Roller Coaster

The last 2 weeks of my life have been an absolute roller coaster. In terms of training, I have had the best of sessions where personal best distances/routes were achieved but this is then mixed with days where I can barely get out of bed and negative thoughts about my training creep through. 

Last week, I travelled to Sydney for work. It was horrible. I stayed in a hotel in the middle of the city and I didn’t really have a good sleep. The room was stuffy even after I turned down the thermostat and increased the air flow. I was sweating at 18oC and I could not sleep for the life of me. I did some treadmill running when I was there but due to the lack of sleep, travel and being dehydrated, I was sick for days afterwards. Coupled with the cold I had the previous week, my training was dismal and my body felt weak. 

I did have a great ride on Saturday 15^th. I started out my ride out at the Dandenong (ranges) the usual way – parked the car at The Basin (bottom of 1-in-20) and then rode across to Montrose via Liverpool Road. I then started my climb on Mount Dandenong Tourist Rd until I reach the intersection at Ridge Road in Olinda where I continue the ride up towards Sky High. After Sky High, I would ride down to Sassafras. 

Quite often, we would go down 1-in-20 and then do a few repeats. This time, as  I was on my own and wasn’t in a rush to end the training session, I thought instead of doing hill repeats, I would ride down to Ferntree Gully and then ride back up. I have heard that this part of the ride was steep and it took several months of riding the Dandenongs to actually attempt that section. The descent down was horrific for me. I was scared and applied on my brakes for most (90%) of the way. I couldn’t wait to reach the bottom so I could climb back up. 

Once I got myself together to climb, I decided instead of looking up and be horrified at the incline, I would just look straight in front of me and just pedal. It was a hard climb as most of the way, I was in my small chain ring and my easiest gear. The other time I am ever riding at the easiest gear ratio (in the Dandenongs) is the short and steep climb up to Sky High. 

It took a while to get up to the top but I am glad I achieved this. It was a personal best for me to tackle that part of the hills. 

A donut reward for my personal best achievements

Then on Sunday, due to my fatigued legs, my run was so sh#t I nearly threw in my (triathlon) towel and got me thinking about why the hell I am doing so much for...

On Monday 17^th, I was thinking about my whole triathlon training and what it was actually for? With 3 peaks in March, should I be concentrating on improving my cycling? Thoughts plagued on me for days and I also consulted a few people to what I should be doing. Funnily enough, I had a great run session on Tuesday at the athletics track, a great swim with the club on Wednesday evening (with Wetsuit for 1.5km) and this morning I had a good spin class session. So I answered my own questions about what I should be doing for the next few months. 

The next few days, I will be tapering down for Sandy Point. Still not confident about the event but will see what comes out of that day. 

I leave on holidays on Monday 24^th for 2 weeks and when I get back, I will need to do a few spin class sessions in preparation for the Amy’s Gran Fondo on the 13^th September. I will also need to put some mileage in my legs for Around the Bay too.....and still fit in my swims and runs.

Looking Ahead - September

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

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

Amy's Gran Fondo Route

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

 

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

Dirty Duathlon - The Preview

This Sunday, I have my first official duathlon event. Although I have completed several duathlon races - most of them being the corporate triathlons, I have never signed up for one on purpose!

This one is an unusual one too as it is off road. It is held at You Yangs and the event distances are:
5km Trail Run
17km Mountain Bike Ride
4km Trail Run

Why did I sign up for this event? I have mentioned before that this year, I am making myself accountable for my training and signing up to events, albeit will occur expenses throughout the year, will make me push beyond my comfort zone and will help me achieve my goals.

I felt that this event was do-able for someone with little confidence in mountain biking and less than ideal fitness levels. I have really enjoyed riding out at You Yangs (Kurrajong trails) so I signed up for this event when I saw it on social media around April. 

