Wow, so much to write on the race. I took notes along the way, but they seem to have become really, really long. So, how about a few highlights from the pre-race activities.

• Packing my bike, even in its purpose-built case, is still a challenge. I ended up frantically riding the bike to the shop to get them to take the pedals off for me (I think I might have been turning them the wrong way), then putting them back on, loosely, and pedaling home. Try as I might I just couldn't get the damn box to close. I purchased a bike box a few weeks back. I figured with the impending move and the trip out to WA it was worth having a hard case on wheels. But I couldn't remember what the picture looked like when it was full. And I was having trouble with my internet. I can't imagine how normal-sized people with normal-sized bikes fit theirs in boxes. I mean mine is so small I can't fit full sized waterbottles in it. I eventually gave in and took off my aero bars which seemed to do the trick. Of course even with the wheels, the box isn't really designed for the out of doors. Even the slightest uneven pavement made it bottom out on the way to the train station, but we both made it with only minor bruising.
• It's easy to spot triathletes on the way to the race, even after we've checked in our bikes. We're the people with the sporty sunnies, in the compression tights, wearing the t-shirt from the last race, and in some cases, with the shaved arms. I felt like I was doing a pretty good job of not identifying myself as part of this not-so-secret fraternity: my compression tights were hidden under my jeans. In fact my heart rate monitor watch wass probably my only give away.
• In the airport I met another triathlete, from Brisbane, originally from the states, who works in intellectual property. It was just a very weird coincidence and reinforced the idea that Brisbane is just a large country town.
• Until I got to Busselton which was actually a country town. Unlike the popular beaches of Sydney or the sunshine coast, there are no towering apartment blocks and the main strip of town runs perpendicular to the beach. There’s only one cafe on the water and it’s just at the beginning of the jetty. I can see now why it was tough to find accommodation nearby. That said, our guest house is fantastic! Literally 40m to transition and includes breakfast. We only got this room because some friends of ours had booked it a year in advance and they pulled out. The sign is our B&B, the fence is transition!
• I stayed with my friends Simone and Andrew. Andrew raced while Simone supported. The night before the race Andrew suggested we carbo load. By which he meant have a few beers. They're both ironmen, so I figured they knew best. Andrew returned to our table with 3 "Western Australian Thimbles of beer"

Busso Training 24 April

Another week down, and only one more to go. I'm beginning to feel less stressed and more zen about it. I think it's that there's not much else I can do at this point. A few more sessions, but really nothing I do now is going to change whether or not I finish this race and what time I do it in. Here's the wrap up for the week:

• 18/4 - am swim, followed by massage, followed by rock climbing
• 19/4 - 60K cycle plus mini tri (400/15/4) in the middle
• 20/4 - am pilates, pm core strength session
• 21/4 - am 60 min run, pm stretch
• 22/4 - am 55K ride, pm pilates
• 23/4 - am 100 min run, pm stretch
• 24/4 - am indoor ride

I got something in every day. Sunday's long ride plus mini tri felt good. 75K on the bike in total that day. Wednesday morning's ride was fast loops around the uni for 30K, then I did another 25K on the river loop on my own. Thursday morning's run also was confidence building as I felt strong at the 60 min mark, and then ran some pretty big hills easily.

My swimming has been hampered by public transport this week. Tuesday I left work a bit early to get a few extra laps in. I have to take two buses to get to swimming. One into the city and one out to the valley. The city bus was fine. There are about half a dozen buses I can take to the valley, so I hopped onto the first one and was on my way. Only to discover that it was an "express" bus which meant that it didn't stop outside the city until it got to the suburbs. And "express" didn't mean that it went fast, merely that it didn't stop. I pressed the bell to get off at my stop, and we whizzed past. So I thought we'd stop at the next. Still going. And I start thinking, yeah, I can just walk back. Until we've gone far enough that I realize, no I'm going to have to get another bus back to the valley. I was on the bus for at least 20 minutes before it finally stopped in Clayfield. I got off, crossed the street and waited another 20 minutes for the bus back to the valley. By the time I got to the valley practice was already half over, so I just went home. I was pissed. I had spent, all up, 2 hours riding on or waiting on buses.

Yesterday's swim was no better. This time the bus from the uni to the city took an hour. Seriously, I had run it faster that morning. And I'd taken the long way! By the time I got to the city practice had already started, so I went home again. Lots of stretching again. Now I reckon I probably should have gone any way, even a 30 minute swim would have been nice on the legs to work out some of the lactic from the run that morning.

A few more hard efforts this weekend, then it's time to taper and sleep!

Busso training 17April

Despite the rain, I've gotten some pretty good training in over the last week. Here's the recap:

• 11/5 - 70K ride to Redcliffe and back with 40 minute ocean swim at Redcliffe
• 12/5 - Went for a ride, but it was raining, so ran for 60 minutes in the morning followed by 30 minute run in the afternoon.
• 13/5 - still raining, 2K swim in 39:30
• 14/5 - 90 minute run am, 1K swim + squad swim pm
• 15/5 - 50K ride am, pilates pm
• 16/5 - slept in!, 500m swim + squad swim, pm
• 17/5 - indoor spin session + 15 minute run off the bike

So all in all I'm pretty pleased with my training this week. The rain over the weekend did dampen my training, I would have liked to have done a few more long rides. Definitely the hardest session was that 30 minute run on Sunday afternoon when my legs just had nothing left. I think I ran about 6min Ks.

I was pleased with the 2K swim. My goal is to swim sub 2 min 100m. So finishing the 2K in less than 40 minutes is perfect. And the actual swim at Busso will be 100m shorter than that!

My wednesday morning ride was a bit funny. The main squad was doing intervals. My legs were feeling quite thrashed from the Tuesday morning run, and I wanted to get some more distance in, so I opted to ride out with the beginner group who was doing a river loop. This was a nice slow ride. We didn't do the full loop. It was sort of nice to reminisce and see people with their flat pedals and sneakers on the bike (and one girl with one bike cleat and one sneaker - halfway there!). It's been almost 2 years since I converted to bike cleats, and I love them. At the end of the ride we did a 2K sprint, and I was the first one home. Sure, it was an unfair fight, but it was a nice reminder of how far I've progressed. After they finished their ride, I did the loop again at a slightly brisker pace.

I skipped my run on Thursday morning since I've already done 2 long runs this week, and my shin was starting to play up on Tuesday morning. I also thought about going for a ride, but with rides Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, I think I'll be right. There's only 2 more weeks til Busso. I won't have another morning off between now and then.

My body is feeling pretty good. I'm spending lots of time in my skins (compression tights) and eating a lot. But I feel like I may have turned a corner with the soreness. Legs are tired and they do tucker out quickly, but they're not as achey as they have been. Hopefully, this bodes well for the big race in 2 weeks.

Busso training

Keeping myself honest. Here's the training I've done over the last 2 weeks (bold are days that I actually trained, unbold are my excuses).

• 30/3 - off (day after Mooloolaba)
• 31/3 - swim pm (mostly drills)
• 1/4 - river loop ride (37K) am, pilates pm
• 2/4 - nothing, at conference (attempted swim, but got scared as I was the only person in the water, it was choppy, getting dark and I don't like sharks)
• 3/4 - nothing, still at conference, back seized up from sitting in conference chairs
  
• 4/4 - massage for the back, no training
• 5/4 - nice 9K run with a few sets of stairs
  

• 6/4 - pilates am, strength training pm (ouch)
• 7/4 - skipped run in the morning cause it was raining, swim pm
• 8/4 - ride (~30K) with sprints am, pilates pm
• 9/4 - run with squad + 20 minutes on my own (14K), swim circuit plus 1K warm up on my own
• 10/4 - ride with squad (~70K)

So clearly, I've done much better this week than last. The whole back thing was a big issue. I've never had it seize up as badly as it did. I was not a very happy Laura. But the point is, I'm cramming in my training. This being Easter weekend (with public holidays on Friday and Monday), I thought I'd get lots of training in.

