Noosa dreaming...

Where do you start?

Noosa is so legendary that no matter what I dribble about here I will miss pretty much all the best bits. But maybe it's better that way? Maybe the whole idea is that you have to actually get to Noosa for that first weekend in November and experience all that there is to offer for yourself?

Seriously though. Get the fuck to Noosa Multisport Festival.

Bondi Fit legends in our new kit

This year we had an extra couple of days which was great to hang out with some good friends just out of Brissy for a day before driving up the coast, catching some family and making it our sweet little pad in Little Cove in time to get out and enjoy a bit of mexican with some friends before crashing out.

Garmin Hill

The usual Friday morning course ride was a beauty, remembering that the sun comes up before you go to bed in Queensland which means by 6am it's freakin hot already, always nice. Looking back we made the mistake of caring too much about the race this day, as it was nice and sunny yet we decided that was the day to register and organise instead of soak up the sun and relax on the beach, rookies...especially considering that the rest of our time there would be cast in shadows... booo

Gatecrashing the Witsup Breaky ride

Saturday morning was played a little differently this year with Witsup holding their breaky today instead of Monday, not so bad. I gatecrashed the morning ride before breakfast and got to chat to a fair few people and hear some cracking stories that continue to make me laugh! Aimz came down and joined us for the breaky this year after a bout of food poisoning the night before ruled her out last year, good decision as she managed to win the Specialized helmet as well which means she is one step closer to getting on a bike... ;)
The panel was great; Blatchford, Granger and Snowy are a bunch of great people with a heap of experience and even more stories. You know it's a good panel when you have the likes of Mel Hauschildt and Jamie Jacobs sitting in the back row for kicks. Scored a kick arse goodie bag this year as well, Witsup flat caps? Well played Stef, well played!

Stef and the great panelists for the morning! Thank you all!
Photo credit to Korupt Vision

Saturday is the most awesome day of the weekend I think. There is just sooo much going on. Yes, yes the day before a race you should be feet up chilling out of the sun... But when you score VIP tickets to the Asics 5km bolt, the Legends race and the Women's and the Men's Crit then how could you possibly not go and watch?!?

Benny J from Noosa Bike Shop off the front of the Men's Crit

I did drag myself away long enough to jump in the water with the crew for a swim of the course. First time in my new Huub swim skin also which was good, surely this last minute purchase would dramatically change my race right? Haha. Rest assured that I have been thinking about one for ages as I race in a 2 piece suit, and if you have ever tried to swim in a 2 piece suit you will understand...! I liked it, felt sleek and fast and not restrictive, good sign!

Saturday arvo pre-race swim is always a good laugh!

Most nights before a race I like to sneak away and have a quiet diner to relax, although when in Noosa the race is just part of the trip, so what's a glass of wine and a meal with half the squad the night before? Love it.

Nothing new on race day = wine the night before

I'm not sure who decided to interrupt the weekend with a race (rude), but come Sunday morning I was with the masses setting the bike up for the day. Feeling relaxed and casual, which I'm never sure is a good or a bad thing? Either way my wave start wasn't for 2 hours again so I had time to go home, chill out and relax a bit.

Transition. Well not even half of it actually... crazy place!

Unfortunately my magic swim skin didn't save the day for me, I felt like I had a reasonably good swim to be honest, my wave must have been full of Poms as I'm almost certain that I was one of the first few out the water, as I don't wear a watch in the swim I didn't have any idea of how I actually swam (not great) which meant at least I was positive heading out on to the bike!
 

25-29 Wave start... Punch on lads

I love the Noosa bike course, that slow climb out of town to the bottom of Garmin Hill lets the legs warm up and the body settle down. We were lucky this year to not have the sun beaming down on us which I think made a difference, although it was windier than last year. I hit the base of the hill having no-one pass me which is always a nice feeling, keeping a solid tempo up the hill I let 2 guys go past who looked like they wanted KOM, all theirs... Across the top section I was caught by another 2 guys and couldn't quite hold on as they went past which was pretty frustrating, started to think that my Port 70.3 legs might be coming back to haunt me... From the turn I managed to pick up a TO for pretty much the entire leg back into town... They weren't watching me so much as moving from bunch to bunch up the road from me, although as I was moving quicker than the bunches ahead I kept catching and passing them... not really an issue until they decided to have a conversation with someone on the decent doing about 60km/h and I had to actually scream at them to get out of the farking way as clocked 85 on the way down (love that hill).

