Taken longer than expected to get back into the pool and start training again.

Tuesday 13th August – Jetlag getting a bit better after a horror few days of 3 to 4 hours sleep a night. Waking up at 2 or 3 am staring at the ceiling or watching weird and strange programming on Foxtel.

Eyes ping open at 438am with the Hamletesque question, “To pool or not to pool, that is the question! Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the sprints and sets of squad or curl up under the doona?”

Leap up, iron a shirt while eating a banana and horsing down a cup of coffee. Gather the gear and blast off up the hill direction the city and Victoria Park pool.

Vlad and Evan at the pool edge like guardians of the deep. Handshakes and backslapping all around, great to be back – that is, until a couple of K’s into the session and the slip in condition and form from even a few weeks off begins to tell.

Breakfast afterwards with Evan, Anna D and Deano takes the sting out of it. Resort to ramp it up again (but maybe leave it til next week!)

Monday 19th and Wednesday 21st August – Great start but comes a cropper again by the end of the week with a miss on Thursday and Friday. Need to get back into it again seriously or else it’s back to doing the dogpaddle with flippers on. Great to see big John back in the pool Wednesday after his epic crossing of the channel July 3rd. Reunion of the inglorious lasties.

Exit Evan, off to join the NSW Police, starts training tomorrow – thanks for the help, coach, hopefully next time we meet you won’t be dishing out speeding tickets.