Life as a Pro begins... properly!

After a great Xmas break in the Drakensberg with the whole family, I am back into training and getting into the swing of life as a Pro.

The Christmas break was not great for training (it never is), but I have come back refreshed and motivated for the year ahead, and maybe that has more value than 10 days of hard training... Either way, I can't change the past and am looking forward what promises to be a fantastic year for me.

I booked my tickets yesterday for the first (well, first as a team member) training camp with teamTBB. I fly out the the Philippines on 2 Feb for 7 weeks of intense training with the team before returning for Ironman SA just before the race on 5 April. I am really looking forward to training in the focused and intense environment again and can only imagine the effect 7 weeks will have on me after the changes I saw after only 3 weeks in November!

Before I go there though I have the small matter of Ironman 70.3 South Africa to deal with. I head up to East London for 24hrs tomorrow for the press launch (they needed a star there... but couldn't find one so they got me instead! ;) ) and some scouting of the route. I remember it quite well from last year, but it has changed slightly and it is always good to get a reminder.
The race itself is next weekend (18th) and promises to be a cracker! The field is stacked with previous World Champs lining up - one from short-course racing and one an Ironman World Champ in 2007. Add to these the top three from last year all returning and a few other strong international competitors and you have a race on your hands before you even consider the South Africans! Should be interesting!

Other than that I am training well and allowing nothing to get in the way of training - which is a lot easier now that I can make training my priority and put training and sleeping ahead of pesky things like work. Now all I need is one or two sponsors to really allow me to focus! I'm working on it... Hold thumbs!

I got my Avia running shoes the other day too. They all look good but haven't given them a good tryout yet. Hopefully their performance is equal to their looks! Not sure when I will be getting my Cervelo bike, but hopefully soon...