Love a bit of speed!

Off the bike in 1:04ish I thought was reasonable considering how I was feeling, 2mins slower than last year but that's cool. Really wanted to have a good run, so eyes up. Plus Tommy hadn't caught me yet where last year he got me as we came in to T2 so that was a good sign.

Telling myself I feel great heading out on the run

Hit the run and tried to settle down, running around 4:05-4:10's which I was comfy with as I just wanted the legs to come good so I could have a real crack in the back half. What's that saying about best laid plans? Hrmmmm.... Once again the few km's either side of the turn I struggled, slipping back to 4:20-4:30's for a while there... Someone always used to tell me to talk yourself through the run when you are tired and focus on form, so I was just going over and over in my head to run tall and have quick feet. Must have worked to some degree as I managed to come good (well better) the back half and run home reasonably strong. No where near what I wanted, but happy that I managed to dig myself out and come home strong, good mental win.

Anyway, that's enough race talk. Finish chute was amazing as always, over the line, grab a cup of water and flop back in the river. Done. Beer time.


Quick bite to eat and the first of a few vodkas for a mate who won't take no for an answer before heading to the Surf Club to enjoy the afternoon. Like every year th.... --INFORMATION MISSING-- ..r pizza which was delicious!

Epic party image

The next day in Noosa is usually beach day, but with the rubbish weather it was a let down... A quiet BBQ on our rooftop was about all that could be mustered. Pretty quiet night with some good people and not a drop of alcohol to be seen anywhere as we are all athletes.

Unlike last year, we managed to stay around for the Melbourne Cup this year. Excellent decision. Ended up a pretty good crew who stuck around for it.

Civilized and glamorous Melbourne Cup

It's a shame that the sun came out to play on the day we were dressed to impress. Really would have been a great day for an afternoon on the beach and a bit of a swim. I bet the water would have been warm and inviting... Shame that we will never know... Right?

What Watts? Port 63.7

It's official. Summer is here. And that's not just the sunburn talking... First race of the season under the belt in Port Macquarie definitely marks the beginning of Summer.

 

Port Macquarie in all it's morning beauty

It has been an up and down kind of winter, and a damn cold one at times... My running has come a long way which has been a good positive. Which reminds me, I never followed up on my last blog with an ambitious goal of 56min for the City-2-Surf... Well I'm happy to say that something clicked that day and I pulled out a 55:16... Winning!

That final painful km of the C2S

So really from a results perspective it was a great winter, perhaps the only up and down bit was inconsistent training and some mindless personal issues that are seemingly irrelevant. I can live with that.

So roll on the first race of the season. One of the most honest courses on the calendar but also one of the most scenic, Port Macquarie 70.3. It's a great tough course in a great little bogan town, and I say that with endearment.

This race has gone from a goal race, to a B race, to a don't care race, back to a training race and then to a what the hell have a crack race and back to a training race (see above personal ups and downs over the winter! haha) so when I checked the bike in on Saturday I really had no expectations at all and stomach full of nerves... go figure? At least I had my #1 fan up there with me this year to take me out to a pretty cracking lunch on the Saturday and put up with a 5:30pm dinner :)

Aimee's stellar lunch from Grape & Petal

This year was a strange start, we were herded into the carpark at the swim entry before the race start (missed out on a warmup swim!) and held until our wave was ready to start, then funneled into the water and out to the start bouys where we floated around and joked about waiting for instruction and then a horn went off! I guess that was the start then? Good thing we all knew what was going on... A 30 second warning would have been nice, but I guess not!