As this is a duathlon and off-road, my gear would need to completely change! The event is held at You Yangs, so I thought I would stay at my parent’s house out of Geelong so the drive over there would be around 45min instead of 1.5 hours.'

I have decided to wear just a plain pair of tri shorts for the entire event. I have never really found it too uncomfortable on the saddle on the mountain bike even though the saddle is totally different from the one I have on all my road/CX bikes. For the top half, I am either going to wear a short sleeve or a long sleeve running shirt. I am not going to bother with a cycling jersey or tri-top. I currently don’t have a tri suit to wear and I don’t think a tri suit will be required for a duathlon although I would like something to hold my stomach in. Considering it will most likely be showers on Sunday (today’s forecast for Sunday) – it will most likely be a long sleeve shirt. I will wear socks throughout the event, I might even double sock up for some comfort. 

On Run 1, I will have my trail runners on. Coming into transition, I will change out of my running shoes and into my MTB shoes, put on my Camelbak hydration bag for ease of drinking on the bike, have my helmet near my bike. Coming back into Run 2, I will change out of my bike shoes and into my running shoes, take off my hydration bag and off I go. 

I don’t know if I will wear a hat or glasses. I won’t be carrying any hydration on the run as there is a drink station on each one of the run legs. I will carry my nutrition on me. I will definitely have a gel before the start and one (or maybe two) more on the bike and then nothing for the 4km run. Based on my estimations, I will do the following times:

Run 1 – 0:30 – 0:35min

Bike – 1:15 – 1:20

Run 2 – 0:20 – 0:30

Total time of 2:20 – 2:35 (including transition)

Considering that I am very hesitant on the mountain bike even though the course itself is not technical, I am prepared to take the DFL placing again. Once again, I am not bothered as I am doing this event to make my training accountable and placing myself out of my comfort zone.

We received our race numbers yesterday - I am "duo29". 

Post Fondo & Sri Chimnoy Race Report

The Fondo ride I completed on Sunday 17th May was my longest spent on the saddle since March 2014. That ride really put me out of my comfort zone in terms of strength work on the bike as well as endurance. On Monday, I decided to have a sleep in and complete my strength session after work. This meant that my swim was going to be pushed to Tuesday.

My body was still fatigued as I could only finish about 500m of swimming on Tuesday morning. The biggest sign that my body was in need of recovery was that I came home early on Tuesday afternoon post site visit for work and pretty much crashed until the next morning. I completed my 2nd strength session for the week on Wednesday night, it was all I could do.  

I didn't want to over-do my training so I decided to stick to running on Thursday night rather than try a double session for the day. I was actually looking forward to running that night which was strange for me as running has always been a hesitated session. Everything about the run was great. We started out with 2 x 1.2km laps of the reserve and the main set was 4 x (1km @ uncomfortable 10km pace followed by 200m walk). I made a new friend (Kirsten/Kristen) that evening as we both ran at the same pace. This was followed by a cool down lap where we got to know each other. 

On Saturday, I changed my training plans around and rode with a few friends who live down around the Peninsula. We did hill repeats of Humphries Road. I felt that my strength work on the bike during the Fondo event as well as my strength sessions have helped with the hill climbing. I felt comfortable and definitely used my core during the climb. As I was riding with friends rather than training partners, my average speed was around 20km/hr but it meant that I was able to push myself on the way home without feeling stuffed. 

On Sunday 24th May (today), I entered my second Sri Chimnoy run event. There was 7km, 14km and 21km. I know that I am not fit enough to do run a solid 21km and a month ago I had just done a 10km so 14km was a good distance. Last minute, due to road closures, they shortened the 14km to 12.8km. I left the house around 6:45am this morning, hoping to get to the start line by 7:15 for my usual pre-race prep of a toilet visit. The morning was sooooo crisp! I could not feel my lips nor my fingers. Luckily, we could walk around in our warm gear until around 7:55am, 5 min before race start. I also consumed a gel at this time. 

