Motivation of doing this LPT because of the outperform in 2009, I wouldn't expect if this would not be better than last year, however... Training for this LPT is zero if I compare with last year, I didn't do any specific hill climb, didn't strengthen the upper body, didn't work on the core, didn't do any long run after the ironman Taiwan, I don't want to put any excuse from work stress but apparently it's quite true. Preparation?! After ironman Taiwan, my left knee was quite weak, only done 1 30k hilly ride, 50% club training (mainly swim), 1 x 40k cycling time trial, 1 x 10k run, that's it. Logistic-wise, this time is much simpler, we stayed in the laguna beach hotel is where nearest the swim start, transition, finish area, pasta party, simple and easy, we had a connected room with Fred and Su so we still got the feeling of sharing the villa, we can also hit the beach and cheap cafe with walking distance! Nice! Our new friend Tim and ...