I’m really far behind in race reporting so I’m going to implement rapid fire races reports. They’ll be short and sweet: 10 things good, bad and/or ugly. A quick note on why I haven’t been writing… I felt my last few races have been far from stellar and I find it hard to write about disappointment. I don’t want to be a broken record and I needed some time to process. On top of that life outside of triathlon has been keeping me on my toes.
Quick thoughts on MT:
- If you want the best triathlon experience there is to offer this race may be it. They literally roll out the red carpets, not just down the finishing chute but all the way from the beach to transition for the half mile run to T1. The town is gorgeous and has a village feel with restaurants and shops just outside your door. They had military jets do a flyover at the end of the national anthem and the start of the race. The course is mostly closed and they have tons of roaming bike support with spare wheels out on course. The run course is lined with people cheering you on for about half of the course. The finish line is epic, running down main street with people lined up 10 deep. Probably the best produced race I’ve been to.
- The lake was cold, low sixties but nice for wetsuit swimming. I was able to get close to Meredith Kessler and Holly Lawrence at the start but tried to take a shorter line and lost touch so I ended up swimming solo. I really don’t like swimming right on peoples’ feet but it’s part of the sport so lesson learned – I need to stay on them.
- Heather Wurtele and Magali Tissyre came flying by me way sooner than I would have expected on the bike. I used them as a carrot to chase. At about 30K Magali dropped out so my carrot was gone. I tried to keep the hammer down but felt like I wasn’t making good ground for the effort I was putting out.
- The last 30K of the bike is a pretty intense climb and descent, I was going about 8mph most of the climb and my glutes felt destroyed.
- I got off the bike in 6th, not too far back from the field. I got my shoes on and started running out of T2 and I had so much pain with every step. My left glute was cramped so tightly I wanted to wince in pain. I shuffled along hoping the pain would subside.
- At about 4k I started to get an intense chest pain and a side stitch. I tried running with an arm up in the air, I tried massaging it while running, I took my inhaler but nothing would release it. That pain on top of the glute pain was too much, I gave in and I walked after I felt I exhausted my options. Guilt poured over me. I walk/ran the rest of the 15K I had left as I was determined that I must finish.
- The finish line was going to be epic but as I crossed the line I just wanted to cry in frustration and disappointment.
- Post-race I realized that the tape I used to cover my disc valve was under the line of the brake. So throughout the race the tape slowly wore off and eventually was partially hanging off the disc and rubbing my brakes. Big oops, but now I know to check for that 🙂
- Had I not cramped off the bike I probably would have ran fine and wouldn’t be struggling with disappointment. Maybe I could have done something differently to not cramp but sometimes it’s just out of your control so I have to accept that it wasn’t my day and move on to the next.
- Like I mentioned before this race is done up well and is a really cool area to visit. I will definitely keep it on my radar to have a rematch in the future.
One of the most done up finish lines
Expo and stage area
Dinner… and then…
I did make waffles in the morning 🙂
View from the top of the ski mountain!
Post race trip to Quebec City
Post race trip to Montreal
Heather Lendway 
I enjoyed this race report and not just for it’s brevity 😉 I appreciate your honesty in needing time to process and sharing your feelings guilt, frustration, and disappointment during the race. Who hasn’t had a race that felt like this? It’s good to hear your lessons for your next race but also to simply let go and move on. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks Kym! Plenty more to come! 🙂