That's the title of a Lance Armstrong book. talking about hi fight with cancer, putting things in perspective. Meaning that cycling isn't the be all and end all of life. I just had the biggest bike volume month ever. Last year was my biggest ever, at just under 29 hours, this month I did 37.5 hours. That includes a 5 day stretch that we were in Gold Coast and I COULDN'T bike. 37.5 hours and almost 1300km in September, plus all my running and swimming. 37.5 hours in the dungeon, just me, my thoughts, some youtube videos, some good tunes and a few podcasts of interviews with ironman athletes. A 3:00 ride, a 3:15 ride and a 4:00 ride were amongst those, all with at least a mile of running afterwards, just to see how the legs will feel. I find for triathlon, the more I bike, the better I run in the race. Basically, if my legs are less tired after cycling I can run better. Makes sense no? Since mid May I've put in a total of 126.5 hours of cycling, 4038km. ALL on the trainer. Not a single km of that was on the road. WOW! I WILL do some riding on the road before my race, just to get the feel of the bike a bit better. I do ride a mountain bike to and from school at least once a day, that's about 5k per day every day of just commuting, but I don't count that as training. So at least I have that feel for the road still. I rode the bike a bit outside today and it felt awesome, but I DO want to get in a ride or two of at least an hour or two to really tune into how I will feel in the race. I have so many memories of training on the bike. My bedroom in Stittsville, basement in Stittsville, pretty sure even the family room in Stittsville once or twice, the workout room at Daly, Living room in Huntsville, Shillolos' basement in Katrine, now here. Incredible! I love it! I just can't believe all these adventures I've been on over the past three years with this training. So many memories of running, cycling and swimming in different places, not to mention the races and adventures. I've ran all over Ottawa and area, Huntsville, Katrine, Penticton, Peterborough, Florida, Bali, Sydney to Wollongong, Blue Mountains, Gold Coast, Canberra etc etc... I've ran on countless treadmills. Each experience means something different. I have memories from Stittsville treadmill, YMCA treadmill, UO Sports Complex treadmills, Shillolos' treadmill, Deerhurst treadmill, UOW treadmill... frig, I'm like a Gerbil!
I'm babbling now, and it's not even relevant to this Aussie adventure... I just enjoy reflecting on this stuff that has consumed my life over the past 3.5 years, because looking at where I've been and what I've accomplished helps with dreaming about where I might go from here. Speaking of which, I MAY skype with Ray tomorrow or Friday, we'll see though. :)
Tomorrow morning I'm meeting Jared at 6:50AM at the lights at Bourke and Flinders. We'll ride over to the gym together and he'll hit weights while I swim for an hour, in my wetsuit! My brand new wetsuit that I WON almost exactly a year ago! It'll be good to practice swimming in the wetsuit, as I will be racing in it in a couple of weeks!
Tomorrow is October. HOLY CRAP! A little over 7 weeks and I'll be a bonifide teacher!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Today, in brief
Wake up 4:30AM
Workout started at 7AM. 2.5 hours on the bike, watched Tour De France video that I got at the Wollongong Library. Immediately after that I ran for an hour, 13.44km, or 4:27/km, solid.
Chilled out, did a bunch of homework.
Walked over to Leisure Coast Fruit Market, along the cycleway out to Fairy Meadow, then cut up to Flinders.
Lots of kiwis! 21 for $4. About 12 pears, 12 apples, 3 red peppers, 5 oranges, some bananas and some zuchinni... $18 for all of that (including the kiwis!)
Now we're watching a story about ancient Egypt.
Tomorrow AM swim and afternoon bike, and plenty of homework.
Tired.
More flights being booked. Now is Syd - Perth at end of November.
Peace.
Workout started at 7AM. 2.5 hours on the bike, watched Tour De France video that I got at the Wollongong Library. Immediately after that I ran for an hour, 13.44km, or 4:27/km, solid.
Chilled out, did a bunch of homework.
Walked over to Leisure Coast Fruit Market, along the cycleway out to Fairy Meadow, then cut up to Flinders.
Lots of kiwis! 21 for $4. About 12 pears, 12 apples, 3 red peppers, 5 oranges, some bananas and some zuchinni... $18 for all of that (including the kiwis!)
Now we're watching a story about ancient Egypt.
Tomorrow AM swim and afternoon bike, and plenty of homework.
Tired.
More flights being booked. Now is Syd - Perth at end of November.
Peace.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
A highly ABNORMAL past 24 hours
Well, the last post was meant to kind of describe a SOMEWHAT average day in the life of Tunes and I here. For me, these PAST 24 hours have been WHACK!!!
********* CAUTION: THE FOLLOWING MAY BE DISTURBING FOR SOME
So yesterday the wind was still SUPER intense and I didn't want to fight that wind for 1:45 of running, that would just be frustrating. So I decided to go to the gym and get in whatever I could on the treadmill. Jared would meet me there and we would eat lunch together after our workouts. So I got there a little before him because my workout was going to be longer than his. I got there and got running and felt ok, but had to pee. Got off after 30 minutes and went to the toilet, to see what I could "get out". :) Back on the treadmill for 10 minutes, then had to pee. Back on for another 10 minutes and had to pee AGAIN! FRIG MAN! So I'm at 50 minutes. Back on and got in 25 minutes! Had to pee. BACK ON! And finished off the last 30 minutes. The last 8 minutes were hell on earth, my guts were all messed, but I got through it. NAILS! We ate lunch and I came home. The evening was pretty chill, I planned the next ten weeks of training leading up to Ironman Western Australia! I also called my prac teacher and scheduled a meeting for today with her and the other teacher I'll be working with. That was great, she seems super nice!
Anyways, that 1:45 on the treadmill really took it out of me and I was pounding water to stay hydrated and speed recovery. The evening was typical, Jared came over and we watched some TV and stuff and he was gone by 8:30PM. I got ready for bed and slowly shut it down. I was going to go meet Julia at work to walk her home at 9:30 but she got off early, and was walking in the door as I was getting ready to walk out! I made her an egg cake and got myself ready for bed and got stuff ready for today. I was in bed and passed out in no time.
THIS IS WHERE IT GETS DISTURBING, THIS IS THE POINT OF NO RETURN FOLKS!
Remember how I drank a lot of water? I knew that would mean I would be getting up many times during the night to go pee. Well I did once, but then woke up in the morning at the sound of my alarm. huh... I got up and thought to myself that I didn't really get up in the night to go pee much and I didn't have to then either! Weird. Well maybe I'll go anyways, 'cause I'm sure I can get some out... WHAT THE?! I PISSED THE BED! Hahaha. WEIRD! Seriously. Weird because I had a dream that I was peeing at a rest stop on a car trip and had to change my clothes there. AS IF I DID THAT! And not just a dribble... drenchage! GROSS! Am I 4? haha. Young at heart, young at bladder. Oh well, piss happens I guess.
So I planned on swimming today. It's chilly today, on account of all this wind, which is still pretty fierce. I got ready and got to the pool where I met Jared. He was going to hit chest while I swam for an hour and then we would meet up out front in the eating area and knock back breakfast. As I checked in and got my token for the pool, the girl was like "are you serious?" I was like "ya, why?" she says "the water is like 21 degrees! and so windy!!!". Meh, I'm Canadian, I can handle it. NO I CAN'T!!! I jumped in, it was cold but not TERRIBLE! Breathing was a little tougher but i got through the hour with relative ease. I was a bit slower today, but that's ok. It's Monday and I had a big weekend of training. I got out and it was COLD! I dried off ASAP and changed into my warm clothes, but couldn't shake these shakes! I was shaking, I was freezing. Jared told me my face looked purple. YEESH. Shaking, shaking, shaking. I couldn't focus either and felt light headed. I hadn't eaten anything in the morning but I never do before training. I tried to eat my breaky but felt terrible. I went into the change room and jumped in the shower, got it hot as heck, but goosebumps remained. I was in there for 10 minutes and don't think it did much. I got out and figured I just had to keep moving, keep the heart pumpin'! That was a terrible half hour. As we biked home I slowly came around and by the time I got home I was ok. That was an hour ago, I'm still wearing my toque. WEIRD! Hypothermia in Australia! haha
OK, that's it. Hopefully the next 24 horus are more normal. I gotta rock 2 hours on the bike (we'll see) and meet my prac teachers in a couple hours.
