I'm a vegetarian who loves dining out, dark chocolate and catching up with friends over a run or a bike ride followed by a yummy breakfast. I live with my carnivorous husband, dalmatian dog and burmese cat.
Well, I am 5 weeks in to Ironman training.... So far it has been pretty good. I have missed 1 session and pulled 1 session short, so considering there are 10 sessions a week I think this is not too bad.
A few things that I am doing differently in this Ironman campaign are as follows:
Aiming to lose weight and race and train lighter
Aiming to do all the run sessions including speed work with a concentration on high cadence
Aiming to incorporate trail runs at least every 2nd week
Aiming to follow the Ironguides programme to a 'T'
Aiming to incorporate yoga and core strength work - at least 1 of each a week
So far, I have lost 7 kilos, with another couple still to come off. I have not missed any run sessions and am coping quite well with the speed work (it is all relative - let's face it, my 'speed' work is not really speedy!!). I have also done all my weekend runs on the trails which I am absolutely loving; even if I have yet to find an 'undulating' trail - they are all 'hilly' in the Emma elevation classification.
I am following the Ironguides programme in the order stated and am starting to understand the benefits in doing this. I have been attending yoga once a week and incorporating a strength session after my Tuesday run session and occasionally after the Thursday session.
My strength session has evolved and is now at 3 sets of sit ups, plank and push ups. I am currently doing 110 sit ups, 2.5mins of plank (this needs work!) and 35 push ups. So, I will continue to 'up the ante' on these each week to gain improvements. Thankfully, I have joined a gym in town which is where I do my midweek runs, so I am finding it easy to use the gym afterwards to get the strength session completed.
My swimming has improved also. The 200m TT efforts started out at 4mins and I have now got them down to 3:43mins. I know, not 'speedy', but an improvement nevertheless. Hopefully this can continue to improve as I concentrate more on my stroke. I am using the pull buoy and paddles as per the programme which I struggled with last year due to shoulder pain. This time, however, I have got smaller paddles and am coping really well with them.
My bike seems to be taking a little while longer to come together. It will be interesting to see the 20min and 30min TT times when I get up to them, but I expect that they may be a tad slower than last year. Hopefully that will pick up in time. I am going to incorporate some good hills in with my long rides this year to build more strength which was definitely lacking last year. Hopefully I can keep any hip and knee pain at bay and continue to do this which I wasn't able to last year due to pain in these areas.
So, all in all, progress so far has been positive. No, I am not going to get a Kona spot, no, I am not going to be in the top half of my age group, but I am hoping this year that I don't have to be worrying so much about the cut off time!
Well, I have been incredibly slack not posting anything, but pretty much there hasn't been all that much to post about.
After Ironman New Zealand I pottered about for a couple of weeks doing not much at all. I then decided that I wanted to work on my running and try and get some improvements happening there. It all started pretty good, until I started running.... Turns out after several physio appointments that I had ITB Friction Syndrome, so after some exercises and several more physio appointments I eventually had two cortisone injections in the knee which helped greatly. So, I have been running on it now for a couple of months and riding on it and everything seems to be holding up pretty well. Consequently though, my running campaign was somewhat curtailed and I am still a very ordinary runner (that's being very polite)!
Swimming has been almost non-existent, cycling has been fairly consistent but nothing very long or arduous! Mainly social coffee rides. So, there's a bit of work to do. On a good note, I have commenced Yoga and am loving it. I did also commence a strength programme which I ceased as soon as my knee started giving me grief and I just didn't start it back up again...
I wasn't planning on undertaking another Ironman until I felt more confident with my run. However, there are a number of people that I train with who have registered for next years Ironman New Zealand, including my husband Craig, so I figured that I was going to be there anyway and seeing as you have to register as soon as it goes on sale I have registered. I am not sure if my knee is going to hold up, but I'm going to give it a crack, follow the Ironguides programme, train with some great friends, share some fun and see where it takes me.
This morning marked the first training session of the Ironguides 20 week plan which was a 60min easy cycle. Faye had the brilliant idea of all starting our Ironman journey together so Craig, Faye, Robson, Steve and I all rode around the crit track at Nundah this morning gas bagging our way around. We followed it up with coffee at DiBella - it was all very civilised. Jacque G is going to be working around Sat's new job of a Virgin Blue hostie and her family committments, but I'm sure we will get many training sessions in together. Lisa the mad Irishwomen is going to be joining us on the Ironguides programme and my good buddies Sarah and Alicia are Ironmen newbies this year. So, all in all there's a good group of girl training buddies that are going to be awesome and I am really looking forward to it.
When I think of some of the uncivilised training sessions coming up I cringe, but a little bit of me is saying "bring it on". Let's just hope I can give it a bit better crack this year.
Here is my race report, it's a bit long so if you aren't in to reading you can just look at the pictures!
I didn't sleep too badly the night before the race which was a surprise. I woke up at 3:45am as I am one of those people that like to get up and have plenty of time to get ready and not feel rushed.
I pottered about getting in to my race gear, lubed up places that you really don't need to know about! I tried to eat some breakfast but I was struggling. The nerves had hit me! I tried to relax and hydrate with Powerade so at least I was getting the carbs in. Mum helped to put on a tattoo that would show that I was an Aussie!
Dad gave Craig and me a lift down pretty close to transition where we pumped up our tyres and put drink bottles and food on our bikes and put in our transition bags. The atmosphere was really good, everyone was friendly and wishing everyone a good race. However you could see the tension on some people's faces (probably on my own too!).
We then headed back to the unit to try and relax and eat and drink before heading to the swim start.
Dad again dropped us nice and close to the swim start and he wished us well and said that he would see us out there. We followed the NZ Army moving the starter's canon down to the shore. It made the whole thing seem very real! Thankfully I found my good friend Jacque G and her support crew as well as Sophie, Chris and support crew so we all got in to our wetsuits together. Sophie was celebrating her 30th Birthday by doing an Ironman. I think I would rather have chocolate cake!
We headed in to the water and I gave Craig a kiss and a hug and wished him well. He wished me a good race as he headed to where he was going to start the swim. I was going to hang at the back of the swim start as I am not fast and didn't need to be pelted in the head. I found a cylinder shaped thing in the water that a couple of guys were standing on and I stood on it too and was chatting to them and to Jacque and Sophie whilst we were waiting for the start. They were veterans of mulitiple Ironmen events and wished us all well.
We could see the lights count down to the 3min mark and then the 2, 1 and then we were off! I concentrated on staying calm and relaxed and tried to find a nice rhythm. Thankfully because I started about 20mtrs from the start line I didn't encounter too many people overtaking me! I managed to pick my way through the swim without really being too disrupted by any other swimmers. There were a couple of times where I was fenced in, so I went behind and then around the other swimmers. The water was beautiful and calm and you could see forever. It wasn't too long before I found my first golf ball on the bottom of the lake. They have a pontoon in the lake that people can try and hit a hole in one from the shore and the amount of golf balls on the bottom of the lake was quite a lot. I kept an eye on the bottom of the lake and where I was heading and just tried to enjoy the swim. Before you knew it I was at the turnaround buoys waving to the underwater divers that were waving to the competitors! Very cool. The way back in was just as easy and relaxed. I was getting bothered by the smell of burning fuel by one of the boats that was following us along. I was wishing they would kill the engines so that we didn't have to breathe in the fumes, but other than that it was a beautiful swim. As I came in to the swim finish I glanced up at the clock and it read 1:37 and I was really disappointed as I was hoping for around 1:20. However, I later learnt that this was actually the professional's time and not ours - we started 15mins later which put me at 1:22. Here I am swimming:
After the exit I saw Mum and Dad and managed to give them a high 5, so that was great! It is about 400m to transition and I walk/jogged it, then I walked up the stairs as I didn't want to do something silly like stub my toe or anything! Into transition and I was helped out of my wetsuit and in to my cycle gear. I realised that I made a few mistakes with my transiton bag! My bike nicks were inside out and my arm warmers were all tucked up, so the volunteer helped me sort all this out and I was eventually all kitted up and away I went. A spray of sunscreen on my face and neck and off to the bike.
Only 180kms of cycling to go... I was feeling really good and was relieved to be heading out on the bike. The crowds were awesome. I headed through Taupo and then turned left to go up the hill. I made sure that I was in a nice easy gear and just settled in to the climb. Here I am climbing up with Lake Taupo in the background:
There were cheers all the way and then I was up the top. A short way along and Jacque G overtook me - she was in high spirits and we cheered each other on. A short time later she overtook me again! I asked how it was that she was overtaking me and she explained that she had to go to the toilet... The ride out to the turnaround was OK. I was only averagine about 20kms/hr after climbing the hill and I only got it up to around 25km/hr at the turnaround. My race tactic was to ride easy and to always feel as though I can ride faster at any given time, so that is how I was riding. On the way back in to town there was quite a bit of wind so I just ground down and kept my cadence around 85 and trudged through it. I stopped at one of the aid stations and took off my arm warmers and jacket and filled up my bottles with electrolytes. The lady was really helpful and she offered to put my arm warmers and jacket in to the lost and found so I told her my race number was 665 and unbelievably both these items turned up in my post race bag! Just goes to show how dedicated the volunteers were - they were great. Coming in to town was awesome - there was a downhill smooth road and the crowds started to get thicker the closer to town. Vanessa called out to me and then I saw Mum and Dad and gave them a big wave and a smile! Going through the town of Taupo was so uplifting with all of the crowd support and seeing the familiar faces - it gave me a real boost. It also indicated that I was halfway through the bike.
