It just wasn't my time...

So some of you are probably wondering now - what happened after my last post?? Where was the count down to Peaks? How was the day leading up to the big event and how was the actual Peaks Challenge?!

Well, pretty much the day after I wrote my last blog entry, I fell really ill. I only had a cold (no injuries or anything like that) but I was coughing, sneezing and drowsy pretty much from Wednesday morning onwards. I took a day off a few weeks ago as I thought I had a small cold and slept it off but last week, it came back in full-punch-in-the-face-style.

I had planned on still heading up to Falls Creek on Friday morning and seeing how I went whilst my partner would do some mountain biking around the area. After all, I had already paid close to $900 for 4 nights accommodation at Falls Creek already. Come Friday midday, I was still in bed and I hadn't packed my bags or bike yet so we changed our plans to drive up on Saturday morning instead. I pretty much decided on Friday night that I would withdraw from Peaks Challenge and only packed my normal bag (no cycling gear). Come Saturday morning, I was still really sick and was in no state to be in the car for over 5 hours to get to Falls Creek. We then decided to just stay in Melbourne for the long weekend instead. We then picked up our little dog from her Pet Country club (fancy dog kennel) and our little family spent quality time together in between my long naps.

On Sunday in between my sleeps and eating only oranges (all I craved and ate when I was sick), I paid close attention to social media and tracked how my friends were travelling throughout the day. The weather was good for the event (no rain as predicted) but it did get humid and hot after lunch. Most of the people I was following completed the event but all struggled and rated it the hardest thing they have done. This also how it was described from one of my friends who finished an "Everesting" only 2 weeks ago (Donna Buang).

Deep down, I was never confident that I would actually make the cut off time of 13 hours. Comparing my times against the cut offs they had provided, both my climbing and descending speeds are below their averages. I had always planned on keeping my breaks to 2min at each water stop (exc toilet breaks). I would have skipped my lunch break at Dinner Plain as I have never been a "eat lunch" kinda person on my long rides and I consume my calories pretty much on the 30min mark with sometimes a date in between. As I had mentioned before, Peaks Challenge is actually a challenge. It is unlike an Ironman where you can pretty much walk the marathon and make the cut off time of 17 hours. Even for a below average athlete like myself, I finished my (full) Ironman within 13:12, with below average times for all 3 legs and still had plenty of time for photos and smiles. During Peaks, you have no "rest" and it is not an event you can do with no hard training. A cut off time of 13 hours is actually hard to do!

I had plenty of support from friends who mentioned how much I had trained and how I would achieve this goal. It was very humbling to know that people believed that I was ready and some were even heart broken when I told them that I was sick and pulled out of the event. I know that I did put in some major hours on the saddle and most of it was done solo. I know that I have the mental endurance to get myself through the event, I guess my body's ability to climb and descend just need to catch up.

I wouldn't have said that my preparation was ideal. Many people have mentioned that I can be negative about myself but I would also like to point out some background:

• Since 2010, my road bike has Campagnolo group sets. Therefore, I never rode the bike on my drops as I wasn't able to reach the brakes or change gears (Campags have thumb shifters) and to make matters worse, I also have tiny hands. It is only October 2015 that I had a bike with Shimano group sets and I am now able to reach the brakes and change gears on my drops. Descending on the drops is something which I am still learning how to do. 
• Following on from the descending thing - I also have a fear of descending. There are a few factors which play in my hesitation when it comes to descending - my fall in July 2014, my lack of bike skills especially turning, my witness of someone falling off the side of the mountain at Kinglake 2011, I don't have a background in going downhill for any sort of activity - skiing, snowboarding, horse riding etc and just the lack of experience in positioning my body on the bike during descents. 
• Cadence along with a good power output is something which I need to work on. I have never been a high cadence person. I never used to race at 90rpm even during triathlon or time trialling. My comfortable race cadence was around 80rpm. My climbing cadence used to be around 40-50rpm. I used to climb Benwerrin in my large chain ring (no compact), low cadence. I should have been training years ago to ride on the small chain ring and higher cadence. Maintaining a higher cadence whilst also maintaining a good power zone is something which I need to gauge. Riding at a higher cadence = not tire out my muscles. 
• I was moving house early 2016 which meant that critical training sessions was not optimised. I had to (i)Look for a place to move into (ii)Pack the old house (iii) Move into the new house and this took a good 5 weekends out of January and February. 
• My cycling climbing only really started in Oct 2015. Prior to that, I would have only done about 4 rides/year in the "hills" since 2010 when I started triathlon. Hills = Kinglake or the Dandenongs (1-in-20). Due to being a triathlon assistant coach 2012-2015, I was often placed to ride with beginners at Studley Park or Beach Road and I would only be out on group rides at Kinglake or the Dandenongs only 4 times max during the winter months. Even then, I would be one of the slower riders due to lack of strength and experience. Since leaving the whole triathlon thing aside, I have climbed more within a month of February 2016 than I ever did my whole life.

I do have plans on completing this route in 2017. I will either complete it as part of the AUDAX (Alpine Classic weekend) or Peaks Challenge next year. These are a few things that I will need to work on:

• Monitoring my power on the bike. I am going to invest in a power meter in the next few months so I can gauge the power output on the bike especially during my climbs and holding it with a higher cadence. I have worked on this during my spin classes at AOC but it hasn't carried through where is counts, out on the roads and climbing. 
• Strength and Core As much as I have incorporated my s & c sessions during my build for Peaks, moving forward, I will need to tweak the program to something more tailored to cycling. Something which I will need to research into more and consult with Chris. 
• The times which I will need to climb the three peaks will need to be reduced significantly if I am to make the cut off. I need to aim to climb Tawonga Gap within 40min (current PB at 49min) Harrietville - Hotham down to 2:15 (current PB at 2:56!), WTF - Trapyard Gap down to 1:20 (currently 1:45). In between, I need to learn to descend properly and not be scared when my speed goes above 40km/hr (or 25km/hr around corners). 
• I need to incorporate some group rides in my program to be more comfortable about working in groups during the flatter sections in between the climbs. I actually didn't have a plan for this year about this as I knew that I was going to be at the back during the first section of the event (the descent after Falls) and was going to be pretty much by myself anyway.
• The hilly rides during winter need to be at least 3 (quality) hours long. Lets aim to do the Full Crucifix (inc Sky High) in 2016. 
• Aim to achieve PB for all my climbs - 1 in 20, The Wall, Inverness Road, Devil's Elbow, Lake Mountain, Donna Buang, Mt Buffalo, Falls Creek etc

