A very different person

I have been reflecting upon the "triathlete" I am today compared to what I was this time last year. There are both good and not-so-good differences between the two. The "looking back" came about after seeing a few first-timers reflect on their weekly achievements through social media and also just in general conversations during training. Its not a bad thing that athletes talk about their achievements especially for a first timer. I never see it as boasting about how awesome they are (or how much better they are compared to others), personally I feel that people do it because they are proud of their achievements. Nothing wrong with that.

This is one of the reasons why I kept a diary on my journey in triathlon, it gave me a means of reflection and how I grew as a person (who happen to do triathlon).

Some of the differences between the person I was last year to the person I am today include:

• Then - I attended the 3 training camps last year. Now - This year, I have only attended Lorne 2013, wasn't eligible for the Advance Camp (was Long Course) and I will not be attending the Pre Season camp due to finances and family commitments. I was more eager to do these camps as to give myself a peak no matter how much they cost. This year, I have been budgeting more and keeping money aside for travel and other life expenses.
• Then - I was attending double session Tuesday and Thursdays. Now - My body is just not coping (read recovering) well enough to put in 100% into these. Therefore I have not been able to work on my running (Tuesday mornings) and Bike (Thursday mornings) as much as I was last year. I am hoping to be able to pick up these sessions within the month of September.  
• Then - I previously wrote in a post on 20 July 2012 that I had found a new confidence about being on the bike. This time last year, we were just riding Beach Rd (riding the distances rather than doing strength work amongst the hills). Now - I have now gained a new level of anxiety regarding heading out to do hills amongst a large group of my squad. Luckily, the anxiety is only about descending and not general cycling. I still don't have the confidence and enough bike skills to descend without feathering the brakes on the way down. Because my bike time during Melbourne Ironman was just so long, I don't know if I have lost my passion or motivation to be out there on Beach Rd. Other than commuting to work and back, I have not ridden Beach Rd with the squad since April.
• Then - I would be hesitant about running long distances (lack of endurance). Now - I have gained a new level of confidence in doing a half-marathon. This time last year, I had completed (what I called) a fast 10km at Run Melbourne and then my 14km as part of Sydney's City to Surf in preparation for my Half Marathon in October. This year, I have done 2 half marathon events - Run Melbourne and Sandy Point that I am confident enough about the half marathon in October. I will be aiming for a time < 120min. Going to bust my guts out! 
• Then - Swimming was about getting through a guided program with the squad. Now - I am able to swim confidently by myself and know what I need to work/program if I am not able to swim with the squad. I am able to work on my weakness and surprisingly, I have found a new love in swimming with a pullbouy and band.
• Then - Everything was all about my FIRST - This time last year, I had won my slot into Melbourne Ironman (my first Ironman) and until then, I was training for my first half Ironman (Shepp) - I was putting in 100% into training and at all expense. All I was thinking about was (not failing) in my first events. All the distances I was swimming, riding and running was my first, longest and sometimes fastest. Now - Because I know what is coming ahead, I feel that I have a slight fear of when the loads start to increase and hoping that my body and mind will agree to go through it again. To be honest, I really do miss that enthusiasm. I envy my first-timer friends who are so committed, enthusiastic, fascinated, involved and matured in their journey into their firsts (half or full) Ironman, Olympic triathlon, half marathon races. I guess all I can do at this point is just to continue what I can do and be surrounded in that positive energy.

As I enter these thoughts into this entry, I have the following:
44 days until my next Half Marathon
65 days until Noosa
79 days until Shepparton
156 days until Challenge Melbourne
205 days until Melbourne Ironman

Weekly Reflection 19/08 - 25/08

Favourite session of the week: As I mentioned last week, I had a slight change of routine in regards to weekend traing. Instead of doing the usual Dandenong/Kinglake ride, I went to Lorne for the weekend and rode the Great Ocean Rd on Saturday. It was about 90km (Lorne - Apollo Bay return). I didn't do Benwerrin as I didn't want the entire weekend to be about training.

Me, my Wilier and the Great Ocean Road.

I didn't ride to Apollo Bay last training camp and I am glad I did it over the weekend. It took me under 4 hours to do the return trip and I made sure I worked on the strength on the bike and stayed in the large chain ring the entire way. I am well aware that spinning at a higher cadence (on the small chain ring if you need to) is more efficient but I had a purpose there - it was to work on my strength and smooth pedal strokes.

The scenery was once again, beautiful. It never disappointed me once. I was out there by myself - no group pressure, no one but me and my bike on the roads. It was great that I rode away from Lorne at 7am and rode back from Apollo Bay as the traffic started to pick up when I returned and that would have made my ride slightly horrific.

