An Eye Opener

Today (12th April 2015),  there was a single day riding initiative called The Women's Ride Day. I signed up to join the girls at Fondo as I am a HUGE fan of their cycling gear - I have bought the Disco and the Snow kits. I knew that the Fondo ride was going to consist of rolling hills but I had no idea how I was not prepared for it.

Fondo - http://fondo.com.au

My last hilly ride was the Whistler Gran Fondo ride at which I did the 120km (2000m elevation) in over 7 hours. This ride was in September 2014 on the back of a 7 week holiday. No training, just survived the ride. 

Since returning to Melbourne, I had only ridden Beach Road as it was close to Tri season and the TT bike came out of hiding. My last long ride was the Challenge Melbourne event where I rode 90km and ever since the 2nd Feb, my long rides have been Beach Road ~ 40 - 60km. No hills and nothing more than 60km. 

The Strava link to the ride course was posted on the Fondo event page so I had a look and was worried. https://www.strava.com/routes/2051262?mc_cid=2a74f878de&mc_eid=%5BUNIQID%5D Note: This was not the course I ended up doing today. 

My anxiety was playing up again to the point where I lost sleep on Saturday night - Sweating in my sleep, headaches, loss of sleep and shocking dreams. I actually contemplated pulling out at about 4am. But I am glad I got all my shit together and left the house at 6am....

Like with all trips for rides, I always find a toilet (most likely a maccas) before the ride. The nervousness of the event made my stomach hurt and needed to visit a toilet bad. Luckily, the closest Maccas was only 1km from the starting point on the ride. 

Once I got all my stuff together and went to the starting point, it was great to see a familiar face of a girl I used to train with. There was about 50+ ladies there with most wearing Fondo kits. 

They decided to split the group into 3 - fast, medium and social pace. I decided to join the social pace due to my lack of riding as mentioned before. About 10km into the ride, I knew that I had signed up to something beyond my current capabilities. I was so slow going up those hills, I had no power in my legs and for the life of me could not get my cadence up beyond 40rpm. I had done my first long run on Saturday (the day before) - it was only 10km but my quads were still sore. This may have attributed to the lack of power. 

I had to unclip out of my pedals twice as I couldn't get up those hills, I felt like I had ran out of gears. At the 20km mark, I decided to pull the pin. It was 1/4 into the ride and due my speed, I was breaking up the group dynamics too much. One of the guides would stay with the slowest rider at the back and I felt that I was more of a burden than anything. Once we got onto Main Street, I decided to turn left and head towards Eltham than turn right towards Kangaroo Ground. I was by myself but had ridden in these parts of Melbourne before. I decided to take the bike path and rode along the Main Yarra Trail (90% gravel) back to Heidelberg from Templestowe. I am glad I decided to ride the rest of the way home instead of catching the train (which I was totally prepared for and why I brought my Myki card). 

Although I was totally shattered from the ride (read - my body as well as my ego), I know that there is so much work that I need to do in order for me to ride the 3 peaks in March of 2016. Not only do I have to get stronger going up the hills, I also have to gain confidence riding down hills too. I have already planned on getting back to the hills next Saturday - even if I am riding by myself, I need to gain more strength in my legs. Riding along Beach Road for 7 months does nothing for riding up hills. I am determined on getting stronger on the bike - this is one small goal to achieve for 2015.

A small snippet of my climbs - not ready for it.

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. 

Climbing New Heights

So, whilst I was supporting the Ironman yesterday, I had noticed how "lean" many of the athletes were. I remember that stage of my life where I was hovering around 56-57kg which was my lightest as I was so stringent on what I ate (I was obsessed about Calories) and was consistent in my training. Fast forward to the next year of Ironman, I concentrated more on being a stronger athlete and not watched what I ate at all - just made sure I didn't go crazy with desserts etc. I became lean closer to race day and I was also a stronger athlete.

Since I raced my last Ironman in 2014 and changing my goals towards just getting through some races over the 2014-15 season, I have noticed that my body hasn't reacted the same as the last 2 previous years. I knew that my body would not be as lean as I was not training 20+ hours a week.

This post is an honest one - I currently weigh the heaviest ever. I have not weighed myself in over 18 months and this morning, I was feeling slightly irritated from some negativity on social media and for some reason, I decided to weigh myself - 65kg and I was no happy and not the smartest idea to weigh myself when I am not in the best of moods.

I have felt really low regarding my lack of activity and motivation to train since the middle of 2014. I would attribute it to my previous workplace where I was in such a dark place. I honestly felt bullied by upper management and the fact that management (HR) and my direct manager were not supporting me for all that I have done for the company, I felt betrayed....rant over and now back to triathlon....

