Are we over blogging?

Seems that we, as a team, are blogging a little less now than at the start of our training.

Yesterday I swam 4.5km. I was having a work from home day so there was no rush to get to the train so was able to spend a little bit more time at the pool. So it was 3 x 1.5km swims. I had the best intentions of doing a little cross training yesterday, maybe a ski paddle or a bike ride, but lazing about on the lounge won the day. Some may call it a wasted opportunity, but I think I needed a day like that (actually a week like that would be nice).

While at the pool yesterday I was told by the pool lifeguard that I might want to jump into lane 5 as Ky Hurst was training in there the day before. I stuck to my lane 6, but thought that it was nice that Ky was keen to come and train with the Honeymooners and maybe pick-up a few tips from us. (For those interested I think that he is training at Woy Woy all this week).

This morning I didn't have the luxury of time so was back to the 3.5, 3 x 1km with a 500m to finish. Wasn't feeling the best jumping in the pool this morning and feeling even worse now...hope I am not coming down with something. Must be something Ky put in the pool to get the Honeymooners off our game ;)

Light at the end of the tunnel

Light at the end of the tunnel refers to work - but is also relevant to the Coolangatta Gold.

The demands of work have been impacting on all aspects of life...particularly family time and that flows through to having time to train. Last week I think that I only got to see the kids 1 evening and both mornings on the weekend, other than that I have been at work. Training was hampered in that I only swam 3 mornings...with only 4 weeks to go I need to ensure that I am maintaining the rage.

This morning I felt that I needed to put in a bit extra this week - so even though it is not Thursday I did 3.5km straight. Just kept going up and down the pool. Time was just over the hour mark. Felt good for getting in the long swim and will be aiming to swim everyday this week (if I can).

Feeling the pressure, with pleasing results

This weekend domestic duties on two fronts, putting a dent in available training time. Both required a gerni to remove built up moss and dirt... but in the end Mum’s sloping driveway at Kincumber and our own back deck look years younger. On Saturday I managed to fit in about 70minutes of ski time on Broken Bay with some smallish waves at Umina.
Sunday morning it was the penultimate swim at Blue Swimmers and I felt so good I was DQ’d in the final of the 30m for going too fast with a 17:69secs... under the handicap rules I can’t swim faster than 18sec. Felt good in the water though. While the lads went back to OB for some soup I pulled on the Camelback and headed up the track over to Patonga for some aerobic work. Two guys on mountain bikes asked me if the track was ok for them. Avoid the stairs down into Patonga and you should be fine. They headed off while I was pulling my shoes on. Caught the first one about 1k up the track and passed the second at Warrah Trig turn off. 24min out and 25min return leg.
Back into the Pool at WWPLC this morning for a 2.2k swim to start the week... bring it on!!!

Je suis en Geneve

Been a few days since I've blogged. I did a couple of long runs last week but was struggling with a headcold that, yet again, developed into a chesty cough. It's one thing after another and it has really been getting in the way of my training. I have just flown Sydney - Bangkok - Heathrow - Geneva and have been here for about 6 hours. I forced myself to stay awake on the first flight, then on the second flight I ate the meal (to avoid food lag) and slept for 6-7 hours. On the first flight I managed to stand up a bit, but by the end of the second flight my legs were pretty stiff! I walked around Heathrow terminal 5 for a few hours just to get the blood flowing. After I checked into my hotel here I changed into the running gear, started with a power walk for 1 hour, then a slow run for 1 hour, then another walk (but not a power walk) for another hour. I just wanted to take it easy to avoid DVT or some flying-related issue. The chesty cough was pretty bad before the run but seemed to clear up during the run. It didn't really feel like hard work though. Such a beautiful sunny day in Geneva, lots of people at the Bains des Paquis (basically a massive public swimming / sunbaking area off a pontoon on Lake Geneva) and also lots of people at Geneva baby plage. I think I will have to get in there at some point this week but I only have a training cozzie. Most women here wear bikinis and have orange tans. The men - well they just wear their knickers.

30 days to the start line...

The weather is starting to feel like Spring already and I certainly had spring in my step today. The clocked showed 04:58am as I slipped into lane 2 for a 3k session. Straight up freestyle for 20 laps and then 500 kick/ 500 free w fins. In the third klm I went for the paddles and the rubber snapped so it was 500 free with pull buoy and 500 free. Tossed the old rubber straps and purchased a new set on the way out of the pool... solid preparation is key.

Pool was quiet this morning and I’d got through 10 laps before anyone else was in the water. Another great day on space ship Earth

1 month today.

Being the 25th of August (don't read the system date...that is is in US time) it is only 1 month until we will have finally hit the day of the Coolangatta Gold. Getting excited.

