The second of December.
Man it's crazy how time flies - I can't believe we are leaving for Nepal in 22 DAYS!!! It doesn't seem that long ago we actually decided to do this crazy adventure and now we're on the cusp of leaving... I'm both incredibly excited and absolutely terrified!!
Excited because.. well... NEPAL!!
Terrified because I have NO IDEA what to expect... and the unknown she is a scary place my friend.
Training has been a bit sporadic over the past few weeks as well. My gym pass ran out in mid-Nov, however I kinda can't afford to get a new one. I've been going for morning jogs for about 30 min or so, I think I do between 4- 5 km each morning... so it's definitely better than nothing.
I've also done a little bit of stair climbing recently, which has been fun (not). At least twice a week you can find me in the emergency staircase at MMB going up and down at least ten times. For the record there are 133 stairs from the bottom to the top, meaning I do 1330 stairs (upward) and 2660 in total... FUN!...
The major problem I've been having is that both of these activities are very heavy on the legs and I've really been starting to feel it. The bottom of my calves hav felt all knotted up and I even started to get cramps!! So as a result I took last week off stairclimbing and hope to get back into it sometime this week... sometime...
Last Saturday Lessh, KTP & myself did some major shopping for Nepal supplies. Unfortunately for me I had the most to buy therefore did the most damage to my credit card :( Hoewever, on the upside I'm not the new owner of thermals, hiking pants, a windproof vest, a hiking pack, a day pack and a brand spanking new gortex jacket. I also need to be thankful for the Kathmandu salem in which pretty much everything I bought was half price, otherwise.... I'd really REALLY be broke.
Next Sat, we have another bushwalk planned... still not sure what we are doing exactly - possibly the hills of Eastwood (oh the wilds!), somewhere beachy (for a cool dip afterward) or something completely different... it's up to KTP really!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Sydney to the Gong - Done and Dusted
Ok so on Sunday November 1, 2009 on a not so cold morning at 5am, I crawled out of bed and made the journey into Sydney to Park to begin the wonderful ride from Sydney to Woolongong!
The conditions were perfect! Not a cloud in the sky, 10000 keen bike riders ready to tackle the treaturous journey, working bike, working rider and mother nature at her best. Kate (fellow biking enthusist) who has participated in many of our physical goals/challengers for the year was my fellow companion for this adventure to the Gong. We set off around 7:30am and I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful this ride was, as it took us through the city, national park and the urban areas of Woolongong. We had hills which we fought our way to the top of and we had hills that we flew down at speeds faster than I wanted to reach....I know such a whimp I am. There were a few casulaties along the way however the ambos, volunteers and police where out in their numbers!
I can now officially say that I have a new love of my life, which is my beautiful road bike (still yet to be gendered and named). My theme song for this ride was Queens - Bicycle Race which I managed to whistle during my ride. Did i get weird looks.....I sure did ;-)......did I care......not at all! Maybe I should name my bike Queeny???
The conditions were perfect! Not a cloud in the sky, 10000 keen bike riders ready to tackle the treaturous journey, working bike, working rider and mother nature at her best. Kate (fellow biking enthusist) who has participated in many of our physical goals/challengers for the year was my fellow companion for this adventure to the Gong. We set off around 7:30am and I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful this ride was, as it took us through the city, national park and the urban areas of Woolongong. We had hills which we fought our way to the top of and we had hills that we flew down at speeds faster than I wanted to reach....I know such a whimp I am. There were a few casulaties along the way however the ambos, volunteers and police where out in their numbers!
I can now officially say that I have a new love of my life, which is my beautiful road bike (still yet to be gendered and named). My theme song for this ride was Queens - Bicycle Race which I managed to whistle during my ride. Did i get weird looks.....I sure did ;-)......did I care......not at all! Maybe I should name my bike Queeny???
Anyway off on a tangent now, back on track! We arrived at Woolongong around 1:30pm and crossed the finish line with the sign still up and many people still around.
It was a beautiful ride and it is definitely something that bike enthusiasts should consider doing. So at the end of our 4 physical challenge (re-cap: Mother's Day Classic, City to Surf, Spring Cycle and Sydney to Woolongong) we are ready to tackle the moutain known as Everest (we think). We have a hike that KT has organised, to where me and Brennan don't know, for how long me and Brennan don't know, when we will be back me and Brennan don't know. So we will keep you posted on where the hell we end up at the end of Sat!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sydney to the Gong
Ok so here we go, last challenege of year 2009!
