Weekly Reflection 19/05 - 25/05

Last week was pretty hectic - balancing (work) work, life, my side project and training. As I had mentioned before, I have started to get a few things ready for my new adventure. It is not really ready for announcement yet as I am trying to get a few administrative things done.

I didn't have a chance to soak my legs post Sunday's run session and I had DOMS pretty much for 3 days after that. It was only a 9km run and I had DOMS for days - what does that tell you about my fitness? A big CRAP!

So I picked up my Triathlon Truck on Tuesday 20th. It took me nearly 2 days to get used to driving a compact SUV compared to my VW golf. I love the height of the vehicle! On the weekend, I had my bike at the back and there was no need to take the front wheel off! Such a bonus. I am still getting used to driving an auto (been driving manuals since I was 18), the keyless entry and the i-Stop thing...which means that in traffic (or whenever I have the brakes one), the engine of the car stops but starts up again when I have the foot off the brake.

On the training side of things, I haven't been attending the squad swims but have been following the program to a T on my own at GESAC. As we are working on the technique side of things for the next few weeks, I am comfortable about doing these sessions on my own. After camp, I will start the swims again at Northcote/MSAC/Mentone.

Long ride on Saturday was from Hampton Cycles down to Frankston BP and back. The ride was OK, I did struggle with calf cramps when I was advised to work on my stroke (heels down more). It was a pain as I was struggling to keep up whilst I cramped.

Had my first run session on Sunday with Rupert. After the warm up and drills, we learnt the difference between the 4 interval styles of running:

1) Intensive - Short Sprints with long rest
2) Extensive - Longer Sprints within a certain time (once you reach there, your rest time is whatever you gave left within that time frame).
3) Fartlek - Run plays - This is on and off but still running (no stationary or walking rests)
4) Tempo - slightly faster than the long run pace but constant speed.

I was definitely comfortable with the Tempo but struggled with the first 3. My speed was definitely MIA.

Favourite (and Least Favourite) session of the week: Loved my run session on Sunday - Learning the basics and hopefully learn to run faster. I am running with Rupert too on the Tuesday mornings and Thursday evenings (when I am not coaching) so I am aiming to keep running as consistent as possible.

When we were doing sprints and fartlek, I was not comfortable at all - my heart rate was high, I just couldn't move my limbs fast. Just really weak in general.

Advice of the week: Time to get some specific strength training into my schedule again. This includes squats and leg presses.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: Aiming to attend a full week's training and ticking off the sessions.

There is no Off-Season...

We (at Tri Alliance) had our first Team Meeting last night. We always have several team meetings every year at different phases of the season. We are just getting into the swing of training (after recovery month) and we let the team know what is happening and how to be your best come race season.

A few things to note, we don't like to call the next few months of training the Off Season as it suggests that we don't do much of the training. We like to refer it as the Winter Training season.

We need to remember the following:

• Having just come off your last race a few months ago and you have now recovered, your body is not performing at its peak so do not despair if a 5km run feels like shit.
• Learn to train slow in order to race fast - this is all about bringing all you need to do down to the basics.
• Swimming - drills, rotations, sculling
• Biking - single legs, pedal stroke position, saddle position
• Running - drills, posture, how your feet land
• S&C - working on your glutes, core, balance
• Don't stray away from the program - if you need to change things around due to work/life commitments, speak to the coaches so you will get a balanced week of training rather than second guessing what sessions to do.
• Stay Consistent - it is the key to everything.
• Eat/Fuel Well - once the sessions get longer, learn what your body can and can't handle (then adjust)
• Sleep - get as much rest as possible. I personally find that if I prepare as much as possible during the weekend, I am able to go to sleep early during the week.
• You are training to race, not race to train.

I wasn't able to joining to long course guys when we broke out into the respective groups as I was coach for the beginners group. We went through some of the key points with the squad who are beginners and emphasised that as long as they stick to the program, make themselves accountable (share your goals with family and friends) and be consistent, they will do fantastic during race season.

My advice to beginners is choose your races wisely, don't do every race on the calendar. Quality over quantity. What is your aim for the season? Ask as many questions as possible.

For me, I will have a few weeks left of transition period before we go into the full training calendar (which includes Tuesday, Thursday and Friday morning sessions). Need to work on my strength and endurance in cycling so I can get through the Gran Fondo well and to work on my running so I can speed things up a tad rather than just plod my way through the course.

I haven't had time to update on my side project yet as I still need to get the details down. Pretty much what I am doing is hand-making some cycling wares. At the moment, its cycling caps and musettes (not that popular in the triathlon world) but huge in cycling.

I have set up the email, twitter and facebook accounts and once I get paid, I will organise for a domain name.

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.

Dirty Gran Fondo - Professional Pics

I bought some professional photos from the official photographer from the Dirty Gran Fondo event. To put things into perspective, I have yet to purchase my Ironman Melbourne photos! I am more proud of this event as it was something completely out of my comfort zone and it was also my first off-road event.

These were purchased from James Taylor's website.

At the start of the race. I remember trying to keep up with these ladies.
Unfortunately, I was dropped like a sack of potatoes

This was the top of the first hill climb.
I am only smiling here as there was a camera present.

Alright, no more smiling for the camera, now keep on going.....chug chug chug chug

See how much mud there was on my ass....that was only the beginning!

