Goondiwindi's Hell of the West

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.

Power Intervals

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.

Lunchtime run

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!

Thursday BTS squad swim

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.

Australia Day brick session

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!

1hour 50min long run

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!

Easy recovery swim

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.

Long ride/run = 11 bottles of fluid!!!

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.

Definition of frustrating...

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.

Sunny lunchtime run

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.

Sigh.

BTS Swim set

This morning was the BTS Ironman swim set.

Tim took the session and it was a really good solid session.  I really enjoyed it.

It was 28 x 100's as follows:

1 x 100m freestyle on the 2mins
1 x 25m scull, 25m free, 25m scull, 25m free on the 2mins 30secs
1 x 100m freestyle on the 2mins
1 x 25m one arm drill, 25m free, 25m one arm drill, 25m free,on the 2mins 30secs

Repeat 7 times.

Tim got us to change the one arm drill to fingertip drill 2/3rds the way through.

I felt comfortable in the water and I felt as though I could go faster if I had to at any time.  All in all I am happy enough with how my swimming is coming along.  No, I'm not going to do a fast time at Ironman NZ, however I am pretty sure that I will come out feeling nice and comfortable and that's my main objective at this point in time.

The dreaded TT bike!

Today's session was a crit session;

30mins easy warmup
30mins HARD time trial
30mins easy cool down.

Now, Craig picked up his sexy Ridley Dean TT bike last Friday, so this was to be it's debut.  Craig was rearing to go and I was wondering if it was going to make a huge difference to his speed.

Well, the question was answered!  We started the TT and I was in front waiting to be passed by either Craig or Richard, however it took half a lap or so for Craig to come around me and I immediately pounced on his rear wheel.  I was working HARD to stay on to him.  There were a few moments through the corners where I moved off his wheel and I could feel the extra resistance, so I sunk back behind his wheel again.  I managed to stay like this for a couple of laps before I started to get a bit cocky and I moved out from behind his wheel to see if I could overtake on the straight.  This was not a good move!  There was a headwind and it was as if I had let a wrapper out of the car window - I just flew backwards!  I took it up a notch to try and get back onto his wheel, but after half a lap of trying I had to throw up the white flag and settle into something that would get me through 30 minutes without passing out!

I settled into a good rhythm of hard cycling when Rich overtook me as though I was standing still, so I put in another gut busting effort and managed to get onto his back wheel.  Once again, my heart was thumping!  I even managed to get in front of Richard a couple of times for some very brief moments before he regained the lead.  I think this ensured that we both worked hard! 

After the 30minutes I had cycled 18.28km's.  36.5kms/hour is not too shabby for me!  This is slightly quicker than the last time I did a 30min TT and thankfully Craig's was about 2kms/hour quicker than his last time trial so it shows that I had reason to be bursting my lungs trying to stick with him and it also demonstrates the advantages of a TT bike!  I can understand the benefits, however I am not ready for a TT bike when I don't even really like getting down on my aero bars.

Craig is in love...  I'm not sure I am still number one!

Trent's Monday swim session

It was a good solid session.  Boiling hot - 38 degrees!!!

We did a warmup of around 500mtrs doing 150swim 3 x 50m any stroke and then we were into the main set:

1km time trial which I did in 18mins 28secs.  This was in the Valley pool as a 50m pool

This was followed by some drills and a warmdown.

All up around 2km or just shy of it.

I was quite happy with the TT, I don't know if I have done a 1km TT previously, but I felt comfortable the whole way.  I probably could have gone a bit harder at the start as I felt as though I finished it stronger so this is a good sign of my swim fitness.  I was swimming it long and strong and I think this is the key for me.

90min hilly run - phew

After a 15min warmup I tackled our hilly Kenmore loop.  To say I was fatigued from the ride 5.5hour ride yesterday was a major understatement!  I was shagged...  There is a bit that is a bit of a slope and it normally doesn't bother me but I found it really tough and then when I got to the steeper bit I shuffled up there at snails pace doing everything within my willpower to not walk.  It was not pretty.

However, I did manage to get around twice and I didn't walk except for 3 steps when I had a stitch which wouldn't budge. 

It was one of those sessions where I was definitely going through the motions to get it completed.

It's nice to have gotten through and toughed out a session like that on very fatigued legs. 

My hip flexor was sore before the long ride yesterday, then after climbing Nebo and Settlement Road and Samford it was quite sore.  After today's run it was bothering me a lot.