Only one small incident on the roads - it was just a bunch of young men in a convoy of 2 utes and yelled something out the window when they passed me close....it was either yelling that I was too slow or telling the driver to slow down...not sure what it was, all I heard was the word "slow".

Least favourite session of the week: Oh God....I did my 2nd treadmill session on Thursday evening. I was suppose to be down for a coaching session at the Tan with the City group but as it was raining, I had to double check if I was needed as the numbers are always down when the weather turns bad and there is no need for an extra coach on board. The reason why I wanted to check if I was required was that I had rolled my ankles several times post my Sandy Half. Instead of running on hard surfaces, I decided that I would do a short session at the gym instead and spent some time on the rollers and strength work on my ankles and calves.

Still not a fan of the treadmill. I think I must also run with the monitors covered or bring my iPad to watch something interesting. I was so bored.

Advice of the week: Coach Greg had a small talk with the long course group after our main windtrainer set on Tuesday night. He spoke about how he wanted all of us to monitor our bodies especially during double session Tuesday and Thursdays - how much fluids are we losing, how much food are we eating pre, during and post sessions and how much sleep we are getting. He mentioned that sleep is very important to an athlete's success. Elimiate any stress we have (as much as we could) before we lie our heads on the pillow.

Personally for me, getting as much sleep as I could before the next day's session can only happen if I prepare my work and training requirements over the weekend. Not only am I talking about the multiple bags I have to pack, this also includes organising my nutrition ahead of time.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: It's recovery/time trial week! yay! It means that the intensity of the loads are slightly decreased. I might look into commuting into work one of these days instead of doing a training session either on the Tuesday (instead of windtrainer) or the Thursday (instead of run time trial).

Sandy Point 1/2 Marathon - A (Run) Report

So yesterday, I ran my 2nd "run only" half marathon event for 2013-2014. I was ummmming and arrrrrring about doing this event due to cost and questioning if my body was capable of running a half marathon when I have not been doing any preparation for it (mentally and physically).

On Friday night, I had in mind that this was something which I would like to do. I was at the footy (AFL Hawks v Pies at the G) and the games finishes late on a Friday night. I got home around 11:30pm and by the time I got all my cycling things ready, it was close to 1am. Since I had been up since 4:30am (morning swim), I decided that if I was feeling 100% in the morning, I would do the ride at Dandenongs, if not, I will get extra sleep. 

Saturday morning came around (felt like I had 2 hours sleep), I was still tired from a long long Friday so I decided to just have an extra sleep in and do lighter sessions. When I finally woke up, I did a 1.5 hour session on the windtrainer followed by a 3km swim at GESAC. Whilst on the windtrainer, I had decided that I was going to do this run and would purchase a late entry after my swim (late entries open 2-5pm). 

When I finished my swim and drove to Mordialloc, the winds had picked up and most of the expo tents were either pinned down with ropes and sandbags or blown over/away. I still entered the event and my race bib was 2266.

I started on my carbo loading regime that afternoon with extra gatorade hydration to increase my carbohydrates and also increased my carbs at night (by an extra cup of cooked rice). I still had meat and vegies that evening. 

Sunday morning - I decided to ride into Mordialloc that morning (I live 4km away) and a quick 10min casual commute away. A negative about riding in was there was no where to lock up the bikes. Even though they encouraged people to ride into the event, there was no place to park bikes (that I knew). I even asked the event info people and they had no idea. I ended up just locking the bike up against a tree.

Because I treated this run as a training run with no time expectation, I decided to run with my fuel belt (carrying gels, water and coke). I am still unsure what my strategy would be for the half marathon (during the Melbourne Marathon), should I be running with my fuel belt as per my usual events or go without...

Half Marathon(ers) started at 8am and my wave started a few minutes after the first (slowies who take longer than 1:50). The BOM predicted a forecast of strong North Westerly and boy oh boy, we felt every breath of that wind. The head wind was aggressive amongst some sections of the run that you felt like you were running through jelly and was just not getting anywhere. I was worried about my strategy - should I be working into the head wind for the first 10km or will that cause a blow up and I won't be able to have a good finish...it was hard to gauge but I just ran just above my comfortable point.

The first 3-7km - the course had some nice rolling hills which made it interesting. My lungs and quads were burning when I ran up the hill but I took advantage of the downhills and leant forward so that gravity would help increase my speed (Greg's words).

The 10km runners could be seen running towards the finish line at this point too. At the 8-9km mark, I could see some familiar faces (doing the half marathon) as they had turned back towards the finish line ahead of me. This included Coach Sarah, Michelle G, Stephen D and Kerri W.

