Sluggish

The lunch-time pool session didn’t go too well. Felt really sluggish half way through and just thoroughly exhausted, so decided to finish up early as I’d like to do some regular exercise this week rather than killing myself on the first day!

400 warm up

4 * {50 K/100 P/100 FS} on 4:40

200 FS on 3:20

100 FS warm down

Total: 1700m

On a more positive note, I’ve decided to join the gym at Cook & Phillip as it will only cost me an extra $20 per month over and above the cost of swim squad, rather than an extra $80pm for somewhere like Fitness First.

Week 1: S: 1700m

Phase 2

Right, today marks the start of Phase 2 of the weight-loss/fitness program. Weighed in this morning at 86.7kg, showing a dangerous tendency to creep back up towards 90!

Update: 18.6% BF as well…

Whoops!

Turns out Mum didn’t sprain her ankle in NZ after all, she broke her leg!

Spit Bridge to Manly Walk Photos

A few photos from the walk are now online.

Rumbling

Mum & Dad left Sydney for Singapore yeaterday afternoon. We had intended doing the Bondi to Bronte walk with them, but Mum managed to sprain her ankle while in New Zealand, so that put paid to that and we drove instead. We arrived in Bronte for a relaxing breakfast with Caoimhe and Dave, then hung around for a last view of the surf before heading home so they could go to the airport. I was sad to see them go, but at least now they know what it’s like here and why I’ve chosen to make it my home.

Woke up this morning to a text from Cormac saying that Mum & Dad were OK and weren’t near the earthquake at all. I had no idea what he was talking about so jumped up and checked the papers, only to find that there was an 8.7 magnitude quake off Indonesia!

Hit The Road

Made it to Canberra safely this morning, after taking over the steering wheel from Tom for the final 210km. It was a very uneventful drive with the only incident being some guy flashing his lights because I was forced to move into the overtaking lane as four cars merged onto the motorway beside me. As I’m restricted to 80km/h instead of 110, the manoeuver caused that tosser to arrive at his destination approximately 10 seconds later than normal. Anyway, he got pissed off enough that he flashed his lights and overtook on the inside. After that it was plain sailing.

Spit Bridge to Manly Walk

Myself and Becs have been talking of doing the Spit Bridge to Manly walk for ages, and yeterday we finally got around to it. Jacqui, Rachel and Nicki came along as well, so it was me and the chicks. We elected to start from Becs’ place in Mosman, which added annother 4km to the distance, giving us a 14km total. It was an easy enough walk, with a couple of muddy bits as a result of the recent tain, though in fairness the weather was a bit confused. We had to wait a bit until the rain stopped before setting off, there were occasional showers en route yet in other parts it was roasting. About 1km out of Manly I could see the storm clouds advancing across the harbour, with a demarcating rain line on the sea, so we finished with some power walking and reached the safety of a cafe without getting soaked.

I rang Graham to get him to come down for some lunch as I hadn’t seen him for ages. As it turned out it was his birthday as well, so he brought along some wine and the two of us spent the next few hours getting trashed. Probably not the best recovery from a monster walk, but who cares! My hips are killing me today though, so I probably should have done some streatching. On a brighter note, Becs is keen to get involved in some Adventure Racing with me, so all I need is to round up one more team member and choose an upcoming event to get involved in.

I brought Jacqui’s camera along and busied myself taking snaps along the route as the girls nattered away. I’d never seen the harbour from that side before, which was a major motivation for doing the walk in the first place, so it made sense to document it a bit. I’ll get the film developed during the week and upload some photos.

Mum & Dad In Sydney

I’ve put some of Dad’s photos from their trip up for viewing here.

Starting Over

Got back in the pool today for the first time in three weeks. James, the new fast guy from the UK, had managed to get food poisoning which had left him bed-ridden and unable to eat for almost the last two weeks, which was a blessing in disguise for me as he’s now the same speed as me (for the moment anyway).

400 warm up

2 * {

100 Single Arm FS

100 Catch

100 Single Arm BF

100 Free/Back }

2 * 400 FS on 6:15 (5:45)

3 * 200 FS on 3:15 (2:50)

100 warm down

Total: 2700m

S: 2700m

Blue Mountains

Brought Mum & Dad up to the Blue Mountains last week to see the sights. Started off at Govett’s Leap and did the what I remembered as the short walk to Bridal Veil Falls lookout. We’re halfway there before I remember that there’s a lot of steps down to the lookout, which meant the same again up on the way back. I wasn’t sure how Mum would cope, but she handled it with aplomb and there were no worries. After that it was off to the other side of Balckheath for more views out over Megalong Valley, then to Katoomba for a spot of lunch.

Having had a bit of food we headed to the Scenic Railway and travelled down the steepest railway in the world at 52 degrees, then walked through the rainforest at the bottom before getting the cable car back to the top. Then it was on to the final stop at the Three Sisters before indulging in coffee and cakes in Leura.

Here’s a few photos of the day.