Things going mental

Wow.

My life has been absolutely manic since my last blog update. I'll start with the running, which I am amazed I have found time for. Work has been ferocious, and will continue to be so for a couple of months, so I'll be blogging even less frquently.

There is a lookout near the new flat which has a gentle but constantly rising 850m path to it's summit. I have chosen this for hillwork.

I run up it four times the day after my last update at 5:00 pace, jogging back down. This was a pretty hard session, and this week I did a similar one running up it five times.

Last weekend I did a fifteen K long run which was two laps of a run I used to do taking in a run up to Olympic Boulevarde, and back via Bicentennial Park. This run was a pearler. I ran it at 6:13 pace and it felt comfortable. The previous day I did my first ride in months, riding for 45 minutes on the bike path to Botany Bay. I doubt I'll try this again, it was very stop-start with a lot of switching between shared pathway and road. In future I'll stick to the paths and road in Homebush Bay - we are spoilt for good riding around here.

My weekly pattern of Sunday long run, Monday recovery run, Tueday or Wednesday midweek long run followed by another easy run then followed. The midweek long run was a 9K trot along the Parramatta river at 6:08 pace which felt a bit heavy but was a pretty solid effort.

Now this weekend has been memorable to say the least. On Saturday after netball DJand I took the girls to the aquatic centre in Homebush Bay, where I knocked out 10 sets of 150m efforts @ 4:00 each. My stroke felt OK and although I was tiring towards the end it was a pretty good cross training session. I warmed down by mucking around in the kids pool with the girls, having a few goes on the big slide and going around this rapids whilpool thing they have there. one massive bonus about step-parenthood is the ability to do some fun kid stuff without looking like a complete nob.

That evening the girls and I executed something we had been planning for days. We sat DJ down on the lounge, I grabbed my guitar and launched into the Turtles song "Happy Together", with backing vocals and dancing provided by the twins, and at the end of the song I dropped to one knee and asked DJ to marry me. She said yes.

This may appear sudden to some of you - both DJ and I are still technically married to other people and it may look like we are being foolhardy.

The thing is that the whole thing is just so natural and comfortable. We are contented together and those close to us are not surprised or worried. I can't tell you how happy I am.

This morning's long run was a beautiful development too. The younger twin, Bop, has expressed an interest in Cross-country. I made the offer to train her and run with her, and today was our first attempt. Em, the other twin asked if she could go too, so we all took off for a run first thing this morning. We went out at about 7:00, but Em had to take a couple of walk breaks, and went back after 1500m. Bop kept going with me, and we did the second 1500m at about 6:30 pace. Bop was a little puffed when we got home, but she was really happy and hopefully she'll stick with it.

After the run with the girls I kept going with the same run I did the previous Sunday, but I threw in a trip up the lookout hill as a conditioner for C2S in the middle. I did the rest of the run at about 6:10 pace, and for the most part it was an excellent hit-out. I did slow a bit at the end as fatigue set in.

The plan from here is just more of the same into C2S. Any advice on training for Bop would be most welcome. I don't think we will get much training done during the week - that's just a reality of my work and her school commitments, but we will have to see how we go.