I'd entered this race purely as last minute sharpener for Budapest, coming as it did 6 days before the big race. I'd only raced it once before and was looking to try and get a course record. However, with no running under the belt for more than a week before due to a dodgy foot I wasn't really sure how it would play out.
The weather was spot on, lovely and sunny with very little wind. My race certainly wasn't the most balanced, but it got the job done - didn't get the course record, but was only 30 seconds off, and with my aero helmet and disc wheel on their way to Budapest I'm pretty sure it was within my grasp.
I ended up really going hard on the bike leg, and then not getting the legs turning over fast enough on the run. But it was a confidence builder for Budapest. The outcome with the foot is that it's OK in a straight line but hurts turning corners. Absolutely fine - Budapest is a point to point run so no corners...!
Budapest Sprint Tri World Championships - 11th September, 3rd
This race had been my focus since the start of August. Overall, my season seems to have spluttered and not got going as I'd hoped, but having this race big on my calendar helped me out in the preceeding 6 weeks.
We arrived late on the Wednesday, with the race on the Saturday. Our hotel wasn't near the team hotel or race centre - which was great for touring the city, but meant we got to take full advantage of the pretty fantastic Budapest public transport system to get registered/go to team briefings etc.
From Thursday lunchtime it rained constantly without let up which meant our hotel room become a giant laundry room of clothes and footwear that wouldn't get dry. The day before the race was the team briefing and it was announced that disc wheels would very likely be disallowed due to potential thunderstorms coming in. As soon as this was announced my stomach just dropped. I should have learned from them being banned at the Euros. On that occasion I had a spare wheel - on this occasion I had nothing.
After some frantic begging I managed to get a potential loan of a rear wheel. But I wasn't going to being able to get it until the Saturday. And wouldn't know whether I could use it, or whether it would run right (different gearing) until about 60 minutes before my race. Cue a sleepless night, and me pretty much resigning myself to: wind=no race for me. :(
Saturday morning - pouring with rain but no wind. Something to moan about but I could race!! I set up in the rain, wading through a waterlogged transition and before I knew it was waiting on the pontoon for the start....
Swim
The water was cold - very cold. I picked a place in the middle, started strongly and never really let up. I was hoping to find some fast feet to latch onto but ended up being the fastest feet! I put a couple of hard bursts in and broke the tow of the toe tappers behind me. It felt good to exit the water and come running into transition in first.
Bike
I came running out of T1 looking for the bike mount line - one point that would have been handy in the briefing was that there wouldn't be a mount line, just a woman with a red flag shouting "hop, hop...". The bike course was simple - 2 x 9.94km, and the road surfaces not as bad as rumour had been dictating. I led the 1st lap but as my poor cycling this year has dictated dropped back to 4th on the 2nd lap - albeit with 2nd and 3rd right in front of me.
Run
The moment of truth. I've heard athletes quoted so many times saying "4th is the worst place to finish" - coming out of transition in 4th I knew they were right. I would kick myself for ever more if I didn't gain a position. I went hard for the first km and was up behind 3rd place, a Brazillian guy. Decided to kick straight past - go as hard as I could for another km and see if I could break him straight away.... success.
It was the longest last 3km I've raced. The route was right against the river all the way before crossing over to the other side at the end. I'd walked it a couple of times and was just counting off the bridges as I ran - pretty constantly looking behind, scared that suddenly some whippet would come flying past. But no, the finishing chute appeared and I crossed the line in 3rd!
Despite the bike leg not being great, whatever had happened I would have had to run way beyond my current level to get into the top 2. The winner runs 15 minute 5k's, and that's beyond where I'm at unfortunately. I raced the best race I could on the day, and was very very happy to come out of it with a medal!
