This training block couldn’t have gone better. I managed to back up hard session after hard session and now I feel ready to smoke it at the Worlds.  My swimming and running are going especially well which is quite tough to do normally!

We did a cracking session on the track the other day, 2×200, 12×400 (minute rest) and 4×200.  For some reason I went into the session thinking, ‘I want to hit 60’s for all of them!’ Unfortunately the wind was too strong and my legs weren’t amazing but I managed to hit out. 5×60’s then they started going out to 61’s and some 62’s!  Still happy with that speed though.

Tomorrow I am off to France to race in Paris with Lagardere Paris Racing, I’m looking forward to it, Rick is coming to check it out with me.  I hope we can win this time, Stu and Steffen Justus are racing so we have a strong team! That evening we are starting the long journey to Gold Coast.  The next challenge for me is to get to Gold Coast healthy as it’s a bloody long way and I hope I don’t get to Brisbane too run down!

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!