In Tune and On Time...
Highlights of the past week have included:
1. Running fast and stuff at training on Monday (after a big weekend of racing).
2. Having a visit from Steve's girl, Katya, for a couple of days just after she has officially made the O team for Russia.
3. Getting upgraded to silver Qantas Club membership.
4. Almost every meal at home! Steve doesn't eat anything with gluten in it, so we are just eating fresh fruit, veg and nuts with good quality meat (and the occasional block of chocolate) for all meals.
5. Finding out one of my fav bands, Muse, have written the official theme song for the Olympics - it's amazing.
6. Going to see Bon Iver live in Cologne on Monday night. Amazing band, beautiful music. Great company.
7. Riding my bike. Everywhere.
8. Organising fun things to do at Burning Man.
9. Continually getting emails and contact from friends and fams wishing me luck next month. Such a blessed and lucky jerk I am!
10. Not working.
It usually takes a little time for me to adjust to being in Europe. The time zone thing, yes, but just getting used to not working, tapering off with training, and all things just changing a little bit. Luckily for me this year I have been able to stay in an apartment with good mate Steve Hooker, which means I have stayed in a routine much more like home with cooking, cleaning, and generally just doing my own thing. All this, with the added bonus of hanging out with Steve - just like old times! We lived together back in Melbourne many moons ago so we know what each other are like.
Ok, general racing stats... My first race was in Belgium (Nivelles) and was 'off the plane' i.e. racing within two days of touching down from Australia. 50.6 and a win. Nice and controlled race, with what felt like some juice in the tank for the next races.
Second race was in Liege, Belgium, in a better field, but not so good conditions. 4th in 50.35, where it just happened to piss down for only 10 mins of the day; right before and during our race! Good conditioning for London it seems ;-) I was hoping for faster, and I was beaten by Micheal Butheel and Tristan Thomas, two great athletes, but guys I know I can beat and don't particularly like losing to.
Third race was the next day in Bottrop, Germany. 4th in 50.42. I was a bit tired from the day before and from travel, so it was good to back up, but a little slow so initially was unhappy.
General chats with Matty and analysis of previous years have shown that I pretty much always have a few races at around these times before going fast. I am training really well and feeling fantastic, so I'm happy to just have faith and keep getting things done in the meanwhile. Things are starting to fire up as we start all heading into London now, but for me I think the best thing is to just keep my head down, enjoy being fit and racing, and stay healthy and happy. Most of these things I find easy to do, so its just business as usual!
Coming up are two meets before heading into London. This weekend, I have another Belgian meet in Kortrijk. I have run there before and its a nice little meet, usually pulling one or two good athletes to race against. The last meet is one in Nonovae, (I think), Italy. Italian comps are usually on Mondo tracks and are nice and warm.
I have a couple of opinions of current trends in media and will write about them tomorrow, for what its worth. In the meantime... day off and catch up with Joel Milburn and Steve before he heads into London for the diamond league this weekend.
Ciao!
1. Running fast and stuff at training on Monday (after a big weekend of racing).
2. Having a visit from Steve's girl, Katya, for a couple of days just after she has officially made the O team for Russia.
3. Getting upgraded to silver Qantas Club membership.
4. Almost every meal at home! Steve doesn't eat anything with gluten in it, so we are just eating fresh fruit, veg and nuts with good quality meat (and the occasional block of chocolate) for all meals.
5. Finding out one of my fav bands, Muse, have written the official theme song for the Olympics - it's amazing.
6. Going to see Bon Iver live in Cologne on Monday night. Amazing band, beautiful music. Great company.
7. Riding my bike. Everywhere.
8. Organising fun things to do at Burning Man.
9. Continually getting emails and contact from friends and fams wishing me luck next month. Such a blessed and lucky jerk I am!
10. Not working.
It usually takes a little time for me to adjust to being in Europe. The time zone thing, yes, but just getting used to not working, tapering off with training, and all things just changing a little bit. Luckily for me this year I have been able to stay in an apartment with good mate Steve Hooker, which means I have stayed in a routine much more like home with cooking, cleaning, and generally just doing my own thing. All this, with the added bonus of hanging out with Steve - just like old times! We lived together back in Melbourne many moons ago so we know what each other are like.
Ok, general racing stats... My first race was in Belgium (Nivelles) and was 'off the plane' i.e. racing within two days of touching down from Australia. 50.6 and a win. Nice and controlled race, with what felt like some juice in the tank for the next races.
Second race was in Liege, Belgium, in a better field, but not so good conditions. 4th in 50.35, where it just happened to piss down for only 10 mins of the day; right before and during our race! Good conditioning for London it seems ;-) I was hoping for faster, and I was beaten by Micheal Butheel and Tristan Thomas, two great athletes, but guys I know I can beat and don't particularly like losing to.
Third race was the next day in Bottrop, Germany. 4th in 50.42. I was a bit tired from the day before and from travel, so it was good to back up, but a little slow so initially was unhappy.
General chats with Matty and analysis of previous years have shown that I pretty much always have a few races at around these times before going fast. I am training really well and feeling fantastic, so I'm happy to just have faith and keep getting things done in the meanwhile. Things are starting to fire up as we start all heading into London now, but for me I think the best thing is to just keep my head down, enjoy being fit and racing, and stay healthy and happy. Most of these things I find easy to do, so its just business as usual!
Coming up are two meets before heading into London. This weekend, I have another Belgian meet in Kortrijk. I have run there before and its a nice little meet, usually pulling one or two good athletes to race against. The last meet is one in Nonovae, (I think), Italy. Italian comps are usually on Mondo tracks and are nice and warm.
I have a couple of opinions of current trends in media and will write about them tomorrow, for what its worth. In the meantime... day off and catch up with Joel Milburn and Steve before he heads into London for the diamond league this weekend.
Ciao!
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