2010!

2010 has begun and I hope the festive season for you was a safe and happy one. I enjoyed a small amount of down‐time having a few cold ones with family and friends. Also, with the presents I received from Santa, I definitely must have been a good boy!

December started with a two‐week camp in South Golden Beach (approximately 20km north of Byron Bay) with hot and humid conditions. It was really good to catch up with the other
interstate athletes and punch out some good aerobic training as a massive bunch, and to have
some laughs along the way. Riding was the main focus for the camp, to which there was plenty of! The area is a constant undulation, so we rode plenty of hills to achieve strength and endurance over the two weeks. In regards to my running, I started to do more kilometres with my shins slowly getting better each week so the progress is falling into place. Once returning from camp, I had numerous testing to do for all three sports at both NSWIS HQ (Sydney) and Wollongong. I haven’t got the data back however I should receive them very shortly. To have testing in the early part of the season is helpful for training and seeing progression during the season.

I arrived at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra on January 2nd, and will be here until the 22nd January with Triathlon Australia’s high performance team. We are participating in a study through the University of Canberra and the AIS to see if different types of altitude training can improve running performance for triathlon athletes. The group is split into two groups ‐ one living in the altitude house (approx 3000m) and the other breathing through a machine for one hour each day (approx 5000m) with run testing at the start and finish of the camp. I have never been involved with any sort of altitude training so I’m excited to see the end results and the effects of it.

Again, I hope you had a merry Christmas and I wish you only the best for the year ahead!