I'd had some bad luck with my past few races -- I was still dealing with a bug I caught in Lima when I raced at the Monterrey and Ishigaki World Cups, and I think there were some lingering effects that affected my preparation for my first WCS race of the year in Madrid.  I took a short break after these disappointments for the move and to let the body recover, and since resuming my training, I've been feeling stronger and eager to race again.

 The swim was in the a protected area of the chilly bay, although there was still a bit of current and chop form the wind.  The line-up was strange since there weren't really 'positions' -- you just picked a spot on a rope in the water that served as the starting line.   While I would have chosen to start on the outside, the rope was too long for the number of competitors and I didn't want to choose a spot on the far end and end up 25 yards away from the next closest competitor.  So I chose a position in the middle of the rope, and by the end of the line-up, I was right in the middle of a fairly large field.  The gun went off, and sure enough, I was hit from all directions after the first few strokes.  I backed off, went around to the outside, where I really would have liked to have started, and tried to salvage the rest of the swim.  Somehow I found a decent pair of feet, and ended up coming out in the second pack, with swimmers who have been much faster than me in the past.

 After a quick transition, I found myself on the bike with two other girls.  I pushed the pace pretty hard the first few laps, not wanting the weaker cyclists in our swim group to catch on and get a free ride, and also knowing that there was an uber-runner in the field likely lurking somewhere not too far behind.  If she was anywhere near me getting out onto the run, there would be no holding her off. With over 100 turns on the bike course, having confidence in my Suplicy and my handling skills was crucial for conserving energy and keeping the pace high through the turns.  The nature of the bike course also made it likely that a strong rider with good skills could stay up the road on her own, since a large group on this meandering course wouldn't offer too much of an advantage.  During the ride, our group gradually picked off people in front of us, while adding a few strong cyclists from behind.  By the last lap, there was one girl still out in front, but with the chaos from having the men's race on course at the same time, and lapped women out there, it was really hard to know where she was, nor were we getting any splits from spectators.  She ended up starting the run with a three-minute advantage over our group.

 Once on the run, I had the legs to get a small gap between me and my bike group, excluding one girl who charged ahead after the lone leader.  I was running in third, and although I wasn't making ground on the leader, I was hopeful that I would be able to stay away from any strong runners in the packs behind.  However, at the final turnaround, I saw that this was not to be.  The runner I was most worried about was directly behind me, with a mile to go.  There was not much I could do at that point, except hold onto fourth, making it my second fourth at  a continental cup this season.   I'm fairly happy with this result -- my swim surprised me after the bad start, and the cycling portion felt great, but my running legs weren't quite there, which cost me a spot on the podium in the end.  Fortunately, I have plenty of time to prepare before my next big race, which will be the Tiszaujvaros World Cup in Hungary on August 8. 

 Pictures to come soon, courtesy of Daniel.... Thanks for reading!