Lunchtime swim squad is back

The Valley pool has been inundated with school swimming carnivals during the month of February... Very inconsiderate! So, I have been pretty slack with my swimming; I've been doing 1 or 2 sessions a week at Somerville House pool, but very relaxing social swims with the guys from work - hardly heavy training sessions prepaing me for Mooloolaba Triathlon!

Today was the first day that Trent was back at the pool for lunchtime swim squad sessions. This is seperate to Brisbane Tri Squad, but I find it easier to get to these sessions and I get to avoid the whole night time swim stuff which I really hate.

I love Trent's sessions. We have a 50mtr pool, there is usually only a few of us in a lane and he is great at giving out tips on stroke correction. I had only just finished the warm up today and he told me that I was turning out instead of in with my right hand when I enter the water. This makes sense to me as I have been getting an aching hand and arm when swimming, but couldn't work out why. So, I really concentrated on keeping my hand turned in - to the point that my pinky was going in first. Normally I enter the water with my index finger so this will get a bit of getting used to and will probably go through a few incarnations before it is right (or better at least!).

The session for today was as follows:

800mtrs warmup - 200 hypoxic (every 5th stroke), 200 drill, 200 hypoxic, 200 drill.
3 x 300mtrs with pull buoy. First 300 easy, 2nd medium, 3rd hard 1min break between each.
4 x 50mtrs 25mtrs easy, 25mtrs hard 10 secs break at each 50mtrs.
4 x 50mtrs 25mtrs hard, 25mtrs easy 10secs break at each 50mtrs.
400 warmdown, 50 free, 50 choice.

I found the session pretty good. I didn't struggle too badly with the endurance so I think that I am going to be on track for Mooloolaba. I have just under 4 weeks to polish it up a bit. Of course if I had started training in earnest 2 months ago (or earlier) I would be in a lot better position... Oh, hindsight.

One of my 2008 goals ticked off!!!!

Today was the Gold Coast Luke Harrop Memorial Triathlon. This was a 750/20/5 distance race.

We got down there early and it was quite cool and windy. We had jumpers on (I thought it was supposed to be summer!). I rode around on my bike to make sure my race wheels are all good and that everything is in order and then went and registered and racked up. There were no pre-race dramas, everything was all good.

My wave start was with quite a few of the Brisbane Triatlon Squad girls, so we all headed down together and sussed out where the buoys were and where the best spot to start is, etc. There was quite a current on the swim so we started a fair bit right of the buoys and this proved to be a good line to take. I had quite a strong swim, I was with Kay a fair bit at the beginning. I was pushed around a bit by a girl on my right hand side so I ended up swimmig quite close to Kay. It was good that we do a lot of practice at this as I coped OK with it. I didn't do too much breaststroke and kept a relatively good line. My time ended up being 13:22.

A slow transition, as usual and I was off on the bike. Ixchel was just in front of me. I could feel the wind as soon as I headed south for the first turnaround, it was quite strong. Going north was great, I was flying along! I saw Ixchel come out of the second turnaround, she looked like she was working hard. I knew why as soon as I turned around as the wind just when wham! It was a slow trip back! It was a two loop course so I just tried to tuck in low and try and keep an easy gear and get through it. I was regretting the Flashpoint carbon wheels as I thought they were going to send my bike flying, it felt quite wobbly once the wind picked it up. I managed to pass Ixchel on the next North section - I was flying again, you've gotta love a tailwind! I didn't see Jacque out there, but I knew she wouldn't be too far behind.

I got into transition and unbeknown t me Ixchel was on my tail for the start of the run, apparently she couldn't hang on and dropped back. I was running scared as I knew that Ixchel and Jacque were behind me. Jacque is a far stronger runner than me and Ixchel and I are pretty similar at the moment so I was just waiting for them to pounce on me! This ended up being a good thing as I ran scared the whole race and was just pipped at the post by Jacque! But the amazing thing was that I did my run in 24:58!!!

24:58!!!

One of my goals for 2008 was to run 5kms in less than 25mins. For me to do it today in a triathlon is unbelievable! I really did not expect to be able to run 5min/kms off the bike. I am absolutely thrilled with this result. I am also a little dubious that it was actually 5kms but that is only because I can't believe that I did it...

