The end of my 2013-2014 season. Whats next?

It has been just over a week since my last triathlon race for the 2013/14 season. I have just finished my 2nd Ironman event and came away smiling and content that I did my best and exceeded my expectations.

The (same) race last year left me empty because of the shortened swim (3.8km became 1.5km due to the wind gust) and the wind-change on my 2nd lap left me with nothing in my tank and started the run off in such a negative state that I cried 3 times on the course.

This year, I had no expectations of the race except to push myself and race smarter over all 3 legs of the race. With the swim, it was a gorgeous 3.8km swim in flat and clear water - saw several jellies too! I could not have asked for anything better (although I am a bit biased to a swim with a bit of swell as it keeps it interesting). I tried as much as I could to stick to people's feet and it started the race off in a great form. What I will need to work on for the next season will be my speed and how quick I recover from swimming in this zone. I know that for what I am capable of, I can only improve this time by 5min (give or take). I know realistically that I am no where near swimming close to the hour mark. So for the next off-season, be consistent with swimming with the squad.

The bike is something which I can see the most improvement. Compared to run training, training for the bike will less likely lead me to injuries (more on this later). During winter, I am going to ride into work more, riding the MTB and getting some bike handling skills if I am to race Busso (in 2015, thats the plan). Busselton has plenty of sharp turns and U-turns! I am going to do the BC Gran Fondo (in Canada) in August so I will need to train for this. I will do as much of the Saturday rides as I can and work on my anxiety of the descents. It started to become a real issue and it impacted on my training as I was hesitant about riding out at Kinglake. I couldn't handle the pressure when people questioned my ability (or lack of) when descending which is something I have a great fear of. I will also incorporate some strength work in the gym which came in handy over the holiday break leading up to Ironman. I worked on my core, glutes, quads, hamstrings and calves and as a result, went into the Ironman with no niggles. I want to be able to ride (comfortably) a sub 6 for 180km in Busso 2015.

Having the newly formed bayside run group now with Coach Rupert will be great for my run training. I see myself doing a double session on Tuesday more often than the last season as the training group is more intimate and the coaching method of Rupert is what I am comfortable with. I will monitor my body more closely and be more aware of weaknesses. I want to increase my speed for the next season as one of my goals will be running a sub 2 hours as part of the half Ironman for 2014/15 and to be able to run 4:30 for Busso 2015. I am not going to be entering the Melbourne Marathon (half or full) this year as I will be away in Canada during Aug/Sept 2014. Running is my weakness mainly due to my hyper mobility and my joints hurting during impact. I must increase the strength in my muscles without stretching my ligaments too much as well as being consistent with my core work.

As you may have gathered, I am taking a break from racing the full Ironman distance until Busselton 2015 (fingers crossed for the finances by Dec 2014). I want to work on my strength and speed as I (personally), felt that the increase in the distance needed for Ironman training, I had to decrease my speed in order to pace myself better. I want to have a better crack at another full distance only when I have my base (long course) foundation well cemented.

Even though I am not training for the 3.8km/180km/42.2km event, I will still be part of the long course training group. I am still setting (achievable) goals for the next season. I have signed up for 2 races so far:

• Challenge Shepparton (half) on the 16th November 2014
• Challenge Melbourne (half) on the 1st February 2015

With both races, I will have goals in mind of not only being faster in all 3 legs of the race but to be able to recover well enough from the efforts to move on to the next discipline. I will most likely do the Melbourne Corporate triathlon for fun as I haven't raced sprint in about 2 years.

This is just a rough plan for the next season (2014-15). For now, I am taking a few weeks of triathlon training and will slowly get back into the swing of things before May. I am looking forward to getting acquainted with both my cyclocross and mountain bikes. I have a ladies CX session next Saturday at Darebin Parklands which I am looking forward to (and slightly hesitant at the same time). Wish me luck!

Ironman Melbourne 2014 - The Race Report

So on the 23rd March 2014, I raced my 2nd Ironman event...It was my first full official 140.6 miles (226km) as 2013 was cut short due to the wind conditions, which resulted in a reduced swim of 1.5km rather than 3.8km. 

I got to cuddle my little Lucy at Mentone

I thought I would do this before I head back into work on Wednesday as I have a few things on my plate post Ironman. So this race report will be what happened on the day and my reflection piece will be done at a later date. 

