- It's almost Christmas!
Admittedly it doesn't feel like it
out here in hot, sunny Baray but to get us
into the festive spirit I went to speak to the pros
to find out what they're going to be eating,
whether they train, and what is
at the top of their wish list for Christmas Day.
(electronic sounds)
What are your Christmas day plans?
- To spend it with the fam, I've got my boyfriend Andreas
coming over from Peru for Christmas so it'll be his first
Australian Christmas so gonna put on
a bit of a show for him which'll be nice
and just have a low key kind of Christmas day with the fam,
and I'll be back training so probably
a session or two Christmas morning
and then some pavlova and that kind of thing.
- Waiheke Island is where my wife's parents live.
Wake up there Christmas morning there with
my son and daughter's cousins and then head back
into Oakland City for the afternoon
with my parents and my brother.
- We're actually flying to Durban
from Cape Town on Christmas day to visit my wife's family,
they always have a big family get together.
So do that, and then the next day we go up to
the Drakensberg and spend a week in the Drakensberg,
go do some hiking and just relax a bit
while still keeping things tickin over.
- We often have six times ten minutes threshold
and a turbo trainer indoor, so I guess
it's gonna be the same this year.
So I'm looking forward to a nice and easy Christmas.
- I haven't actually made my plans yet,
so a bit to early to ask but after this race
I'm going straight back to the UK for a week
and I'll have a mock Christmas day with my family,
get to experience a bit of British Christmas.
I'll be in LA or around there for Christmas.
- We like to be with family, so we have a get together
and nice meals and we actually have kind of a game,
which means we put all the names of the families in one bowl
and then two, three weeks before Christmas we take it
and we don't say the name of it,
and then we get gifts or small money, but it's very nice
then we try to figure out for who it is so that's kind of--
- Yeah like Secret Santa
- Exactly, yeah yeah yeah.
- I think I will maybe do cross country skiing,
so I'm gonna be on the mountains
with my girlfriend's family, so that will be nice.
- Nice.
- Maybe I'm gonna take the turbo and bike with me
and do six times ten minutes, but I think
Olga is gonna do the sessions longer
this time, maybe seven or eight times.
- Wow. And then you obviously will be hungry after that,
what do you eat on Christmas day?
- We used to eat, I don't know what it's called,
I can say it in Norwegian if--
- Go on, some people might know.
- (describes food in foreign language)
- As much as I can.
- Nice.
- With that family get together it's normally a huge spread,
all the usuals, turkey, gammon, lots of dessert.
- Do you have a brie on Christmas day?
- No, no, no I keep it traditional there,
and do all the same that the English do I guess,
stuffing and all the rest.
- It's the West Coast and Norway,
at the (speaks in foreign language)
which is the ribs of a sheep.
- Yeah we do the traditional ham and that kind of thing,
there's a lot of cold salads as well cause obviously
it's really hot that time of year,
and pavlova's really the traditional dessert for us.
- Is it, is that a family thing or is that a national thing?
- No it's a national thing, there's a bit of an argument
between Australia and New Zealand as to
who invented the pavlova but I still claim
it's Australia obviously, I've gotta be patriotic.
- And for people who don't know what a pavlova is,
as viewers from other parts of the world,
can you explain what it looks like?
- Yeah it's just a big meringue base like a cake,
and then you put whipped cream and fruits
and the whole lot on the top and it's just
a nice way to top off the already
enormous amount of food that you've eaten.
- Sounds a little bit different to our
Christmas pudding, that's for certain,
I think I prefer to stay out of that.
- Well I personally prefer a hot
Christmas pudding if I were in the UK I think.
- Yeah exactly.
- Just the traditional turkey and the American things
like sweet potato and marshmallows on top,
it sounds really weird but it's
actually amazing. - Is that main or dessert?
- No it's a part of the main, and it's got
pecans in it, which is actually really good
and cornbread stuffing, it's really good too.
- Wow, cool, and do you do any training on Christmas day?
- Yes.
- What do you do?
- Well being in the sunshine, I mean it depends,
I don't know what that week looks like yet
but I need my Christmas dinner.
- I quite enjoy getting out, depends if I can get up
early before the kids wake up.
After the kids have woken up it's no go zone really.
- Will be my second day back from break,
- That's bad timing.
- Bad timing I know, but yeah it'll be something light,
something short, maybe I'll even ask Siri
if I can take the day off so we'll see, but just
something little, earn my Christmas pudding I guess.
- I have in the past with the flight this year
I doubt I will, yeah just make sure I eat a lot.
- No, (laughs) I'm training all year long
so one day won't hurt me.
- And what's at the top of your
Christmas wish list this year?
- I would say just to stay healthy, I have everything,
I have a beautiful wife and a four years old daughter,
so I'm looking forward to be with them,
we like to be with each other and just to have fun
with others and nice food, and lovely dinner.
- I really want a white vest.
- Actually I'm a very bad gift shopper and gift receiver
so I don't wish for anything, so I think
I have the most things I need in life.
- What I want...
Yeah I could probably do with a new wetsuit
but I think that's coming anyway, I'll know
- You know what, I don't really have too much
of a wish list, I just wanna be home for a little bit
and unpack my suitcase for a little while,
that's kind of my Christmas wish.
- I don't really want anything,
I don't know, I don't really-- - You're satisfied.
- Yeah.
- Well hopefully that's got you feeling
as festive as I do right now.
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make sure you get all of our videos.
And talking of our other videos, if you want
some ideas for Christmas presents, we've made our very own
Christmas wishlist which you can find just here,
and if you want to see some other videos from the pros,
then there's a list just here.