Bevin has just left and headed over to New Zealand to be a snow bum. While she was here I took her around Sydney to show her the sights. She was suitably impressed. Here’s a photo gallery of Sydney, mainly from our trip to Taronga Zoo.

I’ve just finished revamping the site. I moved this blog from Moveable Type to WordPress as it uses MySQL & PHP instead of being flat-file based. Makes things easier in the long run. I also did a bit of a redesign to clean things up a little. I think it looks better anyway.

I’m a bit late starting this week’s running program, but so be it. I was supposed to get a 2.8km run in this evening, but I had to give up after 2.4km. The first half felt pretty good, but I was suffering a bit on the way home. I reckon too many beers & too much good food at the weekend was taking its toll. I also think I’m running too fast (13.5kmh), for someone who’s never run anywhere, so in future I’ll have to slow down and just focus on getting the distance done.

500m easy
D: 2.3km – T: 10:10

B: 15km – R: 2.8km

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

I thought that I had no snails in my aquarium. That myth was dispelled over the weekend as I started seeing baby snails clinging to the glass. I’ve removed about 30 of them from the tank so far!

Hopefully I’ve got most of them at this stage, but I’ll have to watch the tank for the next week or so to make sure that nono of them slip through and make it to maturity.

Weighed-in at 88.1kg this morning. I celebrated my 32nd birthday yesterday, so 88.1 is not too bad after a hectic weekend of drinking and eating.

We’re all off to see Warren Miller’s Journey this evening, so rather than cycle in and leave the bike in work, I decided to take a day off. I also got a voucher for a 5-day lift pass at Mount Hotham on the way in to work, so boarding season is almost here again! Yee haw!

Went for another run this evening. My calves were a tiny bit sore, but once I got going all was well. Same route, approx. 2.4km, though I’ll have to take my bike out and measure it just to be sure.

500m easy
D: 2.4km – T: 10:50 – HR: 156bpm

Got some weights in afterwards as well.

B: 45km – R: 5.8km – W: 2 sessions

Well got up bright and early in order to go for a swim, but only realised on the ferry in to work that I’d left my bike lock at home! Couldn’t lock my bike at the pool, so had to skip the swim and ended up at my desk at 7.30!

On the plus side, my legs feel reasonably good today so I should be OK for another run this evening.

B: 35km – R: 3km – W: 1 session

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

My calves weren’t sore this morning, unlike after my run last week, so I hit the road again this evening. At the end of my cycle home I did a little measuring of the route I normally run using my bike computer, so at least I’d have some idea of how far I’m running. Turns out it’s around 3km in total.

This evening’s run felt good. Aerobically I’m fine, but my legs can’t really handle much more distance at this stage. I’ll have to ccontinue building up gradually to avoid injury. So far so good (says me after 3 runs ;-)

B: 35km – R: 6km – W: 2 sessions

Well I’ve gone and done it now. I entered The Sunday Telegraph 10k Bridge Run today & am bib number 10166. It’s being run on the same day as the Sydney Marathon and Half-Marathon. The course starts in North Sydney, crosses the Harbour Bridge, does an out-and-back loop through the Royal Botanic Gardens to Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair, and then finishes on the steps of the Opera House. At least this way if I get too knackered I’ll have a good view!

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

Weighed in at 88.1kg this morning. Time to step up the training, and step down the eating for a few weeks!

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

Decided to have a day off today. Went out for a few beers last night, as Lynn is visiting from the UK and my sister’s here from Ireland. Also, my calves are quite sore after my run on Tuesday. Got some cycling and weights in yesterday though, so this week is still going well.

My winter cycling top arrived this morning as well. It looks bloody toasty, so I’m looking forward to trying it out tomorrow.

B: 45km – W: 2 sessions – R: 15mins – S: 1600m

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