Getting back on the training wagon 18/9 - 02/10

Since my arrival back into Melbourne on the 18^th of September, I have been trying to get myself back to cementing some manageable routines. No point striving to squeeze too many training sessions in with life and not able to give 100% to anything.

I wanted to get myself back swimming but not joining the squad just yet. I am pretty much starting from square one – not having done any swimming since July when I had my bike crash. I had a splash here and there when I was on holidays but not actual swimming.

The first session was on Monday 22^nd, where I just headed down to GESAC after work and aimed to do a 1km. This ended up being about 1.4km albeit that I had to deal with many people in the Medium lane swimming different speeds and doing different strokes (inc breast stroke...in the medium lane). I tried to not let it get to me too much and just swam past people where I could. I wasn't able to move to the fast lane as it already contained too many people too.

I had to drop my car off to get serviced on Tuesday so what I ended up doing was riding into work from the dealership (only around 3km) and then riding home that afternoon (35km). The ride home was horrid. The weather being fantastic, brought people onto the beach in the hundreds which meant that people were walking all over the shop from about Port Melbourne through to Sandringham (pretty much where I turned off). Riding through St Kilda was a nightmare! I was careful and personally, the bell works much better than a voice and the general public are very blaze about voices but a bike bell is distinct enough. As I was on the CX bike, I don't ride on the main road as I am not able to ride at a great speed compared to the road bike.

Back in the pool on the Friday and kinda (but not really) smashed out a 2.4km. It was really 6 x 400m with F (warm up), F & P, PB & P, F & P, F and then cool down which I incorporated paddles and fins doing backstroke. The swim was done on the Friday night and I had the entire lane to myself.

Due to the Grand Final (Hawks back-to-back premiers yiewwww!!!), I did my long run Saturday morning. I aimed at a 10km first seeing that I haven’t ran since June and only had 2 short runs in Canada (both being 6km each with plenty of stops) during my holidays. I ended up doing 12km at a really slow but consistent pace. No way can I pull off a half marathon now.

With no bike to ride on the Sunday, I decided to just do house things like unpack from my holiday, clean, sort out closet (culling), played with the dog. 

It is now the 2^nd week back at work/life and it is going good so far. I did my own swim on the Monday night and windtrainer on the Tuesday with the squad. Could not put in 100% towards windtrainer as it was my first session back and the set was a shock to the system, so much so I took Wednesday off as a recovery session for my legs as well due to the lack of sleep.

I attended by first “Lady Bombs” session – this is a session started up by some of the girls from the squad I am with. We are currently riding laps of Albert Park lake. I did a few of these sessions last season before they changed the program to have a run session instead. This morning 2^nd Oct, some of us ended up riding 7 laps.

During my holidays, I didn’t train and this was done on purpose. I had worked hard with a company for the last 8 years and I had long service leave accrued. It doesn’t come overnight and nowadays, who stays with the same company for more than 5 years? I wanted to spend quality time this holiday with my partner (and his family) and not seclude myself in a swim, ride or run apart from the Gran Fondo which we both entered and finished.

So far I have paid for 2 triathlon events – Challenge Shepparton 16^th November and Challenge Melbourne on the 1^st February 2015 (jumping up to the 35-39 category). These are not my “goal races”, they are my events. I am not going to put so much pressure on myself and about times. This is also a reason why I haven’t pulled out of Shepparton (an event about 5 weeks away....) as I haven’t set expectations for this, I know that I am able to finish the event, I know that it will hurt (what race hasn’t) and I will complete it. Challenge Melbourne is 4 months away but once again, no pressure, it is just an event.

Since being back, I have signed up for the Afterglow Trail Run. It is a half marathon from Point Addis to Torquay. The run starts at 6:30pm and it is compulsory for all competitors to have a head torch (need to buy a head torch).

There is the Giant Odessey on the same weekend as Melbourne Ironman. If I do this, I will sign up for the 50km (not 100km) but this will mean that I will need to get some MTB riding in between now and then, it is not an easy event, nothing like the Dirty Gran Fondo. I might do some riding the same weekend as the Afterglow run out at the You Yangs.

Apart of two triathlons and a trail run, there may other events on the cards. Won't dwell on them too much for now.

Tonight is the last Thursday night run session before we move back to Elwood for the Thursday afternoon combo sessions starting next week. It will be my first run session with the squad in over 3 months. I will take it nice and slow, my legs are pretty smashed for Lady Bombs this morning.

Favourite session of the week: Loved my first Lady Bombs session. There was no tough love handed out which I actually appreciated. At the moment, I just want to get back into training without the pressure. First session out on the road with the TT Bike (Foxy) since Ironman in March. I even cleaned it for the first time on the Sunday since the race. We did race efforts, sprints, hardest gear with plenty of recovery breaks in between.

Least favourite session of the week: Windtrainer on Tuesday - I just couldn't keep up with the intensity since I haven't been training in that environment (humid) and around that intensity in months. I felt dehydrated on Wednesday morning even after I drank about 1.5 litres of electrolytes after the session. Must reset my mindset for this session next week and concentrate better at technique.

Advice of the week: Slow, steady, smart.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: After tonight's run session, I am looking forward to my Friday swim which I am committing myself to do in the morning so I don't stuff up my sleep for the Saturday morning ride which I am coaching. Having to be there by 6:20am - I am deciding if I should ride in so I can do my run off the bike from home or drive to Elwood and do it from there...

I am also in two minds about where I should do my long run. Head to Fairfield to run/support the duathlon or have a sleep in and do my run around home...decisions decisions...

Weekly Reflection 19/07 - 25/07 (It's a long one)

This week's reflection piece will be different, I won't be going into the sessions I did/didn't do, I won't be covering the 4 points which I usually do but I will be putting down a few life lesson points down at the end.

A small portion of my current audience are also connected with me on either Instagram or Facebook (I don't really use Twitter as much anymore). The ones who are not will not be aware that I had a fall on my bike on Saturday 19th which has affected me in a greater way since then....I will start from the beginning.

As I mentioned last week, I was heading over to the Womens CX skills session out at Essendon Fields where there will be an actual event on the 27th. I thought that I will brush up on my skills before the day.

When I talk about brushing up, I meant just ride around....because I am still not confident enough to do a flying mount. I can do a dismount with no hesitation but the mount....maybe that could be my life goal.

So after about 1.5 hours of the skills sessions (ran fantastically by DDCX and Sunbury CC), we had a "go" of the course. Now I have mentioned before that I am hopeless at turning right (getting better but still not 100%). So at one of the more tricker parts of the course, instead of being able to manoeuvre my bike towards the right to follow the flow, I went up on the embankment and just came down on the other side, face first.

I was out (felt like forever), winded and confused. The guys who were onsite attended to me straight away and their actions were commended. I spent most of my time on the ground, with my body down along the embankment (head filling up with blood) with a throbbing headache and neck pains. I could feel that my face was scratched as it stung bad. When the adrenalin wore off, I actually started to cry a bit as I was just scared of what had happened and my headache was too much to handle.

The guys from Sunbury CC called the ambulance and when they arrived, attended to me onsite. Once the OK was given for me to move from my position, I sat up and cried even more - I was embarrassed, I felt like I had ruined a perfectly great day for all, I felt like I had let so many people down. I wasn't able to stand up and felt even more dizzy.

At this point, the spine board and neck brace came out and I was placed on the board so I could be carried off the embankment and into the ambulance. I felt nauseous.

