Today marks the start of our 20week Ironman campaign!

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.

Let the fun begin...

We're in Taupo!

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. 

last training in AUS!!!

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...

Wish me luck.

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.

70min easy flat ride - Yay for taper week!!!

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!

A great ride with friends

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. 

Power Intervals

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.

Power Intervals

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!

Friday Coffee ride!

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.

Stupid blister!

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.

Hopefully, I will be able to run tomorrow...

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!