This was taken just before the finish line.
 See the smile on my face - yeah, realised it was the finish line and I actually made it.

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".

The (Very) Dirty Gran Fondo - The Event Report

On 10th May 2014, I did my first off road event (ever!). I have mentioned about this event before the day after I signed up. The days leading up to it was filled with nerves and uncertainty. I have only had 2 rides on my mountain bike - both at Lysterfield with mixed results. Both around 14km and completed just shy of 2 hours.

There were 3 distances for this event. The 90km, the 65km and then the 35km which was the one which I signed up to do due to my ability (or lack thereof).

The day started out early. Registration started at 6:45am and we decided to get there early so we could also prep our bikes. I currently don't have roof racks so the 2 bikes (one small 26" mountain bike and one very large cyclocross) were disassembled and placed in the back of my VW golf. We left the house (Cheltenham) at 5:15am and got to Wandong Football grounds by 6:30am. Registration was pretty straight forward - What is your race number? Here is your race number, done.

Start of the day - event briefing - all smiles

Random dog who decided to take shelter from the rain in our car.

It had been raining since Friday night and continued early Saturday morning and so the grounds were wet and muddy. It was hard to decide what to wear - should I cater for wet weather? cater for comfort as riding warms me up quick? I decided early to wear a rain jacket as there were still showers present. I also wore ear warmers under my Solo riding cap. The briefing started at 7:45am, the ride started at 8am.

We were told to self seed ourselves and I started at the back as I am more comfortable with my own personal space. The first few km were good. It was wet and it took me a while to be comfortable about finding the best line.

The rain tore up some nice paths for us to ride through. When I mean nice, I mean mud several inches thick. I tried to ride through the mud-fest as much I as could. This meant pedalling my little legs out like crazy whilst trying to keep the bike perpendicular to the surface. I kept pedalling until a point where the mud was several inches deep and there was a steep incline. My bike could not move any longer and this was the first part of the course where I had to walk the bike. I also decided before I got back on the bike that I would take off my rain jacket and my ear warmers as I was getting too hot. I knew this part of the course would damage people's bikes as further on the course, I saw hangers, brake pads and even a whole cassette!

Rear wheel. Relatively OK

We were warned about the steep descent at the 8km mark and when I reached it, I hopped off the bike in order to push the bike down. There was no way I could ride down that descent, I would have face planted as I had no idea how to manoeuvre myself down what felt like -25% gradient with plenty of rocks to add to the character.

#BAAW - Annie after the event. Not as muddy due to the rides through puddles.

Once I walked the bike down the road, it was time to hop back on, albeit quite difficult due to the mud caked within my cleats, pedals, brakes, wheels and cranks. I was getting slightly worried at this point as I had been out on the road for nearly an hour and I had only covered 9km. The next few kilometers were good, I found a rhythm and even passed a few people whilst we rode up a few inclines. I noticed around this point that the course with the wet conditions was more suited for mountain bikers rather than cyclocross. We then reached a turn off on the course and started with a gradient of 30% (ave 12%) , I couldn't pedal up this hill no matter how much I tried. It was a tough walk and what seemed like an eternity. I was however entertained by the signs the event organisers placed along the side.

Once we reached the top of the hill, it was a lonely ride amongst the fog and light drizzle until we reached the first feedzone, my halfway mark. I didn't stop for too long here, only filled up my water in my camelbak and ate half a banana. They had a smorgers board here, I saw cheesymite scrolls, cheesecakes, lollies and oreos but didn't have any. At that point (2 hours in), I was in no mood to stop for a picnic and I wasn't sure how my guts would handle real food and there were no toilet stops on the course.

The rest of the course was more fun and manageable. There were some tricky descents but I gained more confidence along the way and rode through them by picking good lines. I rode through some large puddles to clean the mud off my bike but there were some puddles which I had underestimated the depth and my feet were completely immersed.

The final hill came as a real surprise. I pedalled my way up and stayed on the bike the whole way through. At the 27km mark, the route brought us to the loose bitumen road. This part was tricky. I had been fighting the mud flying into my eyes for the first 20km+ but now I had to avoid the bitumen pieces for the next 1km.

The last 6km of the course was the best. Not sure if it was due to the fact that I knew that I was on the way to the finish line or it was because my skills and confidence had increased. There were puddles and mud again (as it was the same path as the one we rode out) but the ride back was much faster.
The very last part of the course took you to a narrow bitumen road before the finishers chute.

I was ecstatic when I crossed the finish line. I made it out to be a bigger deal than it was. It was my first off road event and I had only done a few 14km rides before this day. I couldn't believe that I made my way through the mud and climbed all those hills (glutes still burning today).

There were hot showers available and I got myself cleaned before I hosed the bike down as much as I could and waited a few hours for my partner to come through (he rode the 90km).

The Canadian - much muddier than me.

Things I learnt from this event:

• Mud goes through chamois. As much as some part of the course scared me, my knicks looked like I crapped myself.
• How to handle a mountain bike - it's gears, brakes and speed. Bike skills getting better.
• Carrying a camelbak for hydration worked better than bottles on the bike, especially if eating mud is not part of the recommended diet.
• I need glasses to wear for mountain biking. I didn't have clear ones and spent some time on the ride trying to blink the mud and bitumen out.
• I didn't come DFL - I actually placed 9th out of 15. Fastest was 2:43, my time was 3:51 and the 15th was 4:48. I rode the mountain bike which made it easier. I know that the females who finished after me all rode with cyclocross (credit to them). I stopped for nutrition and had a 5min break at the feedzone.

