Thursday 20 August 2015

Roller Coaster



The last 2 weeks of my life have been an absolute roller coaster. In terms of training, I have had the best of sessions where personal best distances/routes were achieved but this is then mixed with days where I can barely get out of bed and negative thoughts about my training creep through. 

Last week, I travelled to Sydney for work. It was horrible. I stayed in a hotel in the middle of the city and I didn’t really have a good sleep. The room was stuffy even after I turned down the thermostat and increased the air flow. I was sweating at 18oC and I could not sleep for the life of me. I did some treadmill running when I was there but due to the lack of sleep, travel and being dehydrated, I was sick for days afterwards. Coupled with the cold I had the previous week, my training was dismal and my body felt weak. 

I did have a great ride on Saturday 15th. I started out my ride out at the Dandenong (ranges) the usual way – parked the car at The Basin (bottom of 1-in-20) and then rode across to Montrose via Liverpool Road. I then started my climb on Mount Dandenong Tourist Rd until I reach the intersection at Ridge Road in Olinda where I continue the ride up towards Sky High. After Sky High, I would ride down to Sassafras. 

Quite often, we would go down 1-in-20 and then do a few repeats. This time, as  I was on my own and wasn’t in a rush to end the training session, I thought instead of doing hill repeats, I would ride down to Ferntree Gully and then ride back up. I have heard that this part of the ride was steep and it took several months of riding the Dandenongs to actually attempt that section. The descent down was horrific for me. I was scared and applied on my brakes for most (90%) of the way. I couldn’t wait to reach the bottom so I could climb back up. 

Once I got myself together to climb, I decided instead of looking up and be horrified at the incline, I would just look straight in front of me and just pedal. It was a hard climb as most of the way, I was in my small chain ring and my easiest gear. The other time I am ever riding at the easiest gear ratio (in the Dandenongs) is the short and steep climb up to Sky High. 

It took a while to get up to the top but I am glad I achieved this. It was a personal best for me to tackle that part of the hills. 

A donut reward for my personal best achievements

Then on Sunday, due to my fatigued legs, my run was so sh#t I nearly threw in my (triathlon) towel and got me thinking about why the hell I am doing so much for...

On Monday 17th, I was thinking about my whole triathlon training and what it was actually for? With 3 peaks in March, should I be concentrating on improving my cycling? Thoughts plagued on me for days and I also consulted a few people to what I should be doing. Funnily enough, I had a great run session on Tuesday at the athletics track, a great swim with the club on Wednesday evening (with Wetsuit for 1.5km) and this morning I had a good spin class session. So I answered my own questions about what I should be doing for the next few months. 

The next few days, I will be tapering down for Sandy Point. Still not confident about the event but will see what comes out of that day. 

I leave on holidays on Monday 24th for 2 weeks and when I get back, I will need to do a few spin class sessions in preparation for the Amy’s Gran Fondo on the 13th September. I will also need to put some mileage in my legs for Around the Bay too.....and still fit in my swims and runs.

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