One wedding, one 30th and 3 training sessions

Friday was a rest day which was a good thing because we were down in Canberra for the wedding of Cassandra and Alan. It was a really lovely day and I felt privileged to share it. The ceremony was at the Black Mountain Tower lookout, just below the summit, which has great views. During the ceremony they had everyone sing Elvis' Fools Rush In, which was cool. Its quite hymn-like and people singing together is always such an uplifting feeling. The whole day was really relaxed and fun and we also got to catch up with some old friends from college.

On Saturday I did a 100k ride in Canberra with Jen, from ANU to Tidbinbilla space station and then back via Uriarra Crossing, 100k all up with some decent hills. Along for the ride was a friend of a friend, a guy with 10 years+ IM experience. It was great to chat with him. His tip for a first timer was to achieve a consistent and steady pace all day. That suits me as I race conservatively. His example was that a 1 hour swim, 6 hour bike and 4 hour run (all relatively slow/steady times) would give 11 hours which is a pretty respectable time. He also gave a tip about not giving up on the run, which is to ask yourself "What is it about this piece of pavement that deserves to be the spot where I quit?" I like that and will try to remember it.

Saturday night we were back in Sydney for Pip's 30th, which was good fun. They have a great house for parties and there was heaps of yummy food. I can't quite believe all my friends are turning 30.

Sunday morning I decided against doing a long ride from Sutherland to Jamberoo with the Pulse guys. I really wanted to but I figured I needed a run more and by the time I got home from the party it would have been a huge ride on about 4 hours sleep. So I slept in and went for a long run instead. I only did 16ks/90 mins, but it was my first long run for over 4 weeks so thought I should not do too much. My legs were quite sore towards the end but I had plenty of energy to keep going.

In the afternoon I went for a swim, my first visit to the Dawn Fraser Baths in Balmain. I want to swim regularly in my wetsuit so I can get my arms more used to it and the harbour water is a good temperature for a wetsuit swim. Also there are no lanes so it is good practice for swimming straight and looking up. I found invariably when I did not look up for more than 9 strokes I would be wandering off in the wrong direction. I seem to do this much more in my wetsuit, I think it might be because I don't kick much. I did 2k very easy in 38 mins.

So, at the end of my first week of official IM training I was tired, but not too tired to watch a DVD on Sunday night, and one with subtitles even, without falling asleep! Pretty amazing for me. It was called Hidden, starring Juliette Binoche and Daniel Autiel. It was really good, but I felt a bit like it was somehow over my head. I made a yummy dinner of pork burgers with an asian style coleslaw, a Bill Granger recipe from Good Living.