All raced out
Time for my race report, slightly less shining and full of happy times, I’m afraid!
After a fantastic dinner with our friends Sue and Dave on Saturday night and watching Changeling (spooky but good movie!), we raced around getting final things ready. We were buzzing and it was hard to get to sleep!
The next morning we jumped out of bed and had our usual pre-race meal, Sean likes porridge and i go for basic honey on white toast (only time i eat white toast!). I got to the race start and was feeling fairly calm, much better than before the Half where i was kind of a mess! Although nearly died when my swim cap broke 5 mins before we could get in for our warm up. Luckily Kim saved the day and found me a new one somewhere!
When Sean set off with the elites, Kimmy and I got all emotional with all of our respective families around us and had a bit of a hug and shed couple of tiny tears. I was super nervous at this point! Got in a nice warm up and was ready to go. Gosh they hold you a long time at the start line! Once we were off, i got to a pretty good start but was too close to shore to get with the lead few girls and spent the whole way only 10m behind the next two. I duked it out with a girl called “Russell” and we shared a bit of time on each other’s feet. The swim was hard, but i think i managed it fairly well and finished with 47mins.
Jumping onto the bike i had a few cramps and had to stop to stretch before trying to mount again, but once i was off i was excited – i felt kinda fast! Yoohoo, tail wind! Turning back around on Mounts Bay was like a big whooshy slap in the face and i had to grit my teeth going into it. It wasn’t long before my best friend’s sister (and my good friend too!) Julia sped past me with a little cheer. She was going to have a good day! Soon after Jazz passed me too, wowee she had a great day!
Kimmy passed me on lap two looking good. By this point i was starting to hurt, with a lack of bike training due to chest infection. I said to Kim “I’m hurting already, this isn’t good” and she was encouraging, telling me to “spin it out” which was great advice. I felt much better easing the gears a nudge and felt bit more comfortable, but was worried at how rapidly i was tiring.
I hadn’t seen Sean for a while either and started to panic as to where he has – was he ok? Was he having a bad race? Had he pulled out? Before long he whizzed past with a couple more elites looking like he was having fun. Phew!
In the last lap I started feeling nauseous, the gels weren’t sitting pretty and i just wanted to drink water, not electrolytes. But i forced it down and tried to ignore spewy thoughts.
Getting off the bike was a relief, but completely scary! I couldn’t fathom running 20km and if my whole family and Sean’s loud and proud mob weren’t there, i probably would have called it a day! I was feeling lousy – tired and hot and i hadn’t even started the run. Not a good sign! However I chucked on my sneakers and hat, and headed out with Simon Beaumont saying nice things about me. So I had to force a smile for that!
The run was torture. Pure torture! I was managing to keep a jog for the first couple of kms but it wasn’t long before i desperately wanted to walk. I alternated water with electrolyte at aid station and tried to do everything i did at Busso,but i was not going to have that kind of day today. Busso was fabulous and i enjoyed every minute, Perth was kind of the opposite which is a shame coz i had a bigger audience!
Also, where the HELL were the toilets? I had to pee nearly the entire run which really added to the fun. No volunteer knew, one helpfully suggested “there’s one back at the hotel” and i had to master self-control so i didn’t have wee added to the mixture of sweat, dirty river water and carbo drink that clung to my Aussie uniform.
The support from family, friends and fellow competitors out there was absolutely overwhelming and made the journey just bearable. Knowing i had to run past them and not walk also probably helped me not get the slowest run time so hurray to that!
