The Sweat Lodge

I couldn't quite get a blog post done yesterday, between longish hours at work and trying to get training in, it just didn't quite fit, but I thought I would make a bit of time for it today.

Training up in Darwin is going pretty okay with some definite reminders as to how hard it can be up here. The weather isn't too bad, but you can tell that it is starting to work its way up to being nasty. Pleanty of sweating going on.

I got myself out on the bike yesterday morning for some hill repeats up good old Darwin High Hill (a short sharp hill in Darwin). During the hill repeats I bumped into Tim Green, who also trains with Daryl, and so got to have a good chat with him on the rest of the ride. It was really good to have a chance to catch up. Then towards the end of the ride I was spinning past Nightcliff Pool just before opening time. As is the norm the enterance was crowded with Daryl's swim squad waiting to get in, so I got a chance to stop by and say hello to nearly everyone. I was really hoping I would have a chance to see people, but I wasn't sure if it was going to work, so I am really glad I managed it, if only briefly.

Once I got home last night I really just wanted to sit down and not get up, but I knew last night might be one of my only chances to get a swim in up here, so I dragged myself down to Parap pool. I managed to squeeze in a good solid session before getting kicked out at 7:30 so that the pool could close. I didn't have time to fit in a long session like would be the norm on Wednesdsay morning at Swim Smooth, but I manged to fit in a pretty intense little session involving lots of 200s in the hour I had. So that was good. I'm certainly glad I managed to fit the session in.

This morning it was a real blast from the past, with a return of the beach running/intervals pain fest that used to be my standard long mid week morning run. I stopped doing that session a while ago to do some Bintan specific cross country sessions. A session which resulted in me taking a number of hilarious trips to the ground. But this week it was back to the old session, up in Darwin no less, a real stroll down memory lane. I couldn't get out to Casuarina beach this morning, which is where I used to do this session, instead I headed down to Mindil beach. It would not be overstating it to say I was a little apprehensive about this session. It is a tough one that I haven't done for a while, plus I would be attempting to do it in Darwin's tough conditions. In the end though it went surprisingly well. I became very good friends with a water fountain, but other than that there weren't to many other difficulties. I managed to hit my target times for each of the intervals, which was a big relief.

As a bonus I bumped into a few more people from Daryl's squad, down at the beach doing the same thing I was. So that was a nice little plus.

Back on the bike tomorrow morning for my last Darwin ride of this trip. One last chance to roll along some of my favourite roads.