Rowing Erg Blitz
I laid on my mat in the garage last Saturday morning when Lindy went on her rowing machine. I knew I could totally relax for quite a while because she normally stays on that thing for an hour or more. During that time there is nothing for me to do: No walks! No food from the fridge! No ball throwing in the backyard! So sleep is the best thing for a Labrador Guide Dog.
The rhythmic sound of the rowing machine – whoosh soosh soosh, whoosh soosh soosh – soosh is so relaxing while I keep my eyes shut.
I was enjoying my dream of lying in the backyard, sun beating on my back and chewing a large Mara-bone. All of a sudden, I heard Kerry’s voice calling out ‘sit up tall’, ‘relax chin and shoulders’ and ‘legs on and use the core’…
I was just wondering what had interrupted my peaceful sleep and what all those encouragements were all about when I heard Kerry say, ‘Just 2 more k and you are done’. Instead of the relaxing row that Lindy was doing when I fell asleep, she was really putting it in for the last 2km… heavier breathing, louder encouragement from Kerry and the machine finally got to the end of the distance.
After a few minutes of heavy breathing from Lindy, I heard something like 1:40:26.4 for the half marathon row.
I read one of Harper’s newsletters from 10 years ago about how much trouble she went to get him half a mara-bone. So I got very excited when I heard the word ‘half a mara-bone’ and couldn’t wait to get it.
After Lindy had a shower, we went to our local coffee shop for a takeaway coffee. I then took Lindy into the butcher and I got even more excited thinking about the prospect of half a mara-bone. But when we got home, instead of my much anticipated half a mara-bone, Lindy produced a pig’s ear for me! She said something like ‘bones don’t agree with my stomach! Oh well! Mum always know best! I still enjoyed my pig’s ear anyway.’
If anyone is interested to read about how Lindy got Harper’s half a mara-bone running instead of rowing, you can read his 2010 July newsletter.
There is always a silver lining in every situation. During this social distancing period, Lindy has spent lots of time in the garage rowing the rowing machine and spinning on the bike, which has meant more snoozing for me.
The half marathon row that Lindy did on the Concept 2 Rowing Machine on the 9th May was recognised as the World Adaptive Record for PR3-VI (vision impaired). She even has the certificate to prove it. The record has already been updated on the Concept 2 World Adaptive page. I would like to thank Kerry and Fiona for their help in training and supporting Lindy to get that record. I didn’t really help Lindy except by providing a relaxing tone through my ‘zzzzzs’.
Apart from the half marathon row, Lindy also participated in the Indoor Interstate Regatta for ACT at the beginning of April as well as rowing 25 km over a couple of sessions for the Anzac Day Indoor Rowing Challenge. It was after completing this Anzac Day challenge that Lindy thought it was possible to do a decent time for the Half Marathon in one go, so she set the day of 9 May and started to prepare for it. She finished off 45 seconds faster than what she did a few years ago, so it is also a PB for her.
I guess I can expect more sleeps in the garage while I ‘zzzzz’ Lindy onto other challenges over the next few months. Although the country is slowly open up, I don’t think we will rush into all the activities we used to do in a hurry.
Pushups Challenge to support the Headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation
Lindy is part of the Awesome Achilles Pushup team that has registered to do a total of 3,046 pushups between 11th and 31st May. This is to make a difference to the thousands of Australians battling with mental health related issues. If you would like to support her and her Achilles team, this is the Pushups Challenge team page.
Fractured foot is healed!
As you may have guessed from Lindy’s rowing blitz, Lindy’s foot has healed. We have done lots of walks by ourselves as well as being accompanied by Polly, Julie, Sue, David and others. Oh! They didn’t all walk with us at the same time. We certainly observed the social distancing rules and only walked with one of them at a time. I love it when we have company because it means I don’t have to work and often get to go off the leash to explore while we walk.
Let us continue to do our best to make every day the best that it can be
In the last few weeks we have found things that we can control: We have worked on positive things, cared and support others and found things that we always wanted to do and started on them. Let’s keep them up.
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“We can social connect and keep physical distance”
This is the tail of Lindy’s Comet.
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Woof Woof
Comet Hou
Comet : comet@lindyhou.com
Lindy: lindy@lindyhou.com
Tel: 0402 113 836 / +61 402 113 836
