After the accident

I had to give my body some time off after the accident. It was probably two of the hardest weeks I'd had all year. I missed the endorphins from training and catching up with my mates so I often would just come down for coffee at the end of their sessions.

I was very lucky that the ribs were only bruised, because I'm unsure how I would have survived more than 2 weeks. I knew that it would still be a few extra weeks before I'd be at full capacity. This will severely hinder my training for Taupo. The call was made and I changed my flight to make it just a holiday closer to Christmas and give me an extra week at work.

I got one more race in for the year at Bribie Island. Bribie Tri was becoming a staple of my racing and is to this day one of my favourite events. The Swim is greatly tide assisted, the ride is flat and technical and finally the run is Flat, very hot but flat.

I loved this race in particular as I had told Cam a fellow club member that the race was on between us. He, the better swimmer but out of form for the other two legs. Whereas I was the decent cyclist, but overweight and not the most fit person. It ended up coming down to the run as I passed him in the transition area coming off the bike. He passed me on the first lap of the run but stayed together for most of it, but as with the Duathlon I had the extra gear when coming close to the end and won in a sprint finish.

In November I had the chance to give back to the club that I was really starting to love. I was asked if I would like to take the opportunity to step into the merchandise role. For me this just felt like a natural move.

I'd now also been convinced to do my first parkrun, I originally assumed that having my daughter meant I wouldn't really be able to do these. Turns out there's usually a few strollers at most park run events around the country. I set my personal best of 25:56 for 2015 with the stroller.

The end of the year was fast approaching. I needed to choose another race to replace Taupo to aim towards. I discovered the Tweed Enduro. Right, I now have a new goal. It's time to start working towards this. I enjoyed the training I was doing, but needed to take it to a new level. I needed individual coaching and luckily I was able to find that within SBTC. Drew was one of the original founders of SBTC had recently stepped down from the committee to focus on his own coaching company, Standing Start Triathlon.

By the end of the year my weight had reached as low as 94.1kg