Back in the Game

After my first half ironman, I have had a great 2 weeks off real training. All I have done since the 19th Nov - a few pilates classes, half a dozen open water swims and a hell of a lot of sleeping in.

I only have this weekend left in terms of recovery and I am planning on doing more sleeping, catching up with friends who have had babies within the last few months, my work's end of year formal function and my (dreaded) tax return for the last 2 years!

Tri Alliance sent out a survey last week asking athletes what their races are for the rest of the season post Shepparton and I had down the following events:

• Sandringham Olympic Distance Triathlon - 1.5km Swim, 40km Ride, 10km Run
• Geelong Long Course - 1.9km Swim, 90km Ride, 21.1km Run
• Big Bay Swim - 3.2km Swim
• Ironman Melbourne - 3.8km Swim, 180km Ride, 42.2km Run

The Nissan corporate triathlon (400m Swim, 10km Ride, 4km Run) is on the week after Geelong and I will assess if I really can (be bothered) doing that event or not. It is a fun day and we do get a few really good things to keep from the teams we race for but it may or may not be great for my prep for Ironman. It is a short race compared to everything I have been training for so it may be a good fun thing to do in between Geelong and Ironman Melb.

I am also going to (haven't signed up yet) do a 4km Swim event on the 8th December 2012. It is hosted by FunkyTrunks and the event will be off Brigton Beach (not the calmest). I will be guaranteed to be the slowest in my category but I am doing this event for myself as I really enjoy long continuous swims.

I am back on the race weight journey now. This morning, I weighed myself and I am sitting at 58.7kg. My lightest was 56.2kg a week or so prior to Shepparton. My race weight goal is still 55kg and hope to get down to that by mid March.

Corporate Games 2012 - 1km Open Water Swim (1st Place) - A Race Report

Medal Ceremony - 1st place!

On Saturday 24th Nov 2012 - I participated in my 2nd Corporate Games 1km Open Water Swim. I did this event last year. The race report from that year is here.

The event was again held at the South Melbourne Life Saving club. We had to register by 7:30-8am and once again, there was a small part of me that wanted to stay in bed as my body (mind) was still recovering from my half ironman last weekend. I talked myself out of the negative thoughts and just picked up my bags and just left the house quick before I had time to change my mind.

I arrived there at about 7:50am and scoped out the conditions for the day - the conditions for this event was picture perfect - no wind (therefore no waves), minimal current and the water being crystal clear. The relay race (4 x 250m loops) set off at 8:30am, Males at 9am and Females at 9:30. So my wave started pretty much an hour and a half after I arrived. As I no longer eat solid breakfasts before training or a race nowadays, it was an Up and Go in the car and that was it. I watched the relay teams start their race and then put on my wetsuit. I tore my TYR wetsuit on Thursday night at the combo session but luckily had enough time to patch it up ready to be used again.


Worst Conditions for a Swim - EVER!



When the males went off on their race, I did a quick 50m swim away from the shore to see which way the current was travelling (albeit a small one). There were some people who swam without a wetsuit (brave) and there was one Chinese guy who rocked up in his trunks and swam breast stroke! I don't think he realised what type of swimming this was and pulled out after 1 lap as people who were on their 3rd lap were already lapping him on his first. He spoke in Chinese (yes, I do understand basic Mandarin Chinese still) that he got tired to his mum. He swam breast stroke the entire way, I don't think he got his head wet!

There were about 25 females in total who started at 9:30am - 5 in my age group 30-39 (only 3 who registered), half a dozen 40+ and 15 or so under 30. There was a 100% chance I would get podium (3rd most likely I had planned). I recognised these ladies from last year too.

So like any triathlon, I started at the back of the pack but when the gun went off, I found myself swimming over people already and I wasn't even going that aggressively. I ended up just pushing myself through the crowd in order to find my own space to swim. I ended up doing this successfully and my sighting was spot on. Looking up every 6 strokes (not frequent enough but the conditions were flat) but I was consistently going the right way. At every turn of the bouy, I would sight the next bouy and just swam towards it not caring about where the other swimmers were placed. Around the 3rd lap, it felt like I was out there by myself - I didn't see anyone in front of me and I started to worry that I had done an extra lap but I knew I didn't.

Me running to shore!

I took a tip from one of the guys who I knew who did the event that we should count the green and yellow can which was placed on the course from the relay before. I kept count of the laps I was doing almost mathematically - 1st lap, 1/2 way through, 3rd lap and then last lap. I did porpoised out of the water even with my gumby run too until we hit the red tent where our times were recorded. When I finished my 1km, I went over the to the ladies who gave out the placement cards expecting to get the 3rd placement card and when she handed me 1st Place I was shocked!!!!! It was then I realised that I was about 3rd/4th person out of the water and then my friend Simon told me that I was way ahead of the field! I have never placed so well in a sporting event before (apart from the Triathlon Pink event in 2011 where I was the fastest on the bike for the day) let alone swimming - open water too!