I attempted to do my 30min run in the afternoon, but once I found myself limping after only a couple of minutes it turned into a brisk walk instead.  So, it was a 30min walk and a good stretch instead of the run.  Disappointing, but I think it was the right decision.

The dreaded long ride

I am normally worked up about long rides, however this one was so much worse.  I think my main problem was that it was to be a 5 1/2 hour ride starting with a a ride up Mt Nebo!  It was getting to the point where I was seriously psyching myself out.

I don't excel at hills (a bit of an understatement!), so I was worried that I was going to blow myself up and not be able to complete the ride.  Also, I was worried about riding with Jacque and Faye (who ended up riding with the guys anyway) who are mountain goats reincarnated as human triathletes!  Also, as if I didn't have enough to worry about we were going to Strathpine friday night to organise bike fit ups and a minor fix on my bike, so I was worried about dinner and hydration and the time I was going to get to bed...  All this worry... breeds worry!

I was riding home from 4:30am to meet Jacque at The Gap Coffee Club just after 5am, so I was awake at 3:20am - 10mins before the alarm! I was very worked up and nervous as I got all of my bits and pieces organised, however I was out the door at 4:30am. 

I rode up the steep bit towards Mt Cootha and I met some cyclists coming down the front side and as they rode past me I said good morning to them and asked how they were going and one of them replied that he had done 1 Cootha lap and had 1 to go, so i said "nice", all the while thinking wow, that sounds great - here I am 30mins into a 5hr 30min ride! 

Met Jac on Waterworks Road and we headed up to Mt Nebo.  I made it very clear that I am riding it at my own pace and that's what I did.  I expected that Jacque would head up to Nebo and then come back down and meet me, however we ended up riding up the mountain together chatting.  Jacque let me ride at my own pace either behind me or beside me and we managed to catch up with each other and it was really lovely.  It was the first time that I have ridden up there and been in a position to talk (although at times it was a bit strained!).  Also, Nebo arrives really quickly when the ride is enjoyed with banter! 

We turned around at Nebo village and headed down the same direction, then over Settlement Road, out towards Samford where we refilled and then on to Dayboro and then we turned around for home.  The rest of the ride continued in the same relaxed fashion where we were able to talk and catch up.  It's amazing the topics you can cover in a sub 5 hour ride!

We ended up being back a bit earlier than what we had intended (I was timekeeper - I am a timekeeper failure!).  So we rode back down Samford Road to Jacque's place and then up to Waterworks Road to The Coffee Club at The Gap (Jac turned earlier and rode back home).  I arrived to the car that Craig had parked there at pretty much the exact time that Craig, Gerrad, Faye and Vanessa finished.  A quick (OK, shuffle) run off the bike for 10mins as I was out of fluids and the session was done. 

Oh, what a relief.  I spent the day sighing with relief... 

It's funny - the sessions that you dread sometimes end up being the most enjoyable.

Friday Coffee ride!

Ahhh, the coffee ride.  This is my sanity.

It was nice this morning with 6 of us taking in the sights of Brisbane at the best time of the day.

I rode from home with Muffy and then we all assembled at West End.  The guys and girls all left at the same time and the way it ended up the guys were at the back of our group.  We got every traffic light which is really frustrating.  Once onto Coronation drive I was expecting the guys to overtake us, but they waited until we got to St Lucia!  We re-assembled with the guys and Faye out front and the girls made up the second more leisurely chatty group - far more civilised!

It was a lovely ride.  Finished it off at Alberto's with a massive Iced Coffee and honey toast and then had the luxury of Craig dropping me in to work because he had driven in to do a run with Sarah instead of the ride.

Great start to the day!

Lunchtime run

I have registered for Goondiwindi's Hell of the West triathlon so I need to acclimatise to running in the heat.

Today was a good day for that - 30 degrees with not much humidity.  I ran the 7km loop from Central Station down Ann Street to the river, towards the Botanical Gardens, over the Goodwill Bridge, over the Storey Bridge and then finish at Riverside Centre for a stretch.

I felt good, I ran in the shade where I could find it as I don't need any additional sun and I felt good.  I was sweating and it was hot, but I was comfortable.  I carried a drink bottle and sipped water when I needed it.  I finished feeling stronger than I started and I felt as though I could have kept running.  In saying that I am starting to overthink how long a marathon is and as I was finishing my run I did some mental calculations and divided a marathon into the 7km loop I did and it didn't come out very well!  When I finished my run I said to myself  "I would have to do that ANOTHER 5 times!!"  7kms is not insubstantial, so 42.2kms is a really, really long way.

