Trains, Travels

My first week of training here in Oz is done. It’s been a big week, reaching 31 hours by the end and I’m pretty tired. I’ve drawn up my training plan and essentially have defined my weekly activities for the rest of my time here. See I said it’s like work, I follow a timetable almost every day.

For someone whose career has been in computing it’s a bit poor that the best I could come up with for putting my training program on the site was a png. Maybe I’ll come up with something more interactive in the future, but to be honest probably not. I’m happy with it, it’s going to be challenging at times, but it’s flexible enough to give me a typical week in the 30 hour range and the possibility to do a bit more for a very occassional big week.

I’ve trained with a few people here now and it has to be said that when they train they like to train hard! I don’t think getting intensity in will ever be a problem. It suits me though, I wanted to train with people who will help push me and that’s what I’ve got. At times I’ll need to be sensible and back off a little, you can have too much of a good thing.

Being sensible won’t be too hard, I got out on the bike at 5:30 this morning to discover my legs really weren’t in the mood for a flat ride even. My weekend’s big ride littered with attacks on hills have left them trashed. I cruised about on the flats for 65k before calling it a day and heading home. Just gone 8am, eating breakfast and my big training session of the day done. Getting up and out at dawn may not sound appealing, but there’s a lot to be said for getting the training out the way like this. Anything after 10pm is a late night for me now!

We’re up to birds 3 - Russell 0 after two succesful strikes to my bike helmet on the way home today. Same bird as last time too and can confirm it wasn’t a Magpie. Though one did go for some of the others earlier in the ride. I have also since learnt that on another ride last week a plan was formed to stick me at the back of the group through a particularly aggressive Magpie’s territory. Fortunately it wasn’t there that day. Australia is know for its large collection of animals that can kill you we should add to this kamikaze creatures. Aside from territorial attacks I got to watch a crow nearly crash into a mate on the bike and then learn about the time a flying fox stunned itself crashing into his head!

Nearly there with all the admin for my year in Oz. I now have an Australian bank account so I can properly manage the funds for the year. Checking flight prices for my trip out west to Busselton and I have to say I could do without the rising fuel prices! On the plus side though I’ve got some homestay accomodation for the race which should make things much more affordable and also enable me to spend a couple of weeks out there. Last year I spent a week in the Geographe Bay area and loved it there. I always regreted that being in the final week of taper limited my options to enjoy training in the area. Going a couple of weeks before will let me do some riding in the region.

It’s not all clear skies and sunshine, in the mornings it’s been chilly enough I’ve used arm warmers and my gillet. This is of course at about 5:30 in the morning when a long ride typically starts. By about 7 things have warmed up enough you can strip down to shorts and a jersey and it’s all good. I’m planning a few runs in the peak of the heat to find out just what it feels like. Next week’s Gold Coast half promises to be warm.

I got to drive round the course earlier this week it’s flat and very exposed. It could be like the Worlds all over again, the winds will be the big factor on the bike. Then it’s a matter of how I cope with that heat. I’m looking forward to it now though, can’t wait to give it a go. After a ’summer’ of damp, cold races I’m in need of some warmth. The racing front is looking all set for the year now and I’ve a few ideas for next year, there’s plenty to choose from.

On the training side a couple more decent rides and a couple more training partners met. I’m pretty much set for someone to ride with and somewhere to go for the next 2 days. Tomorrow is a long, hilly loop to the south of the GC with a couple of guys. I’ve been saving my legs for this as based on the past week they like to ride the hills hard, there won’t be much cruising going on. Monday I plan to head west and climb Springbrook which I haven’t done since last year. Hopefully no incidents involving Magpies this time.

Some open water swimming should be on the cards too next week, back at the shark free lake. Not sure on the water temperature, but I know whilst described as cold it’s warmer than back home. Today’s my day off from swimming, I’ve done 19.5km in the pool so far this week with 1 more session planned to get me on target. My training plan is slowly coming together, I’ll basically have 6 sessions in each sport giving me one day off from each. Easy weeks and tapers will see me reduce the number and length of sessions plus they’ll be rest days.

