A month or two ago I quite optimistically commented that after Ironman Australia I planned to practice the active recovery approach I’ll need later this year. Actually maybe I commented on this to someone in person rather than here, I can’t remember. With Quelle Challenge Roth and Ironman UK in the schedule and only 3 weeks between them there’s going to be a definite need to recover quickly. Anyway, I say optimistically because by the time it came round I had realised that a week where I migrate back to the UK with all my possessions was probably not the best time to try it out. So the end result is a week off.
Despite the lack of training to worry about it’s been a pretty hectic week. On Monday I stayed in Port Macquarie to watch the Hawaii roll down (you never know!) and for the Awards Dinner. It was pretty relaxed really as I put off doing any packing or anything particularly productive. This set me up for an early Tuesday morning rush on the packing. A tighter squeeze to get everything in than on the way out, but somehow it fitted.
The rest of Tuesday was spent driving South to Sydney. It’s not the most exciting drive in the world. The Pacific Highway is fast and clear in this section, but there’s not much to see. I planned a stop off and chose Newcastle as the halfway point. I chose poorly, the place is a bit of a dump! The weather having taken a turn for the worse didn’t help, but there was nothing there at all. OK I was missing the heat and humidity of the Gold Coast already.
I had a single plan for my day in Sydney a trip to my favourite coffee shop. I tried to throw in a bit of proper exercise with a trip to North Sydney Olympic Pool. However I failed by forgetting my goggles and there was no way I was paying out for a new pair just for a short swim. Instead I went and had that coffee and far too big a slice of Cheesecake. My exercise for the day was wandering around the CBD window shopping. Given I don’t spend out on much these days shopping is pretty pointless, but when you can’t train and your in the centre of a big city what can you do? Sure, more coffee shops – I did that too!
That was pretty much it for Oz. After 6 months and many hours of training it was time to go home. It felt a little odd to leave, I’d grown used to living there. Of course the prospect of 24 hours on a plane didn’t help much either. Checking in I learnt that not only can I fit all that I need to get by in 2 bags it all weighs less than 55kg. OK, not revolutionary, but I thought it was cool to think that in that small amount of stuff was everything I need to get by. So far since returning I’ve not actually used anything that wasn’t in those bags.
I arrived back early Friday. It was cold, grey and damp. It still is. I miss the sun. All that aside it was good to be home and to see family again. The rest of the day was spent working. Yep, for once I did some honest work to earn a little money. I’m not sure if anyone who reads this is of the right demographic, but I’ve been putting together a site for Scott Molina, his new training camp – Fitness Over Fifty. Apart from earning some cash it’s been a learning experience. My previous work rarely involved the front end of web pages so it’s taken a while to get back up to speed on CSS. Man it’s a bitch though, when I finally got to testing in IE I learnt it has it’s own way of interpreting CSS.
Today I thought I’d go to the lake and get a swim in. I went to the lake and spent an hour chatting and avoiding getting in the cold water. It was freezing enough on land, forget getting in 12C water! The ride there and back was the first proper exercise since the race. So I guess that brought the week off to an end. I’m pleased to say it didn’t feel too bad at all so I can start back into a routine over the next week. It’s good to know that even with all that travel my recovery is pretty quick these days. I now need to figure out where and when is best to go swimming. I know I’ll be missing Miami Pool, no more 50m lanes to myself for a while.
The break’s over now I’ll build back into training over the next week. I guess I should also update some of the sections of this site. It’s not strictly about training in Oz now after all! Oh and finally my race report is up on Tri247. That includes pictures of the new, very bright Jaggad kit.
