Britain’s Holly Lawrence is fully focused on producing a big result at the PTO Tour US Open in Milwaukee this summer after securing her first podium in over a year at IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder.
In her most recent YouTube video on the Passion Project channel, Lawrence shared her thoughts on her race in Boulder, plus plans for the next few weeks leading into the US Open, which include some long overdue aero testing.
“It wasn’t a typical race”
Having not tapered properly for the race in Boulder, Lawrence said that she was pleased with the way things panned out, especially considering she thought her race was all but over after a crazy hard effort at the start of the swim.
“In the swim, I really thought I would be able to keep up with Lauren [Brandon] and Taylor [Knibb] for a little longer than I did, so I was really surprised when 400-500m in I started going lactic, and I really thought I had put myself in a bad spot that I wouldn’t be able to recover from.
“On to the bike, I decided to put my power on a screen so I couldn’t see it, which is what I used to do and think I will do again, because then you get a little less emotionally affected by it.
“I went out on the run and I felt really controlled, just hitting the splits Sean [Jefferson – coach and fiancee] gave me. But then on the second lap I started getting the splits back to Jeanni [Metzler] and it felt really hard, so in the end I was just stoked to get second.”
Despite having moved up to Boulder from Los Angeles at the start of the year, Lawrence revealed that the challenge of racing at 1,600m caused some nerves, but in the end didn’t derail her race.
“I didn’t really know what to expect because it wasn’t a typical race that we would really rest up for. I rested for a few days, but I was just nervous about racing up at altitude and I didn’t really know how I was going to feel.
“I couldn’t have asked anymore of myself and I had fun, which was my biggest thing going into it, whether I had a good day or a bad day, I just wanted to be positive about it.”
“The next big race is the PTO US Open”
Having finished tenth at the PTO Tour European Open in Ibiza last month, Lawrence emphasised that her focus was now on performing at the PTO Tour US Open in Milwaukee at the beginning of August.
“The next big race is the PTO US Open, which is the beginning of August, so it’s just going to be head down in training until then.”
To give her the best possible chance of excelling at the race in Wisconsin, Lawrence will now head down to Los Angeles for a short trip to do some aero testing, something that she feels is long overdue.
“I am also going to LA next weekend for some aero testing which is way overdue. It seems like everyone else is doing it, so it is about time and I am really excited to see the results.”
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