Lucky Number 418

My name is now officially on the list. Right at the bottom. Pretty much where it'll be on the results page! hehe

So, my arms, legs, kayak, helmet and horse will all be marked with the number 418 for the Blackwood Marathon.

Trying to see if there's any significance to the number 418, so I did a search of the number and didn't come up with much of anything, so went browsing a Chinese Meaning of Numbers page on an astrology site.

According to this page, since 418 is an even number, it's a Yin symbol. Yin symblos represent: Dark, Matter, Earth, Female, Passive, Tiger, Down, North, Water, Winter, Shade, Receptive, Valleys, Moon, Cold, Death.

Not so happy about that last one! Sheesh!

• The number four seems to be about Earth and feelings of security.
• The number one is about initiation, beginning and conception. Also, 'One has a thrusting energy that surges forth new growth and potential.' Cool!
• The number eight is supernatural, it would seem. 'To the Chinese mind, number eight has that "anything is possible" feel to it.'

Well, it's not much to go on, but it seems my number might be working in my favour! Well, except maybe that death bit!

Normally, my favourite number is 25, of course, because it's my birthdate, but I think I'll run with 418 for awhile! :)

What's your lucky number?

Still no strapper...

Well, now I'm starting to get nervous.

A strapper is absolutely essential to ensure the wellbeing of my horse. Not that Mat can't do it, it's just that he's not likely to have time with all his other responsibilities! And I did a few more calculations, and I don't think I'll even be able to dress TK prior to the ride as I originally had hoped, because I'll probably be cutting it too fine for time if I want to eat something solid and still swim without puking.

I have a couple of people on my list I can still try, but, unfortunately they are people I am less confident about. Not that they can't do it, just that they have so much less experience that it will take a lot more work to have them ready and feeling confident about a horse they don't know and a sport they have barely heard of. And that's assuming either of them agrees. And it's only 9 days from the event!

I also have one person I will go back and ask again, because I've heard a faint whisper there may be a change in her original plans. Maybe she can squeeze me in afterall?

And another I can BEG and cry to, and if worse comes to worse she will cancel her Hallowe'en party to help me. But that seems a bit harsh.

Finally got ahold of my last few relatives last night to see if they were coming. They are coming, but the 'when' is a bit of a question due to work commitments. They will be there by the afternoon sometime for sure. That's cool! A few more people to cheer me past the finish line!

The Show is on this weekend, and things start to fire up at work, with zillions of people coming and going now. I have Pump and Attack training tonight with Kirsty and a few others, as we are doing a demo for the Show, one at 11ish and one at 4ish.

After that, Mat and I are heading to either Albany, Margaret River or Bunbury to paddle on Sunday and Monday. I'd like to pin this down very quickly, so we can make the necessary arrangements, but we can be very indecisive! I think. :P

Probably won't be able to squeeze in a run or bike tonight, must get groceries before training. There's only so much rice, beans and frozen veg you can eat before you think, "seriously, how hard is it to buy a bit of food?"

Off to feed the animals and get ready for work!

Easy Run with 10 days to go

Tomorrow will be single digits till the big day. Yikes!

This morning I couldn't sleep so got out of bed at 6:30 and did stuff. Like complete my entry form and pay my entry fee, as mentioned earlier. I had butterflies all morning.

By 9am I was finally ready to get out and do something. I decided to do my regular 5km run. Just a maintenance run, nothing long or complicated. I headed out with those butterflies. What's interesting is that the nerves I was feeling from submitting my entry were pretty much the same as the feeling I get before a race. Some strange combination of anticpation and dread, all forms of excitement bundled up into a nervous energy ball in the belly.

And it made me run faster than usual. I'm sure of it.