I was in the ambulance for what felt like 30min before it left the site. They gave me an IV drip of something, then something else was jabbed into me....I dídn't take morphine as I was feeling sick. No pain killers as I rated my pain at about 2 or 3 and I could tolerate it. The trip to the ambulance felt like forever. Whatever they gave me to settle the motion sickness didn't work as I threw up once the ambulance stopped at Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH). I threw up again when I was wheeled from the reception to my trauma room.

The trauma room was an experience all together. They tried to remove all my clothing, great difficulty with the ratchet of my bike shoes. They cut my "sports crop top" when I told them to as it was no easy to take off without going over my neck brace. Lucky I wore a cycling jersey which had the zip going all the way down. All my jewellery was removed so I could get a chest X ray as well as a CT scan. I was naked on the table with a thin cotton sheet over my body whilst I was being examined by the doctors and nurses. I was given a tetnis shot during the examination which hurt like a bitch! I think I also bleed from that injection onto my hospital bed.

After what seemed like an eternity of being examined, I was finally wheeled into an area to be parked before a "room" was available. I remember tears started to roll down my face and the Orderly wiped the tears from both my eyes once he stopped wheeling me from one area to another. I thank you for that, it meant something to me.

When a room was free, I was brought there to be rested. I was in my neck brace for about 4 hours before it could be removed. That was excruciating, especially for a person who cracks her neck and shoulders several times an hour! When all the hustle subsided and there was nothing further to examine, I was in my room with an IV drip feeding both antibiotics and saline into my arm. Both fluids were so cold that it started to hurt a bit.

I was attended by so many people throughout the 6 hours I was at RMH, everyone introduced themselves to me - paramedics, nurses, doctors, orderlies. It was slightly overwhelming.

I was discharged from RMH around 7pm. Went home, ate a huge bowl of laksa (comfort food and also my first real meal for the day). The next few days I was constantly dizzy and nauseous. The scabs on my face only came off on Wednesday evening in the shower. Bruises on my body are still appearing and I still have a dull headache like I am wearing a really tight helmet.  I didn't end up participating in the Rapha Womens100 ride on Sunday 20th either which I was really sad about, just scrolled through photos throughout the morning and felt really jealous and filled with guilt.

I haven't done any training since Saturday, not even a gentle walk mainly due to catching up on work. I took myself off the stress of training and giving my body a bit of a break. I may get on the bike on Saturday and I may do a small jog on Sunday. I will be back at Essendon Fields on Sunday to spectate the CX event as well as picking up my bike from the guys at Sunbury CC.

I also learnt that the private health insurance I am on (paying $180/month) which is sold as a "sports insurance" DOES NOT include ambulance cover....does not make sense. I am waiting on my ambulance bill and finding a way to pay that. Since Tuesday, I have paid for an ambulance subscription, something which I would have done earlier if I had known that my current private health insurance does not include ambulance cover....especially as I am paying about $500/month on insurances already (very risk adverse person).

Huge Lessons Learnt:

• No matter how much ambulance appears to be covered under your private health insurance - just pay for a subscription. I will do this after I change to another health cover, not happy with my current one, feel like I am paying too much and receive no better benefits compared to another one which is $50 less per month.
• On the bike - look where I want to travel rather than where the bike appears to be heading.
• Ride more off road - get better bike skills
• Must learn how to mount the bike - no point turning up to these skills sessions where I am not really learning anything new as I am not practising them.  

Weekly Reflection 12/07 - 18/07

This week has been better than the last, I have been able to walk and do some training (winning!). On Saturday 12th, I was the coach on hand for the Beginners/Lower Intermediate group at Studley park. The tacks found on the blvd has been around for MONTHS and the issue is still there. I did a drive by on the blvd around 6:15am and everything seemed ok. When we started the ride around 7am, we were all prepared for some tyre changing as the previous week, there were plenty.

I was planning on riding 5-6 laps of the course with a few Yarra St attempts. The first 2 laps were ok, my legs were heavy from the lack of movement from the previous week but I rode at my own pace. On the 3rd lap, I noticed that more and more people were changing their tubes....I thought to myself, uh oh, it's going to happen....and BAM! on my 3rd lap, I copped a flat. The tube change was quick and I went on my merry way...then when I was onto my 5th lap, I noticed that my front wheel was bumpy and that's when I noticed that I had my 2nd flat, I stopped on the side to change the 2nd flat. Both tacks I put into my jersey - no point throwing it to the side as it will impact the next person. Then I only rode for about 200m and noticed that the air just escaped straight out of my tyre....at this point, I couldn't be bothered anymore, I walked the bike back to the car park and dealt with the fault at home.

The rest of the day consisted of making more cycling caps (one for a bday present that evening) and the rest were orders which came through during the week. Sunday, due to my lack of running and I wasn't sure how emotionally I could deal with being put on the spot when I couldn't meet expectations, I decided to just run around the neighbourhood. Good news - 10km at a slow pace was done with only some minor pains on the lower back.

Monday I did my own recovery swim at GESAC, windtrainer on Tuesday evening at MSAC and that's about it for the training for the week! We had a Tri Alliance team meeting on Thursday night and no swim on the program for the Friday. To be honest, I wasn't complaining as I have a pretty big weekend ahead.

Favourite session of the week: As much as it was only 10km, I really enjoyed my run on Sunday. I was running at a low pace but I was just grateful that I got myself through it.

Least favourite session of the week: My ride on Saturday sucked due to have 3 flat tyres and the fact that someone (or a group) has been endangering lives for at least 5 months now and it is still happening...seriously, not fast enough!

Advice of the week: As much as I am not doing much training at the moment, it is recovery week and I am resting as much as I can.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I have a few fun things on the calendar this week ahead which I am actually looking forward to! Firstly, I am going out to Essendon to do a womens skills session on the new Essendon Fields on Sat 19th. I am going to do my first CX event on the 27th July and so a few laps of the course would do good for me.

Secondly, I am participating in the Rapha Womens100 on Sunday 20th. I have looked at the course and as much as I have done distances > 100km, I am so nervous as I haven't been training for this event! There will be hills and this is what I am nervous about - being that person who doesn't have power to ride hills. I will try to relax for the day and not let the group pressure get to me. There are 5 groups and I am sure I won't get lost.

Weekly Reflection 05/07 - 11/07

Oh My God....I went from an awesome, fun, exciting week of training to one of my worst! No consistency, lacking motivation and very lethargic. I sensed something was wrong from Saturday afternoon when my lower back ached like there was no tomorrow... then later on that evening, my episodes started along with my favourite time of the month....blergh.

My cramps, back aches, migraines, sore legs stayed with me all week until the point where I was taking medication and went to the doctors on Thursday evening as it went on for over 5 days which was the longest pain I had experienced for a long long time. A visit to the doctors, I walked away with a prescription and a referral to an ultrasound. I am still yet to make an appointment.

Back to the training side of things, I had one of my best rides in a long time during Saturday morning. We rode from Eltham to Kinglake and back. I was suppose to go to Kinglake West but as I was escorting a group through, I couldn't leave them by themselves as they had never been to Kinglake before. I really enjoyed that ride as I nailed my gearing, I held my core and I also took on my nutrition right on time. By the end of the 3 hours or so, I was feeling great. I loved every incline and gained confidence on the descents. I didn't have any anxiety attacks nor did I hesitate when I needed to swerve towards the right. Loved it! As I had mentioned before, my pains started on Saturday night and so I couldn't do anything more than roll out of bed and sit on the couch and my sewing table - there was no way I could do my long run.

I didn't do any other training during the week apart from the windtrainer session on Tuesday night and that was done very uncomfortably (sore back and sore hips). So my lack of blogging about my training was pretty much due to my lack of it....

