Zwift Academy 2019 - Finished

Yesterday, 20th Aug 2019 - I completed my first ever Zwift Academy...

Since my last post, I have completed all the necessary workouts and group rides.

Monday 12th Aug - Workout #4 
Anaerobic Power Development - After the high of Workout #3 with sprints, this one was prob one of my least favourite rides...the intervals consisted of a few rides > 90rpm hitting the high power zones. Great for 30sec - 1min but when you have to do 2 x 3min, it was hard especially as the aim is to ramp up rather than to start out too strong.

Tuesday 13th Aug - Workout #5
I have always been curious about this test as it is the means of assessing which power level you needed to work at for those spin classes I used to do at Art of Cycling. I used to base my power zones at 280W+ MMP. Having finally done this test, my MMP is 320W but this is prob not something I would use as a guide if I am to go back to Art of Cycling as 320W would be too high for the general workouts especially when I do double sessions.

Wednesday 14th Aug - Social Group Ride
This is my fave session of the week as it is like a recovery ride after two days straight of workouts. It is led my ladies who lead the AHDR Tuesday evening rides (they live in Adelaide I believe) and the pace is nice. This week, they didn't put up the fence as the glitch occurs where people who have been dropped are also kicked out of the session which is not the point of these fences - they are to keep the group together at the front. What ended up doing was a dozen or so went off the front and they were well ahead - we are talking 9min ahead of the group and were not interested in slowing down at all.

Thursday - Rest Day. I just did Pilates in the afternoon.

Friday - Rest Day. Another one....I needed it as the Pilates session was hard work.

Saturday 17th Aug - Workout #6
This one is called Chase the Breakaway and it consists of many quick sprints, surges, 10min ftp and more surges. I have a love/hate relationship with is workout as I love long sprints but I don't enjoy long durations....I have started to "count" during the sessions but it is mind numbing.

Sunday 18th Aug - Workout #7
After so many days of putting the hard yards on my legs, the VO2 Max development workout was hard. My legs didn't want to turn anymore so I tested out two modes of hitting those power zones. With ERG mode - you either hit those power zones by spinning hard or when you spin slow, the trainer will get harder so that when you turn at that speed, you will be hitting those power targets. I have noticed that my heart rate likes the slow pedals better but I could not sustain it as my muscles fatigued out. I have really started to learn how to appreciate what the ERG mode does now and will not stuff it up on my normal workouts.

Monday - Rest Day - got a massage afterwork to flush out stiffness

Tuesday 20th Aug - Workout #8
4min Power Duration - I thought I would love this session but I have underestimated how my body can sustain high power outputs. The workout started out similar to previous workouts with some intervals and ramp work before the 4min power test...I started out too strong but I am guessing that I am using my strength as I am not a ramp person....I realised that I was exerting my body over it's limit as I started to have a nosebleed half way...yikes..

Having done 8/8 Workouts and 4/4 Rides/Races, I have graduated from the Academy. I will continue with the workouts as I would like to cycle through them all to see if I am able to improve especially now I am aware of how the sessions are. I am also looking forward to do another ramp test (for ftp) to see if I have gained any strength from 163W but I will need to do this session with fresh legs and not so soon after a workout.

Here are a few interesting stats/data from Zwift Academy - downloaded from Today's Plan:

This image below shows that my strength is above the average of 30-39 females but way below the "best" within my age group - no brainer....you can also see my strength is in the sprints and very much close to the average after 4min...

The second image shows the different workouts and how it helps to "fill out the power curve"....we did the Sprint and Thresehold work within week 1 and you can see where the dark green is covered within week 1. Week 3 is where the VO2 development and fills out the 1-8min curve. 

The graph below shows where my strengths and weakneses are - great at sprints, terrible at endurance....hahhahaha....I can't believe I did two Ironman races but it makes sense that I did them so slowly!

I want to be a better cyclist - Goal for 2018

"I want to be a better cyclist" is easier said than done. I have always had the best intentions to commit myself to training, body maintenance as well as strength and core training, but life gets in the way.

