Charlotte McShane's Geelong race report
- Thursday, 16 February 2012
- By Charlotte McShane
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I made a quick trip down to Geelong in Victoria over the weekend for the
Australian Sprint Championships. I was looking forward to another hit out before
some of my bigger races of the season.
I was happy with my swim. I was just off the back of the first chase group
going around the 2 buoys, but managed to swim up comfortably in the last couple of
hundred metres. I actually didn’t realise at this point that there were already 2 off the
front.
My group came out around 20 seconds down on Emma Moffatt and Teresa
Adam, and frustratingly we kept losing ground every lap on the ride. I think some
athletes get into the mindset of just racing within the group, and forget that the goal
is to actually win the race! I worked pretty hard on the bike and tried to focus on
holding good position, especially at tricky parts of the course.
I had an absolute shocker of transition going into the run and started at the
back of our group. I tried to make the ground back up as soon as possible but my
legs were feeling pretty terrible. It’s always a hard battle within yourself when your
body isn’t feeling and responding the way it should. One of the things I’ve been
working with my sports psychologist is positive self talk whilst racing, and I was
definitely trying to utilise it!
I got a 15 second stop – start penalty (for my goggles not being in my box in
T1) which I took with 1600m to go. 15 seconds feels like forever when you’re
watching athletes pass you. I tried not to think about it too much when I was running
and when I started again I focussed on trying to catch back up to those that passed.
It was frustrating as I still believe it mentally knocks you out a bit, and it’s hard to lose
those that you were running with. It definitely lost me a couple of positions in the end
result.
I ended up finishing10th and 6th Australian. Not an outstanding result by any
means, but there are plenty of positives to take. Over the last few months I have
been swimming significantly less than I normally would at this time of the year, and I
believe I am swimming as good (if not better) than I ever have, so it’s definitely a
step in the right direction! I am looking forward to incorporating some more speed
work and intense running into my program and building off the aerobic base from the
work done in Falls Creek. Another month and I’ll be ready to race ;) !
Thanks,
Charlotte