Thursdays are normally the non stop swimming days, but when I arrived at the pool this morning the boom was out, so only a 25metre pool. Not ideal for swimming the longer distance as I struggle to keep account of my laps. I opted for 3 x 1km and 1 x 800m. I know that I should of kept going in the last effort for another 200m to hit the 4k, but you should look at it that I was only going to do 500 and extended that by 300....so the extra 300 beats the 200 that I didn't do...get it, got it, good!

Still keeping busy at work and not getting home until late in the evening (last night was home at about 10.45)...and having to get up and to the pool early has impacted on getting the 7-8 hours that I crave, hopefully next week can take some time in lieu and get a few extra hours sleep as well as some cross training sessions.

Seven klm to nowhere in particular

Today's session was about putting some klms into my shoulders. I missed Tuesday morning due to work and this morning I was determined to get back on the K1 and knock out some distance. Started just before 5am and got off about 5:50am. Stepping outside I ntoiced that each day is getting us closer to Spring and a bit brighter earlier.

Met the Running Bride on Platform 1 at Woy Woy station who'd bee burning the midnight oil to get a grant paper in for work. Good luck today Dr Dixie ;)

Swimming towards Spring brings the crowds

Work got in the way of training yesterday so I definitely had a spring in my step as I walked through the fog in the carpark towards WWPLC at 5am. Dark Mavis had the job calling him this morning and it was just as well as there were five people in the water at 5:15am. If he'd have been on board the pressure would be on to compete. Of course by 5:15 I was already well underway. The guy in the lane I was in, was maintaining a 50m gap which makes it less confronting at the turns.

2k session was a straight up 1k free followed by 500m free with fins & 500m pull with paddles. Amazingly the fog had cleared by 05:50am or at least retreated out into Brisbane Water. Great day ahead, feeling energised.

Another 3.5km day

Not much to report from this mornings swim. 2 x 1.5km swims with a 500m to finish. Was actually quite a boring swim. It funny how one day it is fine and the next you are bored out of your mind and all you want to do is finish up and go home.

Will be absent from tomorrow mornings swim as I have to be in the office rather early...so next swim will be Thursday morning.

Give me strength!

Organising a wedding, working a full time job, commuting from the central coast to Sydney every day and training for the gold... it's hard work! Anyway today was strength day: 10 mins on the rower, 20 mins of weights and core exercises, 20 mins on the spin cycle (that is the real bike at the gym - not those ones that you sit on and don't do any work) and then 20 mins of running. Going straight from the bike to running is a real test of leg strength! All up, one hour and 10 mins of solid exercise. Bring on tomorrow!!

Challenge has been set

A few weeks ago I was being challenged to have all 3 of my 1km swims under the 17 min mark. I achieved that and have been able to achieve it pretty consistently. Another challenge that had been put to me was to break the 16minute mark for a km. I have been able to do it in the 25metre pool but not in the 50. Today I went ohh so close with a 16.02. I know that I could of knocked 2 secs off the last 100m so I am sure that in the coming days I will meet this challenge.

Today was;
3 x 1km (times 16.02, 16.35, 16.45) All these were taken off the big clock at the pool as I had forgotten to wear my watch.

Finished with a 500m to round out my 3.5km.

As I write this it is a couple of hours since I finished my swim, but can still feel the shoulders burning. It has to be good for me.

Between the ‘Wreck of the Hesperus’ and ‘a Pakapoo ticket’

On Saturday morning Dark and I were down to contest the Go Natural adventure series in the Kurringhai National Park. With strong winds around I was almost pleased when the cyclist from HP pulled the pin late Friday night. At 3am I decided ‘d pull the pin, concerned about transporting my ski along the F3 in the winds.

At 7am I called Dark Mavis to make sure he’d got my earlier message. He’d decided to head to WWPLC and knock out 4k in the short course so I got organised and met him after he’d got through 2k of his session. Managed 3k myself before heading down to the surf club and jumping on the K1 trainer for 70 mins of paddling and got through 12k.

Mary took a break from her studies and we had some bacon & eggs on at home at 11:30 reading the Herald. A great column 8 item, which mentioned a couple of phrases that I hadn’t heard since I was a boy. “You look like the Wreck of the Hesperus!!” and “son clean up that room it’s like a Pakapoo ticket!!” lmao

Sunday I needed to swim at the Blue Swimmers visitation day with the Fridgit Digit’s over from Hardy’s Bay. Only planned to do a quick 30m and head off for a run but managed to win the heat then final and do a team relay... good laugh and if I can keep off the rope I might go alright in two weeks.

I was keen to get some aerobic work in by running from the Arboretum at Pearl Beach over to Patonga and back. 8.4k is great cardio session as the track rises up to 90m over 2.5k and then drops into Patonga down a stone staircase. At 22mins out and 24mins back it was a useful run even if I had to forgo the winners mug back at OB.

