Happy New Year

So here we are, 2014. A brand new shiny year. And to go with a brand new shiny year, some brand new shiny gear. A bit of this:

Comfy

and some of that:

Slick

A new set of Break Your Limits race kit just in time for the weekend and also some Break Your Limits Cycling kit. Very nice.

Break Your Limits gets their gear from Hincapie. For a while my mates have been telling me how nice this stuff is. I am not all that precious about individual brands of gear and so didn't bother getting to excited about it. But I have to say this stuff is really nice. The cycling kit is probably the nicest stuff I have ever worn and the race suit is certainly pretty comfy. I am looking forward to getting out in the race kit on Saturday. It strikes a good balance between giving some sun coverage but not covering so much that it ends up being restricting.

A big thanks to the Break Your Limits guys for getting this in for me.

The other new recent purchase for the weekend was this:

What, no big jars?

I think I mentioned the other day that I was keen to give Perpetuem a go for this race. I have had some friends recommend it and so I thought it would be worth a look. I nipped down to The Running Centre earlier this week and grabbed some. As you can see I shouldn't be running out anytime soon. In case you were wondering that is 1.6kg worth, and yes that is just what size it comes in. I tried a sample of it a couple of weeks ago and then had another ride with it earlier in this week. I think I like it. Not too sweet, full of good energy and salts, has a tiny bit of protein to make you feel like you have something in your stomach. It ticks a lot of boxes. The test will be Saturday, but so far so good.

Training this week has been good so far. I had a pretty rapid ride yesterday morning, a bit of a rushed swim in the river this morning and then quite a nice run this afternoon. Things are slowly feeling  like they are clicking into race mode. I still wouldn't say I am in Mandurahesque form, but I am not in fat slob form either. My main aim for Albany is to try and improve on last year. I had a pretty good race last year, but this year I know I am more experienced, fitter and faster. Barring incident this race should be an improvement on last year, plus the conditions for this year look like they could be quicker. I wouldn't dare try and compare times from two different races, and I am not looking to put pressure on myself, but I am hopeful that Saturday is a good day.

Nothing much left to do but pack the cars and get ready to head out. We are heading down tomorrow and so should be in Albany by tomorrow afternoon (after a brief stop off for a Kojonup pie). Looking forward to it actually (the trip, not the pie, although the pie will be good too). Besides the race it should be a nice bit of a holiday.

Now to make sure I haven't forgotten anything. Hmmm, where is that thingo with the pedals and the wheels...