Monday 20 January 2014

Weekly Reflection 13/01 - 19/01

First week of work for 2014, Melbourne heat wave and a new bike, that pretty much summed up the week that just passed.

I started my training week with a squad swim at Northcote. It contained some "just bands" and I sank like a sack of potatoes. I float fine when we just stayed still but as soon as we started to swim, my legs didn't want to stay up. I find it hard to hold my core when there is so many things to concentrate on...like swimming to move forward.

We were in for a period of multiple-day heat wave of > 40 degrees and so Monday was already a warm day. I am still coming back from injuries and so I gave some more days to recover from the long run on Sunday. It is not smart to dive straight into 3 sessions a week when I hadn't been running for 2 months. Tuesday afterwork was windtrainer session but due to the heat, we were outside within Albert Park rather than above the indoor pool in MSAC. Yes it was warm and we modified the session to suit. This was followed by another night of little sleep.

On Wednesday, instead of swimming with the squad in the pool, I did my swim about 9pm that night at Mentone (open water). 9pm and there were still hundreds of people at the beach cooling off. I did 1.5km and loved every minute of it. No wetsuit required.

Instead of a run session in the morning, I decided to go to the gym and do my (shortened) run set on the treadmill and then a strength session with weights. In the afternoon, we it was a long open water swim followed by windtrainer session. Due to the heat, Elwood was packed and for the first time ever, I couldn't find a car park close by and had to park practically in the next suburb. I was late by 15min and only did a small swim as my bike wasn't set up properly for the session. It was so refreshing to be swimming without a wetsuit. No jellies seen. The windtrainer session was good as we worked on several race pace efforts. We had to cut the session short due to lightning. Got kinda scary.

I decided against swimming on Friday due to the heat wave and how dirty public pools get and I was right. A squad friend told me a few hours later that there was poo in the pool and lane ropes were vandalised from the day before. Not cool kiddies (and adults who act like kids)!!

Saturday was my maiden voyage on the new TT bike. I decided to get a Giant Trinity Composite W1. No more 650c wheels for me!! This ride didn't really go according to plan. I left the house at 4:30am and had 2 pinch flats within 2km from the house. After I changed my 2nd flat, I noticed that my rear light was flat and my front lights gave me the "I am dying, you didn't charge me the night before you bitch" warning lights. At 5am, it was not safe for me to ride without lights and without any spares so I decided to ride (carefully) home and went back to bed (not because I gave up on the day, just to wait until the sun came out). At 8am, it was "take 2".

The new bike (which is yet to be named) and I got along great. She was comfortable to ride and I did feel the difference in riding a larger frame/wheel set. I felt like I was actually getting somewhere with the cadence I was riding and no different to my road bike.

Sunday was my long run day but I went to an outdoor yoga session in support of a friend who is raising money for Smiling for Smiddy, here is her link and story. The session didn't get off to a good start as my GPS sent me to the other end of Dorset Rd (the Croydon end) rather than Boronia so I was late my 15min. Some of the yoga poses were hard but I loved it. Yoga (to me) is not only to work on your flexibility but also your core and strength in holding yourself upright. The session was in the Tim Neville Arboretum which was a fantastic venue (the weather was great too) and we practiced just in front of the rose bushes. just magic!






I did my run session in the afternoon and a huge lesson learnt from it...(see below). I ran 20km the same manner as last week, ran into the headwind towards Frankston, turned around near Edithvale Station and headed back with the tailwind. I also bought a baby pool so now I can do my ice bath post training.

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Favourite session of the week: Loooooved my open water swim at 9pm on Wednesday night. I don't know if it is considered a training session or not but it was just nice to be in a body of water. Maybe I should work on some speed in open water when I can for the purpose of racing :)

Least favourite session of the week: Not recovering from my sessions (no sleep for so many nights) made things slightly uncomfortable on the bike this weekend. Being out on the road for so long was mentally and physically draining when your body hasn't rested for so many days.

Advice of the week: DO NOT TAKE GELS (CONTAINING CAFFEINE) DURING LONG AFTERNOON RUNS. My God, I was so tired but couldn't fall asleep!!! One of my gels was even a double-shot! My eyes now hurt from not enough sleep.



Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I am looking forward to Thursday night when I am coaching the Tri Alliance's Tri Challenge Group. This means that I will need to do my own training in the morning. I always have fun during these sessions and love sharing this sport. It is also good to know them so I can support them during their races. 

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