Ironman and a labradoodle

I loved the Olympic experience last summer, although I was bitterly disappointed to come 14th and it took me a long time to get over my under-par performance, especially since I was in such good shape entering the race.

I am trying to turn it around for the best and am viewing it as "the best thing that ever happened to me".

Since Beijing there have been so many changes to almost everything I do that this year feels very exciting indeed.

It's the start of the four-year build up for the next Olympics now and I have already made a lot of changes.

First and foremost I have ended my seven-year-long coaching relationship with Dan Salcedo. It was a great journey, ending with a National Championships title and the Olympics, but I believed that we got as far as we could get and I needed some new guidance and to try some different methods to convert those good races to excellent races.

It's going to be very different being coached by Rick Velati. He's a real thinker and already I can see so many good, well thought-out and planned ideas from himand the team. I'm very excited to see him work and I hope we can see some positive changes quickly.

The British Triathlon Federation has also poached Joel Filliol from Canada as the new head coach. Joel has a proven track record for great results so, along with the rest of the staff, I have a great team around me for the year ahead.

Most of the grind this winter was again done in sunny Loughborough. I've really been enjoying it though, possibly more than ever. We have such a great group of athletes up here to lighten the mood and keep training fun and motivating.

Home is not too shabby either as I've just got engaged to Clare, my girlfriend of eight years, and I've been getting in the hours running with my labradoodle Lola.

Damn but the dog is fast! Recently she seems to be slacking but I think it could be that summer's arriving and she's struggling with that thick coat.

As usual, I managed to get away to Stellenbosch in South Africa with two friends for a month of hard work. We had an amazing block of training and the weather was incredible, which made our lives very easy.

There was plenty of banter along the way to keep the morale high, even when we were exhausted from the endless days of between four and seven hours' hard training in the heat.

It's easy when you have the quality of life we had in Stellenbosch, though. The area is beautiful and when we are not training alongside the famous vineyards and mountains we were eating out in amazing restaurants and hanging out in cafés.

I think we ate out most meal times bar one, which didn't go well at all. My training buddies cooked - Nick burnt the fish badly on one side and Tom dropped the pasta on the floor. We decided we should just eat out all the time from then on!

Last month I competed in the California Half Ironman as I thought it would be a great test and would also round off a good winter so long as I got round it in a decent position.

It was such an amazing trip. I loved living the American dream; the coastal area is an incredible place to live and the race itself was a real experience.

At double the distance I usually race at, with a 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21km run, it was always going to be a challenge.

I ended up in seventh place, and felt a bit under-prepared for the bike, but still I was reasonably chuffed as it's not really my event.

I believe I am in a very good position right now; the guys who beat me do this style of racing regularly so I can't complain too much!

Since arriving back from California my head has been well and truly down, preparing everything I can in time for the season ahead.

This year, we have the new flagship World Championship Series where there are seven bigger races in iconic cities, with bigger budgets and more media, plus the grand final on Australia's Gold Coast.

The title of world champion goes to most consistent athlete in four races plus the final.

It's going to propel the sport to another level. I'm very excited to compete in my first one in Madrid in just over a month's time but before that I've got to defend my national title in Strathclyde on 17 May.