Sally Pearson is surprised how much she is enjoying the challenge of coaching herself.
The Olympic and world 100m hurdles champion parted ways with Ash Mahoney in August - the third time in three years she had made a change.
Pearson was unable to defend her Olympic title in Rio due to a hamstring injury, but is now looking forward to next year's world championships in London, the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and perhaps even further.
"I'm just so happy to be back training, I've got a really good head on my shoulders at the moment," Pearson told AAP.
"I'm in a really good space. I'm confident, I'm happy, I'm excited by the sport and by competing again."
Pearson won every major title her sport had to offer under the tutelage of longtime coach Sharon Hannan, before the partnership dissolved in late 2013.
Former training partner Antony Drinkwater-Newman and Mahoney then both had a stint at the helm, before the 30-year-old Pearson decided she was ready to take full charge of her own career.
"I never take what a coach does for granted but while I'm not finding it easy, it's not as hard as I thought it would be to write the sessions down for myself," she told AAP at the Women in Sport Awards.
"I'm the one who knows my body the best, and I know what I can handle and what I can't handle.
"You can have a fight in your head when you are doing the sessions, like 'I hate my coach, I can't believe she's doing this to me.'
"Then as the coach you're like "oh well, I have to do it, I've got to write this down, and get these sessions down,' so you play games with yourself."
The dual Olympic medallist and 2011 world champion has not ruled out the prospect of remaining in the sport through to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"I'll definitely go to the (2018) Commonwealth Games and I would love the idea of going to another Olympics," she said.
"I'll be 34, not that that's old in athletics. It can be a good age.
"A lot of the hurdlers have been in their mid 30s when they achieved great things."
