I’ve just seen the weather forecast for next week in the UK and the enthusiasm I had for the Christmas week kind of took a toppling. -10 degrees in London, -20 degrees up north. Even the Brownlees looked a little pissed.

I’m out in La Santa, Lanzarote at the moment with many of the British team as we try and get into gear to lay down some work for 2011. It’s been a pretty successful set-up , fairly December-like, and although I have had a few ‘bang my head against the wall’ moments – they have been rare and mostly about being tired more than anything else. We have been graced with the gorgeous presence of Matilda Sophia Don and her mummy Kelly who have been a wicked distraction to training (and evidently writing blogs ). She did her first 400m round the track at 9 weeks but is now been strongly coerced towards tennis or golf by her dad.

Most of the work has been fairly simple same-as-ever solid training, do the distance, work hard, go home. I have missed out on a couple of karaoke nights with the Leeds gang but I think us oldies will join them on Saturday for a Christmas send-off. I need to do a duet with Holly as I’ve heard she has an amazing voice … we were thinking of ‘Big Ego’ by Beyonce (not related to anyone here on camp, promise Guesses on Twitter.

The best thing on camp so far I think may have been mine and Helen’s ‘jinxed‘ attempt to chase Adam Bowden down up Tabayesco … we would have made it if her pump hadn’t fallen on the last switchback. We were close. I think you can tell from this exciting story how thrilling times in Lanzarote have been!

The best story on camp is from little Johnny Brownlee on our run yesterday. He told me he and his big bro came to get me and Anneliese Heard’s autograph at the Nationals in Salford in 2000. Liese was in a grump ‘cos she had been second so the boys were a little scared and Al too shy to ask so brave Johnny had to do it haha!! Apparently my autograph had a smiley face so was their favourite … how sweet is that… Al was 12 and Johnny was 10. They are both still stunningly cute and Al seems to have lost some of his shyness

Seriously, there has been a lot of time for reflection out here and my eyes have been opened to the risk of brain malfunction by a few conversations I’ve had. I really don’t want this to happen to me and thus need to get my brain back in gear. I think it’s time to start using my brain fibres before triathlon talk takes hold. I don’t mean coaching or blogging by the way, they count as triathlon spin offs. I’ll have you know I used to be fairly intelligent Maybe some serious writing may be the way forward … hold that thought … I’ll see what I come up with.

Race season planning hasn’t been confirmed for me yet and I’ll talk it through with Brett very soon and let you all know. Meanwhile I’m going to South Africa on Boxing Day to get back up to speed and take on 2011. New Year’s resolutions won’t be triathlon based this year because I’m finally happy with my set up. Maybe I’ll just stick to the old ones; I must stop spending money on shoes I can’t walk in (I bought some amazing gold KG ones at the airport but I don’t think the discotheque here can really justify them), I must be more tidy (not gonna happen), I must be more tolerant (probably not gonna happen), I must not fall for inappropriate men… Haha!

Happy Christmas dudes, enjoy xx

Having read all the reports, listened to the live commentary, the interviews, the tweets, the messages I think in conclusion me and Brett did good ☺

I’m back in England now (which seems to have become Greenland weather-wise) and finally have some time to relax a little and be a little more ‘normal’. I decided though after a day I hated it so I’m on detox, planning, action mode already … if you want to become more productive in your life I would recommend winning a World Championship ☺

People have asked me what the difference has been since I moved to Leysin and to Brett. The simple answer (and it’s not that simple, believe me. There have been reasons for not being myself.) is that I’m back to being myself. I’m not a triathlete as such but a reinvented swimmer. We’ve got back to the values I held close (and absolutely loved) as a kid. The hard miles, the long hours simply completed and forgotten on leaving the changing room. I train hard and I leave and I try not to talk triathlon if I can very much help it. I trust my coach implicitly; I don’t worry, I don’t question, I just do it. We train to become the hardest trainer in the world.

I am inspired by the performances of my training partners. Caroline Steffen’s silver at Kona, James Cunnama’s gold in Florida Ironman and Nicola Spirig’s win in Texas. All were achieved through hard work, endeavour, ambition and courage.
I wasn’t a rabbit on Saturday, I was just me going hard. I didn’t think about being caught, I wasn’t scared of anything because I was in the mood to put up with the pain. I couldn’t have swam or ridden any harder and I just wanted to show you guys what I can do and what we are about. Honest work; left on the road.

