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Riding today and what a lovely time it was.

Fairly magic summer morning to be out on the bike today, spending some quality time with some of the guys from Break Your Limits. Just a cruisy spin out and about, doing what I love most about cycling, which is mostly just being outside and chatting. Thinking about it perhaps visiting more outdoor cafes might be easier...

Race recovery is coming along quite nicely. I am feeling more and more physically normal, with today's ride a build on Tuesdays spin. Mentally I am feeling more like getting back to things too. To be honest I didn't really feel like I needed a mental break post Busselton, but that is not unusual after a good race. After you have a good result all you want to do is get back out there and get on with things. I find it is still important to force yourself to have that mental rest though, otherwise it becomes very hard to sustain. With that in mind this break is working very nicely.

By way of getting back into things I started a bit of high level planning for next year today. Just getting an idea of what races are around, what ones I want to do, how much travel I want to do that sort of thing. Obviously the big thing this year is incorporating some Ironman races into the calendar. Bringing them into the picture makes things harder since they require that much more prep and recovery time, plus there just aren't that many of them.

At the moment we are thinking no more than three Ironman races in the year, plus a few half Ironman events to support the fulls. Exactly which races we target is the tough question. Busselton is a bit of a no brainer (I can drive there after all), but which others? Not sure yet. The question of the half events is even trickier. With those races there is no shortage, but at the end of last year I made the decision to try and limit my international travel. I was just finding it too draining. A few here and there is okay, but I have been racing in South-East Asia a lot for the last couple of years and it has begun to wear thin a little. The races are great and so are the people and the organisers, but the travel is typically a bit tricky and takes a lot of time, plus all the time away from family is not fun either. Not a bad problem to have though, figuring out where to go to race, which whether to visit countries or now.

Besides that I am settling into a bit of admin at the moment too. This time of year (and a bit before) is a good time to be speaking to sponsors about the next 12 months. Whether that is trying to find new ones or talking to existing ones about their plans and yours. I have a bit of both going on at the moment. At the moment I am at a point where I don't really actively chase sponsors, most of my major bases are covered already, but I am still having a couple of conversations, organising some new gear, that sort of thing. Always fun, the prospect of new kit is never a bad thing.

Swimming again in the morning. After my swim on Wednesday I am a bit concerned about what the swim tomorrow may look like. I have a sneaky suspicion that I will be on the front of the lane quite a bit, but then again what do you expect if you write a blog like I did yesterday. Whether it goes well or not I guess we shall see, I certainly won't be saying no if Paul hands me the temp timer, but I am feeling a little sore after yesterday's efforts so that may play a part. I guess we shall just have to wait and see.