I will leave the blog post here for now regarding Peaks Challenge. There are a few things I have lined up in the next few weeks which I will write about more but for now, I am still recovering from my cold and giving myself a break before I get back on the saddle. 

6 More Sleeps!

My God....I have 6 more sleeps until the big event. I am seriously just sh#ting myself at the moment.

Last week’s training didn’t go as planned. On Tuesday, due to a few accidents on the major routes in Melbourne, it caused massive traffic jams and I was not able to make it to the altitude session. Along the Monash Freeway, I moved 5km in 45min and actually escaped the freeway and arrived around Kew after 7pm (the session finishes at 7pm).

Then on Thursday, I went to my last Art Of Cycling (AOC) session before Peaks. It wasn’t my best session as my legs are feeling so fatigued and I was generally tired and not feeling 100%. I actually stayed home that day after the session as I felt like I was coming down with something. That afternoon, I went for a dry needling session to loosen up my hamstrings as the massage session previously proved to be too painful for relief.

On Friday, I booked myself in for a pilates session but I set my alarm for 5pm instead of 5am. Woke up at 5:50am (too late to attend session) and $25 down the drain.

Saturday, I did my first Beach Road ride from the new house in Aspendale. I rode up to Port Melbourne and back (approx. 60km and took me 2.5 hours). The roads were very busy! Sunday, I rode down to watch the Gran Prix crits from Hampton with my friend who raced the women’s Masters and rode back.

My legs are not feeling great at all. They are so fatigued. They didn’t want to ride at all over the weekend. I will have to put them in my recovery boots regularly until the event day.

I received a call from our accommodation at Falls Creek to let us know what is provided and what is not at the lodge. Looks like we will need to prepare some meals in advanced as we don’t have access to the kitchen but will be able to use the microwave. We might start to get some of our things ready for this weekend so I won’t be packing at the last minute.

I am genuinely nervous about this weekend. The weather at the moment does not look great for Sunday. Both Hotham and Falls Creek are forecasted to have showers and maybe some thunder. I know that I am able to ride the entire course, there is no doubt about it. I am just worried about making the cut off. I am not very good at both climbing and descending so I may struggle to stay in front of the lantern rouge riders.

So this is my “6 sleeps to go” blog entry before Peaks Challenge. Anxiety level 10/10.

Last Big Ride...

So this weekend, I did my last "big ass" ride before Peaks Challenge. I went back to Tawonga South/Mt Beauty and stayed at the same motel. I arrived on the Friday afternoon and settled in for the night.

The plan for the weekend was to ride Mt Hotham again before the big day as the last time I did that route was in October. Instead of just riding Mt Hotham from Harrietville return which is approx 60km, I needed a big day out so I decided to start from Mt Beauty, ride over Tawonga Gap up to Hotham and then back over Tawonga Gap again, about 150km in total.

Once again, I left the house at 8am and rode up Mt Beauty side of Tawonga Gap (for the 3rd time ever). For once, I did this ride with fresh legs! By all strava records, I achieved a PR on all segments along this side of the climb. It makes a difference when this climb is not done during the hottest time of the day or after having done 100km already. So I achieved a PB of 10min on this climb. The descent down was also a PB, maybe because the temperature was pretty cold and I couldn't wait to get off this descent.

I had never ridden from Germantown to Harrietville before so it was good to see how I would fair along this route before hitting up the 2nd climb of the event. Apart from a few small inclines and cars (which won't be present on the day), the ride was pretty straight forward.

I stopped at the park at Harrietville to fill up my drink bottle and had quick toilet stop. The day was starting to get warm too as I could feel the sweat dripping off my face. I thought that with the amount of riding I had been doing over the last few months that I would improve on my climb up Hotham but at the end, it wasn't to be.

I found the ride pretty challenging from the start. My legs just didn't want to spin faster than 50rpm and I struggled with the heat. I guess because this was my 2nd time up Hotham, I had expectations that I would find the climbs easier but it wasn't the case. I found The Meg quite challenging, much more than my first attempt and I didn't find the 10km false flat in the middle as much of a relief as I did the first time in October. I struggled with keeping up the speed along this part of the ride. The last 10km of Hotham is where I struggled the most. Straight up after the toll gates there is a pretty long and sharp climb. I rode out of the saddle as much as I could. I didn't find the small roller coaster parts too intimidating this time around but I did find CRB hill more horrific this time around after actually reading about it more in write ups and blogs. I really had a lot of trouble keeping my cadence above 30rpm which was just soul destroying for me. I think at this point I had also ran out of water (both bottles) and was stressing out...I had 5 hot and sweaty ks to go....

I had to stop at one point along the ride to just rest. My legs were throbbing and I was just tired. I knew that I had one or two more sharp climbs to do before I see the water catchment and all the hard work was done for this peak. I have never been so happy to see that body of water as I knew the rest of the ride was downhill towards The General store where I could buy some coke....something I was salivating about for literally hours.

I stopped at Hotham for about 15min or so. I bought a Gatorade and a Coke and added a sachet of Hydralyte into both bottles with added salt. I didn't stop off at the toilets as I didn't feel like I was busting and I sweated so much on the climbs.