I'm also going to get going (continue) on some assignments that are due in the next couple of weeks. Off classes this week, but it's a great chance to get a head start on this crap. :-)
PS - Don't tell anyone I peed my pants!
********* CAUTION: THE FOLLOWING MAY BE DISTURBING FOR SOME
So yesterday the wind was still SUPER intense and I didn't want to fight that wind for 1:45 of running, that would just be frustrating. So I decided to go to the gym and get in whatever I could on the treadmill. Jared would meet me there and we would eat lunch together after our workouts. So I got there a little before him because my workout was going to be longer than his. I got there and got running and felt ok, but had to pee. Got off after 30 minutes and went to the toilet, to see what I could "get out". :) Back on the treadmill for 10 minutes, then had to pee. Back on for another 10 minutes and had to pee AGAIN! FRIG MAN! So I'm at 50 minutes. Back on and got in 25 minutes! Had to pee. BACK ON! And finished off the last 30 minutes. The last 8 minutes were hell on earth, my guts were all messed, but I got through it. NAILS! We ate lunch and I came home. The evening was pretty chill, I planned the next ten weeks of training leading up to Ironman Western Australia! I also called my prac teacher and scheduled a meeting for today with her and the other teacher I'll be working with. That was great, she seems super nice!
Anyways, that 1:45 on the treadmill really took it out of me and I was pounding water to stay hydrated and speed recovery. The evening was typical, Jared came over and we watched some TV and stuff and he was gone by 8:30PM. I got ready for bed and slowly shut it down. I was going to go meet Julia at work to walk her home at 9:30 but she got off early, and was walking in the door as I was getting ready to walk out! I made her an egg cake and got myself ready for bed and got stuff ready for today. I was in bed and passed out in no time.
THIS IS WHERE IT GETS DISTURBING, THIS IS THE POINT OF NO RETURN FOLKS!
Remember how I drank a lot of water? I knew that would mean I would be getting up many times during the night to go pee. Well I did once, but then woke up in the morning at the sound of my alarm. huh... I got up and thought to myself that I didn't really get up in the night to go pee much and I didn't have to then either! Weird. Well maybe I'll go anyways, 'cause I'm sure I can get some out... WHAT THE?! I PISSED THE BED! Hahaha. WEIRD! Seriously. Weird because I had a dream that I was peeing at a rest stop on a car trip and had to change my clothes there. AS IF I DID THAT! And not just a dribble... drenchage! GROSS! Am I 4? haha. Young at heart, young at bladder. Oh well, piss happens I guess.
So I planned on swimming today. It's chilly today, on account of all this wind, which is still pretty fierce. I got ready and got to the pool where I met Jared. He was going to hit chest while I swam for an hour and then we would meet up out front in the eating area and knock back breakfast. As I checked in and got my token for the pool, the girl was like "are you serious?" I was like "ya, why?" she says "the water is like 21 degrees! and so windy!!!". Meh, I'm Canadian, I can handle it. NO I CAN'T!!! I jumped in, it was cold but not TERRIBLE! Breathing was a little tougher but i got through the hour with relative ease. I was a bit slower today, but that's ok. It's Monday and I had a big weekend of training. I got out and it was COLD! I dried off ASAP and changed into my warm clothes, but couldn't shake these shakes! I was shaking, I was freezing. Jared told me my face looked purple. YEESH. Shaking, shaking, shaking. I couldn't focus either and felt light headed. I hadn't eaten anything in the morning but I never do before training. I tried to eat my breaky but felt terrible. I went into the change room and jumped in the shower, got it hot as heck, but goosebumps remained. I was in there for 10 minutes and don't think it did much. I got out and figured I just had to keep moving, keep the heart pumpin'! That was a terrible half hour. As we biked home I slowly came around and by the time I got home I was ok. That was an hour ago, I'm still wearing my toque. WEIRD! Hypothermia in Australia! haha
OK, that's it. Hopefully the next 24 horus are more normal. I gotta rock 2 hours on the bike (we'll see) and meet my prac teachers in a couple hours.
I'm also going to get going (continue) on some assignments that are due in the next couple of weeks. Off classes this week, but it's a great chance to get a head start on this crap. :-)
PS - Don't tell anyone I peed my pants!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
The last 24 hours, a day in the life
Figured it would be good to run through a "typical" day of my life here in Wollongong. It won't be so typical, as I wasn't at school and there was little to no academia at all to be honest, but everything else was pretty normal, well, for the most part.
Yesterday, got up at 4:30 AM, as per usual. Had my coffee and oatmeal, as per usual. Jubee boobee got up at 5AM, as per usual (lately), and had her coffee and oats/banana/cinnamon. she got ready for work and I got ready for my workout. She left to get to work for around 7AM. I was on the bike at 7:30AM. I stayed there until 11:30AM. YES! 4 hours on the trainer! KILL ME! It almost did. Well to be honest, I was thinking and that 4 hours DEFINITELY seemed a lot easier than what I remember about doing it last year. Last year, in Huntsville I rocked a 4 hour ride on the trainer. I got 120km JUST BARELY. I remember dying so bad towards the end and barely being able to hold on, going slower than 30km/hr. Yesterday I averaged 34km/h overall and hit 136km! SOLID! AND last year I had my computer, TV, movies, music on the stereo, was on the ground floor and had plenty of sunlight. Yesterday, I was in the dungeon, had my computer which DOESN'T get internet, no movies, listened to podcasts of triathletes and some music on the ipod and stared at myself in a mirror, surrounded by brick walls in the dungeon basement! That's a workout for the mind just as much as the body! AND THEN! Right when I finished I jumped off and within 45 seconds was running, full-out in my bike shorts and no shirt around the neighbourhood for a quick transition run. Overall it felt great. I got back, showered up and made myself a meal and Jubers walked in from work. DAMN THAT WORKOUT WAS LONG! We both at and then decided we would take naps. She came upstairs to shower up and take a nap, I decided to pass out on the couch watching some AFL finals. Then, for some reason I turned to SBS One and this show was on about a painter. Sam Dillemans, it was called "The Madness in the Detail". I was HOOKED! He's Belgian and was speaking like German or Dutch or whatever they might speak, had hints of french in it, not quite sure, but there were subtitles. Well I didn't sleep. I watched that and then came up to the computer and started searching for stuff about him. I wanted to get a copy of the show to watch it again, it was THAT good. Weird, I know. So Tunes got a good nap in, me not so much. Oh, I also had homemade popcorm yesterday while watching TV, two things that DEFINITELY are not "typical", haha. So then Jubes got up around 4 and started doin' her thing again, gettin' ready for round two, night shift at the buffet. She left around 5:05 and I chilled out for a bit, then Jared came over. I ate my dinner and we went for a walk from about 6 - 7PM. Down to the harbour and it started raining, but luckily only for a short while and nothing too intense, so we got our hour walk in. We have some great convos on those walks of ours. Training, politics, war, school, television, sports, etc etc. After our walk we each ate a little more and watched some random videos on youtube. Girls fighting and public farting, real mature stuff. :)
He went home around 8 ish and I came upstairs and pretty much passed out right away. Jubes came home after work and the wind was INCREDIBLE! (Still is) She got ready pretty much straight away and got in bed. I was awake at 4:26AM. Uh oh, my internal clock officially knows!!
