Bushfires, blackouts and seering heat

Tuesday 4pm….

Ok – Did the boss forget to pay the power bill??? Power outage in the city and suburbs. Everyone was sent home. Of course those of us with parking in the building were stuck in the dark waiting as the garage doors could not be opened. No power, no doors open! Eventually they unhinged the door and forced it open. Bushfires had cut the electricity supply from NSW. Newsstory. It was so damn hot too. 41c (106f). Get home around 5.30pm and no power at home either… Sweltering in the house – as they say a picture is worth a thousand words… The pic on the left is of some decorative candles I have in my bedroom…. One of them needs some Viagra!! Luckily some places still had power and Definition, where I train, was one of those places! No air con but plenty of fans running. I don’t mind training in the heat… so right into the speed bench work. As there was no rush to get home I threw in some extra chest work - regular dumbbell presses. Since taking up powerlifting I haven’t really done any specific chest work, benching is all about back/lats and triceps. So I wasn’t all that surprised to find that my chest strength had dropped a little - even tho I bench more than I did a year ago… so 50lb dumbbells for 3 sets of 8 reps was about the best I could managed - I have been able to do 60lb in the past. Plus I have to consider that my triceps were already fatigues from the JM presses and lying triceps presses I had done earlier and my front delts had also been worked hard with the neutral front raises – so probably not the best ‘test’ of chest strength I could have done.

Take out for dinner…. No way to cook at home… Power back on about 8pm. Grilled some steak for morning tea tomorrow! Watched a bit of the Austalian Open Tennis and then bed… to try and sleep. Thank God for ceiling fans!

Wednesday 11am…

Have tried to get hold of Shaz on the phone to sort out some bench shirt training but no luck - have left a message. Tonight I have an appointment with Dirk to sort out my training leading up to the comp and we’ll need to get some squat suit practice in too!

Email this morning about Tan trials….

Can you beat your 2005 Go The Tan time of 0:23:59.62? Sprint, jog or walk a lap of the famous Tan and receive your Official 2007 Tan Time plus over $30 worth of prizes, including Mitch Dowd boxer shorts and much more!

Bit like waving a red flag in front of a bull. I’m not in any condition to do this, but there is a pair of Mitch Dowd boxers on offer! Hmmmm? Damn it…. Now I have to do it! But the last time I actually made it around the tan was just before Christmas when it took me 27 mins, but that was ok… it wasn’t really official… kinda. But this… Ughh I have to do it and I have to do better than 23:59:62. Grrrr How am I going to do this? Maybe I should just use the entry fee to buy a pair of boxers….. Not really in the spirit of things tho’. Only a little over two weeks… Help!!!!!