The hardest word

I can't say that I've ever felt proud of a Prime Minister before. I do now. That was spectacular. Nice work Kev.

On a personal note, thank you so much to everyone for your comments. I really appreciate it. Nothing like putting a big goal out there to make you nervous. For those who are interested, you will actually be able to follow my progress up the mountain (hopefully) on an almost daily basis- but more about that later. BTW Speedygeoff, I was only 32 when I wrote that post. I'm 33 today :-) & I'll be on the mountain this time next year :-)

Sunday
AM - cheering duties. We were up at 4.30am (OMG) to head down to Kurnell for R to race in, and for me to watch, the sprint tri race. We managed to arrive at the same time as Gnome & TA. Gnome & I did the hard work - cheering, talking & drinking coffee - while TA & R both had great races in tough conditions ;-) Congrats to you both.

PM - 65min ride
After getting home & getting (more) food, R & I headed out for a ride. I had 75mins on the program so R decided to do a recovery ride & keep me company. We finished with an average of 23.4k/h (25.54k) which is my fastest av. yet on that course. All of the strength training is certainly paying off. I also got to work on my skills (which do need some work) by'slaloming' around the lines on the bike path (when safe to do so of course) and for the first time I rode up the tight switchbacks on the ramp up to the bike path. Yah me!. Great session all round

Monday
AM - 60mins strength session with the PT:

- 5min bike w/u

- 4 (!) x supersets of:
(a) 20 x front squats
(b) 20 x deadlifts
OMG.

- 2 x core exercises

- stretching.

The squats/deadlifts combo was bloody tough. 80 squats + 80 deadlifts all up. Much to my surprise I could still walk. Just :-) I didn't check tos ee how much weight was on the bar - I didn't want to know - but all I could think about was how much harder it was going to be carrying loads of up to 20kg between camps on Aconcagua.

Tuesday
AM - 20mins hilly run (3.17k). I really struggled this morning. Although very sore & tight after yesterday's strength session I got out of bed ok but by the time I was walking down the street on my warm up, I was thinking to myself "maybe I'll just walk for 30mins". In the end I did my hilly loop around the hood for 20mins. Remind me next week not to do my hills session the day after a strength session. Stoopid. Finished with 20mins stretching.

In the office until after 7.45pm so no swim.

Wednesday
AM - 46mins bike session including a considerable focus on cadence. Unfortunately my cadence sensor chose to die during the w/u which was not particularly helpful so I had to wing it. I really struggled at first as my legs were sore from Monday's strength session but I felt really good by the end of it.

PM - ran away from the office at 2pm so I could get in the swim session I was supposed to do yesterday. 1.7k swim including 3 x 400m. Feeling unco in the water. Again.

Thursday
Happy birthday to me :-)

I've had a wonderful birthday so far. We stayed in a suite at the Crowne Plaza in the city last night & I was taken out for a fantastic dinner. Today, both R & I had the day off work so after a sleep-in, a leisurely (and rather massive) breakfast, we've stopped off at a bike shop & book shop on the way home. I've just returned from my run & strength session then we are off to dinner with my folks tonight. I'm a very lucky girl :-)

PM - a very warm 30mins run (4.83k) around the Regatta Centre - my first 30mins run in 7 months, what a birthday present! - before I headed off to the gym for a 50mins strength session:

- 2 supersets with 5kg DBs of:
(a) 20 x reverse flyes
(b) 20 x inclined chest flyes

- 2 supersets of:
(a) 20 x lunges off a step with 2 x 5kg DBs (see R4YL)* and
(b) 20 x swiss ball bent knee hip extensions

- 2 supersets of:
(a) 20 x assisted chin ups (normal/alternate grip)
(b) 20 x hammer curls

- 2 supersets of:
(a) lunges with pulses with front foot on bosu (6/8/10/12/10/8/6), each set finishing with a step-up onto a bench;
(b) single leg deadlifts with s/b & 5kg,
first superset on left leg & repeated again on the right

- 2 supersets of:
(a) leg raises;
(b) single arm tri extensions

- stretching.

* These really highlighted an imbalance in the explosive power of my legs. Something else to work on!

Bring on the birthday dinner :-)

Edit - MTD: S 4.95k + B 35.54k* + R 21.45k

* long rides & races only