I arrived at Sands Beach in Lanzarote on the 30th of December and have been here since with just one brief spell off the island to race at Challenge Fuerteventura. Coming to Sands Beach as part of Team TBB was my first step in to being a full time professional triathlete. For me the decision to completely give up work to become a full time athlete was an easy one as it is something I have wanted to do for a long time but due to the financial implications I needed to wait for the right time and the right opportunity to ‘just do it’! Joining Team TBB seemed like the perfect time to take the risk and go for it. It was and still is a huge risk is financially as it is very tough to survive as a self-funded athlete in our sport but I feel for me it is worth taking the risk and hopefully I will earn enough money along the way to keep me going.
When I first arrived I felt that I was ready to hit the training and after being on the turbo since around October I was excited to get out on the roads of Lanzarote. That excitement was soon dampened when I was dropped on every climb of my first training rides. I guess I wasn’t so fit after the Christmas break back home but the fitness slowly returned and I was gradually introduced back in to some hard training. Soon after I arrived a few other Team TBB athletes joined us. Matias Hecht, Dan Halksworth and another new member Ritchie Nicholls. Together with Bella and Stephen we had a good little group out here and though we didn’t do every session together it was great to mix the training up with others and good to have some good banter in the evenings.
I was eased in to the training quite well which was a good thing as not long after I had arrived Bella and Stephen went to race in South Africa and joined in on an epic 10 day training program with the boys. It was a hard 10 days but it was great fun and I really enjoyed the major challenges that were set. Soon after Bella and Stephen returned and we cracked on with normal training. My swimming is where I really needed to make big improvements and I began to see some improvements in the pool. I have been continuing to improve with the swim but I now need to learn how to transfer my pool speed to the open water which I am finding is not that easy to do!
Living in Lanzarote there are always lots of races to keep us occupied. The first of these was the Lanzarote International Duathlon, a race where I would not normally feel any pressure but I did feel a little as it was my first race with Team TBB and I wanted to race well. It did go well and I managed to win so it was a good start. The next race was on the amazing island of La Grasoisa, it was a last minute decision to go to the race which was a 31k off road run race. I loved it, it was hot and hard and like nothing I had ever done before. This was then followed up with the Tri 122 race in Costa Teguise, my first triathlon of the season which I also won. It was great to have each of those training races on our doorstep in preparation for the start of the season which I got underway at Challenge Fuerteventura, (see my previous blog).
So now the season is getting underway and it is time to leave Lanzarote for the ‘real world’. I am excited to move on and to have a change of training location but at the same time I am a little apprehensive. We have it so good here at Sands Beach, it’s the perfect training location and you really can’t beat the food. In fact one of my main concerns is the fact that I am going to have to shop and cook for myself when I leave here! I don’t really know how I am going to manage considering the amount and variety of food we have had here at Sands Beach but I guess I will have to get used to that again! Juan Carlos, the manager at sands beach has been so good to us and very helpful and accommodating throughout our stay here so a special thanks to him.
We now leave Lanzarote and head to Barcelona for the ETU European Championships this weekend. Following that it will be time to head off to our summer training base of Leysin in Switzerland. It will be a huge change from Lanzarote in many ways and I am excited to get out there and to continue with the rest of the season!
When I first arrived I felt that I was ready to hit the training and after being on the turbo since around October I was excited to get out on the roads of Lanzarote. That excitement was soon dampened when I was dropped on every climb of my first training rides. I guess I wasn’t so fit after the Christmas break back home but the fitness slowly returned and I was gradually introduced back in to some hard training. Soon after I arrived a few other Team TBB athletes joined us. Matias Hecht, Dan Halksworth and another new member Ritchie Nicholls. Together with Bella and Stephen we had a good little group out here and though we didn’t do every session together it was great to mix the training up with others and good to have some good banter in the evenings.
I was eased in to the training quite well which was a good thing as not long after I had arrived Bella and Stephen went to race in South Africa and joined in on an epic 10 day training program with the boys. It was a hard 10 days but it was great fun and I really enjoyed the major challenges that were set. Soon after Bella and Stephen returned and we cracked on with normal training. My swimming is where I really needed to make big improvements and I began to see some improvements in the pool. I have been continuing to improve with the swim but I now need to learn how to transfer my pool speed to the open water which I am finding is not that easy to do!
Living in Lanzarote there are always lots of races to keep us occupied. The first of these was the Lanzarote International Duathlon, a race where I would not normally feel any pressure but I did feel a little as it was my first race with Team TBB and I wanted to race well. It did go well and I managed to win so it was a good start. The next race was on the amazing island of La Grasoisa, it was a last minute decision to go to the race which was a 31k off road run race. I loved it, it was hot and hard and like nothing I had ever done before. This was then followed up with the Tri 122 race in Costa Teguise, my first triathlon of the season which I also won. It was great to have each of those training races on our doorstep in preparation for the start of the season which I got underway at Challenge Fuerteventura, (see my previous blog).
So now the season is getting underway and it is time to leave Lanzarote for the ‘real world’. I am excited to move on and to have a change of training location but at the same time I am a little apprehensive. We have it so good here at Sands Beach, it’s the perfect training location and you really can’t beat the food. In fact one of my main concerns is the fact that I am going to have to shop and cook for myself when I leave here! I don’t really know how I am going to manage considering the amount and variety of food we have had here at Sands Beach but I guess I will have to get used to that again! Juan Carlos, the manager at sands beach has been so good to us and very helpful and accommodating throughout our stay here so a special thanks to him.
We now leave Lanzarote and head to Barcelona for the ETU European Championships this weekend. Following that it will be time to head off to our summer training base of Leysin in Switzerland. It will be a huge change from Lanzarote in many ways and I am excited to get out there and to continue with the rest of the season!
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