The last few weeks have definitely been a highlight of my sporting career so far! My first half ironman last weekend (6:16) followed by coming 1st in my age category and top 5 for all females for a swimming event!

A few things which I wanted to note about the event:

• With swimming - you have to pay attention to every stroke. I did notice that I sometimes forget and realised that I am letting my arms through the water with the least resistance - counter productive
• I need to work on mental strength over the next 100+ days leading up to Ironman as there was a moment or two in the swim where my mind would drift off and I would lose concentration
• When the water is calm - it can sometimes get boring but easier for breathing and sighting
• My mind set for open water swimming has changed - it is no longer a fear (pending the bay dredging doesn't bring in swarms of jelly fish again)
• I am confident in completing the 3.8km swim in March as part of Ironman Melbourne.
• May need to invest in a new wetsuit early next year if more tears occur (will buy a Rocket Science one).
• LOVED IT!

RESULTS
Ok - so the results from the weekend's swim came out on Tuesday 27th Nov. My official time for 1km swim was 24:08 which is over just under 3 min improvement compared to last year's time of 27:04!! WOOT!

Shepparton 70.3 - Results, Reflection and Recovery

This is not my race report. If you have a spare few moments and want to read about the actual race - see this blog entry.

So now that I have completed my first half ironman - I have ticked off one of my goals. I do have a great sense of accomplishment and now am on my recovery phase before stepping up to the First Timer Ironman program.

My results/reflection from Shepparton 70.3 are as follows:

1.9km Swim 0:41:23
I had a great swim at Shepparton as I stuck on the right of the course and may have swam a longer distance compared to other athletes but I was comfortable. I am a better swimmer without a wetsuit so in the next few weeks/months, I will need to spend more time swimming with one (wetsuit) and work on my swim with just pull bouy and paddles. I wasn't exhausted coming out of the 1.9km swim so that is a good thing to note.

T1: 0:3:58
Now that I have experienced a Long Course T1 - I now know what to do. It is a matter of trying out new strategies and seeing if I can (or willing to) compromise comfort over time (i.e. regarding putting on knicks for the ride). Apart from that, transition times can only decrease if I decide to not wear socks during the ride - this will only depend on the shoes and making it as comfortable as I can. I will now refrain from eating a banana during a triathlon to avoid a stitch or cramp.

90km Ride 3:13:18
I know I need to spend more time on the bike. In a triathlon, the bike leg of the race covers the longest distance as well as taking the longest time to complete. It also heavily depended on the weather conditions. I will need to spend more time riding with my (own) race wheels to get use to the windy conditions.

My shoulders were not too bad during the race, they did ache for a while but the pain subsided as the distance ticked by. I will need to test out efforts over the next few weeks/months and work on bike strength as well as endurance.

One other thing which I will need to work on is the mental strength on the bike leg as I had lost concentration a few times on the roads and swerved (nearly falling off onto the grass) and stopped pedalling a few times and got bored. The mind does play a vital part in the bike leg of a triathlon.

T2: 0:2:49
Must take knicks off before putting on running shoes!!
Must recognise bike rack from both ends of the transition area!!

Run: 2:14:42
I will need to start looking more closely into nutrition on the running leg and start adding coke in my runs as it was what got me through the last 7km. It was a strategy of mine to only start on the coke late in the run course just in case it didn't agree with my stomach. Maybe I should start drinking it (late) on my long rides too to get the gut use to it? By the end of the event, I just didn't want to take in anymore gels and I actually started to eat some lollies (something which I had completely cut out of my diet for the last 4 months or so) - not sure how my performance would have differed compared to gels but it got me through.

I do need to work more on the speed of my endurance runs and that will just come with training and getting the body use to the loads.

Overall Statistics (from the Shepparton Website)
Female 30-34 had 55 people. All in 30-34 had 183.

From the results above, I could see that I was actually not too bad at the swim and fell back in my category during the ride (no surprises). This is also a reflection on the training I have done in the last 2 years or so - worked on my swimming but trailed off on the bike. As always, my run time is a good reflection on how I am placed overall.

For Shepparton 2013 - I will aim for a time of 5:45 breaking it down to:
Swim < 40min
T1 < 3min
Bike < 3 hours
T2 < 2 min
Run < 2 hours

It is hard to quantify these times towards Geelong as the course is not as flat as Shepparton (completely different course, elevations, conditions) but will aim to do < 6:00 for this race in Febraury (with 12 weeks of training in between). The goal of < 5:45 for Shepparton 2013 will be attainable as there is a solid 6 months f winter training leading up to this race with.

