ITU Long Course World Championship Race Report - Motala, Sweden

ITU Long Course World Championship Race Report - Motala, Sweden

It's been an amazing week in Europe!  Here's some photos from our adventure so far:

2 bike bags, 2 hiking backpacks, 2 races, 2 weeks of racing for 2 crazy triathletes in Europe!

 On our way to Sweden, we had an 8 hour layover in Olso, Norway so we jumped on a train and went into the city for lunch .... or breakfast..... after 9 hours of flying, I'm not sure what I wanted to eat!  But we had some pizza in a café and regrouped for our flight to Stockholm, Sweden

about 5 years ago, I took the kids on a tour of Norway and we ate at this Hard Rock Café!  Never thought I'd be back.

The kids and I also walked along this ramp at the Opera House in Oslo

Concert in Oslo

flower market in Oslo

cool bike sculptures in the transition area in Motala

Opening Ceremony for ITU Long Course Championship

Bike Transition - I love the red buildings surrounding the transition area

a little marching band led the Parade of Nations

Lining up for the Parade of Nations

 swim start in an VERY cold lake!! 14 deg. C

I'm not going to lie, I was totally intimidated by this lake in Motola - the water was super cold and the waves were coming straight in towards us.  Ross and I did a quick swim the day before the race and a big wave of cold water hit me in the face and it literally took my breath away!!  At that point, I couldn't even imagine throwing a bunch of triathletes in the water on top of each other and trying to combat the cold water and wavy conditions.  But in the end, it worked out ok!

94 people representing Team USA in Motala

 94 super nervous triathletes trying to be silly in their team photo (Ross and I are on the far left)

Church in Linkoping

 

cool drawing on the wall of the church in Linkoping

we were hoping to eat here in Linkoping but it was closed on Sunday

Post-race shakout run in Linkoping in a beautiful forest preserve

A cool lantern in the forest preserve

train station in Linkoping - we took a train from Linkoping to Malmo.  Then we took a night train from Malmo to Berlin before going on to Prague for some touring.

Pretty Gazebo in Linkoping

I knew my sis-in-law Erin would be with me during my races ---- she's my number 1 race cheerleader (she's been to 2 of my Ironman races and several of my marathon races) - I found her favorite flower by the side of the road!

My age group top 3 finishers - hope to be up there someday!

Team Sweden at the Parade of Nations

Team Randolph ready to march in the parade

How quickly I forget that the bread in Europe is SO good!!!!  I will not disclose how much bread I've consumed during our visit so far :)  Let's just say I'm thankful for 2 long distance triathlons to burn off all the carbs from this good bread.

 arriving at the opening ceremonies

 building in front of bike transition area

Official results from the ITU Long Course World Championships - 1500 meter swim (swim was shortened from 4000m prior to the start due to cold water temperatures), 116 km bike, and 30km run.  I finished 12th in my age group, 56th woman overall, and 379 out of approx. 900 athletes.  AND I was the FIRST Age Group Female for Team USA!!!! 

So honored to be a part of Team USA and even more honored that I could compete in this race with Ross!  It was an amazing experience.  One that I know I will never forget!!

Now here's the details of my race as I remember them.... thoughts that I had while racing and my overall goals. 

The swim, I'm not going to lie - I was VERY intimidated by the swim.  I knew that the water was going to be very cold and the waves were going to be coming right at my face for the first half of the race.  I was afraid that the air temps were going to be cold too and that I would be freezing on the bike.  I could not get these thoughts out of my mind the day before and the entire morning of the race.  As I went to sleep the night before, I tried to walk myself through the day - how I would maneuver through transition, how I would try to psyche myself into thinking I was warm.  Most importantly I wanted my Racing Self to HONOR my Training Self.  I have put SO many hours into training leading up to this race - in fact my highest training week was 25.15 hours of training and that was during the kid's last week of school where we had 2 graduations, teacher gifts to prepare, cakes to order and deliver for graduation, not to mention that daily obligations in keeping up with 4 kids  :)