I loved this event. It was fun and I managed through it unscathed. Will I sign up for another one? In a heart beat! Depending on how I go in the next 12 months, I might sign up for the 65km or I might do the 35km again but on the CX bike.

Thanks to the event organisers.

My Strava can be seen here.

Goals for 2014/15

I am coming towards the end of my "recovery month". I had already spoken briefly about my goals for the next season before. Next week will be the start of transition week into the training schedule for the squad.

Like every athlete, I do have strengths and weaknesses. Not everything about strengths and weaknesses about the swim, bike and the run. Different from the last 2 years of training, I won't be doing a full Ironman within the next season. I will be doing a few 1.9/90/21.1km races with a few shorter distances thrown in for fun.

Here are a few things I would like to work on over the winter months to get me ready for the events ahead.

Cycling
I am going to do the a Gran Fondo ride in Canada in September. As much as I won't be racing this event, I would still want to get through the route well. There are hills (it is a Gran Fondo after all) and so it would be a matter of working on the strength on the bike and be more confident in descents.

What does this mean in Evalin's land, more hilly rides over winter. If the weather is shocking and my anxiety is too much to handle, assess early and rearrange training times and stick to it. I may need to get out later in the day or swap training days around.

Remain consistent with the windtrainer sessions on Tuesday evenings and when the Thursday morning rides happen again, be more vigilant and attend these sessions, even when I can't stick to the pack.

On the non-tri-related side of cycling...do at least one mountain bike ride a fortnight. This will help me with my bike skills as well as keeping my training fun. If I can, commute to work at least once a fortnight - this is something which I have enjoyed immensely over the last month.

My goal is to be able to ride < 3hrs during a half distance triathlon. This requires that my average speed needs to be > 31km/hr over the full 90km. 

Swimming
I will start official swim training on 3rd May 2014. I have used the program from the previous years (been with the squad since 2010) on my own. I wasn't sure if the Mentone squad would be swimming with the Tri Alliance program and wasn't in the motivation/mood to do a proper swim session just yet.

I am pretty comfortable with swimming and where it has advanced over the years. I do however want to work on my speed (strength and endurance).

My goal is to be able to swim < 35min for a 1.9km as part of a half distance triathlon.

Running
Over the last 12 months, my enthusiasm for Tuesday morning runs at MSAC were non-existent to the point where I only attended 2 sessions before the Bayside ones started (also only attended 3 of those). With the sessions being more available around Mentone, this will make it more convenient for me to attend as well as decreasing travel time in between work, home and training.

I may need to work on the basics again with some Run Technique work as well as turning up to Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon sessions more consistently. With regards to running events, I haven't committed myself to Run Melbourne or Melbourne Marathon events yet. I might look at the smaller running events to save money as well as gauging how I will be travelling towards my goal.

Remember throughout the year that my main goal for 2014/15 is to run under 2 hours for 21.1km (after swimming 1.9km and riding 90km). One thing I need to monitor will be monitoring and management of my injuries. Achieving this goal is not easy for me. It took me 3 years of running half marathons to get a sub 2 hour (1:58) a few years ago. I have not been able to achieve it since.

 

Apart from having Challenge Shepparton and Challenge Melbourne as my main races of 2014/15, I am looking forward to doing the corporate triathlon in March (400m/10km/4km). There will most likely be an Olympic distance tri in Dec/Jan, looking forward to cracking the 3 hour mark again.

For a half ironman-distance race, a goal of under 6 hours is on the cards. Close to 5:45 would be a goal to aim for with cycling and running as my main areas of improvement.

Diiiirty Gran Fondo

So last night I bit the bullet and signed up for my first off road event - the Dirty Gran Fondo organised by Bill Hill Events. I am not leaping into anything too drastic! I am just doing the 35km loop instead of the 60km or the 90km.

Considering that I have just started to ride off road and my fitness is also not quiet there to manage 60 or 90km on fire trails, I will give this a go with my mountain bike and maybe next year, I will upgrade to the 60 or 90km or even ride the CX.

I am estimating that I will be finishing this the same time as the 90km racers (the ones who are racing it instead of doing it as a ride) - the fastest was a World Champ Paul Ven Der Ploeg in 3:21 over 90km.

There are a few things I need to sort out before the 10th May - get my bike fixed. My front suspensions are not functioning 100% - currently I have no suspension on my bike. If worse comes to the worse, I may have to take the CX bike.

There are big climbs so I will need to dig deep and spin my little legs out. Part of the 35km loop still goes through Kinglake National park, I don't know how I will fair with the descents but I will try my best to stay confident.

Mother's Day is on 11th May (the next day), I am travelling to Geelong to do the walk with my mum. She has never done anything like this before. She was originally working on this day (she is an aged care nurse) but decided to take a day off and do this walk with me.

Because I'm Happy!

I am in the middle of my holidays at the moment. I am calling it a holiday as (i) I am taking a break from work but more relevant (ii) I am taking a break from triathlon training. Don't get me wrong, I love the sport of triathlon and stepping outside of my comfort zone, after doing the Ironman race in March (for the 2nd time over 12 months), I really needed a break.