For the next 2 weeks, I am on recovery mode - both in training and in the processed foods I will be consuming. The recovery plan for me will be:

Week 1
Monday            Massage
Tuesday            Windtrainer. 45min spin + 45min stretching and race debrief
Wednesday       Light 1.5-2km swim
Thursday           6pm coaching at Elwood but I will stay on the bike 20-30min open water swim Friday               Day off, sleep in
Saturday           1km Open Water Swim for Corporate Games
Sunday             Support Gatorade Race 1
Week 2
Monday             Day off
Tuesday             6:30pm Coaching Windtrainer
Wednesday        Easy swim – no intensity
Thursday            Day off
Friday                Day off
Saturday            Coffee and cake ride.
Sunday               Day off

The above is the plan given to us by the coaches (apart from the 1km open water swim, supporting Gatorade Race 1 and coaching) and I will stick to it as much as I can. I was thinking of riding into work a few times on Week 2 because I don't need to carry bags with me.

We also had a post Shepparton race debrief Tuesday night with Greg. The most important thing to note is that we need to let both our mind and body recover for the next 2 weeks and not doing any training will not impact on our performance.

Will do some open water swimming tonight (just a km or two) easy which adds to the training for my 1km swim this Saturday.

Shepparton 70.3 - A Race Report

Me - with my medal and tears in my eyes

On Sunday 18th Nov, I raced my first (half) Ironman event. This event consisted of a 1.9km swim, 90km ride followed by a 21.1km run.
This entry will be everything I can remember about the day but I am sure there will be things which I will add at a later date...

The morning started out in a bit of a panic... I woke up at 4:45am but as my accommodation was only just around the corner, we arrived way before the 5:30am opening time for transition set-up. I decided to tune out from everyone and just listened to my music whilst I set up my transition.

I have never set up for long course transition before, it is slightly different from all the races I had done previously as I had more things to place next to the bike:

• Decided at the 11th hour to ride with socks (due to new shoes causing small blisters during training) - best idea ever for 90km using new shoes. This meant that I didn't have the shoes on the bike and didn't run through transition bare feet. A few seconds slower but it would have been torture if I rode barefeet with blood.  
• Had nutrition next to my bike rather than taped to the bike (due to my bike being too small to tape any gels on) so I could place it in my back pocket when I enter T1.
• I had knicks to wear on the bike leg this was placed below helmet.

Once I thought I had done everything I needed, I realised that I forgot my tool tub which had my spare tube, CO2 x 2 canisters, CO2 valve and my tyre levers. Luckily I had a little helper who rushed back to my accommodation and came back with them. I felt a slight anxiety attack when I was waiting in transition for about 20min for the tub to arrive but I decided to control my anxiety with some music and just smiling. Close to 6:20am when transition closed, I was all set up and ready. 

The last trip to the toilet saw me waiting in a long line. I controlled my anxiety once again by listening to music. After the toilet stop, I ran to the TA Taj where I rushed to put on my wetsuit (being part of the first wave of competitors for the day). I then had my first gel at 6:45am and then walked over to the start line. 

A quick warm up in the muddy lake and then before long, the siren sounded and off we went. I started on the right and 2/3 of the way back amongst my group. The first 50-100m was tricky as I found myself trying to swim past (slower) people already. I found my pace early in the race and I made sure that I stayed on the right so I would have less people trying to swim over me. The 1.9km swim was good and only had a few incidences of excessive aggression in the water. I had an incident of someone swimming over me but I just kicked and I think I actually kicked (him) in the groin. The other incident occured when I caught up with someone and they kicked me in the teeth. The swim got really crowded as well towards the end too when people increased their speed. I came out of the water really well and didn't feel tired at all. I looked at my Garmin and saw 40min and was so happy. I think I had a goal of 45min on Friday before the race. Running towards transition, I dropped my swim cap on the ground and decided to not pick it up (although I loved the swim cap due to the quality and it had the Shepparton 70.3 logo on it). I have since contacted Shepparton 70.3 commitee to see if they can provide me with a replacement one.

In transition, I put on my helmet, glasses and then as hard as it was - put on my knicks over my wet tri-suit. I could tell that the knicks were not completely pull up during the ride as my chamois was bunching on at the front of the saddle which caused me some saddle sores. I also ate half a banana in transition so that my stomach would not be empty but I ended up riding the entire way with a cramp/stitch. I then put on my socks and tri shoes and then off I went out of transition and onto the bike leg. 

For some reason, my "bike legs" were not agreeing with what we had to do - they felt like they were made of lead and didn't want to ride that day. They were heavy and even on the easiest gear on my cassette, it was still painful. I had so many people pass me on the first lap of the bike course and to be perfectly honest, I was slightly demoralised. 

The bike course is pretty much a rectangle course so if there was a wind, you would get two cross winds, one head and one tail. I looked forward to coming back into Kialla as I knew that it was a place where the Tri Alliance squad would be and the thought of them supporting me on the course was what lifted me up at the 40km mark. The U-turn on the course was a very uplifting feeling and one which I would remember for a while. 

The 2nd lap I felt I was stronger as my lead legs were gone but at the same time, the winds had picked up. At the 75km mark, something happened and my Garmin decided to shit itself and stopped working and I stuffed around a bit on the return home trying to figure out what had happened. My total bike leg time was around 3:13.

