by Megumi Masuda Megumi Masuda; M.A., ATC, CSCS
I had prepared for this race mentally and physically starting in May. It was my 3rd world championship race and the 2nd one at this distance. I was hoping to do better than last year in Vancouver, where I finished in 25th place.
What an exciting destination! I had never been to Australia. Traveling can be stressful when you drag the bike case. However, it was not too bad getting there and it was nice to travel with a friend who was able to drive on the opposite side of the road!
As soon as we got to the hotel, we left for pre-race training. It sounded like a good idea to loosen up the stiff body in the pool. Then, there were a lot of things to do – race registration, walking around the Expo, 20 minute jog, grocery shopping, team photo shoot (which we missed), and the pre-race dinner. Since we arrived in Brisbane at 6am local time and we were non-stop doing things, I was tired by 8pm and went to bed.
The next day I got up and rode a bike on the bike course with a friend for 50 minutes. I stopped at a cute café near the hotel for brunch afterwards. It was nice to relax and sip a latte in the sun for a while. But, still the anxiety about the race was there. As much as I like racing, I do not like pre-race nervousness, especially before the big race! In the afternoon, there was a team meeting discussing the race-course and other details. The bike and run courses would be flat like a pancake, which I was not happy with. Then, there was another pre-race chore – bike drop-off at the transition area. There were a lot of rules and tactics involved in this race, so we needed to figure out the flow by walking around the transition. After that, we went out for an early dinner with athletes from the Bay Area. It was Italian, of course. (I noticed that restaurants around there were consistently good.) Then pack up the gear for the race and head to bed, again, 8pm.
Race day! Sunny and almost no wind.
Swim: The water temperature was 70 degrees, which was much warmer than the Bay Area. The current was pushing toward the shore and made the swim harder than I expected. I came out of the water in 9th place.
Bike: My legs felt flat and I could not get going until the second half. I was frustrated and in 17th place after the bike portion.
Run: I knew that it would be hard to “find” the legs after the flat bike course and having been in the same position for a long time. I struggled the first half and finally started feeling good the last 20 minutes, which was a little too late, but was the best part of the race.
At the end, I was in 18th place out of 77 athletes in my age-group, which was better than my previous 25th place last year in Vancouver!!
It was not my best performance, but I enjoyed the tight competition. It was very encouraging to see an 80 something year-old athlete competing!
A four-night stay was not long enough to explore the country though! I would love to go back and visit again at some time.
Megumi and friend in Australia
Megumi at the beach
