Ironman Cozumel was the race for Brooke to top off a magnificent season!
Our Canadian Pro Triathlete really prooved she’s a top pro this year, with wins in IronMédoc (France), Ironvittoria (Spain), Half Irons Deauville (France), Oceanlava Lanzarote (Spain), 3rd in Challenge Ixtapa (Mexico), her last race would be Ironman Cozumel, a place she really likes to be at. So motivation was up high!
Brooke felt great in Cozumel, a well motivated pro athlete. Ready to race and enjoy the sportsmanship!
Brooke suffered in Cozumel last year and she was keen on doing a performance! Easy said of course, most people know preparing a race is a physical and mental game, as a 3rd full distance not so easy to approach. We had the chance to work on the super base condition she builded up this season, that’s why I knew she would be ready without touching her ‘freshness’.
2days before the race we discussed how to approach the race, we put a 58’swim as target. And were very conscious already there were some very fast female swimmers in Cozumel (sub 50 swimmers). So it would be possible we would have to chase during the race! For the bike, we had a non-reliable powermeter, so biking would be on feeling and never blow up! Because of the heat we had to be ready to do a good run and come back on athletes starting too hard! Pace set was 4’35-4’40, taking count with the heat and humid environment that was a good pace to be at. (Later we see, only the top 3 ran slightly harder)
On raceday Brooke did a 56′ swim, which is very good for her, in front a group of 6Pro women who swam a 47′! So right and realistic view before the race of Brooke, on the bike she was alone to move up.And so she did, moving up from 16th after the swim to 10th at the start of the run. Of 1 thing the coach was very sure, she would NOT collapse on the run if she paced well. After 7K I saw her pace and knew she would move up! Only, after the bike on this very windy race course the gaps were made very big and it was difficult to come back on this pro level with lots of strong ladies…who also didn’t collapse.As an athlete you must consider racing against other strong athletes as an honour. Brooke ran her run and once she was in 9th position she had a good view on the race and saw it was impossible to move up to 8th. With a fine 3h21 marathon she finished her last race of 2015!
A happy coach, seeing her race consistent, now focus towards a splendid 2016 after some nice resting.
In Almere Brooke could have won the race, but it ended up frozen in a warm bath…in Lanzarote, Ixtapa and Cozumel Brooke took vengeance in style!
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