Lake Taupo swim

Craig, Faye and I decided that it would be a good idea to get our body clocks used to race day morning so we had an early night and set the alarm for 4am (trying not to think that this is actually 1am Brisbane time!).

We got up and had a cup of coffee and sat around watching to worst television ever whiling away the time until we were due to go for a swim at 7am.  We wanted to experience the Lake at the time we would be swimming it on race day. 

Dad drove us down to the lake and we got out of the car and thought that we were going to turn into ice statues!  It was freezing.  We got into our wetsuits in stages so that we didn't freeze to death and then we procrastinated a little before dipping our toes into the water.  It actually wasn't too bad!

I was wearing Muffy's neoprene cap on my head for warmth.  We decided to swim to a buoy a little way out and then regroup.  I was really worried as I didn't have my contacts in so my eyesight was not good.  Craig said he would keep an eye on me and make sure I didn't get lost!  The water was lovely, it was very clear and deep and the temperature wasn't anywhere near as bad as I imagined.  I think the temperature was around 19degrees celcius.

Craig and I got to the buoy in one piece and we looked around and couldn't see Faye.  We wondered if perhaps she went to a different buoy so we started to swim towards a different buoy.  This is where it got a bit scary...  We were flying over to the other buoy in a strong current, we could see that nobody was at the buoy so we decided to go in to shore and see if Faye was back there.  I could see from the bottom of the lake that I was not making any progress getting back into shore, I was being swept into the outlet.  Craig was not far from me - he yelled out to me to start swimming across the sweep and then in to shore so we both did that and got there eventually, but it was a really tough swim.  I must admit that I was not expecting such a strong current in a lake. 

Faye was not at the shore and I was really worried that she had been swept into the inlet!  I called out to Dad and he helped us try and find her.  After much worrying and looking around Faye emerged from the water not long after our panic looking fresh as a daisy and all in one piece - phew!  Faye had swum to the first buoy and then kept swimming up the swim course thinking that we were up there.  She waited for a while for us before deciding to head back in.  So we were all reunited and we didn't lose anyone thank goodness!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and commencing our carbo loading!

We are on our way to Taupo!

Our Ironman journey began with us loading all of our gear into a Maxicab to go to the airport.  2 bike bags, 1 massive suitcase, 1 massive duffel bag, 2 carry on bags and we were on our way after forking over $205 excess baggage talked down from nearly $400...  Yikes!

I must say travelling with all that luggage is not fun, even when you have a strong husband who takes all the heavy and bulky stuff!

Craig and I met up with Faye at the airport and we travelled across the ditch on the same plane.  We found our accommodation in Auckland without too much hassle other than playing 3D tetris with our luggage inside a cab!

We left to find a place where we could get our swim set done.  We were heading across town to a pool when Faye looked up and saw a sign for a gym that said that they had a 25m pool - perfect!  We sweet-talked them down from $20 to $5each to just use their pool facilities.  Noice!  The pool was cold, we purchased some Horley's sports drink and we started our set.  It was just over 2km's, a few efforts, but nothing too taxing.

Just around the corner was a pizza place so we chowed down on some really great pizza, it was turning into a stress free afternoon.

Mum and Dad arrived after dinner and we sat around chatting for a little while before calling it a night. 

Recovery swim

I really didn't feel like swimming....

However, Craig and I headed down to the pool at Jindalee.

The pool was quite busy, but we managed to secure a lane and get on with it.

20 x 100's easy with 15secs rest.

I felt ok once I got started, but it was a drag that's for sure.

This taper thing is not fun....

3km swim - I thought this was a taper???

So, it was 30 x 100's.
3 x 100's warmup
24 x 100's 15secs rest, every 3rd 100 swim the last 50 ALL OUT
3 x 100's cool down.

I really liked this set.  I got to the pool just before opening and there were a handful of us waiting to get in and swim.  It was funny, because it was a long'ish set most of those people had left and a new lot of people had come and go by the time I had finished! 

My swimming is not fast, but it is feeling comfortable and effortless which is right where I need to be at the moment.  I just concentrated on a nice long stroke trying to pull as much water through as I could.

Hopefully, this will hold me in good stead to get out of the swim relaxed, calm and ready for a 180km bike ride!

1500m recovery swim

This swim was supposed to happen yesterday afternoon, after my long run.

However...  I had an afternoon nap which turned into a sleep, which turned into not having enough time to swim!

Never mind, I have been really valuing the afternoon nap and find that I am really needing them on the weekends where there is a long ride and a long run.

The valley pool has finally opened up after having a whole month of school swimming carnivals and swimming there today was brilliant.  I had 1 other person in my lane and I just ambled along with no pressure and just cruised out the 15 x 100m's.  If I felt like taking the 15sec rest I took it, otherwise I just kept on going.  I felt good and even though I am not swimming any faster, I am swimming more comfortably.

