Lots of racing this weekend.  Well done to my training buddies who raced in Strathclyde, Joel Jameson in his really great Ironman debut (4th in Lanzarote) and everyone else who raced!  What a weekend!

Dunkerque wen’t well I guess…actually very mixed feelings about it really.

I had to train right up to this one because I have a German league race this weekend and the big one in Madrid for the World Championships Series the week after. You can’t be fresh for them all otherwise when are you going to train?! So this one was off the back of a massive month of work and a lot of fatigue!

The swim was awful, it was so rough and I just wasn’t used to my wetsuit. It seemed so tight around the shoulders and restricting so it made me feel very tired during the swim…I was surprised when I did eventually get out I was actually quite ‘up there’.

Onto the bike I saw that the usual lads were 20 seconds ahead so I chased as hard as I could on my new Boardman AiR 9.8 with my team mate Laurent Vidal but we couldn’t get back to them…our group wasn’t motivated to help me close the gap so it was a lost cause. I kept pushing though and we managed to whittle a big group down to about 8 guys…(not sure where they all went!)

Setting off on the run Brad Kahlefeldt and I made some inroads but we were quite smashed after holding off the boys behind and also trying to catch the lads in front but I ended up crossing the line in 8th.  Not bad considering Michelle smashed me the past month.  The big goal is coming up in Madrid and I can’t wait.

Had a good weekend in France.  Great weather, great racing and great company with Team Lagardere Paris Racing.

Picked up heaps of cool kit as usual.  I always feel very spoilt by the team, although the hotel always leaves something to be desired!

Race morning I was feeling good.  Woke up at 6:15 with excitement.  I trained super hard the week after Seoul so I was expecting some heaviness in the legs.

My morning run with Steffen Justus went well. We did 30min with some pick ups and then went to lunch.  Which was as usual in our team. Plain pasta and a bit of fish…

It was cool starting the French Grand Prix season again, seeing the old faces just in different kit.

The swim went well, I came out the water about 15^th-20^th. Not bad for me.  There was of course a little gap to the front.  Not far though, normally something we can shut down by the first lap.

I felt amazing on the bike.  Brukankov came out the water with me and I expected him to close most of the gap on his own on the bike but he couldn’t do it so I came round him and gapped the whole group behind.  Next thing I know I have 20 seconds on everyone but I’m still 20 secs behind the front.  It was no use; the team were telling me to go back to the group.  Beauvais were pushing too hard as a team so I stopped pedalling.

It was disappointing that the race was now for 9^th but this wouldn’t happen so easily in a World Champs Series race.  I hope…

There were many of the worlds best still in the 2^nd pack though so it was still going to be an exciting race for us guys and great practice.

I pushed the last lap quite hard so I could get into transition first and we set off running really quick.  Courtney Atkinson (2^nd Seoul) and I put time into everyone right from the first 200m which was great.  I thought this is a perfect opportunity to practice what Ben and I have been talking about.  Believing I can win and never giving up.  Believe me it’s hard when you are knackered…I focused on staying positive as he was really putting the hurt on me.  It would have been really easy to give up at Kilometer 2 but I really wanted to beat Courtney as it would do heaps for my confidence.  Fortunately the 2^nd lap didn’t speed up so I was able to settle down a tad. I didn’t come round him till the last 400m as it was hard enough behind him.  When I did though I started sprinting and took the win (out of us 2!) Also the fastest run of the day!

Ok 9^th is probably in the bottom 20% of my FGP results but I felt really strong in all 3 so I’m very motivated to take this form into Madrid World Champs Series and Des Moines.  I even have a week to improve it!

Only problem is…How come I always seem to race better when I am a bit tired!? That is something for me to chat about tomorrow with the support staff!

Team Lagardere finished 3rd…The Boss isn’t happy!

I have to mention the boys…Ben Higgins and Tom Curtis had great races. Tu Quoi Tu Quoi!

Very sorry for lack of blogging!

I am now on Holiday in Thailand with my Fiance and my friends. We are having an incredible time.  The weather has actually been pretty shocking…but we did see the sun today:) For the first few days we were still on the beach though because we are Brits and however bad the weather is here, we still love it!  The first week has actually just been a parties, recovery and then parties again.  This is the time of the year for me to get all of the ‘fun stuff’ out of my system! Unfortunately I didn’t take my computer out so there will be no photos till I return.

The nights out are all beach based, with the bars opening out onto the sand.  The bar tenders are just pyromaniacs, but its amazing to watch.  Drinks are sold in buckets which I think it pretty lethal

Before coming out here, I raced La Baule French Grand Prix.  It was a ticking the box race for me, after worlds I always lose my head but I was reasonably happy with my race.  I finished 15th (I think) on no training and lots of travel, I felt like a different athlete out there! However I don’t really care about the result, its a race for the team and our team came 2nd, I was the 3rd scorer and Lagardere Paris Racing moved from a disastrous 4th to a salvaged 3rd.  With the new World Champs Series ITU racing, we don’t get good teams out very often so we have had lots of really bad finishes.  3rd, considering is ok!

