My first week of training here in Oz is done. It’s been a big week, reaching 31 hours by the end and I’m pretty tired. I’ve drawn up my training plan and essentially have defined my weekly activities for the rest of my time here. See I said it’s like work, I follow a timetable almost every day.
For someone whose career has been in computing it’s a bit poor that the best I could come up with for putting my training program on the site was a png. Maybe I’ll come up with something more interactive in the future, but to be honest probably not. I’m happy with it, it’s going to be challenging at times, but it’s flexible enough to give me a typical week in the 30 hour range and the possibility to do a bit more for a very occassional big week.
I’ve trained with a few people here now and it has to be said that when they train they like to train hard! I don’t think getting intensity in will ever be a problem. It suits me though, I wanted to train with people who will help push me and that’s what I’ve got. At times I’ll need to be sensible and back off a little, you can have too much of a good thing.
Being sensible won’t be too hard, I got out on the bike at 5:30 this morning to discover my legs really weren’t in the mood for a flat ride even. My weekend’s big ride littered with attacks on hills have left them trashed. I cruised about on the flats for 65k before calling it a day and heading home. Just gone 8am, eating breakfast and my big training session of the day done. Getting up and out at dawn may not sound appealing, but there’s a lot to be said for getting the training out the way like this. Anything after 10pm is a late night for me now!
We’re up to birds 3 – Russell 0 after two succesful strikes to my bike helmet on the way home today. Same bird as last time too and can confirm it wasn’t a Magpie. Though one did go for some of the others earlier in the ride. I have also since learnt that on another ride last week a plan was formed to stick me at the back of the group through a particularly aggressive Magpie’s territory. Fortunately it wasn’t there that day. Australia is know for its large collection of animals that can kill you we should add to this kamikaze creatures. Aside from territorial attacks I got to watch a crow nearly crash into a mate on the bike and then learn about the time a flying fox stunned itself crashing into his head!
Nearly there with all the admin for my year in Oz. I now have an Australian bank account so I can properly manage the funds for the year. Checking flight prices for my trip out west to Busselton and I have to say I could do without the rising fuel prices! On the plus side though I’ve got some homestay accomodation for the race which should make things much more affordable and also enable me to spend a couple of weeks out there. Last year I spent a week in the Geographe Bay area and loved it there. I always regreted that being in the final week of taper limited my options to enjoy training in the area. Going a couple of weeks before will let me do some riding in the region.
