After racing back to back weekends with a 6th place and a 4th place, I have moved up to within 40 points of Emma Moffatt (AUS) with 2 rounds to go in 2010, the last being the Grand Final with 1 1/2 times the points.Click here - Complete World rankings
I was 6th in Hamburg in a 7 way sprint finish within the final 400 metres. I actually felt as though I slowed down when I tried to speed up! But that's racing. After 2hrs my body had had enough and wouldn't go any faster when I wanted to. I'd had an average swim, exiting at the back of the first group in 14th place and with a little hestitation I was back 15 seconds in the 2nd bike pack on the first lap. I took turns for the first 3 laps of 8 and we finally managed to catch the front then we were a big group heading on the 10km run. I ran behind as Emma Moffatt kept the pace in front. Then to finish 6th was disappointing because we were only seperated by seconds at the end.
Click here - Hamburg WCS Results
In London, I set myself up with a good swim, jumping on my bike in 3rd position and straight into the lead of the race. There was good pace being rotated at the front with a lot of different girls mixing themselves around. I set the pace at the beginning of the run then at 5km could feel my calves getting tight from racing in Hamburg just 6 days before. I held on as long as I could behind the leaders but as the final U-turn approached I dropped off the pace then made my legs go a bit faster to get back in touch. And as that happened, Paula Findlay (CAN) surprised everyone by surging and opening up a 30m gap in just a few hundred metres, then she kept it. I was just managing to hold the pace we were running at, so had no extra gears to go faster. Like last week, my sprint wasn't there. I went for a spot on the podium but fin
ished in 4th. Afterwards, I had 2 really bad blisters and I actually couldn't walk properly as my calves were like rocks. This continued for 10 days, really tight and painful calves are not fun.Click here - London WCS Results
This weekend I am racing in Kitzbuhel in Austria. I must finish in the top 5 to increase my ranking points.
I have been training well in the French Pyrénées since being based here for 2 months already. After Kitzbuhel, I will be coming back up here at 1800m right up until Thursday 9th September, 4 days before the final in Budapest.
Bye for now,
Andrea