This morning was a nice long ride with some of the folks from BTS. We met at a very civilized 6:30am. I actually woke up before my alarm. I felt refreshed and awake, which is a nice to change to how I've felt most of this week. I even left a few minutes early, which was lucky cause 10 minutes into my ride it starts to rain. But Tanya and I were already almost to the meeting place, we weren't going to turn around. And it really paid off. Once we got going on the ride the sky cleared up, and it was beautiful heading south toward the coast.

About 40K in, we were riding down this big hill, and I got a puncture in my back tire. I could hear it pop and feel the air escaping each time the wheel spun by my leg. We stopped. I started changing the tire. I couldn't find the object that had punctured it, but I did find a hole in the tire from whatever had punctured it. When I inflate the new tire it bursts. Bugger.

I borrow another tube and canister (of CO2) from Nadine. At this point Mike starts to give me a hand. We replace the tube again. And just as we're putting the wheel back on the bike, it bursts too. This is a bad sign. There's something in the tire causing the tubes to burst.

Now we're down to our last spare tube amongst the group. This time Mike and I pull off the tire and inspect it again. Still can't find anything in it, but Mike reckons that gash is big enough (~1cm long) that the tubes are pushing through it, pinching and bursting. Now it's time for the old $5 note trick. Australian money is made of plastic, not linen like US money. Also there are no $1 notes, only coins. The smallest note is the fiver. The idea is that you line the tire with the note, the pressure from the tube keeps it in place, and the note keeps the tire from pushing out. Great idea. Only problem is none of us has a $5 note. I have a $20. So that will have to do. Mike and I replace the tube a third time, with the note in place, and we're on our way.

I mentioned it's a public holiday, being Good Friday and all. Well, this means that no bike shops are open. I've called about a dozen in the greater Brisbane area. Everywhere is shut. The $20 trick is a good stop gap, but I really need new tires to do the 70K ride out to Redcliffe tomorrow morning as planned. Shops should be open tomorrow, but not until after the ride. This is definitely putting a damper on my weekend training.

On the plus side, Nic bought my breakfast this morning since my cash was otherwise occupied.Here's the gash, with my thumb for a size reference. Also an impressive watch tan.

Half plan

The Half Ironman is 3 weeks from tomorrow. I feel like I'm essentially cramming for a test. I had made myself a program about 5 weeks ago to try to start getting my distances up. But between the stress about moving, dramas at work, and rainfall it just doesn't feel like I've put in enough Ks. Essentially I'm hoping that I have the fitness to do the race from the months of training that I've already put in and a few longer efforts between now and then.

I'm not worried about the swim. It's 1900m, that's only 400m longer than an olympic distance swim. I feel like I should be able to conquer that in 40 minutes.

The bike is 91K. This is a long ride. Ideally, I would do it in 3 hours. Just sit on 30K/hour. I think this is reasonable given that the course is pretty much flat. My bike time at Mooloolaba was 1 hour 21 minutes, which translates to just under 30K/hour average. This included transition time (and at least 2 min 45 to run from the swim to the bike). And a massive headwind. But it was also less than half of the distance.

The run is 21K. This is the bit that I worry most about. I've done 90K bike rides many times before. Afterwards my body is generally in the mood to shower and eat. Trying to convince it to run for 2 hours. Well that will just be tough. My half marathon time last July was 1 hour 53, on fresh legs. My Mooloolaba 10K was 53 minutes, which is just 2 minutes off of my best 10K time. So... double the length of the run, does that mean I'll go 4 minutes slower than my best (and only) half mara time. I reckon I'll go a bit slower than that still. Two hours on the run would be amazing.

Total all that up, that's 5:40. Add in 10 minutes for transitions (I'm planning on at least one pee break before the run). Seems like 5:50 should be the goal time.

Here comes the rain again

Queensland has been on water restrictions since I arrived. In fact it's been on water restrictions for the last 3 years. And it has easier restrictions than states further south that are essentially deserts. Shops give away free 2 minute timers on suction cups so you can limit your showers.

This past week we've gotten buckets of rain. In fact we've gotten double our April average in just the first 5 days. There have been floods and landslides, but the real news is that our dams are over 50% full, which is the trigger to reducing our water restrictions. We are officially no longer in water crisis, now just a drought.

This means that residents can water their lawns for an hour a week (in 2 half hour increments) provided they use a hose that doesn't use more than 9 litres per minute.

Growing up in Georgia, I remember having water restrictions, and they were a huge deal. People were up at arms about only being able to water their lawns every other day. It's a bit inspiring to see that a culture can put so much value on preserving their water.

For my part, I don't own a car to wash, and I do my best to kill off any plants in my care.

Mooloolaba 2009

My second time at Mooloolaba. And my one year anniversary for the olympic distance. The race this year felt different. I wasn't as nervous. I knew what to expect. Julie and I drove up on Friday night. Saturday morning we went for a spin with the squad then relaxed and headed over to register and rack our bikes. At expo we got to meet the reigning Olympic Champion Emma Snowsill. She wasn't racing this weekend, but I did get this picture with her (I was a little excited to meet her).
Saturday they also announced that the swim would not be an ocean swim. One of the things that I loved about Mooloolaba last year was the surf swim. It's one of the few races that takes place in the surf. It's tough, and I'm definitely better at swimming without waves, but it's a unique experience. Unfortunately the weather this year would not permit it. There were huge, dumping waves on the beach, so the swim was relocated to the "river" which was more of canal. Nice and salty, but not wavy. The real downside is that transition stays in the same place but the river is 600m away from transition. This means after the swim I had a 2min 45 second barefoot run to transition. They did say we could bring our sneakers out to the river, but I opted to go without cause I didn't want to have to first find my shoes, second put them on, third run and fourth take them back off again.

Triathlon involves a lot of gear. Saturday night I laid out everything that I needed for the following morning before packing it up (sans bike since it was already in transition). Months of preparation and practice were all coming together for this race.
Sunday morning we awoke at 4:30am. Between the 7 of us sharing the apartment and the 2 bathrooms, we needed plenty of time. Transition opened 5:15. Part of the preparation process involves getting the right hair. In my first triathlon in Boston the hardcore girls wore french braids, so now I do braids for each race. After doing my own Kirsty asked if I could do hers as well. Here we go. I was also trying to instruct Julie and Paul how to turn the flash on.
We set our things up in transition and went off to the BTS tent to drop off our non-race gear (extra waterbottles, dress, sandals, camera, etc). At this point I made the decision to take all three GUs with me. GUs are carbo gels. For an olympic distance I usually take 3. One before the race, one toward the beginning of the ride, and the last one at the end of the ride. Since I was taking three GUs I opted to only have water on the bike. My tri suit has little elastic pockets on the back, so I just tuck the GUs in there and have them whenever I'm ready. Kirsty and I pose for one last shot before leaving transition.
There's not a lot of space on the river, and pretty much no option to warm up in the water. They sound the horn and we're off. The swim was rough lots of swimming on top of eachother, but I pulled myself from the water in 29 minutes. Hooray, love swimming sub-thirty minutes. I did the run over to the transition area, and it didn't feel too bad except for the one pebbly bit.

I hop on the bike, and there are some hills. It's only a few Ks of hills out to the highway, but they're big, and I struggled. I get out on the highway, and I start to feel better. I start passing girls in my age group. Sweet. I decide it's time for my first GU. I reach for them, and my pockets are empty. They had swum out of my pockets on the swim. At this point I start thinking what am I going to do. I've got over 2 hours of exercise, and I have no sugar. I start to freak out a little bit. And as I'm freaking out, I start thinking of other things that I didn't do according to plan. Like pee. I didn't pee before the race. I start thinking I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm going to have to stop on the run at least to pee and probably because I've crapped out with no sugar. Then I start thinking, no this is all in my head. I just have to push through.

I get to the turn around point and get hit full on with a head wind. It's rough. I pass a few more girls in my category. But a few minutes later they pass me back, but slow down right away. So I pass them. And this is the way the rest of the ride goes. One of us makes a move and pushes forward, then gets hit by the brunt of the wind and can't break away. Then some one else pushes up. In the last 3K as we head back through the hills the sky opens up with rain.

I get back to transition, and it's decision time. Do I go to the loo? I drop off the bike, pull on the runners, and spot Tanya's bike next to mine. If her bike is already there then it means she's already on the run, and there's a GU sitting with her transition stuff. Sweet. I grab her GU and eat it on my way out of transition. I'm feeling like I'm not busting with pee. I know that can change once I get running, but for the moment I feel ok.