So the usual 25-29 age group start was amplified as we grew this year to include 18-29 which ensured that we started like there was a shark in the water (maybe that's what the horn was?). Pretty sure that I didn't punch anyone in the head this year which is nice, considering that I didn't get punched in the head either, maybe we are getting soft?

Swim start, no punches thrown...?

Spot's voice was ringing in my head as usual and this year I did listen (a little) and backed off a bit. The pack did it's usual swim the wrong way trick so by the time they had figured it out, corrected and half of them blown up already I was pretty much swimming next to them all again. I didn't jump on the back as they were still all over the place so I just swam my own way again. Turns out it wasn't a bad idea as I had a pretty good swim for me, well that or they all got lost out there somewhere... 27:14 and 11th in my division... I'll take that (and damn right it was short! haha). Even saved a spectators sunnies as I ran up the carpet to T1 (at the cost of my Huub goggles which I dropped...! :( )

Doing my duty, note the flying sunnies top left ;)

Heading out on to the bike I figured I had a pretty good swim, although I don't wear my watch in the swim so had no idea really, but I felt good and that's all that matters. I did wonder though if I had put in enough work on the bike lately to get through the next 90km on the bike at the speed my head wanted me to ride... Only one way to find out, hit the road and keep an eye on the power.
I said keep an eye on the power.
Shit.
Power meter not working... at all... Reset watch... Nope... No HR either...
Watts? What watts?
This is gonna be fun

Transition

I'd love to know what I was actually riding at out there, although it was great to ride blind to some degree as it definitely helps you to understand your body rather than rely on numbers, I think I may have pushed a little too hard considering the lead up I have had... haha. Not sure exactly when I figured that bit out, perhaps when somebody tried to slow me down by sticking 2 dozen knives in my quads the second time up Mathew Flinders... Fun

Heading out for Lap 2

The bike course was the same as I remember, just with less people. Maybe the early start wave? maybe the better swim from me? Or just less people in the field? All 3 I think.
Whatever it was, for the most part I didn't have anyone infront or behind. Was a pretty lonely 90kms, aside from the adoring fans up Mathew Flinders and my #1 fan clapping solo for me as I rode through the outskirts of town. I kinda like it that way.
Just wish I knew why the course was so slow this year...? I'm sure that we must have ridden over carpet at some point. 10mins slower than last year... anyway, that's starting to sound like an excuse, so I'll stop.

Coming back in to T2 feeling a sting in the legs

Coming in to T2 I felt every minute on my black pocket rocket. The quads were shot to pieces. Woo Hoo! So load up the crotch with some chamois cream, throw the Mizuno's on and hit the pavement. At least my watch decided to display my pace on the run, still no HR, but it was an improvement.

Feeling good at the 7km mark

Like I said, I felt pretty average, so forgot about the pace and just focused on form. I settled down eventually and the legs started to come around. Not where I would have liked them, but I was looking down the road at a 1:35 and thought I'd settle for that. This is a training race anyway. Right? I'm confused.
I carried on through the first lap holding that together somewhat, slowing a little up the hill in the back end which is normal. Although my body forgot to speed back up again. I got stuck in that gear. Either that or someone poured concrete in my legs while I was distracted. It took every ounce of mental strength not to stop when the nice lady gave me my 1st lap completed wrist band... The energy I had left after that went towards the walk/jog second lap. Hrmmm... Never quite had an explosion like this one. I had nothing. Slipped back to a 1:49. Ouch. Should have made this one a 63.7 rather than a 70.3...

Pretty glad that is over...

Nice to know that I found my limit. Now as I try and pick up the pieces and put the puzzle together I just hope that I can learn from this so that it doesn't happen again. I know that it might take a while (like forever) to get the balance right, but it was not a nice way to finish what started as a reasonable day in the water (no, I'm not a swimmer, stop smiling) so I need to take some lessons away

Now I have 2 weeks to remember how to walk before ripping what's left of my body to pieces in Noosa! Hell, at least there is a holiday and one hell of a party attached to that race. See you up there!