On the side, I have started on my website for my cyclingwares - I will be blogging about my work which I have become engrossed in over the weekends. I am not making millions but I am enjoying creating special pieces. http://bikelove.co/ The website is light on content as I only started it last week when I blogged about a cycling cap that I created to match a bike.

Favourite session of the week: The bike ride I did on Saturday 5th July was great! I loved riding towards Kinglake, I love the way it pushes me to work on my core, my glutes and my technique. I nailed my nutrition and couldn't wipe the smile off my face!!

Least favourite session of the week: Where do I start? I hated not being able to do any training whilst I struggled with all my pains - I didn't swim, I didn't run, I couldn't even supplement my training with any strength work...so so shit.

Advice of the week: I guess the advice I could give this week is to nail the nutrition during training - when you are correctly fuelled (correct in timing and type), your body will thank you for it!

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I don't actually have many weeks left of training before I head off on my long service leave. I am looking forward to being able to get back into the swing of things and work more on my website and passion.

Weekly Reflection - 28/6 - 4/7

Boy I had a pretty fun week! Due to the Roobaix on Sunday, I swapped my run day to the Saturday. It was recovery week so there were no big rides and we had time trials instead - so running by myself was a good enough compromise.

On Saturday morning, I actually slept in for a bit...I had my phone in my hand and clicked on a link which a friend posted about "running when you feel like you run like a hefer" - this is me. After spending about 5min reading the article, I got my sorry ass out of bed and went for my long run. For some reason, my July training timetable was not available to me but I remembered that it was about 12-13km. I decided from the start that I would try to run the entire way. I decided to pace myself so I would not be too tired. Happy to report that this run was a success! I didn't feel like death and I ran the entire 13km (apart from stopping at lights etc). The pace was slow (we are talking 6min-7min/km) but whatevs...I got through it. My energy levels were good and even when I carried nutrition on me, I decided to not take any and worked on my "fat adaptation" but made sure that I properly fuelled myself with a ratio of proteins, fats and carbs post run.

Sunday was Roobaix day! Rain, hail and a little bit of sunshine! Read all about it here...Best Day in the year. (the following pictures were downloaded from health.com.au taken by Simon Pollock simon@gtvone.com)



Check out my rad corning skillz

This would have been the part where I fell
and just got back onto the bike...

Riding in the rain...

I swam on my own at GESAC on Monday evening, legs and shoulders not OK due to my fall on the bike the previous day. Tuesday's windtrainer saw us back at MSAC due to the closure of Bayside Aquatics due to the school holidays. MSAC, saaaaah hawt! I hand delivered a few cycling caps to people at the session whom I haven't seen in a while which was good.

The swim sessions out at Northcote have discontinued so we had the last session there on Wednesday morning. This was followed by breakfast at Penny Farthing. We haven't done this in about 6 months. The Northcote pool is out of my way but it is a gorgeous pool to swim in especially on a sunny day.

Coach Rupert's Thursday night run session was good as he combined his (own) group. We did a few intervals after our warm up and stride through. I rolled my ankle (again!) during the warm up but it was not too bad during the main set.

As the MSAC pool is out of action at the moment, I decided to swim at Prahran pool this morning. Not too expensive - $5.90 for entry (GESAC is $9.00!!). The pool has a really really shallow end with a sudden drop in depth at the deep end. Very similar to the old Brunswick pool. I did my own set this morning but followed the program to a T. I love the Friday endurance swims - hardly any thinking - just swim! After a 1km warm up (600F, 4 x 100F (25 sculls, 75 free)), the program had 16 x 100 PB&B. I can't count past 5 so I broke the set down to 4 x (4 x 100) - does anyone else have trouble counting laps? Cool down was 400 back stroke. I swam in the double lane for the first time ever....I was sticking to the left but had to ask someone what the etiquette was to double lanes - so it seems that you still stick to the left but as this lane is for "various" speeds, you have the space to over take them in the middle. I think there was about 7 people in the double lane this morning and I was the only female. Men don't like to be chick'd, that's all I have to say from my experience this morning.

So I thought I was taking the ride at Studley Park this weekend but that's next week. This weekend, I will be joining the main crew at Kinglake starting from Eltham Station. I only rode up Kinglake once last year (with much anxiety) so lets see how I go in the morning! I will join the crew on Sunday for the long run but we will start at the Duathlon location instead of Fairfield carpark.

Favourite session of the week: Gotta be the Roobaix.

Least favourite session of the week: I wouldn't say it was a session which I didn't like - more that I was the most uncomfortable. During last Sunday's Roobaix, we stopped at the cafe for lunch/break. As we were riding the entire time, we didn't feel cold even during the rain and hail. I was shivering when we got started as we had to put the wet layers back on.

Advice of the week: Wool rocks! Wear wool gloves and socks during cold runs and rides - keeps you warm but wicks away sweat so you don't shiver. I am wearing merino socks under my colourful socks during my rides because I have #sockgame.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I am actually looking forward to the long ride and runs this weekend! We are also trialing g a non-coached Tuesday morning session at the athletics track with a few TA people who live around the area.

Weekly Reflection 21/06 - 27/06

I actually had one of my biggest training sessions followed by a week of doing pretty much sweet f-all. How is this possible you may question? Well let me take you back to last Saturday....

*que back in time music*

As I mentioned in my last entry, I was doing my first hilly ride on Sat 21st June. I had been rostered on to take the beginners ride for the last 2 months which consisted mainly of:
- 50km flat ride on Beach Rd
- About 2 and a half hours (we stop at Mordialloc)
- Small chain ring so I can keep the group together as much as possible.

I have a Gran Fondo event coming up in September and I have not done any strength work on the bike this year at all. So last Saturday I met with the group at Wantirna Mall as an athlete. What ended up happening was that I was placed to supervise a few athletes who had never ridden out there before and therefore I couldn't leave them out in the hills by themselves. I didn't end up riding down Devil's elbow or The Wall as I took some other athletes up and down 1-in-20. I didn't mind as I was familiar with 1-in-20 and could work on my strength there. 65km (program said 3-3.5 hours) and I was done for the day. It was my first hilly ride (enjoyed it) but it was a tough session. I was buggered for the rest of the day but had to make cycling caps which people had ordered during the week (6 in total).

Sunday was a write off, I was so exhausted from Saturday that I decided to sleep in until I met up with friends for brunch at 10am. After brunch, we headed off to Darebin Parklands to watch the Dirty Deeds cyclocross races. Everytime I watch these races, I want to do an event (in a non-Elite category) but then I realise....that I have no bike skills. Maybe next year after a few more months on the MTB?

The only training session I have done the entire week was an attempt at my 1km swim time trial at GESAC. As I did my first of 2014 swim time trial there, I thought it was a good idea to benchmark myself in the same pool. Little did I know that the boiler at the pool had broken down that day and the water was no heated! Bayside Tri Squad who trained there all were issued an email about it and they decided to change this session into a wetsuit swim session - that's how cold it was!!! As much as I tried to warm up during the warm up session, I was still shivering before the time trial. I thought to myself - lets just see what happens, if I get a better time, good, if it is slower, don't dwell on it.

I pretty much swam with goosebumps on my entire body for the whole 1km and came out with a time of 22:12 (4 seconds slower than my last attempt) - this could be due to my lack of swim squad attendance as I had been swimming at my own pace for the last few weeks or it could be due to the water temperature....who knows?!

This may be an exaggeration of how cold the GESAC pool was....

This weekend I have the Melburn Roobaix (CAN'T WAIT). I will be riding Betty (the CX Bike) this year. Need to sort out my kit for the event.

