It's been a while since my last post...
Since then I've been to Tassie for a break and then the Melbourne Ironman to watch my Brother and 4 other athletes I coach. They all had good days, with one off to kona and another getting a top 10 placing.
Coming back I had 6 weeks to get ready for Busselton 70.3. The first 2 weeks felt very average, training was ok, but I was struggling with unexplain fatigue. On the 6th of April, I headed down to Karri Valley Triathlon to basically see where I was at. It turned out not great. I really struggled throughout the day and battled to stay positive. Thoughts of pulling the pin on Busselton were running through my head during and post race.
I ended up grabbing 3rd after my run legs showed up late in the 12km trail run. Which got me lots of congratulations, but when your 8 minutes slower than last year I didn't feel great accepting them.
Planning out this season in December, I didn't want to put any pressure on myself to rush back into racing at the top level. The local races I've done were more just for myself, get the 1st one out of the way and use the rest to test how I was progressing. In reality I have underestimated this injury, it's been 7 months and I've struggled to get back my fitness and as a result I'm feeling a lot of pressure to be ready in time for Busselton.
The one thing that kept me from pulling the pin was trying to defend my State Long Course Title. Busselton was my introduction to long course triathlon back in 2005 and I still remember the prestige of the winners (back when it was a small outdoor stage) and aiming to be up there. 4th West Aussie in 2007 and then 2nd West Aussie in 2008 just made me hungry for it. It took alot of hard work and until 2012 to get it, I'm not just gonna give it up without having a crack at defending it.
Looking at the competition, it's going to be tough with James Lewin, Johan Borg, Matt Burton and former Olympic rower Ben Cureton lining up in the pro feild or open. This WA competition won't change how I race, the strategy at Busso is always the same. Get out of the water and Chase, Chase, Chase. But I'll be keeping an eye out for how these guys are going. James can have the pressure as favourite :p
The Cervelo P5 has arrived, I'll do a review on it once my set up is finished in this coming week, but in summary GO TO CHURCHILL CYCLES AND BUY ONE! The aim over the last few weeks is to get used to the bike and find my cycling legs.
Train safe
Mike
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