I know that setting a goal like “Tour of Bright” will be out of the question as I am not at the calibre of a cyclist and will not be able to cope of that type of racing – TT, (hilly) road race and finishing off with a Mt Hotham climb, an event where each stage is held one day after the other. My capacity is to put all my eggs in a basket for one event and then recover for days after it.

With my Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) – my body is not able to perform and recover the way most people can. I get DOMS after a short walk, pilates or massages. My goals for 2018 is to improve on different areas of my cycling, accumulating into being able to finish the Giro della Donna in November in a respective time of 4:30 (ave speed 16km/hr).

Descending

My descending skills (along with cornering) had improved within 2017 but unfortunately the fall of last year’s GdD has put a large hole in my confidence. I will work on this for the next few months to gain my confidence back again to be able to descend comfortably to make up for the decrease of speed when I am climbing. Climbing at my current weight is hard work.

Power to Weight

There is no hiding the fact that my power to weight ratio is low. My FTP is low as I lack the endurance, tend to burn much of my fuel early and my weight has increased >10kg since 2015 when I stopped running due to the increase frequency and severity of my injuries and also due to hormonal imbalances from having severe fibroids.

I do have the capabilities to lose fat % but the issue I have is to find the balance between fuelling my body for cycling and being tired from the lack of energy. At my lowest weight during the height of Ironman training, I found myself without strength. I also don’t want to be an food-obsessed-Nazi-elitist, life is too short.

Strength & Core

I will need to see what I can do with regards to working on strength in the gym along with my Pilates core sessions. I started to do Pilates on Monday mornings and I find this day to be the best as it gives my body a chance to recover sufficiently before the Tuesday morning Lead Out sessions. There is no need for me to wake up too early as the Pilates session starts at 6am and it only takes me 15-20min to drive to South Melbourne for the Beginners class. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have to get out of bed at 4:30am to get to training sessions around Melbourne.

Spinning

I have never been good at spinning (high cadence). I used to climb Benwerrin and 1in20 on the large chain ring but at a low cadence. Low cadence = lower heart rate. I also don’t have fast-twitch muscles so even if I am able to increase my cadence, I don’t hold it for more than a few minutes. I will need to work on high power and high cadence work during my spin classes and if I use wattbikes I will opt for the Pro versions if I have a choice.

These are some of the factors I will need to work on as part of my cycling training towards being a better cyclist and being able to complete events at a respectable time. I will continue training and improve with Lead Out Cycling, their guidance and support have had a major contribution to the improvements I had in 2017.

Spring cycling and up and coming events

It is now mid October and the weather certainly has picked up and made it more bearable to ride outdoors.


October and November will be a couple of busy months for me with regards to cycling commitments and events.


I have the Ride Daylesford on the 28th October and it is a 146km ride (with over 1700m of climbing, most of it done on the last 50km) so I will need to get some distance/stress in my legs in order to get myself through comfortably. So for this week's long ride (21st Oct), I will ride from my house to Heidelberg (30km) for the 7am start and then ride home. I will be a > 100km day with hopefully over 1500m of climbing. I will be writing off the remainder of the day as I will be in a deep recovery sleep to recover.


I will be heading to Bright over the long weekend for some training with Lead Out 4th through to 7th November. I am looking forward to being back in the Alpine region and to see how I have improved (if any) especially in the descents.


Work has entered me in the Property Industry Foundation charity ride on the 17th November which is a 50 or 75km ride from Healesville. I am suspecting that this ride will be a hilly one but it is fully supported and catered for. Depending on how hectic this ride is, I may or may not ride again on the Saturday.


The week after, it will be my main event for 2017 which is the Giro della Donna on the 26th November. My main aim for this ride is to be stronger on the climbs and more comfortable on the descents. My weight to power ratio will not be great since I have put on weight compared to 2015. The ride is 125km with 2750m elevation. I have not ridden Donna Buang since 2015 so ideally, I should ride up that climb before the 26th November but with so many social and work events coming up, it will look like it may only be done on the event day.


I have done two Mt Pleasant rides within the last few weeks. The sessions were not too dramatic and I didn't tear up after the sessions from exhaustion and defeat. Compared to my first ride with LOC out that way, I am feeling much stronger. Last week was recovery week for Lead Out and I completed the two mid week training sessions but didn't end up riding on Saturday as I wanted to do a long session with the Point Cook Cycling Group (PCCG) riding from Point Cook towards You Yangs and some hill repeats.


