Geelong Long Course - 2013

This morning, I signed up to the Geelong Long Course Race (1.9km Swim, 90km ride and 21.1km run). For some reason, it is not branded as 70.3 but has the same distances. Last year, the Long Course race was 2km swim, 80km ride and 20km run. This will be my 2nd half ironman after Shepparton.

They are spaced 84 days apart (12 weeks) so it would give me plenty of time to rest after Shep and build up again to this race. There is Hell Week in December which would be an excellent training spike leading into Geelong.

I am excited about this race! I am familiar with the terrain and course as I raced the Olympic Distance last year. The swim is fantastic (nice and flat as it is sheltered), the ride has its moments but with a bit of consistent training on the new bike, I should be more comfortable and the run is through the park and then into the main street.

If timing is right, mum would have moved to Geelong which will be good for accomodation and having mum watch me race (for the first time ever).

I have a few people in the squad who have also signed up for either the Long Course or the Olympic distance race so it should be a great weekend!!

Tough Love

Something which I have noticed lately, is the way I react when I am asked to step out of my comfort zone with regards to training. The challenges with training for a triathlon is not only physical but it is also mental. The way one reacts to training demands depend on one's mentalility and ability to process the thought and translate it into action (or not).

3 or so years ago, all my training was done as part of the beginners group. It was done lightly and this was my mind setting the boundaries so I could just get through the session. That was my comfort zone.

For my swims, not only was I in the beginner's lane, I was also at the back of the group, trying my little heart out to just keep up. Mind you, back in those days I had no technique so whilst I only had to get through 1.5km or so I would be absolutely buggered by the end. Today, it would take a pretty intense swim session for me to feel that tired again - either sets which consisted of  swims at T5 or a tempo swim of 2-3km or so.

Being more at ease with swimming didnt happen overnight - it actually took several years of consistent swim sessions to finally understand the techniques - to feel the water and to use that resistance to push the body forward. Back in those days, I rarely reacted well when (some of) the coaches pushed me beyond my comfort zone and they often told  me off for stopping at the ends of the pool to recover. In my mind, I was exhausted (is anyone ever in a good mood when they are tired?), I also questioned their understanding of what it is like to not know how to swim.

Today, I accept the commands of any of the swim coaches as I see the benefits of being pushed beyond the comfort zone and how much more comfortable I would be, come race day.

Another mental change with swimming is that previously, I would be lazy if I was to swim on my own. I relied on the (coached) swim session to actually swim. Without a coach, a specific set to do or even other athletes in the lane with me, I would be lazy - I would cut my warm up short (if I ever do one), I wouldn't complete all the sessions and I most likely would not even do a cool down. The intensity of these sessions would also be low as I had no one to chase. Today, I am able to do a swim session outside of the schedule and actually complete it from start to finish. In my mind, it is no longer about taking short cuts where I could but actually getting into the (swim) zone, concentrate on technique and keep breathing and before long, I have done 1-2-3 kms.

Rides are no longer scarey and windtrainer session are no longer an hour of lets just get through this sweat session. Long rides are now done with purpose - either riding 100km+ in distance on the flats or riding hard in the hills to build strength all within a reasonable time. Windtrainer sessions are now about pushing myrself on the bike, holding the core and working on the stroke technique. As I am now a coach, I also have to lead my example. Being in the group taught by Coach Greg is also a plus. He is very stringent on our posture and reminds us (with a boastful voice) that we need to always hold our core - suck the gut in.

Runs are now a whole different ball game. Years ago, getting through the Thursday night run sessions would be an achievement in itself and I would have only ran 6-8km or so. I hardly did the Sunday run sessions  (I would have only done about 2/year) as I struggled to keep up with the group and never reacted well when asked to push faster.

Mentally, I would think of it as a waste of time to drive 30km just to run by myself. On the days when I did do my own runs along the beach, the intensity would be absent as all I could think about was which house would have a tap at the front where I could drink some water. This year, I have turned up to the Tuesday morning run sessions, Thursday evening sessions as well as the long endurance sessions with Coach Greg at Fairfield (not the MSAC group). Not only have I started to enjoy these run sessions, the strength of my legs have improved (no injuries so far this year - fingers crossed) and I am no longer struggling or feel more comfortable about not being part of the faster group. I am also not offended if Greg starts to remind (almost a yell) at me to run faster, hold my core or land on my forefoot. I am starting to train to be a better (at competition) triathlete rather than just getting through all of my sessions.