Wetsuit swim at Newmarket pool

Today, Faye and I met at Newmarket Pool to do a wetsuit swim.  The programme had us doing 3 x 1km reps, however we decided we would do 4 x 1km reps as we had the time and it would be a good hit out.

We donned our wetsuits and entered the water feeling a little foolish and self conscious completely decked out in neoprene!  However, once we got started and found our rhythm it was alright, although after the first 1km we pretty much decided that we would do one other in the wetsuit before ditching them otherwise we would end up as human soup!  Even though it was overcast and a little rainy in patches it was still quite warm.

I actually felt as though I warmed into the swim and felt more comfortable in the 4th rep than in the 1st which is a great sign.  I think that I am going to be able to make the distance relatively comfortable in the wetsuit as I am starting to feel a lot more comfortable in it.  The key is going to be trying to keep calm in the melee that is 1200 other athletes all thrashing about.  Swimming in the pool with one other person in the lane and following a black line is almost meditative, but doing an open water swim with people touching you and hitting you and running in to you is going to be a different story.

Race plan:  stay calm and relaxed at all costs.  If it costs me 10-15mins in time at the end of the day it will be worth it to get out of the water relaxed and conserving energy.

Redcliffe Shark encounter!

Craig, Faye and I headed up to Redcliffe's Sutton's Beach to meet Sarah and the family.  The four of us intended on doing a 30min recovery swim in the ocean to flush out the legs and get a bit of open water practice in.

The wind was blowing quite strongly and we fully expected the water to be choppy and as we arrived at the beach we weren't disappointed!

After much deliberation we eventually entered the water.  We had to wade out ages to get to a point where we could swim as it was low tide.  We decided to swim down to the blue toilet block and then regroup.  We almost body surfed down there the chop was so strong and heading in that direction.  I think we arrived there 10mins later!

We decided that we would turn around and head back seeing as it was going to be a tough swim back.  We regrouped on the way back and Craig turned around and said that he saw the dorsal fin and body of a shark just in front of him swimming away!

Well - we didn't need convincing to get out of the water!  We all calmly exited the water and walked up the beach.  I know that when we swim in the ocean we are sharing the ocean with all sea-living creatures, but this encounter was probably a bit too close for my liking.  The shark obviously wasn't aggressive or perhaps I wouldn't be typing this, so I guess that's a good thing.

I'm not sure about how I feel about swimming there again...  Faye and I both readily agreed that next Sunday's open water swim will be at Lake Hugh Muntz which is a freshwater lake with no sharks, sea lice or blue-bottle jelly fish!  I think I am going to be hard to convince to swim anywhere else EVER actually!

Wetsuit swim

Craig and I headed out to Jindalee Pool with our wetsuits to get in some practice.

The pool wasn't quite open yet, however there were a zillion (yes, a zillion) people waiting to go in, many with bikes - it looked like a triathlon session about to take place.  So, we hightailed it out of there and headed over to Bellbowrie Pool!

This turned out to be a good move as we had an entire 50m lane to ourselves.  Fabulous.  We were very self-conscious getting kitted up in our wetsuits in Brisbane's summer morning. 

The set was 4 x 800m for me and 5 x 800m for Craig.  Craig managed to lap me enough times that we finished within 100m of each other - quite demoralising really.  But, in saying that I was starting to find my rhythm with the wetsuit.  By the 3rd 800m I was very comfortable, so I am pretty happy with that.  I felt as though I could swim forever, although it was getting quite hot.  Each time I turned at the end of the pool it was a relief to get a bit of fresh cool water go through the wetsuit and when I took it off it felt like bliss to be surrounded by cool water - I hadn't realised how hot it was!

Are the wheels falling off?

Monday, I really struggled.  I had the telltale sign that I am overtrained - I lost my appetite.  Didn't sleep well Monday night or Tuesday night, so ended up having 2 days off training.  Thanfully I think this did me the world of good physically, but mentally I am worrying that I have lost a lot of training, etc.  In reality, I haven't but it does play with your mind when it is so close to the event.

Thankfully, I had Thursday off work and managed to get a good quality session at the pool.

Swim: 4 x 100m easy w/u, 4 x (25m ALL OUT, 25m easy 20secs rest, 50m ALL OUT, 25m easy 20secs rest, 25m ALL OUT, 25m easy 20secs rest, 100m ALL OUT, 25m easy 20secs rest) with paddles and p/b, 3 x 200m easy c/d 30secs rest.

I used the pool buoy, so I felt as though I wasn't going very fast when I was doing the ALL OUT's.

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!

Recovery swim

The day after Hell of the West and I was feeling OK, not too sore.

The only problem I had was with a blister that I popped which was giving me grief and I am hobbling around on it.  I hope that it improves real soon.

Craig and I went down to the Jindalee Pool.  Craig swum 3km's and lapped me a few times, so when he stopped, I stopped.  The swim felt good, I didn't feel as though I was going to cramp or anything.  I swum without a pool buoy.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!