Slow, Steady, Strength

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

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

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

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

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

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

The DGF shirt I ordered

Training Week & Dealing with Anxiety

Last week's training was great - it felt like I had officially launched into something meaningful in terms of my progression.

I mentioned before that I have committed myself to a strength program with Chris from Excite Health and Fitness. This is not just a generic strength program which can be downloaded from the internet or one which can be followed from an app - I have been provided with structured program to strengthen my core, back and legs and to improve my balance. We had a sit down consultation last Monday which set the precedence to what is expected from both parties. This set the week off to a great start.

My calves were still tight from the Sunday's Sri Chimnoy run so the coach at Tuesday's run session had me do a recovery set instead of intervals. I ended up running 4km within 25min and it helped immensely in loosening up the tight muscles.

I decided that I still needed work on my swimming S stroke so instead of joining the Wednesday evening swim technique sessions, I did my own S-stroke work. I arrived at the pool at 5:30pm and swam about 2km - just working on my S strokes.

Thursday was a great day in terms of training - it started out with the GESAC spin session and I promised myself to push beyond my comfort zone. I felt great at the beginning - I pushed beyond my comfort zone and worked on pace and intensity. After about 30min or so, I was starting to tire out and my pace slowed down to accommodate the load. I lasted the 45min class and found a new comfort zone. That afternoon, I had my introduction session with Chris again as he stepped me through the strength program he had planned for me for the next 4 weeks. I am doing dead lifts, shoulder and chest presses and doing step ups beyond my comfort zone and loving every motion. My balance (and glute strength) is completely off at the moment and I am seeing how my weak core has lead to much of my injuries.

My weekend's training was great however it did start off on the wrong foot. I decided to bite the bullet and planned on joining the long ride with Bayside. They do a few "classics" within the year with a few sprint and KOM segments thrown in. The total distance was 100km and based on my years of training, I don't generally ride that distance around this time of the year. I was assured by the coach that I don't have to ride 100km if I don't want to. I planned on 3 hours or so and wanted to stick with what I am used to.

The night before the ride, I tried not to dwell on this new experience. The only time I thought about it was when I prepared my nutrition, pumped my tyres and placed my kit near my bathroom. I went to bed at 10:30pm but woke up in a fright (from nightmares) around 1:30am. I was covered in sweat and my body was throbbing to no end. I felt like I was having an out of body experience. My eyes were opened and I was in a panic but I couldn't move my mouth to speak or move my arms to wake up my partner. After what felt like 10min and could finally move, I went straight to the bathroom to spew. This happened twice during the night with minimal sleep in between. The last time I saw on my clock was 4am before I woke up to my 6am alarm clock.

I had a choice between getting out of bed to try this new training session or stay in bed to catch up on my sleep. I chose to get out of bed and I chose to step out of my comfort zone.

The group met at Linacre St at Hampton. I rode passed it completely at first as I thought they met within one of the beach car parks. I rode back as I knew that I had passed them about 1 km down. I was slightly late as the head coach was already giving a briefing. It was slightly warm and I took off my defeet gloves.

I stayed with the group from Linacre St all the way until Kars St at the back of Frankston when they attacked the first KOM. I didn't realise that it was a race up the hill as I was just pedalling along. I lost the group once they turned at one of the roundabouts and I stopped to double check where I was going. I was by myself from Kars St and when I hit Humphries Road, I tried my best to ride up the hill at a greater intensity than last week. I took off my knee warmers on top of Humphries as I was too warm. I then rode down 2 Bays and then up through the little side streets until Nepean Hwy.

I joined the ETPA recovery ride from Frankston for about 20min or so until a set of traffic lights split their group into two and the front group slowed down. I decided to forge on ahead knowing that they would catch up with me again. I ended up being amongst their group when they overtook me but I was squeezed into them again once we were going around a car. The ride was interesting as some riders within that group kept swerving into the bike lane but out again once there was a parked car in front. This was unnecessary, we could just stay in a straight line - better for a big group and better for cars sharing the road. They stopped at Mordialloc and I headed home. The total distance for my ride was 75km and it was the longest ride since Challenge Melbourne. I am glad I chose to to the ride as I am ticking off a box in my cycling build towards 3 peaks.

On Sunday, I decided to do a trail run at Lysterfield. The plan was to ride between 10 - 15km and I ended up with 11km in total over 1.5 hours. The speed was slow as I was running on trails and had to stop about a dozen times to give way to mountain bikers. I got slightly lost at one point and had to ask for directions. I had time to soak in the lake and the views were amazing. I tried my new Mizuno Hayates and they were good enough that I will run with them with I enter in Run Forrest in June.