Patience

Yet again I have been a bit slack with the blogging! I think I last blogged on Tuesday. Now I have to remember what I did... I did a crazy hill session on Wednesday. It was pretty miserable outside so I did a 6km session with the treadmill on the hill mode at level 10. That was a really tough session and I felt sick in the stomach during and after it. On Thursday I did a recovery run - about 30 mins. On Friday I gave the legs a rest and did swim squad at PLC. On Saturday I went for a 10km run with Jason Tucker. I was pretty happy with the time considering I did it with a headcold. You are probably wondering why the Chairman of the Board has been so quiet. Well he came to swim squad on Fri and came on the run with us on Sat but after 4km we made him turn around and head back on the shortcut route. He is usually an awesome runner but probably shouldn't have been running given that he has a chest infection and was whiter than a ghost. I woke up this morning for a beach run but ended up changing my mind as my headcold was worse than it was yesterday. Being patient can be difficult. I did do something exciting though... I BOUGHT MY WEDDING SHOES!!

Work impacting on training

This weeks training in the pool was impacted due to work commitments. I have a big project that goes until the 29th August...hopefully after that I will have some normal working time back and wont be getting home from the office at 3.15AM.


Friday was a no swim day due to the above and this mornings paddle from Anuka Bay to Bobbin Head was cancelled...it was cancelled overnight, but I was up, dressed and ready to walk out the door when I checked my phone and realised I could of slept in.

So it was off to the pool for a swim. 4 x 1km was the aim today and achieved it without any real problems. Halfway through the last set I did start getting a few cramps in my right calf and in bottom of both feet which is think was caused by pushing off the wall. Was the 25m pool today, which means lots of tumble turns.

The lane lest travelled... well at 5am anyway

Felt ordinary this morning after yesterday’s K1 sprint session... much prefer the long endurance stuff. Anyway dragged myself into the car on a slightly chilly morning @ nine degrees and off down Bulls Hill. Two swims in a row and no Dark Mavis in lane 2, am I at the right pool??

Standard 2k session apart from finding someone’s swim program on the bottom of lane 3 at 40m. Probably one of the Pelicans from Thursday night. 5 x 400m for me (free, kick, free w fins, pull buoy w paddles and some medley schtuff for the last 400m). Saw the Running Bride & Chairman squadding it up this morning... well done Honeymooners!

Tomorrow’s event looks likely to be a cool, wet and blustery affair as the winter weather moves in.

RIP Paul Lockyer & crew ... he was one of our finest journalists

Power on!

I missed yesterday's swim due to work commitments - up late and when I got up at my normal swim time I had work waiting for me so was working from 4.45am.

Today was non stop swimming day - so it was 3.5km without a break. While I was swimming I did see the Club Captain over in lane 7, but I wasn't being rude by not stopping to say G'day, I just had a goal to hit today.

Was happy with the time this morning...broke the 60mins...just. Time was 59.54. I even felt that I was swimming strongly today as I normally go out fairly easily on Thursday's, but went out as if I was only swimming a kilometre and just tried to maintain the pace.

When the student is ready... the master will appear!!

I could be having a particularly Buddhist week but this thought came to me this morning as I swam my 2k recovery swim. Just the normal 5 x 400m (free, kick, free w fins, paddle w pull buoy, free) but it was the discussion I had with Mick McGauren before I hit the water that was enlightening. I have probably known Mick for about the last five years to nod hello to. I know he can swim like a barracuda and also that he’d done the Gold before. But this morning as I waited to enter the pool turnstyle he came over and chatted about the Gold Coast event and showed genuine interest in our progress.

As I was about to dive in to the pool he came back over to share with me everything from sunscreen, working with a group, sprint & distance training,... to goo energy products. I was stoked with the information and have already put some of it to good use. Saturday’s 12k competition paddle at Akuna Bay 2 Bobbin Head should be a good trial event.

GrimSki

Kicking on

Well after my ski paddle on Saturday my shoulders are (believe it or not) still sore. They kept me from swimming training yesterday but I was back at squad today. Now I know I have recovered, because this time I didn't have to stop at the end of each lap to cough. I don't know about that 1km of kicking though... This morning it did not really feel that cold outside. Planning on fitting in a run somewhere in my tight work schedule today. Sounds like Grimski had a rough morning! Next time that happens, just mention my dad's name and the BP blokes will let you off. Back to the grind stone...

Shaping up for a good day

Work today is looking to be hectic with a couple of big milestones to hit, but it was off to the pool this morning to energise myself for the day ahead.

