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28 May 2004: A FEW WEEKS AT HOME |
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Well, here I am back on a plane but no complaints as it has been really nice spending a few weeks at home. I am heading over to the UK to visit my family, who I haven't really seen (unless you count a 2day flying visit on my way home from Hungary last summer) for 2yrs. In fact, it has been just over 3yrs since I saw Abi (the older of my two younger sisters) as she was traveling when I last went back. It will be so nice to catch up with everyone and not have to rush around except for my training and fingers crossed, I can experience some of that beautiful English summer weather that occasionally puts in a guest appearance! I started my time at home in HK with a week off, which didn't begin in the most relaxing of ways. I spent 2days getting home from St Kitts but my bike wasn't so lucky. It lost it's tag in Newark and spent a couple of extra days there, while Continental Airlines desperately tried to relocate it. Although I have insurance on my bike, it was the thought that it could take months and months to come through and all the other little, but really important bits I pack in the box, like all my orthotics from New Zealand. Apart from anything else, I simply couldn't afford to replace all the stuff without any insurance money but you can't race and train without a bike! Thankfully, I got the call to say it would be home by the end of the week, so my week off could begin! |
Our outdoor pool at home:
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| I always have visions of all the great things I am going to do in this time but somehow most of them never come to fruition. At least this time round, I got most of the mundane things done which has made my life so much easier. I spent the whole of the first day at my computer going through envelopes full of receipts and doing all my expenses for the business.....there's no way we wanted to pay tax with the amount we have been earning! Day two was a little better, as I at least managed to get out the door for a little splash in the pool and completely cleaned out my bike room. It was originally a small spare room but I had put plastic flooring down so I could sweat and get grease wherever I wanted and use it for my training and clutter. Unfortunately, we had filled it with so much stuff when we moved in, we could barely fit the bikes in there. It is so cool now as I can train in there and it gets cold really quickly with the aircon & fan as the room is small. I have an old TV and VCR wall-mounted, so there is plenty of entertainment for those long trainer sessions. I like the idea of having a room set aside for training (or work) as it makes me more serious about setting times to do my sessions and having that feeling of going to work or coming home again. |
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| The weekend was fun as we got to hang out with friends and Cookie (my boyfriend) even found time to cook us a roast lamb extravaganza. For those of you that know him, please don't drop to the floor in shock....this is the guy who couldn't even manage a boil an egg 2months ago! I guess I have finally found a positive for me going away for long periods, as he has become sick of tinned food. Instead of never having any food at home, I either come home from a day of training to an amazing three course meal or nothing but no complaints as it's wonderful to walk in the door every now and then to a cooked meal. | ||
| Well, the holiday is now over and It always amazes me how hard it can be getting back into swimming after only a week off. I guess that says it all really and we simply weren't designed to be in the water! Siri had me straight back into some reasonably hard sessions and she expected me to feel relatively crap for 7-10days....boy, was I looking forward to that! I actually didn't feel too bad biking and running and I am sure my legs really appreciated the time off but the swimming..........I found times I used to hit with ease only a week ago almost impossible and just couldn't seem to get going, but sure enough as I got into week two everything started to come back together. Jody (IM Age-group friend) who was also coming off some time off decided to do a bike time trial with me that Sunday morning. I ended up racing in the Cat A with him as they shortened the women's course to 10km, which was hardly worth driving up there to do. It was really good fun as I got to start a minute ahead of him and there were lots of bets on how soon he would catch me ranging from 3-10km of the 30km course. Luckily for me it was a really hilly course and although my legs felt crap from the training that week, I was able to pull away from the gains Jody made on the flat sections as soon as we started heading uphill again. Eventually by 14km he went steaming past and put nearly two minutes on me by the end but it was a fun way to get some hard miles in and we finished off with a hard run on the track. I then headed off to the Gold Coast hotel as our National Coach had organized a squad lunch after good results at the Asian Championships and to celebrate Daniel Lee making the Athens Olympics.....it was great to catch up with everyone and chill out for a couple of hours. |
The Saipan wig returns as I give my bike training room a spin!!!
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As I started off the second week of training, it was as though I had never taken a break but I felt all the mental benefits of having a week, off so I can definitely recommend it. Happy resting..... Cheers Claire |
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