Let's resume our usual telecast

Very long post. My apologies. What a week it's been!

Monday
Rest day. Unplanned but hey, why run when you can drink coffee & discuss your fiance's sensational IM debut :-)

Tuesday
AM - 51min run/beach walk (6.76k) in Port Mac.

Decided to launch my IM 20xx campaign with what turned out to be a trail run & beach walk! I really enjoyed this "run"; I started running south from our resort at Flynns Beach along Pacific Drive, taking a few small detours including a short trail near Nobby's Hill. Somewhere around here it started raining heavily & stayed that way for the rest of my outing. On Lighthouse Rd, I found a trail & off I went running in the direction of Miners Beach. My calves were feeling a bit tight by this stage - too much hill running I think since my arrival in Port Mac - so I walked the length of the beach. The view was stunning; fortunately it was too cold & rainy for any nudists to venture out. The ocean was rough; the white water contrasted beautifully against the rest of the ocean & the sky, both of which were dark. Bewdiful.

Back onto a trail at the northern end of the beach which I quickly worked out was the infamous Minersrun! After the trail, it was time to walk again, this time the length of Shelly Beach. Up some stairs, a bit more trail running & I found myself back at the carpark at Nobby's Hill for the short run home.

The excitement (!) didn't end when I got there. After I stopped & stretched, I was walking back along the footpath in the resort to our room & "did a CJ". The surface was very slippery due to the rain & down I came, landing heavily on my left hip, ITB & glute. Nice.

Wednesday
AM: 60min strength session with PT.

My first PT session with the change of focus towards increased strength rather than endurance as per my training regime over the last few months. So I'm using weights that result in failure around 10 reps (rather than 20) & longer rests between each set. My left shoulder was very funky - I think I jammed it during my fall on Tuesday morning - so we just worked around it & stuck to movements that caused no discomfort:

* multiple sets (4-5, I lost count) of bent-over rows (10 reps each) from 22.5kg to 40kg
* 3 sets (x10 reps) of lat pulldowns @ 41kg
* 3 sets (x10 reps) of leg press;- 1 set @ 55kg; 2 sets @ 110kg!!

Stretching & I was ready for a nap. Shame I had to go back to work. Oh well, at least the boredom was broken up by having a mid-morning coffee with a spunky Ironman I know ;-)

Thursday
AM - very easy & ugly 25mins run (4.03k)

Just wanted to get the blood flowing through my very sore body. My PT warned me I'd be very sore; he wasn't joking!
PM - massage

Friday
Rest :-)

Saturday
AM - 1:55 hike with 11kg pack (8.29k) - including my first summit; Mt Majura, LOL!

R & I headed to Canberra on Friday night so my pack & I took the opportunity to climb Mt Majura. After a long & slow slog up hill, I was rewarded with a stunning view of much of the Canberra district on a clear, still morning. On my way back to the car I took the long way around the horse paddocks, along some of the equestrian trails that the Bush Capital marathon is run along. Nice.

Sunday
R & I skipped the CR dinner in preference to a cook-up at R's sister's place - dark, sticky stew (Jamie O recipe) followed by home made (made by R in fact) sticky date pudding. Couple of bottles of wine and it was tough to drag myself out of bed to get to the race start. We were however rewarded by the sight of a beautiful double-rainbow over Black Mountain (our second double-rainbow sighting in 2 weeks).

After the start, TA & I set out for a run together. Thankfully we've previously arranged it as the idea of wrapping my cold hands around a coffee was honestly much more tempting. We ran parts of the course back in the opposite direction of the runners so we saw - and cheered - on the runners for much of our run. Finished with 64mins & 9.84k; my longest run in 10 months! Thanks TA

MTD: H: 23.79k* + B - 19.3 + R - 25.1k

*hiking with pack > 10kg