As I’m covering all 3 sports I guess I should mention running. Whilst running is where I started it gets treated like the ugly cousin to the rest of my training when it comes to writing about it. A lot of run training is quite dull, once you’re established somewhere you tend to get stuck into routines and routes. Hopefully things will get a bit more interesting in a few weeks as Pete, my masseur and a training partner, has offered to take me trail running. I’ll be needing some decent off-road shoes, those Salomon Wings look pretty good too. It’ll be nice to break up the run training with some variety like this.

So things are pretty much settled. I think next time I post I’ll have my basic week in place and will try to come up with some fancy way to get it on the site. I’ve stocked up on nutrition and supplements, stopped in at the local tri shop and got some good training lined up. I’ve also just added to the Australian experience with the first quarter of an AFL final on TV. Off for that hot run now, though there’s a cool breeze too. I’ll follow the outskirts of Bond Uni lake and think about the Bull Sharks that inhabit it.

As part of a new and better time management initiative I’m trying writing these posts off-line. It keeps me off the internet that little bit more which has got to be a good thing. I might even put a bit more thought into them and that’s definitely got to be a good thing!

The theory behind this blog was that once I was in Australia then things would become a bit more interesting and I’d have more to write about. A little patience is going to be needed here these things take time. Right now I’ve passed the first week getting used to training lots everyday and doing the odd bit of admin. It’s not exactly gripping stuff just yet.

Training goes well though, I’m coping fine with repeated days of high volume. The heavier swimming load takes it’s toll a little on my shoulders, but otherwise things have been fine. I’m not yet really into a structured plan as such. For the fortnight my plan is to get in a lot of swimming along with regular bike and run sessions. I’ll mix and match short and long runs as time allows and try to keep fairly consistent lengths of bike sessions. I’ll continue this up till 2 days before the Gold Coast Half-Ironman and then go into a mini-taper. The plan is to use the race as a rough gauge of where I am now and not to miss too much training for it.

Signs so far this week are that things are starting to pick up a bit. Certainly on the bike I’ve been feeling a bit better than I did the last few weeks back in the UK. Possibly a bit of a motivational boost from the new location, or from training with others, but a good sign. I’m not feeling great in the water yet, but trusting that just spending enough time there will fix that. As for the run if my legs feel fresh it’s great, if not it’s a slog. Nothing new on that one a few weeks of good running and hopefully I’ll be able to focus my training a bit more.

Once the Gold Coast Half is done then it’s time to switch to a structured plan. I drew up a rough outline before I left, a few tweaks to fit in training partners and it should be good to go. Each weekend I plan to use the basic week template to come up with an exact training plan for following week. Yep, I may have more time to fit things in, but organisation has become key to using this most effectively. This way I can adjust and control the build up of training and focus of the week. At the same time by sticking to a template it prevents me getting too easily confused.

I’ve said before how this is my ideal training environment. I should make a note of one exception to the rule. Birds. Particularly the Magpies. They get very territorial during nesting season and have a tendency to go for passers by. Last time I was here I was climbing up Springbrook when I encroached on a Magpie’s territory. It swooped me 3 times whilst I put in a hard hill climbing interval to escape. I got my first swoop yesterday! Brushed the top of my helmet as I cycled home. Probably not a Magpie as it swooped once and did a pretty poor job of it. Fortunately so far no trucks or utes have scored points on me.

Based on the winds the past couple of days this should be a great training environment for Lanza. The hills are there to use, maybe not quite as long or exposed. Riding from Point Danger up to The Spit and back can be pretty challenging depending on the winds. I think it’s time to start exploring west though, much as I enjoy riding the beach front roads there’s only so many times you can do it in a week. Just a swim and a run to go today, then I’ll back things off a little tomorrow.

Something like 5 days here now, to be honest I’m losing track of the time a little. Days blend into one pretty quickly, though sometimes they’re a bit cloudy or there’s a storm to break up the monotony of the relentless sunny weather. I guess maybe it could get boring otherwise, maybe…

I got myself into training pretty quickly. I don’t suffer from jet lag a bonus of years as an insomniac student getting by on 4 or 5 hours sleep a night. A run to the beach to start Sunday morning off and remind myself of why I was here. Then real training started Monday, and so far I’m sticking to around 4 hours or a little over a day. In between that training I’m slowly organising my life here.

