Jonny Brownlee’s March Blog

I am writing this in between training sessions in Australia. I am preparing for the start of my season at the World Championship Series in Sydney. This is the first race on ‘the road to the Olympics’. I need a good performance in Sydney to gain qualification points that will allow me to start the 2 Olympic qualification races. Although the Olympic is still many months away, the qualification process has started. I am currently training in Noosa. I wanted to arrive in Australia 2 weeks before the race in Sydney to allow me to get over jet-lag and acclimatise to the weather. I hope this will allow me to perform at my best on the day. The British Team has sent a physio and coach to help out training in Noosa which has made a big difference. My training has gone very well over the winter. I have been fortunate with illnesses and injuries.

I stayed at home for the majority of the winter, with the exception of 1 week in Lanzarote. Staying at home allows me to be as consistent as possible and avoid missing training through travelling. I competed in a few cross country races to split up the long winter. This gave me focus and something to aim for. The last weeks training in Australia has been very fun. We are staying next to a big forest full with trails perfect for running. I spend my easy runs looking down for snakes and up in the trees for Koala bears. I still am yet to see any though! I did a run session on the track the other day. The track was surrounded by Kangaroos. I wondered what time a kangaroo could run 400m around the track? Here’s an example of a ride I did with Alistair and Adam Bowden. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/77152014

This year will be the earliest that I have ever started my season. Normally I don’t start racing until May. I have spoken with my coaches to decide how I am going to maintain a high level of performance throughout the year. We decided that after I return from Sydney I will have a week’s recovery before starting to race again in May. I will then have a month of no races to allow me to train well in the middle of the season. This is important to allow my body to recover from the previous races.