I was trying to motivate the group to get us going so we could catch the group ahead before that group got organized. We worked hard the first lap and we finally caught them just after the hill on the 2nd lap. I saw that another of the USA girls was in the group. Now I focused on being in the front going into the corners and turns and trying not to kill myself by working too hard.
Although the group wasn’t making the progress that I wanted it to – we were about 90 seconds off the front pack. I knew that I could run down a few with that gap but not too many, and the front pack was big. My goal was top 20 so I could get World Cup points, but we needed to at least keep that gap from growing. There were about 5 of us working to keep the group moving forward and it wasn’t going as smoothly as it could have. I don’t really understand why people don’t want to get organized! I was slightly worried that the ones who didn’t work were strong runners, but the strong runners I knew were working hard also, like a couple of the Canadians, the Spanish girl, a Swiss girl and a girl from Luxembourg.
The bike felt long – and I knew it was getting hot out. I was excited about my run but also a bit worried because with 3 laps to go on the bike I developed a side stitch. I didn’t want to stop drinking though, so I tried to sit more upright to let it work itself out before the run. On the last lap, I put myself in front so I’d give myself more time in transition (which was a good idea because they were wicked fast) and then I took off with the rest of the girls.
The fast runners took off REALLY fast! Damn! I need to practice that more I guess. I knew in my head that I should’ve gone out with them no matter how fast it felt, but the heat and knowing the hill and that I had a whole 10k ahead of me, I let them get ahead. The run course was on the bike course, we went up and over the hill, then turned around halfway down the hill. I should’ve checked out typical run times for some of the girls so I could’ve known who I could stay with. I concentrated on my cadence and my arms and trying not to slap my feet. The water we got was in little sealed plastic bags and you had to bite off a corner to drink it. It wasn’t that hard to do. I tried to keep a German girl, Mueller, in my sight but I felt pretty crappy up the first hill. I didn’t start feeling good until coming back on the first lap. But by then it was too late and it was hard to motivate not knowing how far back I was from catching people or what place I was in. Running past the crowds was cool, lots of people cheered for USA. I knew I was dropping people behind me and I was catching some slower runners and lapped runners but it was so hard to gauge how I was doing. The 2nd and 3rd laps I still caught people but I knew I had slowed down. I kind of lost my anxious, adrenalin-filled competitive drive that I have in my running and I knew I had slowed down a lot. Mueller was much further ahead. On the 4th lap I decided I wanted to try to outsplit my first lap so I picked it up a lot. At the turnaround I realized how close I was to catching 2 more people, one of them Sarah Haskins. I thought back to Tempe last year when both of us were struggling in the heat on that bridge and she had passed me on the last lap. So the last 1k or so, I really picked it up but it was too late and I came in just behind her. I think the problem was that I only HALFWAY believed that I could catch her. I need to work on that self-efficacy thing.
Anyway. I am somewhat disappointed with my run but overall I’m happy that I made improvements over my last World Cup. With all the foot issues I’ve been having I guess my run wasn’t all that bad. But speaking of improvements, I have lots of room for that before my next race. I will be working on my swim, on transitions, and on staying motivated throughout the entire run. I learned a lot, had a great time, and next time will be better!
Thanks to everyone who watched the race and sent your encouragements. It’s great have such awesome support!