Coming into transition again, there were no numbering of the rack on the other end and so I ended up going up the wrong end of the rack but luckily, my placement was close to the top. I ended up not changing socks and just changed shoes, swapped gel flasks, grabbed my cap and then off I went on the run course. 

I love my bands!

Believe it or not (looking back), I really enjoyed the run course. I would 100% attribute it to two things - the amount of support on the course and the consistent training I had done during the year. I only went to one toilet stop and it was done on my second lap of the run course and that showed on my splits. I had 1.5 serves of gels on the run course and changed to drinking only coke and a small amount of red lollies along the last 7km of the event. The last lap of the course was perceived to be my quickest (due to the sugar and caffeine in the coke) and it was one which I enjoyed the most as I knew I was nearly home. What I loved about the run course is that we got these bands to put on our wrist to show how many laps we had done. 

The last lap of the run course was also a lonely one. I actually ran with someone for about 3km and we chatted about the event and our up and coming races. He was doing Busso in 3 weeks and this was his first half ironman. He didn't get on the coke like I did on the course and so I ended up passing him and then just kept running at my pace. 

My finisher's medal

The run into the finish chute was the best feeling. I had people along the side cheering me on and I was so happy I did a double punch of the air with both my fists. I was so happy! Nola was at the finishers tent when I finished and I started to cry when we embraced. I was filled with mixed emotions at the end - I couldn't believe that I have finished, I am now an 70.3 finisher, I had just finished a 1.9km swim, a 90km ride and a half marathon....I just couldn't believe it all. 

We received a Finisher's Medal at the end with a towel and for the first time, this is a medal I am so proud to show off. I have carried it everywhere with me since Sunday.

I am so proud of what I had achieved. The experience is defininiely something which I will cherish for a while.

My full results are shown below:

When I walked past the notice board with the results, I thought I had come 2nd last in my category but I later found out that the other result sheet had come off the notice board.

Photo of the results pinned on the notice board

Out of the 30-34 (Male and Female) - I came 155 out of 183 competitors who had finished. It was not possible to seperate out the male and female competitors. Even though it was not my quickest race, it was my first race of a long course distance. I am so happy that I had ticked off this distance and well under my goal time of 6:30. Pretty happy about that!

1 more day!

In about 8 more hours, I would be waking up from (most likely a sleepless) nights sleep and will be getting ready for my first half ironman triathlon.

Today, we did a short 20-30km ride of the course followed by a quick 3km run of the run course. We ran around the lake, through the suburbs and just over the metal bridge and had a quick chat about he run course past the bridge.

I will be racing with a cap this time as it will be good not only for shading the face but also use it to place ice on my head to cool me down.

After the training session, I opted out of the swim because it was a short swim from the start to the swim exit and the coaches didn't andante us to do more than that. After eating some food I had packed, it was time to register. The stuff we got in our race packs was pretty amazing! We got a race wheel bag, a massive soup mug, a water bottle, competitors shirt. The race wheel bag was pretty good as I don't have one. The ironman 70.3 logos are pretty good amongst all the merchandise. Being a first time long course athlete, I am pretty excited about it all!

Okay, it is time for bed. Hope to update this blog on how I went. Apologies that the recent entries don't have photos, I am blogging from my iPad(1) which does not like it when I upload photos on any social media means. I hope to update the recent entries with some photos from the day.

Good night, good luck and race happy

2 more days...landed in Shepparton

With 2 more days left until I race my first half ironman, I have finally picked up a set of race wheels to use for this weekend.

I ordered a set of HED 6 and 9 (front and back) and the ones I am using for this weekend are HED 6 front and back. The wind conditions today were pretty rough so the ride around the course with the race wheels proved to be a real test on how I hold myself up on the bike, with deep rim wheels and cross wind. The ride towards Kialla Lake drive was so good! We had a strong tail wind so I reached speeds up to 45km/hr just without a descent! I tested out which gears work best with what cadence I could hold and I will stick to this strategy on Sunday as it was sustainable.

After the ride on the course, we helped out with the setting up of the TA TAJ and then it was a quick swim around the course (more like get use to the funny taste of the Kialla lake water). We only swam about 20% of the course and hopefully the bouys will be out tommorrow as I wouldn't mind swimming the lap.

Tommorrow will be another chance for us to ride the course, a small run of the course and then a swim.

Being back at Shepparton has made my nerves settle more as I have been here before.

Being in a motel has its limitations in preparing food to eat. There's a kettle but no microwave. I ended up cooking instant noodles and had half a BBQ chicken with some canned veges.

3 More Days...last minute items

3 more days until Shepparton 70.3.

Within the last 24 hours (since the previous entry) I have done the following:

• Bought sunscreen - PABA free. The reason why I don't wear suncreen is that I break out in a bad rash as my pores are blocked. Haven't worn sunscreen on my body since the early 90s. I wore a small amount at Noosa but only on my shoulders to stop the uneven tan lines. I had to purchase sunscreen to use for this weekend as I will be spending 6+hours in the sun and the last thing I need is to be red raw and have tri-suit tan.
• Did a 1.5km open water swim last night at Elwood with the wettie.
• Started my garlic bread carbo loading routine - not only does it help with my glycogen levels but it also helps in warding off colds - not good for kissing partners.
• Printed off the course info - Lucky as the bike course is slightly different from what I had downloaded 4 weeks ago.

