Keep on moving!

Well its been a while since my last update, I guess I've got some catching up to do.

 It's been a pretty busy few months of training and travelling, starting with a fantastic trip down to Wanaka to help our good friend Andrew out on the HTFU training camp. We were appointed camp 'mothers', keeping the place in order whilst having plenty of time to take advantage of the beautiful lake and mountains for some quality training. This definitely has to be one of the most stunning places on earth.

 Next up was a last minute 'holiday' to Sydney...you know when you just get the urge to spend Christmas day on Bondi Beach (?!) So we rocked up to Sydney on Friday evening, took a quick look at the map and headed out to find a backpackers. After a couple of nights backpacking in Kings Cross we upgraded slightly to our friend James' New York style apartment, the central location was perfect for exploring the city. And James was a fantastic tour guide showing us the nicest beaches, getting us guest passes to one incredible gym and introducing us to rock jumping! For our second week we moved to Coogee in the Eastern suburbs, house sitting with some lovely Irish folk who were great company for the xmas bbq. The run from Coogee bay to Bondi beach featured regularly in our xmas training program and we managed a few good open water swims in the beautiful bays as well as at Bondi Icebergs.

 As much as I enjoyed Sydney, I have to admit it was great returning to Christchurch and our training routine. But not for long as a day later I was off to Queenstown to see in the New Year with Andrew, Lydia and Karin. NYE started with a long and very hard mountain run followed  by a swim in Lake Hayes (perfect morning!) before we headed back to the campsite to sit under a tarpaulin in the pouring rain whilst seeing in the new year. After 2 days of solid downpour we were able to start our tramp up the Reese - Dart track. This was my first experience of tramping and boy it was tough! In those four days were put through every kind of weather possible - rain, snow, sun - only in NZ! Walking for 6hrs + a day certainly gives you time to think and I was emotionally drained by the end. Thankfully after our heroics we were whisked off to Glenorchy for the annual horse races, a dip in the lake and a barbie as by now heatstroke was more of a concern than hypothermia!

 Coming back to Christchurch I was more motivated than ever but was slightly worried about my fitness levels considering how flittery my training had been in the past few weeks. Swimming was the usual shocker for the first week back but the tramping proved incredibly good for maintaining run fitness. So I managed to stay put in Christchurch for a good 3weeks before Maddy and I embarked on another spontaneous road trip...

 This time it was just out to Akoroa, a lovely Harbour town on Banks Peninsula. The cycle from Christchurch to Akoroa is pretty straight forward but when do me and Maddy ever take the easy option?! After 3hrs of cycling over the Port hills, round the bays and up one hell of a climb we came up against a 12km steep gravel track (we didn't notice this wasn't an actual road when looking at the map). Eventually we reached Akoroa at 7.30pm having walked half the gravel track, getting a lift for 15k in the back of a farmer's sheep van and crawling over the last few hills. A good feed was much needed that night. Akoroa is a beautiful place and we'll definitely be returning for some kayaking and swimming with the dolphins and penguins.

 So training has been going swimmingly for the past few weeks and we're now enjoying our new location right next to Bottle Lake forest with surfing featuring in the recovery program.

Alex