In two minds about what to do for Saturday training. I know I need to do a run session (must be done on the Saturday) yet I need to also do some bike strength training in the hills. The Roobaix on Sunday although will be a few hours on the bike, it's a fun event.

Favourite session of the week: Hilly Ride in the Dandenongs on the Saturday! It is still my favourite route to ride.

Least favourite session of the week: My 1km swim time trial! The water was just way too cold, I had goosebumps from start to finish....and I only did 2 session for the entire week so if one was my favourite, the other had to be the not-favourite.

Advice of the week: As much as this week is a recovery week, I do need to harden up and just go to early morning (light training) sessions rather than sleeping in and not doing anything for days....

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: MELBURN ROOBAIX!!!!!!!! Last year's event write up can be found here....(and here on FXYO's page) CAN'T WAIT!

(More than a week's) Reflection 10/06 - 20/06

This week (or fortnight now) has been an odd-ball of days. Having the long weekend and Lorne camp really through the consistency of training out the window. As much as the spike in training during Lorne Camp was a great thing, it also made me tired and out of energy for the next few days post-camp. I think also my injury (broken finger), work stress also got the better of me.

I gave myself a few days off training after camp. As much as the Coaches all advised that we take it easy but continue training, my tiredness just got the better of me. I didn't do any swim sessions the week post camp and only got back into the swing of things on Thursday when I did the run session on Thursday night.

I coached on Saturday morning with the beginners and that was a very good session. I had a beginner who had never ridden with a group before, did a few mini triathlons and the longest ride was 40km from his place in Port Melbourne to Mentone and back. We rode from the Great Provider to Port Melbourne, then down to Mordialloc and then back to the Great Provider. Just a touch over 60km and his longest ride to date. He was pretty happy about that and learnt plenty about road safety, signalling, drinking and eating whilst riding and also what do to when riding up hills.

After the long flat ride, I then went on a little adventure to the You Yangs with my friend Sally (hello Sally!!). I had never been there before and looked forward to this ride. We rode about 80% of the Kurrajong trails and I loved every minute of it. Even when the heavens opened up and it rained heavily, I still had a smile on my face and enjoyed being out on the mountain bike. In a couple of weeks, we may head back there again and ride the easier parts of the Stockyard trails (now I am scared!).

Sally and I - after our rainy ride at You Yangs

The run technique sessions were moved to the afternoon as Coach Rupert was not available that morning. I joined the Fairfield run group instead and was put through the reigns with Coach Greg. I haven't ran with this group in about 6 months and I did noticed the drop in my fitness because of my non-attendance. We did about 12km in total but it was broken down into plenty of hill work, technique, core work, lunges etc. A soak in the Yarra river was also a welcomed recovery routine - my legs are not sore for days after long runs.

I didn't end up going to the re-scheduled run technique session due to my cap sewing commitments - I had 4 caps to make over the weekend.

Navy blue, yellow and white (to match Tri Alliance colours)

 

Black and green for www.krunchies.com.au



The next week was no different in terms of training - I lacked consistency due to work which really sapped up my mood and energy levels. I did the windtrainer session at Mentone on the Tuesday night, swam by myself on Wednesday at GESAC and ran with Rupert on the Thursday night. We ran along the athletic track of the junior school of Mentone Grammar which was great! Enough light for us to see and the track is nice and smooth. Would be great to be able to return there to run again but can be harsh on the joints as the track has very sharp bends.

This weekend, I will be heading out to the hills!!! It will be my first hill ride due to coaching commitments which meant that I have been riding on flat (and not in the most harder efforts). I am also catching up with friends on Sunday so I will commit myself to run in the morning along Beach Rd.

Favourite session of the week: The mountain bike session on Saturday last week - such fun riding in the rain and being on a bike!

Least favourite session of the week: Although I enjoyed the long run session at Fairfield, due to my lack of fitness (and still trying to find my run-nirvana), I felt like a hefer. I have no strength and power (as Coach Greg mentioned) as I haven't been working on them. Can't blame anyone but myself.

Advice of the week: I am really enjoying the mountain biking rides. Will try to cater for this within my training schedule. I want to keep my training fun, as much as it is easier to say this (after I have done several Ironman races) - there is more to life than just triathlon.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I am actually looking forward to some riding in the hills this weekend. I really need to work on this for the Gran Fondo (Vancouver to Whistler).

(Not Quite) Weekly Reflection 02/06 - 05/06

I thought I would get this down before Lorne Camp. This week's training has been tracking well. I had to juggle a few things around but I am glad that I did something everyday.

Due to the hill work we did as part of the Run Technique on Sunday (1st June), my calves pulled up tight and sore on Monday. I tried to massage it out with my thumbs (it was too deep for rollers). I did my swim set on Monday and I doubt that swimming with fins helped it either.

I had my bike in for service so I didn't have a bike to use at windtrainer. I had planned on commuting into work on the CX on Tuesday but the weather turned terrible. I decided to park the ride aside as I couldn't be bothered when Lorne Camp was coming up so soon. I went to the gym instead and did some strength and core work. Since I haven't done much of this for the last few months, the post strength and core soreness were very noticable. So noticeable in fact that I couldn't laugh without feeling my abs were pulling me in.

Swim on Wednesday was back at Mentone and Coach Anna made us (slower lanes) do the following:
Warm up - 300 mix, 200 kick
Main Set - 5 x 200 (various stroke correction techniques), 4 x (150m 75% hard, 100m pb+p breathe 2, 3, 5 7)
Cool Down - 200m (I did breast and back)
As much as remembering what you did for swim training is really boring for some people, I am noting them down as it is different from what I have been doing for the last 4 years. It is a welcoming change and the fact that you don't know what you will be doing is also a novelty. The 25m pool is still a pain in the ass but I am getting used to it.

I didn't do my Thursday afternoon run due to work issues which I won't dwell on. I hate it when everything falls apart - work issues which led to no training which led to being unhappy as either tasks were not completed and letting myself down. I packed like a mad woman on Thursday night. My head was not in the right head-space and I couldn't be bothered making much of my meals which I had planned on doing. I decided to bring both my road bike and Annie (the mountain bike) with me and if I needed to ride to the shops, I could. It ended up being a good thing which I will talk about later.

My side project has been going well. I have been selling a few cycling caps from my own range and setting up the online shop is slowly getting there.

Weekly Reflection 26/05 - 1/06

There was a noticeable drop in temperature over the weekend as the first day of winter settled in. We actually had a great run of 20+ degrees during the week which made the early mornings easier to tackle.

I pretty much trained everyday except for Friday of last week (as per the training schedule). I swam by myself on the Monday at GESAC and followed the program. I do have a few pet-hates and one of them happened at the pool that day. There were 2 fast lanes, 1 medium lane and 2 slow lanes and the rest were reserved for squad. I swim in the fast lane in the suburbs but if I am doing a slow set I will move myself down to medium. During my main set, a couple decided to jump into my lane and continued on swimming breast stroke the entire time. If you can do breaststroke fast, then swimming in the fast lane is acceptable but not when you swim without getting your hair or face wet (yes, those ones). What annoyed me more was when I was going to over take them, they moved over to the right thinking they were doing me a favour which didn't allow me to over take....annoyed! I also had to make sure I swam as close to the lane ropes as possible as they kept kicking me with their wide strokes. As my swim set was over 2km, they ended up getting out after doing a few laps which meant that I didn't have to change lanes mid set - why should I have to move when I am swimming at the right pace? My other pet-hate is when people use my swim toys too which the lady tried to do with my swim fins....like seriously!?

