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Not an auction but we did finally get an acceptable offer made on the Stratford house that we have accepted. Wednesday the 23rd is the  handover date. We are celebrating a little, but the real celebration will be when the money is in our bank account and everything is finalized.

We never realized how much having to deal with the second house was affecting us till we accepted the offer and let out a collective sigh. There are things we have wanted to do such as putting cupboards above the wash area and look at planning a trip to Canada next year that we just took off the table cause we were dealing with the Stratford house.

With the longer 90 – 120 minute bike rides we have started doing Emma has been having more discomfort issues with her feet. I had her try my cycling shoes which were an improvement but not quite right. On Saturday we stopped in at the local bike shop and Emma tried on several pairs of cycling shoes, specifically road cycling shoes.  In the end she got the same shoe as I have but also was tested and fitted with an insole that matches her foot better than the original insole. She found this to make a big difference.  Sunday we did a 90 minute ride and she found the shoe and new pedals comfortable.

After the ride I tried Emma’s new cycling shoes on and even though they area bit small I could feel the difference the insoles make.  I am going to have to see about getting better insoles too.

The weather is getting cooler. I managed our bike ride in short sleeves and shorts. The fast down hills were a bit chilly but other wise okay.  Emma feels the cold a bit more so is now donning her leggings, arm warmers and wind vest. Also she put a pair of my shoe covers on that block the wind to help keep her feet warm.

The bike trainer arrived earlier in the week and Emma used it on Friday mornings indoor bike training. She like being able to use her own bike indoors. The trainer is quiet and seems to work well.

About 6 weeks back I noticed my running shoes were not so comfy anymore and needed replacing. I bought them August last year and used them to train for and run a half marathon then for more training afterwards. The local running shop set me up with a new set of Brooks shoes and they seemed fine in the store. But out on the run I always got hot spots and numb toes. I went back to the store and they said shoes need to breaking in and should get better. At the 30 day mark I went back to the shop again. They were perplexed at the issue and asked me to run in my old shoes and see if the issues went away to make sure it was not a foot issue. Old shoes no issue. Returned to the shop with both set of shoes in hand. The set me up with another pair of shoes a half size smaller and the same brand and similar model to my old shoes. Today first run in the newer shoes today and 55 minutes later they are good. No hot spots, no numb toes.

I spent the week out at a Methanol plant doing a couple of server builds.  Was nice to have a little project to work on for a week. Also made for a nice commute as the plant is out past Waitara so it was an easy and short highway drive each day.

We reorganized the fitness room a bit to make it better for when we are both on bikes. I moved the treadmill to the far right of where it was so that the cross trainer is on one wall and the treadmill on the opposite wall. That leaves room for the spinbike and my rollers between them. That worked out nicely on Friday morning indoor bike training.

The weekend forecast did not look to good so we did our long bike ride Saturday while things were still looking good.  We figured better to have to run in the rain than bike in the rain.  We did a new route and put in almost 2 hours of quality riding.  The training plan must be working as our average pace was good and that was with a couple of long climbs along the way.

Sunday morning was masters swim club.  I have had the chance to test myself in the pool the last couple of pool session and am learning about the intensity level I can sustain while maintaining swim form etc.  So today I was able to up the intensity and stay with the group all through the sets except for the kick drills as my kick sucks. Felt really good to keep up with the group.

We did our long run Sunday afternoon. The schedule was for a hour run which I have not done in some time and Emma, Piper and Jazmine have never done an hour run. The weather continued to hold off and we had a nice dry run, though it was a little warmer than we expected.  Emma paced herself really well and had a really good run. The run route we have been using for the long runs is rather hilly and Emma is starting to get stronger running the hills just as she has on the bike.

John has been a bit tardy lately with his posts and his mom is looking for some updates. He is currently typing something up but I thought that I would contribute some extra stuff.

We have been continuing to work on our swim focused triathlon training plan. This has us swimming 3 times a week with 2 runs and 2 bikes. Of course, it is dark by the time we get home so one of the bike sessions is indoors with me on the spin bike and John on his rollers. I keep waiting for him to wipe out and fall through the closet doors or onto the cross-trainer! So far, he has stayed upright – I’m very impressed. If you do the math, we are getting in 7 workouts a week and with Monday being an all-important rest and relaxation day, we are actually doing a swim and a bike on
Sunday. This is going to continue until close to the end of June when we switch our focus to getting ready for the half-marathon in October. Not sure what that plan looks like yet.