It’s been great to get some cycling done in warm weather, being able to get out on the road at 6am in just shorts and a jersey is so nice. By the time you finish it’s starting to really warm up and you get to enjoy the sun for the last hour of the ride. I haven’t been too adventurous in my routes yet, having essentially ridden up and down the front both times. Still it’s only the first few days and I did go out on a nice hilly ride with a couple of mates before heading off down the front. Looks like I have some training partners lined up shortly and based on that first ride they should push me pretty hard too. The course was lumpy and we weren’t holding back for the two loops we did. Almost a relief to ride the front on my own afterwards! That said when the winds pick up here it can make it pretty tough going.

I’ve thrown myself into the 20-25k a week swimming program, it’s not so hard here. I’ve a 50m pool only about 20 minutes walk from where I’m living. Compare that with a 1 hour drive back home. It’s an 8 lane open air pool so importantly you can even out the tan lines whilst you’re training. It’s fine if you go in the day, you’ll more than likely get one of those lanes to yourself, go when squad training is on and it’s a bit like back home though. A bunch of us stuck in just 2 lanes with 3 women having decided the lane I was in was ideal for incredibly slow breaststroke. One of them couldn’t actually make the full 50m in one go and would hang on the lane line for a while each length. I am having to get used to not being the fastest in the pool in public swimming. I have been wearing the drag shorts to slow me down a little, but even without them there are some decent swimmers here. Right now I’m focussing on getting used to some weeks of higher volume swimming before doing specific sessions.

As a training environment it’s living up to expectations aside from the perfect climate, that I might have mentioned, I have very few distractions. I’m not watching much TV, I’m barely on the internet and I’m in bed by around 10 most evenings. It’s an exciting life! The reward is you get up before 6 and feel rested and ready to train. Little faffing, straight out the door to get the first session in before breakfast. Weather aside I could have achieved this all at home I’m sure, it’s just much easier here.

Outside of training? Well there’s not much to tell really. I’ve sorted out the bits and pieces I need day to day and got my bearings on the area. I’ve stocked up on all the drugs supplements I need. An old lady offered me drugs, if she’d had them on her, OK admittedly it was just a supplement I was buying which she had a bottle she didn’t want. It just sounded better to imply that elderly Australians were drug dealers, pensions aren’t what they were after all. I also highly recommend the Ironman movie, nothing to do with the triathlon, but the one based on the Marvel comics. I can’t say I’m a particular Ironman fan, though there were probably some n the comics I gave away, but the film was great.

As part of my new improved time management I need to get to the pool to get a 3k minimum set done before lunch. I’ll try and get a decent photo showing off how nice it is here for next time.

Well here I am, in Australia now enjoying warm sunny weather and clear blue skies. It’s a little odd to think this is where I’ll be for the next 9 months or so. Having been stuck on a plane for most of a day there’s not much to blog about.

The movie selection let me see the new Indiana Jones film without having to pay for the privilege. It really wasn’t as bad as I expected, which is to say I expected it to be dreadful. In Bruges was pretty good, quite dark and quite funny, but not worth the hyperbole used to sell it on the poster. Forgetting Sarah Marshall was also a lot better than expected, amusing in places and not just because I have an inexplicable weakness for romantic comedies.

However I’m not going to review movies as a means to generate blog content, back to books. Whilst climbing in the Alps I was recommended a book by Michael the other guy on the course. Actually I was recommended 2 books but this isn’t a review of the one on the secret techniques for picking up women. Instead I looked for a copy of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho at the airport bookshop.

Michael had recommended the book as life changing. A story of a boy following his dreams above all else. Whilst I’m inclined to be cynical about claims that something might be life changing, the theme seemed relevant to me and the trip was about to take. Also Michael was following his own dreams with similar dedication and to me demonstrated an admirable focus towards this. If this book as claimed had influenced him into this state then it seemed worth some consideration. Having bought it I was a little shocked and discouraged to read a positive review by Madonna on the rear.

So the novel itself is quite short and a quick read. It has characteristics of modern parable both for the good and bad. Characterisation is weak, they’re just tools to move a simplistic narrative forward. The language is quite simple and whilst this might be an artefact of translation I suspect it’s more likely a deliberate method to invoke the feeling of parable. Taken at it’s most literal it reads like pseudo-spiritual mumbo-jumbo and initially I found little positive in it.