I concentrated on my technique as much as I could, so much to the point that I must have not heard my first 300Cal alarm as I was wondering at the 50min mark about when I should be consuming my 1st gel. I looked at the watch and noticed that I had already burnt 550Cal and I was close to the 10km mark. I quickly swallowed my gel (good thing I carried my own water) and I felt instantly better. I decided then and there that my next gel will be consumed after 30min.

After I turned around at the turn around point, I tried to spot Brianna L (the other person I knew who also ran in this event) but I couldn't recognise anyone else. Running with the tail wind made a huge difference. I saw that my pace at increased and I also felt stronger around my core and was able to hold steady. The hills felt like Everest on the way back to the finish line. I could not (for the life of me) lift my knees and maintain that technique running up the hills.

If anyone had a video camera, I would love to see what I looked like - it was a trot with high knees for 3 steps and then reduced down to a 3 step walk and then repeat. I did this the entire way up the hill (I even found myself laughing at how stupid I must have looked).

The last 5km was when I started to struggle, especially with my back. I had to stop to stretch it out and consume my last gel. I brought coke with me on the run and found salvation in that I could drink this on the home stretch. I ran the last 5km like how I ran the marathon during the Ironman, except I consumed coke at every 1km instead of 2km. Before I knew it, a spectator yelled out that there was only 1km left and that was when I turned on my blinkers. I drank my last sip of coke for that morning and just ran! Looked straight ahead, arms angled and pretended that I was doing an interval set. I put in 100% and tried as hard as I could to maintain that pace until I finished.

I saw a few familiar faces at the end of the event which was always a great feeling. I looked down at my Garmin and I finished the run under 2:02 which was a surprise for me as I expected it to be slower than Run Melbourne. After I picked up my bag, I went into the water to soak with Kerri and then rode home. The ride home was probably harder than the run. My legs were still burning and the head wind was still as strong as ever so I rode home in my granny gears.

Lessons Learnt:
- Hydration- I really need to work on this better pre and during the event.
- Nutrition- Must concentrate better on the timing of consuming gels during the run.
- Hills- As much as it hurts during training, I must do more hills to strengthen my little legs.

Weekly Reflection 12/08 - 18/08

Favourite session of the week:

I really enjoyed the half marathon I did on Sunday (18th) as part of the Sandy Point running event. More details on this session will be posted seperately. The conditions for the day was not picture perfect - windy (we are talking strong winds) and a course which was not-so-flat. I still enjoyed it as I had no expectations, I was out there to enjoy a run on Beach Rd.

Least favourite session of the week:

My fingers in hyper-extension.
This is what it looks like when I use paddles
and don't "press"down on them.  

Due to my hypermobility, I have pain in my fingers whenever I use paddles for a long period of time (more than 400m or so without breaks). This is because I need to grip down on my paddles whenever I use them to keep the paddles straight. If not, my fingers "flap" or bend backwards which creates resistance between the paddles and my fingers. I was having some trouble trying to keep a happy medium between the two and found it frustrating when I receive polarised advice from different coaches and having to adapt to both depending on which coach is present. It is none of their faults, it is just a personal battle I have and trying to improve on my technique whilst dealing with joints which hyper extend.

Advice of the week:
I am using these mini events during the off season to trial different race and nutrition strategies. For nutrition wise, I did do a bit of carbo loading the night prior to my long run with extra half a cup of rice and drank gatorade. During the run, I tried as much as I could to hold the technique even though it hurt like a bitch. Post race, I had some of my egg cups (eggs, pumpkin, bacon pieces in omelette mix, baked in muffin tray) and a banana. I have stopped taking processed supplements for the time being (Optimizer and other recovery powders) and just taking everything back to basics and more homemade.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week:
I will be varying my training this weekend. I am looking forward to a change of scenery and routine. More info on this once I know what is being planned for (not by me).

Coming face to face with FAT



Alright, 99%* of triathlete are obsessed about their weight. We are constantly talking about trimming down to "race weight", so we can climb hills better, run faster and look better in Lycra. I know personally, I have had a battle with body image and weight my whole life.

BODYSCAN results

Since I started with triathlon about 5 years ago, I have come to accept my body shape and the way my body develops when I do exercises. I have always had this magical number of 55kg as my ideal race weight. I know and understand that if I am to lose weight to reach this level, I need to lose fat mass and keeping in mind that I will also be gaining muscle mass just from training (especially during the strength phase of the season).

To gauge a better understanding of this, I had a DEXA body scan done lately and it has given me a better understanding of my own body composition and where I store my fat.

