New Undies

This weekend was a mixed one for us, for Katie, a planned 6 hour rogaine (kind of an orienteering event with lots of bush running) didn't happen because she had a cold she couldn't shake, I was out and frustrated with my recovering ankle, and Tracy and Mia did an easy 17kms on the last leg of the track, with Tracy coughing the whole way with a bug she's still recovering from. So 3 out of 4 of us had some sort of injury or illness. We're at the business end of the proceedings now with only 3 or 4 more weeks of tough training then tapering, so to be not in top form now is worrying although not unexpected. We're in winter, we're training and life carries on as normal with bugs and stuff around at the moment. But it's crazy how much this event gets inside your head (well at least mine). To not be out on the track knowing that everyone else is has made me panicy but motivated and determined. I feel that my fitness may have dipped and my head is chocker full of mental games resulting from being off training or having a bad training day. I just need a good session to get back on physical and mental track. We are also hyper aware of our bodies, especially our feet and protecting these at all costs. I know that if I feel any potential blister niggle with an everyday shoe, they're off, and "safe" shoes goes on. Even bizarre niggles can make you worried - one 30km+ day I got really bad chafing from my running top. I sweat at the mere thought of doing exercise so for me everything needs to be breathable, even my undies - can you just imagine for a moment what undie chafing might feel like? So unbelievably I'm going to spend $30 on a pair of breathable and extremely ugly undies. Get the picture, for the next 6 weeks this is all about building up our physical endurance - there's a lot of good mental stamina that comes with having completed a 40km day, as well as maintaining staus quo for our bodies.
So this weekend we're off again, 40+km is planned, which is the start of our final big training nudge and in preparation for next weekend when we have Katie coming over from NZ for a long walking weekend - the first time our team will have been together and trained together (as well as Katies first taste of aussie bush).
And we also we're really looking forward to our movie fundraiser this Thursday night with a fabulous group of fabulous women coming along to support us.