Mooloolaba Olympic Triathlon

Today's the big one!

Alarm went off at 4am and I went through my pre-race routine of toilet, drinking water, toilet, dressing, toilet, organising drink bottles, toilet. I put anti-chafe body glide on my legs and around my bra and Heart rate monitor.

Transition opened at 5:15, so we headed down there just after 5am. We were staying at the Cilento Apartments so we were literally opposite the transition area. This was a bit disconcerting as Mum was watching the security guards last night and we actually saw some guy rack his bike in at around 8pm. There was another guy racking his bike in first thing this morning, so I don't know how that works! Mum was convinced that the Security guards weren't doing their job and kept reporting back on what they were up to.

I was fairly calm, I had written a list of what I had to do, I had to put my Polar S725x on the bike, put the gear bottle on the back, put my two Electrolyte bottles on and set up my towel with bike shoes, socks, run shoes, cap, race belt and number, helmet and sunglasses on the bike. I also put in a bottle of Sustagen sport in transition just in case I needed extra energy after the bike. I had a water bottle in there to wash the sand off my feet.

I pumped the tyres up and I helped Jacque pump up her tyres and we were set. I did a last minute check to make sure I was in an easy gear and that my peddles were parallel with my left pedal at 3 O'clock and I was then happy that all was good.

We went back to the unit to drop off our stuff and prepare for the walk down to the swim. Jacque dropped in her pump to leave at our unit so that she didn't have to walk all the way back to hers. Mum was coming down to the swim start with us to take back our thongs, clothes, drink bottles, etc. We all headed off down to the beach for the swim start and I was chatting to Jude when Jacque realised that she left her goggles in the unit! Craig went back with her and Mum and I headed down to the beach. Luckily there was plenty of time. I was still feeling pretty calm. With about 15minutes before my swim start I went for a bit of a warmup swim, I could see fish swimming around and the water was beautiful. It was like when we went for a swim on friday so I was very relieved. The day looked like it was going to be great conditions. Unfortunately it won't be overcast for the run, but it looked like there wasn't going to be too much wind about.

Jacque and Craig returned and everything was good.

Because of the great conditions for some reason they changed the swim course around to be a M shape instead of straight down the beach, so we watched a few different waves go through so that we knew where we were going.

Jacque's wave start was 3 minutes after mine, which was a bit different, we are often in the same wave start as they usually do the Female 30-39 in the one wave start. However, today was seperate wave starts. I lined up with Sarah, Kaye and Alex although I didn't see Alex at the start.

The buzzer went off and I settled in pretty well for the swim. I was feeling OK and I didn't cop too much jostling. I managed to spot the buoys pretty well and felt as though I was on course pretty well all the way through. The water was pretty calm, I managed to overtake some of the wave in front of me and then I was overtaken by two waves behind me - oh well! Overall I was pretty happy, I did a bit of breastroke just to spot buoys, probably only a handful of times. I had a bit of a struggle getting back in to shore, there were two waves that I ducked under, I got caught in a rip and was swimming towards shore without moving, but eventally a wave carried me in. It was then the horrible run up the beach, then the stairs into transition. I saw Kath at the stairs cheering me on and I think Ixchel and Dan were there too. It was nice to have support along the way.

In transition I watered off my feet, took a few good gulps of water to get rid of the salt in my mouth. Put my bike shoes and socks on, put my helmet and sunnies on and I was off! I was all alone, there was nobody else about, so it was good to have my own space. The cycle course went up around first avenue past the entrace to the Cilento and then on towards the Coles supermarket and around the corner. Then the hill climb up and through to Buderim Avenue. I really struggled with this climb. I always seem to struggle with the bike while not warmed up so I felt like I was crawling pretty slowly! Once in Buderim Ave there are some rolling hills through here and when I got to the downhill I went to shift into my big chain ring and dropped the chain.... I slowed right down and manged to get it back on by downshifting to the small ring and got the chain back on. The next hill I did the same thing - you would think that I would learn by my mistakes! I couldn't do anything about it this time, the chain was twisted. So I pulled over and tried to get it back on without touching the chain - no luck! I eventually got the chain back on and grease all over my fingers and I was away again. Mental note, have the chain in the middle of the cogs at the back before going into the big chain ring!

I turned right to go down the Sunshine Motorway exit which was closed off to traffic, so I pushed it a bit down the hill to try and get some speed up. I was starting to feel OK. The Motorway was great, the road surface was smooth and because I was on an early wave start it was relatively quiet. I managed to overtake a few people and settled into my tri-bars. I was struggling to keep my cadence at 90, I had to keep changing gears, I prefer to ride at a lower cadence. I really need to work at this! I ended up riding with another 2 girls - I would overtake them and then they would overtake me, after playing tag several times when I overtook again I said 'my turn - we'll play tag', then she would overtake me and say 'tag - my turn'. It was quite good actually as it probably kept both of us consistent. If I was drinking from my bottle she would get away and vice versa - I need to work on that too!

The turnaround was good, I hit it at just over 40minutes. I would have preferred to be a bit quicker, but never mind! The way back was a bit more windy and a lot more traffic. A lot of the faster girls and guys were in pelatons and at times they don't give much space as they overtake. I saw one girl overtake and it looked a beautiful tactic. She was moving quite quickly, but she would draft behind, duck out and overtake cut back in and draft off the next one - because she was going so quickly she was within the rules of 15 seconds to overtake, I would like to one day get to this stage. Because I am not quick o the bike it takes me a while to get to overtake. I would be using up all of my 15 secs in some cases!

I managed to stay on my tri-bars the whole ride other than when drinking. I should probably start to practice using my tri drink bottle, this would make more sense! I can change gears pretty neatly while on the bars, I tried to relax and keep my head low. Can't say I fully succeeded with this but at least I was conscious of it.

I tried to have most of my first drink bottle gone by the turnaround and then I started on my second. I was feeling a little bit queasy and I wasn't sure why. I think my accelerade was just a bit too strong and sweet. It smelt like fairy floss! I think next time I will make up the drinks with just 1 1/2 scoops of Accelerade.

Whilst the wind was definitely stronger on the way back it didn't really bother me, I was feeling OK. My HR was around the 140's for most of the ride, so I really need to figure out how to push this more. Somebody called out to me on the way back along Buderim Ave, I think it may have been Ria. I scooted back along the Esplanade to transition, I got off my seat and stretched my calves and hamstrings.

Overall I was pretty happy with my ride other than the problems I had with the chain coming off - twice!

