But it's Monday...

There's nothing like preparing a space for two people who've been clearing out to get a girl motivated to do some sorting and clearing herself. As a result, my 'day off' was spent transferring piles of books onto a bookcase, moving empty boxes into storage under the house, moving linen from a corner cupboard into the empty storage space of our huge coffee table, emptying out the drawers of the desk I've sold on Trademe ready for the new owner to collect it, and getting rid of a heap of old clothing. I opened all the windows, unlocked the french doors in the study, and cleared the air, both literally and figuratively.

I really love our spare room, and when I spend time there I always think I should use it more often. It's full of things that are very dear to me. Apart from my books there's my piano, my first teddy bear, and a gorgeous art exhibition poster from my time in Holland over 16 years ago. I hope that Nic and Leonie enjoy using it as a little oasis of calm during their last few weeks in this country. We're going to enjoy having them around.

All of this buzz of activity meant that I wasn't at all in gym mode come 7am Monday morning. Duck has moved our regular Thursday morning sessions to 7am on Mondays at Xtreme for the next five weeks while she runs Look Better Naked. It took my whole 10 minute bike warm-up to click into workout mode. Once I woke up though we had a very enjoyable session. Sets of chest press alternated with pressups (holding at the bottom of each press), shoulder press, hovers, more cables, frog jumps, knee drives, lunges, squats, and horrid pull-up exercises with my body extended under a horizontal bar.

I was curious to know how well my run was going to go tonight, as I felt that my legs weren't fully recovered from last week's thrashing. However my increased fitness levels didn't let me down. The first hint of winter pinched the air as we huddled at each set of traffic lights all the way to Te Papa. Sarah and the Karens set a cracking pace along the waterfront to the service station. Sarah and I agreed the pace was faster again than last Monday's, and I wasn't sure how long I would be able to keep up.

A few more sets of traffic lights and we began to climb. First up Bowen to the Terrace, and from there up Bolton Street. We puffed our way up the steep slope all the way across the motorway. Once across the motorway we dropped left down onto the trail that runs alongside the motorway. By this time it was starting to get a little dark, so I really wanted to concentrate on not getting left behind.

We huffed and puffed our way up and down the trail all the way to the cable car, then swung left again, coming out onto the Terrace opposite the James Cook. From there it was a right-hand turn uphill to the top of the Terrace, down the other side, back up past the Mercure, and then left, right onto Willis, left onto Webb, and then it was a sprint between traffic lights all the way back to the gym. All up we were out for just under 40 minutes, even with multiple pauses at intersections. As I commented while we waited again for a crossing signal, all the new traffic bypass has meant to me so far has been more red lights.

When Ingrid described tonight's route it sounded incredibly gruelling, however it was much easier than I had expected. Sure, the hills got my heartrate up extremely high, but the horrid climbs were more than compensated for by lovely restoring descents. And the miraculous aspect? I was still running with the Speedy Karens.

I'm planning on getting up and doing a lower body workout in the morning. That will be followed up by a run and ride with Multis tomorrow night. Upper body and a run on Wednesday, and then I can sleep in on Thursday morning so as to be fresh for the last Multis session with Duck on Thursday night. RPM and Body Balance on Friday, a long run and Balance on Saturday, and that will be it for yet another hard week.