I have been a bit lazy recently on the blogging front but that is because I have not been up to much. The weekend after Captex I raced in the WCS race in Madrid. I didn't have a good race, hence why I did not write about it. I got sick on the trip over there and ended up dropping out of the race. I hate to drop out of races but on that course there is no room for weakness. Just not my day. I took a week off from training after Madrid for some much needed rest. Amazing what a week can do. It was nice to have some R &R and have some time to do 'normal' stuff like go camping. I am embarrassed to admit that it was my first time officially camping. My boyfriend (Daimo) and I went camping just outside of Estes Park at the Longs Peak camp site. It was beautiful up there! As it was my first time camping we naturally had to roast marshmallows and make s'mores. I'm officially not a camping virgin anymore. (Yay!)

Fast forward a month and I was on the start line for the Edmonton World Cup. I have never raced in Edmonton so was really excited to be there. The course is awesome except for the swim. The lake was a little gross but from what I have heard they really cleaned it up. Nice big hill on the bike and some technical sections, and then an up and down run course. I had a decent race finishing 13th. I won some prize money, gained a lot of Olympic qualification points, and world ranking points so all in all it was a great weekend.

I flew back to Boulder for two nights and then jumped on a plane to Hamburg, Germany for the next round of the World Cup Series. This is my favorite World Cup so it is great to be back here racing. Even better my parents are flying over to watch me race. I have not seen my mom since Christmas! Long time without seeing Flora= presents for Flora. I hope!!

That's all for now.

I am currently writing this blog sitting on a Delta airlines flight to

Madrid. The little boy who is sitting across the aisle from me just lost

a tooth, which happened to fall out of his mouth and land by my foot.

He looked over at me with blood pouring out of his mouth and asked me to

pick it up for him. I almost puked at the sight of the blood and

politely (through gritted teeth) told him I couldn't pick his tooth up.

What a way to start a 9 hour flight across the atlantic. Fortunately the

other 8 hours and 30min were uneventful. Anyways about that race in

Austin....

This was my first non drafting race in almost 6 years, and my first time

racing my Specialized Transition TT bike. I was excited and nervous at

the same time. This was a last minute addition to my race schedule so I

had not spent much time on my TT bike before. I had a great fit from

Sean at Boulder Center for Sports Medicine the week before the race so I

was comfortable and aero on my bike.

The race started at 6.50AM which is a lot earlier than I am used to

racing (the WCS race on Sunday starts at 2.36pm- sleep in!) so it was an

very early wake up call so I could eat my breakfast before the fun

began. These races are a lot more relaxed compared with ITU World Cups,

it was quite refreshing to arrive an hour before race start, rack my

bike, do a little warm up, and start. No check ins, uniform checks,

specific warm up times, or lining up 20mins before race start.

I had a great swim coming out of the water 4th on Jasmine Oeinck's feet.

The swim was a little unusual because we caught the men who started

4mins before us. At first I thought we were swimming ridiculously fast

to catch them, but later I found out they were sent off course and had

to turn around. This was annoying for both them and us women because it

was really difficult to swim around the slower men, who to be honest

were just getting in the way. Regardless, I exited the swim where I

wanted to be. On to the bike, and well this part could of gone better. I

need to spend a lot more time on my TT bike, and I will leave it there.

I was really excited to get off the bike and onto the run. I had a

decent run, although I was expecting to run faster but I guess the bike

took more out of my legs than I thought. I finished 7th which I am happy

with considering it was a strong field. Big congrats to my Specialized

teammates Tenille Hoogland, who was 6th and Kristen Peterson who was

10th.

All is all it was a great weekend in Austin. I had my Specialized

teammates there, an awesome home stay, and the Specialized truck,

mechanics and support. They are hands down the best bike company to be

sponsored by, and it not just for the awesome bikes.

Next up is Madrid World Cup Series this Sunday 2.36pm Madrid time. Stacked field so it is going to be a tough one!

My super cute new tri suit. Thanks Pearl Izumi!!!

It is my favorite time of year, summer! Warm weather, no school, farmers

market, riding in the mountains, and people watching on Pearl street.

Perfect. Although summer seems to be hiding! For the last week or so I

have been riding in all my winter gear, which I am not happy about, but

at least I have some super cute riding clothes from Specialized, to

cruise around Boulder in. I finished school two weeks ago so I am free

for 3 months to swim, bike, run, and actually recover between sessions

instead of rushing to and from class. Yay! Good timing too because my

body was starting to fall apart.