The descent back down to Harrietville was not too bad. The roads are smooth and I enjoyed the views. When I reached Harrietville, I felt like the sun was right next to my face. I had to stop and take a quick break....and bought another can of coke for a top up as there is no other method for top up until I reach the motel.

Although it was around 4pm, I felt like the sun was out on force and I was being chased out of all my energy. The ride along Tawonga from Germantown side was the hardest ever. It is my 3rd climb along this route and Strava also tells me that it is mostly my slowest too. No surprises there, this climb was done after a long day...

I stopped twice along this route. I was hot, sweaty and tired. My legs were f#$ked and couldn't keep my cadence > 30rpm which was ridiculous for a gradient no greater than 6%. I hated this climb. I felt like it went on forever and every turn the road took, I thought it was the end but when I reached the apex, it was not the end, just another turn.

When I finally reached the top of the climb, I was relieved and didn't even think about stopping. For once I was so glad for the descent as I was 8-10km from "home". My total time spent with the bike was 10:12 with 9:24 saddle time.

I am so ready for taper....my legs are shattered and I have two weeks until Peaks Challenge. No more long hilly rides until the 13th March.

The Backside of Falls...

So on the weekend of 20 – 21 Feb, I went back to the Alpine region as I wanted to tackle a few more climbs before the big day (which is in 3 weeks….eeekkk).

During the week, I went about my usual training schedule with CF Altitude on the Tuesday and AOC KOM class on the Thursday. During both sessions, I worked on my weakness which has been out of the saddle work.

Come Thursday night, I was panicking slightly while I packed for my weekend away. I have heard plenty about the “Back O’Falls” as it has the final (and steepest) climb. I was stressing about this as much as Baw Baw…

As this climb is part of the Peaks Challenge, I couldn’t delay this like I did with Baw Baw. I needed to tick this climb off before the big day and the 20^th Feb was the day planned. I booked my accommodation Mt Beauty and the plan was to ride up the front of Falls Creek, then ride to Anglers Rest return. I checked on the map and the distance from my motel to Anglers Rest was about 77km so the total trip would be about 150-160km.

I had also planned on a ride on the Sunday as well but that didn’t eventuate – more on this later.

I arrived at my accommodation around 9pm on the Friday night. I settled in for the night and went to bed around 10pm. I woke up around 7:00am and started the ride at 8am. The ride up to Falls Creek was good. It was my 3^rd attempt up the front of Falls Creek and by the looks of my data, it was not my fastest. I was passed by plenty of vehicles carrying mountain bikes and it wasn’t until I reached the toll gates that I found out that the Gravity Enduro is on that weekend. When I reached the top of Falls Creek, I stopped for a toilet break, bought a coke, an orange juice and filled up the remainder of my bottles. A lesson learnt from previous rides is that I take too long to finish off a can of coke so what I did was filled up my bottle with coke along with some salt and water. The salt degassed the coke as well as providing me with some sodium.

I then took off down the back of Falls. I had my jacket on as it was windy but I didn’t realise the back of falls still had a few climbs to do. I stopped about 5km on to take off my jacket and it was then I saw how nice the top of Falls Creek was.

It was around 50km into the ride was where the big descents were and I knew that I was close to the infamous “WTF Corner”. When I rode down the descent, my hands on my brakes were so tight that they were close to red raw and bruised when I reached the bottom. It was a very sharp descent and I knew that I was in for a bit of a shocker of a climb. I rode all the way to Anglers Rest so I could refill my drink bottles and stop for the toilet.

I decided to order a coffee at the Blue Duck Inn which made my total time longer than needed. For the Peaks Event, I need to adjust my strategy and reduce “wasted time”. No buying of coke and then drinking it, no coffee breaks, nothing which will put my finishing of 3 Peaks into high risk.

So after my coffee, I got back onto my bike and rode towards Falls. As I approached WTF corner, I told myself that I was to not look up and just do what I can. The climb was steep and the gradient was something which I had never done before. I saw the gradient >15% a few times on my Garmin and I did ride from side to side. I had no idea how I managed the ride but I was adamant to not stop, more because I could never get back on the bike…

All the negative thoughts came into my head – I was doubting myself for Peaks due to how difficult the climb was and the fact that I would be doing this climb with 200km in my legs having already climbed Tawonga Gap and Hotham….

The ride was a shock to my system and I didn’t realise it until 100km into the ride that I had run out of hydration. I was desperate and panicked about how I was to finish the remaineder of the climb back to Falls Creek (30km) ride with no hydration…I waved a car down and luckily, they had a tank of water in the back of their car. LIFESAVERS!!!! With one of my bottles filled, I rode the remainder of the 30km tired but I knew the worst was over and I would make it in one piece.

When I reached Falls Creek for the 2^nd time, I was too late to refuel. All the shops (Foodworks and the café) were closed. Luckily there was a vending machine there and I topped up my bottle with Gatorade and was on my way back down to Mt Beauty.

At this point, I had done 125km or so and I was worried that I would be riding in the dark. I put on my jacket as it was getting cold at the top of Falls Creek. I would say that my descent back down to Mt Beauty was my slowest. I was tired and I concentrated harder than I had ever been. My aim was to get back to my accommodation before 7:30pm. I actually made it around 7:15pm which was too late to buy dinner from Foodworks but similar to October training camp, I was so exhausted to be hungry.

I ended up having my protein shake, my carrots which I had packed for my car trip and the motel biscuits provided. I showered and then went to bed from the exhaustion.

I didn’t end up sleeping until about 3am due to my legs throbbing. I decided the that I would give Sunday’s training a miss and would treat myself to wholefoods at Bright and then drive home early and that was what I did.

