Gaining Confidence

Yesterday morning at 6.30am I met up with five other girls at the yacht club where we rode a practice run of the Tour de Femme course which is being held next weekend. I was very nervous as this is fully on the road and I haven't been riding on the road for years. However, we rode as a group and it was great fun. We have entered the event as a team. The course is 20km but we rode 22km with a couple of stops to regroup. It was good company and lots of fun. It certainly boosted my confidence for road riding and afterwards we had a beautiful coffee in Yarralumla.

Later, after taking Teddy (puppy) for a 45min walk/run, Mr B and I decided to go for a swim at the CISAC Pool. Again, it's been years since I went swimming, partly due to my left shoulder being painful. I swam in the 25metre pool and the water felt really warm, like a hot bath, not the most conducive start! However, I managed 30 laps and then we dashed home to change and drive to the China Tea Club for a delightful dinner with a couple of friends. Next swim I will attempt the 50m pool which will be much cooler.

Monday

Although I am supposedly working four days a week, today was an unexpected work day as I was asked to work an extra day this week as we are very busy. Thus I went to the gym early for my strength session and did not make the early speedygeese session tonight, instead arriving in time for the 5.30pm start.

The rain had slowed when I arrived and we were about to venture outside when thunder reverberated across the sky and the heavens really opened. Therefore we initially ran a 4km warm up under the carpark in the shelter. Then once the rain eased we ran to the rose garden and ran 4 x 800m undulating intervals as fast as possible before the rain started pelting down again. Then it was a quick dash to the underground carpark, as the thunder clapped around us, where we ran a couple of km cool down to finish off our session.

Total distance: approx 9km

The forecast is for showers off and on for the rest of the week, a bit frustrating for our running sessions.

Photo: Warrick and Chris at the speedygeese dinner in October