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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ironman Melbourne 2014 - The Race Report

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

I got to cuddle my little Lucy at Mentone

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

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

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

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

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

Ready to rock and roll

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elwood Aid Station

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

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

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

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

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

Swim - 1:20.27, 38 out of 47

T1 - 7:56

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

T2 - 6:48

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

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

ONE more sleep!!!!

Ok. I am all packed. I know I should be asleep but I needed to put this down before I lose my thoughts in all the post Ironman shenanigans. 

Thursday 20th - I had a pretty busy day at work and had to do some marketing things for the conference week. I took a couple of tours through a building I am working on. I ended up leaving work a bit early so I had some time to kill before I headed into Elwood to pick up our Tri Alliance shirt. I ended up checking in and walked through the expo. Having been to the last two expos and having raced this last year, 2014 was uneventful. It felt flat and there was just nothing on show. The ironman merchandise was a bit better but that's about it. There was no "waiver" board where you signed your name, there was nothing really special about the whole check in process. 

Friday 21st - I had to do a few things in the morning before I had my nails done. This included riding my bike for the last time just to check out the gears and testing out the race wheels I borrowed for the weekend. 

I bought a loaf of white bread and started to have a few coconut jam sandwiches throughout the day. Went down to the expo just to have a final walk through and saw that they brought out more merchandise. I bought a jumper which had all the athletes names. I then walked back to the race briefing venue and met up with a few people. The evening was also uneventful compared to last year. There was no dinner and the entertainment was forgettable. The speech by the deputy mayor was hilarious. Very funny. Then it was the race briefing which took forever to get through. I seriously don't remember it being so long, going through all the rules and what happens on course. Everything they went through was in the athlete guide, they really didn't need to repeat it again. 

By the time I got home, it was around 8pm and we had a late dinner before I packed my T1 and T2 bags. The temperature this year is a bit cooler than last. I decided to ride with road bike shoes this year so I will be wearing socks on the ride too. Hopefully, this will keep my feet warm. I have also decided to wear my cycling jersey as I don't have enough pockets to store things. I am going to be carrying some shotz solutions in a flask and also carrying 2 gel flasks and some spares. 

In my run bag, I have decided to pack my hat as I had been training with it. If it is a cloudy day, I might not wear one. I can fit 6 gels on my race belt so I will have the remainder in my special needs bag. 

Saturday 22nd - had my final massage before I started to get my final things for the bike. I needed two spare tubes as the race wheels were deeper. I then went to Frankston to drop off the bike, the two bags and had a small walk along the pier to have a look at the buoys out there. It didn't look too bad and the buoys really didn't look too far apart. Happy about that. 

I then went to Bunnings to buy some plumbers tape so I can secure my canisters down. Went to Officeworks to buy some markers and some contact adhesive so I can make my special needs bag.

I have finished packing my special needs bag - spare gels, a packet of chips, some spare salt tablets and some pain killers just in case. My morning bag is packed with my wetsuit, goggles, swim cap and all I need to prepare for my bike in the morning. I have also packed my post race bag with a hoodie, some recovery foods and some pain killers. 

Transition opens at 5:30am and I will most likely get there early so I can prepare and go to the toilet multiple times. 

I don't know if "excited" is the word I can use to describe how I feel. The feelings I am having now is very different to what I felt last year. I am feeling tired and slightly worried about how I will handle myself tomorrow. I just want to get through the bike leg without feeling defeated. I don't want to start the run in such a bad state that I will be in tears. Fingers crossed that I will be having a good day. My main goal for the day is to ride to my ability and make sure that I am eating and drinking according to my race plan. I only have 1 alarm for nutrition this year so I won't be all confused and stressed. The run part will be about getting from A to B with aid stations every 2km. I can't wait to cross this finish line, can't friggin wait!!!

See you on the other side. 

4 more sleeps!!!

