Thoughts on London
August 18th, 2009 by Will
London was an interesting race at the weekend. I rocked in 15th so obviously nothing to be proud of!
The swim was really fast this week, probably the fastest I have ever seen it. Â It split up so quickly at the front I couldn’t believe it! Hence a good group of fast swimmers got away with a 45 second lead. Â I actually felt really good in the swim and came out in 20th but unfortunately the standard was higher for this one so it didn’t really show.
I was determined in this race that these guys were not going to stay away on bike so from the very first pedal stroke I really kept the pace high getting help only from the Germans who were all in our pack. Â There were about 40 guys just sitting behind getting a free ride…as usual pretty annoying and I wasted HEAPS of energy, a tactical disaster for me. Â I think however that once someone initiates the chase…everyone kind of knows that you are going to see it through and hey…they were right! We did see it through, I kept on shouting at everyone, the 6 or so of us kept motivated we bought them back by half way through the bike.
Once it all came together the last few laps were a bit of a cruise, it gave me a chance to try to execute a big goal of mine, to try to get off the bike in first place. Â This is something I have never been able to do yet is such an important skill! It’s so congested coming into the 2nd transition it’s actually really difficult to get in first, as everyone wants to be in the same position and everyone is jostling for that place! Â I usually come off the bike in 20’s-30’s and the queuing nature of this process means that sometimes I start the run up to 10 seconds behind. Â Usually I manage to make it to the front after about a kilometer which means that I am probably running about 2:42 when the other boys are on more like 2:52…If I can get off the bike at the front I would be able to put pressure on them rather then them putting pressure on me!
I really used my head in the last few kilometers of the bike and barged myself out to the outside so I had a clear run to the front so I created my opportunity to come off the bike at the front which was really pleasing. Â Less pleasing however I knew instantly that I didn’t have fresh enough legs to finish where I wanted to today. Â I gave it a go though, like in London I tried to surge straight away and create gaps to make it hard but my legs just didn’t have the same magic as 2 weeks ago. Â It was just a case of trying to keep some momentum into the finish and limit my losses!
I’m not too disappointed with my result, I had a stormer 2 weeks ago in London and I believe that if I had that freshness this weekend I would have been running in around top 5. Â 3 years till the Olympics lots of practice time and experience to come to make sure this sort of thing doesn’t happen again!
Congrats to Alistair, my friend Steffen Justus and Gemmell for their podiums.
I was speaking to Rick a minute ago…I was saying this has been my biggest ever learning year. I’m really looking forward to the winter, getting it all mapped out with my support staff to come up with a bullet proof plan for 09-10.
Cheers
| Will Clarke 15th @ London World Champ Series | This weekend |
