A week in London

After two weeks in Hamburg and London, it is a bit of a relief to be back in quiet Davos. While it was wonderful to see family (my sister Lauren, who came in for the London race), friends and sponsors, I was excited to hop on the train to Davos and weave my way up the Alps to our training base. Spending so much time in two beautiful, exciting cities, surrounded by people and distractions, was a bit of a sensory overload for me. I much prefer waking up to the sound of cowbells over the noise of traffic. I’m a country girl at heart!

With a couple of races that were both disappointing and encouraging, I am returning to Davos on a mission. An 8th place finish at Hamburg was a surprise, given my pre-race “preparation”. Once the race was over, we had to reshift focus to being as recovered as possible for the London WCS race 6 days later (the lucky boys had 8 days between races!). Thankfully, the USA Triathlon staff did a great job in helping the athletes with this task. As the race unfolded, however, I soon realized that I was pretty flat and couldn’t quite find that next gear. After a strong swim and solid bike, I put in a good effort on the run, but struggled to find my running legs and ended up finishing a respectable 12th place. Sometimes you can recover easily after a race and other times it is a strain. All you can do is set yourself up as well as possible to be able to go fast!

After trying to compete the first two WCS races of the year in Sydney and Seoul with an injury, being able to race in Hamburg and London without pain was a far more pleasurable experience. That being said, we made some mistakes leading up into the race that lead to a compromised pre-race preparation and I still wasn’t able to race at 100%. The longer that I do this sport, however, I realize that these highs and lows are just part of the process. On the whole, I am improving and becoming a better triathlete, even if my results don’t yet reflect those changes. Fortunately, I have two more opportunities at the WCS level to prove that my trajectory is pointing in the right direction. If I can get in some good training in Davos, avoid bovine (or other) collisions on the bike and go into the races with a solid preparation phase, I should be able to produce a result that will make me proud.

• Yes, I had to wear a bathing suit in front of the Big Ben. Fortunately, a photo shoot involving triathletes in bathing suits was overshadowed by the protester walking around with a box on his head, a megaphone and cardboard “armor”.