But the point is, somehow I managed to get it all done and I needed to honor that training self on Saturday, no matter how cold it was!  Ross and I stayed in a little cottage about 30 minutes from Motala and we drove to the race start at about 6:45am.  It was a later race start time (that was nice!) so we made our way to transition to get our bikes set and drop off our bike and run bags.  We stopped at the Team USA hotel quick and then headed to the start.  I did a bit of jogging and we got our wetsuits on.  I stood with Ross just before his wave went towards the water.  All morning I remained quiet - trying to keep the nerves from showing but inside I was SO nervous.  I was able to get towards the front of my wave and I positioned myself towards the left and outside of the pack.  I got in the water and much to my surprise the water wasn't as cold as I expected it to be and the waves didn't seem as bad as they were the day before.  I eased into the water, got my face wet, and started to swim towards the start -- did a little breast stroke, a little freestyle, and a lot of treading water.  We waited for what seemed like about 5 minutes or so for our wave to start.  Suddenly my nerves calmed and I felt like I could really do this.  The starting gun went off and the flurry of swimming and splashing started!  This was it!  The race was on!  I was very surprised - from where I was positioned, I don't think I ran into a single swimmer!  I couldn't believe it - my strokes seemed smooth and my face, hands, and feet were not frozen like I expected them to be!  I kept telling myself to make it to the furthest buoy and then I could ride the waves into the shore.  The turnaround seemed to come quickly and the swim was almost over.  I was expecting to swim the course in about 30 minutes and was very surprised when my watch said 26 min as I got out of the water!  I was a bit out of sorts, as usual, when I got out of the water and I made my way into the changing tents to get on my biking gear.  7 minutes later!!!  yes, 7 minutes - I serious have to work on this transition time!!!!  Ross asked me if I brushed my teeth and fixed my hair in transition - haha!!  I didn't even use the bathroom in transition so I don't know what took me so long.  I think I will have the kids help me set up some mock-transition training sessions this summer :)  I came out of the water in 6th place for my age group. 

I got out on the bike course but had a few issues with my Garmin device.  I couldn't see the screen because of the sun and all the bikes around me so I reset it to start over.  The course was marked in kilometers and since my mileage was off on my Garmin, I was constantly having to do math in my head :)  I guess it kept my mind moving during the race :)  It was also nice that the bike course was 3 loops so I knew exactly how far I had to go before my glorious running legs (yes, I LOVE to RUN) could take over!  I was supposed to maintain a certain Heart Rate during the race, I wasn't supposed to focus on speed or power.  It was a very flat course except for 1 hill at the beginning of the loop.  I was in heaven!!!  I could keep it in 1 gear and just pedal.  I've been working on my biking for the last few months and I have so much more work to do -- BUT as the bike portion progressed I was hitting my HR numbers (sometimes a little high) but I couldn't believe it!!!  I was really biking!!!  not looking at the scenery, the birds, or counting the miles until I could run!  I couldn't believe it - time went by so fast and I felt good - I felt like I was pushing the edge though - would my legs be too tired to run?  Should I slow down a bit?  I told myself "NO" - I kept with the pace and with each loop I continued to surprise myself that I wasn't slowing down.  When my heart race dipped into the 120's, I told myself to "pick it up! get going, get UNCOMFORTABLE"  and I will deal with tired legs on the run :)

The loops and miles went by quickly - I kept looking for a bike in front of me to catch.  I saw Ross a few times on the bike as he was a few miles ahead of me.  I kept trying to close that gap!  As I entered the final few miles into town, I began to transition myself mentally from biking to running.  Horray!  I was done with the bike!  Forest Gump could finally run!  I had a pretty decent transition time going into the run.  I had caught up to a few Team USA women at the end of the bike and I wanted to be sure that I didn't lose that time in transition leading into the run.

Out on the run, I couldn't help but think about my legs - did I bike too hard?  Would my quads feel like bricks?  Much to my surprise, I felt really good getting into the run.  The crowds were thick along the lake and everyone was cheering.  It was amazing!  There were a few family members for Team USA that were spectating and every once and a while, you would hear GO USA!  It was so cool!!!  The crowds thinned a bit as we headed further out on the course and into the forest.  I was maintaining about an 8:00min/mile pace.  When my pace dipped into the 8:15 range, I told myself to get going -- pick up the pace for just a few minutes and then settle back in.  I saw Ross a few times on the run and it gave me the motivation that I needed to keep going.  Could I close the gap on him? I was certainly trying to close that gap :)  The Team USA coaches were near the finish line (which we looped around 3 times) and they were cheering for us - it was so cool --- the motivation that I needed to keep going.  There was a spot on the back side of the course (near a highway) that was really quiet - it was tough to maintain pace there but I just kept telling that RACING self to honor that TRAINING self.  Before I knew it, I was approaching the finish line - the Team USA coaches handed me a little American Flag and I ran with it to the finish.  There are no words to describe that feeling that I had as I ran the last few steps - representing TEAM USA!  I have tears in my eyes right now as I'm typing this - it was so amazing - like NOTHING I've ever experienced!  As I finished, a guy came up to me from Team USA and said that he thought I was the first Age Group Female to finish for the day.  My first reaction was "no way", I think there were a couple in front of me.  He insisted that I was the first female - I still didn't believe him.  I found Ross (who finished just a few minutes in front of me - ALMOST caught him!) and he looked up the results on his phone and it turns out I WAS the first Age Group female for Team USA.  How cool is that? 

one happy lady

love the Sweden flag in the background