Starting from Scratch

Looking back at last week's schedule, I didn't end up ticking off many of my training sessions. I was still broken from my Fondo ride on the 12th April that I didn't go to my swim session on the Monday evening. I had a bit of an anxiety moment on Tuesday morning - having not gone to the run session for 4 weeks, I was worried that I was going to be useless. I ended up just heading back to bed.

Wednesday morning I had an early (7:30am) work commitment in Port Melbourne which meant that I couldn't do any training. I made it to the swim session that night but the session turned out to be a learn to swim session due to incorporating a technique which I was discouraged to do since 2009.

The new coach at Bayside wants me to do the S shape underwater and this is really throwing off all my rhythm, movement, catch, pull - everything! The whole S shape thing under the water is really doing my head in and if I choose not to do it, he picks up on it on EVERY lap I do which is not encouraging for my session. He has even brought in a camera to show me what I am doing wrong. In order to change my technique which is so cemented into my swimming, I am going to have to learn how to swim outside of the sessions just to get my body right. I am finding the S shape throws my balance off big time.

With work commitments in the City and out at Box Hill on Thursday, this meant that I had to put training aside. I caught up with a friend who enjoys bike riding and she was telling me of her Warbuton Trail adventure during Easter and her recent trip to Japan. I am still planning on heading to Japan for 10 or so days in the next few months - it is just a matter of paying off debt and saving up for a plane ticket, kinda hard when my tenant insists on repairs to my unit and I have put more money into repairs than I have received rent in return...I digress. I had planned on dinner with friends out at Box Hill due to my work function which ran from 4pm - 6pm. This was an opening of a building within Box Hill Tafe which gave apprentices a hands-on experience with real Air Conditioning equipment - from chillers through to compressors through to wiring for split systems. I was tired when I got home and didn't end up swimming the next morning.

Saturday was an achievement day. I got myself out of bed to do a ride, albeit around 10am due to rain. I had to talk myself into this ride, trying to convince myself that I needed to do this ride took time. I had to get over the horrific feeling I had from last weekend of not being able to keep up with the group. I rode down to Frankston and rode up Oliver's Hill. This was the first time I had ridden up Oliver's Hill in about 2 years (believe it or not!). I guess my hesitation has been around the coming back down the hill part of the trip. The climb itself was not too bad. I am pretty unfit and relatively weak and that showed when I finally reached the top of the hill and I was inhaling like no tomorrow. I then rode up Humphreys Road, that was slow but steady. If I was riding in the group, I am sure I would have been left behind. Once I reached the top of Humphreys, I decided to venture outside my comfort zone and rode down Two Bays - this was all downhill so it wasn't too bad. I was hesitant about riding up this hill so I decided to try to ride through the side streets to get to Nepean Hwy. This reminded me of my ride out of the Ferry Terminal just out of Vancouver. Luckily, I could do most of the route except for a small sharp right turn on Banool Cres which was steep and I had ran out of momentum on the bike.

Once I reached Nepean Hwy, it was a route I was familiar with and rode towards home. The only thing that bothered me was the downhill of Oliver's Hill - lucky or unlucky, there was a car who didn't like the fact that I was travelling down that hill and decided to let me know how unhappy they were. Due to that, I didn't worry too much about the downhill part. The total distance for that ride was about 65km (400m elevation) which was the longest since Challenge Melbourne and the hilliest since Whistler Gran Fondo.

On Sunday, instead of doing a run, I did a mountain bike ride instead at Lysterfield. We started out at the Hallam North Road carpark which meant that I was in the midst of a difficult trail which I admit scared me enough, I had a slight panic attack. I got frustrated at my partner for making me start at that trail as it was a trail which I was not comfortable with and something which I am not able to do - small and sharp hair pin turns downhill with roots and deep trails. As it had been raining that weekend, the trails were also wet and slippery. I am glad to report that I only crashed once, it was over a root over a flat trail and I landed on my right arm and slightly on my head. Nothing too serious, just a sore arm today (Monday). Even with the slight panic attack at the start of this ride, I did enjoy the ride very much, I increased my confidence on the bike but I am still slow. I am comfortable about riding up hills even when there are turns involved. My downhills need to be improved and it is just a matter of riding more out at Lysterfield and gain confidence on the bike and knowing what to do - something which doesn't come naturally to me.

My legs post ride - not as muddy as before as I rode through puddles.

With regards to running - this is something which I have been slightly hesitant about, because I am so bad at it and my joints hurt so much from every run session. I have decided to start from scratch for running and have signed up for a 6 week running program which will run in May and June. The run sessions will be Tuesday 6:45pm with Tim O’Shaughnessy (as part of a technique course through Bayside Tri Club), Thursday 6:30pm at Duncan McKinnon (squad session) and then a long weekend run or will be entering into running events to keep the motivation up. The first run event I will do will be this weekend - I need to decide if I am going to do it on the Saturday or the Sunday and arrange my long ride to suit.