So on the Sunday morning, I woke up at 4:30am to have breakfast (coffee, white toast with coconut jam) and was ready to leave the house by 5am but my partner (driver, photographer and supporter for the day) was still in bed. Slightly annoyed at his lateness but I didn't want to get too upset as it was not going to be a good start to the day. We eventually left the house at 5:20am and got into Frankston (and found parking) at about 6:20am. I walked pretty fast into transition to set up my bike and realised that I had packed my spare gels into my blue bag rather than into the bento box....something which I didn't even realise when I packed my bag on Friday evening. So what I had on my bike was a bidon of coke, a bidon of plain water and my shotz solution mix into my front sippy system. I wrapped some teflon tape (plumber's tape) around the threads of my canisters to stop them from unscrewing itself during my ride (as it had been doing over the last 2 months or so). I pumped my tyres and I was ready to race. 

I nearly forgot to drop off my special needs bag and only realised when someone asked me where the drop off was!

Tri Alliance had a meeting point in the morning so I headed towards the flags and said hello to the squad. We hung around for about 10min or so before we decided it was time to suit-up and headed to the swim start. By the time I walked towards the swim start, I heard the horn go off for the pros and was slightly nervous thinking that I only had minutes left but we had plenty of time. 

Pre-race nutrition: 2 gels + 500ml Gatorade. 

Ready to rock and roll

I got into the water and got acclimatised to the water temperatures and got my spot amongst the crowd. I wanted to add at this point that I was very nervous about the day ahead as all I could think about was the race last year and how much it broke me. I was also still traumatised from the ride I did during Geelong 70.3 a month ago. Once the gun went off for the age groupers, all those negative thoughts just vanished and it was all about the day ahead. 

I didn't want to start too far on the left knowing that I can and should draft off people in this swim. I probably started about 100m from the pier and was comfortable in this position. The swim towards the first buoy was hectic. I got elbowed in the face and I bit my lip on two occasions. Even though the first turning buoy was about 850m from the start, there was still a bottle-neck around the 1st turning buoy. I decided to not swim too close and swam around the congestion with little to no issues. The swim to the 2nd turning buoy was short so there was further congestion and I could hear people yelling. 

The rest of the swim was just about sighting the buoys and heading towards buoys 3, 4 and 5 before heading towards buoy 6 and then to shore. I found the sighting buoys really inconsistent in their placing as the tide moved them around. I decided to just head towards the IM buoys. I could draft of the swimmers in front of me at a good pace, sometimes maybe a little too slow for what I could hold but I wasn't there to sprint to the finish. 

As I got out of the water, I was impressed with the my swim. I was not tired and I was ready for the 180km ride ahead. I drank a few mouth full of the Gatorade they handed out as I needed to replenish my calories lost during the swim and to also remove the salty taste in my mouth. 

In T1, the volunteers helped me get dressed. As much as they were trying to be helpful, they threw my train of thought out the window to what I needed to do (i.e. strip down my tri suit - wear it like a pair of shorts and put my jersey on top). I ended up advising them that they can help someone else as I was ok. I reapplied paw paw ointment around my groin area so that I would not chafe during the race. 

My bike was close to the exit but I had to swing my bike around a guy who ran up the wrong side of the carpet. He was in a daze and didn't realise where he needed to be. I heard plenty of cheers from Tri Alliance supporters and that gave me a big boost to tackle the day ahead. 

So within the first 30km I was feeling great. I knew there was a slight tailwind and my average speed was all above 30km/hr. Because of how easy the ride felt, I knew that it would not be a pretty sight on the way back into Frankston. As I had done this course before, it didn't felt long before I reached the Mullum Mullum tunnel. I was hesitant about descending but it didn't feel too scarey. The ride back up the tunnel was when I was in my small chain ring and an easier gear to make my ride easier. The turn around point seemed to come quicker than last year. I rode my first 45km in just under 1:25 and I was ecstatic about this. 

