Great expectations

Well, my goal to post more often seems to have gone out the window as the work has flown in - it has been completely fn feral at work lately. My work is very cyclical in nature and unfortunately right now it is in 'manic' mode with no signs of letting up. But I have tried to get more sleep this week (work permitting) and I've done all of my training sessions - but none of my physio-ordered ones. I guess that means I'm another step closer to getting to the Gong in one piece but a step further away from a return to running. Oh well, you can't win them all I suppose.

Monday night I made it to the gym/pool too late to do both my swim & gym session so the gym session was sacrificed. 1.5k swim, the particular highlight of which was that I didn't drown attempting backstroke - let's just say, I don't remember the last time I tried backstroke. And BTW Hamburglar, my references to swims being scenic is unrelated to the black line, what's on the bottom of the pool or even the men's water polo team training in the adjacent lane on Monday nights ;-)

Wednesday morning saw a 4.45am start for 45mins hills session on Apollo in front of the telly, once again using grindy gears for untimed intervals. Thursday morning saw another 4.45am start but this time so I could go to work :-( Work is seriously interfering with my adventure racing career right now ;-) Yet another 4.45am start on Friday morning, this time for an interval session on Apollo -

10mins w/u
10mins x 30/30s
5mins spin
4 x 3min hard/90sec spin recovery
10mins c/d
Total: 53mins

My soul received plenty of nourishment on Friday night when Owly came to stay (*hugs*). Today brought another early start. While Owly stayed at home, R picked me up & we headed down to the bike shop so his spare road bike - a very sexy black creature with the unflattering name of Betty* - could be fitted for me. Don't tell Apollo but I'm planning to use Betty for my Gong ride and the road triathlons. Unfortunately they didn't have the triathlon shoes I wanted so they are ordering them in and we are heading back down there on Thursday night for the fitting (hopefully I can get out of work in time). From there, it was home to pick Owly up & then a drive to Katoomba to catch up with Blousey & 2P over brunch (*waves*). I've got a gym session & 2k swim on the plan for this afternoon & another long ride on Apollo tomorrow.

Edit: Well I didn't make it to the gym in time for my physio-ordered session but I did complete my scenic 2k swim. A tough session but good - I've been really concentrating on my stroke recently. And while I need to work on my breathing to my left, I'm feeling much stronger & much more able to keep my stroke long during efforts and/or when tired. Happy days. After my swim, it was home for a shower, a snack & then I was taken out for a lovely flash dinner :-)

Today sometime about 3pm R & I eventually made it out for our ride along the M7 bike path. 3 weeks into my new program & the consistency is already paying off. I am feeling much stronger on the hills in particular & my average pace for the various sections of the path is increasing slowly but surely. Last Sunday's outward journey must have been an anomaly as we reached the same point today almost 6mins faster than last week. Today was another negative split - 1min 10sec this time - in total we did 40.02km in 1:56:45 (aver 20.5k/hr). Slow I know.



Don't tell Apollo but I'm looking forward to getting out on Apollo & seeing how much faster I can go :-)


Recovery week ahead - yippee !

* apologies to anyone reading this named Betty :-)