The run is two out and back laps with a hill at the beginning. Running down the hill for the first time the rain lets loose again, soaking me and my shoes. But the course is still nice running parallel to the beach with clear km markers. I feel good. I don't pass many people on the run, and a few I passed on the bike pass me again. At the 7K mark, I checked my watch and I knew I would make my goal of sub-2:45.

Last year I did Mooloolaba in 2hours 51 minutes, 3 weeks after being hit by a car and on some one else's bike. I did Noosa in 2 hours 48. This one I wanted to improve upon that again by 3 minutes. Ideally I wanted a sub-30 minute swim, 1:15 bike and 50 minute run, without transitions. If I got that I'd pull a 2:35. Well the swim went to plan, the bike was overall 1:21, but that includes the run 600m to transition as well as transition times themselves. And the run, well it was still 53 minutes. That's what I ran the moo run in last year. At first I was disappointed, I haven't made any run improvements in a year. But then I think back to all the struggles I've had with my running this year, and I'm pretty happy that I haven't gotten any worse. And it's still only 2 minutes off my best 10K time of 51min, which after swimming and running is a really good effort.

The night after the triathlon, we went to the post-race pub party. There they had the footage from the finish line on loop. I took a picture of it when I crossed the line. That's me in the background just as I finished. Yay. 2 hours, 43 minutes.

Love that dirty water

Ah, Boston. My former and future home.

When I first came to Australia it was for 6 months. Those 6 between 9, which then became a desire to stay. I wanted to explore more of Australia than just Cairns, and I wanted to make a break from BCG. It seemed the thing to do was to stay.

I've loved living in Brisbane. It's a great city. I love the ferries, the weather, the triathlons, the coast. I love the lifestyle. I think I could live very happily in Brisbane for a long time (provided I used a lot of sunscreen).

The thing is long distance relationships can only survive when there's an end in sight. If there's no future, there's no present. One of us had to move. I have known for a while that it was going to have to be me. Australia is my dream. And in a way, I'm happy to not have to share it. Paul did ask about the potential to move his job to Brisbane, but they wouldn't do it. We talked about cities though and Paul found a job in one that I love, so it will be back to Beantown for me.

This is the craziest thing I have done for love, ever. And that fills me with excitement.

Half Ironman

Well, I've been hemming and hawing over it for too long. It's only 7 weeks away, so today I signed up for the Busselton Half Ironman in Western Australia. The 2nd of May will be my first half IM. Exciting! And scary!

The kids are back

One of the benefits and pains of working at the University is the students. Yesterday was the first day of class for uni students, and the campus is crawling with them. On the tough side it means the city buses are full, the queues for lunch are outrageous and the professors are all busy teaching classes. On the plus side, being surrounded by students makes me feel young. Only thing that could improve this effect is if I could drink their essence and turn them into drones (who don't ride the bus), like in the Dark Crystal. [cue evil laugh]

Mom's visit

One of these things is not like the others. That's right - my new helmet is not a bucket! Big thanks to my mom for my new helmet. I christened it at this weekend's Luke Harrop Memorial Gold Coast Triathlon.

The visit from my mom was wonderful. We visited the markets, made lots of tasty veggie dishes, went to Bribie Island for a tri, and drove through the Glass House Mountains. And topped it all off with a trip on the Brisbane Wheel. Thanks Mom for a fantastic visit.

Mom in Brisbane

Bribie Tri

The Bribie Tri was tough. Longer distance than what I've been doing at 1K swim, 28K bike and 8K run. Swim felt good and was nice and flat. Bike was 4 laps with lots of turns and twists. And run was long. I don't think I've run that far since Noosa. And just mentally it was tough. And I got passed in the last 800m by two girls in my age group dropping me to 11th overall. Time to get serious about the half ironman.

Cairns in the news

A friend of mine pointed me back to the Cairns Post website yesterday. He makes the point that they have dedicated half of their real estate to tourist destinations, and half of it to the dangers of being a tourist. If you can't read it, the three top headlines are:

1. Tourists tracked and raped
2. Man attacked by shark
3. Child eaten by croc

Ah, Cairns.

Race Report: Robina and Resolutions

Last weekend I competed in the second triathlon at Robina. This one was a full sprint distance (750/ 20/ 5). The biggest difference, of course, is my cool new sunnies. Take a closer look at them:Pretty cool, huh? They are the same style that Emma Snowsill the Olympic Champion wears.

The race itself went pretty well. All my times were slower than the Raby Bay race, but I think it was overall a slower course. I still came 7th in my age group. Though I did get beat on the bike by one of my squad members and that was a little discouraging.

I also discovered the hard way that permanent ink provides good sun protection. See, sunscreen smears numbers, and there isn't a lot of the alcohol based gel available here, so I opted for having the number written on pre-screen, then just outlining the numbers in screen afterwards. The result was that I still have a few numbers burned into my right shoulder:

I need to get other screen.

The run felt good and was pain free until two days later, when my shin splint in my left leg came back at run training. And this brings me to my first New Year's Resolution: No More Shin Splints. I've translated this into several sub-resolutions:

1. No flip-flops, ever. This one sucks, cause Brissie in the summer is prime flip-flop-wearing time, but I can feel the impact of no support on my legs just walking to catch the bus, so they are out. (I am making one exception to the rule and that is the beach)
2. Stretching and strengthening exercises every night. I know they should be easy to bang out every night in the hour or so between dinner and bed, but somehow TV is so enthralling, I can't move my butt from the couch to the floor to stretch - this must change.
3. Get new running shoes. I've been wearing Nike Triax's for many years now. They were recommended by Marathon and I've trusted them, but I think it's time to check out a new shoe and see if this makes any difference. I went to a good running shop on Wednesday night, and should get my new kicks (Mizunos) today.
4. Get my old orthotics recovered. I truly believe that orthotics are more of an art than a science. I had my old orthotics for about 5 years before I started to wear off the top layer of them, and I started getting blisters. I've had shin splints on and off since I started running, but I was pain-free in Cairns, and this new bout came in with the new orthotics, so I'm getting a friend of mine who's a podiatrist to recover the old ones, and I'll go back to them.

Kicking the shin splints is particularly important as I start thinking about increasing my distance to achieve my goal of competing in the Busselton Half Ironman in May. It's just not that far away, and there are a lot of miles between now and then.

Finally, I'm instituting a no dishes in the sink over night policy. It's far too easy when you live alone to get sloppy. Sure it's another thing to do between dinner and bed, but it's a good habbit to get into.

Highlights of the tour 'Up Above'

So if I'm down under, does that make the US 'Up Above'? I think it does.

I'm back in Brissie from 2.5 weeks back in the states. By the numbers:

18 hours flight out
27 hours flight back (there's no direct US -> Bris flight as there was on the way out)
8 flights total
22 kilos of luggage
$45 in checked luggage fees
3 hours by train
1 night at the 9s
1 ride
2 swims
3 runs
Many bottles of fine American micro-brews (good show, Portland)
2.5 lbs gained (mostly in steak)
11 discs of BSG watched

I had a wonderful time. Here are the highlights:

• Cycling around Houston with Paul's step-dad. John was an avid cyclist for years, but hasn't gotten a chance to ride much of late. We rode along the wide boulevards into the city, and out to a large park. It was perfect weather, didn't even require a jacket in December.
  
• Playing boggle with Paul's sister and cousins (and getting thoroughly beat, even though I came up with the word "eleven")
• Getting triathlon sunnies in the "asian fit" frames cause I'm so asian, seriously though they're the first pair of wrap around style sunglasses that don't bounce around
  
• Finding and being convinced by Paul to purchase a New Year's Eve dress that got heaps of compliments on the night. Thank you, Paul, and Betsey Johnson.
  
• Making pysanka eggs with my mom and Paul. My mom has been decorating eggs in the Ukranian batique styel for years. Paul got to try his hand on his first egg, which given that it didn't crack was a huge success. I got to try my mom's electric kistka, very cool.
  