The 21km and the 12.8km distance started together at 8am with the 7km starting off 5min after us. I started off slow. It took me a while for my body to warm up. Wasn't sure if it was due to my hill climbs on Saturday or the coldness of the morning but my legs just didn't want to move! I remembered hitting the 4km mark and that was when I was happy with my pace and breathing-I was no longer huffing and puffing from my throat. My iPod died at the 5km mark which meant that I was no longer running with music, I just had to pay attention to my body and my technique.

There was a lady who ran past me in purple crop top and purple shorts and I remember seeing her off to the side after a few minutes and I knew that she stopped for toilet duties. What happened after that was something which I couldn't avoid or remove the image from my mind. She ran past me (as she was faster) and she had so much shit running along the back of her shorts. I wasn't sure if she went to do her business but didn't have anything to wipe so she just put her pants back on - it was so wrong!!!

At about 8km, I consumed my 2nd gel at the aid station. With about 5km or so to go, my body started to tell me to stop. My legs started to get heavy but I pushed on. I started to pick people off in front of me to aim for. I could pass some runners in front of me who started to walk whilst I also tried to run away from the people behind me whose footsteps and breathing I could hear. I am happy to report that I ran the entire way, only walked through aid stations. 

With about 1km to go and the path led back along the river, I pushed my little legs out. At this point, the 21km runners ran passed me like I was standing still. The fastest 21km runner finished about 6min before me - that is crazy talk!

Like all events, my Garmin read a shorter distance than the actual event. I finished the 12.7km in 1:16 which I am pretty happy about. I had no expectations for the time for this event, I just wanted an event to make my runs accountable and meaningful. I had my serving of pancakes after the event which is what I love about the Sri Chimnoy runs - no medals or show bags, just fruit and pancakes!!!

(UPDATE) - I placed 48/76 for females and 40/52 for my category (18-39 females). 

Slow, Steady, Strength

As I am no longer following the program of my previous squad and not being on a personalised program from my current club, I need to program in my own Build, Taper and Recovery days/weeks. I am really enjoying taking control of my program - making it to suit me (with some mentoring feedback) and my circumstances. If I enter an event on a particular weekend, I need to manage my body before and after the event so I can get back on my feet and train again.

I am calling May as my first month of training for my 2015-2016 season. So far, I have programmed 2 swims, 2 bikes, 2 runs and 2 strength sessions a week. Due to my goal of being a stronger runner for the Shepparton triathlon, my run sessions are currently my "must do" sessions along with my strength.

Tuesday pm for the next 6-7 weeks a skills/drills program which I have paid an additional fee for with Tim O’Shaughnessy as the coach. Thursday pm is tempo running at Duncan McKinnon reserve with Bayside Coach Rob and the long run sessions at the moment have been done by myself on trails and entering running events which I am loving. One weekend will be endurance (trail running) and the next will be speed/pace (run events or trail events).

Cycling at the moment hasn't been the best - the weather hasn't been kind nor providing the safest conditions out there. I don't mind riding in the wind and rain, I do worry about cars and how crazy they get when the weather turns bad. I am loving my spin classes at GESAC, I think I have mentioned that before.

Swimming is something which I need to stay consistent on. Even though it is something which doesn't make or break a race, being quicker by 5min is all I am after for Shepparton to achieve my goal. I am yet to swim with Bayside on Tuesday and Friday and this is a small goal which I am trying to achieve within the month of May. I am not enjoying swimming as much as before as I am conflicted between the different coaches and their respective style of swimming as well as coaching.

I have the Dirty Gran Fondo this Sunday so I have not programmed a long road ride or run this weekend. The event will be my long ride. It will be a long day in the saddle considering that last year, I finished the 35km just under 4 hours and this year, I have entered the 65km. There will be plenty of grinding up hills and I will try my best to ride rather than walk up the 1300+ elevation for the 65km.  It will also give me a chance to work on my bike strength too.

