with Catriona earlier in the week

the view isn't that bad either!!

I’ve been told that the local radio station are doing some live feed … how detailed it will be I have no idea … but have a look at it www.isle95.com to see what is going on, and of course the usual www.ironmanlive.com should have something online.

And hey, huge conrats to my Trek/K-Swiss buddies Julie, Michael and Joe for outstanding 1st, 1st and 2nd place results over at Wiiiiilllldflower in California earlier in the day. Waytogo team!

A little belated and behind time (ie April Fools time!) but I want to post a couple video clips that give some (lighthearted!) insight into Trek and K Swiss. Chris Lieto could well give up his day job as a world class triathlete … but I doubt I will be sitting ‘clipper’ in the chair again anytime soon. Laugh out loud – I did!

And finally for now I want to add in this montage of Trek/K Swiss athletes (aswell as other K Swiss guys n gals) who competed at the Cali 70.3 a couple w/e’s back – mostly as it also shows a nice insight into the K Swiss brand and has our ‘head boy’ Eric talking passionately about the partnerships behind our new team.

So, it’s Friday night and I will be getting into the swing of training here in the Shire again over the w/e. Rumour has it Gav will be back from Stellenbosch soon once it gets warm enough - given the mercury will touch 18C I reckon he’ll be back soon…

Me and our gear after one our many ‘on the road’ sessions this past week. All good fun

We did stop to stay suitably re-fuled along the way aswell … gotta get the calories in – Abu Dhabi in 2 weeks time. Did i say eeeeek? Yeah …  sure did.

More to come later over the w/e …. i’ll get my camera out I promise.

New team, new kit, new bikes and jet lag. – It’s all go here in Santa Monica, north of LA, at the K Swiss headquarters. Lots of fun stuff happening, a little bit of training and a tonne of learning and some terrible hair styling all in the name of team building……??

My new toys – Trek TTX time trial machine and the beautiful Madonne decked out in brand new team colours. Wow factor! We are all itching to get outside and ride. Training has been limited due to the amount of media and presentation material we have had to get through so far, but tomorrow morning there is a 5hr epic ride being led by Chris Lieto. I might be hanging ….

We each had to ‘ride’ the new Speed Concept (available in the summer!) in front of the white screen with the magic of a steel cable (can you spot it?) – this is my team mate Joe Gambles in full flight in prep for an upcoming advert being made by Trek.

And finally for the camp so far …. hair cuts?? I know, I hear you - ”why?”. Uhu, my thoughts exactly, but if I tell you I was already upstairs and in bed doing my best at avoidance after dinner time, would you believe me? I hope so …. however that old chestnut; peer pressure reared it’s ugly head, and here is the consequences. It’ll grow back right?

I guess i’ll have to find a proper hairdresser for the first time in a long time to get it ‘put right’ over the next 2 weeks.

- Obviously not snapped within the middle 6 miles! (where the shuffling occured)

My final lead in to Clearwater was productive . Once I had got over the ‘yet another niggly leg problem’ just before the Longhorn 70.3 I was able to fully dive into one last block of solid training work. I met some great news friends in Austin – Terra and her husband Zane welcomed me into their home wonderfully, and as I already mentioned, Richie and Pat were wicked training partners for that final 2 weeks stint. Cheers a bunch folks, it made such a difference. From Texas I wandered over to Florida to what is without question my second home! – Carolyn is a homestay extraodinaire, and that is about all I can say on the matter. She kept Julie and me housed and also ensured that Dann and Joel were fed and watered at every instance. It made for a great little training group for our final few session and I think we all appreciated the banter during those final days before the ’serious face’ crept in.

This year has been one long up and down as far as I my training and racing has gone, and I certainly don’t want to start moaning about lack of consistency. We all have issues in our careers, and that’s part of the deal; it’s how we cope under the circunstances that shows true character, and I am proud of how I worked things out as best I could to be on the startline. I’ll be honest, at various points over the last 3 months I was almost on the phone to British Airways to see if I could use my ticket for another trip down the line.