We had my longest run ever on Saturday (I say my longest because John has done a half marathon). It was 8.2km and it still amazes me that I am running at all. It was a beautiful day, no clouds and a light breeze. It was amazing as we ran along the coastal walkway and saw the ocean sparkling in the sunlight. No matter what it is doing out to sea, it is always a beautiful sight and really makes me appreciate living here. We are still running short enough distances that the dogs can stay with us for the entire run but as our training picks up, we will figure out how to do a loop so that they can be
dropped off at home. After about 10km, they don’t enjoy the task anymore and I can’t really blame them. Since they have to stay on leash, it must get pretty boring for them – they don’t get to range back and forth and sniff like they would really love to do. They are pretty fit though!

I have been very busy with work and end up staying late quite often. John has picked up some more kitchen duties and makes dinner 2-3 times a week now. He has a very nice glazed salmon recipe which I actually enjoy. I even ordered salmon when we went out for dinner a couple of weeks ago – big step forward for me!

I’m also in the process of renewing my Canadian passport and am very frustrated that accountants can’t act as guarantors anymore. Of course, I know tons of accountants but no lawyers or judges or police officers. Such a pain in the butt. Not that I have any big travel plans unless work wants to send me to Italy or somewhere cool. So far I have only had lots of trips to Auckland.

There is a mud run next month near here. I was all geared up to do it and think that I actually talked some people from work into forming a team and doing it. Now I have to get cracking and put together the entry form. It is only a month away now and it felt like it I had loads of time. Good old procrastination! Luckily John and I never seem to throw out old shoes etc so we have lots of gear that we can trash during the race. Hopefully the nice weather will continue but I think the river crossing at the end is going to be cold no matter how nice the day is. Hopefully they don’t run out of
hot drinks and showers.

Been a pretty good week. The grass for the backyard was installed on Thursday.  Makes for a big improvement in the way the yard works.  Now have to water it well everyday for the next 10 days or so.

We are still on track with getting three swims in each week which is helping me improve my swimming. The masters swim Sunday morning was all speed work and for the most part I kept up with the group.  It was odd though that I kept up well on the 25 meter and 75 meter sets but fell back on the 50 meter sets.  All I can think is that my pacing for the 50 meter is off.

Friday is still our indoor bike ride night. I put 50 minutes on the rollers and am feeling much more relaxed on the the rollers now.  I changed the setup of the fitness room so that I can setup my rollers beside Emma when she is on the spin bike. But just realized now that they way I have set it up Emma is blocked from getting any air flow from the door as I have put the treadmill between the door and the spin bike.  Will have to re think the setup and change it before next Friday.

Ordered a bicycle trainer so Emma can rider her own bike indoors for training. The spin bike is nice but the training we want to do she will be better off using her road bike. The picture below is an example of what the setup for using a bike trainer is like.

Another surprise for me today when even with it raining Emma as keen to head out for a bike ride. A light rain was falling as we headed out. It was wet till we got out near Lepperton so the middle part of the ride was dry and our clothes started to dry out.  We left the Lepperton area and crossed the highway on the way home we were back into the rain. As the road turned and headed down into Bell Block the rain hit hard and the wind was strong making the rain sting my face. Did not help that I had no glasses on to keep the driving rain out of my eyes. Lucky that did not last long.

We got home wet, a little chilled and with bits of road grit all over us. I was smiling as I found the ride fun. Not sure Emma was smiling but she was happy to have gotten a good ride in.

After a late lunch we headed over to Emma’s office at work to setup a new desk for her. It was easier for us to drop in on a Sunday afternoon to get the work done that have the all the interruptions during a workday.

Nice sunset last night. My picture does not do it justice.

Work sent me down to Fitzroy beach the other day to deliver a part. An international women’s surf competition was on and one of the media people was having internet connection issues. I helped him with his issues, got his email and web browsing working then went to watch the competition. It was the last few minutes of one group of ladies and not much for surf-able waves was coming in. Interesting and really shows how luck plays in surfing as as soon as the next group was up, a set of usable waves rolled in.  The news was saying that the surf was good, did not look that way to me, but then in my mind I see the great surf you see on tv.

