New Coach!

After a very successful year with Rich it was time to move on and take things to the next level in terms of my training programme. Terence Collins has agreed to coach me which is fabulous news.

Terry has a wealth of training and racing experience as well as MSc Sport Sciences, BTF Level 3 Coach, YMCA Fit Personal Trainer Level 3, ASA Level 2 so I think I will be in good hands. We spoke on the phone about 2 weeks ago for about 45 mins running through my targets for this year with everything building towards ironman Austria and Ironman Arizona, problems that I am currently having with my training, upcoming races and what he thought he could do for me. We then met up last week for a coffee, mind you I am lucky he didn't walkout on me. I was standing behind him in the queue at Nero's reading emails on my blackberry and had read a particularly bad one just as he turned to look at me and I gave him the filthiest look. Not directed at him at all, he just caught me at a bad moment! Anyway, we had a great chat and ran through my strengths and weaknesses and how to address them. I immediately felt at ease with him, he is very open which I like and already feel like I can trust him. The most important thing to me in a coach is someone I can talk to and I have a relationship with. It was part of the reason why Rich and I worked so well together as I knew I could call or email him at any time if I was having issues.

It was hard telling Rich I was leaving him, almost felt like a break-up! He took it pretty well and by his own admission his heart isn't in the sport any more. He is talking about cutting it back next year and focusing on some other things. I definitely need someone coaching me who is passionate about triathlon, so it was the right choice, no matter how hard it was. I will still see him every week for my 'Thumbs or Doom' session (sports massage!).

So Terry has sent me a brilliant schedule for week 1, its almost 17 hours so he is certainly cracking the whip. This morning I was on the track, it has been YEARS since doing any track work, in fact it would have been at school when I was running 5km cross country. I went down to Barn Elms to the track there which is out of the way and not busy at all. There were 2 other girls out and some geese :) It is going to be a challenge given my hectic work and travel schedule, but got to put in the hard yards. This week I am in Paris, Dublin next week. I do enjoy Paris but it is a tiring few days.

Things are going well with The Flying Dutchman (TFD), and doesn't he fly. We went out cycling in the beautiful sunshine on Saturday in Richmond Park, he was doing intervals and I was trying to save my legs for my 1/2 marathon the following day. He is like lightening when he gets going. He came along to the IronHead Racing drinks on Friday night so he got to meet some of my tri buddies. I remembered what I missed most about not drinking and it is the lovely cold beer standing outside a pub on a warm Friday night. A diet coke doesn't quite cut it. No one is more surprised than me that I am still totally into TFD, I think it is because he is as busy as me so he doesn't demand or dominate my time which is guaranteed to annoy me. I love the time we spend together, he totally cracks me up. What is even more funny is Corinna trying to rip off his accent. It is Sean Connery but she insists it is from the Grolsch ad. Very amusing.

On the 'no drinking' there is of course the champagne exception which my friends have cottoned onto pretty quickly. I had the TWAG's over for dinner last night, that being the Triathlon Wives and Girlfriends :) Leanne kindly bought over a bottle of champagne which simply had to be had! I do try and be good and limit myself to 1 glass though. I just keep telling myself how sweet it will taste when I cross that finish line at Ironman Austria! Leanne as always had us in stitches over her cycling and triathlon stories. One of my particular favourites is her 1st bike which had a stand and a bell, which she put to good use in the transition area and out on the course much to the humiliation of her husband Dan. I love the story of in one of her first races she managed to overtake someone and to show them courtesy she rang her bell as she went passed them and gave them a little wave. Very funny.

Sunday was the Ranelagh 1/2 marathon, I didn't hit my target of 1:35, I managed a 1:37:34 which got me a 16th place overall and a 9th in age category, that being 'senior women', that is not good for the ego!! Next race is 25 May for the For Goodness Shakes Legs of Steel Tri. Just easing into the season with an Olympic distance, not holding out much hope as to how I will do but ideally I will be home in around 2:20.

