Cycled home, then went for a quick run. The first half of the run felt pretty crap, but after that it was plain sailing. My knees were giving off a few twinges, probably from the different movements associated with snowboarding, but nothing serious.

B: 30km – R: 3.5km – S: 1000m – W: 1 session

Biked home last night, did some weights, ate healthy. Got up early this morning and went for a swim.

5 * 200 FS, 60s rest (3:00)
Total: 1000m

I was really feeling it in my arms on the last two 200s, even though the pace is really slow. I’m sitting here in work yawning as well. I now know why most people don’t bother exercising – you’re just exhausted a lot of the time! Being unfit, you might get a bit out of breath after climbing some stairs or something, but you breeze through the rest of the day. Exercising tires you out, and while the long term benefits are huge, day to day it’s can be a struggle.

B: 20km – S: 1000m – W: 1 session

Weighed in at 89.5kg this morning, with 19.1% body fat.

Tom, Sean and Niall have decided to start what has become known as Fat Club. Myself and John have joined in as well. The basic idea is that we’re all carrying a little extra which we plan to get rid of. We have to report in every week with weight & body fat and there will be an “Underachiever Of The Month” award. So far it’s all talk, but we’ll see how things pan out.

Now that the snowboard season is almost over (this weekend will be the last), I hopped back on the bike into work this morning. Next step will be to get back into the pool and stay there this time!

B: 5km

Went for my first group ride with BRAT this morning in Centennial Park. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was all very civilised. We were taught how to ride in groups, what hand signals to give and the two different ways of “rolling over” – doing your turn at the front then dropping to the back for a bit of a rest. The hour and a half went by pretty quickly, the pace was pretty relaxed and I even managed to come first in the two hilly laps at the end, though only because the guy who was way ahead of me had a puncture ;-)

It’s a 7-week course, though I’ll miss next week as I’m down the snow again, which is probably just as well as it’s going to be a hill session next week!

B: 30km

Stayed up late watching the Tour de France live last night. SBS are showing it live on Sundays, which is great, as otherwise the only coverage I get is a half-hour daily highlight. Given that the first 10mins of that highlight is a recap of the previous day, and allowing for ads, it ends up being only about 10mins coverage of the day’s stage. Better than nothing I guess.

So, got back on the bike this morning and my knee feels fine. Will see how I go cycling up the hill this evening. If that goes OK well then the knee is back to normal.

B: 5km

My new plan seems to be working. Rather than cycling in to/out of work every day I’ve decided to try and do three longer rides a week, aiming to exceed 100km in total. The first of those was on Monday, and I’ve just done the second. On the way home from work I did five laps of Centennial Park, which was quite good fun because it was pitch black and there were very few other cyclists around. I was a little worried that the park would be locked up after dark, so I checked after 2 laps before continuing on for the remainder. I cycled down to Rose Bay expecting to see Jacqui doing her Step Into Life class, but apparently she does it on Thursday night instead. Oh well, it counts for a couple of extra kms.

B: 94km – R: 3.8km

Just back from a cycle around Centennial Park. There were loads of people up there relaxing and enjoying the day off work for the Queen’s Birthday. Plenty of kids on rollerblade and rented bikes. I did 50km in total, including to and from my house, which now pushes me over 1000km on the bike since Feb 1st. I’m pretty happy with that, though I’m also pretty tired now ;-)

B: 50km

Life is settling down again now that all the visitors left. Bevin departed for New Zealand yesterday morning, ready for a couple of months snowboarding. It’s well for some.

Got back on the bike this morning and tried out my new cycling tights, to see if they worked as advertised. I’m happy to report that my legs were nice and warm, even speeding downhill, so it was money well spent.

B: 5km

Today is the day that my 10km training program starts. Cycled home from work, which served as a nice warm-up. Had a bit of a stretch at home then headed out. The program called for a 2.4km run, which is the longest run I’ve done in a while, given that I’d previously been doing 3 * 1km. I did a 500m warm-up run, then stopped for more stretching before getting started.

Surprisingly enough, the run was easy enough. Once I got into a rhythm the distance was not an issue, but that was always going to be the case. I’ll see how the legs are tomorrow. That will be the true indicator.

D: 2.3km – T: 10:45 – HR: 160bpm

B: 15km – R: 2.3km – W: 1 session

Back to the exercise after a nice relaxing week in Canberra. Bevin has also arrived, so I’ve been showing here around a bit. She’s off to get a surfing lesson today – brrrr! It was bloody freezing this morning, so I think I’ll have to get tights for the bike after all. I thought I’d be able to get away with shorts, but not any more.

Weighed in at 88.6kg this morning, which is a little heavy. I seem to be fluctuating around 87-88kg, so I’ll have to start eating lettuce or something to lose the rest of the flab.

B: 5km

Just got back from a bike ride with Greg, Niall and Tom and am feeling nice and refreshed, though I’ll probably be exhausted later on! We started from Hornsby and took the Old Pacific Highway to the turn-around at Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River. We’d enjoyed a couple of downhill kms to the turn-around, and now it was time to work hard for a while. I thought that there was a cafe at the bottom, and that we’d have a rest, but it turned out that the cafe in question was at the top of the hill.