After yesterday's effort where I was drained and didn't have much energy I was much happier with today's swim. 3 x 1km all beating the 17min mark and a 500m to finish.

The first two kilometres were always on track to be under the 17min mark, while the third one I was struggling to get there and after 900m I looked up at the big clock and had 90 secs to swim the last hundred. I put in a bit of an effort and came through stopping the clock at 16.58. Was very pleased that whatever was weighing me down yesterday was not there today and was able to put in an effort and feel good for doing so.

Catching a butterfly with your toes

Two things happened this morning that were ... well unusual and not part of the normal routine. The first I’ll carry with me for the next few days and the second I sorted within 20 mins.

Tuesday’s and Thursday’s are now my mornings at the surf club on the K1 trainer between 5:00am – 6:15am. The usual banter with Bert & Ernie (aka Steve & Frank) about how far I’ve paddled and how big the surf is at OB today. This morning I was trying to hit 5k at 3omins and stroking above 75 spm when I lost concentration for a split second and whacked my left foot with the end of the shaft. Now the shaft is attached to a nylon rope which keeps the tension on the fly wheel and the rope itself is connected to the shaft by a small, but not insignificant, butterfly nut. When I stopped at 5km for some water I noticed a nice chunk of skin flapping off the second toe... “We’ve sprung a leak there Captain!”

I felt rubbish at 6klm and played the mind games of getting off the horse and heading home. But laddie...that sort of attitude won’t cut the mustard on 25th September; so I threw on the competition face and hummed a chorus of “Onward Christian soldiers!!”. Knocked out 10klm in 64mins, cleaned and packed up the gear before heading home.

En route to Horsfield Bay the Low Fuel alert sounds and I head into BP on Ocean Beach and Rawson Rds. Unashamed to be standing at the fuel pump with a towel around my waist, under my warm jacket and with my red crocs on, I’d put $30 of fuel in before realising I didn’t have my wallet with me. “Mateeeeee” says I... “ you won’t believe it!” ... and he didn’t; so I took off my watch, left my mobile number and the 6 person queue behind me (is that someone snickering... “I heard that!”) and headed home with my towel between my legs. Actually the guy at the BP was OK and I returned 10 mins later with cash in hand.

Go Tuesday... we’re on fire!!

Struggling today

This morning I was keen and eager as I walked into the pool, however once I hit the water I felt like I was weighted down. The first km was over 17mins and I was thinking that I would struggle to get through the 3.5km today.

During the second km I was just trying to keep a decent pace, felt like I was going OK, but the timing was still quite slow. But when I put my head up at the end of that swim was greeted by the fellow in the lane next to me with a "G'day Chaps" and looked over to see the Club Captain occupying lane 5. Nij hasn't been seen in the pool at this time of the morning for well....I can't remember how long.

I had to push on and try to get in 3km's. With the way I was feeling was thinking that I would just struggle through the last km and then head home. By the end of the 3rd km I thought that I had a half decent pace going but once again the clock wont lie and the time was around the 17.40. Instead of getting out and heading home, I needed to push through and get to the 3.5, it is probably more important that I can push myself when I am not feeling too great - that might be how I feel on the day of the Gold.

So today was a difficult 3 x 1km and 1 x 500m for the 3.5km. Hope that I I feel more sprightly in the pool tomorrow.

Monday 5 weeks out from Coolangatta

Great weekend and really not enough time to Blog (well you've gotta have time to recover, eh!). Saturday morning was a hitout at 06:30 am with the Running Bride and Dark Mavis. The water was glassy as we headed north from Lions Park towards Saratoga. The Running Bride cut a mean figure on the surf ski. The pace wasn't cracking but it was good to be on the water at sun rise. Dark Mavis cut loose at 7:50am to make his soccer deadline and as the RB and I packed away the skis and changed in to something drier we took off for 6.5k road run/ jog down to Koolewong Station and back. The photo here is breakfast that Mary put on when I got back from training very nice indeed ... Saturday morning with my best friend, a cup of Lapsang & the Herald.

Sunday was a lie in after the Wallaby game not so much an Australian win as a South African loss, but we'll take it!! After tea and toast I figured I needed a longer paddle so passed on the Blue Swimmers dip for a ski paddle from Fishersmens Wharf Woy Woy down to Bluetongue stadium and back up past Saratoga. All up about 16k round trip and while it was solitary paddling in the rain it was good to keep a good pace up.

This morning at 5am it was the usual swim at PLC with 4x500m sets (free, kick, free w fins & paddles w pull buoy). Good to see the Club Captain in lane 4 hitting it out and ... well, it just wouldn't be a weekday if Dark Mavis wasn't pounding away in lane 3. Bring on September.