Take care!
Carolyn x

The clock is ticking

The clock is ticking
Well...we are 10 weeks out form Ironman Austria. Am I fit enough to not only finish a 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and then run a 42km marathon? I can definitely do it, if I can do it in the time I want...well thats a whole other kettle of fish. Time to get serious.
My aim is to finish in under 10.5 hours, hopefully in 1 piece with a smile on my face. My goal is to bag myself a top 3 place but given my current state of fitness that is not achievable. I have started looking around for some alternate ways to step up my training and this week it has involved being caught in the rain 4 days in a row! There are some great developments and I am talking to some different coaches about what I should focus on outside of my regular tri and swim coaches. If you have read any of my entries here you will know how competitive I am and how important it is that I achieve my goals.
Next week is D-Day. That dreaded day each year that I cut booze and give my diet a complete shake down. 10 weeks out from a race I cut any processed foods where possible, alcohol, start weighing my food and focusing on the nutrients, vitamins and balance of carbs V protein that I need to optimise training all in preparation for the upcoming race. Sound boring? It is which is why 10 weeks is enough.
I also start to lose weight. I am sitting at 61kg at the moment having lost a kg over the last 2 weeks so I have another 3-4 to go which will fall off once I invoke diet hell. The only upside is that I do start to eat 4 meals a day following the smaller more frequent approach to eating. I have spoken to a couple of coaches and Dr's who believe that whilst my body fat % is below average for the female population I can safely drop it from the current 22% down to 16-18% which will make racing easier. I just don't want to look like a rake. I am very lucky in that I am toned but am very curvy in that classic hourglass shape.

So there is something VERY exciting going on in my life at the moment...a wonderful man....FINALLY!!! We shall call him The Flying Dutchman here. We got in touch with each other at the beginning of Feb but due to my crazy travelling schedule for the first 3 months of this year we didn't get to meet until the beginning of April. By that stage I was beginning to think he was just going to be a cycling buddy, the emails had gone on for more than 6 weeks! Lucky for me there was more to it. I am constantly amazed that I have met someone who not only do I find immensely attractive with his gorgeous blue eyes and towering height but can also make me laugh, engage with and have a decent conversation but can also ride a bike!! Not only just ride one, but ride well and takes his cycling training seriously. He used to be a pro cyclist :) That part is so important to me date 3 was a cycling date to put him through his paces and see what he was made of :)
I am not sure there are that many women who can say not only were they in lycra but so was the guy on the 3rd date. Maybe in some fetish circles that is the norm!
So, just a little quick update. Training not going so well but personal life is wonderful...pretty much the complete opposite of last year! Maybe I should make that my goal is to strike the balance between the 2. Isn't that a novel idea :)
Take care!
Carolyn x

Australia Mate!

Australia Mate!
So, I wrote the following whilst out in Australia a few weeks ago. I was out there for 2 weeks visiting family and friends.
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So at the moment I am sitting on the train heading up the central coast from Sydney to visit my Aunty Cheryl and Uncle Peter who live in Gosford. I’ve been in Australia for almost 2 weeks and in 6 years this is the first time I have thought I could live back here. I certainly couldn’t live in Parkes or Peak Hill, don’t think there is much call for what I do so it would have to be Sydney or Melbourne. Plus I would want to be close to the race scene.

Peak Hill made the national news on Easter Sunday after a brawl broke out on the main street. Well, the only street really. There are only 400 people in the town and surrounding area and the brawl involved 80 people!! Over 20% of the population. I have stopped calling it Peak Hill and now will only refer to it as Freak Hill. There was a charity Aboriginal football match organised with the neighbouring town of Narromine which is about 70kms away and after a belly full of booze it has erupted with several people being injured, including a police officer and 5 people arrested. Lovely town. My parents are trying to sell their motel, any takers?

I am amazed at how much I have forgotten. I am travelling on the train line that I used to do every day for about a year and I am seeing stations I would never have thought of in a million years. Australia really is a beautiful country and I love that people really do respect their surroundings. Looking out form the train there is hardly any rubbish at all along the tracks and the view is amazing out across the coast.

