Des Moines!

I am settled back home in Victoria now for a whole 5 days before we head off to Europe for three weeks. Waking up at 5:30am and falling asleep at 8:30pm as I am still on East Coast time is annoying but I figure I will try and keep it this way as I will have less hours to change when getting to Austria. It also means I show up early to swim practise with a coffee in hand which is unusual for me.

The HyVee corp does an amazing job provided such a top notch race and treating us like true professionals. With over 1milllion dollars in prize money and welcome packages and free hotels they sure know how to do it.

As for the World Cup I was able to do everything I wanted and more in the race. I struggled the first lap of the swim but then made gains in the second and by the run up to transition I was 9th out onto the bike. I quickly closed the gap to the front 4 swimmers with a line of 40 guys behind me. The rest of the bike was a matter of controlling breakaways, staying near the front and avoiding any potential crashes through the very tight and technical stadium loop. I got into transition near the front but still needed to be up further as I had to quickly serge my way up as best I could. By 1km into the run I was just off the front group that was forming and couldn’t bridge across. I then settled into a great pace and continued to push myself but could never get back in touch with the front six. On the last lap I pushed hard as they started jockying for the sprint and made up some time but was still just back of the sprint finish as I strided to the finish holding off Tim Don of Great Britain to come 7th. This was again a terrific run and perhaps faster then last weekend though the time doesn’t show it. The three 180’s and 4 90’s per lap on the run course were definately a hinderance to the run time.

I am so excited to have backed up the DC race with another fast run and I can draw a lot of confidence that I can run with the front group. Next race I will be at the front of the pack coming off the bike to make sure I am right there at the start of the run.

Can’t wait to race again!