July 1 - increasing my distance

So it's the 1st day of July and I did say that from July my morning swims would be 3.5 km, which is the swim distance in the Coolangatta Gold.

So I jumped out of bed with a spring in my step and headed off to the pool - it was like a ghost town there this morning. Had a lane to myself for the whole session, and there was no one in GrimSki's lane either. My plan was to do 2 x 1km, do a 500m and finish with another 1km.

The first 2 x 1km were pretty standard, 16.35 for the 1st and 16.50 for the 2nd km, with only a 1 minute rest. For the next set the plan was to only do a pretty easy 500m, but I was watching the big clock as I was swimming and thought that I am on another sub 17min km - so I kept on pushing as this would of been the first time that all my 1km timed swims would of been under the 17min mark. Anyway I hit the wall and stopped my watch and it was bang on 17mins - so still have the goal of getting all my swims in the sub 17 minute mark.

Finished off with an easy 500m - to make sure that I swam 3.5km. I remember when I started swimming laps last year I was struggling to swim 1500m over a session with lots of breaks, now it is only lack of time that is making me get out of the pool.

Rest Day

After struggling yesterday in both my run and swim, i decided to take a day off. while we are not training full time like the pros we do have the added pressure of day jobs- a commute of more than an hour each way for all members of our team. This means that the training we do combined with the early mornings/ late nights can take its toll. Looking forward to a relaxed evening, maybe a walk, and an early night. Tomorrow is swim squad and saturday its back on the board- it was only sunday but it feels like ages since i have got on my weapon of choice.

Also, keep an eye out in coming posts for some news from our mates at TYR.

No Swimming - Sharks

I didn't swim this morning after reading reports that sharks were within the wave area at Coolangatta.

Need to discuss with the team appropriate measures to ensure my safety - one option maybe to trade places with the running bride.

Will be down the pool this evening to work on my shark avoiding manoeuvres.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Today's lesson: Warm up slowly

Perhaps it was that I was early or maybe no Dark Mavis for the usual pre-swim banter. Whatever it was, the quick stretches this morning on the edge of lane 2 pulled a muscle connecting the neck bone to the shoulder bone. From lap one I could feel it and by lap forty my 'swim it out, mate!' strategy was looking flawed. 5 x 400m (free, kick, fins, pull, drill)

Running and swimming uphill

Had a massive victory in my day job today- managed to fix something crucial. After that I hit the gym and churned out what turned out to be a pretty bad feeling 5.5 k run descending from 5:30 pace to 3:20 pace. Never felt good even at the slower pace. Followed this with a 1 k effort on the rower and 10 mins core. I then jumped in the pool and swam like a quadruple amputee.

Seemed to lack energy but not motivation. Hopefully the splashing will get my arms working for squad training on the morrow.

Swimming Uphill

Well the running bride may of been running uphill, but this morning felt like I was swimming uphill. From the time the alarm went off I felt as though I should of stayed in bed.

When I arrived at the pool Mr Hayes was there but no other Honeymooners. I felt tired and lethargic even before I hit the water. I swam a km in a pretty slow time and followed it up with a similar effort. After the 2kms, I did put in a bit of an effort for a 500m and then had a very slow warm down for a 2.6km swim - Not my best effort in the pool, but a big effort to drag myself down to the pool. On the train to work I basically slept all the way to Epping...maybe I need to get to bed a bit earlier.

Running Uphill

A hill/strength session this morning to keep it real. 6 mins on the rowing machine, then 2km warm up run, then 5 x 100m hill efforts at a 15% incline. 1km warm down jog. They say if you don't have a lot of time for a run it is good to make it a meaningful run. This was certainly a meaningful (read: sweaty) run.

Swim Squadron

We had the whole crew down at the PLC this morning! The Chairman of the Board and I did John Young's squad with all the surf kids. Saw GrimSki flying down lane 1 and Dark Mavis in lane 2 powering through the water. 400m kick was tough but the 100m as-fast-as-you-can swims were the toughest. There was a camera on the bottom of the pool today and if the coach looks at it later he will see my teeth clenched and my eyes bulging, doing my best Cadel Evans impersonation.

