I love that race, it's the biggest triathlon in the world in terms of participation, with 13,000 athletes racing; it was a real buzz to cross the line first and I felt in really good shape.

It also gave me a massive, much-needed confidence boost ahead of this weekend, when I will be taking part in my biggest race of the year, the World Championships Series event in Hyde Park.

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This race is very important to me and will become increasingly important over the next three years, climaxing at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

I will have three years to practice on this course so I want to start off with a good result. If I can associate this race with success it can only benefit me at the Olympics!

I'm really looking forward to it, I hope you are too. Both the men's and women's races will be heavily contested as athletes hit their peak form for the year.

Triathlon is booming, we're about to see the most important triathlon the UK has ever seen and it's never been more exciting. It's a free event in a fantastic location, a guaranteed great day out.

Watch Will in action at the London World Championship Series triathlon on Saturday 15 August from 1300-1630 on BBC One and the BBC Sport website (UK users only).

My first race in Paris (Beauvais) went very well. I finished third behind Alistair Brownlee and Javier Gomez in a tight sprint finish after racing together the whole way. I was especially happy with my swim coming out of the water for once right with the leaders, something I have been working hard on.

A couple of days later I travelled out to America, my first stop being in Washington DC to compete in the third World Championship Series event. The Americans always put on a great show and what an incredible venue for a triathlon! The race course took in all the world famous monuments and memorials.

Our hotel was right in the centre of town so before the race we enjoyed hanging out in the restaurants and completing laps of the White House on our training runs. I actually got to see the great man himself coming out of the White House with his entourage of black SUVs.

The race itself was again dominated by Alistair Brownlee's incredible form, as he took his second win of the year in this sort of event and certainly made the race hard for everyone else. Incredible talent!

I rocked in 10th which is moving in the right direction for me. However the only after-race beverage I had was a protein shake as it was all about recovery in time for Des Moines World Cup event just six days later!

Des Moines as a city was a stark contrast to Washington, but it was nice being somewhere a bit more chilled out and cheaper! This was a race like no other. With $1m up for grabs everyone wants to win this one but there is prize money for every finisher!

Unfortunately I just didn't have the arms or legs to get the job done after pushing extra hard in Washington so I finished 11th and 55 seconds down on the win, which was not bad considering how I felt on the day.

I'm excited by this block of racing as it shows me I'm not far off a great result. If I am being honest I feel I am a bit over raced and under-trained at this point but these are all very important lessons learnt.

I now have a big block of training and a lot less racing so I expect to jump the gap to the front of the race in time for my big race at the London World Championship Series race on 15 August in Hyde Park.

I feel very privileged to be able to call this my job but don't get me wrong it can be an extremely hard lifestyle. Everyone in the sport strives to be the best but it's not peaches and cream all the way to the top.

It is especially tough dealing with the constant peaks and troughs and getting your head around the bad sessions and races. I have realised that everyone I'm competing against out there is so passionate that they're almost desperate to do anything in their power to win!

Will races in the fourth leg of the World Championship Series in Kitzbuhel, Austria on Saturday.

The first races of the year always feel tough because you're not 100% fit yet and you still need the extra racing gear needed to win the race.

After racing Madrid last weekend I realised what a hard sport this is. In a relatively new sport like triathlon it just seems to get harder every year. You improve but so does everyone else!

I have just finished my first block of racing of the year and it went really well. I managed to defend my National Championships title, win in the highly competitive French Grand Prix series and experience a solid start to the World Championships Series in Madrid.

The races were a lot of fun and I was delighted with my win at the National Championships in Scotland for the second year in a row. I felt really good on the bike and managed to break away, putting a minute into the other guys, which was enough for me to clinch the win.

No celebrating though, just a good old Burger King on the way home. I felt like I had a hangover the next day even then! I still had two more races to compete in so it was just recovery and more preparation.

My French Grand Prix race was just the same as usual, great to catch up with the guys, get in some good meals, racing and stay in some of the worst hotels available!

This time it was a shabby hotel in the middle of Dunkirk, and I ended up on a made up airbed in the corner of the room!

The first race of the season is especially good, though, because we get all the fresh new kit for the season. It feels like a second Christmas!

The race itself was hairy to say the least, we came out of the swim together and that resulted in a 50-person bike pack snaking its way round the city centre race course at over 30mph!

It got quite dangerous at times with close encounters with kerbs, lamp posts and cars! Luckily I got round safely and felt strong enough on the run to take my second French Grand Prix win ever.

Unfortunately I couldn't keep up my winning streak in Madrid. The race didn't really play into my hands, it was hot, hilly and hard but I got a really solid work out from it and rocked in 14th, which isn't too bad result for a bad race.

I still got points and a really solid work out. It was a really hot day out there and the race didn't play into my hands but congratulations to Alistair Brownlee for his first win. He's having an amazing year so far.