Lessons:

• ·       Pack more nutrition than needed. I had originally planned to be out on the bike for no more than 10 hours but it ended up being about 11:30 in total.
• ·         Always fill up bottles at rest stops and ration with reason…I think at one point I drank half a bottle in one go as I was thirsty but ended up with half a bottle to last me for the 30km….luckily on the event day, there will be more water stops.
• ·         My Lumiere cycling knicks are the way to go and will wear it for the event.

 I have plans on going back to My Beauty again this weekend. I would like to ride up to Mt Hotham again before the big day…

Where are your cycling posts?!

Where are my regular updates of my cycling you may ask??? Well, the reason why I haven't done any posts lately is because I haven't done any riding/training....

Late 2015 (we are talking about 23rd December 2015), we were advised by our landlord that we needed to vacate our house as she wanted to sell…..such bad timing! There was nothing for us inspect until the 9^th Jan and I was going to be packing the house, moving and unpacking during the peak of my training for Falls Creek…

Since the 130km AUDAX ride in Jan, I haven’t done any long or hilly rides on the weekends as I have been packing the house and not venturing out of Melbourne as I had been doing for the last 3 months.

I have kept up my training on the wattbikes at Melbourne Altitude and Art of Cycling but that is about it….50km a week (not hitting the 400+km required as per the program) with 0 elevation.

We only moved in last weekend (5^th – 9^th Feb) and during this week, we will be emptying out boxes as the boxes are being returned this weekend and attending two weddings in between….

I am hoping to get back into the hills on Sunday (14^th – yes, I know it’s Valentines Day) locally and getting back to the Alpine Region next weekend AND the weekend after if I can. I still need to tick off the back of Falls Creek and I would like to climb Mt Hotham once more before the 13^th March.

Time is truly running out and I am stressing.

Looking Ahead - March

March is the big one….Falls Creek Peaks Challenge is on the 13^th. The thought of this event stresses me out to no end, maybe because I have yet to ride up the back of Falls Creek (from Omeo) and the fact that I am moving house (now) when I am supposed to be riding the most ks, highest elevations and spending the longest time on the saddle.

For the week of 29^th Feb through to 6^th March, I will be training but not doing anymore big rides. I will continue with my altitude and wattbike classes during the week, strength work will be about core and functional movements and my long ride on Saturday 5^th will most likely be about distance rather than anything too strenuous and Sunday will be a recovery ride down to crits.

During the weekdays of Week 7^th – 10^th March, I will continue with my spin classes but it will be a taper set. I will see if the AOC Wattbike class would be suitable or not. Driving up to Falls Creek on the Friday and may ride down to Mt Beauty on the Saturday (not back up).

I am not sure what I will be doing for the weeks after Falls Creek…I don’t have any events lined up. I am probably just going to be commuting more to work…and maybe a swim or two at the beach.

I am about 70% confident about the Falls Creek Peaks Challenge event. My descending skills have improved but my fear of falling and crashing at high speeds is still there. My nutrition training has been pretty good. I still don’t eat solids on the bike ride and this is not something which I am going to change anytime soon. I am happy to run on fluid calories for the whole 13-15 hours from when I wake up. As long as I am hydrated, I will survive the day. 

Big Ass Ride...

According to one of the advice from a coaching program I am following for my Falls Creek Peaks Challenge, I need to be able to do a big ass ride comfortably in preparation for the event. One of the routes they recommended was the Warburton-Lake Mountain route. I originally signed up for the Lake Mountain Classic held on the 9^th Jan organised by the same group who organised AUDAX. The entry was much more affordable than other events ($20) but the aid along the route was minimal – all you really need is water stops. The day finally came along but I decided to not do this event due to the following reasons:

1. -          We need to move house and had about 6 houses lined up for inspection that day.
2. -          I had a Hen’s dinner which started at 6pm at the Docklands which meant that I needed to finish 150km by 3pm (impossible) on my speed.
3. -          I didn’t sleep due to cramps all through Thursday and Friday (they are so bad sometimes they actually wake me up).

I then decided that I would do this ride on my own the following week – we didn’t have too many houses to inspect (we did inspect up to 13 houses during the week already), I didn’t have to deal with cramps anymore and the wedding is on the Sunday (for the friend who had the hen’s dinner).

I had planned the route according to the climbs I needed to do and the drink stops along the way – utilising cafes and bakeries. So the plan was to ride from Warburton along Reefton.

I started my ride at 7am and there were about a dozen guys at the same parking area as me. I figured they would be riding Donna Buang instead of my route as they were all talking about the chilly descents.

The temperature hovered around 5 degrees when I started but as I was climbing out of Warburton, I opted for no arm warmers or jacket as I do warm up very quickly during climbs. I just rode in my Fondo jersey and my Rapha knicks. I was pretty cold when I first rode out of Warburton but it wasn’t unbearable.

I decided the route for the day would consist of climbing out of Warburton and then ride into Marysville. I remember from the Giro della Donna that I had gone through 1.5 bottles of hydration by the time I had climbed out of Reefton and at the T intersection of the Lake Mountain climb. This also meant that descending down to Marysville, I would not be running out of hydration before the climb back up to Lake Mountain summit. As it was not as warm as the Giro day, I had gone through one full bottle of hydration and only about quarter of my 2^nd bottle by the time I reached Marysville. This was perfect as it gave me a chance to fill up my bottle with a more electrolyte concentrated solution for my Lake Mountain climb. I bought a juice first at the Bakery but also opted for a coffee too which made my break longer than needed.

The climb towards Lake Mountain was tougher this time around compared to the first ride on the 15^th Nov. I guess 60km in the legs with 50km of climbing didn’t make them the freshest. The first 4km of the climb was tough as the average gradient was around 8-10%. I couldn’t keep my cadence > 40rpm and I trained on riding out of the saddle half a dozen times. I met a couple of guys at the Marysville bakery also rode up Lake Mountain. They had come up to Marysville via Acheron Way rather than through Reefton. They both rode passed me in a flash and they would have also started 30min after me too.