• Hanging out with my mom's housemate Cindy. Hi, Cindy.
  
• Poking fun at the incredibly practical footwear in Portland. Maybe some one told the cocktail waitresses that they'd be behind a bar, but I doubt it. Some one was getting ready for work and thought, "yeah, you know what, I'm going to wear my orthopaedic sandals with knee highs with my little cocktail dress"
  
• Listening to jazz music in the VIP lounge at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland (the drink lines were less of a highlight, but overall a successful party)
  
• Going swimming with Paul in South Bend (and trying to calculate how many laps of a 25 yard pool I needed to swim to cover 1K, while swimming it)
• Watching ISU win their 14th game in an undefeated season (not making the list is watching them take the stats to 14-1 in the next game)
• Going to the ND basketball game, getting $6 student tickets, sitting on the floor in the fourth row, and then spotting ourselves in the ESPN coverage of the game the next day
• Spending at least one full day in jammies watching Battlestar Galactica

New Year's 2008

Authentic Australian Experience

In between tri's and Christmas parties, I've been trying to fit in a few more Authentic Australian Experiences.

First, I went to the Eumundi Markets with my friend Julie. The markets are about an hour and half north of Brissie. According to the website they are "World Famous.". But I have it on good advice that their heyday was actually 30 years ago. Still, they were huge. Mostly arty, but also commercial. The biggest surprise there was the truly fantastic Mexican food. Sure, it's by Australian standards, but still, nice thick chips, real guac, pulled beef. I was happily surprised.

On the way home from the Eumundi Markets, we stopped at the big pineapple. Large roadside attractions (see the big lobster from my Great Ocean Road trip) are an Aussie icon. The pineapple is big - 3 stories tall. But in the end was a bit of a disappointment. It's free to climb up and the inside is filled with diaramas of a pineapples trip from the farm to the can. But there was no info on the pineapple itself. When was it built, who built it? It also was a bit of a let down that they'd clearly built this large parking lot and a special bridge across the highway to access it, and it was empty. There might have been 8 people there. Just felt a bit sad.


From there we stopped at the Abbey Museum. It's a 3 room museum, and we were the 3rd and 4th visitors for the day. The man at the front refused to allow me to pay the full price admission of $8. Instead I got the student rate of $5.50. The museum was surprisingly good. It followed civilization from cavemen times to the Victorian era. And had some pretty impressive artefacts (Mary Queen of Scot's shoe!). I am a bit more skeptical now, I mean, how does a 3 room museum in a Queensland country town get the shoe of a tragic queen? Still at $5.50 this was better than the pineapple.

Finally, I got to take part in an Authentic Aussie Surf Carnival. As part of our Christmas celebrations, my tri team broke down into country based teams: Australia, New Zealand, Rest of World. I brought my tiny American flags. Who knew how useful those would be? Some people got assigned new homelands since the Rest of World (or as I like to think of them, the American) team would be lacking. We did an ocean swim, a boogie board contest, beach flags (sprints, starting lying face down in the sand). It was a great experience. Picts are here.

Race Report: Raby Bay

Can't hold it in: I got in the top 10! Not like the top 10 overall. But in the top 10 of women aged 25-29. But still. There were 31 people in my category, and I came 10th. Better than that, I ran my 5K in 24:50. It's the first time I've run sub-5 minute Ks in a tri!

It was a sprint race. The third in the Queensland Tri Series. Each race has gotten a little bit tougher, a little bit longer. This one was a full sprint 750m-20K-5K.

And it was hot. They rotate the start times of the individual waves, so though I was one of the first heats at Robina, at this race I was the second to last. The race also has a kids race and an enticer race (mini-triathlon), so though the kids got started at 7. My race didn't actually start til 8:48. On a cloudless 32 degree day.

The swim felt good for the first half and bad for the second. I just lost my guts, started breast stroking every few strokes. My overall time was still sub 15 minutes, but I know I can do better.

On the bike I could see another BTS person shortly ahead of me. It was a 4 lap course, I caught her on the second, but she passed me back. But I passed her back again. Then an official on a motorcycle rode up alongside me. He says, "Looks like you lost your friend". I was a bit stunned. Officials don't talk to you, unless you've done something wrong. This guy was just having a chat. Very strange.

Luckily to combat the heat, there were gusty winds. Unfortunately, on the bike this made the ride out near impossible and the ride in super fast. At every lap, I'd sail in with the wind to my back, turn around, try to get out of the saddle to get my speed back, but with the wind pounding my chest, I'd bow back down onto my bars to push through it.

Then the run. The wind here really made a huge difference. 5K in four laps of 1.25K, coming back in to the crowds for the half way point. It felt good. Strong. I passed another BTS person on the course, but since we were so close to the last to go, the course was clearing out.

I forgot to stop my watch, so I didn't realize til the official results were released that I'd finished the run in sub 25 minutes.

I was sorely disappointed that after all of that there were no sausages leftover. A sausage on a slice of bread is an Aussie tradition. Though there were plenty before the race, it's not the time that I'm really in the mood. And afterward, they'd already packed up. Grrr.

Also, I got a little sunburned. I mean, I put on sunscreen, but it's only good for 4 hours. And it's not really good for that after a swim. But there's not much option. I can't put on more screen during the tri, the sweat will stop it from sticking. 4 hours and 30+ is the best I can find here. Other than covering myself in zinc, I can't figure out what else to do.

But those things aside, I broke into the top 10. It's only up from here.

Canberra

Last weekend I went to visit my friend Kimberley and Hamish in Canberra. They're both public servants there. Canberra, like DC, was the capital designed when the country couldn't decide if Sydney or Melbourne should be the capital. As a result, it's the only major city not located on the ocean. Ok, calling it a "major city" is probably not quite right. It's more like a "major town". Canberra only has 300K people, almost all of them working for government.

The visit was mostly about hanging out with friends, but I also wanted to take in some government, and K and H are excellent tour guides when it comes to that. We went to see New Parliament House on Saturday. New Parliament House is 20 years old, but the "New" differentiates it from "Old" Parliament House which preceded it. It struck me just how similar our governments are. Sure there's the big difference about having a PM instead of a President, but once you get beyond that, bicameral systems descended from Mother England just aren't that different.

That afternoon we checked out the War Memorial. Which is much more of a museum than a memorial. After being thoroughly educated on the Anzacs at Gallipoli and the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese, I came out stunned at the rules of war. How, in the midst of the bloody and futile months long battle with the Turks, they would call a temporary armistice with their opponents to collect their dead. Then, they'd each go back to their sides to continue fighting. It seems that the wars we're involved in today don't follow those gentlemanly rules.

The following day we saw Old Parliament House. It's must more British, and not nearly as circa 1980s as New Parliament House. In fact the chair for the Speaker of the House is a replica of the one used in the House of Commons in England. However, the original was destroyed in the bombing of London, and now the Brits have a replica of the replica made out of timbers from Queensland.

We also covered, what I can only assume to be, the defining event in Australian Political History. Since Australia remains a commonwealth of England, the Queen has ultimate power over the government. In the 70s, the Governor General (ie, the Queen's man in Australia) told her that government wasn't functioning because the PM refused to call an election (the PM can call an election at any point in his 3 year term). And so the Queen sacked the PM, and put the opposing party in power and demanded an election. Most famously the dismissed PM Whitlam stood on the steps of Parliament and said "May God save the Queen, because nothing can save the Governor General." This story was told and retold in both Parliament Houses.

We also explored the National Gallery, which was a sweet abridged museum. Each room covered one genre of art. It had all a work from each major contributor to the movement, then moved on. Here's the Monet in the impressionists, now just to your left you'll see the Dali in the surrealist corner.

Other than the political history, the biggest impression Canberra made on me was the weather. It was freezing. It rained on and off all weekend and never topped 50 degrees. In fact there was even snow reported in the mountains. Brrr. This queenslander can't handle that sort of chill factor anymore.

Canberra

Race Report: Robina

This was the weather after the race. Thankfully, it was clear skies during the race, but it was hot.

