MELBURN ROOBAIX 2014 - I LOVE MELBURN

As the saying goes....You Only Live Once, the Melburn Roobaix is something everyone in Melburn, who loves feeling like a kid zooming down the side streets on their bike, must put on their "To-Do" list.

This is my 2nd year (last year's write up here and here - same write up, different links) and comparing the two days was like comparing chalk & cheese (mmmmm cheese).

So this year, I decided to leave the single speed "George" hanging in the garage and took "Betty" CX out for a spin. We decided to park the car at Abbotsford as it is approx the half way mark between Hawthorn (start) and Northcote (finish).

We left Abbotsford around 9am and rode down to Hawthorn H.A Smith velodrome ready to register and pick up our 2014 musette race pack. It started to shower but as we were moving, it wasn't too bad. The rain got stronger the closer we go to the start line.

The crowd at registration was not as big as last year, no one wanted to stand around in the rain as I found out 5 seconds after I opened up my race park, the map fell into pieces when it got wet just like the Wicked Witch in Wizard of Oz.

Betty CX

Crowd at registration

The Canadian and I decided that we would take the red route. I am guessing keeping the many cobblestone routes down to the 12 check points was hard so why not let the public decide where they wanted to go - great idea.

The hill just out of the velodrome proved to be much easier with gears compared to last year when I rode George. The first manifest was an eye opener...when I say eye opener, I meant how cobblestones become slightly slippery when they are wet and I came down pretty hard on my sorry ass. Bleeding knees were hidden by my knee length knicks, a few "yes I am fine" to mask my total embarrassment, I got myself up and going again. Maybe too cocky to start out with - thinking that my bike skills have improved dramatically over the last 12 months with about 3 rides on the mountain bike and a Dirty Gran Fondo event? I was not the only casualty of that section, I was also there when a guy's tubeless tyre blew up like a grenade and also saw a guy with blood down his cheeks - ouch!

A friend of the Canadian, Adam, recognised us and being able to ride with him was the best! He not only could read maps really well, he knew his bike paths better than the Canadian, he was also wearing fingerless gloves so he could access his musette easily.

The second (or third, I forgot) section was memorable, it was NOT flat. I initially could ride up the steep laneway but when the cobble stone section appeared, I was too afraid that I was going to slip so I had to push my bike through the cobblestone climbs. Apparently, there were several falls on this section.

A few hours into the ride, we saw the Bank of Melbourne van and they were handing out FXYO bottles - grabbed one of the last pink ones - YIEWW!

My confidence along the cobblestones increased throughout the day but there were still some sections which were tricky to handle. I got a few "Don't Stop!" and "Keep Left" from other cyclists when I was riding along the cobblestone obstacles slowly but they didn't bother me, if they want to ride past me, they should have good enough skills to do so.

Similar to last year, we stopped after Manifest #9 for a lunch break and we stopped at the Old Bike Shop Cafe. I ordered a pretty big breakfast (again) of eggs, toast, mushrooms, bacon (I heart bacon), avocado and spinach whilst the boys had burgers and philly steak sandwich. We don't know if it was due to the cold and wet weather but the coffee there tasted a.m.a.z.i.n.g! So good that we had more than one each. As we had lunch from about 12:30, we killed nearly two hours in the cafe before we moved off outside. We only had 3 more manifests to go and they are pretty much within 3km, no point finishing too early as we would have had to wait around at the Brunswick velodrome for hours.

Once again the guys at health.com.au were at Manifest 12 for general cheering, photo and a Freddo Frog (which I had to grab quickly and held on with my teeth until the end). Disappointed that people threw so much of the wrappers along the ground in between Manifest 12 and the velodrome (stop 13) tho - tsk tsk tsk kids.

Everytime I saw them - Potassium!

Mr and Mrs White

Compared to last year, we finished each section quite quick. We didn't go as far around Melburn as last year either (I think we ventured further SW). Due to the abundance of sunshine last year, I actually stopped and took way more photos too. This year, the camera came out twice - once at the start and once at the finish. None the less, I still loved every pedal. I only got cold (shivering cold) when we left the cafe, once you got moving, it was fine.

getting rad

Highlights:
- Instead of second guessing the right answers, there was just a single letter at the end of each pave sections, some were tricky to find. After about 6 Manifests, you could kind of guess what it spelt out.
- Another awesome musette!
- Picking up another 2 spare FXYO drink bottles after pack up - scoring 3 in total!
- Photobooth!

