According to the Public Service Enterprise Agreement, I should have been confined for the 6 weeks before my due date, but I was given approval to stay at work for another 3 weeks, with the blessing of my doctor and the relief of my supervisor! I don't want to go into the ridiculousness of the use of the term "confinement", rather what I have been doing to stop myself developing cabin fever! Not being very good at sitting still, I have been using the time to do a whole of things that I haven't really had time to do thanks to long work hours or hours on a bike.
Watching the construction of the extension.
You can follow along with that at http://doolamaticdrs.wordpress.comhttp://doolamaticdrs.wordpress.com. Actually, truth be told, there is only so much watching of this I can do. It is much more fun to see the progress at the end of each day, or watch the cat find things to play with amongst the building.
Fred playing with the end of the string lines in the extension
Finishing off knitting and crochet projects in time for the new arrival and Christmas.
Knitted teddy ready for our new addition.
Knitted juggling balls for my nephew
Fred helping me with the strap for my niece's bag
Crochet handbag for my niece
Finish the renovation and decoration of the nursery.
As part of the overall house renovation, the Engineer has been doing a lot of work on the existing bedrooms, including new built in robes, new floors and painting (in progress photos over on Doolamatic Drs). Once that was done, it was time to deck it out for a little person. Thanks to Stef for the wallpaper frieze.
Freshly painted, re-floored and with nursery frieze
All ready for the new arrival
More nursery in anticipation
Make curtains.
Whilst I am confident working with wool, needles and hooks, the sewing machine and I are not the greatest of friends. Not being one to shy away from a challenge I have taken some time in the last couple of weeks to strike up a great relationship with my sewing machine. So far my confinement achievement has been fully lined curtains for the nursery! Next up I will start on a patch work quilt for the little person!
New blockout curtains in the nursery
Fabric supplies for patchwork quilt
Finishing our Christmas shopping
OK, I haven't quite finished this one, but I only have 2 or 3 things left to get. I am not the biggest fan of shopping at the best of times and the thought of entering the mall with a new born in December is making me cringe, so I have been using this time to get most things done.
Baking
In amongst this has been my usual activities- catching up with friends, baking, catching up on several series' worth of Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire, watching a whole lot of test cricket, and doctors' visits. There was also a spontaneous trip to IKEA when it became apparent I didn't need to be in proximity to the hospital! This also featured a stop at the Robertson Pie Shop on the way home- always a treat!
Officially I am 39 weeks and 5 days. I am trying not to make too many plans or appointments, "just in case". If you are in my contacts list, you will likely get a message when things start to happen, until then, I will continue to keep myself occupied and stay out of the heat that has just suddenly hit us in Canberra!
With about 7 weeks until estimated due date, I am starting to reach the point of OMG I am huge and will never fit on my bike again!
I would say it is more like I have swallowed a basketball, but the extra weight out front makes it more like a kettle bell!
Other than feeling large, things are rolling along pretty well. I have 4 weeks left at work, which takes me to 37 weeks and I am hoping for a nice 3 week break before all the action begins! We have completed our antenatal classes and haven't been completely traumatised! The hospital is running a breast-feeding workshop tomorrow, and I have one more official ultrasound to double check that everything is A-OK. Now all I need is for someone to take over my position at work and I will be a happy camper!
In the meantime, I am not the only thing under construction. We are also undertaking a major extension to our little house. You can play along with that over at: http://doolamaticdrs.wordpress.com.
And for something completely different, the engineer and I went to the coast for long weekend just passed. Not a lot to report, except a whole lot of relaxing, but here are some photos!
The jigsaw got completed thanks to the inclement weather
There were several goannas to be seen on the walking tracks
The Fairy Wrens are obviously testosterone loaded this year, with spectacular blue
More amazing blue
It is nice to be woken by the birds in the trees rather than the clock radio!
Before I wrote the last post, I was being asked frequently, what are you doing now that it is not track season? Are you racing at X? My standard answer was, I am having a bit of a break and have been really busy at work. This was quite an accurate answer.
In fact, the project that I have been working on has just gone live. You can see it here: Medicine Label Review and if you are interested in seeing changes to how medicines are labelled, I encourage you to write in and let me know!
(C) TGA.gov.au
But, in what may come as no surprise to some of you, the other reason is that my kit is getting a bit snug...
But I am sure it will fit again some time after 27 November, right?!!
Excuse my indulgence and the delay in posting this. Truth be told I wrote this in my head on the plane on the way home from Track Nats!
In about October last year I did a deal with the long suffering engineer that if I made it to Track Nats that would be my last race at elite level. It was time to hang it up.
We know how track season panned out and I can't say I was disappointed and even though I didn't quite tick all the goals I set myself in Adelaide, I went away satisfied that I had done everything I could.