That being said, come race morning I knew I had got there in good condition, all things considered. All the pre race ‘faff’ was done; travel, rego, briefings, tv interviews, bike racking etc etc and all that was left was to get nervous and put the wetty on. I have very rarely exited the water outside the top 3 in a 70.3, and I have never done so at Worlds. However I have a tendancy to get pretty worried before swim start. I’ts a layover from racing ITU where the pontoon starts were generally a boxing match nightmare for me.

Nonetheless, I got my tactics right, as after a couple hundred meters I’d avoided the mass start issues, the upper cuts and jabs and found myself right at the very front of the race following the stand up paddler. I love it when a plan works out. It just makes life so much easier the closer to the front you are; sure some feet to follow and draft is probably better, and I ended up having that after half way, but it just gives you a buffer to iron out any problems come transition. – Unfortunately my buddy Richie found this out to his cost, as he grabbed the wrong gear bag, and only realised he had the wrong helmet as he approached his bike. His race was effectively over before it had really begun. I’m gutted for him as a podium was there for him. Fingers crossed he pulls it all together in Arizona this w/e.

The bike was nothing short of crazy fast. There has been plenty chat and discussion regarding the drafting out there; but it is what it is in Clearwater. The course profile is virtually flat, there is rarely any wind and there are minimal corners to slow us down. The real sticking point with it is that we only get one lane for much of the 56 miles, which means it gets congested – especially once you throw in the media vehicles and race ref bikes following us. In an ideal world the World Champs would be elsewhere, and the rumour is that after next year it will indeed move as Clearwater will be out of contract.

The real problem is the fact that the girls and guys don’t have seperate races; and in this instance it meant that we started to catch girls quickly during the first 20miles – but we didn’t pass them!  They started getting involved in our race – in effect we were getting ‘chicked’!! At one point my mate Joe Gambles rode past me to say just that to me, pulled in front of me and ANOTHER girl rode past him … I started laughing at seeing his aero helmet shake from side to side in laughter. I think the worst part of this probem is that guys got yellow card blocking penalties – Luke Bell had to take a ’stop and go’ which cost him a minute; he’s a helluva a rider and rode us back down with 10 miles remaining. In my mind the only solution is to to have separate races for men and women, just as happens in ITU events … a few minutes separation just isn’t good enough anymore.

The run boiled down to a foot race, just as everyone imagined it would. The bike preme is the only factor in the race at Clearwater that can really shake the bike up – last year it was atop the bridge at 34 miles, but due to an extra dog leg early in the race we didn’t hit the bridge till 42 miles. I had made a move to the front from 35 miles and along with Andrew Starykowicz, Terenzo Bozzone and Phil Graves we had a decent gap through to the 45mile marker. Terenzo reckoned it was the cross on his back as defending champion that sucked us back in, but I think we just weren’t ever gonna get the break. There is only so fast we can ride …. breaking away from a 47kph group of guys is a long shot!!

So no matter how ridiculous the bike splits seem, the bottom line is that 15 guys rolled in together with another 10 less than a minute later. If you didn’t have your run legs packed in transition it wasn’t a good day to be racing! I had an average first 3 miles and a less than average next 7 … I only picked it up during the final 3, and salvaged a few spots to maintain the top 20 place. You have to race to line no matter what and I am happy I did that.

Once again congratulations to Julie; she worked so hard for this one, and after consecutive 4th place finishes she was as deserving a winner as there could’ve been. So often girls have held her wheel and ran her down, but not this time. -Just imagine the damage if she had a hilly course to race on!

It’s a long ways from the ITU Oceania Champs in Geelong, Australia, March 2005 when we were both still trying to ‘make it’ in the drafting scene. – A guy I was training with at the time, Andrew Fargus, was sitting alongside former World ranked No.1 Chris Hill in the bike pack, when Joe attacked. Chris turned to Andrew in a totally deadpan moment and said “that’s a bit of a Gamble”. I think Andrew nearly fell off his bike with laughter. I also think you had to be there to find it as funny as I did at the time.

You sound Aussie, live in Aussie, sorry, Tasmania, yet won the Euro Long Course last year with GBR after your name. Explain for folks!