After the first 4km of the climb and the gradient levelled out more towards a more manageable one around 4-6%, I could keep my cadence around 55-65rpm. The temperature also started to heat up and I could see little bubbles of tar forming along the road which “popped” and “crackled” as you rode over them. Some of the tar would stick to the tyres and made the climb (felt) slower than usual.

The second half of the Lake Mountain climb, although an easier climb, I felt like it went on forever. Maybe it was due to the heat as it was around the middle of the day, maybe because by then, I had about 80km+ in my legs and already climbed over 2000m in elevation. The climb took me nearly 20min longer to do compared to the one in November. I started to cramp at about 12km mark of the climb and that was when I decided to utilise my more “salted” hydration solution and the cramps went away.

By the time I reached the top, I was tired. I stood at the entry into the resort for about 5min before I decided to get off the bike and bought a coke! I am not a big coke drinker, especially from a can so it took me about 45min to get through half a can of coke. I decided that I really need to scoot along before it was too late.

The descent down to the main roads didn’t take too long. I stopped half way to take off my wind jacket. I have decided to ride with a wind jacket instead of gilet and arm warmers as I only had to carry one thing rather than 2.

The rest of the ride down via Reefton back to Warburton felt like it took forever! Although most of the distance was a descent, there were a few short and steep climbs and rolling hills which sapped the energy out of the legs. Each slight incline felt like another mountain climb. The last 5km from Warbuton East to Warburton was the worse…I was so slow and it was nearly 5pm.

By the time I got to my car, the bakery had closed and I was hungry. I quickly got into my car and drove to the nearest McDonalds (sorry!). The funny thing is, whenever I have a big training day like this, I crave salty savoury food but I actually don’t have much of an appetite.

I finally got home around 7pm but just took a shower and went straight to bed. I was just dead to the world and just didn’t want to think for the rest of the day. The next day, I had planned on doing a recovery ride but I opted out of it and just enjoyed the company of my partner whilst we had breakfast down at Black Rock, met a friend for her 32rd Bday cake sharing and then got ready to head in for our friend’s wedding.

I am glad I did this ride – it gave me confidence that I was able to get myself through the big ride. I only felt “over it” when I stopped riding. If I had ridden Donna Buang at the end of the ride, it would have made the equivalent elevation to Peaks Challenge but not quite the distance.

In terms of nutrition – I am pretty satisfied with that I consumed. I would just add the salted solution from the start rather than during the middle of the ride to prevent cramps. I would also refrain from stopping at aid stations for too long. Just a quick one to fill up water is all I need. I do need to change my music or even incorporate podcasts or audiobooks in my rides just to break up the repetitiveness of the music I have been listening to on my long rides since October.

This weekend, I have the 130km AUDAX ride and then it’s a few more weeks before the big event in March.

Looking Ahead - February 2016

February will be a stressful month for me. It is the last month at which I can do any more training for 3 Peaks, I have planned on tackling Mt Baw Baw to finish off my 7 Peaks Challenge, I have 2 weddings to attend and there will be a big chance that I am going to be moving house (if it is not done by the end of January).

Due to double wedding on the weekend of 12^th – 14^th February, I am not able to head back out to Bright for the training camp but I have signed up for Mt Baw Baw with the Domestique group. I do have a wedding at 3pm around Gisborne and the ride doesn’t start until 10am, I may have to get this ride out of the way early before the crowd hits or the day after the wedding.

There are no more events prior to 3 Peaks so it is just a matter of putting in as many hours as I can on the saddle and putting as much stress on my legs as I can in training for the big day.

Some “big day climbs” I might add to my training schedule in February include:

•           Super Crucifix x2
•           Donna Buang x 4
•           Bright to Hotham x 2
•           Mt Beauty – Falls – Anglers (and return) and Towonga if possible.

Just writing this post is making me nervous for 3 Peaks. I don’t have many weekends left for training and I can’t avoid not moving house within the next few weeks. STRESS!

Cycling Update

I haven't done a general update of my "activities" in a while (since September). However, I have been doing regular updates on the significant rides (and milestones). I do like to write about them as much as I could - it gives me a chance to reflect on the event, ride, day and how I went and what I can do to improve and more importantly, allows me to be thankful for being able to achieve those milestones. It also gives me a chance to read them and then reflect on changes in my life, especially on days when I am feeling a bit low on performance.

Since I changed my "sport" from triathlon to just cycling, my training schedule has been manageable and I have been able to tick off more of my key sessions well compared to juggling the three disciplines of swimming, cycling and running. With the addition of strength sessions since May 2015, it was just too much to balance training with work and life in general.

With regards to ticking off my 7 Peaks Challenge - I have done 5 so far! I have Omeo-Dinner Plain scheduled for this weekend and then Mt Baw Baw in February. I am actually scared about this ride and I will talk about it in a separate post. Since the challenge started in October, I had ticked off the following:

1) Mt Hotham - 25th Oct during the Bayside Tri Club Bright Camp
2) Falls Creek - 7th Nov
3) Mt Buffalo - 8th Nov (both Falls Creek and Mt Buffalo was done during a weekend away at Porepunkah with my friend Dale)
4) Lake Mountain - 15th Nov with the Domestique/Hells500 crew (and the Canadian and Dale too)
5) Mt Buller - 29th Nov (rode from Mansfield) with Dale

I have also done a few cycling events since I came back from my holidays in Japan:

- Amy's Gran Fondo
- Dirty Gran Fondo
- Around the Bay
- Giro della Donna

I have one more cycling event in 2016 (Audax Alpine Classic) before the big one in March. I need a few more 8-10 hour rides with 3500+ of elevation climbs under my belt before I am comfortable about tackling this event and making it within the 13 hour cut off. I have never had a fear of making the cut off time for Ironman but this is different - this event is actually a challenge and they warn you that if you can't make certain training goals and climbing segments comfortably, you have no hope of finishing within 13 hours (not as blunt and crude as that but it's close enough).