I was feeling pretty good and was cruising right along until BAM! 3km in, I have the stitch from hell! It finally forced me to walk, not once, but FOUR times! It sapped my strength and just ruined my wicked pace. At the 3k mark I was at 17 minutes, a full minute faster than my usual pace. That set me on track for what I was hoping would be a personal best 5k run, and was looking to pick up the pace, but the stitch was going to be a problem. I walked out the stitch and headed off again, but it wasn't long before it dragged me down, again and again. I shortcutted home, only saving a few hundred metres, but needing it. :( Still a good pace (10.4kph), even with all the walking, but not a great feeling end to that run, unfortunately.

Lesson learned: I didn't hydrate sufficiently prior to the run. I was not prepared for the heat and wind. Even at 9am it was quite hot (already 25 degrees), and I only drank about 250mL of water, which is far less than I typically drink before any session (usually work on 500-750mL to pre-hydrate). Of course, I figured it was going to be a short easy run, so wasn't paying enough attention to all the conditions around me. So let it be noted that hydration is imperative, no matter what the circumstances, but particularly in the heat!

My hydration belt was shipped this morning, so I hope to have it by Friday. That means I can do another run or two with the belt on and see how drinking on the run works for me. I think it'll be really important and will give me the boost up the hills on the Blackwood day!

I also did my first run in my new visor! It's awesome, because the sun is off my face, and it's absorbing lots of sweat, but my head gets to breathe. I simply feel too hot in a regular cap. This was excellent! Very pleased with this purchase.

Now I'm off to try my gloves and paddle in the lounge room for awhile.

Mat and I will be going to REAL water this weekend and really paddling. Was noting on the Blackwood event page that they have four portages this year, as the water is quite low, so that will be quite the challenge.

Also, hopefully have a strapper! Updates to follow when I get a yay or nay!

I've Done It!!

I've filled in my Entry Form.

I've paid my $110.00

Now it's REALLY official.

I'm in.

I'm going to be a Blackwood Iron Lady!

I'm litterally shaking and have butterflies! I can feel my heart pounding. This makes it so official that it's impossible to not feel... SOMETHING :)

12 days and counting

Saturday was a good day. I did my pool lifeguard requalification and as well as CPR, rescues, and a bit of legal stuff, it also includes a 400 metre swim, which I did in 9:20 - they give you 13 minutes. For the swim you have to do 100 each of breast, freestyle, side stroke and survival backstroke (which is 'elementary backstroke' back in Canada). I did 200 breast, skipping the free, and still did well. Probably better than if I had been able to do freestyle anyway! hehe

Today, Monday, I don't have to work until 4:30pm. So, I planned a big morning of exercise, and in the end only rode my horse, and even there I didn't do that as fast as I had planned, but that was mostly because MD decided to come with us and he really started to wear out, as it was 30 degrees out, and I was working TK in a trot and canter, but with lots of walk breaks to let MD catch up. At one point I found a dam to let MD drink. Please note that MD HATES to get wet. Hates baths, only goes in to his ankles at the ocean, and just avoids getting wet. Period.

With that in mind, here's MD at the dam:

Right up to the belly!

Right now he's crashed and burned at home. I don't think he'll be moving too well tomorrow. Poor dog!

I can relate!

I've been feeling kinda ... demoralised? Procrastinationey? Bummed? the last few days, if I bother to stop and think for any amount of time.

I was reading on another site about "end of training blues" and I am certain that is what I am feeling!

There is a sense of disapointment and sadness just hovering about. I guess I've gone from panic to something a little different now.

I also feel sad that I won't have all the people there that I was hoping to have. In the end I know that it doesn't really matter, since I would hardly see them all day and would be pretty focused on what I have to do next, but the idea of having their support has turned out to be a lot more important to me than I initially gave weight to. If I had been aware of this, I would have made phone calls months ago to get them to book the date out. But I suppose months ago I wasn't completely sure I'd be for sure doing it. And now suddenly here it is. I guess I can't be disapointed that people have other things to do if they didn't even know the date of this crazy event!

Anyway, have to get ready for work now.

And try to find a strapper for the big day!

What Would Bear Grylls Do?

If you haven't heard of Bear Grylls or Man vs Wild then you've probably been living under a rock somewhere.