It was so wonderful catching up with friends. I had lunch yesterday with Kaylene, one of my oldest and dearest friends who is now a Mum. A far cry from the 2 grotty teenagers who used to go horse riding together! Ruby is just the cutest little baby and Kay is a wonderful Mum. She hasn’t changed a bit J

I got to see Paul again as he and Nick came and spent Easter Saturday with us and stayed the night. 6 years between catch-up’s is far too long. We email loads but spending time with someone reminds you why you hold them dear. Paul is now also a Dad to Zach who is 7 months old. It was lovely chatting to Paul about the lunches we used to do once or twice a week when we both worked in North Sydney. I do wonder what would have happened if we were both single at the same time. Paul had a fiancée for most of the time I knew him in Sydney. Predictably she didn’t like me or the friendship I have with Paul. He is now with a wonderful woman he met in WA and they have gorgeous Zach together.


This break has been wonderful to get my head straight and back into the mental place I need to be in to go back to the UK and put in the hard yards to ensure I get my podium place in Austria and my win in Arizona. I was training before I left, but now I have that killer edge back. I realised how close Austria is and I want to be in tiptop shape for it. To help me along I have joined the Cast Iron Club, which is an online club where you log your training miles. Between 1 January and 31 December you need to complete the equivalent of 30 ironmans. The reward? A drink bottle, t-shirt and the right to brag about it!! J Well worth it for the $6 entry!!

The flight out was so long and really made me realise how far away I am from my family. Especially missing out on seeing Bellah my 22-month-old niece grow up. I also got to meet Sue, my brother Tim’s fiancée for the first time and they have been together for a few years now. Not good. I have booked a ticket to go back at Christmas and spend NY there and then head to Melbourne for Ellie and Jamie’s wedding. Should be a good trip. Ruth will be back in Aus (currently in Dubai) plus all my London friends are going back for the wedding.

The best part is that my family are so behind me achieving my qualification to Kona again for 2009 that they are all going to be there! It means so much that they want to be there, I will have to put on a good performance for them!! Even little Bellah has been given permission by Andrew’s ex wife that she can go too. Things like that really make me want to get out there and train harder, and the days where training isn’t so great, it is nice to know that I have people behind me who will love me no matter what I do.

I had a really frank discussion with my Dad where we were talking about me turning pro and he made me realise that realistically it isn’t a possibility. I might have a little bit of talent, but not enough that I could win every race I enter, and how would I feel when what I do becomes a job? Will I love it as much? It’s on the backburner for the moment. I am having some sports testing done when I get back to the UK so we will see what results I get.

I got an email from a friend saying that he did a triathlon on Easter Monday at Hampton Court and it was snowing!! It is such a far cry from my peeling legs from where I got burnt swimming the other day!! The weather has been brilliant, it rained for 1 day but the countryside is so dry it really needed it. I am going to miss my nocturnal runs with all the stars but I am looking forward to getting back on my bike. By the time I get back I will have only ridden twice in 5 weeks. Not good enough! At least when day light savings kicks in I can get out after work and start getting my speed up.

Andrew kindly gave my legs a rub down a couple of days ago, I was struggling with my right leg and I suspect it was because of the road. It is slightly sloped out which meant the right leg was stretching slightly further. That’s quite a lot of stretching when you consider I run for 1.5 hours at a time. Paul as telling me a funny story about when he used to fly a judge out to this tiny little place in the middle of Western Australia where this guy had his license suspended for drink driving. The judge told him he was no longer allowed to drive on the road. The guy took the judge for his literal meaning so he replaced the 2 left side wheels on his car with 4x4 wheels so the car was on an angle if on the flat, but perfectly straight when he was driving along the side of the road where it slopes away. When he was inevitably busted he pointed out he wasn’t driving on the road because he was banned from doing that. No one said he couldn’t drive on the side. Needless to say the judge was more specific with the next sentence J

