Well its been a long journey to be at this point and I fell
that the journey began back in October when I put together my training program
to qualify for the World championships in March at Dambuster. Along the way I
picked up pneumonia, had ups and downs in training, highs and lows racing and
enjoyed some great times with training partners and friends.
After successfully qualifying in March at Dambuster I always
felt that the June 2nd race for the Worlds was actually quite a
short turn around for such a huge race, but I got to work never the less and
trained hard. I invested a lot of time in looking into the benefits of polarised
training and could feel the benefits instantly! It was hard work and I still
feel that I haven’t quite got the balance right with the intensities of
sessions. Never the less the training was done and on 28th May I
flew out to Spain
to race.
I was able to get to arrive at the race venue on the Wednesday,
5 days before the race on Sunday. This gave me ample time to ride the courses
and become familiar with my surroundings, I also gave me enough time to roll my
ankle on a training run that Wednesday evening!!!! I felt it go as soon as I
did it and sorta knew it was going to be a little serious although wasn’t sure
on the damage and continued to finish my run. It wasn’t until the day after
that my achillies started to hurt and felt very painful whenever I took a step,
I didn’t let it stop me and went out and trained as normal and rested the best
I could. I was able to ride the course a lot and this was a huge advantage, it
was literally 10k up and hill and 10k down…….and man it was tough doing up and
FAST coming down, but still a very fun and enjoyable route. The run was tough
with a nice bank 500m into the lap which we had to do 4 x for the 10k and 2 for
the 5k, the hill sapped the legs every time and was not easy.
The build up was great and I had a fantastic time getting to
know some great people, taking on board some fantastic knowledge and just talking
training and racing for 6 days was a fantastic experience. As we approached race
day I was getting a little worried about my ankle, but could do nothing about
it but rest, I had a massage and that didn’t help so was now starting to get
very anxious about what might happen during the race…
On race day I was able to rack my bike and felt calm (no I didn’t,
I was crazy nervous as it was my biggest race of the year). My achillies was
still sore and I just hopped it would hold out, thankfully I was able to rack
my bike and then head to my hotel and relax for a little bit. The day was
getting hotter and hotter and we didn’t start till 12.00 noon when the temp was
really warming up, after the pre race check-in, coffee and warm up I was put
into a pen with all my other competitors and waited to start…
The sun was beating down and we all knew it was going to be
warm on the runs especially; we were called for the start and then waited for
the horn! As usual the race was electric from the start fast off the front was
a young lad from GB closely followed by a lot of strong Spanish. I knew that
racing off at the start was not my style and just paced it through the 10k
(when I say paced I mean was blowing out my ass), the last lap and final hill
was especially tough, grabbing water to pour over me at every water stop, so I
was happy to clock in and finish the first 10k in 35.45 (not great but didn’t feel
like it was a course that suited me at all). We were then on the bike, good T1
and I was away, but I dropped my water bottle at the first roundabout and I was
thinking his is going to be a long 40k on the bike with no fluid, especially
after almost dying trying to swallow a gel. But I quickly assessed the situation
and realised that it was two laps and I could grab it on the second lap, I was
majorly lucky and it was waiting for me as I passed the roundabout on the
second lap (thanks to the marshal who picked it up). I was able to feel quite
good on the bike, but again it was a tough 10k x2 but I feel I was able to make
time up on the decent as I passed quite a lot of other athletes and was happy
with the speed I was trying to push…now for the final 5k. I always fell good
(sort of) on the last 5k as im always in so much pain a little more wont hurt,
I clocked in a 18.23 which wasn’t that fast at all, but in comparison it was
actually one of the quicker times in my race (5th), so the climb
must have taken a lot out of our legs, and the heat and the hills! I was able
to take 3 athletes on the final run and finished in 7th and the 3rd
GB athlete back! VERY HAPPY with this result, and it actually means I pre qualify
for OZ next year and if you are willing to fund this trip, please do not hesitate
to send me lots of money!
On a whole I had an absolutely amazing time, the crowd on
race day was amazing, the friends ive made and the advice was just a topping on
what was a fantastic and successful experience!
Till next time…
Good stuff MR G
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