The next 24 hours, I still have to do the following:

• Buy a cap (decided to use a cap for running - not using a visor) - NO M-DOT hats will be purchased. I have respect for the M-Dot to wear anything with it until I have finished an ironman distance race.
• Get a massage
• If I feel like it (and the conditions are good) - do a small swim/walk the dog at Elwood
• Pack Pack Pack!!! Triple check I have everything I need for training and racing
• Pick up loan wheels from the bike shop (still have not arrived yet - not happy) 
• Drive to Shepparton

My nerves have calmed down since my last entry. I have no doubt that I will have the ability to finish this race. Good news is that I will have someone special on the side lines cheering me on (first time ever).

4 More Days - It is getting real...

Last night after our taper windtrainer session, we had a Tri Alliance race briefing/talk about the Shepparton race this weekend. Head coach Ollie went through strategies which he recommended from days leading up to the start-swim-T1-bike-T2-run and the days after the race.

One of the girls from our squad is also going to be a TO (Triathlon Official) for the day so she also gave us a few pointers about what not to do on the course especially on the bike leg as this is the area where the rules are called upon at its greatest. She also handed out the Offical TA participants rule book which I will need to read through more thoroughly before the race.

The benefits of training with Tri Alliance is that get so much support from both the coaches and the fellow athletes about the race and many of them have done it before. We also have a race course recon on both Friday and Saturday which will be beneficial for all first timers.

I am lucky is that I raced the Hexman in 2010 and also been at Shep last year to support so I know what it is like in transition and am familiar with the terrain of the swim and run course. The bike course is no longer 3 x 30km so riding the course on Friday will be of great benefit (last year, they changed to 2 x 45km). 

I will arrive at Shepparton on Friday around lunch and will be ready for the 3pm ride and the 4:30pm swim.

I spoke to Coach Ollie about my strategy today and he has given me some good pointers which I must remember to do on race day. I wasn't going to race with a heart rate monitor (especially wearing a one piece and also the strap cutting my chest open) but I will need to change my strategy so that I am taking care of my nutrition from start to finish.

Due to the lateness of the briefing last night and my need to sleep for taper week, I didn't swim this morning and will do an open water swim tonight (with the wettie) with some of the ppl from the squad.

I am still anxious about this race but Ollie mentioned a few things which has placed this event into perspective:

• I have done all the training for this for the last 6 months. I have swam more than 2.5km on average each swim session. Done bike rides 90km+ and have done several weeks of 20km+. Sunday is all about putting it all together.
• This is my race and I need to concentrate on me and my strategy. Don't worry about how everyone is feeling - I am out there racing as an athlete (not as a coach).
• In order for me to continue with my triathlon lifestyle, it must be something I love doing. Otherwise, it is just a chore.
• Treat it like a long training day (use the same strategy as I did at Noosa - it worked)
• Make myself as comfortable as I can - then I will enjoy it and decrease my chances of injuries
• Trust myself more that I will finish this race well

5 More Days - Control the Controllable

With 5 more days until my first half ironman, I would like to share some of the things which have not been going my way leading up to this day (nothing to do with training).

Wheels

I purchased a set of racing wheels in early October through a bikeshop (not an online purchase). Due to my little Asian legs, I am on a Xsmall 47cm Cannondale Slice which has 650c Wheels. 650c wheels are smaller in circumference, more rare and hence, more expensive to purchase to due the "manufacture based on demand" circumstances. I have been researching into wheels for the last 12 months - tossing up between Zipps, Schnell and Hed. I ended up going for the HED brand based on price as well as reviews on performance/value for money. I decided against tubulars as no SAG wagon ever carries spare 650 wheels/tyres. With clinchers, I am able to use my existing tubes and there is nothing different in the method of fixing flats.

I opted for HED 6 for the front and HED 9 for the back (6cm and 9cm rims). I placed the order in for these wheels on the 9th Oct and the bikeshop promised that they would be ready within 2 weeks. Well lets just say, as I write this entry, it would be close to 5 weeks and the wheels have not yet arrived. The suppliers have said that they will provide me with a loan pair to use this weekend but I have no idea what type I will have. The bikeshop said that the wheels will be available late next week which (if they do eventually turn up) would have taken close to 6 weeks to arrive. I have expressed my displeasure at this process (not having the wheels arrive within the 2 weeks as promised and being dicked around on more than one occasion.

Fingers crossed that my wheels will eventually turn up and I will race with them for the remainder of the season.

Waiting on Thursday/Friday for the demo/loan wheels to arrive to re-assess what I will do on race day - I will have 2 options:

1) Race with my current wheels and I have been doing all my training mileage with them

2) Try the racewheels out on Sat and if they are ok, use them

Trust my luck, the suppliers will either give me basic wheels to use or the wheels will be 700c and will be useless to me.