Mark hasn't seen me run for a while as I have been running on my own or with Robson and he commented on how strong I looked out on the run. So that's good, I'm thrilled.

My overall splits are as follows: 1:23:39 total 16th out of 32 in the 30-34 Female category. Swim split: 13:22, Bike split: 45:18, Run split: 24:58.

My transition's are still letting me down. I insist on wearing socks on the bike and on the run and also rinsing my feet off of all sand from the swim. I probably lose a good minute or so with this, but I'm not prepared to risk it yet and get the blisters, etc. I might try for the last Raby Bay where it won't matter if I take a little longer to recover blistered feet!

Swim/Ride session at Suttons Beach

This morning we did a swim from Suttons Beach followed by a ride.

Mark told us to go up the beach using the point as a marker for 15 minutes and then turn around and come back. It was quite choppy and you could see that there was quite a current. Muffy, Jacque and I decided to swim together (our individual chances of being eaten by a shark a reduced to 33%!).

The swim was horrid! Swimming against the current was plain hard work, the water was disgusting and dirty, there was big clumps of seaweed and the constant up and down of the waves to get through. Jacque just about quit Mooloolaba - she said that she was going to pull out! It was not a fun swim. We swam and then regrouped several times. We tried to swim to the toilet block, it was so close, yet so far away when we were going against the current, in the end we had been swimming for 18mins and still not getting any closer to it, so we turned around. The swim back was quick! It was much better going with the current, we still had the seaweed to contend with, but we could breathe on the left hand side without getting a mouthful of waves!

I was very relieved to have finished the swim! Jacque was not happy and burst into tears when telling Mark about it. She did really well, she was swimming at the same pace as Muffy and I.

The ride was good, we had to slow the guns up so that we could hang on to them. Once they were brought back to my pace (slow) it was a lovely ride. We just did an easy 30kms and it was quite pleasant. It was actually a good ride for me as there was only 6 or 7 of us and everyone there was an experienced rider, so it gave me a bit of confidence with riding in a pack again. I didn't start off too good, but after I settled into it I was very comfortable and holding the wheel and riding comfortably. Just need to do more of it...

Ride Inside

This was the same session as the week before with the 3 x 10minute efforts at 90% heart rate and 110 cadence with a 5minute break in between.

Mark came around to me at one stage and my heart rate was in the 140's and my cadence was at 102. Needless to say he told me to lift my cadence! I really struggle with the high cadence. I don't know what it is. 10 minutes seems like an eternity too. The third one I was actually a bit better at it, but it still needs work.

We then did 3 x 2min efforts with 2mins break in between at 90 cadence, in the hardest gear we could maintain. I was in my big chain ring, around the middle at the back and I was on the second resistance on the rollers, so I was quite happy with that effort!

The run off the bike felt strong, it is starting to come together. Paul actually said to me that he got up beside me and couldn't overtake me, he couldn't shake me off - yeah right! The comment made me feel good though!

Run at Marburg

I got up at sparrows to do my 60minute run. I was really looking forward to this run as it was a nice long, low heart rate run in a different location. I was looking forward to running in the quiet countryside of Marburg.

The road that we were staying on was only 1.5kms long or thereabouts so I ran to the end of that which comes out onto the Warrego Highway. I noticed that there was a street a couple of kms up the road so decided that I would run up there and then I would be back into the countryside and then come home.

The Warrego Highway was hell! I couldn't believe that there could be so much traffic there at 5:45am in the morning. Big trucks, little cars, you name it. There wasn't much of a shoulder and when I got to the road I saw that it only went into 1 house and then ended, so I ran back the way I came and did a couple of loops of the road we were staying at. It was more peaceful doing a run from home!

On the last loop that I did one of the senior managers at my work joined me, so we ran side by side for 15minutes. I've never really had much to do with him prior to this, so I guess running also opens up other opportunities! He was only doing a 3km run so he was pushing a bit harder than I was so the last 15minutes of my run was quite hard - we kind of pushed the last couple of hundred metres and I finished with a heart rate of 171! So much for an easy run! Mostly though my heart rate was mid 140's.

Swim at Marburg

I have been slack the last couple of days and didn't do a run Tuesday as my foot was bothering me. Then the Wednesday morning I was supposed to do a cycle but I had to be out at Marburg bright and early for work and was not going to make it in time so missed out.