*note: I have learnt a lesson from this that is unrelated to my racing, although it's a lesson none the less... If someone has a bad race, you don't have to try and tell them it was a good race, they know they had a bad race, they are not looking for someone to pump them up and make them feel like they are a winner, not everyone wins a prize, it's OK to have had a bad race. I had a bad end to a race, that's OK, I know that, I'm not looking for sympathy, it's just a race, shit happens.
NB: I am absolutely totally 100% guilty of being 'that person' who tries to pump others up after a bad race... guilty as charged! I'll save you the long list of apologies that are due, but those people know who they are, and to them; "I'm sorry, you had a shit race hey" :)

Now lets work on the run...

That's what winter is for right?

After a little time off after a season full of ups and downs both in triathlon and in my life, with work and friends coming and going, it was a good time to get focused on my run. The run has been my weakest leg since I got into the sport, I just never had the speed. I would hold my own in the water and generally grab a few spots on the bike, only to watch people run away from me on the run...

It was time to fix this. The goal was sub 90min.

Gotta love a 10km Bondi Fit foot race to gauge your form!

First goal was the SMH Half in May.

I had pretty much dropped hard bike work and cut back a few swim sessions (wish I didn't!!) in order to both focus on the run as well as spend some more time at home with my fiance who I'm sure wondered if I was leading a secret life.

Progress was looking good, I was feeling reasonably strong although I knew that there was so much more in the tank I thought that it would be a good early run season race to see where I was at. Being the first Half Marathon that I'd ever run fresh. Spot was going to pace me through the first 10km at 4:20 pace and then wave me on for the back end to bring it home.

Although the Tuesday before the race that all came to a halt with a little slide in the wet on the bike in Centennial Park... Not the first, won't be the last... No serious damage besides a good bit of skin gone and a ripper bump on my hip that pretty much restricted me to a limp until the Friday afternoon... not the best lead up to a race... I managed a few 1km efforts at race pace on Saturday with a little bit of pain so I figured that I should be able to put up with it for 21km. Right?

Gotta love a bike crash...

Race morning I felt pretty good actually, besides the arctic weather that Sydney greeted us with. Couple of run throughs with the squad and the mandatory photo and we were off to the start line.
It's a bit of a downhill for the first few km's and I'm sure that even though coach always says not to go out to hard and get caught in the start line rush that we ran out too hard and got caught in the start line rush... but no harm was done and we settled into race pace pretty soon after without much trouble. No real pain. Sweet.

Traditional run throughs pre-race

The course is pretty windy and up and down so it was always interesting with stuff to keep your mind occupied. Well until you get to Pyrmont and those lovely hills! I lost coach on the hills a little and figured he was hurting, I was a little surprised that he stuck with me through those first 8km really as I hadn't seen him run for a while and wondered how he'd go! But after I came out of Pyrmont sure enough he was running next to me again, albeit a little out of breath and not interested in a chat!

All smiles on the start line

We stuck together till the 10km mark where he waved goodbye and jumped the fence to where his car was conveniently parked :)

The back end of the race was pretty good, nice views and I managed to stay pretty consistent which was nice as well as having that great feeling of running past a constant flow of people who had blown up! The only real time I was cursing was running past the finish chute at about the 18km mark and down to Mrs Macquaries Chair, knowing that I had to turn around and run back up... That is a shitty run... I held on though and pulled out a 1:32:57 with a nice 15sec negative split. Pretty happy with that considering!

SMH Half Splits

Official race timing

I'm still kind of happy with that, although there were a few people that suggested that there is more to give than I thought, so we re-evaluated some goals for the Gold Coast Half in a few weeks... Not just sub 90min, but 87/88min instead. Now that doesn't sound like much, but that's 4:16min/km pace for a 90min, or 4:07min/km pace for an 87min... that's a bit of a difference...

But it was about time I started believing that I was a runner, so what the hell. Lets have a crack.

After the SMH Half, Spot gave the reins for Track sessions to fellow athlete Julie, who just happens to be an ex AIS athlete with some pretty solid credentials. This was great for me as I was able to really work on some specific goals week to week to go after the goal. Julie was great and pushed me pretty hard, which I needed as I'd obviously been slacking in the past!