So I don’t really have any amazing sponsors to thank like Sean does so I’ll thank the people who made my race possible! Thanks to my Mum and Paul who let me shower at their place after training so i could get to work in time, fed me when i was starvaceous and the constant “wow i can’t believe you trained in that weather” and encouragement that made me feel tough and loved! Thanks to my Grandma, Aunt, Uncle, lil cous, my other Aunty Val and others who came down to cheer with signs… wow, you kept me going. If my Grandma could wait around 5hr30 for me to finish without a sit down or heading home for a cup of tea, i was definitely going to finish! Thanks to the whole O’Neill clan who were the loudest cheerers out there (only Murray Wheater rivalled them!) and the most supportive family-in-law ever. Thanks to my work buddies who listened to me every day grumbling about training in the rain (especially Emma “red panda” who joined me a lot of the time!) and told me i was awesome which means a lot when you live with someone REALLY awesome like Sean and you feel kinda average! Thanks to my number one training buddy Kimmy who really did get me there in the end, we suffered a lot together over the winter but we had a lot of fun times too and we always supported each other which was very special. Thanks to my other training buddies Glenny, Bulldog, Corin, Markedo, Nards, Jodes, Sue, Katherine, Anna, Chris etc etc who made training so much fun! And finally thanks to my husband, who was so encouraging, helpful and (mostly!) patient with me. Wow all these thanks are probably worse than not thanking anyone coz i probably forgot someone!
Thanks for reading, well done to everyone that raced at worlds this year, it was bloody tough but god it felt soooo good to cross that finish line.
Stay tuned for Sean’s Anaconda lead up and race report. Kimmy and Karlos are doing it too so if you’re down there make sure you cheer for them! Maybe they’ll do a race report for us too, so we have another age group perspective!
Not goodbye, but see you later!! xoxo
Filed under: Lisa's Corner | 3 Comments »
LD Worlds Race Report
Firstly, sorry to those of you who have been hanging out to read a race report from Sunday’s Long Distance World Champs. After having last Friday off work I returned on Monday to a barrage of emails and a giant list of things to do, hence why I have struggled to get out a race report before today.
Race morning I was up at 5am for an early breakfast before riding into town on the TT bike to get in a good warm up. My warm up took me along Mounts Bay Rd where we would ride for the actual race and it was here I found out how windy it really was. I struggled to hit 25km/hr riding into the easterly breeze and the river looked angry to say the least. In a way I was kind of glad at how the weather turned out as the course was dead flat and needed something challenging to break up the field a bit.
After putting on my race numbers back to front and having Kathryn Bailie rectify, I racked my bike and wandered down to the water for a quick warm-up. I felt very out of place in the elite tent and was wondering at that point if I should have been racing age-group after all. At least then I would have a chance at a medal. One thing that made me feel better was the fact that I didn’t have the same pressure these guys have at every race. For me it is still a hobby and one I am passionate about but I have work to fall back on while these guys do it for a living and a poor performance means they go hungry for a few weeks (no wonder they are all so skinny). Before I could think too much about it the race was about to start and I just had to get on with the job.
I started out wide in the swim and avoided the chaos for the first 200m until the pace settled down and I established myself in a small pack. I new a lead group would get away but I figured if I could hang onto the second pack it would put me in a good position and I would have company to ride with. Due to the rough conditions the field ended up spreading out much more than I thought and I exited the water 5mins down on the leaders and approx 2mins down on the main field. I wasn’t too disappointed as I came out with 5 others and I felt as though I was still in touch despite the large gap.
Onto the bike and I was first of our group to hit the road but before I knew it a flying Frenchman (Francois Cheboud) flew past me at the Swan Brewery and I was faced with the decision of chasing or settling into a more comfortable pace. I didn’t want to end up like I did in Busso earlier in the year nearly walking the run, so I decided to hold my pace. If any of the others had decided to chase Francois I would have had to respond but thankfully they sat back also and I was left to set the pace for the first lap. My speedo failed on the day so I went entirely off feel and I just remember Craig Alexander saying the key to a good ride is maintaining an even power output throughout rather than surging. Thankfully the other 4 guys left in our group were a very even and we managed a consistent pace throughout the day. The only hickup being the last lap when a few of the age group guys tried to jump into the pace line before spotting a draft-buster and trying to sprint to the front to avoid a penalty. They would subsequently die 2mins later and our pace would go up and down like a yoyo.