Tuesday I joined the bayside squad for the windtrainer and I swam at Bayside Aquatics on the Wednesday morning. As much as a 25m pool still annoys me, I will set that aside to do these sessions close to home. We worked on stroke correction as well as feeling the water which was a good start to Wednesday morning.

As I mentioned previously, fartlek sessions are not my friend at the moment and that was what we did on Thursday night. After our warm up, we did 10 x (1min on and 1 min off). I was buggered by the 7th and slowed down considerably for the next 2. My legs just didn't want to fire, let alone for a whole min.

I coached on Saturday morning with the beginners ride - only 3 people showed up. We did a 50km ride from St Kilda down to Port Melbourne and then return after Mordialloc. My 2nd run technique session with Rupert on Sunday and we worked on hills.

Favourite session of the week: I am enjoying the run technique sessions at the moment. They are not too intense but they are good in working on the basics.  It was a hill run session and we worked on the following:
1) Steady hill inclines - what technique to use when you are running up a hill which may be long
2) Hill inclines with slow jog recovery - similar to fartlek run sessions with the recovery being a slow job instead of stopping fully.
3) Strength - Steep hill inclines (shorter distances) with recovery jog.

Run Technique with Rupert

Least favourite session of the week: I think due to my pet-peeves at the pool on the Monday night, I didn't particularly enjoyed that swim session as I couldn't get into a rhythm without being kicked in the guts and head and trying to navigate my way around people.

Advice of the week: I am currently not taking on any supplements for energy (gels) during much of my training (no need to). I only took one gel during the week and that was during my long ride as it was about 2.5 hours. No need for the excessive sugar at this stage in training.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: Lorne Camp! WOOT WOOT!

Weekly Reflection 12/05 - 18/05

Last week was a great week! I am still on a high from my little project which started on Friday night and eventuated on Sunday evening with a blue print to my final product. See....I have been venturing back to my crafty days of sewing. I have mentioned before about the person I use to be before triathlon training...one of the things I didn't mention was how I use to be really crafty and would make everything from scratch. Anyways, I will update this blog later on the project.

Meanwhile, in the training side of things, getting back into the routine of training on a daily basis has proven to be more harder (not as easy) as I thought even though this is my 3rd year of long course training.

Due to the hectic weekend which consisted of my first off road event, going to Geelong for the MDC and then driving all the way back to Melb for a gathering, I was pooped and needed the sleep in. I decided to do my own swim in the afternoon by myself but did as much of the program as I could.

The next day was a write off. Due to my allergies, I was sneezing too much and burst a vessel in my nasal cavity and didn't go into work or did any training due to a bleeding nose. Sexy, I know. Did my own swim TT on the Wednesday night as I couldn't make it into Northcote in the morning and came out with a 1km TT of 22:08. This is my slowest 1km swim TT but I didn't really expect much - I hadn't been doing any strength work or much swimming over the last 6 weeks. I also had someone else in my lane which wasn't doing a swim TT but luckily we didn't clash. My tumble turns started off well but ended in a mess by the end of the 1km swim - was just a case of CBF.

I thought I was going to be picking up my new car on Thursday afternoon so I didn't plan on attending my run TT. The car thing didn't eventuate so I missed out on running as well as a new car - double boo. I would have had to do a 5km TT as I doubt that I am able to run 10km in under an hour at this point.

I rode with the Bicycle Superstore shop ride on the Friday morning. We started at the shop at 6:45am and instead of turning around with them at St Kilda BP, I continued into work. Luckily there was a Northerly as my legs still felt like they were made out of lead so the ride home in the afternoon was more comfortable.

Long ride with the squad on the Saturday - remind me again to not ride close to the front. Riding at 35km/hr is not sustainable for me. Even had two "pushes" from Coach Ollie as I couldn't keep up. I couldn't drink nor take in nutrition when I was with this group - too much for me! I decided to drop back as I was cramping up bad and rode by myself until a few other squad guys caught up with me. We then rode back into Elwood as a tight group and even had rolling turns at a comfortable and sustainable pace (into the head wind).

I was planning on running from ELSC on the Sunday before joining Kerri's yoga session but I decided to run from home instead so I was able to take a shower before yoga. The plan was a 9km run and for the first 6km, it was fine. I was running at a slow pace but I didn't stop. The last 3km was uncomfortable, I stopped to take breaks and walked. It was my first long run session for the season and I felt tired and very unfit. I then took a quick shower before I headed off to ELSC for the fund raising yoga session.

Favourite session of the week: I really enjoyed my Sunday yoga session (with Karen). It showed that even though I am pretty flexible, I needed to stretch as I was tightening up from training and the lack of massages. I couldn't hold much of the warrior poses as my quads were burning.

Kerri's fund raising page can be found here:

https://italiandolomites.everydayhero.com/au/kerri

I used to do the sun salutation yoga in the morning. I think I will do it again and try to make it a habit.

Least favourite session of the week: My long run on Sunday - made me feel unfit, slow, tired, sore and generally negative about running as a whole. I really have so much to do to be comfortable with running again. Hoping that the run technique course I am doing will help me in the right direction.

Advice of the week: Do what you love - this goes for my side project. I will go into detail when I have my business plan down pat. As for running, it is not something which I love at the moment but when I am comfortable with it (and it has happened a few times before), the feeling you get is amazing!

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: Fingers crossed that I will pick up my car sometime this week. I am also looking forward to my first run technique session on Sunday. I am looking forward to anything that will help my running at the moment.

Weekly Reflection 05/05 - 11/05

Last week was my first official week back into triathlon training and this is my first official Weekly Reflection entry for this season.

During the transition phase of the calendar, we programmed in 2 sessions per week for each discipline. This excludes the strength and conditioning training which we are suppose to be doing on the side. Because of the Dirty Gran Fondo event on Saturday the 10th, I thought I would add an extra session in there on the bike and so I commuted into work on my CX bike instead of doing the swim on the Wednesday.

The single swim session was done on my own at GESAC on Monday afternoon as I wasn't game enough for the Monday morning swim at Mentone. I coached the Tuesday windtrainer session on Tuesday afternoon which was refreshing - a 35min session instead of the 2 hour sessions we did during peak training for Ironman.

I did my first run session on Thursday night with Rupert in Mentone. My first run session since Ironman. We ran down to Beach Road and did drills in the car park. We did 2 x 10min T3 pace as the main set which could be tricky along the dirt paths through the bushes. For the 2nd set, I ran along the side of the road as I am not good with uneven grounds and for the sake of my safety (this needs another blog entry). All in all, we ran about 7km and it was a good set to ease my legs back into running. I wore my new Newtons shoes for this session and my quads and calves really felt it the next day.

No long run this week as I will be doing the Mothers Day Classic in Geelong.

Favourite session of the week: Dirty Gran Fondo

 

Least favourite session of the week:The first run session back really did hurt (lungs and legs)

Advice of the week: Easier said than done, I should have kept moving during recovery month. I say it year after year but I never do.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: There are a few things on this week which I am looking forward to. Firstly, a yoga session with Kerri's sister. I went to the first one a few months ago, raising money for Smiling for Smiddy. Secondly, I may be getting my new car too. It will be more "tri-friendly".

5 more sleeps!!!

Not long now hey?! In 5 more sleeps, I will be down at Frankston to do a little swim, a little ride along the Eastlink freeway and then a little jog to St Kilda. 

I haven't done a specific weekly reflection post for the week of 10th - 16th March as I only did a few sessions - Tuesday windtrainer, Saturday ride (26km - 1 lap of the Portarlington course) and 8km jog/walk of the Portarlington run course. I have been doing heaps of sleeping (we are talking 8-10 hours a night and staying at work to cover off deliverables and tasks before I take a further 3 days off around this weekend. 

