I’m on the flight from Madrid over to Des Moines after racing the World Champs Series.

It didn’t go great to be honest, It was far from the result I was expecting.  I didn’t see the move and the race moved away before my very eyes! Quite frustrating really but major fault by me for not concentrating in a key moment!

I had a decent swim, I knew it would be really important this bit, it was a non-wetsuit lake swim and traditionally, especially last year groups usually get away.  I started next to a whole heap of great swimmers on the start line and managed to stay with them till the first buoy setting me up nicely.  I only had 30 seconds to chase to get to the first Russian out the water! They were well in sight which was encouraging.

Jan Frodeno, Matt Charbot and myself did the lions share of the work in the first few laps to get the 8 or so athletes back.  Not going to lie though, I found it bloody hard to get there. I think they found it tough to stay away though as well so everyone was hurting I guess.

I think I was hurting a bit too much though as on the 2^nd to last hill (150m of  ascent each lap) a group of the best athletes were at the front and next thing you know they had time on us which soon rocketed out to 1:30!!!

It was the crucial moment in the race, and as I felt a bit tired after the early stages of the race. I wasn’t concentrating assuming we were going to have a running race and watched the best guys get a 1:30 head start on me!

Race not over though, I set off running ok but my legs were heavy and spent.  I had to let some people go but I started to feel good in the last stages and took 3 spaces back in the last lap (a very important skill I’ve been working on!) I finished 12th

I have been pretty confident with my form recently.  I think I trained too hard into this one and didn’t have enough gas on the day.  I am going to do next to nothing this week and I hope in Des Moines I can bounce back with a result I can be proud of! 12th place won’t pay for much of the wedding!!!

This was Alistairs first race back after injury.  He’s had a tough January-April but even when he’s injured he’s fit.  He surprised everyone again with a fantastic showing to win again! I can’t believe how much that guy can hurt himself. It’s inspiring.

I return trip from Korea went pretty smoothly and the most difficult trip of the year is forgotten! Don’t get me wrong I felt like crap when I arrived back from Asia hTe jet lag can be really tough, I’m not sure my body really knew where it was when I arrived back. I have been eating heaps as well! I think because the food was so rubbish in Korea I thought I was eating enough but maybe I wasn’t!

It’s been a combination of decent adaption from Seoul World Champs Series and a decent 1.5 weeks of training which is cool because it sets me up nicely for my next race in Dunkerque.  The first French Grand Prix.  Again, I love racing these races.  It’s great meeting up with the team, getting in some good quality french cuisine and doing a slightly less pressure race.  Not to mention the kit that we get when we arrive!

I’m literally training directly through this one though. It’s been a really tough week so far.  Not to mention a mental track session last night that put me in an absolute box this morning!  It’s funny, I really hit the swim session yesterday but I woke up this morning and I was pretty much swimming as bad as I ever have! Totally dead!  It was laughable.  Anyway, I’m just doing a normal hard week and then taking Saturday as just race preparation so I have some gas for Dunkerque.  Sometimes my best races happen like this.  You have really good rhythm from the past few weeks but and had a little time to freshen up.  When you are training like this sometimes 1 day is all you need to get out a really good performance.

I have Madrid 2 weeks after Dunkerque and Des Moines a week after that (big money race, $1,000,000 split in between chicks and guys) so unfortunately there is no missed training or tapering for me going into this one!

This week Bryan Keane has been staying with us.  He is an irish Triathlete, relatively new to the sport I guess, but used to race cycling professionally.  I love his style of racing, all last year he didn’t have the swim leg and was getting out up to 2 mins behind and tanking it to the front on the bike! Admirable! He’s swimming well this year though so watch this space! It’s been fun having him around!  He certainly showed me photography…with these snaps that I put up.  Hopefully I can learn a few things.

I really don’t take bad results well at all. It was always going to be rude awakening though unfortunately. It’s the first proper ‘tough race’ of race of the year, it was hot, hilly, non-wetsuit lake swim with a really good field of athletes and in these first few races you tend to feel like a one pace man. This year the Russian athletes and a few others have been really racing from the gun, smashing out the swim and carrying that through on the bike. Its changing the sport a bit to be honest and as Javier Gomez is not in fantastic run shape he’s got more beans for the swim and bike these days.  

I haven’t got masses of confidence for my swim at the moment unfortunately so I was reasonably happy to be in the thick of it exiting the swim in ‘the hustle’. I knew weeks before the race there would be athletes to chase on the bike but I was hoping it wouldn’t be too much.  

Unfortunately our pack was mostly lazy today and unwilling to put in the work and get organised enough to bring back the lead pack of 9. We ended up losing 1:30 to them and to be honest were lucky it wasn’t more. I didn’t feel good on the bike today, so that made it a bit more difficult then it should have been. I did my part on the bike though, but it just want fluid enough. 

My run was ok, I ran 31:20 on a hot course and managed to stay with the boys for 6k when they put in a hard surge I really wasn’t comfortable with. I still managed to finish and stay strong till the end however and ended up finishing 14th.  

In conclusion, I’m really not cool with finishing this far down, it’s really depressing for me and makes me feel terrible inside.  When this happens though I have to take a step back and remember, these are the best guys in the World in an ever changing and developing sport. My fitness isn’t all there yet and it should only get a lot better as I go through the next phases of training. I think my run is in place and will get quicker in the next few weeks once I get used to the surges a little more. 

Alistair was incredible today…he took the win very easily and to be honest if I forget for just one minute that he is a good friend and rival of mine, it was probably one of the best triathlon performances I have ever seen. 

Thanks everyone for your support for the build up, appreciated it.

Last time I was here it was very nervous times with the Olympic Qualification and all that! Well guess what…it’s still nervous times for me! Its my first World Cup of the year. I am in good shape judging from the last two races and all I want to do is see it work out for my first ITU World Championships series!

My prep for the race went well I think, I came round nicely from the French Grand Prix. I am buzzing after hearing that my 5k in the race actually was 5210m long so I actually ran more like a 14:57 with wind and lots of turns so that confirmed my form is good and I am in a much better position then last year:)

I’m having a good time here so far, It’s HOT! Yesterday Stu and I trained together with a swim in the lake, small ride and a short run around the park. We had a team meal last night as well in Pizza Express with the worst waitress ever who dropped a bottle of balsamic Vinegar, smashed the bottle and it leaked all over Tim Don! She waked off without ever saying sorry!

Head down now…Please check back for a race full race report, hopefully a happy one!