As time went on I found that I could enjoy it much more if I considered it metaphorically and instead looked to see the view the author was expressing about following our dreams. I was perhaps helped by the author’s note preceding the story which stated the 4 obstacles to achieving dreams. As events unfolded I tried to see how it referred back to these four. I came to largely dismiss the spiritual aspect of events or their explanations, instead looking for approaches to life.

Essentially the parable suggests the world is set-up to support those who chase their dreams, but to do so you have to be in tune with the world. Here meaning to be able to communicate with the Soul of the World, in fact with the essence of anything. For those of us who prefer an analytical approach over such things I read a parable that following your dreams requires a focus on the details to reach a level of adeptness to survive and advance.

Personally I didn’t find it life changing, in part because I am already following my dreams to an extent. Perhaps it’s a little affirming of the choices I’ve made and even reflects some of the experience I have had. It would be fair to say some of the doubt and fears mentioned as obstacles in your path were relevant. The story itself is a bit too heavy handed and simplistic for my taste and whilst appropriate for a parable it just felt a little artificial. However it was thought provoking though not in the way I think it’s expected to be. Rather than inspiring I looked to see how this fitted to my own views on life and the choices I’m making now. Oh and it’s also short and bloody expensive considering that!

It’ll be back to training and life in Australia from now on. I’m already enjoying things starting my first day with an hours run to the beach and back. Warm weather, sunshine and beautiful views!

Well that’s it, goodbye to the UK and off to Australia. I’m all packed into 2 bags, somehow everything I need for the next 10 months fits. My bike bag can take 2 pairs of wheels along with the bike frame and a few other bits and pieces. Weighed them and neither bag is too heavy, on the other hand I definitely am! For once I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything and I’m ready with some time to spare. If I’ve missed anything when I get there, well I’ll have to buy it.

I arrive on Saturday and I’m counting Sunday as day 1 of the new training regime. Back down to race weight, better diet, plenty of training and new levels of fitness. No more comments about looking like a ghost in race photos too I hope! That’s it for now a mercifully short post after the last couple of days. Next time I’ll be on the other side of the world.

Part 2 of sorts, though relying that by starting two posts with the title ‘Off to Oz’ I can pass it off as a kind of series. The reality is I’ve not been too motivated this week and training has been very light. I’m too focussed on the trip ahead and making sure everything is ready to concentrate on the training. In the end I decided it was better to train lightly and have an easy week and start my time in Oz fresh and ready to go. So some of my extra spare time is going into these blog posts, enjoy! Oh yes, that is a gratuitous Gold Coast beach picture to break up an otherwise text heavy post.

When it comes to my objectives I know I’ve covered this before and will be reiterating things here. I’ll go into the specifics that I’ve come up with since the planning began shortly. At the broadest level my objective is to put myself in an environment where I can live like a pro, train like a pro and hopefully race a little more like a pro. That doesn’t necessarily follow, I’m having to trust that more good quality training will help me achieve my results. As there are no guarantees I’ve not set any objectives in terms of results, at least not at the highest level, for me I’m looking to improve on my current performance. There are things I hope to come from this, better placing in races, some age group podiums, that Hawaii slot. There is an amount of faith to training, you trust that if you follow your plan then you will see results. My experience has always been I start a new season feeling weak and slow. This can last for a few months before it all starts to come together and I actually feel the benefit of the work I’ve done. That build up can make it easy to doubt your actions in the course of a season, it’s going to be interesting to see how that feels when training is my only commitment.

The only thing my objectives dictate is the need to race and specifically if I’m thinkng Hawaii to race official Ironman events. Not getting to Hawaii this year and being in Australia pretty much dictated I enter the two Australian Ironman races. Once the key races are in place it’s a matter o putting in a few halfs or shorter events to get some race practice in. Australia isn’t short of events so this was no problem either. Then all that’s left is getting out there and executing a training plan designed to build up to those races.

I mentioned before how my approach is to utilise a basic week structure, basically to keep my training program nice and simple. I’m following a principle that I still have plenty to gain just by getting out there and regularly training well. It’s not that my workouts will lack focus, or be easy efforts. I won’t be making them overly complex and varied instead looking to focus on building the aspects of fitness and skills I consider important. Focus may vary over time, but I’ll stick to chunking this into discrete blocks. I certainly feel both cycling and swimming benefit the most for me when I am routinely working them at high volumes. Improving my running will be more of a challenge for me and I’ll admit I still need more thought on how I structure this. I can’t post a basic week’s timetable yet, I need to be in Oz and know what group training is available before I finalise that.

