The latest from Taupo, New Zealand

I have tons of news–where should I start? I have been training really well and as it looks, I will get in really good shape for my first race in a few weeks. The race is soon approaching, so right now is the time to put the big volume in.

My little foot injury is getting better each day and I had a few days of running up to an hour, and have had some pain afterwards–-but it has mostly been fine during the sessions. So that could be better–but no need to worry. My swim is awesome and my biking skills seem to get better each day as well so I am very confident at the moment.

But let me ask you a question: What’s the worst part about changing from Olympic Distance to Ironman distance? And my answer is: Sitting for hours on the saddle without moving too much (and in that aero position)–all I can say is “ouch”. Anyway, I thought I needed to share that with you. Thanks to my new clothing sponsor Santini SMS, it’s really not as bad as it could be–because they have a brilliant gel patch in the seat area of all of their tri suits.

Just a few weeks away from my first Ironman race, I still haven’t received 3/4 of my gear, so Alicia is working very hard to get everything sorted, from material shipments up to race entries and all that. I am so glad I finally have someone who does this stuff for me. It helps me so much because I am able to focus on my real training and not worry too much about all of the other necessary stuff outside of that. I am sure this caused a lot of distractions for me in the past—so it is awesome to have my mind clear.

In other news: Last week I had an off day followed by a easier day and so we had the chance to drive to the Coromandel Peninsula and stay there for two nights. It is the most amazing place I have been to in a long time–so beautiful and peaceful. We went out on a boat to do some serious fishing and we just had a blast. I am like a little kid when it comes down to going out on a boat–I LOVE IT SO MUCH. It is really fun and so relaxing, and boy–once I got my first Snapper we smoked and cooked up all the fish and had some nice New Zealand wine with it. What a great time to get a change for weekend.

My longest training day has been close to eight hours, so you guys can imagine how tired I am once I am done with the load. Apart from some minor exciting things, it is all about training right now:

We have met some world travellers from Belgium and had a chance to have a nice picnic on the lake shore (see photo above).

Vinny, a Norwegian triathlete who is a strong cyclist, just lives around the corner from where I am staying and we have done some good sessions out here.

I have also put in some hard efforts with a very promising athlete from Taupo, Duncan Milne who just won the New Zealand Half Ironman Champs. He is a guy to watch for the big race…

It has been a lot of fun training with and hanging out with the athletes here. Life is just great–and it is really quite stress free and it makes training very enjoyable.

Before I forget, tomorrow I was going to race the Kinloch triathlon here in Taupo as a last check up before the Ironman, but I decided to give my foot a bit more time before I put it to the test. So I changed my plans a bit and will be a part of Relay Team “Bockel Up” (do you get it?) meaning I will swim and bike and John (my world travelling buddy) will do the running section—and that should be lots of fun. This triathlon series is a big deal down here and lots of good athletes will be out there: Bevan Docherty is the one to watch for that race.

Well, that’s it for now. I better go out in sun (with loads of sunscreen) and have a coffee on the lake during my precious half day off.