- Bike skills getting better
- The never ending rain


Lowlights:
- I didn't win the grand prize (flights to Roubaix, France in May)
- Due to the rain, I wore my vest and you couldn't see my complete matching outfit
- The never ending rain

Will I do this event again next year? Hells Yeah!!! As long as I am in Melburn and I can still ride a bike, I will be there for sure.

Thanks again to the crew at FYXO - without them, it would have been another unmemorable rainy Melburn day.

Weekly Reflection 21/06 - 27/06

I actually had one of my biggest training sessions followed by a week of doing pretty much sweet f-all. How is this possible you may question? Well let me take you back to last Saturday....

*que back in time music*

As I mentioned in my last entry, I was doing my first hilly ride on Sat 21st June. I had been rostered on to take the beginners ride for the last 2 months which consisted mainly of:
- 50km flat ride on Beach Rd
- About 2 and a half hours (we stop at Mordialloc)
- Small chain ring so I can keep the group together as much as possible.

I have a Gran Fondo event coming up in September and I have not done any strength work on the bike this year at all. So last Saturday I met with the group at Wantirna Mall as an athlete. What ended up happening was that I was placed to supervise a few athletes who had never ridden out there before and therefore I couldn't leave them out in the hills by themselves. I didn't end up riding down Devil's elbow or The Wall as I took some other athletes up and down 1-in-20. I didn't mind as I was familiar with 1-in-20 and could work on my strength there. 65km (program said 3-3.5 hours) and I was done for the day. It was my first hilly ride (enjoyed it) but it was a tough session. I was buggered for the rest of the day but had to make cycling caps which people had ordered during the week (6 in total).

Sunday was a write off, I was so exhausted from Saturday that I decided to sleep in until I met up with friends for brunch at 10am. After brunch, we headed off to Darebin Parklands to watch the Dirty Deeds cyclocross races. Everytime I watch these races, I want to do an event (in a non-Elite category) but then I realise....that I have no bike skills. Maybe next year after a few more months on the MTB?

The only training session I have done the entire week was an attempt at my 1km swim time trial at GESAC. As I did my first of 2014 swim time trial there, I thought it was a good idea to benchmark myself in the same pool. Little did I know that the boiler at the pool had broken down that day and the water was no heated! Bayside Tri Squad who trained there all were issued an email about it and they decided to change this session into a wetsuit swim session - that's how cold it was!!! As much as I tried to warm up during the warm up session, I was still shivering before the time trial. I thought to myself - lets just see what happens, if I get a better time, good, if it is slower, don't dwell on it.

I pretty much swam with goosebumps on my entire body for the whole 1km and came out with a time of 22:12 (4 seconds slower than my last attempt) - this could be due to my lack of swim squad attendance as I had been swimming at my own pace for the last few weeks or it could be due to the water temperature....who knows?!

This may be an exaggeration of how cold the GESAC pool was....

This weekend I have the Melburn Roobaix (CAN'T WAIT). I will be riding Betty (the CX Bike) this year. Need to sort out my kit for the event.

In two minds about what to do for Saturday training. I know I need to do a run session (must be done on the Saturday) yet I need to also do some bike strength training in the hills. The Roobaix on Sunday although will be a few hours on the bike, it's a fun event.

Favourite session of the week: Hilly Ride in the Dandenongs on the Saturday! It is still my favourite route to ride.

Least favourite session of the week: My 1km swim time trial! The water was just way too cold, I had goosebumps from start to finish....and I only did 2 session for the entire week so if one was my favourite, the other had to be the not-favourite.

Advice of the week: As much as this week is a recovery week, I do need to harden up and just go to early morning (light training) sessions rather than sleeping in and not doing anything for days....

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: MELBURN ROOBAIX!!!!!!!! Last year's event write up can be found here....(and here on FXYO's page) CAN'T WAIT!

(More than a week's) Reflection 10/06 - 20/06

This week (or fortnight now) has been an odd-ball of days. Having the long weekend and Lorne camp really through the consistency of training out the window. As much as the spike in training during Lorne Camp was a great thing, it also made me tired and out of energy for the next few days post-camp. I think also my injury (broken finger), work stress also got the better of me.

