Catriona Morrison

I´m back in Aguilas in Spain for another Christmas training break. Richard and I escaped Christmas last year with a trip to Spain and enjoyed it so much that we thought that we would repeat the venture this year. As I am now once again a full time athlete we have had the luxury of a three week stint in this great part of Europe.

Things were slow to start – I arrived with a bad head cold that developed into a chesty cough and meant that I spent the first week pretty much in bed and not doing a lot – this sucks when it is 15 degrees and sunny outside!

However, for the past week it has been all systems go – we´ve managed to devise a system of three days long riding with some swimming and biking and one day easy. I think that we have covered about 700ks in the past seven days. I´m loving being healthy again. Today I hit all the hills hard meaning that I had to wait at the tops or the bottoms for training partner/hubby Richard to catch up! I´m pretty smashed after today´s ride so looking forward to tomorrow when we are heading to the Sierra Espuna National Park for a couple of hours running. A well earned break from the bike saddle.

Happy New Year – be fit, healthy and happy wherever you are.

After the world champs in Clearwater I’ve been taking a well-earned break. Time to catch up on some admin, some sleep and to clear the mind and body for the season coming. It has turned into a seriously busy time! I’ve had race plans for 2008 to organise, my new website to get up and running and a whole lot of admin to catch up on. At the same time I have been preparing all the handover details for the lucky person who will succeed me as active schools coordinator in Broxburn.

Richard and I also took some road trips. Firstly to Plymouth to visit his parents where I enjoyed my first ever time on a surf board (I think I’ll stick to the boogie board). We then took a weekend to visit friends in Yorkshire (got blown off the mountain bikes) and drop in on top sponsors Planet – X. Last weekend saw me hook up with Chrissie Wellington to go to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year event in Birmingham. It was really exciting to “celeb- spot” and to experience how an event like that operates.

This Friday is my final day of employment with West Lothian Council as an Active Schools Coordinator. Thanks to the backing of the Scottish Institute of Sport Foundation I will be returning to full time training. To get off to a bang I am going to Spain for some warmer weather and some long bike miles…..what a great way to celebrate Christmas!

Photos in the Miscellaneous Gallery