http://www.triathlon-soulanges.com/

Went to the course this morning with another athlete I met at FISU. Looks kind of dangerous, but fun.

Canada

Made it to Canada with my bike, which is surprising considering my flights. My flight from Milwaukee was delayed about an hour. I had 13 minutes in Cincinnati to make my connecting flight. I thought there was no way I'd make the plane. Luckily the connecting flight was about 4 gates away from the gate we landed in. I ran to the gate, made it just in time. We took off 10 minutes later on a tiny plane. With the short time between flights and with the plane being small I figured my bike wouldn't make it. After getting through customs I was excited to see my bike box awkwardly spinning around then conveyor belt.

At the airport I met some of the other athletes that were staying at the home stay. We all got a ride to where they are staying. The home stay for the athletes is amazing - they are staying on a ranch and they are even making home cooked meals for the athletes. I, fortunately, have my parents here so I am at the hotel. It's Quebec's national holiday (kind of like our Forth of July) and no stores were open. In order for my parents to get to the hotel they had to drive through the parade. I really hope they waved a Quebec flag!

For dinner we ate at a delicious Vietnamese restaurant where our waiter was extremely patient with us, translating almost everything on the menu.

Overall it was a blessed day - I made it to Montreal, my parents made it, the other athletes are well taken care of at the home stay....couldn't ask for anything more.

Articles

http://www.usatriathlon.org/news/2010/06/17/jorgensens-headfirst-jump-into-multisport/36600?ngb_id=12
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20100613/SHE02/6130464/Elkhart-Lake-Triathlon-Ex-Badger-shines
http://www.usatriathlon.org/news/2010/05/30/jorgensen-billington-record-top-five-finishes-at-world-university-championships/36250

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/lifestyle/98719994.html

http://host.madison.com/sports/running/article_ef9f4e52-565e-5d7b-8208-fb72cff8b4c8.html
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/lifestyle/94540929.html

http://dev.www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/95266099.html

http://dev.www.jsonline.com/blogs/lifestyle/96299779.html

Bio: http://www.usatriathlon.org/athletes/gwen-jorgensen

Had a great morning ride earlier this week. Group ride at 515am - there was a rainbow before the sun came up, which was beautiful. As we started our ride, it started to rain; this was the first time I've been riding in the rain and not minded. On our way back we almost hit a deer. The deer was moving faster than I'd ever seen a deer move before! Oh the excitement. What a great morning.

Yesterday I did a mile on the track - went 4:53. Felt good to be on the track. Fun, and short.

Back to work!

FISU

FISU:
I had the opportunity to represent USA in the FISU WUC. It was an honor and I felt very blessed. Going in to the race, I did not know what to expect. My coaches prepared me well, and when I arrived everything ran well. We got to our condos and I met the rest of the team: Lauren, Lindsay, Jessica, and Alex. The girls were amazing to room with and it was a great opportunity to meet them, learn from them, and make friends. The guys were a riot. They stayed one floor above us and always made sure we were having a great time!

Valencia:
Our condos were on the beach. We had a balcony with the most beautify view; I could not have asked for a better venue than walking to our meals along the beach! There was not much time to sight see; however, one night Lauren, Alex and I made our way downtown to check out Valencia’s aquarium. We went to buy tickets; however, we only had one hour before it closed and the aquarium was so large that it would have taken at least three hours to view, so we decided to go to Europe’s largest IMAX theatre instead, which was in the science museum. Although the show wasn’t as educational as we would have liked, we still had a great time. After the movie, we went out to dinner and had some paella. We walked into a restaurant and asked if they had paella; it wasn’t on the menu, however, they made some for us anyway. We also ordered some tapas – it was bread with various toppings (similar to a bruchetta, but ours was with cheese, nuts, salmon, tuna, etc.). It was delicious.

RACE DAY:
On race morning, the team biked to the course. I did not do a morning shakeout because the race was early (8am). When we got to the venue, we did a short run and tried to learn the course ins and outs. We were not able to get in the water to warm up because we went to the water 15 minutes before the start and the race officials wouldn't let us in.

We lined up with our country and were able to relax as a team before the gun went off. It was a great feeling to be lined up next to two of the top swimming collegiate racers in the USA! What a great opportunity! Our girls were very strong swimmers (Lindsay was an Olympic Trials Finalist in swimming).

SWIM:
The swim was two laps, where after the first lap we exited the water and ran a little loop before heading back into the water. The gun went off. The swim was intense, as it always is: girls were pulling my legs, and swimming on top of me. To add to the excitement, the water was not calm. It was a ton of fun! The first lap felt pretty good. On the second lap, I coasted and people ended up passing me.

BIKE:
I got on my bike and saw one girl in front of me who I thought I could catch, so she was my main goal. I caught up to her quickly and sat on her until a huge group behind us formed. Once the big pack formed, it was the perfect race for me because no one pushed the pace. I sat back and ended up coasting a lot of the race. I made sure to stay in the top five or seven at all times so if there was a breakaway, I could easily catch up.

RUN:
I got off the bike and just tried to focus on catching one girl at a time. My legs felt great. It was the perfect race for me - so lucky! I also had great teammates, coaches, and fans cheering for me and helping me focus on the goal of catching up to the girls in the front.

T1:
I had a really hard time getting the wet suit off. I hadn't practiced in this suit because I borrowed it from a friend: Janel Lanza (Thank you, Janel!). It was hard to get the arms off and I was so happy for the long run to T1 because it took me almost the entire time to get the top off. I ran to the mount line with both hands on the bike (a big no-no) and had a very slow mount on my bike (something to practice for the future).

T2:
I came in and racked my bike well, and took off my helmet without a problem. I then went to put on my shoes but I couldn't fit my foot in it, so I took my foot out, reached my hand in and SURPRISE: there was a huge bag of rubber bands! I had put them in my shoes to save space when I was packing up my gear. So I struggled to get the rubber bands out, and put the shoes back on. Rookie mistake – and now I know to always check my shoes before races!

OVERALL:
This race was a great experience and such a perfect race to learn from! I am so happy to have met so many great people – my teammates, coaches, and support team were amazing. Some athletes’ family, friends, and coaches came and it was amazing to see the support! Our coaches, Steve Kelly and Shelly Campbell, were amazing! They helped me so much and made sure our team always had exactly what we needed! Steve spent hours upon HOURS trying to get our credentials and was unable to enjoy the city, but he was such a great sport about the whole thing, making sure none of us athletes had to deal with any of that stress.

Our bike mechanic was also a life saver – he helped athletes who lost parts or couldn’t put her bike back together. It was great to have him along to check over my bike before the race. He also saved me because race morning I broke my sunglasses and he offered to give me his for the race – thanks, Todd!

Our medical guru – Brent – was, once again, remarkable, putting us first at every moment of the day. He made sure we had everything we needed and explained the drug testing and other policies so we knew what to expect.

I could not have wished for a better experience. Please let me know if you’d like to know anymore! I’d love to share!