So sorry it's been a long time since I have written an entry. I have had a lot of people hassling me to update the blog so finally I am getting my act together and catching up on things.
I have been very busy since I last wrote. I have recently been training in the warmth of North Queensland preparing for my first attempt at the Hawaii Ironman. Scott Penny contacted me in April telling me about his plan to hold a training camp in and around Cairns in September. Originally I planned to return to the USA to continue my racing but once I was home I realised just how much I love being at home in Australia and decided I would do my Kona preparation here. I contacted Scott very last minute and off I went to Cairns to do a big block of training with a great crew of both pro and age-group athletes also racing in Hawaii. I really enjoyed the company of a really friendly, motivated and fun group of people in an awesome trainign environment. My good friend from Switzerland Mathias Hecht has been awesome to train with and he has pushed me to new levels. He is very professional in his approach to training and I can definitely learn a thing or two from him. I look forward to some great head to head racing with him over the next decade!
For the first four days we were based at Lake Tinaroo in the Atherton tablelands. Although the weather wasn't as warm as we would have liked it was still some of the best training I have done in Australia and I will continue to go there in the future to do some focused training.
At the end of the week it was time to ride across the tablelands and descend the Rex range into our next home of Port Douglas. After a few days in the wilderness at Tinaroo, Port Doug was a welcome return to civilization and most importantly "coffee shops"! The weather was great in Port Doug and the humidity I had travelled north for was finally drenching my skin with sweat.
I was sad to leave Cairns and return home to the Gold Coast and some very average weather. Lucky I wasn't home for long as I was flying out to Singapore the following day to race the Desaru Long Distance triathlon.
If I thought Cairns was humd then Desaru was off the charts. I have never done a race in such extreme hot and humid conditions. I was really happy to finish 2nd to a flying Pete Jacobs after coming off a really heavy week of training in Cairns.
I returned from Desaru back to the Gold Coast to more bad weather. It's been raining, windy and cold for a while now but with Kona just a little over 5 weeks away I am not letting anything stop me from getting my training done. I am going to return to Cairns this weekend to get back to the warmer weather and Kona like conditions. It will be good to get back into my training with Mathias ... some big days ahead!
Look out for more updates soon
Cheers