I rode a road bike because I had competed in the Korea World Cup en-route to my camp in Thailand and could not carry two bikes. I rode in a vented helmet because it was hot. They were the circumstances … it wasn’t any point about sponsors, time trial gear, cockiness and it wasn’t my ‘mean’ coach. It was just how it was. For all the comments about how I ’should’ be on a time trial bike, all I can say is I matched the fastest bike out there and we like to leave a little in the bank to improve

I also ran the fastest, and it was me that came out the water first … just to let Ironman Live know. If you type ‘Jodie Swallow’ into Google you can get my background up and my 5k track time and recent races hehe!

I’m so happy to be World 70.3 Ironman Champion I’m just letting it soak in before I hit 2011 preparation. Thank you especially to Sigma Sport, Rob Bailey, Instant Offices for seeing me through the harder times. I am very proud to be an Essex Ambassador. Thanks to Essex Legacy 2012.

Big cuddles for all my training partners at TBB… Especially to Bek Keat, Nicola Spirig, James Cunnama, and Amy Marsh… Not sure I could have done it without you guys to impress in training ☺ Motivation … it’s a funny thing xx

Usually I only go quiet when something’s not quite right … racing’s bad or attitude’s off course. However, this time I’ve been quiet because I have been ‘off the wall’ busy. Busy and successful, thankfully .

As my training base in Leysin got chilly I made my way back to London to complete some ambassadorial duties for Essex Legacy. The scheme has been amazing for me this year. It kick-started my finances and initially enabled me to move to Leysin and get the coaching I need. As Essex Legacy Ambassadors, we can opt-in and -out of appointments as we wish and see events we want to be involved with. I’ve done stuff with kids and sports clubs in the past, because I like kids and sports . This time, I thought I’d stretch myself a little. A speech (30mins) at the ‘Essex Tourism Conference 2010’ …on a stage, with a microphone and a spotlight. OMG.

I was a little bit of a ‘bod’ at school, (a cool one though ). I loved school and found it fairly easy really. There was one thing though I dreaded intensely for years …public speaking. I used to get shaky, sweaty. I’d rather die than talk to my classmates about whatever naff subject I’d failed to prepare for. In fact, if I prepared it would sound even worse.

I was pretty shy (still am, believe it or not) and it all started in Year 9 when we were made to dissect a piece of writing in a pre-release exam paper. I sat with a couple of boys who were pretty bright and we read the connotations (sexual and violent) into the piece pretty quickly, maybe a little too far … definitely too far . Anyway, I’m not sure if we were just dirt bags or just exceptionally good literature critics but it was fairly hardcore. Then, out of nowhere, I’m made to read it out loud. OMG … I was in fits, I couldn’t breathe from laughing and my accomplices just made it worse and worse. At one point I stuffed my sleeve into my mouth, spluttered everywhere and eventually got sent out to recompose. I was an angel usually and I hated being in trouble (especially because I think the teacher also got the notion of the explicit dual meaning in the prose). I blamed it totally on reading out loud and avoided it forever after this. I would say ANYTHING to get out of it and I did … until I had to start promoting myself and triathlon.

I signed up on purpose, citeing the purpose of self development as the main principle for doing this. I have opinions and lots of experience to give and if I don’t step up and present it – how is this ever going to be communicated? The speech was cool, the subject: ’How to continue the legacy of the Olympic games in Essex after 2012.’

I googled ‘Essex girls’ in preparation for my speech. I got photos of Jodie Marsh, Chantelle from Big Brother, (or was it Chanelle?), and a film called ‘Essex Boys’ – ‘the underground of drugs and violence’.

Not one of the top 50 ‘Essex people’ were sportswomen … Frank Lampard was in there. It’s not a great inspiration for Essex’s young girls to be looking at fame as big boobs and ‘easy’ celebrity. Hopefully, some of us ‘Essex girls (and boys) can step up to the mark in London and get into the minds of the Essex people like Sally Gunnell, Daley Thompson and Dean Macey once did. There are many of us capable: myself, Sarah Claxton, Andy Turner and many other Essex Ambassadors are already on the scheme.