I got into transition and took my helmet off, I skipped the Sustagen sport as I didn't want to mix it with the fairy floss accelerade! I took another few gulps of water though. Put my running shoes on, did up my laces with double grabbed my hat and race belt and I was off. I put on my hat and race belt whilst running out of transition - not that I was doing a quick transition, but still!

The run was awful, there's a bit of a hill out of transition which was hard work, my legs were threating to cramp, I decided to do small steps until I settled into the run. Unfortunately I had to run like this for the first few kilometres. Every time I tried to step out my legs threatened cramping, so I shuffled along. Mum cheered me on, Trish, Kate, Ixchel, Dan and Trent were all there cheering - it was nice to have the support. I had no idea what pace I was running at but it sure felt slow. I glanced at my HR though and I was at 160 - 170 so I had a bit in the tank but not a whole lot. Eventally I managed to get a bit of rhythm happening and find my pace. I walked through all of the drink stations and the hill certainly sucked! Garry and Jo were up on the hill and the first time I came up the hill I was not in a great way, Garry called out "I know you can do this Emma!". So I took a last gulp of water and started suffling along again. The last time up the hill Shannon from work overtook me and gave me some words of encouragment. I knew that Jacque was very close to being only 3 minutes behind me so I tried to really push it home. I managed to finish fairly comfortably. My overall time was 2:57:18

Splits were as follows:
Swim: 31:33
Cycle: 1:29:46
Run: 55:58

I did the run last year in 1:10:19 in a team with Dad, so I wasn't running off the bike, so a 14:20 PB on the run this year off the bike is a fantastic improvement.

I was a bit disappointed that I didn't beat my Noosa Triathlon time of 2:54:58 which is 2:20 slower, but what do you do. It's funny, I thought that I did better at the cycle at Mooloolaba, however it was almost 6 minutes slower than my Noosa time, so I'm not sure why. I can only put it down to different conditions. Apparently it was much windier today than last year. Many were saying that today's course was up to 10 minutes slower than last years.

58:24 is the time that I did the Noosa Triathlon run so I was thrilled to run 2:26 faster than that today considering the hills.

In summary, I need to focus on my cycle. I really struggle with this. I'm going to have a few weeks off and then reassess my goals through winter and work out a training plan forward.

I am pretty happy to have achieved my second Olympic distance triathlon and for it to be Mooloolaba as I always said I would never do this one due to the ocean swim!

I pulled up very sore in the legs and shoulders, so I will be happy to have a few days off. I had a really uncomfortable nights sleep after the tri as I was too sore...

Pre-race ride

The BTS crew met at Loo with a View at 6:30 for a pre-race ride.

It didn't start well... Jacque came down from an apartment opposite our BTS tent and said that she didn't notice it there. It's a pretty whopping big tent so there's no way that she could miss it! Darren flew up there to see if it was really missing and returned a short time later to confirm that yes the tent is definitely missing! Mark was furious! So he headed off to the Police, etc to go and report it as missing.

We all continued on our ride and did 60minutes of pretty easy spinning, which was nice. John came along too which was good. Unfortunately we had 2 flat tyres, Suzanne and Paul, so hopefully that's our 3 things!

I felt good afterwards and Mum met us for breakfast and it was a beautiful morning.

We took it pretty easy on the Saturday just relaxing and eating well and hydrating. I had a spinach and cheese omellette for breakfast, a vegie burger at Raw Energy that was absolutely massive for lunch, I followed this up later with a large fruit salad and then only had a light dinner of breakfast cereal. So, I will see if this is a good pre race day food intake!

We could rack our bikes at 11:30 because we registered on the Friday, so we lined up at 11:15 ready to rack up! I managed to get the best position ever, I was right on the cycle exit which was great.

It was great wandering around Mooloolaba, so many fit people and everyone drinking water and looking healthy.

Ocean Swim

We left home just after 8am with Dad and our 3 bikes all set for our big weekend of Mooloolaba Triathlon.

We had a good run and called in and saw Gran on the way, then headed up to Mooloolaba and helped Mark put the tent up.

We then went for an Ocean swim. We walked down the beach to the next set of flags and had a chat to the lifeguard and told him what we were about. He told us that there were a pod of dolphins out swimming, so that was neat, I was quite excited about swimming with dolphins until we were just about in the water and the realisation set in that if there were dolphins this side of the shark net what is to stop sharks being inside the shark net!

Those thoughts aside, it was a beautiful swim. It was the nicest water I have swum in at Mooloolaba, it was absolutely magnificent. We just wanted to get a feel for the water and Dad was swimming with us so we took it pretty easy and stopped a few times along the way for Dad to catch up. It was definitely the most enjoyable Mooloolaba swim I had ever encountered! I just hope that conditions are the same on Sunday! There wasn't even any waves to slow me down on my way into shore, just beautiful.

After our swim, we checked in to the hotel and spent a fair bit of time cleaning and going over our bikes to ensure that they are shining and beautiful.

We then went and registered and got our goody bag which was full of junk mainly. Another 2 drink bottles and a shirt that will never fit any human that I know!

Mum came up a bit later after work and we met up with all the BTS crew for a bit of socialising and then we left to go and get a pasta dinner and a fairly early night.

Taper Swim

Tonight was a taper swim, so there were lots of sprints and games and relays.

Craig won the kicking competiton! Who would have thought! My team won the relay which was great.

Everybody was talking about Mooloolaba, the excitement level was high. I'm not feeling too bad, I figure that I can't get any fitter from here on in! I'm just hoping that the conditions are good. We are heading up there early in the morning, so it should be a great weekend.

Thursday's disrupted run

Dad came around this morning to pick me up for run training as Craig wasn't going in. Just before Dad got here I got a call from work and had to go in to work. So, Dad went training and I went in to work, fixed up the problem and then went for a run at Roma Street Parklands. I figured that it was a taper week, so I did a 15min warmup and then 8 x 70mtr sprints and then a cool down.

I felt quite sluggish in the warmup, but once I had done a couple of the sprints I felt good. Afterwards though my quads were quite sore and I was a bit concerned that I overdid it!

It's unfortunate that I missed the BTS run as Robson shouted coffee! Never mind...

Coffee on Byron

As if we are going to miss a session like this! Not surprising, it was a big turnout. We rode down to the Corso, did 2 x 4min efforts, a 3min, 2min and 1 min effort. 14 minutes effort in all, very civilised!

I felt like a bit of a goober as I had my race wheels on and I couldn't even do a U turn as I am so lacking in confidence with all the traffic and bikes about. The group that I was riding with was Sophie, Chris, Jacqui Elliot and Sarah, I held them up a couple of times with not turning around quick enough and then my chain came off... Oh well, hopefully one day I will be able to ride without looking like a complete beginner!