I guess that everything just aligned itself too as I have recently made a move to change triathlon squads. I am now a member of Bayside Tri Squad due to a few factors - the main one being that I currently work and live in Bayside area and Tri Alliance is not providing me with the training that I need. Being an assistance coach with Tri Alliance also required a few sacrifices in terms of my own training and due to a few circumstances, I could not satisfy my own requirements to meet my own goals.

I decided to make a move based on the fact that when I was doing my (own) swims at GESAC, the Bayside Tri Squads had their training lanes there. Bayside also leave on their Wednesday rides literally 10m from my front door and they leave on their long rides just down the end of Bay Street.  I have also advised the coaching team at Bayside that I want to be just an athlete and no longer a coach. I just want to concentrate on achieving my own goals and not having my schedule broken down with coaching. I am being selfish for now. I need to recharge and reintroduce the training back into my life.

If you are wondering if I am going to sign up for Ironman Melbourne, the answer is "one day" but not 2016. I have decided to challenge myself for 3 Peaks in 2016 and discovering the hills of Victoria.

I have signed up for Challenge Shepparton and my winter training will be about that with a few hilly rides thrown in. I do love swimming and I want to achieve my goal of a half marathon under 2 hours. Bringing my weight back down to below 60kg will not be a goal in itself rather than something I will watch for when I am training towards my goals. I KNOW that being as lean as I was when I was training for Ironman is not sustainable but I want to be comfortable in my skin again. None of my clothes which I have been wearing for the last 3 years fit anymore. I am bursting out of my 10D bras and this is something I am not comfortable about anymore.

Starting from April, I will be joining the Bayside Tri Squad with their schedule training sessions and I am looking forward to be amongst a routine of coach-athletes rather than just doing my own thing because I was no able to attend the sessions due to location and schedules.

Wishing me luck for the next phase of my triathlon-life!

Ironman Melbourne 2015 - From a Supporter's View

Wow! I am exhausted. I currently have supporter's hangover  from Ironman Melbourne - I have no voice, I am dehydrated and I am so sore I feel like I have done a 100km ultra.

The day started at 7am when we went down to Frankston to support friends and watched the swim start. It was my first experience of a rolling start and I gotta say - from a spectator point of view - it was an anti-climax. The last age groupers just got into the water as the pros all finished their swim - that's how long the swim waves went for. As an athlete, I would say that if you are a strong swimmer, you would not like it either as you want the drafting of faster swimmers. If you are not a strong swimmer, the wave starts were great. You took your position amongst your group and went into the water 6 at a time. After the swim, we then walked to the swim finish to watch some athletes come through. It was traffic and luckily we saw a coffee truck and bought a bacon and egg roll and coffee to tie us through.

We then walked up to see people entering into the change tent. We saw plenty of people we recognised and cheered them through. When the traffic subsided after 40min or so, we could then cross the path to grab our bikes and headed back to the car so we could head to the bike course view area.

We decided to go to the Ferntree Gully Road view point in front of the massive BP station. I know from experience that the bike course is a lonely one and the cheers really helped. We saw a few people we knew along the Eastlink freeway when we drove up and gave them all toots on the horn. We noticed a slight northerly and based on the people flying by towards Frankston and the faces of the people who were struggling on the bike as they head towards the tunnel. We didn't (and couldn't) stay there for too long as we needed to be at Mentone Aid Station at 12 for our shift.

The earliest athletes were scheduled to arrive at Mentone by 2pm so we had 2 hours to prep the aid station. We arranged lollies and pretzels into small cups, cut fruit, opened bars, lined and filled water buckets and degassed coke. I placed myself at the front of the aid station to welcome athletes towards the aid station. I was also standing there to guide athletes towards the 2nd set of toilets if the portable one was occupied. I rang my cowbell and yelled out names from 2pm through to 7pm. A solid 5 hours and now I have no voice.

Considering that I was only suppose to be there from 12-3, staying there and yelled out names until 7pm, I did a pretty good job. Once one of my friends went through Mentone, I got on my bike, rode home, took a quick shower and drove up to St Kilda.

There were several athletes I recognised and tooted my horn in a cheerful manner. I loved it! Once I parked my car at the Great Provider, I rode my bike down the course to see if I could spot my friends. I spotted a dozen or so which was good. Unlike previous years, the path along Brighton through to Elwood were no lit at all which was stupid! You could not see where the path was and it was just dangerous!

I hung around my friend so she could see the path in front of her and lead her through from Brighton through the Great Provider and let her go with 2km to go. I then headed back to the Great Provider to wait for more athletes. I went home at 12 as I was feeling tired and the caffeine was wearing off.