The pace towards You Yangs was fairly comfortable with speeds < 25km/hr. Because I was feeling relatively OK, I pushed myself on the hill repeats as the loop is 3km with a climb of 100m over 1.2km. The ride back towards Point Cook was also fairy comfortable for me and I didn't feel too exhausted by the end of the ride which was good feedback for me and how I will get through Ride Daylesford.

Me vs Winter vs Training

It has been brought to my attention that I have had a cough/cold virus since Queens Bday weekend (mid June) and I haven yet to recover. This has been reflected in my training, especially my long rides with LOC. The last long ride with LOC was 8th July 2017.


We have started our "cram-training" for Amy's Gran Fondo. This block consists of 5 training sessions a week with Monday and Friday as trainer sessions and Wednesday and Sunday as rest day. Personally, I will do a swim on Wednesdays and Sundays to aid in my recovery.


It started off with a trainer session on Monday morning. Luckily I an idea of the session ahead and did them at my own due to the technical issues the coaches had. My session was over an hour as I started on the bike around 5:50am and finished just on 7am. Once I am done with these sessions, I will have to rush to get ready for work by 7:30am to get there in time.


This morning was the VO2 sessions at Richmond Blvd. I enjoy these sessions as I get to push my limits without the pressure of keeping up with the group or letting the TTT down. Heading back to the carpark works better for me due to my weight and the slight downhill compared to the other way towards Melbourne Girls. I arrived early this morning and did a quick warm-up half-lap before the start of the session as I am the only one who drives there. Different if this session was on a Thursday where I would have had to ride in from West Melbourne.


As I had mentioned before, tomorrow will be my swim session after work and Thursday will be at Albert Park lake working on our Steady State Tempo (SST) with a few sprints. I also enjoy this session as I get to work on the sprints which is my (pun) strength rather than endurance or climbing.


Friday will be VO2 trainer sessions and Saturday will be a long ride from Kew and we will be doing the Mt Pleasant Loop. The last time I attempted the Mt Pleasant loop, I was so exhausted at the end that I nearly cried. Fingers crossed that I will be able to get through this week's session. Extra fingers to be crossed that my anxiety won't be that strong that it stops me from getting out of bed and heading towards that training session early Saturday morning.


It is hard to manage my anxiety with these cycling sessions as I don't have a fool-proof solution. If I don't think too much about it then I won't stress too much and will be able to sleep and get myself out the door and do the session however if I don't think about it then I won't be prepared. Being prepared for me is being in control of the kit I am going to wear, nutrition, hydration, charging lights and Garmin, sometimes I even pack the bike in the car the night before.


I will only be doing the Mt Pleasant loop for 2 weeks as I will be doing Ol'Dirty on week 3. As much as I stress about doing the long ride on the weekend, it will be beneficial for me for the climb-training required for Ol'Dirty, Amy's Gran Fondo, Daylesford and Giro della Donna.

Update on Cycling

I have been training with Lead Out Cycling for nearly 7 months now. The reason for this post is give others an update on my progress but also it allows me to get a few thoughts down.




I had mentioned before how my cycling skills have really improved. This includes riding in groups, doing constant rolling turns, track turns and even cornering and descending. One of my goals for improvement over the next few months is my endurance. I am much stronger on the bike compared to when I was in triathlon but I am finding that because I am pushing myself on the bike, I am not able to hold that "speed" for a long period of time. I have noticed that my breathing and lung capacity is not what it used to be, maybe because I have stopped swimming and therefore, not really training my lungs to be more hypoxic.




I have registered for Ol'Dirty 2017. Ol'Dirty 2016 totally broke me. To be honest, I am still traumatised from last year's OD but the organisers have promised that this year's route won't be as "nutso" as 2016. Maybe I am naïve to believe that they will be better organised this year and take into account the riding abilities of the greater cycling community...we will see.


