This is it.

I am officially a mother to 3 high school children. YEP, you heard me right - my youngest is finally in high school and I am feeling old. Where has time gone - I still see them all as my babies. It's only when they stand next to me and my twin son is looking at me in the eye's that I realise that they are all growing up and I am heading into a totally new chapter of my life.

So needless to say today was spent finalising all the odds and ends for first day back of school tomorrow. Are the kids excited? Well the twins are but Kyle is nervous - and rightfully so. But I have all the faith in that it won't take him more than half the day to settle into a new routine. He will still be at the same school just obviously in high school and all it's new rules. So it's an early night for all tonight as 6:30am will beckon the teens out of bed - oh I am so looking forward to the moans and grunts as I wake them, NOT.

Tomorrow also signifies NO EXCUSES for not training. Not that I ever really have, it was just a bit harder to fit everything in with the kids at home on holidays. And now that they are all at school I have the whole day to fit everything in again - and I am going to need it. With officially 90 days to go to my first 70.3 it's time to GET CRACKIN'.

So I made the most of today's recovery ride and squeezed in a nice 60km in just over 2hrs. This mornings temp was a total contrast to previous mornings, it was really brisk. Almost felt like a cool Autumn morning when I headed off at 5:30 to meet up with the girls. Luckily this time I wore my headlamp to shine a light on my dark ride. No chances of hitting anything this morning. I managed to tackle some of the hills seated and in my aero bars - this equates to strength for me and is part of my training program for these next coming weeks. Oh hill repeats - how I am scared of thee.

I almost forgot to mention that I did a 500m Fr/s time trial and did it in 7:14 - 8 secs faster than my last time trial in October 2010. Very happy indeed.

Hot, steamy, sweaty.

No, this is not the beginning of some raunchy Mills & Boon Novel but rather the only words I could use to describe yesterdays bike ride and how hot it has been for the last 3 days or so. From the moment I step foot outside to get to the meeting point I could feel heat and moisture in the air - wish I had a humidity gadget to see just how thick the air was with moisture.

I drove to the usual meeting spot, only my 3 person ride turned out to be just me as one had slept in (everyone's allowed a sleep in) and the other had a mishap and thought their helmet was in the car and it turns out it wasn't - hate it when I forget stuff, she was quite upset by it as she was looking forward to a good ride and I was looking forward to a good chat on my recovery week Zone 2 ride. Nevermind, next time.

So as I set out on a cloudy but visibly humid morning it was instantly noticeable just how much moisture there was in the air. Within minutes I had a slight film of what could have been passed as sweat only was too early on in the piece to even be sweating. As the sky got lighter I could see in every direction a hazy mist - much like stepping into a greenhouse I would think.

I was lucky in that I didn't have to do intervals as even cycling at a nice slow pace made me sweat absolute buckets and I was having trouble keeping up with the fluids. Bugs where becoming my best friends and deciding to get up close and personal or even sacrificing themselves to be protein shots for me. GROSS. After retrieving a few from my eyeballs I decided it was high time to put my sunnies on.

It was about that time I heard the swooshing of some tyres coming up beside me and then a "Hey Barb" - WHAT THE???? Look over my shoulder and its Darryl. What a lovely surprise, we cycled together for a bit had a chat - as I just love to chat and then it was his turn to head home. Coming back home I caught sight of Jeremy out for his ride too - I am so lucky to know so many wonderful people. So I completed 44km in just over 90 mins for my Zone 2 ride and felt great.

The last 2km was bit fast for Zone 2 but was fun.

I have also made 2 significant purchases over the last 2 weeks - one I have with me and the other I should be getting soon. What do you think?

Getting shortly

I have with me.

Hoping both will help me get a little more speed when I am in a race. I would even be happy with a minute less in my Sprint Tri's. Even if I'm not any faster I am going to feel fabulous. And it all matches with my bike and uniform - it's all about matching with me. I got these off 2 friends from the club and I have had a wonderful deal done on both - how lucky am I?

I also have taken alot of my medals, ribbons and trophies from my younger years out of storage. Decided it was high time to show those babies off - not sure why I had them in my cupboard in the first place.

Wish I had of realised back then how good I was, maybe I could have made it to the Olympics? One of my ribbons had me doing my 50m Free at the age of 9 in 39 secs. I think I could have been something great.

Tricky situation.

Since Sunday we have been back and forth to the vet a further 2 times with Milo. He has developed quite a severe lethargy post snake bite and had extremely swollen neck and back leg glands. He has since endured a further 3 injections (2 antibiotics, 1 cortisone with vitamins), a urine test, temp taken which he hates (wouldn't you) and a set of bloods. The vet will be testing for damage done to his liver and other organs as well as testing for other things.

He has been off his water, only drinking small amounts (however still peeing) but his appetite has improved. He no longer likes the dry kibble-I think it takes too much energy to try to chew it all up so now he is loving the "My Dog" brand. He is however loving being inside all day and having his stomach constantly scratched and head patted. The concerning thing for me is that he is no longer a pup, he is 12yrs old. It's like asking an 80yr old man to pull through and be his old self again after having had seizures, a cardiac arrest all whilst having overcome a lethal snake bite. Not sure if he will ever be his old yappy, run around crazy self again. I guess all we can do is wait and see what the blood tests show and go from there.