The ususal, coffee and oats, Jubes up at 5 and the same. We skyped with Nanny at her 90th birthday party! That was great to see her! She looks awesome and seems like she was having a blast! of course she asked if I remember jumping from the stairs into her arms when I was little, I think she asks that everytime I see her now. :) I'll have to spend more time with her when we get back. She's gone to work now, pretty similar work day to yesterday for her, but she ends earlier. I'm supposed to run 1:45 today, but that wind is murder. I decided to go into school with Jared and hit the treadmill, haven't ran on a treadmill in ages, should be fun! Today I'm also going to call my prac teacher on her cell phone and set up a time to meet this week. I'm getting excited to get to meet her and the kids and get planning!
Ray and I should have a skype date set for Thurs/Fri.
Not a very "typical" day I guess, moreso for Tunes than I.
(Jesus, these winds are incredible!!!)
Yesterday, got up at 4:30 AM, as per usual. Had my coffee and oatmeal, as per usual. Jubee boobee got up at 5AM, as per usual (lately), and had her coffee and oats/banana/cinnamon. she got ready for work and I got ready for my workout. She left to get to work for around 7AM. I was on the bike at 7:30AM. I stayed there until 11:30AM. YES! 4 hours on the trainer! KILL ME! It almost did. Well to be honest, I was thinking and that 4 hours DEFINITELY seemed a lot easier than what I remember about doing it last year. Last year, in Huntsville I rocked a 4 hour ride on the trainer. I got 120km JUST BARELY. I remember dying so bad towards the end and barely being able to hold on, going slower than 30km/hr. Yesterday I averaged 34km/h overall and hit 136km! SOLID! AND last year I had my computer, TV, movies, music on the stereo, was on the ground floor and had plenty of sunlight. Yesterday, I was in the dungeon, had my computer which DOESN'T get internet, no movies, listened to podcasts of triathletes and some music on the ipod and stared at myself in a mirror, surrounded by brick walls in the dungeon basement! That's a workout for the mind just as much as the body! AND THEN! Right when I finished I jumped off and within 45 seconds was running, full-out in my bike shorts and no shirt around the neighbourhood for a quick transition run. Overall it felt great. I got back, showered up and made myself a meal and Jubers walked in from work. DAMN THAT WORKOUT WAS LONG! We both at and then decided we would take naps. She came upstairs to shower up and take a nap, I decided to pass out on the couch watching some AFL finals. Then, for some reason I turned to SBS One and this show was on about a painter. Sam Dillemans, it was called "The Madness in the Detail". I was HOOKED! He's Belgian and was speaking like German or Dutch or whatever they might speak, had hints of french in it, not quite sure, but there were subtitles. Well I didn't sleep. I watched that and then came up to the computer and started searching for stuff about him. I wanted to get a copy of the show to watch it again, it was THAT good. Weird, I know. So Tunes got a good nap in, me not so much. Oh, I also had homemade popcorm yesterday while watching TV, two things that DEFINITELY are not "typical", haha. So then Jubes got up around 4 and started doin' her thing again, gettin' ready for round two, night shift at the buffet. She left around 5:05 and I chilled out for a bit, then Jared came over. I ate my dinner and we went for a walk from about 6 - 7PM. Down to the harbour and it started raining, but luckily only for a short while and nothing too intense, so we got our hour walk in. We have some great convos on those walks of ours. Training, politics, war, school, television, sports, etc etc. After our walk we each ate a little more and watched some random videos on youtube. Girls fighting and public farting, real mature stuff. :)
He went home around 8 ish and I came upstairs and pretty much passed out right away. Jubes came home after work and the wind was INCREDIBLE! (Still is) She got ready pretty much straight away and got in bed. I was awake at 4:26AM. Uh oh, my internal clock officially knows!!
The ususal, coffee and oats, Jubes up at 5 and the same. We skyped with Nanny at her 90th birthday party! That was great to see her! She looks awesome and seems like she was having a blast! of course she asked if I remember jumping from the stairs into her arms when I was little, I think she asks that everytime I see her now. :) I'll have to spend more time with her when we get back. She's gone to work now, pretty similar work day to yesterday for her, but she ends earlier. I'm supposed to run 1:45 today, but that wind is murder. I decided to go into school with Jared and hit the treadmill, haven't ran on a treadmill in ages, should be fun! Today I'm also going to call my prac teacher on her cell phone and set up a time to meet this week. I'm getting excited to get to meet her and the kids and get planning!
Ray and I should have a skype date set for Thurs/Fri.
Not a very "typical" day I guess, moreso for Tunes than I.
(Jesus, these winds are incredible!!!)
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
All over
My mind...
Last night Jared called and asked if I wanted to go for a walk. I was in for sure, never pass up an opportunity for a walk around town. So he swung by as per normal but didn't come in, just waited for me at the door. I knew something was up right away 'cause he's normally all upbeat and comes in and chats everyone up. So I just got ready to head out. He handed me a piece of paper. It was his mark from a presentation (he got 6/15). It sucked, but he didn't fail by much and there was another component to the assignment that was out of 35 and I'm sure that helped him out huge. I had a feeling that wasn't really what was bothering him. I mean failing sucks, but it was different sorta vibe for sure. So we headed out for a walk and I asked him what was up and he pretty much broke down and told me that his dog died the night before. Terrible feeling. He had that dog for 13 years. I can understand because I know how close I am with Lucas and I would be devastated if he died and was gone while I was here and I didn't get to see him one last time. He was pretty upset and understandably so. I tried my best to comfort him but I mean what do you say really? Anyways we walked around for a bit talking about it all and then parted ways. I hope he's feeling better today, 'cause he's the one that makes the rest of us happy most of the time with his joking nature and just always upbeat energy about him.
Today I trained. WOW, who's surprised?! I did an hour/hour brick. One hour on the trainer out in the back and then an hour run around the usual spots. That run. UNBELIEVABLE! I'm going to have to take a camera with me one of these times and just randomly take pics as I run. I can't describe it. I run down to the start of our path at South beach and you kinda run up it from Corimal til you hit the top and can see the ocean. From there you go left and North along it. This morning was just one of those mornings. I got goosebumps. Thinking about it gives me goosebumps! It was a PERFECT morning. The sun was up and was shining off the water, which was calm, and the sky was just a perfect crystal clear blue. It gives me energy. I love it. I love it I love it I LOVE IT! I wish I could bottle it up and bring it home with me. I found a nice new little deviation that kinda brings me onto a road for a short part (Magpie driven deviation, though the magpie is gone from that part, but I'm still liking this for now) before connecting back to the path along Squires Way.
Made some changes to my bike today, just little tweaks here and there.
Jubers is at work, buffet hell on earth. She's a little workhorse that one! I love her to death for it!
I'm gonna start planning and organizing for my last 5 assignments that are in a couple of weeks.
I'm excited to race. I cut my hair down today also. I'll let it grow out until the day before we leave for Canberra ( 3 weeks-ish) then I'll cut a mohawk in it! :) That oughta be fun, haha.
So that's it for today I guess. Take home messages are: I hope Jared is feeling better today after talking to his parents last night. This place is un-fricken-believable. School is nearing the end! Training is spot on and I'm feelin' fast maaaaaan! Tunes is the best. Period. Full-stop.
Last night Jared called and asked if I wanted to go for a walk. I was in for sure, never pass up an opportunity for a walk around town. So he swung by as per normal but didn't come in, just waited for me at the door. I knew something was up right away 'cause he's normally all upbeat and comes in and chats everyone up. So I just got ready to head out. He handed me a piece of paper. It was his mark from a presentation (he got 6/15). It sucked, but he didn't fail by much and there was another component to the assignment that was out of 35 and I'm sure that helped him out huge. I had a feeling that wasn't really what was bothering him. I mean failing sucks, but it was different sorta vibe for sure. So we headed out for a walk and I asked him what was up and he pretty much broke down and told me that his dog died the night before. Terrible feeling. He had that dog for 13 years. I can understand because I know how close I am with Lucas and I would be devastated if he died and was gone while I was here and I didn't get to see him one last time. He was pretty upset and understandably so. I tried my best to comfort him but I mean what do you say really? Anyways we walked around for a bit talking about it all and then parted ways. I hope he's feeling better today, 'cause he's the one that makes the rest of us happy most of the time with his joking nature and just always upbeat energy about him.