This morning I woke up with a bit of a fright. I had my alarm set for 6am as I was joining a group of TA guys (and gal) at 7am over at Elwood for a morning open water swim. Most of them went for a ride after the swim but I am still working (until Thursday pm).

I woke up thinking that it was Sunday, looked over at my watch and it was, thinking that I had about 45min to get my stuff all ready and speed down to Frankston to set up transition and start my Ironman day....It took a long time to realise that it was only Wednesday and I was only getting up to do an open water swim before heading off for another day at work.

Yesterday, I had a conference in the city which took up an entire day. No run session in the morning and I was mentally drained by 6pm. I am glad I did something this morning - albeit a very little part to my race day. I have all my nutrition sorted before the weekend and will put them away, so it is ready to be packed up when I receive my athlete's pack.

In my Blue bag, I will include the following:
Bike Shoes - I have switched to riding with my road shoes rather than my tri shoes as I find that my knees don't hurt as much when they are secured. Could be the angle of the cleats but I don't want to play around with anything at the moment.
Socks - I need socks with bike shoes. Can't wear these shoes without socks.
Vaseline/Paw Paw ointment - for the chafing bits
Talcum powder - for the shoes and socks.
Helmet - I am going to wear my Kask rather than my sperm (wanker lid). I figured a sperm helmet is not going to make me ride faster. I am going to ride with what I am comfortable with.
Glasses - for the glare and dust
Gels - My nutrition
Small face towel - to wipe my face and dry off my skin before applying vaseline.

In my Red bag, I will include the following:
Socks - I don't like wearing my cycling socks for running and vice versa. Would be nice to have fresh socks.
Running Shoes - I think I am going to wear my Newtons (what I had been training in).
Hat - helps with the sweat dripping into my eyes.
Vaseline - for the chafing bits.
Racebelt (with race number) - with gels on it ready to go
Salt stick - carries 6 tablets

I am going to have a special needs back on the run leg (only):
Gels - as I can only carry 6 on the belt loop
Extra salt tablets

As far as clothing, I think I will be wearing my tri-suit from start to finish. I don't need to wear extra knicks on the bike. I am not a two-piece gal - I don't have a flat stomach and I let things all hang out during the race :)

I will be heading down to the expo to register on Friday around 3pm so that I can head straight to the race briefing rather than going down to St Kilda twice. I think I will get my (race) nails done on Friday too so I can relax before taking my bike down to Frankston on Saturday. I feel so much better now having (typed out) my plans. Feel more organised and not as flustered.

Can't wait for work to be done and then I can get into Ironman mode.

5 more sleeps!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

10 more sleeps!!!

I have hit taper town hard!

I have not done much other than an odd windtrainer session during the week with plenty of rest and sleep. My last run session was on Saturday afternoon on the 8th and my arches were too sore to do the Tuesday morning run. Due to work (need to cram in 2 weeks of work into 5 working days), I have had to stay back late to finish off my tasks. I have a work function on tonight which I will be doing a small 5min presentation so I won't be attending the Tri Alliance "End of Summer" BBQ at Elwood tonight.

I will try to get up for a swim in the morning before work and then heading to Geelong for the weekend. I will do a small ride at Portarlington on Saturday and a 10km+ run as I won't be able to do much on Sunday as I will be manning the Giant Bikes tent at the Portarlington tri. Hopefully I won't be on my feet all day and will be able to rest at some point.

I have been having some stomach pains lately, I have a feeling it would be related to the stress at work and may have a stomach ulcer. Hopefully it subsides by the weekend.

I am feeling quite relaxed about the Ironman on the 23rd. I know that I have done the work (I could) and there is nothing I can do between now and then which will improve on my race. I will do the event to get from the start to the finish line and will control the controllable (my own race). Time is inconsequential for me. I am not playing for a podium place, fame, fortune or Kona. I am not out there to please any sponsors nor am I out there to prove a point to anyone else, this race will be for me.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weekly Reflection 24/02 - 02/03

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Athlete Number 586

I was casually looking through the Ironman Melbourne website today and came across the Athlete List!