I manned the Giant/LivGiant tent at the Portarlington tri on Sunday 16th from about 5:30 through to 1pm (inc packing up the marquee). It was a very long day and it really worn me down but I had a great time helping out. I had a chance to look through the Giant 2014 stock catalogue the night before to get myself familiar with the different bikes Giant have for the different types of cycling - from the Trinity range for TT/triathlon through to Propel/Envie and Defy/Avail range. Knowing their specs through to the differences in geometry through to how these bikes are manufactured. 

I helped out the guys at CBD cycles when it was really busy - helping people with flat tyres (pumping up tyres and changing flats) through to basic cash transactions. It's amazing that some people don't own a pump and don't understand their bikes. I helped out a person with their flat tyre but the state of her tyres were so bad that there were major cracks throughout. I advised her that she is fine for the race but will need to get new tyres when she gets back to Melbourne to prevent flats and glass getting lodged. A young triathlete fell off his bike coming down the hill when his bag (which he had over one of his shoulders) came off and hit the front wheel. He broke several spokes of his bike and wasn't able to ride. I had my bike in the car and lent him my front wheel. I was happy to do so. 

There was a person who had a flat Di2 battery and heaps of people who forgot to bring a water bottle for the race and wanted to buy some.  After helping the two sets of people racing (Active feet and then Gatorade), there was a few hours of quietness until people finished their races and came over to the tent to sign up for the competition Giant was running.

After the awards were handed out, one of the ladies came over and thanked me for helping her out in the morning with her tyres as she podiumed! She had tyres with low pressure as well as worn brake pads which rubbed. 

Plenty of people came to sign up for the giant competition when the day was finished, most people wanted to get a new bike. The weather for the day was pretty shocking, so I think some people felt slow on their current bikes and looking to upgrade. 

 

After the triathlon, I went home, had a nap and then had dinner with the family before heading back to Melbourne. My little brother is down from Alice Springs so it was a good weekend to be near Geelong - tapering, helping out at the tri and spending down-time with the family. 

What am I doing for the next few days?! Not really a lot. I am kinda paranoid about falling off the bike between now and the race so I might do a session on the windtrainer instead. 

I think I was a little nervous this morning about the whole Ironman race for the first time this year. Not sure why, maybe just the realisation that THIS Sunday is THE day. 

(a bit more than a) Weekly Reflection 03/03 - 10/03

This week's post is slightly longer than a week as we had a public holiday on Monday 10th and I couldn't be bothered turning on the laptop to do any work nor any blogging.

My peak was during the week of 24th Feb - 9th March so my training last week was slightly less - some might even call it an early taper - 3 weeks before the race instead of 2.

I once again skipped Monday morning swim due to lack of sleep from Sunday night and tackled double Tuesday sessions with a run in the morning and then the windtrainer after work. Thursday was combo at Elwood and memories of last year flooded back about how cold it was to train near the beach at that time of the year. The water was fun to swim through once you could get into the rhythm of the waves and sighting could be an issue if you lift your head up to sight at the wrong moments. After the 1km+ we then got onto the trainer for some strength work. Similar to last year, we had Sam Hume during our training sessions just to give a small insight to what he does in training and what has worked (and not worked).

I got myself out of bed to do the long endurance swim at MSAC on Friday morning but noticed that my back was playing up and I had to stop at the ends of the pool to stretch out my back. I also suffer from bad period pains so that could be something to do with it. The pain did not subside during work on Friday nor did it go away on Saturday morning. Instead of spending hours on the bike, I decided to rest and re-schedule my training around it. So instead of doing a long ride on Saturday, I decided that as Monday is a public holiday, I will do it then. I ran my 22km on Saturday afternoon and did the race recon swim at Frankston on Sunday morning.

The swim was great and I felt confident about being in open water. You do have to swim quite a distance away from the shore first before turning at the buoys.

I had a goal of swimming 1:15 for 3.8km thinking that I may improve it over the 12 months (goal of 1:20 last year) but comparing the times, I am not sure if 1:15 is really attainable but I am not too worried, it's only 5 min difference.

During my long ride yesterday - I copped another flat (OH HEAVENS!!). This time, it looked like a snake bite flat similar to a pinch flat. I am really annoyed as I thought that changing the tyres would solve it. I guess I must ensure that my tyres are pumped at the right pressure and try not to ride over too many aggressive bumps. A planned 150km became a planned 120km which ended up being 100km as I didn't feel like riding too much further after changing a flat.  

Favourite session of the week: Sunday morning swim (over most of the swim course) was what I enjoyed the most. The course is different from last year and if everything goes to plan, it would be a great swim course. Considering that I have ridden 180km during training and have done the event last year, have ran 42.2 during last year's event and have ran 75% of the run course, the swim was the last thing I needed to tick off the list as we only had a 1.5km swim last year due to weather.

Least favourite session of the week: Long ride - actually, I enjoyed being out on the road early in the morning and riding in TT position. It was the need to change a tube (again) which gave me the sh!ts. I also had an Xlab inflator which has been pretty useless as the only way to pump up the tyre was to untwist the canister slightly which is not as good as adding pressure onto the valve. I have now changed my inflator to my old one which I liked and could control better. I have officially ran out of tubes.

Advice of the week: if you don't have any tinted goggles - go get some! You will need it for Ironman Melbourne. Swimming towards the shore after the 2nd turning buoy - could not see a thing!

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I am looking forward to spending some time with the family in Geelong and supporting the short course guys at Portarlington.

Weekly Reflection 24/02 - 02/03

HOLY CRAP-BALLS! 20 more sleeps!!!!!!

I had one of my biggest training weeks so far. I have been finding it hard to do a swim on the Monday morning as I don't feel that I am properly recovered from the weekend's training. Due to the amount of caffeine I consume on the run (up to 7 gels - all with caffeine), I can't have a nap post run and end up with broken sleep on Sunday night. Also the though of doing so many tumble turns in a 25m pool coupled with Coach Anna's regular kick sets she has made me hesitant when the alarm goes off at 5am.

Tuesday was another double session day and I am finding that due to the proximity of the run session in the morning, I am more likely to do them. Another great run session with Rupert - he is very good at what he does and encourages you to push further without being "pushy". I then had windtrainer on Tuesday night but something happened to my cables during the session - they completely split and I couldn't change my gears! The 1.5 hour set was down to 50min and I didn't do the last 40min.

I couldn't do the Wed morning swim session as I had to get to Box Hill for a work meeting and planned on swimming in the evening. This never eventuated as I had more work to do and didn't leave work until 7pm on the Wed night. I coached on the Thursday night and didn't end up doing much training.

For the life of me, couldn't sleep on the Friday night and decided to ride out at 6:30am with only 2 hours sleep instead of 4:30am with no sleep. Saturday was my longest ride since IM 2013. I rode 181km. I felt good throughout the session and didn't feel too fatigued. I consumed caffeine in between my non-caffeine gels and that got me through. I also changed the tyres over so I didn't have to stop to change a tube for the first time in about 4 weeks! I noticed that my canisters were loose during one of my drink stops so I need to get some plumbers tape to lock them down tight in the near future (especially on race day). I had a fox attack on the way down to Frankston which kinda scared me a bit but not as serious as the one I had last year.

My longest (and quickest) 180km even with all the traffic and drink stops!