The Chairman is chairing the snowboard

He is on his LAME bucks weekend at the snow with the 2 groomsmen, so I have to blog for him... He tells me he has been "cutting sick" on his snowboard, doing 180s, 360s and fun boxes. As we speak, they are planning their "assault" on the half pipe tomorrow. he has been doing some swimming while he has been down there. Tough work after a day of boarding. Today he did 4 x 200m swims: 2:58, 3:05, 3:08 and 3:12. Apparently the schnitzel count is up to 9, and he is now sitting at the brumby bar in Jindabyne (at least that is what he told me). I wonder if they will stop in Fyshwick on the way back.

cluck cluck!

Well I have been a bit slack with the blogging over the last week. I had my hens weekend this weekend but it certainly didn't stop me increasing my awesomeness! I did a really tough running speed session on Friday. I did a 1km warm up followed by 5 x 800m at an uncomfortably fast pace (with 200m recovery between each) and then a 2km warm down. On Saturday I went for a ski paddle with Grimski and Dark Mavis from Lions Park Woy Woy. Grimski's old ski has become overshadowed by the new Dolphin so I decided to give it a go before I adopt it as my own. Well there were a few knock-downs but I came out in one piece (a few bruises though). Every time they said I was doing awesomely I would fall off! There are pictures to come... Then Grimski and I went for a 40 minute jog. And today... the morning after the savage hens night... Dark Mavis turned up with Jason Tucker to serve breakfast to the ladies. I cracked out a 9km run late this afternoon. 4km on the beach and 5km on the road. Looking forward to another great week of setting myself on fire!

Mixed Bag this morning

Today's swim was a bit of a mixed bag.

1km
5 x 100m efforts
6 x 50m efforts
1km
200m

Total of 3km.

The efforts - particularly the 100m really took it out of me. Haven't done too many sprints lately, but was nice to break up the swimming with something a bit different.

This working week I totalled 17km in the pool. (Monday to Thursday 3.5each day, Friday 3). Will aim to have an ocean swim sometime over the weekend as well as the normal paddle that we have been having.

Getting ahead of myself ... and the day, by 5 mins

When your daily routine is so finely tuned between the alarm @ 04:25am and the Wynyard flyer @ 06:40am you notice when you suddenly have an extra 5 minutes. Was the shave a bit quicker or the news catch up at 04:30am so hum drum that I skipped Wall St altogther and headed upstairs and out the front door. Being at the pool 5mins early meant I was inside and onto the third lap when Dark Mavis appeared in the lane next to me. I felt in front of the day and sort of energised. Normally by 5:45am I've clocked 2k and heading out of pool but today it was 5:40 and there was a spring in the old step.

The training this morning was 5 x 400m (free, kick, free w fins, pull w buoy, mixed warm down with 50 breast/ 50 free).

On fire... heading into September!!

Thursday is distance day

As I have been for the last few Thursday's, I have been hitting the pool with the intention of swimming the entire 3.5km distance without stopping.

Once again had no problem with the distance, even added a couple of extra laps at the end. Even with the goggles fogging and the sluggos riding a bit low I wasn't tempted to stop.

The pool this morning was a little boring with only myself in the 3 public lanes until I hit about 2.7km when I was joined by a group in the outside lane and it was only as I was finishing off that someone jumped in lane next to me. The squad swimmers as usual were flying up and down and it gets a bit disheartening when you see some of them going up the pool kicking as fast as I am swimming.

Cranking it up a notch

Today there was no decision anxiety it was always going to be 10k on the K1 trainer. Even though I tried hard to get down to OB a bit earlier, by the time I shave and get organised I find that once again its right on 5am when I start paddling and clocking over the meters. Had to adjust my posting from earlier in the week as my sums were deliriously out. 45 strokes clocks 100meters on the ergo computer so for 10k I figure 4500 strokes is much closer to the mark than the 20k strokes I reported on Tuesday.

Steve & Frank are there at the Surf Club every morning for their daily dip in the briony regardless of conditions. While I was @ 3k when Steve enters the training room for his daliy warm up ritual I was actually getting off at 10k when Frank arrived. Always the same banter and it's good to see a couple of spritely old guys still having a swim and a laugh each day. This morning Jason Tucker stuck his head in just after 6am to check on the action at the surf club.

Heading home I should have had my camera at the ready (only I was driving at the time!!) when I passed JT running back home along OB Road and at the same instant Dark Mavis passed me driving in the opposite direction heading back home from the pool. Men of iron be proud!!

sick of sick

I have had about enough of niggly aches and pains, headaches, coughs and sickness. Yesterday i knocked out a 5 k esplanade run in the morning after failing to make it to swimming. felt ok running but when i got home i felt rotten. had to do some work so i pushed through until about 2 pm before crashing until 4:30 just in time to head to the Branch executive meeting.