I have mentioned before in my last post, I am doing some non-triathlon-training specific bike riding over the month of April. In Australia, we have Easter holidays from Friday 18th through to Monday 21st, then I took 3 days of annual leave and then we have Friday 25th April as ANZAC day public holiday. In total, I am having 10 days off work/training! WINNING! This is the first time I have had a holiday since 2011 when I went travelling in Europe for 3 weeks.

Easter Friday 18th April
My partner works for Bicycle Superstore in Mentone and he organises shop rides from the store every Friday (rain, hail or shine) at 6:45am. I haven't joined this ride due to my swim session on a Friday morning. Due to the public holiday and the bike ride starting at 7:30am instead of the usual 6:45am, I decided it was time I joined this group for a ride and meet new people. The usual ride also loops back around St Kilda (where the BP is) but due to the public holiday, we rode to Port Melbourne and then had a break (breakfast) and then back to the shop.

The average speed on this ride was around 26-30km/hr. Even though we had a few beginners with us, we still had rolling turns.

In the afternoon, we went to the Harrison St velodrome to watch the DDCX (Dirty Deeds Cyclocross) prologue races. Neither of us raced that day but we still went to support. It was (once again) such a great event. Supported by a great cycling community, who are not so caught up with egos. I had friends who had never been to a CX race there and they had such a great time, was an eye opener to the other side of the cycling sphere.

Cyclocross Prologue - C Grade.

Saturday 19th April
This was the first of the latte rides which Tri Alliance has over the month of April. I was down as a coach for the morning. From last week, I noted that one of the girls in the squad needed some attention in riding. I didn't want to leave her behind (like last week) so I decided to ride with her and took the opportunity to teach her some cycling skills.

The ride started from West End Pavilion, up to Port Melbourne and then down to Rickets' Point. There was a faster group who would ride down to Mordialloc and then meeting us at Rickets for a coffee.

There was heavy rain but was isolated around Mordialloc and we (the slower group) missed it completely.

Easter Sunday 20th April
As I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to get a MTB session before I ride with the Tri Alliance group on the 27th. Initially, I wanted to go out and do it by myself but my partner ended up coming with me which was a God-send as he taught me so much on the day.

Annie - My mountain bike

I ended up doing about 14km in total but as this is mountain biking and not just riding the fire trails, it took me nearly 2 hours to get through the course. My bike skills were still shaky. I can't do switchbacks on descents but am now able to ride them going uphills. I think it has to do with the speed of the bike. As I am riding uphill, the bike is nice and slow but you are still pedalling like crazy. Going downhill, I have no idea how to handle the bike. I guess it is hard to explain until you try it yourself.

I tried to be confident along the course so I did ride over some obstacles. There was one point on the course where I actually got myself over a set of logs. I guess I thought I had enough skills at hand, but I didn't end up getting myself over the next set of logs and went over the handlebars of the bike. My pubic bone met the head stem of the bike (hard) and I fell head first over the log. My body was tangled up and my partner had to help me out of the bike. Luckily no one was around to have witnessed it. It took a while for the pain to subside before I continued. This happened around 4km from the start and the fact that that I rode around 14km in total showed that I kept at it. It was definitely an out of comfort zone moment.

My confidence on the mountain bike definitely has increased since my last real mountain bike ride 2 years ago. I am still not 100% (not even close) but I am happy to do mountain biking again. To be honest, it was fun. All the bikers on the course are much nicer and everyone said hello. Even though I was out there for nearly 2 hours, it required plenty of mental alertness and I had to decide what to do around each path. Fingers crossed for the 27th April!

A photo of my riding up one of the switchback. 

Bruises on my left leg (day 6)

Easter Monday 21st April

As my body was a bit sorry and sore from my fall on Sunday, I decided to take it easy on the bike and rode the CX bike instead of the roadie. We decided to cruise around our area went on a little adventure. We first rode to Sandringham via the little side streets. After breakfast, we rode to Black Rock via Bluff Road (instead of Beach Road) and visited Le Knicks. The management of this famous shop close to the Black Rock clock tower has changed since late last year. Instead of stocking bargain bins of jerseys and pro-group gear, they are now stocking more quality clothing (than quantity). It was a nice change and more welcoming in my opinion. 

After chatting to the new owner for a bit, we then rode up Balcombe Rd to Watkins Bay coffee shop for another coffee break before we headed home via the side streets. 

Loved this day as we took in the sights of our neighbourhood, checked out the mansions, visited bike shops, ventured through parks, all done on our bikes (no lycra or Garmin in sight). 

Thursday 24th April

I spent my annual leave days with my parents in Geelong. I decided to take to the CX bike to Geelong as I planned on riding bike paths around my parent's place. 

The ride started around 9:30am. I initially rode around the freeway but the bike paths stopped so I decided to turn around and found some bike paths on either side of the Waurn Ponds creek. I rode this path all the way to Barwon river. Instead of riding the same path back, I decided to take different paths where I could and ventured around Deakin uni before heading back home. 

The ride was fantastic. The speed was around 12-18km/hr, relaxed and I took in the sights of the neighbourhood. I felt like a kid again, riding along the bike paths, no pressure of riding in a pack, no pressure of trying to cover certain distances of a program. 

