With two days to go until I leave Flip Flop Pines and head down under I thought I would write a quick blog to share some of my thoughts and feelings going into my first race of the season – Iron Man Australia. You know what? I am so excited about it! I feel strong, positive and most importantly I have a great brown/white bits sun tan, so might not even turn into a pommy tomato under the scorching Aussie rays.

So, training has been going really well. I have been beasting myself with the other TeamTBB babes and blokes – they keep me on my toes and make sure I finish each day feeling more dead than alive. I am hoping that I can finally pull a solid swim out of the bag, and have been taking top tips from open water queens Hillary B and Belinda G on how to punch, kick and pull my way into the pack. With my bony elbows I could do some serious damage to an eye socket or two, although my sticky arms are more likely to win me a Miss Puniverse contest than an aqua fist fight.

 
The biking here is the dogs danglers. If you like hills and some serious wind (in addition to that generated by yours truly due to some intestinal ‘difficulties’). As for my trusty steed – I will be straddling the trusty P2 in Australia. It feels good and suits me, and plus – it didn’t give me a bad ride last October…:) I will have HED (Jet 60s) wheels – clinchers, as I don’t have the foggiest idea how to use tubulars. I do have a new set of peddles to replace the ones that I mended the day before Kona though. And a nice new (non aero) helmet (cheers to the Sigma boys for sorting me out and making sure I don’t look like a complete muppett). As for running, I have been doing some bonkers sessions, especially on the track, so hopefully the run legs will be in the bag when I go into T2 come race day.

I never go into a race thinking I am going to win. I go in determined to do my best and give it everything I have got. I feel fit, happy and ready for action, but you never know what might happen on the day. It’s going to be tough, and there are some super experienced and strong girls racing. But whatever highs and lows I encounter down in Port you will be sure that I will be giving it 100%, smiling all (or at least most!) of the way, and will definitely be ready to enjoy a scooner or two after my day job is done!

Big thanks go out to everyone at IM Australia, especially the race organisers IMG for all their pre race help; to TYR, Cervelo, Blue Seventy and Oakley for putting their faith in me and sending me nice packages of goodies, and most importantly to everyone that has emailed with good luck wishes. I really appreciate it, and I hope that I can give you all something to scream and shout about on 6 April!

In the meantime, I will have my eagle eyes peeled on the results of California 70.3 this weekend. My teammate Erika and my close friend Johnny Hotchkiss are both toeing the line, and I want to send them some duracel bunny energy to be the wind beneath their wings! The same goes for the Philippino team who will be strutting their stuff at the Mekong ITU race in Thailand. Good luck guys!