There was a headwind towards Frankston but luckily there were enough people around me to make the ride a bit more bearable. There were several moments (we are talking 30km or so) when people started to overtake but would not keep up their speed so when they pulled in front of me, they would slow down (bad). This was annoying so I would speed up to ride around them. I was in my large chain ring the entire way and by the time I got into Frankston, I was fatigued and mentally had to compose myself for the 2nd lap. It didn't feel as easy as the first heading back out after 90km but I knew that I was over the half way mark and the rest of the ride was ever closer to the 180km than before. The ride back into Frankston was harder than the first as the wind picked up. Straight after the tunnel, I had to stick to the small chain ring and just rode with it all the way back into Frankton. My speed was low but I knew that my legs were going to stay relatively fresh for the run. 

When I got off the bike, I realised that I didn't stop to pee once (where as last year I stopped twice), must have been the two times I pee'ed in my wetsuit too (?!). 

Bike Nutrition: 4 + 4 + 4 + 2 = 14 gels, 100ml coke, 1.75 bidons of Shotz solution, 2 panadols. I had my alarm at every 30min. Carried 3 gel flasks (4 gels each) and had spares in case I ran out. Had coke towards the final 20km of the ride in towards Frankston. 

I got into T2 and took off my jersey and put my tri suit back on. Put on fresh socks and put on my running shoes. I decided to not run with a hat as it was a cloudy day. 

Within the first few steps outside the tent, I needed to go to the toilet and I am glad I did as I didn't need to go for the rest of the day. 

When I was off on the run, my legs felt relatively good. Much better than last year and I didn't have any tears at all. I pretty much just started to run towards St Kilda and felt good. My plan was that I would have a gel in the tent and would have a gel at every 4km (2nd aid station) but because my ride was 6:44, I had a gel about 10 before the start of the run. I decided that I would hold off my first gel until the 2km mark of the run and would take the next at 6km, 10km etc. The plan was to take a salt tablet at every 45min. Early on the run, I decided to have some of the vegemite which they were serving and found it great! So every aid station, I had coke, water and Vegemite with every 2nd aid station, a gel. 

I pretty much ran the entire marathon and (only) walking through the aid stations, up the hill at Mentone, Ricketts Point and behind the carpark at Brighton. I carried a pretty good pace and only had about 4 people pass me in the run. I ran passed so many people on the run and had some guys cheered me on and told me that I was running at a great pace. Around Chelsea, I could smell a bad stench and when one of the athletes passed me, I realised that he had crapped his pants and it was so full that a bit of it was coming down his legs. Was disgusting! I never want to be that person, I would stop at a toilet before that ever happens. 

Running through the two Tri Alliance aid stations was the best, the first being Mentone and the 2nd being Elwood. I took my time through them and thanked all the volunteers. Was great to see familiar faces. 

Elwood Aid Station

Elwood was the 2nd last aid station and I knew that I was close to home. I had my last gel there knowing that I would just run on coke for my last 2km. I once again ran through the Great Provider with a huge smile on my face and made sure that I stuck my hands out wide - this way, I would not get slaps across the face (like last year). 

The last 1km into the finish line felt the longest ever. I was so close to finishing and I couldn't wait. I decided long ago that I was going to make my finish a bit more memorable and did the robot dance. I have got photos of this but will need to wait until pay day to purchase them. I will be posting them once they have been finalised. 

Run Nutrition: 11 gels, about a litre of coke in total and half a teaspoon of vegemite at each station (22 stations). 

Nutrition in total: 27 gels, ~1 litre of coke, ~1.75 bidons of Shotz solution and plenty of water on the run. 

In the results side of things, there were 47 finishers in my age category (Female 30-34). 

Swim - 1:20.27, 38 out of 47

T1 - 7:56

Ride - 6:44.11, 42 out of 47 (a 45min PB compared to last year)

T2 - 6:48

Run - 4:52.44, 43 out f 47 (a 15min PB compared to last year)

Overall - 13:12.16 (43 out of 47). What I am most proud of is that this year was the full 3.8km swim AND I had an 20min PB which was huge in my eyes! I will write more about this race but for now...I just wanted to write down the main points and express how happy I was about this race. I actually feel complete and content. 

ONE more sleep!!!!

Ok. I am all packed. I know I should be asleep but I needed to put this down before I lose my thoughts in all the post Ironman shenanigans. 

Thursday 20th - I had a pretty busy day at work and had to do some marketing things for the conference week. I took a couple of tours through a building I am working on. I ended up leaving work a bit early so I had some time to kill before I headed into Elwood to pick up our Tri Alliance shirt. I ended up checking in and walked through the expo. Having been to the last two expos and having raced this last year, 2014 was uneventful. It felt flat and there was just nothing on show. The ironman merchandise was a bit better but that's about it. There was no "waiver" board where you signed your name, there was nothing really special about the whole check in process. 