I was so inspired from volunteering and I understand what it is like to be inspired and then wanting to do the event in 12 months time. Some people who spectate really have no concept of what a 3.8km swim, 180km ride and a 42.2km run is about. Not only is it a huge event to get your body and mind through, the training hours leading up to the event can also take a toll. Don't even get me started on the people out there who state on their social media pages about "I am going to do Kona in 2015, 16, 17" like it is an event that you just "enter" into! I have spoken about this before but I guess they will learn through other means that you don't just "do Kona"....

Anyways, rant over. I do love supporting this event and being amongst friends. I would do it week after week if I know that friends of mine are racing - it is about supporting your friends - they need you on race day!

Nothing changes if nothing changes

So I have mentioned a few times about change and this year, I am making plenty of it...

The change of work has been great so far. I am enjoying not spending too much time in the car travelling and I am finding that I have plenty of energy (and time) at the end of the day to either spend it with my partner or go for a ride.

With regards to training, I am mixing things up a bit. I have started to run with the Run Like Crazy crew in Mentone. I have missed 2 weeks due to DOMs and being sick but endeavour to head back next week. I am going to run with them and mix it up a bit with triathlon squad training.

With regards to squad training, I will train more for my schedule and location. I am going to be making drastic changes and this will start in April. In the non-scheduled gaps of my calendar, I am going to commit myself to strength and core work - even if it is just 30min.

I am also going to be managing some of my training based on my body's feedback. I am not going to do double run-ride days twice a week (maybe for the first few weeks?) I find that due to the loads on my joints, I am not able to recover and train the next day at my full potential.

This week's training will be significantly decreased due to work commitments -  I have a 2 day conference on in the city. The first day will start at 8:30am and there is an evening networking session which ends around 10pm. The second day starts at 7am with a breakfast event which I have signed up to. Then that night, I have tickets for The Lion King with my family. On Thursday, I have a workshop in the city which will start at 8am and end at 4:30pm. I guess the only thing I can fit in will be a Tuesday morning run followed by a rush to get ready for the first day of the conference. Training on Wednesday will not be possible and I may do an open water swim on Thursday evening.

I did a few bike rides last week which I loved. A cruisey ride on Monday followed by a quick evening ride on Tuesday. For the rest of the week, I was busy with work but I did a ride on Saturday along the Portarlington Tri course followed by an open water swim (sans wetsuit) around the pier which I loved.

On Sunday, I supported the Tri Alliance squad at the Portarlington triathlon.

I have also committed myself to a huge goal in 2016. I think this goal exceeds the Ironman event. Reason being - there is a cut off time and many people I know who are good athletes, just make it within this time. Training for this event will require me to step out of my comfort zone. More on this later....

Australian Super Corporate Duathlon

Yesterday, I had done my last triathlon event for the 2014-15 season. It actually was a duathlon as it rained more than 10mm over 24 hours so they replaced the 400m swim with a 800m beach run instead.

Fact: I have only ever entered into 3 corporate triathlons and all 3 have been changed to duathlons due to conditions (2011, 2012 and 2015). I am the bad luck charm for the corporate triathlons.

Saturday 28th February
I had a really bad sleep on Friday night so I didn't end up doing a ride on Saturday morning. I caught up on sleep and went straight into Elwood for coaching of the Try the Tri group. We did some basic bike knowledge and tried to change a tube. As the bike was brand new (just bought from the shop), taking off the tyre was a major issue and it took forever! Putting the tyre back onto the bike was also an issue. We made it at the end. The second part of the session was teaching the girls (this was an all female group) about running with their bikes holding onto the saddle only with one hand.

Once we got that part of the session done, we did some basic transition set up and they practised going into T1 and handling their bikes off the mount bars both off the saddle and their handle bars - this enables them to realise the difference it makes when you have your bike mounted from the saddle or the handle bars.

After the coaching session, I hung around for our team mate to arrive so we could arrange the order of the race and checked our bikes into the compound overnight.

I went out for lunch and then it was a nap before we headed out to see Foo Fighters. I am not sure what the hell happened to the city and the traffic but it was worse than peak hour during the week. It took us forever to get through Kings Way and there was an issue that the barriers were removed for the entrance into the GP so cars were entering the lake but had to turn around.

Parking at Etihad was so expensive - $30! We got there just before Foo Fighters played and we missed Rise Against.

The actual concert itself was fantastic. The downside was that our seats was right next to the aisle which people used to enter into GA which meant that our view was constantly blocked by people walking up and down. FF played for nearly 3 hours.

Once the concert finished, the journey home was the worse I have ever had. It took us an hour to get out of the Etihad carpark as there were no parking attendants and no one had any idea how to get out. Once we got out of the carpark, it was then traffic along Kings St, it took us more than an hour to get through <1km and once we got over the bridge near Crown Casino, I used the side streets in South Melbourne to get onto Nepean Hwy to get home. We didn't get to bed until close to 2:30am, not ideal when you have to wake up at 5am in the morning.

