Another good week's holiday

It’s now Monday night and I’m back at work again tomorrow. The week since my last post has been just great and has flown by. I only turned the computer on a couple of times the whole of the last week for quick email checks, and at one stage I even went 4 days without turning it on at all - miraculous, and actually quite refreshing! There is much reading and catching up to do though, which I hope to get through over the course of the week.

Apart from the last couple of days the weather has been spectacular and I’ve been making the most of it. Every day I’ve been out and about either with the family or just with Isabel while Jodie and Tyler have been resting. Isabel loves the playground equipment at the parks now, as well as splashing around down at the beach (just wet feet for now until it warms up)...not to mention being strapped to my chest to help me out on trips to the shops!

I think I’ve made a breakthrough with my weight. Previously I’d steadily lost about 10kg over a year or so, but more recently I’ve been stuck on 95kg for well over a year now. Today I found that I’ve dropped a couple of kg over the last couple of weeks. Being out of my normal routine and running around all over the place means that I’ve skipped a lot of my usual between meal snacks. I think that switching the training around and getting into the cycling and swimming has contributed to it as well. I’m going to try to stick to a better eating plan and keep the exercise mixed up.

All my exercise over the last week has been during Isabel’s afternoon sleeps which are usually around midday.

Cycling
I went for 2 rides, both for over an hour. Thursday’s ride was up along the beaches and out to Settlement Point, before heading back via Clifton and the Industrial Estate with a couple of diversions. The 2nd one was yesterday, where I did a Lake Cathie return trip via Lighthouse Beach. I thought I was going so well until I started heading home and realise how much wind assistance I’d received on the way down, and what a grind I was faced with to get back. Took me an extra 15 minutes into the wind!

Swimming
Whilst Friday was a great day for a swim and I did about 45 minutes swimming and 10 minutes water running, today was not quite as pleasant outside. It was windy and cloudy with a few drops of rain, but nice and cosy in the heated pool! Today was 50 minutes swimming and 10 minutes water running. I’m feeling more comfortable each session, and the breaks are getting shorter after each lap, with a couple more continuous 100m each time. I did 500m breaststroke in the middle of the session today, and after that I found my freestyle was really relaxed and I was breathing well on both sides.

Running
With my alternate training I haven’t felt as bad about not running for the last week and a half. My calf hasn’t complained at all while on the bike or during the water running. I’m thinking of holding off for another week before giving the calf a test run. There’s nothing immediately pressing as far as events or goals, so I’d rather take the extra time to give it a good chance to heal. The kids, cycling and swimming are keeping me occupied for the moment anyway! If all goes well then that gives me 3 months to do some training for a decent tilt at the Central Coast Half which in turn will help me build some fitness to kick off the Canberra Marathon training.

Once I’m back into running I would like to continue to cycle at least once a week, and swim for 2-3 sessions a week.