A week in the life of the Papps...

We haven't done anything special this week so I thought that I would give you an idea of a normal week in the life of us here in Perth.

MONDAY: The week starts early every monday with a 4.30am wake up call, we drag ourselves out of bed, make lunches and leave the house at 5.10am to head to Bold Park swimming pool in Floreat. Its also known as "cold" or "mold" park... The pool is an outdoor 50m pool set in the middle of bush. For the months before the half ironman the pool had an infestation of argentian millipedes... euwwww they are gross, but apparantly every year at that time the pool is overrun with them. It is due to be 5 degrees tomorrow morning so there will be lots of steam rising from the pool. Generally it is pretty hard getting in but once we are moving it is fine and the showers are awesome.

Swim squad lasts 90 minutes and is anywhere between 4 - 5.5km of swimming. Monday's swim session is always strength related with lits of pull buoy, paddles and band work. From swimming we shower at the pool and head to work. I am usually at work by 7.30am and Jason 7.45 am.

Monday's for me are always very busy days at work with a team meeting and a full staff meeting as well as a lunchtime and an after work training session, so I usually head home pretty tired. Jason splits his time between Yambay in Subiaco and the East Perth Control Centre (Western Power).

Monday night is a real girls night on TV so I am usually on my own while Jason hangs out and plays on his computer. He usually has a clan match on a Monday night (clan matches are playing PC games online with his buddies).

TUESDAY: The second day of the week is a sleep in for us, we get up at 6.30- 6.45 ish, with the aim to leave home by 7.15am at the latest (otherwise the traffic is pretty horrendous through Claremont). I have a weights session at lunch time and a bike ride after work. Unfortnately I don't have any storage options for my bike at work so Jason has to drop my bike off to me at work. Once I am on my bike Jason heads home and cooks dinner while I do my training.

WEDNESDAY: Arghhh the alarm goes off at 4.30 am again today. The only difference to Monday's swim session is that this one is usually faster and slightly shorter sets. Wednesdays are probably my busiest day of any week with Board and Advisory group papers always being due on a Wednesday. I try to do my run at lunchtime, but if not successful I run after work. If I get it in during the day I can have an evening off training. If I do my session after work I try to talk Jason into joining me for these sessions.

THURSDAY: A similar day to Tuesday, sleep in, weights and a bike ride. Thursday nights are late shopping nights in the suburbs so we sometimes head to Garden City (shopping mall) or just into Claremont. Last week was the Myer sale- Jason got a winter jacket (because it is down to 20 degrees during the day now) and I got a new skirt for my brother's wedding in two weeks time. I try to be home by 8.30pm for Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice- my favourite TV watching night... which means Jason's on the computer again.

FRIDAY: Yip, thats right, its a 4.30am wake up call again. Fridays are my favourite swim squad days, and Jason's least favourite. Its always lots of kick and medley which I love. Its also something I am good at. That's it for Friday's training wise. We sometime try and have a quick healthy meal at Wagamama in Subiaco as well and more often than not pick up the 3 DVDs for $14 at our local video shop on the way home.

SATURDAY: The first weekend day is ALWAYS busy in Perth. I generally sleep in until I wake up and then do my training rather than set an alarm early. That way my body tells me when I am ready to get up. I have a morning and an afternoon training session but we always try and head to a cafe in between sessions for a coffee and pot of tea. This week we tried a new cafe in Nedlands and spent a good hour there reading the weekend paper in the sun. I was even in a singlet (in JUNE!!!!). While I am training Jason gets a head start on the housecleaning which I appreciate. Saturday afternoons are usually devoted to watching the DVDs that we didn't watch on the Friday night.

SUNDAY: Again I generally sleep in till I wake up and then head out on my training. Sundays can be anything from visits to the beach, visits to the markets, shopping in the city and more often that not supermarket shopping (in Fremantle as not many grocery stores are open). This week I only thought about shopping at 4.13pm so missed the chance. Shops are closed at 5 in Fremantle.

So that's a pretty normal week in the life of us in Perth.