This was a short race: 400m, 15K, 4K. Swim was in a lake, which means it was not salty! So nice for once. Swim felt good, though my time was over 8 minutes which was a bit disappointed. The ride felt good, though heart rate was a bit high, probably due to the cold I had this week, or the blistering heat. 82 degrees, 75% humid. The run felt terrible for the first 1500. The air was still, and I started to feel like I shouldn't have drunk all that water on the bike. But once things settled in I felt good on the run. It was a 2 lap course, and I did the second lap about 10 seconds faster than the first. Overall I came 10th in my category out of 41. 1h 3m 53s.

Sushi Quest, pt 3: Sono

The sushi quest may end up being much shorter than previously anticipated. One of the restaurants in the city has closed. I think this leaves only one or two other options to try out. Bummer.

This week I visited Sono, at the bottom of the Queen St Mall. It was by far the best ambiance. Wood paneled walls, small rock garden, waitresses in yukata. Sort of reminded me of Fugakyu. They offered a lot of non-sushi dishes. We opted for the large sushi/sashimi platter. This might have been a mistake for two of us, as I think it had no less than 35 pieces of sushi, and after a large bowl of edamame and miso (plus raisin toast on a few hours before) it was a bit aggressive. Still, the pieces weren't too large, and in the end I think we only left half a dozen pieces. What they did have though was a large variety of fish. Many I had never tried, but since they didn't identify them for us, I will not likely remember them. We had tuna, salmon, yellowtail (sometimes called kingfish), swordfish, snapper. I think there were 3 other varieties of white fish, but I couldnt' tell them apart. One that looked like mackerel, but wasn't. Maybe this sounds ingracious, but I sort of wish there were fewer varieties. I started getting them mixed up. The overall experience was great. I will definitely return. Though I still think I prefer the quality at Oshin.

Things to do before you die

My time in Australia is limited. I will, someday, go home. And I don't want to settle into that, I just live here I've never done the tourist things. I mean I don't want to do the touristy-tourist things, but it's like living in Paris and never going up the Eiffel Tower. My friend Julie gave me a deck of cards today each with a Brisbane Day Trip on it. They cover museums, markets, vineyards, ranches, rainforests. So, I thought it's time to put together my list. Things I want to do in Australia. Here we go:

• Uluru (I'm on the fence on this one because of time and money, but it's supposed to be awe-inspiring)
• Play on a touch footie team - Aussie rules or league doesn't matter much. I'll be equally ill-equipped in either of them. Maybe Aussie rules is better cause I can run. But either way, I think this will go nicely with my netball experience.
• The Outback Spectacular, brought to you by RM Williams (they make the boots) - ok, they advertise this on TV and it looks like a Medieval Time Restaurant with an Outback theme. I mean seriously, how could I miss this?
• Australia Zoo - I don't even like zoos, but I might be able to see a Bindi Irwin in her natural habitat, that alone is worth the price of admission
• Canberra - I'm going next week, so it's sort of a gimme, but both old and new parliament houses are on the must tour list
• Hangliding - I wanted to do this in Cairns, but never got around to it before the wind died for the wet. I think I can find a place around Brissie to do this.
• Climb the cliffs at Kangaroo Point - I see people do this every weekend and it looks like fun. I've never been rock climbing before, but this seems like as good a place as any to try it out.
• XXXX Ale House - it's shit beer, but it's local shit beer. And for ages the only beer in Queensland, and the brewery is right across the river.
• Witch's Chase Cheese Co - (no explanation needed)
• A half ironman. It's not uniquely Australian, but triathlon is a big part of my Australian experience, and I'd love to do my first one here. There's one in Feb, but with christmas, I don't think I'll have the time to properly train. Then there's another one in May, so that may be the goer.

I think that's enough for the time being. Any other suggestions?

Yes, we can

Patriotism is a funny thing. It doesn't really exist in Australia, and I have trouble explaining it to my friends here. It's a feeling in my gut, a doctrine driven into each American child every morning with the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem. The love of country in the US is practically a religion. I was brought up on 4ths of July, Born in the USA, and the belief that I was fortunate to be born in the greatest nation in the world. It's a very personal thing for me. And a thing that has been attacked by the current political leaders for the last 8 years.

My second night in Australia, I went to see a play. The play was critical of both Australian and American military initiatives in Iraq. And I came away with this feeling. It was one of those "I can talk bad about my mother, but no one outside the family can" feelings. The Aussie's didn't see it that way.

My feelings toward the US for the last 8 years have ranged from frustration to shame. But, no longer. Watching the results come in, in my office yesterday with two colleagues, I felt that desperation vanish and be replaced by hope. It sounds cheesy, but I felt pride again in my country. That's right MY country. I hope I am not wrong, but I believe Obama may lead my country to greatness once again. And that makes me feel patriotic.

Sushi Quest, part 2: Hanaichi and Mizu

This week two sushi joints join the ranks of the Sushi Quest. Hanaichi in the Winter Garden on the Queen St Mall and Mizu in Newstead.

Hanaichi is a sushi train. I know, I know, I said no sushi trains, but I hadn't tried it, and I had a friend with me, and I figured it would be the more wallet-friendly of the options on the Queen St Mall. The most I can say for Hanaichi is that it was decent. Better than Sushi Train branded sushi trains, but not as good at Ginga (the sushi train closest to my house). They did mostly standard fair (nigiri: tuna, salmon, kingfish, prawn, eel, squid, octopus; rolls: salmon/avo, chicken/avo, duck). The pieces were small, and presented no need to chew through them. The thing that most turned me off from the joint was that they had a stack of sushi plate waiting to go onto the train - making me think the fair we were getting was pretty old already. For quick sushi on the Queen St Mall, I stick with the to-go rolls in the food court of the Myer Centre.

Mizu was a different story. I had lunch there today. They're less sushi-focused, more general japanese. I had the sashimi bento box which included 6 pieces of sashimi, prawn and vegetable tempura, salmon teriyaki, miso and salad. I thought this was very good value. The sashimi consisted of tuna, salmon and kingfish, with the kingfish being the standout on texture and flavour, and the salmon being the disappointment. But given that they didn't specialize in sashimi, I thought they were very good. I felt the other items in the box were all strong: tempura crispy, teriyaki sweet and flavourful and miso, um, miso-y. I would return to Mizu for dinner and hopefully find more sushi varieties on the menu.

Just a small PS: My faith in democracy and the American people has been restored. I watched the results and speeches with a few coworkers on a laptop in my office today. I was overcome by chills and tears at many points during the speeches. I am filled with hope for a country, I am once again proud to call my own.

An imperfect race: Noosa Triathlon

My first Noosa Triathlon (and second ever Olympic distance) was plagued with mishaps. No catastrophes. It was still a good race, just lots of little things.

Saturday morning I woke up at 3:30am. I'm usually an early riser, but really even I like to be asleep at that time. I tried to get back to sleep, tried reading, nothing was working, I was too anxious about the race, so I got up. I read the competitor briefing, and realized I hadn't printed out my receipt with barcode (!). Ok, not a huge deal, there's a Mailboxes down the road that's supposed to open at 10am. I get myself packed up and ready to go. Check my triathlon shelf no less than 5 times to make sure I haven't forgotten anything (no to bike gloves, no to chamois cream, yes to sunscreen and heart rate monitors).

I get to the print shop at 10, and they're not open, in fact, they're not opening. They are closed on weekends. Bugger. New plan, have to go into work on the way to Noosa (which is, btw, in the wrong direction).

I take the train into the valley to pick up the car (no car rental place in my neighborhood), and they can't find my reservation. It seems I managed to book the car to pick up at the airport and return to the valley. Gah. But fear not, if I can wait 20 min, they can get a car for me there. Now in my head, I had sorta been thinking, I'd leave at 11, be upto Noosa by 1, easily make it to register before 4. But I don't get the car til 11:30, then I have to go home and load it up with my gear (thank god the bike fits it, it was a close squeeze). Then to work, and finally.... on the road.

When I get there, they scan my receipt and the bloody thing doesn't read, so they have to call over a tech to manually input me. Good thing I went to print it out, right. I take my bike over to transition, which is not at all near the registration tent. And I've forgotten my little ticket to get my goody bag, but I convinced the woman that I wouldn't take more than one. And in the end, I don't know that I even wanted that one, it's not a very nice shirt, and the hat is the same as the one from Mooloolaba only blue.

