Short and sharp:
Happy about my performance, I finished 6th in a strong Pro field and roughly 13min after the one and only Camilla Pedersen.
Swim:
A photo says more than a thousand words…
Yes, I was very nervous in the morning before the start. Swimming is by far my weakest discipline, I know that and try my best to improve, but things take time and like I often is told it is only a matter of:
Well I can’t talk me out of it… Despite of being nervous I had a good start to the swim. I was in the big pack (all Pros and all AG Females started together) but shortly after we had turned the first buoy I found myself all alone. It continued like that the rest of the swim. I had the feeling of being the character in a cartoon on TV with a devil poking me on one shoulder, telling me how bad the swim was gonna be and that I never learn to stay in the pack and have the drag advance of following feet. On the other shoulder I had an angel saying ”Just find your rhythm, keep pushing” I felt like I found it and was swimming hard, but expected that I would be fare off when I finally could exit the water anyway…
T1:
It is a long run up hill to reach transition. The voices in my head were still there as I ran. But then as I entered the tent I saw Åsa, she was just about to finish in there… Arr! Maybe it wasn’t that bad anyway. New voice in my head: Your race starts now Maja!
Bike:
I felt like finding a good rhythm from the very beginning. I had Åsa in sight for a long time, but just like expected she slowly pulled away.
The course is just as I like it, some big hills, constantly changing in terrain and wind direction –absolutely cool if you ask me! I had one of those days where I felt like I could keep pushing and my confidence grow as I overtook girls.
T2:
Not that smooth… but bike got racked and running shoes came on.
Run:
The hunt continued, I found my rhythm and stayed patient all the way. It is a two times out and back loop, so you see the other girls multiple times, which I think, is nice. I ended up with the 2nd best female run split that included a last kick to overtake Åsa when there was less than 400m to the finish line.
To tell the whole story it still needs to me mentioned that the two of us had very different ways to enter the race: It was my first race in a ”real pro field” which means that it had high priority for me. I had been tapering while Åsa had done long rides alone in the wind all week.
Anyway… Overall:
Like I started, I am happy about my race and the start to the season. I raced with power tap, which means that Coach Helle has a lot of good data, evaluation has been made and we now have a plan of how to improve form here.