I am yet to register for Amy's Gran Fondo but most likely, I will pay during August or post-tax-return. $200+ for a 120km ride is a bit steep. Another event which I have entered is Giro della Donna and this will be the A-event to train towards for 2017. So in summary for 2017:

• Ol'Dirty on the 2nd Sept, riding the CX bike
• Amy's Gran Fondo on the 17th Sept
• Daylesford Ride on the 28th October (tentative)
• Giro della Donna on the 26th Nov

I have re-activated my Zwift account and using the Tacx trainer to do a few sessions indoors. I was really sick a few weeks ago and the cold winter air is not the best for my breathing. So the last few sessions have been completed at home on the trainer or back at my own training studio of Art of Cycling in Yarraville and hitting up the strength climbing sessions.




Art of Cycling - Wattbikes

Moving forward in training, I will aim to do at least 5 sessions a week, this includes the 3 Lead Out sessions along with at least 2 trainer sessions at home on the Zwift, beach road recovery, commute rides or a session on the track bike. To be honest, I haven't brought the track bike out since we moved out of Aspendale. When it gets too warm, not being able to carry water on the bike and not being able to coast on the bike


The best way for me to keep myself accountable for these sessions is to actually schedule them in and then tick them off. I can't be bothered with Training Peaks as I am not reporting to a coach so an excel spread sheet will do for me. For the month of August, I have my training schedule done as I know where my work locations are - working out at Glen Waverly on Wednesdays and West Melbourne on Thursdays.


In terms of body recovery and maintenance, I am going to invest in air compression sleeves for my legs to help with my DOMS and fatigue. My inflammations last longer than the normal person as I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). Weekly massages are good but I would like to use the sleeves on a daily basis to prevent lactic accumulation.

Smiling on the home trainer - just finished 2:45 on the Zwift

In terms nutrition, I have really cut down on consuming gels during training. I only take gels on the long weekend rides and only every 60min (not 30-45min). The sessions during the week tend to be 45min through to 1:15, no need for supplements. My weight has not gone down but I am confident that I am getting stronger.

Out of my comfort zone

For the month of March, Lead Out Cycling have the following training schedules - VO2 training on Tuesdays, rolling and track turns on Thursday and long hilly rides on Saturdays.


Due to work commitments and slightly unwell through the month, I had only done one VO2 session. It was good to do these rides on threshold. I have done all three Thursday sessions this month. I have enjoyed this session as I park at my work and ride down to Luna Park to meet the group and then do a good quality ride down Beach Rd. I enjoy this session as I get to work on expanding my comfort zone within a group, work on my rolling turns - we are talking about constant rolling turns and not just do turns when the person at the front feels tired and track turns working as a large group and a smaller group of 3 or 4.




With these groups, I am also practising on riding down on my drops and not on the hoods. As we are doing constant rolling turns and track turns, we don't have chats so I can ride on the drops without feeling like I am being anti social.




I have only done one Mt Pleasant road ride this month. I didn't end up doing that ride last week as I had a hectic week of interstate work and dealing with my car being broken into and credit cards stolen. The Mt Pleasant ride is tough. Much more tougher than Dandenongs or in the Alpine region.


Mt Pleasant road ride starts at the Heidelberg football ground and then we ride along Mt Pleasant road and then we do a loop through Kangaroo Ground, Watsons Creek and Panton Hill. Then we rode back towards Eltham and then back to Heidelberg. It was a tough ride with over 1200m of climbing within 60km.




I was totally dead at the end of that ride. The rolling hills just zapped my energy levels down and I was riding through lactic acid filled legs. Nutrition wise I was fine, not bonked but just tired and totally over the whole ride. Mentally, I was also struggling with the fact that I am the slowest of the low group. I feel like I am holding the group back and that I am not recovering enough by the time I catch up with the group who have been waiting there for me. I am finding myself consuming nutrition whilst I am on the bike rather than eating at the scheduled stops. This ride has left me with a great sense of anxiety thinking about it.

I know that I am becoming a stronger cyclist by doing these rides. I just have to step out of my comfort zone which is still very daunting for me. I have had a few anxiety moments which has made my heart beat fast and my back seized.

On other news, I have my Wilier Back! This is the bike which I had mentioned previously with the campy groupset. It now has Shimano (Ultegra) on it and I can shift gears and brake on the drops!!!

