This past weekend (July 24/25) was my first opportunity to race on the 2012 Olympic course in London. After my result last weekend in Hamburg I was confident I could put together another solid performance. Racing back-to-back weekends often presents some challenges. My quads were quite sore coming out of Hamburg and it took nearly 6 days for me to shake the fatigue. By Saturday I was feeling better though and ready to have another go.
I was able to get a pretty good starting position on the left side of the pontoon. The first couple hundred metres of the swim were rough but I was able to find some feet and put myself well within the front group exiting the water.
The bike course was flat and fast. We had a pack of about 25 guys for the first few laps, but once the chase pack caught us the group easily doubled in size. There were a few attacks but for the most part we just rolled along. Toward the end of the bike a group of 8 broke away and got a small gap. I came into transition in a much better position than the previous weekend and that helped because the run went out very fast. I ran well for about 2 km but struggled to hold the pace. I didn't quite have that top gear this weekend. I ended up finishing 31st, running about 45 seconds slower than last weekend which was basically the difference in 15 spots.
It wasn't the result I was hoping for. I still ran pretty well but the room for error is minimal these days. There's always someone to fill the gap. The World Championship Series has got to the point where if you want to be competitive for a top 10 result you have to be running right around the 30 minute mark, something I know I'm capable of, but will require some hard work.
I'm looking forward to this next block of training before the Grand Final in Budapest. My next race will be Nationals in Kelowna on August 22nd.