This meant that we have been allocated our race numbers and I am athlete number 586 (last year I was 555). From the race numbers, it looks like there are more people at the start line than last year too (this number will also decrease come 23rd March 2014.

I googled the significance of 586 and came across this:

Smith & Wesson - Model 586

Smith and Wesson have a handgun model 586. I am hoping that this is good karma for me that I will be firing like one on race day (pffffft - fat chance but one can dream!).

Work got in the way of a Monday morning swim but I did do a good (quality over quantity) run session this morning at Bayside with coach Rupert. After the usual warm up and drills, we did 6-8 sets of (500m at 10km race pace followed by 100m recovery jog) using the athletics track. I ended up doing 7 due to timing (was the slowest out of the group). I think the massage I had on Monday evening really helped with recovery and got all the tight muscles sorted out before I headed into another run session.

26 more sleeps to go!!!

Weekly Reflection 17/02 - 23/02

The 23rd March is getting so close!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

27 more sleeps!

30 more sleeps!

As the title of this entry suggests, I have 30 more sleeps until Ironman Melbourne. Jeepers! It has really crept up on me how close it is to race day. Holy Crap!

Looking at the program, there is 3 (or 4) more "big weekends" left before we start to taper. The weekend before the race (15th - 16th March) still endurance training sessions, but the loads will be significantly less. Looking forward to it already.

Our race numbers will be released during March. Compared to last year, I am more calm about this race due to several factors:

- Mentally, I am ready. No anxiety attacks (so far, fingers crossed).

- I know my limits better this year and comfortable that I can get myself to the finish line.

- I have survived through a 7.30 ride during last year's IM 180km, 4.00 during this year's Geelong 70.3 in less than ideal conditions.

On Wednesday evening, we had a Melbourne Ironman meeting (for Tri Alliance athletes only). We heard a talk about nutrition and what to consume leading up to the day and also what is recommended to be consumed during the race. The key things is to practice what you are doing as much as possible during the long endurance sessions - Friday morning swims, Saturday long rides and Sunday long runs. Don't try anything new on race day. Everyone will have different levels of tolerance of what goes into their guts so there is no "one solution" for long course racing (especially for Ironman-distances). Some people can't take dairy, some must have just gels during the day, some can tolerate more salts, some need to drink more than others.

For me, I may have to tweak a few things before the big day:

- I am still 50/50 about getting race wheels. Currently, I have been training and raced Geelong on my current wheels which came with Foxy. They are 20mm deep.

- I may change my front drink bottle strategy to have a horizontal aero bottle as it may encourage me to drink more...but do I need to drink more? I am losing approx 650 - 700g of sweat/hour (I am not a heavy sweater) and always feel the need to pee during training and racing as I am trying to drink more. During my long rides, I have been going through approx 800ml over 3-ish hours. It sounds like I am not drinking enough, I know.

- Hat or no hat during the run...there are pros and cons and I guess if it does get annoying, I can always just throw the cap in the bin. Wore a hat during Challenge and since then, I have been using it during my long runs to keep my head cool and to keep the sweat out of my eyes.

- My morning breakfasts before my long rides and runs need to be refined. Lately, I have had no appetite and just have a banana (sometimes only half) prior and fuel on gels during these sessions. On race day, I tend to eat something different each race day too....I guess as long as I steer clear from heavy foods I should be ok.

I have decided to opt out of the Big Bay Swim this year and concentrate on my long run session with the group. I have done this event twice before and I am confident that I can swim over 3km in open water and don't need to pay $50 to do so. I may look into doing it as a fun event in 2015 without having the pressure of Ironman looming.