Of course, if you've been living under a rock somewhere you might already have the requisite survival skills and not need Bear's advice.

But I'm starting near the end and not the beginning of this story...

We went in search of water.

Lake Ewlyamartup, as mentioned earlier, smelled like death and was was pretty shallow and gross. So, I, in my infinate wisdom, assumed that Lake Dumbleyung, being so much bigger and so much deeper.... and once upon a time, only a few years ago, in fact, I even swam in it ... I assumed it would have, well, you know... water in it!

Picked up the kayaks from Carl & Helen, and Mat and I headed to east Dumbleyung. We could have gone west towards Boyup Brook and actually rowed in the Blackwood River, but Dumbleyung was half the distance away, and that was definitely the tipping point in its favour.

When we got near, things didn't look promising.



Not much water in there!



But when we got down to the boat ramp. And we could see that there was water out there. Quite a long way out there mind you... I can remember swimming to that rock.... Anyway, we decided to go for a little stroll...

Yes, that's a boat ramp

Look! I'm wearing thongs in the snow!

That's not snow! It's SALT!

The water looked pretty shallow, so Mat decided to see how deep it was. We needed a bit more than ankle deep to do any paddling in, and it looked pretty shallow for as far as we could see. Hard to tell for sure though, so in he went!

If you can't go to the ocean...

And pretty suddenly it was deeper than ankles, and Mat was up to his knees in salty muddy crud!

Keen for a swim?

And this is where I started laughing and saying, "What would Bear Grylls do!?" And then laughed a whole lot more!



Mat had to sacrifice a thong to the depths, and then threw away the other one in frustration, but did a fine job of demonstrating the "spread your weight out and don't struggle too much" technique.

It was decided that the water was too shallow and the bottom too bottomless to risk going out. If we had managed to get out further we would have probably found deep enough water to paddle in, but if we got into any trouble - lost a paddle or boat or anything - we probably would have found ourselves stuck out there with no safe way back in to dry land.

So, instead of a paddle, we had a nice drive, a nice walk, a big laugh and a night in watching movies.

Do I Believe?

I've had a few family members plan other things for the Blackwood Marathon weekend. This week, when I spoke to a relative, he said, "Oh! Are you still planning on doing that!?" as if he had expected me to back out.

And when chatting with a family friend about the event she more or less said she'd be proud to see me complete even just half of one leg!

Even Mat has suggested that I do only two or three legs, rather than all five.

Perhaps my nature or history might suggest that I would have backed out?  Perhaps there is so much doubt in my ability to complete that people would expect me to wait until I was "more ready"? Perhaps people don't know how much I have trained and that the timing seems to be now or never? Perhaps they realise that I would rather do WELL and therefore might not normally have tried to do such an event when I know there is every likelihood that I will, in fact, do quite poorly.

One of the first thoughts that comes to mind is a quote from a university professor Mr Swedburg, who didn't know it, but was paraphasing a quote from my grade 4 teacher, Mr Saas.

Mr Saas said:

If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it badly.

And Mr Swedburg said:

Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.

It's true, I might be underprepared. I probably am. I might fail miserably. But the fact is I have tried! I haven't given up, and I have shown more stick-to-it-ness in this last year than I probably ever have for any other thing in my life! And I'm enjoying most of it, even the parts I'm not quite so good at! If nothing else, I am enjoying the learning and lessons!

This article from Sport at its Best is quite timely. He is referring to a few quotes from Agassi's book Open, where Agassi talks about how he was treated differently when he started to win, and how fleeting the good feeling of winning was. The author of this blog, Duff Gibson, says:

That’s why I believe that at the highest level, very successful athletes are more about the challenge than the actual victory.  In other words, the greatest fulfillment comes from the journey rather than the destination.

How often have we heard that in one form or another? But it seems far more true to me now that ever before, because now I have really challenged myself on this journey. It's been revealing and interesting, and to take a word from Duff: fulfilling!