Today I trained. WOW, who's surprised?! I did an hour/hour brick. One hour on the trainer out in the back and then an hour run around the usual spots. That run. UNBELIEVABLE! I'm going to have to take a camera with me one of these times and just randomly take pics as I run. I can't describe it. I run down to the start of our path at South beach and you kinda run up it from Corimal til you hit the top and can see the ocean. From there you go left and North along it. This morning was just one of those mornings. I got goosebumps. Thinking about it gives me goosebumps! It was a PERFECT morning. The sun was up and was shining off the water, which was calm, and the sky was just a perfect crystal clear blue. It gives me energy. I love it. I love it I love it I LOVE IT! I wish I could bottle it up and bring it home with me. I found a nice new little deviation that kinda brings me onto a road for a short part (Magpie driven deviation, though the magpie is gone from that part, but I'm still liking this for now) before connecting back to the path along Squires Way.
Made some changes to my bike today, just little tweaks here and there.
Jubers is at work, buffet hell on earth. She's a little workhorse that one! I love her to death for it!
I'm gonna start planning and organizing for my last 5 assignments that are in a couple of weeks.
I'm excited to race. I cut my hair down today also. I'll let it grow out until the day before we leave for Canberra ( 3 weeks-ish) then I'll cut a mohawk in it! :) That oughta be fun, haha.
So that's it for today I guess. Take home messages are: I hope Jared is feeling better today after talking to his parents last night. This place is un-fricken-believable. School is nearing the end! Training is spot on and I'm feelin' fast maaaaaan! Tunes is the best. Period. Full-stop.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Did you pass a windy?
Haha. Seriously. It's windy here. It's a "Red Dust Storm". FRIG. When we woke up this morning there was like an orange haze outside. crazy. I thought it was just fog with the sunrise, but turns out it was this red dust. Man-o-man did it make a mess! (as I write this, Jubes just passed a windy for real, jeez) So not thinking (the idiot I am) I biked to school to do my morning swim. We it's an outdoor pool, so clearly it was shut-down. DAMNIT! So I dropped off a textbook to a prof and came home. I was wearing a white hat. It was filthy by the time I got back home, and my skin was speckled with dust/dirt. Windy windy windy, all day. And it's gettin' in the house too. We can feel it as we breathe even. Intense. Jubes and I still went a paid rent and got groceries. Then at home I called Air New Zealand to rebook our return flights home, as we have to change the dates (we were told this when we originally booked last December). so I called Air New Zealand and after about 30 minutes, I got nowhere. The lady on the other end said she has to talk to some people at their office in LA or something. Frig, what a pain in the ass that was. Also, we were told it would be free but there may be a small airline fee when changing. Well A - there IS an airline fee, not sure exactly what yet, and B - there will be extra fees because they originally book your flight for beginning of November, but we have to rebook for December/January which is high season. Some people have said they had to pay an additional $138 Canadian. Whateva. We'll see what happens. I'm gonna fight and bitch as much as I can.
My HSIE thinking book is done. I hand that in tonight and then have a class Friday morning and then a week break. Well, a week break but I'll be doing other assignments that are due in the next few weeks. And i have to get in contact with my prac teacher and start planning for that. So really no "break", just a break from going to campus.
We're both really excited about our travels in December and January. It's something we know we'll never forget and something we've been looking forward to all year! Right now we're just doing a ton of research on how to make it as cheap as possible for travel and accomodations. We want to see and do a bunch of stuff, for free or cheap. :)I look forward to seeing the beauty of the east coast, beaches, the reef, rainforests etc etc etc. I look forward to seeing New Zealand, going sky diving. :) I look forward to meeting family and racing IMWA! There I said it. I REALLY am looking forward to racing. I haven't raced a triathlon in over a year! BOO. All these hours I've been putting in, down in the dungeon on my bike on the trainer. Hours and hours of sitting there, watching youtube videos (preloaded because I don't get internet down there) and just imagining myself racing. Frig. I'm dying to race. After that I have to sell my bike and whatever else I have with me there that's race specific (pump, bike computer, spare tubes etc etc) as a package deal. Also, in November I need to sell my bike trainer. I only paid $250 for it and it retails for $400, so maybe I can even get $300 for it! After I race, I look forward to just being.... calm, relaxed. I haven't felt relaxed for years. School and work and training and everything I take on, I haven't actually RELAXED and fully just soaked it all up in a long time. This whole year has been amazing, but I've been SO busy with stuff, it's like being at home, only not. I can't wait to sit on a beach, enjoy the view and just let my mind chill out. I had a glimpse of that at Byron Bay a couple weeks ago. I can't wait to run (randomly, no schedule) in all sorts of cooooool places. I can't wait to spend 5 weeks with my lil Tunes. Just her and me, me and her.
I look forward to getting home too!
My HSIE thinking book is done. I hand that in tonight and then have a class Friday morning and then a week break. Well, a week break but I'll be doing other assignments that are due in the next few weeks. And i have to get in contact with my prac teacher and start planning for that. So really no "break", just a break from going to campus.
We're both really excited about our travels in December and January. It's something we know we'll never forget and something we've been looking forward to all year! Right now we're just doing a ton of research on how to make it as cheap as possible for travel and accomodations. We want to see and do a bunch of stuff, for free or cheap. :)I look forward to seeing the beauty of the east coast, beaches, the reef, rainforests etc etc etc. I look forward to seeing New Zealand, going sky diving. :) I look forward to meeting family and racing IMWA! There I said it. I REALLY am looking forward to racing. I haven't raced a triathlon in over a year! BOO. All these hours I've been putting in, down in the dungeon on my bike on the trainer. Hours and hours of sitting there, watching youtube videos (preloaded because I don't get internet down there) and just imagining myself racing. Frig. I'm dying to race. After that I have to sell my bike and whatever else I have with me there that's race specific (pump, bike computer, spare tubes etc etc) as a package deal. Also, in November I need to sell my bike trainer. I only paid $250 for it and it retails for $400, so maybe I can even get $300 for it! After I race, I look forward to just being.... calm, relaxed. I haven't felt relaxed for years. School and work and training and everything I take on, I haven't actually RELAXED and fully just soaked it all up in a long time. This whole year has been amazing, but I've been SO busy with stuff, it's like being at home, only not. I can't wait to sit on a beach, enjoy the view and just let my mind chill out. I had a glimpse of that at Byron Bay a couple weeks ago. I can't wait to run (randomly, no schedule) in all sorts of cooooool places. I can't wait to spend 5 weeks with my lil Tunes. Just her and me, me and her.
I look forward to getting home too!
Monday, September 21, 2009
See ya in a year!
WOW! I was doing the dishes a few minutes ago and was (again) thinking of returning home. Picturing what it'll be like at the airport, to see everyone. It'll be nice. I can't wait to see Sierra.
I want a hug that only mom can give me. I was thinking of when we left, those moments in the airport. I think I tried NOT to think of how long it was going to be. It's been a while! A WHOLE YEAR! It's gone by fast, but certain things make it seem long. I miss my family. I miss home. Don't get me wrong. I know I'll be at home in mid January, aft a week or two and be missing this place so much! I went for a run this morning at 7:20AM and almost melted.
It's gettin' HAWT! I did have an amazing run this morning. One of those runs where everything just felt ON. You know? I ran 15.7k in 1:10 and loved every minute of it. I had those early moments where it felt kinda tough, then it all came together for about 45 minutes it was effortless, and I could push harder and harder and it was just gooood. The first 35 minutes I ran it on 4:38/km, then the second half was 4:22/km. I feel great right now! These next two weeks are crucial for my racing. I gotta do some big volume and then I can taper for a couple weeks, race Canberra, come home and maintain for 7 weeks then kill Ironman! It feels good. It all feels so gooooood!
