There’s something pretty special about standing on a start line surrounded by some of the best triathletes in the world. Everyone has put in the hours, made the sacrifices, and earned their place there. That brings a different kind of energy to a race.
The World Championships were tough, fast, and exactly the kind of challenge I wanted at this stage of the year. I went there wanting to race hard, enjoy the experience, and find out where all those months of training had got me.
I’m particularly proud of how the bike went. Coming out of the swim 108th in my division, I was able to work my way through the field and finish the bike leg in 28th. Nice is a challenging, technical course that demands a lot from you, which made gaining that much ground through such a competitive field even more rewarding. On a stage like that, against that level of competition, it was a real confidence boost to see the work I’ve been putting in translate into performance on race day.
To cross the line in 5:30:43 and finish 26th in my division at a World Championship is something I’m incredibly proud of. But what excites me just as much is what I can take from it, because there’s a much bigger start line waiting for me in Portugal.
Now the focus is on carrying that momentum into the final month.
After a race, you rarely come away with nothing left to work on. A good result doesn’t mean everything went perfectly, and sometimes the most useful part is finding those areas where there’s still more to give.
That’s what made this race so valuable. With Portugal-Cascais only a month away, it gave me the chance to put my training under pressure, see what worked when it mattered, and come away with a much clearer idea of where I want to focus over these final few weeks.
There’s plenty of confidence to take from the result, particularly from the bike, but there are lessons too. Stepping up from a 70.3 to the full IRONMAN distance in Portugal is a completely different challenge, and those lessons matter just as much as the finishing time.
The hard work certainly isn’t over yet, but Nice has left me excited about what’s still to come.
The Road to Cascais
While I’ve been putting in the training, there’s been plenty happening back at LendingMetrics too. What started as a challenge to virtually get me from Whiteley to the start line in Cascais has taken on a life of its own.
The team has now clocked up more than 3,200 km through running, cycling, and swimming, with everything from team runs to our Bike It & Bake Sale helping add to the total. We reached Cascais ahead of schedule, so naturally, everyone decided the only sensible thing to do was turn around and start heading back.
Seeing so many people get involved has made the whole build-up even more special. There’s a lot of individual training involved in preparing for an IRONMAN, so having the team take on their own challenge alongside mine has made it feel like anything but a solo journey.
Nice was a big milestone. Now it’s time to take everything I’ve learnt from it into these final few weeks and get ready for Cascais!