Moving on from a simple weekly structure I then have to consider how I progress this over my season. Effectively I’m treating landing there as the start of a new season (and a long one too). I’ll be starting at a much higher level f fitness than I began the year at so I don’t need to just form training habits. I’ve 2 weeks to my first race though so my initial focus will be about 10-12 days of solid daily training to acclimatise and get myself ready for a race. The Gold Coast Half-Ironman is really just for fun as it’s a local race. That said even the fun races I’ll go there and try and leave as much as I can on the course. Following that race I’ll look for a quick recovery and then build my training volume up till I hit Noosa Tri. It’s Olympic distance, not my speciality, I’ll aim to use it as a hard workout leading in to a weeks taper to Port Macquarie Half-Ironman. That’s my prep race for Ironman Western Australia so I’ll aim for a solid race and hopefully a confidence boost before I start to reduce my training towards the main event.

I aim to break that 9:30 mark in Western Australia and if I can get to the start line without injury or incident I think I can do it. Hawaii slots are scarce there so I’m not too focussed on qualifying there, but it’s my next A race so I’m not holding anything back. Whatever the outcome I’ll be focussing on recovery and light training for a couple of weeks after before looking to build back into normal training for January. I’ll be allowing myself a little time off during that month, after all it’s Christmas! Then it all starts again with a bit over 3 months to build up to Ironman Australia, a goal of another sub-9:30 and this time grabbing a place at Hawaii. We shall see.

At some point during the planning of all this I decide I really wanted to do Roth next year. My Oz Visa runs out in September so I’d have to come back at some point then anyway, though I had plans to head back as soon as I could. Whilst going to Australia was a big part of this year, the fundamental focus was the training and racing. Mulling it over I decided I’d come back sooner and race in Roth for the experience. If I come back here sooner then I just head back to Oz that little bit sooner too. Now I’m considering Lanzarote in May, a third official Ironman and a third chance at Hawaii. It may not be needed, but I’d like a little backup for my plans. Try as I might I can’t get enthusiastic about the UK Ironman and it’s probably too close to Hawaii anyway. So the plan gets adjusted a little bit more and I’m back in Europe in May for a few months.

To bring this overly long post to a conclusion. When I started out and when I began this blog I stated my aim was a year dedicated to training in Australia to see what would come of it. That’s partially true, except it’s not a year now, hopefully it’s a bit more, though that comes down to funds. Ideally this carries into 2010 and then I worry about the real world (I know it’s always there). Not all of the time will be in Oz, but I’ll maximise my time there around my racing plans. The really interesting part of all this is how do I end it? It has to finish at some point, but will I want to give up the full-time lifestyle? I’ll probably not have a choice! In the early days I didn’t want to commit to this plan without considering what I would do at the end of it all. Now, I’m trying not to think about that, I’ll worry about that one nearer the time!

I’ve done a very quick skim through my archive just to make sure this doesn’t make me seem entirely senile. In the absence of blog worthy activity in my life (the Oz prep goes well) and with only 3 days left I figured I’d post something about how this all started. Apologies now as it may cover familiar ground.

The first time the idea entered my mind goes back 2 years to Florida. I spent a couple of weeks in Clearwater for the first Ironman 70.3 World Championship. Incidentally, it’s not a race I’d recommend unless you like an over-crowded course. Despite a less than satisfactory race, a couple of weeks in warm weather with nothing on my mind but triathlon and the idea of more of that appealed. Florida itself didn’t really appeal, something about the ageing beach resort reminded me of J G Ballard Science Fiction. Apart from that where do so many triathletes go to train… Australia!

Version 1 of the plan was formed early last year and then executed at the end of the year. It took the form of a 6 week trip to Oz, enough time to dedicate to training and see what the place was like. At the same time not such a massive commitment as actually going full-time. It didn’t start out as a taster for the athlete lifestyle, but by the time the trip came it had pretty much become that. Circumstances had made it possible for me to consider leaving my job and giving up my income for a time. At that point though I wasn’t entirely sure that was a wise move, but with practical issues removed the possibility was in my mind.