Also, we have to rebook our return flights. This is soemthing they told us when we originally booked. Because they can't book further ahead than a certain time, everyone's tickets were booked for a november 1st return. So we have to rebook for January. Apparently it's $138CAD each. Poopshoot. We were told it was free, apparently there are some weiner charges though.
I just gotta finish up this assignment that I have due tomorrow evening then class on Friday morning then I have a week off! Then 2 weeks of classes, 5 week prac and then with a little paperwork, I'm a teacher! BOO YA!
Ray mentioned chatting on skype. I don't hold my breath anymore. haha.
I'd like to give a real special shout out to Tunes. She working her little BEE-HIND off right now and making us lots of cheddar to be able to travel later in December. :)
I gotta go train!
I want a hug that only mom can give me. I was thinking of when we left, those moments in the airport. I think I tried NOT to think of how long it was going to be. It's been a while! A WHOLE YEAR! It's gone by fast, but certain things make it seem long. I miss my family. I miss home. Don't get me wrong. I know I'll be at home in mid January, aft a week or two and be missing this place so much! I went for a run this morning at 7:20AM and almost melted.
It's gettin' HAWT! I did have an amazing run this morning. One of those runs where everything just felt ON. You know? I ran 15.7k in 1:10 and loved every minute of it. I had those early moments where it felt kinda tough, then it all came together for about 45 minutes it was effortless, and I could push harder and harder and it was just gooood. The first 35 minutes I ran it on 4:38/km, then the second half was 4:22/km. I feel great right now! These next two weeks are crucial for my racing. I gotta do some big volume and then I can taper for a couple weeks, race Canberra, come home and maintain for 7 weeks then kill Ironman! It feels good. It all feels so gooooood!
Also, we have to rebook our return flights. This is soemthing they told us when we originally booked. Because they can't book further ahead than a certain time, everyone's tickets were booked for a november 1st return. So we have to rebook for January. Apparently it's $138CAD each. Poopshoot. We were told it was free, apparently there are some weiner charges though.
I just gotta finish up this assignment that I have due tomorrow evening then class on Friday morning then I have a week off! Then 2 weeks of classes, 5 week prac and then with a little paperwork, I'm a teacher! BOO YA!
Ray mentioned chatting on skype. I don't hold my breath anymore. haha.
I'd like to give a real special shout out to Tunes. She working her little BEE-HIND off right now and making us lots of cheddar to be able to travel later in December. :)
I gotta go train!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
100
This is my hundredth blog entry! Wow... we've been here a while. We've been reflecting a lot lately on this year. How fast it's gone. What we've enjoyed the most. What more we have to do and see. What we look forward to the msot whne we go home. How much we miss our families. How lucky we've been to live in this paradise. How lucky we are to have the families we do that have helped make this whole experience possible. I've been thinking a lot about how this experience, and all the experiences from this year has changed me. 100 blog entries is a lot of reflection, and it'll be cool to go back and read through all this mumbo jumbo I've typed out over the past year... and then next couple of months to come! I'll have to keep a pen and paper journal when we're travelling in December, as I won't have a comp at my disposal! Pen and paper! Immagine that!
Last entry I made was on Thursday, I just nailed my DET interview and was pretty ecstatic. Now I'm back oto reality, HSIE book due on Wednesday. It's a TON of work. And what's taking the most time is all this creative bullcrap we have to put into it. The academic content accounts for about 20% of the time allotment. It's brutal. Oh well, just one more thing to get through. Then I have a week off, then two weeks of lectures, then 5 weeks of prac and DONE. WOOOO! crazy
This week I also did two swim workouts, Wednesday and Friday. I'm gettin' better and better. Friday I did 1600m in 29:15, which is about 1:50/100m. If I can hold that over IM distance (3.8k) then I will take 8 minutes off last year's time! I THINK I will be able to. I still have plenty of time to train for it, and I'm always fast in a wetsuit, drafting off someone else in the water. Today I'm going to jump n the wetsuit down at the ocean and swim in that cool pool you see when you google Wollongong. It's in the famous wollongong photo of the harbour area. :)
Yesterday I had an epic brick workout. OK OK OK. I'm racing in 4 weeks. :) Canberra, 2.2k - 80k - 20k. It was cheap entry and two others are coming with to split costs, so not too expensive. Anyways, yesterday I bike for two hours on the trainer (72.5k)! at 36.25km/hr which is awesome pace, then rocked 15k run in 1:06 (or about 4:26/km), first ten k on about a 4:24/km pace, then slowed a bit. Really excited for this race! My goal is about 40 minutes in the water, 2:10 or faster on the bike and 1:30 on the run, plus transitions. Total goal is under 4:30.
I can't wait! I feel fit and want to test myself so bad!
Today is the Sydney marathon and a bunch of the girls are running various races in it. A few are running the 4k, some the 9k and one is running the half marathon. I'm excited for Michelle Majovsky who's running the half marathon. She's a great girl and has been getting into running more and more this year, taking on the 14k of city2surf and now this! She blames me.
Jubee boobee and I are starting to plan our end of year travels. We're thinking of getting a Jucy van, as it's transpo AND accomodations and we could buy groceries and keep them with us and we wouldn't have to worry about carrying our stuff everywhere. It ain't cheap, but when you consider that hostels are AT MINIMUM $30 - $35 per night each, it ain't half bad.
PS - I LOVED that video John sent of Lucas and Sierra! It was absolutely adorable! Made our week. :)
Last entry I made was on Thursday, I just nailed my DET interview and was pretty ecstatic. Now I'm back oto reality, HSIE book due on Wednesday. It's a TON of work. And what's taking the most time is all this creative bullcrap we have to put into it. The academic content accounts for about 20% of the time allotment. It's brutal. Oh well, just one more thing to get through. Then I have a week off, then two weeks of lectures, then 5 weeks of prac and DONE. WOOOO! crazy
This week I also did two swim workouts, Wednesday and Friday. I'm gettin' better and better. Friday I did 1600m in 29:15, which is about 1:50/100m. If I can hold that over IM distance (3.8k) then I will take 8 minutes off last year's time! I THINK I will be able to. I still have plenty of time to train for it, and I'm always fast in a wetsuit, drafting off someone else in the water. Today I'm going to jump n the wetsuit down at the ocean and swim in that cool pool you see when you google Wollongong. It's in the famous wollongong photo of the harbour area. :)
Yesterday I had an epic brick workout. OK OK OK. I'm racing in 4 weeks. :) Canberra, 2.2k - 80k - 20k. It was cheap entry and two others are coming with to split costs, so not too expensive. Anyways, yesterday I bike for two hours on the trainer (72.5k)! at 36.25km/hr which is awesome pace, then rocked 15k run in 1:06 (or about 4:26/km), first ten k on about a 4:24/km pace, then slowed a bit. Really excited for this race! My goal is about 40 minutes in the water, 2:10 or faster on the bike and 1:30 on the run, plus transitions. Total goal is under 4:30.
I can't wait! I feel fit and want to test myself so bad!
Today is the Sydney marathon and a bunch of the girls are running various races in it. A few are running the 4k, some the 9k and one is running the half marathon. I'm excited for Michelle Majovsky who's running the half marathon. She's a great girl and has been getting into running more and more this year, taking on the 14k of city2surf and now this! She blames me.
Jubee boobee and I are starting to plan our end of year travels. We're thinking of getting a Jucy van, as it's transpo AND accomodations and we could buy groceries and keep them with us and we wouldn't have to worry about carrying our stuff everywhere. It ain't cheap, but when you consider that hostels are AT MINIMUM $30 - $35 per night each, it ain't half bad.