I called in to special needs and picked up my extra bags of electrolytes as I realised that I was going to be out on the bike coures longer than I anticipated. I asked the volunteers there whether they thought that the wind was easing or picking up? They said that they thought that it was picking up and it looked as though it may threaten to rain. So I put in my rain jacket as well just in case.
I manged to wave to others I knew out on the course. Oddly, I didn't see Craig, but I saw Jacque, Sophie, Faye, Bec, Mark, Gil, Mike, Suz and we all managed to holler out to each other when we saw each other which was good.
On the way out they sent us through a loop through an industrial estate and then there was a climb to get back into the main road - this section was hell! The wind was incredible. I was literally hanging on for dear life. I passed a girl who had a flat tyre and called out if she needed anything. She said she was fine and thankfully she passed me a short time later. It was playing on my mind that if I got a flat tyre or two this would put my time back further and I was calculating that this lap was going to be slower than the last due to the increase in wind. I did the first lap in 3hrs 45mins. I was hoping to do the ride in under 7hrs 30mins, but at this rate it was not going to happen! Everyone that I passed and everyone that I passed all manged to give each other support and ask how we were going. A couple of people became familiar as we tag-teamed it due to either one of us stopping at aid stations and then being overtaken again. I stopped at the aid station on the way out and refilled my electrolytes and they were huddled against the wind. The wind was awful - it was blowing big gusts of dirt across the course. I could see people coming back in to town really struggling with it and these were strong guys!
I passed a British guy down near the turnaround and asked how he was going and he said that he is thinking of pulling out. "Why", I asked as he seemed to be travelling along OK, he said that he was really worried about the cutoff time and that he didn't think that he was going to make it. I had been spending a lot of the time calculating times and I knew that if he continued on at the pace he was going he would have over an hour to spare so I told him that and said that if he just kept at it he would be ok, he would even have time to walk the marathon if he had to. He thanked me and wished me well, I wished him well too. I hope he made it OK.
I ensured that I kept up with my nutrition and hydration and seemed to have no trouble with any of it. There was only one time where I caught myself feeling negative and then I quickly started drinking more. Usually this is the first sign that I am going to come crashing down - once my mood starts to shift downwards I am usually lacking something, so I was pleased to catch it early!
I stopped at the aid station on the way home and filled up my bottles again. They offered a milky way and coke which I took gratefully. It was nice to have something different! However the coke was fizzy and it didn't seem all that appealing so I ended up tossing it away. The milky way kept me amused for ages trying to open it one handed in the wind! Eventually I got it though.
Riding back was quite hellish, I was determined to remain relaxed, keep my cadence at an easy 85rpm and trudge through and that is what I did. I overtook a couple of cylcists that were riding side by side and a short time later one of them rode up to me. He was Irish and just wanted a chat really! We chatted along for a little while which was great to break the monotony. He kept his front wheel just behind mine so that if anyone was going to get done for drafting or blocking it was him. He was really over the whole thing and asked me how many miles I had done. I told him that I didn't have miles but that I had us at 160km's. We were travelling so slowly with the wind and the gradual uphill that the kilometres were going so slowly it was wearing thin on everyone! He groaned. He was not in a good, happy place. I reassured him that it was only another 10k's of hell and then we would be heading in to town on the beautiful downhill. He dropped back on one of the climbs and I lost touch with him. I missed his chatter.
Whilst it was excruciatingly slow, at no time did I suffer and think that I wanted to pull out or for it to be over. I remained in high spirits and actually felt ok.
Riding back in to town was fabulous - I felt great. I was pretty sure that even though conditions were horrible on the bike I hadn't overdone it. Mum and Dad were there to greet me in to transition, it was wonderful to see their faces and it was even more wonderful to be off the bike. I had consumed 11 bottles of High 5 electrolytes, 3 vegemite sandwiches, 1 winners bar, 1 anzac cookie and a fun size milky bar.
The volunteers took my bike as I entered transition, they handed me my transition bag and directed me to the change tent. I got myself sorted and put all of my toe pads on and away I went.
I made the mistake of taking my drink bottle, but not filling it with fluids! I actually felt good enough to run over the bridge that went over the road to the other side and then I saw Mum and Dad on the other side. Dad told me that Craig was 2 hours in to the marathon and going strongly - this was great news. Dad ran with me a little, I wasn't very talkative - I think that I was so worried about getting a good start in to the marathon that I didn't take the time to acknowledge them properly like I should have. I think I was so paranoid about not making the cutoff that I wanted to make as much inroads in to the marathon whilst I was feeling OK!
This is me at the start of the run with my empty drink bottle:
I filled my drink bottle with coke/water around the corner thankfully and applied more vaseline to my legs as I am prone to rubbing my knees. I didn't feel too bad. I ran past many people that were on their second lap. I didn't feel too cocky as I had never ran a marathon and had no idea what shape I would be in on my second lap! I ensured that I stopped at each aid station and had something to eat and drink. My drink bottle was great; I am a bit of a sipper, so by having a drink bottle it meant that I could sip my way around which seems to work better for me than stopping every couple of k's and gulping down a couple of cups. I pretty much stuck to coke and water on the first lap.
I saw Craig out on the run course coming in to do his final 10k, he said that he was walk/running it but he looked well and he seemed in good spirits so that was good. We gave each other a high 5 and a hug and congratulated each other.
As I was coming back in to town I started to get the start of cramps in my calf, so I was spraying "crampstop" in to my mouth at every opportunity. This seemed to work OK as they never really took hold, although they did just sort of threaten. I saw Faye, Bec, Jacque, Sophie all coming in to finish - they all looked so strong! We all gave each other high 5's.
I was trying to calculate my pace and potential finish time but I was really struggling with it all. When I saw Dad again in town I told him that I was worried about the cutoff time and he told me that I could walk from here and make the cutoff as I had just under 4 hours. Fantastic!! My breathing had become raspy from the wind causing all the dust in the air. I am allergic to dust and have collapsed previously when we had bad dust so I was keen to walk it home and ensure that I made it. I had contemplated asking a medico for some ventolin, but it has never really helped me and I didn't want to risk them declaring me unfit to contine. I settled in to a brisk walk. This seemed to work really well and certainly helped my breathing.
I picked up a jacket from my special needs, however I stupidly didn't pick up my thermal shirt or my vegemite sandwich. I soon regretted this as once the sun set it became colder and colder and I really felt like my vegemite sanger! My brisk walk was not keeping me overly warm. I grabbed a plastic poncho and put that over the top. I got a glowstick and trudged on. The crowd was amazing. They were still out there in the cold and the dark and there were wonderful. There was a crowd that set up a disco complete with disco ball, there was another crowd that had a band, there was another crowd that were getting louder as the race progressed and were offering beer and spirits to the competitors along with high 5's! I declined the alcohol but readily accepted the high 5's!
The competitors were all so supportive of each other also. I chatted to a few of them and we all encouraged each other to keep going. I felt good, I was well hydrated, I was eating and drinking well. I ate a lot of pretzels on the second lap as that is what I felt like. I also had oranges and I dropped the coke as it was starting to taste awful!
I was getting colder so I ended up grabbing another poncho to add to the jacket and poncho that I was already wearing. I was still cold with all of this and ended up putting some packaging from the cups at the aid stations in to to the top of my tri-suit to keep my chest warm. This seemed to do the trick.
Jacque, Sat and the kids came around and visited me; they were driving in the car. Jacque showed me her medal. I was so proud of her! She had done such a good job. I was so intent on keeping going at the same pace that I didn't want to break stride. I kept going as they were talking and they promised me that they would be there at the finish for me. This meant so much to me.
Eventually the km markers were getting me closer to the finish line, when I had just over 3kms to go Chris and co pulled up to me in the car and said that they were going to the finish line to see me in. I was travelling at around 10mins per km so I told them that I was about 30mins away. Thumbs up and a "see you at the finish!" and they were gone. I was really looking forward to finishing and I started to believe that I was going to make it!
I was still in high spirits and a guy started walking beside me talking to me - he was on his way to see his wife finish and he offered a bit of moral support and a lot of congratulations and he was beaming that his wife was doing so well, it was really great to see.
As I came in to the finish I gave the loud Maori's at the corner my final high 5's and they offered me heaps of congratulations and then I saw Sat and the kids and everyone - it was great! Sat helped me get out of my plastic ponchos and I deposited the plastic that was down my tri-suit and I was all ready to hit the finish chute at a run. The first run since 21kms ago! The lights of the finish chute were so bright compared to the darkness out on the rest of the course! As I was running down the chute Mike Reilly called out my name and declared that I was an Ironman! I patted him on the shoulder on the way through and thanked him. I managed to high 5 a heap of people on the way through including Chris and Sat, it was all a blur.