Jane's coaching

Last night I got talking to Jane how my 1km efforts are going and her comment to me was...you have to swim 3.5km not 1km and have a rest and then another km and have a rest and so on....you need to make sure that you can make the distance without a break. Sound advice.

So this morning the swimmer thought he would just swim straight through without any breaks and did the 3km just on 54minutes - a little slower than I would like but I didn't push myself early on as I knew that I had to keep going for the whole 3km. Only another 2 days of 3km swims until I start on the Gold distance of 3.5.

One perfect day

The numbers 6 & 28 are apparently perfect numbers according to the Greeks (thanks Adam Spencer) ... so today is doubly the perfect day. Leapt into the day @ 4:25am to hear that Tomic was still winning @ Wimbledon and into the quarters. Down to WWPLC and unto lane 1 as Big Merv had got motivated on a Tuesday.
Today's session started w 800 free, 3 x 400 (kick, free w fins, pull). At lunch time I tucked myself into the X2 tights and headed over to the Gardens for 5k interrupted by 1000 steps (half if them up). Also managed some prolonged planking to work the core.
Spinal Mgmt course @ OBSLSC tonight with Bobby Powell to get Dark Mavis into the Gold. Perfect day!!!

Monday

Did a speed session on the tready with the Director of the Board. 5 x 400m solid efforts, allowing myself to recover in between with a 200m walk. Started with a 1km warm-up and finished with a 1km warm down to make it up to 5km. Speed sessions are a good reality check because I don't really push myself in long runs. I found today's session fine in terms of cardiovascular fitness, but a little tough on the legs. I think I run a little differently on the tready, overemphasizing the picking up of my legs so I don't trip on the belt, resulting in burning of the tibialis anterior muscles. Either that, or my legs were still getting over the 10km yesterday. A walk tonight with dad followed by some stretching should sort it out. Swimming training tomorrow - hope the alarm clock wins!

tready

Myself and the running bride crammed in a gym session at lunch time today. We each did separate running speed sessions on the treadmill. For me it was 2 k warm up on 6min/k pace followed by 5X400 (3:20 pace) fast walk recovery on a 3 min cycle. all up about 5.5 km with cool down. the run felt pretty easy actually. feel like my CV fitness is going well. legs a little tight though from the board paddle yesterday.

Jumped on the rower for 1 km before doing a solid 20 mins of core strength exercise. We will head off tonight and do a long walk with the walking father of the bride.

Oh what a weekend.

This weekend seemed more jammed packed than normal. While it was an active weekend it wasn't really training specific.

Saturday morning was off to complete my Open Water Diving certification - 3 dives out at Terrigal Haven. Was a magnificent experience and can't wait to get some more dives under my belt. This basically took out all day Saturday and was then off to the OB Presentation on Saturday night. My team-mates seemed to be 'over achievers' as they were constantly being called up for another award.

Sunday after a quick swim race over at Pearl Beach it was off to Sydney for a Harbour Bridge climb - while I can claim that I was doing some stair training, it is hardly much of an effort for the fantastic view on such a perfect cloudless day.

Reality hit this morning with the alarm doing its trick and getting me to the pool at 5am. Once again I timed 3 x 1km swims.
1st Km - 16.33
2nd km - 17.02
3rd km - 16.50
Really happy that I managed to swim the last km quicker than the 2nd one. Basically want to work on the endurance and ability to maintain a consistent speed.

Also at the presentation I realised that there a few different people out there reading our blog (I thought that it was only the team and our families reading), so now I have to try to be entertaining - which I haven't in this long winded blog, but I will try to improve :)

One semester to go - inside 13 weeks

The grad cert in Surf Sports is down to the last semester. Today's workout was 5 x 400m (free, kick, free w fins, pull, free). First assessment due in 2 wks Mooney Mooney to OBSLSC

Flammable liquids

I probably drank enough alcohol last night to set myself on fire, thanks to Nij Fitzgibbon who bought me a bottle of champas. A successful night at the Ocean Beach SLSC presentation night with all team members doing well. All I can say is that there will only be 3 days between now and the Gold that alcohol will be consumed by me - the bridal kitchen tea (champagne), the hens night and the wedding. I set myself on fire with a 10km flat run on grass today at McEvoy oval - 25 laps of the 400m track. Two greyhound puppies ran with me for a little while, and the occasional toddler came and ran with me for about 10 metres. Feeling motivated to just keep running...