This week coming is recovery week. I am looking forward to it as it is the only week where I don't feel like a total noob.

Starting...

It has been just over 3 weeks since I officially joined Lead Out Cycling and I have to say, I am absolutely loving it! I am seeing plenty of personal improvements and I am actually starting to feel like I am a cyclist rather than just a person who rides a bike...


The two things which I have seen the biggest improvement in terms of bike handling skills are:


Riding on the drops
I have only been riding on the drops since about Oct 2015 when I moved from my Wilier (with Campy) to the Liv (Shimano). So since 2008 when I bought my first road bike with Shimano Sora thumb shifters, through to the Wilier in 2010 until 2015, I very rarely would ride on the drops because of the thumb shifting in changing gears and distance from the drops to the brakes.
Riding on the drops has also allowed me to do my sprint efforts more effectively and I am able to push and pull on the pedals with a greater force. I am making a conscious effort to ride as much in the drops as I can, especially in groups and trying to be more comfortable about having my face so close to the wheel of the person in front too.


Descending and cornering
As I have mentioned a million times before, my bike handling skills are not great and because I never rode on my drops, I was never confident in descending and cornering. A flow on effect of riding in the drops is that I am starting to learn about shifting my body's center of gravity and positioning my body better for descents and cornering.
I am continually improving my skills, so much so that I finally cracked the 10min mark coming down the 1-in-20 last Saturday!! I will continue to improve of my confidence but I do want also improve on the 1-in-20 climbs too! My goal is to get < 30min.

Although my climbing strength and endurance are no great, I know that I have plenty of space to improve and I am looking forward to seeing them flourish. This will be easier when I bring my weight down too, the hard part is actually to not lose muscle tone.


I had a bit of a "light bulb" moment this morning during my Team Time Trial training session. I actually seeing myself like I am a real cyclist now....I feel like I am riding in the right position, I am using the right muscles, I am stepping outside of my comfort zone in terms of power, strength and endurance.


The Northern Combine race schedule is yet to be realized and my aim is to enter them and just do it...I can't race them on the Liv as it has disc brakes so I am waiting for the groupset to arrive so I can convert the Wilier with Shimano groupset so I can ride it properly. I have a fair timeframe on the road racing season, I reckon I have about 2 months to train with the Wilier. I am planning on using the Wilier for the Tuesday and Thursday sessions and continue to use the Liv for the hilly rides.

Out of my comfort zone.

On Saturday 4th Feb, I joined Lead Out Cycling for my first hilly ride. It was definitely a milestone for me as I haven't ridden in a group in about 3-4 years. I was so out of my comfort zone and it has become very evident why I haven't been finishing my past events at a reasonable time.


We met at The Basin for a 7am departure. I arrived early to set up my bike etc and we then congregated around the coaches to sort out which group we would be placed in. There was no second guessing which group I belonged to - the bottom one. My aim for the next 12 months is to improve and move to the top of the bottom group or event graduate to the middle one.


The warm up was the climb up 1-in-20. Because we were riding in the group, I actually did my 3rd best time of 29.40 (at 70kg) where as the other 2 times was when I weighed close to 60kg or even less. It was the first time where I was totally out of breath when I reached the top in a very long time.


We then headed towards Devil's elbow way and headed up Churchill Drive and then One Tree Hill Rd. It was the climb up Church Hill which I dropped to the back as the coach (Mark) pointed out that I needed to hold my core and not worry about pace for the moment. We then headed to Sherbrook Rd and came up The Crescent and headed to Sky High. I found the ride up The Crescent soul destroying and actually had a bit of help up, I didn't need it but it was a welcome relief on the legs.

The ride up to SkyHigh was challenging as always, small steep climbs felt like they went on forever but I knew that this was one of the last climbs for the day. We stopped at Sky High for a small break for photos and then it was a descent down 1-in-20.

Always improving!

Good news is that my descents have improved and I achieved another PB on the 1-in-20 descents. I was completely washed out at the end of that ride. I was completely thrown out of my comfort zone. My legs are still throbbing 2 days after the ride and yet to fully recover. I can see the benefits of training with a cycling specific coaching group and the decision to join Lead Out was definitely a big tick in my life!