Here is the video that Craig managed to take behind the finish chute which is really cool:
Well, I am officially an Ironman!!! The feeling is euphoric. Craig asked me how I feel and I could only respond with "exhausted!". I gained 1kg which is good. It means that I had nailed my nutrition and hydration. I wasn't hungry when I finished the race which is a shame. I'm sure a good meal would have aided recovery but it just wasn't going to happen. Craig waited with me in the recovery tent and I got a massage and then Jacque and Chelton came in and congratulated me - that was wonderful. Hugs and congratulation all around. It was Chelton's birthday so he got special compensation to come in to the recover tent. Whilst we were in there some poor guy was being stretchered out. I got dressed in to my warm clothes and inspected my medal and soaked it all in.
Mum met me outside the recovery tent and I gave her a big hug! She was so proud. Even better; Dad was bringing the car around to just behing the recovery tent - woo hoo! I didn't feel like going any further than absolutely necessary!
I had a couple of goals goin in to Ironman New Zealand and there were, in order:
1. Get to the start line - tick!
2. To finish within the 17hour cutoff - tick I did it in 15:46.
3. To enjoy the race and have fun - half a tick - it was not all enjoyable, but mainly it was. I think I was too worried about the cutoff time to be able to enjoy the race!
4. To break 15hours - cross, this didn't happen, but at the end of the day I am not overly disappointed.
So, overall I couldn't have asked for more.
The race was an experience that I will cherish for a long time; the volunteers were absolutely exceptional and I spent the whole race thanking them all! The spectators were unbelievable and I made a point of thanking them too, particularly on the last lap of the run (or walk in my case!) as they were still out there in the cold and the wind! The competitors were also fantastic, everyone supported everyone else and it was a genuine feeling of comraderie.
We started off today the same way as yesterday; with our alarms set for 4am huddled around a TV that was full of infomercials - no fun!
The intention for today was to do a swim/bike/run, however each session was to be 10 or 15mins and with a break between them. So our plan was to head down to the water at 7am again.
As we were sitting around whiling away the time we decided that we would do our run before the swim - I don't know why that didn't occur to us before! So, away we went. The morning was beautiful; it was still dark but it was light enough for us to see where we were headed with the moonlight and the street lights. I felt good, I felt as though I could run for ages and I felt so much more comfortable running than sitting around in our unit waiting!
After our run we went back to relaxing in the unit until it was time to head down to the swim. The swim was beautiful, it was much calmer than yesterday and the water was really beautiful. I was out at one of the buoys chatting to a couple of girls and I looked around and wished I had a camera. The sun was rising behind the snow capped mountains with the lake looking still and beautiful. It really was tranquil and serene. I imagined the chaos that it would turn in to just this time tomorrow!
After our swim we went for an easy ride to make sure everything was OK with our bikes prior to checking them in to transition. Thankfully our bikes were all good.
Putting the bikes in to transition was exciting - we had our transition bags all packed up and dropped them off and then we were given an escort - a kind volunteer showed us where we racked our bikes and went through the whole process of where we were going to run in from the swim and where we would get changed and where there would be food and sunscreen and then to the bike and then out on to the bike course. They were really good and thoroughly organised.
Once we had racked our bikes and deposited our transition bags we had nothing left to do but relax and hydrate and carbo load! It also meant that my parents were released from their fantastic "Ironman support crew" duties and could actually go and do some exploring. Their help over the last couple of days was brilliant - to running to the shops and getting last minute 'essentials' to fixing up bikes, to giving us a lift here and there, to Mum cleaning up the unit - they were always on hand to offer any assistance to all of us. I didn't mean for them to come over and wait on us hand and foot so it was nice that they got this afternoon to go and do a bit of exploring!
Craig and I had a large bowl of arrabiata pasta for dinner with some fresh herbs and parmesan - this is a meal that we ate a fair bit prior to a long ride or run so it was appropriate for us to eat it before the big day.
Mum and Dad picked up Vanessa from the airport in the evening and then Keith, a friend of Faye's came over and we hung out a bit. Craig, Keith and Faye even managed to have an alcoholic beverage! I wasn't game to start drinking the night before the biggest race of my life! Here is a photo of Keith, Faye, Craig and Vanessa - relaxing with a drink!
We headed out to the Carbo Load party. The nervous anticipation in the air was evident in all of those around us. It was great that Mum and Dad were able to come along. I knew that Dad would find the whole thing very inspiring and I knew that Mum would get a good appreciation of what was involved in.
Merinda was there and gave me a handkerchief that was embroidered with my name and the Ironman New Zealand logo - it was just beautiful! So thoughtful and beautiful! She also gave me a gift bag that my training buddies put together - it was fantastic and contained a really touching card wishing me well and a whole heap of Australiana things including flags, badges, tattoos and a koala! The koala had arms that snap together and I tried it out later on my bike seat post and he hung on there beautifully, so he was going to join me on the race! I was so touched by the thoughtful gifts; it was really lovely and very unexpected.
The food was great and there was plenty of it. I had vegetable lasagne and bread and salad, it was great. After everyone had eaten the entertainment began. It started off with a group of maori's singing and dancing, sort of Haka style. It was great, they were very fierce! Then there was the strangest parade of nations I have ever seen; lady models body painted (OK - body stocking to look like paint) in something to reflect the countries being represented. The Sydney Opera House was for Australia. They were really good and very different.
They applauded the 400 or so newbie Ironmen competitors - 1/3rd of the field had never completed an Ironman! I was one of them and looked just as scared as all of the others!
Then there were some speeches. It was hosted by Mike Reilly and he introduced us to one of the original 1978 Hawaii Ironman finishers - David Orlowski. They showed photos of the bike that he rode in the original race which he only borrowed a week before the race! He did the whole race in cut-off denim shorts and the finish line was basically a few people standing around on the side of the road. His nutrition plan was to put money into his cut off shorts and call in to service stations and even McDonalds!
Craig, Faye and I decided that it would be a good idea to get our body clocks used to race day morning so we had an early night and set the alarm for 4am (trying not to think that this is actually 1am Brisbane time!).
We got up and had a cup of coffee and sat around watching to worst television ever whiling away the time until we were due to go for a swim at 7am. We wanted to experience the Lake at the time we would be swimming it on race day.
Dad drove us down to the lake and we got out of the car and thought that we were going to turn into ice statues! It was freezing. We got into our wetsuits in stages so that we didn't freeze to death and then we procrastinated a little before dipping our toes into the water. It actually wasn't too bad!
I was wearing Muffy's neoprene cap on my head for warmth. We decided to swim to a buoy a little way out and then regroup. I was really worried as I didn't have my contacts in so my eyesight was not good. Craig said he would keep an eye on me and make sure I didn't get lost! The water was lovely, it was very clear and deep and the temperature wasn't anywhere near as bad as I imagined. I think the temperature was around 19degrees celcius.
Craig and I got to the buoy in one piece and we looked around and couldn't see Faye. We wondered if perhaps she went to a different buoy so we started to swim towards a different buoy. This is where it got a bit scary... We were flying over to the other buoy in a strong current, we could see that nobody was at the buoy so we decided to go in to shore and see if Faye was back there. I could see from the bottom of the lake that I was not making any progress getting back into shore, I was being swept into the outlet. Craig was not far from me - he yelled out to me to start swimming across the sweep and then in to shore so we both did that and got there eventually, but it was a really tough swim. I must admit that I was not expecting such a strong current in a lake.
Faye was not at the shore and I was really worried that she had been swept into the inlet! I called out to Dad and he helped us try and find her. After much worrying and looking around Faye emerged from the water not long after our panic looking fresh as a daisy and all in one piece - phew! Faye had swum to the first buoy and then kept swimming up the swim course thinking that we were up there. She waited for a while for us before deciding to head back in. So we were all reunited and we didn't lose anyone thank goodness!
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and commencing our carbo loading!
Well, Craig, Dad and I all arranged to go for a run early in the morning prior to heading down to Taupo whilst Faye was going to rest her calf and hit the elliptical trainer in the gym.
It was unanimous - we all had a shocking night's sleep due to the outside noise of trucks, cars, people, etc, etc. It was bad, I felt like the walls were made of cardboard. I wished I had earplugs!
Anyway, we didn't want to miss out on the morning's exercise seeing as we had a bit of a drive down to Taupo and then we had a busy afternoon getting bikes built, etc.
We headed out along the water for 15mins and back 15mins all at a nice light jog. I was really disappointed when we had to turn around as it was a beautiful morning, I was feeling great and I was really enjoying the views of the bay and different scenery.
So, we then headed off across town to pick up the hire cars and have another game of 3D tetris; this time with 2 cars and more luggage! Luckily, Craig was a Storeman and Packer in a previous life.
