We knew it couldn't last forever. We knew it would come to an end eventually but we just didn't think it would fly by so quickly. Tonight was the end of an era, the end of a time in our family's life where we came together every day for eight weeks to work towards our common goal. Tonight we watched the final episode of the Gilmore Girls. Seven seasons and 153 episodes and we all loved every minute of it. We're keeping our fingers crossed that they do make the film. I don't think we ever had a programme that we could all enjoy before. Not quite sure what we're gonna do next week ... maybe I'll get some training done!
My training has been a bit hit and miss this week but I did manage to get back in the pool. I was really pleased that my swimming felt easier than ever before. I wasn't fast but I was very relaxed. I even swam a few lengths without breathing and just looking at my hand entry. Very hypnotic and relaxing. I'm well and truly back to T.I. (well my version of it) and it feels great. Obviously I'm swimming with my wetsuit. Nothing new of race day for me. I did a 1K TT and managed to stay below 20 mins. I'll up the distance over the next few swims and get used to swimming 2K again ... It's been a long time!
Probably my greatest achievement this week has been NOT running to make sure my calf is completely healed. I had a plan to do walk/jogs and I have followed the plan with a walk around our local park followed by a sloooow jog around and then walk and so on. It's been really good and I'm up to about 6k in total of walk/runs. Plan is to do a couple more and then to do a very slow 5K. The danger point seems to be the 8K mark so I will build up to this slowly and keep the intensity very low. There have been no niggles for the calf but I am not getting too excited too quickly.
Saturday was a day I had been really looking forward to. Adam was 13 on Tuesday (I am officially old now ... I have a teenage son! WTF!) and his present from us and the grandparents was a flying lesson.
He had a great time. He has two follow up lessons and will get to take off himself next time. Landings will be sometime in the future. It's easy to work out what Father Christmas is bringing Adam this year. It's hard for me to comprehend that I have a teenage son ... even harder to fathom that he takes flying lessons!
My original plan for today (Sunday) was to ride the Rotorua Half Ironman course ... just to say hello again and remind myself of the hills and the ... well just the hills really. The last time I tried it was really icy and I ended up canning the ride and running the run course instead. The weather had been getting warmer and so I didn't think I'd have that problem again BUT the last couple of days have been bitterly cold. I went out Saturday night to buy diesel and it was soooo cold. Rotorua is generally a few degrees colder than us and so I presumed it would be even worse there. I decided to wimp out! I canned the ride and decided to simulate the ride (sort of) on the windtrainer.
I think my max time on the windtrainer has been 90 minutes so the 3 hours I had planned was a bit of a jump. I decided that I needed the i-pod to get through the session so loaded it up with all the U2 tracks that I had on the PC and hit the trainer.
Plan was to keep the intensity low at the start, gradually build up to about 140bpm and then try to hold it there for the session. It all started off OK and after about 30 mins I hit the 140-145 range and it felt quite easy. I actually increased the intensity from time to time and hit 150 and it actually felt easier/smoother but I didn't stay there too long ... just in case. I eventually paid for all the surges to 150 and the last 45 minutes were torturous! My own fault! I managed to keep the intensity in the 140's but it was hurting and I really wanted to sit up and coast. My mind actually won the battle with 15 minutes to go and I sat up and coasted at low cadence. Not too bad though. I had managed to stay aero for 99% of the previous 2:45 so I was pleased with this. At least I think that I have proved my aero position to be 'comfortable'. I won't be stuck in the aero position for as long during race day as the hills will break up those but I want to stay aero as much as possible for the rest of the ride. Can't wait till it gets a bit warmer and I can test the position out on the actual course.
It was Father's Day today in NZ and the rest of the day has been great. I had my cards, a quick shower, one episode of GG and then it was out to Tauranga to walk across the new harbour bridge before it's opened to traffic tomorrow (I think). Just what my legs needed :)
The All Blacks were also in town.
The day got even better as Adam had booked a table at our favourite restaurant, Zeytins. We had a great meal sitting in the sunshine watching the rest of Tauranga queue up for All Black autographs and walk across the new bridge.
Obviously the down side of today was that we had the final 2 episodes of GG to watch when we got back. As always they went all too quickly and we were soon watching the final credits roll and consoling Jo who was in floods of tears by the end. We know that its not going to be too long away when our two leave home for Uni or to travel the world. Time flies so fast. They grow up so quickly. They eventually all fly the nest ...
..... can't wait! :)
