Greetings from beautiful Port Mac!

Edit: How re-miss of me! R wanted me to pass on his sincere thanks to everyone for the comments they have left here or for the emails & SMS he has recieved over the last few days. I know he truly appreciates it; it means alot to him.

I love it here; such a beautiful part of the world. Today, the sun is shining, the sky is clear & there is IM-fever in the air!

Team Mango has been established & is now fully operational in a gorgeous unit at Flynns Beach. R thinks he spotted Chrissie Wellington (the World Champ) staying at the same resort as us so Mini Mango & I are on a stake-out, trying to find her & get a photo. Fingers crossed! R & Mini Mango arrived on Wednesday. My mum (otherwise known as Mother-in-law Mango) & I arrived yesterday as did the balance of Team Mango. R seems to have settled in; he isn't pacing the halls (yet) but is a bit quieter than normal. Right, 'nuff about him;-)

The focus of my training has now shifting away from my tri's & towards getting this old bod ready to carry packs weighing up to about 20kg up one really big hill in Sth America. To this end, I need to increase my weight bearing sessions while not breaking myself. Easier said than done no doubt! So for now, I've dropped my swims & my long ride. Instead I've added 2 walks/hike/treks (whatever you want to call them) with a pack, the weight of which will increase over time. One session mid-week will involve hill or stair reps and the other session on the weekend is basically a long trek along undulating trails for a couple of hours. Throw in an extra rest day to aid recovery & it actually brings me down to 7 sessions each week (down from the current 9). I've learnt, thanks to TA, that less is more and to ignore that little voice in my head that wants me to do 'too much'. I'll certainly be paying close attention to the body to see how it responds to this rather dramatic change in focus. It will be an interesting experiment if nothing else.

Tuesday
AM: 55min walk with 10kg pack (5.?k)
Took my new 70L pack (which is massive by the way) for a spin around the hood at 4.30am. It's the first time I've used it; although it needs a few minor adjustments, I'm happy with it. The weight was a bit of an experiment to see what it felt like. Interestingly the weight was actually easier to get used to than wearing my trekking boots again.

Wednesday
Unscheduled rest day. Had planned a strength session but work was feral; didn't home from work until after 10pm & still had to finish my packing.

Thursday
AM: 30min run (4.47k) hilly run around Port
Brother Mango, Mini Mango & I headed out about 5.30pm for a run. Mini Mango is fast & strong on the hills; flying up them with Brother Mango & I breathing heavily & trailing in her wake. One tough session!

Had DOMS in both tib ants after Tuesday's pack walk but they are fine now.

Friday
AM: 55min ride (19.3)
One hilly ride! Headed out the back of Port Mac then turned & headed back into town. After a lap of the flat part of town (what little flat there is!) I headed up Ocean Drive from Oxley Beach along the IM course to the Lighthouse Dr turn-off & back to the hotel (taking a work-related phone call along the way). Beautiful ride but bloody hilly!

Miners joined Team Mango for lunch today. Afterwards most of the Team headed for the expo where I think the non-competitors spent more than the competitor! My purchases included a Pearl Izumi (sp?) jacket and 4 more cow-bells, raising the total in the CR cheerleaders-bag-of-tricks to 6 :-)

Tomorrow my pack & I are meeting Portrunr at 6am (OMG) to head out for a trail run (for him) and a trail hike (for me), before I meet R down at Race HQ to attend a memorial for CR & Trannie Green Machine who passed away at last years race.

MTD: H - 5.?k + B - 19.33k + R - 4.47k