The goal of the time away was to do as little as possible and not fill days with "activities" as we have done before. The grandparents came with us and therefore there was plenty of baby sitting available - noice! I took the bike and hoped to get lots of training done.
We arrived on Sat afternnon and I whipped out for an exploratory run. Went out to the lighthouse along the pacific Drive and back through the beach track - the "miners run". Little did I know that Miners beach was a nood beach and a few old men looked at me funny running across their beach. I thought to myself... how did miners get his name? Anyway, a beautiful run along a few more beaches back to Flynns and then a quick lap into town made for a nice 13k.
Sunday was going to be a long run, however I pulled the pin after 23k as legs were tired, the sun was killing me and I was sick of getting lost. So I went for a swim instead.
Sunday night the heavens opened and it poured with rain for the next 48 hours. A rest day on Monday suited me just fine. I managed to find a period of time on Tuesday morning where it didn't rain and I nicked out for a ride. Tried to follow Ironman route as best as I remembered. 47k round trip averaging 26k/hr. I even made it up the famous Mathew Flinders drive hill without walking.
That evening I had organised to go for a run with Miners. I was a bit aprehensive with the morning's ride still in the legs - it isn't often that I do two sessions in one day. Miners took me for a scenic and hilly run around the residential part of town. Good to finally meet Miners. We had a great chat about Port Macquarie, Ironman, Coolrunning etc. It seems Miners knows every single person in Port Macquarie and we must have met them all on our run. The time flew by and just when I thought we would get back home without getting wet, it poured and we got drenched!
After a game of golf with Dad in the following morning, I organised to met miners in town the that evening for a group run from town to settlement point and back. It sees that everywhere you go in Port there are people running and cycling. Lots of stocky people who look like they have done Ironman's for years. People with muscles on their muscles. I decided to run into town (about 3.5k) before heading out with the group. We were running at a good clip (apx 4:30 pace) when Miners indicated that they usually take it out easy and come home quick ????? Oh no! Miners put down the pedal for the 6th km. I tried to keep up with him, but alas I couldn't. The next k was easy with the last k back into town hard again. I was well pleased that I could hold on for the full k in about 3:4o pace. After chatting for a while I trudged home for a total of 15k. Another good session.
Next morning, Miners kindly met me for an easy ride around town, where he continued to be my tour guide. It was a recovery ride for Miners however it was definitely a bit harder for me. Ended the morning with breakfast and a coffee. You could tell who was the Ironman and who was on holiday's. I had the big breakfast with everything and miners had fruit salad. Portrunner also joined us and it was great to meet him as well. Portrunner reminded me of myself last year, preparing for my first marathon in Canberra - a little anxious, a little unsure but definitely excited. If I can only swindle a job like his, I would move to Port in a second.
Friday was sadly our last day in Port ;-(. I was planning a run to seetlement point and back however I was feeling so good I decided to make it a long run. I kept going back past Flynns beach and headed to the lighthouse and down lighthouse beach. It was lovely running along the hard sand at low tide, checking out the camels! Coming home was a hard work as the sun had come out in all it's glory. 30k's made the swimming and beers so enjoyable all afternnon.
As you can see from the below, I saw quite a bit of Port Macquarie. Alot of it was on the ironman course. Total for the 7 days was 98 running k's and 82 cycling k's which I was extremely happy with going into sixfoot.
It was definitely good to meet Miners. As expected he is a very generous, humble, encouraging person, (I hope you read this Miners) who has the best lifestyle known to God or man.
In summary it was a fantastic week. On top of the training there was lots of swimming, eating, drinking and family time. Best holiday ever!
4 comments:
Sounds like a fantastic trip. And yes, Miners isn't a bad bloke ;-)
I was up there at xmas Chris, certainly is a cool place to train, some great trails and then there's the beaches ;)
Nice week mate, looking good for 6FT.
mate - a huge week of kms for you, and of all the nice things you said, I was really chuffed to hear you had the best holiday the hamburglar family ever had!! With that rain early on I was really worried it was going to turn out a bit miserable for you.
Great to have you up here - it certainly made my runs more enjoyable too. I'll be looking you up next time I'm down. A ride around Bobbin Head has been on my wishlist for a while :)
Great to meet you last week. I'm glad that the weather came good in the end and you all had a good time. Yeah, he's a good bloke that Miners!
Have a good final preparation for 6 Foot.
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