I was born in England and migrated with my family to Tasmania when I was three years old. In 2007, when I raced my first race for GB I was struggling to make ends meet financially as many athletes do racing overseas. GB offered to help me get to races and cover some basic costs and at that point I had no other option if I wanted to keep racing! Australia doesn’t have a long course development program with their focus on ITU style racing. This is a shame, as many of the best athletes over the half ironman to ironman distance hail from Australia.

You’ve had a cracking season, with two 70.3 wins in the US already -whats the secret?

Patience, consistency and staying injury free!

Boulder has been your training base all summer. Sell it to us!

I don’t want to sell it. The pool is already too crowded!! Just kidding

Training with the best in the sport day in and day out makes you realise that these guys are human and have bad days too. Motivation to train isn’t a problem here. When you start to keep up in training, you start to believe you can do it in a race too!

You secured your 70.3 wins with course record bike rides, plus you took the Timex Bike Prime at Clearwater last November. How crucial is a killer big leg in racing today do you reckon?

At Clearwater – not that important! In other courses – crucial. It gives you options. You can either sit and wait for the run and know that you will have fresher legs or you can put the hammer down and hurt everyone else. It’s all good fun really!

Thoughts on toeing an IM startline anytime soon?

Not yet! I have definitely thought about it and after winning European Championships last year over 3/4 Ironman distance, I think ironman will suit me down the track. With the growing number of 70.3 races it’s definitely a viable option racing as a full time half ironman athlete.

Do you miss ITU racing?!

No, the style of racing is not really why I got into the sport.

Thoughts on compression socks whilst racing?!?

Nah, but I see more and more using them. They must be getting a good bonus!

Finally; Campy or Shimano?

Shimano, only because I have never used Campy!

For more of Joe’s thoughts on all things 70.3, check out this further interview that I found here.

We really must got somewhere with decent views to train....

The week has flown by – more than 2 weeks up, less than 2 weeks to go. Training is ticking along.  However the mountains are a bizarre place to be – it snowed all morning yesterday (hence the beautiful backdrop) and yet today it was shorts and t shirt weather?!

Without question St Moritz is the best place i have ever been for running. The trails and paths are endless. The views are stunning, and if you were in any doubt about whether or not it was worth coming here to run – wander down to the track mid morning with some pop corn (or any savoury snack of you preference) and ‘olympic medal spot’. I have been, and let me tell you – the breathing rates are impressive! This morning Tim and I had a stunning run through the woods, hills and trails. I managed nearly 20ks, which given the problems I have been having with my foot since I arrived is a step in the forwards direction.

My swimming however is continuing to surprise me – every session seems to be getting better. The biking too is feeling strong, although when the gradient goes up my place in ‘the peleton’ is limited to less than 20 minutes. Thats ok though, Clearwater is flat!

In other news Gavin took home 5th place result in the Athlone ETU Cup event in his native Ireland. It was a close run thing and his chase for 2nd place involved some sneaky Spaniards … 3 of them seemed to get in his way. He’ll tell me about his 5th place when he arrives up here in the thin air Monday. – Looking forward to that.

Another very good friend of mine had a fantastic race this w/e. – Joe Gambles just won the Vineman 70.3 in Northern California in sublime style – off the front and alone into T2. I’m delighted to read he has pulled off his first 70.3 win in such superb fashion; he;s been having a helluva year since we trained together in April and deserves his spoils. I’m looking forward to racing him again later in the year!!

Finally, brother-Blair will be arriving in St. Mortiz this Thursday coming for the last week or the camp. I’m looking forward to showing him around – he’ll love it, if only becasue of the exotic cars that are everywhere!!

They weren't both mine .....promise

There hasn’t been too much terribly exciting happening, hence my lack of posts the past few days. However, I have been;-

- biking early doors Friday morning with Joe Gambles - hill reps, 50k, quick coffee stop, physio appointment, easy easy 30 min jog (woohoo), masters swim set, 5k (a toughie) …. all by 1pm. Then sleep!

