Time for a change

Exactly twelve months ago I was racing for a small team in Germany as I had for the previous two years before, I was in quite a comfortable position getting paid by the club and looked after well, both in and away from the triathlon scene when it hit me that I needed a change. I was doing the same races every year, getting the same or similar results without really improving and just getting to comfortable with the position I was in. With our first child on the way later that year the same results weren’t going to cut it and I made the conscious decision that if I couldn’t improve my results it was time to move on with my career.

At that time I didn’t know what the answer was, I knew I needed a proper triathlon coach some proper training partners and a fresh beginning.

I finished the last race with the club winning the series both as an individual and as a team.

I kept my plans pretty quite, the only people I talked openly about it with, were the family that had taken me in. They understood exactly what I meant when I talked about my lack of respect for the teams main sponsor and my frustration that I was not improving and helped me look for other alternatives.

One year later and with some help from some good friends I am in the Swiss alps part of one of the most successful triathlon teams of the modern day with a list of great sponsors as long as my arm and a coach who has guided the best athletes at the peak of their careers to greatness.

As for the results, they’re coming! After a broken leg which cut my training for four months I managed to win the Noumea triathlon off basically a months running then finished third in Weihai Long Course World Championship series a month later. With a long way to go to get back to 100% the results can only get better and I am excited about what I might be able to achieve in the future.

Getting out of my comfort zone and making the change was the best thing I could have done and I am determined to make the most of it for however long it lasts. I look at my former training partner who is still at the club doing to same thing and getting worse results and think what a good decision it was. If you ask him why he’s still there he’ll tell you he gets paid well and has a good setup with the sponsor but  when it gets to that point in my career when I lose that desire to improve and the desire to win its time to move on. The change has given me new focus and more determination with a platform to achieve whatever I want in triathlon and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity.

Now the rest is up to me.