So Team Nepal has piked out on the Sydney to Woolongong ride this Sunday! So gutted I am!! However I will persist and continue with our goals. The ride this Sunday is 90kms in total from start to finish, a pretty full on ride.
So here's a copy of the map of the ride, not the greatest pic but you get the idea!
Will fill everyone in on the gruelling task ahead. I also bought a bike with the hope and inspiration that my love for cycling will continue into the years to come. Will have to post a pic of this beautiful piece of machine at a later stage!!!
So Team Nepal has piked out on the Sydney to Woolongong ride this Sunday! So gutted I am!! However I will persist and continue with our goals. The ride this Sunday is 90kms in total from start to finish, a pretty full on ride.
So here's a copy of the map of the ride, not the greatest pic but you get the idea!
Will fill everyone in on the gruelling task ahead. I also bought a bike with the hope and inspiration that my love for cycling will continue into the years to come. Will have to post a pic of this beautiful piece of machine at a later stage!!!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
SPRING CYCLE
so it turns out that cycling 40kms is actually hard work- who would have thought?
Didn't help that we were cycling into the wind the whole time; a wind that got so strong we nearly got blown off our bikes!
So i really should have prep-ed a little better for this...
Alicia was a gun, and brennan, despite her claims for disliking the activity was never far behind her.
Me (ktp) on the other hand was the slow one. At one point was 30mins behind them.
My legs kept cramping up, and there just seemed to me hills followed by more hills.
By the time we made it to our first lunch stop at rhodes, i was ready to quit. But after a non satisfying lunch of salad roll and dry choc cake (just missed out on the sausage sizzle), they convinced me to keep going.
So after like 5hrs of cycling we finally made it to the finish line, but they had just deflated it :(
Then for second lunch and massage!!! and ice cream! and home! and bath! and bed!!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
City2Surf - A PhotoJournal
Much time has passed since our City2Surf run... and I haven't been bothered to blog about it... so now I've kinda forgotten what happen... so instead of writing about it I've decided I'd rather just post up the photos I took on the day. This was my City2Surf journey....
At the start ready & raring to go; People disposing of their jumpers in trees
Milling around the start; A sea of people
Start of the run down William St; Free entertainment
Water looked very nice @ this point; Some excavation gear
View along Heartbreak Hill, Halfway
View from the other side of the finish line
The three of us (plus one interloper) with our medals
Glad we weren't in THAT car!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Bush Walking, Fitness Assesments & the CITY2SURF
First off – apologies... I’ve been meaning to post this for awhile however I’ve been a lil pre-occupied with other things (aka lazy) and haven’t had a chance!
So while KTP was off partying it up in INDONESIA...
KTP partying it up
Alicia and I were left back in beautiful Sydney to attempt our first bush walk in our new boots. For some reason Alicia was not particularly enamoured with my bushwalking outfit (I have no idea why) and after being adequately supplied with water, minties and snakes by our overly concerned and protective friends (who apparently have no faith in our navigational abilities) we headed out from the house we were staying in.
Recent photo... just in case we went missing and also showing off my AWESOME bushwalking outfit.
Luckily for us, Echo point was JUST across the road and we set out in the direction of Scenic world. We managed to reach the first lookout with no real problems and I took a few quick snaps... however we really had no idea where we were meant to go to from here!! We followed the only path we could see and it took us up some stairs into a nice and quiet SUBURAN STREET!... Alicia decided it would be best if we followed the road and we ended up finding an entrance to the Prince Henry Cliff Walk near a cable car.
At the first lookout... She doesn’t know it yet, but Alicia is going to regret wearing those jeans (Shorts ftw!)
We headed down to the Katoomba Cascades – mainly cause I wanted pictures of waterfalls! Here we tested out the waterproofing of our boots – Alicia ran hers under the waterfall, while I trudged around in foot deep water. Good news is both our feet stayed dry! Yay for waterproofness.
The Cacascades, Both myself and Alicia testing out our boots
We then headed past ‘Witches Head’ and down the Furber Steps down to the bottom of the valley. Took a few photos of the Katoomba Falls which were actually running this time!! (The last time I was here there was a drought and we missed the falls... as there was no water falling down!) At the bottom of the steps we decided not to head over to Scenic world and instead started heading back toward Echo Point via the Federal Pass.
Witches Head & some of the Furber steps.
From the top of the valley... to halfway there!
At the end of the Federal Pass we took a bit of a breather as we knew what was coming next... Oh yes. All 900 stairs that make up the Giant Stairway. But eventually we made our way up them all – Alicia (who is a MACHINE) motored up them while took a lil (much) longer as I stopped to take photographs (catch my breath) along the way!
