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Figuring out my race schedule for the 2015 season was no easy task.  After LifeTime cancelled their pro series and 5150 was also cancelled, I was left wondering where I would race.  But I remembered how much I had loved the Super Sprint in Milwaukee, which was draft legal, so I had decided to add an ITU race in Dallas to my schedule.  Unfortunately, Dallas was turned into a duathlon due to poor water quality and I ended the race in an ambulance with heat exhaustion.  I wanted another shot at an ITU race, this time an actual triathlon!  After discussing with my coach and looking at the CAMTRI schedule, which is the ITU American Cup, the only option that wasn't a plane flight away was Magog in Quebec, Canada.  I should add it was barely not a plane flight away with a 10+ hour drive!  Of course I knew I could count on my loyal support crew (my parents) to drive me to the race!  Thursday morning came bright and early as we loaded up the car and started the long drive.  It's kind of weird to spend the entire day on the road, it makes the time pass in a very strange way.  And I also get a little strange, especially when we got stuck in a traffic jam only 50 kilometers (yeah, everything in Canada is metric) from the hotel!  But eventually we made it and grabbed some pre-made sandwiches from the amazing local grocery store.  After "dinner," I wandered back to my room and spent some time getting to know my roommate, pro triathlete Sinead O'Dwyer, and then collapsed into bed.

The next morning I woke up to bike part of the bike course with my dad.  We were a little shocked by the hills and the technical features of the course.  I was definitely thankful I had my road bike and hopeful that I would be with a pack on race day!  After spending a little time in downtown Magog and eating at a delicious restaurant, it was back to the hotel for a quick run and then down to the race course for a pre-race swim.  Sinead and I were both unpleasantly surprised by the rocks covering the first few feet of the run in to the water!  Ouch!  But we steeled ourselves and practiced running in with some dolphin dives before taking some pictures with the Lake Memphremagog monster!  He was our inspiration to swim fast!  We wrapped the night up with another delicious pasta meal after the pro race meeting and then early to bed.

Race morning wasn't nearly as early as I am used to!  The men raced first, so our race start wasn't until 11:30 am.  With my crew in tow, we headed to the race course early because Sinead and I had to check in, which can take some time.  The officials first inspected my uniform to make sure it had my last name, my country, the ITU logo and no more than the allowable number of sponsors.  They also check that I put my race tattoos in the proper spots, which for ITU is either the front of your quads or the sides of your lower legs if the numbers won't fit on your quads.  Then off to bike check in where they check that my bike has a UCI approved sticker, that my wheels are UCI approved and that my bike meets all the measurement requirements.  After all the inspecting, I was finally able to set up my transition area, drop my bag off at the athlete lounge and head to the swim start to warm up.  The water was a balmy 72 degrees, which meant no wetsuits for the elites.  Finally it was time to line up!

ITU is more formal than non-drafting races; they line us up in numerical order and then announce number, name and country.  It is always a little intimating because they announce credentials for the top 10 ranked athletes, which included a slew of gold, silver and bronze medalists from different races.  My number was called and I ran down to the mat to grab a spot for the swim start.  The only spots left were in the middle, which I knew would not end well.  Then we were in the hands of the starter, on your mark and the horn blew!  I sprinted in, trying to ignore the pain in my feet from the rocks and then started to dolphin dive, praying my goggles wouldn't come off!  The group converged I got smashed in the middle.  Women were swimming on top of me, kicking me, hands hitting my head and shoulders.  I fought to breathe and move forward, but by the time the madness had died down, I found myself behind the big pack.  Before we hit the turn for the top of the arc forming the swim course, two women came along side of me.  I looked up and wasn't sure if I could catch the main pack and decided I would rather go for a slower swim and be certain I would have women to work with on the bike than be stuck alone in no-man's land.  I jumped on to the feet of one of the women and followed her for the remainder of the swim and up the stairs into transition.

My transition went quick and smooth, thanks to all my practice my body went through the motions it was supposed to while my swim-numbed mind tried to wake up!  The woman I had been following, Megan Lamers from Canada, mounted at the same time I did.  There was another woman behind us, but turns out Megan and I were both strong cyclist so we took off at a quick pace, eyes on the woman ahead of us.  Megan and I worked well together, both of us taking strong pulls.  Before we were halfway done with the first lap of four, we caught the woman and added a third to our group.  We continued at our brutal pace and caught up to Meghan Degan, who I had met in Dallas and is super nice, to bring our group to 4.  I was so excited to be working with a pack!  Much more fun than the lonely bike I had in Dallas.  As we climbed the long hill at the start of the lap, the woman Megan Lamers and I had caught dropped off the back.  Darn, down to 3!  We hit the turn around and we were working our way through the most technical part of the course with Megan Lamers in front and me behind her.  Then I was suddenly reminded how dangerous ITU can be.  I watched in shock as Megan Lamers drifted too far to the outside on the tight turn, hit the gravel then her bike launched off a cone and she flew over her bike and down into the ditch.  Simultaneously Meghan Degan and I both gasped "shit!" as we finished that turn, went into a sharp left and I tried to shake off my shock as we climbed the next hill. 

After cresting the hill, Meghan called out 30 second pulls and we went back to work, our group now back down to two.  I could see another woman head of us and I was determined to catch her.  Halfway through lap 3, we caught her and brought our group back up to 3.  Our pace had slowed now, but I didn't see a woman close enough to catch with one lap left.  I made sure I finished up my nutrition, knowing the run would be a hot one.  I tucked in, taking a little more rest than in previous laps when I had taken very long pulls to try to catch the women ahead of us.  We pulled into transition together, all making certain to dismount before the line.  I yanked my shoes on and set out on the run.  I knew Meghan Degan would be gone, she is a very fast runner!  But I hoped to outrun the other girl in our final group of three.  After about a mile, I caught and passed her, but I was uncertain if I could hold that position.  The work I had done on the bike was catching up to me and after the second of four laps on the run I was fading fast.  My pace dropped from 6:40s to 7:00s.  And I was hot, so very hot!  I focused on my form and grabbed all the water I could from the aid stations.  I had no clue what place I was in, with 4 laps it had all become very mixed up and confusing!  All I knew was keep going, keep pushing.  Finally I was on the last lap.  I hit the turnaround and felt like I was running through molasses, but I focused on my form and put one foot in front of the other.  Although I had a slower run than I would have liked, I managed to hold my position to finish 20th out of an original field of 34 women!  I had no idea I had done that well! 

After I finally was able to cool down, I joined my mom to cheer on my dad as he fought through the very hot and humid conditions.  Since I had my road bike, I was able to go out on the run course and find multiple spots to cheer him to the finish!  I made some friends with the racers who were around him as I saw and cheered for them multiple times as well.  Many of them called out "Merci!" and other things in French that I'm assuming were nice considering the smiles on their faces.  Afterward, my dad and I went back to the lake to cool off again.  Turns out Canada has different rules about wetsuits because the age groupers weren't allowed to wear wetsuits either!  That coupled with the high temps and the mid-day racing (my dad's race started at 1:20 pm!), made for a tough day at the office!  But the location was absolutely gorgeous!

With the Magog ITU complete, I'm now turning my focus to the Frankenmuth Olympic, which is always a super fun race with an awesome venue.  Frankenmuth has an elite division with a good amount of prize money and, with so many other pro prize races cancelled, I expect the competition will be strong!  But I'm looking forward to see many familiar faces at Frankenmuth and with the delicious post-race food and great cause, definitely don't want to miss this one!