I did feel good on the ride though, when I was putting in an effort it was all coming together and I felt for the first time the wheels sucking me along. I can imagine if you could ride 40k averaging over 35kms/hr they would really benefit. Unfortunately I am a little way off that...

Coffee afterwards was free! Can't argue with that - Byron shouted the group which was really nice of him. It was much appreciated.

Swimming with BTS

Swim session tonight was good. There was a lot of flipper work, however I left my flippers (and towel) behind! It was a blessing in disguise really as there was no way that I would have got through without some major cramping. As it was I had minor foot cramps and a calf cramp.

The session was a taper session, so there was a bit of speed work and drills and swimming whilst sighting the buoys, etc.

It was a good session. I felt as though I wasn't swimming as cleanly as I would like. Tomorrow I will concentrate on my stroke and try and get it just right before the weekend. I still have a couple of swims before so I think that will be enough to 'tune' it up beforehand.

Roma Street Parklands run

This morning I was scheduled to do a 20-30 minute jog on my own with 15 mins of stretching.

I decided to come in with Craig and do my own thing at Roma Street Parklands. I was prepared for a really boring run on my own in a relatively small park, however I really enjoyed the run. I think that it helps that I like lovely gardens and they are looking exceptionally beautiful. I incorporated some grass running, some boardwalks, some stairs some hills, some 'lillypad' jumping. It was actually quite enjoyable. I wouldn't want to do any more than 30minutes there but at least I know that I can run there if need be and the footing is certainly softer than running around Brisbane on the concrete paths.

I felt really slow when I started out, I was quite sluggish and really struggled to get my pace around the 6minute/km mark. After I warmed up though, I was in the 5:40's to just over 6minute/km pace depending on what I was doing. I can't help feeling that if I do under 60 minutes at Mooloolaba I'll be lucky. I'll just have to play it by ear and be prepared to run outside of my comfort zone. Today when I was running my HR wouldn't have got above 150bpm and it was generally around the high 130's and 140's. So, I really wasn't working that hard, but it was hard to push through that. I think that i just need to be prepared to push through that at Mooloolaba and not finish knowing that I could have gone out harder.

The good news is that my foot which I have been struggling with felt good. No soreness afterwards, so I'm pretty happy with that.

Easter Monday Mooloolaba Swim

Today was Easter Monday - and yes, I still have some easter eggs left! I am trying to have most of them still left until after the triathlon next Sunday! Don't know if I can make them last that long though...

I slept in today, it was bliss and probably just what the doctor ordered. We then made our way up to Mooloolaba to practice open water swimming. When we got there it was just about midday and it was windy and rainy and the water looked choppy and I just wanted to curl up with a coffee and then go home! I tried to convince Craig what a good idea that would be, but he said we would feel great once we swam... Yeah, yeah...

We went and had a chat to the lifeguards, there were a few rips about but they said that we would avoid them where we were swimming. We pretty much did the Triathlon swim course, maybe shortened just a little, but not much. It was actually a lot better than it looked, the waves weren't big and it was just a bit up and down when we were out the back of it, but nothing too bad. I was able to settle into a nice rhythm pretty early on and felt as though I was swimming with nice clean strokes. I certainly wasn't going fast, but I'm not expecting to go fast!

I was still very nervous coming in and started looking behind me pretty much as soon as I headed in for shore. I really need to stop doing this, but I am completely paranoid that a big wave is about to swallow me up and chomp on me for a bit and then spit me out! Even with this fear I was able to get to shore without any dramas... I accept that it will be a bit slow next weekend, but I will just aim to get on with it as quick as I can.

We got held up a bit later trying to get home due to a few factors, mainly having to call in to work on the way home and traffic. As a consequence I didn't go for a cycle as planned which is a real shame. I am feeling as though I could be fitter for this weekends race, but I just need to accept now that I am not going to gain fitness and that the work that I have put in over the past couple of months will get me there. I could also be a bit lighter. This will be the heaviest I have raced at which is not good, but it will probably end up being 1kg heavier which is not going to make too much difference. I hope I am not disappointed with the race.

Interval run

I have started to feel back in the land of the living since Friday when I was really struggling just to get through the day!

I worked last night and didn't get home until 2:30am, so I was very tired today as I didn't get a huge sleep in because it was Easter and we had a family breakfast.

So, I took it pretty easy today, ate well and then went for a run in the afternoon.

I did a 20min warmup really concentrating on my form. I tried to visualise my hips sitting still above my legs and concentrating on turning my legs over quickly in the hope that this will keep my hips from moving sideways. I was conscious of keeping my hips still. I was also trying to lift my feet off the ground as soon as they hit the ground. I'll see how this goes...

Then I came back home to do some sprints on the front lawn. I did 10 x 60mtr sprints, with a walk back recovery. They felt good, I felt like I was moving really quickly. It was funny, Nattie, the dalmation dog and Jimmy the Quarterhorse/Thoroughbred cross horse decided they would join me. Nothing like running along and having a horse barrelling down beside you! He thought that 10 was a bit much and took to standing in the middle of the way so that I could run either side of him and give him a pat on the way back - he's very funny. Nattie got bored after the first one and found a bone to chew whilst supervising. They definately lack committment those two!

I really like running on our front yard - the grass is short, underneath that is sand so it is a great surface to run on. I did a 10minute recovery and then stretched. I don't feel any sorenes, so all in all it was a pretty good run.

Feeling Shattered!

After the time trial on Friday I was shattered. Physically I was just plain exhausted. I think that it is the same for all of us, I know a few of the girls who have gone through this and taken a couple of days off to recover. So this is exactly what I will do.

I think that if you try and push through a downturn like this it can only lead to grief and I really don't want to let my immune system down to get sick just prior to Mooloolaba.

So, I am going to see how I go and play it by ear.

20k time trial at Nundah

Today was our 20km time trial at Nundah. I had my race wheels on as I want to get used to them for Mooloolaba and will keep them on now for the next few sessions prior to Mooloolaba.

I started at the back of the pack and managed to overtake a couple of the slower ones pretty quickly and settled behind Tania. It was good to have someone to guage how I was going. I found that I was gaining on her on the straight where we had a head wind and the she would gain on me around the back curves. I didn't make much ground on her in the first 6 laps or so and then over the next 6 or so laps I inched closer and closer before eventually overtaking her.