PS - I LOVED that video John sent of Lucas and Sierra! It was absolutely adorable! Made our week. :)
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Sydney Adventure, with a purpose
Today I got up at my usual 4:30AM, though had a different focus for today. Today I was heading up to Sydney for my DET interview. I hopped an early train and got into Sydney just after 9AM. I went down to the harbour and circular quay and checked out the expo, pathetic. Really small, nothing really. Oh well. I banked on this taking about an hour of my time, but it was more like 3 minutes, so I had some time to kill. I biked around a bit but I was wearing dress clothes and it was stinky hot already so I didn’t wanna get too sweaty. I chilled out across from the opera house and had an apple and pear and just enjoyed it, smack dab between Sydney harbour bridge and the opera house, unbelievable. I gotta soak it all in! After that I bike up to a shop I had emailed and picked up some superfeet, hopefully these fix my ITB issue. After that i made my way up to Hyde Park, not far from where I needed to go, also not far from the train station. It’s a beautiful little park in the middle of downtown. I hung out there and ate another apple, another pear and some roo mince. MM MM.
I knew I was super early but I went up anyways (about an hour early) and checked in, as this is part of the procedure. The guy told me to chill out and come back at 11:30, for my 11:51AM interview. Cool, so I went back down and walked around a tad more and came back. There were 5 of us there for the 11:51Am round. The others were all girls, from a variety of Universities. I finally got to where I needed to be and met the two folks who were interviewing me. They first look over your prac reports, and your supporting documents and then you get called in and they start questioning you. I was nervous, but once I got into it I was good to go, calm as a cucumber. I started getting emotional, right off the bat, dunno why, kept it in check, but could feel it. They’re asking me where I see myself going with my teaching career and why I want to teach, and it’s a very personal thing I guess, I have big dreams and it’s hard to share them with people who may reject you, and who are there to criticize you, in a sense. Anyways, that went awesome and then all the questions I answered they were VERY pleased with, to say the least. All in all, I killed it! KILLLLLLLLED IT! I’m so happy wit how it went, and kind of relieved that it’s all over. I’m excited to get on with the rest of this thing, see it through and get goin’!
I’m on the way home now, I’m writing this on my laptop that I brought with me... the backpack was a little heavy you can imagine.
Gotta get home, see Tunes, train and work on some homework. Tomorrow morning is another swim workout with Jerry! I’m pumped for it! 1600M TT... Yesterday I did 1500M in 27:50, pretty good for me! Tomorrow I hope to get that 1600M in ~29:30. I’m going to keep building that up every workout til I hit 2.2k, and hopefully get that in under 40 minutes.
I’m curious when Mom and Dad are getting home. I thought it was around now, but I haven’t heard from them at all.
I knew I was super early but I went up anyways (about an hour early) and checked in, as this is part of the procedure. The guy told me to chill out and come back at 11:30, for my 11:51AM interview. Cool, so I went back down and walked around a tad more and came back. There were 5 of us there for the 11:51Am round. The others were all girls, from a variety of Universities. I finally got to where I needed to be and met the two folks who were interviewing me. They first look over your prac reports, and your supporting documents and then you get called in and they start questioning you. I was nervous, but once I got into it I was good to go, calm as a cucumber. I started getting emotional, right off the bat, dunno why, kept it in check, but could feel it. They’re asking me where I see myself going with my teaching career and why I want to teach, and it’s a very personal thing I guess, I have big dreams and it’s hard to share them with people who may reject you, and who are there to criticize you, in a sense. Anyways, that went awesome and then all the questions I answered they were VERY pleased with, to say the least. All in all, I killed it! KILLLLLLLLED IT! I’m so happy wit how it went, and kind of relieved that it’s all over. I’m excited to get on with the rest of this thing, see it through and get goin’!
I’m on the way home now, I’m writing this on my laptop that I brought with me... the backpack was a little heavy you can imagine.
Gotta get home, see Tunes, train and work on some homework. Tomorrow morning is another swim workout with Jerry! I’m pumped for it! 1600M TT... Yesterday I did 1500M in 27:50, pretty good for me! Tomorrow I hope to get that 1600M in ~29:30. I’m going to keep building that up every workout til I hit 2.2k, and hopefully get that in under 40 minutes.
I’m curious when Mom and Dad are getting home. I thought it was around now, but I haven’t heard from them at all.
Big Day
BACK on the train to Sydney today! This ride is getting monotonous. Today I have to go up as I have an interview with the DET (department of education and training) of NSW. Should be ok. They ask me a bunch of questions (why do you want to teach? How will you cater for learners with different abilities? How would you go about planning a unit of work etc etc). I'm not terrible nervous, but a little bit... gotta be right?
My interview is at 11:51 (I'll be there for 11:30AM. I'm catching the 7:03AM train from here and get into Sydney at 8:30AM. Gonna go pick up some superfeet insoles for the shoes. I think I'mhaving these leg issues because I HAVEN'T had superfeet since about May, when this first started happening. Between those and stretching it like a mofo, I think I'll be aight.
ALSO! The Sydney marathon is this weekend. I'm not racing but the expo is on so I'm gonna just go check that out today too! That's down at Sydney harbour. Maybe I should check THAT out before buying them at the store that I know carries them.. hmmm.... expos are normally more expensive though, we'll see.
So I guess that's then. I'll do that stuff and head home right after my interview is done around 12:30.
My interview is at 11:51 (I'll be there for 11:30AM. I'm catching the 7:03AM train from here and get into Sydney at 8:30AM. Gonna go pick up some superfeet insoles for the shoes. I think I'mhaving these leg issues because I HAVEN'T had superfeet since about May, when this first started happening. Between those and stretching it like a mofo, I think I'll be aight.
ALSO! The Sydney marathon is this weekend. I'm not racing but the expo is on so I'm gonna just go check that out today too! That's down at Sydney harbour. Maybe I should check THAT out before buying them at the store that I know carries them.. hmmm.... expos are normally more expensive though, we'll see.
So I guess that's then. I'll do that stuff and head home right after my interview is done around 12:30.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Gold Coast Round 2
Wednesday
I had a presentation this morning, one that I’ve been looking forward to for a while now. It was our interactive tutorial on ADHD. That went pretty well I think and the brochure that I made was wicked good so that should be a great mark. I then rode as fast as possible to the train station to catch the 11:41AM train to the airport with Tunes She met me there, and was kind enough to bring all my stuff with her! That must’ve been one hell of a journey. We got here with little to no dramas, except Tunesy had an earache during the descent into Coolongatta and for a while afterwards. We met up with Alex, grabbed some groceries, had some roo burgers (obviously not Jubes) and went to bed.
Thursday
I got up early today and got a good run in, 17k. Ran from our place down past Surfers all the way to Southport, where all the tri stuff was happening... and back. Then we got cleaned up and Tunes and I headed down to the expo for a while. We met up with Alex and headed over to the team lunch. It was $20 a ticket, but a buffet and a chance to see Simon Whitfield. WHOA! Highlight of the trip! Not only did we SEE him, I met him, got a photo, he signed my IMC visor and he got pics taken with his medals! How amazing is that?! So after that we headed BACK to the expo for a bit, walked with Team Canada in the Parade of Nations, watched the opening ceremonies, and then caught a bus home. We went to bed straight away.
Friday
This morning I ran down to Thrifty and picked up the car that I had reserved. We planned to go up to Mount Tamborine, in the Hinterland. We went to the skywalk and walked around this beautiful rain forest on suspended bridges, really gorgeous nature and scenery. Then we headed back and found another cool trail that had a beautiful waterfall and some lizards along the way! After that we drove around for a bit, watched some people PREPARE to hang glide, but winds prevented them from going for a while and we BOTH grew impatient and left. There were still nice views up there though. J We drove into Nerang and found a grocery store to grab a few things while we had the car. I dropped Tunes off at the hotel and took the car back to Thrifty. We just chilled for the rest of the night, had some more roo burgers and hit the hay.