I got home that night to discover that a new TV show, ’Made in Essex’ has begun. It follows the lives and loves of five ‘typical Essex people’: they revolve around hairdressers, tanning parlours and night clubs – another slash in the turnaround image for Essex.

Next day I flew out to Parthenay to compete for Poissy in the French Cup. The competition is a sprint triathlon where the first team to get three girls over the finish line wins. Obviously different tactics ensue … good swimmers/bikers are employed to drag the runners round quickly for their section. Beauvais are usually Poissy’s main threat and indeed had Andrea Hewitt, Anja Dittmer and Vicky Holland in their star start list.

To make it even more challenging, the swim was moved into a pool and shortened because of poor water quality. Berengere Abraham/Marine Bonnetaud/Carole Peon/Jess Harrison and I all smashed the swim and bike together … I took on the straight sections and let my girls guide us around the corners. Onto the run it was down to Peon and I to help and support Bonnetaud to run with us, as fast as possible. She did marvellously. I do not envy either girl having me shouting and pushing them for 17mins on the run … I’m annoying at the best of times but it worked – we smashed it, won by a mile and are now French Cup Champions 

We partied well … French Grand Prix style and it was a productive and really fun weekend, catching up with friends, racing hard, winning and celebrating. It’s very important to me to celebrate victory because the rest of the time I’m training to get there.

Because I’m away from the UK a lot these days, when I’m back I try and take the chance to visit sponsors as much as possible. Hopefully, they like to see me, but obviously I need their help too. I travelled to Kingston on Monday to drop in at Sigma Sport and get my bike serviced and race ready for the up-and-coming competitions. I also got to check out the progress of their new superstore in Kingston and it’s looking amazing. It’s going to be revolutionary in UK triathlon stores; much cooler and more boutiquey than your average bike shop. It opens mid-November and after Clearwater I’ll go and see it actually serving and in action.

Sigma kitted me out for the next races, which is no mean feat – I’m travelling to do an ITU race in Korea then to Thailand then straight to Tampa for World 70.3 Champs at Clearwater. It takes a lot of organisation to make sure I have everything but luckily I had a few good minds at Sigma on my side. It’s the little things like spare tubs and valve extenders that I forgot, so to wander round and see the essentials on the shelves is invaluable. The awesome mechanics sorted my bike anyway and now hopefully I have a lean mean racing machine (tbc!!! )

Talking of organisational skills, I was due to travel to Korea for the Tongeyoung World Cup on Tuesday and whilst I was packing I realised I’d lost my damn passport. Thankful as I am for all the great comments of help on facebook….,’ where did you last have it?’, and ‘it’ll turn up’, they didn’t help, and I was still passport-less. Mum thinks a Russian may have stolen it because ‘I look quite Eastern European’!! …haha.

One cancelled flight later and looking like a cancelled race, I pleaded with the Passport Office to help me out. 24 hours later I was on a new flight, albeit via Bangkok to Busan in South Korea, and trying to disperse the adrenaline junk in my bloodstream from getting to London Victoria (including Urban Outfitters, Niketown and Topshop), Heathrow, Bangkok and Korea in one day.

I arrived 20 hours before the race and slept very, very little in those two days. My coach and I made the decision to ignore the jet lag and just race. I met a few race friends and checked out the course but other than that, that was about as much thought I gave to the race … other than I needed to be out of the water ASAP … the fish were flippin’ massive – as big as my leg, and they flew. Scary stuff.

I could go through the race but basically I swam hard, got out on the bike in a two-up … burned the other girl off on the first lap and just time trialled it. It was tough, but that style of racing always is and I felt really strong and focused. I knew I could hold the two minutes I built on the run and did just that – crossing the pack of about eight near enough at the same place on each lap. Their pack gradually disintegrated with the distance until Anja Dittmer and Ainhoa Murua accelerated to claim the other medals. It’s my first World Cup victory, ever, and it’s filled me with confidence for next year. It was brilliant, I’m so glad I rebooked that ticket and I will NEVER lose my passport again I won’t need it for London anyway

From Korea I’m now in Thailand training up for Clearwater World 70.3 champs in November. I hope I can do you all proud there too. I’m after it!

