Friday 31 October 2014

Summertime in Melbourne

Summer in Melbourne - it comes and goes. When it is here, it is praised. You can see it all over social media. When he leaves, it leaves a great gap in our hearts - the sky is grey, the winds are howling, it stops traffic.

The last week or so demonstrated the two sides of Melbourne weather. We had glorious days where your skin gets a nice tan from being out on a bike ride through to days when you get kicked out of a pool due to lightning and thunder.

I aim to start swimming with the GESAC crew on Monday and Wednesday mornings but this was not the case this week due to the lightning storm. For once this year, I did the Bayside group Rebel Run which starts at 5:45am outside Mentone Grammar. It was a 35-40min recovery run and I knew that I could do that - it is how I roll. I had a shocker of a run session on Sunday. My hayfever was sky high and I only managed to get out of bed at 10am and only managing a 10km run. Mind you, I did my longest ride (and run off the bike) last Saturday for this season - a whooping 110km followed by a 3+km rotb (20min)!

Instead of a pool swim on Wednesday, I opted for an open water swim at Mentone after work. I had just bought a new wetsuit (I promise this being my last one) and wanted to try it out. It took me 45min or so to put the wetsuit on and needed help with the zip - thanks lady with the dog.

I didn't have any plans for the swim. It was just out to the pole and then trying to reach the next. My swim was cut short because I got freaked out by jellyfish! Seriously....you would think that after years of open water swimming, I would be ok with them by now. I guess I wasn't expecting them to be present so early in the season! Instead, I swim towards the shore and just floated about. Reports of the new wetsuit compared to my Rocket Science - it is more buoyant, I can actually "feel" the water with my arms, higher neckline (choke-like), longer in the legs, significantly harder to put on and take off. Maybe because I like to wear my wetsuits tight and have gone for a smaller size than the chart recommends. For my RocketScience, I have gone for a XS when the chart recommends that I wear a M. I hate collecting water when I swim. For the new wettie, I have opted for a S instead of M.

It was a very lonely Lady Bombs session on Thursday morning. Most of the ladies are now in Noosa racing the tri this Sunday. There were a few who still wanted to ride but opted out. I was going to do this ride no matter what. It's my favourite session on the week - now above Windtrainer Tuesday.

As I was by myself, I could do my own "set". The set was:
Lap 1 - Warm up
Lap 2 - Race at Pits, Hard gear along Queens Rd
Lap 3 - Race at Pits, Easiest gear, very fast pedalling
Lap 4 = Lap 2
Lap 5 = Lap 3
Lap 6 = Lap 2
Lap 7 - Cool down - I like to use this as my technique sessions so I did 50 left leg, 50 right and 20 both legs. I like to add pedalling with single legs in my sessions - it works on the pulling action as well as encouraging a smoother stroke. Added bonus, you can get to work on the core.

Didn't get to train on Thursday evening as I was coaching the Try the Tri group - we did open water swimming.

Due to the long weekend and coaching commitments, I will be doing my long run on the Saturday before coaching, then trying to fit my ride and rotb on Sunday.

My weekends are pretty jam packed at the moment. Trying to finish off two more cycling caps, some online work on my side projects and also trying to visit friends. I am squeezing in a visit to the parents as well (being the great daughter and all).

Happy Long Weekend!

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