My days seem to be getting busier, not more restful! What am I doing wrong?
Today started in the lovely lake at Shepperton again, but it was this afternoon's session I found really useful, a technique session with coach Tom at T2coaching focusing in on run technique.

I ran one of my fastest mile reps this year on the track by employing his techniques. With the added pressure of being watched by T2 athletes Vanessa Raw, Pav Rooprai and Eliza Cottingham.

This evening I converted my speedy technique into a big run set in Bushy Park. All the time I'm sharpening for the big race in Italy a week on Sunday. In tonight's session I visualised the last 30 mins of the run course. not surprisingly, I was a bit spent at the end ;-)

So today started with an awesome session in Tooting Bec Lido - feels like going back in time and swimming in the Victorian era, although I'm guessing they didn't have nice 2XU wetsuits like I do.

Dion Harrison helped push me to some decent intervals today, and of course Tom Bennett is giving me some technical advice to get my swim smoother, more efficient and better suited to the open water. Here's some footage, I'm sure you can spot plenty of errors in there. Lots to improve on still....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldGM3yiw69Q

Day #1 -

Well, here it is, the blog of my summer tasting the life of a full time athlete. Welcome!

For those who didn't know I've had an addiction to endurance sports for the best part of 20 years, and triathlon for 9 of those. I've been a fully paid up member of the rat race ever since I finished my PhD aged 24, and this summer of sport is a choice I've made just to see how the other half live (my sporting heroes and heroines!)

I have been lucky to be given a sabbatical by BAE Systems Detica from May 28th to Sept 17th, and during that time I'll do my best to train like a lunatic (but smarter, not harder of course!) and generally look after my not-too-young body a bit better than I do when fitting training around a working day.

Its just an experiment, I don't expect to be able to earn money from sport, but then again... never say never. Who knows what you can accomplish when the constraints are taken away, so this is my chance to just 'scratch that itch' and see what is possible when you give it 100%.

I'll be under the careful guidance of my coach Tom Bennett @ T2Coaching.co.uk who has been a huge influence on my performance this year. I have seen more performance improvement in the 4 months since being coached by Tom than I've seen in the past 5 years.

I will be gratefully relying on Jennie Wilson (@jwsportstherapy) for sorting out my aching muscles, and will be making them stronger with conditioning at http://www.trainfresh.com/.

Also I've got support from Brendon Wylde  at TheSportingBrain who helps me out when I have questions about my mental approach to training and racing.

Finally, my race Team, Thames Turbo Powerbar are key to being able to race and train with the Powerbar nutrition range, and wetsuits and other kit from 2XU. Not to mention being my friends, training buddies and team mates.

But more important than all of that is of course the attitude of friends and family, who have put up with my perennial dedication to hurting myself in the name of winning races. Selfishly I have put my racing schedule first, and somehow they forgive me, and encourage me to keep at it!

What follows are my experiences of doing the hobby I love as a full time activity. To quote Macca (@MaccaNow) 'A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline' - this is my execution of that plan.