Betty in front of the Barwon River

Swiggly map from Strava showing where I rode

ANZAC Day 25th April

This morning, I joined the Bicycle Superstore shop ride. We started at 8am to cater for people who would have joined any of the dawn services around Melbourne. We started from the shop and stopped at Port Melbourne for breakfast, then we returned to the shop again. Just shy of 50km for this morning. We noticed that even though we rode at 8am, it was still cold (7 degrees C). If you didn't have long fingered gloves, you were suffering. 

So far, I have been on bikes for 6 days out of the 8 with 2 more days remaining of my holiday. The next 2 days, I am planning on riding with the squad on Saturday (Latte Ride) to Mordi and will be returning to Lysterfield on Sunday for Sunday-Funday's mountain biking session. 

I have to say, this has been one of the best holidays I have had. We (my partner and I) didn't go anywhere exotic, we stayed at home, we spent time with each other and on our bikes. I also spent time with my family without the stress of fitting in training sessions. 

The break away from training has been great for my well being. I have enjoyed being outdoors and being on my bike(s) for the love of it. I am happy. XX

I have no bike skills!

Don't get me wrong, I can ride a bike, I can ride for more than 180km in one session...I have done that on several occasions training for and during the Ironman...but most of my riding is done in a straight line, on smooth bitumen with no switchbacks.

As part of my "no training" month of April, I thought I would dabble in a bit of non-triathlon specific riding - considering that I do own more than one bike and the A-race are over for the season. Lets face it, triathlon training and racing gives you little to no bike skills whatsoever.

Firstly, I spent time on my cyclocross bike. I wanted to do some re-mounting practice but the park was just filled with (off leash) dogs and people kicking the footy. I couldn't use the main park to do re-mounts so I just decided to ride off track the park, not only on the single tracks but over all terrains. I then rode along the dirt path all around the golf course before I headed home.

I discussed the Dirty Gran Fondo with my partner and he recommended that I ride the mountain bike rather than the cyclocross. So we decided to head back out on the park but ride the mountain bike instead.

I bought a 2nd hand mountain bike during August/September of last year. The frame is a Giant Arete but all the components (I mean everything) has been upgraded. I am not familiar with all the MTB components or lingo but from what my (mtb) people have told me, the price I paid for the bike was a super-duper bargain!

The gears and the braking of the mountain bike took some time to get use to as they behave very differently from the roadie and the CX. I got use to the bike after a few rides up and down some hills and over different terrains. I found it hard initially when the terrain was sandy but I got used to it after learning what needed to be done before I attempt the section - change gears early without losing momentum to one which I can pedal consistently and quick. I found a new level of confidence going over bumps but still hesitant about going down hill especially when it was sandy or filled with thistles or rocks. Why? Because I have no idea how to handle the bike down those conditions and also don't know what to actually do (am I making sense?). The fear of not knowing what will happen scares the bejesus out of me. My abilities got better towards the end of the day but I am hoping to practice some more before I take the bike out to Lysterfield on the 27th April with the Tri Alliance group...

Rain Rain...

The skies are so grey, it makes the day go by so much more slower (insert sad face, still at work).

Lucky for me, this is the month of April when I do pretty much F-all and not stress about the "training bank".

So what has been happening over the week? I did a 1.7km with the squad on Monday night. Even though it was only 1.7km, I didn't get home until 9:30pm. As much as I would love a sleep in on a Monday morning, I don't think the evening swim sessions will be sustainable for me.

I rode into work on the CX bike on Tuesday morning. Didn't look at the weather forecast much and the heavens opened up by mid morning which resulted in a train ride home in the afternoon, my first one in about 4 years! It hasn't stopped raining since Tuesday and so I really haven't done much riding. If it remains to be wet over the weekend, it would be ideal as I am planning on doing a few rides on the CX bike and practicing my skills (mainly in the mounting and carrying bike over barriers).

I decided not to go to do the 1000 steps this year as I want to do a few things around the house on Sunday.

Fingers crossed that the weather is OK for the Liv/Giant & Tri Alliance ladies ride on Saturday morning. I am looking forward to a casual ride to Mordialloc.

On a non-triathlon-training side of things, I have signed up to Kelly Brothers for my fresh fruit and vegetable delivery. At the moment I have signed up for a fortnightly delivery but I think we may have to do a weekly as we are absolutely loving the vegetables we have and the fact that I am planning my meals around the vegetables. Blown away by the amount of fruit and vegs that came in the box. There is about 3 layers of fruit and veg under what is shown on the photo below. For $45 a box, its a great buy!!

 

 

They say that with triathlon, your weakest discipline is what you "let go" first during recovery and what you "take up" last amongst the training schedule after your recovery period. This is very true in my world. Apart from the odd scoot when I crossed the road, I have not done any running/jogging of any kind. I am thinking a new pair of shoes will encourage me more? :)

 

A visit to the bikram room will be on the cards this weekend. I am looking forward to spending 90min in a hot and humid environment, stretching and sweating it out.

Recovery Week = Bruise Week

I have just had 2 weeks of recovery post Ironman and to be honest, I have really taken things very very very lightly.