Triathlon is a life of up and downs and round and rounds and after a disappointing World Final, a good party and a week of hard core penance it was time to race again at my favourite French Grand Prix … La Baule – the final. Gone are the days that French Grand Prix were practise races, the professional nature of the team structure in France and the unique way the country funds sports development and competition mean that 80% of the worlds best triathletes race on the French Grand Prix circuit.

So, six days after meeting last time we were off again. The beach start and less predictable nature of a sea swim makes it possible for us Poissy girls to make an impact on the swim and spilt the field;- Bebe Abraham and Jessica Harrison and myself were together at around 400m and it looked like this tactic was working. Sometimes, for no apparent reason things come together in races – it can take only a tiny occurrence or person to influence a whole set of results good to try and be that person-making a positive action to dictate a race. I train really hard and it is my aim to make sure that that attribute I have … to push myself … comes out when I race.

Suddenly in T1 I had 20 secs on the chase pack and was exiting transition with youngster Lucy Hall … an excellent British junior swimmer. Yesterday that was enough to break it. I led for near on the whole 20km on the bike with little Lucy getting a helping hand to pull away. Not an easy hand though, I was killing myself and I’m really impressed Lucy hung on in there and stayed on my wheel. Lap 1 was 30 secs, lap 2 – 50secs and lap 3 – 65 secs between us and the chase pack which included including the Beauvais girls;- Hewitt, Dittmer and Holland, my teammates Harrison and Peon (who were saving their legs to run hard counting on me to secure a win), along with Samuels, Moffat, Davis Riveros Diaz, Sweetland and Jackson … a pretty scary name list to have chasing you – riding solo – I can tell you!

The championship hinged on this race and our places and with Hewitt ultimately running a 16min 5km I had to shift. But I did it … I won with about 30secs in hand with Hewitt 2nd, Moffat 3rd. My Poissy girls suffered with fatigue from a long season; we finished a brave 2nd place in the team competition. There have been so many injuries in our team this year and also clashes of priority in such a hectic international calendar that although Poissy love to win we kept our honour there for the club and its sponsors.

I also won the drugs testing race to produce 90ml of urine … despite premature attempts by Miss Hewitt and Miss Moffat We all desperately wanted to see the men’s race unfold and I was lucky enough to just be done in time to see the Brownlees and Gomez cross the line hand in hand. It was brilliant, to see the top three men in the world of triathlon at the moment, crossing together and working as a team. Even though their green trisuits are pretty minging ☺

I have some late season races to come still so will keep blogging whilst a few of my compatriots take their well earned breaks and we all get ready to hit it again next year. I’m glad I have finished the summer season on a high and obviously that I learned from my mistakes last weekend … that’s very important to me because as they say ‘you’re only ever as god as your last race’.

This week has been a week of averageness. The World Finals; performance = average…consisting of my swim=average, my bike=average and my run= average. I hate averageness and so have spent a week in sulk mode, angry at the events of last weekend. I hated every minute of it; – from cancelled flights, lost bikes, Tim’s crash, incessant Hungarian rain, tired body, tired head and a crash of self esteem and indulgence in self loathing. That’s it. A stamp has been put down now and I’ll learn a lot from ‘Little Miss Average’s’ emergence last weekend… I’ve had a kick up the bum in the right direction and it’s time to get happy… Which means performing to my best.

The only constructive blog I can think to write about my grumpy week is one akin to an episode of ‘Grumpy Old Men’… aka ‘Sulky Little Jodie’. A series of moans that epitomise my hates in life… Almost as much as average results… Almost.

The overbooking of flights

I spend an amazing amount of time travelling and therefore need journeys to run as smoothly as possible. So… I get to the airport in plenty of time for the flight that I have already paid for and have carefully assimilated to fit in with train/car, drop off and pick up times. . I wait patiently to check in and suddenly…’that’ face on the check-in attendant.

’What?’ I ask, the attendant looks curiously at me. ‘What’s wrong?’

’We have no seats left, the flight is full’, the girl looks vaguely embarrassed but curiously still manages a degree of nonchalance.