Despite the wind and relatively tough conditions I was happy to get off the bike and still feel ok for the run. I tried not to look too much at the gap the leaders were putting into us as they were absolutely flying and there was no way I could make up that ground. In the end the front group all rode between 1:52 – 1:54 for 80kms which left me a further 7mins off the pace. Thankfully the crowd were still giving us a huge cheer every lap although I felt I wasn’t giving them much to cheer about. I have to say that the crowd was incredible on race day and I have never felt so supported. Simon Beaumont came up with some classic quotes which kept me amused throughout the day and the family had organised a heap of bright yellow supporters shirts for both Lisa and I which made them very easy to identify. I felt as though everywehere I went on the course there was someone cheering and I can’t tell you how much of a difference it made, so thanks to everyone who came to support and a huge thankyou to all the volunteers who did a great job.
It was now onto the run and suddenly it was getting hot out there. Jason Crowther was the first of our group out of T2 and I quickly followed. The initial pace felt uncomfortable but I knew I could hold it if I stayed hydrated and fuelled. It wasn’t long before Jason started to drop off but as soon as he did 2 others from our group went flying past and I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t believe how fast these guys could move being a long course race as I would be happy to run that quick over Olympic Distance. Hopefully the heat would take its toll and I could reel them back in later on but after 10kms they had a 2min gap and it was growing. I think I took in water at nearly every aid station and had 2 gels throughout the run but I felt better than I ever have in a long course event. The running I have been doing over the past 4 months with Jon Kappler was paying off and I now felt confident I could last 20kms without fading.
The last 2 laps on the run were pretty tough but thankfully a few of the age group guys ran with me in sections and the crowd kept the spirits high throughout. On the last lap I passed Axel Zeebroek of Belgium who had ridden 1:55 but was now reduced to a very slow jog. I knew his pain as I was there only 6 months ago but it was good to finally pass someone out there. The finishing chute was fantastic as the crowd went crazy despite me being placed 18th. My run time was 1:17:41, approximately 7mins faster than Busselton and the course was actually measured at 21.3kms. This was my biggest positive from the race and one that should give me confidence going into the rest of the season. Despite a top 10 expectation going into the race I am still quite happy with the performance. I need to do a fair bit more work on the bike to be competitive but my run is coming along and the swim as usual could do with a couple more minutes.
A huge thankyou must go out to Rod Fitzgerald from SRG, Bruce Dewar from Dexion Balcatta, Russell Brooks from the Old Canton and all the guys from Glenn Parker Cycles. These guys are passionately involved in sport themselves and have shown amazing support leading up to the Worlds. Congratulations to everyone who finished the race in such tough conditions and a special congrats to the WA medal winners.
After tackling Augusta Anaconda next weekend I’m looking forward to doing some short course racing over the summer as I think WA is getting a lot of depth in the elite field and guys like Paul Mackay, Brynt McSwain, Kenji Nener and Lajos Varga, to name just a few, will make for some exciting racing. I will be doing some speed work between now and then to get up to scratch and will focus on the Busso Half at the end of the season with a chance to race the pro’s on home soil once again.
Regards,
SeanO
Filed under: Sean's Diary | 2 Comments »
Looking racy
Yodi triathlon lovers!
Finally we reach the big kahuna, the World Long Distance Champs 2009 Perth! Very exciting, have had the day off today (Friday) with Sean and we’ve been at the team breakfast after a sleep in (woo!), off to the beauty salon with Kimmy (we’re ladies again hurrah!) and lunch in Cottesloe. I am feeling extremely relaxed about the whole thing and loving it! The longer i can postpone the inevitable, gut wrenching butterflies the better!