Prior to the end of Daylight Savings (Sunday 6th April), it was pitch black even at 7:30am. I was going to commute into work on several occasions but that was out the window with last minute work commitments. I also wanted a few days of sleeping past 7:30am whilst I could....you know, before the crazy-o'clock alarm starts again. Sleeping hasn't been the best either, I am finding myself waking up several times with high heart rate and stressed.

Not only has my triathlon training on holidays, so has my eating. It started pretty much the day after my Ironman race where I had a maccas breakfast the day after. I was still craving the salt and the fried goodness of a couple of hash browns. One of my most notable holiday eating was last Friday where I had 4 hot jam donuts for dinner at the MCG when I watched the Hawks thrash the Dockers. I realised that night that I haven't had a jam donut in about 4 years!

General entries for Ironman Melbourne opened on 1st and 3rd April. A few people wanted to step up to the full Ironman distance from the squad. Each with their reasons on why they wanted to do it. As long as they realise what they are signing up to, not only what you have to get yourself through on the actual day but the months and months of training involved, they should be right.

On Saturday 5th, I had my first Cyclocross experience ever! I have had my CX bike (a Giant Brava SLR2 named Betty) since Dec of last year. I have only ridden it around the neighbourhood and used it to commute to work once. I didn't want to break it out on too much off road use as I didn't want to break myself prior to Ironman day. Boy oh boy, CX is hard work. The session started off with a warm up lap of Darebin park and that 3min ride contained more twists, turns and bike skills than I have ever had in the 33 years of my existence. We then worked on the first thing which was dismounting - I had this down pat as it is the same as a triathlon dismount (which I actually don't do myself). It was then dismount followed by carrying the bike over a barrier. Now I am really short (156cm) with disproportionally shorter legs and longer body and so carrying a bike above a barrier is actually hard work when the barrier is as high as my knees. It was hard for me to run and hop over the barriers whilst carrying my bike.

When we moved onto the re-mount part, this was where my whole confidence fell to pieces. My seat is high (as I use it more for commuting than for CX riding) and so when I have my inner thigh on the seat, I have a very sharp angle on my hips. I was instructed to jump onto the saddle but I am not moving fast enough (CX is all about grass, dirt and mud) that I fall onto the ground rather than gracefully onto the saddle. I fell over about 4 times that morning. I am doing so many things wrong. I am adamant on mastering this so I will need to adjust a few things on my bike - lower the saddle, remove drink cages, before I do more practising. The removal of drink cages is so that you are able to put your hands along the down-tube to carry your bike over your shoulders if you need to climb stairs or a muddy/sandy incline. We finished the day off work some cornering skills and then practiced mass starts. Lets just say, I am really bad at re-mounts, I am still cornering with a bit of hesitation and I don't have that eagerness to start the race off super fast (high heart rate - what what?!). The guys and gal from Dirty Deeds are super friendly and I am looking forward to the season.

Although I couldn't master the re-mount, I had a fun day and learnt heaps about the CX bike. I did enjoy riding around in the park and I will do more of it this weekend and over the holidays. With regards to racing - I am in two minds. The races does look fun (been spectating for about 3 years now) but I know that my skills are no where near what it takes to race. I know that I have the endurance but I do lack the speed and bike skills.

Photo Courtesy of Dirty Deeds

My body started to ached the next day from the multiple falls  and I am sporting some really awesome bruises but I am eager to do more riding. I rode the bike to the Mordialloc triathlon race on Sunday morning and rode home along the dirt path along the main Beach road.

I haven't done any running of any sorts since Ironman. I don't know when I will start. For now, I am going to attend a few swim sessions and doing more cycling for the month of April.

The end of my 2013-2014 season. Whats next?

It has been just over a week since my last triathlon race for the 2013/14 season. I have just finished my 2nd Ironman event and came away smiling and content that I did my best and exceeded my expectations.

The (same) race last year left me empty because of the shortened swim (3.8km became 1.5km due to the wind gust) and the wind-change on my 2nd lap left me with nothing in my tank and started the run off in such a negative state that I cried 3 times on the course.

This year, I had no expectations of the race except to push myself and race smarter over all 3 legs of the race. With the swim, it was a gorgeous 3.8km swim in flat and clear water - saw several jellies too! I could not have asked for anything better (although I am a bit biased to a swim with a bit of swell as it keeps it interesting). I tried as much as I could to stick to people's feet and it started the race off in a great form. What I will need to work on for the next season will be my speed and how quick I recover from swimming in this zone. I know that for what I am capable of, I can only improve this time by 5min (give or take). I know realistically that I am no where near swimming close to the hour mark. So for the next off-season, be consistent with swimming with the squad.

The bike is something which I can see the most improvement. Compared to run training, training for the bike will less likely lead me to injuries (more on this later). During winter, I am going to ride into work more, riding the MTB and getting some bike handling skills if I am to race Busso (in 2015, thats the plan). Busselton has plenty of sharp turns and U-turns! I am going to do the BC Gran Fondo (in Canada) in August so I will need to train for this. I will do as much of the Saturday rides as I can and work on my anxiety of the descents. It started to become a real issue and it impacted on my training as I was hesitant about riding out at Kinglake. I couldn't handle the pressure when people questioned my ability (or lack of) when descending which is something I have a great fear of. I will also incorporate some strength work in the gym which came in handy over the holiday break leading up to Ironman. I worked on my core, glutes, quads, hamstrings and calves and as a result, went into the Ironman with no niggles. I want to be able to ride (comfortably) a sub 6 for 180km in Busso 2015.