Tri-Shoes
My current tri-shoes Shimano WT-51 are ready to go to shoe heaven. As I wash my shoes after every race, they are completely destroyed. I noticed that the velcro straps have come off the shoes and I had to stitch it by hand prior to using them for Noosa. I should also add that these shoes are also 1 size too big for me and so the straps actually come off half way during races as they are being opened up by the cranks of the bike.

I ordered a pair of WT-52 in size 37 but due to Shimano releasing their WT-53 (in Feb 2013), they have stopped supplying WT-52. I had ordered a pair in October so that I could use them for Noosa but it wasn't until yesterday, I was told that they are not available.

Good news is that I know that another bike shop has WT-52 in 37 and I have told them that I will buy them on Thursday. Not wanting to try anything for the first time on race day, I may have a chance to try them out on Sat when we re-con the course. Currently, I have 2 options - race with my WT-51 with some modifications to the shoes (last night I cut the straps short so they wont rub against my cranks and re-sewn the velcro straps to the shoes) or race with the new WT-52.

As you read the two things above, you might say "what is this girl worrying about?!" - well, if you have both anxiety and OCD tendencies, it is a pretty big deal considering that this is my major A race for 2012. Small things that are not right are magnified and stresses me out as they are things which I could not control and have not gone my way.

5 more days, the race briefing is on tonight after windtrainer. I am coaching the sprint guys tonight but will opt out of doing some of the sets as I am only to be doing a taper set with the long course group.

A few athletes whom I have bumped into the last few days (that I don't see at training) have wished me luck for the weekend - just a gentle reminder of that this race this weekend is a big deal to me and it is becoming real.

All that stress aside, I know that I am ready for this race - I have done my training over the last 6months+. I can't wait for it (to be honest) - it is going to be such a great day. I promise that I will have a smile on my face from start to finish.

Current race weight - 56.7kg.

6 more days...

In 6 more days, I will be racing (participating) in my first half ironman race of my triathlon-life.

I am currently in taper week and because of the change in training load, the emotional stresses/anxiety regarding this event is starting to play on my mind.

Post Noosa week, I have been back on the training wagon -
Thursday - Open water swim followed by a run at Elwood.
Friday - Day off
Saturday - A short 50km ride on Dale to sort out last minute hydration/nutritional strategies
Sunday - A short 12km run followed by 2km open water swim

I can feel my body is still recovering from Noosa as I am still feeling tired - maybe I am just anxious about putting any load on the body which will cause me to fall ill or injured? I am glad that Shepparton is 2 weeks from the Noosa race as the last few days after Noosa felt like a big drainer mentally and physically.

The next few days will consist of

• Tidying things up with work (leave starts 3pm on Thursday until Monday)
• A massage (booked in to see Andy Naylor at Arena on Thursday pm)
• Some packing for my 4 days at Shepparton
• A quick clean of the bike
• Training and racing gear to be packed
• Some coaching with Tri Alliance this Tuesday night followed by race briefing

A comment was posted on facebook that I am (still) focused even after Noosa, I guess this is my major race at which I have been training consistently for over the last 6 months. This will be my first half ironman and will provide me with plenty of perspective and feedback to how my body can handle long course training and racing as appose to the short course stuff I have been doing since 2010.

I didn't get much sleep last night as it hit me during Sunday evening that (Sunday evening) next week, I would have finished my first half ironman (fingers crossed that all goes well). My family and (non-triathlon) friends have no idea about the magnitute of this race I am doing and how much it means to me, but I am not doing this for anyone (I am however receiving plenty of encouragement from the triathlon circle), I am doing this for me.

6 more days...

Noosa Training Fun 2012 (not the race report)

This blog entry is all about the fun/training I had at Noosa from Wednesday 31st Oct through to 7th Nov. My Noosa Race Report is here.

Wednesday 31st
Flight was around 10am so Sally and I planned on getting to the airport around 8am. Jetstar was running a promotion for the 100millionth customer so there were cameras around. I got myself on camera whilst I dropped off my bike and waved in the background behind Grant Denyer.

Seafood on a stick

Arrived at Noosa around midday. First celeb spotting Chris (Macca) McCormack was at the Sunshine Coast airport.

Macca loading his luggage into the mini bus.

Both Sally and I stayed with another family before we were to move closer to Hasting St on Thursday. Had a quick lunch before the swim session in the afternoon.

As I had done this race last year, it was a nice change to swim this course with a fresh mind and actually swimming the entire way (but in a relaxed setting). Ollie took us through at every main stop:
1) Around the "first bouy" before turning left around the island
2) Under the bridge and straight towards the T-intersection (at this point, we had a choice of either swimming towards the swim exit or swim the entire course).
3) Turning right towards the 2nd 6 knot sign where the turn-around is.
4) Swim from the U-turn all the way to the swim exit.

