A christmas break....

The last 6 weeks have flown by with plenty happening. The half IM at the Blue Lakes in Rotorua was a pretty memorable day. Yet again Steve Hooks turned on a great event in a great location. Hooksie has a passion for putting on great events for triathletes, and does a great job.

It was also a great opportunity to catch up with the Alpe Crew. Steve, Simone and Chris his photographer and also Kieran and Kathy.

Looking back on the event I have to say I was pretty happy overall with how it came together. The only negative aspect perhaps was a slower than anticipated run. Perhaps a little pay back for going to hard on the bike - a lesson to be learnt there "Pacing not racing." So far as the swim was concerned the navigation was pretty difficult. A straight line drag up the Blue Lake with only a couple of markers made it difficult to navigate. The eye sight isn't that flash either so it was a case of sit on someone else's feet for a big part. Overall a pretty comfortable swim. Onto the bike and it was one of those days when everything seemed just right. Fortunately or unfortunately I had done the half in 2006 on a pretty limited preparation, and suffered through the bike. This year was different, and I had a bike split of 2 hours 43 mins. Onto the the run and again I had memories of the 2006 race. I struggled with the track around the lake but once onto the road section I was able to get into a bit of a rhythm. Overall a pretty good day with a total time of 5 hours 4 mins.

For the next week I maintained the volume of training and finished the week with a solid long ride. From the weekend before Christmas until just after new year I took a break, well sort of. Christmas was with family away from home and then it was off to the beach for a camping holiday. Including a spot of fishing. Also an opportunity to get in some good long sea swims.

So the camping holiday has come to an end and now I have a couple of weeks at home. Some big miles with a focus on big bricks and running some long slow distance.