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| Beautiful Lorne |
Friday - 7th June
So I arrived in Geelong just before 11am to drop off some things for my parents and to also pick up some food which my mum has made for me. Lately, she has been loving her pressure cooker which also does risottos and other rice dishes. She has been making me Zong Zi - which is a rice dish with shitaki mushrooms, chestnuts and sometimes meat. I was never a fan of it when I was younger but now I just crave these traditional dishes as they are often so healthy and good for you.
I left Geelong around 12 after saying bye to my Dad (he went back to Malaysia to see my grandparents for a week). Arriving in Lorne around 1:30pm, I checked into my accommodation which was across the street from the Lorne Life Saving Club. Unpacked, went to the supermarket to buy some essentials (such as bread, butter, eggs, lettuce, cheese and a toothbrush!), had lunch and got ready for the run session which starts at 4pm.
Michelle (housemate for the weekend) also arrived when I was having lunch so she also settled in for the weekend.
The run session was split into 3 groups. This was an optional session for those who arrived in time. I was placed in Group 2. Group 1 did the Mountain to Surf trail and a bit more (through Lorne), Group 2 did the Mountain to Surf trail and Group 3 ran along the flats.
My running is still pretty shocking (compared to what I was able to achieve 3-4 months ago) and so I drifted to the back during the warm up. When we ran along the trails, I stayed at the back and ran at my own pace. Similar to the Sunday runs, my shoes are not the best for slippery conditions. When we reached the end of the trails, it was a hill climb which meant that I was on my forefoot and doing little steps consistently until I reached the top. I didn't stop until I reached the top which meant that my legs were burning - what a mental game it was.
The soak in the water post run session was my first of many swims in the cold water. From experience, I found it colder and less toleratable to only dip your legs in the bay and fighting to stay dry when the waves hit compared to immersing your full body in it. I had my entire body in the water and only had my head above when the waves were not hitting. This was also a better method when I was past the break as the waves were not as high and I didn't experience any white wash. We then went back to get ready and went to dinner before the camp briefing.
During the camp briefing, we were told which group we were in for both cycling and running. I found out on Thursday night that I was going to be in Group 3 for both. I thought I was going to be placed in Group 2 for cycling but I guess the coaches thought that my pace wouldn't be fast enough for it.
Saturday - 8th June
I kept my bike in the car and drove down to the lifesaving club. This way, I had all my bags ready for the post ride soak.
At the start of Group 3's ride, I was in the middle of the group. I felt the pace was just too slow (even for a cold cold morning) so I decided to ride at my pace. What ended up happening was that I broke away from the main group and had 4 people joining me at my pace. I lead the entire way until I had to stop to remove a layer of clothing around the 1 hour mark.
You see, due to my past experiences with Lorne, I had on too many layers - my Mountain Design merino thermal, my full bib (which covers the chest in a fleece layer), my short sleeve jersey and I had on top of that, my long sleeve jersey. I got too hot too quickly and I couldn't take it any longer when my back was just covered in sweat. To safely pull over, I decided to do a big surge and pulled over the side of the road where there was a lookout so that the pace of the group didn't have to slow down. The removal of the layers I was wearing was such a relief. My thermal layer was soaked. I then pedalled off for about 10min before I decided to turn around as I wanted to do the Benwerrin Climb at the 1:10 mark.
Apart from another girl in the group (who did a slightly shorter ride than me) did the Benwerrin Climb out of Group 3. Only a handful of athletes from Group 1 did the climb on the Saturday.
Climbing Benwerrin was my main goal for the weekend. I needed to tick that goal off considering that there was a big chance that I wouldn't be able to on the Sunday as I needed to do the bike cleaning session.
After the ride, it was a swim and then back to the accommodation for some rest.
We then got ready for the run session which started around 4pm. I was placed in Group 3 with Coach Daz and we started on the flats and ran along the trails close to the beach and turned around. I was towards the back of the group but I wanted to be able to maintain my comfortable pace. About 3km in the run, I stepped into a hole along the boardwalk and rolled my ankle. It became a painful jog/walk and I had to slow down my pace to accommodate for the tenderness of the ankles.
We then did a hill climb from the roundabout opposite the information centre for about 2km. We then ran down one of the many steep roads around Lorne. I swear it was the steepest hill I had ever encountered on a run and luckily we ran down the hill and not up. Coach Daz said that it was a steep enough hill that he would not even drive up in a car.
Another session, another swim in the sea.
