Getting back into the swing of things ...

Since the Ironman I have been pretty lazy on the workout front. Not including this past week, I can count on two hands the number of workouts I have done. I just haven't felt the motivation to get up and run, swim and bike on a consistent basis. I have much preferred going out and drinking wine, sleeping in until 10am on the weekends, and just generally relaxing and being lazy. I've also been spending a lot more energy on my job and have done a bit of travelling as well. This is all well and good, but I don't like the extra 5lbs on the scale, feeling lazy and unfit, and I miss that post-workout feeling!

Last week I decided it was time to put a stop to the laziness and sign up for a couple of races. For me, I need the motivation of a race to get some consistency into my training. I'm a goal driven person. Also, as a good friend recently reminded me, I can no longer use the Ironman as an excuse for not working out ... it was over 2 months ago!

I signed up for Jack's Generic and the Longhorn Half Ironman. Jack's has become our annual "head to head" race. Last year I beat Gordon by about 1:45s. I intend to beat him again this year! I am also very excited about doing the Longhorn Half Ironman in October. It will be Austin's first half ironman distance race and it is going to be awesome. We had originally talked about doing the half ironman in Cancun, but we've decided to spend our money on a trip to Hawaii instead (and we're going to time it so that we can volunteer at the Ironman World Championships = AWESOME!).

So I am back on the training bandwagon, but I'm being careful to ramp it up slowly and not overdo it with 10hrs of working out in the first week! So this week I did 4 workouts - 2 swims and 2 runs. They were hard enough. The running is pretty brutal, I feel like a big fat slowly lazy runner, and in the pool I am working much harder than I used to, to keep the same pace. But I knew that it would be tough starting up again. Sure, I've lost some fitness, but it will only take a few weeks before I get it back and the important thing is that I am excited and motivated, for the first time in a couple of months, to get out there and start training!!!

Weekly workouts:

Tuesday (19-June): Swim 2.6km (1.25hr)

Thursday (21-June): Run 4.7mi (.75hr)

Saturday (23-June): Run 7mi (1.15hr)

Sunday (24-June): Swim 3km (1.25hr)

Total time: 4.25hr

Next week my goal is to add a core workout and at least one bike workout.

31 is not agreeing with me so far

So I turned 31 on Monday. It wasn't too bad of an experience, really. Had a great weekend in Houston with Gordon, Kate and Tim, then went out for dinner with Austin friends on Sunday night - went to Mars, it was fantastic. I wasn't able to take Monday off from work, but it was a good day. A co-worker brought in a cake for me, and Gordon cooked a delicious dinner. Then we capped off the night by watching a few episodes of Grey's Anatomy, Season I. It was a b'day present from Kate and Tim. I am hooked already!

I flew out to Boston Tuesday morning. The plan was to meet with a bunch of New England customers Wed/Thu, fly to Toronto Thursday night to meet up with my boss, for another customer meeting Friday morning. Then back to Austin.

The Boston trip went really great. Jam-packed with meetings, but they went really well and it was a successful trip all around.

Fast forward to the American check-in counter for my Thursday night flight to Toronto. "Passport please"... blank look from me, then an "oh, shit" as it hit me that I had forgotten to pack my passport.

Can you really believe that I forgot to bring my passport with me? I'm Australian, for gods sake, I travel internationally all the time, how the heck could I forgot my passport???!!!

Well, I did. Apparently turning 31 is not agreeing with me so far.

My Week in Frisco

This week, my wonderful job took me to Frisco, Texas (Northwest Dallas) for an internal training conference for our FAE's. I think it's pretty funny that I've barely travelled around Texas in the last 7 years, but in the last few weeks I have hit both Houston and Frisco. Bizarre! I seem to be on a tour of all the Texas cities. I guess San Antonio is next...

It has been a fun, tiring, stressful, fun week. It has been my first week presenting as a product marketer and that has posed some interesting challenges. I am no longer "one of the engineers" but instead I am in the evil "marketing group". Not that they were all horrible to me, but I definitely felt the difference between presenting as a marketer and presenting as an applications engineer.

I enjoyed meeting everyone and going out for all of the events each night. The co-ordinators organised some really cool things! Baseball on Tuesday night, then tonight we went to a cinema for the FAE awards presentation (Matrix-themed) and then to Martini Park for cocktails and dancing. There was a live band. We danced up a storm. It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of really cool people.

So now I'm sitting in my hotel room at 2am, pretty tired, a little drunk, but feeling good. I am heading back to Austin tomorrow, to my gorgeous husband and Memorial Day long weekend, yee-haw! Kate and Tim are driving over from Houston, it will be a blast!

PS I tried a cucumber martini tonight. It was really good - melon vodka and cucumber essence, with a slice of cucumber on the side. Interesting taste, it was yummy!

Doing my bit for the environment

Finally I have a comeback for all those people who ask me when Gordon and I are going to have kids!

Children 'bad for planet'

This is awesome

Gordon was playing around this morning.