Lead Out Cycling - First session - Power and Sprints

So this morning, I did my first training session with Lead Out Cycling. It was a sprint session held out at Albert Park Lake. I am glad I did a few sprint sessions over the holidays as part of the Festive500 because it gave me a chance to work on my body positioning over the bike when I am down on the drops.

Recently, I have been training to ride down on the drops more than the hoods. I can corner more confidently on the drops and still very hopeless on the hoods. With sprinting, I am gaining the confidence (and subsequently strength) whilst also down on the drops which is great.

The session started at 5:45am at the Carousel parking area around the corner from MSAC. I parked at MSAC that morning knowing that I can head to the toilet when they opened at 5:30am and with a bit of time to get ready to meet the crew there just before 5:45am.

I recognised a few faces based due to friends, friends of friends and through social media. I started at the back as per the coach’s preference for a first timer and I was totally comfortable with that. We first did a lap around the lake and then started our session around the pit straight.

The session was based on two types of sprinting:

1) Hard gear sprinting starting from close to 0km/hr.

2) Sprinting from a moving speed and increasing gear if required.

I really enjoyed the sprint work this morning as it played into my strength of power for a short period of time on the bike. I do need to work better at lower elbows and maybe picking the right gears to sprint with. I found that when I start on a gear too high, I am slow and a bit wobbly.  

Thursday’s session is at Kew Blvd….it will not be a sprinting session so I will play it by ear to how I will go….it might be an issue after the session when I have to travel to work (by car).

It is now 3 hours post session as I write this and my legs are throbbing! I really miss my compression boots for recovery sessions….

Moving forward

It has been a week since my post. I am still coughing up my lung but no longer feeling drowsy or sick. I also haven't touched my climbing bike (Avail) since my last big ass ride up Hotham and not touched my Wilier since taper weekend. I think I may have forgotten how to ride a bike...

Well this week, I am going to ease myself back into it....starting out with CF altitude on Tuesday evening. I have also (already) signed up back to Art of Cycling (AOC) on Thursday 5:30am. The Spinroom is opening up a studio in Albert Park in April, I will see how these sessions are and may do these instead of the 5:30am at AOC. Driving all the way to Spotswood from Aspendale can take its toll especially over the West Gate bridge. I will have to be more prepared with my clothing and nutrition so I will drive to work instead of driving all the way home to get ready for work (what I used to do when I lived 2km from work).

This weekend, I have a few cycling things to do:

Easter Friday - I will be trying out track cycling at Brunswick Velodrome. I am excited, yet a bit scared about this...the whole not having control thing with no braking kinda scares me....but I am however looking forward to riding around and around on the velodrome.

(Easter) Saturday - I have planned (even with a Facebook event) to ride up Mt Baw Baw and tick off my 7th and final peaks climb. Fingers crossed I am able to climb this Peak....all I am asking for is good weather. If the weather is crap-o-la, I will try to do the climb either on the Sunday or Monday. If it can't be done during the Easter holidays, then it will be something I will just have to let go of as the 7 Peaks Challenge must be completed by 31 March.

If I have time over the Easter holidays, I may ride the Dirty Gran Fondo (65km) course on my mtb...

I still need to do some strength/endurance training as I have The Ascent ride on 17 April and this is an event I want to be able to complete comfortably.

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With regards to training events and goals for 2016/2017, I will need to look into them and put them down in writing. I know one is Amy's Gran Fondo - being able to finish this event under 5 hours is my goal. Taking in account a bike with more gears, me with stronger climbing legs and working on my endurance and road racing skills between now and the event in September. I need to move away from triathlon style training and work on getting stronger with a group.

I will also incorporate more commutes to work on the bike as now I live 13km from work instead of 2km.

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. 

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…

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.

(Not Quite) The Crucifix - 1st Attempt

One of the cycling “routes” to do around Melbourne is the Crucifix in the Dandenong Ranges. What is deemed as the Crucifx? Many people follow different routes and the order at which the climbs are to be taken but pretty much you complete the 4 “climbs” around that area forming almost like a cross and riding all 4 climbs (not repeats). Variances of the climb may or may not include Sky High, both (of the Devil’s) elbows and Inverness Road. There is no official route but the gist is that you do the following:

1)      1 in 20 (West)

2)      The Wall (East)

3)      Inverness Road (North) – although some people choose not to do this climb but use the main road instead.

