The countdown

This time next week I'll hopefully be chilling on the beachfront with my family and boyfriend, downing a few wines after completing my second half-ironman. And I have one thing to say about that.

I'M EXCITED.

I'm excited for so many reasons:

• It's been a loooong time since my first half - about 15 months. In this time I was all over the shop about training, triathlon, work, life, relationships etc and its taken some time to iron out the kinks and realise that I love training for triathlon, its so good for my state of mind and to get some consistency and focus back.
• This has been the first year I have knuckled down and trained consistently through winter. And it has sucked. The training is great, the weather is just balls. There is nothing fun about riding in 3 degrees, running in 4 layers and coming home frozen to the bone when its raining and windy. One of the only thing that gets you through is the race carrot that dangles and for me, that carrot has been a trip back home to Queensland and a nice, toasty warm race on the beach. 
• I get to go HOME. My family are coming up to cheer, Paul is coming up and I know that they'll have an awesome time. Mum goes nuts for a bit of triathlon, she's a bit of a pro groupie.
• Of course you get to test the training. I've been running heaps, booked two half-marathons as part of this build and I definitely feel more run confident. I remember being petrified about running the 21.1km in my last half; now I feel like I can tackle it confidently (maybe not super fast, but by not dying like last time).
• I'd like to beat my last HIM time. I feel confident this is possible.

When I sign off from work this Thursday, it also signals the start of a 4 month sabbatical from work for me. I am haannnggginnnng on for that. I'm tired, run down and sucked dry from the last 18 months and really need some time off. I get to go back to Qld, spend time with friends and family and untwist myself from the stress I've been feeling. A bit of sun, sand and saltwater is going to be on-tap every day along with loads of swim/bike/run (what else would I be doing?) 

The other cool thing is I'll get to race in some of the local Gold Coast and Brissie triathlons so if you've got any suggestions, let me know! First up will be the Gold Coast Festival of Cycling - Pauly is going to nail it in the crit then the gran fondo, I'll belt myself in the 10km run and then might head up to Redcliffe for the Moreton Olympic Distance tri at the end of Sept. Who knows? Choices galore!