I gave myself a few days off training after camp. As much as the Coaches all advised that we take it easy but continue training, my tiredness just got the better of me. I didn't do any swim sessions the week post camp and only got back into the swing of things on Thursday when I did the run session on Thursday night.

I coached on Saturday morning with the beginners and that was a very good session. I had a beginner who had never ridden with a group before, did a few mini triathlons and the longest ride was 40km from his place in Port Melbourne to Mentone and back. We rode from the Great Provider to Port Melbourne, then down to Mordialloc and then back to the Great Provider. Just a touch over 60km and his longest ride to date. He was pretty happy about that and learnt plenty about road safety, signalling, drinking and eating whilst riding and also what do to when riding up hills.

After the long flat ride, I then went on a little adventure to the You Yangs with my friend Sally (hello Sally!!). I had never been there before and looked forward to this ride. We rode about 80% of the Kurrajong trails and I loved every minute of it. Even when the heavens opened up and it rained heavily, I still had a smile on my face and enjoyed being out on the mountain bike. In a couple of weeks, we may head back there again and ride the easier parts of the Stockyard trails (now I am scared!).

Sally and I - after our rainy ride at You Yangs

The run technique sessions were moved to the afternoon as Coach Rupert was not available that morning. I joined the Fairfield run group instead and was put through the reigns with Coach Greg. I haven't ran with this group in about 6 months and I did noticed the drop in my fitness because of my non-attendance. We did about 12km in total but it was broken down into plenty of hill work, technique, core work, lunges etc. A soak in the Yarra river was also a welcomed recovery routine - my legs are not sore for days after long runs.

I didn't end up going to the re-scheduled run technique session due to my cap sewing commitments - I had 4 caps to make over the weekend.

Navy blue, yellow and white (to match Tri Alliance colours)

 

Black and green for www.krunchies.com.au



The next week was no different in terms of training - I lacked consistency due to work which really sapped up my mood and energy levels. I did the windtrainer session at Mentone on the Tuesday night, swam by myself on Wednesday at GESAC and ran with Rupert on the Thursday night. We ran along the athletic track of the junior school of Mentone Grammar which was great! Enough light for us to see and the track is nice and smooth. Would be great to be able to return there to run again but can be harsh on the joints as the track has very sharp bends.

This weekend, I will be heading out to the hills!!! It will be my first hill ride due to coaching commitments which meant that I have been riding on flat (and not in the most harder efforts). I am also catching up with friends on Sunday so I will commit myself to run in the morning along Beach Rd.

Favourite session of the week: The mountain bike session on Saturday last week - such fun riding in the rain and being on a bike!

Least favourite session of the week: Although I enjoyed the long run session at Fairfield, due to my lack of fitness (and still trying to find my run-nirvana), I felt like a hefer. I have no strength and power (as Coach Greg mentioned) as I haven't been working on them. Can't blame anyone but myself.

Advice of the week: I am really enjoying the mountain biking rides. Will try to cater for this within my training schedule. I want to keep my training fun, as much as it is easier to say this (after I have done several Ironman races) - there is more to life than just triathlon.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I am actually looking forward to some riding in the hills this weekend. I really need to work on this for the Gran Fondo (Vancouver to Whistler).

Lorne Camp - 2014

Wow....this was my 5th Lorne Camp with Tri Alliance.

2010 - no blog

2011
2012
2013

No matter how many times I have attended Lorne Camp, I learnt something every year. I attended Lorne Camp as a coach for the first time this year. I only attended as an athlete the previous years. I decided that as a coach, I would stay onsite to provide as much support to the athletes as I could.

I decided to head into Lorne on Friday afternoon. The same routine I had been doing the previous years - arrive in time to check in, do the Friday night run, dinner at pub.

Friday was my first "big drive" in my new CX5. I had borrowed a bike trailer from a friend and had my mountain bike and my road bike at the back instead of being inside the car. This was so much more convenient. I could just throw all my bags at the back and not have to worry about playing jigsaw with bikes, bags and boxes.

I arrived in Lorne around 2:30pm, walked up and down the life saving club with all my bags, doona, pillows, bikes. During one of my last trips to the car, I slammed the car door into my left index finger. I haven't really appreciated how much I used my index finger until then - I couldn't really do anything with the left hand without the use of the index finger.

Fractured Finger

So during the camp briefing, we received our packs - gotta say - BEST PACK EVER!!!! Not only did we get heaps of swag from our sponsors, we also received a Tri Alliance visor and some booties (which I didn't own already!).