I think to get over my fear of this distance I am going to think the word "now".  What do I need to do now?  Enjoy the moment now!  Only worry about now!  I am trying to treat my training like that too.  I haven't been thinking too far ahead on what is in store and I find that it really helps because if I looked at the whole programme I would down tools and get into my sloth position on the couch never to see the outside world again.

Mostly, however I am feeling fitter and stronger (and more tired of course!).  I am still an Athena, but my body shape is changing.  I see glimpses of muscles poking through that weren't there before.

I am also being very careful to not demoralise myself by running and riding with people that are going to completely annihaliate me - I just don't need that!  I feel as though I will get through the distance; no - I don't think it is going to be a great time (I certainly won't be qualifiying for Kona!) however I certainly hope that I am not the last one through that Mike calls out before the end of the night. I am quietly confident that if I trudge through at my own pace I will get there in the end, with hopefully a little time up my sleeve.

What more could I ask for.

Thursday BTS squad swim

This morning was a great session even though I struggled to get out of bed.  I made the mistake of setting the alarm 20mins earlier than when I really needed to get up so I reset it went back to sleep and then got re-woken up!  I should never do this! 

However, once I was at the pool I had just about recovered!  The set was taken by Tim O and we did the following:

4 x
200m free 20secs rest
300m pull 30secs rest
200m pull/paddles (I skipped the paddles) 20 secs rest

200m cool down choice

3kms all up.

I felt ok in the water and was hanging on to Faye and Penny in the free, but as soon as we put on pull buoys I was spat out the back.  I compensated by not taking the breaks, although I did get lapped a few times by them.  I would catch them up again when they stopped for a break and then I would continue on trying to chase them down and avoid being lapped the next time!

It made for a nice solid set and I was careful to keep it aerobic rather than chase too hard.

Drove home from the Valley pool and had time for coffee and breakfast with Craig before heading in to work - all very civilised.

Crit Session

Today was another TT effort.

30min waarmup
20min HARD TT effort
30min cool down

Craig and I arrived at Nundah Crit track at 5:30 and the track was buzzing with cyclists - it is certainly different cycling there on a Wednesday than it is to cycling there on a Monday!

Sarah and Alicia were just setting up so we rolled around for 10minutes with them warming up before Faye got there from riding in and we continued chatting and catching up - very civilised.  When time was called to do the TT Craig took off and I jumped on him - I wasn't going to let his back wheel out of my sight!

So, we ended up doing the TT together; there were times where I was off his wheel and into the wind, there were times where I was in front of him, but mostly I was just clinging on to his back wheel.  Craig had 30mins to do and I only had 20mins.  I couldn't have held that pace for the 30mins.

Ended up cycling 12.5kms which doesn't sound that far, but the average was 37.5kms/hr, so that is great going seeing as it was 35kms/hour on the last TT (but that was over 30mins not 20mins).  There was bugger all wind which made things easier and of course there was Craig's back wheel!

More importantly - Sarah, Craig and I had a good catch up over coffee which was the highlight!

Trent's Monday swim session

I was very motivated to attend Trent's swim session as this means that I can have a guilt free Tuesday off!

Did I mention that Tuesday is my rest day!  Yippee!!!

I had to be on the 11:52 train to make it in time.  11:30 - Changed into swim gear.  11:35 - organised towel, cap, goggles, toiletries.  11:45 left to catch train.  Forgot wallet - raced back to grab wallet.  11:48 left to catch train.  11:52 - got to platform 4 to watch the doors shut in front of me on the train heading to the valley.  :-(   How does this happen!  I was so organised (or so I thought).  It was about this time that I realised that I was wearing one black shoe and one brown shoe!  Aaaargh!!!!  I wonder if anyone will notice?  All of a sudden I am very self conscious.

I was feeling a bit of a sugar low, had 7 minutes for the next train, so I went up to McDonalds to get a juice.  I don't frequent Macca's very often.  Being vegetarian meanst that the options are not great and the smell is hideous.  On their menu board they have a 250ml juice, so I requested that.  Well, that caused some confusion - has noone ever ordered a juice at McDonald's before?  I couldn't see a drink fridge so I couldn't even point to what I wanted, I could only point to the board.  Eventually the guy behind the counter asked another guy and I got a Nudie juice - cool!  Strawberry, Apple and a few other bits and pieces.  I checked the use by date and it was all good and it tasted beautiful!  Really hit the spot and I had some energy for the session ahead.