Marburg was a full on day and they had a pool at the place that I was staying at so I jumped in and swam for 30mins. I'm not sure how far I swam as it was a 25mtr pool and I hate counting laps in a 25mtr pool. It was quite a good pool to swim in as there was not black line to follow and there was a definite current. As there were other people swimming in there I had to keep track of where I was going and keep on line, so it was actually good open water practice!

I concentrated on my stroke and tried to push it a little. I felt like it was a bit messy, maybe that was because I was trying to push it a little... I think I will do some time trials of a few hundred metres one of these days and see if it is still the case that if I slow my stroke down and really concentrate on it being long and strong whether that is still the quickest way for me to swim. I am pretty sure that this will still be the case. The good thing about that is my heart rate is lower and I am more relaxed, so I come out of the water in better shape for the cycle with less energy spent.

Sunday Brick Session

Today we did a brick session at Sutton's Beach at Redcliffe. We also managed to coincide it with some Surf Life Saving championships so we were very squished for space!

Mark tried to teach us to do the flying mount. I know this sounds really defeatist, but I completely suck at it, have no flexbility, no coordination, so I am just going to get on and off like a slow goober until I am competitive within my age group. At the moment I am coming in the middle of my age group, so I think I can afford to get on and off safely without having to worry too much about it. I think I prefer the scoot, scoot method that Garry Alston started to teach me where you put your left foot on the shoe on the pedal scoot a couple of times and then throw your right leg over and away you go. Yeah, it sounds easy, but I made it look completely difficult!

Anyway, the session was quite good, we same about 150-200mtrs, rode 5kms, ran 1.5kms and kept going until we ran out of time. I got through 2 full sessions and did the 3rd swim before running out of time.

I felt like it was a bit of a bludge, it was mainly because there was so many people around that it was hard to go really hard as you had to be a bit cautious with so many kids and people around.

We went and celebrated with a buffet breakfast at the hotel up the road - very civilised, but not really looking after my weight!

Saturday Swim

I was supposed to do a 3 hour ride this morning... However, we slept in - it was total bliss!

Now I'm feeling a bit guilty...

We did manage to get to the Brisbane Tri Squad Swim at the Brisbane Boys Grammar Pool. It was great. Lots of mass starts and games and core strength exercises followed by a few relays. I love these sessions. There were quite a lot of people there - nearly 30 I would say. A lot of them are quite new and some are from the beginners squad so it was good to see some new faces and meet new people.

I felt as though my swimming was OK, I feel like as long as my stroke doesn't get rushed then I'm swimming OK. Some of the relays I think I would have done better had I slowed my stroke down and strengthened it rather than just trying to swim fast - more efficiency required I think as the faster I try to swim the less efficient my stroke becomes. I will try to be conscious of this in any of the sprints/relays we do in the future.

Inter Club Run

Tonight we participated in the annual Inter Club run.

We did this one last year as part of Intraining and we went along this year representing Brisbane Tri Squad.

It was a 3km course from the Botanic Gardens along the bike path towards the regatta, but turning around at the end of the floating walkway where it turns to bitumen.

Sophie and I ran together and kept each other honest. We are very similar runners, so it was good to run side by side. I don't feel as though I could have went any harder on the way back, the way out was a bit easier as we were held up a little by other runners.

Neither of us timed it which was a bit hopeless so I have no idea what pace we were at and because I haven't been using my foot pod for a while I wouldn't have a clue how I am running - I suspect slowly!

Ride Inside

Today was a Ride Inside session with Brisbane Tri Squad. Mark took the session and it was very hard!

It consisted of a warmup, followed by 3 x 10min 110 cadence efforts with HR at 90%, 5min recover in between. Then there were 3 x 2min efforts at 90 cadence with the biggest gear that can be maintained to hold the 90 cadence, the last minute we went up a few harder gears just to make sure we were working! We then ran off the bike up to the corner and back.

Needless to say, I was stuffed. I got my HR up to 153 - just. 153 is 90% of my max HR on the bike (171). Most of the time I wasn't at 90%, I found it really hard to get my HR up to that level, I was sweating like a pig and working really hard! It was a very hard session.

The run was great; Paul was a bit crook so he ran with me and pushed me the whole way - I was breathing really hard and just about ready to explode! Paul was keeping up and chatting the whole way! How do they do it? I thanked him at the end in between raspy gasping of breath and I think that's when he realised why I wasn't able to talk to him while running!

