I stacked it a treat on my bike yesterday….Thanks guys for the support.

It almost happened…I got a hole in my cycling shorts and 1cm more to the left would have left me being done for indecent exposure!

Clark Ellice and I were out riding and he put in a sprint…I responded, but my gears were not smooth and my chain came off.  I was going too fast to hold on and I hit the deck at full speed.  It’s my fault…

I got up straight away and went to the grassy bank on the side of the road.  I looked up and my bike was on both wheels still going along on its own!

I tried to get up a few times but kept fainting.  I could see there was no bones broken but my wounds were nasty…loads of gashes as you can imagine.  The worst being a deep one on the elbow down to the tendons/bone.

Some lovely people stopped straight away (thanks so much guys) and took Clark and I to a random A&E and Rick met me out there.  They gave me 9 stitches to my elbow.  I wanted to do it myself as I saw Jack Bauer from 24 do it a few days earlier!

5hrs later I was up on my feet and buzzing from pain killers!  I walked out feeling sorry for myself but then I heard…”DOCTOR DOCTOR! CLEAR!!! BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPP” so I consider myself lucky because the crash was fast and I came off well…

No swimming for 10 days, No running for ? No Cycling for ? I’m taking a good 3 days + off.  I will pick up some exercise where I feel like I can/want to.  As far as I’m concerned Budapest is finished for me.  2 weeks no swimming means coming out too far down out the swim.  I’m burnt out anyway running! Blessing in disguise? Is my bad luck telling me something? I haven’t had more then 3 weeks off in my career.  I’ve never had an injury…I’m going to take 5 weeks off at the end of the year anyway, This may make it 8 weeks now.  I think it will do me some good having a long rest…It’ll deffo make me fresh in the head.

I’m not making any decisions regarding Budapest/La Baule and Nationals.  See how it heals up. I plan to pick up a lot of running If I feel I can.

I have to give a special post to Stu Hayes…

He won his first World Championships Series this weekend.  It was the best possible field so far and he smashed everyone.

His perseverance payed off, he was going to throw in the towel last year but he came back determined to make it work and pulled of a fantastic win from a breakaway where he and other guys got 2 mins advantage!

He knew this was his only chance to win and he committed 100% to it! Was really exciting to see.  Couldn’t have gone to a person more deserving trust me! Stu lives and breaths it!

Good on you mate…enjoy it!

I’m afraid there was no magic again for me in Kitzbuhel this weekend, it’s not been the best season, just a handful of races to be really proud of…I’ll get my excuses out now!

To be honest I’ve just been digging myself into a deeper hole as each race goes on and now I am more or less at rock bottom.

I haven’t been 100% for a good 2 months now really, I hate to admit it but it’s not going to happen this year…not at this level. I appreciate all the messages of encouragement from my friends but the remaining races of the season are not salvageable!  It’s not in my head, and it’s also not in my body.

My team and myself took a punt this winter and we got my training wrong.  It was no where near enough volume and way too much intensity.  To be honest I was ready in December to race at a high level.  I ran a super quick 4 miler that I am pretty sure I couldn’t run right now.  So I’m burnt out! I have no magic in the races hence no results.  You need magic in World Class races.  

It is frustrating because I know I can get to the top level, my session quality has been fantastic but unfortunately I deviated too far from the right formula this time.

My thoughts at the moment…

-I’m going to get a blood test when I get back (just to rule stuff out)

-I know for next year not to do this again! 

-I know I can get fast in just a few months

-I know I am an athlete that needs to do a lot of training.

-Running 3 sessions a week is a good way to burn yourself out.

-Go with your instincts

-An athlete of my age almost knows best…I should draw on my experience.

-Can we please go away somewhere hot this winter coach!?

-I’m not the only one… we’re all taking risks and pushing the limits in different ways, sometimes we get it wrong!

I learnt quite a bit this year, certainly a lot I can take into next year.  So I’m excited and there will be a lot of change in the winter of 2011. One thing is for sure…I won’t be spending the winter at home.

As for the rest of the year…1 more World Championships Series to salvage, I will be working the next 3 weeks with Rick Velati (Karate, Karate Velati, Velatius, Rockard, Rocky, Boss) Doing lots of miles and lots of hill running! To see if doing what I haven’t been doing will help make a difference.  A desperate plea to be honest! I don’t expect much in Budapest but if I can finish top 15 it will probably give me a World ranking which doesn’t look too shabby considering my season. I also have 2 races in a weekend to round off the season in La Baule for a French GP and National Champs.  Keep your head down for 3 more weeks Will.  If nothing else for pride and to make my wedding and holidays feel more special.