So inbetween all of this I have still managed to continue with my training even though the km's have dropped off due to being in recovery week - still doing 2:1. On Monday I had my usual Windtrainer Session with Eliza - this was a great one. We basically had to to do inetrvals in the big ring and biggest gear and slug it out for 3 x 8min - others had to do 4. My cadence was never more than 66 for each set and let me tell you my legs were burning. I was also sweating buckets. Loved it. I also managed to keep my form for the entire sets which I was really happy with as that is the one thing that I get picked up on.

Then yesterday I just had to do a 2hr Zone 2 ride. Oh the joy of doing 46km in a nice easy gear - just perfect really. Elissa joined me on this ride and it was good to chat for pretty much most of it. I really love getting up early in the morning now - I used to hate it but have now seen how much more I can get done in the day. I can also see the benefits of not having to be out in this horrendous Summer sun during the middle of the day. Yesterday's temp was in the mid 30's and today is going to be close to 40. Thank goodness I am not training today as it is my youngest son Kyle's 12th Birthday today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY my gorgeous boy. I love you soooooooo much.

Lucky Kyle, for the rest of his life he will continue to enjoy having the day off on his birthday as he shares his Birthday with another very important day - AUSTRALIA DAY.

Hills -0, Barbie - 1

Superset Saturday was not to be yesterday. After last weeks attempt at trying to hammer 2 hard sessions back to back and failing miserably on the Sunday, I asked if I could leave it and do it once a month. I hate giving up on my training but I know my body too well now and know that if I push it too hard that I will eventually crack from the strain.

So yesterday morning I decided to treat myself to a pedicure - oh the joy. Why had I not found this magnificent experience before. I was in absolute heaven - not sure if the girl was as she scraped away at my heels, but I was lapping up the attention. Whilst my feet were being pampered the seat I was sitting on was giving me the best and most intense massage I have ever had. The whole time I think I only opened my eyes once and I do believe I had a cat nap. When it was all said and done I walked out like I was on a carpet of clouds - and my feet looked stunning.

Fresh as a daisy.

Then yesterday afternoon it was time to give it all I had in the pool. I had given myself a treat and some respite and now it was time to flog it out - no excuses allowed.

• 300m warm up
• 900m worth of drills
• 100m Fr/s
• 5 x 400m Fr/s - not sure of my times but I think I was pretty steady in pace
• 6 x 50m Fr/s stroke count
• 50m cool down - had nothing left.

My eldest son Kurtis decided to come join me at squad yesterday and for his first ever swim session he totally kicked major A!!! He swam 2.3km - the young lad is amazing and I am so proud of him. I must admit, he slept really well last night and he did say he had a headache yesterday afternoon - but that's to be expected with all that funny breathing us swimmers do.

Then this morning it was on for young and old. I left home at 0530 to meet up with the girls for our bunch ride. It was still very dark and I was really at the mercy of my night vision to see where I was going. I hit a couple of things - not sure what - maybe those cateyes. Upon arriving to my destination it was still dark. Reminder to self - get a headlight.

There is a kangaroo in this picture staring at me.

As the other girls pulled up for our ride the initial plan of riding to Picton was re-thought, and it was decided to that we would do Cobbitty loop and then Greendale loop, some decided to do s shorter ride. Not any easier but the distance is slightly less. As I set off I made a pact with myself that if I needed to stop today on the Cobbitty loop, I was only allowed to do it once. So with that thought firmly implanted I was good to go.

There were 7 of us girls out on the road - totally awesome. Each of them extremely strong and driven. As we set out one the girls got a flat tyre - it got changed and we headed off only for it to flat again the poor thing. But within minutes it was changed again - great team work I say and there were no flat tyres for the rest of the ride.

As we made our way to Cobbitty Road I remember saying to Sarah, we should have a gel right about now, we will need it. Elissa - who had been on holidays made her way back and said she would meet us at Greendale for the next set of hills.

As we started the inevitable ride I started to get nervous, however I envisaged getting up those hills as a strong competent cyclist. After the first 2 hills which are steep but shortish Sarah comes up behind me and said call me "The Mountain Goat". I have never laughed so hard in my life - for her first time up Cobbitty she nailed it.

I managed to not stop once going through those hills thanks to a little mantra I kept repeating in my head "you will not stop, you will not stop". For every pedal revolution this is what I repeated and before I knew it I was at the top - panting heavily but at the top nonetheless. Sarah was hot on my heels and smiled the whole way.

The stop at Silverdale was just what we needed - refuelling on a KitKat for me and refilling our drink bottles. Susan had to head home at this point and we continued down the hill to catch up with Elissa for the remainder of the hills.

