Having these championships at the Gold Coast and only three hours from home was a real bonus. Having the opportunity to race on a closed circuit that would be used for the upcoming Commonwealth Games Road Race would be an awesome opportunity. Unfortunately, the weekend unfolded a long way from what I had hoped for.
The Individual Time Trial was first up on the Friday. It had only been six days since my win at the Tour de Valley Individual Time Trial, so I was very confident of my form. The course in the Tallebudgera Valley was definitely tougher than the previous week, but I was still eager for a good time and a strong overall placing.
The first sign of trouble came in the warm up. It normally takes me a long time to get an elevated heart rate and it shot up quite easily. With that, I just didn't feel right; tight legs and just a general feeling of struggling. I tried to brush this aside and focus on the task at hand.
I started my event and for a few minutes all was good. Then, it was if the power had just drained from my legs. The harder I pushed, the slower I went. No power, elevated heart rate and I felt like my lungs were screaming. By the finish I had faded to a less than impressive 21st place. Incredibly, my average power was 72 watts lower than the race six days earlier, with an average and maximum heart rate 6 beats higher. Not good...
Had a long chat with coach Mark Brady and we both agreed that there was something amiss. When you have a bad day you drop a few watts, but not 72! We agreed to have a good recovery including a solid night's sleep and see what tomorrow would bring.
I woke up the next day feeling like a truck had run over me. I couldn't eat and was having dizzy spells throughout the day. I clearly had some kind of sickness in my system. I didn't race the criterium and made the decision to withdraw from the Sunday road race later that day.
Very disappointed! I absolutely love the criterium course at Nerang and I missed the opportunity to race on the Commonwealth Games course.
I need to keep things in perspective though. I have had a fantastic run with injury and sickness as it has been a good year or two since I have had anything like this impact on my racing.
It was time to have a little rest and recovery before switching my attention to the upcoming Queensland Omnium Championships in two weeks time. Road legs OFF - Track legs ON.
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