4)      Devil’s Elbow (South) – variations of this is the One Tree Hill detour for the 2^nd elbow.

I have never done “The Wall” side of the crucifix nor have I ridden up the infamous Inverness Road at which others say to ride as much as you can before attempting Mt Baw Baw. I had the opportunity to try and complete the crufix during my work holidays but due to the extreme weather conditions before both Christmas and New Years, I report that I didn’t complete the Crucifix and only did 3 out of the 4 climbs…and the below is the report.

On the 28^th December, the day after my Bday, I decided it would be a good time to take myself out to attempt The Crucifix. I wanted to ride Inverness Road and the Wall as my main priority for the day. I had researched on the different variations of this climb and stuck with the one which I knew would include them both. I didn’t include Sky High in these climbs as I was also short on time.

I started from The Basin and that was my first climb – up the 1-in-20. A climb on (not warmed up) legs was not ideal but I didn’t really dwell on it too much, I had a long day ahead. Once I reached the top, I turned left and headed towards Montrose. I have never done Inverness Road before and it is a road which is branched off the main Mt Dandenong Tourist Road but I missed the turn so I ended up riding down to the end and then turned right on Canterbury and then right along York Road and then started my climb up Inverness. 

Because I hadn’t done this climb before and was told that it does feel like death, I took it slow and steady. I tried not to look up as much as I could as the gradients just seemed to be ridiculous! The hardest part of the climb was by far the last few hundred meters – it was so steep, I practically held my breath and grasped for air when I reached the top! 

I had a small rest at the intersection, composed myself and then continued the climb of the 2^nd part of the crucifix. Once I reached the top at Olinda, it was a left turn along Olinda-Monbulk Road which is the 3^rd part of the crucifix know for “The Wall”. To be honest, I didn’t find this too hard to do. I think having just tackled Inverness Road and having done 6 out of the 7 Peaks and the Donna Buang, The Wall was just another “climb”. I found the difficult part of these climbs were the descents especially with cars using these roads alongside cyclists.

Once I finished this climb, I had hit the 3 hour mark for the day and I was getting tired. I decided to not finish the 4^th climb (having done it before) and just decided to descend the 1-in-20 to head home. It was a warm day and hovering around 35 degrees when I finished.

The entire crucifix is something which I want to complete in its entirety before I hit 3 peaks. Maybe I can program it in somehow in between the Alpine Classic (on 24^th Jan), several weddings, supporting commitments (friends racing their first half Ironman triathlons), squeezing in my 7^th Peak (Mt Baw Baw), heading back to the mountains to ride the back of Falls Creek (the 3^rd Peak of the 3 Peaks Challenge) and the most time consuming thing of all – MOVING HOUSE!! Yeah, we have to be out of our current house in 3 weeks.

I can’t really add any concluding words into this report as I didn’t quite finish the Crucifix. It took me nearly 3:30 to do 3 out of the 4 climbs. I also didn’t include any Sky High climbs either. Maybe as part of the training, I will include the Sky High climb. I didn't do any photos for that day, so here is a snap shot of my Strava. 

The Two Donnas

The last two weekends, I have been doing my “long hilly” rides up Donna Buang. Melbourne weather has been shit crazy (nothing out of the ordinary) and the last 2 rides is a testament on the contrast. 

On the 12^th Dec, I arrived in Warburton around 6:30am…I was yawning like crazy on my drive there and could barely muster strength to keep my eye lids open. I had a quick 10min nap in the car which helped immensely. I started my ride around 7am and headed towards the summit. This day was forecasted with a bit of showers around Melbourne but Warburton/Donna Buang was dry and cool. I started the ride off with arm warmers and had the gilet in my back pocket. It didn’t take long for me to sweat buckets and I took my arm warmers off at the mid-way point of the climb (where the Forest Gallery was). I felt stronger on this climb (my 2^nd ever attempt from Warburton) and I paid attention to my stroke efficiency and cadence. I didn’t feel the climb was as horrific as the first attempt on Melbourne Cup day.