Cant say i feel any better today either. had to give a lecture this morning- my first as a "lecturer". As soon as i finished the adrenaline disappeared and i felt like shit. forced myself to crawl over to the swimming pool and splashed my way through 1200m just so i remember how.

this illness stuff is sub-optimal. i am a terrible patient. sickness and injury disgust me. oh yeah i think i have some kind of fractured coccyx from the snow last weekend. yay.

grrrrr.

Words with friends

Forget training...I have been introduced to Words with friends app and have been enjoying playing (its like Scrabble) - username is uminamd if anyone is up for a game. Already have games going with Jane, Zac and the Running Bride.

This mornings swim was the normal 3.5km broken up into 3x1km and a 500m to finish. The only thing to mention about this mornings swim was first km was completed in 16.14...which is one of my faster times, but I was a bit buggered at the end and needed a breather. The next two were considerably slower (about a minute slower), but when I get into a rhythm on those sets I feel that I could just keep swimming.

Winter's back at Woy Woy

Felt every bit of seven degrees this morning en route to the pool. Nothin flash today just a straight up 40 laps for 2k of freestyle. Saw the Dark one in the lane next to me on his way to his own daily goals. No time for talking today though as I was late getting underway (finding pool pass at home) and getting petrol on the way home.

Hey there was a question on the census last night about hours spent on unpaid domestic work. Now I thought I was being fair when I put 5-14hrs last week for myself which bought howls of laughter from Mary. Clearly the range is too broad for that question as 12-14hrs wouldn't have raised an eye brow I'm sure.

Further training on hump day will be the 5x 100 Man o' War steps at Farm Cove with some 1 min planks in between - gotta love those planks for working the core.

Adulterous escapades

This evening after work I went for a 10km run with Jason Tucker and Shaniah Tucker (on the scooter). It's always good to run with someone who is faster than you because it really pushes you to keep up. I hope Allison Tucker didn't mind that I watched the sun go down with her husband and daughter ;) I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday but I did a hill session at the gym during my lunch break. 2km warm up run, then 5 x 150m hill runs at 15% incline, then 2km warm down. The treadmills only go up as far as 15% incline, but any more than that and I would've fallen off the back of it! It was steeper than the St Hubert's Island bridge. I needed an ice bath after it, and coincidentally there was no hot water at the gym, so I had a very uncomfortably cold shower.

Dreaming is hindering my sleep

I was lying in bed not being able to sleep and thinking that I have to get up soon to go swimming so need to fall asleep and then the alarm went off. I realised that I was dreaming that I couldn't sleep, and was actually pushing out zzz for the past 7 hours.

In spite of my lack of sleep state, I headed off to the pool and did my usual 3.5km. Today was broken up into a 1.5km swim and a 2km swim - combined time was 60mins and 52 secs. Was hoping that I would be beating the hour mark, but I wasn't pushing very hard and was more just about continuing the swimming.

I was planning on doing a 1.5 and then another 2 x 1km. But on the second swim I just kept swimming until I had the two km's done.

Time for a census on who’s training out there??

Each morning when I get up to train I put on the Sky News at 0430 to check in on what’s happened overnight. I fully expect each morning to see Wall Street spiralling further as the US edges towards some tough decisions in correcting its economy. I don’t expect to see London ablaze with riots while my two girls are out looking for work there. We skyped Emma last night at her flat in London and heard the sirens outside during our conversation. Hmmm ... take care my Aussie girls, London’s a riot.

Difficult to train some days when there is so much going through my mind. I was like the Grinch trying to decide whether to attend Whoville festivities ... yes, no, yes, no, yes! That’s it I’m going to the surf club to knock out 10k on the ski trainer. Phew that was a difficult decision because I’ve become comfortable in the pool ... even if I can't match it with the Dark Mavis or Grant Hayes, my breathing is so much better and style has improved over the months.

But today (Census Day) I dragged out the K1 trainer and got started right on 5am for 4.5 thousand strokes over 10klm. I must admit that at eight klms my mind was trying to convince me that 8 is pretty good for a training session and I was still recovering from Sunday so hey maybe I should head home for breakfast and make the 0640am train as usual. But I kicked on to 10klm and decided that the 0709am would be just fine. I actually felt better at 10klm than I did at 8klm, go figure.

Anyway here's hoping there is a question on the census tonight about how much physical activity you did today. Hand on heart I can say 10klm.

I need a massage

Once again another great weekend - early Saturday was the kids sport with Aidan playing half a game for Woy Woy and then half a game for Umina as the Umina team was short a few players. He had a really good game and was running around chasing the ball like there was no tomorrow. Thought that this was one of his best games so far. We then had Emily's netball just after lunch and this was another exciting game with Emily also playing one of her best games, she was getting involved and really having a good go. Her team end up winning by two goals - great work.

