Part I Commonwealth Games and Edmonton WC

I had written a blog a few days after I had competed at the Commonwealth Games, although obviously it never made the cut. Reading back on my words, I thought you would probably not appreciate the long and tedious recap of my racing experience. It was probably exactly what I needed, an opportunity to vent and share my thoughts, even though I was essentially just talking to myself!

But now I better put something together before I take on my last few races of the season!

I had an amazing experience at the Commonwealth Games, but the result itself was most certainly disappointing. We raced on the first day of the Games and the Scots were having some unusual weather, the sun was out and it was actually hot! We were all prepared for a wetsuit swim but apparently miracles do happen, because they weren’t needed on race day. I was with the front group of girls after the first lap of the swim and when we dove into the water for the second lap, a few of us lost touch of the group and the gap grew considerably over the next 700metres. Lucy Hall was setting a fast pace and I knew that I was in trouble considering how small the field was. On the bike I was isolated with Kate McIllroy, and she had 2 teammates up the road, it wasn’t looking great for me. It was difficult to keep my head in the right space after getting time splits each lap, each lap losing time to the front group. I never gave up and although pulling out would have been easy, it wasn’t going to happen. When I got off onto the run, I actually felt quite good considering the ride. I was about 3 and a half minutes down, and it was a very lonely 10km run. I ended up catching a couple of girls at the end and finished in 9^th .

Awesome to witness Micheal Shelley win the Gold in the Marathon

We had a few nights at the Athletics. Highlight was Usain Bolt entering the stadium. wow. 

After Glasgow and 2 weeks of fun cheering on my Australian teammates, I headed to Bend in Oregon to prepare for the World Championship grand final in Edmonton. I can’t thank Heather Jackson and Wattie enough for welcoming me to their home for my time there! Bend sure did blow me away and it was the biggest highlight of my trip. I felt as though I was getting fitter each week after Glasgow and for me and my running, there was no substitute for time! I ended up heading into Edmonton feeling fitter than I did before Glasgow.  It was also great to finally meet my coach Cliff English and have him there in the final stages of my Edmonton preparation.

Closing ceremony with Dan

On the bike in Bend with Heather

Running in Bend with Cliff

I won my first ever World Cup in Edmonton in 2011, so I was definitely happy to be heading back. Once again, my swim heavily dictated my overall result. I was feeling a lot more confident after some good weeks of swimming training and the fact I would be around a lot more girls than in Glasgow. I had a mid pack swim, nothing disastrous at all, but it still turned out to be a lonely 40km time trial. There were two packs chasing each other in front of me, and one big chase pack behind me. Yes, there I was stuck in the middle. Unfortunately, being the Grand Final, there were races within the race and it turned out that Gwen had called upon super swim/biker Sarah Haskins to help her out on the bike. So while I was riding solo trying to catch, Sarah was time trialling in the second group trying to pull Gwen to the front group. Mmmm, not good for me!

A fun bike sesh with the group before I left for Edmonton. 

I got off the bike with a few girls who sat on my wheel all day, and surprisingly I felt pretty good. I knew I was in good run shape, but unfortunately there were just too many girls up ahead for me to pull off a result which I would have been satisfied with. I ended up in 18^th and with the 3^rd fastest run split…but hey, that means nothing if you’re not in striking distance. In saying that, I do walk away with some confidence for next year. Since March/April this year when I started working with Cliff, I have not been injured, and that is a huge step forward for me. Patches of missed training from injury problems were catching up with me and it feels so good to walk away from the ITU season with some CONSISTENCY. I didn’t race much and my results on paper were not fantastic, but I have a foundation to build upon for next year and that makes me very happy.

Edmonton

TBC…….

Part II

Asian Adventures Beijing and Philippines.