So my fat-free mass (my mass without fat - just bones, blood and organs) is (2.09kg + 41.6kg) I have about 16.8kg of pure fat. Now I am well aware of our body's need for fat to actually survive especially for females so there is no crazy plans of losing too much fat mass here. Based on the results and where I am sitting on the Fat Mass scale, I am within the healthy range (just above the lean). The doctor advised me that losing 4kg down to 55kg is acceptable and will be within the halfway range for lean. The results are all normalized (taking into account my height, sex and age etc), the healthy fat mass range is 15.9-21kg and lean is 10.8-15.9kg for a person my height, sex and age.

Another thing to note is that my bone density is also slightly above normal (very slightly) at 0.3. Anything in the negative range is poor bone density.

I did the scan lying on the x-ray table and also with my super skinny jeans on so for my next scan, the doctor has advised that I wear the same jeans for a like for like comparison.



I have posted some of my results below.

*not fact, this is something which I just made up for the fun of it, chill out.



DEXA Results



Weekly Reflection 05/08 - 11/08

Favourite session of the week:

Both my run sessions on Thursday and Sunday were great and made a difference to my running. I have always made improvements once feedback is given by coaches. Running, swimming or cycling do not come naturally to me so when I started to swim, ride or run, there is no form. 



Example of lower
core exercises



On Sunday, it was a repeat of the techniques we learnt on Thursday evening, more running with hands on head and running with arms at 90degrees all the way through the swing. 

I have made a conscious effort in holding my core for everything now, from sitting in the car (when driving), sitting at my desk through to doing lower core exercises when I am lying on the floor. Remembering to hold myself still (less swinging of the shoulders and hips) when walking, running, cycling. 

Least favourite session of the week:

I didn't really have a least favorite session for the week as I placed 100% of my efforts into all of my sessions. I didn't go to Friday morning swim due to my back but I ended up doing my own swim session on Saturday which I thoroughly enjoyed. 

Advice of the week:

I had to face reality in a few instances this week. In my previous post, I spoke about how I have downgraded my running from full marathon to half marathon in October. I would not be able to train up to the full marathon distance 10 weeks before the event when I am not even able to put in 100% to all my training sessions, stay injury free and recovery from the marathon well enough to race Noosa 2 weeks after and a half ironman 4 weeks after. 

I am glad that I have made this decision early in training before anything drastic happens which will jeopardize my racing season. This is a personal choice and not necessarily the same for others. I know how my body reacts with load and I am being careful on purpose. 

Sessions I’m looking forward to next week:

Build Week 1 - I am really looking forward to putting in 100% to all my sessions. My body is feeling much better compared to the last few months. I will see how I am going and may do the Sandy Point half marathon on Sunday. I won't be using this event for a PB, I am just doing it as a long run day as it is just outside my doorstep.

The Little Things...

As this week is recover/TT week, the intensity during training have been slightly decreased. Tuesday and Thursdays were a sleep-in for most whilst others stuck to their marathon programs (event in 10 weeks). There were two sessions this week which have made a difference for my personally.

Swim Time Trials 
This happened on Wednesday 7th August. Before the swim TT, I thought my life ended....here is the story. I left my house at the usual time of 5:10am from Mentone to Northcote for my 6am swim session. I crossed the Nepean Hwy intersection (with South Rd) and a car who went through the intersection at high speeds and nearly took my car out.

Just to clarify, I was going through the intersection because I had the right of way, I was behind a car already in the intersection and we both had the green light. The car which took me out must have no seen/noticed that he/she had a red. It was like in the movies where you see a car heading straight at your car along the drivers side...I went through the intersection fine as he/she must have realised and drove around me very swiftly. I didn't stop after I had passed the intersection, I just kept driving and just thought to myself...shit, I nearly died.

So my swim TT was not at my 100%, I was still shaken up but I tried to ignore that and just went along with the program. The swim TT was 1km. I have no issues or hesitations in doing the swim TT (compared to run or ride TT). I guess with my anxiety, everything about the swim TT was controllable - I won't be able to hurt myself in doing so. The first few hundred meters I was trying to get my speed up and I found it hard as my shoulders were tight from my swim set on Monday (I ended up doing my own set at GESAC on Monday afternoon). I found myself spending too much time at the ends of the pool with stopping and turning - I must improve on this. I need to be more confident in doing tumble turns sans fins.

My swim TT ended up being 20:27 (still not as fast as my fastest time of 19:52) but it is 5 seconds faster than my previous time. The fast people in my squad swim close to the 17min mark and I know that I am no where near that calibre. I think there is one more swim TT left for the year before the racing season kicks off again and I will work extra hard to get under 20min.

