Taper time

Less than two weeks until my favourite event of the year Challenge Wanaka. Having won last years race you would expect things to feel different to me in 2017, but they honestly don’t. My reasons for competing remain the same: 1) Because I love to race and I love this course and 2) Because as with any event I have ever returned to, I believe I am capable of improving on my own performance of previous years. This is what excites me. I look at my performance from last year (and the two years prior) and I feel an honest and genuine belief I am a better Challenge Wanaka athlete in 2017. Other pro athletes that come to the event create an added excitement and anticipation in the public eye, which is great and I feel very privileged to be an ingredient in this, but my fellow competitors are about as secondary in my thoughts as the weather forecast. I can control neither, so I don’t waste energy thinking about it. As I say, I focus on my own job for the 18th of this month, and look forward to the challenge of executing an improved performance across swim, bike and run. I guess you could say this makes me no different to anybody else in the field, and that is pretty cool I reckon.

Thanks to those that have helped make my training build for the race so awesome, especially my family, Will and Joy, my coaches Val and Jeremy, my sponsors and the Wanaka and Oamaru communities.
Good luck to all of you competing and thanks for making the event what it is. Equally, thanks in advance to all of you who support the event as volunteers and race officials, we athletes are forever indebted.
My gear is all set for race day, for those interested in what I choose to use, check out the below (NB: not all below are sponsors, but they are certainly all things I have personally chosen to use, sponsored or not):
Race day:
Fusion Speed suit, Polar V800 watch, Clif Bar shots and bars, Nuun hydration, 
Swim:
Blueseventy Helix wetsuit, Blueseventy Nero Race goggles
Bike:
Basso Konos TT bike, Rotor Q-Rings and 2InPower cranks, Polar M450 computer, Enve SES 7.8 race wheels, Vittoria Corsa Evo race tires (25mm), Smith Podium TT helmet.
Run:
Asics DS Racer (used DS Trainer last year), Smith Pivlock Arena ChromaPop sunnies, SmartWool PhD run socks.
See you all in just under 2 weeks, happy taper everybody!