I apologised to Trent - I ended up being about 10mins late.  They were still doing the warmup which was 100's consisting of 75free, 25 choice so I jumped in and joined them.  I chose breaststroke of course!

The following set was 200m: 25m sculling, 25m free.

Main set: 7 x 200m on 4:10 with pull buoy.

Cool down was 200m 25m one arm drill, 25m swim.

So, it was a good solid session.  I felt like I was swimming OK.  Trent wanted to see us do the 200's with a consistent time which he said means that we need to put in an extra 10% effort on the second 100.  Trent told me to turn my arms over a bit quicker in the last 100m so I worked on that.  Not quite sure I achieved it but I will work on it in the future.

20 x Power Intervals!

Wind trainer session with Faye.  It is certainly nice to have company, particularly on a wind trainer.

The session was a 20min warmup, 20 x power intervals - 1min HARD resistance 40-50 cadence, 1min EASY, followed by a 15min moderate run, 10min cool down on the bike.

After our warmup we were into it - the intervals are good - 1min is tough, but achievable.  I found that about halfway through I was able to make the resitance a notch harder, and then a few more intervals I was able to make it another notch harder.  I am pleased that I am making it harder rather than having to lessen off the resistance because I can't hold the cadence!  So, I guess that indicates that I am gaining strength.  Maybe after warming up??  The resistance is at about 90% and I am in the hardest gear so I am pretty pleased with that.

Next Monday will be Cootha as I really think that it is so beneficial physically and mentally.

The run felt good - I concentrated on keeping my cadence high and I was running quite comfortably.  It was moderate but OK.

Our cool down was nice, we pedalled around and had a nice chat whilst watching the news on the TV.  The satisfaction of having done a good solid session is a great feeling. 

Sunday Long ride

Today was a 3 hour ride.  Ordinarily this would seem like a long ride to me, however after doing rides of over 5 hours has changed my perspective!

I was looking forward to doing an easy 3 hour ride.  We met at Newmarket and there were 7 of us that headed out to Petrie, Scarborough, Redcliffe, Sandgate and home again.

It was a nice ride and I was in my big chaing ring for many of the hills that I remember struggling up only a couple of short years ago.  So, that was rewarding.

The pace was on as Faye and Sophie hit the front and powered away.  I hung on to the back of them fairly comfortably, but once I was on the front for any length of time keeping pace with Faye was just plain hard work!  So, I was happy to tuck away and sit behind.

We did just under 90km's so it was a good solid pace.  There were heaps of cyclists out and about, there seemed to be more cyclists than cars.

It was boiling hot and I ended up drinking 3 bottles of electrolytes, 1 bottle of water and eating an anzac cookie.  I could have probably done with another drink bottle as I was quite thirsty when we finished and drank more than a drink bottle of water in a short time after the ride.

The best part was that we all had coffee and breakfast at Newmarket afterwards - there is nothing quite so rewarding as a great breakfast after a good ride!  Poached eggs on toast - yum!

I came home and jumped in the pool to cool down and then the temptation to float around the pool in the lilo overcame me.  Craig took a photo:

Nattie in the background working out how she can join me!

60min run

Well, the down side of having a sleep in and relaxing around the house in the morning is that I have to do an afternoon run.

When we swam at 10am this morning the heat was on.  I applied sunscreen but I am still burnt - it was really a burning sun and the temp was up.  It would have been in the 30's.  So, of course in the afternoon it was still hot...  So, I waited until 4:30pm and headed out then.

It was still warm, but not overly unpleasant, I took a bottle of water with a nuun tablet in it just to make sure I didn't dehydrate too much.  I ran through the Cubberla Creek reserve which Craig discovered a couple of weeks ago.  There is a whole heap of trails through there and it is really lovely.  There is a creek with stepping stones and it is really pretty.  So, discovering new trails certainly made the run a whole lot more pleasant. Also, it is relatively flat which is nice seeing as this was supposed to be an easy run.

I left the trails and ran to the end of the grass fields of Cubberla Creek reserve and then ran up to the Fig Tree Pocket state school and then ran straight back without going through the trails on the way home.  It ended up being just over an hour.