I was lapped a few times by the leaders and I was lapped by Dad. It seemed to me that there was a lot of drafting going on by some of the others. I can honestly say that there was no drafting from me. I was lapped by Jacqui Elliott and Sophie which I was really disapointed with, I was hoping that I could keep them in my sights, but I lost track of them at the start of the time trial and never saw them again until they lapped me! They have both really improved over the last couple of months and unfortunately I haven't gone with them! I'll have to be patient.

I was a bit disappointed when I finished, however when Craig checked the results out from the last time trial I was 3:40 quicker so that made me feel a lot better. Sure, I have a new bike, race wheels, but they would attribute for 1minute over 20k if that, so that is a great PB for me. 36:45 was my time.

I felt fairly comfortable. My HR was in the 150's, I would not have been able to hold a conversation, I was in my tri bars the whole time except when the leaders overtook me the first time as it was a bit congested.

I found that if I had my cadence around 90 this seemed to be optimum for me. When I went into an easier gear to do 95, I seemed to lose ground so I will use that information to help me at Mooloolaba.

Thursday night swim session

Tonight was our last hard swim session and I am very relieved about that! I am exhausted. It is all catching up to me at the moment.

I swam well tonight even though I am tired. We did 20 x 50's on the minute. I did the first 10 on about the 55secs and the last 10 were on just over 50secs so I was pretty happy with that effort. It was a nice strong set.

I have finally found a bilateral breathing pattern that works for me, I breath 2 strokes on 1 side, 3 strokes and then 2 strokes the other side. This seems to work well for me so I will start to adapt that a bit more in training. With the 20 x 50's I just breathed to 1 side though. I find if I am doing efforts then I get too hypoxic to try and breath any less than that.

Run Session with BTS

Today was in the Botanic Gardens. Very nice not to be doing the stairs at Kangaroo Point! Chris wasn't there so Robson ran the session. It was quite hard. We did a warm up run over the bridge and into the Gardens where we did some drills; quick step, high knees, butt kicks, high knee/butt kick drill, etc. I was trying to keep my hips from doing sideways movement as this is what I am trying to do with the Physio.

After that we did 4 circuits; up the hill towards the uni, turn right and run towards the entrance, turn left up towards the uni and then left to come down to the centre and finish. Jog recovery and then into a squat or push ups and off again.

The idea was to run this at 10k race pace. It was quite a solid run as it had the hills. Midway through the 3rd I had to run to the toilet - I was going to bust! So then I was last for the last one and everyone cheered me home. Very embarrassing...

I couldn't keep up to Sophie which is a shame as we were very even only a few weeks ago. Never mind, I've got her to chase now!

Wednesday BTS Cycle

I was very worried about today's ride. The roads were quite wet. It wasn't actually raining but it had just finished and there was a lot of puddles about.

Once I am in this worried state there is no real way that I have discovered to relax and have a good session.

The session was some 5 minute efforts, some 2 minute effors and some 30sec efforts, all with 3minutes break in between. I really struggled on all of it. I think that I got benefits out of the session, however when I was pushing at 90% effort nothing was happening!

My HR was around the high 160's when doing the sprints so it was up there for the bike which is why I think that I got something out of the session even though I was tagging along at the back!

I'll just put it down to one of those days...

Treadmill run

I decided to go to the gym today to do a treadmill run.

I needed to do a 30min run, but I didn't want to be running on concrete or bitumen and because we have had a lot of rain I thought that it would probably be a bit wet trying to attempt it on the grass, so off to the gym I went.

How boring.... Now I know why I love to run outdoors! The run felt good, my foot felt OK. I felt a bit sluggish, but I guess that's to be expected as it has been a couple of really hard weeks training wise.

I stretched well afterwards and my foot didn't pull up sore a couple of hours after - so this is great. I am feeling a lot more confident now and I am very hopeful that my change in shoes is going to make all the difference! High hopes are on these Gel Kayano's that is for sure!

BTS Night Swim

This session was hard, just for something different.

The main set was 10 x 50mtrs sprints. This was really good. There were 2 per lane going at the same time and I was paired up with Suzanne and we really pushed each other along. I would start out in front and then she would gradually reel me in until there was nothing in it at the end. My goal was to keep her behind me - this didn't always work, but I was able to hold her off for most of them.

I was trying not to 'flap' through the water. I was trying to keep my stroke strong and once I had a good hold of the water trying to increase the speed of my stroke underwater. I don't think that it necessarily worked, but maybe if I concentrate on it for long enough it might start to make a difference.

Lunchtime Swim

Today I did Trent's lunchtime squad session.

We did some intervals, as in 25 hard, 75 easy, then 25 hard 25 medium, 25 recovery. The sessions all seem to be trying to find that difference in pace of which I struggle with. I am really concentrating on trying to make my stroke strong at the moment. Lots of focus on grabbing the water and really pushing it behind me so that it is 'pushed' out behind my thighs.

I can feel myself getting stronger in the swim - if only I started training a little bit earlier!

Bribie Island "Training"

I missed out on registering for the Penny Croft Memorial Triathlon at Bribie Island so I had to make do with being a spectator.

I did however manage to get in a run and a swim. The run was a 5-10min warmup followed by about 20 minutes of hard running. I was running at about 5-5:30min/km pace and was finding it hard to keep the motivation at that pace. It is much harder when there isn't anyone to chase or chasing me! I don't know how people get on training on their own, they are obviously a lot more dedicated to the cause than I am! My HR was around the high 150's, so I certainly could have pushed a bit harder.

The swim was good, I was swimming well, but did manage to freak myself out in the water on a couple of occassions. I swam from the swim exit on the race to the left towards the bridge, got to the bridge and then turned around and swum back. I kept seeing shadows in the water! Other than those moments it was a good swim. Nice aerobic swim.

Then it was on to cheer for the BTS members out there competing. Mum came along to watch as well, I bet she can't wait to see me compete at Mooloolaba! Hi Mum.

Sutton's Beach Session

Today was a long swim/long ride from Suttons Beach at Redcliffe.

The sea was a lot better than a fortnight ago when we were there, it was still a bit up and down and there was a bit of a current, but it was OK. Jacque and I swum together, we swam up to the toilet block - we made it this time! My stroke felt relaxed, I was calm in the water and overall I was pretty happy with how I was swimming. I felt comfortable and for me and an ocean water swim that is the main thing. Jacque said that she is coping with them a lot better now too, which is good, she is swimming really well now. This is a woman that was truly petrified of swimming 100mtrs in Lake Hugh Muntz a freshwater lake. She has certainly come a long way.

The cycle was a different story; just before we were due to go out it starting howling wind and driving rain! It was foul; we were all huddled under the shelter and then that was it - the decision was made that we were cycling for an hour in it! Needless to say I was terrified!

