Getting in the Rythem

Not much to report on this week, its just been some very solid training. Some more progress with my leg, then I strained my hamstring so have taken a backward step from running the past few days, but still we are progressing forward in the recovery process.
Alot of my time here has been spent as a training partner for James Cunnama as he heads into Ironman South Africia in a few weeks so I have been doing plenty of km on the bike and he has had some younger guys in the team to keep him honest in the run while I am getting my legs back.
The past week we have had heaps of rain and some of the towns we  have ridden through have been flooded with the excess of water. Yesterday I was running along the road just near our hotel and saw a scorpion trying to cross and find some dry land. They definitly aren't the prettiest of creatures and I stayed well away. But the water has bought them all out, we have also seen a few snakes and centerpedes.
When the weather is clear and we get away from town the riding has been really nice, the roads are unbelievably smooth and fast and some of the rides are quite scenic, with some massive rock formations. Not mountains but just massive rocks sticking out of the ground covered in rain forest. Most are not accessible and each one has its unique shape, most with visible caves. One that we rode past the other day actually had a concave shape towards the road with what looked like stalligtights hanging from it, that was awsome.
We had quite a long day on the bike today so I am looking forward to bed now and into another week of training!

Aaron.
   

More Rain

Well the novalty of being in Thailand has certainly worn off and the thought of being at home repeats itself in my head continuously. Everyday we have rain which means we have to clean and lube the bikes constantly. When its not raining its super hot and humid. We get chased by dozens of stray dogs and have to negotiate the Thai drivers. Like any other place in Asia its dirty, the streets are scattered with litter and there is a lingering smell of burning rubbish in the air.
On the positive side we are getting some awesome training done with a great group of athletes and I am back into some running and starting to enjoy it again. All this heat will be great acclimatisation for my first race back in Thailand next month and with a bit of luck I might even have my new bike to race on.
Last week was our photo-shoot week and we got to meet a few of the teams sponsors, with representatives from 2XU, Cobb saddles, The Bike Boutique and Aviva.
Alot of the team headed to Singapore last weekend for the 70.3, everyone went well with our women taking the top two spots of the podium and the men finishing strong considering one was coming back from injury and another was competing in his first half. From here our camp will dwindle over the next few weeks and only a handful of us that will be racing in Thailand next month will be left.
Hopefully I can avoid the dogs and cars until then and get a decent result!

Aaron.

Day on the water

We collected most of our new gear this week and have just about finished most of our photoshoots for this years team. So today we had a day on the water, fully catered for by the team with some of our major sponsors present and took some beach shots for 2XU.
Its funny, yesterday I was going to write a blog about how much of a third world dump this place is but today has totally changed that. The coast is just amazing with awesome little islands scattered everywhere and no pollution in site. Until we got back on the road and headed home it was like a different world.

Beautiful Krabi!

 Well I am back in Krabi again for my second team camp which will take me through to mid April and if the running comes along prepare me for a couple of events before the trip back to Europe in May.

I arrived on Thursday and have been slowly building into some training from there. Its been quite hot and humid with storms most afternoons, most of which we have managed to avoid and so far everything seems to be going well. Today we visited the beach for the first time and did an open water swim around one of the islands that was hit by the Tsunami a few years back. Until today I hadn't really seen the nice side of Krabi, only the city which just reminds me of any Asian town. (Its pretty dirty!)  but the beachfront was awsome.I managed to get a map to show people exactly where we are in Thailand and some pictures of the beach front close to where we were today.