I am post-due for an update.  My apologies!  It’s been a whole lot of triathlon-ing here in Nelson and now it’s time for a change of scenery.  The weather here has been good but the leaves are changing and the air & sea have a slight chill to them…Although Nelson has been good to me, it’s time to head west across the Tasman Sea to Australia.  That’s right, Noosa is calling my name!

For now, here are some random pics from around Nelson:

 My favourite barn house.  The sad-looking palm tree makes this photo…

The sod roof of the Woollaston Winery just outside of Nelson…

Riding with my buddy on a beautiful day along the sea, doesn’t get much better than this!….

Some country art…

Thanks New Zealand & New Zealanders for the great experiences!  I may be back in October for the World Champs Series Final in Auckland….till then I bid you adieu!

Next up: Australia!!

Lisa

An update from the last few days in NZ (on a VERY SLOW Internet connection…appreciate these picture uploads!!). We left Wanaka and the Snow Farm and headed to the Northern end of the South Island to the metropolis of Nelson! So far the weather and atmosphere in Nelson are great! We had our first ocean swim this week…the last time I was in salt water was in Yokohama!

Here are the photos from the week:

Hanging out with these guys at the Queenstown airport enroute to Nelson.  For those of you who haven’t flown on a domestic NZ flight, it’s heaven!  No security checks, be there 20′ before your flight, great views, pick up your luggage straight off the cart outside the terminal, plus you get a candy before landing!

The docks in Queenstown

My personal nightmare….look at all those birds!!

Touchdown in Nelson…downtown…

Free range chickens on one of my cycling routes…no chickens out the on this day(mid-day sun too hot), but I saw them running around the day before…they looked happy!

Makes a…

 The trip started out with some clear skies for my window seat view over the Rocky Mountains and over Southern California and then after a long wait in LA and a overnight flight, great views over New Zealand’s south island and into Queenstown.

 The Snow Farm from above.  Our home for the next two weeks….

 After a long couple days flying I was left the keys to the van and went straight to driving on the left….

 So far the weather here has been great, perfect for getting back into the swing of training camp…although the long daylight hours are messing with my head….from dark at 5pm  in Calgary to dark after 10pm here!

Below is the contoured XC ski slopes of the snow farm, one year I’ll have to come back in the winter!

 My favourite view of Mount Aspiring…. 

A stop along one of our cycling routes…

Just a quick one from NZ.  Until next time!

Lisa

I’ve been back into some solid structured training for about 2 weeks now.  It’s always a struggle for an athlete as to how long to make the season-end break, there is always the worry if it’s too long or too short and how it will affect the upcoming season; but without a doubt, a break of some sort is necessary.  As next season will one of my most important ones, most likely my last ITU series season, London qualifiers, and the Olympic games themselves, 2012 will be a big one.  I took quite a substantial break after the up & down season of 2011.  Yes, there is always doubt….was it too long?  will I ever re-gain my race form? maybe I needed more time off?  I only came back to training when I felt mentally & physically ready to.  The plan is to be strong & fast in April/May and then again in August; so I knew I needed to be refreshed and ready to go before I focused in on my goals.

So here starts the build-up to London 2012.

Stage 1:…

Off season in Calgary means fall colours, a welcome house guest (even if he does make quite a mess!), spending time with Jake (my commuter/cross bike), and the Great Annual Pumpkin Carve-Off (more on this next post!).  Here are some pictures from my downtime in Cowtown.

Shaggy and the fall colours:

Someone passed out after a hard day of exercise, nap, exercise, eat, nap and repeat….He really is the master of recovery!

Good ol’ Jake.  It was a little frosty the other day on my ride to the gym but at least I don’t have to pay for parking!!

Purchasing of the pumpkins for the carve off….I’ll post the final products after the carve-off on the weekend…. 

That’s all for now.  Not much happening here.  A whole lot of recovery and planning for next season, but more on that once everything is finalized. 2012 is looking better and better….super exciting!

Off to rake the endless covering of leaves in our yard!!

Lisa