It pretty much occurred to be last week that I am so close to race season and only have a couple of weeks left until my first half Ironman race for 2013-2014. Even though I have done two official half Ironman races and a full during 2012-2013, the distances (1.9km/90km/21.1km) and having to go through the pain of racing 6 hours still scares me. Also memories from my first Shepparton - from the lead legs, side stitch for 60km on the bike through to toilet stops and not being able to swallow during the run has not put my mindset in a good place for it. But all that anxiety aside, I am still looking forward to the event and being amongst the supportive community of Shepparton Tri Club.
As I have mentioned before, I am not as fit as I was last year and I have been more injury prone over the last few months - I put this down to the decreased in frequency and load during this year's winter months. I have also cancelled my gym membership so I am also not doing the actual Pilates classes anymore either (just home sessions).
Juggling house inspections has not been the best either, but I have managed by moving my training times to suit and not train with the main squad. So on Saturday, I did an hour of water running, an open water swim session at Elwood followed by 2 hours of house inspections. Pushed my long ride to a Sunday when I don't have plans.
In summary, I have done 4 swim sessions (1 with the squad on Monday, 1 open water on Saturday), 3 rides and 1 (water) running. I saw the physio about my knees and he advised that I have internal bleeding (and inflammation) behind the knee caps from the half marathon and not having recovered from it (with ice baths), the inflammation has stayed around. My muscles around my quads and hamstrings were noticeably tight and after he massaged them out, the pain around my knees had subsided. It's really amazing what they know and how they can sort things out. Since then, I have stayed off the running (on hard surfaces) and just stayed with water running. I will do the 10km run as part of the Olympic distance race but will try to manage it as quick as I can so I am able to push out a half marathon at Shepparton 2 weeks after.
Favourite session of the week: My long ride on Sunday was just the best! I made a conscious decision on Saturday night to ride later in the day on Sunday (have a sleep in) and ride solo. Left the house at 10am and made my way down to Mordialloc. I then rode towards Port Melbourne, back down to Mordialloc, up to Port Melbourne again and then home (in essence, Port Melb - Mordi x 2 laps). I wanted to do this to get use to the laps we often to in triathlons - this is pretty much what we do for Shepparton, Challenge, Geelong and Melbourne - all 2 laps.
I pushed myself pretty much 80% of the time to mimic what the intensity would be like in a race. Mind you, there was only a small breeze so the conditions were also perfect. I loved that ride as I had a sense of achievement.
The Ride to Conquer Cancer also happened that weekend. They rode from Albert Park down to Hastings on Saturday and rode back on Sunday. So whenever I was riding back to Port Melbourne from Mordi, I gave words of encouragement. They all had their names on the bikes too which meant that I was able to call out their names as I rode past - "Great Job <insert name>", with a thumbs up! On my first ride back, I had a few of the more eager cyclist ride behind me, they said thanks when they turned off St Kilda St.
On my second lap, there were still cyclists out on the road. They didn't look like they were going great but good on them for being out on the road. I don't know if any of these cyclists were being hassled on the weekend. There is something about seeing the Ride to Conquer Cancer on the jerseys to put things into perspective for those angry motorists out there.
Least favourite session of the week: I did my own swim session on Wednesday afternoon. I usually don't do my swim sessions at MSAC by myself. Based on the past, the lanes are always busy (being a central city pool) and lanes are often booked out for squads. I didn't head to GESAC and I had a feeling they would close the outdoor pool due to the storms.
So I started my swim session in the outdoor pool and swam for about 45min. I had gotten through most of my set and had a 500m pb/paddles and a 800m cool down to go when we were asked to go to the indoor pool due to the water polo comps. There were only 3 lanes opened in the indoor lane for general public - there were about 15 people in the lane and it was chaos as everyone was doing their own sets.
Now if I am ever doing anything slower or faster than the lane speed, I would always move - if I am doing speed sets with fins, I would go to the fast lane, if I am doing a cool down (with breaststroke), I would move to the slow lane. Personally, I think it is common courtesy to do this. My 500m pb/paddles became about 400m as I had to turn around early at the ends behind slower swimmers but made sure that I am not slowing anyone down behind me either. That was all I could do and I didn't end up doing my cool down as the pool had gotten too busy and the fast lane was just as crowded.
Why was it my least favorite session - it wasn't because others were doing their own set. They have as much of a right to be there as I did. It wasn't because people were not swimming in their appropriate lanes in accordance to their speeds either. It was my attitude during that last few hundred meters. I was annoyed and I got frustrated at something which I could not control. I didn't end up doing my cool down because I let my annoyance get the better of me.
What to do now? I need find a 50m indoor pool in the burbs as my Plan B. If there is a storm and often they close outdoor pools (if lightning is present), I am able to still do my sets in a sheltered/indoor pool which is not MSAC.
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| Look how ridiculously happy I am to finish... |
As I have mentioned before, I am not as fit as I was last year and I have been more injury prone over the last few months - I put this down to the decreased in frequency and load during this year's winter months. I have also cancelled my gym membership so I am also not doing the actual Pilates classes anymore either (just home sessions).
Juggling house inspections has not been the best either, but I have managed by moving my training times to suit and not train with the main squad. So on Saturday, I did an hour of water running, an open water swim session at Elwood followed by 2 hours of house inspections. Pushed my long ride to a Sunday when I don't have plans.