Sunday 1st March
Once the alarm went off at 5am, I got my shit together and got a lift into Elwood. We arranged for a 6:15am meet-up to get into transition together. We were notified that the swim had been replaced with a 800m run and based on my past experiences, it would be a beach run so I opted to be bare feet for the first run.

Kathryn, me and Suze

The set up didn't change much from a triathlon as I had my running gear all in the compound. I was the 3rd person in my team but luckily Kathryn is a pretty gun triathlete so she completed her race around 40min. The 2nd person in our team was Suze and then me. I waited in the team-handover section for about 15min (I got in early) before it was my turn to race. The run on the blue carpet was good. I ran past people as I like running bare feet (considering I didn't run in shoes until I reached Aus in 1997). When I got to the sand, it was a pretty slow run as I am not able to have a long stride. I once again ran past people once we got out of the sand into T1.

T1 was pretty uneventful. I don't do flying mounts.

The ride itself was short and sweet. I rode past many. There were so many people who were not riding on the left side of the road so in terms of overtaking - I tried my best. I only had 2 people passed me on the bike and they looked like they were triathletes - they had TT bikes. I got out of my shoes a few hundred metres from the finish like, something which I haven't done in so many seasons. I didn't do a proper dismount.


The run hurt and I am glad I started to run with the running group. I was out of breath on the run and it did hurt. I don't run fast and it showed.

I finished the event under an hour which was my aim. I was the slowest in my team but I also ran the furthest.

A few pointers out of this event:

• Try again next year????
• I wore the new Tri Alliance race suit for the first time during this event. No lubrication of the suit was applied but I wasn't racing very far at all. 
• This just demonstrated the importance of doing interval sessions for both the bike and the run. As I had been doing interval rides on the Thursday morning, it helped with the speed. Due to the lack of interval runs, this showed in my lack of speed.

Not letting things rule.

I have a few days left before the Corporate Tri this Sunday (1st March). I just realised that I also have Foo Fighters on this weekend and based on all the Foo Fighters concerts I have been to, it will be a long long long night. I used to go to a lot more concerts back in the day but due to their escalating prices and a lifestyle change, I only tend to pick one or two to attend per year. I always go to Foo Fighters as their concerts are "value for money".

I have started to run with a running group on Tuesday mornings and so far, it has been great. I don't have a need to drive all the way to MSAC for coaching. I get to wake up at 5:15-5:30 for a 6am start and be home at 7:10 to get ready for work (including eating breakfast) before 8:30am. Did I mention that work is only a 10min drive door to door?

What I find with running with a running group is that the sessions are about quality and not quantity. If you are a faster runner, you are able to do more laps than the slower ones. The run sessions work on technique and it is not about a "race". So far, I am doing the Tuesday morning sessions as it is what I am used to. They have a run session also on a Thursday morning but this clashes with the laps I am doing at Albert Park. I may be able to do the run session next week as Albert Park is closed due to the GP.

Last week, I did a casual ride down to Mordialloc and back to Elwood before coaching the new group on Saturday. I swam at Mentone on Sunday around 4pm for about 1km or so. It was a really warm day so it was sans wetsuit. The water wasn't as clear as Elwood on the Thursday night which was strange for both sites. So far I have been doing one session a day which is all I need for now. I am not racing Ironman nor am I aiming for any one of the Gatorade or Team Up races either. I was going to do the Team Up race at Sandringham last Sunday but decided that the anxiety I have about the Corporate Tri is just that - all in my head. I know that I can do a race and there is no expectation that I would be good at it. I decided to not do a practise race before the Corporate Tri - I will just do the actual event and save my money. I think doing a few runs with the run group has helped that too - being able to push myself beyond the comfortable pace.

I will most likely be doing a casual ride down to Mordy on Saturday morning before coaching on Saturday. The registration and bike check in for the corporate tri is on the Saturday which means that it will be a pretty long day for me. Hopefully I can get some rest after that before heading out for Foo Fighters.

I am looking forward to this weekend - be amongst everyone who is doing this event. Its not all about the long distances, not always about going to sessions after sessions and it is not about being better than others.

It's Official - Dirty Gran Fondo

It is now official, I will be participating in the Dirty Gran Fondo on the 17th May 2015. I have not been on the MTB since.....the last DGF?! Or was it the ride I did with Sally a month or so after that?

Anyways, the bike needs to be fixed before I can take it out on the road and I really need to do a few rides before I do this event. Bike skills have not improved. I think due to my big fall in July 2014 where I fell on my face at a CX training course, I have been very hesitant on the bike, even on the roadie.

I have signed up for the 65km course and it may take me up to 6 hours to complete the course, considering it took me over 3 hours to do the 35km. They have changed the course slightly this year which may mean that I am able to ride more of it rather than being shit-scared of the sharp descent.