Friday 21st - I had to do a few things in the morning before I had my nails done. This included riding my bike for the last time just to check out the gears and testing out the race wheels I borrowed for the weekend. 

I bought a loaf of white bread and started to have a few coconut jam sandwiches throughout the day. Went down to the expo just to have a final walk through and saw that they brought out more merchandise. I bought a jumper which had all the athletes names. I then walked back to the race briefing venue and met up with a few people. The evening was also uneventful compared to last year. There was no dinner and the entertainment was forgettable. The speech by the deputy mayor was hilarious. Very funny. Then it was the race briefing which took forever to get through. I seriously don't remember it being so long, going through all the rules and what happens on course. Everything they went through was in the athlete guide, they really didn't need to repeat it again. 

By the time I got home, it was around 8pm and we had a late dinner before I packed my T1 and T2 bags. The temperature this year is a bit cooler than last. I decided to ride with road bike shoes this year so I will be wearing socks on the ride too. Hopefully, this will keep my feet warm. I have also decided to wear my cycling jersey as I don't have enough pockets to store things. I am going to be carrying some shotz solutions in a flask and also carrying 2 gel flasks and some spares. 

In my run bag, I have decided to pack my hat as I had been training with it. If it is a cloudy day, I might not wear one. I can fit 6 gels on my race belt so I will have the remainder in my special needs bag. 

Saturday 22nd - had my final massage before I started to get my final things for the bike. I needed two spare tubes as the race wheels were deeper. I then went to Frankston to drop off the bike, the two bags and had a small walk along the pier to have a look at the buoys out there. It didn't look too bad and the buoys really didn't look too far apart. Happy about that. 

I then went to Bunnings to buy some plumbers tape so I can secure my canisters down. Went to Officeworks to buy some markers and some contact adhesive so I can make my special needs bag.

I have finished packing my special needs bag - spare gels, a packet of chips, some spare salt tablets and some pain killers just in case. My morning bag is packed with my wetsuit, goggles, swim cap and all I need to prepare for my bike in the morning. I have also packed my post race bag with a hoodie, some recovery foods and some pain killers. 

Transition opens at 5:30am and I will most likely get there early so I can prepare and go to the toilet multiple times. 

I don't know if "excited" is the word I can use to describe how I feel. The feelings I am having now is very different to what I felt last year. I am feeling tired and slightly worried about how I will handle myself tomorrow. I just want to get through the bike leg without feeling defeated. I don't want to start the run in such a bad state that I will be in tears. Fingers crossed that I will be having a good day. My main goal for the day is to ride to my ability and make sure that I am eating and drinking according to my race plan. I only have 1 alarm for nutrition this year so I won't be all confused and stressed. The run part will be about getting from A to B with aid stations every 2km. I can't wait to cross this finish line, can't friggin wait!!!

See you on the other side. 

4 more sleeps!!!

This morning I woke up with a bit of a fright. I had my alarm set for 6am as I was joining a group of TA guys (and gal) at 7am over at Elwood for a morning open water swim. Most of them went for a ride after the swim but I am still working (until Thursday pm).

I woke up thinking that it was Sunday, looked over at my watch and it was, thinking that I had about 45min to get my stuff all ready and speed down to Frankston to set up transition and start my Ironman day....It took a long time to realise that it was only Wednesday and I was only getting up to do an open water swim before heading off for another day at work.

Yesterday, I had a conference in the city which took up an entire day. No run session in the morning and I was mentally drained by 6pm. I am glad I did something this morning - albeit a very little part to my race day. I have all my nutrition sorted before the weekend and will put them away, so it is ready to be packed up when I receive my athlete's pack.

In my Blue bag, I will include the following:
Bike Shoes - I have switched to riding with my road shoes rather than my tri shoes as I find that my knees don't hurt as much when they are secured. Could be the angle of the cleats but I don't want to play around with anything at the moment.
Socks - I need socks with bike shoes. Can't wear these shoes without socks.
Vaseline/Paw Paw ointment - for the chafing bits
Talcum powder - for the shoes and socks.
Helmet - I am going to wear my Kask rather than my sperm (wanker lid). I figured a sperm helmet is not going to make me ride faster. I am going to ride with what I am comfortable with.
Glasses - for the glare and dust
Gels - My nutrition
Small face towel - to wipe my face and dry off my skin before applying vaseline.

