Heatwave

Well, I’m back in Perth now after spending 10 days in Melbourne and I had a rather unusual bit of cross-training opportunity. A 60km mountain bike ride from a place called Jells Park along the Scotchmans Creek Trail into the city of Melbourne. A fantastic and highly recommende ride that takes you along Gardiners creek and some great paths. Perhaps not for a road bike but a hybrid and mountain bikes would be just the ticket.

It’s been a huge 10days as I’ve  been to Point Leo beach for surf lessons, Tudor Caravan Park in Rosebud, stayed with my sister for most of the time but also with my brother as well. I had a run from his place in Ormond down to Brighton Beach then along in front of Elwood, Saint Kilda and Port Melbourne for a total of 25kms however the last 5kms I was pretty stuffed so reduced to walking those.

Haven’t done any structured swimming but done a bit of swimming just the same. Melbourne is about to embark on a record heatwave (hottest for 100years). It will be 38C today and then for the next 4 days it will be over 40C. Now that is hot for Melbourne and I feel for the Australian Tennis Open quarter finalists.

I’ve now bought all my 10 nieces and nephews presents while over here and saw a lot of my mum and dad who are both in a hostel in the South East of Melbourne. Mum has arthritis and Dad has Alzheimers so it was a pretty emotional time. Its part of the tyranny of distance that I am all the way over in Perth.

My sister will soon embark on a Boot Camp as part of her exercise regime and I had a solid 10km run with my younger brother in Beaconsfield up some hills that resembled Campersic Rd. Very challenging stuff. I’ve now entered the Busselton Half Ironman. My wife’s team ‘Two Mountain Goats and a Fish’ has also entered so it will be something to train for and look forward to. Not sure how ready I’ll be for the Busso Jetty Swim and the Half Marathon but we’ll play it by ear.

A hot day also in Perth today but it just seems so much hotter in Melbourne because the heat isn’t a dry one. I know some of you have been following my wife Dee’s Kilimanjaro preparation.

She’s actually overseas doing the trek in Tanzania. So far she’s done the 3500m Lemagrut, the 4500m Mt Meru and will embark on Kilimanjaro in a days time. This will be a total day trek for just under 6000m of altitude so full on. She’s been lucky to see some Black Rhino and most of the other main types of African wildlife at both Ngorongoro crater and the Serengeti. I’ve been able to phone her and sending plenty of emails. She had a little fall at the base of Lemagrut and hurt her coccix but doesn’t appear too major. She’s a tough nut and will enjoy chilling out for 9 days at Zanzibar after all the climbing. Its a great adventure for her so I just hope she’s happy and healthy.

I can’t wait to dive into a full training regime again (and, of course, can’t wait to start work again!)

Reservoir

CHRISTO