The DGF shirt I ordered

Shaking Things Up

Last week, I decided that I needed to try out more sessions Bayside Tri Club have on offer. I had only attended the Monday and Wednesday pm swim sessions since I joined in April. Their training schedule (can be seen on their website) are:

Monday - pm Swim
Tuesday - am Swim, pm Run
Wednesday - am Road Ride, pm Swim
Thursday - am Spin, pm Run
Friday - am Swim
Saturday and Sunday - long rides, long runs, events, brick sessions

I attended the Tuesday pm run session out at Sandy athletics track for the first time on Tuesday 21st. I didn't perform as high intensity as others as I am slowly getting my run up again. I ended up doing about 8km intervals within the hour.

Thursday am is the 45min spin class at GESAC (where we swim) and the class was pretty good. As it is a short 45min, I will try to put in as much effort as I can. During my first session, I didn't start off with too high resistance or intensity as I wasn't sure how my body would cope. I still had some DOMS from the Tuesday pm run session so it was not the most easiest session for me but I made it. In the next coming weeks, I will push harder gears knowing that I felt comfortable during the first session.

GESAC Spin Room

 I am yet to train during the following sessions:

• Tuesday am Swims
• Wednesday am Road Ride
• Thursday pm Run (not happening until May 7th)
• Friday am Swims
• Saturday and Sunday long runs and rides

Why haven't I done the sessions listed above? The (very honest) reason is my anxiety has been playing up lately. Some nights, I worry about how I would go to the point of having bad nightmares during the night, being woken up in a fright with sweat and a throbbing body and then not being able to fall asleep until 4-5am. This is why I haven't had a chance to try out most of the morning sessions due to bad sleep the night before and worrying. I really need to get over this fear, to just suck it up and just turn up and train!

Easier said than done but I will try my best.

Taking Strength Seriously

Strength work as part of my triathlon training has been missing in action throughout my training career. I am not talking about strength whilst we are swimming, riding or running - this is the strength work which we are suppose to do outside of these sessions. There are several reasons why they have not been part of my routine and I will be honest here:

• Any spare time I have outside of work and training is spent in a horizontal position, resting
• It hasn't been provided outside of swim, bike and run training sessions by a coached session
• I am not being held accountable for my strength training although programs are provided

As I mentioned before under a previous post, I am going to take strength sessions seriously this season as I have set a few drastic goals within the next 6 - 10 months. This includes finishing Challenge Shepparton under 6 hours (easy to achieve for Challenge Melbourne but I don't find Challenge Melbourne enjoyable and it will impact on my next goal) which is to complete 3 Peaks within the time of 13 hours.

I have come close to finishing a half-ironman distance under 6 hours. However, this was only achieved when I was training for my first Ironman. I was consistent in my training as I was stepping into new territory and I was not (yet) fatigued and I was actually doing pilates and some strength work for a few weeks. My cycling, although it was my favourite leg of a triathlon when I first started, have suffered due to my lack of strength and endurance when I am on the saddle for 5+ hours. My attendance in the hills over the winter months of 2014 was minimal due to coaching commitments which I have decided to withdraw from since March 2015.

This season, I have signed up to an actual strength training program with Excite Health and Fitness with regular check-ins and taking into account my goals for the season. I am really looking forward to this journey (starting on Monday 27th April) and will be blogging on how I am going throughout as part of my regular posts.

http://excitehealthfitness.com.au/

Chris from Excite is starting me off with a 12 week strength program consisting of 2 sessions per week. These sessions are tailored around my weaknesses and what I need for my bike strength and lets not forget core.

Looking at the training session on offer from Bayside, I am going to fit these strength sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays - morning or night will depend on my recovery from the day before and also the weather.

I am being held accountable for these sessions as I have to report back to Chris every 4 weeks.I have always been a person who hates to disappoint others, hence the lack in team sports. I am going to make this work as to not make it a waste of time for both parties involved.

