Bella Bayliss's Blog

Ha ha haa! ..that was just to get your attention!

Stephen and I were in Singapore, but it was’nt actually a weekend, it was a couple of weekdays, and actually, it was’nt all that “dirty” either! …..sorry!

Stephen and I had been in Thailand for just over 18 days so it was getting close (ish) to a Visa run (UK passports only get 27 days at a time in Thailand)
We made the trip worth while by going to see our sponsor, The Bike Boutique, in Singapore to pick up our 2010 Cervelos.
Azmil the bike mechanic did a great job building our bikes up with our new 3T bars, ISM saddle and new Sram Red components. They look very good!
We did rush Azmil, I think he started building the bikes at 8am on Thursday and finsihed at 9pm. Thank You Azmil!
We did’nt want to spend any extra time in Singapore as its not really the place for me. I know some people love it, but its not my cup of tea. It is a big city. It looks stunning with all the high rise buildings and for coffee and sandwich lovers, well you are in heavan! (..we did test a few of those shops though!! They were very good, : ) we had birthday cake in one too, to celebrate Stephens birthday!)
For me Singapore is a bit like a busy maze. I always have to have a map in Singapore, but once you find your way to the Singapore River it is a fine place for a run!

We will be going back to Singapore in a couple of weeks. Stephen is racing Singapore 70.3. I dont feel quite ready for this race so I am going to go to shout at Stephen instead. He is fit and will be even fitter in 2 weeks so I am looking forward to seeing him run very fast!

So 2 weeks have flown by here in Krabi. I feel like I just blink and suddenly another day goes by.
The Team have had their heads down with training.
In a whole 2 weeks we have had only 1 hour of rain! ..but that 1 hour of rain made up for the fact there has been no other rain! Nice for us, we were not actually out training in it! I meant to take a photo of it, as it was quite impressive, but I am useless with our camera so you’ll have to imagine what it was like!
Unfortunatly for Tamsin, she did not have such a good week, crashing on her bike and breaking her collar bone. We wish her a good and fast recovery.
This week was Ironman Malaysia. We wished Hiro, Jocelyn and Beck all the best as they took a rode trip to Langkawi.
So the race is now done and dusted and back here at base camp, we were so happy to see Hiro battle out a smart race in the heat and come 2nd.
It was also great to see Jocelyn doing a great training day to get her in shape for the year ahead. She came 5th! Her best Ironman result yet. I am happy for her, but very disappointed she wont be paid.
Its sad, she came 10th in Florida last year and IRONMAN rules had changed as they no longer paid 10th place. She came 8th in Cozumel, and the rules still made it impossible for her to be paid.
Now, she comes 5th! GREAT work Jocelyn. BUT DOES SHE GET PAID FOR IT???!!! NO she does’nt. Is’nt that infuriating. How is a young, enthusiastic and hard working triathlete meant to earn money?
Thanks IRONMAN. NOT. You bunch of money greedy business men.

My first week of training in Krabi, Thailand has already flown by. We have settled quickly into the new training routine and found out that we are in a great spot to prepare for 2010.

This is the great view we wake up to each morning here in Krabi

We have met all the new TeamTTB members, we have new Americans, Australians, Brits, Canadians Japanese, Czechs, Germans and Swiss! Amoungst the older members of the team, we have Teresa, Wongstar and Bek. We also have Beck Preston back to train with! Its great to have you back!
Some of the athletes are crazy strong swimmers, some are crazy strong cyclists, some crazy strong runners! and some, ..well, just crazy!

Everyone is on best behavior right now and training hard. Nobody has annoyed me, yet! ..oh, apart from naughty Jeff this morning at the pool! ..he wont do that again as I sorted him out.!

So we are all focused and set on the year ahead. For some, their races start soon at Ironman Malaysia, Ironman China and Keegan who will be the only TeamTBB rep who will be racing IN NZ this year. For me, I am not racing yet, I have a few more weeks till I am ready to do any damage!

Today we arrived to the other side of the world, ..far far away from the ice and snow!
All we had to do was get on a flight, a flight that would take us for almost 14 hours away from the cold!
We left Switzerland in -10 degrees. We were all rugged up with hats, gloves, jackets and face protectors!
Along our flight route, we landed in London, in blizzard snow conditions but now we are in Kuala Lumpar which is not far away from where our TeamTBB training camp is being held.
It is +30 here! So we have left behind all those winter clothes and packed only the tiny-est under garments that we wear under all our winter clothes in Switzerland!
We will be at our training camp in Thailand for a couple of months preparing for the 2010 races. I will be training hard as I want to finish 2010 like I did 2009. check out http://ironmanrankings.blogspot.com/
Bella is at the top!!!!

Yesterday Stephen and I went for a ride outside as the sun was shining and its fun to have a break from the turbo!
But WOW, 10 minutes into our ride our faces were FROZEN!
Luckily we passed a few shops, one of them a military shop. I went in and managed to find our savior for our ride! A camo style head/neck scarf. ..it got us through our ride! Most likley wont need to pack these garments when we go to Thailand next week!!

When we got home we went to see the husky dogs that are here in Leysin! They are gorgeous! Maybe one day I will try husky dog sledging. It looks SO fun! and the dogs are just lovely.
Here is a photo of my favorite dog! and some other photos too!
**photos to come. internet cant load them today.

Right now we are at our home in Leysin, Switzerland. It is a ski resort at this time of year! ..its very beautiful to look at! And lots of skiers to look at too.