Have fun!Cxxx

Reach for the Stars

Reach for the Stars
I'm in Australia in central west NSW in a place called Peak Hill which is where my parents live. They own and run the Country Roads Motor Inn as well as the farm where I grew up, which is a 30 min drive away. I really did forget how awful the flight to Australia is. So long and Antoinette and I managed to get on the same flights but couldn't sit next to each other for the 2nd (and longest) leg which was a bit of a bummer. We kpt meeting in the back for a drink and to exchange movie tips.
My Mum, 2 brothers and my niece picked me up at the airport and then we headed back to Tim's house so I could have a shower and then into the car for the 5.5 hour drive to get to Peak Hill. Nothing happens in this town. I went swimming in the local pool and I was the only person in there for the majority of the 2 hour session. I have also started running at night because I am not going to get stabbed or mugged, in fact in a 90 min run I will only see anywhere between 1 - 4 cars. I love running at night, I used to do it when I lived in Sydney but I don't feel safe doing it in London. There is something special abut being able to run out here without liht pollution and the stars are so bright. There will be a full moon tomorrow so the moon casts a shadow and provides enough light that I won't step on a snake :)
I went to a sheep sale with my Dad on Wednesday in Narromine, it has been years since I had last been. So what happens is that all the different lots of sheep are penned up with a sign saying what breed they are, how many of them, if they are in lamb or not, approx age and where they are from. The auctioners and their 3-4 sidekicks get in there with them and get them all moving around. One of the sidekicks does an intro basically saying the info above and adding his own flavour. Then the auctioner takes over and the bidding begins. Some of the things they say are so funny. On of the intros the guy was calling attention to the large frame and solid back legs on one pen of ewe's and said 'put them on some good pasture and they will grow as big as elephants'. The funniest part is that no one takes any notice of them, they just want to get their sheep for the cheapest possible price. My Dad was bidding on a couple of different lots, so one of the helpers latch on to anyone bidding and start whispering things like 'show your strength' when you get a bid against you to try and up the prices. Obviously these guys are on commission and they want to showthey sell the best to get more clients. There are generally 3-4 different agents selling so they are in competition with each other. Its really interesting to watch, it is really difficult to work out who is bidding it is so subtle with a slight nod or a finger being lifted being the sign. This isall happening with the auctioner screaming out and the helpers throwing in bits and pieces.
We bought 296 ewes, majority of them already pregnant. Once the bidding is done the 'ambulance chasers' arrive. These are the guys who cart your stock from the sale yards to the farm for a price per KM. They start out by talking about how the cost of fuel is going up to soften the blow of the cost of transporting them. You really are kind of held to ransom because you have to get your sheep home and they know it. A fun day, I'll post the pictures at some point. I stuck out like a sore thunb with my white t-shirt, versace sunglasses, Tommy jeans and ballet pumps. They certainly didn't come home the same colour. Everything was covered in red dust.
I went of to Orange which is a 90 min drive away to see a friend Paul who is a pilot and doing some work in the area. I hadn't seen him in 6 years and it was amazing seeing him. He hasn't changed a bit :) I also met Nick who is the navigator and got to hear about Nick's son Dominic who is dominating the under 21's cross country scene having just won a race in London and heading to the world champs in a week in Scotland. The boy has done some impressive times such as a 8.09 3000m. Fast!! I can only dream!!
The weekend should be great, Tim is bringing his fiancee Sue for the weekend, Andrew is also coming home and we will have Bellah for a few days, so lots more peek a boo games :) Paul and Nick are als coming for lunch along with my aunt and uncle and cousin so a full house.
Bed time for me. Have fun and have a great Easter
Cx

Italy, India, France, Spain, Austria, Australia

Italy, India, France, Spain, Austria, Australia
It's been a while. Since I last wrote, I have been in all of those countries for anywhere from 2 - 14 days. Well that isn't entirely true, I'm heading to Australia for 2 weeks on Friday. I had my first weekend in London last weekend in over 2 months! It was nice to spend time in my new house and not feel like I was just using it to sleep there!
Lots has been happening so I have broken it into small digestible chunks :)

