Weekly Reflection 12/07 - 18/07

This week has been better than the last, I have been able to walk and do some training (winning!). On Saturday 12th, I was the coach on hand for the Beginners/Lower Intermediate group at Studley park. The tacks found on the blvd has been around for MONTHS and the issue is still there. I did a drive by on the blvd around 6:15am and everything seemed ok. When we started the ride around 7am, we were all prepared for some tyre changing as the previous week, there were plenty.

I was planning on riding 5-6 laps of the course with a few Yarra St attempts. The first 2 laps were ok, my legs were heavy from the lack of movement from the previous week but I rode at my own pace. On the 3rd lap, I noticed that more and more people were changing their tubes....I thought to myself, uh oh, it's going to happen....and BAM! on my 3rd lap, I copped a flat. The tube change was quick and I went on my merry way...then when I was onto my 5th lap, I noticed that my front wheel was bumpy and that's when I noticed that I had my 2nd flat, I stopped on the side to change the 2nd flat. Both tacks I put into my jersey - no point throwing it to the side as it will impact the next person. Then I only rode for about 200m and noticed that the air just escaped straight out of my tyre....at this point, I couldn't be bothered anymore, I walked the bike back to the car park and dealt with the fault at home.

The rest of the day consisted of making more cycling caps (one for a bday present that evening) and the rest were orders which came through during the week. Sunday, due to my lack of running and I wasn't sure how emotionally I could deal with being put on the spot when I couldn't meet expectations, I decided to just run around the neighbourhood. Good news - 10km at a slow pace was done with only some minor pains on the lower back.

Monday I did my own recovery swim at GESAC, windtrainer on Tuesday evening at MSAC and that's about it for the training for the week! We had a Tri Alliance team meeting on Thursday night and no swim on the program for the Friday. To be honest, I wasn't complaining as I have a pretty big weekend ahead.

Favourite session of the week: As much as it was only 10km, I really enjoyed my run on Sunday. I was running at a low pace but I was just grateful that I got myself through it.

Least favourite session of the week: My ride on Saturday sucked due to have 3 flat tyres and the fact that someone (or a group) has been endangering lives for at least 5 months now and it is still happening...seriously, not fast enough!

Advice of the week: As much as I am not doing much training at the moment, it is recovery week and I am resting as much as I can.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I have a few fun things on the calendar this week ahead which I am actually looking forward to! Firstly, I am going out to Essendon to do a womens skills session on the new Essendon Fields on Sat 19th. I am going to do my first CX event on the 27th July and so a few laps of the course would do good for me.

Secondly, I am participating in the Rapha Womens100 on Sunday 20th. I have looked at the course and as much as I have done distances > 100km, I am so nervous as I haven't been training for this event! There will be hills and this is what I am nervous about - being that person who doesn't have power to ride hills. I will try to relax for the day and not let the group pressure get to me. There are 5 groups and I am sure I won't get lost.