Anyhoos, looks like a few weekends at Lysterfield and You Yangs will be required to build up my confidence and bike skills.Wish me luck!

Start of Something New!

Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes is my favourite motto.

Nothing more true than when I first started out in this sport. I went from a gym-goer (to lose weight) to becoming a person who is confident in triathlons and now a 2 x Ironman Finisher. I first started out doing mini triathlons, then jumped up to sprint distances and then Olympic distances. I was hesitant about my first Olympic distance race due to the 1.5km swim. It wasn't about speed at the time, it was more about being fit enough to get myself through it. The next step for me was to enter into the world of long course triathlons. I initially signed up for my first half-ironman distance (Shepparton 2012) but during that year of training, I had a spot at Melbourne Ironman (March 2013) and I decided to take the opportunity. I trained consistently throughout the year as I wanted to maximise the training provided even if that meant driving 30km to get to a 6am swim session and then driving another 60min to get to work 3 days a week. I attended the most double session days ever - Tuesday a.m. runs combined with p.m. Ergo and Thursday a.m. runs/ergo with p.m. runs/combo. I attended the most group rides even if it meant started out with them and riding as a group for 10min. I started my long rides leading up to my first Ironman at 3:30am so I can maximise the "alone time" on the roads which meant that I finished my rides around 10-11am and maximised my recovery (naps). I monitored what I ate (regiment)  that I was obsessed about the kg on the scales. I was at my fastest/strongest for my swims, rides and my runs as I was consistent.

Leading up to and after 2014 Ironman Melbourne, I did most of my training sessions by myself. I had done one Ironman and knew the training loads leading up to the event. Training for my 2nd Ironman was significantly different. When it was cold and wet, I stayed in bed. I didn't see the "need" to get out there as mentally, I knew what the race was about and I knew that I could get my arse from A to B.

I stopped going to Northcote for my swims as the squad stopped the sessions there so it meant no coach. I personally could not do p.m. swims (at MSAC) as it would meant that I have to stay back at work for 2 hours, train and get home at 9:30-10pm. I would then have to prepare and eat dinner, pack bags for the next day and get to bed around 11pm. I started to swim on my own closer to home - this meant that if I swam in the morning, I could be at work by 8:30am or if I swam in the afternoon, I could be home by 8pm. Much more civilised. With regards to riding, I was pretty consistent as I enjoyed the windtrainer/ergo sessions but long rides were all done on my own unless I was down as a coach for the long rides in the hills. In 2014, I also had a bad fall which meant that I was not able to ride for a month or so and I went on long service leave for 8 weeks. When I returned to training in mid Sept, I was doing my own training as I was significantly behind in training compared to others.  My running was not as consistent as previous years but I still attended as much as I could during winter until my fall in July. 

I am declaring 2015 as a year of change! I am trying new things, changing the way I train so that I can see changes in my training and fingers crossed - results in events. As I now live and work around Bayside, I want to tailor my training around this schedule. I want to minimise travelling but also maximising the coaching available to me.

Currently, due to my commitments with the beginners triathlon coaching I am doing with Tri Alliance, I will continue to support them until the end of the triathlon season and wait until Ironman Melbourne passes. Once the dust settles, I will start my training for the new year. For now, I am enjoying the "keeping active" side of my off-season - be it swimming just at a comfortable pace, riding my bike when the weather is nice and doing plenty of technique work with my running to be a better and faster runner.

Post Race Stuff

About 14 days has passed since Challenge Melbourne. I took a few days off training although physically, I am perfectly fine. As I didn't do 14km out of the 21.1km run as part of Challenge Melbourne, my legs didn't need time to recover or anything like the previous races.

I have been enjoying not training for Ironman this year. It is summer and I am enjoying the weather (when it decides to play nice - typical Melbourne) and all that it brings. As the sun is out, I am enjoying spending time on the beach, riding my bike after work or enjoying the markets.

On the 7th Feb, I joined the Liv Ladies ride. We started at Cafe Racer at 7am and rode down to Mordy as a group. We had a few riders who didn't enjoy a bunch of ladies riding past and so tried to overtake to only be overtaken again once they slowed down after turning off the gas.

Annoyance and a couple of swear words aside, I enjoyed this ride as I don't really get too much opportunity to ride in groups outside of Tri Alliance. More often than not, there is often too much testosterone in the group and we generally don't stay riding as a group as a result. We rarely work as a group which is why I escaped that routine within 2014 - why start the ride as a group, when I end up riding by myself anyway.

On the ride back, we did rolling turns. Hard to do when other cyclist don't want to accept what we are doing, nor do they appreciate the space we needed. There are rolling turns, and there are rolling turns. It doesn't help it when others don't practise it enough to understand the pace and how it may vary throughout the circle. We ended up back at Racer and I bought my first cronut in Aus - delicious chocolate one.