And the logie goes to...

Huge couple of surf Lifesaving days this weekend. Spent Friday night and Saturday at the Slsnsw combined portfolio conferencein Sydney, back to OBSLSC press night last night- heaps of fun, and pretty dusty this morning for the trip back to the conference in Sydney and finally back to the OB election of office meeting... Phew! Managed to cram in a leisurely 4 km paddle at OB and Umina with a couple of gentle waves around 3-4 pm this arvo. Was a fantastic day for it and it was a shame I couldn't get out for a much longer and solid hit out. But I am claiming victory given the couple of hours sleep I had last night and the fact I plain didn't want to go out and be the only thing in the ocean- no one else would gear up and come out with me.

Anyway, psychologically it was good to paddle in isolation, and I am happy with how I am feeling on the board these days. Keen to start ramping up the pace and the surf!

also the cat is out of the bag following preso last night... Channel Ten tv will be following us as part of their coverage of the 2011 coolangatta gold- we will be filmed during training, in interview,at our wedding and during the race. I am pretty excited about having the camera on my board for the event although I now have to work on my "this isn't hard, I am so bloody cool, how bout these guns" face for the footage. As if I didn't have enough trouble with the "just bash through the paddling and don't drown" face.

Enough Lion around

Headed out this morning with 'Clubman of the Year' Jason Tucker & James White for a paddle around Lion Island. All up about 9klms with a short stop over at Pearl Beach to have a dip with the Umina Blue Swimmers. One mistake I need to learn from is when you have access to a Camelback for fluid DO NOT take a day back pack with junk in it. Struggled to stay with the boys in the wind chop and technique was out the window. Good endurance though over 90min

Noises Off

Possibly the funniest live theatre I have ever watched. Performed by the third year NIDA students it was a hoot... sides aching. The Royal Hotel @ Randwick was also jumping as the clock struck midnight.
The sleep may have been short but I wasn't missing the opportunity to get around Centennial Park @ sunrise. Donned the flouro jacket and left the relatives pushing up the zeees. Great way to start a Saturday running past jockeys & trainers in the wee early hours. 10k out n back to Alison Rd dwellings and a cup tea b4 heading home.

Fast lane

Well, after a hectic evening, there was little chance of us making it to squad for 5am. I did however motivate myself to take my running and swimming gear to work today. Hit the gym around 2 for a solid set:

6 k run on 4:50 pace
1 k ergo rower flat out
10 mins core w medicine ball
1 k swim (500 straight, 10x50 flat out)

Bit piecemeal but I feel like I achieved today. Still filthy that I can't paddle the island tomorrow and have to wait until Sunday afternoon to get on the board. Will prob charge straight out at OB regardless of conditions

Back at it

Well it would of been easy to roll over and smash the alarm clock this morning, but as I had failed to hit the water yesterday I needed to get down to the pool and get stuck in.

• First km was in 16.30 - which I was very happy with. I know that it is not at the elite level but if I can continue improving and have that under the 16 minute mark I will be one happy swimmer.


• 2nd km was bang on 17mins.


• 3rd km was 17.40.

So while I was still slowing down through the sets, I don't think that I am pushing myself too hard...maybe I need to put in a little more effort in the subsequent sets. My overall time is just over 51mins...So my aim of a sub hour 3.5km is looking like a reality - I know that conditions will also impact. Hopefully there is a huge sweep running for Coolangatta to Bilinga :)

Visualising

This morning I took a different approach to training. After failing to blog my 3km swim yesterday I have taken my training to a whole new level.

I used visualisation techniques of me swimming 3km this morning...this visualisation took place in the warmth of my bed this morning and seemed a lot easier compared to getting out of bed in the morning cold and heading off to the pool. I will back in the pool tomorrow morning.

