Albstadt turned out to be a big disappointment for me. I knew my form leading into the race was red hot but unfortunately I fell ill the day before the race and spent the night with vomiting, diarrhea and a terrible stomach ache. I didn’t manage to get much food in me at all and on the day of the race the only thing my stomach could handle was bread and fluids. By the morning I had stopped vomiting but my stomach still felt terrible so I was running on little sleep and food. I decided I would start the race just in case a miracle occurred and I felt okay in the race. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be and half a lap into the race my legs blew to pieces. My body was completely unable to recover from any effort and from there rode the race out with my main rival last year Victor Koretzky who had a chest infection; disappointing for us to both have such bad days. I had a few questions afterwards as to why I didn’t pull out and for those who wonder there are a few reasons…

The main one being pride and that once you allow yourself to pull out it is very easy to get into the habit. I kept going in the spirit of racing and my belief that if you feel you can start then you should be able to finish. On the day my mind was much stronger than my body and in hindsight I shouldn’t have started the race. On Wednesday my condition wasn’t much better so I took a visit to the doctor for a variety of tests confirming I have picked up a virus and therefore need to rest up so will not be racing the second World Cup round in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. A tough choice but I’m sure in the long run it will prove to be the best decision. While this throws my hopes of overall World Cup success out the window I am still targeting some big results at the upcoming World Cup rounds and World Champs. A temporary step back now to achieve many steps forward soon. Every athlete goes through rough patches, the ones that have the mental fortitude to cope with it will come out the other end stronger than before.