In summary:

• No longer training (just to get fit) but rather training to improve performance
• Want (and invite) to be pushed beyond comfort zone - don't mind a bit of tough love!
• No longer holding myself back in training (whilst still training smart) - Don't want to suffer during competition

Pilates = Wonderful!

I have been attending the Pilates Reformer classes at MSAC for the last 4-5 weeks now as part of my strength, core and balance training. This is done after a 15-20min weights/resistance session at the gym first.

I attend both the Monday 6pm and Wednesday 6:30pm classes as they are being taught by different instructors, work on different parts of the body and use different types of supplementry equipment.

For those who are not familiar with Pilates (reformer) - it conditions your body to develop flexibility and helps build long, lean muscles, strength and endurance in the legs, abs (core), arms, hips and back. It has improved my coordination, balance and core stability greatly and this is evident as:

• I am now able to hold a plank for about 80-90sec  (5 weeks ago, the longest time I could hold a (front) plank before my lower back hurts is about 70sec)
• I am able to balance on one leg and activate my calves (stand on forefoot) without the need to hold on to something for support
• My lower back requires less stretching out during long runs
• I am better balanced on the bike and able to hold my core in for longer when we do windtrainer sessions.
• I have been told that my body positioning is better during swim sessions

On a side note, the Monday classes are great for stretching out tight leg muscles from the weekend's training and I am able to recover at a faster rate. The Monday session can sometimes be difficult if we use paddles as part of the swim session in the morning.

I know there is a Pilates Mat Moves class on the Monday 7pm which uses your own body weight against gravity but it clashes with the Monday PM swim (coaching) which I sometimes take with Mick. Most of the time, I just want to go home, have dinner, pack 3 bags and a bike for Tuesday's multi session training schedule.

I am glad I decided to join the MSAC gym (discount benefits as part of Tri Alliance) as now I am able to utilise the equipment and classes to improve on my triathlon performance.

Game Change - A Race Report

There are a couple of topics which I have in mind for my blog entries. I also have drafted a few which ranged from Pilates through to Goal Setting (realistic goals vs big picture). However, I thought I would get this one out of the way whilst it is fresh in my mind.

So yesterday I ran the 10km run as part of Run Melbourne. I decided to follow the progression as per my Long Course program rather than setting goals outside of the schedule which may compromise my training. Being sometimes the stubbon mule I am, I compromised my training last year when I trained for a half marathon (goal of < 2 hour) in July whilst on the Olympic Distance program for my first Olympic Distance Triathlon for Noosa 2011. I had increased my running repidly (and blindly I might add) to enable me to be able to run a sub 2 hour 21.1km. The increase in load lead to shin splints 1 week before Run Melbourne 2011 and I could not run for a further 4 weeks after that. It was a dreadful time for me and I promised myself that I would pull back and train smart in 2012 rather than trying to do too many things too early.

In my previous entries I had also spoken about how I would stay in the 5km run time trials until after my 10km Run Melbourne as this race was to be my base. Well a base is now set at 53:56 (official time) for my 10km benchmark and from this day onwards, it is a matter of getting more efficient and trying to beat my own pb.

My first ever 10km run would have been in 2008 when I ran 1:09 in the first Run Melbourne event. The same event in 2009, I improved by 4min to 1:05. In 2010, 6 months after I joined Tri Alliance, I ran 56min as part of the Sandy Point event. I had not done a 10km (run only) event since then so yesterday's time of 53:56** (lets call it 54min) was definitely an improvement.

**53.56 is the "Gun" time. My actual running time (with my Garmin) was 52:30.

The major difference between the previous runs and what I did yesterday was definitely in the Mental Game. The game has changed from just participating or just finishing an event to being competitive amongst the other runners and to push beyond my own capabilities. It was the first run where I decided to seed myself faster than my previous times - I seeded myself at the 50-55min group rather than 55min-60min group. During the run, I also made an effort to hold my posture throughout and tried to run past people if I could by targetting runners to run pass. I refrained from looking at my Garmin (for the pace) and just ran in accordance to my perceived effort. The effort was not to be complacent but rather lift legs high and increase cadence to run faster.

In relation to the distance ran and strategy:

0 - 1km - Just tried to weave through as many people as I could

1 - 4km - Got into a good rhythm. Activated calves whilst running uphills and let gravity push me forward when I ran down hill. Did some run plays to break up efforts.

5 - 7km - Maintain posture, didn't let the legs slow down. Did some run plays to break up efforts.

7 - 8km - Legs started to hurt so visualised the finish line to take mind away from pain on quads.

8 - 9.5km - So close to the finish line I could hear people cheering.