I started at the back and just limped along behind everyone, Jacque was there with me as well and we were trying to comfort each other that it would be OK. When you are whizzing along on 120psi tyres on slippery roads it is quite scary! The cars all seemed to be that much more aggravated as well; we had a few people blast their horns at us which was completely uncalled for.

We did have a mishap at the roundabout at Newport Waterways. One of the girls Christina came down at the roundabout. She was only a couple of riders in front of me and she just lost traction around the roundabout and the bike slipped underneath her. She has a small scrape on her thigh, but she is very sore around the shoulder. Hopefully she will recover quickly. She got back on and rode home which is admirable - much more than what I would have done, that is for sure!

Jacque and I were thinking that it could have so easily been us!

I was very happy to get off the bike when we got back that is for sure!

Ride Inside with BTS

Today's session was hard... as usual!

It consisted of a warmup and then 5 x 5mins with 5 mins recovery, cadence around 90-95. This set was the same as what we did on the Corso on Wednesday - I just realised that, but for some reason it didn't dawn on me when we were doing it! However todays was a gear ladder. We started off in our 57 front cog and a biggish cog at the back and then we gradually changed gears until our legs were screaming and then for the last 15secs Mark would say 110 cadence! Once we started getting into harder gears my cadence dropped to 85 and then I was hanging on to keep it above 80. It was very hard word.

We then did a bit of a warm down and then ran off the bike up to the corner and back. This was my first run since I had seen the Physio and purchased new shoes, etc. so I was keen to check out my new shoes. They felt good, in fact they felt really good. I like them. Of course it was only a few minutes run, so very difficult to tell after such a short run if they will be OK or not.

There is a Triathlon on at Bribie Island on the weekend and when I got to work I attempted to register for it seeing as my foot was feeling OK. The bad news is that they have reached numbers and have closed off registration - I was really disappointed as this was to be my final hitout prior to Mooloolaba. Craig and Jacque G just do not believe me - they feel sure that I have wheezled my way out of it!

This Triathlon is the BTS beginners graduation triathlon and Craig is competing so I will go up and support BTS and do a run up there on my own.

Thursday night swim with BTS

I didn't run this morning due to my foot problems. It was very civilised to have a sleep in - I could get used to that!

Went along to swimming tonight, Craig and I were there at 5pm so we got a chance to watch the real swimmers at it. It is a real treat to watch them train, they make swimming look so easy!

We eventually got into the water and it was a session of sprints. It was very hard work, however we probably didn't do that many km's.

Warm up was 300m one arm drill and swimming and then we did some 100mts 25 hard, 25 medium 25 easy, 25 hard. I really enjoyed this set. I was behind Jeff and I tried to catch him on all of the hard sets, but never quite got there. Then we did some more sets similar to this, but I can't remember what they were! We finished up with relays which are always a hoot. I did my wussy thing of not diving in as I don't want my goggles to fly off and then I won't be able to see as I wear contact lenses and they will come off if I open my eyes under water! I really do need to learn how to dive in without losing them - so basic...

My run videotaped!

Today was a full on day.



It involved a cycle with BTS, a Physio appointment, work, a lunchtime run (drive) out to Active Stride to get new shoes, work and then a massage. It was certainly an expensive day! Hopefully, though we will begin to make progress on my injured foot.



The cycle this morning was great. Speed sessions are always quite fun. We got into groups of 4 of similar abilities. I went with Chris, Sophie and another guy who I'm not sure of the name of. We had to do 5 x 5min efforts with 5min break along the Corso.



Chris led our group out and he did a great job, I was hanging on for dear life! He has really got some speed going at the moment. Then the rest of us would take quick turns to try and hold that pace, however invariably we would drop off the pace a bit. It was a good session.



Then off to the Physio - I even had to miss out on coffee afterwards! A travesty!



Paul videotaped me running which was interesting to watch as it was apparent to me that there was a fair bit of side to side movement and not much forward movement. Paul said that my pronation is quite dramatic and sees no reason why I shouldn't go to a more supportive shoe. So, I have lashed out and purchased the Gel Kayuno shoe. I will go for a little run in them tomorrow and see how they go. Paul is going to give me some exercises to do to try and get me running from the hip. So it will be interesting to see how I go. I am willing to try and improve my technique, who knows; maybe I'll be able to run faster with less injuries!!!

Night swimming with BTS Squad

No running this morning due to my foot being sore - bummer.

I did the swim tonight with BTS. It was a good swim solid swim.

It consisted of the following:

300mtr warmup, 25 kick, 75 free.
6 x 50mtrs 25 hard/25 easy
30 x 50mtrs on the 1min
In and Out fun stuff
100mtr warmdown

The main set was the 30 x 50mtrs and these I was doing on the 55secs or thereabouts and getting 5secs break. I was bringing them in OK, I wasn't too fatigued and the break was enough. I could have pushed myself a bit more and then had a bit more of a break, but I was worried about cramping. I was fairly consistent with them though, so I was happy with that.

I was in the slowest lane, leading it out or going 2nd or 3rd. I'll have to try and get into the 2nd lane. Ixchel and Craig are in there. Perhaps I should start doing some consistent training and I may be able to get into that lane!

Injuries...

I toddled off today to see the Physio about my foot. The verdict is that I have a really tight muscle or tendon that runs down the outside of my leg and this is putting pressure where it joins down in the joint in the foot. Layman's terms as that is all I understand is that my foot is inflamed and sore and I am not running in the very near future!

I was due to do a 3km time trial tomorrow which would have been great - I'm running the best I ever have. I'll just have to sit it out though and wait for it to get better. I go back to the Physio on Wednesday, so hopefully there will be huge improvements by then and I will be able to run shortly. He seems to think that I have got it early and that it is not as bad as last time. So, this is good - there is hope.

I didn't have my running shoes with me which is a bummer. He seems to think that this is a possibility, I'll take them Wednesday and he can check them out then.

I guess that is going to mean more swimming and more cycling! Bummer. As I had to go to the Physio on Monday morning I missed my lunchtime swim session and I am going to miss Wednesday's as well. So, I am back to night swimming this week on Tuesday and Thursday nights. It is a conspiracy!!!

Mooloolaba Ocean Swim/Run

Today we picked up Alex and Trish and headed up to Mooloolaba to get some on course practice in. There was just the 4 of us and we told the Surf Life Savers what we were about and headed off.

