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 15^th. 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 17^th, 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 24^th 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 13^th 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.

Strength Training Phase 2 - Maintenance

So I am on my 2nd phase of my strength program which is the maintenance stage. Main key differences between this phase and the build phase are:

• I am no longer increasing the weight and working on building muscle within my supersets - rather, I am doing more movement with squat jumps, hopping, wood chopping, push ups, lunges, pull ups and improving on my fast twitch muscles. 
• The pinnacle set is now just one move per day - Mondays I have squat to toes but not lifting as heavy as I was when I was doing the 6RM. So instead of squatting with 65kg, I am doing squat to toes with 50kg. However, deadlifts on Wednesdays remain the same but as I am on 8RM, I will be going back to the weight I was lifting at those reps. 
• Core work remains the same but introducing more stability and flexibility/strength in the ankles.

As I was sick last week, I haven't done a full day of Day 2 strength session yet. I did week 2 of Day 1 yesterday and as the supersets are repeated 3 times instead of twice, the sessions do take longer than the previous phase so I will have to take that into account when I am training before work.

I am in Sydney today and tomorrow but will utilise the facilities here for my training. As I am feeling a bit sick, sore and sorry for myself, I will do some recovery running on the treadmill tonight and will head to the gym in the morning for Day 2 of my strength program. I decided to not stress about swimming here in Sydney as I would have to being my bathers etc.

Looking Ahead - September

The month of September will be a busy one for me. I will have a holiday for two weeks in Japan and when I return, I have two cycling events. 

13^th September is Amy’s Gran Fondo. This is my first attempt at this event and I am looking forward for the challenge. I have never done Skenes Creek before nor have I ridden the back roads of Lorne. This event is classified as a B event I won’t be doing long runs that weekend but I will ensure that I do the 2 interval sessions during the week. 

Amy's Gran Fondo Route

On the 20^th September, I have entered in my 2^nd Off Road Fondo for the year called Double X. From what I have read, this event is not as hard as the Dirty Gran Fondo so I may do this event on my cyclocross bike instead of the mountain bike. I will decide on the day before depending on the weather. As this is not an A nor a B event so I may do a run on Saturday. 

 

During the month of September, my swims will stay consistent at 3 sessions and maximum distance of 10km per week. I will see how the weather improves during the month of September as I would like to include one short road ride before work, most likely on a Monday or Wednesday and my runs will stay at 2 intervals and a long run on the weekends working on my speed over distance to ensure that my run during Shepparton is at its best. My strength session block continues after my holidays and will keep this going until Shepparton.

Stressing for Sandy

Sandy Point half marathon is 16 days away and I am absolutely engulfed in an ocean of anxiety. The last few weeks haven’t been great. 

Work has started to pick up so I have had to spend more of my energy into it and by the end of the day, I am so tired and my sessions have been inconsistent and crude. I have been sick with both fatigue and a (common) cold. The fatigue started last Saturday 1^st Aug when I was struck down with something which made my heart rate beat strong and fast, painful migraines and throbbing legs. Then on Tuesday 4^th my cold started and I was in bed for days. 

I am stressing out as this weekend is suppose to be my pinnacle distance before I taper off next weekend and the actual event the week after.  I wasn’t able to run 20km last weekend due to being sick, I planned out a 3 x loop and could only finish one before my feet cramped, vision blurred and my heart felt like it was about to leap out passed my tongue and my pace was well over 6min/km. 

I know I can bring myself over 21km but I am stressing about the pace. I need to be running at an average of 5:20min/km to be < 2 hours. I might need to reassess my goals closer to the date but I just really really really want to achieve this just one more time. The World doesn’t end if I don’t make this but it will just eat me up inside for another year like it has previously for the last 2 years. I don’t have anyone to blame but myself – I have not been consistent in training and I tend to go “easy on myself” rather than push beyond my comfort zone as I hate feeling the pain and being injured. 

Fingers crossed that I get to do some form of running training this weekend and from next week, I will be able to tick off the small goals I have set for myself.