2nd attempt at swimming at night

I made a concerted effort to go to swimming tonight!

I got to the Valley Pool early enough to see Libby Lenton swimming, what a beautiful swimmer!

Mark put me in to the slow lane and told me to take it pretty easy. It was good, I worked hard but at no time did I feel stressed or pressured and it worked really well. There was another swimmer there that was just a little bit quicker so we hung out together and worked each other quite hard which was good. Also because the lane is so much bigger there at the edge of the pool we didn't have any problems overtaking or anything.

I can't remember what we did exactly, we did some breathing on every 5 strokes which was really hard!

I am just ecstatic that I survived the session. I hydrated well all day - drank 2 x 1ltr bottles of water and I only got the tinge of a cramp which went away pretty much straight away when I went back to breaststroke. I will make a habit of going along to at least 1 of Mark's sessions, probably the Thursday one each week. I will also do the Saturday lunchtime squad session and then do 2 or 3 of my own sessions and that way my own can be social easy continous swims. This should at least get me the fitness I need for Mooloolaba.

Running with Snakes

I turned up at Active Stride for my run session this morning with Brisbane Tri Squad and there were only a handful of us. As we headed out for our warmup Robson asked if we wanted to have a look at his snake. We all made disparaging comments and told him we didn't need to see his snake! Halfway along the Kangaroo Point Cliffs he stopped and pointed to a nest where you could see a python all crawled up with eggs ready to hatch. She looked quite lovely.

Our run session consisted of some quick steps at the steps along the end of the path and some lunges (2 steps at a time) and then a run up Main Road and around to the right to the top of the Kangaroo Point Cliffs. We then crossed the road and did a circuit that had a bit of a hill in it. We were to go easy around the block until we came to the uphill street where we were to push it all the way to the top and then easy recovery around and do it again. We did this loop 5 times. I was a bit buggered at the end of that! My HR got up to mid 170's.

We then ran easy back until we got to the red statue and then hard to the Goodwill bridge and easy jog home. There wasn't too much easy about any of it!!!

Mt Cootha Repeats

Today was Brisbane Triathlon Squad's first session of 3 out at Mt Cootha. We park in the bottom in the Botanic Gardens which is quite unfortunate as the warmup involves riding up a steep slope to get to Slaughter Falls where we congregated before heading up.

We were supposed to do 3 repeats up the Mt in a clockwise position and once we reach the top turn around and come back down to do the next repeat. It was supposed to be 500mtrs hard, 250 recovery, 500mtrs hard, 250 recovery, etc. until we got to the top, cadence was supposed to be up around 60. This wa a bit of a joke for me as I was in my granny gear pretty much from the bottom of the hill to the top with my cadence quite low (computer wasn't working but it would have been around 40) working my guts out just to get there! There is certainly no recovery in hills for me! I did manage to overtake a few of the girls on the way up and then they all overtook me on the downhill and then we would do it all again. Quite funny really.

I really lack confidence going downhill. I spoke to Mark about it as we were riding back to the car and he said not to be too concerned it's the uphill that we gain the strength from and there are very few triathlons that I am doing that have massive downhills (just Noosa really). So, I can live with that.

I managed to get up the Mt not quite 3 times. So, I was quite happy with the effort.

Leisurely swim

In line with my Mooloolaba preparation I swam today at lunch. There were a couple of us from work that went along to Somerville Pool. I did a 300mtr warmup freestyle, 1.2km pool buoy swim, 200mtr warmdown. I really spent the time concentrating on my stroke, mainly on pulling all the way through and reaching out in front and really grabbing the water. I also tried to concentrate on high elbows under the water as well as over.

It actually felt OK, I felt strong and felt as though my form was hanging in there. I just really need to do more swimming as the Mooloolaba Triathlon is less than 6 weeks away and I have not really made any inroads to my swim preparation.

Today's swim felt a bit like a bludge - more of a social outing than training, so I think I need to have a little attitude adjustment to my swimming!

Running with Dogs

My husband the Half IM guru and I lost our Kelpie over a year ago, so we did a bit of research and we decided that a Dalmation would suit us as they are short coated (I am allergic to dogs), a good size for our fences (or so we thought) and would be able to go on long runs with us. The thought of going on a long run and having a dog as a training companion appeals to both of us.