As for race weight, I have not dwelled on this matter. Being lighter does not necessarily result in a faster race (for me). I am concentrating on being a stronger and fitter athlete, rather than what the scales are telling me. I am not playing for sheep stations nor I am doing this for Kona slots. Need to get my sh#t sorted out first, then work on getting leaner. This theory also goes to what I am carrying on the bike. Others (who are playing this game more seriously), will not carry spares or more than one bottle of hydration to make their ride a lighter one. For me, I will be carrying all nutrition and hydration on board and I will also be carrying all my spares. I will only rely on the water (bottles) served at the aid stations on the bike course.

For the next few weeks, I need to ensure that I keep my body is tip-top condition. If I am fatigued or feel a niggle coming on, must take things easy or fix the problem! I will need to get new tyres and to ensure that my spare tubes have long valves at least a week prior to race day. Book the bike in for a service by the Canadian is also on the list. The weekend prior to the race, I will spend the weekend at Geelong with the family. I don't expect them to be at the race as it is a long day for them and the logistics of the day can be a nightmare. I appreciate all the support they have given me so far and look forward to spending a few weekends with them post March.

30 More Sleeps (and counting)...

Weekly Reflection 10/02 - 16/02

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



Weekly Reflection 03/02 - 09/02

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

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

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

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

Foxy in Transition @ Geelong

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

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

Geelong 70.3 (Team Event) - Race Report

I am the walking dead. Yesterday, I participated in Geelong 70.3 as part of a team called "Burger and Dumplings". I did the swim and the ride and Tim (Burger) Watts did the run. The conditions on the day was hot and windy and for someone who trains and races in long course triathlon for the enjoyment (and not ego, podium places or kona spots), it was a hard day in the office.

After I raced Challenge last week, I had done some recovery sessions and even rode to work on the Tuesday rather than a light windtrainer session. I went into Geelong on Friday night and planned on doing a ride from Geelong to Portarlington and back but when I woke up on Saturday, the throbbing feeling on the back of my right leg did not go away. I think I may of pinched a sciatic nerve or something. So I did the course familiarisation session at 9:30am instead.

After we rode around some of the bike and run course, I then had breakfast and went to register. A bit of a shambles as no one had any idea what was happening. Bless the volunteers who tried to help out as much as they could but giving some of these people iPads to use when it looked like they were too scared to even touch the screen made for an interesting morning. When we finally sorted out our registration, I then put my sticker on my bike and checked the bike into the transition area.

I was nervous on race morning. The winds had picked up and was howling through the neighbourhood. I knew that I was in for a tough day but knew that I had to get through it so my team mate could do his half marathon which he had been training so hard over the last few months for.

I set up my transition as if I was doing all 3 legs of the race (planned on running off the bike) and then I walked out to put on my wetsuit.

My wave was the last one for the 70.3 and there may have been about two dozen of us in the wave. Due to the strong winds, the swim was choppy. Even though it was the roughest swim I had experienced in Geelong, I still enjoyed it. I didn't break my PB (I think it was actually a PB for the longest 1.9km - 48 minutes). During the swim, I was constantly bumping into this person who couldn't swim and sight and kept crossing my path. It was annoying but I just stopped every time she crossed my path and kept swimming once she got out of my way.

The ride was twice around a 45km course. As I was one of the last people in the last wave, the ride was a bit lonely from the start. I battled through the headwind in the small chain ring and used the tailwind to my advantage where I could. I found the small u-turn hard to do especially with the wind on the 2nd lap. It took me nearly 1:45 to ride the first 45km and I knew that I was in for a long day. The 2nd lap took longer as the wind gusts picked up. I rode with the tailwind out on my 2nd lap and I saw that my speed was up to 50km/hr, as fun as it was, I knew that my journey home would be brutal. Then the winds got crazy and at this point, I wanted to quit so bad.

