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 I think I start every blog by saying I intend to write a lot more, but these past 4 weeks have been incredibly busy. I am finally back in Sydney and have time to take a breather and sit down and write a blog. I am home for 10 days before I fly up to Monaco for a presentation dinner with the Formula 1 boys on December 11. That will be a quick trip but a lot of fun. As a F1 fan, I am looking forward to talking cars and racing with the boys. I will be home in Sydney after that and back to some solid training and consistency to kick off the new season. I am looking forward to it.

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 During the past 4 weeks I have been living out of a suitcase all over the USA. Primarily I have been working with my key sponsor Under Armour, nailing photo shoots, working with some of their key retailers, appearing at The Running Event in Austin Texas and helping them plan some R and D work around their running shoe range in Baltimore. It has been a great working with UA. They are without question, the most forward thinking company in the sporting world, and to be associated with a company that is truly driven to build better, faster and innovative products is cool. Triathlon is only a niche sport, but when you have a corporate giant like UA, committed to working with its athletes to make better products across all their ranges, it feels good. I guess they see the value in having an athlete who competes all over the world and in all conditions. I race in Europe in freezing cold temperatures, all the way through the humidity of Hawaii, the dry heats of the Las Vegas and California deserts and the extreme heats in Asia. Our sport really tests an athlete under all conditions and UA has really understood this and really paid attention to my racing needs so as to build better products across all their sports and for all conditions. This was the main reason they saw me as a huge asset to their company. I don’t think any triathlete racing today races on every continent like I do. This is what I enjoy about triathlon, but it seems that today pro athletes, are focused on racing on one particular continent and not chasing races all around the world. I really enjoy this aspect of triathlon and have always raced like this. In the end this was what UA and many of my sponsors saw as valuable. They have markets all over the world and look for athletes they can get value out of in all those markets.  UA's move now into the running shoe market is impressive and the shoe range they have set for 2011 is just remarkable. From design, to feel and aesthetics they really get it as a company and are looking to push forward. It is exciting times and being a part of this companies growth and development is awesome. I enjoyed the past 2 weeks working all over the USA with UA and am excited about the future of the company and being a part of that.

I was lucky enough to pop through Las Vegas during this trip and watch Manny Pacqiaou defeat Miguel Cotto in an awesome fight. Anyone who knows me knows I am a huge boxing fan having grown up following the sport. I just love it, and never miss a super fight in Las Vegas if I can. This was one event I would not miss and we managed to get across to Las Vegas for the fight. I spent a little bit of time in the Pacqiauo camp with his trainers and talked a lot about what he does prior to the big fights. It was great getting an insight into the work these guys do. It was a great fight and Cotto is still an incredible fighter despite losing to Pacman. Pacman has just really hit his straps, has remarkable skills and is one of the sports greats. Cotto was made to look average only because of the fighter he was facing. Pacman was exceptional again. This Vegas Trip was great fun and an awesome fight to watch. I spend lots of time in Las Vegas having such good friends in the city and staying at the Encore Casino always makes it an easy trip to do. Encore is awesome.

Before flying home to Sydney I went out to support my mate Randy at Ironman Arizona. Randy has been trying to qualify for Kona for about 2 years and really focused on Ironman Arizona this year. I was intending to fly back home early but when I knew he was racing I decided to stay and watch him compete and help him where I could to achieve this goal. It was an awesome day and Randy went on to do a 30 minute PR and qualify for his first Ironman World Championships. He was solid all day and raced really well. It was a buzz seeing how pumped he was after the event, and it really gave me a buzz to see how tough this sport is and how emotionally satisfying these events are. I got to see that from the perspective of the spectator and this was unreal. It reminded me just how cool Ironman is and I had a great time. So now Randy has some down time and like myself has a huge goal in October next year. Going to be fun and I look forward to watching him prepare for his first Kona.

Anyway I am home now and things should slow down a little and give me more time to write my blogs. I will do another blog before flying up to Monaco in 10 days and then grab some great pictures from Monaco with all the drivers. That will be fun.

I am heading to the pool now for a swim. It is hot here in Sydney.

Safe Training,

Macca

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