We had a leisurely stroll to Taupo arriving just on lunchtime. Craig, Dad and Faye spent the afternoon putting our bikes together while I took our wetsuits down to get dipped. Lake Taupo is so pure they don't want any noxious weeds being brought into the environment, so all wetsuits had to be dipped prior to swimming. Mum and I then went and got some groceries for tonight's dinner as we didn't want to risk eating out so close to the race. We then took the bikes for a ride up over the hill out of Taupo and then rolling around until we had ridden for 40 minutes. The hill was fine, the gradient wasn't too steep, it was easy to stay seated and it actually isn't that long at all. After our ride we headed to Ironman Race Central to get the bikes and helmets checked by the Avanti guys. An adjustment to my bike and we were all given the tick of approval.
A quiet night at home and we were all feeling a bit relieved to have our bikes all in one piece and riding well and approved.
Our Ironman journey began with us loading all of our gear into a Maxicab to go to the airport. 2 bike bags, 1 massive suitcase, 1 massive duffel bag, 2 carry on bags and we were on our way after forking over $205 excess baggage talked down from nearly $400... Yikes!
I must say travelling with all that luggage is not fun, even when you have a strong husband who takes all the heavy and bulky stuff!
Craig and I met up with Faye at the airport and we travelled across the ditch on the same plane. We found our accommodation in Auckland without too much hassle other than playing 3D tetris with our luggage inside a cab!
We left to find a place where we could get our swim set done. We were heading across town to a pool when Faye looked up and saw a sign for a gym that said that they had a 25m pool - perfect! We sweet-talked them down from $20 to $5each to just use their pool facilities. Noice! The pool was cold, we purchased some Horley's sports drink and we started our set. It was just over 2km's, a few efforts, but nothing too taxing.
Just around the corner was a pizza place so we chowed down on some really great pizza, it was turning into a stress free afternoon.
Mum and Dad arrived after dinner and we sat around chatting for a little while before calling it a night.
Today is the last training session before we head out to the airport early in the morning to Taupo. Home of Ironman NZ!!!
The session was a 45min easy spin. It was wet and ugly outside so I opted for a wind trainer session whilst watching the Today show. Very civilised.
My pre-race reflections are to try and enjoy the race, take in the scenery, know that I have done the work and that I have had a good preparation with no illness or injury. I want to wake up on the morning and say that "I am strong, I deserve this success as I have worked hard for it!"
I just hope that my feet and legs don't give me too much curry on the rain. I expect to get pain, I probably won't feel as though I have earnt the medal without the pain, but I just hope that it is not really, really awful...
Today was the Clem7 tunnel run. It was to be a run from the Bowen Hills entrance of the tunnel to the SE Freeway entrance which was the turnaround point and then back again.
I was looking forward to it. However, it turned out to be kind of awful. I met some friends for work there and the goal was to run it with them. We started a fair way back and they gradually let the runners through and in to the tunnel. When we started it was not too congested, which was good. A short time in to the run, however I realised that it was really hot and humid. I was sweating quite profusely and my HR was about 10bpm higher than what it should have been.
Unfortunately it didn't get any better from there as when we approached the first water station they had run out of water!!! Each water station we passed had no water. I ended up walk/running with Lindsay from work and we passed 2 competitors who had collapsed, so I'm not too disappointed we walk/ran it, let's face it; that's how I intend on bringing the Marathon home on Saturday!
So, lesson learnt - do your run from home where you take your own water out with you and run in the open air rather than through a tunnel!
Jacque kindly offered to pick me up at my place at 4:30am so that we could do a nice northside ride. Craig needed the car to pick the kids up, so it worked out really well. I owe Jacqe big time.
We left from Ashgrove with the rain coming down on us... Sigh. I am a bit over cleaning my bike to be honest!
We went up through Petrie, North Lakes, Scarborough, Redcliffe, Sandgate, Shorncliffe, Nudgee Beach and then on the bike path back to Jacque's place.
When we were up around Petrie and North Lakes I was really truly happy; the rain had stopped, there was very little traffic, we were clipping along comfortably, I was riding with 2 friends who I enjoyed the company of. I was actually thinking that I am going to miss our long rides and was a tad nostalgic...
We stopped in at Redcliffe for a pit stop and continued on our way. The wind was really horrible. As we were just about to come over the Hornibrook Bridge the bike's were being blown around and you really had to keep your wits about you. I didn't dare take my hands off the handlebars to drink or eat!
This made the Hornibrook Bridge pretty revolting, poor Faye; Jacque and I followed her across so at least we got a little reprieve from the wind. Faye ended up out the front pretty much the whole way home breaking the wind for us! Such a strong cyclist at times I was working quite hard to hand on!
However, thankfully, we all survived the ride without incident, with the exception of Faye getting a flat tyre which she managed to change easily while Jacque and I watched on thinking that we really must practice that!
Jac provided some great Iced coffee's at her place which I like to call my 'recovery drink'. We
I was supposed to run on Thursday, however I chose to have lunch with a friend instead of running at lunchtime and then when Craig came in to pick me up from work he wanted take-away for dinner, so we got that while we were out. Hence no run in the afternoon either. It would seem my motivation is somewhat lacking...
So, I did a wind trainer session with a run off the bike as one session. A bit naughty seeing as they were supposed to be separated, however both were done very easy. It was just a 45min easy spin, followed by a 30min easy run. I felt OK.
So, it was 30 x 100's.
3 x 100's warmup
24 x 100's 15secs rest, every 3rd 100 swim the last 50 ALL OUT
3 x 100's cool down.
I really liked this set. I got to the pool just before opening and there were a handful of us waiting to get in and swim. It was funny, because it was a long'ish set most of those people had left and a new lot of people had come and go by the time I had finished!
My swimming is not fast, but it is feeling comfortable and effortless which is right where I need to be at the moment. I just concentrated on a nice long stroke trying to pull as much water through as I could.
Hopefully, this will hold me in good stead to get out of the swim relaxed, calm and ready for a 180km bike ride!
Faye, Craig and I met at the Nundah crit track. It was quite busy and we soon discovered that a lot of the other IM NZ guys were here. Jacque was also riding around, she wasn't supposed to be getting her bike back from being serviced until tonight but she managed to get it back early.
The four of us headed out for a cruisy ride to Nudgee Beach and back. It was good, we managed to catch up and banter all the way out there and back. I still had 10minutes to ride when we got back and Craig had 30minutes so I cruised around the crit track for a bit more with Craig and then let him finish off his session.
I think we are getting to the point where we all really want to finish the race well as we have done all the hard work. We are looking forward to not having structured sessions, we are looking forward to finishing a ride and having breakfast rather than a late lunch!
This swim was supposed to happen yesterday afternoon, after my long run.
However... I had an afternoon nap which turned into a sleep, which turned into not having enough time to swim!
Never mind, I have been really valuing the afternoon nap and find that I am really needing them on the weekends where there is a long ride and a long run.
The valley pool has finally opened up after having a whole month of school swimming carnivals and swimming there today was brilliant. I had 1 other person in my lane and I just ambled along with no pressure and just cruised out the 15 x 100m's. If I felt like taking the 15sec rest I took it, otherwise I just kept on going. I felt good and even though I am not swimming any faster, I am swimming more comfortably.
This run was a repeat of last week's long run with a great twist! Sarah joined me which was great. She was happy to let me shuffle along at my own pace and kept me entertained with banter. It was a bit cooler too, which helped us.
I was loaded up with food, band aids, chaffe cream, money - I felt like we could have left home!
It rained as we went over the Green bridge and I was getting a little concerned that we were going to be running with squelching feet, however it really didn't amount to much at all thank goodness.
We got to the Yeronga shops around the halfway mark and stocked up on some Gatorade for me and an orange mineral water for Sarah. Well, do you think these 2 strong girls could open Sarah's drink! We tried our hands (wet and sweaty), t-shirts (wet and soggy), serviettes (no good), until eventually, we must have looked desperate and thirsty enough for a kind gentleman to offer to open it for us - Phew! Disaster averted... Thank you.
The rest of the run went without incident and the good news is that we finished the whole run in 3 hours. I finished 1km short last week, so I am thrilled with this. Also, I was less sore this time around, although my feet still ached. I actually took a Nurofen at the 2 hour mark to make sure that it will sit ok with me as I never take pain killers. Thankfully it sat well as I intend on using them throughout the race if need be.
Sarah is a real trooper; she finished the Geelong Half Ironman a couple of weeks ago and her next event is Mooloolaba Triathlon which is Olympic Distance, so she really didn't need to do a 3 hour run! I was really grateful for the company as it made the run that much more bearable.
We celebrated with Iced Coffee's whilst cooling down in the pool - very civilised.
Today we had to ride 4.5hrs, so Faye, Sarah and I met at Jacque's place for a ride out to Petrie, Scarbrough, Redcliffe, Sandgate, Shorncliffe, followed by a river loop.
I had just had my bike serviced so it was shiny and freshly lubed and all beautiful... Well, of course if rained! It actually poured on us and was stinging our faces and pooling in my bike shoes - I was cold in the middle of summer! Not pleasant... However, we kept at it as we are Ironmen, although I didn't feel much like being one as I was squinting in to the rain; I was wishing for me doona and a sleep in.