Coach Julie has me working hard under lights...

I was super lucky to have to spend the week before the race traveling around the state for work which once again wasn't probably the best lead up to a race, although the fact that I wasn't going to be able to fall off a bike I figured that it couldn't be any worse! Plus, I managed to have a taper run around Lake Jindabyne in stunning (yet freezing) conditions, so I suppose it wasn't that bad.

Ripper location for a taper run!

Goldy time!

Getting up to the Goldy on the Friday night, we scored an upgrade at the Crowne Plaza (thanks Aimee!) which also happened to be the official hotel for the festival which meant that all the elite athletes were wandering around. This was pretty cool, although depressing knowing how much faster they were!! haha
Having the Saturday to pick up the race bib, check out the expo, have a taper run and just generally be cruisy was great to be able to clear my head from all the craziness from the last week and get ready to run.

Room upgrade? Hell yes!

Come Sunday, we jumped on the free shuttle to the start line (probably cut it a bit fine!) and quickly got through a proper warm-up and stretch leaving just enough time to get into the start pens although not enough time to get to the front, so I started in the middle of a tight bunch just behind the bloke with the 1:30:00 balloon... not ideal...

Once the gun went I spent the first 1km jumping over people's feet and trying to get my own space and get around the people who had high expectations of themselves... In hindsight it may have helped slow me up a little and not get caught in the rush!

After the initial 1km was out of the way I settled down and found a rhythm. That rhythm was a little quicker than planned race pace at around 4:07min/km. But I was feeling good and comfortable so I just held it there. I hit the timing mat at 10km in 41:27 (4:08min/km) and was feeling pretty good. I had managed to grab at least a mouthful of water at each aid station so was reasonably confident, so I opened it up a little and tried to come home strong and see what was going to happen.

I wasn't really aiming for a pace on the way home, just looking to be slightly uncomfortable. That turned out to be between 3:55-4:00min/km pace. It was stinging the legs a little but it was only 10km and I was convincing myself that I was feeling good so I stuck with it, passing more and more people only made me feel better as well. Happy days!

Feeling good coming on the home stretch

About 19.5km in I copped a ripper stitch that brought me to tears and almost stopped me in my tracks... I jammed my hand in it so hard it made me cry although took the pressure off it a little... although it definitely slowed me down a little... With just over a km to go though it was just grit the teeth and get it done, deal with it later.

The last 500m was great with a huge crowd, always awesome to come home to support like that! Managed to get over the line in 1:26:11. Shaving a good chunk off the goal. Pretty freaking happy with that!! Although I couldn't help but be a little shitty that the stitch in the 20th km cost me a sub 40min 10km in the back end and an 85min split... but that's getting greedy :)

Goldy Half Splits

So with that I ticked that goal off my list. It's a good feeling ticking off a goal.

Official race timing. Happy with that

Unfinished business time...

Next on the cards is the unfinished business that I have with the City-2-Surf... the 60:17 I ran last year was so tantilisingly close to sub 60 that I want to smash that this year!

Spot agrees. Goal is set. Sub 56min. That should sting a bit. Sub 4:00min/km including that hill... Bring it on.

A bit of a Husky affair

I love Husky. Actually I would be willing to bet most people do. It's a bloody great place, especially for a triathlon festival.

I hadn't gone down for the Olympic race this year for some reason or another, but I sure as hell wasn't going to miss arguably the best triathlon weekend in NSW, the Husky Long Course Triathlon Festival so wonderfully hosted each year by Emo and the team from Elite Energy. It should be on everyone's calendar as there literally is something for everyone. Swims, runs, mini-man triathlons, enticer triathlons, sprint triathlons and of course the fantastic Long Course triathlon.
 

Photo: Bondi Fit

Last year I just did the sprint (http://s-tri-ving.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/huski-tri-festival-long-course.html), but hung around to watch the long course the next day (staying on the floor of the Bondi Fit brothel...) and I loved it! Such an amazing festival. So this year I was definitely doing the long.