’What? It can’t be full….I booked my ticket two months ago, that’s like paying for a concert ticket when there’s no seats left. I need to get to (Insert destination), I am racing in the (Insert important race), that’s why I choose to pay my money to come on this flight- I carefully manipulated the time to fit in a swim/bike and track session before I left to come here’

‘Yes, there is nothing we can do -the airline overbooked’, she looks ever so much more like a witch at this moment.

‘Yes….you are the bloody airline, right?’

‘Oh no we are the carrier’, she looks at me like I’m a retard for not understanding this ‘rudimentary’ point. ‘It is not our responsibility….you should be thankful we can get you on a flight in 8 hours with a change in Munich where your bike will be left for you to sort out because it is not our responsibility’

Swiss Air, you suck… Airlines, you suck… Government, you suck… Sort this out! Surely it can’t be legal?!!

Luggage Belts (Or the standing to close to them)

So… we have all sat on a plane for 12 hours and we all want to get to that hotel bed ( I actually am just frantic that the crap airlines have put my bike on board but that is an irrelevant point at this time). It seems many people, some races more than others (Spanish, Liverpudlians and ze Germans), need to get their luggage first. This is whether it comes out first or not. They often carry two trolleys which they sprawl across the line of the belt and ram into anybody’s ankles that have the misfortune of having to retrieve their bag that has won the baggage belt race. If Brad Pitt did this I would hate him, even if he was naked… Shoot anyone who stands in front of that yellow line. They are very selfish.

People that stand to close to you in queues

Leading on from the last point… Personal space is a human right. I may live on the continent but I preserve this British right … allow me it.

People who smoke in swimming pools

I first encountered this at Crystal Palace, swimming in the Southern Counties as a littlun. Then it was hamburgers… Trust me;- as good as they are, the smell of food when you turn at 50m into a 400m IM makes you heave incessantly… EVERY turn. Smoking is worse, smoking at altitude first thing in the morning even worse.

Smoking outside of places

I like the sun; I like to wait for things outside in it. Five times today I have done this and 5 times I’ve had to move because some selfish wanker has decided to sit next to me and blow cigarette smoke into my breathing line. It’s not a chat up its very, very unpleasant.

Rudeness on the internet

In normal life, people generally say hello, introduce themselves and then have a chat, incorporating a few questions if the need takes them along the way. It seems this general polite behaviour is being usurped by a more brash kind of communication delivered over the internet, namely on Facebook. These are some questions that have been put to me…on my ‘friends’ page- ‘What sports bra do you wear?’, ‘How much money do you make’, ‘What advice can you give me for my race next year’, ummm… my advice….use please and thank yous..That’s the best advice I will ever give you .

Broken iPods

I know and Apple knows that they can make a damp proof iPod…they would just lose A LOT of runners money so they don’t. I used to think I was the scatty one who broke everything but have since learned most triathletes go through an iPod every 8 weeks.

Triathlon marshals

This is quite a controversial one because we are all thankful to the great volunteers that run our sport. But guys…please direct…otherwise you might as well be a pole. Likewise, lately officials seem to be getting increasingly jobs worth about little things in races that really are nothing to do with triathlon. If I rack my bike and the rack falls down I don’t think I should pick up all the bikes. That’s just my opinion. Or, if the saddle stays on the rack whilst the seat stem drops….that’s not really my fault or intentional, what am I supposed to do? I would love to keep triathlon about the racing, rules are important but with a degree of measure.

Facebook

This is a love/hate one. Facebook is called f’’kbook or stalkbook for very valid reasons. In old times relationships must have been much easier because then you were not subject to hearing from your ex-loved one every day via mutual friends or news updates where their picture flicks up snogging some ugly tart or worse crying on a pavement 9 months on . Worse is the ‘memories application’ which kindly reminds you to relive ‘New York 2007’ in your archive photo album. If wanted to relive ‘New York 2007’, I’d have a look at my old photos and not wait for Facebook to suggest it.

We are back with Averageness

Hopefully this blog has demonstrated I’m fairly angry and fairly obsessive about the mood losing leaves me in. I’ve vented now and I am very glad I have because I’m pleased to say that today I won my first French Grand Prix in La Baule for my team Poissy. Andrea Hewitt was 2nd and Emma Moffat 3rd. (I love writing that !). I will blog separately but I’m now exceedingly positive and happy and might write 10 things that I love… They’d probably get me in trouble though… I’m also I’m on a train to the airport and thus will probably be inordinately pissed off by the time I arrive home.