Starting from Scratch

Looking back at last week's schedule, I didn't end up ticking off many of my training sessions. I was still broken from my Fondo ride on the 12th April that I didn't go to my swim session on the Monday evening. I had a bit of an anxiety moment on Tuesday morning - having not gone to the run session for 4 weeks, I was worried that I was going to be useless. I ended up just heading back to bed.

Wednesday morning I had an early (7:30am) work commitment in Port Melbourne which meant that I couldn't do any training. I made it to the swim session that night but the session turned out to be a learn to swim session due to incorporating a technique which I was discouraged to do since 2009.

The new coach at Bayside wants me to do the S shape underwater and this is really throwing off all my rhythm, movement, catch, pull - everything! The whole S shape thing under the water is really doing my head in and if I choose not to do it, he picks up on it on EVERY lap I do which is not encouraging for my session. He has even brought in a camera to show me what I am doing wrong. In order to change my technique which is so cemented into my swimming, I am going to have to learn how to swim outside of the sessions just to get my body right. I am finding the S shape throws my balance off big time.

With work commitments in the City and out at Box Hill on Thursday, this meant that I had to put training aside. I caught up with a friend who enjoys bike riding and she was telling me of her Warbuton Trail adventure during Easter and her recent trip to Japan. I am still planning on heading to Japan for 10 or so days in the next few months - it is just a matter of paying off debt and saving up for a plane ticket, kinda hard when my tenant insists on repairs to my unit and I have put more money into repairs than I have received rent in return...I digress. I had planned on dinner with friends out at Box Hill due to my work function which ran from 4pm - 6pm. This was an opening of a building within Box Hill Tafe which gave apprentices a hands-on experience with real Air Conditioning equipment - from chillers through to compressors through to wiring for split systems. I was tired when I got home and didn't end up swimming the next morning.

Saturday was an achievement day. I got myself out of bed to do a ride, albeit around 10am due to rain. I had to talk myself into this ride, trying to convince myself that I needed to do this ride took time. I had to get over the horrific feeling I had from last weekend of not being able to keep up with the group. I rode down to Frankston and rode up Oliver's Hill. This was the first time I had ridden up Oliver's Hill in about 2 years (believe it or not!). I guess my hesitation has been around the coming back down the hill part of the trip. The climb itself was not too bad. I am pretty unfit and relatively weak and that showed when I finally reached the top of the hill and I was inhaling like no tomorrow. I then rode up Humphreys Road, that was slow but steady. If I was riding in the group, I am sure I would have been left behind. Once I reached the top of Humphreys, I decided to venture outside my comfort zone and rode down Two Bays - this was all downhill so it wasn't too bad. I was hesitant about riding up this hill so I decided to try to ride through the side streets to get to Nepean Hwy. This reminded me of my ride out of the Ferry Terminal just out of Vancouver. Luckily, I could do most of the route except for a small sharp right turn on Banool Cres which was steep and I had ran out of momentum on the bike.

Once I reached Nepean Hwy, it was a route I was familiar with and rode towards home. The only thing that bothered me was the downhill of Oliver's Hill - lucky or unlucky, there was a car who didn't like the fact that I was travelling down that hill and decided to let me know how unhappy they were. Due to that, I didn't worry too much about the downhill part. The total distance for that ride was about 65km (400m elevation) which was the longest since Challenge Melbourne and the hilliest since Whistler Gran Fondo.

On Sunday, instead of doing a run, I did a mountain bike ride instead at Lysterfield. We started out at the Hallam North Road carpark which meant that I was in the midst of a difficult trail which I admit scared me enough, I had a slight panic attack. I got frustrated at my partner for making me start at that trail as it was a trail which I was not comfortable with and something which I am not able to do - small and sharp hair pin turns downhill with roots and deep trails. As it had been raining that weekend, the trails were also wet and slippery. I am glad to report that I only crashed once, it was over a root over a flat trail and I landed on my right arm and slightly on my head. Nothing too serious, just a sore arm today (Monday). Even with the slight panic attack at the start of this ride, I did enjoy the ride very much, I increased my confidence on the bike but I am still slow. I am comfortable about riding up hills even when there are turns involved. My downhills need to be improved and it is just a matter of riding more out at Lysterfield and gain confidence on the bike and knowing what to do - something which doesn't come naturally to me.