I then raced back to Elwood as I was coaching the try-the-tri group and it was their introduction session. After talking for about an hour or so, we went into the calm water of Elwood Beach. All of them swam to the first pole and back which is quite significant.

That afternoon, I drove down to Geelong to spend a night at my parent's place so I can support the Geelong 70.3 race on Sunday.

One of the girls from Tri Alliance raced as a pro for the first time (we only found out on FB on Saturday) so it made the weekend more exciting. I then realised that it was the first time in 5 years that I haven't raced at Geelong - having done 2 Olympic distances and 2 long course races since 2011.

The Geelong70.3 day itself was perfect for racing - very calm and a cool 23 degrees C. The course has slightly changed from last year which meant that the run was slightly hillier. Everyone had a great day.

Personally, comparing (half iron-distances) Shepparton v Melbourne v Geelong - Melbourne would be the fastest course as there are minimal twists and turns for both the run and rides. For the bike, both Shepparton and Geelong have a few obstacle turns before it gets onto the main roads. I would classify the run at Shepparton to be the most enjoyable - scenic and due to the laps - it is spectator friendly. With regards to the swim - Shepparton would be the easiest although not as buoyant as Melbourne or Geelong due to the location. If PB times is your main goal, then race Challenge Melbourne for that particular satisfaction. Otherwise, I would rate Shepparton as a must-do race over Melbourne and Geelong for its community support and course.

I went for a light swim on Monday evening (8th) - around 1km with pull buoy and then a evening ride on Tuesday (9th), around 45km.  Apart from that, I have done no running due to sciatic pain but I rode the bike down to Elwood on Thursday night for coaching and rode home. Just this morning, I drove down to Frankston with all the IM-Melbourners and swam 1.5km around 33min in perfect conditions. I spent the rest of the day visiting friends and did some housework.

Next on the triathlon cards is the Corporate Tri on the 1st March. Testing out a running group on Tuesday 17th and seeing how they can help break the training routine.

Things I am obsessed with at the moment:

• "Swap Boxes" on YouTube - I don't know why but I can watch them for hours. The concept is that people buy a box of stuff for the other and then they film them opening up the boxes. Kinda like Christmas morning. There are also plenty of scams out there and those are a cracker to watch too.
• Threads and Pedals - I have bought from them for years - earrings, necklaces, gifts for others..
• White watches - I have about 3.
• Wayfearer glasses - I went on Ebay and just bought about 3 pairs of sunnies in different colours - all around $3-5 each. Cheap but they do the job.
• KOMBUCHA! I have been drinking this stuff for about 10 months now. The next step is to brew my own. I have been googling and you-tube-ing this process lately and will invest in a few things over the next week so I can brew my own kombucha - buying the SCOBY on ebay. 
• Vic Market night markets - I make an effort to try something I haven't tasted/experienced before. 

There is always a first....(A Race Report)

What is this first you ask? On Sunday 1st February, I had my first DNF - Did Not Finish.

Warning - contents of this race report contains reference to female things. Read at your own discretion.

The event was the Challenge Melbourne (half iron-distance) triathlon - 1.9km swim. 90km ride and a 21.1km run.

I have mentioned a few times about this "monthly issue" that I have been having the last 2 years or so. This issue has become so bad that some days, I have had to take a sick day(s) off work and/or a non-training routine. I have seen a GP and a specialist and currently am on prescription medication to manage the pain. For the month of Jan/Feb, it happened to fall around the Challenge Melb race event. On Friday night, I was in bed with pain from about 9pm, took meds. On Saturday morning, I should have slept in, instead I took meds and went out for a race re-con which was not a great idea as the session was so short, we finished well before 8am and the race kit pick up was around 10am. I didn't end up taking meds before the race as I wasn't sure how the meds would impact me during the event, would I feel drowsy during the swim and the bike that I would be putting myself and others in danger? I didn't want to risk it.

After picking up the race kit on Saturday around 11am, I went home and slept for the afternoon and to ride out my woes lying horizontally on the bed or floor. Had fish and rice for dinner and a glass of electrolytes for hydration.

On Sunday, the alarm was set at 3:50am. As transition was opened at 5:30am, my plan was to leave the house at 4:20am and get there just after 4:30am to set up, visit toilets and all the usual pre-race shenanigans. Alike last year, transition set up was in the dark - luckily I had a head torch from the Afterglow run to use. Win!

I decided for a minimalist strategy for this race - only carry one bidon of hydration as I never go through a complete bottle during a 90km ride (even at Shepparton) and considering the weather was cold and wet, I would not be sweating as much. I also had a small amount of coke and 6 servings of gels (in 2 separate flasks) all ready on the bike for the day. For the run, I had 3 servings of gels in a flask and a caffeine back-up which I would place in the back pocket. The most significant "minimalist strategy" I had was I raced without a Garmin. I knew on which location I would take nutrition during the run leg - same strategy as Shepparton and during my training run. For the ride, as it was 3 laps, I knew my approx time of reaching each end and so sorted out a strategy of every 30min or just after every U-turn. I just wanted to "do" this event rather than caring about times during the race.

