Respect

I have to take my hat off to all the age-group athletes out there with a full-time job, family and who still fit in enough training for ironman or other endurance sports. I also doubly take my hats off to your loved ones. It has been a stark change in lifestyle since having our little treasure Sebastian 7 months and I am very grateful for the support of my wife Lianne and both our families. Without them, the dream of being 2008 World Duathlon Champion would not be alive.

As we struggle to balance the extra demands as a little family the response to training and racing has been significantly different. I have always found that to race well I need a solid volume of consistent training to ensure good physical condition and enough emotional reserves to get to the start line excited and aggressive. Similarly, I was once told by a great athlete that preparing for a big race is like baking a cake- most people keep opening the oven to check the progress and all they do is deflate the cake..... At the moment, the training is getting done but the emotional reserves for racing are redirected to more important matters at hand. In other words there ain't much use opening the oven!

Therefore, I will back off the planned racing a little and just get the training done. I will race the Run for Gold 10k next weekend to support my long term sponsors at Asics and then the next race will be the Oceania Duathlon Championships in late August. On September 9 I will head alone to Europe for 18 days for a final preparation in France before the World Championships in Rimini, Italy on September 27th. It is a tough decision to travel without Lianne and Sebastian but for the little man's routine he will be better served at home than being "three in a bed" with Lianne and I across Europe like we were in April and May! It will also obviously assist my final recovery leading up to the race and assist in optimum performance in the race that really matters in 2008.

Running Regards