Light Donkeys Try

After several failings of the alarm clock this week I found a timer and plugged it into a lamp. So the lamp came on with the alarm clock and the Director of the Board and I made it to the pool for squad training. Off to work on the train with Dark Mavis and he is reviewing a book on donkeys. Very educational, and we hope he will swim like he's being chased by a donkey, a mule or a hinny. In unrelated news, I put my running into practice and scored the first try of the season for my touch footy team last night!

94 days to the start line

It's been cold each morning this week but strangely easier each day to arise. Inside 100 days really brings things into focus. Today's swim 2.2k was 4x500 - free, kick, free, pull w paddles and a warm down. Looking forward to the ergo tonight at OB for 90mins. Set yourself on fire!!

Again!

Another ordinary performance by the the running bride and myself- managing to miss squad training again with reflex alarm snoozing. we are going to invest in a timer to stick on our lights to accompany the alarm. this should make it suitably unpleasant and force us from our slumber and into the pool.

To make up for it i went to the Sydney University Aquatic centre and churned out a 2K on my way in to work. it is nice to be the fastest in the pool every now and then anyway! Session was a 1k moderate, 6X50, 200 from stroke, 6X50, 200 swim down. Still annoyed that i slept in but got something done in the end.

Chile morning gets plane frustrating

While the planes may be grounded around the eastern capitals in Australia the cold snap is no excuse to remain under the doona, as we move into our structured training regime.

The Swimmer and I had a couple of blow-ins accompany us between 5-6am this morning at WWPLC. Grant Hayes and a couple of newbies meant the public lanes were pumping as John & Michelle's squad numbers swelled over the other side of the pool. I was thinking as I swam this morning of the Olympic pool at Parkes, NSW and at 2 degrees out there today whether the squad braves the morning swims at this time of year.

Anyway 2.2k today when I wasn't feeling 100% was satifsfactory.
Here's a link to Phil Clayton's Coolangatta Gold guide for training: http://sls.com.au/content/prepare-2011-coolangatta-gold-phil-clayton

Severe Weather Warning

While the Director of the Board was attending a meeting at the Branch office, I stole his Garmin watch and went for a run on the cold, windy peninsula. Completely rugged up with a long-sleeved shirt, a fleece jacket and a wind-proof jacket as well as long tights, I ran out the door and just kept running... and running... and clocked 8.3km at a pretty steady pace. Mostly flat (straight down Ocean Beach Rd and back) out and in course, but ran up a little hill at the end of OB road. All set for swim squad in the morning.

What GrimSki said

Without trying to sound repetitive, without trying to sound repetitive, it seems that my blog and GrimSki's can be rolled into one.

We hit the pool at 5am - I swam 3km again, broken up into a 1.5km swim and finished it with 3x 500m swims. Out of the pool at 6am, a quick shower and breakfast before heading off to work. Still building up my endurance and stamina, so just up and down the pool at this stage. Will need to add some more Ocean Swimming to get used to the swell and chop.

The Winter Solstice ... get in early!!

Shortest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere. I woke up once last night a minute before the alarm went off - always feel ripped off when that happens. For a brief second I thought about climbing back in ... but that thought passed v quickly and I was off down to the pool lickety split.
Surprised to see Merv Hayes back in lane three so the Swimmer and I shared lane two. Knocked out 2.3k by 06:50am did 12 x tricep dips and headed home.
Tonight the plan is to get a solid hour on the ergo trainer at OBSLSC and practise breathing through the stroke. It may not be Stonehenge but the training discipline requires the fervour of a Druid.

Same Old, Same Old

Back into the grind of the daily swim after spending some time below the water surface - did 3km with GrimSki in the lane next to me. Felt strong for the first two km and just pushed out the remaining km.

Have eaten a bit much today - big lunch with some old work mates and a delicious dinner waiting at home. Not a good day for the weight loss - back on salad tomorrow.

