It was finally time for a recovery day. Some of the girls chose to leave early on Thursday and spend more time at the coffee shop then on their bike, while Bird and I opted for a sleep in and some time alone with the Ipod. As it turned out, Canberra isn’t all that big and I ran into Tiff and Nicki on the lake before heading for a brew. The $53 prize money we had won the night before allowed for $6.50 each, just enough for a hot drink and Twix chocolate bar =) After getting wet on the way home a quick transition saw us go from lycra to apron for our nutrition cooking class. I was way past excited and after sampling what we had mastered for lunch I really had to use self-control to keep my portions low. I walked away with three new cookbooks that will now take priority place top-shelf in the kitchen! By the time we had sat through our group psychology session and a 90minute drug and alcohol lecture it no longer felt like a recovery day. Sleep was once again in high demand.
Yesterday was a test of my mental toughness. To make sure that I was in good health for testing I headed to medicine for a general check over. If I was being pessimistic I would tell you that I have a 1cm leg length discrepancy and struggled to identify the bottom line of letters in the common eye test! If I was being optimistic I would tell you that I was sent in for an echocardiogram and urine test and neither turned up anything worthy of worry. When I was given the pee-cup I didn’t really need to ‘go’, but it’s unbelievable how much easier it is to give a sample when nobody is watching! Lunch made me sick, and with less than an hour before my 30minute time trial test it wasn’t quite the way I was hoping to feel. Luckily I came good and was quite impressed with my resistance to lactate!..15mins at 13 lactate woo! I skipped on sweating it up in the gym, where I was guaranteed to leave in pain, so that I could sit and analyse the bodies of the males athletes entering and exiting the recovery centre =) Some pencil cam footage from racing on Wednesday night was viewed, where we compared the size of our behinds, before I headed to my massage. What can I say...it’s a tough life!
Weekend training is supposed to be hard and today was no exception thanks to head coach Warren McDonald (pictured above, don’t be fooled by my smile!) The re-occurring sight of Black Mountain, Mount Stromlo and every other climb that makes up the domestically famous Canberra Tour, had us all in desperate need of firstly, the food hall, and secondly, the recovery centre (Nicki and Spratty pictured above). A short description of the picture and the temperature of the water is required! The centre includes three spa baths, a plunge pool, a cold water walk through, and a river for active recovery. Now when I say cold, I mean freezing!!...So we HAVE to hug ourselves to keep from going numb! Through the weekend the house is continuously at altitude, so although we were wanting to keep our hours up we had planned an afternoon escape to the city, what we now call the 'real world'. That quickly changed and became time to chill out and sleep, and despite being at 3000mtrs altitude some of us managed up to 2 hours!
Yesterday was a test of my mental toughness. To make sure that I was in good health for testing I headed to medicine for a general check over. If I was being pessimistic I would tell you that I have a 1cm leg length discrepancy and struggled to identify the bottom line of letters in the common eye test! If I was being optimistic I would tell you that I was sent in for an echocardiogram and urine test and neither turned up anything worthy of worry. When I was given the pee-cup I didn’t really need to ‘go’, but it’s unbelievable how much easier it is to give a sample when nobody is watching! Lunch made me sick, and with less than an hour before my 30minute time trial test it wasn’t quite the way I was hoping to feel. Luckily I came good and was quite impressed with my resistance to lactate!..15mins at 13 lactate woo! I skipped on sweating it up in the gym, where I was guaranteed to leave in pain, so that I could sit and analyse the bodies of the males athletes entering and exiting the recovery centre =) Some pencil cam footage from racing on Wednesday night was viewed, where we compared the size of our behinds, before I headed to my massage. What can I say...it’s a tough life!
Weekend training is supposed to be hard and today was no exception thanks to head coach Warren McDonald (pictured above, don’t be fooled by my smile!) The re-occurring sight of Black Mountain, Mount Stromlo and every other climb that makes up the domestically famous Canberra Tour, had us all in desperate need of firstly, the food hall, and secondly, the recovery centre (Nicki and Spratty pictured above). A short description of the picture and the temperature of the water is required! The centre includes three spa baths, a plunge pool, a cold water walk through, and a river for active recovery. Now when I say cold, I mean freezing!!...So we HAVE to hug ourselves to keep from going numb! Through the weekend the house is continuously at altitude, so although we were wanting to keep our hours up we had planned an afternoon escape to the city, what we now call the 'real world'. That quickly changed and became time to chill out and sleep, and despite being at 3000mtrs altitude some of us managed up to 2 hours!