Jenna wraps up Euro racing at London World Championship Series
from Garmin Blog Garmin-sponsored triathlete Jenna Shoemaker shares her training and racing experiences with the Garmin Edge 705 and Forerunner 405.
This past weekend, I got my first taste of the London Olympic venue. Although the course will likely be changed to something similar to the bike route used in the prologue of the Tour a few years ago, it was still really exciting to swim in the Serpentine and to race around Hyde Park. I took my Edge 705 on my training ride allowing me to capture some data from this year’s course while I was riding it the day before. See my ride in Garmin Connect.
The weather was fantastic, perfect for racing, and most importantly it was dry. I had a great swim, despite some trouble at the beginning, and found myself at the front of the race, in a pack of twenty, by the start of the second lap of the bike. I had been told to “sit” and not to attack as I had in Hamburg a few weeks earlier, so I just sat, like everyone else, and waited for the run. Unfortunately, I was not able to have the fast run we had hoped for because my sciatic nerve decided to act up, making every stride excruciatingly painful. I finished the day in 32nd place and as the 2nd American. It was not the result I had hoped for, but it was another opportunity to learn and to race against the World’s best. I can’t wait to go back and race there again in the years to come. It will certainly be a spectacular venue for the Olympic event in 2012.
I spent the last few days in Austin in preparation for the upcoming National Championships in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Check out one of my training rides in Garmin Connect. It was extremely hot there, with temperatures over 100 degrees every day, which was quite the change from the European summer. I will be wearing #41 and will be the second ranked female entering the event. It should be an excellent race and I have no doubts that with the extreme heat and humidity, the race will be a real test of will and resilience.