Fast forward to Sunday morning. I felt relaxed. My transition area was set up, and I was chilling with the team. In the Noosa race the elites go off first. They race the same course and have the same no-drafting rules. In many elite races drafting on the bike is legal, which means that so long as you're out of the water at roughly the same time as the rest, you can ride in a pack for the whole ride, then the race really comes down to foot speed on the run. Personally, I think this is less exciting, and I'm not allowed to draft, so I don't think the pros should either. We watched the pros start the swim and the bike. Emma Snowsill won the women's race in just under 2 hours. She's also the reigning Olympic champion and took hoome her 5th consecutive Noosa win. The woman is inspiring.

Back to my race. Open water start, and no wet suits. So we're all treading water and it's a long start line, so it's not too busy. The horn goes off and away we go. It's nice being so spread out cause we're not swimming on top of eachother. But that only lasts til about midway to the first buoy, which is a turn, and every one pushes to get the inside lane. From then on it seems it's difficult to find open water, I'm always swimming in between people, feeling other hands on my legs. The course is in the canals of Noosa, which makes it calm and protected. But it's not a straight out and back course, and it's hard to get a feel for where I am in the course. And, about halfway through I realize that I'd forgotten to start my watch at the gun. Crap. Ok, i'll start it coming out of the water, and that will give me cycle and run times at least.

I recently purchased tri cycling shoes. The differences with these are that they only have one strap, so their easier to put on and take off while you ride, and the straps open out, so they don't get stuck in the gears. I started with my shoes clipped into the pedals, so all I had to do was hop on the bike and get going, then put the shoes on as I rode. Unfortunately, when I hopped on, my left shoe got caught on the ground, unclipped and dropped off. I had to stop, go back, get my shoe, put it on, and then get started again. Frustrating to see so many people pass me as I was just trying to get on my bike.

But the ride itself was brilliant! I was down on my aero bars most of the time, which I'm getting pretty good at. I passed people on the way out and was riding pretty fast ~35-37K/hour with the tailwind. At the 10K mark, the course turns off onto a winding track through the woods. It's a gorgeous, long climb. The type that you ride in the saddle to conserve your legs. The turns are numbered with 14 to the top. I saw another BTS suit up ahead of me, but I wasn't sure who it was. Then I saw the hot pink bike. It was Tanya. She'd started in my heat on the swim, and I was closing ground on her. She's super fast, so I was excited. When I came level with her, she gave me a "well done, mate" which thrilled me and I pushed on. She passed me back coming down the hill, but we played tag for the rest of the ride, maintaining a Holden Comodore's distance between us when we weren't passing eachother to abide by the no drafting rule. At 6K to go or so, I passed her, and she didn't pass me back. I felt unstoppable. I was watching the clock as well. I had hoped to do my ride in under 1:20, which would mean better than 30K/hour. I came in at 1:18! Sweet!

I get my feet out of my shoes, dismount my bike and start to run it in. I'm trying to hit the button on my watch to get my split time, and I lose control of my bike and lose my balance. I face plant coming into transition. Lucky I still had my helmet on! I slammed my knee pretty badly, and my hands, but I'm ok. I get up, and start to run it back in, this time with both hands on the bike. As I enter transition, I start walking, my head is spinning from the adrenaline and I start hyperventilating. I see several volunteers eying me, but I won't ask for help, there's no way I'm dropping out of this race. I rack my bike, take a minute to get my breath back and get some more water, and I head out to the run course.

My knee is throbbing and swelling as I go, which in a way is a good thing, cause it takes away from any pain in my shin. The run feels like the longest 10K of my life. Turns out, it almost was. I spent 58 minutes on the run, which just narrowly beats the time on my first 10K, which holds the title for longest 10K at 59:03. I keep thinking I'm further along the course than I am, thinking I must have just not seen the 3K marker, then a minute later, seeing it still ahead of me. Mentally it was tough, cause I haven't done that distance, my brain kept saying, you just don't have this in you. And I think the adrenaline spike from the fall didn't help. I just felt wiped out, like I had nothing left to give, even after the gu. It was just put one foot ahead of the other and finish this thing. Finally at 8K, I started to put the doubts aside and move with confidence, but it was a long hard slog. And to top it all off, I forgot to stop my watch at the finish, so I didn't have a time for the run either.

In the end, I came in at 2:48:57. I beat my Mooloolaba time by 3 minutes, shaving 1minute off the swim, 7 minutes off the bike, and adding 5 minutes to the run. I feel confident, with more run training (still no shin pain after 2 days!), I can get those minutes back on the run. I will beat 2:45 at Mooloolaba this year!

What Australian's think of the US election

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/racerace/

This is a publicly funded radio program.

And, in other news

And, in other news, I'm heading up to Noosa today for the triathlon tomorrow. Results will be posted here:

http://www.usmevents.com.au/ntmsf/results.html

My only previous olympic distance was Mooloolaba. I finished that in 2:51. So my goal for Noosa is something in the 2:40s. I expect the swim to be about the same (30 min), the bike to be faster (<1:28),>51). Better remember to pack my watch. I start at 7:26am AEST, which is 5:26pm Saturday EDT. I think the race will be covered by channel 7 here.

Coxing

I was a coxswain at uni. I coxed all four years. In the end, I loved it and I hated it. Coxing is a thankless job. Steering is difficult, but keeping your crew happy is the hardest bit. What do you say when the boat is constantly off set? Or when you're with a crew who would rather be rowing a coxless boat? Or when you've just been passed by another boat? It's hard. And when I look back I have some very fond memories from junior year (Head of the South, Head of the Occoquan, Dad Vail), but that wasn't most of the time I was on the water. Most of the time, it was a struggle.

I've only coxed a handful of times since I left uni, and they were resoundingly bad. It takes time to develop a rapport with a crew and a coach. So, when my company entered 3 boats in the corporate regatta, I was hesitant. I am a triathlete now, not a cox. And I thought I'd rather row than cox. But really, I only have one day off a week from training, and I like it. I didn't want to lose it, so I declined from participating.

But this week, one of the boats was down a cox, and I was asked to fill in. I agreed because I've not been running anyway, so my training schedule is a bit light. And... it was great!

It was so much fun to be back in the coxswain seat. Particularly with a novice crew. My rowing knowledge came back quickly, and I felt like I knew what to say to help them get better at rowing. And though there were a few terminology issues (they call port side stroke side, and starboard side bow side - I still don't know what they call it when it's bucket rigged), it was smooth sailing. I may have broken my bow seat's spirit by the end, but I think they were all the better for it.

The race is the 23 of November. I'll be in Canberra that weekend, but I'll be with them in spirit.

Sushi Quest, part 1

Australian sushi is different. The two forms most commonly found are either takeaway rolls or trains. The takeaway rolls are great for a quick lunch. They are standard 4 in rolls that haven't been sliced, so you just eat them with your hands and they typically come with a small plastic fish filled with soy. Generally, the only raw fish you'll get in these is salmon and even that is not always available. More often than not, you'll find smoked salmon, cooked tuna and cooked chicken in these rolls. Still for $2.20, it's a bargain, and three of them make a good lunch.

The sushi train is definitely an experience. I had heard of these in the states, yet never seen one there. Small coloured plates of sushi traverse a conveyor belt that runs by your seat. Generally you get standard stock in these: tuna, salmon and prawn nigiri, salmon and avo rolls. A few places get more adventurous: salmon avocado and onion rolls! But most go really heavy on the mayo, which is just sort of gross. Especially considering that neither you nor the servers have any idea how long the sushi is sitting on the belt for. I reckon it's less than a day, but I don't think any thing else can be guaranteed.

I've decided I need real, American-style sushi. A place with a sushi bar, sans conveyor belt. An itamae who makes the sushi to order. Once a week, I'll try a new sushi joint, and post my findings. Invitation is open to any one in brissie interested in trying out some places.