The past week and a bit has been great, my chest infection has completely cleared up and i got a few good sessions under my belt. Last Thursday I went down the freeway and did 60km on the time trial bars as a race simulation… all by myself! Was fairly windy and a little lonely, but I was doing air punches as I finished i was so stoked with myself… new neighbours think i’m a bit nuts though.
Thursday arvo Kimmy and I forced ourselves to run, the ride took a lot out of me and Kim was stuffed from weeks of hard training. Together we managed 8km fairly slow (was supposed to be 15 but considering i wanted to lie down at 4km i was thrilled just to have a run under the belt!) along Matilda Bay to the Bell Tower and back. I was pretty grumpy by the time i got home, i was so tired. Sean ate his dinner in another room… wasn’t sure if it was coz I was grumpy or coz i was watching Glee (new love). He came back when Rush came on so maybe it was just the joyful, music-loving, happy times of the Glee Club that made his stomach churn. Shame!
Friday morning i was back with my buds at Tanhem squad! Maryanne even said she missed me, i was thrilled and so happy to be back in the swim (speshly on a Friday when Deli ChiChi coffee and muffins are scheduled in). Swam pretty much like a dog after exhaustion of yesterday, but didn’t feel worried as I know it was tiredness not lack of fitness.
Saturday we did a mini brick session at Matilda Bay which was fun! I rode from home and did just under an hour on the bike with Kimmy, Sean, Markedo and Karlos. It was fun times even though i was the slowest! Puff puff. Then 20 mins off the bike and a nice chat with Karlos before we braved the brown muck and jumped in for a swim in the Swan! As expected, i felt a whole lot better after an easy day yesterday and managed to challenge Sean in a couple of races. I like the choppy water, it gives me an advantage with my short stroke. Paul Newsome once told me my shorter style was perfect for open water swimming – apparently it helps you negotiate the chop when you’re not taking long, loping strokes. Anyway, after a kilometre of swimming around boats, sighting buoys and general mucking about we were done for the day. Corin, Kim, Sean and I headed up to Six Clicks West in Nedlands (great spot!) for breakfast.
Side note: Also tried out the Subi Farmers’ Markets this morning, they’re fab! So much fun, great fish stall and the Kneading Women for bread – yum!
Sunday was rest day and headed to the beach just for a cruisey walk and talk with Kim while Sean ran with JK. We felt like ladies, it was nice.
Monday, Sean wanted to sleep in and i never want to miss out on the opportunity coz it so rarely happens, so i stayed in bed despite being plenty awake to go! Beat myself up a little for being slack but i had the night off, so went to the pool and got in 2km by myself and soaked up the fabulous sunshine. Me likey taper!
Tuesday morning was Narrows with Kim, Sue, Jodes, Katherine, Loz and the Atomic crew. They seemed a little antsy this morning and took it pretty fast so i pushed myself to Freo then let them go, wasn’t in the mood for thrashing myself – it’s taper time weeeee! So Kim, Sue, Loz, Katherine and Nat Sumner (guest appearance! good to see you there Nat!) and I broke off from the group and took a short cut. I feel sorry for the residents of Bicton, they would have had a nice wake up call hearing us all yabbering away.
Tuesday night was the final run for me, we did a 3.5km warm up before 4 x 500m efforts which i held at good pace around 2.10-2.15 and then an easy 1km cooldown. It was Kimmy’s bday yesterday and Glenny’s Wednesday so we went out for dinner at Flipside. That place rocks my face off it’s so delicious. Gourmet burgers are my number one takeaway.
Wednesday morning back in the pool and felt great (yahoo!). We had an aerobic set and i felt very comfortable on our 45sec per 50 cycle across the 6 x 50s, 3x 100s and 2 x 150s holding around 40sec. Chris was in a hyper mood this morning too and makin’ me laugh. Sean and i starting to feel the blanket of tiredness lifting and getting a bit pumped too! Tonight we met the new owners of our old house in Scarborough at final check over and they’re lovely and love the house. Phew! Didn’t want our baby going to a**holes and they’re into fitness and non-drinkers so it’ll be like we never left for our neighbours!