In my Red bag, I will include the following:
Socks - I don't like wearing my cycling socks for running and vice versa. Would be nice to have fresh socks.
Running Shoes - I think I am going to wear my Newtons (what I had been training in).
Hat - helps with the sweat dripping into my eyes.
Vaseline - for the chafing bits.
Racebelt (with race number) - with gels on it ready to go
Salt stick - carries 6 tablets

I am going to have a special needs back on the run leg (only):
Gels - as I can only carry 6 on the belt loop
Extra salt tablets

As far as clothing, I think I will be wearing my tri-suit from start to finish. I don't need to wear extra knicks on the bike. I am not a two-piece gal - I don't have a flat stomach and I let things all hang out during the race :)

I will be heading down to the expo to register on Friday around 3pm so that I can head straight to the race briefing rather than going down to St Kilda twice. I think I will get my (race) nails done on Friday too so I can relax before taking my bike down to Frankston on Saturday. I feel so much better now having (typed out) my plans. Feel more organised and not as flustered.

Can't wait for work to be done and then I can get into Ironman mode.

5 more sleeps!!!

Not long now hey?! In 5 more sleeps, I will be down at Frankston to do a little swim, a little ride along the Eastlink freeway and then a little jog to St Kilda. 

I haven't done a specific weekly reflection post for the week of 10th - 16th March as I only did a few sessions - Tuesday windtrainer, Saturday ride (26km - 1 lap of the Portarlington course) and 8km jog/walk of the Portarlington run course. I have been doing heaps of sleeping (we are talking 8-10 hours a night and staying at work to cover off deliverables and tasks before I take a further 3 days off around this weekend. 

I manned the Giant/LivGiant tent at the Portarlington tri on Sunday 16th from about 5:30 through to 1pm (inc packing up the marquee). It was a very long day and it really worn me down but I had a great time helping out. I had a chance to look through the Giant 2014 stock catalogue the night before to get myself familiar with the different bikes Giant have for the different types of cycling - from the Trinity range for TT/triathlon through to Propel/Envie and Defy/Avail range. Knowing their specs through to the differences in geometry through to how these bikes are manufactured. 

I helped out the guys at CBD cycles when it was really busy - helping people with flat tyres (pumping up tyres and changing flats) through to basic cash transactions. It's amazing that some people don't own a pump and don't understand their bikes. I helped out a person with their flat tyre but the state of her tyres were so bad that there were major cracks throughout. I advised her that she is fine for the race but will need to get new tyres when she gets back to Melbourne to prevent flats and glass getting lodged. A young triathlete fell off his bike coming down the hill when his bag (which he had over one of his shoulders) came off and hit the front wheel. He broke several spokes of his bike and wasn't able to ride. I had my bike in the car and lent him my front wheel. I was happy to do so. 

There was a person who had a flat Di2 battery and heaps of people who forgot to bring a water bottle for the race and wanted to buy some.  After helping the two sets of people racing (Active feet and then Gatorade), there was a few hours of quietness until people finished their races and came over to the tent to sign up for the competition Giant was running.

After the awards were handed out, one of the ladies came over and thanked me for helping her out in the morning with her tyres as she podiumed! She had tyres with low pressure as well as worn brake pads which rubbed. 

Plenty of people came to sign up for the giant competition when the day was finished, most people wanted to get a new bike. The weather for the day was pretty shocking, so I think some people felt slow on their current bikes and looking to upgrade. 

 

After the triathlon, I went home, had a nap and then had dinner with the family before heading back to Melbourne. My little brother is down from Alice Springs so it was a good weekend to be near Geelong - tapering, helping out at the tri and spending down-time with the family. 

What am I doing for the next few days?! Not really a lot. I am kinda paranoid about falling off the bike between now and the race so I might do a session on the windtrainer instead. 

I think I was a little nervous this morning about the whole Ironman race for the first time this year. Not sure why, maybe just the realisation that THIS Sunday is THE day. 

10 more sleeps!!!

I have hit taper town hard!