9.5 - 10km - T5. Large strides (like the ones I do during drills) and ran off the forefoot (close to tippy toes), arms swing back more to increase momentum forward.

10 - 10.05km - Could of thrown up but had a big burp instead!

I will need to work on increasing the load and intensity during the next few weeks. I have Long Course Apollo Bay training camp over 3rd - 5th August weekend and will be flying into Sydney to run 14km in the City2Surf on the 12th August. I purposely wanted to do a 14km run in between now and October to gauge how the body holds up for a good run > 10km. City2Surf also has a good hill too - will be exciting.

Major events are getting closer with

90 days until Half Marathon

111 days until Noosa

125 days until Shepparton 70.3

Eat. Train. Laugh.

Cyclists and Safety

Over the weekend, I was once again the allocated coach for the Saturday Long ride but this time with Group 4 instead of 3. Part of the responsibility for a coach for these sessions is to brief the group, remind them about lights, tubes, food, where they are to ride to (depend on their season) and make sure they are to ride with the people who they feel are at their similiar levels. It is impossible to ride in a bunch with 30+ people especially with different abilities. All the coaches have been briefed on what to say before each ride and all athletes have been briefed about what their expectations are in the newsletter which gets issued out weekly.

I had about 8 people who rode with me past Mordialloc towards Frankston. A few of the athletes decided to turn around at Frankston BP with the rest who followed me up Oliver's Hill and up Humphries Road. The ride up Oliver's hill and Humphries Rd did get easier but I am yet to do the Two Bays Loop. Emily who is one of the junior athletes (she is only 16) rode with us and she kept getting left behind. I didn't want to leave her alone so I rode with her (her behind me) from Humphries Rd until Black Rock where she told me to ride ahead as she was just going to head home. I made her text me once she got home (which she did). I then rode by myself to Port Melbourne then to TAHQ which made the total distance of the day at about 110km which took nearly 5 hours due to the pace for Group 4 and also to ensure the safety of a junior athlete.

Once I headed back to TAHQ, I found out that one of my athletes who turned off at BP Frankston was in an accident and was taken to Frankston Hospital. Apparently a group of cyclists rode past and merged too early which resulted in one of the cyclist clipping her wheel. She was taken to Frankston Hospital by an ambulance which happened to be right beside the group at that particulat moment. Once I dropped my bike off for service, I drove home and called the hospital. Due to the privacy laws, I could not get any information from the hospital other than that she arrived and she is currently somewhere in the emergency department. I could not find out if she was ok, in xray, resting or anything. As Geoff (her husband) was next of kin, he was the only one who could see her and unless I am him, no further information was available. This made me frustrated. I had already contacted Coach Sarah to let her know of what happened and she had Geoff's details so she could contact him to see if she was ok.

A few messages back and forth with Sarah and I found out that her bike was being kept in a shop in Seaford and as I lived along the coast, I drove down to pick it up for her. The bike was in a ridable condition with broken hoods. I tried to shift gears and found it hard to switch between the small and large chain ring but wasn't sure if it was a pre-existing condition of the bike. The bike will be kept with me until further notice.

I was physically and emotionally drained on Saturday. I had not rested until I was sure that the athlete was ok and that there was nothing further I could do to help. I ended up sleeping from about 5pm until 10pm on Saturday and then from 12am to 1pm the next day. This accident has occured too close to the anniversary of Coach JC's death (22nd July 2011) and the incident has hit close to the heart. I was so frustrated at the behaviour of other cyclist and this is something which I see every week when I am on Beach Rd. These large groups ride past and merge way too soon. Once you past another cyclist, you must ensure that there is a safe enough distance before you merge into the line. This is the way we expect cars to drive around cyclist and just because you are riding a bike instead of a car, the behavious is expected to be the same.

The good thing is - the group of cyclist who caused the accident did stop and details were exchanged. She is having her surgery today (Monday 7th July) and we all wish her a speedy recovery. Good thing is that she won an all expenses paid trip to volunteer at the London Olympics in 2 weeks time so it would be a great recovery period for her. We wish her well.

Why I love my bike(s)...

I recently answered a tweet from SheRidesCycling asking women "Why do you ride?"

Well, my answer (albeit cheeky) is pretty much the reason why I spend (most of) my hours with my bottom on a saddle....week in week out. http://sheridescycling.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/112-women-answered-the-call-why-do-you-ride/

I am Number 71. 