In summary, I have done 4 swim sessions (1 with the squad on Monday, 1 open water on Saturday), 3 rides and 1 (water) running. I saw the physio about my knees and he advised that I have internal bleeding (and inflammation) behind the knee caps from the half marathon and not having recovered from it (with ice baths), the inflammation has stayed around. My muscles around my quads and hamstrings were noticeably tight and after he massaged them out, the pain around my knees had subsided. It's really amazing what they know and how they can sort things out. Since then, I have stayed off the running (on hard surfaces) and just stayed with water running. I will do the 10km run as part of the Olympic distance race but will try to manage it as quick as I can so I am able to push out a half marathon at Shepparton 2 weeks after.
Favourite session of the week: My long ride on Sunday was just the best! I made a conscious decision on Saturday night to ride later in the day on Sunday (have a sleep in) and ride solo. Left the house at 10am and made my way down to Mordialloc. I then rode towards Port Melbourne, back down to Mordialloc, up to Port Melbourne again and then home (in essence, Port Melb - Mordi x 2 laps). I wanted to do this to get use to the laps we often to in triathlons - this is pretty much what we do for Shepparton, Challenge, Geelong and Melbourne - all 2 laps.
I pushed myself pretty much 80% of the time to mimic what the intensity would be like in a race. Mind you, there was only a small breeze so the conditions were also perfect. I loved that ride as I had a sense of achievement.
The Ride to Conquer Cancer also happened that weekend. They rode from Albert Park down to Hastings on Saturday and rode back on Sunday. So whenever I was riding back to Port Melbourne from Mordi, I gave words of encouragement. They all had their names on the bikes too which meant that I was able to call out their names as I rode past - "Great Job <insert name>", with a thumbs up! On my first ride back, I had a few of the more eager cyclist ride behind me, they said thanks when they turned off St Kilda St.
On my second lap, there were still cyclists out on the road. They didn't look like they were going great but good on them for being out on the road. I don't know if any of these cyclists were being hassled on the weekend. There is something about seeing the Ride to Conquer Cancer on the jerseys to put things into perspective for those angry motorists out there.
Least favourite session of the week: I did my own swim session on Wednesday afternoon. I usually don't do my swim sessions at MSAC by myself. Based on the past, the lanes are always busy (being a central city pool) and lanes are often booked out for squads. I didn't head to GESAC and I had a feeling they would close the outdoor pool due to the storms.
So I started my swim session in the outdoor pool and swam for about 45min. I had gotten through most of my set and had a 500m pb/paddles and a 800m cool down to go when we were asked to go to the indoor pool due to the water polo comps. There were only 3 lanes opened in the indoor lane for general public - there were about 15 people in the lane and it was chaos as everyone was doing their own sets.
Now if I am ever doing anything slower or faster than the lane speed, I would always move - if I am doing speed sets with fins, I would go to the fast lane, if I am doing a cool down (with breaststroke), I would move to the slow lane. Personally, I think it is common courtesy to do this. My 500m pb/paddles became about 400m as I had to turn around early at the ends behind slower swimmers but made sure that I am not slowing anyone down behind me either. That was all I could do and I didn't end up doing my cool down as the pool had gotten too busy and the fast lane was just as crowded.
Why was it my least favorite session - it wasn't because others were doing their own set. They have as much of a right to be there as I did. It wasn't because people were not swimming in their appropriate lanes in accordance to their speeds either. It was my attitude during that last few hundred meters. I was annoyed and I got frustrated at something which I could not control. I didn't end up doing my cool down because I let my annoyance get the better of me.
What to do now? I need find a 50m indoor pool in the burbs as my Plan B. If there is a storm and often they close outdoor pools (if lightning is present), I am able to still do my sets in a sheltered/indoor pool which is not MSAC.
Advice of the week: I don't know if I still need to test out different nutrition strategies or not. For the bike, I know that I am not a bars person, I don't like to eat solids on the bike. Some people eat jellies and I might try this some time to see if there is any benefits (Clif Shotz). Also testing out the liquid nutrition too - not gels and water but your nutrition in liquid form. So for a race, I would be carrying 2 bottles of liquid food instead of gels, salt solution and water. I think I will test this out the week after Noosa (or even the ride post Noosa) and see how I go.
There is no way I will be carrying liquid nutrition on the run so I will stick to what works for me - Gu gels (as they are not too runny and I can swallow incrementally).
Thing I’m looking forward to next week: It's NOOSA BABY! Yes, this week, I am off to Noosa for a week! I will be competing in my 3rd Noosa (Olympic) distance triathlon. Not aiming to get a PB of any kind this time around - I am just out there to train and have fun.
Leaving on Thursday 31st, race on the 3rd and then leaving on the 6th Nov. I am in need of some sun and sea. I better start packing my stuff in a pile! Will be packing the bike on Wednesday afternoon. Dale (the Cannondale) is being serviced as we speak.
Leaving on Thursday 31st, race on the 3rd and then leaving on the 6th Nov. I am in need of some sun and sea. I better start packing my stuff in a pile! Will be packing the bike on Wednesday afternoon. Dale (the Cannondale) is being serviced as we speak.
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| Noosa 2012 |
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