yesterday was my last 'proper' training day: a early 3hr ride in the Blackdowns with Taunton's locals, 5 mile race-pace run before packing up the bike ( not my favourite chore) and heading over to wellington for and a set of 20 x 150m in the deserted windowless pool there. Todays short spin and steady swim rounds off a week of about 80% volume, 70% load of recent weeks before my trip to the island on monday.
It's been quite a week though - the highlight being the launch event for The Challenger World UK Tri Team in london on Wednesday and Thursday. It was great to see the other team members again ( i dont run into them much since we're all based in far flung locations and the ITU triathlon and Ironman circuit don't cross over much) and have a chance to meet our new sponsors and support network for 2011. The team, formerly Team TBC Sportsaid retains our association with Sportsaid, but with Challenger World and other new sponsors on boards this year, the level of professionalism and athlete support has really moved up a level. Ryan (Bowd) was running around like a blue-arsed fly throughout the entire 48 hr period, but has done a magnificent job on our behalf. Aside from the invaluable product that we all received from Speedo, Evans, Asics, Timex, Maxifuel and Gatorade, sports performance footwear advice and support from Profeet and being hosted by Crowne Plaza Hotel and Virgin Active gyms, this was a great opportunity to meet and talk to our sponsors face -to -face. I always make a point of learning as much as I can about the products that we'll be using as well as the motivation behind the sponsorship and what I can offer as an athlete to give them the most value in return. It's really nice that on the whole, the people representing these brands and organizations are keen on sports themselves and its generally easy to find a common ground and rapport, making for an enjoyably social couple of days.
On the other end of the spectrum, Steven is currently out in Lanzarote so here in Somerset it's very quiet. It has been great to be able to hermit myself away whilst finalising my race preparations ,catch up on work and sleep really well. The caffeine weening process is now complete - the first two days are murder and i'm best left alone anyway -and i'm sleeping really well in a big comfy bed to myself. The place is a bit of a tip though so one of toady's jobs is get it straightened out before i leave!
This year's Lanzarote is going to be AWSOME! we have a huge posse out racing:
EverydayTraining athletes: Simon, Mel, Kevin, Mark, Lotte, Roz, Paul T, Paul W, Sergio & Jamie..then others from our training camp: Emma, Jon, Brett, Ted, Matt and Mark - maybe.....and other friends Helen, Raff...with my mum, steven and russ and the other halfs of most of those listed doing the cheerleading!
i think the post-race partying could be more fun than the race itself :o)
Righto- its 6:30am and i've a busy day so i'd better get on with it!
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