My legs post ride - not as muddy as before as I rode through puddles.

With regards to running - this is something which I have been slightly hesitant about, because I am so bad at it and my joints hurt so much from every run session. I have decided to start from scratch for running and have signed up for a 6 week running program which will run in May and June. The run sessions will be Tuesday 6:45pm with Tim O’Shaughnessy (as part of a technique course through Bayside Tri Club), Thursday 6:30pm at Duncan McKinnon (squad session) and then a long weekend run or will be entering into running events to keep the motivation up. The first run event I will do will be this weekend - I need to decide if I am going to do it on the Saturday or the Sunday and arrange my long ride to suit.

Looking Ahead - May

I have decided to do something different for the next phase of my blogging (routine) and have a blog post dedicated for forward planning for the month ahead, taking into consideration what sporting events are coming up and achieving as many small goals (such as turning up to key sessions) as possible.


I figured once I have things down on paper (or the Internet), it is less likely to slip away and forgotten. I will be calling these series of blog tagged Looking Ahead and it will just look at the month ahead and no more.

For the Month of May...

Events:

• Mothers Day will be on the 10th May and like last year, I will be doing the walk with my mum. As I will be in Geelong for that event, I figured that I might do a mountain bike ride at You Yangs on the day before. I will aim to ride for at least 3 hours and try to tackle the harder trails such as 15 and 14. Whilst I am at the You Yangs, I will try and do a trail run either before or after the ride.

• I have the Dirty Gran Fondo on the 17th May. It is a 65km ride but it is a non-technical off road ride and I will be doing this on my mountain bike. This event will take me somewhere between 5 to 7.5 hours to complete so I am taking this as my long ride training session. The Saturday before this event will be my long run day but will only do 10km or so. 

• On the 24th May, I will either do the Sri Chimnoy 14km run or the Whittlesea Challenge 68km (not 110km). It will most likely be the run as it is something which I need the most motivation in.

Key Sessions:

• I have two work events which will interrupt my schedule of training. Both fall on a Tuesday evening which means that the MUST DO training session will be the Tuesday morning run sessions with Run Like Crazy group.

A slow week and Easter

So the first week of April has just passed....

I ended up only attending 2 Bayside training sessions - Monday and Wednesday swims. I didn't end up doing the Wednesday morning rides as I was unsure of the pace, but now I am comfortable that if I get dropped, I will just ride my own. I didn't end up riding or running Thursday morning as I was buggered from the swim the night before.

I attended the Bayside Tri Squad ladies dinner at the Corner Store on Thursday evening. It was a good night and I was introduced to some ladies of the club. There appears to be a bigger mix of athletes there - some are more cyclists than triathletes, some of done multiple Ironman races and some have just started out in the sport.

I had plans for doing something everyday over the Easter long weekend and ended up riding 3 out of the 4 days. On Friday, Jason and I went to You Yangs and we rode most of the Kurrajong trails (15, 16, 17 and 18). Happy to report that my confidence was increased and I didn't fall. I was careful though.

You Yangs - a photo I posted up on my Instagram/Facebook

On Easter Saturday, I went on a 60km road ride after lunch. I started at the house and rode down to the end of Bay Road and then down to Frankston and then back to Black Rock and then home. I was pretty tired as that was my longest ride since Challenge Melbourne. I really need to get my riding up again - be it more hills and increase the distance considering that I will be riding the Womens Ride on the 12th and it will consist of hills.

