Unlike Abu Dhabi 3 weeks ago, I had a fair idea on both my fitness levels and the tough Auckland course. This was my 4th time racing in Auckland, and it would be the toughest and most demanding course I’ve ever done. We’d had perfect preparation for it and I knew I was in good form.

It was a 2 lap 1500m non wetsuit swim. I didn’t get a great start and although I didn’t realize it at the time, my first lap was pretty terrible! I picked up a few places in the second lap but still exited the water over a minute down on the leaders. I knew I had my work cut out to close the gap on the bike, but I had some strong cyclists around me so I thought we might have a chance if we all worked well together.

The ride was what I was most excited about in this race. The 8 lap (40km) technical, hilly course suits my strengths. Myself and a couple of other girls worked hard the whole ride but there wasn’t enough of us working together and we kept losing time. It’s hard not to get demoralized in that situation and I guess, in the past, I have done just that. I kept working to ensure I could keep the gap as low as possible and maybe there would be a chance I could run some girls down from the previous pack. At that point, I thought I’d be lucky to get in the top 25.

After a ride like that, you never know how your body is going to feel when you get off the bike. I had some super quick

runners in my group (including training partner Barbara Riveros) so I knew that although we might be a long way off the lead, it would still be a fast run.

I headed out of transition first in my group and was quickly followed by Barbara. To my surprise, I actually felt pretty good. I had planned to start off conservatively and build into it but I just wanted to start catching people already!!

After the first lap (of 4 x 2.5km) we had already caught a group of girls that had started a minute ahead of us. I thought I had maybe started out too quick but I figured there wasn’t much I could do about that now. I just tried to hang with Barbara as long as I could and we ended up catching a decent amount. It wasn’t until after I’d crossed the line that I found out I’d ran up into 13th place!

Photos thanks to Laura Wood.

I had wanted to do a lot better than that in Auckland – and I knew I was in shape to produce a really good result, but after such a bad start to the race I couldn’t be happier with how I ended up. 13th on a bad day, really isn’t that badJI ended up having one of the quickest run splits, which is definitely a confidence booster for the rest of the season.

I kept my ranking as 7th in the World Triathlon Series heading into the next round in Gold Coast in just over a week. I’m looking forward to racing in Australia for the first time this year!

Thanks for the support

I was very fortunate to have access to the heat lab at the New South Wales Institute of Sport under the guidance of Katie Slattery, Steve Crowcroft and Jamie Turner and for 3 weeks leading up to the race I was doing quite specific sessions in the lab to prepare. By the 6^th session in the heat I was actually starting to get excited. I was feeling faster and more comfortable than I had for a long time.

I had a decent swim – I exited the water within the top 20. I made a pretty critical mistake out of T1 and dropped off a girl who ended up in the front group. First lesson of the year learnt.

We had a big group on the ride chasing down the leaders but it was difficult to get everyone working. There were probably only 5 or 6 of us rolling turns and as usual, when you have athletes that want to just take a free ride, it never ends well. So our group got off the bike close to a minute down on the front pack.

I had no idea how many were up ahead when I started the run. I also had no idea how well I was going to run against many of the fastest girls from the past few years. Throughout 2014 I was getting off the bike and feeling like I hadn’t ran for months and it was difficult to believe Saturday’s race was not going to feel the same way. I told myself to enjoy it no matter what and not be afraid to fail. I went out of transition with the intention to stick to my plan: start at a realistic pace and have belief in my ability to hold that pace in the second half – I was prepared to let everyone go up the road and risk not running them back – Within 1km, with the exception of my training buddy & eventual winner Gwen Jorgensen (who took off at a completely different speed), I was running with some of the fastest runners in the sport….and it felt good! I can’t remember the last time I felt like that. Within 2.5km we were catching girls from the front group and I couldn’t believe that suddenly I was pushing for a top 10.

I ran out of road with a few I’d yet to catch and I crossed the line in 7^th. My best ever WTS result!!

I am so grateful of the support network I have around me. My sponsors, Triathlon Australia, my family, my partner Brendan & of course my coach Jamie Turner who made me believe in my ability and to restart. The past few months have been a constant battle with myself but I’m happy to say it was totally worth it.

I really feel like I still have a lot I can improve on and I’m excited to start the year off better than I could have ever imagined at the end of 2014. My next race will be the second round of the WTS in Auckland. I can’t wait

Thanks for the support

Charlotte

If you’ve been following my updates I think you’ll know that I’m not too happy with how the year turned out. I struggled to get going in the beginning and just when things started to go right in the middle of the season I started to go backwards again. It was a tough year for me.

The season didn’t end well at all and I was disappointed with my performance in the Grand Final in Edmonton, Canada. I have no excuses. I have had consistent injury free training over the whole season and no real reason not to perform. 2 weeks post Edmonton I am able to reflect on my year with a little less emotion and a bit more positivity!

If 2013 was about learning from others, then 2014 was most definitely about learning about myself.

I started the year with huge expectation – from myself. I didn’t feel pressure from outside and for that I feel very fortunate. I was given time and space to develop and if I’m honest I probably didn’t make full use of that. I wanted to build on what I’d done last year & I wanted to win races. People were looking at me now and I wanted to show that I could perform consistently every race.

In the past, I’ve never thought about those things before and clearly it doesn’t work for me… It only took my whole season to work it out

I finished each race with disappointment. I struggled to take positives. Even after a top 10 in Chicago after swimming front group (something that a couple of years ago I would never have believed possible!) I still left with dissatisfaction. I was too caught up with the outcome rather than the process and appreciating what I’d done.

It’s taken me a year to realize that the reason winning in London meant so much to me last year was not because I won, but because I’d challenged myself and made the race mine through my own actions and I’d done something that not every athlete can do (and I’d never done before!) and performed under pressure when it really mattered.