Do I believe I can do the Blackwood Marathon? Yes, I do.
Do I believe I will do well? No, I don't.
Is there every chance I will fall in a heap? Yes, there is!
Possibly not even complete? Yes, that might happen.
Does it matter? Nope, not really!

It only matters now, to me, that I TRY. I can't do any better than that.



"At least not this year!" she says with a mischevious grin... ;)

Thursday 14th Oct - 16 days left

Long live tapering!!

I didn't go cycling at 6am this morning. I responded to that request by rolling over and sleeping for an extra two hours! Ah yes! That was awesome!!

After work I went in the gym with the intention of doing a 5km run, but I just walked the first two kilometres. It felt so good to just move at an easy comfortable effortless pace and not push. I did run/jog the last three ks, and it still only took 44 minutes all up without putting in a hard effort. I didn't knock myself out at all, I just went with 'comfortable' and 'cruizy'.

Attack, on the other hand, was freaking INSANELY HARD and I was honestly tempted for the first time EVER to walk out at the end of the first peak. Seriously! And it seems like I wasn't alone. Somthing about the change of weather back to the more wintry trends just made everything a little stiffer, I think. Spring is funny, isn't it? Summer one day, winter the next!

I tried that new drink mix for recovery that was supposed to have a buffering system to prevent cramping. It's basically a powdered Powerade, and it didn't make me feel any better than a Powerade or Berocca does. It certainly didn't prevent cramping! It didn't taste too bad, it was meant to taste like apple, but I probably wouldn't have picked the flavour without seeing the lable. It just tasted like a sweet sports drink. For the price I paid for the 4 sachets that make only 1 litre of fluid, certainly NOT worth the money and will just use Powerade for the extra glucose and sodium recharge!

Now for another long, hot shower and early night! I have been sleeping so well these days. And am not even feeling stressed right now. I think I've just sort of accepted that I have done all I can at this point and am just going with the flow. What happens will happen and I can't change that.

Wednesday - 13th October - 17 days to go

Nothing much to report. Went for bike ride with Helen, Carl and Graeme this morning at 6. Just a quick zip down Police Pools and I was really pleased with the ride. I was working at about 27kph. Now, there aren't any hills and there wasn't any wind so the conditions probably couldn't have been any better, but it was still a great ride! Fastest for the year!

Bought a few things. A visor to keep the sun out of my eyes, gloves to paddle in, and they will be great for cycling, too. I also ordered a bike box, for some food on the last leg of the journey and a water bottle holder to wear when I run and ride.

Taught Balance tonight. It was nice.

Have been on the Endurance Riding Forum to ask some advice about TK and getting him in tip top shape. Got some great advice! If you're interested in the discussion, click here! Looks like I have a lot more work to do! Will reply tomorrow. It's 9:30pm and it's time for bed.

Tuesday - 12th October - 18 days to go

Not done the day yet, but probably not doing a whole lot more with my day.

I was meant to bike ride after work today, but will go with Helen at 6am tomorrow instead. I am tired and I am tapering, afterall. I need to focus on feeling 'fresh' for these next two weeks.

I look at that 13km run on Monday as my last big run. Yes, I do have a 10km run coming up, but will be sticking to 5s and 7s for maintenance over the next two weeks. I know I have the run in me, and have been thinking of training for a half-marathon! So there I go, looking out for a new big crazy goal again! But I am enjoying running so much. I think because I had to work so much harder at this than anything else. I fought with my body, coaxed it, and eventually we came to this agreement. And I feel so very proud that I can run now! It has taken so long. Mostly I am proud that I stuck it out and I got here! Wow!

I am also feeling really confident with my swimming, considering that I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to do it at all a few weeks ago. As I suspected when working out my plan, I felt that I would be fit enough to handle the swim, and would just need to do a few sessions to ensure I had the breathing right. Freestyle would have been far more challenging, and I probably wouldn't have knocked off 1200m in my second swim, but freestyle's never been my forte anyway! :) At any rate, I am glad I was able to predict and interpret my body's reaction to the work! YAY!