On Sunday, I didn't end up doing any rides or runs but I did attend the Cycle Messenger World Championships at the Docklands (main race). It is an annual event and next year, Paris will be hosting it. These guys and gals have amazing bike skills, being able to ride through busy streets with cargo on their bikes and bags.

Then on Easter Monday (today), I drove myself to You Yangs early in the morning and ended up riding 2.5 hours on the Kurrajong trails and covering just over 35km. I rode trail 15 once, 16 and 17 more than twice, 18 once and I also went to trail 01 which I had never done before. My confidence increased and I was pretty proud of myself to getting out there and riding my mountain bike. I know that I can get better but throughout the ride, I just kept reminding to not get too cocky - the last thing I want to do is get too confident and then crash. I really really really loved my ride at You Yangs. It is just such a peaceful place to ride and a place which I can get better at my bike handling. I found Lysterfield too much to handle for a beginner. If I didnt have to rush back to watch the Hawthorn match at 3:20pm, I would have stayed and done a trail run too.

I am planning on heading back there again to ride more of the trails and improving my skills before the Gran Fondo in 41 days!

What a difference a change makes...

So I officially paid my coaching fees to my new squad on Sunday 29th so I could train with them starting on Monday 30th March. With anything "new" in my life, I stressed about it to no end.

I had bad dreams the day before - the usual, being late and being out of my depth. Due to the training session being held in the afternoon, I kept stressing about how I would go for hours. I am happy to report that I survived the session and I can't wait for the next one - winning!

The coach for the Monday's swim session was named Neil. He is a swim coach rather than one who does triathlons. You can tell the difference between the two types - swim coaches tend to use less "toys" and more on technique and swimming at different levels of speeds. This was what I had experienced when I tried out JVW and Coach Anna's sessions within the last 12 months. No paddles, hardly any pull buoys, some fins. It is what I call swimming naked - nothing but your arms and legs.

I decided to swim in the last lane - I guess it has always been what the slower you are, the closer to the wall you swim in. I am guessing it is for the coach and guidance, so they can walk up and down the side and monitor how you are going. Once someone masters the swim, they then move to the more advanced lanes - less coaching needed.

The warm up was short. I had done 100m already before the coach arrived and he asked that we do a further 200m. Then the next was sets of 200m done with different drills. We started off with fingertip drags where the coach said that my left arm is not lifting high but swinging across like a windmill - no wonder I tend to hit people on the other lane. This was followed by fist and free every 25m, catch ups and then single arms.

He does teach the "old school" swim technique of doing the "S" shape in the water where as the newer school of swimming doesn't teach that anymore and it is more about the bend in the elbows and creating a barrel straight down your body (No more S). This will be something which I have to manage as it does conflict with that I had learnt over the last 5 years. We then put on fins for the next 4 x 1000m doing front, back and side kicks for every 100m.

We then went into the 2nd main set which was to swim 400 fast, 200 recovery, 200 fast, 200 recovery, 100 fast. This part I struggled with especially when I haven't swam in 2 months apart from a 400m swim a few days before the corporate triathlon. I didn't really do a cool down because I was stuffed. First session back and I swam 2.6km. It was so refreshing to swim with a squad again. I worked hard at the session as someone was watching out for my technique. It was also good to swim with others in the lane who are on the same drills and speed.

From what I have been told, Neil takes the Monday and Wednesday sessions and these work on technique. The next (non-swimming) squad session is the Wednesday morning road ride. I took this route on Saturday afternoon and I found that riding down towards Carrum takes 30min and I assume that if the training session takes an hour - it is a straight out and back.

I struggled to get up and be motivated for the run session this morning - my dry and chesty cough was still lingering. I may also be tired from swimming the night before. This is something which I have crossed off my training list as a "not achieved" and fingers crossed, I will do a run on Thursday morning. 

I am joining the Bayside ladies for a dinner on Thursday night, I am looking forward to this.