Great Weekend

It's Monday morning after a great weekend. It kicked off with a run around Sunil's HNC photo exhibition at Oxford CFE. I was well impressed with his work and a couple of others. Really good ideas and beautifully executed. Shame some of some of the other stuff was so contrived and ripped off. I then stuffed myself with some great homemade pizza thanks to Anthony Brown's culinary skills. Great to catch up with the ABBs and the Herdsfolk.

Saturday kicked off with an ace swim session at the 'weedy old' lake, where there aren't any weeds yet. The sun was shining and the world looked like a great place from lake level. I had a top swim in what felt like balmy bath water after being in Canada's icy drink a week previously. A good session saw me getting in seven 500m laps with a little warm up and cool down stroking out to the first buoy. Great to catch up with some familiar faces from the club and Lanza legend Ian Loades after his superb first Ironman.

It was so good giving my nephew a BMX I made it up for him with the help of Alex. His little face lit up. Next thing he was cranking around in his PJs. After a tongue lashing from his mom he was changed and off. I didn't see him again. Great. I know just how cool it is to have the freedom of a bike whatever it is. And age doesn't matter ;-). No I'm not trying to make an excuse for a new bike. Although...

Sat night saw us head off down to Wimbleball Lake for the Ironman 70.3. It was nice to catch up with Paulie P and hear all about his journey from tri virgin to middle distance man while preparing for IM Austria in a month or so. After a snug kip in the back of the race wagon we headed down to the swim start where mist rolled beautifully across the stunning lake. Great to see a mass start although a little scary when the swimmers disappeared into the mist. Luckily they all returned and there were no stories of ghost ships.

I was working so had to keep an eye on the guys up front while giving out the love to Tom W, H, Sammy and Daz as they flew round possibly the toughest 70.3 course on the circuit. It was good to shout on the Oxford Tri guys I saw too. At the end of the day Tom W won his age group with a stunning performance. The Head never ceases to amaze with his training hours, dedication, positive thinking and voice of reason. I'm thoroughly impressed and I think this boy will realize his dream of earning a slot to the magic kingdom in the middle of the Pacific.

H threw down a great race and shattered her target of six hours by a proverbial mile. Then Sammy came home to nip just inside the six mark although left it to the last minute to keep us all on edge but didn't disappoint. Finally I have to mention Daz. I first saw Daz race here a year ago. In a year he has come on a long way, killed his previous time and as ever never left a thing out on the course. I admire how he puts everything into his race. I think yesterday really hurt him as he was staggering about and quiet. But as they say you can't keep a good man down and his usual gutter level humour soon had us all in cracking up.

It was also good to meet up with Rick and Andy. Rick worked my legs with a great massage pre worlds and Andy helped me out at Profeet a few years ago. Both are top men and I didn't know they knew each other. Small world. Good to see their friend Nick S putting in a top race for fourth spot in the elites.

To round off a long drive home I was lucky enough to head home to my mum's for roast and to wish my old dad a happy father's day. I dunno what my mum does to a piece of beef and some veggies but not in all my years have I got anywhere near replicating it. Very tasty. A great end to a fun weekend.

After a much needed long sleep race week is upon me. It's only Monday but I know this week will fly by and I'll soon be in pain management once again as Ironman Nice has its wicked way with me. Looking forward to it and after watching the weekend's racing I feel up for it again after the World's had left me so flat. I also get to collect EK as the wanderer returns from his travels around the Rockies post race. I can't wait to see her as it's been pretty odd spending so much time apart. I'm sure she'll be back to monkeying me around in no time.

New Blog

I got reading a bunch of blogs today to catch up on the news and thought it was about time I did my own since Eek and I stopped writing our blog when we returned from Australia.

Getting back into training has been tough after the disappointment of the World Champs in Vancoucer. Motivation has been low and the tiredness jet lag dishes out certainly hasn't helped. I'm sure going to watch friends race the UK 70.3 this weekend in Wimbleball will be a great motivator. I look forward to seeing Tom, H, Sam and Daz take on the toughest course on the circuit with the likes of Macca and Brian Rhodes.

Today's picture is at the World Long Course Champs in Lorient in '07. I thought I'd put that up as I have decided to can it this year in favour of doing Xterra Austria. After the disappoint at Vancouver and let down of the Euro Champs I decided it was time for a change and hope that I get better value for money. ITU events just aren't going to get my cash for a while. I am always left feeling only the elites matter and age groupers, who pay a considerable amount to be at the events, are classed as second class citizens. So the GB kit is packed back at the bottom of the drawers for the time being.

I'm looking forward to rejoining the Iron family in Nice in just over a week. I really missed not doing one in '07 despite enjoying doing some faster stuff. I can't wait to hit the big day out and get that special feeling only Ironman can deliver. It will be great to be on the starting line of this superb race with some great friends both seasoned veterans and newbies from Oxford Tri.

And I'd like to finish by saying how proud I am of the Eek for putting in a stunning performance at the Vancouver Worlds. You put in a superb race and you should be very proud of your silver medal. Much deserved. I can't forget Jane Bell's brilliant performance in the sprint to take gold either. Amazing stuff.


Ozzer