Hell Week so far...

My holidays started on the 22nd of Dec 2012 and so did the first day of Hell Week. Our program was that we would chose 2 options to do everyday. I spoke to the coaches and they said that it was ok that I can do 3 sessions a day for the first few days but with a light(er) volume and intensity as to not burn out early on in the week.

Day 1 - 22nd Dec

I love living along Beach Rd. I love the fact that I am able to start my Hell Week ride early and have little to no traffic to deal with before I met the group. I started this ride at 5:15am from Mentone and met the group at Elwood (15km from my house) well before 6am. The first day of Hell Week always sees the most people starting out on the ride. We must have had close to 60 ppl on Day 1. As I am now part of the Ironman (first timer) group, my plan was 70-90km ride. As I had already done 15km, I had to do some mathematics to figure out how far I am to go and when I should turn around. I rode with the group up past Patterson Lakes and then turned around and rode back to my house solo. 

Solo riding is something which I actually don't mind and actually enjoy. Although time flies by very slowly (and so does my speed)I find solo rides more beneficial for triathlon racing. I ended up riding 85km. 

Once I got home, I changed into my run gear and went for my 5km run off the bike. There is a route I have around my house which include a run along Beach Rd for about 2km. Along this stretch I saw most of the Tri Alliance guys riding back towards Elwood (they turned off at Frankston). The first run off the bike was not pretty and the last time I did this was at Shepparton on the 18 Nov. A quick drink of chocolate milk to curb my hunger and it was a drive towards Elwood to join the crew for the swim. 

The swim at the bay was gorgeous. The water was nice and flat and I ended up swimming around 1.3km. A quick lunch at Sails and it was home for a well earned nap before I headed off to Springvale to buy food for the next day's Christmas dinner. 

1.3km Swim, 85km Ride, 5km Run

Day 2 - 23rd Dec

This day was similar to Day one except that I started from my house at 5am as I wanted to do the extra Port Melbourne loop. So before I met the group at Elwood, I had already done 25km solo. I noticed the winds had picked up. As I had started my ride earlier, I turned around at the end of Station St and headed home. A 5km run off the bike on the same route as yesterday. Although the temperature was higher than the previous day, the legs actually felt better and the run was more enjoyable. 

A drive to Elwood for a 1.2km swim and that was day 2 done and dusted. 

1.2km Swim, 80km Ride, 5km Run

Day 3 - 24th Dec

I had a massive dinner the night before which also consisted of a larger than my usual consumption of sugar. That and the combination of Melbourne's heat overnight, I had no sleep. The day's ride didn't eventuate on the road so I just did 80min on the windtrainer indoors. No run off the bike either as I had family commitments. 

Day 4 - 25th Dec

This was a day off Hell Week's schedule but I did the Santa Ride. I rode from my house to Elwood to meet the group there at 8am. The ride was a short one - Elwood to Black Rock return and we had coffee at Jerry's as we found out it was opened. After the coffee break, we then rode back to Mentone. 

55km Ride. 

Day 5 - 26th Dec

Boxing Day - This morning's ride was good. I started from my house at 5:10am as the meeting point was St Kilda rather than Elwood. I didn't have enough time to do the Port Melbourne route first so I just waited until the rest of the squad for about 15min. As I was turning around earlier than the rest of the long course group, I stayed at the back of the pack. The faster group who started the ride from Elwood also caught up with us at Brighton. The pace picked up dramatically and this lead to a split in the group which saw many riding solo. I ended up turning around past Patterson again and then rode home. As I had an upset stomach the night before, I was noticeably dehydrated on the ride. I opted out of the run as well as the swim as I wasn't feeling 100% and slept for the rest of the day.

85km Ride.

Tomorrow is my bday so I have opted out of an early morning ride and will be catching up with friends for breakfast instead. I will either do a long ride or a long run instead later in the day before an endurance swim at Sandringham at 6pm. 

Hell Week ends on the 29th Dec. I have also signed up with Rapha 500 which is a challenge set on Strava. The challenge is to ride 500km between Christmas day until New Years eve. I know that I have done about 130km so far so I do need to log some km in before the end of the year. My last day on the bike is possibly the 29th so it needs to be done by then!