Once the arm warmers were removed, I felt much cooler and it was hovering around 8 degrees according to the Garmin. The climb up to the summit was good and I felt much better than the first and second attempt – Melbourne Cup day and part of the Giro della Donna respectively. I knew I was on track to break my own PB as I looked down at my Garmin and I finished the climb within 2 hours (1:50 on Strava as my PB). It was very foggy along the 2^nd half of the climb. At some points, it was hard to see where I was pedaling until I actually reach that point. It was like I was riding through cotton wool. Once I got to the top, I knew it would be a freezing descent as I was starting to feel the chill as I was climbing which was rare.

I didn’t stop for long (more like couldn’t), I put on the gilet and arm warmers straight away before I froze to death. There was a bit of snow/frost coverage at the summit which meant that it was freezing. This was supported by my Garmin telling me it was -1^oC. Luckily I had a pair of long finger gloves in the car and brought them with me along the climb as they were a gold on the way down. It was so cold, my jaw was chattering and my arms were shaking because it was that cold. At one point, I had an “ice cream headache” and I had a little cry because I just wanted to get out of there. Once I had about 5km to go on the descent, I could finally feel my body and felt more relieved. The plan was to do 2 repeats of the climb but decided against it as I didn’t want to put myself through that descent again.

On 19^th Dec, it was forecasted to be 41oC. Once again, the drive into Warburton early in the morning really made me sleepy even with a coffee along the way. Luckily it wasn’t as bad as last week and I didn’t need a nap before the ride. I decided to not bring along arm warmers or gilet as it was already 30 degrees at Warburton.

The ride up was not comfortable and I felt dehydrated. I usually finish a bidon within 2 hours but I found myself finishing nearly two bottles before I reached the top of the climb. 

I logged into a webinar about cycling strength and preparation for 3 Peaks on Wednesday night and one of the things which they spoke about was training for strength and riding on one of two gears harder than what you would on race day. So this meant that my cadence would be slower. I also did a few strokes standing up and training myself to be able to do that more often so I could get myself over steep pinches and maybe Mt Baw Baw.

Due to the heat and the strong winds, it was hard to pedal at some points of the climb as the wind felt like it was a warm blanket holding me back. Even with my sunglasses on, the wind brought debris into my eyes and I did spend a few moments trying to blink it out. There were twigs and branches everywhere along the climb. I think I heard about a dozen or so branches cracking from the tree trunks and cascading down the slope. I was actually afraid that a large branch would fall on or around me during the ride.

There was a bit of coverage from the trees along the route so the temperature along the climb was about 10 degrees less than Warburton apart from the top of the summit as it was exposed (temps around 35oC)

I decided to have a bit of explore to find the natural spring to fill up my water bottles. It wasn’t hard to find as another cyclist was there filling up his bottle too. Luckily it was there as I had ran out of water pretty much when I finished the first climb.

I forgot to unpause my Garmin from the natural spring down to about 1km from the mid-way point – bugger. I decided that instead of doing 2 repeats, I would do a 0.5 repeat from the mid-way point. The second attempt up the 2^nd half of the climb was much harder than the first that I couldn’t ride on a harder gear without going down to 30rpm (too low!) The winds didn’t die down on the 2^nd attempt either and more debris came onto the roads, which was annoying. I didn’t fill up my bottles again on the way down as I had about half a bottle left and it was only a descent down to Warburton.

My quickest ride down to Warburton is approx. 25min but this time around, it took me nearly 33min due to maneuvering myself around twigs, branches and even a wallaby that decided to stand in the middle of the road. The temperature also increased dramatically the closer I got to Warburton.

I decided against a coffee or a visit to the bakery as I wanted a nap before I had to finish off a musette before I headed to the Austral Track Champs on Saturday night so it was a quick pack of the bike in the car and fuel top up and off I went back to Cheltenham.

As you can see from the photo below – the contrast between the two conditions. Top photo was the 19th Dec - around 35 degrees (although it felt like it was 40) and the bottom was the 12th Dec and -1 degrees. 

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