The Holidays are Nearly Over

Gutted, just when you start to feel all relaxed its time to think about going back to work!

Still have managed to get some good training done in some rather stellar (if hot) weather. So to catch you up on the last week since Geoff's big day out, ohh and my big day out is tomorrow, it feels like Xmas Eve again and he won't tell me anything even with all my bugging and general annoyingness!

Monday was everybody's birthday! That is Geoff, Libby (his daughter), Kalina, Libby at work and Pete's son, anyone else have a birthday that day?? Crazy eh! So I headed over to Jellie Park to swim in the outdoor pool for a change, its lovely swimming in that pool. I did remember to sunblock up before I went but still managed to get a random stripe from my HRM strap! Then off for my weekly massage, aah that was heavenly! Then to the Fox and Ferret at the Palms for a couple of drinks with the birthday kids from our place, yep Geoff's middle child just turned 18! Took Geoff shopping in the Palms, he wanted some togs and running shorts, he is thinking of doing a couple of short distance triathlons so that will be cool and he will probably whip my ass!

Tuesday was hot! And I had to do an hour hill ride and a 40min run off the bike. I headed over to Dyers Pass Rd and did 2 loops up to the Cup, down Hackthorne and back round. Frig it was hot!! I had sweat dripping off me!! Eww! Then home to go for a run? By this time it was around 10.30 I think and it was sweltering! I headed off for a lap around the river which was daft as there was nowhere near enough shade! I was very tempted to jump in the Avon and swim home, the only thing that stopped me was the ickiness of that water! It is disgusting! I was very pleased to get home and out of that heat!

Wednesday was a 3 hour ride and an hour run off the bike and the weather forecast was for another scorcher so I set my alarm this time and was on my bike before 7am which isn't too bad for a holiday day! Headed out to Sumner, went through Heathcote along the base of the hills out over the Halswell Downs and then returned via the same route. I got a bit smarter with my run this time and decided to do laps through Horseshoe Lake Reserve as it is quite shady for a large part of the run and the bonus is that there are drink fountains at each end which meant I could stop for a drink about every 10mins, very good planning! Only frustration was running past home on each lap, run went a bit better this time, wonder if that was cos I was wearing my pretty new CEP compression socks?

New Years Day - just a swim for the day! Nadia and I met up over at Corsair Bay around 2pm and it was busy over there! The carpark was chokka, we had to park up on the road and it was like people soup in the water!! We headed out to the boat on the far right of the bay and it looked so nice out there that we decided to head over to Cass Bay and swam up to the beach there. As I started walking through the water some guy starts talking to me, took me awhile to recognise him but it was Richard's mate Graeme from R&R Sport, he was there with his family. Just goes to show you really can't go anywhere in this town without being recognised. Had a wee chat then Nadia and I swam back to Corsair, Nadia is swimming really well for someone who hasn't been swimming a lot lately! Watch out for her at the Auckland Half IM!!

Friday is normally my rest day and was going to be my big day out but after some negotiation (read - discussion!!) I changed my Sunday workout to Friday, we hadn't realised that Friday was a public hol so lots of stuff isn't open! The plan was for a 2 and a half hour run, hmm, fun! Actually it did turn out ok tho which was good. Again the alarm was set nice and early as it was supposed to be hot again! I did snooze the alarm to start with as it was really windy out there when the alarm first went off. Was out the door by 8am which is pretty good since I needed to have breakfast and let it settle a bit first. I had no expectations on my run as I'm not normally a good early morning runner and I hadn't had a good run all week. Maybe that was a good thing as I ended up having a really good run and really enjoyed myself! Maybe it was the socks again? I am loving them! My legs felt really good yesterday in my run and after, my hips were a little sore about 90mins in but otherwise I felt fine! From home I followed the river down to New Brighton then headed along Marine Parade which was straight into a head wind of course! Then followed the Pegasus Bay track along the beach to Bottle Lake, ran through the forest and then along the roads towards home, added on a lap round the reserve and a detour up a street or two before getting home. I was wearing my fuel belt but managed to find enough water fountains along the way to stop and refill my bottles and splash water over my hot face and hands which helped heaps! I had a nice wee nap after that effort!

Today I swam with the tri club at Corsair Bay this morning which was good fun, those guys are very friendly, if you haven't joined the tri club you really should! Then off home for my bike ride as I had to do 3 and a half hours on the flat with small hills?? Nadia met me at home and we also picked Tanya up on the way, Geoff started off with us but was heading out to do reverse short bays. We rode the Bridge St ride in reverse which was fun. So off to Sumner, Heathcote, along the base of the hills, thru Halswell, past Prebbleton/Templeton, along the back of the airport then through Belfast, Kainga, Brooklands, Spencerville to home, it was a very well timed ride, I think I was 32secs short of the 3 and a half hours! We got pretty lucky with the weather esp as it was forecast to hail and be really nasty! I got rained on coming through Brooklands but about a km after Spencerville it was dry? Go figure! It was lovely to ride with the girls again! With us all doing our own things we don't ride together much anymore and it was fun to have a catch up and do some training at the same time. Poor Nadia tho, she thought Tanya was having one of her blonde moments when she asked how her 'treadly' was going. Nadia thought Tanya was just making words up, it took me some time to convince her that it was a real saying and that Tanya wasn't actually having a blonde moment for a change! Funny!

So yay all my training is done and dusted for the week! Not looking forward to going back to squeezing it in around work stuff but hey if I didn't do that I wouldn't be able to pay for all the fun stuff now would I? We have managed to squeeze in painting the front lounge as well, well its started, we did the back wall which was covered in a lovely pink floral wall paper! Hmm, tasty!