Moving on

No, I didn't do the triathlon on Saturday, and I'm not upset by that at all. One of the other beginner swimmers in our squad did do the event, and really had a bad experience in the water. I would have completely lost the plot and panicked with so many other women around me, and I'm quite happy to wait until I'm ready.

Besides that, my legs were too fried from the hill cycle on Thursday night and a particularly hard RPM class on Friday morning. I have a new scale on which to judge my RPM intensity now. The whole way through the class I kept asking myself whether it felt as hard as Thursay night. If the answer was no then the dial went up.

RPM was followed by a good Body Balance at lunch time. The latest release has a lot of tai chi, which I really enjoy. I should try to do a tai chi course some time this year, because I really do get a lot out of the mind/breath/motion combination.

Mentally I wasn't anywhere near psyched up to do a triathlon on the Saturday, even if my legs hadn't been so blasted. Both Leonie and I felt too lazy to head to Levin for the annual organic festival, so I spent most of the day lounging around the house. In the afternoon I headed to Freyberg where I contented myself with a couple of lengths of kick, followed by some half-lengths of freestyle. I did quite well, although when I roll to breathe the extended arm does still tend to drop too quickly, leading me to windmill a touch. I worked on that today in the sea with Women's Multis, and I think I will be able to correct myself with a little more practice. However I do find I can't practice in the pool for too long before it all starts to do my head in.

On Sunday I enjoyed a few easy hours in the Sanctuary with my Hihi before heading back to the gym for an afternoon RPM class. I caught up with one of my former training buddies, gossiped with the instructor, and in between set the dial to grind while the sweat flowed. By the time Hamish and I met Nic and Leonie to head to the Botanical Gardens for the Little Bushmen concert at the soundshell I was seriously crashing, but perching on a steep bank kept me awake through to the encore, then the downpour that followed straight afterwards did the rest. I got to bed around midnight, accutely aware that I was supposed to be getting up again in a few hours for a weights session.

Surprisingly I did manage to get up when the alarm went off at 6am, and I even managed to do the usual routine once I got to the gym. However I've been doing the same upper body routine for too long now, pushed the kilos as much as they're really going to go, and I need to change. Thankfully Duck and I met today to revise my programme, and Monday's going to become cables and core day, with an evening run.

Speaking of evening runs, my aim was to run 40 minutes on Monday night. I felt in the mood for a Bays run, as it's been a long time since I ran that way. I didn't let the Northerlies convince me otherwise, and set out at a good steady pace. As I reached Balaena Bay it became patently obvious that the Northerlies were in fact a force to be reckoned with. I toyed with the appealing idea of running through to Evans Bay and over the hill to Newtown, but 10km was further than I'd planned, and the tail-wind wasn't worth that much to me.

So it was back into the wind as I headed for home. Things weren't too bad and I was starting to get lulled into a false sense of security when the long exposed straight to Pt Jerningham did its worst. I, and all the other random runners around me, felt myself being buffeted sideways a few times, righted myself again, braced myself, then was stopped in my tracks by the sheer force of nature. We must have looked a sight - four or so runners reduced to walking, leaning at a 45 degree angle with our arms splayed out behind us like inverted umbrellas.

It only took a few minutes to walk around the point, then the going was sheltered enough to pick up the pace a bit and make it back to the gym in slightly over 45 minutes. I felt well pleased with my effort and level of comfort, and was reassured that I would have easily run the 10km had I been so inclined.

Up early again this morning to see my physio and obtain her all clear. Not enough sleep, yet again. Luckily work's really rewarding at the moment, as well as busy, so that and emails to Sarah about her job interview today kept me awake until 5pm, when it was time to head to Freyberg again.

My lesson for the day though was that I can't expect to do so many days in a row without feeling some pain, or at least a drastic reduction in speed! So I plodded up Mt Victoria as far as Maidevale Rd, then down to Balaena Bay and round the bays to Freyberg again. The girls I would normally run with left me in their wake, but I didn't take it to heart. Instead I somehow managed to put a leg through one of the arms of my wetsuit, jamming it there so tightly that I had to get Ingrid to pull it off. If I didn't value warmth so much I wouldn't bother...

Into the sea, and a few short lengths of freestyle through the relatively calm water. I got some comments on how good I'm looking, but I was hampered by the fact I'd lot a contact lens, and was having to swim blind.

I know Duck has a big cycle planned for Thursday, and I have a funny suspicion it's going to involve the climb up Maupuia to the prison. With that in mind, and given I ran a hill tonight, I'm considering flagging a run tomorrow and simply swimming. Not exactly a hardship! I'll even take my wetsuit into work, and if it's a calm evening I'll choose Oriental Bay over the pool.

So I'm feeling really good about my training at the moment, and I think I'm also taking a much more balanced approach to it all. This week has been good for my confidence, and has woken my cardiovascular system back up again. The little bit of weight I put on after we got back to Wellington (only a kilo) has pretty much come off again, and I'm ready for Jog Squad.

It's been a year since I first started training in the Special K squad. I can't remember ever NOT being into multisports or running. What a pity I didn't discover all of this much sooner...