Thankfully the ride improved as it stopped raining. Faye peeled off to meet Vanessa for a ride and we dropped Sarah off on the way through to our river loop. Sarah wanted to ride for 3 hours with us, but I think it ended up being a fair bit more than that!
Jacque and I copped a fair bit of traffic around the river loop which wasn't much fun at the end of a ride, but we ended up back at her place being just a few minutes ride time short.
I was easily enticed with the promise of an iced coffee instead of a run!! It didn't take too much convincing.
I got home and spent some time cleaning all of the road grime from my bike which was sadly no longer shiny and beautiful.
Being just over 2 weeks out from D Day (Ironman NZ) it was a good week to get my bike serviced.
So, Monday night I took Craig's and my bike over to Troy the bike guru of guru's to tune it up and give it a final going over. Troy said that he would have it ready by Wednesday night, so the scheduled Wed session was changed to Thursday. Thankfully Faye was kind enough to swap also, so that we each had company.
The crit track was quite busy and when Faye arrived it was in full swing. However, we set out and I quickly found my rhythm and the path wasn't too congested. It was hard work, I wish I had my HR monitor on so that I could keep an eye on it as I was working pretty hard.
My distance for the 30mins was 18:13, 36.26km/h average. I am absolutely thrilled with this as the last TT I did was a month ago and I averaged 36.5km/h, however I was drafting behind Craig and Richard, where today's TT was pretty much on my own. I did draft a bit when some faster cyclists overtook me and I drafted behind people prior to overtaking, but nothing like being dragged around the crit by Craig and Richard.
Out on the track today was a wheelie cyclist and we both finished at the same time and were packing up beside each other in the carpark. He asked me how I went and I told him that I feel stuffed! We started chatting and after talking about the training sets we each did on the track today George tells me that he is the QLD reigning 20k TT champion and he has the Australian Championships coming up in April which he is training hard for. He is racing 2 events: the 20k TT and the 65k road race. He has been ranked number 2 in Australia for the past 3 years and is hoping to reach number 1 this year. I told him about my Ironman training and that I hoped to just finish the race. We both wished each other good luck, I hope George can bring it home for QLD and himself and be number 1 this year. I also mentioned to him that he was really poor to draft behind...
Today, Faye and I met at Newmarket Pool to do a wetsuit swim. The programme had us doing 3 x 1km reps, however we decided we would do 4 x 1km reps as we had the time and it would be a good hit out.
We donned our wetsuits and entered the water feeling a little foolish and self conscious completely decked out in neoprene! However, once we got started and found our rhythm it was alright, although after the first 1km we pretty much decided that we would do one other in the wetsuit before ditching them otherwise we would end up as human soup! Even though it was overcast and a little rainy in patches it was still quite warm.
I actually felt as though I warmed into the swim and felt more comfortable in the 4th rep than in the 1st which is a great sign. I think that I am going to be able to make the distance relatively comfortable in the wetsuit as I am starting to feel a lot more comfortable in it. The key is going to be trying to keep calm in the melee that is 1200 other athletes all thrashing about. Swimming in the pool with one other person in the lane and following a black line is almost meditative, but doing an open water swim with people touching you and hitting you and running in to you is going to be a different story.
Race plan: stay calm and relaxed at all costs. If it costs me 10-15mins in time at the end of the day it will be worth it to get out of the water relaxed and conserving energy.
The plan today was to sleep in which contributes greatly to my overall sanity and then to run at lunchtime. I have been doing this prior to Hell of the West to acclimatise to running in the heat, but I have decided that I will continue with it as I really do like my Tuesday sleep ins!
So, I turned the alarm off before going to bed on Monday night and had a very wonderful sleep in. I can't wait until this becomes a regular occurence!
I packed my running gear in my bag and headed off to work.
Just before 12, I started to think about getting ready for my run when I looked outside and everything was grey - I couldn't even see the outlines of any buildings through my window! On closer inspection it was bucketing down rain, the likes of which I haven't seen in quite a while!
Now, I'm not adverse to running in the rain, particular in Brisbane's summer heat, however this was different, it was followed by some really close lightening and thunder and was the sort of rain which would leave you looking like a drowned rat with blisters and chaffing. Not ideal...
So, I decided to skip the lunchtime run and try again in the afternoon.
It was still raining in the afternoon, so it ended up being a treadmill run which was very boring, but at least it was done.
My motivation is wavering on "I can't be bothered" to "OMG, it is so close, I need to really smash it!"
I just want to keep everything ticking over nicely at the moment and not get any injuries, illness or anything that could be detrimental to my race in 17 days!!!
The set consisted of:
Warmup 20mins easy
20min Power Intervals 40-50 cadence for 1 minute with 1minute easy recovery.
Cool down was 15mins easy.
There was no running off the bike this time which I was thankful for. In fact, my heart wasn't really in this session. I was tired and had the TV on and I was more interested in the news and what was going on than in to the intervals. Although I did manage to get through them all in the highest gear, in the 3rd last resistance on the wind trainer which is not too shabby. I think next time I will have to up the ante and do them in the 2nd last resistance and put some solid effort in.
Craig, Faye and I headed up to Redcliffe's Sutton's Beach to meet Sarah and the family. The four of us intended on doing a 30min recovery swim in the ocean to flush out the legs and get a bit of open water practice in.
The wind was blowing quite strongly and we fully expected the water to be choppy and as we arrived at the beach we weren't disappointed!
After much deliberation we eventually entered the water. We had to wade out ages to get to a point where we could swim as it was low tide. We decided to swim down to the blue toilet block and then regroup. We almost body surfed down there the chop was so strong and heading in that direction. I think we arrived there 10mins later!
We decided that we would turn around and head back seeing as it was going to be a tough swim back. We regrouped on the way back and Craig turned around and said that he saw the dorsal fin and body of a shark just in front of him swimming away!
Well - we didn't need convincing to get out of the water! We all calmly exited the water and walked up the beach. I know that when we swim in the ocean we are sharing the ocean with all sea-living creatures, but this encounter was probably a bit too close for my liking. The shark obviously wasn't aggressive or perhaps I wouldn't be typing this, so I guess that's a good thing.
I'm not sure about how I feel about swimming there again... Faye and I both readily agreed that next Sunday's open water swim will be at Lake Hugh Muntz which is a freshwater lake with no sharks, sea lice or blue-bottle jelly fish! I think I am going to be hard to convince to swim anywhere else EVER actually!
I had mapped out a 30km run... I really wanted to be able to run 30km's before heading over to attempt to do a marathon after 180km's of bike, just for my piece of mind.
However, I have had sore shins and on my long ride with Jacque yesterday she pretty much talked me out of it and I have heard the same advice from many sources. I am better off to be standing on the start line having not ran 30km's rather than having run 30km's and be out with a stress fracture. My problem is that I am just so slow it is getting beyond a joke.
I thought that the course I chose would be around 26-27km's, however when I got home and mapped it it was only 24.5km's, of which I walked the last 1km as I had reached the 3 hour mark and my feet were aching. I was really disappointed as I ran the whole way with the exception of 1 toilet stop, a couple of drink station stops to refill my drink bottle, a couple of times I stopped to eat, I stopped to buy 2 Gatorades from the shop. So, I guess that does add up to a few stops, but I figure that this is how I'll be 'racing' the Ironman. On these times I will be out there over 6 hours for the marathon. It is going to be a long hard day which I fully expected, but I just had a little hope that I would be slightly faster than that. I was hoping for around 6:30min/kms rather than 7:30min/kms!
The good part is that I didn't need to stop and stretch and I felt pretty comfortable even though it was really, really hot and humid.
I ran with my Skins calf compression socks on and I found that these were excellent. My shins were sore on the Friday, I ran on the Sunday, stretched well afterwards, iced my legs well, and really I couldn't feel my shins at all.
I will do this same run next weekend and see if I can pick the pace up even just a little.
I was leaving home to meet Jacque in at Active Stride at 5am. So, when I left home it was 4:30 and it was pitch black. I was on the driveway, mounted my bike, clipped in my feet and away I went - except I managed to turn my wheel enough to block my pedal motion when I went to turn left out of the driveway and I was helpless to avoid crashing like a heavy sack of potatoes to the ground. As I realised I was falling I had that moment where I just hoped that I wasn't going to break anything!!! 3 weeks today to Ironman New Zealand and I really, really, really didn't want a stupid fall to end it all. Thankfully as I went through my body and assessed the damage, it just seemed to be a sore knee which ended up a bit grazed and sore hands which actually were fine. Phew!!!
Not a great start to the ride. So, Craig helped me put all the pieces back together and patched me up and by this stage I was running late and feeling a bit shaken, so I decided to drive in and meet Jacque at Southbank instead!
Thankfully, this was the most excitement! Jacque and I headed down the Coast and we made it down to the Mobil just south of Dreamworld.
