Icy Hot

The last two weeks have been very intense. With all the hard hot training, I have resorted to icing and frequent sessions with the icy hot goodness of tiger balm and the soothing aid of arnica with traumeel to keep my muscles happy and mobile.
Speaking of heat, the weather here has still been really warm; some days it’s so intense but most days it’s been bearable. Luckily most of our hard run and bike sessions have started before 6am. My parents are down in FL for a quick vacation, and it sounds like their weather has been great too.
Finally, I have decided that my first races will be at the end of this month one in Mooloolaba and an ITU continental cup race in Wellington, NZ. In New Zealand, I am hoping to get some much-needed points. I am eager to have a good first race too in Mooloolaba to get the kinks out after all this hard training.
Well that’s all from down under for now.

Highs & Lows

The first two weeks of training camp are almost over. It’s been a great start to the season. Though I am a bit worn out, I look forward to working even harder in the next few weeks. I know everything I do now will pay off during the racing season.

Some of the highlights thus far were our team outing to Surfers’ Paradise after our long ride on Sunday. The waves were amazing, and it was fun to play around in the surf with my training partners. And our long ride through the hills west of the coast was gorgeous with some challenging climbs to rival those in Boulder. One part of the descent was so steep it felt like my handlebars were pointing straight down the bumpy chip seal road, and my sweaty hands were gripping the bars so tightly that I was afraid my arms would cramp. It was a little scary but needless to say I survived. Another highlight was our team BBQ at our apartment complex last week; it was nice to unwind with some good food and great friends. Finally, getting the opportunity to ride in a local cycling crit the last two weekends has been a fun experience and definitely is helping to improve my pack riding not to mention cornering and sprints since each loop of the course includes a 360 degree turnaround.

Not to many lows, mostly just a few miserable workouts that I suffered through painfully and was relieved to forget about as soon as the session ended. And missing Jeff, my parents, and friends in Colorado. I didn’t think I would get homesick at 29, but I was wrong. It's been a bit of culture shock with all the changes this past month from quitting my job and moving to flying down here and really becoming a full-time athlete. The last low light I hate to complain about with friends and family freezing at home but it's really hot here....so hot in our little room that Mary bought an XL fan to help cool us off and even that hasn't helped much.

I am attaching some pictures from the Gold Coast in Australia. These were taken by an expert photographer and my teammate, Mary, just across the street from our apartment complex. On another note, my favorite triathlete, chef, asst. coach, and support crew leader just set up a blog, Stories from the Sidelines.
Well that’s all the news for now....signing off from down under.