India. Wow. What a place. I have never experienced traffic like it. Just a small example for you...driving along a motorway heading back into Bangalore after a relaxing Sunday afternoon lounging by a pool, having a massage, nice lunch and we are going back to our hotel in town ready to go back to work the next day. There are 2 lanes each side of the road and a pretty wide grass medium strip in the middle and we are cruising along at around 80km hour enjoying the drive. We go round a sweeping curve in the road and there is a 4x4 coming straight at us. This guy is driving on the wrong side of the motorway!! The worst part, he was madly grinning away to himself probably thinking how clever he was to find a road that everyone was only going 1 way on. Our driver calmly pulls into the left lane to let him past, all of us in the car are totally freaked out by this! Obviously other people have seen him so within minutes we see more people driving towards us so we decide to get off and back into the traffic chocked, much slower suburban roads. We are going down the off ramp almost get taken out by a lorry coming UP the OFF ramp. It is terrifying how those people drive. I left my fingernails embedded in the door of the car. Anyone who has been to India will totally appreciate the 'unique' way that Indians drive.
Other than the crazy driving, India was good. The people are really exceptionally lovely, especially the ones we were working with who made us feel so welcome. I eat maybe 2 curries a year so by day 2 (12 to go!) I was over eating curry. I swear I was starting to turn yellow around the edges by the time I left and it is certainly going to be a while till I have another one! The guys I was travelling with from work were brilliant fun and we ended up getting our own table in the one decent place to eat near the hotel. I can handle really hot food, but was ordering medium spicy each time we went in there and it still had a solid bite on it. I forgot to ask for medium onenight and it came out 'hot'. More like lava. I took a mouthful and my vision actually blurred it was so hot. It was the equivalent of putting a hot coal in your mouth. I immediately broke out in a cold sweat and have never experienced anything like it. I didn't forget again to only order medium :)
After India I went to France for a couple of days for work which was nice bonding time to spend with my new manager and settle into my new role here at AOL. Sad t leave my old team but I am only sitting a few metres away from them :) As with most work trips, you work so hard you only see the hotel, office and the closest restaurant to the hotel. We also got to see a bit more of the airport than I would have cared to when our flight was continuously delayed coming home!
Following France it was Spain to compete in the Valencia marathon. So all of my training had been on a treadmill, and please don't try this at home, I had only done 2 long runs this year. My quads reminded me of that fact when I got to the 28km mark and had to watch the 3.15 pace group disappear into the distance while I tried to ease the agony in my legs. I managed to pull myself together and got home in 3.21, a new personal best. I am pleased with the result given I was on the Jade Goody training plan of very little training and lots of curries.
I would really recommend Valencia to anyone who is thinking of doing a marathon, especially a flat fast one. It is cheap and easy to get there and the race is really well run. They have pace groups and the goody bags are excellent. You end up getting 2 bottles of wine between the pre race pack and the finishers pack. They also have free massage at the end which was exactly what I needed.
So Spain and then Austria for a full filled week of skiing. I was being called Bambi on Ice for the first day as the quads reminded me that they needed a little bit more recovery time before having to support me showing off on a ski slope. At the bottom of every run I was shaking and quivering like a new born foal. My non fitness friends were loving it, especially Antoinette who was pleased to finally be better than me at a sport. For the record (and this will test if she has been reading my blog) Antoinette, you are an excellent skier and one of the more graceful people on the slopes.
We were lucky that we didn't have any skiing related injuries, only drinking ones. 1 girl slipped in the shower and had a huge bruise on her shin, another got drunk and managed to head butt the end of the bed and ended up with quite an impressive black eye. Her work colleagues were either to scared to ask or think she has a penchant for purple eye shadow :)
Fantastic group out in Austria and we stayed in Hotel Hannes in Niederau where we were really well looked after. The food was excellent and plenty of it which was exactly what you wanted after a day on the slopes.
This Friday I am off to Australia for a couple of weeks to see my family and meet my niece Bellah. Can't wait! I am planning on being with Mum and Dad in Peak Hill most of the time and a friend who is a pilot is going to fly up and see me. No doubt that will be the talk of the very small town. I head back to Sydney and then up to the Central Coast, North of Sydney, to visit my Aunty Cheryl and a friend who has just had a baby. Back to Sydney to stay with Antoinette's parents and then head back. Should be a fun trip, Antoinette and I are on the same flights out and back. I am looking forward to doing some quality training and swimming in a 50m pool! My coach has set me a really swim heavy programme for this month to take advantage of that.
That's it! I'm trying to finalise my 2008 race schedule and so far it is looking like I have around 20 races so it is going to be a busy one. This is the year I really want to get some good results across all 3 triathlon disciplines but really want to make solid improvements to my swim and bike. The run comes naturally, so not too concerned about that.
Hope everyone is well and as always, thanks for checking out my blog!
Carolyn x

Rome & my 30th Birthday

Rome & my 30th Birthday
What a fabulous birthday. I really do have the most wonderful friends in the world. Rome as always was an amazing place and as this was visit number 5 I didn’t feel any pressure to do anything, just be there and enjoy it.