Thought I’d mix my blog up a little this week … partly because it’s late (whoops). Partly because I’m very tired and finding it hard (more hard than usual) to string coherent sentences together and partly because variety is the spice of life (they say ).
Good things that happened in my little head
• I won again … this time in Almere near Amsterdam – an ITU Premium Points race.
• I led out the swim, drove a two up with Radka Vodikova off the front and ran the fastest run split. A great training race with a good bonus scheme incorporated within it haha. It’s perfect preparation for Budapest Grand Final next Sunday, I’m very excited (I seem very excitable full stop nowadays which is good – I think!)
• I moved up the mountain! I can already feel the advantage of the extra 50m in altitude … it could be the beetroot juice … my good mood but I’m putting it down to height .
• My mum has figured out Skype which is good because I can followthemummyswallow – and her amazing triathlon adventures. She is a full-on star and hard as nails. My poor dad has been riding around France this holiday with her and has, no doubt, endured some hard core ‘Jan racing’. Competitive? Us Swallows? No … Need to big up my sister Joanna’s victory in ‘Outlaw Ironman’ actually…10.45…a brilliant first ironman-distance victory. She is not me, no. Yes, she does have the same initial… Tricky, hey? JOANNA not JODIE!!
• My new pad has an amazing room and a spare room and lots of space to spin. (That’s body spinning not cycle spinning – that would not be in my happy column as is bores me a little)
• Bekstar (Keat) won her 2nd Ironman in as many weeks … this time in Louisville. I can cope with her being away as long as she’s winning
• There were shops in Almere … REAL SHOPS! – So it would have been rude not to indulge in a few shearing items (the must have of the season ) and a few more greatly deliberated good investment products
• I can download up here! Not only do I have season 6 of Grays Anatomy but new tunes everyday. Eliza Doolittle is making me very cheerful atm.
• In Almere, I actually got to catch up on Eastenders … OMG absolute pleasure, I have missed it so much. I also had MTV which is responsible for so much crap in the world but is such a pleasure when you live in the mountains!
Bad things this week in my little head
• The weather in Holland is worse than Britain … really awful. It poured every day I was there, they actually had to stop the age group race. The wind was so strong in our race I thought we were running backwards at points.
• Travelling home from Holland without a shower sucked. I was stuck in drugs testing when I should have been packing my bike and getting the train to Amsterdam. Actually, I am very lucky the drug testing was at the venue because the train carriage was ‘hempisised’ -most definitely…wonderful, wonderful Amsterdam hey?!
• Tiredness … arms, legs, head, feet. Never a pleasure but a sign of happiness to come I guess – I actually can’t believe I raced only on Sunday, it feels like a month ago!
• My organisation has been pretty bad this week … sorry sponsors. I’m back on top now and will set out my dates and calendar for you this weekend.
• A few more friends and training partners are off competing this week and I will miss them, no doubt. Lots and lots actually, but we are all about racing and getting what we want out of life and I must remind myself it’s not all about memememe Batman and Robin and Catwomen will look after each other just fine, I’m sure.
Ummmm… That’s it! not much to complain about hey? Not much at all. Don’t get me wrong triathlon life isn’t a life of milk and honey but for a quintessentially jaded troublemaker it’s a pretty good pathway at the moment ☺
Thanks for the read guys, the support and the loyalty. I know who I’m working for everyday… Essex Legacy, Sigma Sport, blueseventy, Instant Offices, Corporate Property Advisors, Computrainer and Asics – thank you ☺
Jxx

PS quote of the week – new feature – made me laugh a lot….
‘Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wild Life.’
Muhammad Ali

I know, I know, I’m a bit late on this race report. I just waved good bye to my mum, dad and two of my group of brilliant training chums and I have been trying to spend every non-training minute with them before they go. Triathlon is weird, I guess a lot like the army, we bond and settle at base camp then get dispatched out to declare war (at least on our bodies) against our opponents in races so there is a constant movement of athletes in and out of camp.