We walked up towards the swim start from the SLSC, we only went up a short way though. We ended up going out there and then swiming up just past the Loo with a View and then we swam back and then back again and then we got out of the water at the flags, then got back in the water and swam back to where we started. So, we probably got in a good 30mins of swimming, however we spent a bit of time regrouping as we wanted to swim as a group and then it took ages for me to get out of the water, so everyone had to wait around for me to get out! The last time we went out Craig and Trish swam beside me and tried to encourage me to ride a wave in instead of standing there waiting for waves to come and then ducking underneath them - very time consuming way to get into shore particularly if there are a lot of waves coming in!

So, I was swimming in, felt that dreaded suck in feeling of a wave coming so stopped and Craig and Trish said "Swim", so I swam and managed to catch the wave! It felt amazing! My problem is I just can't judge the waves, to know whether to try and catch them in or to swim under them. I guess it is all practice, but I'll get there eventually.

The run was good, I set off and was going to do the 10k run in my Aerobic capacity. So, my HR was around the 80% mark and I was feeling comfortable, breathing easy and the weather was great. However, my foot has been bothering me for a little while now and every time I run I can feel it for the first 10 minutes or so until I warm up and then it goes away. This time, however it didn't go away. So I decided to only do 1 lap, not 2 which was really disappointing. I am really frustrated with myself as I have known that I need to get it to the physio, but I've been telling myself that it is OK. So, I am going to have to book a physio appointment... I'm hoping that this won't curtail my running too badly for Mooloolaba - that would really suck!

Luckily Alex and Trish had an ice pack so I used that on the way home, however it is still quite sore tonight.

Craig had an absolute blinder - he did 11k's in 54mins which is brilliant! He did the same course last year and took 1hr 17mins so this is a huge improvement. It is sessions like this that give perspective to the improvements that have been made!

Trent's Lunchtime Swim

Friday's session is sprints and hypoxic. Both things that I most definately need work on!

We did some drills and sprints. I was doing the 50mtrs (the pool was chopped in half) in around 43 secs consistently. So, that's good - at least I have some benchmarks. I haven't timed my swimming over any sor of sprint in ages.

We did some hypoxic swimming which consisted of breathing every 5 strokes for 8 x 50mtrs. This kills me, I really suck at it! I managed to do the session without cheating on the swim, although I did take a huge gulp of air at the end of the 25 before turning around to come home!

I spent a fair bit of time concentrating on my hand entry into the water, my grap of the water by tilting my hand down towards the bottom of the pull and then pushing it back building up speed through the stroke and giving a final push out at my thighs. This needs a lot of work as I am lacking strength to get a really good pull through the water, but I will keep this in mind as I am swimming from now on.

I felt great for the rest of the day, I am feeling fighting fit at the moment. I just hope that I can remain this way for the next few weeks.

BTS Ride Inside

Another hard session...

I had a great session today - I really felt as though I was working hard and getting great value out of the session.

It was 5 x 5minute efforts at 90 cadence at 90%HR. No easy feat. I was in my big gear ring and I would start out about 3rd largest cog at the back. I would flick it to a smaller cog (harder gear) once or twice throughout and on the last effort for the last minute I was on my 2nd smallest gear at the back. I have struggled with the last couple of these sessions to get my HR up, however today I was able to get it up to the 81% of max (which is 90% on the bike), so I was happy with that. I think I can manage the smaller efforts better - the 10minute sets that we had been doing previously just do my head in! I could bite these smaller efforts off without too much hassle - sort of like saying that it is only a 1km run effort.

I was really concentrating, particularly on the recovery to have my pedal stroke nice and fluid and smooth, with my heal down and pulling up and over the stroke. I think that if I concentrate on this more it will make a difference to my overall cycling - that's the theory anyway!

We did a run off the bike up to the corner and back - about 1km. I felt really strong and felt as though I was running OK. I seem to have been able to pick up a bit of speed (for me!) lately that I didn't have before which is a pleasant change. When I got back Mark said that he really likes the way that I am running at the moment, so that's nice. Sometimes it is good to have things go your way!

Goal Reassessment

One of my goals in 2008 was to beat my time that I did the Coomera Quarterman in last year.

However, today I got the email and they are not doing it! They have reformatted the Coomera Half Ironman event and it is now being run 7km's down the road and the support event is now a 1km swim/33km cycle/7km run. Not really a Quarterman distance.

So, I need to reassess my goals.

I will do the Coomera sprint distance, however I won't make it as part of my goals for 2008. I would really like to aim for a 10km race, either Doomben, Gold Coast or Noosa where I can aim to break 5min/kms for 10km. Effectively a sub 50min for 10kms.

I would still like to complete Mooloolaba, would love to do it under the 3 hours, but I am thinking I will make a sub 50min 10kms my main goal through winter whilst whiling away the hours training until Noosa Triathlon gets closer.

However, I will sleep on it a few nights and see if it sticks and can motivate me.

BTS Thursday Run

Chris took todays session and it was hard as usual.

I can't remember exactly what we did, but it involved stairs, sprinting, 1 legged balancing whilst doing 15 squats and then sprinting, hovers and then some more stairs.

It was a good session, I was feeling OK. My foot has started to give me a little bit of notice, so I'm listening out for it hoping that it doesn't develop into anything! I could feel it early on in the run but after a short while it came good. However I can feel it tonight a bit.

It was another hard session - we really must have a triathlon coming up!

Mooloolaba is only just over 3 weeks away!

Lunchtime Swim with Trent

Swimming for the 2nd time this week by Wednesday! Anybody would think that a major triathlon is just around the corner!

The swim session today was brilliant. I get so much out of Trent's sessions. We did a fair bit of work on the stroke today. Basically the triggers for me are to put all of my fingers in the water at the same time, fingers a little bit apart, glide a little, then point down towards the bottom of the pool as if painting it, bend the elbow and once I have a good hold on the water try and push the last bit of the stroke through strongly right through to the thigh. This should push my body through the water over the top of the downward stroke. Don't rush the first part of the stroke, but I can accelerate through the last part of the stroke to get that lift.

Of course, I have a long way to go in this regard, but I will try and visualise those triggers when I am swimming and see if I can get some improvements happening.

The session was 100m free, 50m pull, 100m free, 50m pull, 100m free
1km made up of 200m free, 200m pull, 200m free, 200m pull, 200m free
4 x 50mtrs - 25 one arm drill 25 free
50mtrs hard - stroke counting with Trent adding our time and stroke count together.
I did 46 stroke count, 47 secs
4 x 50mtrs - 25 fingertip drag drill 25 free
50mtrs hard - stroke counting with Trent adding our time and stroke count together.
I did 45 stroke count, 46 secs
4 x 50mtrs - 25 catch-up drill 25 free
50mtrs hard - stroke counting with Trent adding our time and stroke count together.
I did 45 stroke count, 45 secs
4 x 5mtrs - 25mtrs fist drill, 25 free
50mtrs hard - stroke counting with Trent adding our time and stroke count together.
I did 45 stroke count, 46 secs.
Warm down was 100m free, 50m breaststroke x 2

This was a really good session for me. I am hoping that I can continue to improve with tips like this.

