I don't think anyone ever has a smooth build up to a race and sometimes I think that isn't a bad thing......too smooth a ride and you have too much time to stress about the race!!   I am sat on the plane flying to Nice in a fairly relaxed state of mind not knowing whether I have done enough training to have a great race or simply enough to get round.   Either way, I am happy that I am healthy and feeling ready to go.

As you may know, I had to take three months off last October due to a stress fracture in my sacrum and I took training pretty conservatively in the winter to allow my body to fully recover and get back up to full strength.   I also had to focus on making some money and ensuring my business was healthy as I am thirty one and have no-one else to fall back on if everything goes pear-shaped!!   I am feeling really good as I have managed to get through a couple of big work projects while training for this race and I can now spend the summer in Germany with Christian (my boyfriend) and focus predominantly on my training for a couple of months.    Whatever happens this weekend, I am feeling fresh and ready for the race season and looking forward to some races in Europe and if things go well on Sunday, Hawaii in October.   Christian is particularly hoping for the Hawaii spot as a Kona holiday sounds a lot more exciting to him than a race in Germany or France!!!

I managed to sneak in an Olympic distance race in Bintan (Indonesia) at the end of May before flying to Germany.   Originally, I had not planned to race as I had 35 clients racing. Many of them were first-timers and would be split between racing the Sprint Tri in the morning and Olympic in the afternoon.   Most were part of a corporate triathlon program for CLSA Asia Pacific Markets (Asian Broking House) where I had coached them from complete triathlon beginners with many not even able to swim.   It had been a big project from November but it is the most amazing thing to witness people achieving things they didn't think possible, loosing some weight they had been wanted to shed for years and generally feeling a little more balanced and happy in their stressed lives.

Joss (my friend and colleague) and I arrived on the Thursday to get everything organized and so I could get in a 6hr bike ride around Bintan on Friday with a couple of others who were training for France.   It ended up being a fairly epic ride with a minor crash at the start, loosing Graeme & Claudia and finally setting off in the heat of the day at 9.30am!!!   After almost 6hrs of riding in 36C heat, 95% humidity and lots of hills, I was completed wasted by the time we arrived back at the hotel.......at this point the idea of racing the next day didn't even bare thinking about!!!   A huge burger, ice bath and 30min on the sofa and racing was seeming like a fractionally better idea but it has to be said the main motivating factor was the money!   There was prize money to 5 th place and only 6 pro women racing so I only had to get past one to claim US$1,000 which would go a long way to helping my credit card look more healthy.

The race was actually awesome - really well organized and a great course which I thoroughly enjoyed.   The swim was ok although definitely far from a personal best and the heavens opened as we headed out on the bike course.   At times you could hardly see as the rain was so heavy but it was really refreshing.   My legs actually felt pretty good on the bike which was encouraging but I was careful to save a little something for the run as it's incredibly hilly.   As we came back into T2, the sun had come out and it promised to be a very toasty affair but the good news was that I had ridden into 3 rd place....definitely in the money!!!   Now it was a case of holding on and as I left transition, the 4 th place female was coming off the bike so there wasn't much room to spare.   This is one of the hardest run's in an Olympic distance race as it's so hot and it has constant short, sharp hills over 2 laps...thankfully I didn't go off too fast or I think I would really have paid for it on the second lap.   I held onto my third place and Joss placed second so it was a good day for the girls and their now, not so sick credit cards!!   All our clients finished the race and it was wonderful to cheer them all in and watch the huge smiles as many finished their first race.

We finally made it back to our suite exhausted (will come back to that!) about 5pm after being up since 7am to help everyone do the sprint race.   We had scored the CLSA CEO's presidential suite after he had to pull out of the race last minute.....talk about living it up and very different from most of our accommodation experiences as pro athletes on the circuit!!   Not to let the suite go to waste, we had to throw a drinks party before the awards dinner and managed to get about 30 clients into the living room for a hour of fun before heading to dinner.   Thankfully, there was a suite left as my laptop cable had burst into flames that morning and the carpet set on fire.   Luckily, I had forgot the Vaseline and rushed back to the room to get it and noticed the fire.....I have always said Vaseline is a life-saver, now everyone believes me!

After the frantic weekend in Bintan and a month of working ridiculous hours on a project for HSBC as well as training for Ironman, I finally climbed on the plane to Germany completed exhausted.   I fell into a coma before the plane had even taken off and missed all the meals only to wake up 9hrs later and I was flying economy before you ask. Quick change of planes in London and I was on route to Zurich, which is the closest airport to Christian's house.   I think I managed to sleep an average of 10hrs a night that first week and still wake up tired then I picked up a 2day migraine and a virus, so the first week was pretty much spent recovering from the abuse I had given my body over the last 6wks.   The weather was also unseasonably cold when I arrived but within a week I was feeling better, the sun had come out and I was lapping up the loving I was getting as I hadn't seen Christian for a month.   Training here is close to perfect with flat, rolling and very hilly terrain all within 10minutes ride from home and a beautiful outdoor pool on the edge of Lake Konstanz, which is open all the time and only 10minutes away.   The running is also amazing with hundreds of trails through the forests and fields and lots of small lanes and a track 3km from home...what more could a triathlete ask for?

I was feeling refreshed, super motivated and managed to get 10days of awesome training plus a ½ Marathon race before starting my taper into France.   The ½ Marathon was good although hard work as I had done a long bike in the mountains the day before and my legs were not at their most co-operative. I had also been experiencing some hay fever and hadn't managed to get any tablets until that morning, so my breathing wasn't great but it was a beautiful race.   We ran on a mixture of packed trails through the fields, forests and small country lanes taking in a couple of famous old country houses.   I can already see that racing in Europe is going to do me a lot of good as the women (professionals and amateurs) here are SO competitive unlike in Asia.   I remember having a real battle to get past a couple of girls in the race and they hung on until the death.   I ended up placing 4 th completely spent and couldn't even respond when a lady went past me with 500m to go....nothing in the tank but good training race.   It's easy to let days like that get the better of you and to start to think you are not ready for an Ironman but we had a load of fun stuff to do on Sunday and so I had no time to dwell on the race.   By Monday I did my last long run of 2hr30 and felt fantastic - not bad after a hard ½ marathon 48hrs before!

My last weekend of training and I had planned to get everything out the way early and drive to Zurich airport to collect Christian on his way back from a business trip.   Ok, I'll come clean, it was really an excuse for me to go bike short shopping for Assos (best brand made in Switzerland), visit the Swiss supermarket which always has my eyes on stalks and maybe my favorite Swiss shoe store!!   I was on track and had 2hrs to spare for my shopping trip when I stopped at the gas station and had a very blonde moment.....yep, put petrol in Christian's diesel car!!   Needless to say, it didn't go very far from there and I was stranded between Zurich and home.   Certainly an interesting 5hrs at the gas station setting up my mobile office and doing all the invoices while drinking coffee and chatting to the Serbian truck drivers.   At least this has given me even more motivation to win some money at the weekend with a whole new set of bills to pay!  

Keep up the training and hope to see you at some of the races soon.