FREE STUFF!!!!

So after the briefing, it was off to our rooms, get all your stuff ready for the next day. As I have attended this camp on several occasions and have collected several items over my years in triathlon and was able to pack all my clothing/accessories into bags ready to go for the next session - 3 cycling bags, 3 run bags and a swim bag.

I was asleep by 9:30am and the alarm was set for 5:45am as breakfast was to be served by 6am.

For the Saturday, I was riding with Group 2 as an athlete. I started out OK but did realise that my quads were very sore as I couldn't stay in the water to recover as I had to rush to attend the Coaches meeting the night before. Sore quads = slow Ev. In addition to the sore quads, my finger was still throbbing. Every bump on the road could be felt through my finger. I rode on the hoods with the index finger sticking upwards (couldn't bend) and when I needed the brakes or change my gears, I had to lean my hand forward and grip onto the levers with the middle finger onwards. Couldn't really steer the bike properly too as my balance was completely out of whack!

Group 2 - I was coordinated with pink

The program for Group 2 was to ride to Apollo Bay and back within 4 hours. I only did 70km (instead of 90km) as I turned around after 1.5 hours. Into the water I went to recovery and then I went to bed for a nap as I was exhausted.

I woke up for lunch and didn't really have an appetite - not sure if it was the amount of gels I had taken (3 within 3 hours) which is the most I have had since Ironman Day in March), work stress or that I was injured. After lunch, I went back for a sleep and got up in time for the Mizuno talk. Trent from Mizuno gave out free t-shirts! We love free stuff! I don't normally wear t-shirts to run in but I do love my Mizuno shirts.

Before Saturday Run

The Saturday run took us around the caravan park and then up the hills through Lorne. My calves (being tight since last week), were tight from Friday night's Mountain to Surf run. It was not functioning 100% and the hills hurt my calves rather than my quads. The run down the hill was a welcome relief and the run along the flat was also good. After the run, it was a quick rest followed by dinner and then another team meeting.

On Sunday, I was coaching Group 4 for the ride. The plan for the group was 2-2.5 hours in total. My plan was that I would ride up Deans Marsh road after this session and it worked out well as some of my athletes from Group 4 who were stronger riders wanted to challenge themselves and do the same. We also rode up the hill in time with some of the Group 2 and 3 riders.

Myself with some of Group 3 and 4

I had real trouble getting my core temperature up after I ascended down from Benwerrin that I couldn't recover in the water for too long. There was a water session on after lunch and I opted for the Pier to Pub swim - this was the BEST!!! The water was cold but when you started swimming, it was actually refreshing. Sighting was a bit of an issue as the route was slightly on a curve and we also had to dodge the surfers out there.

Pier to Pub Swimmers

My calves were tight and niggly so instead of the run on Sunday, I rode around Lorne on the mountain bike instead. Great fun and can't wait for another mtb session with my friend Sally next weekend - we are heading to the You Yangs!

On Monday, there was only 1 session left to do but I was also coaching. I took group 3 (and 4) out on a neutral ride out for 45min and then we seeded them for a TT ride back to Lorne. I think everyone pushed themselves extra hard as it was the last session for the entire weekend. Everyone did well.

I really love Lorne training camp - it happens early in the winter season that it gives you a good spike in training and a big kick up the bum to the work that needs to be done in the months ahead to get to your potential again.

What I loved:

• Pier to Pub Swim
• The Great Ocean Road!
• The Mountain to Surf run
• The goodie bag

What I didn't like:

• My broken finger
• My stomach - gels....bleg....
• My tight calves - dry needling helped (I do love a dry needling session)
• The endless amounts of washing to be done post camp

Will I do another Lorne Camp? Only time will tell. Another year, over and out.

XX

(Not Quite) Weekly Reflection 02/06 - 05/06

I thought I would get this down before Lorne Camp. This week's training has been tracking well. I had to juggle a few things around but I am glad that I did something everyday.

Due to the hill work we did as part of the Run Technique on Sunday (1st June), my calves pulled up tight and sore on Monday. I tried to massage it out with my thumbs (it was too deep for rollers). I did my swim set on Monday and I doubt that swimming with fins helped it either.