Just after I finished up finals in the beginning of May, I flew out to

race in Monterrey, Mexico. This was my first World Cup of the year and I

was a little nervous how the body would be after two stressful final

weeks of school. The race turned out to go quite well although I did

leave my running legs in Boulder.

Here is how it went down:

The swim in Monterrey is very unusual as it is in a water park boat

canal. It made for a very interesting swim to say the least! The pontoon

was laid out at the widest point of the canal, and 300 meters into the

swim, it narrowed to maybe about 15 meters wide. The canal wasn't

straight either, you had to navigate through the bends just adding to

the fun (not). I was really lucky and got off to a great start and had

clear water all the way to the turn around (major sigh of relief!!!). As

I got out of the water to run over the bridge and dive back in the

water, I looked back and saw a massive pack of 70 plus girls swimming

down the narrow canal, I was very, very happy not to be in that mess. I

came out of the water with 5 other girls, 20 seconds up from the chase

group.

The swim venue.

The most notable person I came out of the water with was, Sarah Haskins.

The two of us quickly pulled away from the 4 other girls, and worked

together for the next 6 laps until. Sarah is a really strong rider so I

was so excited to be off the front in a World Cup with her. It was a lot

of fun (and really hard) riding with her. I ended up getting dropped 6

and 1/2 laps into the 8 lap bike, and had to TT alone for the last 1 and

1/2 laps. I came off the bike 20 seconds up from the chase group of 70

girls.

Haskins and I off the front.

The run was ok, I think the hard ride took it out of my legs. I was a

little disappointed because I have been running well in training. There

were a lot of strong runners in the field so they all went flying by me,

which was really frustrating because it made my great swim/bike

pointless. I ended up finished 26th, which was ok considering it was a

very strong field. My running legs will come around sometime soon, I

hope!

All in all, it was a really fun race. Being off the front, leading the

race with Sarah Haskins was a lot of fun and a great experience. ITU

racing has turned into a running race, so for Sarah to go on and win

after breaking away on the bike was nice to see. The best part of the

weekend was seeing my dad! He flew over from Bermuda to watch me race. I

had not seen him since Christmas and don't get home often so it was

really nice of him to take the time off from work and fly all the way to

Mexico.

Now that it is summer and I don't have any school work to keep my busy, I might actually blog more often, maybe.

Flora

Ps. Big thanks to Jay Prasuhn from Lava Magazine for taking some awesome pictures at the world cup in Monterrey!!

Last weekend I traveled to Mexico and won a triathlon. First win in a long time! I think the last time I won a triathlon at the elite level was when I was 18 years old (5 years ago).

On the podium spraying the champagne. So fun but it hurts when it gets in your eyes. I am not sure what the guy who finished 3rd is doing....looks like he is about to hit here.

My preparation going into the race was a little stressful, mainly because I had to rearrange some classes, hand in assignments early, and rearrange 2 mid terms. Fortunately I have very understanding professors this semester and it all worked out. So off to Mexico I went.

I was really excited to race because this was my first ITU race of the season and my first race on my new Amira. Yay! I had a good swim (apart from almost being smashed by a jet ski) coming out of the water in second. Running out of the water I cut my foot on a rock which kind of hurt, but no time to feel sorry for myself-I was in a race! Grabbed my bike and away I went. I was lucky to be riding with 3 other Mexican girls who were very determined to put time into everyone else. We worked well together and put 2+mins into the rest of the field. After 6 laps of a boring out and back ride I was ready to get off the bike and run. I had an unusually slow T2 and came out in 3rd, which ended up being a good thing because it gave me something to chase. I

decided to build into the run instead of going out too fast and blowing up. By lap 2 I was in the lead and never looked back. It is always a little nerve racking leading a race especially as I was not overly confident in my running ability. I just tried to stay focused on keeping my form and telling myself I felt awesome. At the end of the second lap as I was running by the little white

penalty board I saw my number (42) on it. My first thoughts were WTF did I do? When should I stop? Will this cost me the race? I spent the next lap thinking about this and decided to stop at the end of the 3rd lap, which turned out to be a nice 15 second rest. I knew I had a 40 second lead on second place so as long as I didn’t drastically blow up on the final lap, I could hold on for the win, and I did. :) Great to cross the line in first, even better was standing on top of the podium listening to Bermuda’s national anthem- not something that happens every day.

All in all it was a solid race on a sub par day for myself. I am now back in Boulder frantically trying to catch up on my school work, but the end is in sight though with only 2 weeks left of class! Next up for me is Monterrey World Cup on the 8th of May.