See you in the pool at 5am.

perfect start

Went out for a paddle at OB today... perfect conditions, clean lines rolling in, not a cloud in the sky and only one other dude in the water. Had the place pretty much to myself and had a ball doing ins and outs. caught heaps of waves and thoroughly enjoyed working on my surf skills. all in all, it was a bit over 3K in total and around 45 minutes. would love to have stayed out longer but i need to go and sort out my suit for our wedding or the running bride will be less than impressed!

Winning starts on Monday - 14 weeks to go

Jack Gibson famously quoted that 'Winning starts on Monday' and with 14 Mondays to go until the Gold, each week will be precious. Using this week to work on a formal training roster to build on the solid base we have. After swimming almost every day for 12 months we have a good foundation on which to build. One semester (13 wks) to gain the Bachelor of Surf.
Did my daily routine 2.2k swim with Dark Mavis @ Woy Woy before heading home to chat with daughters in UK.

Cross Training

Well this weekend the Swimmer went for some alternative training. I did spend a fair bit of time in the pool, but rather than swimming laps I was doing my Scuba divers course. So Saturday was spent up at Mingara swimming pool learning all the skills for my Open Water divers course. Today was was my first Ocean Dive, while the visibility was not great, was still a fantastic new experience. Will be finishing the course next weekend so no Saturday paddle with the team for this little black duck

As I had a free afternoon today, I was speaking with the Director of the Board and we decided for a bit more cross training and jumped on the bikes for a quick 25km ride. Was good to get back on the pushie after not going for a ride for many months, the Director and I pushed ourselves (well I was feeling it at the end of the ride). On the way back we decided to detour and ride the longer way home to get in a couple of extra hills (that's what Cadel would do!).

Anyway should be back in the pool tomorrow morning. A quick congratulations to the Director of the Board, Grimski and The Running Bride for the recognition they received at Central Coast Surf Life Saving Awards last night. The achievements of these guys is fantastic.

Sunday is the best day of the week!

What a great day! started out at 8 am with the bay to bay fun run 12K. the plan was for the running bride to  cruise in under 70 mins. Perfect weather greeted us and we took off with pretty fresh legs, even after a late night at the SLSCC awards of excellence. we moved pretty easily along the course without too much difficulty and smashed it in in around 65:19. Pretty happy with that given we are still 3 months out from the gold. Got home and checked the surf at OB/ Umina. was awesome yesterday and we weren't disappointed today either. Solid clean lines rolling in, few surfers out all the way along the beach. Grabbed our boards and did a 40 minute ins and out/ surf skills session (2.5K). I was practising rolling under waves and doing parallel runs with the shore. only cursed once as the running bride managed to pick a clean alley and scoot out the back on one of our outs while the alleged board paddler got smashed by every wave in the ocean for 5 minutes. different story on the way back in though! caught some awesome waves. felt good to get back in the ocean after focussing mainly on the endurance aspect for the last month (time for 5 k has dropped 12 minutes in 4 weeks).

Honeymooners storm stage @ SLSCC Awards of Excellence

What a night it was as Ocean Beach SLSC scooped four of the major awards at the Branch 2010/11 presentation night. The Branch's annual glamour event saw David Unger pick up Official of the Year, Grimski (richard) awarded Trainer of the Year, Director of the Board (Aaron) Volunteer of the Year & our Running Bride (Katie) 'two years running' was awarded the prestigious Lifesaver of the Year.
It does make 2011 a special year, OB a great club and the Honeymooners an even more awesome combination. Well done team!!

Best day of the week - Saturday

It must be Saturday because it's 0630am and we're all at the bottom of the bridge to St Huberts Island... well all of us except Dark Mavis who's heading below the surface this weekend. Also joining our merry party was Jason Tucker and Brett Whyte. The sunrise this morning was as clear as a bell and warmed our hearts if not our hands 'n feet. Az took a further couple of minutes off his pb and we were all happy to get Jason cuppa tea once back on dry land.

Not satisfied with being just out on the water I was so keen to reinforce what Matt Smith has been teaching me during the week I went back to OB for a further 40min session on the K1 ergo ski trainer.