Thoughts on the season…I’m happy, it was a very consistent effort, I improved again, and I will improve again next year.  The sport is developing and this year it was very, very fast.  I learnt probably the most that I have ever learnt about racing and ‘what it takes’.  I know what I am doing this year and I am very excited about executing that.

Thanks for checking in guys:) I have some cracking photos so check back in a few weeks.

x

French Grand Prix went badly, It was a little bit inexplicable. I wasn’t hurting…just couldn’t get any more out.  I think its a combination of getting towards the end of the year and also tiredness from the block of training that finished 2 days prior.  Oh well. I owe my team a good performance in La Baule.  I finished 18th I think, there is nothing good to report from the race…it was just a crap performance!

It is taking me forever to get photos up:( I don’t have many good ones yet anyway!

Since Madrid as you have seen I have been cracking on with that old swimming chestnut! I’m delighted to report that at the weekend I dived in the water and felt fantastic…I just wasn’t getting as tired as I used to and felt stronger with every stroke! As I predicted and it seems to be a definite pattern this year, there was another lead group of 10 guys hammering it at the front of the race and a big chase pack…normally I am part of this chase pack but on Sunday I was up there mixing it up with the gun swimmers. I am so happy that the hard work I put in has finally payed off and it felt so good to be swimming with those guys at the front!

The bike was pretty fast! In fact, I think everyone who made the front bike pack had to work for it in the first 5k. If I hadn’t good riding form I would have missed it for sure because it was a long line out of the transition. The first two laps were fast and the 10 of us who eventually established ourselves in that lead group put 45 into the chase pack which dropped off to about 30 by the end when we eased off the pace a tad.

I hit transition first and came out with a small lead. I decided to run hard for the first kilometer to put a bit of pressure on the other boys but sure enough, Alistair Brownlee and Javier Gomez are class acts and they caught me after about 800m and we ran together to the finish line.

I got a very confused at the finish line…there was an extra out and back that I was told we had to do…It would have ended up being about 400m extra. So when Alistair started sprinting early, I thought it was 600m out, but in fact it was only 200m to go. No excuses…I should have known! I didn’t feel too good on the run anyway so when Washington comes around hopefully I will know the course and I will have more of a sprint in me! There was nothing in it really, we ran together the whole way and the best man on the day won, I’m happy taking that knowledge away with me.

I spent a bit of time in Paris after the race, it’s a beautiful city and was a good to unwind after the race. I actually got back today…and I am off again to Washington tomorrow morning! It’s going to be great out there, the course is amazing and I had better get packing!!!

I grabbed my 2nd win of the season on Sunday in Dunkerque for the 2nd French Grand Prix. Its a great weekend and as it was so close to England and my parent and future in-laws are able to come cheer me on. The amount of kit we were given from Lagardere Paris Racing team is phenomenal, it’s like a 2nd Christmas and it’s so good to catch up with the boys for some banter.

The boys...

I actually crossed the line 1st with my team mate Laurent Vidal. I don’t normally bother to out sprint my team mates in the French Grand Prix because there are so many other opportunities where we are rivals, on Sunday we were a team with the same goal!

The swim went really badly actually, I came out the water in 45th which is less then ideal but I was still on the front group though so was safe. There is a new kid on the block – word is he is an ex Beijing Olympic 1500m Swimmer and he has been mixing up the swims a lot recently! To be honest, this is less than ideal for me!!

I felt really strong on the bike, the pace was seriously ON! The field was strung out the whole way through the city like a snake and was extremely hard to get to the front after the swim!

Fortunately I hit T2 almost at the front and I got onto the run feeling really great so could soon catch the front and take the lead with Alistair Brownlee where we pushed it on together for the first 3.5k. Alistair unfortunately got stopped by a marshall briefly under the tunnel for a time penalty giving me a chance to get a gap on him with Laurent Vidal.  We held this to the finish and took the tape.  

I love weekends like this, it was great seeing the boys (Stuart Hayes, Laurent, David Hauss, Mehdi and David Coach) again.  As well as the other guys from the other teams.  It was fast and furious racing and made it a very entertaining weekend for everyone involved! Its a dangerous race Dunkerque due to city centre course and cobbles but fortunately the rain held off and everyone got round safely. 

Next up for me is Madrid World Championship Series. I keep saying this but this is a real test… The best guys in the world, hard course and full distance.  I hope it goes as well as the others so far. If not, long season ahead  I’m heading to the pool so I can give myself a chance of swimming with Javier Gomez this weekend. 

Cheers for checking out my first post and well done Lagardere Paris Racing team!