I thought I would give you all a short update on my trip so far. Well, it’s been hectic - I can't believe it’s been two months since I left the cold of winter behind.
My first two weeks was spent in a small village called Nottwil, just 20 minutes by local train from my favourite city in Europe – Luzern. I spent this time with the Australian wheelchair track team at the Swiss series, which comprises two track meets and a marathon. Unfortunately, it rained the whole time and was so, so cold; it even snowed, so you can imagine that it was fun to race in these conditions.
The day after everyone went home the sun arrived and I moved into an apartment in the town. I rent while here to reduce costs. Australian athlete Matt Brumby, who is over here training for the Para-Triathlon World Championships in early September, joined me for the next three weeks of base training. As I have been coaching him it’s been great to spend more time with him in a camp situation to really get the most out of training and we can see the benefits in his improvements.
After a few weeks of very hard training I headed to Duluth, USA, for the famous Grandmas marathon. I have heard great things about this race, as it is a point-to-point race along the northern lakes, so it often gets a great tail wind. This year was no different, after another 25hr travel day I arrived. The conditions were very poor, which didn't change for the 48hrs I was in town, with heavy fog and wind, but the thunderstorms cleared for the race and it allowed for a fast race with a very elite field. I was lucky enough to be in the break away and finished 3rd in my 3rd Marathon PB in a row, finishing in 1hr24mins, so very happy.
After Duluth I headed down to our annual week in Georgia for the Cedartown 5km road race and Peachtree 10km, which is the largest 10km in the world. I felt great for both races but unfortunately things just didn't go my way and I finished 6th and 7th respectively, but I’m happy with how things went. After finishing Peachtree I went straight to the airport for the rushed trip to Paris for the Paris Diamond League meeting 48hrs later, where I had a great race finishing 5th in a very tight race with the top guys in the world and this leaves me in great shape and confidence heading into the IPC world championships in Lyon.
After Paris I joined up with the Australian Athletics Team training camp back in Nottwil for a few days, which brings us to where I am now. I have just arrived at our hotel in Lyon after what is a short trip for us Aussies - 6hrs by bus. We have arrived to more great weather and after settling into the hotel we have had time to explore the area and have a short training session on the main competition track.
The track is better than we all expected and had been hearing about, so that makes us a little happier, and I’m feeling great and injury-free, which is the best feeling going into a World Championships. I have had the best six months of training that I can remember and I have been pushing the best in years, hitting speeds in training that are truly amazing. But as all athletes know, training form is totally different from race form, so not sure what will happen over the next two weeks here in Lyon. But on the upside, it’s the best speeds I have had leading into a major championship ever, but hey, anything is possible, so I’ll just enjoy the time and let things happen… whatever that maybe.
Here is a link to watch and keep up to date on the championships, Please share this link with anyone you think maybe interested:
http://www.paralympic.org/Events/Lyon2013
Here you can find all information on the Championships, including my very heavy schedule.
After Lyon I am heading back to Nottwil to continue coaching Matt. I will try and get a few days holiday somewhere in Europe before returning to heavy training to prepare for the rest of the year’s road races. I am searching for a few more races to do, but am already entered into a few races, including the Zurich Diamond League Meeting 1500m, Tynne tunnel 2km wheelchair race, Great North half marathon England, Rolling Rampage 10km Canada, and hopefully the Chicago marathon on the way home.
Well, till next time, train hard and keep having fun. I will try and get regular updates out during the championships, but for other updates please check out my Facebook fan page and Twitter.
