1.... (*she says taking a deep breathe*)

Ewen, I should be in more of a panic than Ruth - I am running a grand total of 1km (just) at the moment :-O

Thanks also to the gorgeous Barb who this week christened me a "stylish blogger". I'm not quite sure whether I am stylish or my blog is. My blog hasn't had a change in colour since it was created almost 5 years ago & the photo in the header is about 4 years old. So she must have been referring to the great cycling jersey I was rocking today ;-) To be honest, I don't think it is but hey, I'll take it either way ;-)

Mon: 25min walk/shuffle for the first time in over a week. Yes, I too find it hard to believe that I am supposed to be doing a Half Ironman race in 16 weeks :-$ No swim squad tonight due to a farewell baked dinner for my brother who is returning to Canada on Tuesday (*sob*)

Tue: rest + (much needed) massage

Wed: 45mins strength session at the gym this morning. I am, at heart, a gym junkie. I could live with never doing a day of 'cardio' again in my life. But I could never go without being in a gym :-) Session was primarily glute & core related.

On arrival I was very excited to discover both a TRX & a Freemotion vibration platform. Mention vibration in the context of a gym and most people probably think back to the terrible adds on tv from the 80s showing women in leotards with rubber belts around the waist having their excess weight miraculously 'wobbled' away. But it is a growing area of the industry and several studies have shown remarkable results. There have been several studies which have shown an improvement in Vo2 max after doing strength exercises on a vibration platform. Yes, that's right - strength exercises leading to a Vo2 improvement! I've heard about them a lot; PTA Global (who I have done my advanced PT study through) are big fans so I was very excited to try it.

I had been warned that they can shred you with surprising ease so I tested out squats on them for 30sec only on 30 Hzt. Wow - I think I could feel my brain bouncing around in my skull. But judging by the way my legs were feeling afterwards, it's effective ;-) Wish I could afford to get one to use at home and on my clients :-(( Can. Not. Wait. to get back in the gym to play with it again!

Thu: up early again for a 54min session on the windtrainer in the garage. Very flat legs. I had absolutely nothing. Let's hope I find where I left my legs before next weekend... :-O 20.4km. 54mins.

Fri: a truly crap nights sleep. I have set myself a tight time frame for a BHAG of mine and it is drawing near. So I got into bed and my brain seemed to take off. It was almost midnight before I drifted off. But not before I changed the time the alarm had been set. I had planned to run before going swimming but I skipped the run. As it was, I really struggled to get out of bed to get down to the Regatta Centre at 6am for an open water swim. But (thankfully) R had run down there and given:

(a) I had his swimming gear and

(b) he would have had to run home if I stayed in bed,

so I figured I should maintain domestic tranquility by not abandoning him ;-)

But I am sooo glad I did. Swam 1.5km very comfortable and surprisingly in a relatively straight line! Every morning swim I have done down at the Regatta Centre this summer has been in overcast conditions. But this morning, the effort involved in getting out of bed was rewarded with a beautiful sunrise through high cloud. I love swimming towards the sun watching the sunrise reflect off the water & the sky change colour seemingly every time I lifted my head to sight. Ah bliss !

Sat: I had planned to do my long ride but woke at 7am tired & to wet roads which was more than enough to send me to the safe confines of the garage for my bike session. But first another 25mins walk/shuffle. It was finally one of those runs that gives me hope. More running, less walking than previous walk/shuffles. Finally a sign of progress - yippee!

After facial & lots of hours of work, I finally dragged my butt away from my desk to a windtrainer session in the garage. It was probably the closest I have ever been to vomiting during/after a session, whether from the effort, drinking 3/4 of a biddon within the first 30mins of the session or the heat & humidity. Ick. So so hot. 19.5km 46:40

Sun: I wanted to spend much of the day working on my BHAG so decided to join the PTC girls for a ride at 6am to make sure that I got my long ride done early. The girls were riding long so R & I went with them for the first 50-odd minutes up the M4 & then along the Northern Road before we turned around & headed back to the car via Chain O' Ponds.

Let's just say it felt much harder than 2 hours on the bike should feel right now. Whether it is due to:

- very little recovery after last nights session,

- the fact that while I can ride uphill (slowly) for 3 hours, I have zero speed in my legs at the moment or

- I haven't fully recovered from tri camp,

I don't know. Trying not to read too much into it. But you know me... ;-) Finished with banana bread & coffee with R at the Coffee Club before driving home. 53.9km. 2:05. 25.8k/h

So one week to go until the Alpine Classic. After tri camp, I had contemplated swapping down to the 70km ride (which, incidentally is much harder than it sounds given it goes up Mt Buffalo) and riding Falls Creek as a 'warm-up' on the Saturday...

I have ordered the equivalent of a granny gear for my bike in the hope that it can get me over Tawonga Gap twice. I doubt that I will make the cut-off if I stick with the 130km ride but that doesn't bother me as I will still have a huge training ride in my legs - and one I wasn't sure that I was capable of 6+months ago.

Decisions, decisions...

MTD:
Swim: 1.5km!
Bike: 223.09km