Courtesy Mike Clyne/Tri247.com

Anyway, I have good news. I raced the ETU points race in Geneva on Sunday and came away with a pretty comprehensive win. I led out of the swim, broke in transition 1 and built that lead through the bike. It absolutely tipped down as we warmed up and remained miserable throughout the whole race… Freezing and grey. As I time trialled the six hill repeats that constituted the bike leg, it was, at times, difficult to even see the road- let alone the metal and slippy white lines that litter Geneva’s road surfaces.

The risk of falling was enough to keep me pushing off the front and by the end of the bike I had four minutes on the big pack that had formed behind me. I guess all the hill training in Leysin pays dividends and in fact I like them now … but not when it’s raining;)

Even though I was leading by four minutes by the end of the bike, my legs were pretty stiff and sore on the run – which was a bit longer than 10km which doesn’t help. I gained another minute with very, very cold blue legs and finished happy, proud of the effort and praying for the sun.

It kind of made an appearance today and so did a bit higher energy levels. It’s time to knuckle down until the Budapest Grand World Series Final in three and a half weeks. I really think I can be in great shape by then and just have a sharpener in a premium points race two weeks before the main event.
Anyway I’ll let you know how it’s going

Thanks guys, for all the support, it’s going very well

Right, so it’s 5am and I’m writing a blog… Another race, another sleepless night and sore tummy

This time I’m in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary for the famous world cup. This place is remarkable, I first came here to compete in my first Olympic distance race at the World Students Games in 2000. Then it had a definite east European vibe with utterly charming people and a huge love of triathlon within the town. Nothing has changed. The town rallies around the race and there have been endless parties since Wednesday when I arrived. Lying in bed last night nursing a sore tummy, fireworks, singing and laughter was all I could hear… Not usual verbs associated with triathlon? Well, visit the World Cup here then

Since Alpe d’Huez I’ve been getting on with training at home in Leysin and trying to keep my head down. The last thing I want is to lose concentration at this point in the season or to let a few good races get to my head. I arrived into Budapest on Thursday and was particularly appalling at patiently enduring the three hour bus ride into Tizzy. I seemed to have developed really bad travel sickness in the last few years and buses in Hungary aren’t good with that.

The race was a split transition and I’m lucky because having gone to the long course races I’m kind of used to that. I did see a few girls setting up their bikes in T2 when the lake is 8km up the road… A two lap, still water swim course, 8km into town, the 7 x 5km of a ‘loopy loo’ bike circuit, finishing with a 4 lap run around town.

Having briefly assessed the start list I was aware that Sara McLarty was here. A top US open water swimmer who, although she does not yet have the run to finish races on podiums, does have the ability to upheave a race dynamic and split the pack on a swim. I wanted to swim on her feet but was also aware that her comparatively low ranking meant that while I was at one side of the podium, she was at the other. Crossing the field runs the risk of sweeping the field across to me on her feet, then I would have to get round them; this is kind of what happened…. and I didn’t swim fast enough. I came out in the lead group – with McLarty off the front.

Angry at myself and at the other girls for doing naff all work I drove the group with a few harsh words (I’d lost my voice by the second lap;)), credit to my fellow Brit for trying to work with me to chase/keep away form the next pack but our attempts failed with about 8 girls sitting on, waiting to be outrun by the better runners behind??, I don’t know, I don’t really understand!

Anyway once the packs had merged I was confident for the run but was fully aware of the ‘whippets’ within the group and the importance of a good T2. I led the last bike lap out and entered T2 well, unfortunately there were two dismount lines, and I jumped on the first one so lost 10m but regained this quickly out of transition.

I lead the run for the four raps and from a pack of 6 we dispersed until, when I checked, at 7.5km , there were three left (we passed McLarty at 2.5km). I front ran into the wind because I felt it important to break the field and assert my authority on corners and lines on the run. Sapunova tried to break with 1km to go but I tailed her closely, towed her until 100m to go and just lacked the speed to break her. I finished second with frustration on my face but a smile in my heart; this is my second podium in a World Cup and my first since 2003. That’s a long wait!

Celebrations last night took the form of an incredibly weird but packed arena watching a kind of Bruce Forsyth comedy/singing sketch – it was truly horrendous but fun and a good end to a great day. Thanks to my sponsors; Sigma, Instant Offices, Corporate Property Advisors, Essex Legacy and Asics for helping me continue my triathlon goal of the 2012 London Olympics. Next stop Geneva in a week.