Every turn along the street, I wanted to turn around but feared punishment, ridicule and letting a team mate down. I kept pushing along into the headwind and battled the strong 60km/hr gusts to stay upright. I was nearly blown off my bike over a dozen times and feared that I would be injured if I was to fall off. I couldn't do a proper U turn in the little side streets due to the wind and had to un-clip my shoes and walk the bike through. It was embarrassing but it was the only way I could get the bike over. Then the ride into the 60km/h with debris flying everywhere was the scariest thing I had ever experienced in a triathlon race. I couldn't see where I was pedaling and just prayed that I stayed alive through this apocolypse to tell the tale. When I glanced down at my watch, I had been out on the bike for more than 3:30 and was worried about my team mate whom I told to wait within transition around 11-11:30am. I had no idea that I would be out there for any longer and the stress got to me if they would let the team continue. 

When I came down the hill, I realised that they cut the course short. Instead of doing the last loop towards Western Beach, they made us all head towards the transition area. I had no time to get out of my shoes but ended up taking it off when I reached the green carpet in transition. I was told by the TO that I could no longer continue on my triathlon due to the conditions but then I told them that I was in a team. I later found out that they sent the runners off at about 12 so they could finish the race (without their timing chips). I finished my 85km ride in about 3:57. The slowest 85km in my life.

I had friends who were supporting me and were relieved that I made it back in one piece. It was the hardest ride I had ever done (harder than what I had experienced in IM 2013). I didn't end up running off the bike as I could take my bike out of transition (they opened it at 12:45pm). My legs were still throbbing and I called it a day. 

After I dropped the bike off in the car, I went out on the course to support other Tri Alliance (and non-TA) athletes as well as cheering on for my runner. A friend Lee did her first 70.3 and she did so well (what a crazy day to do your first!)

Lessons Learnt

- I had never been so thirsty in a race ever! I finished my own 750ml bidon during the first lap and grabbed 2 water bidons during my 2nd 45km. The volunteers placed some ice in the bidons which were great. The bidons were only half filled and I really needed another bidon soon after grabbing the first.

- Nutrition must be taken when the alarm goes off. I think I missed one gel intake as I was too busy doing a U-turn and just forgot about it until the next alarm. Whoops!

- Continue with riding laps on the ride - strength in mental discipline is needed especially for Ironman - its going to be a long day

I am planning on taking a few days off training to mentally and physically recover from the weekend's ordeal. A massage is booked and hope to get back into it by Wednesday morning. I am grateful that this race experience was banked. Also thank God I didn't have race wheels, I would not have stayed upright.

Does Foxy make my bum look big?

Geelong 70.3 (Team Event) - Breaking it down...

So I have just raced Challenge Melbourne and the next (race) session to tick off the list is Geelong 70.3 where I will be doing the swim and the bike and a friend will be doing the half marathon.

The swim is a 1.9km P-shaped polygon (of some sort) of Eastern Beach. I remembered that I actually enjoyed the swim last year and sighted well. Another opportunity to work on sighting and pack-swimming.

The ride is a 2 x 45km loop which I enjoyed last year as it was not as boring as the Shepparton course. You have to ride through the park and then onto the main roads then into the side streets. The bike course is quite exposed and you do feel the winds. Hopefully this year I will have more confidence coming down the hills and more strength riding up the inclines. I will once again practice my race nutrition, alternating between my homemade gel (in flask) and Torq gels. I always have a mint Gu within the first few hundred meters of my ride to get rid of the salty taste in my mouth. Will have salt solution separate to water this time around to see how the body copes and if I still have the urge for a toilet stop.

After passing on the timing chip to Tim (Burger) Watts, I will then go for a run off the bike. I will see how I am feeling and push for 14km+.

After this weekend, I will be doing the long rides, long runs and long open water swims building up until March 2014. There is one more event which I am doing - it is the Big Bay Swm (3.2km) from Port Melbourne to Williamstown and then will be doing my long run in the afternoon.

Geelong Long Course 2013

Another reason why I wanted to do Geelong was to spend time with the family. We are currently still within the Chinese New Year celebration (week) where families spend some time together.