Alicia makes a start up the Giant Staircase.... and her much further away
Anyways, we both survived up the staircase It only took us about 20-25 min to make our way up all of them (well me anyways... Alicia probably did it in like 15!). I think our journey was ~5 – 6 km which I think is a pretty good start for a first time! We’ll have to start planning a few longer journeys for future weekends!
Alicia and I sweaty from the climb....
Alicia relaxes after a hard days work
Anyways... on to OTHER NEWS...
I've continued on my gym program. Last week I had a Fitness Assesment/Program done to a) see how I was going and b) input a lil direction into my workout. The result was relatively simple - my cardiovascular fitness is good however I'm a lil overweight.... no surprises there. My program is relatively similar to what I'm doing now... with a lot more Intervals and the like thrown in. I'm also taking of my heart rate and have even ordered a heart rate monitor... which will hopefully come in soon.
As KTP said on Sunday the three of us are doing the CITY2SURF which, to be completely honest, I'm a lil nervous about. My current goal is to try and finish within 2 hours... not entirely sure if I'll be able to do it... but I'm going to try! I've even bought nice new joggers for it (which I've been breaking in over the past two weeks!).
Anyways, I'll post again after the run... assuming I survive!
SB
So while KTP was off partying it up in INDONESIA...
KTP partying it up
Alicia and I were left back in beautiful Sydney to attempt our first bush walk in our new boots. For some reason Alicia was not particularly enamoured with my bushwalking outfit (I have no idea why) and after being adequately supplied with water, minties and snakes by our overly concerned and protective friends (who apparently have no faith in our navigational abilities) we headed out from the house we were staying in.
Recent photo... just in case we went missing and also showing off my AWESOME bushwalking outfit.
Luckily for us, Echo point was JUST across the road and we set out in the direction of Scenic world. We managed to reach the first lookout with no real problems and I took a few quick snaps... however we really had no idea where we were meant to go to from here!! We followed the only path we could see and it took us up some stairs into a nice and quiet SUBURAN STREET!... Alicia decided it would be best if we followed the road and we ended up finding an entrance to the Prince Henry Cliff Walk near a cable car.
At the first lookout... She doesn’t know it yet, but Alicia is going to regret wearing those jeans (Shorts ftw!)
We headed down to the Katoomba Cascades – mainly cause I wanted pictures of waterfalls! Here we tested out the waterproofing of our boots – Alicia ran hers under the waterfall, while I trudged around in foot deep water. Good news is both our feet stayed dry! Yay for waterproofness.
The Cacascades, Both myself and Alicia testing out our boots
We then headed past ‘Witches Head’ and down the Furber Steps down to the bottom of the valley. Took a few photos of the Katoomba Falls which were actually running this time!! (The last time I was here there was a drought and we missed the falls... as there was no water falling down!) At the bottom of the steps we decided not to head over to Scenic world and instead started heading back toward Echo Point via the Federal Pass.
Witches Head & some of the Furber steps.
From the top of the valley... to halfway there!
At the end of the Federal Pass we took a bit of a breather as we knew what was coming next... Oh yes. All 900 stairs that make up the Giant Stairway. But eventually we made our way up them all – Alicia (who is a MACHINE) motored up them while took a lil (much) longer as I stopped to take photographs (catch my breath) along the way!
Alicia makes a start up the Giant Staircase.... and her much further away
Anyways, we both survived up the staircase It only took us about 20-25 min to make our way up all of them (well me anyways... Alicia probably did it in like 15!). I think our journey was ~5 – 6 km which I think is a pretty good start for a first time! We’ll have to start planning a few longer journeys for future weekends!
Alicia and I sweaty from the climb....
Alicia relaxes after a hard days work
Anyways... on to OTHER NEWS...
I've continued on my gym program. Last week I had a Fitness Assesment/Program done to a) see how I was going and b) input a lil direction into my workout. The result was relatively simple - my cardiovascular fitness is good however I'm a lil overweight.... no surprises there. My program is relatively similar to what I'm doing now... with a lot more Intervals and the like thrown in. I'm also taking of my heart rate and have even ordered a heart rate monitor... which will hopefully come in soon.
As KTP said on Sunday the three of us are doing the CITY2SURF which, to be completely honest, I'm a lil nervous about. My current goal is to try and finish within 2 hours... not entirely sure if I'll be able to do it... but I'm going to try! I've even bought nice new joggers for it (which I've been breaking in over the past two weeks!).
Anyways, I'll post again after the run... assuming I survive!
SB
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