Got home and stretched and then jumped in the pool to waist high for a while to get the heat out of my legs.  I then applied some Zen linament and put my Skins on.  I am hoping that this will all amount to a great recovery as I have been getting a few little shin niggles and ankle niggles.

Swim set

I had a sleep in this morning - how civilised.  I managed to potter about the house and read the paper over a leisurely breakfast - it was lovely.

I had arranged to meet Faye at the pool at 10.  Our swim set was as follows:

12 x 50m 15secs rest (easy, medium, fast, all out)
12 x 50m as: 15m all out, 10m easy, 25m very, very easy
200m ALL OUT
12 x 50m as: 15m all out, 10m easy, 25m very, very easy
200m ALL OUT
2 x 400m with paddles/pb 40secs rest
200m cool down with paddles/pb

3.6km's all up.  This session was good.  We were at the Valley pool where it is currently split into 25mtrs and my 200m times were 3:19 and 3:24.

The good news  - the last time I did this TT at the Valley pool when it was split in two was December 3 and my best time was 3mins 34secs.  So, I am thrilled with this.  I'll take a 15sec improvement! 

My initial goal was to get them consistently under 3mins 30secs, so I won't reset my goal just yet, but I will reasses it the next time I swim the TT at Jindalee 50m pool and this will be a good way to see where I am at and maybe set a new goal!

Swimming

Today's swim set was 15 x 100m's easy with 15secs break - noice!!!

Alicia joined me from work - it was her first swim in a while so we both just cruised up and down the pool. 

I did 4 x 100m freestyle, 1 x 100m breastroke, 3 x 100m freestyle, 1 x 100m breaststroke, 3 x 100m freestyle, 1 x 100m breastroke, 2 x 100m freestyle and then 1 x 100m kick.

If you add this up it is actually 16 x 100m's, it was all really cruisy with a break after each 100m.  It was really enjoyable.

In the back of my mind I know that recovery week is not going to last forever and I have a nagging thought that I'm going to really struggle with the training workload that is about to come my way, but for now - I'm taking this.

Friday Coffee ride!

I was very much looking forward to this ride.

Seeing as it is recovery week and I didn't take my clothes in to work on the Thursday I decided to drive in to West End rather than ride in.  Also, given I have been a bit off the past few days I justified it in my own head!

There was a good number - I think there were 8 in the second group and we cruised around quite nicely.  We did have one altercation with Nicole having to explain to a German driver that in Australia we are actually allowed to drive on the roads!  Scary seeing as he had tried to swerve her off the road.  Anyway, he is now informed on the ways of cycling in Australia!  ;-)

Afterwards it was a castrophe - Alberto's was shut!  Ye Gods!!!  So, we headed up to the Garage and joined up with some people that we knew that ran with Pat Carroll Running Group and with Sarah, Megan and Alicia that did their run training, so it was good to catch up with everyone.

I felt good throughout this ride, I feel as though whatever has been bugging me for the last few days is finally going away.  I could breathe OK and I didn't feel as though I was running on empty.  Thank goodness!

Lunchtime run

Struggle street...

It was not overly hot, it was maybe high 20's with high humidity but those conditions weren't extreme.  I was well hydrated, but I really struggled to get my breath and seemed to be running as though I was an unfit person starting out.  I thought initially that maybe it was because I wasn't warmed up, but I really didn't get out of struggle street the whole run.  I ended up walking halfway through for 30secs to try and get my breath.  When this didn't seem to make any difference I just trudged on doing a shuffle and wondering if I was ever going to get out of first gear (no I didn't).

Not quite sure what is going on, but I know that I'm not myself and am really thankful that it is recovery week.  I am driving in to our Friday coffee ride instead of riding in and I will take it easy on the weekend.  Hopefully a couple of easy days and I will be back to feeling OK.  

I might even contemplate eating healthy....

Thursday squad swim

Brisbane Triathlon Squad (BTS) have been running an Ironman swim squad on a Thursday morning and it fits in perfectly with my schedule.

Because I have registered for Hell of the West triathlon I want to start doing some of my runs at lunchtime to get acclimatised to the heat, so I have swapped my run around with my swim.

