this was my third consecutive year racing in welland. i'm familiar with the course and i went there with big expectations on the bike. it's a flat, fast ride with only one turn that you need to slow down for. one of my goals on the bike this season is to average more than 40kmh in a race, and that's what i wanted from this race today.
i arrived early enough for a full warm-up and started the race a few rows back from the front, and by the first kilometre i'd settled into a comfortable pace just behind the leader. i usually would have been moving more quickly, but because this wasn't an 'A' race for me i was happy to let someone else set the pace. it turned out the guy ahead of me was a relay athlete and i came in to t1 just behind him, mounted my bike and quickly made my way past the second member of that relay team. in the lead on the bike and ahead of the triathletes, i had the privilege of riding behind the lead police car. feeling like someone important with my personal escort, i made my way out towards the turnaround. i'd been keeping a close eye on my average speed as it slowly started to creep up. i was maintaining a speed of about 43kmh for most of the ride, and my garmin finally flipped over from 39.9 to 40.0 average speed at about the 14k mark. woohoo!!! i was psyched. but still had a long way to go. my legs were burning but i focused on using the energy from my excitement to stay strong. flat courses like this one in welland are rare, and the most difficult thing about them is you have to be on 100% of the time. when you have hills and rollers to go up and down there are opportunities to recover, but when it's flat there's no time to rest. at the 15k turnaround there was a small opportunity to take a short breather because the slight wind blowing treated me to a tailwind for this section of the course. after about 30 seconds of getting my wheels back up to speed, i dropped a gear and kept pushing. my legs were on fire as i made my way into the last 10k of the ride, but i kept at it and kept pushing. by this point i was averaging 40.6 and was determined to keep it above 40 knowing that there were a few slower sections still to come. i didn't have a chance to look at my final average speed as i made my way into and through t2.
for the last 5k run i was out there on my own and was able to set a pace for myself. on the ride i was concerned that my run time off the bike would be affected because i was pushing so hard, but feeling strong i settled into a pace that i could easily maintain, carried that pace to the end and crossed the finish line several minutes ahead of 2nd place.
once finished i eagerly checked my garmin to check my bike speed and was thrilled to discover that i'd been able to maintain an average of 40.4kmh. a first for me! another first for me today was a second run time that was faster than my first. two signs that my training is paying off. oh yeah... another first from this race was having a winner's ribbon waiting for me at the finish line. it made me feel like a real athlete to cross the line and hold up that ribbon! so much fun.
although i wasn't pushing my running times i was still able to finish ahead of my time from last year by 2 minutes, every second of that coming from my bike split. although my cycling legs were burnt, i felt great after the race. i conserved a lot out there and am glad that i did because my next race is the provincials and i'll need everything i've got for that one.