I had my bike in for service so I didn't have a bike to use at windtrainer. I had planned on commuting into work on the CX on Tuesday but the weather turned terrible. I decided to park the ride aside as I couldn't be bothered when Lorne Camp was coming up so soon. I went to the gym instead and did some strength and core work. Since I haven't done much of this for the last few months, the post strength and core soreness were very noticable. So noticeable in fact that I couldn't laugh without feeling my abs were pulling me in.

Swim on Wednesday was back at Mentone and Coach Anna made us (slower lanes) do the following:
Warm up - 300 mix, 200 kick
Main Set - 5 x 200 (various stroke correction techniques), 4 x (150m 75% hard, 100m pb+p breathe 2, 3, 5 7)
Cool Down - 200m (I did breast and back)
As much as remembering what you did for swim training is really boring for some people, I am noting them down as it is different from what I have been doing for the last 4 years. It is a welcoming change and the fact that you don't know what you will be doing is also a novelty. The 25m pool is still a pain in the ass but I am getting used to it.

I didn't do my Thursday afternoon run due to work issues which I won't dwell on. I hate it when everything falls apart - work issues which led to no training which led to being unhappy as either tasks were not completed and letting myself down. I packed like a mad woman on Thursday night. My head was not in the right head-space and I couldn't be bothered making much of my meals which I had planned on doing. I decided to bring both my road bike and Annie (the mountain bike) with me and if I needed to ride to the shops, I could. It ended up being a good thing which I will talk about later.

My side project has been going well. I have been selling a few cycling caps from my own range and setting up the online shop is slowly getting there.

Weekly Reflection 26/05 - 1/06

There was a noticeable drop in temperature over the weekend as the first day of winter settled in. We actually had a great run of 20+ degrees during the week which made the early mornings easier to tackle.

I pretty much trained everyday except for Friday of last week (as per the training schedule). I swam by myself on the Monday at GESAC and followed the program. I do have a few pet-hates and one of them happened at the pool that day. There were 2 fast lanes, 1 medium lane and 2 slow lanes and the rest were reserved for squad. I swim in the fast lane in the suburbs but if I am doing a slow set I will move myself down to medium. During my main set, a couple decided to jump into my lane and continued on swimming breast stroke the entire time. If you can do breaststroke fast, then swimming in the fast lane is acceptable but not when you swim without getting your hair or face wet (yes, those ones). What annoyed me more was when I was going to over take them, they moved over to the right thinking they were doing me a favour which didn't allow me to over take....annoyed! I also had to make sure I swam as close to the lane ropes as possible as they kept kicking me with their wide strokes. As my swim set was over 2km, they ended up getting out after doing a few laps which meant that I didn't have to change lanes mid set - why should I have to move when I am swimming at the right pace? My other pet-hate is when people use my swim toys too which the lady tried to do with my swim fins....like seriously!?

Tuesday I joined the bayside squad for the windtrainer and I swam at Bayside Aquatics on the Wednesday morning. As much as a 25m pool still annoys me, I will set that aside to do these sessions close to home. We worked on stroke correction as well as feeling the water which was a good start to Wednesday morning.

As I mentioned previously, fartlek sessions are not my friend at the moment and that was what we did on Thursday night. After our warm up, we did 10 x (1min on and 1 min off). I was buggered by the 7th and slowed down considerably for the next 2. My legs just didn't want to fire, let alone for a whole min.

I coached on Saturday morning with the beginners ride - only 3 people showed up. We did a 50km ride from St Kilda down to Port Melbourne and then return after Mordialloc. My 2nd run technique session with Rupert on Sunday and we worked on hills.

Favourite session of the week: I am enjoying the run technique sessions at the moment. They are not too intense but they are good in working on the basics.  It was a hill run session and we worked on the following:
1) Steady hill inclines - what technique to use when you are running up a hill which may be long
2) Hill inclines with slow jog recovery - similar to fartlek run sessions with the recovery being a slow job instead of stopping fully.
3) Strength - Steep hill inclines (shorter distances) with recovery jog.

Run Technique with Rupert

Least favourite session of the week: I think due to my pet-peeves at the pool on the Monday night, I didn't particularly enjoyed that swim session as I couldn't get into a rhythm without being kicked in the guts and head and trying to navigate my way around people.

Advice of the week: I am currently not taking on any supplements for energy (gels) during much of my training (no need to). I only took one gel during the week and that was during my long ride as it was about 2.5 hours. No need for the excessive sugar at this stage in training.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: Lorne Camp! WOOT WOOT!