Will try to keep TK intersted and happy going out these next few weeks, but as with me, all we can hope for now is maintenance, there really isn't any room for improvement left. Hopefully I can squeeze in a few more social rides with people from town to keep TK more enthused about riding out. He was so happy to see another horse when we finally met up with Mel on Chloe. We went from a snails pace to a big trot, with his expression saying "Oh thank goodness I'm not alone out here!!" Both horses were stoked to have another horse out there, though interestingly enough, neither seems to have any affinity for the other. TK can easily walk away from Chloe, but is much harder to separate from Sparky or Dee, for example. I also find he doesn't feed off her energy levels. Dee was calm and relaxed and that translated to a calm TK, but Chloe was virtually asleep on our ride, and TK was silly half the way. Interesting, eh?

One thing I do want to work on with TK in the long term is balancing his training output with his event output. And the other thing I want to work on is my confidence in my ability to ride him when his energy is high. I want him to go faster, but for us both to feel relaxed and in control. Most often when he's finally going at a speed that is where I want him to be, he feels frantic or overexcited, and he's working his mouth and neck in that weird racehorse way. He's still in my control, but he's just hovering there at the very edge of it, and it's an uneasy place for me. I either have to grasp that feeling with both hands and just go with it, or I am going to have to figure out how to keep him further from the edge.

I am steeling myself for the fact that we are probably going to have a hell of a start at Blackwood, but know that he'll run it out, calm down and we'll finish fine. The hill's'll knock some sense into him anyway! He was sure feeling them after the Manji ride, but handled them alright.

Bad news, though. Strapper number two is also unavaialable for the Blackwood weekend. And in fact, it's looking very much like Mat and I and T&E are going to be the main attendees. I hate to put any pressure on T&E, especially with T's back so crook, but they want to help, so I am going to accept it! I am just hoping to have a strapper that is a bit (dare I say it?) younger. T&E are in their 70s, and though they can accomplish some amazing things, I would hate to be the person that had a crazy horse wrench an arm or a heavy saddle do a back.

I hope to get out and paddle on Saturday afternoon. I work Saturday morning till 1, and I have my pool lifeguard requalification all day Sunday. The following weekend is the show and the fun run. Then the Blackwood. If I can't go tomorrow morning (and I haven't got a kayak yet, though I have been told to just call to say when I am coming to pick it up) then Saturday afternoon will be my last opportunity.

And then there is the cycle. Why couldn't the horse ride have been last? Seriously! Anyway, I will just keep going, just keep spinning (like Dory from Finding Nemo) and I will make it in the end.

Check out my last two posts which are links to the Map My Run maps for the courses. The distances aren't a perfect match, but the 'Climbs' speaks volumes. Time to move to somewhere with HILLS, TREES, and WATER!

Kackin' My Dacks

The cycle is a killer. Like a big scary death killer.  It's over two-thirds climb!

But don't take my word for it, check out this map!

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/detail/24192810/

There is a 4km long category 5 climb. I have my work cut out for me, to say the very least. And I think it's going to be even harder than I imagined, and trust me, I had no illusions about this event to start with!

If I complete this Marathon, I will really have accomplished something spectacular!

Comparing Running Routes and Elevations

Been playing around with Map My Run again...

Here is the Blackwood Marathon run. Click on the 'Climbs' tab (I do hope it's accessible to everyone) to see the elevation changes! WOW!

Thankfully, it would seem that the Trimmer Road run I do (or have done... twice) is a fair training place for this run.

However, the Blackwood run has TWO category 5 climbs. Near as I can tell, that's pretty frickin' bad! Okay, it's not too bad, 5 is the "least bad" of hill climbs in their system, but the Trimmer Hills don't even have enough elevation changes to constitue any analysis by their system!

Oh shit! I sure do wish I had done Trimmer Hills a few more times!

On to the analysis of the cycle! Be afraid, be VERY afraid!