Last night was the first night. I went to Oshin at Adelaide and Creek in the city. When I arrived there was only one other patron. I sat at the sushi bar and ordered tea, edamame and nigiri. They had yellowtail which was exciting cause it's not a staple of sushi bars the way it is in the states. The tea was cold, but the edamame was hot. And the itamae didn't start making my nigiri til I was done with the edamame. Salmon, tuna and yellowtail. Soooooo good. I judge good fish by a few things, but one big test is if I can bite through the fish. I guess before that is, do I need to bite through the fish. These pieces were large, easily two bites. And each piece gave way easily. The tuna was by and far the stand out: dense and rich.

I guess regardless of where I went last night, it would have been the best sushi I've had in brissie, but I think Oshin may be a standout. Next week's pick will have its work cut out.

Signs of spring

1. The jacarandas are out. They are these gorgeous purple flowering trees (pictured above from the balcony at work). Unlike certain stingy harbingers of spring (dogwoods, I'm looking at you), the jacarandas ignite with blossoms and stay in bloom for weeks. Under each tree is a carpet of purple flowers. They're nicknamed flame trees in this song which I find stuck in my head every time I see one:

(I prefer this version to the original, which you can youtube yourself.)

2. With the sun rising earlier in the morning and the lack of daylight savings time in Queensland, I'm beginning to redevelop my cycling knicks tan, that solid line across the thighs above which is pale and below which is tan.

3. The magpies are out. And they don't like cyclists. They attack cyclists in fact. As a result, many riders attach zipties to their helmets creating spokes. Others put eyes on the back of their helmets. Though the best solution I've seen was a combination of both: big googly eyes on springs sticking up from the helmet. So far, knock on wood, I haven't been attacked.

Civil obligations

I have voted in every federal election since I turned 18. But this time my absentee ballot hasn't arrived. I only asked for it in July. It's now two weeks til the election. I can download a "Back-up Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot" and send that in which means I have to go through more trouble, more forms, more international postage and for what? This ballot won't be counted since I'm required to vote in MA.

Is it worth it?

Top ten lists I don't get

I got an email today. A forward. The Top Ten Things Only Women Understand . Maybe it's me, but I just don't get it.

Sure, I get number 9: the need for the same style of shoes in different colours. But certainly there must be some men who get that too. How about most of the men in my office who own the same shoe in brown and black. And so what if I don't know the difference between beige, ecru, cream, off-white and eggshell (number 5). Does that make me less of a woman? And if the number 1 thing that only women understand is other women then I feel like we'd see a lot more lesbian couples out there.

I guess I just thought the days of shopping around the same old, tired stereotypes for a chuckle and an "amen, sister!" were over. Maybe I've been reading too much Bitch magazine.

Is it wrong that I would be more tolerant of this sort of email if it went to my personal mail rather than my work mail?

Ride Report: Brisbane to Gold Coast

Distance covered: 100.8km
Time: 3h 58m
Average speed: 25km/hr
Bananas: 3 (2 lady fingers, 1 standard, all unripe)
Gu's: 4
Muesli bars: 2
Trips to the bathroom: 3

Several of my co-workers had signed up to do the ride ages ago. Last week, I decided to the join the group. It was my first 100K ride since the Adelaide-Melbourne tour. And as it turned out, my first 100K ride that was not in the rain.

I felt much fitter this time than 5 months ago. Can't tell whether this is cause I am fitter, or cause it was only one day of 100K at a much slower speed. Either way, it was heaps of fun. There were two rest stops with food, water, bathrooms, mechanics where we all caught up after thinning out on the road.

The course was great until the very end. The first 15K or so were through the busway, which had been vacated by buses. It was nice open road, no cars to contend with, though a surprising number of flat tires on that part of the course. Then we travelled along smaller country roads with some car traffic. Finally as we got into Southport we were down to two lane roads, with lots of weekend traffic. The Gold Coast has a lot of waterways, and thus a lot of little bridges over canals. And with this being the end of the day, people were really struggling to get up and over these bridges and were causing a lot of congestion with other riders. I think, had we taken a bit less time in the rest stops this wouldn't have been so big a deal.

One of the cool things about racing around SE QLD is that I start to see areas multiple times. Today's ride included some of the ride from last week's triathlon and a bunch of the half marathon course from July. I don't really know these areas - they just look familiar to me. Still it's a pretty cool feeling to think "cool, I've done this course before, I peed behind that tree!"

Grand Re-Opening

Well here it is folks! The new and improved (and public) blog. Subscribe to your heart's contents.

In other news, tomorrow is the Brisbane to Gold Coast 100K ride. It will be the first 100K ride I've done since the Adelaide to Melbourne tour. If weather predictions hold, it will also continue the trend of only ever riding 100K rides in the rain. Woohoo.

Pay cuts

here's what the currency exchange has done over the last year. When I arrived the AUD was worth about 86c USD. From there it went up, almost one to one, but it's always sorta hovered around that area. This means things in Australia are expensive relative to the US.

But recently, it's taken a serious dive. Today it's trading at 66c. This means a few things:

1. I'm rich! All my US savings, where most of my money is is worth almost 25% more than it was when I arrived, what a fantastic return!

2. I've gotten a serious pay cut. I knew leaving BCG would be a big pay cut, but every time the AUD falls it's like I'm getting another pay cut. Sorta hurts. Not sure what this will mean for my earning potential when I get back to the states.

3. Things just got a whole lot cheaper. So sure, my salary just took a nose dive, but so did my rent, my groceries and my tri fees. Sweet.

4. Now is a great time to be paying my aussie taxes with USD. Glad I've held off on moving that money over. Wonder what rate I use when I file my US taxes next year.

New blog format!

I've decided the old blog needed a facelift, so here we go. What'd you reckon? Too gray? It's made me realize how few pictures of brisbane I have. I mean, sure I could put an opera house picture up... but I don't live in sydney. You like the wombat? I guess to be fair, this pict is from South Australia, not Brissie either. Hmmf.

I'm also thinking about no longer requiring a password to read the blog. I think this would mean that you could subscribe to the blog more easily and get updates to your blogreader (unless blogger has changed the way this works in the last year). Useful? Not useful? Given that I'm no longer working for Noel, I could take down posts related to indigenous affairs and then it becomes more of a life/travel blog.

Race Report: Gold Coast Sprintman

Today was my first (and hopefully only) "low-impact-athon". And, you know what? It was great. The race was a bit shorter than an Olympic (1000m swim vs 1500m, 33K bike vs 40K, 7K run vs 10 - though it was even shorter for me since I didn't do the run). A few lessons:

1. Wearing a wetsuit is advantageous for a deep water start. It (a) keeps you warm and (b) keeps you afloat without much effort.

2. Getting out of said wetsuit is actually easier when it's wet than when it dry. This is not to say that it's easy.

3. If you can't run, don't try to walk the run. I didn't do this, but the two other girls on my squad who did ended up jogging. I know I would have been tempted and I don't want to do anything that will jeopardize Noosa.

4. If you tell some one in their first race that they shouldn't bother with the weight of a spare tire since it's really unlikely that they'll get one, then they will definitely get a flat tire 500 meters into the race. My sincerest apologies to Julie. I've never gotten a flat in a race ever, and now she'll never get another, I'm sure.

5. Racing against a larger field is better than just racing within the squad. The girls on the squad are fast. One came in 2nd in her age group, 2 others placed 4th and 5th in theirs. It was nice to be in a big enough field to have people at my level and to be able to cheer on my team as we went.

6. Some one misspelled triathlon on our tent. Go Brisbane Triathalon Squad!

Benched

I have flat feet. And I walk like a duck. It's just the way I'm made, and it's not a way that's good for running.

Since I first started running in 2001, I've gotten shin splints. I usually manage them by orthotics, good shoes and just not running all that much. In Cairns I pretty much limited my running to twice a week.

I got new orthotics in March when my old ones started to disintegrate. But it seems the new ones just aren't quite cutting it. I got a shin splint in my right leg in May. My training for the half marathon suffered cause I'd run, the splint would come back, I'd take a week off, run again, the splint would come back... But things didn't start to get really bad til the Noosa training camp weekend. That weekend, I neglected to bring my strong anti-inflammatories and a good long run on three consecutive days on tired legs was the death of me.