Thoroughly exercised I went home to my Irish maiden and we feasted on poached eggs and mushrooms on pan fried spinach. I love Saturday's ;)

A stroll in the park

Donned the X2 tights (without shorts which could be a breach of running etiquette for men - not sure) and headed out at pace to Ladies MacQuarie's Chair on Art Gallery Road. I passed Emmanuel Padilla along the way and as I had stopped for some stretches, core and trape exercises he managed to reel me in on his out n back loop. Beautiful day to knock out 40mins of run in the winter sunshine.

Looking forward to tomorrows ski paddle already. Discussing the new D1 ski with Kristyl Smith @ Dolphin... so exciting!!

Mad Bastards

Went to Avoca Beach picture theatre last night with some inspirational people. The movie was called Mad Bastards and it's an Aussie film from WA very powerful drama. It was a charity event for 2011 Oxfam Trailwalkers 100k event. My good lady accompanied me along with friends Dave n Kate Isaacs,Pauline Priest & Alan Moffitt. I awoke with a spring in my step this morning and hit lane 2 for 5x400 and 200 cool down

Got my gear for some cardio 'n core work in the Botannic Gardens for an hour.

Special consideration

This morning I am required to supervise an exam for one special consideration student. The exam starts at 7:45 in Sydney. Therefore I only crammed in a half hour of squad training this morning. 16x50,and 8x100 w paddles. Better than noing but I am feeling a little underdogs at the moment. Need a couple of good solid sessions over the weekend. Sam GrimSki in then pool this morn workin hard.

Endurance in the genes

Cautious about leg muscle fatigue before the fun run on Sunday, so opted for a 1 hour walk with the old man. Not just a stroll though, the old man keeps up a solid 8km/h pace. Swimming in the morning, followed by some "race pace" efforts to keep me on pace for Sunday.

Inspired

The swimmer was inspired by mighty Blues victory from last night and hit the pool with a little less sleep then he would like. But as they say if you need 8 hours sleep you need to sleep faster.

This mornings times were 16.40 for the first km, 16.58 for the second k and the last km was a bit slower at 17.40, but I am very happy with these times, they show that I have been improving and hopefully wont disgrace myself at the Gold.

BTW - Go the Blues.

Malfunction

Alarm issues forced me and the running bride out of the water this morning. The 4:30 alarm went off once ( we usually get up on the third go). Therefore we awoke at 6:30 am. Not happy since I have meetings this evening and will not get a chance to fit in ANY cardio session today. I will do a core session but that is it.

Tossing up the idea of sleeping in the car at the pool from now on. The swimmer can knock on the window on his way in.

Blood red moon but mind games eclipsed

Quite tender following last night's ergo session
and had to win the mind game over swim vs
recover. Swim session won & it was off to
PLC for 3k this morning. Jam on toast 4 breaky:)

Blue moon

Most origin nights I'm in front of the telly an hour before kick off. Tonight however I got home early to head down to OB and get an hour on the K1 ergo trainer with guidance from Matt Smith. It worked a treat as NSW got up 18-8 and I reinforced some technique on the ski. Can't wait for tomorrow.

Eating right

Since we have officially began our preparation for the 'Gold', I thought that I need to stop eating burgers and chips for lunch and ordered a salad today. Maybe need to look at revising my weight that I quoted in my entry form. Although in saying that I think that it will be Pizza tonight to watch (hopefully but not likely) the blues finally getting a win.

As stated by the other boys we had a swim this morning and after 2km, Grimmo and I started out on a few 50m sprints. After the 4th sprint I was absolutely stuffed, but thought that I would clock up another 300m so that I had covered 2.5, but during that 300m the little voice in my head was telling me that I made a commitment to do 3km and that I am letting down myself and my team-mates if I don't push on, anyway the 300 became an 800 to get me up to my 3km target. To tell you the truth I felt much better after the 800 and could of pushed on, but work was calling.

Stayed in Sydney last night after a mexican dinner with the girls. Straight to Sydney Uni Arena Fitness Centre this morning where I cracked out a 6km run on the treadmill. Not a huge fan of the treadmill, but a run outside would've been more like a swim. My strength training partner Yvonne kept me company on the tready next door. Note to self: do not eat frijoles enchiladas the night before a run... or maybe it was the spanish hot chocolate?!