Swim course re-con

Thursday 1st Nov
We had a ride in the morning along the bike course in its entirety. I tried out the Xlab torpedo hydration system instead of my profile design sippy thing as it didn't work well with the new bike set-up. The new hydration system worked fine and it is a quicker for re-filling as all I have to do is change the bottles over instead of emptying the contents into the sippy bottle (better for long course). After the ride, it was a quick breakfast at La Monde where I had an Acai bowl (which is Acai cereal with shaved coconut and berry/acai sorbet) - delicous!

Ride Course re-con

A ride back to Noosaville where we had to pack our bags to move to our accomodation on Hastings St, a quick nap/dip at the pool and then it was a long run session along the bank. I did about 12km (over an hour) and luckily had my hydration belt with me. Many people did not cope well with the heat as well as the lack of drinking water along the course.

My view along the pool

Long Run on Thursday

Friday 2nd Nov
Long ride for the LC athletes. As Lidia and I were dropped at the intersection, we got lost. As you can see from the map below, we turned to Black Mountain and decided to turn around as the speed limit slowed down to 50km/h and we were riding through people's driveways. A quick call to the coaches to let them know we haven't been made into lunch or roadkill, we then we both headed back towards Noosa and did 3 more hill repeats of the hill to make up for the distance.

Long ride to whoop whopp QLD.

It was then a quick 30min run off the bike (covered about 5km).

We had some time to kill in between the morning and the afternoon training sessions so we ventured off to the expo. Craig (Crowie) Alenxander was doing some book signings and I got myself into some people's photo (in the background) and also the main interview.

photobombed the main interview

After the run, it was then a dip/nap next to the pool before another swim along the swim course. We did the same thing as Wednesday and it was good to get another swim in prior to Sunday's race.

Saturday 3rd Nov
The day before race day - so training is kept at low intensity. We had a Tri Alliance group photo (combining Vic and Qld) before heading off for a quick 30-45min training session - I opted for the ride along most of the run course (9km) followed by a quick run along the run course (3km). I ventured off to the expo to grab some last minute things before heading to the main house for a Tri Alliance coaches' meeting. After the meeting, it was a quick run over to the house to pick up the bike for the bike check-in before watching some of the men's GP. Another celeb spotting moment captured below:

Caroline (Xena) Steffen and Craig (Crowie) Alenxander prior to Mens GP

I positioned myself at the hot dog turned and the way those guys moved around the turn was amazing to watch - plenty of near misses, plenty of bike handling skills required!

Tri Alliance (Noosa attendees) from Vic and Qld

Sunday 4th Nov
RACE DAY - see race report.
We had a Tri Alliance afterparty at Hog's Breath and then it was off to a bar called Mink for the after party and then off to Rolling Rock until 3am for the after-after party. My calves and quads were cramping up and I had to do calf and quad stretches throughout the night. Haven't been out on a big night such as Sunday night for a long long time. Spent plenty of time of the dance floor and drank heaps of Mother (energy drink) which I never touch --> couldn't sleep.

Monday 5th Nov
A BIG breakfast before heading back for a nap at the pool to work on my tan. A good 1km swim in the ocean (wearing new bathers bought at the expo) at 3pm.

Tuesday 6th Nov
Prior to the Melb Cup day celebrations, we did a good 50km ride along the main highway towards the airport for 2 hours or so.

A quick 1km run off the bike (couldn't do any more than that - legs were tired). The rest of the day consisted of a long 3 hour nap on the couch followed by 4 hours of lying on the beach.

Wednesday 7th Nov
Prior to heading back to Melbourne, we did a final swim in the canal along the ride course but leaving and finishing the swim from the main TA house. This was about 1.6km at a comfortable pace.

The difference between my Noosa week this year compared to last year is that I trained throughout the week leading up to and after the main race on Sunday because:
1) Long Course athletes
2) Shepparton on the 18th Nov

More long swims in the canal was great to increase milage in the open water but will need to swim more with the wetsuit prior to next Sunday.

As I write this entry - I have 8 more sleeps until Shepparton 70.3 - My race number is 608. I am getting very excited and nervous at the same time. My goal of doing a half ironman within 2012 is finally here...be sure to write about this early next week leading up to race weekend.

PS - My HED 6/9 wheels still have not arrived. It has been nearly 4 weeks now since I put down the deposit (early Oct). Very disappointed as I wanted to ride with them this weekend. Very very very disappointed in how it was handled through the bike shop. They said it should be available next Tuesday to be picked up. I bet you they forgot to put the order through 4 weeks ago. Fingers crossed that they arrive by Tuesday so I can so some laps in Melbourne before using them on race weekend.

Noosa Olympic Distance 2012 - a race report

SWIM-BIKE-RUN - Noosa 2012

On Sunday 4th Nov 2012, I raced my third Olympic distance triathlon. This is a race report and details of the other updates (including training at Noosa) will be on another entry to keep this one nice as short (as possible).