My weekly training schedule is pretty much as below:

Monday - Rest/Strength - depending if I had done a big event on Sunday the week before.
Tuesday - Spin on Wattbikes + Altitude with CF Racing
Wednesday - Strength
Thursday - Spin on Wattbikes, spin bikes at GESAC or road ride.
Friday - Rest/Recovery ride
Saturday and Sunday is different each week - it ranges from big rides on both Saturday and Sunday, big ride on a Saturday and then recovery on Sunday through to only doing one big ride due to the 4-5 hours of driving required to get to the big mountains for training.

With the long rides I have been doing over the last few months, I have been a bit obsessed with audio books (through Audible) - I have been able to get through 5 books since 25th Oct - pretty much one book per week (for every return trip out of Melbourne). It really beats listening to music which can be annoying when the reception gets sketchy outside of Melbourne and listening to one of the three CDs I have in the car - Chet Faker, Lorde or City and Colour.

I am still reporting to Chris at Excite on a weekly basis and this makes me accountable for my training - both on the bike and strength. We are currently on week 32.

My weight has not gone down the right direction but I know that my muscles in my legs have developed more than ever. My guts however have not shifted - I am putting this down to the lack of running and swimming and the fact that I am either sitting on the chair at my workstation, sitting on the saddle whilst cycling or on a chair at the sewing machine (sewing cycling caps). I am going to have to introduce some other cardio form of training such as elliptical trainer before my strength sessions to assist with that. I am still hovering around 65-66kg. I don't think the fat around my stomach weighs enough that if I get rid of that that I am able to get down < 60kg....

My bike strength has been improving and that is something which is the main priority and not necessarily the numbers of the scales. Mental strength on the bike has also been improving but I am putting that down to the naivety of exploring new climbs and training for new goals. I can climb for 3 hours comfortably (Mt Hotham) but I struggle to ride more than 2 hours on Beach Rd....

Nutrition wise, both The Canadian and I have gone pretty much vegetarian in our house. We still consume meat but its more like thin slivers of salami or prosciutto on our homemade pizzas and we still consume seafood and animal products such as diary, eggs and honey. We sometimes make vegan meals for dinner but this is not on purpose. The reason for this is to increase our intake of fruits and vegetables in our diet and not rely on meat for nutrition 3 times a day, 7 days a week.

Anyways, apart from not looking like a typical lean cyclist, I am looking and feeling stronger in my legs. My fitness on the bike is always improving especially with the Wattbikes (and added bonus of Altitude chamber) on Tuesday nights.

I am looking forward to my work holidays - you will see me riding more mountains, exploring new boundaries and napping.

Coffee, Donuts and Cycling Thighs

Mt Donna Buang

As part of my training leading up to 3 Peaks (Falls Creek) in March, I have also signed up for the 7 Peaks Challenge. I ticked off one out of 7 of these climbs during my Bright training camp on 25^th October (Mount Hotham). There is a domestique ride to tick off one of these challenges on the 15^th November out at Lake Mountain. Reading up on this ride, they advised that participants should be able to ride up Mt Donna Buang “with little trouble”. I am a pretty slow cyclist and was nervous about this as I didn’t want to be dead last and so I decided to test myself over the Melbourne long weekend.

The original plan was to do the 100km loop of the Giro della Donna (minus the climb) and then come back on another day to do the climb. The weather on Saturday of the long weekend was terrible and I wasn’t comfortable about descending in the wet so that day became back to back spin classes instead.

The Canadian (my partner) and I decided that we would take a trip to Donna Buang on Tuesday. The day was perfect for a bike ride. The roads were quiet (due to public holiday) and the weather was just perfect.

We parked the car at Warbuton and got ready for the ride. I decided against wearing arm warmers and gilet and just carried them due to my body heating up quickly on climbs. The climb along Donna Buang Road was immediate. I tried from this point onwards to spin my legs quicker than usual. I kept it around 60-70rpm but I noticed that cyclist who rode passed me were going much faster – need to get there one day.

The gradient of the climbs was not steep enough that I needed to get out of the saddle until just before Cement Creek and the hair pin turn past the Rainforest Gallery. After this point, I found the gradient manageable but due to fatigue, I found it hard to keep my cadence > 70. The cadence noticeably dropped to around 40rpm the closer I came to the final few kms especially the last 1km.

For the first time on this ride, I found that my glutes were burning – either something is tight (hamstrings) or I am using my glutes to climb which is supposed to be right….

I could barely get off my bike once I reached the top and needed to sit down to stretch out the glutes. Once at the top, we took a few happy snaps and had a small break. Whilst I had some nutrition every 30min as per my plan, the Canadian only ate a bar once we reached the top of the climb! He climbed it in around 1:30 where as I took close to 2 hours to reach the top.

Once we decided to descend, I put on my gilet and arm warmers as I knew it would be pretty cold by the looks of the other cyclist as they rode downwards as I was ascending.

As soon as I left the summit, I could feel the drop in temperature. I was actually getting pretty cold and my jaw was chattering. My speed going down was comfortably below 50km/hr for the first half but I found myself applying on more brakes during the second half of the ride down due to the turns and sharper gradients. Once we reached the bottom, I was tired – both physical and mental.

The original plan was to do repeats but I will save this for a long ride day when I can’t go to the mountains – maybe on the weekends when I have plans on the Sunday or during the Melbourne Madison weekend. The descent took me nearly 30min so in total for one repeat including a short break at the top took close to 2:45. So for a long ride day, if I was to do repeats – it would be a 6 – 9 hour day in the saddle which I am comfortable doing. 

Mt Donna Buang, I will be back!

