Quick Post-Madrid Update

Just a quick post, as I'm not sure how long my post-flight cankles and I can resist the siren song of my bed.  The best sleep that I've had since leaving Colorado last Tuesday was on my flight over- not a good sign (Spanish early morning tv is not recommended, by the way).   

 After a lot of travel, too many refined carbs and jamon serrano, too little sleep and a disappointing first ITU World Championship Series race of the year, I am excited to wake up tomorrow and resume hard training.  With only three weeks until the WCS race in Washington DC and four weeks until the Hy Vee World Cup, I have some serious work to do!  

First, however, I should mention my race in Madrid. I finished 9th in a field with the best athletes in Europe- a pretty solid achievement.  I was, however, disappointed with my race itself, as I had a fair swim, decent bike and sluggish run.  After putting in some great training in the past few weeks, I was surprised how flat and slow I felt on race day.  After examining why my race unfolded as it did and avoid whatever mistakes we might have made, Justin and I will try to put this race behind us and look forward to the season ahead.  Hopefully this was the worst that I will feel all season and have gotten my "bad race" out of the way!

Despite my race and lack of sleep, I had a great time in Madrid and really enjoyed the American squad (athletes and support staff) that was assembled.  I also love any opportunity to return to Spain- I just wish that I could spend more time there!  I've had pretty mixed experiences racing in Madrid, but I'll continue competing there until I have a fantastic race on the Casa de Campo course.  Since Madrid is a candidate city for the 2016 Olympics, maybe my best race will occur in that capital city in 7 years time.  One can always dream!

Speaking of dreaming, I'm off to finally get a good night of sleep!