"Sabbatical" Part 1....

So having got hitched we have now been in Western Australia just over a month.... We spent 10days down in the lushous wine region of Margaret River (and cue any excuse to visit vineyard and taste wine), and the rest of the time being homed and hosted by friends in Rockingham (about 40mins south of Perth)

After all the stress of work, giving up work, sorting out the house and the ceremony I have to say it took a while for us to truly relax... But relaxing is most certainly what we are doing now! I'm currently "penning" this entry whilst laying under a tree in Kings Park (a very very large park in Perth).... The weather has been almost too fantastically hot these last few days, which is a little weird for us given it is Christmas after all (so far more used to rain or cold).... We have some more sightseeing in Perth over the coming week before we head out for the second stage of our Australia trip ... Which commences with a 2 day train journey across the country to Adelaide and thus to Melbourne the following day (we don't quite have enough time to make the connection!)

The vastness and emptiness of the Australian continent has already made an impression on me....I can't imagine what I'm going to feel like having spent 44+hrs on the same train to get from one side to not quite the other!!

Now in answer to the question I had about how often/ why I blog well.... I used to blog more frequently, largely at a time when I was getting into something new (triathlon in case you couldn't guess from the title!) when I interacted more with the blogging community on the subject. As time has gone by my engagement both with my blog and other blogs has become more sporadic... Not sure why... Maybe I guess as I've sorted less support? Perhaps.... Or perhaps as I've become engrossed in other things.... As of now I blog when I feel like it (randomly) although quite often I think of blogging and don't seem to "find" the time to execute my thoughts.... Afterall this shouldn't feel a chore but an enjoyable interlude of brain dumping or  sharing random (usually in my case) thoughts .....

Slowly, slowly, catchy Monkey....

Rome was not built in a day and nor is recovery from fairly major surgery either it seems.....

But..... Slowly, real slowly, I am feeling much more able to be up and active in my true style!.... I have most certainly been impatient (shock)... But having had the follow up with my surgeon 3 weeks ago I sort of realised that feeling 100% better 6 weeks after the op was, yes, completely unrealistic!

Still.... Slowly slowly catchy monkey I shall creep up my activity and get back to where I was although that may well take quite some time.....

I freaked myself out with a swim a few weeks back, overdid it (by swimming 850m, I should have stopped at 700...) which basically gave me much sharp pains in the belly region for a few days... Like listen to your body dumbo... I felt tired but ok at 700 but had wanted to do a warm down and finish off the set ... So pushed on. I realise now that "pushing through" which is common when you are training is not necessarily the right mental attitude for post surgery recovery.... So yes... Lesson learnt and now I'm listening.... And I haven't swam since by the way, abs need a little bit more strength in them to be upside down and flipping about (and I'm a scared wooz!)

I did hit a big and happy milestone last week and ran/walked my way to 5k....and I'm happy enough with a 30min spin on my turbo.

So.... Slowly slowly I shall catch that monkey.... As I said before my main aim is to fit and healthy for our big Wedding day and 6month honeymoon adventure. Tri specific fitness can wait we have many adventures to get up to in the coming months!!

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The Lance thing

Well... I am NOT going to post a long comment about the whole sorry saga.....

But I have just read an interesting article from The Independent.... to which at the end is the following table;

Tour de farce: Who takes Lance's titles?

1999 Who finished second? Alex Zülle (Swit) who admitted to doping as part of Festina Affair in 1998. Banned for year but returned for 1999.

2000 2nd: Jan Ullrich (Ger). Five-time runner-up was given a two-year ban in February this year after the Operation Puerto doping scandal in 2006, with his races from 2005-2007 banished.

2001 2nd: Ullrich

2002 2nd: Joseba Beloki (Sp). Clean.

2003 2nd: Ullrich

2004 2nd: Andreas Klöden (Ger) Connected to a 2006 doping programme, the rider eventually paid a €25,000 fine. German ADA announced an investigation into Klöden and others on doping suspicions.

2005 2nd: Ivan Basso (It). Acquitted in October 2006 in Operation Puerto, but reopened in 2007 and proved guilty. The Italian was banned for two years after he admitted to attempting doping.

I have nothing else to add other then... what a complete and utter debacle and mess for him, for the sport, UCI, USADA, WADA..... etc....