My ankle still felt tender during dinner so I made a decision to see how it goes in the morning for the ride but completely stop my run sessions for the weekend. I prepped everything I needed for the ride in the morning.
Sunday - 9th June
I was anxious when the alarm went off at 5:45am....my heart was beating fast as I psyched myself to get out of bed to see how the ankle would hold up....step off the bed, step on the ground, pain was felt when I slightly twist the ankle on an angle. Damn...not good news. I decided to stay off the bike that morning taking to account the repetitive motion of the pedal stroke may make it worse (?)
I had a quick lunch before I got myself ready for the bike cleaning session at 11am. This session was attended by a dozen beginners. Ollie had this session filmed too.
After the bike cleaning session, I finished cleaning off the demo bike and then sat upstairs in the common room to watch a video on nutrition (which was recorded during the QLD training Camp). I learnt a thing or two and a few things were reiterated (currently doing).
We then had a learn to massage session with Bo who works closely with the Endurance.net guys before getting ready for our open water swim session.
What I thought was a Pier to Pub swim became the aquathon. We first started off by getting acclimatised to the water. We swam out and back to adjust to the waves and temperature of the water. My jaw was throbbing from the coldness of the water when we had to put our face in it as we swam but that pain slowly subsided the longer we were in the water.
There was a buoy placed out a few hundred metres away and the first task was a swim to the buoy and back. I was tossed about amongst a large wave so I didn't make it back to shore in any sort of reasonable pace.
What we ended up doing was that the coaches had us line up in the order which we arrived back to shore. We had 22 athletes within this session so Sarah counted 1 through to 11 until the middle and then 1 through to 11 from the other end. We had to then match up with our paired number for a handicapped relay race.
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| Passing on the rubber band baton |
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| Finished 2nd place |
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| Avril and I - 2nd Place Superstars |
I was number 6 (from the slow end) and paired up with Avril (6 from the fast end). I sent her off first in the relay and she did well. She came out of the water first! She then handed over to me the baton (which was a rubber band) and off I went. I ended up coming out of the water 2nd place having one person pass me around the buoy.
As I decided to not run that afternoon, I went back to the house to eat and do some reading.
During the Sunday night's camp briefing, Ollie mentioned about what the Monday's ride was about - a ride out (for Group 1 and 2, it was an hour) and Group 3 was 45min and then a staggered (handicapped) TT back (all guns blazing). I really wanted to do a 2 hour ride but not the TT in case my ankle would not hold up...I decided to do Group 3's ride instead (45min out and then TT back). Group 4 was a latte ride with a coffee stop at Wye River.
Monday - 10th June
Again, similar to Saturday, I was at the front of the group, mainly due to my fresh legs. At this point, I agreed to do the TT back as my ankles were feeling ok. We then self seeded ourselves ready for the TT back to Lorne. I was again paired up with Avril as she was considered one of the stronger cyclists amongst that group that morning. We were the last to start the ride back to Lorne.
I was surprising myself that I was actually having a good crack at this TT thing...maybe because I had fresher legs compared to others or maybe because I was considered the strongest out of the group that morning. There was a point where I was slowly catching up (and about to overtake) when.....PING.....something flew off my bike and I could no longer turn the cranks.....my chain broke.
I ended up calling the sag wagon and that was the end of my ride...15km from Lorne. I stayed with the Sag Wagon until the last person arrived back in Lorne from Groups 1 and 2. A quick soak then it was packing the bags to check out.
I went back to the club to attend the Strength and Conditioning session with Kemble before I finished packing and checked out of the house.
We had a BBQ at the club which was a great way to end the weekend. Prizes were awarded and I received my 2nd prize pack which contained a Giant Drink Bottle (I have 4 from the weekend now), a new Tri Alliance Swim cap and Rocket Science swim goggles.
After lunch, I stayed back to help with some of the cleaning before the drive back to Geelong to have dinner with my mum.
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Compared to previous years, I had completed the least amount of training ever and I had not reached new benchmarks. I guess I am a different athlete compared to what I was this time last year. My load has dramatically increased over the last 12 months and having just finished my first Ironman triathlon.
The journey back into the groove of things has taken a little longer and turned out to be more painful than I had anticipated. No one has really mentioned this lately - how painful it is to get back on the wagon, maybe it's not that painful and maybe I am just very unfit....I don't know, only time will tell.
Totals for the weekend (guesstimate for now):
Swim - Plenty
Bike - 70km + 30km = 100km
Run - 8km + 9km = 17km
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