I was noticing yesterday how Stephen and I seem to do the exact opposite of all these skiers!! When they are going skiing, we are going swimming! When they are going skiing, we are going running! When they all drive their cars up the mountain to go skiing, we are riding our bikes down the hill to go riding! When we are riding home, it is constant ski traffic coming down the mountain from their day of skiing!

I dont mind the skiers really. Except some of them are abnoctious!　..they walk about with skis over their shoulder and take up the whole road with their group of friends. ..trying to get by them when your running is sometimes a nightmare, ..especially when they turn around suddenly and nearly slice your head off with their skis which are over their shoulders! arghhhhh.

Its funny, in the summer there are very few people on the mountain side, but at this time of year it is so busy. Its like a fashion show for many of them. Thousands of dollars worth of kit strutting about the mountain side!

Maybe one day I will be tempted to strut about with them on the mountain with skis on. ..right now, I am happy for them to laugh at me while I do the opposite to them! ..strut about on my Cervelo and Avia running shoes!

Tomorrow Stephen and I go home after a 4 month, 1 week trip around the World!

so where have we been on this trip?

Well, our trip started when we left Switzerland at the beginning of September. We went to Jeju, South Korea to train, we then went onto Hawaii for the World Champs. From there we went to Panama City Beach Florida for Ironman Florida where I came 3rd.
We went to Clearwater for the 70.3 Champs for Stephen then onto Cozumel, Mexico for our wedding anniversary and Ironman! I came 2nd there then we headed to the UK.
Since being in the UK we have visited our family and done a few necessary things in Glasgow, Perth, Edinburgh, Aberdeenshire, London, Brighton and Bournemouth. Jeeez we get around!

what do we take on our trip?

well, we dont take much! but what we do take is vital! We take ourselves and passports. Our bikes, running and bike shoes. Some tools for the bikes. Wetsuits, speedsuits, a bit of training gear, race gear and the cloths we stand in! Much more and we are charged for excess baggage. We do seem to collect extra things as we go about, but when we do that something else has to go to make room in our bags so we are often throwing things out.

We are looking forward to completing our trip around the world and being in our home in Switzerland for a while. It wont be long before we pack up our vital belongings again to head to some warmer weather to train properly for 2010 races.

I am not sure anyone else was as excited as I was to be able to train yesterday! I was like a little kid. I was dressed in my running stuff for 2 hours while I counted the mintues down before I could call the hospital to get the go ahead to train! At midday the doctor said, “yes, you are good to go” so at 2 minutes past midday off I went running.

Then in the afternoon I went swimming. My first swim of 3 weeks. I was so excited! I wore my cap and googles in the car on the way to the pool! ha ha haa, only pretending! I did’nt really.
It felt very wierd swimming again. My arms felt a little bit out of control and it felt strange having them go around! And I could feel the water! ..not the “feeling” that great swimmers have. More in the sense, I was very aware of the water around me and on my hands as I pulled my arms throo the water.
I am not usually as aware of the water around me like I was yesterday, ..I suppose I am usually in the water so much it just feels normal!

It also made me aware of people who go into a triathlon with not much fitness. I felt a lack of fitness and strength yesterday and I expect that is what some people feel going into their race. Eeek, not how I would like to go into a race.

Anyway, any of you thinking, ha ha, I will beat Bella the next time I race her, cos she has been ill and resting. Dont be fooled. I will be all over you like a red rash come race time.!

The photos here are of me running today. Croydon has had a surprise dump of snow!

For the past 3 weeks I have been practising walking. Yes! walking! not swimming, not biking not running.
I hear you ask, …why? what is she doing!!

well, It is definatly not what I chose to do.
I had a small operation 3 weeks ago. To remove some bad cells from inside of me. To prevent possible cancer in time to come. So best to get them out.

The hospital wanted to take these cells out mid 2009 but that would not have fitted into my race schedule so I managed to persuade them to do it the operation in December.

The operation was not a big deal to me really, I mean, its definatly not pleasant but what has been harder for me was when the docoter told me to take it very easy for 3 weeks at least. Well, Bella and the word “easy” dont go in the same sentance so basically its been quite torturous!!

I am nearly at the end of my 3 weeks and am most definatly looking forward to doing my swimming biking and running. I am sure I will have some sore muscles when I get going agin. ..like I did when I began walking 3 weeks ago. I got a stiff back and sore legs, but now. Oh I am a good walker! I go up hills, down hills, heavy rucksack on, nothing bothers me now.
..except the pain of not doing what I want to be doing.

After my medicine I was allowed to have some alcohol again so I celebrated on the 29th December with a nice glass of wine!

Although this has been an inconvenience, I have decided its a lot better that the inconvenience of cancer. So I best try to remember that.

I hope you are all well,
Happy New Year
see you soon
Bella

l”
Stephen and I relaxing after Ironman Cozumel

Yesterday Stephen and I were special guests at the ASK restaurant in Brighton!

www.askrestaurants.com

I have met a very nice lady here on our forum, Emma English who is training for her first 1/2 Ironman in South Africa then Ironman South Africa a month later.
Emma offered Stephen and I to a meal at one of her many UK restaurants in the UK! We took her up on her offer yesterday and took my Aunti Fiona, Uncle Paul, my Grandma and my 3 young cousins, Kirsty, Natalie and Becky!

ThankYou to the staff who treated us all like Kings and Queens at ASK in Brighton.

ThankYou Emma for being so generous to us.
I wish you all the best with your continued hard and dedicated training that you are doing in preparation for your upcoming races.