Looking Ahead - December

This year has really flown by so quick and I have one more month to look ahead to. So many things have changed for me for 2015:

•          Change of job in Jan 2015.
•          Change of triathlon club early in 2015.
•          Change of focus sport from triathlon to cycling
•           Finally took strength/core seriously

With one more month left for 2015, I have the following events/plans to look forward to:

5 – 6^th Dec – Back to the Mountains to ride Omeo-Dinner Plain (7 Peaks) and climb Mt Hotham again. I am no longer heading to Busselton due to leave not being approved.

12-13^th Dec – Due to supercrits on the 13^th Dec (spectating) – I will do repeats of Donna Buang/Lake Mountain on the 12^th.

19 – 20^th Dec – Bought tickets to the Melbourne Madison so will do hill repeats on the 19^th.

My work holidays start on the 24^th December so I will be heading back to the Alpine region to climb more mountains. I would like to tackle most of my 7 Peaks challenge rides by 2015 leaving Mt Baw Baw for February once I get enough training, strength in my legs and maybe less 10kgs. 

Bright Camp - My Climbing Adventures

So over the weekend, I joined a training camp with Bayside Tri Club out at Bright. Not being a “snow person”, I have never been to the Alpine Region since I moved to Melbourne in 1997. I have always been a summer/beach person and the thought of the ice and snow just never appealed to me. I know that the Alpine Region is also great for mountain biking too but my skills need to improve significantly before I get any benefit out of travelling all the way to Bright for some riding.

Because I couldn’t take any leave off work on the Friday, I couldn’t join the club when they rode up to Mt Buffalo on the Friday afternoon. Mt Buffalo was one of the 7 Peak climbs and only a few km from Bright. I left work at 3pm thinking that I could beat the traffic out of Melbourne but I was sorely wrong. It took me nearly 2 hours to get through the Monash Freeway and then the Tullamarine Freeway before I could get onto the Hume which was where I could finally drive over 100km/hr. The rest of the journey took 3.5 hours and I finally arrived at the accommodation at 8:30pm.

I had missed out of the briefing for Saturday but I had a few choices in what I was going to do:

1)  Do a short loop with the group when then head back and climb Mt Buffalo

2)  Do the entire loop with the group and climb Towonga Gap.

I decided late on Friday night that I was to go with option 2 as Towonga Gap was the first peak for 3 Peaks Challenge. I prepared my nutrition ready for the 6:45am departure from Bright. Due to the unfamiliarity of this being my 2^nd ride with the Bayside crew, my anxiety played up and I stressed out about how I would keep up as I was one of the slowest people at camp. A pretty restless night's sleep was had with 3 bathroom breaks during the middle of the night due to nervousness.

Saturday we left at 7am instead of the planned 6:45am which gave me some time to calm the nerves before we headed out. The ride out to Ovens was good and I could keep up with the group as they rode at a steady and manageable pace. Once we turned off at Ovens towards Rosewhite, I dropped off due to the incline. I am still getting used to my new bike and the additional cassette teeth. I am still grinding up hills and I am not sure how to increase my cadence without tiring out my legs. The climb up to Rosewhite was slightly challenging and I was riding amongst two athletes all the way to the top. This was where I started to feel warm and unzipped my gilet on the way up. We rested for a few minutes before the descent and I forgot about unpausing my Garmin for about 3km of the ride.

Down the bottom of the descent, it was a good ride into Tawonga. We stopped here for refreshments and I bought a small can of coke to get me through the climb of Tawonga Gap. The climb started at about 80km into the ride and there was no preparation for the % increase. It was just straight up from the T intersection.

I found the 8km climb quite taxing. I was fatigued and my legs just didn’t want to move. Negative thoughts started to creep in and I was uncertain on how I was to manage the 3 Peaks challenge as this was the shortest climb of the day and I was already disliking it. Luckily Rob (one of the coaches) came down and accompanied me and my mood changed as I didn’t want to appear like I was about to burst into tears. When I got to the top, I was so relieved. Looking back, the climb was hard but manageable. I was more frustrated that I was the last person on the climb and I didn’t want people to be waiting for me at the top.

After a photo or two, I rode by myself down to Bright. The descent was manageable but I was still uncomfortable about not applying the brakes. I had missed the accommodation when I rode into Bright and had to get the phone out to find my way home.

I was exhausted by the time I finished and I could barely muster enough energy to decide on what to eat for lunch. I drank my protein shake and then made myself a banana and peanut butter wrap (and a carrot). A shower later, I felt human again and went for a nap before getting up for dinner at the local pub.

We had planned on a 7am start (on the bike) at Harrietville so we decided to leave Bright at 6:30am in our cars. I forgot about my water bottles which I stored in the fridge the night before but luckily I had enough drink bottles in my car that I had a 750ml and a 500ml hydration with me. The climb towards Mt Hotham started pretty immediately so I lost the crowd pretty much straight away. I knew this would happen so I listened to my iPod on the ride from the start.

From what I had read and from the advice of people who have ridden up Mt Hotham before the ride was split into 3 sections so I will provide my report as such:

Part 1 – I found this part to be hard as I felt I was already 1km or 2 behind everyone else. My climbing needs work as I couldn’t increase my cadence to anything recommended. I was warned about The Meg but I didn’t find it too hard to manage and I rode out of the saddle for about 10 or so strokes. I noticed that I got warm pretty much straight away from this section and stopped to take off my gilet and arm warmers when I was comfortable enough that I would be able to get back onto the bike. The scenery was amazing and I noticed a few butterflies flying back and forth in front of me which distracted me from the pain. My speed along this section varied from 4km/hr – 8km/hr

Part 2 – This was the false flat section and I took advantage of it by riding > 25km/hr where I could in the large chain ring at a management cadence. The only thing about this stage of the climb was the height I was at and the distance of the trees and road up ahead. I got slightly scared due to my issues with height and anxiety that I decided that I would ride in the middle of the left lane until I could hear the cars coming up behind me and I would move to the side to let them through. Luckily, the cars along those roads were really friendly and I didn’t have any issues at all.