To be honest it didn’t take long for version 2 of the plan to form. I came home from Oz largely decided I needed to go back there for much longer. As a training environment it was perfect for me, the facilities, the climate and the people made it so easy. Apart from wanting to go back, I was also sure if I really wanted to race to my best I needed to commit more time and push harder than I had before. Combine the ideas together and you end up with leaving work, training full-time and going to the other side of the world to do this.

Come January this year it was largely decided. The exact dates aren’t quite fixed, but the basic plan was. It was pretty simple - leave job, travel to Australia, stay on the Gold Coast, train a lot, race a lot and eventually come home. From that point onwards my training focussed on two things, my next Ironman and the idea of getting myself ready for full-time training. As I see this it’s the ability to sustain consistent high volume training. The exact level is individual, but to my mind I needed to be able to sustain 20 hours or more whilst working if I was going to be able to do enough full-time. So extra workouts started to sneak into my training plan.

The final significant step was handing in my notice, which I did excessively early by most standards. It made sense though, I couldn’t put the focus into training and work. Once my plans to leave were known the direction of my work changed and it was easier to sustain the training I wanted. From that point on I was committed and all that was left were the details and getting on with the training.

I’ve commented before how a lot of people are envious of what I’m doing. For anyone obsessed with training the opportunity to put aside all the routine parts of life and just do that is the dream. Whilst doing it is quite a committed step, I admit for me it is only possible because the financial barrier is removed. If that wasn’t the case, as much as I might want to be I’m not sure I’d be where I am now. I’ve a lot of respect for those who take the risk with far less security, that’s real commitment. I’m a risk averse person and it took a long time to become convinced that the benefits would outweigh the costs.

Ultimately this trip is the culmination of almost 2 years of decision making! I knew it was something I’d like to do right from the start, but convincing myself the returns would warrant the costs was another matter. I may have the means to be financially independent during my time away, but this was a choice to use an inheritance for quite nebulous returns over increasing stability in my life. I have gone from a fairly clear future to one where I can’t say what I’ll be doing in 18 months time (I’ll have more on that one tomorrow).

To finish on a positive note, I made the choice because I am convinced that the personal returns warrant the commitment. I’ve no idea what the returns will actually be, though I hope at least to reach a level of fitness I’ve never achieved before. I’ve read a lot over the last couple of years that leaves me with the view that you have to take these risks if you want the opportunity for significant gains. You can’t sit and wait for these things to happen and if the opportunity is there you should take it. Whenever I doubted the wisdom of my plan I would remind myself that a year as an athlete in Oz will likely make for better stories in my old age than another year in an office.

It’s amazing how despite having a busy week you can be left with so little to blog about… Rather than remain totally silent, I’l break the nothing interesting no blog rule again.

In 5 days time I catch a flight to Australia, in fact it’s now less than a week till I’ll be there. I am both excited and nervous, honestly can’t wait to go, but you start to realise what a big change it will be. Interesting, OK, vaguely interesting statistic, 6 weeks is the longest time I’ve ever been without passing within 1km of the place I was born. Actually, that’s probably not unusual, I have no idea what the average is. It will however be a contrast going from having a number of run routes that pass 20m from the house you grew up in to living in near enough the furthest country you could choose. That said warm sunshine and miles of beaches should be adequate compensation. Despite a last ditch attempt by the weather to convince me it’s not so bad I can’t wait to leave the cold and rain behind.

Training this week has gone reasonably well. I have to admit that weather has at times sapped my enthusiasm and it’s getting harder to pick a bike route that interests me. I think knowing that it’s all change in a weeks time and I’ll be in my (hopefully) ideal training environment makes it that little bit harder. I’ve alternated between days of big training and then a lighter day where I’ve got something done ready for departure. It doesn’t feel consistent or like I’m progressing right now. Realistically though I started the week still feeling the effects of the Worlds and I’m finishing feeling like my bike legs are coming back. Essentially that was my objective for the week and I can’t be surprised that I’m not at full fitness yet. One plus of the week is I’m at 15k of swimming with one more session to go which I hope will get me to 20k. That’s the sort of minimum swim volume I want to stick to in Oz. It was interesting listening to Gordo’s podcast with Chris McDonald who felt 20-25k per week was the minimum he needed to stay swim fit. For those of us who didn’t start in the water young it takes a lot of hours.