More hills...

This was our last hill session before we go into the speed phase approaching Mooloolaba Triathlon. Phew - I am so sick of hills! We did 6 repeats up Mt Cootha to the 750mtr mark and then down to just before Slaughter Falls carpark we turned around and did a high cadence al the way up again and then turned around and recovered on the way down.

Needless to say for me the hill hater it was hard work. I lost a lot of ground on the downhill too as I am slower than everyone else. I was joking that I leave a trail of brake dust on the way down the mountain.

Jokes aside, I was descending the last bit of Mt Cootha prior to the Gardens carpark which is quite steep and I hit a bump which caused me to grip the brakes tighter which was not a good feeling. I do really need to concentrate on relaxing down a hill and not clutching the brakes like I do because I can actually see how dangerous it is, howver I really struggle with this.

We finished the session with a coffee with Craig, Dad, Jeff and Kay at the Summit Cafe which was quite pleasant.

Mark made mention of me in the BTS blog breaking he 5min/k's for 5kms which was really nice. I went into Byron's shop Victor Cycles today and brought some tubes and tyres and Byron congratulated me and said that my cycling is coming along and this would be helping my running too. I don't doubt that at all, in fact I feel as though I have been doing more cycling than running!

45min run with Nattie

Today was a run from home. I took Nattie with me and we headed off up the road. It was a beautiful morning, a little on the cool side 15 degrees celcius but it soon warmed up.

Nattie was good, she needed some gentle reminders when dogs started barking at us to pay attention to where she was running but other than that she was brilliant. She actually seemed quite energisd after the run too, so I obviously didn't overdo it with her!

We ran pretty slow. I was supposed to have my HR around 140-155, however I struggled a bit to get it above 140. I just didn't feel like pushing myself. So, it may be a combination of my HR being a bit lower from not getting a full recovery from the weekends race or maybe I am getting a bit more run fitness and it is naturally a bit lower. The verdict is still out on that one!

I felt good during the run, I had no pain, although I was careful to keep my form and to run on the right hand side of the road with the camber sloping down to the right to give my left foot a bit more support. This seems to work a treat! If only I could chose surfaces like this every time I ran!

I wasn't overly tired today. I did, however eat a whole heap of junk... Must stop this. I'm not quite ready to divulge my diet but I think I'm going to have to soon, just so that I can control what I eat a bit better! Stay tuned...

Lunchtime swim squad is back

The Valley pool has been inundated with school swimming carnivals during the month of February... Very inconsiderate! So, I have been pretty slack with my swimming; I've been doing 1 or 2 sessions a week at Somerville House pool, but very relaxing social swims with the guys from work - hardly heavy training sessions prepaing me for Mooloolaba Triathlon!

Today was the first day that Trent was back at the pool for lunchtime swim squad sessions. This is seperate to Brisbane Tri Squad, but I find it easier to get to these sessions and I get to avoid the whole night time swim stuff which I really hate.

I love Trent's sessions. We have a 50mtr pool, there is usually only a few of us in a lane and he is great at giving out tips on stroke correction. I had only just finished the warm up today and he told me that I was turning out instead of in with my right hand when I enter the water. This makes sense to me as I have been getting an aching hand and arm when swimming, but couldn't work out why. So, I really concentrated on keeping my hand turned in - to the point that my pinky was going in first. Normally I enter the water with my index finger so this will get a bit of getting used to and will probably go through a few incarnations before it is right (or better at least!).

The session for today was as follows:

800mtrs warmup - 200 hypoxic (every 5th stroke), 200 drill, 200 hypoxic, 200 drill.
3 x 300mtrs with pull buoy. First 300 easy, 2nd medium, 3rd hard 1min break between each.
4 x 50mtrs 25mtrs easy, 25mtrs hard 10 secs break at each 50mtrs.
4 x 50mtrs 25mtrs hard, 25mtrs easy 10secs break at each 50mtrs.
400 warmdown, 50 free, 50 choice.

I found the session pretty good. I didn't struggle too badly with the endurance so I think that I am going to be on track for Mooloolaba. I have just under 4 weeks to polish it up a bit. Of course if I had started training in earnest 2 months ago (or earlier) I would be in a lot better position... Oh, hindsight.

One of my 2008 goals ticked off!!!!

Today was the Gold Coast Luke Harrop Memorial Triathlon. This was a 750/20/5 distance race.

We got down there early and it was quite cool and windy. We had jumpers on (I thought it was supposed to be summer!). I rode around on my bike to make sure my race wheels are all good and that everything is in order and then went and registered and racked up. There were no pre-race dramas, everything was all good.

My wave start was with quite a few of the Brisbane Triatlon Squad girls, so we all headed down together and sussed out where the buoys were and where the best spot to start is, etc. There was quite a current on the swim so we started a fair bit right of the buoys and this proved to be a good line to take. I had quite a strong swim, I was with Kay a fair bit at the beginning. I was pushed around a bit by a girl on my right hand side so I ended up swimmig quite close to Kay. It was good that we do a lot of practice at this as I coped OK with it. I didn't do too much breaststroke and kept a relatively good line. My time ended up being 13:22.

A slow transition, as usual and I was off on the bike. Ixchel was just in front of me. I could feel the wind as soon as I headed south for the first turnaround, it was quite strong. Going north was great, I was flying along! I saw Ixchel come out of the second turnaround, she looked like she was working hard. I knew why as soon as I turned around as the wind just when wham! It was a slow trip back! It was a two loop course so I just tried to tuck in low and try and keep an easy gear and get through it. I was regretting the Flashpoint carbon wheels as I thought they were going to send my bike flying, it felt quite wobbly once the wind picked it up. I managed to pass Ixchel on the next North section - I was flying again, you've gotta love a tailwind! I didn't see Jacque out there, but I knew she wouldn't be too far behind.

I got into transition and unbeknown t me Ixchel was on my tail for the start of the run, apparently she couldn't hang on and dropped back. I was running scared as I knew that Ixchel and Jacque were behind me. Jacque is a far stronger runner than me and Ixchel and I are pretty similar at the moment so I was just waiting for them to pounce on me! This ended up being a good thing as I ran scared the whole race and was just pipped at the post by Jacque! But the amazing thing was that I did my run in 24:58!!!

