Goanna Watch .......

Goanna watch

Happy belated xmas to our bloggers! As hard as I have been trying I still cannot get used to Chrimbo in the sun! But the big stuffed bird was not missed! I was a given plenty of reasons to celebrate a lovely Chrissy, some fab pressies, a yummy feed and a day off training!!!

Christmas was spent in a stunning National Park - Platypus Flats which was about 90 mins from home, with the last 30 mins being off road, 4 x 4 country! As you would imagine we were in the middle of nowhere, bliss, with the river and rapids to keep us company, well that’s what we thought! The smell of our bbq, skewered prawns, chicken kebabs and pork made not only our mouth’s water but clearly those of the locals too! Staking us out and then stalking us was a trio of Goanna’s! Persistent, cheeky or just hungry it took us various attempts of diversion tactics to keep the 3 at bay. The winning strategy, in case you are faced with a similar dilemma is chasing them with a whip style stick!

Fed, watered and still on Goanna Watch it was time for the games to commence!!! Time to limber up for a battle of Botchie. For those not in the Botchie know, which included me, it’s a Boules type of game where you have to get your ball as close to the jack. Botchie could also be described as Curling on grass not on ice and minus the hoovering motion! Without wanting to rub it in Team benben emerged as the victors! Although we nearly had to abort the game as a big black bird swooped down and stole the jack in its beak!

Boxing Day training was a struggle, I felt as though I could not emerge from my Christmas comma! The 27th I was still feeling as though I could not get into the next gear, but I had too, the teeth got gritted! The morning’s teeth gritting session was a pool swim not far off the 4km marker. A run session was in store for the afternoon, 10 x 500m repeats, with fast feet / a quick leg turnover the orders from the boss. We were running on my fav beach Boambee, which at low tide is great to run on, hard sand not the stuff you sink in, phew! Well, maybe it was my fav place to run! I realize it’s not the technical term but the wind was whipping up and it felt as though we were running into a “full frontal” when into the wind. Just to give you an idea how crippling the wind was, it took me nearly 30 secs slower to run the same distance in comparison to when we had the wind assisting us!

We had a lovely day on Wed with Kimmy, Ben’s sister in a cool spot Bellingen. Team ben ben rode, Kimmy took the car which meant we had a taxi home!! As usual the road was lumpy and bumpy to our destination but it was worth it for the afternoon chatting, chilling and coffee drinking.
I felt as though I had my mojo back a little today, (29th) and thank goodness, just nailed a tough session! (Ben never seems to misplace his mojo!) Hill repeats on the bike followed by a rolling 8km race pace run. When I say hill repeats, it meant going up and down Bruxner which is a 3.5km climb, 6% gradient, 4 times and not at a leisurely pace! Pushing a panting pace!!! Swim session in the afternoon to ensure I was whacked!!!

Within 12 hours we were back in the water, a 4km session of 10 x 400meters, call the session what you like!! The afternoon was a struggle to get back on my feet let alone pull off a run technique session! I of course did it somehow, panting featured again! To the untrained eye the run technique session would have looked like at times we were practicing skipping to any on-lookers!!!!
Today NYE, no time for buying a new dress or getting the hair / nails done, instead on the agenda was a brick session bike and run which went something like this……rain would not stop, got wet, rode 100k on the bikes up and down up and down, rain started again, got even wetter, ran 30 mins off bike up and down more rollers, saturated and starving!!!!

I have suggested we bring NY celebrations forward by about 4 hours to 8pm so we can go to bed at tri-athletes bed time! In not out tonight, 5.5k fun run tomorrow! Not sure how much fun my legs will find it!?!

Happy New Year bloggers, I won’t wish you a fit and fast one which at 8pm team benben will probably be toasting too with h20! Here’s to a happy and healthy one for you!

Be back next year xx