Olympic Fever

Olympic fever and scorching temperatures seem to be gripping the UK! We (ok so I actually mean Russell Ben’s dad here) just need to make sure the “IT” is in place to ensure the TV is cued up to record the events on our not to be missed list. Even I do not think I have it in me these days to stay up past my bed time to watch the action live.

We did, however, get up a few mins earlier to watch the final sprint stage of the Tour de France before our swim rather than post number 1 session of the day. And Ben even found it in himself to move away from the I phone to ensure the Twitter feed did not reveal what happened. Being a bit of a fan of Mark Cavendish, or “Cav” as I feel comfortable referring to him as, I was a tad nervous and then somewhat excitable as the Sky train stormed up the Champs Elysee. As the excitement rose, so did I from my seat, the coffee had to be put down at this point in case of a spillage and then boom, the missile was launched! As Cav celebrated victorious with his arms aloft in the air, so did I!

For “Operation Kona” we are working on a 4 week cycle, with the 4th week in each block being just a tad lighter, I won’t go as far as saying easier as that would be all lies. We have just finished our first 4 week block, heading into block 2 and yep you have guessed it each block increases in intensity and volume as we get closer to race day, mid Oct. Ben has passed me “his notes” for my perusal which basically looks like my punishment for the next 8 weeks, although I am unsure of my crime. It’s a rest day tomorrow, I better enjoy it and wrap myself up in compression gear!

Since I started tapping away at this blog entry the games have commenced and so has our next block of training. We caught a few minutes of the Opening Ceremony and wow it looked like one heck of a show. In fact, Mr. Bean and his contribution to “Chariots of Fire” nearly made us late for our chilly early morning jetty swim. Lucky Queenie to have Daniel Craig escort her to the ceremony, I wonder if 007 will accompany me to my next sporting event?!?! In between our sessions we are catching up on the Olympic action which sounds like its red hot whilst we are letting our muscles repair and more to the point getting our beauty sleep. Being in Aus I am somewhat more clued up about what’s happening with the green and gold, boxing kangaroo athletes as opposed to my cool clad squad of GB athletes. The cool clad bit gave it away, I do not think Stella Mc Cartney was a bit “Lucy in the sky” when she designed the team kit.

Over the weekend we had a visit from an Auntie and Uncle (Lynne and Geoff) which was great to catch up with them. It did of course mean Ben’s mum, Marg was whipping up a storm in the kitchen and the will power had to come into play to pass on the choc pot desserts, I did accept the offer for a glass of vino, I did not want to look rude or a complete looser!!! Just as FYI here Ben opted for the choc dessert and no beer!
Training as eluded to earlier in the entry has been getting rather fruity shall I say. The sessions are starting to creep closer to 5 hours + and a cheeky double swim has made its way onto the programme, the double swim is post our very intense run squad. Oh and the run squad session now has “extras” added on for us whilst the normal people cool down, stretch and tuck into brekkie!

The weather over the past few weeks has certainly been on our side, it is for the locals still winter but there are certainly no complaints from me, I was back running on the beach with a singlet and visor. Although the wind was pretty vicious, a southerly I think the weather man would say, a full frontal I would call it or running into a brick wall, either way I was going nowhere fast.

I will not be going anywhere tomorrow, neither fast nor slow if I do not go and change my flat tyre. Team benben has had a serious run of bad luck with flay tyres over the past few weeks. Being positive it does of course mean I am getting somewhat of an expert, although, I am not convinced future employers are really seeking candidates with the ability to change inner tubes as part of the required or preferred skills set!!!

Until we are next on the blog, take care followers and come on Team GB, I am being reminded one Aussie swimmer alone has more medals than the entire GB team to date!