Corinna and I flew out Thursday, which was my actual birthday, and we were in Rome in time for dinner. We went to this great little restaurant near Ponte Cavour on a recommendation from a friend. We were in there for about 4 hours. Amazing food and wine and the waiters were very entertaining. One of them drew caricatures of us both. Corinna got me an amazing birthday present, sex in the city box set and this gorgeous ‘C’ necklace from Tiffany’s. I love it so much and I’m wearing it right now!

After dinner we went and met Kat & Geoff in a wine bar as they had just arrived and then onto another bar to meet Claire, Antoinette and Ellie who were on a later flight. Few drinks in the local Irish pub and then back to the hotel. I was sharing a room with Corinna and Antoinette and it was like being on school camp. We were up giggling for hours. I was on a huge sugar and caffeine rush after eating dessert plus about 6 cookies they bought us with dinner.

Friday we slept late and I went out to get my Illy coffee hit. Love the coffee in Italy, they know how to do it properly! Everyone met in Piazza Navona and headed over to Pizzeria Buffeta, which is my favourite pizza restaurant in Rome for lunch. We then wandered around for a bit having a look into the shops; I really wanted a pair of low heel brown boots.

Friday night was excellent. We headed over to Travistere, I have only been there once before with Mum and Dad last April and loved the atmosphere. Next time I go to Rome I am going to stay over there. Drinks in a bar first and my wonderful, wonderful friends gave me my birthday presents. First up was Ellie who gave me a Oliver Bonas necklace and matching earrings along with a Cross pencil (I requested this to replace the one I left on the Eurostar!!). So very generous.

Antoinette gave me the most amazing Tiffany earrings and they match my Tiffany necklace form Corinna perfectly :) I love them. Claire showed me a photo of these killer black stilletto knee high boots that are waiting for me back in London. I went out with her a few weeks ago and couldn't work out why she wouldn't show me what shoes she had bought. Didn't click that they were for me! She also got me a picture of one of my favourite men in the world (after Normann Stadler and the Hoff) Mr Moretti!!! It triggered us all doing our best Mr Moretti lookalike, I'll get the gallery of pictures up here shortly. Wasn't so hard to impersonate him towards the end of the night.

Kat & Geoff gave me a lovely card and have something back in London for me. I love it when birthdays just go on and on!

For dinner we went to this local Trattoria called….Capo de Fero which roughly translates to IRON HEAD!!! That is of course the name of my triathlon club. Photo’s will be appearing soon on the website J. The food was fabulous and we rounded the meal off with the waiter bringing us a bottle of lemoncello and a some other disgusting herb liquer that I couldn’t get past the smell of but everyone else seemed to love. Just meant more lemoncello for me! There was a guy sitting near us and he ended up joining us. Very entertaining, and after leaving the restaurant around 1am he took us into the back streets of Travestere for a chocolate liquer shot. It’s exactly as it sounds, a chocolate shot cup, filled with rum, topped with cream and chilli sprinkles. You put the whole thing in your mouth in one go. It’s like swallowing a firebomb.

We then walked back across the river and into Campo di Fiori for a final nightcap, but that didn’t last too long as everything was closing up. Claire and I were wandering around arm in arm and had this guy come up to me and ask did I have a boyfriend, I said I was engaged (standard answer in Italy) and turns to Claire, same questions and she said she was engaged to me. Guy says. ‘Lesbians?’ we say yes. He shakes his head and cuts to the chase with ‘can you give me a cigarette?’. Cracks me up he was perfectly happy to try and chat us up for a fag.

The taxi ride back was excellent, our driver fancied him self as a bit of a rally driver and going through Piazza Venezia was something in itself. I swear at one stage we were on 2 wheels and wiped out a couple of scooters.

