Back in Lanzarote

I am soooo glad to be out here in Lanzarote again!  Something has been up with my temperature radar all winter and the cold of the Surrey hill bike rides has been getting at me.  For some reason, I assumed that when I got back from La Santa in January it would have warmed up but that was never to be and last week and the week before I just felt stiff and a little under the weather.  Maybe I have S.A.D syndromeL.

I am helping out on Robin Brew’s tri camp for the second year.  Robin is an ace coach and probably one of my top 5 people to be around.  He is very positive yet definitely has a no shit attitude surrounding morals and training.  He treats everyone the same, as long as there is effort going in.  I am living for the week with the family – Liz (super mum) and Jamie and Tom along with the rest of the coaching crew.  It’s quids in for everyone and is a real antidote to and my normal, fairly quiet, environment.  The kids are a hoot….truly hilarious.

These four weeks are about continuing all the conditioning miles with an emphasis on bringing a bit of quickness to the table.  I am racing Singapore in 5 weeks and will have to be up for the 90km bike ride- I’ll be doing some long rides but trying to keep in the faster efforts and accelerations that need to be in place for the beginning of the season. . Consistency is the key for me and I’ll be sure that I keep the drills and massage going to make sure I can cope with the overload.

Two weeks at home was essential to get on top of the sponsorship situation for this year.  I also attended the Essex Legacy Awards to receive my grant that so needed and am so helpful for.  The awards target prospective Olympians from Essex and give us the opportunity to work with Essex organisations and schools to bring the games to youngsters.  I really look forward to helping at these events.

Because I manage myself it is really difficult co-ordinating the sponsorship side of things because you are always reliant on someone else to get back to you.  A lot of it is chance and timing.  I did however have a good photo shoot and ride with 220 which will be published next month and also managed to fit in two brilliant training days with rutuffenuff2tri.

Rutuffenuff2tri is the joint venture of my self and training partner Emma Davis.  We ran (!) a run day and a swim day a few weeks ago and I absolutely loved it.  There were only a few people on each day so those that attended got mega attention on technique and skill development. It is difficult to fit in regular camps as the season approaches but we will definitely be doing more one off days and we are scheduling in one for early April….(email me for more info).

Anyway off swimming now – 50m, outdoor sunshine …hardly a chore …speak to you later x