It was a nice, cruisy ride and it was great to catch up with Jacque. We managed to chat and catch up so it was really good. Very enjoyable. Finished the ride feeling very strong and not overly fatiqued.
Craig and I headed out to Jindalee Pool with our wetsuits to get in some practice.
The pool wasn't quite open yet, however there were a zillion (yes, a zillion) people waiting to go in, many with bikes - it looked like a triathlon session about to take place. So, we hightailed it out of there and headed over to Bellbowrie Pool!
This turned out to be a good move as we had an entire 50m lane to ourselves. Fabulous. We were very self-conscious getting kitted up in our wetsuits in Brisbane's summer morning.
The set was 4 x 800m for me and 5 x 800m for Craig. Craig managed to lap me enough times that we finished within 100m of each other - quite demoralising really. But, in saying that I was starting to find my rhythm with the wetsuit. By the 3rd 800m I was very comfortable, so I am pretty happy with that. I felt as though I could swim forever, although it was getting quite hot. Each time I turned at the end of the pool it was a relief to get a bit of fresh cool water go through the wetsuit and when I took it off it felt like bliss to be surrounded by cool water - I hadn't realised how hot it was!
My Gran turned 90 today. Such a fabulous achievement, made more so by the fact that she is as sharp as a tack, can still get around OK, is living on her own, although she does have some help. She is a really sweet person who stays up to date with current events and is always easy to have a conversation with.
To celebrate this fabulous day the 'girls' in her life all took her out to High Tea. It was lovely, there was my mum, aunty, cousin, there were 3 of her neighbours and a couple of friends from way back. 11 of us all enjoyed a fine High Tea with dainty sandwiches, scones, cupcakes and mousse shots served alongide tea in beautiful china cups. Definitely worth taking the day off work for! Hope you had a lovely birthday Gran.
Thankfully I managed to get my swim in before heading up the Coast, however the motivation for a run in the afternoon upon my return was lacklustre at best!
After some procrastination I headed out for my 5km hilly loop around Kenmore. I started fairly slow and steady, however around the halfway mark I started to feel really good. Maybe the 2 days off training helped! I felt like I was running fast and I was really enjoying the run. I finished really strongly and wished that I had timed the loop! Maybe it's just as well... Perception is a funny thing and can often not match up to reality!
Monday, I really struggled. I had the telltale sign that I am overtrained - I lost my appetite. Didn't sleep well Monday night or Tuesday night, so ended up having 2 days off training. Thanfully I think this did me the world of good physically, but mentally I am worrying that I have lost a lot of training, etc. In reality, I haven't but it does play with your mind when it is so close to the event.
Thankfully, I had Thursday off work and managed to get a good quality session at the pool.
Swim: 4 x 100m easy w/u, 4 x (25m ALL OUT, 25m easy 20secs rest, 50m ALL OUT, 25m easy 20secs rest, 25m ALL OUT, 25m easy 20secs rest, 100m ALL OUT, 25m easy 20secs rest) with paddles and p/b, 3 x 200m easy c/d 30secs rest.
I used the pool buoy, so I felt as though I wasn't going very fast when I was doing the ALL OUT's.
20min warmup
20 x 1min power intervals, HARD at 40-50 cadence, with 1min EASY break
15min run on the treadmill
10min cool down.
This session was good, I watched the news and caught up on all the gossip whilst sweating and puffing away.
I was worried about how my legs were going to pull up after the long run yesterday. I slept in my skins and they actually didn't feel too bad. Just a bit tight. The run was OK, I was waiting for it to really hurt, but it was fine so I was pleasantly surprised. I stretched well after the session and cooked up a big scrambled eggs and fried mushrroms with fried tomato, washed down with a latte - yum! That should fix me up!
I was scheduled to do a 2hr 30min run in the morning and a 30min run in the afternoon. I woke up and it was pouring with rain - absolutely bucketing down. I was so despondent, as I really needed to get this run done. I wasn't keen to run in this sort of rain as I was guaranteed to get blisters and be out of action for too long. So, I decided that I would swap the runs around and do my 30min run on the treadmill inside in the morning and hope that the rain would break enough for me to get out in the afternoon.
Thankfully, the rain did clear and Craig and I headed off in the afternoon in a nice easy pace towards Yeerongpilly train station and then back home again. It is relatively flat, although there are some undulations around Kenmore.
The pace was very slow and the temperature was muggy and rainy but not too unbearably hot. We had to make a toilet stop for me a short way into the run which was annoying, we also stopped at the tennis centre to refill bottles and then we purchased some Gatorade and water at Indooroopilly 7-11, other than the toilet stop the other stops were pretty quick.
I felt pretty comfortable up until about the 17km mark where I started to feel stiff. We stopped and stretched on the way back on the Indooroopilly bridge which definitely helped.
I was very tired after the run and my legs were tight and sore, but I was very pleased that I was able to run that far!
What it has highlighted is I need to do more on my long runs. So, I am contemplating a long run this weekend of 30km's at a very easy pace with a couple of stops for Gatorade, food, drink, etc, but try to keep it moving as much as possible. It will probably take me many hours, but I think the conditioning on the legs will be very beneficial to me.
Our programme had us doing a 3 hour recovery ride, however Faye, Craig and I were really keen to get a long open water swim in our wetsuits done. So, we arranged to meet nice and early at Lake Hugh Muntz at Mermaid Waters to try and beat the heat.
The day turned out to be a little overcast to begin with, so we were thankful for that and hoping that it would keep the heat at bay.
I had mapped out the lake and if we swam around the edge of the lake it was around 3km's and then we could swim over and back from part to park to bring up the distance.
Another guy, Dan met us there and the four of us headed out together after wriggling into our wetsuits. I was trying out my new tri-suit and new aquashpere goggles, so I was pretty excited as I had high hopes for both!
However, the goggles soon let me down. Within 15mtrs I was stopping to re-squish them on my face as they were leaking. I headed off after my re-squishing and no sooner had I got another 10mtrs they were leaking again. How infuriating! So, I stopped and decided that I would adjust the strap a bit tighter and see if this helps. I have floated before in my wetsuit without any effort, however I wasn't floating as I was in fresh water, not salt water so I had to tread water whilst figuring out how to adjust the goggles. It took a bit of swearing and so forth before I got them adjusted. I headed out and within another 10mtrs they were leaking. Meanwhile everyone else was quite a way in front and I was bobbing up and down with these useless goggles! I decided that I would go back to the car and get my other goggles and use them instead. So, my swim started off very disjointed and unfortunately I never really got any rhythm into my swim at all!
My wetsuit was making my arms ache, I felt slow and unfit, it was really heating up and I was really thirsty, I kept stopping to do breaststroke... All in all it was one of those swims which are best left behind! It was quite laughable really if I didn't have an Ironman in 4 weeks today where I WOULD be swimming in a wetsuit for 3.8kms!
So, what I got from today's session is that I need to do some more wetsuit swims (and sort out my goggles!). It means that I will have to use my wetsuit in some of my pool swims to get my arms used to the feeling.
Thankfully, the ride was much better. Craig, Faye and I headed up the Coast as Craig was doing a long ride in that direction. After 1hr, 30mins Faye and I turned around and headed for home. We made it up to the "Broken Spoke" near the Strawberry Farm at Woongoolba. Shortly after we left Craig we called into the Mobil to refuel and it absolutely bucketed down rain! It was pouring. By the time we had scoffed some Gatorade and water it had eased slightly, but it was still enough to sting our faces and drench us!
We managed to get back down to Mermaid Waters safely, albeit covered in road grime and filth! Thankfully I found some wet wipes to remove the worst of it from our faces and hands! All in all, it was a good quality ride as we had managed 80km's. I will just write the swim off I think and not dwell on it too much!
I was going to swim in the morning, but a few of us triathl3tes www.triathl3te.com.au had organised to do a long swim/ride on the Saturday, so I thought that a coffee ride was in order!
The ride was good, I hung onto the guys until Indooroopilly where I lost them around a roundabout (my roundabout and descending skills need some work!). I could have sprinted and got back on to them, but my HR was through the roof already, so I cruised and waited for the rest of the girls to come through and joined them.
It was good to enjoy a ride and not have any pressure, just to ride for the fun of it.
Well, I ditched the squad swim and found myself sleeping in an extra 20mins and swimming at the Jindalee Pool instead!
My swim took about 1hr 20mins and the most people I had in my lane was 2 others in a 50m lane. So, nobody got in my way and I was able to get a good quality session in.
Although, for some reason my swimming has gone backwards. My swim time at Gundi was slow and my 200m time trial today was slow. (3mins 44secs). I think that I need to go back to slowing my stroke down, concentrating on getting power out of my stroke as I felt as though I was getting back to 'choppy' stroke. So, I will work on this over the coming weeks.
All in all I swum 3.4km's. Not too fatigued afterwards, so pretty happy with that.
