Well that surprised the legs...and shoulders....and glutes...and bum!

So I am 9 days post Melbourne Marathon and I have done very little in the way of exercise (done some but nothing like previously) unless you count ninja sneaking into the pantry to raid the chocolate box when the wife has gone to bed....that poor little chocolate box twitches every time the pantry light goes on!

As a prelude to my ramblings below I would like to state that I took the personal reward approach and decided that I would have until Oct 28th off and so as such all of the below activity it pure cream [insert nomination for hero status here].

So what have I done. Well on Sunday I decided that it would be a good idea to go out for a little leg loosen and I managed to get my protesting, creaking and groaning self through 10kms at a fairly respectable 53:51. There was a fair bit of mental encouragement going on as this was technically a run "just for fun"....not something that I am particularly well versed in. I mean seriously, I personally NEED that entry fee payment to be made to help motivate my sorry butt out of the door otherwise I need to use this "personal motivation" stuff...phew THAT is hard work ;)

Run completed and banked and I was happy that I got out there and did it so that was a positive. AND I wasn't immobile on the couch for the rest of the day - SCORE! Also, I noticed on my tracker that I am at 920kms for the year to date soooooooo 1,200 kms is now the target for the year...game on!

Monday rolled around and I have been chatting to a couple of colleagues who have been hitting the gym at work most lunchtimes (when I have been going out for the runs) and they invited me along to their session. As it is something I really would like to start doing and mixing into my regular routine I decided that I would join them. They took it easy on me...

Warm up:
1 min - plank
1 min - press ups
1 min - squat jumps
1 min - punchbag
repeat 4 times

Session 1:
12 x reps - 40kg leg press
12 x reps - 25kg bench press
12 x reps - 20kg dead lifts
12 x reps - 20kg bicep curls
repeat 4 times

Session 2 (still going):
12 x reps - 17.5kg shoulder shrugs
12 x reps - 15kg triceps things?
12 x reps - 10kg hammers (weird cross the body bicep curl things)
12 x reps - 10kg standing flys

DONE!!! And boy I sure was!! It was good I guess but phew I was glad to see the end of it and no fainting or lunch repeats....

THEN........dun dun daaaaaaaaa....

Today I rode to work!! Woo Hoo. Last time I sat on my bike for anything more than the 2km ride to Part 1's school was September...September 2012!! And even that was a one off!

I like to think that as a first ride in 13 months that it was respectable and I now have a base line to build from. Despite having my bike serviced a few weeks ago there are a couple of gremlins that need to be worked out so I will be taking her back to the bike shop this weekend for another little tweak or two. All that said, it was a good ride in and gee - can't wait for the ride home this evening...brace yourself bum! 

View from Mt Henry Bridge towards the city (about halfway)

So in summary, as far as rest weeks go I have enjoyed a lot of chocolate, some additional time in bed in the mornings, a run, a gym session and a ride...not bad for 9 days of rest :)

As a side note, my training schedule for my entry into triathlon is nearly complete (trying to balance my wonderful wife getting back into running in there too) and I will soon be looking for my first sprint/Olympic distance races to get the taste buds going...

Have a great one and thanks for reading.