I did have a BLOODY good swim though!!!

recovery!

Raced London Tri this weekend.

I tried something different (not sure why in reflection) and it didn’t really worked out but I enjoyed the weekend at my favourite race of the year.

I had a great swim which is nice, I got round without getting beaten up and I had plenty of gas to play with!

Onto the bike I really wanted to kinda take control so I burst out of transition in 3rd and was leading by 1k in and I put the pressure down so anyone who was hanging off the back would be dropped and hopefully out of the race.

By the first turn around we had 1minute on Jarrod Shoemaker an Hendrik De Villiers and it was looking good for us staying away.  It was already apparent though that the big names were already looking at each other and missing turns. So we lost momentum.

I felt decent on the bike so rather then wait for the run I decided to try to make the most of the bike and try to win a race the exciting way.

Stu Hayes and I played with the field and tried to get some breaks, it looked like they were going to work but then the 2nd group caught us and with the extra horsepower they bought us back. It was difficult to get away but we put so much in that eventually the elastic broke and we got gaps.  Stu got about 40 seconds, I got about 20 seconds which considering how much we put in was not nearly enough so as soon as I got on the run I knew i was in trouble.

Rest of race was survival, I felt probably the worst in quite some time! However looks like the bike really hurt some people so there was only a handful of athletes who were rested that beat me.  I should have let up and not worked on the bike and i would have run well because I was feeling good on the day but hey…was fun trying something new though! You will never succeed till you have failed!

Friends Jarrod Shoemaker and Alicia Kaye are staying with me in Cambridge this week, I’ll show them about town and do some light training before Kitzbuhel where maybe I will recover in time…Just 4 days left!

Thanks for the support in London and congratulations to everyone who raced there!  Especially the first timers.  That run was nasty hey? 4 laps…It’s hard on the head I think?  Here is Vernons and Jensons thoughts

Will

peg face

After London today I thought…I would see how many pegs I can put on my face!

My total was 54…Evidence is below;) No pegs on hair and neck!

I have a ‘worth while’ prize for the person who can put the most pegs on their face…

Submit your picture to me on facebook, twitter, flickr or to my email wrctri@hotmail.com and i’ll post them on here…

BOOM!

Will

He won in 8hrs 40. Its impressive just finishing that sort of race!

He’s had a great year this year so far…Keep it up Fraser and recover well bud!

Results here

Frasers website here

Great shot my Delly Carr!

Everyone is always super quick to write when they have a good race…

No one ever wants to write about the bad times…however, these are the most interesting and I hate it when people cover it all up with smiley faces as professional sport is not like this.

I am currently in bit of a slump unfortunately.  I am having issues on the coaching front which isn’t helping and got a lot of sorting out to do for the rest of the season and the next two years.

This is reflecting in my racing which is kind of unavoidable.  At this level unless you are tip top in the body and maybe more importantly the head then its GAME OVER!

It’s been a few bad races now and I’m trying to claw myself back into contention but it’s difficult because there is not much time to make changes.  (Just a 10day block and a 2 week block left!) unfortunately I have to do the best with what I have got and aim to get my winter right.

I’m trying to get on top of it in time for London Triathlon and I will give you the big low down once the year is finished!

Thanks for everyone who came out to support me and the other boys/girls in London.  Sorry I couldn’t perform for you, massive congratulations to Johnny Brownlee with his 2nd, and also Helen Tucker for her Bronze.  Some athletes from Great Britain are flying!

I’m going to go work out how to get myself up there….

I’m currently at my parents house waiting to race in London.  It was funny this morning and bought me back a fair way to see my Boardman Pro Road bike parked up against my very first bike the Giro 300

When I first got this bike I thought it was top of the range.  I was proud of punch…till I turned up at my first race!

However I did my hardest ever miles on this bike when I was 16/17 years old. I busted my ass every Saturday to keep up with the group…thank god there were traffic lights so I could get back on the group! I wish I could struggle that much now because it would make me a much better rider! I turned up to my first ever European Youth Relays race on this bike and my coach made me borrow someone else’s! “You’re not riding the tank…”

You’re never going to beat Javier Gomez on a Dawes Giro 300….

Get yours here