Wednesdays are sub-optimal

Despite the best efforts of my doona to derail my push for a 200% increase in awesomeness, I dragged myself to the pool for squad training. Wednesday is a bad day- sprints, and other assorted anaerobic things. Smashed out, 800 warm up, 400 kick, 4x200, 4x100, 6x50, 4x100 followed by some pool rescue competition stuff. Saw grimmo and the swimmer bashing away on the other side of the pool.

Wet 'n Wild Wednesday

Blowing up a storm outside this morning at 04:24am as I sat up just before the alarm went off. I pulled into Woy Woy PLC car park just behind Dark Mavis knowing that my 2k session would be a good one. Noticed our board paddler Az over in lane 3 training with the squad .... hmm no running bride today. Regardless of the weather this morning swim warms me up all morning. Don't wait for someone else ..."Set yourself on fire" today.

Feeling lonely in the pool this morning.

This morning I had the alarm set and headed off to the pool for a swim, was first in the pool just after 5am and swam 3km (was spoilt in having the lane to myself the whole time). My aim is to be swimming 3km this month (June) at least 4 times during the week and then in July go up to 3.5 and in August be doing 4km.

Normally I am joined in the pool by other team members, they had the good fortune to sleep in on this cold, wet and windy morning. No such pleasure for the swimmer!

Swim for lunch

Working on endurance for the run... left the office for a quick 1.1km swim at Sydney Uni Sports and Aquatic Centre: 200m warm-up, 800m flat-out and then 100m backstroke. Now eating a tim tam.

Rest

Easy gym session today. Mostly cardio ( 30 mins run, 10 row) plus some core. Legs are a little fatigued. The weather is so poor that it is eating into motivation. Been looking into our team cozzies, which is kinda fun.

Chop Chop

Out around the island again at 6:30 this morning- actually 6:40 (sorry team). We were joined by Jason Tucker (OB) and Brett Whyte (Umina). Again, chilly morning, strong southerly blowing and nothin' but chop comin' round the back of the island. took an extra 4 mins for the 5K (54:40), which was probably pretty good for the conditions.

Katie did a solid 50 min hill sprint session with Aussie Champs sprint medallist Allison Tucker (OB). looked like hard work as we paddled back in!

Nice to have a warm thermos of tea after the session!

Katie and Aaron's beach run

Toughest run in history. It was so windy, it felt like we were running backwards and I felt myself being lifted off the beach on more than one occasion. We spent a lot of time trying to escape the incoming tide and retreating to the dunes due to the lack of beach to run on. Hard work running amongst all the washed up debris - luckily we wore our Vibram FiveFingers shoes. All up 8.27km in 60:30. That is pretty bloody slow for us (about 2 mins per km slower than in good weather) but moving forward was close to impossible. We were the only people on that beach. Even the kite surfers stayed in.

What do you know Armstrong

Well, not even the resolve of Lance Armstrong was getting me in the surf for a board session this morning. Conditions are absolutely atrocious. howling southerly, squalls of side chop, rubbish. Arvo run session will have to suffice today.

the Ad

It's Official!

After significant talk and some preliminary training the Ocean Beach SLSC Honeymooners are officially entered in the 2011 Coolangatta gold! Our team is: Mark Davis (captain; swimmer), Richard Grimmond (Ski), Katie Dixon (Run), and me (Aaron Camp; Board). We had a blast attempting to come up with a name, and in the end we paid tribute to the fact that two of our team members (Katie and I) will in fact be on their honeymoon for the event!

Training for day one:
6:30 am, dreadful windy, choppy, drizzly conditions. As a team we paddled around St Huberst Island (5K), with Katie and I on boards, and Mark and Grimmo on skis. Despite the conditions we had a pretty solid hit out, finishing the 5K in 50 mins. We followed the paddle with a set of hill sprints (grimmo swam a 2.5k instead)- all good except for fighting off hypothermia!

We have adopted the motivational mantra, "set yourself on fire"! We have also decided that when others decline to train due to conditions, this is when we will train hardest- An approach favoured by Lance Armstrong.