Saturday afternoon I went for a bit of a swim down at the beach, I have been doing lots of pool swimming, but need to get used to not looking at the black line. All up probably only swam 1.5km but was happy to be in the Ocean (will need to do a bit more of this over the coming weeks)

Sunday was the big paddle with GrimSki...my inexperience on the ski was telling, every time we got a little bit of a back wash off some rocks saw me falling in and going for a bit of swim. All up was about 18.5km and happy that I made it back...shoulders, back and neck are all a bit sore.

This morning was back into the pool for 3.5km. As mentioned the shoulders were a little sore and tired this morning which I thought would reflect in some pretty slow times as I was not putting in too much effort for speed. Although when I looked at my watch I was pleased with my times (was swimming around the 17min per km). Massage would be nice about now.

The calm before the storm

What a great weekend on the Coast... unless you're following the Wallabies. Friday night's NRL game set the scene for a tumultuous weekend of sport & recreation. My ritual Saturday morning hit out with the team was interrupted ths week as I was up early (3am) to talk with Conor about Sky Squadron's last conquest on stage at the Northern Star in Newcastle.

Training on Saturday consisted of a 6k paddle over and back to lobster beach with Zac Wilkins and James White about 2pm. Coming back in we found Dark Mavis out having a swim so we headed down to Umina and back for some water safety as he knocked out some distance in the surf.

This weekend was all about Sunday and getting a good paddle up the Hawkesbury River from Ocean Beach. Mark and I took the Dolphins out for an 18.4k paddle in 2hrs 20min with brief stops at Flint & Steel Beach and turning around at Fisherman's Beach. We arrived back at Patonga Beach Hotel for lunch with the Handlers Mary & Jane, Aidan & Emily. Also had Mary's Cousin's son Jonathon over from Northern Ireland

Acclimatising!

I spent the weekend at Alexandra Headland (Sunshine Coast, QLD) for the Surf Lifesaving Queensland Conference. Great bunch of people and good times were had. The weekend was pretty busy but I did fit in a good run - down to the beach and north along the beach, ran up and down some stairs halfway along the beach (kinda like the headland that I have to run up for the Gold?!). The tide was low and the sand was like concrete. I then turned back and kicked a ball around on the oval with some fellow lifesavers. Looking forward to another week of increasing my awesomeness!

meeting adjourned

Had an awesome weekend chairing the board. Saturday was a solo 6k- and by solo i mean i was the only thing (human at least) in the ocean between Ettalong, Box Head, Barrenjoey Headland and Umina point. small 1-2 ft wave on the odd occasion down towards Umina but mostly just a flat run. The afternoon was spent hanging out with the future leaders of SLSCC at the final event for the 2010/11 15-17s leadership program. Good evening of activities run by the SLSCC member services team ensuring that my Sunday morning training session was just that little bit more difficult!

Started the morning with a pretty brisk 4.5 k run with Jason tucker along the Esplanade before heading out on the board with JT, Whitey, and Shawry. We headed down to Umina in surreal conditions- glassy, rainy, overcast conditions with some eerie light. Spent the morning catching waves doing ins and outs in front of Umina SLSC until a weird 2 minute pulse of wind came along and put an end to the little waves for the rest of the day! All up it was another 4 k paddle.

My knee still hurts. And this annoys me.

Back to the leadership program for the rest of the morning including a fun "amazing race" around Umina- My team won and i wont hear any different!

To cap off the weekend, this afternoon i jumped on the board again and did a leisurely paddle down to Umina with Zac Wilkins and Shelley Smith. 2.5k finishing just as the big thunder storm started rolling in over OB. impressive lighting effects.

Jeans4Genes Friday 5 August, 2011

Picked up my J4G pin on Wynyard ramp en-route to office. Today is about the ninth day straight with temp highs in the 20's and we're going for a Winter record. Saturday is looking the goods so we'll have the crew out on the water at sunrise.

Today's training included the solarity swim at Woy Woy PLC witha 2.2k in the time available before catching the 06:40am train to the City. 4 x 500m (free, kick, free w fins & pull w paddles) the warm down today had no Mdm Butterfly but did wheel out 4 laps of back stroke to checkout the ceiling of the pool centre. makes sucha change from the black line.

Now off for a run around the Domain and Lady Mac's chair with some Man 'o War stepping.

"She just doesn't stop, does she?!"

I did an 8km run on the treadmill today, not too hard, just covering the distance. An old man who had just joined the gym jumped on the treadmill beside me for a walk and couldn't understand how I could keep running when he was struggling just to keep the pace with his walking. The gym trainers were checking on him every now and then and all he could say to them was "she just doesn't stop, does she?". It was nice to have someone look up to me in the gym rather than the usual footy players showing off their guns.