I have not done much other than an odd windtrainer session during the week with plenty of rest and sleep. My last run session was on Saturday afternoon on the 8th and my arches were too sore to do the Tuesday morning run. Due to work (need to cram in 2 weeks of work into 5 working days), I have had to stay back late to finish off my tasks. I have a work function on tonight which I will be doing a small 5min presentation so I won't be attending the Tri Alliance "End of Summer" BBQ at Elwood tonight.

I will try to get up for a swim in the morning before work and then heading to Geelong for the weekend. I will do a small ride at Portarlington on Saturday and a 10km+ run as I won't be able to do much on Sunday as I will be manning the Giant Bikes tent at the Portarlington tri. Hopefully I won't be on my feet all day and will be able to rest at some point.

I have been having some stomach pains lately, I have a feeling it would be related to the stress at work and may have a stomach ulcer. Hopefully it subsides by the weekend.

I am feeling quite relaxed about the Ironman on the 23rd. I know that I have done the work (I could) and there is nothing I can do between now and then which will improve on my race. I will do the event to get from the start to the finish line and will control the controllable (my own race). Time is inconsequential for me. I am not playing for a podium place, fame, fortune or Kona. I am not out there to please any sponsors nor am I out there to prove a point to anyone else, this race will be for me.  

(a bit more than a) Weekly Reflection 03/03 - 10/03

This week's post is slightly longer than a week as we had a public holiday on Monday 10th and I couldn't be bothered turning on the laptop to do any work nor any blogging.

My peak was during the week of 24th Feb - 9th March so my training last week was slightly less - some might even call it an early taper - 3 weeks before the race instead of 2.

I once again skipped Monday morning swim due to lack of sleep from Sunday night and tackled double Tuesday sessions with a run in the morning and then the windtrainer after work. Thursday was combo at Elwood and memories of last year flooded back about how cold it was to train near the beach at that time of the year. The water was fun to swim through once you could get into the rhythm of the waves and sighting could be an issue if you lift your head up to sight at the wrong moments. After the 1km+ we then got onto the trainer for some strength work. Similar to last year, we had Sam Hume during our training sessions just to give a small insight to what he does in training and what has worked (and not worked).

I got myself out of bed to do the long endurance swim at MSAC on Friday morning but noticed that my back was playing up and I had to stop at the ends of the pool to stretch out my back. I also suffer from bad period pains so that could be something to do with it. The pain did not subside during work on Friday nor did it go away on Saturday morning. Instead of spending hours on the bike, I decided to rest and re-schedule my training around it. So instead of doing a long ride on Saturday, I decided that as Monday is a public holiday, I will do it then. I ran my 22km on Saturday afternoon and did the race recon swim at Frankston on Sunday morning.

The swim was great and I felt confident about being in open water. You do have to swim quite a distance away from the shore first before turning at the buoys.

I had a goal of swimming 1:15 for 3.8km thinking that I may improve it over the 12 months (goal of 1:20 last year) but comparing the times, I am not sure if 1:15 is really attainable but I am not too worried, it's only 5 min difference.

During my long ride yesterday - I copped another flat (OH HEAVENS!!). This time, it looked like a snake bite flat similar to a pinch flat. I am really annoyed as I thought that changing the tyres would solve it. I guess I must ensure that my tyres are pumped at the right pressure and try not to ride over too many aggressive bumps. A planned 150km became a planned 120km which ended up being 100km as I didn't feel like riding too much further after changing a flat.  

Favourite session of the week: Sunday morning swim (over most of the swim course) was what I enjoyed the most. The course is different from last year and if everything goes to plan, it would be a great swim course. Considering that I have ridden 180km during training and have done the event last year, have ran 42.2 during last year's event and have ran 75% of the run course, the swim was the last thing I needed to tick off the list as we only had a 1.5km swim last year due to weather.

Least favourite session of the week: Long ride - actually, I enjoyed being out on the road early in the morning and riding in TT position. It was the need to change a tube (again) which gave me the sh!ts. I also had an Xlab inflator which has been pretty useless as the only way to pump up the tyre was to untwist the canister slightly which is not as good as adding pressure onto the valve. I have now changed my inflator to my old one which I liked and could control better. I have officially ran out of tubes.

Advice of the week: if you don't have any tinted goggles - go get some! You will need it for Ironman Melbourne. Swimming towards the shore after the 2nd turning buoy - could not see a thing!

