Budapest World Championships

So another big race week. In the very beautiful and interesting, but grey and slightly neglected feeling Budapest. It rained for most of the week. Luckily for the Elite Women and AG Olympic Distance racers, not on our race day though, which was the only day it cleared from rainy to overcast.

The elite men and sprint distance AG racers competed in pouring, cold conditions on Saturday. In the elite male field that raced that day there was a fair bit of carnage on the bike course with a number of crashes. In the end though, it was the Brownlee's, Alistair and Jonathan that had the best day of it, showing their class and winning their respective races. In the elite women, Emma Snowsill showed the champion she is taking the final of the series by running away from the best in the world to finish with a 2 min lead. Emma Moffatt, her training partner, then finished the double by outsprinting Lisa Norden and Jessica Spiring to come second and win the overall season.

A brief moment when shadows graced the streets of Budapest

I was racing on the Sunday in the Olympic Distance World Championships (Age Group) for Australia. I was nervous as I wanted to do well but was not sure what was possible. It is not a great distance for me just now as my primary focus races this season are longer courses, Immenstadt 6 weeks ago and the Barcelona Challenge (ironman distance) in three weeks. Also I had been getting some knee pain in the weeks between Immenstadt Long Course World Champs and this race. It seemed to be finally resolving with lots of good yoga/stretching, massage, and some specific balancing strengthening exercises but I hadn't run much in training and very little high intensity running.

So racking the bike in the ankle deep mud of transition on the Sat afternoon I really was not sure if my goal of top 10 and desire to top 5 or better was realistic or not. It really depended on a decent swim as mine can be pretty variable (!?) and a trouble free fast run. I was pretty confident of my bike being solid. I really would have loved to podium but knew it would be a long shot. I was aware of two very strong athletes both coming with this race as the focus of their season; Steph from Vancouver who won last year and Sophie from the UK who was keen to top the podium after finishing 2nd three times in recent years. Besides these two I had 60+ others I didn't know of who would also all have their own strengths and goals.

My race plan went something like this

• Swim straight, hard to first buoy, settle into solid rhythm then kick up again at the end as really cold water (15oC or so) so get blood in legs before the exit
• Bike hard as possible < 178 HR. Take in nutrition and fluids in aero position on the straights. Be wary of drafting as busy course.
• Run hard as possible, from fast but good form (no injuries!) to absolute max last 2.5k lap
• Transition fast and direct to my spot but short balanced steps (really muddy!)
• NO INJURIES!!!! If really sore, pull out.

Overall, I followed my race plan, the knee held up well with no pain and I did okay. I came 5th in 2:05:35. So, in summary, the best three things about the race were;

1. PB for an Olympic Distance race (although the bike I think was a bit short)
2. Fastest run of the day in my category at 40:30
3. Top 5 I achieved my goal (just by outsprinting the USA team member Steph Popelar through the finish)

But as always there are lots of learnings from the race. My top three from this race were;

1. Start the race at the start of the race. I have let my dissapointment with recent swims make me accept that I am not a great swimmer so I almost mentally start the race at the end of the swim not the start of it. It is a bad attitude that doesn't help me swim as well as I can. I think I could have swum harder in Budapest. I rode and ran at absolute max given the distance I was racing. I know that. I am just not convinced I did the same in the swim. 
2. Sighting and feet. I was so concerned about swimming straight after going off track in Passy I kept looking up and resighting fully rather than eyes just above water level when swivelling back down, slowing me a little each time. The buoys at Budapest were huge so I probably didn't need to. Also no great feet found to draft behind for any long stretches. It was hard in the grey, brown murky water of the Danube (as even the best, Andrea Hewitt found when she missed the lead pack in the water later that afternoon) but I need the additional assistance and I didn't get it for long. I need to get better at this!
3. Preparation. A good positive learning was my preparation for this race was really good. It was a big event, tightly managed with 1000s of entrants and a new city, with a seperate start and finish area which all made it a bit challenging. My prep was solid and smooth. Physically getting my legs sorted in the weeks prior and not overstressing about them but trusting that keeping on with the right interventions would get them there and getting the body race ready in the last few days before the event meant I felt that I turned up with the body as well prepared as I could have. Mentally I had ridden the bike and run and swum in the race area so knew the course and transitions. I had a decent race plan that did anticipate the challenges of race day to ensure I could give it what I had (except see learning 1). Also just the travel and basic prep like getting my bike and gear sorted, there and together in the right spot in the right condition for the day all went very smoothly. After a summer of travelling and racing I am getting better at doing the basics.  

The Danube, prettier when backlit than swimming through it!

So overall, I am not sure how to feel. A little dissapointed as I think I could have swum better and made it to the podium if I hadn't screwed around with my swimming so much this summer trying to improve it and also better leveraged that which I had on the day in the swim. Earlier in the summer I posted a swim time on a similar course that would have got me into 2nd place if I could have replicated it here. I have been trying to change and improve since then which seems to have just sent me backwards! A great comment on this comes from a book I have been reading lately,

I was in no man's land, no longer good at doing it wrong, but also not yet able to consistently get it right .

Well it gives me a clear focus for the off season. So moving past the swim, I transitioned smoothly and fast, rode the third fastest bike split and ran the fastest. I competed hard, eventually outriding a Canadian lady who drafted for a fair bit of the bike course and finally catching the lovely US lady on the run that took me every cm of the 10k to get.

So learnings on board, ready for my next race and now it's time to go get on my bike. I'm now into my final big week prior to Barcelona!

Train well, race hard, enjoy and recover easy! Time for some training here.
A bientot
Christine