Ironman 70.3: Holly Lawrence – Victory in her sights at Chattanooga

Holly Lawrence has been a force of nature in 2017 with win after win, and the Ironman 70.3 World Championships are set to be no different. Only thing is, Holly has been battling an injury which has disturbed her run training. Trizone caught up with the reining champion Holly to discuss her preparation for Chattanooga.

“I had an injury after winning in Racine in July,” said Holly, “it showed a little bit of damage on the bottom of my foot; irritation near the plantar plate. I’ve had amniotic fluid injections to help with the healing.”

Anti Gravity treadmill kept Holly running through injury

Since the end of the July, Holly has missed a small chunk of outdoor run training, but luckily her injury is getting better and better. “Getting well was more important,” said Lawrence, “I’m back to running outside now. I feel in a good place.

For those competitors who are rejoicing that Holly has been out for a few weeks, don’t celebrate just yet, she’s still been running the whole time. “It’s not been affecting my training or anything recently. It’s not like I’ve done weeks without running. I’ve been lucky to run on the AlterG (antigravity treadmill) It could have been a lot worse,” said Holly.

Like any athlete recovering from injury though, the deficit is really only apparent on race day. “I don’t know what I’ve lost over that time,” said Holly.

Injury takes the pressure off

Despite the frustration of the plantar injury, Holly feels being injured has taken the pressure off her for race day. Unfortunately though, Holly Lawrence loves the pressure of races and was looking forward to what will still be the battle of Chattanooga with Daniela Ryf. “I was looking forward to the duel between me and Daniela. I was excited for both of us to be in the best possible shape we could be in. Now I won’t be in that place,” said Holly.

With her steely mindset though, we’re sure Holly can pull it off. “It may still be a great day, but I’ll always be thinking it could have been better,” said Holly.

The taper for Chattanooga

“I had my last hard session last week,” said Holly. Lawrence reached Chattanooga last Friday and will be gearing up for a big race day. “I’ll definitely be checking out the bike course and making sure I know everything,” said Holly, “race day will come around pretty quickly.”

Holly Lawrence doesn’t care what anyone else is doing during a race, she only cares about her race….and Daniela Ryf’s. “I don’t think about anyone when I race. But for me, it’s Daniela. I never really got to race her last year. I’m actually hoping I get to race her at her best.”

All eyes will be on Holly Lawrence this weekend to see if she can pull off another World Championships victory after a string of impressive results in 2017.