I don’t think there’s a whole lot of Irish in my family history, if any, but I sure showed my Irish pride at the Velo Allegro St. Patrick’s Day Criterium when I finished 3rd! St. Patrick’s day weekend marked my 14th full week of training and racing in Los Angeles. 14 weeks of the biggest learning experience of my life! I’ve had the amazing opportunity to work with some of the best nutritionists and sports psychologists in the sport. Learning all about how to fuel my body for racing and training and how to really get my “game face” on come race day! The amount of knowledge I have gained during my time here is huge! And on St. Patrick’s Day, with only 6 weeks left here, it was time to put that knowledge to use!
To be honest, the day before the race I wasn’t sure if I’d even be
able to race the next day! We had really typical cold and cloudy UK weather
(which almost never happens here!) and while I was on the training ride that
day I had really bad asthma symptoms. By the time I got home I felt like a
zombie! All I could think of, was sleep!! Come the next day (race day) the
weather was perfect, my legs felt alright and all I could think about now was
getting on the bike and over writing the bad memories from the day
before.
It was time to turn the negatives into positives. Rolling up to the
start line, game face on and excited to race. It was a good course, rolling
flat and able to pedal corners with a long straight to the finish. I had a good
feel for the course, knowing where to position myself best, as the back
straight was the toughest part, being very windy. With 15minutes into the race
an attack was made by Junior World Champion Jennifer Valente, to which the
attack managed to stay away. Pulling the bunch together and tearing it up on
the front, taking turns to pull the attack back, we were full into race speed
around 30mph.
Eventually with 10laps to go the attack was pulled back! By this
point there were hungry riders with determination brewing, as always in a bike
race anyone wants the win. I made sure I positioned myself upfront in the bunch
and out of trouble. I also knew there was one more prime left before the
finish, that I wanted to go for as I was in perfect position. Bell comes for
the prime, I had the World Champ on my wheel making it cat and mouse! I pushed
my pedal down and came through winning it. I was pleased and at this point my
legs were hurting! No pain, no gain is exactly what I thought!
Coming into the last 5 laps, I wanted to podium however bad my legs were
hurting, my mind took over, I knew already from analyzing the course before the
start of the race, you needed to go from the final corner! Coming second into
the final corner, 'GO' is exactly what I did! Sprinting with everything and
more I had left in me, my legs were screaming, my mind exploding with determination... I
finally came across the finish line with a strong lead with 3rd position!
Knowing I just won the final prime 5laps before this, I was feeling really
happy, a sense of relief and a positive look towards the day before this race...
'A negative training day can be put into a positive when you don't give
up!!'
