It's been a while but I've been fully immersed in training for the last three weeks and have had to abuse my blogging. Been heading up to Whistler each weekend and have been having a great time in the snow taking advantage of the mountains and the training they give way for.

Cycling in Pemberton on Saturday

January went VERY quickly and I am scared to think that it is now February. In 22 days I'll be turning 20 which is both exciting and terrifying at the same time, I have vivid memories of being a 14 year old swimmer training my heart out 4 mornings a week in Kincorth pool, Aberdeen, struggling to write my log book on the way home in the car, never drinking out of my water bottle during sessions, struggling to stay awake in class...

Well I still struggle to stay awake during class but at least I drink a lot more now. Back in the day (like 5 years ago not 50 :-) ) I was in the pool 20 hours a week with 2 hours of land work, this was the most I ever trained while I was a swimmer and I loved it. I always thought I trained really hard and got some good results from it...that said I had my fair share of bad results too. I was in the pool doing the work, doing the main sets right, the warm ups, swim downs etc...but there was always a little bit I held back. Plus the fact that I wasn't drinking, sleeping, stretching or eating right...but you can't blame a 14 year old kid for that :)

My point is it takes a lot of work, outside of training, in order to get the most from your sport. You don't realise that when you are 13/14 or even 16/17 but there comes a point when you have to decide why you're in your sport and whether it's for the long run...then you have to start drinking from your water bottle!

Bringing me on nicely to a mixture of my two favourite athletes Mr Phelps and Mr Armstrong.

Phelps is the best swimmer and Olympian ever, he trains just as much as the other guys, does the same pool workouts, the same number of hours but where he wins is out of the pool. Sleeping, eating, drinking, flexibility etc coupled with the fact he takes the tiny things in the pool (turn technique, push offs) more seriously than anyone else. So I will completely overlook the fact that he smoked pot ... he is a normal guy after all ...

Lance is the best cyclist, comeback athlete and one of the best endurance athletes ever. REGARDLESS of how he races this summer in the Tour he has that title...but somehow I don't think he'll even be racing unless he has a pretty good outside chance ... we'll see.

That's my little defensive rant over.

Some more pictures to even out my post!

PICTURES

Denise showing me how to ride on snow ...


XC Skiing, Day 2. Callaghan Valley

5 hour training day refueling food...SUPER BOWL NACHOS :)

Train hard!

Mike