My blister was throbbing Monday night after my swim. I was starting to have a little niggling doubt about whether or not I should have done Hell of the West... It was brief though, I really did gain a lot of confidence in doing it, so I still don't regret it. However there was no way I was getting up on Tuesday with my throbbing toe to run, so I wrote Tuesday off. :-(
I have been regularly soaking it in Betadine and applying savlon and paw paw ointment hoping that this heals it really quickly. Wednesday morning I was able to do a wind trainer session thank goodness!
The session was 30mins warmup, 30mins time trial and it was supposed to be a run off the bike, but in lieu of my toe, I ditched it for a warmdown on the bike instead.
The time trial was tough, mainly because it was on the wind trainer, but more so as I was riding blind. Craig had my bike computer so I had no cadence, HR, speed, etc which means that I really had to focus on those things myself. I felt as though it was a pretty honest session, I was certainly working hard, my breathing was hard and my legs were working so I was pretty happy with it.
The day after Hell of the West and I was feeling OK, not too sore.
The only problem I had was with a blister that I popped which was giving me grief and I am hobbling around on it. I hope that it improves real soon.
Craig and I went down to the Jindalee Pool. Craig swum 3km's and lapped me a few times, so when he stopped, I stopped. The swim felt good, I didn't feel as though I was going to cramp or anything. I swum without a pool buoy.
Well, the day had arrived! I was feeling ready and I was pretty sure that I had done all of the preparation that I could have done.
The alarm went off at 2:30am. I got myself ready and got down to transition nice and early. I think I was about the 5th one racked. It was still dark and I had trouble reading the numbering on the racks, however after squinting I managed to work out where I was supposed to be!
I went and got numbered and then I was set. I still had an hour before race start, so I went and sat in the car and relaxed and ate some nutri-grain and drank gatorade and water and just tried to remain relaxed. Dad met me there and then at 4:30am we made our way to the swim start. I gave Dad my thongs so that he could pass them to me after the swim start as it is a bit of a run up to the transistion and I didn't want to risk my feet getting hurt!
I met up with Ali, Karl and Vanessa at the start and we chatted for a bit. The atmosphere was really good. It was still dark and there was a big headlight on the swim start so that you could just see the swimmers ready to go in the water. The girls were the 3rd wave start, so after the 2nd wave start had left we got into the water. The water was really good - nowhere near as warm as in previous years. They set us off and away we went. There was a bit of argy-bargy in the water, but I just tried to get a clean line and keep relaxed. The swim felt OK, I felt as though I was swimming OK, although I ended up getting some argy-bargy the whole race which was annoying. At the turnaround I was 22mins which was really slow. I was hoping that I was swimming against the tide, but when I exited I was 44mins, so it was just a slow swim. I'm not sure why but I didn't let it get to me. I was also not as relaxed in the swim as what I normally aim for, I think it was because there was constantly people running into me. Dad was standing there at the exit with my shoes at his feet and he also had my half finished water bottle at his feet, so I grabbed both - thanks Dad! I was feeling a bit dizzy, so I walked up the levee bank and got my breath back and the blood back to where it should be before I jogged up to transition.
I took my time in transition. I was wearing my tri-suit so I put my bike shorts over the top of them and I made sure that I had everything I needed before I headed out. I wanted to be comfortable because I know how horrid the ride is!
I took off out on to the course and quickly found my rhythm. I got down on my tri-bars until we hit the bumpy roads and then I was basically off them for the whole ride. I was averaging around 33-34kph on the way out, just cruising with very little effort as I was treating this as a training ride. I was mindful that we were going to copy a headwind on the way home so I was watching for movement in the grass and trees and it was very still. Was I not going to get a massive head wind on the way back? As I progressed I took in the beauty of the roads and the crops, the dead snakes on the road, the dead pigs on the side of the road, the squawking cockatoos, the sights and sounds of the country. There were many families that had come down to the entrance of their properties to cheer us on and I gave them a friendly wave as I rode by. I watched Luke McKenzie go back into town behind the lead ute and wondered if he was getting much of a draft advantage and figured that he would have to be getting something, but good on him - at least he wasn't drafting mm's behind someone elses's back wheel like his followers were!
At the turnaround the questions about the wind were answered - it was incredible! Immediately I was hit with it, a fresh wind in the face. So I knuckled down, changed down gears and settled in for a windy ride back in. I was careful not to push too hard as it wasn't my goal to put in a good bike time, however I found myself dodging along pretty easily and I ended up plucking away and overtaking quite a number of riders which was good. There was a girl called Leslie who I played tag-team with, I would overtake her, then she would overtake me - it was quite fun. At one stage when I overtook her she asked why I didn't get down on my tri-bars. Good question, I thought, maybe I'll give them another go. So, I got on them and was really uncomfortable through my shoulders and could only give them a few minutes at a time. The wind picked up the further we got down the road; I found myself going down gears the further I went! At times I was having to lean the bike into the wind to try and stop the bike being blown across the road. Average speed on the way back started out at around 28, then quickly dropped to 26 then dropped progressively down to 23kph (19kph if I stretched!).
And then, I spotted the silos! Leslie was beside me overtaking me and I pointed them out to her and we both rejoiced! It was great coming into town, I knew that I wasn't fried and I was feeling ok.
I manged to get in front of Leslie just prior to transition and I started to get ready for my run. I took my bike nicks off, put some more sunscreen on and grabbed my insulated drink bottle from my sandwich esky, a bag of jelly beans on with the shoes and socks and away I went.
I settled into the run quite well. It wasn't very hot at all. The heat that I had been training in with my lunchtime runs was much harsher than this. I knew I was going to be out there for 2 hours though, so I wasn't going to be too cocky about it knowing that it can turn very quickly. Having the drink bottle was great. I'm used to running whilst holding a drink bottle and it meant that I could just sip on the water and not stop at the aid stations. Once I went through my water I got them to put ice and water in my drink bottle which was great. I could squirt icy cold water over my head and the back of my neck to cool me down. It worked really well. The 3 lap course had aid stations every 1km or so. Once I finished my jelly beans I started to grab cola through the aid stations which tasted fantastic, even if it was warm. It wasn't flat which for me was ok, I didn't mind that, but I know that a few others weren't as keen.
I treated the run the same as the cycle leg and just kept a nice easy rhythm, I enjoyed the views of the river and the cockatoos in the trees and the other competitors and the volunteers and I found that it was really enjoyable. I wasn't feeling too bad other than something going on with my pinky toe which turned out to be a nasty blister.
Like the cycle leg I found that I was overtaking people in the last lap and still feeling great, so I was more than happy with the result. I will have to check the overall time, it was just over 6 hours. I took just over 44 minutes in the swim, just under 3 hours in the swim, ages in both transitions, so just over 2 hours in the run. More than happy with that! All in all it was a great day, Dad was out there cheering me on, which was great. Dad was on the phone to Craig when I went through from the bike to the run so I gave Dad the thumbs up to let him know all was good.
All in all I consumed 3 bottles of Hi-5 electrolytes on the bike, a bag of jelly beans on the run and about 4 x 1/2 cups of cola on the run.
I had the day off work today so that I can prepare everything for the drive out to Goondiwindi on Saturday.
So, I took the opportunity for a sleep in which was made all the more sweet as it was raining outside. It was quite blissful to lie in bed listening to the rain.
Later on in the day I did the power intervals set, however I didn't run off the bike. Mainly because Craig rang me as I was just finishing them off. Craig is in the States so our opportunity to catch up is few and far between due to the time difference. Seeing as I ran the day before I wasn't too disappointed to skip the run.
I have nothing planned for the Saturday, we will be leaving early and driving out to Goondiwindi aiming to get there around lunchtime. A swim in the river in the afternoon to 'test the waters' and that will be it. Hydrating and eating well in preparation for the race on Sunday.
I ran my normal loop around town at lunchtime. It was hot, which is the idea so that I can prepare for Goondiwindi's Hell of the West triathlon on Sunday. I took a drink bottle with me and managed to drink all of it! It was a 7km run and I was running for just over 40mins. I felt comfortable and I don't seem to be suffering in the heat as much so I am pretty confident that the acclimatisation is working!
This swim was a bit disappointing. Normally we have 3 swimmers in the lane and we all work pretty well together. However, today there were more swimmers as the session was opened up to other members of the squad. I think we had 7 or 8 in our lane and it was one of those sessions where I was either on someone's toes or they were on mine, so it made the session a bit frustrating. I felt as though I was swimming OK, so I did get some quality swimming out of it, but I certainly won't be in a rush to go back and do this set. I will probably do this session at Jindalee pool instead and see how I go there. I lost count of how far we swum, I am guessing we would have covered close to 3km's as it was pretty solid.
Today's plan was to do a 4km swim, followed by a 50km easy ride.
We got to Redcliffe and it was a millpond, it was probably the calmest water I had seen there. However, the water was really warm. I didn't want to risk wearing a wetsuit and dehydrating. A few others wore wetsuits and I am feeling as though I really want to get the practice in it. Brisbane's summer is proving challenging though! I think not wearing a wetsuit was wise as the temperature quickly rose and it ended up being a very hot day with the sun beating down.
