#OperationPodium

Reaching a goal but not being able to see it through to completion, for reasons outside your control, is not fun.  That's exactly what happened to me this year.  I qualified for the European championships in Turkey as a GB age grouper and was loving life.  But as my Uni year progressed, it became apparent that my exams would be just when the most critical stage of training would be taking place and I would potentially have a week or so between finishing exams and flying to Turkey to compete.  I'm not one to do things half-baked, so with a heavy heart I decided it was best if I didn't take up my place.

This obviously left a massive gap in my season.  I'd been expecting to be placing the Europeans as the highlight and purpose of my season, but now had nothing.  Until now I've been wallowing around like a sinking ship without a sail in a sea of mis-matched metaphors.  But now, I have a plan.  I've decided that if I can't go to the Euros, I'm going to put all my efforts into doing as well as possible at the races I can do.

This has led me to a rather rash goal.

I want to podium a race.  Depending on the size of the race, I would consider an AG podium.  But really, I want an overall podium.  I don't think this is too far outside the realms of possibility.  I think I should go sub-2:10 for an Olympic this year and whilst this isn't going to trouble Mr Brownlee, it's getting close to the pointy end of the field.  Similarly, at sprint distance I would also be pretty competitive.  In theory.

I've written this blog post to utilise the power of public peer pressure.  I've not only put the goal down on paper, I've broadcast it across the Internets.  I've got a number of races this year already and will be looking out for one or two more as well. I may even step up to 70.3 distance at the end of the season and see what the fuss is all about.  Maybe.  That little thought is one for another blog post I think....

Lets hope I can see this new goal all the way through to the end.  #OperationPodium.