After endless questions about what I am doing and why I am not racing, it is time for a bit of reflection. The Golden Girls theme really sums up how I feel about my time in the Oz Women's peleton. I have made some awesome mates and shared some fantastic experiences on the bike. There has been some tough times on the bike, but there has always been some one to help me out and push me over the next hill.
I have achieved the goals I have set myself, including numerous state titles and medals, and some top 10 finishes at national level on the track and road.
I have lived through some disappointing results and come out the other side a better, stronger bike rider.
I have been humbled by people telling me that they are riding a bike because of me (although one of them does it in the middle of swimming and running, one day I might fix that!!).
I have contributed to the success of others which are some of my most rewarding memories.
I had the pleasure of sharing a room with Vicki Whitelaw the night she won her medal at track nationals in 2008! (Those of you who know Vicki will be able to understand why that is a vivid memory! Sorry Vic!!)
I have also had the pleasure of working with some insightful and inspiring coaches and people in the sport. And it was the conversation with Gary Sutton on the final night at nationals that made me realise how much passion I have for the sport.
I have been guided and mentored by some very dedicated coaches, who had faith in me when my own was waning. Some of these people I regard as some of closest friends now. I also hope that I have learnt well from them as I embark on giving back to the sport as a coach to some up and coming juniors.
I was lucky to have the support of Mike and all the guys at Onya Bike Belco and Civic. These guys truly were amazing and more generous than I probably deserved at times!
And I have had and still have the pleasure of riding around with some pretty amazing people in Canberra. Be it world para-champ, riders with pro-contracts, or just club members striving to achieve their goals.
Track Nationals have been run and won and what a week it was in Radelaide!
Here's a day-by-day wrap of the ACT track team's adventure to the SuperDrome.
Racing commenced on Australia Day, and while most good Australians were out celebrating with beers and BBQs, we were sweating it out on the boards. Day 1 saw the first medal to our small team with Catherine "Goat" Culvoner taking silver in the elite women's 500m TT, and posting a 1.5 sec PB! This went some way to making up for the disappointment of the sprinters (Nathan Hart, Danny Ellis and Alex Bird) being disqualified from the team sprint and missing out on riding for the bronze medal. Hot tip, if you see ASADA coming for Catherine, remind her to not have any more to drink! It was a late night with doping control waiting for her samples to be suitably concentrated!!
Day 2 was all about the individual pursuit for the elite women and sprint qualifying for the men. And the PBs continued. Beck Wiasak knocked almost 4 seconds of her IP and just missing out on the bronze ride off, and Alex "Birdman" Bird in the flying 200m. Day 2 was also the day for blistering times by the SA men's team pursuit team and Annette Edmondson.
Session 1 of day 3 saw the girls, Beck Wiasak, Allison Rice and Ailie McDonald, ride themselves into the gold-silver ride off in the team pursuit. Given that the best the girls were expected to do was a possible ride off for bronze, this was extremely exciting (if you don't believe me, ask to see my SMS stream from the session!). Danny and Alex continued to progress through the sprint rounds and we were teased with the possibility of it being Danny v Alex in the gold-silver ride off!
Day 3 session 2 and the television coverage commenced. The girls went out in the TP ride off, knowing that they were going to be caught by the WA girls, but with the challenge to prolong the race until the 2km mark. They got close to reaching this challenge, but fell one lap short! Full credit to the WA girls, I am pretty sure that pursuiting is what they do for fun on the SpeedDome and team's pursuit training is their idea of a fun Saturday night!
Catherine also continued her impressive performance at this year's nats, making it through to a quarter final match up with Anna Meares. Unfortunately, Catherine didn't make it to the ride for gold-silver, and had to settle for a bronze ride off, and I think the full program may have taken it out of her and she finished 4th.
For my money, the performance of the week came in session 2 day 3 with Alex getting the better of a very in form Matt Glaetzer and then going one better and beating Shane Perkins in 2 rounds. You have never heard such a small team make so much noise! If you haven't seen the footage, head over to Cycling Central and check it out!
Tom Clarke was also in action on Day 3 and after winning his U19 kierin heat, rode his way into a bronze medal in the final! Nice work from a fairly new rider to the track!
And as if that wasn't enough, we still had to get through the women's point score. Without a doubt this was the toughest points race I have ever ridden and I know a number of the other girls said the same! The decisive move came with about 40 laps to go with Beck W getting away with Sarah Kent and Annette Edmondson to successfully take the lap. And in doing so, picked herself up a bronze medal! As a team member, there is nothing as rewarding as seeing that happen and knowing you played a small part in the result.
Final day and final session and think we were all happy to see the end of week approaching! TV coverage was continuing as well, which means there are highlights available over on Cycling Central. And thanks to that TV coverage the event order was changed so that people at home could watch a madison and try an understand what was going on- put your hand up if you figured it out!!
