Long run, lots of fencing

I did my long run around Lake Union today since I wasn't able to fit it in over the weekend. I had a YMCA Board meeting so I got started later than I had hoped to in the afternoon. I did a bit of a warm up run over to Pocock Rowing Center, stopped in to say hello and then started on my way. I hadn't taken a nap, so I could feel that I was pretty tired. But the run went pretty well, just a nice slow, long run.

Fencing went long as well. I fenced seven bouts which is three more than I usually do. I did very well, winning 5 bouts...all except Greg and Nathaniel. Nathaniel Dirkson, an "A" level fencer who recently placed 66th in a national competition out of 160, was back home for the holidays and everybody wanted to fence him. I got nine touches on him and was pretty pleased since I missed several others that with my own weapon (I am still using a club weapon) I could have gotten. I noticed that Eli Bremer, the guy I stayed with in Sydney, got 52nd in the epee competition. I should be seeing both these guys in competition soon enough.

Sean Down Unda - Sydney Day 5

Eli, Justen and I got up early to head out to Olympic Stadium to watch the morning 'athletics' (we call it track and field). It took us almost two hours to get there! But it was well worth it. This was my first visit out to the Olympic Park (aka Homebush). The entire park is huge and it was pretty breathtaking to walk up to Olympic Stadium after I'd seen so much of it on TV. And the day was beautiful after we had such lousy weather last night. Eli and Justen had seats way up in the bleachers which they had bought on the street the day before. I lucked out...the ticket I bought later the same day for less money was 23 rows up from the field right by the decathlon long jump. Pretty cool, I got some really great pictures of the men's 200, the decathlon long jump and various other events going on.

I had to leave the park early to catch a modern dance matinee at the Opera house. The route back to the trains that go to the city is about a mile walk. I got back to the new balance center just in time to have lunch and find out that we had been moved out of our cozy apartment right on Coogie Beach. I guess someone more important wanted. Bummer, but we're now right across the street in the Holiday Inn.

The matinee at the opera house was incredible. The performance was called "Skin" and included two individual dance pieces, the second included several artists that were in the opening night ceremonies. The first was nice, but didn't engage me. It was a troop of women dancing to half aborigine, half modern jazz music. The seconds was a troop of men and a small boy. It started with a native aborigine hanging himself then shifted in to dance and some singing dealing with some of the issues natives in Australia and New Zealand are dealing with today. The set was only a burned out car shell that was moved to many different positions for different acts. The final scenes were of one of the older performers sitting down and singing songs to his guitar. The last song was about how for a time, native children were taken from their real parents to be raised by white parents in hopes of civilizing them. Once again, I teared up at the end.

Then...back to the New Balance center for dinner. After that, I caught up with the cousins of one of my best friends Peter Barnes in Seattle. We went to the Lord Nelson pub in an area of town called The Rocks, the pub was just under the Sydney Harbor bridge. We had a great time and it was fun to be in a local pub when the Aussies cheer on their team.

Sean Down Unda - Sydney Day 4

Eli and I headed into the city around 9:30 this morning. About half way in we figured out that our bus went right along where the women's bike race was going to be held so we decided to hop off and watch the start. We followed the helicopters and arrived at the start line just in time to see them take off. There was a big screen TV showing the race as they went through the course at the first turn, so we planted ourselves there and stuck around for several of the seven laps in the race. Pretty cool, definitely felt like I was at the Olympics. The riders were so close you could touch them. I'll be off to track and field tomorrow at the Olympic stadium to watch some of the decathlon events. The symphony tonight at the Opera House was fantastic. The arias were fantastic and the Maori dance/singing group that performed with the symphony were amazing. The men's parts were basically made up of a lot of shouting and stomping and it was pretty moving to see and hear this in concert with the symphony. The view from the opera house was spectacular as well, especially as there was a lightening storm as we left the building.

Sean Down Unda - Sydney Day 3

I started the day with a run with Eli, north from Coogee Beach where we're staying to almost Bondi Beach where the Olympic beach volleyball events are being held. The run along the beaches and cliffs lasted about 45 minutes and was incredible. See my pentathlon journal for more details.

Got my postcards down nice and early then headed over the the New Balance Pentathlon Center at the Maritime Museum for lunch. Getting meals free at the center is a great deal, especially since they are really tasty. The lunches have been incredible. After lunch I tried to update this website, but for some reason, I couldn't link up to MSN well. Gave up on that, came back down to meet up with Eli and his brother Justin. Amy showed up to let us know what tickets Heather, the ticket queen at the pentathlon center, had left. I was able to nab tickets to the men's diving prelims and track and field tickets later on in the week during which the decathlon will be starting up. Most of the tickets are really pricy...over $US100 which is out of my range. I also got a cheap ticket to track and field on Wednesday while Eli and Justen were waiting in line to get Equestrian tickets. They didn't get them, but did get some for weightlifting. They went off to weightlifting and I went off to go for a swim at a pool by the Royal Gardens. Along the way, I bought some really cool penthathlon pins (everyone's into trading pins here), a couple Sydney ones and a bunch of Russian ones.

