Me, New Zealand, and my foot...

It's about time for an update on my blog. Lots of stuff has happened in the past few days.
Well, first off I have to say that I have one of my first homestays ever and the Docherty's have been unbelievably nice to us and they make the stay a real pleasure. We are so thankful for that.

New Zealand is a beautiful country and the Kiwis are extremely nice in general, as long as they don't sit in a car and pass cyclists... man I could tell you stories about that.

Anyway, all is well--starting from the amazing weather and finishing with Alicia's great work to set up my future. She is a full time sport consultant and handles all my sporting matters, from managing to marketing. And on the sponsoring side, I also get support from Martin Mc Crossan from the UK. So Team Bockel gets bigger and more effective each day.

Most of my sponsor are sorted for this year and should be officially in place shortly--so I am very eager to fill you in on all the cool new stuff that I have lined up for the next year.

About two weeks ago, my foot started hurting a bit and I had to reduce my running. I had some minor inflammation on my plantar fascia and running wasn't too much fun so I replaced it with aqua jogging and elliptical machine workouts. Despite these efforts, it didn't go away so I went to Auckland and Bevan referred me to some specialists--where I got a complete down to the bone tissue massage on my left side--man that was pain like I have never had before in my life. But, I just said to the physio, "whatever helps me, mate..."

So now I am back in lovely Taupo and continue with my daily training routine. The running is a bit behind schedule but that won't stop me from racing with the best in a few weeks. I just enjoyed my recovery week (see photo above from one of my favorite off day spots on lake Taupo--where I always have a big coffee and watch the world pass by)...next Monday I will start the last 6 weeks of preparation before Ironman New Zealand--which consists of big volume with some quality sessions mixed in.

Life down here is great- thanks to all the nice people that support me and make my life comfortable!

My new web page will be launched shortly! It is going to be really cool and has lots of new features--check back soon!

All the best and big thanks to my sponsors and my team who all help me to get better and stronger each day!