In four weeks time today we will have started the 2011 edition of
XPD, which this year doubles as the
AR World Championships in Burnie, Tasmania. Since our last race together in June we've all been busy preparing for this race, which is our focus for the year. Recently, Rob and Josh have spent several hours chasing each other around the Upper Murray Challenge multisport race course in north east Victoria finishing 4th and 5th. Damon's been spending his time telling Rob and Josh that they were lucky he wasn't there or they would have been down a place in the results.
To compete in an event like this we all put in many hours of training per week. The more you do pre-race, the less the event is going to hurt. That's how it works for me anyway! I've just spent two weeks exploring the endless hills behind Fairhaven and Airey's Inlet on the Great Ocean Road, plus plenty of hills west of Brisbane. Here's a couple of photos of those areas.
Airey's Inlet, Great Ocean Rd
Northbrook Gorge, Brisbane
Looking after the body is particularly important in maintaining high volume training. We need to thank one of our sponsors for helping keeping us all injury free (MTB crashes don't count - they're 'unfortunate accidents', not injuries!) for 2011 after some specific overuse issues that saw me miss a couple of races last year. With disciplined use of our Trigger Point Therapy tools I've kept the muscles nice and supple which has kept my troublesome achilles at bay. It's like getting daily massages without the cost. Have a look at their
website and check out their products. Kristian would be more than happy to help with any queries.
So, with less than three weeks before we leave, our preparations are all going well. We're looking forward to having the opportunity to race a World Championship in our home country without the usual issues of jet-lag and excess luggage expenses!
