RIGHT ROYLE REALITY CHECK IN MADRID

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Triathlon Australia, June 7, 2013: Before Madrid I thought I knew what it was going to take to get to the next level, but I was wrong, the bar was raised even higher last Sunday. By Aaron Royle

DOWNLOAD CLICK HERE: Natalie Van Coevorden Discovers Patience

DOWNLOAD CLICK HERE: Charlotte Mcshane Madrid Race Report

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Apart from being exhausted when I crossed the line, I was a little disappointed to fade so much over the closing stages of the run.
But I quickly came to my senses and realised that I gave everything I had, and more. Eighth in Madrid and ninth in the series.
Here is an insight into how the race unfolded.

Madrid was the fourth stop on the World Triathlon Series but for me it was the third race, after not racing Yokohama.

I arrived in Europe three weeks before Madrid to allow myself the chance to fully settle and get some solid training in before I raced.
Early May in Vitoria (Spain) is still pretty cold, with day after day not getting above 10 degrees and rainy, but you just had to harden up and get it (the training) done!

Things were going well and I was looking forward to getting out there for the first WTS race in Europe.

I learnt a few things from last year’s Madrid race:
1. The swim doesn't finish until you are over the hill on the first lap
2. DON'T run past your bike in T1
3. If a Brownlee exits the water a few seconds in front you need to sprint your backside off in T1 otherwise the race lead will be gone.
4. A good swim and first lap on the bike will be rewarded in Madrid.

I had an ok swim, but I had to fight the whole way – not fight as in with other swimmers, but I had to remain desperate and not rely on just exciting the water near the lead. Not in Madrid anyway.
I exited the water in 12th, six seconds down on Brownlee. ‘not good enough ' I thought, so I sprinted through T1, made up the six seconds and got on the bike on Brownlee’s wheel.

Three hundred metres from T1 to the start of the hill, so getting your feet in quickly is vital. Once my feet were in I got myself ready to give it everything to get over the hill up the front.

I gave it everything, but Brownlee and Gomez rode away from the rest of us with seemingly ease.

'Not again' once over the hill I realised that only myself an Italian and a Russian were close enough to get back across, so over the top and on the decent we gave it everything and by the end of the first lap we were back with the lead

"You beauty five away on this course, OPPORTUNITY!"
Alessandro Fabian, Ivan Vasiliev, Javier Gomez, Jonathon Brownlee and I had a small 30 second gap after the 2nd lap on the group behind, but on this course it’s enough if everyone in the group commits which is what we did. I've never been in a position like this on a bike leg, with this calibre of athletes, so I wasn't sure how I would handle it, but I decided to fully commit on the bike leg.
Our lead slowly grew from 30 seconds to roughly 1:30 by the end of the ride.

I was pretty wrecked starting the run, but I was also excited to be up the front of a WTS race.

I didn't want to push to hard early on, so I settled in behind Fabian and Vasiliev for the initial part of the run.

Before I realised Vasiliev had 15 metres on Fabian and me after 1.5km but I was still cautious of not going out to hard. At the 4km mark Vasiliev was 15 seconds up the road when I decided I would try and bridge across.

"Don't die wondering". I was able to close the gap a little and pull away from the Italian for a short period, but with 3km to go I could feel the wheels starting to fall off. My stride was shortening (even more than it already was) and my form was deteriorating.

I tried to keep the basics right but I felt like I wasn't even achieving that. In the meantime I had gone from shooting for a podium to going into damage control.

I knew that most of the fastest runners were coming from behind in the chase pack. I tried desperately to keep the chasers away, but I lost close to 45seconds in the last lap. Three of the chasers caught me and I finished in eighth, utterly exhausted.
You can follow Aaron’s WTC journey on his website
http://aaronroyle.com/
Also read what it was like for Grace Musgrove to line up in her first ever WTS race and how she was determined to finish the race
http://gracemusgrove.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/madrid-world-triathlon-series/

Issued on behalf of Triathlon Australia…..

Ian Hanson

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