A new addition to the family....

No... it’s not little Sierra (YET) it’s little Miranda, my new Cervelo Dual! She’s an ’04 model, but in great condition and with some new parts. She’s red and white and very patriotic. I’ll have to get Julia to dress her up a bit with Canadian flags or something. No pedals, so I’ll have to get those and maybe swap out the seat for something I prefer (maybe my own). It did come with bike computer which is cool and a holder for an aerobottle, should I decide to get one. It’s funny because when I got my Trek, it was down to him and a Dual, I’ve always wanted a Cervelo, regardless of the model. I’ll make her my own. She rides real nice, I took her for a quick spin in the parking lot and everything went smooth, shifting and riding felt awesome. She’s made the trek (much like me) from Ontario, along with her previous owner a very in shape lady from Toronto who’s been teaching primary school in Sydney for the past 7 months. OK, why Miranda? ‘cause that’s where I got her. I was at my work, which is in Miranda, which is a girl’s name, and a girl was her previous owner, so it seemed fitting. I got my bad boy at home and now my little lady here (besides my lil Tunes). Don’t be fooled, I expect to kick ass at Ironman Western Australia on Miranda. J I’m sitting here on the train writing this, staring at her beauty. It’s like one of those adoption stories, where people travel all over the world to adopt a child, except I just have to take her home on the train with me, about 2 hours of travel time. J I’m thinking of getting a trainer and setting it up in our basement here. That’d be sweet. It’s an underground parking garage but nobody can get into our spots (enough for 2 cars) as they are enclosed and locked with a gate. So I could set up a trainer and entertainment stuff down there and kick my world famous trainer rides in the basement during the winter months. It’s still outdoors, but it’s pretty mild (~10 – 15C) so it’ll be nice for those rides! SHIT, I’m getting myself excited here! One thing at a time though and I still realize that there are other bills to pay, but I’m just excited that this is actually starting to come together. I thought IMWA would be a pipedream, but it’s now becoming more and more a reality.

Next up though is a 45km mountain run (www.sixfoot.com). I’ve been doing research on this race for a while now and I think this is one I HAVE to do. Sure I’ll be racing, but I won’t kill myself, I just want to experience the race and survive it. It’s super hilly, both up and down and some arduous terrain to say the least. There’s even a river crossing that can be knee high or above my head, depending on the year (I’m guess knee high this year as there’s been somewhat of a drought). You don’t have to get wet though as if you deviate about 15m up the path there are some rocks to cross over so you can stay dry. Everything I’ve read about this race makes it sound epic and I’ve talked to some people that know of it and have heard amazing things. It’s a one way race, starting at Katoomba and ending at the Jenolan caves, and apparently the landscape and scenery is absolutely AMAZING. I’m hoping to rent a car and get a few others to come to, as I think the whole area is so beautiful that others would want to come just to check it all out! If I can get a certain number of people interested it may bring down all the costs. Renting cars here isn’t too bad, about $45AUD per day with unlimited KMs and there are no special requirements as a Canadian driver. For this race I’ll have to hit up some major hill training in the next few weeks. I’m think of once a week running up mount Keira and really putting a hurtin’ into my legs, just to get mentally and physically prepared for the hills. I also expect to walk a bunch of this race as the hills are just TOO much and few people actually run the WHOLE thing, well I shouldn’t say few, but more certainly walk than don’t! The race is a mere 5 weeks away! I’m pretty excited, though not committed. Should I pull the trigger? I think so. Maybe this next week I will, see if I can get people interested in coming down to Katoomba and the Jenolan caves. So for the next few months (as Gold Coast Marathon is in July) I’ll be doing a major run focus, but a good amount of swimming for active recovery and just to get some in and then I’ll slowly incorporate cycling back in when Miranda is ready to rock and I’ve got a trainer and such set-up.

School? Right. So here’s the deal with that. Apparently as of the 16th of Feb we’re only on campus 3 days per week, but two of those days are busy from 8:30AM to 7:30PM. But we have 4 day weekends, every weekend, and I’ll be able to enjoy them as I won’t be spending 9 – 10 hours TRAVELLING to and from work. I’ll still be working, but it’ll be in Wollongong and only 10 – 15 hours per week, enough to cover costs and save a bit for travel and racing. I’m banking on Tunes getting some good work in and covering a good chunk of our living expenses. School is exciting, and I’m really enjoying the material and learning to be a teacher, I think it’s something I’m really going to enjoy. I’m also enjoying having Jared here, as he FULLY understands my training lifestyle and we can chat about it and even train together and motivate each other. So that’s good stuff.

Tomorrow is the 8th! You know what that means? That means that my little Tuna has reached a milestone and set yet another benchmark. She’s managed to put up with me and my boshit for a solid four years. She deserves one major medal, and a T-shirt, maybe some bagels and OJ, we’ll see. I work tomorrow but she’s going to get on a train and head towards Sydney and I’ll get on the same train at Sutherland. We plan to head into Sydney for the night. Maybe go for dinner and some sort of show and then meet up with our peeps and go partying Sunday night. See we have a school field trip in Sydney on Monday, so many of the students (including my 3 housemates, Michelle’s sister, and Jared) have gone there this morning for a full weekend of fun in the sun and partying at night. That’d be a blast! But I’d rather have the place to ourselves tonight to relax and enjoy each other’s company. We rarely get 5 minutes alone in that place, let alone A WHOLE NIGHT! I look forward to see what she’s got planned for us.

PS – It’s hot here. And hot is awesome, if you’re at the beach. But hot sucks when you have to go to work in black pants and sit on trains and at train stations, SWEATING. I heard Sydney is the hottest place on the planet this weekend, Ottawa may be the coldest.

I feel myself getting fitter and fitter. Last weekend I made up this 28 day challenge for myself where I was going to train my ass of and diet better than I ever have before to get in the best shape possible. Interesting what writing goals down and committing yourself to it and having rewards for success can do for your daily motivation. One week and I dropped from around 168 to 163.3 this morning. That’s awesome. My goal was UNDER 160 by the end of the month for when we go on our surf trip. And I’m getting tanned, so being lean AND tanned = sexy time, and that’s exactly what the goal is.