Thursday Sean and I rode together which pretty much never happens. He always complains i’m not trying hard enough while i constantly try to remind him (red faced and puffing) that our speeds are worlds apart. This morning i was happy to let him race off in a couple of efforts, we regrouped later and had some fun.
Thursday night was supposed to do a little trot, but had to finish some work off and was very happy to complete my stories for Red Panda before she goes off to New York. Go Red Panda (Emma!)!! In my lunchbreak, I did manage to get down to register at TA headquarters and book in physio and massage, pick up some more Gu (roctane and gu chomps – great prices at Dave Wrighton’s stall) and get a little nervous seeing all those fit bodies wandering around.
Anyhoo that takes us to right now and i’m getting ready to drop Sean off at his briefing, go to my physio appointment and then meet Liz and Gerard and Sean’s niece Louise for a coffee. Then on to the big pasta dinner where i get even more excited and nervous!
GOOD LUCK everyone racing on Sunday, will see you out there with a big smile (and hopefully no river beard – Judi Clemie says pack wet wipes in your bento box haha).
PS Was slightly thrilled to hear Helen and Rebecca say they loved our blog at the breakfast this morning – thanks so much! Glad someone is reading and enjoying 
)
Filed under: Lisa's Corner | 3 Comments »
Final Preparations
Well, like Lisa mentioned the last few weeks have been hectic hence the serious lack of blogging lately. My apologies, I can’t even remember the last time I posted a blog but I will do my best to fill you in with all that has been happening.
After returning from the Anaconda Gold Coast on a high 3 weeks ago my intention was to hit the track hard and get in my last solid block of training before the Worlds. Things didn’t quite go to plan when I still hadn’t recovered from the race until the weekend after. This meant a week of sleep-ins and very light sessions until the legs could function properly. I couldn’t even manage a long ride on the Saturday so my first session back was a long run on Sunday morning from Cottesloe. This turned out to be a pretty good run after a week’s rest, holding 4:06/km pace for 22kms. Immediately following I attempted an open water swim with no wetsuit to see if I could brave the cold down at Anaconda Augusta. The course is setup with the run first followed straight after by the swim which makes it very difficult to put on a wetsuit. Despite the initial shock I managed the swim to North Cott OK but on the return journey I really started to feel the cold. I tried to go faster to keep warm but nothing worked and I could feel the onset of hypothermia. I figured it wasn’t a bad effort for someone who can never usually handle cold well but I will have to rethink my Anaconda race strategy as I just won’t last the distance.
The following week my emphasis was on the running and I backed of the bike somewhat to get in some good quality run sessions. This involved a 10km run off the bike with Brad Hosking. Despite both of us planning to run 17km’s around the bridges we both felt the effects of a hard ride beforehand and a fairly solid pace and turned early achieving only 10kms. We ended up with an average pace of 3:50/km but I was concerned that I might feel the same on race day and that was only half way! The rest of the week went quite well and I was thankful I didn’t pick up the nasty lurgy that Lisa had caught and many others seemed to be suffering from. After another short week at work I packed up on my lonesome and headed down south for the Anaconda training camp down in Augusta.
It was a great weekend away, catching up with old adventure racing pals, sharing a huge house with the gang and generally just enjoying being down south. I was pleasantly surprised by the weather as it was generally sunny and approx 20 degrees both days, then only dropping to 13 over night. The course is going to be a fast one and definitely suit us triathletes with very little technical components. I managed 2 laps of the mountain bike course on the Saturday and a paddle out through the river mouth catching some runners. Sunday was a big day with the run first up in the morning, followed straight after with the swim (wetsuit on this time) and a long paddle with local young gun Balinga Pascoe before the wind really picked up in the arvo. The runners on the way home were great but very short lived and I just hope that we can beat the wind on race day.