Let me know if the runs aren't viewable and what, if any, error messages you get - I'm still new at this! :)

Monday - 11th October - 19 days to go

Oh geez, I'm in the teens!

But I had a good Monday. Monday's are usually a good workout day. It's the start of my week and I approach it with much vigour. Today was no exception.

I started with a 13km run, which I did I a good time. My fastest outdoor run of that distance so far, especially if I were to knock of the four minutes of farting around I did in the middle of the run.

It was a two loop trek of just over 6.5k, and so when I came in to the start/finish the first time at 39 minutes, I decided to give myself a full minute to rehydrate, and restart my run at 40 minutes, since that was my target time. And then I thought I better text G and tell him that I am going to be a little later to the pool, since I started my run a bit later than expected. Then I took off, and he replied, so I checked that, and then I saw my horses both laying down having a little nap, and they were SO CUTE I simply had to stop and take a photo. Of course, it's a new phone, and I was having a little trouble with it all... so at 43 minutes I actually started to run again!

80 minutes was my total target time for the 13km run, and I checked my watch at one point in the second lap and thought that from that point in the first lap I took 15 minutes to get to the start/stop point, so I better hurry, because I've only got 12 minutes!!  And so I started to push it! And push it hard! I was cruising! I betcha I was actually doing the otherwise unachievable 12km/hr at that point. And I ran like that for 9 minutes (!!) before I had to slow up a bit, but by that time, I was really on the home stretch and I came in in 78 minutes! Yes, that's right, you heard me correctly! I kicked ASS!  Now, granted, a 4 minute rest certainly helped, but maybe I should take a little lesson from that:

rests and breaks are your friend!

Then I zipped down to the pool on my bike and had a great little swim. The water was a balmy 22 degrees, just right for laps and I was doing 100 metres in about 2.5minutes pretty consistently. I did 1200m in about 30 minutes and was pretty pleased with that! The only complaint I really had was that my calves cramped up in the last few hundred metres. Ouchies!

I rode my bike to the pool and had intended to do PP Road and head home, but guess what!? I forgot to put on my helmet! Are you serious? How stupid is that?! So I rode home to get my helmet and then kinda just stayed there and had a REALLY long hot shower. I was SO cold! The wind was nasty once again. Will have to consider how to get and keep warm if it's a cool day on the BIG DAY!

On the gear front I have had a success!! I found an old K-Mart/Wal-Mart special in a bag that I probably have never worn before. You can tell it's cheap because there's a label inside with bright red writing:

DO NOT WEAR NEAR FIRE

Wow, no marshmallow roasts for me!

But on the up-side, it doesn't chafe! It's not the most supportive little thing in the world, but luckily (I guess) I wasn't built with much bounce, if you know what I mean, so I was still comfortable on the run, and it was fine in the swim. I also ran and swam in my bike shorts, and although there's nothing attractive about wearing a full chamois bottom pair of shorts, I was comfortable enough.

So, still a few things to get taken care of, a few purchases to make, but getting there!

Balance was a welcome treat. I really needed Balance. The stretching and relaxation were just what my body needed.

Also, booked my recovery massage for the Monday following the Blackwood. That'll be nice! Something great to look forward to! :)

Sunday - 10th October - 20 days to go

What weird weather.

Yesterday was SO hot and dry and windy, and it seemed that there was no chance of rain at all. It felt like summer was on us, and that was it, it was going to stay hot! But sometime late in the night (or early in the morning) it did rain, and it did a pretty good job of it.

When I got out to the horses at about 7am, it was clearing and warm and seemed like it was going to be a nice day. I cleaned the troughs and made some breakfast and by the time I headed out to get the horse ready for our ride with Mel just after 8am I thought that it might be wise to bring a jacket on this ride!

I ended up starting with the jacket, and then took it off and wore it around my waist for awhile, but it wasn't that far into the ride that the wind picked up again. It was a very cold wind, and black clouds came rolling in with it. We didn't get wet, but we got spat on. Everyone made it home dry for lunch, but it was not to last. The whole afternoon has been windy and raining and black! The winds have been just as strong as yesterday - today throwing rain sideways across the windows, yesterday it was just sand and dust blowing around. What a contrast!