Saturday
Early rise! Volunteer day. We got up at like 3AM, as we had to be there at 5:30AM and we wanted to take care of all morning business before heading down. So we got there right around 5:30 and were assigned our jobs. We ended up marshalling pedestrian crossing on the course. SOME PEOPLE CAN BE DICKS! So we had to watch for athletes and let people go when it was clear. It was a HOT day and we were stupid heads because we didn’t have sunscreen. Needless to say we got BURNT! We were let off at 11:30 and went and grabbed more food and water from the volunteer tent. We ate for a bit and then headed over to the grandstand area at the finish to watch some age groupers finish off their races. It wasn’t busy so we got a real good spot right by the finish line. The elite men’s race was at 3:15PM, but we knew that we would have to save that awesome spot in the grandstands if we wanted to see the action up close and personal. Yes, we stayed there for 3 hours, baking in the sun. J Tunes went and got us food and I saved the spot, then I went to go pee and grab some more food from the volunteer tent (took advantage of that for sure!) As I was coming out of the tent Alex spotted me and we walked back to where Julia was together. So the three of us were just there chilling.. waiting. Apparently we were in the VIP section of the grandstands and they weren’t letting many people in. I was terrified that after all this waiting they’d boot us out, but they didn’t. We were in the PERFECT spot for all the action. We could see the swim from looking over the back of the grandstands, a little covered by trees, but not terrible. THEN, the transition zone is JUST on the other side of the finishing chute, so we were in PERFECT viewing area for that also. AND! The bike course was 8 x 5k, each time biking through the transition zone! WICKED! So every ~7 mins they came flying through in front of us, what action! Then on the run it was 4 x 2.5k! Again, running through transition! We saw ALLLL the action! Simon placed 8th, not terrible. Alistair Brownlee from GBR outran Javier Gomez from ESP for the win. Brownlee raced in 5 races this year and won ‘em all, unbelievable, and he’s 21! THIS WAS THE LONGEST DAY IN HISTORY! We were outside from before sunrise til after sunset! We didn’t get home til about 7:30 and went to bed almost straight away.
Sunday
We got up with the intention of going back for round 2 of volunteering but then bailed on the idea and decided just to go down and support Alex and take photos of him. That was a blast. I had his fancy camera and chased him around for an hour and fifteen mins and Julia chased ME around taking photos of him... and other stuff. J He did pretty decent! After his race, we chilled for a bit, bought our second ticket for the dinner that night ($30!) as we got one free. We got home and chilled out for a while, then I headed down and picked up our rental car for Monday. Around 5PM we left for the dinner. The food was a bit of a disappointment for $30, just a burger a mini meat pie and some other weird thing. So we chilled out for a bit and in the middle of this MASSIVE tent area we were in, there was a market going on. AMAZING to see, people from all sorts of countries all over the world, trading their team gear with each other. A funny sight to see a Mexican in a Canada vest with a New Zealand visor on. This went on most of the night. We watched some of the awards ceremony then went outside for some fresh air and a pee break. We were just chilling out there when Sister Madonna Budder came by to take a leak. This woman is incredible. 79 years old and still dong Ironmans! I met her at IMC last year and just grabbed a quick photo with her. After she was done peeing, Alex approached her and we chatted for a while. I had goosebumps, this woman is a legend! I’ve seen her all over most telecasts of Ironman races. She was saying that her goal is to race Kona this year and then IMC and Kona next year to open up the 80-84 age group at those races. How cool is that? After talking to her, Alex bailed and went back to the hotel. Tunes and I stayed for a bit longer, good thing as they started allowing seconds (and thirds for meJ ) of food. We watched some more awards, they did the draw for the bike (I didn’t win) and we headed home.
Monday
Another jam packed day! We were up at 3:30 AM as I told Alex I’d get him (and his big bike box) to the airport for 5AM as he had a 6:10AM flight to Sydney. So we dropped him off and then just kept heading South to Byron Bay. What a beautiful little town. It’s known as a hippy, laid back kinda town. We pulled up at the beach and Tuens dozed off again. I went for a run along the beach, 15 mins or so. Awesome way to start my day with a run at 6AM as the sun is coming up at the Easterly most point in Australia. After that we went for a walk, up to the “official” most easterly point, then to the lighthouse for some photos. Just GORGEOUS! We realize we have to appreciate what we’ve got. I appreciate home more now, also Daly and Huntsville. So much we’ve experienced in the past couple of years. We headed a little further south to Lennox Heads, saw some more amazing views and walked around (me barefoot) the town and saw some stuff. We THEN headed back up to Byron Bay and walked around the town for a while, looking AT the shops (not really in) and then had a coffee/mocha at “Twisted Sista”. After that we had another hour and a bit to kill before heading to the airport, so we took another walk along the beach, soaking it all up. Wow. We certainly appreciate this, but it’s incredible, we’re in paradise. So we got here at 4:40PM and I dropped off the car, sat down with 4 hours to kill and decided to write this up. J We’ve still got some mad travel ahead of us on this journey. Probably not home til after midnight, maybe after 1AM. WOO HOO!
I had a presentation this morning, one that I’ve been looking forward to for a while now. It was our interactive tutorial on ADHD. That went pretty well I think and the brochure that I made was wicked good so that should be a great mark. I then rode as fast as possible to the train station to catch the 11:41AM train to the airport with Tunes She met me there, and was kind enough to bring all my stuff with her! That must’ve been one hell of a journey. We got here with little to no dramas, except Tunesy had an earache during the descent into Coolongatta and for a while afterwards. We met up with Alex, grabbed some groceries, had some roo burgers (obviously not Jubes) and went to bed.
Thursday
I got up early today and got a good run in, 17k. Ran from our place down past Surfers all the way to Southport, where all the tri stuff was happening... and back. Then we got cleaned up and Tunes and I headed down to the expo for a while. We met up with Alex and headed over to the team lunch. It was $20 a ticket, but a buffet and a chance to see Simon Whitfield. WHOA! Highlight of the trip! Not only did we SEE him, I met him, got a photo, he signed my IMC visor and he got pics taken with his medals! How amazing is that?! So after that we headed BACK to the expo for a bit, walked with Team Canada in the Parade of Nations, watched the opening ceremonies, and then caught a bus home. We went to bed straight away.
Friday
This morning I ran down to Thrifty and picked up the car that I had reserved. We planned to go up to Mount Tamborine, in the Hinterland. We went to the skywalk and walked around this beautiful rain forest on suspended bridges, really gorgeous nature and scenery. Then we headed back and found another cool trail that had a beautiful waterfall and some lizards along the way! After that we drove around for a bit, watched some people PREPARE to hang glide, but winds prevented them from going for a while and we BOTH grew impatient and left. There were still nice views up there though. J We drove into Nerang and found a grocery store to grab a few things while we had the car. I dropped Tunes off at the hotel and took the car back to Thrifty. We just chilled for the rest of the night, had some more roo burgers and hit the hay.
Saturday
Early rise! Volunteer day. We got up at like 3AM, as we had to be there at 5:30AM and we wanted to take care of all morning business before heading down. So we got there right around 5:30 and were assigned our jobs. We ended up marshalling pedestrian crossing on the course. SOME PEOPLE CAN BE DICKS! So we had to watch for athletes and let people go when it was clear. It was a HOT day and we were stupid heads because we didn’t have sunscreen. Needless to say we got BURNT! We were let off at 11:30 and went and grabbed more food and water from the volunteer tent. We ate for a bit and then headed over to the grandstand area at the finish to watch some age groupers finish off their races. It wasn’t busy so we got a real good spot right by the finish line. The elite men’s race was at 3:15PM, but we knew that we would have to save that awesome spot in the grandstands if we wanted to see the action up close and personal. Yes, we stayed there for 3 hours, baking in the sun. J Tunes went and got us food and I saved the spot, then I went to go pee and grab some more food from the volunteer tent (took advantage of that for sure!) As I was coming out of the tent Alex spotted me and we walked back to where Julia was together. So the three of us were just there chilling.. waiting. Apparently we were in the VIP section of the grandstands and they weren’t letting many people in. I was terrified that after all this waiting they’d boot us out, but they didn’t. We were in the PERFECT spot for all the action. We could see the swim from looking over the back of the grandstands, a little covered by trees, but not terrible. THEN, the transition zone is JUST on the other side of the finishing chute, so we were in PERFECT viewing area for that also. AND! The bike course was 8 x 5k, each time biking through the transition zone! WICKED! So every ~7 mins they came flying through in front of us, what action! Then on the run it was 4 x 2.5k! Again, running through transition! We saw ALLLL the action! Simon placed 8th, not terrible. Alistair Brownlee from GBR outran Javier Gomez from ESP for the win. Brownlee raced in 5 races this year and won ‘em all, unbelievable, and he’s 21! THIS WAS THE LONGEST DAY IN HISTORY! We were outside from before sunrise til after sunset! We didn’t get home til about 7:30 and went to bed almost straight away.