The swim set was good - nice and long.  It consisted of:

300m warmup
10 x 100m on 2mins
straight in to 300m pull buoy
8 x 100m on 2:05
straight in to 300m pull buoy
300 cool down

I found the session quite solid.  I was getting about 10secs rest on the 100's however I was working pretty hard to get that. 

I struggled today with my breathing.  I haven't been feeling on top of my game the last few days.  I am kind of glad that it is recovery week.  I feel as though my heart seems to be beating faster than what it should when doing slow aerobic things.  My resting HR is 49 and this hasn't changed, so I am not too concerned, but I will try and dig up my HR monitor so that I can keep an eye on it.

Most importantly, it was Faye's birthday today so we all went to the coffee shop and celebrated with breakfast - it was good to hang out with the other IM guys and talk rubbish.

Wednesday - 60min easy spin

How nice is that!

I can't remember the last time I got on my bike and only rode for 60mins.  It was bliss, I slept in, leisurely hit the bikeway into town and then turned around.  It was so civilised.  I didn't take electrolytes, I even forgot my phone.  It felt great to not have to think about hydration, nutrition, water bottle and food logistics, blah, blah, blah!

I felt like I could re-use my clothes!  (I won't - of course!).

I love recovery week!

New Monday session

This morning session was power intervals.  Wind trainer session with a 20min warmup followed by 20 x 1min power intervals with a really hard gear pushing a cadence of 40-50 with a 1min rest (very easy) in between, followed by a 15min fast run off the bike and a 10min cool down.
I had the company of Faye which was wonderful, it certainly makes sessions go a whole lot faster when there is the distraction of good company.  We managed to chat through most of it, although I was on the treadmill while Faye was water running which put a stop to the banter!

The session was quite good; I didn't pull up as sore as doing Cootha, but I'm pretty sure that I didn't work as hard as doing Cootha reps either. 

This week is a recovery week which I didn't think I needed on the weekend, but now I'm not so sure.   It may be the combination of being back to work after having 4 days off may be the culprit or it may be the accumulation of the weekends 7hrs training.  Either way, I am going to enjoy 'recovery week'! 

Long run, swim, shorter run

Today's day started off with my long run which was a 15min warmup, 50min hilly run, 15min cool down. 

I concentrated on my cadence on this run and I found that it made the run go quite quick having something to focus on and play around with.  I am aiming for a cadence of 96.  My normal "Cliff Young shuffle" cadence is around 80.  I found that if I concentrated I could achieve a cadence of 96 if it was on a slight descent.  I was in the low 90's on the flat terrain if I focused on my cadence and it would drop back a little on the hills.  I want to get to the point where I can run in this cadence effortlessly on the flats with a fairly low heart rate and this will be my new focus on all runs. 

I actually felt as though I had a bit of potential to improve!  I felt as though given enough focus I could achieve this and be comfortable running like that and that it would improve my overall times.  It certainly needs a lot of work but I'll see where it leads me.

My post run recovery was great.  I wasn't rushed so I had a good stretching session followed by the rest of my electrolytes as it was really hot and then I headed to the pool with a milo.  I then had a shower and put some skins on and tucked into some weet-bix with a coffee whilst reading the paper.  Ahhh, I've just described the perfect start to the day!

Craig was meeting some friends to ride down to Lake Hugh Muntz where I was meeting some friends to do an open water swim so after breakfast Rachel and I headed down to meet Craig.  When Craig got to LHM he did a 40min run off the bike and Rachel jumped on her bike and rode around with him.  We followed this up with a trip to the cafe for some toasted banana bread dripping with butter with some yoghurt and honey and I washed it down with an iced coffee - the day is getting better!

We headed home and I had arranged to meet Alicia (who I had just swum with) and Bec (recently returned from Vegas) at Cootha for a 30min run.  By the time we got home I only had 40mins before it was time to head out again!  Alicia and Bec were both raring to go and we did a reverse Bardon loop as it had rained and I didn't want to wreak my new shoes doing trails.  The Bardon loop was a good run, it wasn't exactly easy which is what my programme specified but it was nice.  I think Bec found it particularly easy as she was doing most of the talking!  Not quite sure how to talk uphill yet; when I try it just comes out as garbled gasps - something I should practice maybe?

It was great to hear about Bec's trip to Vegas and we stood around afterwards and stretched and chatted.  It certainly makes it easier arranging to meet friends and go for a run.