I’ll never forget how I felt as I was about to grab the tape. My first ever ITU race win. Throughout the whole race, every decision was process driven. A metre from the finish when I knew I was going to win, I felt this rush of emotion. I wish I had a bit longer to savor it! Every session I’d done in the last 4 years, every mistake, every disappointment, every 4th place finish (!!) had been worth it. I thought of my family, sponsors, coach, TA , friends who had backed me from day one. I am so grateful to have such a huge support group, and this felt like the biggest way to say thank you.

I have no doubt that had it been easy, had I won every race then I would not have experienced that feeling before I grabbed the tape.

And that’s what motivates me.

I might not win every time and it could even be another year before I win my next race… and I’m Ok with that. As long as it’s a big one

Thanks to everyone for the support this year – Particularly my amazing sponsors, my coach Jamie Turner, Triathlon Australia and all the support staff, the Wollongong Wizards and my friends & family.

Charlotte

My 2014 World Triathlon Series campaign didn’t start the way I’d imagined. After 4 races, I’d managed just one top 20, and a 21st, 23rd and 31st. It’s fair to say that I was starting to get a little frustrated that I wasn’t seeing much improvement.

Since arriving in my European base of Vitoria, things started to click a little more. Instead of feeling like I was just managing to get through training, I was pushing it. I started to feel like I was back to normal and ready to race!

So heading in to Chicago I was pretty excited, and I had a feeling I could make something good happen.

The course was quite different to any other Word Series races, in particular the bike course with 48 x 180 degree U Turns and 68 x 90 degree turns over 40km. It was going to be interesting to see how this aggressive course would affect the race.

It was clear that on race day it was going to be ridiculously hot and humid. These conditions are something that I’ve had serious issues with in the past, and it did worry me a little. Heat stress can be dangerous and as I’ve found out is not conducive to successful racing.

I had a plan though and I knew what I had to do to limit the stress and have a successful race: swim hard, ride conservatively and pace my run to within my limits.

Thankfully, the organisers decided to make the swim non wetsuit (even though the water was slightly too cool for that) due to the extreme heat. I was happy with that.

Lake Michigan was really choppy on the day of our race so after diving in I focused on an aggressive initial 200m then getting around the turn buoys in good position. Before I knew it I was diving back in for my 2nd lap in 5th! I ensured I kept my stroke speed up in the second lap and I exited the water and headed for the first transition within the first group of 10. Swim = success

We had a little gap back to the second group and I helped out where I could to ensure we increased our time on them but I also didn’t dig too deep and let my body’s core temperature get out of control. My group of 11 got off the bike with a one minute gap over the chase group where some quality runners were positioned.

I know my limits in the heat, and for me the run was going to be about pacing myself and focusing on my own race. Over the 10km it felt like it was getting hotter and hotter. My position moved around as I began to catch some of the early pace setters and several girls from the second pack caught up. I couldn’t have been any happier to see the finish line and I crossed in 10th place.

 I’m happy with how the race turned out. My first top 10 of the year in conditions that I’ve only ever fallen apart in has given me a lot of assurance for the future. For me this year was always going to be about building through the season and I’m confident that this past weekend has been part of that progression.

Thanks for all the support!

Charlotte

‘Number twenty, from Australia, the current U23 ITU World Champion Charlotte McShane’

That’s what has preceded every race start this year. I can’t help but smile and get a little excited as I run on to the pontoon and pick my position in between countless Olympians, WTS winners and former World Champions. This year, I know I belong there.

Yokohama was a two-lap wetsuit swim that happened to be incredibly choppy the morning of the race. My swim performance was almost identical to last year when I raced here: disappointing. I struggled to get stroke speed up and put the pressure on when I really needed to.

I finished the swim leg in close contact to three other athletes with much of the field ahead of us and I knew I was going to have to ride hard to make up ground on the lead groups early on.

American Lindsey Jerdonek came flying past me in the first 1km and I sprinted on to her wheel and spent the next three laps doing all I could just to stay there. At around the 15km mark, we had caught the front group that now contained the majority of the field. Now it was time to ride smart and save some energy for the run.

It was crazy the sudden pace difference one we caught on – I had gone from going as hard as I possible, to what felt very pedestrian. I did all I could to take the time to try and recover and freshen my legs up for the run.

Heading into transition, I managed to make my way up to the front of the large group – a wise move with some girls hitting the deck due to the huge surge for the bike dismount line.

I headed out on to the run and the pace was on from the start. My legs were feeling flat, I struggled to match the initial intensity and for the first 2.5km it felt like everyone had passed me.

I eventually settled into my own rhythm and begun to build through the back half of the 10km picking girls off who were beginning to fade. Heat and humidity (something I’ve struggled with already this year) had climbed throughout the morning, which is something that in hindsight it might have been a blessing in disguise that I wasn’t able to push myself too hard at the start. I was able to finish strong and run back into 19^th place.

It’s hard not to be disappointed when there are 18 girls finishing ahead of you. I train and race because I want to win every time I get on the start line. However I’m learning that winning can be a lengthy process and as long as I’m constantly progressing and moving forward it is a different kind of win.

I only have a few months left to enjoy the title when my name is announced on the line up. I quite enjoy being a World Champion. I guess it motivates me that little extra bit to one day earn myself another one..

Thank you for all the support!

The swim was a 1km straight down the Olympic rowing course. I actually had a decent swim, coming out with the main group of girls.

My transition was terrible, and I lost touch with the group at the start of the ride, and it just got worse from there. The run was a struggle, and I have never been so glad to see the finish line!

I ended up in 4^th, behind Emma Moffat, Ashleigh Gentle and Natalie van Coeverden.

Thanks to the organisers and sponsors for their support of the race!