The swim strategy remained as the "M" shape as per the Friday email. I loved the swim! The swells were huge but I did enjoy tackling through it. I saw plenty of people who swam towards the wrong buoys and so I have a feeling that some people would either have a super long time having to back track to the right buoys or their swim times were super fast as they would have missed a few key turns. Lets just say, it was hard to see and people coped in ways which they could. I heard around 70 athletes were pulled out of the water and plenty more opted out of the swim.

I think my swim was around 44min, slow for a 1.9km, I realised that my pace was well below my average and I never thought about my increasing my speed during the race, it was just a matter of "where am I going?...ok, got it, head down"

I didn't find my bike-legs until about 20km into the race. They were just made of lead and my hips were in pain. I enjoyed the bike leg when I could finally push through the harder gears and had snippets of tailwind to assist with my average speed. My right turns were shocking, made worse with the rain - I completed 3 out of 5 of the U-turns without having to unclip out of my pedals. I think my bike leg was around 3:05...the last time I checked for my results.

I knew my run was going to be a painful journey but I wanted to keep going and so I plodded along. The first 3km or so, the area around my hips were ok, but the wheels started to fall apart from about 3.05km through to 7km. I was in so much pain I had to concentrate my energy into not crying rather than holding onto good technique. When I reached the 7km mark of the course, I couldn't manage it any longer. I saw familiar faces and just burst out in tears as I was in so much pain. I decided then and there that I was done for the day and walked out off the course and handed in my timing chip. My race was done for the day.

I hung around for about 2 hours after the race to support the people I knew who were still racing. Luckily, the rest of the squad managed a great day out on the course so it was good to see. There were some first-timers and Challenge Melbourne is a great course for a half iron-distance as the times are fast and would have been a great booster of confidence.

A few take-away comments:

• Work on speed rather than just "get through it with a lower pace"
• Need to get some strength in my core - it may help to manage my pains
• Nutrition strategy was good - not the worse conditions for race day (it was not hot or humid)
• Bikeskills needs work - learn to handle bike better on sharp U turns. My aim is to not unclip out of my shoes for Shepparton 2015.
• Might have to look into taking the pill again to manage my monthly cycles and to manage my pains.

I am glad that I competed to the best of my ability and managed to pull up ok this morning, as I had done 14km less than everyone else. Whats next on the cards? I am taking a few days off training as I have massages and work functions booked in. I will do a few light sessions and will participate in the Liv Ride on Saturday 7th. I will also be travelling down to Geelong to support the other group of athletes competing at the Geelong 70.3 and 5150 event.

I still have 1 more race confirmed for the 1st March (hoping to manage the pains before the event) and may do an olympic distance too. If not, 1st March will be my last triathlon for the season. A 400m swim, 10km ride and a 4km run - this one will hurt!

Draft for 2015-2016

With my last long course triathlon race in about 4 more days (eeeeeek!!!) for this 2014/15 season, I am drafting down some key goals for the year leading to and including the 2015-16 triathlon season. Like my previous years, my personal thoughts on goals are that they must/are realistic - I don't commit to something even if it is in writing unless I know that I can include it in my schedule/lifestyle.

Balance and core values - I am not going to be racing another Ironman for the season. Personally, this lifestyle is not sustainable. You do miss out on so much of what is out there, outside of triathlon, if you immerse yourself in just swimming, riding, running and recovering hour after hour, day after day, week after week, year after year. Energy is not the only factor for Ironman-distance training, it is also the finance factor which does add up. I would rather put my energy and money into my life outside of triathlon - such as travel (and not just to the same locations, related to triathlons or not, year after year), food experiences, movies, shows etc etc. Another thing I have noticed with Ironman racing is that it takes a really long time to not only recover from the event itself but also getting back into the swing of training again.

Goals and Events
Lets talk sports goals for the year - I have already signed up for Challenge Shepparton in November. I really enjoyed the race last year and now will work towards improving on the same event (with a bit more training). This will be my main motivator over the chilly winter months to get out there and do some training! I don't find swimming to be a big problem with regards to training without the squad. Motivation and enjoyment for running is what I need so as much as I can, train with the squad. I have looked into running with a run squad on Tuesday mornings - the reason for this is to try something new and I will more likely to turn up to this session where a coach is present than a session where a group of people rock up and do whatever that is on the program.

Another event which I have signed up to is the Mornington Running Festival on the 6th September, running the half marathon. I really do enjoy the half marathon distances - be it a road event or trail.

