Well this is a wee bit late but since
coming home form Europeans I have had to get ready to come back to Uni in
Scotland where I currently am now.
The
Europeans where in Aquilas; Spain, a place I know reasonably well as I have
been a few times with both the Irish Squads and also the Stirling crew.
This was my biggest race to date, an the
highest level of competitors I have raced against, with 4 2012 Olympics.
The race its self didn’t quite go to plan,
I was aiming for a top 15 finish which I don’t think was unachievable but on
the day that didn’t happen, I finished 28th, not too bad for my 1st
U23 champs, (I will still have 3 more years in this age category) but it is not
where I wanted to finish or feel represents where I am at the moment.
I started the day of with a bad swim, I
lost my goggles on the 1st lap, at the best of times this can effect
your swim, especially when the water is as salty as it was but it was even more
detrimental when Varga was at the front setting down the pace.
Basically after the swim my chances of top
15 were over. With a group of 10 up the road working well, unlike my chase pack
who were happy to give away 35secs per lap.
My pack consisted of the likes of Mola and
Silva to name but a few who just didn’t want to chase but instead were happy to
run it out for positions 10+, which I find hard to understand, because if they
had kept a reasonable gap they could have ran into much better positions.
After the easy bike I didn’t have the run
legs I should have had for some reason, I just felt very flat.
I was very disappointed with the
performance, but that’s racing and races like this is where I must learn from
my mistakes and gain valuable experience.
There is a quote I like that says;
Experience is not what happens to
you; it is what you do with what happens to you!
Therefore I must reflect and learn from
this experience and take it forward into my future races.
Next race is the London Senior Elite
Triathlon on Sunday 23rd September.
Russell
