In sport, miracles simply don’t occur. That being said, sometimes events unfold in a way that can shock the bejeezus out of you. Somehow, despite having the least ideal pre-race prep possible, I eked out enough energy to manage an 8th place finish at the Hamburg World Championship Series race.
After two weeks of being stuck in the Death Spiral, we weren’t sure whether I’d be able to race in Hamburg. I tried to remain optimistic, however, that somehow I might be able to avoid drowning, push more than 100 watts on the bike and manage more than a shuffle on the run (the sad part is that I’m only mildly exaggerating). The pre-race instruction that I received from Daz was literally, “Give me a thumbs down after the first lap of the bike if you are going to pull out of the race and, if you do, don’t be too hard on yourself”. Since we had reached red on the Terrorist threat level a few times in the previous two weeks, this seemed like reasonable advice.
My race was pretty straightforward: I managed to stay relaxed and move my way to the front of the swim pack, tried to stay out of trouble on the technical bike course and focused on running efficiently. Somehow, I picked off girls one by one and ran my way into 8th place. Needless to say, I was totally shocked. It just goes to show that, with an open mind and a relaxed body, you can sometimes race well when overly tired, poorly primed for racing and emotionally exhausted. Let’s just hope that I can do even better when properly prepared! It was a great day for the D-Squad, with 4 of the women finishing in the top-8 and some strong racing from our boys. Fingers crossed that we repeat the domination in London! As for me, I wouldn’t mind surprising myself again :-)
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