Overall, I had 2 no-training days last week which wasn't too bad and a vast improvement on the weeks before. I am slowly building up my routine and training schedule and with others checking in on my progress, I am looking forward in seeing improvements over the coming months. Fingers crossed that the more sessions I do, the less anxiety attacks I will have, the less I will worry about stepping out of my comfort zone.

Looking Ahead - June

I have set a few events within the month of June which will make it a busy one for me - this is a good thing as it will keep me motivated to train during the week especially when winter kicks in.

Queens B'day (long) weekend will be the first weekend in 6 years that I will not be attending the Tri Alliance
Lorne Training Camp (as I am no longer training with this squad). I am making the most of the long weekend with a trail running event (more details below) and spending time along the coast with the family.

 
Events:

• The Run Forrest trail run event is on the 7th June (Queens B'day weekend) - there is a 10km or 21km course. I will make this my long run day for that long weekend - I will decide by mid May if I will be running 10km or 21km. I am not stressed about running the 21km as this is a trail run and I will not be racing it. 
• On the 21st June, there are several run events on - there is the Salomon Trail (11 or 15km) run out at Studley park and there is a Sri Chimnoy run at Albert Park (10km or 21km). I will use this as my long run day for the week. Trails vs Pancakes?
• The Melburn Roobaix is on the 28th June and this will take up the whole day. It is not considered a training day as the distance is 45km and it will not be done at any intensity or speed. I will most likely do a ride on the Saturday followed by a run after the ride or in the afternoon. 

Small Goals/Key Sessions:

• Continue with the run technique on Tuesday evenings and interval running on Thursday evenings. 
• Swimming on Tuesday and Friday mornings.
• Continue with Strength Sessions - Monday and Wednesday.

Shaking Things Up

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

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

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

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

GESAC Spin Room

 I am yet to train during the following sessions:

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

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

Easier said than done but I will try my best.

My First Sri Chimnoy - 10km (Race Report)

This morning, I got my ass out of bed and drove through the pouring rain to Princes Park to run 10km for $30. This amount of money might be a lot to dish out for a 10km run when you may say that anyone can just go out and run 10km, why bother paying for that? Well things have changed for me - when running on my own, 10km will not be under 1 hour, it will include plenty of breaks and I currently have no discipline to run at pace.

I chose to run 10km as I am in no shape to run 15km at this point. I will be running 15km at the next Sri Chimnoy event at the end of May.

So it was always on my mind to run 10km at an event this weekend - there are actually plenty of events on but I chose to run Sri Chimnoy for the pancakes - they serve these crepe-like pancakes at the end of their events, it's not all that healthy for you but I don't really care. I left the house at 6:30, hoping to get there anytime between 7 and 7:15 to register as they allowed for on-day registration between 7-7:45. I always arrive early to any events to allow time for bag drops and toilet stops.

I arrived at 7:10 and found a parking spot in front of the registration tent which was good. Went down to the registration area and paid my entry and received my green bib - number 524.

I put on my runners in the car and got all my stuff together and walked down to the toilets before dropping off my bag. We huddled under the tree to stay as dry as possible from the rain. I decided to start with a long sleeve over my running top and this kept me warm. I usually bring something which I am happy to throw away but as this is a small event, they don't have those clothing bin facilities.

The start was around 8:05am and I started off mid-back of the pack. I started off ok - I am sure the pace was faster than what I am comfortable with but I wanted to get out of my comfort zone of under-pacing. The first lap was good and it was my first time around the park. The rain was still around and this made for some muddy paths but it didn't bother me. The City Trail formed part of the run as the whole Princes Park is about 4km or so. Those hills proved to be a tester for me. I promised myself that I would not walk up hills and only walk at the aid stations. Small goals achieved - I jogged up those hills, they hurt but I am glad I didn't give up. I am sure I would have walked up those hills on my 3rd lap if I was running the 15km.

I took my long sleeve off after 5km as I was getting too sweaty. I dropped it off at the Princes Park sign and it seems that many had the same idea before me.

The second lap was good and I am sure that I slowed down around 6-7km due to fatigue. I wasn't sure if my feet were tensing up due to cramps or just because it was cold.

I finished the run under 60min (which was my goal) - coming in at 59:35 Garmin watch time. I am really happy about that considering that I just don't run at a fast speed at all anymore. I am hoping that I am on track for my half marathon goals during winter.

Lessons/Comments

• I had a gel at the beginning - that was enough. I didn't take another gel at every 30min, I thought this was excessive for this distance. 
• I ran with music - something which I haven't done in 3 years. I don't know why but I just wanted to "tune" out for this run. I know my technique might have been shit at some points, oh well. 
• I wore a heart rate monitor for the first time in 3 years - not sure it is working properly or it is stuffing up my data - says I only burnt 106 calories. 

Taking Strength Seriously

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

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

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

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

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

http://excitehealthfitness.com.au/

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

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

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

Starting from Scratch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.