Mr CJ has left the building....

Mr CJ has left me.........well, for 10 days anyway. He's gone to Perth to spend some quality time with his sister. We had a little drama at the airport tonight - Mr CJ is very laidback and casual about schedules, timetables, etc and said we had plenty of time to get to the airport. So, who was the one who missed the bag cutoff tonight?! Hmmm, I wonder. This meant he had to cram clothes from his (brand new) suitcase in his backpack and into a gift bag containing presents for his sister. Fortunately the toiletry bag (that came with his brand new suitcase) could be unattached from the case and taken separately. Meanwhile there are final boarding calls......he gets his boarding pass and heads through security only to be stopped because as usual it beeps when he goes through. Off come the shoes, go through again, final boarding call again, gets called over for a some sort of residue scan, someone is getting very frustrated.....!!! My parting view of Mr CJ was of him heading up the escalator clutching 3 bags and a pair of shoes, shaking his head as he goes!!!! Gee, I wonder who learnt a valuable lesson about turning up at the airport on time!!!!

Marathon training update:
Week 4 of 18
Easy week

Thursday
Session - easy 10km followed by 6 x 100m strides (90sec RI)
Distance - 10km + strides
Time taken - 52.51min for 10km
Av pace - 5.16min/km
AHR - 148
Calories - 633

Times for 100 strides:
25secs/26secs/26secs/25secs/23secs/24secs

Good run - nothing to report apart from feeling a bit stiff in the legs from the gym session the day before. The 100m strides went well considering I had just run 10km, well you couldn't say I hadn't warmed up!!!

Wednesday afternoon
Session - Gym followed by swim

After getting a quick tour of the gym and sporting my lime green towel (the gym is called Club Lime) I headed off to one of the many exercise bikes for a warmup. I'm not usually one for stationary equipment such as exercise bikes and treadmills but I thought I'd give it a try - okay for 6mins!!!! Then I did a lower body weights/stability session that my physio would be proud of:
* One legged squats
* Stationary lunges
* One legged raises on swiss ball (bridging)
* Swiss ball hamstring curls
I followed this up with the killer abs session which I have to confess I had neglected for about a month, and did I feel it! It was hard work.

Then it was off for a swim to cool down and loosen up my legs. It was fairly quiet in the pool although about 4 lanes had been cordoned off for kids and a floating castle thingummy.
Pool session:
* 500m freestyle
* 400m kick with fins
* 100m freestyle with fins

Wednesday morning

Session - Easy 8km run
Distance - 8km
Time taken - 43.24min
Av pace - 5.25min/km
AHR - 144
Calories - 447

I could get very used to easy weeks! Its a bit like tapering in a way.

Thursday afternoon Mr CJ and I ventured to Woden to watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the cinema. It was also one way of getting out of the heat for a couple of hours! Temperatures lately have been around 33* - 35*C (91*-95*F) and this weekend they are forecasting 38*C (100*F) both days. Anyway back to the movie - armed with our choctops (mine was coffee, Mr CJ had vanilla) we ventured into the cinema only to be met with almost total darkness. As usual we were running late (!) and the movie had already started - we had to wait for our eyes to adjust, and for some light, to figure out where to sit. Considering the movie has been out for a couple of weeks, the cinema was still quite full. We eventually found seats up the back and managed to make our way up without tripping up the steps (my party trick) or treading on people's feet. I enjoyed the movie; Mr CJ was pretty much underwhelmed though he managed to sit through it without fidgeting and grumbling (a sure sign that he's bored).

Wobbly - you asked what sort of music I was downloading. I have very eclectic tastes and for running I prefer songs with a good beat. Anyway, for an example, some of the songs I downloaded the other day include:
The Middle - Jimmy Eat World
Real Wild Child - Iggy Pop
Lets get it started - Black Eyed Peas
Do you want to - Franz Ferdinand
Just want you to know - Backstreet Boys
On my way - Spiderbait
Pretty Vegas - INXS
Get the party started - Pink