Paul Arden | Saturday, 29 October 2022
Viking Lars is on a fishing trip to Sweden. I’m sitting on the roof of the Battleship watching the sun set with a strong wind behind me and a storm approaching from the front. How is this possible? I don’t know either. But it is looking decidedly damp! Hopefully not at 9pm – because I have an after-dark Zoom flycasting lesson to give. (After dark my end, morning in the USA!)
Next weekend I’ll be back in Langkawi. Not a fishing trip this time but instead an Ironman 70.3. Hopefully I’ll be faster than the Desaru 70.3 and no flat tyres. We drive the truck over on Wednesday and return on Tuesday, which is a longer trip than originally planned but the ferries were booked solid on our preferred days. So it will be a bit of a holiday for us both as well and we plan to catch up with friends we have there.
Ashly and I will be doing some bike riding too. The roads there are a bit quieter and more bike friendly than around here and I’m going to teach Ashly to swim more confidently. She’s had a few lessons a few years ago but still doesn’t have the confidence yet for open water swimming. And no doubt there will be fishing… there is always fishing!
My last week has been fairly chilled out on a training taper and next week should be even more chilled. Depending on how I find this 1/2 Ironman will determine whether I do the full Ironman again. I want to, but I also want some solid 70.3s in place first.
You might wonder why I put myself through this? I can tell you exactly why! I live outdoors, I have to run up and down stairs carrying petrol and supplies, have to be nimble enough to jump between boats and be fit enough to fish hard every day. That doesn’t “just happen” as you get older but it is possible if you train!
I also get a kick out of triathlon and it focuses my physical training. Growing old gracefully is simply not on the cards.
Feeling pretty good about this one and looking forward to it very much. Tomorrow is a big fishing day for me; no teaching to give and I have a completely free day. This week has been about half days so far and it hasn’t come together yet. But it will tomorrow :)
Cheers, Paul