It's coming up to winter time, which means a change of training pace and a few winter events to stay sharp. (lets hope for better weather than last years open5, pictured here)
After such a strong end to what has been a great year, I took a well earned rest over the last couple of weeks. No structured training, junk food when I wanted it, late nights, big lay ins and probably one too many beers! OK, so I'm now a couple of kg's over my ideal weight, but then that's kind of expected at this time of year.
Resting like that and having a full blow out after the season finishes, is not only great for the body in helping it recover from the continuous training, but also great for the mind. It's given me heaps of time to think and allowed me to really focus on what my 3 big goals are for the next 12months:
1. To come out of this winter in the best shape of my life.
2. Shape that will see me winning an official Xterra event in 2010.
3. To hold and improve on that form up until the World Championships in Muai next October, and finish inside the top 10
Plain and simple, that's the stall I've set out. On Sunday November 1st it will all begin. Last winter I worked hard on my weaknesses, and over the year have turned them into my strenghs, taking my 1500m swim time down from 23.28 to 20.56. This year I'm looking to be close to if not going under 19minutes, enabling me to come out of the water within the lead pack at international Xterra events.
Last winter was all about developing power on the bike, power that's enabled me to ride away from the field on more than one occasion this year to take the win. Next year I'll need not only that power again, but I need to be able to put it down over some very tricky terrain. By race one I need to be a technical master, and real trail monkey. With some careful planing, a lot of hard work and big miles, plus a few test events, 2010 will be a great year, my best year, Macca's year! (but first things first, what I need to do is shake off this head cold...)