The remainder of the ride was tough but no-where near as tough as Cobbitty. We had a really good opportunity to chat and laugh as women do - but when my time came to turn off home I can say with out a shadow of a doubt that I was ready to go home to a wonderful shower and a nana nap. Before I ate I weighed myself and was pleased to see that I only lost 1kg in weight on this 4hr ride. I must have refuelled appropriately on this ride.

I rode 100km today in 4hrs - not bad for a Sunday morning.

Its time to squash some demons.

This wonderful little package arrived in the mail today and no sooner did I open it my stomach did a total backflip. The Cole Classic 2km Ocean Swim was my way of getting over my fear of the unknown, and by unknown I mean what I cannot see beneath me. I am okay with swimming in the Regatta Centre as there are no sharks or stingers but the Ocean leaves so much open to the imagination - and mine seems to go off on a tangent quite often.

My daughter who was in the car with me at the time said "Mum aren't you scared", to which I replied "Of course, but there will be hundreds of other swimmers with me". She ruminated over that sentence for a bit and then said "But Mum, your a fast swimmer so that means you will be out the front on your own". I was left speechless and with this horrible image in my head:

Daaaa -da, daaa-da daaa-da

All I could here was that horrible tune from the movie as Jaws moves up for the kill and the swimmer is none the wiser. Mind you my form would be much much better than the girls in the picture. Wrists are totally bent way out of whack and head is too high in the water.

As my imagination once again spiralled way out of control I tried to focus on something other than the fear of what lay beneath. I mean really what are the chances! With that much commotion, sharks will be the furthest away possible - surely. And if I should get into trouble all I need to do is raise my hand and someone will be there as there will be a tonne of Surf Life Saving Members on inflatable rescue boats, rescue boards and rescue ski's - so I think I should be good.

Either that or I should replace the Jaws theme song with the Rocky theme song and beat the living crap out of whatever bad thought comes into my head.

Please consider sponsoring my cause:

NETS - Newborn and paediatric Emergency Transport Service

It's on the top right hand side of the blog.

Tyre changing 101

Well, I did it again. After vowing to never say the words "flat tyre" after my last flat tyre, I got another flat today. Lucky though - I didn't realise I had a flat till I got home and took the bike out of the car and as the back tyre made contact with the ground - the usual bouncy nature was replaced with a thump.

Before I go on to explain my attempt at changing the tyre I will have you know I rode really well this morning. A few of us set out for a 2hr ride at 6am and from the get go the pace was on. I managed to attack the hills again as best I could after last night's track session (which I will go on to explain a little later) really took it out of my legs. The other thing that was bothering me again was my back - always on the left hand side - can't it just ever give me a break.

On the way back the tempo really started to pick up again and right at the end Sue and I decided to hammer it home. The last bit has a decent and then it is flat to the truck stop - it was here Sue and I managed to gain a maximum speed of 52km/hr and hold it to the end (not far), but enough for it to burn the legs and for me to be giddy with excitement. During this time I tried to really focus on the full pedal revolution as I was told that I pedal using my hamstrings and therefore drive the bike on the upstroke.

Somewhere in that last stretch I heard a bit of a POP and thought that sound belonged to a passing car - but I was wrong. Lucky it was a slow leak. Needless to say today I had my first tyre changing experience - and believe me I spoke to myself every step of the way to make sure I did it in the right order. Anyone would have thought I was performing brain surgery. Here are some photos - PROOF of my adventure.

Flat tyre

Inner tube out

Nasty critter No 1.

Nasty critter No 2

Partially inflated new tube

Tube in, wheel on - Hey Presto

It actually wasn't as hard as I had imagined it to be. I guess my next ride will be the test to see if I have done it properly. During this experience I actually had to do most of it sitting down as my legs were/are extremely sore from last night's track.

• 1.2km warm up
• 3 x 800, 800, 400 - all 800's done in under 4mins
• 2 x 1km efforts - 1st - 4:58, 2nd - 4:55
• 400m cool down

Good thing about last night's track is that for once I did not get defeated - I actually won this argument with myself.

Safe and sound.

Milo is finally home. After his near death experience he is back home where he belongs - as though nothing ever happened. And much to our delight there are no complications from his encounter with the common brown snake. No sooner did he get in the backyard to say HI to Bella and Moose he was out marking his territory and the cheeky little bugger even christened the area where he killed the brown. It was like his way of saying "See, you didn't get me - but I got you". I am sure he was a cat in his past life with 9 lives as he has had some close calls - Milo is a risk taker. The only thing the vet said was that he may be a little flat for a couple of days but other than that he will be back to his old self - hopefully no more snake killing for this 12yr old Foxy.

Some more good news for the day - I hit a new distance PB. 12.06km in 1hr 10mins and I am pleased as punch. This sort of feeling just cant seem to get any better - I really don't ever want it to end. These feelings (even those that you experience out on a run that are painful) make you want to keep going further, faster, harder.

How do my legs feel this evening? Mmmmmmm, sore but that's ok - the poor things I don't think know what has hit them over the last 4 days - I have totally flogged them silly. Yesterdays Windtrainer session added extra sting as well.

Looking forward to tomorrows track session.