Back to reality - ouch!

Following last Sunday's race, I had a 90min ride, 20min run and 30min swim scheduled for Monday. I was amazed at how good I felt. A really strong sign that I'm tracking well for Kona, and something I need to remind myself of when I get anxious about what I can (or can't) do this week (see later).

Trying a bit of SUP post-race

I flew back from the Phillipines on Tuesday, landed 11.30am Wednesday, got home, repacked and drove the 250km up north to Dookie, where I was supervising final year vet students on their dairy selective. I am a bit paranoid about losing all the gains I've made on my swim, so I stopped off at Shepparton (35min from Dookie) and squeezed in a quick session. I was wrecked by the time I went to bed on Wednesday night (I only caught about 4hrs sleep on the flight Tuesday night) but at least I slept really well that night; something I don't always do in a strange bed.

At the top of Mt Major (200m climb) looking down at Dookie College

A couple of easy runs Thursday and Friday morning, and another swim after my drive back on Friday night, and I wondered how I would fare through my weekend sessions. 

I was pleasantly surprised! I started out feeling lousy on my 4hr hill ride, but started up the 1:20 (a 7km climb, yes it's 5% as the name suggests!) and soon I realised I was pushing 200W fairly comfortably. I had coffee then rode back with some of the Melbourne Tri club crew, and managed to hold on pretty well. My long hill run this morning wasn't quick, but I felt ok, given the week I've had, and that it is only 7 days post race. Our usual Sunday swim went ok too - we do all-out sprints for 10-16 strokes with loads of recovery in between, and I know if I'm really fatigued as the arms don't turn over as fast. Today was a good one.

I'm heading back to Dookie again tomorrow morning, and I've had lots of feelings of anxiety about how it will compromise my training/recovery. I had a week of taper, then the race in Cebu, then a recovery week, and next week I will probably only be able to get to the pool in Shepparton once (I usually swim Tues, Wed, Thur and Friday). I will drop into the pool again next Friday, but I guess I feel like I will have had 3 less-than-consistent weeks. And consistency is key. But work has to be done too, and I derive so much joy from seeing passionate students learning more about my area of vet science, that I know it will be worth it. And I need to remind myself of a) all the work I have done, and how fit I already am; b) that 9 weeks is still a long time, and I am better off DYING to get back to consistent big training weeks, than being over it; and c) On race day, it's not just what your body can do, but what your mind and mental strength bring to the table. And last week proved that, while I can still do work on that (we all can), I have nothing to be anxious about.

Tonight, we are going out to dinner to celebrate the launch of our new business, BOXSUPP (link below)
Link to BOXSUPP website
This is Pete's idea, but we will both be working on it together, something I am so excited about. The concept is brilliant - your daily vitamins and supplements are in one pack (instead of a cupboard full of containers) and you have a month's supply in your box. Our hope/ dream is that this business will be successful enough that it will make us more mobile, and we can choose where we live in the next few years. Not that we don't love Melbourne (especially on a sunny day like today!) but winters in Queensland certainly appeal :)

BOXSUPP - our future

9 weeks to go
This week's numbers - The bonus open water swims in Cebu bumped up the swim volume!!