"San Diego WCS"

(15/05/2012)

At the minute triathlon races are defiantly taking me on a Rollercoaster of results, with Sydney being a low, St Anthonys a high and now another drop in San Diego, what will come next for Madrid????

San Diego as a place is stunning, it reminds me a lot of LA just a bit cooler! We would wake up in the morning and it will be chilly and then by the time it got to 11.00 the sun was out and it was getting warm and that was the routine for most days.



The day before the race I did the usual little bit of everything; rode in the morning, swam the swim course (which felt colder than when tested) and a small jog in the afternoon, all good and ready to go really.

Race morning I got up and had a swim and breakfast and did all I could to pass the time before race start at 2.06pm. The sun was out for the race and the water was warm, so a non wetsuit swim, great stuff.



Going into the swim warm up you could really tell the difference in the advantage the girls on the right hand side were going to have, and this reflected in the start. The sand bank went out for at least another 3 body lengths, so when I ran in, I had no choice but to start swimming sooner, when the girls to my right continued to run in, and as you can imagine the group had a good advantage and I was in chase mode. At the half way point in the swim I was just off the back of the front pack, near the front of the second pack. I tried to make the move and get round to the front but it was like a losing battle, with the distance not getting any bigger or smaller. When we finished the swim and started the run up to T1, onto the beach I saw Liz and thought GO GO GO FRONT PACK! So I sprinted as hard as I could to get to Liz and had a quick T1 and was on the mission.



Out of T1 there was a hard right turn with a concrete bollard in the middle of the road, making it a very sharp turn which I had to correct my
self going into it, but there were some girls behind me that had a blocked view, and couldn't have seen how tight the corner was and went straight over it! I cycled past Liz and then saw Emma Moffat in front who I went past and kept pushing hard and was not too far of the main pack. I chased for a lap but after Sydney I wasn’t going to do the donkey work for another 40 athletes again, so I made the decision to sit in.
SO ANNOYED OF AT MYSELF FOR 2 REASONS; 1) Not making the front pack, and 2) Not being able to bridge the gap. So the rest of the bike the pace was slower than my normal recovery ride with everyone looking at everyone else, waiting for someone to do the work, well that wasn't going to be me this time!



Into T2 the lead pack had just over 2 minutes, I was surprised they didn’t get more considering our Sunday morning bike ride! On the first lap I felt ok, not fantastic, but ok, running with the lead chase pack of women containing most the Aussies. Then going into lap 2 of 3 things started to go wrong, stomach cramps, being sick and not being able to run = bad times. On the third lap I stopped 4 times to be sick and try and stretch, and ended up walking most of it. GUTTED. I really don’t like racing like that, but had to finish.

I've got to say yet again congratulations to Helen who is a inspiration and smashed it, and Vicky Holland who had a great race and to all the other GB women.



I've got Madrid in 2 weeks time and then the selection panel will inform us all about the selection for the games.
I've got 2 weeks at home which I'm so looking forward to, seeing family and friends that I've been away from since January. Lets see where the rollercoaster will take me now . . .

Jodie
xXx

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