My excuse

A very unusual day yesterday. As some of you may have noticed, I did not blog yesterday. The first time I have missed a blog in ages. I have good reason I assure you.

Nothing particularly exciting unfortunately. In fact quite the opposite. Yesterday was one of those days where I was busy with work to the extent that I didn't have quite the time or energy to get online and do a blog.

On a Sunday?!?!?!? I hear you exclaim.

Well yes, on a Sunday. The reason for my busyness is that I was travelling yesterday. I am currently offshore on an oil and gas platform for work. Out on my little metal island in the sea. I don't work fly in fly out (FIFO) but I do come out here now and then. This time I am out here until Thursday, back home in Perth on Friday. So just a short trip.

However, getting out here is a bit of an ordeal. It requires flying up to Darwin one day and then a very early morning flight offshore the next day (today). The flight to Darwin is fine and not all that long, but I usually find that between flying in, catching up with Mum and Dad, checking in at the hotel etc I am a bit too shattered to write a blog, which was the case last night.

Not all bad though. Besides being able to catch up with Mum and Dad I also had a chance to catch up with Daryl (my coach) and his wife Robyn. I don't get to see these guys that often, so having a chance to have dinner and a good chat with these guys last night was a real silver lining to what could otherwise be a bit of long, tiring trip.

All that is behind me though and after a criminally early morning this morning (up at 3:!5am Darwin time, which is 1:45am Perth time), a delayed flight and nearly two hours in a helicopter I am here in my cosy little home away from home.

It is strange being offshore. There are a lot of negatives, you are away from home and family, you are fairly restricted in what you can do, the days are long etc. But there are lots of positives too. You get fed really good food. Lots of it. Plus being out here you can have a sort of clarity and singular purpose that is hard to get at home. When you are off on an oil and gas platform there isn't a lot to do but be out here. There aren't really many distractions. If you want to you can absolutely bury yourself in work, in many ways there is very little else to do. Then when you are tired you can walk for two minutes and be in bed. I also find it a good chance to catch up on reading, and just generally relaxing. At home there is always something else I should be doing, that isn't the case here. It is actually one of the few places I feel like I have a chance to totally switch off. How is that for strange?

Of course the elephant in the room is training. To be honest I am not all that bothered this week while I am away. This trip has been planned for months and so Daryl and I knew it was coming and as such it is built into the program. Last week I mentioned that I was ready for an easy week and that is what these four days are. There is a gym here with the usual treadmills etc, but I am not going to push myself to use it. Daryl has also not programmed any sessions in for the time I am here. If I feel inclined I will, but I will not put myself under pressure to do so. As I said, being out here can be sort of relaxing, but it is also hard work and so I am not going to make it harder for myself unless I feel like it. Definitely not today though, today has been long enough and tiring enough without adding the gym to the top of it.

Unfortunately it could be a bit of a boring few days on the blog. I will do my best to avoid that though.