My lack of blogging recently has been a result of the inverse of the usual culprit; I have been too well (and thus doing lots) rather than been too crook. Whacko!!!!!

So, a brief summary:

Tuesday 19 September 2006

Busy, medical appointment dominated day, with a trip to the specialist for me, followed by the GP by Bob to have a large BCC excised with three, big unsightly looking stitches, and then another long consult with the GP for me in the afternoon. As a result of the to-ing and fro-ing, I won't see the specialist again for a while, and now have an inhaler to use before exercise. It is all good.

The day was made even better when I had a walk with the PRB in the afternoon.

Wednesday 20 September 2006

A great day in the beautiful Southern Highlands with Lucky Legs and her loudly snoring dogs. Lunch at a local cafe served up great Mirror Dory Fishcakes and excellent coffee. A good run down the freeway on cruise control had me back one car length ahead of Bob from his days drive to the South Coast.

Thursday 21 September 2006

I was planning to get back on my bike when the PRB rang. We agreed to meet at the Southlands shops to go for an initial cycle together. On his son's borrowed mountain bike, we first queued at the service station to pump up the tyres from the pitifully low 11 psi in the rear to 60. A bit of cross country over the grassed oval, and we were then on to the bike path heading down to Lake Tuggeranong. A circuit of the lake and return gave us around 16kms of gentle, but very enjoyable cycling. I am enthused for more in future and we tentatively plan to make it a regular event, maybe Mondays and Thursdays.

The hoped for run in the afternoon was not quite possible as I assisted a now ailing Bob with some errands and sorting out the valve extenders on his deep dish race wheels. We had a coffee at Waters Edge at Reconciliation Place. $3.50, great setting, good coffee, needs further investigation! Very cyclable!

Bob was too ill to go to swim squad that night, however I went down to the gym, fitting in a good energetic spin class (45 minutes, good high heart rate) and then 30 minutes on the oh-so-boring treadmill. Happy with the workout though. They want to ft me in for another fitness assessment and programme, obviously there is something of a log jam with so many people joining at the promotional period on the City to Surf weekend (how we track the days of our lives). I agree to come in at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.

Friday 22 September 2006

Bob is still unwell, but feeling bad about his lack of training with the ACT Duathlon Championships on Sunday, and the Gold Coast Half Ironman on the following week. He comes down to the pool for a swim while I have my assessment. I wasn't expecting anything positive, as since the last one I feel that I was bad, bad, worse before the magic pill kicked in just over a week ago.

As it turned out, I was a bit stronger, a teeny bit lighter (OK - gulp - 75.5kgs), a bit less % of body fat and with better hydration status. Better news was that (although I would have bet against it), there was a reduction in all my measurements, so, all in all, encouraging given the recent return to health and relatively little activity!

Some new exercises were added to my programme, and I then raced out to meet Bob after his swim.

I decided to cycle to Customs, leaving early to pick up my contact lenses in Civic first. The wind was relentless and although it was behind me on the way there, the pleasure of a tail wind was tempered by the knowledge that it was going to be a hard, uphill slog on the bike on the way home.

Now that Floriade is on, there is access, albeit a little slow and lengthy, to the toilet block near the start which was good. The wind was blowing a gale though, and nobody was going to break records running or cycling on a day like this.

It was a small field, with Friar quietly sneaking off overseas for 4 weeks unbeknown to many of us, and Rad absent. I went off my correct (unchanged) handicap of 7:15 and felt good from the start. It was a slow slog though, especially coming up hospital hill from the tunnel where the strength of the wind almost felt as though one was going backwards. I could see Jodie in my sights, and she had done a hard cricket training session that morning and had left only 30 seconds before me. However it was over half way before I caught her, gasping for breath, having forgotten to inhale my inhaler before the run!

Despite the fact that we had a tail wind for much of the final 2 kms, it was not fast. I choked and felt nauseous at the odour of sausages sizzling at a work lunchtime function at Acton Ferry Terminal, and caught up those who had started before me. I either tried or lost the plot a bit though, for my final kilometres were relatively slow, despite a mad dash sprint for the line at the finish. I maxed my heart rate out here at 174 bpm and 17.9 km/hr. Despite this I was pipped at the finish by a deserving Chris.

Our times were called as being 36:23, meaning I did a surprisingly slow 29:08 for the course when I felt that I was running much better. However, the fact that I was in the first bunch of finishers in a gross time of over 36 minutes did indicate that the conditions probably did slow many others down as well. A cycle via the National Gallery to buy a gift was a bit dangerous to life and limb with the wind on Kings Avenue Bridge, and I worked hard into the wind on the way home, getting down to my granny gear at one stage.

After a weekend of complete somnolence, I was tempted by Bob to go down to the gym while Bob swam.  I was barely in time for the once a week 'Stretch and Tone' class which I had so valued last time.  It was even better this week, and while not an active workout, it was nearly an hour of all the stretching we should do, but don't.

Unfortunately I had to cut short the relaxation component as Bob had arranged to meet me in the foyer at 10:30 am.  Now woken up, I suggested that I accompany Bob on his lunchtime trip to Woden to run with 'the boys', and catch up with Peter the PRB for a coffee.  It was easily arranged, and we had a great catch-up.  We plan to meet tomorrow for a walk in the morning.  I'm sure that he'll be the PWB as we aim towards a better 2007, having agreed that we shall just write 2006 off and plan for next year.

Another short visit to the gym this evening while Bob does a triathlon squad Spin Class.  I'm  enjoying it however I'm getting rather dizzy and woozy after a fairly short time.  Better to be here for a long time rather than a quick one.