4hour ride - 30min run... Taper, what taper!!!

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

Combined bike/run

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.

Swim/Bike brick session

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!

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!

41/2 hr ride and 30min run

The weather looked to be continuing with steady rain.

I opted to do this session on the wind trainer and figured that this will be a great mental toughening session. 

Seeing as it was a long ride and effectively meant to be easy I didn't want to overdo it on the wind trainer, but I didn't want to bludge either.  So, I set a few ground rules; 90 cadence, min 120bpm not exceeding 140 and then when an ad break came on the TV I would change to a harder gear and pedal at 60 cadence for 2 minutes plus rounding up the current minute just to make it easier to manage seeing as my garmin stops showing seconds once it clicks over the hour!

I was set up with my drink bottles all made up, my vegemite sandwiches, my towel, tissues, remote for the TV - I was good to go!

I started off really well; watching CNS news and then 7 news and then Sunrise....  It was at about the 1hr 45min mark that something snapped and I realised that this was going to be a really, really tough session!!!  I started bargaining with myself and coming up with all sorts of things to get me to the next ad break.  Eventually at the 2hr 20min mark my bargainaing and self talk was driving me insane and I was losing the battle.  I had almost talked myself into doing a long ride on Thursday instead!

It was at this point that I thought - bugger it!  I have just over 2 hours to continue riding and I will do it outside - surely that has to be better!  So, I tried to make it a fast transition and a short time later I was riding up my street with the wind in my hair and no rain!  Why on earth would I choose a wind trainer session over this?

I felt like a puppy that had been let out of its cage!  As I was pulling up to cross Moggill Road, I noticed the dark skies above and felt the first light sprinkle.  It was then that I realised that this was going to be a wet ride.  I didn't even mind...

Seconds later the heavens opened up and it stayed like that until I was 10mins from home at the end of my ride!  The rain was stinging my face, I could stay completely hydrated by just sticking out my tongue!  There were very few cyclists and cars out and about which made it a little eerie seeing as I rode around the river loop where there are generally many, many cyclists.

When I got home I was drenched and dripping, so I dried off my feet and put on some dry socks (my new favourite accessory) and picked up the dog and we headed out for a 30min run.  The run was slow, but I felt OK and by this stage the rain had stopped and other than it being quite muggy which I think affected Nattie it was a great run.

It was nice to have this session ticked off and I am pleased that I didn't throw in the towel on the wind trainer!  I have a renewed respect for anyone who can ride on a wind trainer on their own for any length of time....  Maybe my mental toughness needs a bit of work!

Spin Class and 30min run on treadmill

Tonight we did a spin class and Suzanne took it. It was a pretty solid session where we had to hold 80% wattage with different cadences. I held my wattage around 180-200watts. Our efforts were 4mins on 2mins off. I think we did around 8 of these with varying cadences.

After the spin Jacque and I hit the treadmills, we both ran for 30 minutes. I found it a tough run, but it was good to use the treadmills and keep the pressure to our legs to a minimum.