A fair bit has happened since I last wrote my blog, and an update is definitely overdue now.
Firstly I am very proud to announce I have become an auntie, the first baby of the family!! A huge congratulations to Stacy and Jimmy West on Lily Jane West, I cannot wait to meet her in a few weeks time!
Secondly I am now on the countdown run in until my husband returns from Afghanistan with just over a month to go. It’s been tough for us this year with what will be 9 months apart, but I’m so incredibly proud of him and what he does, he has a tough job but never ever complains about what he does, he really is a huge inspiration to me and can’t wait for our honeymoon which is now two years delayed due to our crazy lives!
Back to the triathlon related news!
I have done quite a bit of travelling and racing as of late and have to say I am now pretty efficient at travelling light with just my bike bag and a rucksack which for those who know me is a revelation as I wouldn’t go anywhere without my hairdryer!! So the latest stop to update on is Hamburg World Series.
This wasn't a great race for me in that the chaos of the swim caused me to miss the chase pack by 10 seconds which then in turn cost me the race. There was a canoe wrongly positioned at the first buoy and it caused a huge pile up of women literally fighting to get through. Someone even ended up with a broken rib!! Dealing with contact in the swim is something I have struggled with this year so needless to say this was not an ideal situation for me, but have since been working hard on how to handle this through a few lessons in the pool with some of my squad mates beating me up, thanks Mitch and Aileen!!!
The next race was a World cup in Tiszaujvaros. Another brutal swim, with only 100m to the first buoy which resulted in me getting a chipped tooth, nice one, I now need to get this fixed in time for my sister’s wedding in October!! The race had a lot of very speedy swim bikers, which resulted in the front pack staying away and so I had to be content with making up the chase pack and ran through for 9th at the end.
Before my next race in Stockholm we moved further up the mountain for four weeks to the higher altitude in the pretty place of Avoriaz. This was my first full block of altitude training at 1800m and so I was entering the unknown if it would work for me or not. We managed to get some great work done, and had a few nice meals out including my birthday!! However the timing of coming down was possibly a little out as it left me feeling quite flat in the next round of the World Series in Stockholm and pretty run down.
The race itself was incredibly tough with very cold water temperatures of 14 degrees, and one of the most technical bike courses on the circuit, with a hill and cobblestones to contend with on each lap. Despite not having amazing legs I was really pleased to come home in 12th place knowing there is much more to still to come and also putting the demons to rest from a spectacular crash I had last year on that course in the relay! It was a great weekend and fantastic to see so much British domination from not just the men but now also the women!
I am now back in Morzine preparing for my first World Series grand final in London which I am delighted to have made the team for and also very excited to be back on British soil after 9months away. It’s an early start of 8am on Saturday 14th September for the women but it will be a great race to watch if you can make it, the cheers will be much appreciated! Hope to see you there!
Katie
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