Following my last race (refer to last post) I embarked on a timely and much needed break. It’s always quite a weird feeling reverting back into some pretence of normality for those few weeks in April.
It can be quite a mixture of problems and perks:
1. Problem…You start to feel like your on a future path to appearing on the Biggest Loser (i.e. weight gain). Those ‘Funky Trunks’ become a little too ‘funky’
2. Problem…Becoming breathless after walking up a flight of stairs.
3. Perk…Find out what’s on television past 8:30pm (notably late-night SBS Doco’s, quite eyeopening)
4. Perk…Sleep ins!!!! Not going to bed earlier than my 11yo sister
5. Problem…can’t use training (and its induced tiredness) as an excuse to avoid being a good family member (i.e. picking up 11yo sister from school, doing general chores)
6. Perk…improved bank balance position as only eating half the amount of calories.
7.Perk…Had the time to take up a bit of yoga, by pure ‘coincidence’ that the ratio of hot girls to guys was 15 to 1. In all seriousness I’ve really enjoyed it, found a number of strength and flexibility benefits….nothing to do with hot girls ;)
The holiday’s coincided with my Uni’s holidays. Our family packed its bags and headed up to the farm (just north of Albury). What followed was a lot of sleep (seems to be the only place in the world where I can sleep in past 8am) and eating the farm dry of available livestock (especially lamb!) It was nice to have a various assortment of friends, family, (less so) sisters boyfriends and locals staying at various stages.
I pulled out the trusty mountain bike and explored as much of the farm as I could. Dad was on his own personal weight loss quest (down 8kgs since Feb), so he joined me for a few rides. That was until he realised that a ‘short-ride’ was not 10mins (he was complaining of a sore arse 5mins in!).
One highlight was a golfing competition dad and I had. ‘Closest to the Duck’ proved to be a great hit (pardon the pun). In short we’d tee a (floaty) golf-ball into the lake, trying to get closest to a duck. Fortunately our appalling golf meant that no duck suffered any serious risk of being harmed. The greatest danger was actually to us, as one ball hit a tree and bounced back at a decent speed, narrowly avoiding us.
Dad really got into the spirit of our joint bike rides, whipping out his yellow jersey…looks like the Beach Road Rider stereotype.
On another note, I went on a two-week detox. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Since I’ve taken up coffee I’ve gone four days total without it (two after gastro at Auckland and two after my barista course when I drank 10+ coffees in one day). I managed to go two weeks without coffee. my sleep might have improved, but the headaches stayed the whole time.
I also went one week without sugar. Cutting back sugar intake is something I’ve been working on since December. Following a consultation I found out that my sugar intake was so high I was at risk of Type 2 Diabetes. My sisters baking abilities weren’t helping! Since then I’ve probably halved my intake (notably not hitting up the banana breads). This was the hardest of the two to go off (which says a lot). My only concession to sugar was in milk, which I had in my tea and in the sugar-free muesli’s. It was something worthwhile, since I’ve gone back on sugar, my intake has fallen a lot, and moreso I’m not getting those sugar craving like I was.
Fun fact, red wine has less than 1 gram of sugar per serving (that’s if you only have one serving). There was still a hefty supply of bottles left over from my 21st there last year (at the farm), I though it was appropriate to rectify that situation ;)
By the middle of April I was well and truly ready to return to the usual SBR routine. I’m fully back into the swing of things, undertaking (what feels like a never-ending) swim block. 30K weeks (it’s not really a swim block if any lower) are upon me (nearly 9ks in the pool yesterday). The swim block also brings stupidly early mornings (4.15am wakeup to be in pool swimming by 5.15 for 1.45hrs). I have the sleeping patterns of a toddler. This quote is on the back of my yoga card, I think its quite appropriate for my swim block.
I took this picture at IM Melb. Serves as a good reminder why being a good swimmer is important over any distance and format of triathlon.
Till next time….