As is usually the case, once I got to the top the hill seemed a bit easier than I’d expected. It was a 4km climb, at roughly a 6% grade and I averaged 13.5kmh which I was pretty happy with. I stopped to lower my seat, as my lower back was a bit sore and I thought my saddle might be too high. Once at the top, Greg told me that it’s usually a sign of tight hamstrings and a bit of stretching should sort it out, so I needn’t have stopped at all.

After a pie and a coffee we got back on the bikes for the 20km back to the cars. I was feeling pretty good, so I tried to keep the pace over 30kmh (apart from the hills) for a while. I got away from the others for 10km or so, but Niall hunted me down. All in all it was good fun and a decent workout. The total distance was 46km, so I missed out on the ton for the week by 2km. I suppose I could cycle up the road a little, but that doesn’t really count.

B: 98km – R: 9km – W: 2 sessions

Went for my third run of the week this morning. I think that may be the first time I’ve run three times in a week. It was pretty uneventful, though my calves are feeling it now. Maybe I should have waited until this evening.

I’m off on a bike ride with Niall, Tom and Greg tomorrow. On-road this time, for 50km apparently, so that should loosen out the legs ready for some treadmill work in Canberra.

B: 52km – R: 9km – W: 2 sessions

The wind was howling this morning, so I never made it out of bed early enough to go for a swim. However, I did get some weights and a run done last night, and since the wind seemed to have abated after my little lie-in, I cycled into work (via the ferry), so it’s not all bad.

The run last night went well. Aerobically I’m fine, in that I could run further, but I know if I do my legs will be wiped out. They’re fine today, but will probably be pretty sore tomorrow if last week is anything to go by.

B: 5km – R: 15mins – W: 1 session

Crawled out of bed again, and straight into my new winter cycling top, the Draft Dodger. It worked perfectly. Flying downhill on the way to the ferry at 50kmh+, my eyes were streaming and my legs were cold, but my torso had yet to realise I was out of bed! Great stuff. I got a swim in too ;-)

200 FS, 200 BC
3 * 400 Rev. IM on 8:00 (Avg: 6:30)
Total: 1600m

Update: cycled home too for another 10km.

B: 60km – W: 2 sessions – R: 15mins – S: 3200m

Got some good training done in the last 24hrs: cycling, swimming and running. Cycled home last night and went for a run. 15mins of total running time, with short walks interspersed. Felt pretty good, though we’ll see how my calves hod up tomorrow. Climbed out of bed at 6:45 this morning, left the house at 7:00 to get the 7:15 ferry from Rose Bay. Made it to the pool by 7:30 or so, got a 1600m swim in and was still in work by 8:30. A quick trip to Woolies to buy some fruit, and I’m now ready to fall asleep at my desk ;-)

200 FS, 100 BC, 200 FS
1000 for time as (200FS/100BC repeat) – 15:40
100 BR
Total: 1600m

B: 35km – W: 1 session – R: 15mins – S: 1600m

It’s bloody freezing these mornings, for Sydney anyway, and I can’t face cycling in. Rather than having some days cycle-free, like I was planning, I reckon I’lljust take the bike on the ferry in the mornings, then cycle home. That way i don’t have to deal with the cold too much, and I also don’t have to deal with sitting on a bus in traffic!

As for this morning, I missed the early ferry by a couple of minutes, so I didn’t make it into the CBD in time to get a swim in.

B: 20km – W: 1

Day One of the structured program went quite well. Cycled in and out of work, then did some light weights when I got home. Had dinner with Tom and a bunch of friends for his birthday, down in Mu Shu, a flash new restaurant in Bondi.

As a result, Day Two of the structured program didn’t get off to a great start, with me not making it out of bed early enough to go for a swim. I’ll have to make up the session tomorrow or something.

B: 15km – W: 1 session

Met up with the guys from Canberra yesterday and did the same ride in Kangaroo Valley. It was a good bit easier this time, possible because I knew what was up ahead and could pace myself accordingly. Thankfully I had no punctures this time, so there was no messing about at the side of the trail and as a result the whole ride only took about 3.5 hours. I also made it most of the way up the long climb out of the valley. I had to stop twice, due to losing my balance on quite rocky bits, but in total I only walked about 400m which was a lot better than last time. A bit more fitness and I should be able to ride the whole thing.

We met quite a few bikers taking advantage of the long weekend, some on the same trail as us, and others trying different routes in the area. There are a couple of other tracks on the map that might be worth investigating some other weekend, and one in particular look promising if we can get across the river. We might have to consult some locals before heading off on that one.

B: 37km

Cycled home after work yesterday and then went to Gus’s funeral. Excellent eulogies from Billy And Neil. Suffering from a hangover this morning.

B: 37km – S: 2000m – W: 1 session

Got back on the bike over the past two days. Pretty straight-forward, nothing exciting to report ;-)

Arrived down at the ferry this morning only to find the harbour fogged in and all ferries cancelled. Had ot cycle into work after all, though it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be after my 3 week layoff.

B: 27km – S: 2000m – W: 1 session