- biking early once again with Joe – steady longer ride up and round the local hills, 115k, easy 30 min run (a little bit quicker than a jog!) …. oh and had the car washed.

- a lie in on Sunday. I found a new tv channel (ch 117) as I normally don’t go above ch 30 before getting bored. Watched IM’s Kona and NZ and thought seriously about wanting to do one again this year. Then thought again and went to the pool. 4k of mindless up and down up and down. Easy (but not quite as easy as yesterday) 30 mins run.

- biking (yet again) at the crack of dawn with Joe – hill reps once more. Quick coffee (and muffin – just the one) stop – as pictured above, physio appt before riding home to round up another 115k. 

An easy day tomorrow, since on Wednesday I will be travelling all day over to Florida. Gottalovethetravel.

I’ve been racking up the miles; the Felt(s) and I have become much better friends over the past 10 days, which is no bad thing. The running still isn’t happening – but I am aiming for shuffling along once more by this w/e, providing the physio gives me the go ahead.

After the California 70.3 a week past Saturday I was able to get back into good training as soon as the Monday. Usually after a race like that I would have to wait till the Wednesday or so till the legs feel ready to start again, so it certainly shows the impact the run has on the body. Which I guess I never really appreciated, rather I just figured it was an entire accumulation of the swim, bike and run. Nope, it’s the run that does the damage!!

So, I got stuck into a solid week to build on the swim/bike effort I had in Oceanside. In total last week I got just under 20 hours of riding done and nearly 10 hours of swimming. Thats was including a great ride up the mountain on Saturday backed up by another 100ks the following day, giving a 9hr bike w/e.

Since then I have kept it going through this week. Myself and Joe Gambles have had 2 cracking rides together so far this week. Monday we had a steady ride up and down the coast mostly on the famous Highway 101. Again today we mixed it with a bunch of roadies within a solid group ride that starts in Carlsbad and heads out onto the 70.3 bike course that we tackled last w/e. – This is on a Marine Base, so you have to show valid ID to pass through the camp gates – it’s kinda weird having a group of 50 riders grind to a halt to present their passports to a watching Marine!! 

It was a great ride, with a whole cross section of riders, some triathletes, most roadies and a smattering of US based Pro riders – the most active being a dude on the same team as Floyd Landis – team Ouch. This won’t seem as funny in print, but for some reason it looked like team Ooch the way it was printed on his jersey and Joe and I were laughing like kids most of the way round whenever we followed his wheel… it’s the little things I am afriad.

I am pretty wrecked right now on the sofa, but I am quite excited about the way I am riding the bike just now. It is deffinately faster than I have ever been, and that is certainly a good thing. - With uber-riders Chris Lieto, Bjorn Andersson and Torbjorn Sindballe on the start list for Wildflower in a couple weeks, just to name a few, I will have to get my skates on.

As I said….it’s all about the bike right now.

Oh, and it had snowed up there!!

Lesley is from Stirling – she actually grew up there, and now she lives in San Diego and is training full bore for the Xterra season which is just around the corner. So she wanted to get a hard group ride done this weekend and asked me along. We left from Escondido, where I live here in California, not long after 7.30 this morning. The group included Lesley and one of her training buddies, myself, and other 70.3 athletes Kate Major, Joe Gambles and his girlfriend Mary. We had a support car carrying our spare warm clothes and food for when we finally arrived at the summit. We needed it, believe me, since it was cooooolllld.

Joe and I wondering where the sun went

I won’t lie. The ride up was fine, although ever increasingly misty. However the ride down was a whole different kettle of fish.

Being in Southern California I didn’t think to pack my warm hat and long fingered gloves (Joe mind you, did) and failed to add my toe warmers to my shoes this morning. Could’ve done with those. I think we stopped 3 times minimum going downhill to try and re-introduce bloodflow to our extremities, and eventually made it to the cafe at the bottom, where we realised we were no longer able to feel our legs since we hadn’t pedalled at all during the 25 minute descent.

2 large coffees, 1 seriously big burrito and about an hour later we were ready to head back. Cheers Lesley!