Eva Gifford: race report on race report

Since I fell off the blogging train here is a quick little race recap of both the Subaru Victoria and Vancouver races!

Victoria Olympic
The Victoria race was back in June, held in the beautiful venue of Elk lake. The lake was perfect- minus the nasty tasting water. The swim was a 1 loop 1500m course. Once again in T1 I had trouble with my wetsuit... a 2min transition is a bit on the long end. Looks like I'll be spending a large amount of time practicing getting that thing off! The bike course for Victoria was on a familiar route along W. Saanich and out towards the airport. Plenty of hills to go around for everyone made for a challenging ride, and my legs were certainly feeling them. About halfway through the 45km course my legs felt dead... no power and all I wanted to do was to get off my bike. Thinking that my dead legs would carry over to the run, I was happy when I started on the elk lake trail and my legs felt strong! The run was good and I focused on keeping a steady pace while slowly picking people to hunt down and pass. Overall I was happy with the race and felt that it was another solid addition to the season. For full results see here!

Vancouver Olympic
A more recent race, the Subaru Vancouver event was last weekend. A true Olympic distance of 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run, I wanted to use this race to see how much improvement I had since my last competitive olympic distance race at the Kelowna Apple in 2011. The swim was a 2 loop ocean course at Jericho Beach. I had my first beach start, which was a fun experience! The beginning of the swim was hectic as per usual and I received a few kicks to the face, but luckily my goggles stayed put! Near the end of the 1st lap I got a headache (probably from drinking half the ocean) and it just wouldn't leave me. Exiting the water at the end of the swim I had the lovely sensation of wanting to spew my guts... obviously I need to work on not drinking so much of the water I am swimming in! I attempted sitting down in T1 to take my wetsuit off- slightly faster and less hopping around like an idiot were all that resulted from sit-down take-off. More practice for sure! The bike course was awesome! Only one hill up to UBC made for a super-quick 40km ride. Off onto the run my legs were feeling fresh, but my stomach and head were not in the game. As soon as I stood up to run it was cramps galore. Flat bits of the course were ok, but any slight downhill made for one unhappy girl. After 5km things finally felt better and I was able to run without holding my sides. I ran next to another woman for the last 3km and it was so motivational to have someone to run with! That extra amount of competition made the tail end of the race fly by! Finishing in 2hr21min this has been my best olympic distance race to date! I am happy with my performance and now am eager to go LONG! 70.3 in September here I come!!
Post-race was spent eating the most amazing sushi and touring metrotown for some well deserved shopping. For full race results click here.

Thanks to coach Noa for helping me have a successful season, my supportive friends and family, and of course CEP Canada for helping me look awesome while I recover!

Up next- the SRI in victoria! Happy training everyone!