I may have made a bet with a C (or is that D?) grade celebrity about racing the Sprint on the Saturday and the Long on the Sunday, but after spending 2 weeks working in Adelaide and only flying back to Sydney to drive to Husky on Friday night I pulled a heart muscle and didn't race the sprint, although I did go watch and cheer on the Bondi Fit team, including cheering ribbons home for 4th :)

Photo: Bondi Fit

Our age group scored it lucky on race morning having a start in one of the early waves, so we were able to set off just behind the pro's. There was a massive field of them this year including Jacobs, Sam Appo, Tim Reed, Liz Blatchford, Lisa Marangon and Matilda Reynolds so was great to watch them hit the water.

I didn't really have much of a plan for this race, just to try and be steady and solid throughout and try not to explode at any stage. Easy.

The swim start was the same as always. Not sure which gene is responsible for the Male 20-29 age group needing to have a 200m fist fight at the start of every race... but when in Rome... I'm pretty sure I landed more than I copped this time. Once they all sorted themselves out I just went about my own business. I gave up chasing feet in this age group a while ago as 90% of them enjoy swimming the scenic route, so I let them go and swim can to can. Not sure if I'm better off or not, but I feel better about myself :) Turns out I swam alright as well, coming out the water in 32:42 which for me was pretty satisfying!
 

  

Having only done one 70.3 before I kind of knew what I was in for on the bike course, although I wasn't quite prepared for how unforgiving the Husky course actually is. There just isn't anywhere that you can settle in to a rhythm, it's completely undulating, it was going to take a bit to make sure I rode the 3 laps smart and not blow up... I built my speed from the first lap to the second pretty well, there was a few guys around me that we paced off for a while, I sat at the front for a lot of it as there was a mate on a motorbike who followed for quite some time and I didn't feel like having a rest. By the third lap there was only two of us left and the young lad was happy to sit a few bike lengths back for most of the lap before I tried to pull away on the last few km's. Turns out the wind had picked up (excuse #1) a little on the last lap and required a little more energy for less of a result which is a shame, although that's life.

Coming into T2 I swung the leg over (always interesting after over 2 hours on the bars) and felt my left hamstring file a pretty serious complaint (excuse #2)... Hobbled my way through T2 while filing the complaint in the "deal with it later" box, although within the first 200m it was escalated and I had to stop and try stretch it out as I couldn't see where I was running through the tears in my eyes. I decided that I didn't need this right now and would just pull the pin. But I started running again. No idea why. It was absolutely excruciating till about the 7km mark when it loosened up a little bit and I was able to run without crying. Excellent. The run is great when you start so early, it's such a massive boost to cross paths with all the pro's and watch their race unfold. Cheering on the likes of PJ for the win over Reed (looked like they was out for a bloody jog! check Karl's footage here: ) and also getting to watch good mate Tils chase down a quick Liz Blatchford was bloody great and kept the mind off the pain. I held a pretty consistent (albeit slow) pace for the whole run besides the last 2 km's when I had a mini blow up and slowed a little.

Now. This is the bit where I have a bone to pick with the official timing... My watch, as shows below, said 4:29:22. Which I'm positive is accurate. Although on the official timing I'm down as 4:30:53... Usually I wouldn't care that much. But when it's the difference between sub 4:30 and not sub 4:30.... faaaarrrkkk....! haha. Oh well

 

After a friendly hip and shoulder with Pete Murray on the finish line and a good massage I was happy. And I'll be back next year. And so will Aimz to race in a team as she still hasn't officially said no (looking for a swimmer and a cyclist!) :)

Big thanks to Dee for having a place for us to crash over the weekend as well!

TP data:
 - Swim: http://tpks.ws/2hWb
 - Bike: http://tpks.ws/XJwn
 - Run: http://tpks.ws/kNMH

Redundancy. Not always a bad word...

Well I've pretty much been a professional athlete the last 3 months... It's been fantastic as well as scary. But one thing is for sure, it's given me a good chance to think about my life and what I want out of it.

