It has been challenging to learn where to pace myself while being on the road. Competing on the World Cup circuit is complicated as you are only in each location for about a week with only 4-5 sessions on the white water before you race. Then you pick up and leave again. It is a draining process.
I found myself very tired for my race in Augsburg, Germany. The weather also didn't help… as it rained all week with very cold temperatures. I had two major mistakes in each of my qualification runs. The 1st run I caught an edge close to the bottom of the course and flipped over. Once I had rolled back up it was too late and I had blown past gate 17. I was upset and frustrated after my first run, as I knew I could perform better. I was exited and anxious for my second run where I reviewed in the video tent and repeated visualizations of a perfect execution of the course in my head. I felt prepared and ready to race. I powered out of the start gate and was determined to throw down, but I missed the line through the first hole and missed the 2nd gate and the line was so off I also blew past the 3rd gate as well.
That's racing, sometimes you have good races and sometimes you have bad ones. That is what I love about it, but that is also what makes it so difficult as each athlete is striving for consistency. The mistakes I made in Augsburg were tough, nonetheless it has given me even more motivation to do well in La Seu d’Urgell and Liptovský Mikuláš.
