Blog
03/11/08 - Had my fun:)
Hey there.
Well, seems like ages since my last post...well it has been really!
Since then I carried on racing a little bit, did the open water swim which was a great weekend, it's always good doing the "great race" races, we get looked after so well, stay in the nicest hotels and the nicest places. The week following this was my last race, La Baule for my club and unfortunately we didn't have the form as a team to take the win and the race didn't go to plan at all but we managed to rock in 2nd behind Beauvais. Some of my buddies from back home turned up as well, slumming it on the beach, so it was a great party afterwards!
Since then...wow, just took a long break. Did everything I can't do in the season. Its hillarious to think about. As soon as the Olympics finished, I think most people had a complete change of life style and just gradually run themselves into the ground, a different sort of tiredness. I hear this happens to most Olympians. You put on 5 kilograms, eat whatever you like, drink as much as you want and stay up as late as you like. A far cry from the lifestyle you were adopting a few weeks back! I guess it's our way of making up for the past 11 months of discipline.
I love this sport though, and the break made my realise this. A few days off after La Baule and I was back in the pool and back doing a bit of running for fun, I needed my hit and because of this it took me a good while to get 'unfit' but I'm there now after 6 weeks and the first week back is really hurting!
The long break really allowed me the time to really think about things. the whole time while I was on my break I just couldn't switch off from Triathlon, totally obsessed by this sport, I was constantly thinking, what can I do to make myself better? What am I doing wrong? What happened in the Olympics? So after 6 weeks, I have come back really motivated and after watching back the World Cup videos and of course the Olympic coverage, I really want a piece of that.
So the road to London begins with roughly 1350 days till the Games open, lets hope it will be a trouble free journey for all us Brits, and maybe we can bring back our first Triathlon medal then:)
Have a good winter:)
Will
08/09/08 - Good fun weekend...
I had a great weekend, this is what the sport is all about..If you win an Olympic title great, good job. I want one as well badly, but this weekend was fantastic because it put such a big smile on my face and made me think...This is what I love doing!
We started off flying to Luton Airport to Bordeaux for the French Grand Prix. At last we had our full team out, Maik, Brad, Laurent, David Hauss, Bertrand and myself. How could we not win this!?
The swim was mental, worst conditions I have ever swam in. If I scooped the water in my hand it looked like coffee, and I couldn't see the bottom of my hand! There were rats the size of cats on the side of the river...the current was so fast that we swam 1500m in 11minutes! Beat that David Davies! After a good swim I got out of the water in 10th:) The bike was a long line of athletes and we got onto the run, all Lagerdere Paris Racing athletes in the front group. I felt great for 2.5k but then I just didn't really have the legs to see it through...Most importantly with our combined scores we were the first team and we are now pretty much equal with Beauvais. We timed our sprint perfectly for a battle at the last stage in La Baule in 2 weeks time...think I will do some training for that one!
After releasing some endorphins in Bordeaux my next race of the weekend was in Scotland, we flew from Bergerac to Edinburgh and got a taxi to Strathclyde park for the last Corus race in the series. It was a good fun race...No Brad Kahlefeldt or Javier Gomez! I really wanted a win here...If I got it, what a nice weekend!
The race was a super sprint eliminator format. 300m swim, 7.5k bike, 2.5k run HEATS and FINALS. I cruised through the heat, with good legs, especially on the bike! The final was good fun, the swim was a mental punch up (always dangerous racing with the young ones) I had work to do on the bike to make up my defect after the swim, so managed to jump to the front on my own to the group of four with Dann Brook, Alistair and Rob Bowles. When I hit the run I had good speed and it was only 2.5k so I was always going to hang on! I was so happy to take the win by 30 seconds, It made me very chuffed after a very difficult 3 weeks.
I've not been doing much at all since the games so it's nice to hold onto this fitness and go out and enjoy racing and even get a win for my sponsor Corus at their race.
I'm going to keep the training ticking over now, I have an open water swim to rock up at next weekend in the lakes, which will be nice and great riding!!! Then I have La Baule after that, I must say I'm looking forward to my break, Dann and I are going to Thailand for 2 weeks and to Singapore to see one of our best buds Dan Plews. I'm planning at least a month off, but to be honest I can't wait to get back into it before my break even starts!
Cheers.
Will
03/09/08 - what now?
After a very negative last post I thought I would write and let you know whats going on now!
I took a big blow at the Olympics, It left a hollow hole thats for sure and I still feel really gutted two weeks down the line!
Once the race was over in the village I really tried to enjoy the whole experience. What a great games it really was...The stadiums were incredible, the organisation was 2nd to none with 50,000 volunteers. The food hall...We really made the most of with a couple of great nights out at the Bud Bar, (free entry and free bud) It was the first time in a couple of years what I saw everyone out relaxing and having a good time. Great reward for all the hard work. We watched a fair few events. We went to the track 3 nights running. The Bus goes from the athletes village, underneath the track where we get out and walk in for free and sit right at the front with out accreditation! £300 seats for free!
Since I returned back I have tried to crack on. However Its very, very half hearted. I have set myself up with at least one race every weekend to help me see the season out. Its really a shift of focus though. The Olympics takes so much out of you that you really cant go hard anymore! So I'm just trying to enjoy it and use the fitness I got from the Olympics to get me around! I don't intend to swim another 5k swim set or run over 1hr for a good while!
I'm going to take a good break this year, probably a month off as well as this quiet time now to refresh for the next Olympic cycle. I'm looking forward to having my chat with Dan about the plan, what went wrong, what we need to do now...
The first thing I'm going to do is really work on my swimming, were going to take my stroke to bits and do technique for a good while. I believe I can swim as fast as I ever have just off technique training and then bung the miles ontop when it's good. The good thing is I know I can get fit and strong so I'm trying to be smarted with it now!
I want to thank everyone again for their support on email, facebook, text message. My friends even got their party on BBC look east all dressed up as Olympians at 3am!
Cheers
Will
Next |