Last week I shifted the focus from running over to cycling and managed 3 really good quality rides throughout the week. The first two were on the TT bike and I felt great but Saturday’s hills ride I jumped on the road bike for the first time in weeks and really suffered. The climbing part was OK but as soon as we hit the flats I had nothing and was trying desperately to hang on to Glenn and Dave’s wheels as the blocked the wind up front. The positive from this is the fact that I have adapted to riding the TT bike unlike Busselton earlier in the year and I should feel much better during the run this time.
So the last couple of weeks have been fairly solid and I have avoided any major bugs and injuries. I am now just starting to taper and I’m looking forward to feeling fresh in the coming week. I also received my team uniform today which was quite exciting and to my surprise everything fits. For those that are interested, here is the start list for the Elite Male field for the World Long Course Champs next weekend.
Craig Alexander AUS Clemente Alonso ESP Paul Ambrose GBR Herv'e Banti MON Sebastien Berlier FRA Francois Chabaud FRA Kevin Clark HKG Jason Crowther AUS Kieran Doe NZL Aaron Farlow AUS Clayton Fettell AUS Leon Griffin AUS Stephen Hackett AUS Brendan Halpin USA Ben Hoffman USA Justin Hurd USA Martin Jensen DEN Adam Jensen USA Julien Loy FRA Jim Lubinski USA Daiki Masuda JPN Paul Matthews AUS Bevan McKinnon NZL Duncan Milne NZL Guilherme Monocchio BRA Timothy O'Donnell USA Sean O'Neill AUS Dejan Patrcevic CRO Alberto J. Perassi ARG Jan Rehula CZE Liam Scopes NZL Sylvain Sudrie FRA Simon Thompson AUS Petr Vabrousek CZE Phillipe Van der Leeuw RSA Paul Westwood NZL Pawel Wisniewski POL Marcel Zamora ESP Axel Zeebroek BEL
It is hard to know what to expect going into the race but my prediction is that the swim will be very fast with a few excellent swimmers who will establish an early lead. Unfortunately I won’t be part of this group but I plan to use the bike to claw back some ground and finish off with a strong run under 1:15mins. The main goal is a top 10 finish but I will be giving everything in front of the local crowd and hope for something special. Our official start time is 8am so hopefully I will see you all down there and good luck to all the locals racing.
Seano
Filed under: Sean's Diary | 1 Comment »
Back in the game
Hi all,
So far so good this week! Had a great swim Monday night (12th), despite having to keep some of the boys in line (Bulldog!!!). Felt reasonably good despite shabby training record the past two weeks. Looks like the body remembers how, thank you god! Got in 3.2km with a lot of quality hard stuff. The best set was probably 5 x 100s on 1.30 where i held 1.20 pace or just under. Also the 4 x 200 (broken into 100m 30 secs rest, 2 x 50 10secs rest) and managed two 2.37s and 1 2.35 for the fast ones. The first one was moderate and did around 2.45. Happy )
Tuesday morning I was back with my old faithful South Perth narrows crew and it was so good to see them! It’s such a nice group, you’re away for a couple weeks and everyone gets really excited when you come back. I love them! Plus I got to see my Nadia, Jodie and Sue which added to the fun. I amazingly averaged my fastest pace for this ride in a long time and did some solid turns. Finished with 50km and a big smile! Could i be back in business? Touchwood…
Tuesday night is usually run training but i had my first book club meeting! We read Mao’s Last Dancer and saw the movie together. It was so much fun although as per usual, the book was better than the movie but Li Cunxin is so gorgeous in the movie!
Wednesday morning was a tempo run around Kings Park as per coach prawn’s orders. I tried to keep to his session of 5min per km pace with 1 min every 5 at 4.30 pace but after two rounds I was smashed and found the uphill section of the roller coaster and times went awol. Bummer. Finished with 9.5km in 50 mins and lapped up the sunshine. My new hood has the best training locations nearby – love Kings Park!