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I am looking forward to spending some time with the family in Geelong and supporting the short course guys at Portarlington.

Weekly Reflection 24/02 - 02/03

HOLY CRAP-BALLS! 20 more sleeps!!!!!!

I had one of my biggest training weeks so far. I have been finding it hard to do a swim on the Monday morning as I don't feel that I am properly recovered from the weekend's training. Due to the amount of caffeine I consume on the run (up to 7 gels - all with caffeine), I can't have a nap post run and end up with broken sleep on Sunday night. Also the though of doing so many tumble turns in a 25m pool coupled with Coach Anna's regular kick sets she has made me hesitant when the alarm goes off at 5am.

Tuesday was another double session day and I am finding that due to the proximity of the run session in the morning, I am more likely to do them. Another great run session with Rupert - he is very good at what he does and encourages you to push further without being "pushy". I then had windtrainer on Tuesday night but something happened to my cables during the session - they completely split and I couldn't change my gears! The 1.5 hour set was down to 50min and I didn't do the last 40min.

I couldn't do the Wed morning swim session as I had to get to Box Hill for a work meeting and planned on swimming in the evening. This never eventuated as I had more work to do and didn't leave work until 7pm on the Wed night. I coached on the Thursday night and didn't end up doing much training.

For the life of me, couldn't sleep on the Friday night and decided to ride out at 6:30am with only 2 hours sleep instead of 4:30am with no sleep. Saturday was my longest ride since IM 2013. I rode 181km. I felt good throughout the session and didn't feel too fatigued. I consumed caffeine in between my non-caffeine gels and that got me through. I also changed the tyres over so I didn't have to stop to change a tube for the first time in about 4 weeks! I noticed that my canisters were loose during one of my drink stops so I need to get some plumbers tape to lock them down tight in the near future (especially on race day). I had a fox attack on the way down to Frankston which kinda scared me a bit but not as serious as the one I had last year.

My longest (and quickest) 180km even with all the traffic and drink stops!

An insight to what I take on a 180km bike ride -
Torq gels in (two) flasks, Gu gels for consistency change and caffeine,
300ml of coke (sugar and caffeine pick-me-up) and Shotz electrolytes

The long run on Sunday was a good one to tick off the bag. It was this time last year that I had shin splints and was off running completely for 3 weeks leading up to Ironman. Good news is that I am ok and the body doesn't seem to show signs of (muscle) collapse. The 1km swim at Frankston was great as the water is calm. I once again started the run off earlier than everyone as I am a slowie. I did touch coke until Mordialloc (about 15km or so). The pros of coke is that it gives you the caffeine and sugar hit whilst the con is that it makes my stomach gassy and I don't feel like consuming gels. I pushed the distance from every 4km to 5km when I wasn't feeling up to it. At some point, I think around the 25km mark, some of the girls in the squad caught up with me and we ran together at a steady (around 5:45min/km) pace which was awesome. I had never felt this "good" at running ever. I have always been the girl trying to catch up at the end but this run felt good. Unfortunately, I couldn't hold that pace after we stopped at Sandringham for our last water break before Brighton.

Favourite session of the week: The long run I did on Sunday was my best long run ever! It was about 32km (Frankston to Brighton along the footpath, not using the IM route completely). I am grateful that I am not injured and will carry on training.

Least favourite session of the week: Friday's long swim was one which I didn't feel I put in my best. I firstly arrived late and just couldn't get into the correct mindspace. I also had to leave early to work which meant that I couldn't do my cool down. I only did about 3km instead of the 4km program. I hate the feeling of being time-poor and cutting things short but I guess it is about QUALITY and not QUANTITY. At least I got the main set out and concentrated on my stroke most of the time.

Advice of the week: Get niggles sorted! I have been getting my massages on a regular basis and seeing the physio whenever I have niggles. Massages are now booked until the day before the big race and I am seeing physio about my shoulder pains.  

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I spoke to the coaches during the week and I am going to do a shorter ride and run this weekend. The plan is about 150km instead of 180km but I will have a long run off the bike instead. On Sunday, I am planning on doing a long swim (4km if I can) and then drive up to Elwood and do a 25km (give or take) from there. Putting in some quality sessions (rather than doing the quantity numbers).