An insight to what I take on a 180km bike ride -
Torq gels in (two) flasks, Gu gels for consistency change and caffeine,
300ml of coke (sugar and caffeine pick-me-up) and Shotz electrolytes

The long run on Sunday was a good one to tick off the bag. It was this time last year that I had shin splints and was off running completely for 3 weeks leading up to Ironman. Good news is that I am ok and the body doesn't seem to show signs of (muscle) collapse. The 1km swim at Frankston was great as the water is calm. I once again started the run off earlier than everyone as I am a slowie. I did touch coke until Mordialloc (about 15km or so). The pros of coke is that it gives you the caffeine and sugar hit whilst the con is that it makes my stomach gassy and I don't feel like consuming gels. I pushed the distance from every 4km to 5km when I wasn't feeling up to it. At some point, I think around the 25km mark, some of the girls in the squad caught up with me and we ran together at a steady (around 5:45min/km) pace which was awesome. I had never felt this "good" at running ever. I have always been the girl trying to catch up at the end but this run felt good. Unfortunately, I couldn't hold that pace after we stopped at Sandringham for our last water break before Brighton.

Favourite session of the week: The long run I did on Sunday was my best long run ever! It was about 32km (Frankston to Brighton along the footpath, not using the IM route completely). I am grateful that I am not injured and will carry on training.

Least favourite session of the week: Friday's long swim was one which I didn't feel I put in my best. I firstly arrived late and just couldn't get into the correct mindspace. I also had to leave early to work which meant that I couldn't do my cool down. I only did about 3km instead of the 4km program. I hate the feeling of being time-poor and cutting things short but I guess it is about QUALITY and not QUANTITY. At least I got the main set out and concentrated on my stroke most of the time.

Advice of the week: Get niggles sorted! I have been getting my massages on a regular basis and seeing the physio whenever I have niggles. Massages are now booked until the day before the big race and I am seeing physio about my shoulder pains.  

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I spoke to the coaches during the week and I am going to do a shorter ride and run this weekend. The plan is about 150km instead of 180km but I will have a long run off the bike instead. On Sunday, I am planning on doing a long swim (4km if I can) and then drive up to Elwood and do a 25km (give or take) from there. Putting in some quality sessions (rather than doing the quantity numbers).

Weekly Reflection 17/02 - 23/02

The 23rd March is getting so close!

I attended the Monday morning swim at Mentone Grammar which was interesting. The outdoor pool was not working due to power failure so we had to resort to swimming indoors in a 31 degree pool which was just too hot for my liking. I was fatigued from doing so many tumble turns and from the temperature of the water (it was like a bath).

Tuesday I also ran at Mentone with coach Rupert. We did a Fartlek session at the athletics track in Mentone. I really enjoyed that session as it was a small group and we received feedback from the coach. Windtrainer on Tuesday night was a long set but it is good to spend as much time on the bike as I could.

Wednesday = recovery day. I needed the sleep in from the double session Tuesday and then we had the Ironman Melbourne athletes meeting on that evening. Talked about nutrition and race plans.

The weather in Melbourne just went crazy from Wednesday afternoon so the training session on Thursday evening was a 1km-ish swim in huge waves and then a 1.5hr windtrainer. Similar to previous years, I don't enjoy doing a windtrainer session outdoors (especially when it is cold and windy). I don't feel like I have had a workout when I am wearing long sleeves. I just felt poo-poo.

Swam my longest swim set with the squad on Friday. Once again, joined the MSAC (big kids) and tried to keep up with them as much as I could. It wasn't as long as the main squad who swam 5km, I only did 4.6km. I can keep up with them when I am swimming with paddles but just don't have enough catch and push when it is just pull buoy.

Saturday was a 170km + 6km (ride then run). I started my ride at 8:30am instead of my usual 4:30am due to a headache from Friday evening. Once I got out the door, I was on track to spend about 7hours on the bike (taking into account traffic lights and drink stops). I used the Xlab Torpedo and it worked very well! I remembered to drink every 10 min or so and it was so easy - untuck straw, drink, tuck straw. I may need to work out what I am going to do on race day with regards to filling up. I may need to just stop and refill as I am using the solid lid to stop spillage. I think I will be drinking a shotz mixture for the entire race rather than using concentrated solution in a bottle and sipping on water. I will carry with me a small flask of Shotz concentrate to squirt into my bottle during the race. My ride stopped after 130km as I had to change my back tube (again). This time, I found the piece of glass which tore through. The tyres I had from Foxy are pretty hopeless. I get a flat just from riding over a bump or a twig! Will be buying a new (training) set before the weekend and then buying another set of good tyres for the race (most like Schwalbe Ultremo ZX). 6km run off the bike felt good, albeit had about 5min of piss-farting around the house before I actually did the run.

Sunday was another long training day. We met at 6am at Sandringham (I also had to pick up a friend before heading there) to car pool down to Frankston. We did a swim (ranging from 1km through to 2km) before we head back to Sandringham on foot. The weather was more consistent this week compared to last and I felt good. I ran consistently around 6min/km with about 3 stops (excl drink stops) - throw gel packets in the bin, walk up the hill in Sandringham and generally just got a bit bored. Had 2 serves of coke from the 17km mark onwards. I think I may have taken a bit longer this week compared to last but I felt good. My stomach kinda got annoyed at the amount of gels I was consuming. Instead of taking a gel in at every 4km, I spaced it out to every 5 instead. I found it hard to swallow them during the middle of my run and fingers crossed that it doesn't happen on race day. After the run, I drove people back down to Frankston to pick up their cars before I bought some ice and did an ice bath at home.

I was exhausted when I got home and craved KFC so bad. I didn't end up buying any - mainly due to the lack of funds (need to pay for massage on Monday) and could not be bothered stepping outside the house. Geelong 70.3 was on TV so I watched that whilst I did the laundry, dishes and cleaned Foxy - she had coke and gels all over her.

Favourite session of the week: Really loved the Friday morning swim. Good to tick that box off (a strength and endurance swim set) and being amongst the faster people in the squad. Once again, the long run on Sunday was good to tick off. I think I may have one more long run left in me before my legs give up. Fingers crossed that it survives after this week.

Least favourite session of the week: My long ride on Saturday I didn't really enjoy too much. I had to stop twice to fix something - once for my back tyre and the second time because one of my canisters fell off my xlab. Must remember to check equipment. Starting out so late in the day, I thought it would mimic my race day plan (as I would finish the swim and get on the bike around 8:30am) and to ride through the lunch break period of the day. It was exhausting and there was more motorist traffic on the roads which scared me at some areas. I am glad I got that ride out of the way and better prepared for race day.

Advice of the week: Nothing new on race day - I have about 3 more weeks to refine and practice my race day plan! I think I have my hydration sorted now. I have decided against race wheels due to the lack of funds and the fact that my speed doesn't get high enough that it will benefit my bike time.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: This will be my biggest training week leading up to Ironman. My ride this weekend will be 180km + 8km run off the bike and my long run will be approx 34km. I am looking forward to ticking these boxes off.

27 more sleeps!

Weekly Reflection 10/02 - 16/02

With the memorable race that was Geelong, I had to take some time out to recover - both mentally and physically. Took both Monday and Tuesday off training and eased myself back into it by doing my own swim session on Wednesday afternoon.

The body was still a bit stiff and sore but I was able to complete the swim set. I took Thursday off training and just had a big sleep in preparation for the weekend ahead. I decided to do my swim session at MSAC on Friday morning as it is closer to work and I had important tasks to do that morning. Even though I was one of the slower swimmers for the Friday morning (suitable for Advanced and more faster intermediates), it was still a do-able session (3.8km) with the cool down cut short as we only booked the lanes until 7am.