Over the weekend of 17th May 2015, I will either do the Dirty Gran Fondo event or the Great Ocean Road half marathon. I am undecided between the two. Hopefully I can get my skills up enough to do the DGF event, otherwise, I will do the run.

After Challenge Melbourne, I will be doing a corporate tri as part of a team. I haven't done a sprint race since 2011!!!! My shortest race has been the Noosa Olympic distances, I don't know how to race fast anymore. I am really shitting myself, especially for the run, how the hell am I going to run 4km fast after I have just ridden 10km full ball? I don't think I have any fast twitch muscles left.

Some key goals which I would like to achieve in the next 12 months:
- Run a half marathon under 2 hours. I am finding that with my distance increasing to accommodate the requirements of running a marathon for Ironman, my speed has dropped significantly. I might key in a race in October for this goal, otherwise it will be the Mornington event in Sept. I haven't achieved this goal since Oct 2012 leading up to Shepparton where my fitness was at its peak.
- I want to sign up for a 100 x 100m swim challenge in 2015. It will be just a matter of finding an event which does not compromise my other goals. If there isn't an event, I will just need to find 3.5 hours out of my day, find out what the rules are and hopefully get a helper to count laps and witness.
- Race an olympic distance triathlon under 3 hours. I have only done 3 olympic distances races - all at Noosa. I know it is hard to compare apples with apples so I will not compare this with my previous races. An olympic distance race done in Melbourne will most likely be a wetsuit swim, the ride will not include the Garmin Hill climb and the temperature and humidity will most likely not be as high as Noosa. I will pencil this in for a 2016 event.

Key Sessions
- Continue with Lady Bombs hot laps at Albert Park lake. I found these sessions to be of great value especially in working on strength and speed.
- Strength and core session on Mondays - coordinate with swim session. It doesn't have to be long, 2o to 30 min will suffice.
- This will sound like a record player but the long rides and long runs are important for long course racing. As much as I can, I will make it to the sessions, especially long runs at Fairfield with Greg. I enjoy these sessions as I don't feel like I am running by myself. We tend to work on technique and hill work which is beneficial for me.

On the blog side of things - I am hoping to get it up and running again. It helps me keep tabs on how I am going and I guess this is evident over the last 4 months or so - stopped training, stopped blogging and in turn, stopped being excited about training...

Two more weeks.....really??

In two weeks, I have Challenge Melbourne! It is a half-distance triathlon - 1.9km swim, 90km ride and a half marathon. After Challenge Shepparton, I said that I would train better to get a better result for Challenge Melbourne. Two weeks to go for this event and I must admit whole heartedly that I have not done this.

A few things have come about since Shepparton. I did a trail run event which was fantastic. I resigned from my previous employer whom I had been with for 8.5 years on the 1st December. Since I resigned, I have had to spend time to train/handover projects and also do some prep work for the next role. I had mentioned that the new work is really close to my home - this has been great since I started on the 13th Jan.

So my brother and his wife (the ones who now live in Japan) came to Melbourne for 10 days on the 21st Dec. We spent a few days down at Rye and visited some touristy places down at Mornington. We went to the strawberry farm and up at Arthurs Seat. I did one run (of about 7km) around Mornington through the trails which I enjoyed.

I only did one ride over the Hell Week period which was the unofficial Christmas Day ride of about 70km, ride to the start, around to Black Rock, then to Pete and Sharon's house for breakfast and coffee and then a ride home. I didn't do too much after that but spent time with the family.

I didn't really follow the training program much but did a few 100km rides before work started for the year. A few swims in the sun and now I have a nice shade of tan in contrast to shape of my bathers. I did a few "long" runs since the start of the training program and just finished the longest run since my trail run last Nov this morning.

My training program has now settled down to the following until Challenge Melbourne:

Mon - Morning swim at GESAC before work starting at 5:45am.
Tues - Morning intervals most likely at Mentone rather than MSAC as my working day starts at 8am. Tuesday will most likely be a road ride as we can't do windtrainer yet due to the school closures.
Wed - Open water swims in the morning or same as Monday.
Thurs - Ladybombs in the morning, afternoon run intervals at Elwood.
Fri - Endurance swims at GESAC
Sat - Long ride.
Sun - Long Run

This weekend was the peak week for training so the ride, run off the bike and the long run was the longest distance. I did a 100km ride and no more. The program had 130km but I had too many things to balance up. I did however did my longest and best run in ages this morning. We did 3 laps of the Challenge Melbourne run course which was great for mental boost. We didn't end up swimming due to the conditions (being shit...)

I am really looking forward to Challenge Melbourne - it being the last long course event for the season and start to enjoy being out on the bike doing short rides and not "training" and spending time on being a friend, partner, daughter and sister.