Hello,
I just finished the Madrid World Cup. The last 2 years it had been a really good race for me and i'd really enjoyed the race but not today -it was freezing cold and wet.
I stuck to my plan, i was in the middle of the bike group, and ran better the second half of the run. I don't know what happened in the swim though, i got smashed around every bouy and came out 30 sec behind. 4 up the front broke away at the top of the first hill, but i didn't catch the group until the 2nd time up the hill on the 2nd lap. Then the bike was absolutely freezing, then i crashed on the 6th of 8 laps. I was right behind Chmet from Italy when she went down and i slid down right into her. I picked myself up and caught the group again on the 7th hill but i didn't feel good at all. The bike wasn't that hard though. Then on the run i was freezing and i couldn't breathe on the first lap, at between 2.5 - 3.5km I walked a bit and breathed then i could run again. But i didn't feel totally free running, i think it was the mostly because of the cold, i had that funny tight chest feeling. I finished 20th-the last of my group. Pretty bad, but i could finish so i did. There were a lot of people who pulled out because of the cold. More so in the mens race, it was crazy to watch, the guys were shaking on their bikes after it started pouring down and thundering, 36 pulled out - 30 finished.
I'm off to the World Championships in 2 weeks time in Vancouver.
Bye for now,
Andrea