Swimming is on tonight after a brief cameo at the TWA season launch. Should be fun! I think I might accept my open category invitation! Someone’s gotta come last right?!! At least i can go for the swim prime now… bring it on!
Only 10 sleeps til worlds… OMG!!!!
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Down but not out… yet
Hi all,
On behalf of both Sean and I, sorry for not posting earlier. I don’t even know if we’ll have any readers left after the blogging lag! Hopefully we do and for those of you who have patiently waited, we had a good excuse. We moved house on the weekend and it was exxxxhausting! But we are now pretty well settled into a gorgeous little traditional cottage in Subiaco, previously owned by my lovely Nan and on loan to us from my generous parents (thanks guys!).
Aside from that, i got king hit by a nastypants virus literally the day i last posted. I went round to help Sean at our new Subi place that night and walked Oscar, and by the time i was home i wanted to crawl into bed. The next morning I woke up with no voice and Sean left me in bed to go cycle. I tried to stay away from work but it was too busy and i dragged my sorry butt in for half a day. Things were not looking good!
That Friday I was supposed to head to Augusta with Sean for a training camp but was too crook and stayed home, making the most of the few days we had left in Scarborough. The closest i got to training was a walk along the beach Sunday morning with pounding head and wretched cough while Kimmy, Corin and Zane ran. The breakfast with Jill and Kim afterwards was highlight!
Monday night (5th October) I thought i was on the way up and went to swimming. Was feeling little dizzy and the Marilyn Manson freak show was not helping sensations of hallucination! Yes Challenge Stadium, primo sports venue was hosting music’s satan, crazy man Marilyn. The outfits we saw would be fodder for small children’s nightmares and our bewilderment. I felt great swimming, except for the fact my chest was burning and i had to hack up a lung after each set. Hmmm… perhaps i was back on the exercise train a little early. My body had so much energy! My lungs, not so much. I felt fairly average the next day and paid for my efforts.
Tuesday (6th Oct) I did a light run with my buds Kimmy and Em which was good fun and even better, Kimmy stayed for burritos and Packed to the Rafters. It was a good night and everyone pretended they didn’t hear me coughing up lung oyster after lung oyster. Well Kim pretended, Sean banned me from training until the weekend. Boo!
Wednesday I had the day off work. I needed some serious rest and dang was it good. I slept half the day and then spent some nice couch time reading my book (Mao’s Last Dancer, so good).
Thursday back at work, but as per the Prawn’s orders, no training. Despite desperately hankering for my Tanhem swim squad and the Deli Chichi breakfast fun, it was a no go again for one more week Friday morning.
Thankfully Friday i felt a lot better and was excitedly calling my special friends Sue and Dave to see what they were up to Saturday morning. They had a ride planned with Paul Newsome and invited me along (and Sue promised she’d wait for me! I love this woman, have i mentioned before?).
Sat morning I was jumping out of my skin to jump on Pepper Pinarello! it was so good to be back on the bike after nearly two weeks of nada. Sue and I rode from my house down to Cott Beach to meet the effervescent Paul. We had a nice pootle around Perry Lakes and then back down to Rous Heads before back to Cott Beach. It was a rough day, very windy and i didn’t feel good at all but i was so happy to 45km on the clock.
Sunday morning I bade the boys farewell and set off by myself on a run from Cott down to Port Beach and back. Clocked 10km and felt ok. Worlds is going to be both a physical and mental battle now!
Spent the whole weekend moving and by the end of it Sean and i were pretty much delirious with tiredness and getting the giggles at nothing. Considering it was hard work, we also had some fun moments like dinner with Eugene, Abby, Bridie and Jim (we walked from our new home) and dinner sunday night at Emma’s house with my wonderful work friends.
So it was a tough week battling the virus and the demons in my head that said worlds might not be happening anymore but I think i’ll get there… just a little slower than i had first hoped!
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