First off - happy holidays from the deep south! Being Canadian, it is a little tough for me to get festive without snow. Of course, I am keeping a stiff upper lip and doing my best in the face of adverse circumstances. ;-)

Some of you have talked to me about the camps. I have reserved spots for those of you who have "gone firm". I have just stepped up the marketing for the camps, so if you are thinking about attending then let me know. You get priority booking.

Those of us with early season races will enter Base 1 or even Base 2 in January. With that, volumes will start to climb and additional endurance workouts will be added to our schedules. As the volume climbs, it is extra important to keep me posted on your recovery. We need to be careful with our recovery. The biggest thing I notice is my personal sleep requirement. This can increase from 6-7 hours per night during an easy week to 8-11 hours when I am in a high volume week.

My Tip-o-the-month is a bike handling drill that I have been doing on my recovery rides (or after some high speed cadence work). This one needs a clear road. Line Riding. I have fun with lines. Start by getting used to holding your wheel on the left edge, right edge or centre of the line. Once you are comfortable with that, do the same thing and look over your left shoulder, right shoulder or down at your rear cassette. This started when I noticed that I had a tendency to pull a bit when I looked over my shoulder. I'm improving but still have a way to go.

The last e-Tips from Ultrafit had some good stuff in it (www.ultrafit.com). Particularly relevant was Dirk's experience with his early season race in Japan. I know that many of your are itching to drop the hammer. I suggest that you put this extra energy into your key workouts. Swim your LSD sessions with "perfect form" - that takes a lot of energy. Hit your weight sessions a little harder, do an extra set for exercises that address your key weaknesses. Add a light recovery session followed by a long stretching session. Find an early season short race to do.

On this topic, I thought that I would share a little story with you. Those of you who check my training log will see that I had a little shoulder problem a few weeks ago. How did I get it? Well, the main set of my last session in Cairns was 12x100 all out on five minutes. Hardly the aerobic workout that I have been preaching. Pack mentality prevailed and I busted out two PRs for me (1:18 long course, if you are curious). Fortunately, common sense prevailed and after the second one I dropped right back. There were a few snide comments from the local Queensland boys and then it hit me. "There is a difference between what you can do and what you ought to do." That shut them up and they left me in peace for the rest of the workout. Thank God, I backed off. Had I kept hammering then I am sure I would have fried my shoulder. I was lucky and wanted to share the lesson.

The fact that you have arrived at the end of the year stronger and with better technique means that the early winter has been a success. Some of the more experienced long course athletes are also enjoying the sensation of being rested for the first time. This is what training is supposed to feel like. Enjoy it and know that you are building endurance AND recovering. This will pay big dividends in the Spring.

Increased volume and the working athlete - We all have responsibilities (work, partner, kids, friends, family...) and you will miss the occasional workout. That is inevitable - so don't be too hard on yourself! If it is a "key" workout then contact me and we will figure out a way to reschedule. If it is a minor workout then rejoin the program unchanged. Please do not try to make up the volume. This is quite important because I like to split the "key" sessions to maximise their quality.

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