I have really wanted to race again this year and the organisers at Challenege Barcellona have made that possible for me. I think they have a great team and are tackling drafting head on. They DQ’d over 250 athletes at their May event and have pulled marshals from across Spain so chancers beware! Check out the site and make sure you have the sound turned on because they have made there own euro rock theme song.

I pull out the stops when I've got a big race coming and the last couple of weeks I have to say I have been laying it down and properly suffering for the cause. Where my program differs from most full time pros is my lack of time to spend on my bike so I need to use my time well and do focussed work using my power meter. I’ve been averaging Ironman race watts or thereabouts from most of my 4hr rides but I include a lot of hard upper aerobic intervals even trying to go spiky and hurt the legs for the run off! OUCH! My biking has basically been good since Roth though so for the last fortnight I’ve been doing 9 runs a week with 5 bike to run sessions a total of 125-135k.

As an example when I finished this ride a few weeks ago JJ looked at me with great concern as I was groaning from the pain in my legs! A wee 10k @ 2:50 mara pace helped me loosen off though. . . .  sort of. To put it in perspective 270-280 watts is about 4:30 IM pace for me on a good course so thats hard riding.

So most of my hard training is done 2 big weeks of running and no injuries so I'm just trying to cope with the physical and mental fatigue which again is hard when you are trying to work well too. Consistnecy in training is pricless now as I know why I feel low and that it wont last and if I keep going through the same processes I should come good!

If I was going to lay my cards on the table I'd say I'm in 8:15 shape but a LOT has to go right to pull that off. I'm still waiting for that perfect race though so maybe this will be it?