Part 3 – After the gate, the gradient of the climb went up significantly. The steep pinches followed by descents and then the long climbs across the side of the mountain proved to be a bit overwhelming at some points. I was nervous about the height and how exposed I was to the cross winds. There was some points where the road was so close to the edge that I couldn’t look left at all. There were points along this route where I would look across to the other mountain a noticed the road ahead and had to prepare myself that I would be riding along that soon.

At Mt Hotham, I stopped to take a photo of my bike next to the Peaks Finish sign and then rode down to the General Store to buy some refreshment and to get my first stamp in my passport. I noticed the temperature at Hotham being significantly cooler especially as my body was covered in sweat. I bought a Gatorade to fill up my bottle along with a small bottle of pineapple juice as I wanted something different (not coke). A toilet visit later also at the General Store (and pub), I was back on the bike and on my way down.

There were a few climbs along the way before steep descents and I tried to maintain some speed. I kept my descending speed somewhere between 25 – 40km/hr depending on the road ahead and the angle of the corners. If I could see what was ahead, I was comfortable about being faster. I was actually singing for most of the ride down.

When I got to the car, I was feel good and drove back to Bright pretty much straight away. It was a vast difference compared to the day before. The climb was longer and steeper but because I had my music on, I didn’t feel defeated and enjoyed the tunes streaming into my left ear. The music also helped with several anxiety triggers – height, cornering on the bike and descents.

After lunch, I showered and had a small rest in bed for a while until I noticed there was no noise around and everyone had pretty much packed and left. I quickly packed the car and said thanks to the head coach Clint and headed back to Melbourne.

I was actually starving on the drive home and stopped twice for food and coffee. Once at Milawa where I stopped at the bakery and the Olive shop and the second time along the Hume Highway where bus loads of school kids ruined the entire establishment by food mess and leaving their rubbish on the tables! It was just disgusting!

I got home around 6:30pm and unpacked my bags. Compared to previous camps, I didn’t have too much to do as I only cycled twice and didn’t do any runs or swims. I had all my dirty clothes already in a bag so it was a quick unpack before dinner and then bed.

I am thinking about coming back to the Alpine Region again in about 2 weeks as I wanted to do the following pretty soon:

•         Climb Mt Buffalo
•         Climb up to Falls Creek from Mt Beauty
•         Climb up the back of Falls Creek (the 3^rd Climb of the 3 Peaks event)

I have been told that Mt Hotham is harder to climb compared to both sides of Falls Creek but due to the distance in the event it is, it could make or break a person. I would like to do the last climb before the event as I want to understand what is coming up ahead. The two other climbs are related to 2 of the 7 peak climbs. There is one more within that area which is the Omeo-Dinner Plain climb. The other climbs are not within the Alpine Region – Mt Baw Baw (shortest yet hardest due to gradient), Mt Buller and Lake Mountain. I will be climbing up Lake Mountain on the 15^th November.

Things I need to work on over the next few months:

• My cadence!!!!
• I should introduce something solid in my nutritional fuel – I have been having my homemade solution since May.
• My glute (bum) strength and core. 

The Change

Prior to my holidays, I had a bit of a think about my main goal event which is 3 Peaks (13^th March 2016). Between now and then, I had Challenge Shepparton as another “A Race” at which I was going to aim to finish this event under 6 hours. I had a bit of a funk in my training as I was stressed about my half marathon and juggling between trying to fit at least 2 sessions of running along with trying to increase my swimming sessions along with cycling and strength work. It was all getting a bit too much and my love for the sport started to strain.

More to life than triathlon - this photo was taken during my holidays in Japan.

Leading up to Shepparton, I would need to spend more time on the TT bike riding flat Beach Road and riding longer distances at a fast pace. I find this counterproductive towards 3 Peaks. I have been training and racing triathlon since 2008 and I have never attempted 3 Peaks before.  The fear of unknown along with using logical thinking, I decided to withdraw from triathlon training and concentrate on cycling for the next 6 months leading to 3 peaks. No more swimming and running “training” sessions. If I do run or swim, they will compliment my 3 peaks training in a way that they will be enjoyable and not damaging to my body.

I made the official decision on my flight back to Australia on the last day of my holidays (whilst in Singapore).  A weight has definitely been lifted off my shoulders after I confirmed my cancellation of my Shepparton entry. My programming of training sessions with just cycling and strength work is much manageable and enjoyable. 

As soon as I returned to Australia, I sold off a few things which I no longer wanted to hold onto such as a tri suit I bought in hopes that I was going to fit into it before Challenge Shepparton (Soas Racing Kit), my expensive Blueseventy Helix wetsuit that I bought before Challenge Shepparton last year (which I never fell in love with and still wore my Rocket Science during Challenge Melbourne) and have lined up my TT bike to be sold within the next few weeks. I will take some time over the weekend to also sell off some triathlon specific equipment which is deemed useless for cycling such as a front mount hydration system, my rear hydration mount system, my triathlon specific cycling shoes, tri kits, caps, old wetsuits etc...the money collected from selling off my triathlon specific equipment will be going towards a Thermomix and my new bike! 

So I am buying a Liv Avail Advanced SL 0 (2015). This bike will be better suited for endurance and hill climbing. It has Dura-Ace Di2 groupset with compact crank and an 11-28 cassette. The Wilier which I have had since 2010 has 11-23 cassette and standard cranks. I am currently working on increasing my cadence especially during my spin classes, much better for hill climbing for such a long period of time. 

With regards to triathlon, I am parking it aside. I am not stressed about the future and if I am going to return to the sport or not. It doesn’t define who I am so I am not worried about losing my identity. There are so many things out there to experience beyond triathlon. I am glad that I have a new goal to aim towards, something unknown for me and something which is more aligned with my interests (cycling industry).