2012 World Championship Race Recap - by Megan Kelly

Last year I was able to qualify for the Team USA Sprint World Championships at USA Triathlon Nationals.  Participating in a World Championship event in New Zealand was a once in a lifetime opportunity and provided me with a clear goal for the 2012 season. I knew that training time was going to be slim (having three babies at once puts a damper on training schedules) so decided to focus on quality versus quantity. 

The training:

This past year I dedicated myself to only racing short course sprint distances.  By doing so, I didn’t have to worry about getting in high amounts of mileage and traded 3-5 hour ling rides and 1-2 our long runs for shorter and much more intense, speed focused workouts. 

TT indoor bike and brick workouts were perfect for focused speed work. I supplemented these workouts with hard running efforts on the road, track and treadmill.  I also tried to swim at least 3 times per week during the peak season with more of a focus on speed versus endurance. 

This shift of training seemed to pay off in a variety of ways – for the first time in years I didn’t get injured, I significantly increased my running speed (which needed it!), had lots of time with my family, and good success at races winning all but one triathlon on US soil including my age group at US Nationals. 

Race week:

Travelling to NZ is a little harder than just hoping on a plane – I had to hop on three: NY to Hong Kong to Melbourne to Auckland.  Two days after I departed I arrived.  After a day or so of acclimating, my roommate (TT coach Katie Bottini) and I explored just about every inch on the city of Auckland (including every coffee house).  After we got our bearings, we participated in a very cold training swim (58 degrees) on the race course.  The following day we opted for a ride – however one thing we didn’t realize was quite how windy Auckland can be – 35-45 mph with 50 mph gusts are not exactly the most enjoyable when riding on two wheels.  Especially 404s.  Thank goodness I didn’t bring a disk! We actually had to stop a few times on our training ride because we were so scared we were going to get blown over.   It was also cold (50s) and rained at least once a day almost every day we were there – just perfect conditions for bike racing.

Luckily I was able to get out on one more training ride on a morning with a little less wind (about 20 mph) but was still skittish on the bike.  I am definitely not used to the wind.  Fellow TTer Katha Diddel-Warren joined me for that ride and it was nice to see a familiar face and to catch up on her experience thus far in NZ.

Luckily for race day the weather cooperated (air and water temp was still in the 50s) but the wind had died down to 15-20 mph and no rain! My morning routine started with room service waffles, then I walked down to the race start from my hotel about 10 minutes away.  Before I knew it my wave was off – my swim felt really good.  I sighted well and ended up with the fastest split of the day in my age group.  Unfortunately my bike was just mediocre.  I let the wind and technical course get to me and lost a lot of time on down hills.  Lesson learned moving forward – learn to ride in the wind/cross wind so I’m not “riding scared.” I was able to make up for the bike in my run though.  The course was actually long for a sprint distance (5.3K) but suited my strengths (flat J) and I was able to put up my best ever pace (sub 6:30). I was pleased with my overall result and wound up being the top American in my Age Group (and second fastest American including all age groups).  Only one Brit and 4 Aussies bettered me (those Aussies take sprint distances VERY seriously).  I’ve learned a lot through this experience and am looking forward to doing even better in London 2013!