So, we kept an eye out and we ended up with a giveaway 3yo dalmation called "Natti", we know now that she was named because she is scatty! She has been given away twice... Hence we knew that she must have behavioural problems, but we are brave souls. When we went to take a look at her she just about bowled us over and we hadn't even got out the back door! She was very pushy and bargy - certainly not the sort of dog you would have around toddlers! However, she was so friendly and lovely we decided to take her. Craig went to lead her out to the car and I must admit feeling a tad frightened - this dog was strong and she could PULL! She also managed to chew through one of our seat belts on the trip home, so she's a chewer too huh!

Some intensive training has taken place and she is now able to not jump all over us, her licking has stopped (did I mention the licking!). She is still a complete handful if you take her anywhere, but she is cerainly getting better. She has demolished every pair of thongs that were ever left outside our house, escaped from our fences too many times to mention, but overall she is a great dog who is becoming a loyal friend.

Our dream of having a running partner was realised this morning! I took her with me on my 45min easy run and she was an absolute dream. She ran with me at my right heel the whole way, she ran past other dogs and cars and cows and pigs and horses without causing me to fall flat on my face. Amazing! I was able to loop her lead rope end onto my arm and rest it in the crook of my elbow so it didn't interfere with my running technique and it offered her enough rope to run and not get yanked or tangled up. There were a couple of times where I talked to her to get her attention back if she was looking at a dog and running off course, etc, but overall she was brilliant. Being the fabulous dog trainer that I am I created a new command that we hadn't practiced - "move over" when a car is coming up so that she moves off the road and onto the grass. The first few times this happened I walked a few steps to make sure she was off the road and then we started running again, the last couple we were able to continue at the same pace with her moving over to our new found command, so she is picking it up really well. I could see her watching me the whole time and concentrating on where she should be, she really was doing great. She had a smile on her face for a long time afterwards.

My run was pretty good, HR around 150 the whole way. It was a very slow run, I'm not sure what pace it was but I expect it would have been 6:30min/kms or even perhaps a bit slower than that.

Bribie Island Triathlon Team

Craig and the kids all came along to watch and cheer for BTS. Craig didn't compete so he was my strapper after me being his strapper at Geelong Half Ironman last weekend! The team wave was last so I didn't get out onto my run until 9:17am. It was quite warm but not exceedingly so.

My run was about 46 minutes. I was really happy with this considering how I had been feeling lately. Yesterday, after my bike ride I was shattered and it was a really easy cycle. So, I started the run with a bit left as I didn't know how I was going to go. As I built into the run I started to feel really good and felt quite strong. I ended up doing the first lap in 24mins and the last lap in 22mins so I managed to negative split it. I don't remember ever doing that in a run before! My HR was quite high, it was between 164 and 175 so I was working very hard.

I know that Team Hulme didn't come last as I passed another runner in the same category! However, we didn't set a new course record either! It was good to do an 8km run, it is probably the longest run I have done in a little while. I will start to build these up over the next few weeks in preparation for Mooloolaba.

Lovely LBR

I did the Saturday ride with BTS and we left Stafford with Suzanne and me out front of the group. We were a group of about 12 which is not a bad size group. We quickly got the sack as we had no idea where we were going and the people shouting directions had less of an idea!

I ended up about in the middle of the pack and it was raining and pretty horrible. I was quite worried as this was my first pack ride since my accident. I really need to work on my confidence as I wasn't holding the wheel which I know is really annoying for everyone... I actually got better at the end of the ride so I am hoping that this will improve fairly quickly and I will be back to riding OK in the pack.

There was one time where we rode around the airport where John was sent up to the front - I knew we were in trouble then! All of a sudden I was trying to hang on for dear life! I was behind Sarah and she hung in there, but unfortunately I got dropped off, I just couldn't hang on to them. I'm doing OK fitness wise on the bike at the moment so it really shows how well Sarah is going to be able to hang on to the guns.

We then rode fairly casually out to Boondall wetlands and then the slower ones (yes that's me) came back with Bronny via Nudgee Beach and the Chermside Criterium and bike tracks. It was a very relaxed pace and it was extremely civilised due to us racing the following day. If only all rides were like this!