So… After watching my amazing mum race at Hyde Park (under 3 hours, yay!), a lovely run with Michelle Dillon and Jodie (number 2) Stimpson, a swim at Imperial College and lunch with my old crew from Battersea and good friend Daley T I got to witness Alistair Brownlee throw everything, and indeed consciousness, at the men’s race. It was an absolutely unbelievable last km, Alastair missed out on this one, but damn, he is one tough cookie and will undoubtedly come back to terrorize his elders many more times. Stuart Hayes was also a complete toughie and made countless attempts to break from the massive pack on the bike. He succeeded in lap 7 and ran himself into a very commendable and brave top 10 finish.

Monday I flew back to Geneva to be greeted by my gorgeous training partner Rebekah Keat. Bek finished second in Roth last weekend and is the coolest and most talented training partner I have ever had. It amazes me we can be friends with how we make each other hurt sometimes; haha.

So… Her with an ironman in her legs and me suffering 48 hour DOMS, we travel to the French Alps and line up on Wednesday; 110km from the top of Alpe d’Huez.
Now, I don’t profess to know any details about this race. My coach texted me on the Friday before London and asked if I’d like to enter. ’Of course,’ I replied – what a bloody martyr

All weekend I’d been getting hints about the race and its challenges but, to be honest, I tried not to listen, I even squinted my eyes as we drove up the 21 switchbacks. My philosophy is pretty simple, just go hard – if that’s up a climb so be it, everyone has to climb the same. The fastest, toughest person will win, and it can’t be as steep as the ‘Athens hill’ (the Athens Olympic hill has never been matched in incline in any race or training I have ever done. It was, in fact, ridiculous but I made it up there 6 times with a hole in my Achilles so I figure I should never doubt my resolve).

2.2km swim, 110km bike with three cols (ending at 2,000m in Alpe d’Huez), 22km run at 2,000m.

I raced how I love to. I hammered the swim with one of my best friends, Harry Wiltshire, and we exited with a large gap on the rest of the field. I was pretty fired up and darted up the first steep incline out of transition. Harry was very funny… ‘Calm down Jodes, we’ve got 110km to ride’…very funny moment when Harry discovered my racing testosterone (if girls get that!), and my foul mouth to boot… Sorry Harry ;} (he said it made his day afterwards!). I raced off only to follow the lead car which had decided to take a different route to the marked course.

I had to turn back and then was a bit behind Harry. The lead men caught just before the first Col which climbed around 20km. There were two descents and another two 20km climbs. It is hell! This course is unbelievable… Beautiful, tough and truly amazing. If I’d had time to observe our surroundings it would have taken my breath away – unfortunately the inclines and descents did that in a different way. It was absolutely thrilling.

The last switchbacks on Alpe d’Huez were not as thrilling, just long overdue, but by that stage I had a large cushion of time on the other girls and just had to run and look after my sugar levels. I won by a 30 mins in 6 hours 20mins. Bek Keat finished second, no mean feat after her Roth effort. Mentions to James Cunnama for his win, Scott DeFilippis on 3rd, Harry Wiltshire 5th, beautiful Lisbeth Kristiansen 5th, Tamzin Lewis 6th and big congrats to Emma Smith on 9th and getting in the prize purse – yay!!.

A great Wednesday it was and hopefully a sign that we’re finally getting to grips on releasing my potential. Next stop is Tizzy World Cup, so I’m back in the mountains enjoying training and loving life … yes guys, even when I have ‘that’ look … haha. Just gonna reiterate to all my sponsors how grateful I am and acknowledge my friends and family in how much support you lot give.

Just a quick note on Jodie’s behalf to say that she won today’s Alpe d’Huez long course race (2.2k swim, 115k bike finishing up the famous climb and then a 22k run). And she didn’t just win… Unofficial time was 6:20:07 with the second placed athlete, Rebekah Keat, at 6:48:56 – 29 minutes behind her! Stephanie Reymond of France was third in 6:58:35 with Alexandra Louison in fourth just edging out Lisbeth Kristensen who was fifth.