Squeek on top of the Felt B2

I am not an everyday commuter - I am a triathlete. Because of my training schedule (I am currently training for my first half ironman 70.3), I have to carry at least 2 bags every day and equipment (a bike, windtrainer, swim toys including flippers etc). On my recovery weeks, I may commute to and from work. This only happens if I manage it in between training sessions that dont require me to start training at 6am.

I actually live about 35km from my work and about 40-45km from Northcote pool where I swim Monday and Wednesday mornings and 25km from MSAC. The distance makes it great if I incorporate it into (bike) training, but a pain as training starts at 6am in the morning and finishes at 8-8:30pm at nigjht. I have commuted to and from work a dozen times or so this year and hopefully will do more in the coming months. For commuting, I have my Diora with Sora groupset which I have named Squeeky.

I don't ride mountain bikes or trails. I tried this once and failed miserably. I have poor bike handling skills and going downhill (even on a road bike) still gives me anxiety. I was going to sign up to do some MTB skills but due to cost and value (do I actually have any time to do any mountain biking along with my training?), I decided to park the biking course aside.

The Italian

As I had mentioned before, I am a triathlete (in my 4th year) and mostly spend my time on the saddle to train to be a better athlete. I have a good road bike - Wilier Imperiale (The Italian)with Campagnolo Chorus groupset, I have two time trial bikes - my Felt B2 with Dura Ace groupset which I am currently selling and my Cannondale Slice 4 with Rival groupset which is still sitting in the shop. I ride The Italian for the hills and long rides in groups. The time trial bike comes out from October onwards for the racing season. I will be bringing it out for windtrainer sessions to get the legs accustomed to the larger 53T chainring (as it has 650c wheels). I enjoy riding my road bike during training especially when we ride through the quiet towns and over the hills. I like to admire the scenery and gives perspective to how lucky we are to live in such a great city.

The Working Girl

On the side, I do have a few non-training bikes (such as my vintage ladies "The Working Girl" and my single speed bike "The Falcon") which I love.

I love that I can just pop on a helmet and ride down to the shops to buy an ice cream during the summer months, I love the days where I take my single speed through Brunswick, Fitzroy, Clifton Hill and Northcote and explore the side streets and check out some nice and quirky houses and cafes. I love how carefree I feel when I am on my fun bikes and it takes me back to my childhood when my brothers and I would cruise our compound (we lived on campus as my dad was a high school principal for remote areas).

I am fortunate to live in Melbourne - it has a better cycling culture compared to Sydney or Darwin. In Melbourne, we have more infrastructure which makes it easier to pedal around in with the single speed.

I don't think I would own so many bikes if it wasn't for triathlon. I guess I do spend so much of my time on the saddle so I can be a better athlete - I want to do well in races but I also enjoy the ability to get from one point to the next with my simple bike(s).

No PB Trifecta for this little lady

Last week was time trial week and from Monday through to Thursday, I was on a roll. I had 3 PBs for my swim(s) and my run but unfortunately, my 20km bike time trial did not go as well.

This was my 2nd 20km bike time trial. I had a goal  of < 45:22. Having had a great run time trial on Thursday night, my legs were shattered and did not improve by Saturday. I was in need of a good massage and couldn't get one in time before Saturday (note to self - if I have another week like this, get massage on legs early on Friday).

I felt my legs getting heavy during the warm-up lap and I couldn't keep up with the rest of the half ironman group and turned around early before heading off to the tear-drop loop. The course was drier compared to the last time trial 6 weeks ago which was a good thing. This meant that I could stress less about slipping over if I accidently rode over the white painted lines. We rode 2 laps of the loop to familiarise ourselves before the actual start of the time trial. I was seeded at the back with Nikki (another half ironman first timer).

There isn't much to say in terms of the 20 loops I had to do for the time trial (describing a ride which consisted of 1km loop x 20 times can be boring) apart from the following:

• I had no grunt in my ride as I was just pushing my legs through (the uncomfortable pain)
• Cornering skills are still shocking and this is something which MUST improve
• Riding up hills - need to push through the lactic burn
• Riding up hills - what is the best? Small chain ring or stay in large (and stand up)?
• Nutrition - I think this was right but are there benefits to drinking (sipping) after every lap? 45min or so is a long time without drinking on the course
• Need to learn to negative split 2nd 10km compared to first without blowing up

I know I shouldn't be too hard on myself (after all I had an awesome improvement on my run PB). Often not achieving a PB is the same as failing a task and I have not been brought up to fail from young.

Things to work on before the next time trial:

• Riding up hills - gauging which gears work best
• Cornering! Cornering! Cornering!