Washing, shopping and school runs ...

What a week!

My workouts have paled into insignificance as most of my energy has gone into looking after Jo and the kids this week after Jo's visit to the hospital for 'exploratory' surgery. She reacted badly to the anaesthetic and has been 'couch ridden' for the week.

I can't believe how much washing, washing up and general mess a family of four generates daily. The kids have been great and helped out heaps but it seems that I've been on a constant cycle of washing, tumble drying, cooking, cleaning, washing up and hanging up clothes. If I'm reincarnated as a woman I'll be getting a maid!

Despite all this I have managed nearly 8 hours of training this week. Having the windtrainer has helped. I've been able to sneak down to the basement for an hour here and there. I also managed to get a 5K run in. It wasn't my fastest 5K ever but I was very pleased with a 22:35 (only 6 seconds slower than my PB).

There were also 2 x 10K(ish) runs during the week along Fraser St. I'm determined to keep up this consistency to avoid injury. My legs are feeling strong at the moment and I don't want to lose this feeling. Looking back at my training runs, injuries seem to come after a period of inconsistent runs and a result of me going too fast/far to make up for lost runs. I've got to keep it consistent even if the runs are short or slow. I need to keep moving.

Sunday was my long bike and I rode three hills off of Welcome Bay Road.

My overall average speed was pretty slow but it felt like my work rate was high. I also managed to beat my time to the top of Reid Rd, which is the first hill in the diagram above.

Best time for last year was 12:24 and I managed 12:30 last week. I really wanted to get as close to 12:00 as I could but as I climbed, with all the blood going to my legs and none going to my brain I thought that I had to beat 11:24 and was desperate to see 10:xx as I crossed the 'line'.

When I saw 11:55 at the top I felt really disappointed. I had worked hard and really gone for it and I was slower than last week. I stopped at the top, had a drink and the blood must have started flowing back to my brain because I suddenly realised that I had beaten the record. Weird how the brain doesn't work well when you stress the body physically. I have the same thing in transition when I always seem to go the wrong way even though I know exactly where to go before the race.

Update on Weight Loss - I didn't go this week (see blog title for reasons) but I'm allowed one week of non attendance. My eating has been OK but not great. Quite a bit of comfort eating and grabbing stuff on the go that's convenient but not exactly nutritious. I have to nuckle down over the next couple of days ready for the weigh in on Wednesday. I don't want to put on and have to pay a dollar for every 500g. Maybe a sweaty windtrainer session just before I go ...

Only a short blog this week cos I've got to go get the washing out and stick it in the tumble dryer. Kids need school clothes for the morning. A woman's work is never done!