The elite women's scratch race was in the middle of the session and as a team we had a loose plan for the last 10 laps of the race. And from all accounts it looked like we might have pulled it off, until Beck and Sorelle came down with 300m to go. Both girls got up after the crash and are largely OK- Beck is missing some skin, has some bruises and I would imagine some splinters. Sorelle has a ruptured tendon/ligament around her shoulder area and last I heard will need surgery. Speedy recovery girls!
Catherine went out and got herself a bronze in the women's kierin behind Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch. When she grows up, Catherine is going to be super speedy!
Apparently the men's points race which rounded the week was excellent viewing, but I was hanging with doping control, discussing possible conflicts of interest due to past employers and current colleagues, whilst waiting for the 4 bottles of water to do their thing!!
So there you have it. A small team coming home with a bag full of medals! Nice work team!
Big thanks to the support staff- Glenn Doney, John Forrest, Brian Simpson, Braham Hart, Darren Clarke, Gina Hart, Helen Clarke and Kristy. The week wouldn't have been as smooth with you.
And a massive thanks to the whole team for making my final trip to an elite national champs as an athlete enjoyable and successful!*
I don't have a whole lot of photos- if you were following me on twitter you would have seen some images from the stands at various points through the week. There are some photos here, and I thought I saw Mark Gunter getting around but I haven't seen any other photos. Video highlights are here.
And just to remind the team of the week we had here is the wolf!!
(Explainer: this along with some other classy tunes, is on costant rotation at the SuperDrome!)
*Yes that means exactly what it says, I am going off to pretend to be a grown up.
Victorian Christmas Carnivals wrapped up in Wangaratta this year. As noted yesterday, it is a big track- 500m, and fairly flat, but also fairly fast. (Sorry no photos- no one got a decent one, if you find a post from racing at Wagga, that is what the Wang track looks like.)
Unfortunately, my top end speed decided it was time to get ready for New Year's and stayed in the back of the car. Of course this meant I could only manage minor places, or that place just off the podium in just about every race! Is there anything more frustrating?!
It may not have helped my cause that their seemed to be a bit of a sprinters flavour to the program! Including horror of horrors, yet another keirin, followed by a second impromptu one at the end of the night instead of a longer race! 3 keirins for me in 2 days, what has the world come to!
Regardless of my above moaning, the night was still a lot of fun. Especially the informal "betting ring" between Dad and Matt, which seemed to be purely based on bike colour or skinsuit design!
Despite not being able to win a wheelrace to save myself, the 4 days were a blast and there was a wad of cash in my wallet for the trip home!
Big thanks to my fam' for the beds to crash in between races and for coming to the races too (that includes you too L & J!). And good job to super soigny, mechanic and chauffeur, Dr Matt!
The Shepparton track is what I imagine the Narrabundah track is meant to be like. It is 333m, concrete but unlike 'BundaDome it is relatively smooth and sedate. It does also share the same wind though it seemed!!
There was a big program of racing for the A grade girls on the night- 6 races to get through. The first 3 were largely for the sprinters, including an invitational keirin. Having never raced a keirin before I was grateful for the hot tips from Danny's sister Bec, who jumped in to hold me for the start. They didn't do me much good, although I did manage a 4th.
The early part of the night was a reminder of a couple of things- 1) I am definitely an enduro- short races really aren't my thing and 2) indecision is a kind of Darwininsm on the track! Much of the night was spent 1 position out of the money, until the races got longer. I was pretty happy to finish 2nd in the Omnium Points Score and in the Victorian 5km Championship. (This Omnium is made up of an event at each of the Christmas Carnivals, with points allocated for 1st to 4th, winner is the won with the most points, I think I am in 3rd overall after tonight).
Well done to Shannon McCurley who got me on the line to take the win and to Ruby who picked up third
There is one day of racing to go in Wangaratta. Apparently the track there is 500m! But that is offset by the claim that it is the fastest flat track in Australia!
The Bendigo track is big- over 400m- and odd shaped. The track is a big D, with a single straight and an endless bend. Throw in the gusting wind and we were in for a fun night of racing!
Fellow Canberran, and more notably Australian track team member, Danny Ellis was there to dominate the men's A grade racing. At least while the racing was less than 10 laps!
Of course it wouldn't be a Christmas carnival without random running events in the centre. Although that has nothing on the wood chopping that happens at the Tassie carnivals!
It was also nice to catch up with my brother and his family. As for my racing, it wasn't too bad, just lacking a little spark. There's still 2 days to go, so no need to panic.
Thoughts are with the guys who came down in the heat for the 2km wheel, and their bikes which have seen their last rides. Ride safe everyone.
Xmas carnivals 2011 in Victoria got underway in Horsham. Despite the headwind in the back straight I can't complain about a win and some minor placing for the day!
Like all good Xmas carnivals there is always the long transfer at the end of the day. At least we had the cracking sunset to watch as it was on to Bendigo!