The walk through the Royal Gardens was pretty neat. There are lots of birds mingling around, ibis in particular were pretty interesting. There was also a whole lane filled with flying foxes overhead. Really cool. I got lost for a bit in the succulent garden too, cactus, huge aloe vera plants and the like.

Turned out that the pool was closed. Bummer, no swim today, but I'll try another tomorrow. I then headed over to the opera house to check it out and hopefully buy some tickets. I'm not just satisfied with seeing the opera house...I want to see something in it. Tosca and la Traviata were playing, but I wanted to see something more, well native, Aussi. I ended up with at ticket to the New Zealand Sympathy with a mauri soprano that should be incredible, as well as a ticket to a performance called "skin" done by the same guy who did the aboriginal part of the Olympics opening ceremonies.

Then it was back to the New Balance center to catch up with Eli and Justen and grab dinner. The fish tonight was incredible, still don't know what it was though.

Finally, it was back to our apt. at the Coogie View. Long train and bus ride, it was very busy.

Sean Down Unda - Cliff run with Eli

Got up this morning and decided to head out for a run with Eli. I was a little nervous since he's much farther along in training that I am, but he wanted to just to a jog so it ended up that the rate felt pretty good. We headed north along Coogee Beach for a while, then along the cliffs that lead to Bondi Beach eventually, where the Olympic Beach Volleyball events are being held. The run was incredible...incredible views, incredible workout, incredible guy to run with. Can't really do justice to the views...cliffs, rocks, crashing waves, all of it. Even though it was cloudy, it was beautiful. The trail included pavement, dirt, grass, stairs, uphills, downhills...a little bit of everything. Once again, the run time was right at 45 minutes. Finally, Eli really is great guy. He's given me lots of pointers along the way and gave me many more during the run. I'm pretty lucky to be able to spend some time with him, get to know him and benefit from his pointers. He's only 22, but has a lot of wisdom.

Sean Down Unda - Beach run with Justen

I met up with Eli Bremer and his brother Justen on Saturday. They will be my roomates here in Sydney. Eli is training for the Pentathlon in Colorado Springs with several other pentathletes and his brother did them when he was younger too. This morning I went out running with Justen south along the cliffs, but since I had walked around Melbourne so much, my plantar fasciatis really started to bug me, so after we turned around to see what what was up north, I opted to stay on the beach and run bare-footed in the cold sand and water. The sand helped stretch out my ankle and the cold helped reduce the inflammation. I ended up running sprints on the beach with put me in for about a 45 minute run overall.

Sean Down Unda - Sydney Day 1

I arrived just fine to Sydney, but it went down hill from there...at least for a little while. I called the hotel for my free pick up to find out that the pentathlon organizers (UIPM) had overbooked. So I called the UIPM contact and was told to come out to the Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour where the UIPM and New Balance had a hospitality house, I would get further instructions there. The cab took about half an hour, then there I was...right in the middle of one of the main Sydney action centers, several of the venues are located here...boxing, fencing, volleyball, etc.

I was told that we'd be staying at the Coogie View, which was a ways out of town, but it was on the beach. I was a little nervous, had lunch, then left for my new home. WOW! It was an apartment right on the beach!!! Needless, to say, I was pretty happy. Since Eli (one of our up and coming pentathletes) and his brother - who I would be rooming with - were due to arrive in later, I did have to stay in to wait for their phone call, since as far as they knew, we were still at the original place. So I watched the Olympics...and the sunset. Not a bad way to start my Sidney stay at all.

Sydney or bust, free pistols and late lake run

I finally confirmed my trip to Australia! I'm pretty excited and relieved to get this all taken care of. I'll spend a few days in Melbourne catching up with some friends I met in Ladakh several years ago. Then off to Sydney. I'm hoping that I'll get to watch and help out the team prepare for their events during the week before the competition. I'll be staying in a hotel with other pentathlon support staff and fans, so it should be a great time to meet a lot of people and learn a lot more about the sport. I'll be rooming with a guy named Eli, a pentathlete from Colorado, and his brother. Eli's already given me lots of good information and pointers regarding pentathlon stuff just in our efforts to set our stay up so should be a great time once we're there.

Dropped by the range tonight to watch the free pistol practice. I just dropped in to watch since 1. I'll be shooting air pistol and 2. I don't have an air pistol yet. Vic, my future shooting coach, was there and gave me a few more pointers. The shooters were all really neat people, very experienced. Tonight was a great exposure to pistol shooting...there were men and women, a wide range of skill levels and many different pistols being used. I was most surprised by the preparation involved in pistol shooting. I remember some of this from my rifle days, but nothing like what I observed here. Its all about psychology and getting into the zone.

Went for my run when I got home from shooting, around 9:00am. The run felt really good and at the fast pace that I started out at...I almost felt like I should/could be running faster during my on intervals. Well, I did...and ended up paying for it by the end. Since I was housesitting I ran along Lake Washington so it was a there and back run rather than an around Portage Bay sort of run. I ran for 15 minutes out and 15 back doing my intervals and ended up about 100 yards short of getting back to where I started. I just put too much into the first few interval sets. Lesson learned.