I felt comfortable the whole swim. I was relaxed and my stroke felt ok. I wasn't tiring and overall I was really happy with it. It was nice to have done a 4km open water swim.
We then jumped on the bikes to do 2 loops of the coast which is a bout 50kms in total. We rode as a group and the pace was very comfortable. We did a TT effort along a section of it where we all split up and rode hard which was good. It felt good and fast. On the second lap we did a team TT, I was teamed up with Bec and Ali and worked really well together and we managed to catch the group in front of us. Overall it ended up being quite a tough ride, particularly in the heat.
We finished it off with an Australia Day bbq at Karl's place which was great. It was nice to sit around and chat to everyone without gasping for breath!
Due to my dodgy hip flexor I chose a route that was relatively flat. I ran from Kenmore to Tennyson and then back again. I headed out at 4:30am, it was still a little dark, not needing a headlamp dark, but the sun wasn't up yet. As I was running through the bike path to get on to the road it was a bit dingy and even though I am really familiar with the path, etc. I couldn't help wishing that Nattie was running beside me. Nattie, however hasn't turned into much of a summer runner. She would run this run with me a few months ago when I was training for the Gold Coast Half Ironman, but she can't cope with the heat and humidity, so a 30 minute run is about all she can cope with.
I ran comfortably and was feeling as though I could run forever. I had a bottle of electrolytes with me and a power bar. I didn't need the power bar, but I could have done with a bit more electrolytes! It was quite muggy.
I started to feel it in my legs in the last 30minutes or so of the run. I think that I really need to do some strength exercises in my legs as I am not going to get the km's into them.
My hip flexor didn't flare up, I could feel it and would describe it as a niggle rather than anything more, but I am booked into an Osteopath on Friday, so hopefully they can get it sorted for me!
Craig and I did something unprecedented today - we went to the movies! It was great, although the movie was not - "Up in the air", a pretty nothing movie and one best watched on DVD or not at all even though it does have George Clooney in it! The most amazing part of the movie experience is that Craig survived it withough a frozen coke and popcorn. This has not been done before. It was a big day.
So, we had to summon up the motivation after our movie experience to go swimming... A few procrastinations along the way, but we got there in the end.
Craig did an easy 2k's and I did an easy 1.5k's. It was nice, no pressure, no timing, so stress. We were at the Jindalee pool in school holidays and we still managed to share a 50m lane.
This was to be my epic ride. My programme has this as my longest ride leading into Ironman New Zealand and it was supposed to be 6 hours. However, I threw caution to the wind and decided that I really, really wanted to cover 160kms in a long ride prior to heading over to NZ where I would have to ride 180kms. So, I mapped out 160km's which was from Kenmore to Hope Island and then back again.
I was initially going to do this ride solo as a bit of a mental hardening exercise. However, when fellow triathlete and soon to be IM Australia entrant Lisa asked if I wanted company I nearly begged her to come along with me! We made it clear to each other that it was to be a "bum on saddle" ride and we were taking it at a nice comfortable pace.
I headed home from Kenmore at 4:30 and I met Lisa at Active Stride at South Brisbane at 5 and she had her shiny new TT bike that was carbon everything - it is hot, very hot! After some ogling we headed out. The roads were nice and quiet and we settled into a nice relaxed chatty ride. It was great, it was really lovely riding with Lisa as neither of us were out to prove a point, we weren't chasing an average speed and it was just a case of being able to scoot along comfortable and hold a conversation.
The time really flies by when you are able to spend it chatting away! We refuelled our drink bottles at the Mobil at Coomera which was the 75km mark. There were some other cyclists there refuelling too and Lisa knew them which was quite funny. They were riding down the coast and then catching the train home. I wasn't even tempted! I was feeling comfortable and in no need to think about shirking out of the ride.
We rode down to Hope Island and then turned around and headed for home. It always feels better heading for home! Immediately we seemed to have a head wind and I was a little concerned, but not overly as it wasn't too strong and I still had plenty in the tank.
We refuelled at Loganholme on the way back which was the 110km marker and then we continued on towards home. I waved to Mum at Ikea on the way through. I'm not quite sure why she wasn't standing out the front waving to me, but never mind - she probably had some customer's that needed serving! Thankfully, by this stage the wind was no longer on my mind, I think we were pretty lucky with the weather. It was just hot.
We started to hit traffic about here and it certainly does make it just that bit more difficult. Mentally, I find it tough to contend with traffic and traffic lights - the constant start/stop and watching behind you and going around parked cars, etc just takes that extra bit of effort and when I start to get tired it often becomes my undoing! As we came in to Brisbane I still had 15kms to do. Lisa said that she would do the extra k's with me as we should finish the ride together, so we headed out to do a reverse river loop but instead of going out to Indooroopilly Bridge we cut it shorter and just went over the Goodwill Bridge instead. The traffic lights were really starting to irritate me, I just wanted the ride finished and it was hard to finish when we were stuck at traffic lights!
Finally the ride was finished and I had 161.5kms on the clock. I was really glad to be finished, but it was mainly because I was sick of getting every traffic light and having to be stationery in the heat. I felt as though I could have ridden longer without too much trouble, but would have enjoyed it a whole lot more if it was rolling without delays. Thankfully at IM there won't be traffic lights or delays, I can just keep on riding.
Craig had parked the car at South Bank when he went to ride with Gerrad this morning, so I found the car and packed the bike away and changed into my running shoes. Gerrad's car was parked in front of ours and he had just returned from his run. He said that Craig wasn't too far away. I arranged to meet them at the coffee shop after I had finished my run.
I hit the Cliff Young shuffle and headed out towards the Storey Bridge. I turned around at the stairs and headed back to South Brisbane. I felt slow, however it was really hot. I was pretty comfortable though and didn't need to stop running when I returned although I was very grateful to!
A well earned Iced Coffee went down a treat! It was bliss!
My Garmin told me that I burnt just over 4000k/cals. I consumed 9 bottles of Hi-5 4:1 electrolytes and consumed 3 Anzac cookies and part of a Gingerbread man. I also drank 1 bottle of water and 1 bottle of water with a Hi-5 Shotz tablet. I had a chocolate shake after the Iced Coffee and weighed myself when I got home and I had put on 1 kilo since I weighed myself in the morning. Pretty happy with that!
I am very relieved that this ride is done and I can bank the training session. Oh, and ride time was 6hrs 47mins.
The definition of frustrating is getting out of bed at 4:30am to get to the pool to perform a 3.4km swim set to discover that the pool is cut into 25mtr's and there are 4 lanes available to the public. At one point in my 25mtr lane there were 8 people and one of them was water running...
The sad part is I had to choose a slow lane as the set that I was doing had quite a lot of VERY EASY/NO EFFORT laps in it, so I could hardly go in the faster lanes. Then there were sections where I was attempting to do a 200mtr TT and I was dodging everyone and getting caught up - it was hopeless. I was either in someone elses way or someone was in my way!
200mtr TT times were 3:37 and 3:33, however both times I was interrupted by other swimmers. I did this set a week or so ago in the Valley pool with no interruptions and I got 3:19 and 3:24 so it was all a bit hopeless.
To top it off I was fighting cramps in my feet the whole way. I used the pool buoy for the last 1km of the set and I ended up ditching the last 150m of the cool down as the cramps were getting more frequent and harder to shake.
All in all it was not a great session. I will look at going to the Jindalee pool next week instead and hopefully this will help. I taped my feet up prior to this session which I have been doing for the swim sessions as the balls of my feet are getting cut up from kicking off at the ends (I am sensitive!). So, I will try and put the tape on relatively loosely as I'm not sure if that attributed to the cramping or not.
Well, as part of my acclimatisation to the heat that I will be experiencing at Goondiwindi I ventured out into the heat to do a 40min run.
Today in Brisbane the temperature climbed to 33°C. I'm not sure if it was that hot when I was running, but I left work at 12:00 midday, so it would have been close enough. I was armed with a drink bottle full of water and a nuun tablet.
It was slow, very slow. Oddly enough I felt OK in the heat, I was drinking regularly and I was sweating, but I wasn't too uncomfortable. Maybe this means that I am acclimatising, let's hope so!
However the thing that has got me a bit down is my pace. I am so slow. I know that I am not doing speed work for fear of injuring myself and I can accept that I am going to be slow. But it just got me a bit down today.
I have a new gadget - it is a Garmin FR60W and it has a foot pod. I mainly wanted it so that I could have a garmin HR monitor that matched in with my bike computer and which I could also use in the race that would give me HR in the run too. I can swim in it and it will run a stopwatch over 17hours (my Ironman cutoff). This achieves all that as well as giving me my pace. Now, I haven't calibrated it just yet, but from experience they don't ever seem to be too far off. I was running between 6min 30 to 7min pace. Just so slow. So, then I calculate how that equates to running a marathon and as you can imagine it's not really a thought worth dwelling on! I am prepared to be out there a long time and I know that I need to prepare mentally as I AM going to be out there a long time. I just need to somehow get over it and move on. I'm not going to get magically quicker between now and race day so it is what it is.
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