It ended up being a 2 1/2 hour ride with my heart rate not often above 130's.

Spin Class at Ride Inside

It was an interesting spin class. I woke up in agony, my calf muscles were excruciating. I wasn't quite sure if it was from the massage or the stairs. In hindsight - I am blaming the stairs!

I could hardly crouch down to go to the loo - yeah, I know; too much information! Craig and I left and we headed in, I hobbled in to Ride Inside and set up the bike, etc. I took great care once I was on the bike doing a warmup to really stretch the calves out. I was really worried about running off the bike with my legs as tight as a ducks bum.

The spin class was a cardio session where we did sets of 3 minutes at 90 and then 95% HR. I could not get my HR about 143! It was a disaster, I tried different gears, tried higher cadence - which I struggled with and then lower cadence. Nothing was working. I was at about 100 Cadence and breathing hard, but the HR wasn't budging. I called Mark over and explained it to him and he asked if I was tired. My legs were sure tired! I explained that the stairs yesterday seemed to knock me around and that I was a bit tired so he said to listen to my body and go with that. So I felt like a bit of a bludger, sitting there at 140 while everyone around me was pushing a high HR.

During the recovery sets I took great care to stretch out the calves again and then after the last set we ran off the bike. I took off as hard as I could and thought that I would just try and maintain it for as long as I could. My legs were actually OK, I didn't get any twinges to indicate they were about to cramp and I was running quite strongly. I was quite happy with my run. I think that the massage can attribute a fair bit to reducing the cramps as ordinarily if I was that tight in the calves there's no way they wouldn't have cramped on a quick sprint.

We did a warmdown and then lots of stretching.

At coffee afterwards Sarah was telling me about her shin splints and how she was doing Bribie, but just not doing the run. So, I offered to do the run for her and she changed things so that she was a team. I figured in lieu of my fatigued status I could do the run hard or slow depending on how I felt on the day and I probably didn't need to do the whole lot. Although I must start swimming sometime soon or I am going to drown at Mooloolaba!!!

Stairs... and then some more stairs!!!

I ran with the BTS Squad this morning. Chris and Robson took the session and we did our warmup along to the front of the Kangaroo Point Cliffs which is a little bit shorter than where we usually go. Instead of thinking, "Oh, this is nice" I should have twigged...

We did some stride outs and some bum kicks and then we were sufficiently warmed up.

I hadn't noticed before but halfway along the cliffs are a set of stairs that wind and weave up into the clouds to the top of the cliffs! We had to do two sets of these doing quick steps followed by some step lunges and then another two quicksteps (we did get to take it easy on the way down - walk/jog recover). My lungs were burning! Thank goodness my HRM was accidentally left down at Torquay in the unit we stayed in as it would have been off the radar!

After that we did another set of step lunges and then we did 2 goes at going up 2 steps at a time, then we did some planks down the bottom and then we did another 1 of the steps going 2 at a time and then up the top of the steps we had a little breather - phew! Managed to enjoy the views for just about a full minute before we went into 5 x 5 pushups followed by a quick sprint out jog back recovery and into the next set.

After this set we all congregated and did a squat for about a minute and then a sprint hard until we got to the end of the cliffs and then we jogged back to the Active Stride shop at Southbank for a recovery.

My legs were shaking, they were still shaking when I was in the shower at work almost an hour later! This is by far the hardest session I have done in a while.

The different exercises were aimed to mimic swim to cycle, cycle to run transitions which are great practice.

I felt quite strong today even though I am really struggling now, it was a great session. I had no hints of cramping in the legs and I really feel that this is due to the massage that I had.

Swim

A group of us from work all hit the pool together.



It's nice when you can get a group together, it helps me to make sure that I go. I have been struggling with swimming lately. I think because I know that I can get through the swim leg with little training doesn't help my cause. I have to swim more than once a week which seems to be my average swim training!



The session I did was very easy; 1km swim continuous, timing the 500mtrs (both just under the 10min mark). Followed by 200mtrs kick, 200mtrs pull (bilaterally breathing), 100m breaststroke warmdown.



I felt good, my stroke was feeling OK, I was pulling through the water well. I think now, I just need to expand on it to get some endurance back and then attend a few of Mark's BTS lunchtime Saturday sessions and it will start to come together nicely.



It was a bit of a confidence builder swim