Dale in transition

On Sunday morning, I was not in a great mood. The thought of the actual race (more specifically, the mount and dismount part of the bike leg due to the lack of practice) really made me nervous. My last race was in March 2012 and it wasn't my best performance. I had done this race in 2011 (first Olympic distance) with a time of 3:05. One of my short term goals was to finish this race under 3 hours and I am happy to report that I completed this race in 2:52.06. The biggest improvement would be in both the swim and the run. The bike leg was done on a different bike (yes, Dale was faster).

My start time was 8:05 which meant that I had plenty of time to relax after I prepped Dale up in transition (transition closed at 6:30). I decided to ride with 2 bottles of hydration (knowing that I will most likely only use up one). I used the Xlab bottle on the tri-bars instead of the Profile Design sippy-thing as I had gotten use to it during the training rides and it didn't have any issues. I also decided to tape some gels onto the bars just in case along with the flask. The intention was to hang the bike off the seat but due to both the height of the bars and the size of my bike, he would be hovering around 60cm off the ground. There would be a big chance that he would not stay that way when I reach him in T1 - No issues, hang him off the handle bars - its not like a few seconds would hurt in my race time (safety first).

This year, there was also a choice to put the race belt on in T1 or T2, I opted for T2 to minimise the bib flapping around. Vaseline and powder in my shoes (I had blisters on my feet from running without socks for the first time during training!). Once I had all my shit sorted in transition, I headed back to the apartment to have breakfast and to apply my race number tattoos on my arms.





Heading back through Noosaville



Headed down to swim start at 7:45am, did a small swim across the canal to warm up as well as getting use to water temperature. I didn't have too many girls from the squad in my field (F 30-34 A-L). The actual swim itself was good. I felt comfortable the entire way through and my sighting had also improved (better goggles). I paid attention to my technique (especially my left arm) and pushed myself beyond my "comfortable" pace. One of the better swimmers from my squad passed me (from a later category) and I used her pace to swim faster for about 100m before I lost her due to her speed. 

Exiting the swim into T1, I sprinted towards my rack (18) and it wasn't hard to find my bike - hardly anything left around that area :) I had a small bottle of fresh water there to wash my face and then it was the usual helmet, glasses on and off I went. I think this played a part into my bike time but at least I was comfortably clean.

No fancy bike mount - didn't have the confidence as this wasn't practiced at all. 



Heading out on bike leg...putting on right shoe



The bike ride through Noosaville was interesting as the roads were still slightly wet and saw a few athlete-wobbles. Throughout the ride, due to the congestion, there were plenty of athletes drafting - I don't like seeing it but it couldn't be helped. The gel flasks worked better than fiddling around with the gel packets so I will aim to use 3 flask for Shep (2 on the bike leg and 1 for the run). To break up the bike leg, I did a few efforts along the flats and used it to my advantage to pass other athletes. Small chain ring (but keeping the gears in the middle), high cadence up Garmin Hill then back onto the large chain ring for the entirety of the race. This time around, I also didn't spin (or take my feet out of the shoes) too early compared to last year so it played a large part in the improvement of my bike leg - winning!

No fancy dismount - too busy around the dismount line and due to the lack of practice.

I felt better in T2 this time around compared to last year. Last year I had to take a break before the run leg (we are talking sitting on the ground). I was slowed down a bit as I had one of the volunteers send me off to the wrong direction but luckily I just followed someone else who knew where to go.

The temperature was also cooler which also helped my comfort levels. I decided to run without a hat or a visor (lessons learnt from my half marathon) and this will be the strategy I will stick with for Shep.

One thing I must change is my lack of "seriousness" on the bike and run leg. I am constantly keeping an eye on the course for people to cheer them on. I know this is great for moral but it does take some energy out of me and I also lose a bit of momentum.

My results are shown below.

Comparing it to 2011, I have the following improvements:

Swim - from 36:28 down to 31:54 (nearly 4.5 min off) - This time around, I knew where to swim and didn't stop on the swim course at all. I actually swam past people in my own category whilst starting the swim from the back.

Bike - from 1:27:41 down to 1:24:22 (nearly 3.2 min off) - New bike made a difference, I was more confident throughout the course and felt stronger riding up the Garmin hill. There was a few minutes before coming down the descent where I had to slow down to avoid collision with a competitor who swerved across when the TO told her off for blocking. This was also the same girl who would overtake but then slow right down so people would have to apply on their brakes which caused a few hesitant moments on the road.

Run - from 1:01:47 down to 55:49 (nearly 6min off) - Really happy with the run time albeit that I didn't take the run too seriously - hugged Nola on the run course, high-5 other TA Athletes, thanked volunteers and chatted with a guy who noticed that there were plenty of Tri Alliance athletes racing on the day.

Goal for next year (2013) is to get close to 2:45. Try and get the swim time down < 30min, bike leg needs work and will try to aim < 1:15 and the run closer to 5min/km to 50min. Oh, if you didn't catch on already, I have already entered into Noosa 2013.