A week in one

It's been almost a week since my last blog post... But fear not I have been doing some training! Snneaked in a board paddle on Monday arvo with Nij "the captain" Fitzgibbon. 3 and a bit round trip to umina point.while not intending to I paddled the fastest I have yet, with my first k done in 8 mins and the 2nd and 3rd in around 9 mins each. Not much surf around but the water was awesome! Spotted some dolphins along the way also- and not the grim ski and Mavis type!

Tuesday and Wednesday I put in some efforts on the bike trainer. 45 minutes tues and 1 hour yesterday. Fnally feeling like I have escaped the lurgey.

This morning was back in the pool with the PLC swim squad. It was a tough session back and I def didn't feel as good as I did before the break. All up it was 2.8 k broken up into 300 pull, 200 swim, 300 free back 50s, and 2 x 5x 150s plus 200 easy descending pace between sets. Back in tomorrow. It is time to ramp up for the gold!!!!

Was that 68 or 70

Today was the weekly swim without a break. I started off going up and down the pool and after a km or so the mind starts to wander - not sure what I was thinking about, but it could of been anything from 'jeez it's cold', going through to 'bloody hell I'm getting hot', 'wonder if there will be lots of people swimming past me in the Gold', or 'will I be able to keep up with anyone' etc etc.

Anyway after what I thought was 3.5km I stopped and looked at the watch...I was under an hour (just), so now I started to doubt myself for how far I had swum as I wasn't pushing that hard at the start but had tried to maintain a constant pace. So just in case I missed counting a lap I quickly headed off for another 100m....so I either swam 3.5 or 3.6km - Really should of finished off with another 400m to have another 4km swim under my belt.

Darth Vader

I have had a bit of bad luck with the winter bugs but have the go ahead to return to light running and swimming. The Dr says the best thing to do after a chest infection is to get back into the exercise to help bring it up(!). So last night I played touch football but we had an extra player on our team - Darth Vader in my trachea. He made a comeback appearance at swim squad this morning but the good news is, I felt fine, just still trying to clear the mucous. Doing a light 8km run later today. Last night Dark Mavis, the Chairman of the Board, Zac, Bec, Nij and I went to the first trivia night at the Everglades Country Club. We always win the Wednesday nights at the Bayview and continued our winning style at the Everglades! The rule is, if you want to win, you will write down Nij's answer.

Paddling along the road less travelled

This morning the goal was 10k and I was keen as (bro) when I dragged the trainer out of the store room plugged her in and got underway. The photo in this blog really doesn't do justice for the 57mins spent paddling as it shows I only went 39meters which is a little tardy for this stage of the training. I pulled up at 10k and got off to grab the phone for photo and to my surprise saw that the counter resets at 10k and starts again. Hey that's my story and this is my blog!!

Swim tomorrow morn and really looking forward to the weekend paddle!!

Trumpet Blowing

No this is not me blowing my own trumpet (well by blogging your training each day you are doing that anyway), but this letting everyone know of the strange happenings that go on each morning down at the Woy Woy Leisure Centre. This morning I pull into the carpark next to GrimSki and he gets out of his car with a case and hands it over to me - I get him to sign a form and we are all sweet to now head in and start our morning training.

I wonder what was in the case - a trumpet for Aidan (and maybe Emily) to start learning. So sorry neighbours and anyone else within hearing distance of our house, but it is all GrimSki's fault. Thank you Richard and Mary (I think - I could be cursing you soon). The form was an expression of interest to be a Duty Officer with CCSLS - once again thank you Richard (I think).

Now for the trumpet blowing - I swam another 3.5km in the normal sequence of 3 x 1km swims with a 500m to finish. No great times today, mid 16minutes for the first km and just over 17 for the next two. Was starting to get a bit bored by the end of the swim but know that I need to keep up the effort as the Gold is not that far away.

Why put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

Normally I am one of these people who is happy to delay something until later...ask Jane how many times she has asked me to load up her Tax on e-Tax...

In yesterdays blog, I mentioned that from next week I would potentially start swimming 4km's a couple of mornings a week. Well I walked into the pool this morning determined to crack the 4km and did so. The pool had the boom out this morning which made it only 25m per lap, which didn't inspire me - total of 160 laps.

The swim was broken up into 3x1km and 2 x 500m.
1st km - 16.03
2nd km - 16.45
3rd km - 16.28
1st 500m - 8.12
2nd 500m - 8.28

Happy that I have conquered that distance, will try to swim it at least twice a week up until Sept (can't swim it every day as I will get to work too late). Well today is a work from home day (Aidan is crook) - so I had better start working :)

Energy deficit disorder