My Saturday's program was 150km ride with a 4km run off the bike. The 4:30am start was good and I rode down to Frankston first from down Bay Rd instead of Black Rock. Heading back to the city, I had some cyclists who rode behind me and kept up with my efforts travelling back. It was good as I tried to hold on to my speed and switching between 2 gears to recover (higher cadence) and then back to harder gear (slower cadence but more harder to push). I did that all the way from Frankston to pretty much Mordialloc along Nepean Hwy.

After I passed Black Rock, I noticed that my ride became noticeably harder and it felt bumpy. I pulled over and realised that I was riding on a flat tyre. I changed the tube over and then realised that my valve was too short for the CO2 pump. A few rode passed asking if I was ok (which I was) but one kindly stopped to help me. First he offered me a long valve tube but he had an extender with a hand pump. With enough air, I walked about 1km+ down to a bike shop to see if they had a floor pump I could use and if I could buy an extender. It worked out that I had to buy a long valve tube and change my tube again and that was the only way to get air in. So my ride had a 40min break in the middle.

I knew that I wasn't going to finish my ride in time for a 4km run off the bike as I needed to attend Tips & Tricks at 12pm. I decided that a 4km run off the bike was more beneficial for my race rather than finishing my 150km. I ended up with 125km + 4km run off the bike. If I didn't have a 40min break in my ride due to mechanical, I would have covered 150km + 4km. No stress.

Sunday was an early start compared to usual. We met at 6am at Sandringham for car pool down to Frankston. As I am not the fastest swimmer and runner, I did a short swim with an early start to my run from Frankston to Sandringham.

I carried my own nutrition with me as I may not be able to meet the support vehicles for water/coke top ups. Had my gel at every 4km and drank a bit of water at every 2km. Had a salt tablet every 45min. It seemed to work OK. It was 27km on my program but the distance from Frankston to Sandringham was about 29.5km. The last few km was hard and luckily I carried an extra gel to get me through. Took me nearly 3 hours to run that distance but it was no surprise, I knew that if I was going to keep a consistent pace, 6min/km was good for me.

Favourite session of the week: Long run on Sunday was my favorite. I was consistent throughout and only stopped 4 times. 2 to stretch out my back, one toilet stop and one refill stop. My confidence about running long distance was increased as my legs held together! Bonus! My nutrition on the run was also practiced and I didn't let the fact that practically everyone in the squad ran past me get me down.  

Least favourite session of the week: The part about my Saturday long ride where I had to change my tube twice (had a 40min break) was annoying more than anything. I have also received several chaffed areas on my body from Sunday's run, more annoyed. Something else to worry about on training and race day.

Advice of the week: Check your spares for race day. If I didn't have the issues over the weekend and had a flat on race day, I would be stuffed!! My race would have finished as I would not be able to pump air into the tyres even though I had all the equipment.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: The Bayside sessions start this week so I am looking forward to doing some of the swim and run sessions closer to home! A 5:30am alarm instead of 4:30am for Monday and Wednesday. I will see how I go with swimming in a 25m pool. I know heaps of people train in this situation but I am so use to 50m pools and I can't always do tumble turns.



Weekly Reflection 03/02 - 09/02

The week mainly consisted of recovery from Challenge Melbourne, some hard-to-finish sessions and my most brutal ride as part of a triathlon team.

Favourite session of the week: I enjoyed my maiden voyage on my CX bike (Betty) to and from work on Tuesday. As advised by Coach Greg, we would be doing an easy spin session so I thought that I would take this day to ride to work instead. I love how the CX bike handles and love the responsiveness of the disc brakes. The ride home was a big of a challenge with winds up to 50km/hr. I rode in the small chain ring all the way home and what would have taken me just over an hour on a normal day took me over 2 hours. Still, it was an enjoyable day on the bike.

Least favourite session of the week: I didn't have a good week in training at all. On Thursday, I tried to get my long run in as I wouldn't be able to do it on the weekend. It was 25km on the program for Sunday but I wanted to see if I could get near that distance. The first 10km was ok, then a few hundred meters after that, I got drowsy and was not able to concentrate on my technique properly. I decided to turn around and head home. The journey home seemed to take forever and it consisted of walk/jogs. I think it took nearly 2 hours just to get home.

Advice of the week: I won't be doing any back-to-back races in the future. I really didn't give myself enough time to reover from Challenge before heading into another event at Geelong. Even though it was just the swim and the bike, it still takes its toll.

Foxy in Transition @ Geelong

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: Recovery week! I have intentionally taken Monday and Tuesday off training just to mentally and physically recharge myself for the weekend ahead. It will also be the first week where we do a swim at Frankston and then run from Frankston back towards St Kilda. This week is 25km which is approximately Frankston to Sandringham. Sunday temps don't look too bad (max of 22 with a shower or two clearing).

Saturday's program is a long ride with 4km off the bike. I have been finding that I am fatigued around 100km so the next few weeks will be training through it and be better prepared for the long day in March. 

Weekly Reflection 27/01 - 02/02

To be honest, I had one of the best weeks in training and racing. I can feel my fitness picking up again as I could recover from sessions quicker and still be able to perform well at a race.

On Monday 27th, it was a public holiday in Australia and instead of doing a pool session, I decided (with a friend) to swim at Mentone beach. I did 3 pole-to-pole swims at Mentone which worked out to be around 3.2km. I did some efforts in between to work on my speed. Even though there was a slight wind, the water was still pretty calm. It was just a magical session.

Mentone Beach

Tuesday was another warm day and we moved our windtrainer session outside. Another sweat test was carried out. I think I have done about 4 of these before. My sweat loss rate is at 0.9kg/hour (which is about 1.4% of my original body weight).

Due to contractors being at my house, I had to work from home that day and did my own swim session. After the warm up, it was 3 x (8 x 50m T4, 200m T3), 1st using paddles, pb, 2nd with pb and last with pb and fins.

Yay for being able to run!

It has been a while since I had done a double session day. The original plan was to do my own run session in the morning but I ended up going down to MSAC (increase my chances of doing a good set rather than not). I arrived slightly late due to missing shoes in the car but ended up starting the set later than the group and did my own program (at my own pace). Instead of 3 x 6 of each (increase speed, shorter intervals), I did a 6 x, 4 x and a 4 x and my legs were ok at the end. I ended up with a 12km set whilst the rest of the crew did 14 - 19km. The afternoon combo session was great. We did a good 1.5km open water swim (at race pace) and then a 1hour+ on the windtrainer.

A did a ride on Saturday starting at 4:30am and headed towards Frankston first. It was only a 70km ride and as much as it was a training session, I didn't want to work too hard and wreck the legs for the next day.

Challenge Melbourne 1.9/60/14 was on Sunday and I raced well. Plenty of lessons learnt and will apply as much of it during training and this weekend for Geelong 70.3.

Swim-bike-run

Favourite session of the week: Loved my open water swim on Monday morning. Not only was it just great being in the water but it has also brought much confidence in swimming a long distance. The water was beautiful and you could still see the bottom of the sea bed.

Least favourite session of the week: Can you count sleep as a session? Finding it hard to fall asleep during hot nights.

Advice of the week: Still need to work out my hydration. Do I really need to drink that much on the bike? I drank about 2/3 bidon during the whole 60km (a bidon with 2 shotz tablets in it) and still needed to pee on the run. Was it the salt concentration which made me go to the toilet or just the amount of water?

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: Geelong 70.3 - I will be doing the swim-bike and will be running off the bike. Looking at the training program, I am suppose to be doing a 160km ride and 25km run. I might have to do my ride on Thursday (I have annual leave from work) and do the 25km run on the Saturday prior to bike check-in.