But anyway, TK and I went over 17km. Mel and Chloe went about 24km! We were a little quicker than we usually are on a training ride, even though we walked most of it. TK was very forward, walking with a nice stretched out relaxed stride, but he did have a few silly moments. He tends to get wound up in the wind, and today was no exception. He was doing his silly face-pulling thing at a trot, but was really mellow at a walk. Just need to translate that relaxed manner into his trot now!

When I got home from my horse ride, Mat was baking bread (yum!) and I was trying to calculate the distance we travelled today, thus the discovery of mapmyrun.com! What fun! There's also a MapMy Walk, Ride, Tri, Fitness, and a few others I think. They all require separate registrations, which is weird, since they all look the same.

My afternoon trip to Lake Dumbleyung to kayak was cancelled, the weather is just too wild for a first time on the water! Will try Wednesday morning, or this weekend, on whichever day I am not working. I also didn't cycle. There's usually a 4pm social ride down Police Pools on a Sunday, but I didn't get any "where are you?" messages so I imagine I'm not the only one who said 'no thank you' to a very wet and windy ride!

Tomorrows plan is the big hill run, followed by a swim, then ... well I haven't decided what my third sport will be. I need to make some alterations to my plans due to not kayaking or cycling today. I did have horse ride on my Monday plan, but since I rode today, and didn't bike due to the weather, I probably should cycle tomorrow after my swim. I think that's a really good idea!

RUN, SWIM, CYCLE! That's a fun morning! Let's hope there's no rain to squash my plans.... or better yet, let's hope that if there is rain, that I don't allow it to be an excuse to squash my plans! :)

Map My Run

Why didn't I learn about this sooner?!

I just entered the ride that Mel and I went on today. This is awesome!

Check out our ride here (I put it under 'hike' since they don't have a horse ride option).

Guess what I am going to spend the next few hours doing!? :) hehehe

Saturday - 9th October - 21 days to go

Up at 4am.

Feed horses, make feeds, cook for humans, pack ute, hook up float, load horse....

Try again... load horse....

Erg! Arg! Call for calm!

Load horse...

We meant to be on the road by 5:00. 5:45am we hit the road.

We got about 60km away, started to do the maths and realised we were not going to make it in time. Briefing is at 7:45am, ride starts at 8:30am. I need to vet him in at some point before 8:30 and he needs time to settle after a 2.5 hour drive.

Guess what time we're going to show up?

8:30am

hmm... I know that if you don't leave the start area by 8:45 you are disqualified from the ride. I don't know if you're allowed to ride the trail if you've been disqualified. We decide that it's an awfully long drive for an incredibly uncertain result, so we turn around.

I will ride down Police Pools with Mel and a few other tomorrow, so will still get some distance in.

The horses spent the majority of the day grazing in the back yard - there's nothing alive in the paddocks anymore, and it's not even summer yet. It is promising to be a VERY hard summer. We will buy a large square bale to let them have free access to roughage, and keep the back lawn alive and let the horses graze as regularly as we feel the lawn can handle.

When we got home Mat had a nap. He really needed the day off anyway, so I guess it's a good result for him. I took the opportunity to do things like wash my car and do ... I don't know, completely random stuff.

Later, we drove out to Lake Ewlyamartup to see if it will be a suitable training area for the kayak. I suppose if I don't mind paddling on water that smells like dead animals, yeah, it'd do. Iew! And it's only about half a metre deep at the middle. We agreed that a trip to Dumbleyung, though further, might be a better location. Dumbleyung is deeper, so even though it's also very low this year, we are hoping it won't smell quite so bad.

And then I had a nap. And Mat had another nap.

It was really hot and there was a viscious dry wind today. Although we spent most of the morning outside, after lunch when that wind picked up and the heat got over 30 we hid inside.

