Race countdown can begin today I feel!!  Singapore was a great start to last season for me and I hope to replicate my success this time.  This camp has been fun and I am certainly strong from the hills and the (relentless) wind so I am confident I can pull something special out the bag come a week on Sunday.

The week was a good one.  My big sister Joanna came out for a work break and it was great to have a sidekick for a while.  Friends are great but family are special and I can trust Jo explicitly to be on my side and support me even when I am tired and inevitably grumpy.  Sometimes we pros get flack for being moody or temperamental but the hard graft does mount up and physical tiredness can lead to mental tiredness too.  We need a bit of leeway during these times.

Rest day this week meant a trip to Orzola where Jo introduced me to surfing with the help of a friendly and handsome Italian instructor.  I did manage to stand up- but so much for a rest day! – I can’t believe how tired and stiff my arms were from battling to get out in the waves.  Jo is much better than me …ill give her that

I have got a new sponsorship deal on the cards with torq too which will be great.  I will blog for them every fortnight and they will add it to their website www.torq.com.  They are a great brand that offer reliable and incredibly lush sports fuel.  Once I have tried the whole range I can tell you when, and how, to use their stuff.

My old coach Richard Hobson is currently out here coaching the club Ful-on triathlon.  There are some great guys here putting a lot of effort in and it’s been good to see Hobbo.

We were studying the nutritional content of gels today in fact and he told me how he had recommended one of his athletes to take a gel every half hour in his ironman as they are about 80 calories each;  The guy was stopped on the run with heart palpitations ….he’d taken Hobbo’s advice but unwittingly taken caffeine gels L  . The guy was 60 odd and a non-coffee drinker.  God, that is bad (although I’d probably be ok with the amount of caffeine I down in various forms!)

Session of the week has to be between my awesome treadmill session last Tuesday (1km at 18, 1km at 17, 1km at 15 NO REST) x 4….and the ride to Mirador on Sunday with Hobbo’s Group 1.  Great guys to ride with and I met the infamous Mark Booth at last.  I ran off it hot and fast too so hopefully will keep the acclimatisation of sort going for the humid heat of Singapore.

I’ll let you know how final preparations are going from Singapore next week J

So I’m back home for the holidays now and recovering over a mixed yet forward looking year.

Clearwater was perfect until I started running! I exited the water along side Joanna Zieger and Julie Dibens and stormed through transition into the lead. Julie zoomed past but I settled well and kept her in my sights.

As we turned left at about 5km the police car failed to direct-muppets! and went down the wrong road- the 5 girls in touch zoomed past but quickly switched back and got on their tails.

I rode very hard from here on in and despite a very controversial decision to let the pro men off behind us (that saw a couple of girls latch on to their train and pull up to the good swimmers), me and Mary Beth-Ellis broke off the line of girls.

In hindsight, I hope the organisers of Clearwater understand that decisions like this are absolutely crucial in deciding these championships. At points in the course it was absolutely impossible to not tail the men because of the long pace line that was cutting into us. I do feel that it became a race of who could hang on in at the men’s pace rather than dictate our own pace. I fully (maybe naively) believe that we all want a fair race but when organisers decide things like this we have to react and live with the consequences, not really them as they will get a world champion anyway. Why not start us 10 minutes behind the men and there would be no problem. Is the road schedule really that tight?

This is all a little moany as I know that the best lady on the day won, no question-Jules was ace. However in future we need to know this is definitely the case and it is not only first place that matters in world championship results.

As soon as I hit the run I felt awful. Very lightheaded and not really leg related at all. I past the third place mary at about 10km and then just had nothing at all to give. I dropped out whilst in fourth place at about 12km.

It’s a very strange situation as I have trained so well since Perth, looked after myself nutritionally and I thought travel wise too. In truth I was relying on my run because it was going so solidly and my treadmill reps are easier and faster.

Having thought about it and discussed with Chris and my loved ones I think I was really silly to think that all the travelling this year would not inhibit me. I’ve just got off the flight from florida and I feel absolutely awful. I think that the euphoria of perth masked these effects and the assumption that I made about coping with flying just two days before racing in Florida.

I have to explain that my decisions have not always been independent of financing this dream and it sometimes become balancing what’s best and what I can afford. Next year the racing will be far more specific and I have delegated responsibility on travel to Chris…lucky him! I ALWAYS think I’ll be ok but this is my personality and it doesn’t necessarily take logic into an emotional decision.

ANYWAY that’s enough of dwelling on being fed up. I can’t wait till next year now and my new winter with a new coach and new area and training groups.

I am national olympic champ and world long distance champ in 2009 and that’s better for me and my sponsors than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!!

Stay fit and healthy through the winter and lets make 2010 great