Friday there was not enough daylight to bike ride before or after work. So got on the rollers again last night.  Did not get a good workout in as could not get comfortable on the bike or on the rollers. Just not relaxed enough. May have to see if I can adjust the rollers to improve things some.

The remaining trees along the back of the house on the school property were taken down yesterday. Sure looks odd to have no trees along the fence line any more.

Today (Sunday) has been busy.  90 minutes of swimming with the master swim club first thing this morning. It was a big workout and my arms were tired afterwards.

Then we went down to Hawera to visit the cafe former co-workers of Emma’s opened plus visit other friends in the area. Cafe was very nice and food great. Was nice to catch up with everyone.

Back home and out on the road on the bicycles as the weather has been awesome. We tried a variation on one of our usual Leperton rides which made the ride a bit hillier but good. Was nice to be out side in nice weather getting a good workout in.

I took last week off work to use up some of my vacation days.  I was able to finish off the deck by building a step up to the gate along the back fence. A few other chores got done plus got to relax a bit.

For the Easter long weekend we headed up to Auckland.  We visited with the brother in law and his wife a their new house.  Nice house in a quiet neighbourhood.  Emma and I enjoyed exploring the area when out for a run, plus got and open water swim in on Sunday at a local beach.

The club triathlons are over for the season and the last club event of the year was a duathlon yesterday. Emma and I chose to do the short course which is a 2.5 km run 15km bike and 2.5 km run. I did a tune up of the shifting on Emma’s bike just before the event, which maybe was not the best timing if I got things wrong but I heard no complaints from her, and her performance was good.

We stayed close together through the first run and Emma was out on the bike just ahead of me.  I passed her first of many times on the first short hill. We passed each other about three times each of the two laps on the bike. Emma’s bike computer showed and average speed of 28 kph for the bike ride.

I got into transition off the bike just ahead of Emma and she got out of transition ahead of me. I worked at holding my pace through the run and never caught Emma who finished about 30 seconds a head of me. We were both happy with our performance. Emma said she enjoys the triathlon more than the duathon but would do another duathlon.

A few small lessons we learned from this event.  Always put a towel on the ground in transition to help keep feet and socks clean.  I need to consider wearing socks during short events for running and biking as I did pick up some small debris in my cycling shoes on this event and could feel that debris on my feet during the run. On a longer run that dirt on my feet might cause a problem. I need a bike computer to help with pacing during a race. It is too clumsy moving my GPS from my wrist to the bike and back to my wrist again. Though the last tri I just carried my GPS in my hand after taking it off the handlebars of my bike. I need different glasses as mine are always slipping down my nose especially on the bike.

One of the guys we see at open water swims and all the events asked if we were going to do the long events next year and we answered that we are already planning to do them.

Nothing is set in stone yet for next year but we would like to travel to an out  of town event and do an Olympic distance triathon which is 1.5 km swim 40 km bike and 10 km run.  So our training is going to change. At the moment we are focusing in improving our swim for about 12 weeks. then going to start working on running as I want to do a half marathon in October again and Emma wants to try running it too. We will always be doing all three sports for training but our focus will shift around some through the year.

After a very windy night of 120 kph gale force winds we started Tuesday off with part of a tree down and through our fence. Just nicely got to work after a detour caused by part of a shed sitting on the road when Emma texted me that the rest of the tree was down and on the house.

The tree was on the property of the school our house backs on to. The school arranged to have a crew come by and remove the tree from our house. By lunch time they were doing the final cleanup and I moved the broken sections of fence out of the way. We were able to get a builder to have a brief look at the roof and he then got a roofer out to see what could be done to at least water proof the roof before the rains came.

I went up into the attic to see if I could find any damage. I saw no structural issues and all the tar paper was intact.

I had kept left over roof tiles from when the house was built and the roofer was able to use them to replace the broken roof tiles and make the roof weather tight again.

Wednesday morning the roofer returned, cleanup all the broken tiles, cleaned off the roof and used mortar to set the replacement roof cap tiles firmly in place.