Saturday included a long sleep in and then over to Piazza Popolo for a spot of lunch in the sun and some shopping. Success! I am now the proud owner of this gorgeous dark brown boots. Can’t wait to wear them!! Dinner was in a trattoria near the Pantheon and again the food was excellent. One of my favourite things about the weekend is that I allow myself to have an espresso after evening meals. Because it keeps me up, I don’t do it during the week, and to do it in Rome is always just so enjoyable after some fantastic food. Walked back to the hotel and into bed ready for my 4am wakeup to get to the airport and catch my flight to Bangalore.

Stay tuned for the entry that will be Bangalore…

Cx

Welcome to 2008!

Hello,
What a month December was! So hectic with parties, last minute Christmas shopping, packing for Dubai and sorting out replacement contents to my stolen handbag. Dubai was a welcome break and it was so great seeing Ruth.
I was really pleased that I managed to train whilst out there most days and came back slightly heavier due to the excess of Christmas but much fitter thanks to having a gym in Ruth's apartment building. I ran most days for an hour and did weights on top of that. It paid off, I did my first swim session in a few weeks last night and noticed my catch is much stronger on my swim stroke.
Dubai is an amazing place, I loved it, but mainly because Ruth was there. Not sure I would go back if she wasn't there. She put so much time and effort into putting an itinerary together to make sure I got to see all the sights. I absolutely loved the desert safari we did one afternoon / evening where you go out 4x4 driving across the sand dunes. I could appreciate how skilled the drivers are after my years growing up on a farm and having a paddy basher*.
Ruth asked me to play 'touch' football with her, but failed to mention that she trains with men! I got beaten up out there and am still sporting a bruise on my leg after one particularly painful collision with a 6'2" man. I literally bounced off his chest and was seeing stars. I did however manage to score a try, I have the mile reps to thank for being able to take off down the field like I had just stolen something! I have no idea how Ruth plays full contact rugby. Worst part, it ruined my manicure, think I will stick to triathlon which is nail friendly :)
I treated us to a day spa where we were scrubbed, wrapped, cleansed, moisturised and massaged to within an inch of our lives before heading out to relax by the pool and then out to barasti bar for a few drinks in the beach side bar. It is times like those I do wonder if I would ever move back to Australia to lead that kind of life.
Christmas Day and NYE were fantastic with us going to fabulous places including the Yalumba brunch where they serve unlimited Bollinger. It felt soooooo wrong having skulling competitions using Bollinger. NYE we were at the Aviation club, amazing food and they set up a stage and dance floor over the pond separating the Aviation club and the Irish Village where everyone could get out an mingle. Excellent nights.
I got backmid last week but was actually excited about coming home and starting the year. I have some exciting things going on at work and feel really motivated to train hard. I also have a new flat to move into at the end of the month and not to mention a 30th birthday bash! January is going to be as hectic at December it seems.
So, the 2008 sporting goals:
* Run a sub 3:15 marathon in Valencia on 17 Feb
* Run the London marathon in April as an elite (pending qualification at Valencia)
* Win the 135km Dragon cycling race in Wales in June
* Podium place for my age group at Ironman Austria in July and complete the race in sub 10:30 (35min improvement to my PB)
* Win my age group at Ironman Arizona in November, complete the race in sub 10:15 and qualify for the 2009 Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.
Goal for 2009 will be to train like a demon and get a top 5 placing in the world champs!
It isn't going to be an easy year but I am really up for the challenge. I also have to be smarter with the way I train as I won't have as much time to dedicate as there are a few other personal goals I want to achieve this year such as buying a flat.
My TV show went out just before Christmas on Channel 4 and it was great! Lots of me talking about how difficult Ironman is and how tough the race was. Kind of raised all the emotions again I was feeling after the race. Watching it I am not surprised I had nightmares for the 2 weeks following the race! The DVD is available through TriUK http://triuk.com//index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=578&category_id=28&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=26
Happy New Year to everyone and enjoy the pictures!
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Carolyn x
* Paddy basher is not some sort of Irish torture but is an old car to bash around the paddock in. One of the great joys of growing up on a farm :)