Shropshire Olympic triathlon - World Championship Qualifier.

25th May - Shropshire Triathlon.

1500m open water swim - 22:11 minutes
40 km bike - 1 hour 4
10km run : 36:52 minutes

5th in Age group.

So, what a crazy week this has been. On Saturday the car was loaded and i drove to Shropshire in England (kinda in Wales don't really know) and checked in at the incredible Manor i had managed to book last minute complete with a 4 poster bed, my own living room and butler. Pretty strange but incredible experience. After the long drive i relaxed for a while before driving to the race registration to sign in and have a look at the course.

I woke nice and early on Sunday had a light breakfast packed my things and drove to the race. The weather had improved slightly, still wet but not as bad as the day before. I was feeling really nervous, racing my first Olympic distance at such a big event was rather daunting but i had put in the work and felt ready. I went through my usual race routines of warming up, racking my bike, checking my kit, looking at the course map and chatting to a few other competitors. After that it was tri suit on, wetsuit on and time to wait for the swim start.

I had my hesitations about jumping into the green water but after sliding in and a quick warm up i realised it was fine to swim in and a pretty good temperature. I found myself a good spot on the start line and waited.

Swim 
The swim start was less chaotic than normal, there was a few flying hands and bodies sliding around but i pushed to the front found a good position and some feet to draft from. Initially i felt crap, my body had quite a shock to racing again and i struggled to find a rhythm. I went harder than normal at the start but after the first buoy i found my stroke and rhythm and swam neck and neck with a couple of other guys. The swim went well from there, i had a bit of a mental battle thinking some negative thoughts at first and a couple of times i swam off course but other than that i felt good. I came out the water, pulled my wetsuit down and had a quick smooth transition.

Bike 
Onto the bike course the first 5km was a nightmare, i was stuck behind a lorry and a car who were going slow for cyclists ahead, i was really frustrated and loosing my temper as the car kept slamming on the brakes. As soon as i found a decent clearing i shot past the both and began to settle into a pace i could sustain. I had chatted to my coach Graeme the night before and knew how i should be feeling and so i kept reminding myself not to go to hard. On the bike i had a few guys who we all took turns passing and leading, its non drafting so you must sit 7 bike lengths back but you can still in a way pace of the guy ahead. We had a race motorbike next to us the whole time and this made me quite confident as i knew we were the chasing guys. The course was quite tough, a lot of little hills and shocking weather, rain, head wind and cold. However i race pretty well in the crap, i pushed the pace hard felt good and dropped everyone on the climbs (i would then be caught again on the flats). We all played this cat and mouse game for a while and exchanged a few words here and there - some more friendly than others..-. There was some great flat sections on the course where i really felt like i was flying and knew i was having a good race. With about 5km to go i had another gel and began thinking about my run tactics.

Run
Into transition and i was leading the second pack on the bike. Transition was insane, the crowd was huge and although i knew no one the commentator shouts your name so everyone goes a bit nuts. This really pushed me on and i racked my bike, grabbed my shoes and shot out the transition. The first couple of k's i ran a lot harder than normal. I wanted to distance myself from others and try and catch some people ahead. My legs felt pretty good at first even with a huge hill after the first 500m. The run was great for me, it had a mixture of hills and flats which i like and i pushed really hard. After 2km a couple of guys were on my shoulder but i pushed on to drop them and eventually saw the lead bike and guys at the turnaround. I knew i wouldn't catch them but could get a couple of spaces higher up. I caught two more guys and then ran pretty hard with another bloke on my shoulder. I chatted to him saying we should push the pace as i can run a lot harder with someone right there. After the final turn around i gave it once last kick and although i was hurting i picked up the pace and ran towards the finish. When i could start hearing the crowd i went for a sprint and crossed the line giving it everything and collapsing afterwards! I knew i had a brilliant race.

I finished 5th in my age group which was an amazing achievement. The field had some incredible athletes and people who have been in the game a hell of a lot longer than me. I really felt proud of myself for the performance i gave and it made the drive down and the hectic weekend worth it.

Since coming home i have now found out i qualified for the Edmonton 2014 Age group World Championships. This for me is unreal. Although i wanted to qualify i wasn't sure of my chances but it feels amazing i put in a lot of hard work, sacrifices and training so for it to pay off is unreal.

The fact i will this year represent GB is a dream come true and hopefully the start of some amazing things. Now its time to get back on the training as i'm racing in Nottingham this weekend. Things are awesome and i'm really in a great place with my racing, fitness and life.

Thanks for all the support and congratulatory messages it means a lot to me.