A while back I posted about being too heavy and proposing a diet largely devoid of certain food types. Gong to Switzerland kind of spoilt that as both bread and cheese are staples. I would describe my current diet as unrefined. That’s not the sugars, I’m getting plenty of fast sugars right now. I’m just not worrying about it, it’s another thing that will get dealt with in Oz. It’s not really bad, I just take advantage of the fact I can eat a lot when I train a lot. I have however discovered a possible alternative training diet, fish and chips! Ok, its hardly healthy eating, but there you go, I like it, rarely have it and it was offered. One huge portion and then 90 minutes later a 3 hour ride where I was too full to eat anything the entire time. Despite this I was going pretty well and felt stronger towards the end. I’ll hold off on using it as pre-race food for now though. I know there are others out there trying low carb approaches, low GI approaches, avoiding or limiting refined sugars and to my relief I read one pro’s blog where she eats plenty of refined sugar. I’m just throwing this out there as another option, so much saturated fat you can’t face food.

That’s the diet, the training and so far plenty of randomness. The questions? What should my third Ironman be next year? I’d like a backup in case I miss out on Kona in the Oz races. I’m holding out for now to see what comes of the UK race for next year, if it’s September again then I can’t see me doing it. The alternative is Lanzarote which gets a fair few Brits and could be a course that suits me. The only downside is it means coming back from Oz a few weeks earlier than I’d like. Slightly less focussed a part of me wonders if I should try to qualify for the Olympic Worlds on the Gold Coast next year. It’s really not my thing, though I’m planning to race some of the Australian series and maybe all the training will give me just enough speed at the distance. Another way to view that is it’s one big race too many and that’d be a fair point. As you can see life as an athlete leaves you with a lot of serious issues to deal with!

That’s it! I can’t string it out anymore. I’ll post at least once more before I leave. Probably with exciting tales of trying to get a bike with 2 sets of wheels into a bike bag. And whether a packing list that on paper looks like it’ll fit into a 90 litre duffel bag actually will.

I fear I may be about to break one of my rules about blogging (again). If you don’t have anything interesting to blog about you shouldn’t blog at all… As the journey to Australia gets ever closer I have a lot of things on, but not much to blog.

As the photo shows I spent some of Sunday watching the opening stage of the Tour of Britain. Much as I love cycling I have to admit at times I felt a bit like the Rapha rider looks… A crit race meant you got to see the peloton several times over the course of the race, but even then it’s not the most exciting sport to watch. It was however a pleasant change to be watching others racing rather than being part of a race myself.

In fact my whole weekend was a bit of a break from my usual routine. I visited a friend from Uni and spent the weekend wandering about London and playing video games. I spent a lot of my twenties doing this, but my consoles have sat in a box the past few years. Whilst it was fun, I’m not really tempted to unpack them. Overall I’m much better at this triathlon stuff than Guitar Hero. Good to forget about training for a couple of days (early morning Saturday swim excepted) and seems to have let my legs get over the Worlds.

Monday I briefly revisited another of my interests and another friend from Uni. This time I gave away my comic collection, 11 large boxes of comics, I’ve no idea how many. All the result of nearly 15 years of buying and reading comics. Way back I vaguely remember mentioning making a decision to dispose of some of the stuff I’d amassed over the year. The comics took up a lot of space and the reality was I was not likely to be reading them again anytime soon. So they’ve all been passed on to my friend Jon who has volunteered to sort them, keep what interests him and pass the rest on to Oxfam. Can’t complain they’re going to someone who’ll appreciate them or they’ll benefit charity.

Bit late to be doing this, but on the subject of getting rid of things - a shameless plug for my stuff on ebay. Chances are, by the time you read this the auctions will have closed and you’ll get an empty page. Still if there is something there feel free to bid, remember every penny goes towards helping a needy athlete race!

A couple of weeks back I had some crazy plan that I’d train through the Worlds and treat it as a training race. I followed the plan on the build into the race and in theory it was a training race. Just very hard training, that’s all. I trashed my legs enough though that there was no real chance of quality training last week. Things look to be back to normal now though so the plan for this week is to get back into normal training scheduled around the odd trip into London. I’ll carry this through till a week Wednesday when it’ll be time to pack things up for Oz. A couple of days lost to travel, then once I’m there 2 weeks to acclimatise and then race the Gold Coast Half-Ironman!