Running with Core 
On Thursday, I went back to Essendon and ran with Coach Greg. I haven't ran with the North group in a few weeks due to bad weather when the session was cancelled, coaching at the Tan for a few weeks and I think there was one week where I was sick. As it was recovery week, we worked on our technique which was great. Greg asked us to run with our hands on our heads.

At first, I was just running without realising how much we have to hold our core to stop us from swinging from side to side. I have always been swinging my shoulders (my right) slightly and I have been trying to keep it still as much as I have started running with Tri Alliance.

With the whole running with hands on your head thing, you have to concentrate hard at activating the core to stop your hips and shoulders from swinging. After running about  8 or so km "on and off", my running became easier as I could feel how much of a better runner I am when my posture is correct and I am activating my core.

At work, I already sit up pretty straight on my chair as I don't tend to lean back against my chair. Why? Because my legs are too short and when I lend back against the chair, my legs don't touch the ground. I sometimes rotate my chair with my fit-ball too. In addition, everynight I pretty much go through my lower core floor excercises whilst I watch TV (and use the foam rollers on my legs and back) so I will just continue doing those movements.

Facing Reality

I had initially signed up to do the full marathon (42.2km) on the 13th October (during the Melbourne Marathon festival) but after a good think about the following:

Half Marathon Oct 2012

- Melbourne Marathon is 10 weeks away. I need to be doing 3 run sessions a week including long endurance runs 20km+ (up to 32-34km within 8 weeks. Currently, I am only running 2 times a week and my longest run was 22km, 5 weeks ago (before Run Melbourne 21.1km).

- Melbourne Marathon is 2 weeks before Noosa Olympic and 4 weeks before my A race for 2013 - Shepparton 70.3

- I am shin-splint-prone so the last thing I want is to increase my running load (too much, too soon), get injured and be out of action leading up to race season

- I am currently struggling with double session Tuesday and Thursdays due to fatigue (at the moment, it is only one session of training a day) so I have not been running 3 times a week at 100% effort.

...I have downgraded my event to a half marathon, a massive weight has lifted off my shoulders. I am now excited to run the half marathon course again and will aim to get a time below the 120min mark. My best time was 1:58 (Oct 2012). I am also glad I am training for a half marathon as now I am able to train at Fairfield with the main group instead of doing my own thing (trying to cover my own distances).

I have also been running in new shoes too (Brooks Pure instead of my Nike Free) and I haven't been rolling my ankles as much so that has been a plus.

Weekly Reflection 29/07 - 04/08

Favourite session of the week: On Saturday 3rd Aug, instead of riding Beach Rd with the main squad, Michelle and I went and rode the Dandenongs instead. Michelle just bought a new bike and was eager to test it out.

We started our ride from Wantirna Mall car park and then we rode straight up 1-in-20 on the way to the Sky High lookout. After the lookout, we decided to turn left and head towards Montrose. The ride down towards Montrose was interesting as I never realised how much of a hill climb it was if we rode towards sky high from Canterbury rd. There was also a significant amount of traffic of the roads too compared to the way we rode up.

Egg Cups (bacon, brussel sprouts) with brocollini

By the time we reached Montrose, we were both frozen. We then turned around and rode back towards Olinda and then down the 1-in-20 and then back to the carpark. I really loved riding around the Dandenongs, the view is amazing and I think the general cyclist crowd is much nicer than Beach Rd or Kinglake. The ride back from the Basin to Wantirna Mall is also not too far away so we didn't have to deal with the general car traffic much. This was much less stressful than riding towards Templestowe from Kinglake. 

Least favourite session of the week: I didn't really have a session I didn't really liked. My hips are a bit sore at the moment which made my run slightly uncomfortable. That's due to female issues more than inflammation or running injuries.

Advice of the week: In order for me to eat properly, I have been preparing much of my meals well in advanced. This can be Bircher muesli for breakfast which can be prepared the night before, egg cups (I make about 12 at a time) to be eaten for lunch and snacks through to preparing my vegetables ahead of time and storing them in plastic zip lock bags so when I need them, all I do is reheat. I am storing much of my cooked veges, egg cups and sometimes meats in zip lock bags is that they take up less space is my little fridge. Like the saying goes - Poor Preparation leads to Piss Poor Performance


Thing I’m looking forward to next week: RECOVERY WEEK!!! I will try to stick with my Melbourne Marathon run program as much as I can so I will still be doing a run (of some sort) on Tuesday morning. It is also Time Trial week and we will be doing the Swim TT on Wednesday and the Ride TT on Saturday. I will see how I am travelling towards the end of the week for the Ride TT on Saturday.