I guess I have another challenge with the weather now. As it is warming up, and far more quickly than typical, I will have to adjust to doing all this good stuff in the heat. That means more hydration challenges. I've bought a few different hydration mixes to experiment with over the next few days. I noticed on Thursday night that I felt really 'sloshy' and uncomfortable when I rehydrated after the run and during Attack. I've got a mix that says it has a 'buffering system to prevent cramping'. Guess we'll see.

And I'm having trouble with the clothing issue! My crop tri top chafes like a bugger. I went to SportsPower, our only sporting goods store, and they only have the exact same crop top like I already have. Even going up to a size 14 it still fit wrong. The cut is just too close under the armpit. My best fitting shirt that I could also swim in is way too hot to wear in this weather. Though it's wicking, it's a full torso top and it's far too thermal! Don't know what I'm going to do there. Trip to Albany? Yeah, but when!?
 
Both Mat and I can't wait until the Blackwood is over. I may be training for an IronWoman event, but this is certainly not an individual effort. Without the support of Mat, especially, and my friends, family and co-workers, I would not be where I am or as close as I am. I owe so much to Mat... I am so grateful for his support.

Friday - 8th October - 22 days to go

So far the day has been uneventful. I worked a short day shift, went and did some shopping, and am now home making up some meals and organising for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a 25km endurance ride in Boddington. This will mean another 4am start for me, and a 5am departure to get there for the debrief and to saddle up for the ride. Expecting to take 2.5 hours for the ride.

Mat's a bit over driving me all over the country-side for events. Luckily, this is the last 'away' event until the Blackwood. I think we'll be taking a few months off travel after this is all over! I am also feeling weary and looking forward to staying at home and gardening and pottering around the house.

But, as Kenny Rogers said, "There'll be time enough for countin', when the dealin's done!"

Thursday - 7th October - 23 days to go

Feeling a little more on-track now.


Ran 7km on treadmill after work and then did Body Attack directly afterwards.

It's been good to vent and tell people that I am stressed and it's been a bit of a relief to get a bit of sympathy back. However, I think it's time to focus on FOCUS, rather than sympathy and stress!

Been enjoying the Commonwealth Games! I particularly love the swimming!! How awesome is it to see the Paralympic athletes included in the games? The slowest of the female paralympic freestyle swimmers is still faster than me at my best! I really should stop complaining about a little 'twinge' here and there! Australia is doing amazing, but how great was the Canadian Hayden in the 100m Freestyle!? And the Aussie women are on fire!!

Anyway, it's time to eat a little more and get to bed!

Holy Falling to Pieces Batman!

OMG! Total meltdown! I have somehow lost track of my week and my workouts and have managed to fail to run this week! And only one bike ride! And only 5km on the horse!

What have I been doing with my time!?  I feel like I've been busy! Oh crap....

I'll be the wimpering puddle in the corner if you're looking for me!

Wednesday - 6th October - 24 days to go

Kinda got out of bed on the wrong side today. It was 1 degree at 6am. This really put me off going for a ride or run or anything. So I slept some more.

At 7am it was only 6 degrees. So I did dishes instead of exercising and then freaked out because I suddenly remembered that I didn't do a few things at work. I ran into work, threw my weight around and really didn't do a good job of being a nice person, all because I was feeling really stressed out about not doing my exercise and not being able to do my job properly... *sigh*

And then I went for a quick horse back ride. I didn't let TK walk, we trotted and cantered, and I tried really hard to get him to sweat in a short time, but he's actually quite fit! But still got him working well.

Then I headed to the pool and swam 700 meters. I was actually really pleased with this! It did take about 30 minutes, so, agreed, not stellar, but as I got warmed up and into the rhythm I started to really enjoy the swim. I was doing 50 metres in about 1 minute 10 seconds. If I can maintain that, I'd be looking at about 1km in 25 minutes - give or take, I'm not doing the math now, too tired!

Did Body Balance at the end of the day. Do love that class! :)

Time for bed! I'm wrecked!