Time for a quick Christmas update from Down Under!
Christmas this year was pretty quiet for me. Unfortunately I had to work the "disco shift" over Christmas so I missed out on most of the festivities. Chris on the other hand had 2 weeks off! Slacker! We had a nice Christmas morning opening prezzies. We then went for a walk around my favourite park (along with half of Perth). King's Park is great and on Christmas it was full of families BBQing and having fun. The weather of course was beautiful! It was pretty difficult to tear myself away to go and spend the next 12 hours in ED (sympathy please!).
King's Park
Chris dropped me off at work (along with homemade turkey and stuffing sandwich and Rudolph cookie for my dinner!) and then went to have his Christmas dinner with Andrew and Amy. The 'Wagersheps' as we like to call them, once again were very generous in inviting us to spend Christmas with their family. Thanks guys!
After Christmas I had managed to book a few days off. Initially I had planned on taking a trip, maybe down South to Esperance or over East. However time slipped away and I didn't get round to booking anything. Instead we asked coach Paul to organise us a tri training week. We spend most of the week either running, biking or swimming. Perfect! And a great chance to try out our new Christmas prezzies!
New stack hat!
Chris's new skid lid
We did managed to squeeze in some relaxing days too. Highlights included learning to wake board, Swan Valley wine tour and the F4L Christmas Party! We also did a day trip to Busso where we paddle boarded the longest jetty in the Southern Hemisphere.
Core Cider House F4L Christmas Party
Cider Tasting Paddle
Busso Jetty
Moonlight cinema for Chris's Birthday
Pimm's O'Clock - saying goodbye to the Welshies!
Indian Ocean Sunset
Summer at Cottesloe Beach
Triathlon is sort of taking over our lives at the moment as we prepare for Ironman Melbourne (now only 2 months away!). But we really enjoying the training. Since we last blogged, I have made my triathlon debut and Chris continues to dominate his age group!
Hilary's Tri
My first race was a sprint triathlon at Hilary's. A sprint involves a 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run. Unfortunately I had double booked myself which meant I was working until midnight the night before the race, then had so get up at 6am to race before getting back to work at midday! Not ideal! However, the race went pretty well. I was pleased with my time and managed a top 10 age group finish (7th).
Chris did pretty well too finishing in 11th place. He was a bit disappointed with not getting a medal, but raced well considering this was the state championships!
Albany Half Iron
Next on the race calendar was the Albany Half. This is a half ironman involving 1900m swim, 90km bike and 21km run. We booked onto this race as a warm up for Melbourne. It also meant a nice trip down South to a small coastal town called Albany (about 4 hours drive south from Perth).
Photos taken after the race...when the weather decided to cheer up!
Albany is a lovely little town with a beautiful bay. Unfortunately it always rains!
We arrived on the Friday to drop off our gear in transition and were welcomed by rain, wind and freezing temperatures (17 degrees! We left 40 degrees in Perth). Once we racked out bikes we had a quick look at the course. The sea looked AWFUL! I'm not a strong swimmer and I get a little scared in the sea at the best of times. Here the sea looked so rough! In fact it all looked very sharky! I tried to forget about the recent shark attacks from around the area!
Looking sharky!
The next morning we got up early and headed to the beach. The sea didn't look any nicer! I had a quick swim before the race started to try and calm my nerves. The waves were tough but I was relieved the water was nice and warm (in fact I was warmer in the water than out of it!). I was also relieved when the surf lifesavers reassured us that no sharks had been spotted in the area! Phew! The pro athletes set off first on the 2 lap swim course, followed by the men, then finally the women. I watched Chris set off, knowing I wouldn't see him until the finish (although secretly hoping I may catch him on the bike!). Chris felt the swim went well and got a great time of 30mins! I on the other hand, hated it! The first 200m was directly into the 'cross chop' meaning I could barely breath as I got swamped by waves. I had to have a short rest by floating on my back until I could get my breathing under control. After that I had more space so managed to do the rest of the swim pretty well. I was quite shocked to have swum the course in 33 mins.
Bike racked, ready to go!
Next was the bike section. My favourite part! The race started with a fairly large climb straight out of transition. Great! I managed to pass loads of people by the top and I caught up with all the faster swimmers. The rest of the route was pretty boring. Long, undulating, rough roads. At the half way point we turned around into a killer headwind. 45km into a headwind is tough! I was a little disappointed in my bike time, but overall I suppose it wasn't too bad given the conditions. I did the 90km in 2 hours 55, Chris was 10 mins faster.
Next up was the run. The half marathon run was a mixture of boardwalk and beach running. Beach running is tough at the best of times, but after swimming and biking its a killer! My run was pretty slow but I kept a nice consistent speed. I was surprised that I felt pretty strong even at the end. My time was 1 hour 59. I was hoping for closer to 1 hour 50, but my main goal was to get under 2 hours, so I can't be too disappointed. The run was a 2 lap course which was great because I managed to pass Chris (running the other direction) and he got to watch me run the last few km at the end.
Beach run..the sun has finally come out!
Chris did a great run to get an overall time of 4 hours 56mins (6th in age group) and I came in at 5 hours 32 (also 6th in age group!). Massive PBs for both of us, all thanks to Paul and the F4L crowd!
Crossing the line after 5 hours 32 mins!
Jumper weather
After the race we hung around for the presentations (huddled up with coffee keeping us warm!). The presentations included spot prizes which you had to be there to collect. The organisers picked race numbers at random and the prizes included cycle computers, sun glasses, helmets etc. All the prizes were fantastic, but the big prize was the $5000 TT bike. Chris and I joked that if one of us wins it, the the other gets to buy a new TT bike. It finally came round to the big prize draw and the winning ticket was pulled...number 56! Everything was quiet. I bet number 56 was pretty annoyed at leaving early. Everyone agreed that the prize could only be awarded to those who stayed for the presentations. So a re-draw was demanded! Number 243! Quiet again! Wow number 243 is going to be peeved in the morning! Third time lucky...number 172! ME!
I couldn't believe it! I had won the bike! I think the organisers were pretty pleased I had won as Chris and I were one of the few competitors who raced on road bikes (TT bikes are a big advantage over road bikes in triathlon). I also felt is was karma for having my last bike stolen!
So we were 2 happy Stackers, new PBs and new bikes all round (Chris immediately picked out which bike he was going to buy!). We headed home tired, cold but very happy!
Traditional post-race beer!
And burger! My only DNF* of the weekend
*DNF = did not finish
Next on the race calendar for me is the Big One! Melbourne Ironman! Chris has a few more sprints, but will mainly be focusing on Melbourne too. There will be no stopping us now on our new speed machines!
Wedding Update
The other bit of good news is that I have finally been granted leave from work to attend our wedding in July. Plans seem to be coming together nicely and we have even booked our flights home. Invites to be sent soon (ish!).
Other good news
And in other news, I will be starting a new job in February. I am starting my physician training and I'm the new cardiology registrar at the brand new Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH). FSH is the new flagship hospital in WA. Its amazing! Its run by robots! Really, I saw them on my tour! I can't wait to start! I have 5 more shifts in Emergency then I hang up my scrubs for good!
Well that all for now. Coming up in the near future...Mum and Dad come to visit! 3 weeks and counting! And hopefully another "guest post."
Happy New Year everyone!
The Stackers xxx
