Tom... you've been usurped!

As you know Tom's been living it up in Whistler snowboarding with his pa and I've truly missed him a lot. However, on Wednesday the arrival of a 7lb 1oz baby boy called Charlie stole my heart (sorry Tom.) Ben and Lies are now the very proud parents of the tiniest, calmest most beautiful and wrinkliest baby. It's been lovely to finally meet the 'bump' that we've spent the last 9mths wondering what he (or she) was going to look like and now we know… he looks just perfect. Lies has been (and is) amazing, what a shock to your body. Ironman training is a doddle compared to the joys of labour so when I'm hurting and I've got a few more miles to go in Germany, I'll remember the gory and painful stories that were relayed to me after Charlie was born and it won't seem so bad! Ben's already looking the happiest (and tired-est) I've ever seen him and together he and Lies are going to be great parents and I hope I can be all they wanted in a Godmother.

So how's this weeks training gone without the boy Williams? Actually, it's gone well and I've enjoyed it. I've tried to capture some of his mental strength, especially after he did his long run (14 miles) on a treadmill facing a wall in his apartment gym. On Tuesday I did a tempo session on the treadmill and bailed, mentally it broke me in half. I just had one of those days, my legs were okay, my heart-rate wasn't ridiculous but my head was gone and so two minutes into the last ten mins I let it beat me. It was a bit of a disappointment to be honest because I'm not even running the same speeds for this session that I started on last year. I guess the fact that I'm only running twice a week could be part of it. With the Brass Monkey half marathon looming (a week today in fact) I'm just going to use it as my long run and not get disappointed by the time that I do it in. Anyway after Tuesday and letting the treadmill break me Tom did his long run on practically the other side of the world. Things like this really help me because when the going gets tough I use my stubborn (and competitive) side to try to find the little bit more that I need! I find my 'well if you can do it, so can I' attitude. I had another great swim session doing 10 x 300's off 5mins without alternating each one by drafting Tom. The first time I've done them all off 5mins on my own which really pleased me. The weather hasn't been on my side to get out on the bike this week so it's been a week of turboing in the garage and more than anything it's the mental challenge of staring at the back of the garage door for 3hrs than the actual physical pain of the session. Fingers crossed the weather's better next week.

Tom's back this afternoon (I'm being very efficient and writing my post early) and I'm really looking forward to hearing all about his adventures with his Dad. So many people are impressed by the fact that he's gone away on a snowboarding trip with his dad and they're right to be. Brian (Tom's pa) is actually a better skier than Tom is a snowboarder. Tom loves being able to spend so much time doing something they both really enjoy together, it sounds like they've had a fantastic time.

Time to sign off, I've got a new boy on the block to go and see. Welcome to the world Charlie, I know you won't be short of love and sometimes that's all someone needs.

H. x