24:58!!!

One of my goals for 2008 was to run 5kms in less than 25mins. For me to do it today in a triathlon is unbelievable! I really did not expect to be able to run 5min/kms off the bike. I am absolutely thrilled with this result. I am also a little dubious that it was actually 5kms but that is only because I can't believe that I did it...

Mark hasn't seen me run for a while as I have been running on my own or with Robson and he commented on how strong I looked out on the run. So that's good, I'm thrilled.

My overall splits are as follows: 1:23:39 total 16th out of 32 in the 30-34 Female category. Swim split: 13:22, Bike split: 45:18, Run split: 24:58.

My transition's are still letting me down. I insist on wearing socks on the bike and on the run and also rinsing my feet off of all sand from the swim. I probably lose a good minute or so with this, but I'm not prepared to risk it yet and get the blisters, etc. I might try for the last Raby Bay where it won't matter if I take a little longer to recover blistered feet!

Swim/Ride session at Suttons Beach

This morning we did a swim from Suttons Beach followed by a ride.

Mark told us to go up the beach using the point as a marker for 15 minutes and then turn around and come back. It was quite choppy and you could see that there was quite a current. Muffy, Jacque and I decided to swim together (our individual chances of being eaten by a shark a reduced to 33%!).

The swim was horrid! Swimming against the current was plain hard work, the water was disgusting and dirty, there was big clumps of seaweed and the constant up and down of the waves to get through. Jacque just about quit Mooloolaba - she said that she was going to pull out! It was not a fun swim. We swam and then regrouped several times. We tried to swim to the toilet block, it was so close, yet so far away when we were going against the current, in the end we had been swimming for 18mins and still not getting any closer to it, so we turned around. The swim back was quick! It was much better going with the current, we still had the seaweed to contend with, but we could breathe on the left hand side without getting a mouthful of waves!

I was very relieved to have finished the swim! Jacque was not happy and burst into tears when telling Mark about it. She did really well, she was swimming at the same pace as Muffy and I.

The ride was good, we had to slow the guns up so that we could hang on to them. Once they were brought back to my pace (slow) it was a lovely ride. We just did an easy 30kms and it was quite pleasant. It was actually a good ride for me as there was only 6 or 7 of us and everyone there was an experienced rider, so it gave me a bit of confidence with riding in a pack again. I didn't start off too good, but after I settled into it I was very comfortable and holding the wheel and riding comfortably. Just need to do more of it...

Ride Inside

This was the same session as the week before with the 3 x 10minute efforts at 90% heart rate and 110 cadence with a 5minute break in between.

Mark came around to me at one stage and my heart rate was in the 140's and my cadence was at 102. Needless to say he told me to lift my cadence! I really struggle with the high cadence. I don't know what it is. 10 minutes seems like an eternity too. The third one I was actually a bit better at it, but it still needs work.

We then did 3 x 2min efforts with 2mins break in between at 90 cadence, in the hardest gear we could maintain. I was in my big chain ring, around the middle at the back and I was on the second resistance on the rollers, so I was quite happy with that effort!

The run off the bike felt strong, it is starting to come together. Paul actually said to me that he got up beside me and couldn't overtake me, he couldn't shake me off - yeah right! The comment made me feel good though!

Run at Marburg

I got up at sparrows to do my 60minute run. I was really looking forward to this run as it was a nice long, low heart rate run in a different location. I was looking forward to running in the quiet countryside of Marburg.

The road that we were staying on was only 1.5kms long or thereabouts so I ran to the end of that which comes out onto the Warrego Highway. I noticed that there was a street a couple of kms up the road so decided that I would run up there and then I would be back into the countryside and then come home.

The Warrego Highway was hell! I couldn't believe that there could be so much traffic there at 5:45am in the morning. Big trucks, little cars, you name it. There wasn't much of a shoulder and when I got to the road I saw that it only went into 1 house and then ended, so I ran back the way I came and did a couple of loops of the road we were staying at. It was more peaceful doing a run from home!

On the last loop that I did one of the senior managers at my work joined me, so we ran side by side for 15minutes. I've never really had much to do with him prior to this, so I guess running also opens up other opportunities! He was only doing a 3km run so he was pushing a bit harder than I was so the last 15minutes of my run was quite hard - we kind of pushed the last couple of hundred metres and I finished with a heart rate of 171! So much for an easy run! Mostly though my heart rate was mid 140's.

Swim at Marburg

I have been slack the last couple of days and didn't do a run Tuesday as my foot was bothering me. Then the Wednesday morning I was supposed to do a cycle but I had to be out at Marburg bright and early for work and was not going to make it in time so missed out.

Marburg was a full on day and they had a pool at the place that I was staying at so I jumped in and swam for 30mins. I'm not sure how far I swam as it was a 25mtr pool and I hate counting laps in a 25mtr pool. It was quite a good pool to swim in as there was not black line to follow and there was a definite current. As there were other people swimming in there I had to keep track of where I was going and keep on line, so it was actually good open water practice!

I concentrated on my stroke and tried to push it a little. I felt like it was a bit messy, maybe that was because I was trying to push it a little... I think I will do some time trials of a few hundred metres one of these days and see if it is still the case that if I slow my stroke down and really concentrate on it being long and strong whether that is still the quickest way for me to swim. I am pretty sure that this will still be the case. The good thing about that is my heart rate is lower and I am more relaxed, so I come out of the water in better shape for the cycle with less energy spent.

Sunday Brick Session

Today we did a brick session at Sutton's Beach at Redcliffe. We also managed to coincide it with some Surf Life Saving championships so we were very squished for space!

Mark tried to teach us to do the flying mount. I know this sounds really defeatist, but I completely suck at it, have no flexbility, no coordination, so I am just going to get on and off like a slow goober until I am competitive within my age group. At the moment I am coming in the middle of my age group, so I think I can afford to get on and off safely without having to worry too much about it. I think I prefer the scoot, scoot method that Garry Alston started to teach me where you put your left foot on the shoe on the pedal scoot a couple of times and then throw your right leg over and away you go. Yeah, it sounds easy, but I made it look completely difficult!

Anyway, the session was quite good, we same about 150-200mtrs, rode 5kms, ran 1.5kms and kept going until we ran out of time. I got through 2 full sessions and did the 3rd swim before running out of time.

I felt like it was a bit of a bludge, it was mainly because there was so many people around that it was hard to go really hard as you had to be a bit cautious with so many kids and people around.

We went and celebrated with a buffet breakfast at the hotel up the road - very civilised, but not really looking after my weight!