Having the newly formed bayside run group now with Coach Rupert will be great for my run training. I see myself doing a double session on Tuesday more often than the last season as the training group is more intimate and the coaching method of Rupert is what I am comfortable with. I will monitor my body more closely and be more aware of weaknesses. I want to increase my speed for the next season as one of my goals will be running a sub 2 hours as part of the half Ironman for 2014/15 and to be able to run 4:30 for Busso 2015. I am not going to be entering the Melbourne Marathon (half or full) this year as I will be away in Canada during Aug/Sept 2014. Running is my weakness mainly due to my hyper mobility and my joints hurting during impact. I must increase the strength in my muscles without stretching my ligaments too much as well as being consistent with my core work.

As you may have gathered, I am taking a break from racing the full Ironman distance until Busselton 2015 (fingers crossed for the finances by Dec 2014). I want to work on my strength and speed as I (personally), felt that the increase in the distance needed for Ironman training, I had to decrease my speed in order to pace myself better. I want to have a better crack at another full distance only when I have my base (long course) foundation well cemented.

Even though I am not training for the 3.8km/180km/42.2km event, I will still be part of the long course training group. I am still setting (achievable) goals for the next season. I have signed up for 2 races so far:

• Challenge Shepparton (half) on the 16th November 2014
• Challenge Melbourne (half) on the 1st February 2015

With both races, I will have goals in mind of not only being faster in all 3 legs of the race but to be able to recover well enough from the efforts to move on to the next discipline. I will most likely do the Melbourne Corporate triathlon for fun as I haven't raced sprint in about 2 years.

This is just a rough plan for the next season (2014-15). For now, I am taking a few weeks of triathlon training and will slowly get back into the swing of things before May. I am looking forward to getting acquainted with both my cyclocross and mountain bikes. I have a ladies CX session next Saturday at Darebin Parklands which I am looking forward to (and slightly hesitant at the same time). Wish me luck!

Ironman Melbourne 2014 - The Race Report

So on the 23rd March 2014, I raced my 2nd Ironman event...It was my first full official 140.6 miles (226km) as 2013 was cut short due to the wind conditions, which resulted in a reduced swim of 1.5km rather than 3.8km. 

I got to cuddle my little Lucy at Mentone

I thought I would do this before I head back into work on Wednesday as I have a few things on my plate post Ironman. So this race report will be what happened on the day and my reflection piece will be done at a later date. 

So on the Sunday morning, I woke up at 4:30am to have breakfast (coffee, white toast with coconut jam) and was ready to leave the house by 5am but my partner (driver, photographer and supporter for the day) was still in bed. Slightly annoyed at his lateness but I didn't want to get too upset as it was not going to be a good start to the day. We eventually left the house at 5:20am and got into Frankston (and found parking) at about 6:20am. I walked pretty fast into transition to set up my bike and realised that I had packed my spare gels into my blue bag rather than into the bento box....something which I didn't even realise when I packed my bag on Friday evening. So what I had on my bike was a bidon of coke, a bidon of plain water and my shotz solution mix into my front sippy system. I wrapped some teflon tape (plumber's tape) around the threads of my canisters to stop them from unscrewing itself during my ride (as it had been doing over the last 2 months or so). I pumped my tyres and I was ready to race. 

I nearly forgot to drop off my special needs bag and only realised when someone asked me where the drop off was!

Tri Alliance had a meeting point in the morning so I headed towards the flags and said hello to the squad. We hung around for about 10min or so before we decided it was time to suit-up and headed to the swim start. By the time I walked towards the swim start, I heard the horn go off for the pros and was slightly nervous thinking that I only had minutes left but we had plenty of time. 

Pre-race nutrition: 2 gels + 500ml Gatorade. 

Ready to rock and roll

I got into the water and got acclimatised to the water temperatures and got my spot amongst the crowd. I wanted to add at this point that I was very nervous about the day ahead as all I could think about was the race last year and how much it broke me. I was also still traumatised from the ride I did during Geelong 70.3 a month ago. Once the gun went off for the age groupers, all those negative thoughts just vanished and it was all about the day ahead. 

I didn't want to start too far on the left knowing that I can and should draft off people in this swim. I probably started about 100m from the pier and was comfortable in this position. The swim towards the first buoy was hectic. I got elbowed in the face and I bit my lip on two occasions. Even though the first turning buoy was about 850m from the start, there was still a bottle-neck around the 1st turning buoy. I decided to not swim too close and swam around the congestion with little to no issues. The swim to the 2nd turning buoy was short so there was further congestion and I could hear people yelling. 

The rest of the swim was just about sighting the buoys and heading towards buoys 3, 4 and 5 before heading towards buoy 6 and then to shore. I found the sighting buoys really inconsistent in their placing as the tide moved them around. I decided to just head towards the IM buoys. I could draft of the swimmers in front of me at a good pace, sometimes maybe a little too slow for what I could hold but I wasn't there to sprint to the finish. 

As I got out of the water, I was impressed with the my swim. I was not tired and I was ready for the 180km ride ahead. I drank a few mouth full of the Gatorade they handed out as I needed to replenish my calories lost during the swim and to also remove the salty taste in my mouth. 