After the race we all had the opportunity to chill out a bit in Casa De Campo, the park in Madrid. I had my first beer of the last few months. We were the first up in the karaoke, and we were terrible.

I'm pretty happy at the moment with my form. I seem to be in a good position to strike later in the year, when I am meant to be firing on all cylinders.

I really enjoyed the first few races but at the moment my legs definitely remember it!

I have to recover quickly and get back to my training as soon as possible as possible however as my next block of racing is just around the corner and I want to make some improvements before I head off!

Next weekend I'm racing another French Grand Prix race in Beauvais, just a few days before I depart for my trip to America where I race the Washington leg of the World Championship Series and the Des Moines World Cup.

There's some great racing in great locations out there and I can't wait to perform.

It's always a huge relief to come out of winter again with a good base of conditioning, feeling prepared and injury-free.

I've already had a race in California, which has really given me the bug for the rest of the year.

I loved the Olympic experience last summer, although I was bitterly disappointed to come 14th and it took me a long time to get over my under-par performance, especially since I was in such good shape entering the race.

I am trying to turn it around for the best and am viewing it as "the best thing that ever happened to me".

Since Beijing there have been so many changes to almost everything I do that this year feels very exciting indeed.

It's the start of the four-year build up for the next Olympics now and I have already made a lot of changes.

First and foremost I have ended my seven-year-long coaching relationship with Dan Salcedo. It was a great journey, ending with a National Championships title and the Olympics, but I believed that we got as far as we could get and I needed some new guidance and to try some different methods to convert those good races to excellent races.

It's going to be very different being coached by Rick Velati. He's a real thinker and already I can see so many good, well thought-out and planned ideas from himand the team. I'm very excited to see him work and I hope we can see some positive changes quickly.

The British Triathlon Federation has also poached Joel Filliol from Canada as the new head coach. Joel has a proven track record for great results so, along with the rest of the staff, I have a great team around me for the year ahead.

Most of the grind this winter was again done in sunny Loughborough. I've really been enjoying it though, possibly more than ever. We have such a great group of athletes up here to lighten the mood and keep training fun and motivating.

Home is not too shabby either as I've just got engaged to Clare, my girlfriend of eight years, and I've been getting in the hours running with my labradoodle Lola.

Damn but the dog is fast! Recently she seems to be slacking but I think it could be that summer's arriving and she's struggling with that thick coat.

As usual, I managed to get away to Stellenbosch in South Africa with two friends for a month of hard work. We had an amazing block of training and the weather was incredible, which made our lives very easy.

There was plenty of banter along the way to keep the morale high, even when we were exhausted from the endless days of between four and seven hours' hard training in the heat.

It's easy when you have the quality of life we had in Stellenbosch, though. The area is beautiful and when we are not training alongside the famous vineyards and mountains we were eating out in amazing restaurants and hanging out in cafés.

I think we ate out most meal times bar one, which didn't go well at all. My training buddies cooked - Nick burnt the fish badly on one side and Tom dropped the pasta on the floor. We decided we should just eat out all the time from then on!

Last month I competed in the California Half Ironman as I thought it would be a great test and would also round off a good winter so long as I got round it in a decent position.

It was such an amazing trip. I loved living the American dream; the coastal area is an incredible place to live and the race itself was a real experience.

At double the distance I usually race at, with a 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21km run, it was always going to be a challenge.

I ended up in seventh place, and felt a bit under-prepared for the bike, but still I was reasonably chuffed as it's not really my event.

I believe I am in a very good position right now; the guys who beat me do this style of racing regularly so I can't complain too much!

Since arriving back from California my head has been well and truly down, preparing everything I can in time for the season ahead.

This year, we have the new flagship World Championship Series where there are seven bigger races in iconic cities, with bigger budgets and more media, plus the grand final on Australia's Gold Coast.

The title of world champion goes to most consistent athlete in four races plus the final.

It's going to propel the sport to another level. I'm very excited to compete in my first one in Madrid in just over a month's time but before that I've got to defend my national title in Strathclyde on 17 May.

The hardest training of my life
I'm really happy with GB Olympic team, it's really well-rounded with no "weakest link" and I genuinely believe that each one of us could win a medal.

Butterflies ahead of the Big Day
Well the big one is finally upon us. This weekend is the Madrid World Cup, the final qualifier for the Olympics, the last chance to show worthy of the team for Beijing.

Racing a nice break from training
Training has been going brilliantly and I have managed to train very long and hard, getting myself in pretty good shape for these next few races.

Australia, Japan and some testing times
I've just returned from a month-long trip to Australia and Japan for World Cup races, and it's been an up and down time.

My Olympic dream
Hello and welcome to my first blog for the BBC. In case you don't know anything about me, I'm a British triathlete aiming to get selected for the Beijing Olympics later this summer. I was the under-23 world champion in 2006 but I'm now mixing it with the big boys.