Tuesday, July 29, 2008

6 weeks of pain

My first triathlon is around 12 weeks away.

Realistically the next 6 weeks are make or break for my tri dreams - unless I build a decent base I have no chance of completing let alone competing.

I am swimming almost every morning. Rather than thrashing up and down the pool I am concentrating on my form. I have noticed that the first 200 - 300 metres are a struggle, but once I warm up and get into a rhythm I feel okay.

In fact the toughest part is getting on a early bus. Has anyone caught the bus at 6 in the morning? It is a different world out there

This morning I watched in awe as a guy ate fruit loops straight from the box. Not a small pack but a 1kg box. If that was not bad enough he was jamming them into his mouth handfuls at a time. While he wore woollen gloves.

It was bizarre.

For some reason the bus was actually full by the time I got on. As I settled into my standing up spot a youngish girl offered me her seat.

Now I know I do not look the best first thing in the morning but I do not look that old...........

Do I?

Cheers

Greg

PS back on the bike tonight I hope the hamstring holds up!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Real Stress

Real stress is not that nagging feeling you should be running, swimming or cycling as you sit watching TV.

Real stress is not the need to produce a mildly amusing (in the right conditions i.e. half drunk) erratic blog.

Real stress is a day like yesterday

As some of you might know my wife is 19 weeks pregnant. Yesterday we had the big scan. The scan where they check the baby is growing as it should.

I am not normally a stressed kind of guy. Getting ready to swim in my first mini tri, knowing that I was woefully under prepared and had a fair chance of drowning, I was not stressed. Stupid yes but not stressed.

Yesterday I was stressed.

I laughed, I cried and I saw my child. Everything went well (we still need to get official confirmation but so far so good). It was truly an unforgettable experience.

I have not completed an Ironman but I am sure nothing compares to days like yesterday.

Going through some of my recent posts this blog seems to be less about training the more actual training I do (I have swam almost everyday this week and the hammy is almost back)

Funny how things in your life seem to take precedence

Cheers

Greg

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Inner City Swimming

My sore hamstrings mean I am spending a fair bit of time in the water. This week I have far I have manage to hit the pool 3 out of 4 days (I even spent some time in the medium swimming lane…till I got tired...). I have to say swimming at a city pool is a different world than what I am used to.

Today in the change room there was a lot of sand. Not a little but a lot. The only thing missing was a small child making sandcastles. I spent my whole swim trying to figure out how that much sand ended up in city (It is not like there is a beach near by).

In the end I came up with nothing

Anyone have any ideas (besides the sand being left in someone’s swimmers from the beach – I do not even want to entertain that thought)

Cheers

Greg

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Ever tried to swim with a hamstring strain?

Don’t

It hurts. It really hurts.

So Sydney is all about World Youth Day. To avoid contestation the government telling people to avoid three places - Darling Harbour, Wynyard and Circular Quay

There are only two places I can get home from work– Wynyard and Circular Quay….and I have to walk through Darling Harbour every day……

As you can gather I have been able to really soak up the Youth Day shenagins. As I have watched I have wondered

Why does World Youth Day go for a week?
Why have I only seen middle aged “pilgrims”, no “youths”? Is it for the young at heart?
Surely the money spent making a pilgrimage be better spent as a charitable donation?

Finally I saw a man in a turban wearing a world youth day t-shirt.

Now that’s good marketing

Cheers

Greg

Friday, July 11, 2008

The start of a new relationship

That got you interested…..

I am talking about my search for a new gym. As some of you might know I recently moved jobs. It says a lot about my work situation that the saddest part of me leaving was moving away from my old gym.

I loved my old gym; it was the definition of old school. It was like Mickey’s gym in the first Rocky (or how Rocky trained for his fight against Ivan Drago)

The weights room had polished timber floor boards – it used to make the sweetest sound when you dropped weights onto the floor.

My favourite 3 memories were

The guy who wore bike pants to do weights। Not cardio. Weights. Do you know anyone who has gotten chaffing from doing weights?


The grunter who sounded like he was having marital relations every time he picked up a dumbbell (regardless of the weight – where do you look when someone groans “lifting” 5 kilo’s?)

And my favourite, the smelly guy who used to stand in front of the fan with his hands on top of his head

Wish me luck on my search

Cheers

Greg