Sunday
We got up with the intention of going back for round 2 of volunteering but then bailed on the idea and decided just to go down and support Alex and take photos of him. That was a blast. I had his fancy camera and chased him around for an hour and fifteen mins and Julia chased ME around taking photos of him... and other stuff. J He did pretty decent! After his race, we chilled for a bit, bought our second ticket for the dinner that night ($30!) as we got one free. We got home and chilled out for a while, then I headed down and picked up our rental car for Monday. Around 5PM we left for the dinner. The food was a bit of a disappointment for $30, just a burger a mini meat pie and some other weird thing. So we chilled out for a bit and in the middle of this MASSIVE tent area we were in, there was a market going on. AMAZING to see, people from all sorts of countries all over the world, trading their team gear with each other. A funny sight to see a Mexican in a Canada vest with a New Zealand visor on. This went on most of the night. We watched some of the awards ceremony then went outside for some fresh air and a pee break. We were just chilling out there when Sister Madonna Budder came by to take a leak. This woman is incredible. 79 years old and still dong Ironmans! I met her at IMC last year and just grabbed a quick photo with her. After she was done peeing, Alex approached her and we chatted for a while. I had goosebumps, this woman is a legend! I’ve seen her all over most telecasts of Ironman races. She was saying that her goal is to race Kona this year and then IMC and Kona next year to open up the 80-84 age group at those races. How cool is that? After talking to her, Alex bailed and went back to the hotel. Tunes and I stayed for a bit longer, good thing as they started allowing seconds (and thirds for meJ ) of food. We watched some more awards, they did the draw for the bike (I didn’t win) and we headed home.
Monday
Another jam packed day! We were up at 3:30 AM as I told Alex I’d get him (and his big bike box) to the airport for 5AM as he had a 6:10AM flight to Sydney. So we dropped him off and then just kept heading South to Byron Bay. What a beautiful little town. It’s known as a hippy, laid back kinda town. We pulled up at the beach and Tuens dozed off again. I went for a run along the beach, 15 mins or so. Awesome way to start my day with a run at 6AM as the sun is coming up at the Easterly most point in Australia. After that we went for a walk, up to the “official” most easterly point, then to the lighthouse for some photos. Just GORGEOUS! We realize we have to appreciate what we’ve got. I appreciate home more now, also Daly and Huntsville. So much we’ve experienced in the past couple of years. We headed a little further south to Lennox Heads, saw some more amazing views and walked around (me barefoot) the town and saw some stuff. We THEN headed back up to Byron Bay and walked around the town for a while, looking AT the shops (not really in) and then had a coffee/mocha at “Twisted Sista”. After that we had another hour and a bit to kill before heading to the airport, so we took another walk along the beach, soaking it all up. Wow. We certainly appreciate this, but it’s incredible, we’re in paradise. So we got here at 4:40PM and I dropped off the car, sat down with 4 hours to kill and decided to write this up. J We’ve still got some mad travel ahead of us on this journey. Probably not home til after midnight, maybe after 1AM. WOO HOO!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The bikes are Gong!
Not a quote from me, Angelo said that. We have a bike thievery epidemic in Wollongong. In the course of a week about 6 went missing that we know of. The Erin's, who live two doors down both had there's stolen last weekend, as did the Norwegians (3) next door. Then a couple nights ago, Jared's was stole also. Mine stays inside thankfully, but jeez.
OK. Here's the run down of this past week. It's gonna be short form and action packed, be ready for it.
- Homework is insanity, literally every spare moment I have is spent working on something, but I'm getting through it. Last week I had a presentation on the Tuesday in Maths. Made an AMAZING resource for teaching in the number strand to stage 1, teacher LOVED IT. Also, handed in a report ont he Friday for an a presentation we did the previous Friday. Yesterday was spent hammering out an assignment due in creative arts on Tuesday. Today I'm working almost exclusively on ADHD interactive tutorial that I have Wednesday, but also have to write 2500 rationale for that maths thing we did last week. I'm lovin' it though! For the most part anyways.
- My training is outa this world. I'm getting in lots of it, lots of quality stuff. Hours upon hours on the trainer in the basement. Gotta get fit gotta get fit! Gettin' back in the pool this week for some swimmin'.
- Gold Coast in a few days! Yipppppeeeeeeee! ITU world championships! Jubers and I are volunteering and my buddy Alex is racing in the Age Group race! We're gonna rent a car and see some other places nearby also. Should be a nice little break! I AM bringing homework though.
:( I have no choice.
- Last night Angelo came over (he's a Canadian that started in our program here in July) and played the guitar and was singing, he's pretty darn good!
- Jared and I went down to meet Julia after work. We normally try to play some little trick on her, normally hide and jump out, but she always catches us. It was a full moon last night and we came up with the perfect plan. Jared would hide out across the street, behind this brick fence thing, and I would go meet Jubes as normal to walk her home. Then as we near where Jared is I would turn and point out the full moon, then mention it's not the only full moon out tonight! Jared would jump up and execute a perfect mooning. It went almost to plan and she got a good kick out of it! hahaha, these are the times we'll remember.
- So today I'm gonna jump on the bike for 3 hours! and then head over to Derek's to meet up with him and Clint and get some more stuff done for this ADHD thing...
OK. Here's the run down of this past week. It's gonna be short form and action packed, be ready for it.
- Homework is insanity, literally every spare moment I have is spent working on something, but I'm getting through it. Last week I had a presentation on the Tuesday in Maths. Made an AMAZING resource for teaching in the number strand to stage 1, teacher LOVED IT. Also, handed in a report ont he Friday for an a presentation we did the previous Friday. Yesterday was spent hammering out an assignment due in creative arts on Tuesday. Today I'm working almost exclusively on ADHD interactive tutorial that I have Wednesday, but also have to write 2500 rationale for that maths thing we did last week. I'm lovin' it though! For the most part anyways.
- My training is outa this world. I'm getting in lots of it, lots of quality stuff. Hours upon hours on the trainer in the basement. Gotta get fit gotta get fit! Gettin' back in the pool this week for some swimmin'.
- Gold Coast in a few days! Yipppppeeeeeeee! ITU world championships! Jubers and I are volunteering and my buddy Alex is racing in the Age Group race! We're gonna rent a car and see some other places nearby also. Should be a nice little break! I AM bringing homework though.
:( I have no choice.
- Last night Angelo came over (he's a Canadian that started in our program here in July) and played the guitar and was singing, he's pretty darn good!
- Jared and I went down to meet Julia after work. We normally try to play some little trick on her, normally hide and jump out, but she always catches us. It was a full moon last night and we came up with the perfect plan. Jared would hide out across the street, behind this brick fence thing, and I would go meet Jubes as normal to walk her home. Then as we near where Jared is I would turn and point out the full moon, then mention it's not the only full moon out tonight! Jared would jump up and execute a perfect mooning. It went almost to plan and she got a good kick out of it! hahaha, these are the times we'll remember.
- So today I'm gonna jump on the bike for 3 hours! and then head over to Derek's to meet up with him and Clint and get some more stuff done for this ADHD thing...
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