A hard life being a pro... Bondi in all it's glory

It's been three months now since the company I worked for since completing my degree had to make me redundant. Sure, at first I was upset, angry, confused... I had given almost 7 years of my life to this company including spending countless hours/days/weeks away from my friends and family with projects trips all around the state as well as months spent in Melbourne and finally culminating in a move to Sydney with the uncertainty of whether Aimee would follow me or if we would spend even more months or years living apart...

But. The day after I was given the news I was lucky enough to be able to get on a plane and head north to Noosa for the Noosa Triathlon festival. After a great weekend away in Noosa I started to realise that it might not be such a bad thing. I only really told a few people that are really close to me what had happened, and it made me realise exactly why those people are really close to me. Such amazing support and full of positivity no matter what they were going through in their own lives. They made me realise that I had been in the same company for so long that it was going to be a good thing for me to be able to have a change in my life! You all know who you are, so thank you :)

Absolutely loving Noosa National Park!

So with that change in attitude I decided that I wasn't even going to entertain the idea of looking for a job until the New Year, giving me almost 2 months to try and enjoy a summer in Sydney. A big part of that was being able to focus on my training and really get some solid sessions in.

Two of the best training buddies you could ask for

Hence the life of the pro athlete... there were lazy coffee sessions after the morning training, double swim sessions, midday core sessions... it was great. I rediscovered a love of the sport again.
I had all this time to relax and sleep on the couch, although I don't think I ever really did... it's amazing how the day gets away from you so quickly... I did manage to complete some great tasks while I had the time, including setting up a new website for one of my best friends as well as taking our coffee addiction to another level by starting a blog to voice our untrained and totally biased opinion. I was resident chef and dishwasher in our household which (hopefully) made life a little nicer for everyone, and took to baking pretty heavily! The no-sugar “diet” (I use that word loosely as I don’t like the word) had officially ended, although it had caused a permanent shift in our mentality and now we still follow it, although allowing a few more exceptions ;)

The 9am Mug

 
So this pro life was always going to come to an end. And this week was that time. I have now started with a new company and the role is really exciting and something that is outside of my comfort zone. Something that if I was still with that same company I would never have looked at. But given my time and my assessment of my life this new role fit the mould perfectly and would allow me to explore the industry from a different light and add another feather to the cap so to speak which is never a bad thing I don’t believe.
I discovered that my life, although needing challenges, needs to be supported by my working world rather than the other way around. My old company had (past tense) some great perks, although they soon became further and further apart until to be honest they almost disappeared... it was never a bad company and I learnt a lot, but the culture started to change... My new company has a sensational culture and attitude towards the work life balance. One that promotes a great flexible work environment, in which people are comfortable, which in turn promotes hard work and loyalty. That's a good thing and I’m very excited to be able to be a part of it.

Not all doom and gloom

Now that I have started a new role I have had some time to think about the old company a bit. One of the things that I never really thought about at the time I was made redundant was the customers I dealt with and how the news of my redundancy was treated? The word 'redundancy' is generally a cuss word, so I wonder what they were told when I didn't show up again? Did they get told 'Shane is no longer with us'? Which seems like a generic and harmless statement. But is it? If someone told you that the person that you have been dealing with was 'no longer with the company' what would you think? Me, I would probably think that they were fired or they had found a new job (although if they had a new role would I not have been told and had a handover with the replacement?). So no matter what they think when told, you can be almost guaranteed that they think it was my decision or my action that has caused me to not be 'with the company anymore', where in actual fact I was made redundant, which means that it was neither my decision nor my action that caused the result. It was in fact in part the company’s action and decision that has caused the result as well as the market, including potentially the customer, which would no doubt change the perception of me in their eyes, which might seem trivial, until your paths cross once again in business...

So I hope that the people and customers that I was lucky enough to work with during my time that were delivered the news of my departure were told the truth. There's nothing I could do about my redundancy, so I hope that my previous company and the people in it didn't (unintentionally) harm my image in the eyes of those that I dealt with. Next time you have to deliver the news to a company that a former colleague is 'no longer with the company', do them a favour and tell the truth.

Now, please excuse me, I have a new challenge in my life and I want to get out there and attack it.