In T1, the volunteers helped me get dressed. As much as they were trying to be helpful, they threw my train of thought out the window to what I needed to do (i.e. strip down my tri suit - wear it like a pair of shorts and put my jersey on top). I ended up advising them that they can help someone else as I was ok. I reapplied paw paw ointment around my groin area so that I would not chafe during the race. 

My bike was close to the exit but I had to swing my bike around a guy who ran up the wrong side of the carpet. He was in a daze and didn't realise where he needed to be. I heard plenty of cheers from Tri Alliance supporters and that gave me a big boost to tackle the day ahead. 

So within the first 30km I was feeling great. I knew there was a slight tailwind and my average speed was all above 30km/hr. Because of how easy the ride felt, I knew that it would not be a pretty sight on the way back into Frankston. As I had done this course before, it didn't felt long before I reached the Mullum Mullum tunnel. I was hesitant about descending but it didn't feel too scarey. The ride back up the tunnel was when I was in my small chain ring and an easier gear to make my ride easier. The turn around point seemed to come quicker than last year. I rode my first 45km in just under 1:25 and I was ecstatic about this. 

There was a headwind towards Frankston but luckily there were enough people around me to make the ride a bit more bearable. There were several moments (we are talking 30km or so) when people started to overtake but would not keep up their speed so when they pulled in front of me, they would slow down (bad). This was annoying so I would speed up to ride around them. I was in my large chain ring the entire way and by the time I got into Frankston, I was fatigued and mentally had to compose myself for the 2nd lap. It didn't feel as easy as the first heading back out after 90km but I knew that I was over the half way mark and the rest of the ride was ever closer to the 180km than before. The ride back into Frankston was harder than the first as the wind picked up. Straight after the tunnel, I had to stick to the small chain ring and just rode with it all the way back into Frankton. My speed was low but I knew that my legs were going to stay relatively fresh for the run. 

When I got off the bike, I realised that I didn't stop to pee once (where as last year I stopped twice), must have been the two times I pee'ed in my wetsuit too (?!). 

Bike Nutrition: 4 + 4 + 4 + 2 = 14 gels, 100ml coke, 1.75 bidons of Shotz solution, 2 panadols. I had my alarm at every 30min. Carried 3 gel flasks (4 gels each) and had spares in case I ran out. Had coke towards the final 20km of the ride in towards Frankston. 

I got into T2 and took off my jersey and put my tri suit back on. Put on fresh socks and put on my running shoes. I decided to not run with a hat as it was a cloudy day. 

Within the first few steps outside the tent, I needed to go to the toilet and I am glad I did as I didn't need to go for the rest of the day. 

When I was off on the run, my legs felt relatively good. Much better than last year and I didn't have any tears at all. I pretty much just started to run towards St Kilda and felt good. My plan was that I would have a gel in the tent and would have a gel at every 4km (2nd aid station) but because my ride was 6:44, I had a gel about 10 before the start of the run. I decided that I would hold off my first gel until the 2km mark of the run and would take the next at 6km, 10km etc. The plan was to take a salt tablet at every 45min. Early on the run, I decided to have some of the vegemite which they were serving and found it great! So every aid station, I had coke, water and Vegemite with every 2nd aid station, a gel. 

I pretty much ran the entire marathon and (only) walking through the aid stations, up the hill at Mentone, Ricketts Point and behind the carpark at Brighton. I carried a pretty good pace and only had about 4 people pass me in the run. I ran passed so many people on the run and had some guys cheered me on and told me that I was running at a great pace. Around Chelsea, I could smell a bad stench and when one of the athletes passed me, I realised that he had crapped his pants and it was so full that a bit of it was coming down his legs. Was disgusting! I never want to be that person, I would stop at a toilet before that ever happens. 

Running through the two Tri Alliance aid stations was the best, the first being Mentone and the 2nd being Elwood. I took my time through them and thanked all the volunteers. Was great to see familiar faces. 

Elwood Aid Station

Elwood was the 2nd last aid station and I knew that I was close to home. I had my last gel there knowing that I would just run on coke for my last 2km. I once again ran through the Great Provider with a huge smile on my face and made sure that I stuck my hands out wide - this way, I would not get slaps across the face (like last year). 

The last 1km into the finish line felt the longest ever. I was so close to finishing and I couldn't wait. I decided long ago that I was going to make my finish a bit more memorable and did the robot dance. I have got photos of this but will need to wait until pay day to purchase them. I will be posting them once they have been finalised. 

Run Nutrition: 11 gels, about a litre of coke in total and half a teaspoon of vegemite at each station (22 stations). 

Nutrition in total: 27 gels, ~1 litre of coke, ~1.75 bidons of Shotz solution and plenty of water on the run. 

In the results side of things, there were 47 finishers in my age category (Female 30-34). 

Swim - 1:20.27, 38 out of 47

T1 - 7:56

Ride - 6:44.11, 42 out of 47 (a 45min PB compared to last year)

T2 - 6:48

Run - 4:52.44, 43 out f 47 (a 15min PB compared to last year)

Overall - 13:12.16 (43 out of 47). What I am most proud of is that this year was the full 3.8km swim AND I had an 20min PB which was huge in my eyes! I will write more about this race but for now...I just wanted to write down the main points and express how happy I was about this race. I actually feel complete and content.