The shin started hurting all the time, walking, running, lying in bed, I was in pain. I continued to try to treat it with rest, ice and AIs, but it just wasn't cutting it. I asked the assistant coach and he gave me some stretches to do. The following practice it was still really angry, so I asked the head coach and he sent me to physio. It was so painful the first time I went to physio he could barely touch it.

When I went to the states, I didn't bring my running shoes. The plan was for a good solid two weeks off. But now I'm back. I ran about 3Ks with my foot taped up, which felt better, then about 1K with it untaped. At which point the head coach benched me again saying I looked like Terry Fox (see video below).

My first triathlon of the season is Sunday, and it will also be the first triathlon I've started but won't finish. My orthotics are back with the podiatrist now for adjustment, and my coach thinks I shouldn't run for another 3 weeks, and even then it will be a slow process to get back into real running.

I hate it. I hate not being able to go out and do it. I hate missing practice. And I hate that I can't do anything about it except wait.

Wet

I arrived in South Bend late Friday night after my flight from Chicago was canceled, and Paul generously drove the 3.5 hours each way (woulda been 2 if it weren't for Friday night traffic) to come pick up my sorry ass and drive me back to the Eastern Daylight Timezone.

All this was to ensure that we could go to the football game on Saturday. Paul had looted the Notre Dame bookstore in search of a t shirt that was cool enough for me, and had seven (yes, seven!) shirts for me to choose from. He also had Notre Dame emblazoned ponchos for each of us as it was supposed to rain all day.

First thing Saturday morning, we drove through the rain to the airport to pick up my luggage which had arrived late the previous night, then met up with a few of his friends for breakfast. Homemade bacon egg and cheese sandwiches to be precise. I had forgotten how good American bacon is. Australian bacon is closer to what the British serve. It's floppy and greasy, not crispy and stripey like they do it back here. It was a good base for the next 16 or so hours.

About 15 people had gathered for breakfast and we were all riding over to the tailgate in the back of a truck. However, with the rain pouring, Paul and I opted to sit in the cab. Which was a wise move considering all the water that got tossed back on to the lot of them. At the tailgate, there were two tents where we all milled around. It's tough to start drinking at 10am, but sometimes, you've just gotta do what you've gotta do. Nothing was going to make us much drier. About an hour or so into the tailgate it stopped raining, the clouds parted, and it actually became a really nice, if a little muggy, day. And then the people came out, if it had been crowded under the tents in the rain before it was nothing compared to the throngs of graduate students that are drawn out with the sunshine and some cheap beer.

Next, it's game time, we trudge through the parking lot and up to the gate. I have one of Paul's friend's student IDs and her ticket. I don't look too much like Margot, but no one seems to take any notice. Game starts at 4 or so, and after a good morning of drinking some people are hanging better than others. Ushers are aggressive in pulling any one out who seems to be stumbling. Our seats are pretty much just in the end zone and one section up. There are benches, but no one is sitting, every one stands on the bench the entire game.

First touchdown goes to ND. The crowd goes wild. All across the stadium, fans are picking up a friend in a push up position and tossing them in the air once for each point. Seven push ups for the first touchdown, fourteen for the second, twenty-one for the third before Michigan serves up a single point. Brilliant. ND is known as a good football school, but recently, they've sucked. The fans are diehards, but the team just hasn't come to the games. So a shut out game thus far is making people crazy. Michigan did score ten points in the first half, but I think we all went into halftime feeling pretty positive about the Irish.

Then the clouds rolled back through, and a fine sprinkle appeared. Throughout the crowd was the movement of jackets and ponchos being donned. Unfortunately, we had tucked our safely away in some one's car at the tailgate. We had no ponchos. By the time ND had scored another touchdown we were drenched. And the rain just didn't let up. At one point there was a veritable waterfall flowing down the stairs. It was probably a good thing for the Irish since it meant that every thing was slippery: the ball, the lawn, the linebackers. Both teams each scored another touchdown, but when the clock ran out the score was 35 to 17 ND. The first game Paul has been to that they won. I think I deserve a little credit on this one.

Maybe it's living in Queensland, but hanging out in soaking denim and a tshirt just gets cold after a few hours. We followed the crowd after the game, through the mud and rain to a bar. Ordered some extra large beers and a grilled cheese sandwich, and tried to warm up in Paul's roommate's enormous and thoroughly soaked coat. It did the job mostly. But nothing warms you up more than getting your boogy on. The bar itself was a throw back to good old fraternity basements, with a mix of beer, mud and I-don't-wanna-know that works its way between the toes when you're dancing in flip flops.

At midnight or so, we left to head home without really thinking about how we might get home. Something we probably should have thought of before venturing out, once again, into the pouring rain. The bar is about a 30 minute walk from Paul's house, which we started. About 10 minutes into the walk a kindly cab driver in a minivan stopped for us. When we opened the door we discovered he already had a fair. In fact, he had two. There were 4 people in the cab. We crawled into the back next to the girl who claimed she didn't mind sitting next to sopping wet people. We dropped her and her friend off at the bar we'd just come from, then drove to the other side of town to drop off the other two people (one of which could not believe how old we were! Paul likes to impress people by telling them I'm almost thirty. I hope this will wear off when he turns 29 in November). We offered to pick up the tab on the two kids getting out immediately before us. Then we picked up another pair of people on the way to Paul's who in turn offered to pick up our tab. What a charitable place!

All in all South Bend got over 10.5 inches of rain (that's 267mm) in just one day. That's more rain than the place has seen in 40 years. We were a part of history.

Back in the states

I'm back in the states for a few weeks to catch up with friends and visit Paul.

After being in Australia for over a year there area few American things that seem foreign to me.

1. Automatic flushing toilets. Sure, you only really encounter them in the airport, but still. The prevalence of dual flush toilets (giving you the option to use less water if you see fit) means that toilets don't automatically assume that you want to flush. What a fun change.

2. Paper towels are huge. Ok, many things are huger here than in Oz (SUVs anyone? And to quote a long favorite traveler: "In the US I'm over 5 feet, here I'm less than 2 meters"). But I had forgotten that US paper towels routinely come about 4 inches wider than Australian ones do.

3. Airport security is more of a burden. I swear when I left you didn't have to take your shoes off at every check point in every airport. Australia's check points hearken back to a day pre-9/11 when really all you needed to do was take out your laptop. In SF, I was treated like an imbecile when I forgot to remove my shoes. And I thought I was doing so well remembering not to pack any liquids or gels.

Otherwise, driving on the right seems ok, not too foreign, and I've stopped wanting to ask people where they're from every time I hear an American accent across the room.

Package karma

Sometimes I receive mail for former tenants from my apartment. Generally, if it's not important, I throw it away. If it seems important, I return to sender it. But with packages, they don't get delivered, I just get a package slip to go pick it up at the post office. Of course, I can't pick up the package, cause it's not addressed to me. Fair enough.

But then they send a reminder to come get the package. So I'm thinking maybe there's some one this girl hasn't given her new address to, whatever, it will get sent back to the sender. A few days later my mail box is stuffed (in the American sense, not the Australian one). There's a very thin package in my box. Also addressed to the former tenant. Wasn't sure exactly what to do with it. But it was from the states, and the customs form said swimwear. Now, that's intriguing.

So I thought, I'll open it and see if I can return it to the vendor. Well, it's a swimsuit top, green, this one in fact:

I can return it, but it will cost me $40 to ship it back. And I don't have the tenant's forwarding address. Yeah, so I tried it on. But it doesn't really fit, and it's only the tops. Now what do I do with it?

Now I think this transaction has ruined my package karma. Last week I got a package slip of my own. I picked it up on my way to work. Or rather, I made a detour on my way to work to get the package, but since it's not on my way, I had to take a second bus. Which the first time it came by was too packed to take on more passengers. So I had to wait. By the time I finally made it to work, I was running late. I got off the bus and started walking to work. I was on the bridge when one of my coworker's caught up with me and made a comment about our both running late. It was then that it occurred to me that I'd left the package on the bus, and the bus was already gone.

I got into work and called translink, turns out they don't run this bus, city council does. I call city council, turns out the bus could have gone to one of 4 different depots, and that I should wait til the following day to call back. I've called back, it's not there.

So I've screwed my package karma. If you'd like to test out my package karma, may I recommend sending to my work address.