All in all it was quite a big weekend.  Just trying to think of how I can explain what I got up to on the weekend if anyone asks at work; 5 hr ride, 1hr 20min run, open water swim, 30min run - that pretty much consumed up the whole weekend and it is only going to get worse from here on in!  Gulp.

Sunday Long ride

I had a restless night's sleep leading into this one.

There was a group of us all heading out from Jacque G's place at Ashgrove to do an out and back Samford, Dayboro, Mt Mee, Petrie and then straight home bypassing Mt Mee on the way home.  This was to be my longest ride ever accomplished and I was a bit nervous about the pace as I  know that I was the weakest rider, hence my restless night's sleep!

There was Jacque G, Sophie, Sarah, Alicia and myself as well as Tim, Kyle and Brad, however the guys rode together and the girls rode together.  Alicia is training hard for the Geelong Half Ironman and didn't need to do a 5 hour ride so she rode with us out to Dayboro and then bravely rode home on her own. 

The forecast was for showers and I was expecting a wet ride however the sun shone brightly the whole ride.  It had rained overnight so some of the roads were still wet but it turned out to be a much hotter ride than any of us were expecting.

I felt OK throughout the ride, although I did feel pretty slow, maybe it's all the christmas fare churning through my system.  I held the girls up a little, but we regrouped at different places along the way which was good.   I had a lot of discomfort with my hands and wrists as well as a little pain in my toe which I thought was a rock but no rock to be found!  Oddly enough, my bum was fine!  Maybe all the other niggles took away any seat/saddle soreness.

It was quite a hilly ride and unfortunately I didn't make it all the way to the intersection of Mt Mee as once the girls started descending I turned around as I didn't want to hold them up. 

All in all I rode 128km's in just over 5 hours consuming 5 bottles of Hi-5 4:1 electrolytes, 2 anzac cookies and 2 vegemite sandwiches.  When I finished I drank 2 big glasses of water, a can of coke, some watermelon, half a toasted muffin with avocado, a fun size snickers bar and an Up and Go.  When I weighed myself when I got home I was 1 kilo lighter than what I was prior to when I headed out.  Oh boy!!!  This equates to about 1 litre of fluid loss, so even though I drank heaps it wasn't enough.  I probably should have aimed for 7 bottles of electrolytes on this ride in the heat that we had.  My new goal is to consume a drink bottle of electolytes every 45minutes on a long ride.

Happy New Years Day!!!

We had a lovely New Years evening with some friends at our place as well as our niece Kirsty and Craig's daughter Rachel (Blake ditched us as he is too cool to hang our with the olds on NYE!) It was a great night; we sat arond talking triathlon boring Kirsty and Rachel and then our friends left us to endure our marathon session to midnight! We had a swim in the pool and had a lot of junk food to keep us awake and we all managed to make it until midnight which was great.  I think we were all in bed before the fireworks had finished showing on the TV!  Such party animals.

So, needless to say a leisurely sleep in was had by all.  It was bliss.

Eventually when we did get up Kirsty, Rachel, Craig and I all headed out on the bikes down to Jindalee Pool so that Craig and I could do our swim set and the girls could have a swim.

The swim set was a new format;

12 x 50m w/u as 3x easy/mod/fast/all out (10secs rest),
12 x 50m: 1st 15m off the wall ALL OUT / 10m VERY EASY float, walk back or VERY VERY  easy 25m float back (ZERO effort), immediately into next one, after 12th one,
200m ALL OUT, 4min rest,
12 x 50m: 1st 15m off the wall ALL OUT / 10m VERY EASY float, walk back or VERY VERY  easy 25m float back (ZERO effort), immediately into next one, after 12th one,
200m ALL OUT, 4min rest,
2 x 400m easy with paddle/pb with 40secs rest,
200m easy pull/paddle cd

I really liked this session, I think it was because there were lots of breaks!  Even though it was intense it was good. 

The 200mtrs were done on 3:35, then 3:31, so this is an improvement on my previous efforts by 9 secs for the 2nd one.  The key for me I think is to try and swim stronger, not necessarily faster. 

Even though the set says pb/paddles I didn't use them except on the 2nd 400m easy and that was the only time where my shoulder started to hurt so I will continue to do the swim sets with no pb/paddles certainly until I can be pain free with a pb.

It was lovely at the pool, Craig's set was longer so I lolled around with the girls and just relaxed and enjoyed it thinking to myself that this Ironman caper's not as bad as everyone makes out! 

Watch this space!!!