After having a break and taking some time after World Championships to make new racing plans I will begin to slowly bring you up to speed on what I am doing now.
I will start with a brief rundown of how the Vancouver World Championships went. I had prepared for this very well, this included a reconisence trip ten days prior to the event with coach Lance Watson to train on the course and do some visualizing. It also included riding the wrong way up Thurlow at 6:30 in the morning dodging traffic and riding on the sidewalk. It was all neccesary to get the visualization and the feeling of that steep climb memorized. (Says coach who stopped at bottom and watched me…well he did it a couple of times before it got busier…or maybe he got tired…chicken or the egg???) I digress. I was well prepared and focused heading into worlds. The key for worlds was to have fun racing in my hometown and all my friends and family with the idea that all I can do is race as hard as I can. Nothing more nothing less.
It was going to be extremely hard for me to qualify for the Beijing team outright due to me missing a top 8 performance at a world cup race because of my broken wrist and food poisoning (see below posts). So I can’t expect my body to do miraculous things, only what it is capable of.
I was confident in my training over the weeks prior to worlds having done some really strong sessions swimming, biking and running. The one thing missing was a solid race this season to get my top form going. Regardless, I was fit and ready to race hard and show my fitness.
I had a really solid swim exiting the water in the top ten and then getting onto the bike in the top five. Just where you need to be to position yourself for the rest of the race. The rest of the bike I felt strong riding in the top ten of the group shutting down or going with any breaks that looked like they would develop. I felt comfortable and then focused on positioning myself for T2 and being out on the run quickly. I managed this quite easily and again was in the top five onto the run to position myself as best possible. I ran with the lead group to the first turnaround and then once heading back towards transition a serge at the front of the group put the pressure on and I didn’t have the leg turnover on the downhill to keep the pace. I held strong and only let a small gap form. I then held this gap for the rest of the race picking off the runners that fell off the group. I ran really strong and as hard as I could but there was a level there I knew I had but just couldn’t reach on the day. So I finished strongly and thought I had put away the Frenchman going down the finish shoot but he surprised me and just outkicked me so I finished 17th by less then a second.
All in all I had a solid race being at the front swim and bike and then strong run. Another goal I had for the day was to smile at least once while racing and I managed this a couple of times. It was a great event and it was awesome to have all my friends and family there.
