The Holiday!!!

Alright, with all the intention of keeping this blog up to date whilst I was on my holidays, it all went out the window the moment I step foot onto a plane on my way to Dubai. Sorry!

The first part of my holiday was to spend a day in Dubai before we (as a family) flew to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan for 10 days for my brother's wedding. My brother told me to bring bathers as we would have a chance to swim in the lake (its a huuuuuge lake) so I was excited about that. The holiday started off rocky, I won't go into too much detail, only a few close friends and family members know about this which affected me for a while. I am unharmed. I wanted my brother to have the best week of his life marrying his beauty. I will leave it at that.

This was the cold food left on the table at the wedding (kinda like appetisers)

The holiday there consisted of gift giving and receiving - its huge in the Kyrgyz culture, eating (a lot of meat), travelling to the lake and mountains, living in yurts, meeting new people and sight seeing. We flew back to Dubai at crazy o'clock and spent a few more days shopping and sight seeing. I had an extra day to spend in Dubai before I flew to Canada (via China) so I bought myself an all-day travel pass and took the train down Dubai for a day.



Homemade pasta in broth served to us in the Yurt

Dubai is crazy. Not as big as I had imagined. Everything you ever needed from everywhere, are there. There is a downside to it as they do have plenty of expats working there with very minimal wage. It gets things done but a sad contrast to the richness you see in the buildings and local houses.

The flight to Canada was eventful. No entertainment provided under China Southern for the first half of the flight. When I landed in Vancouver, I was relieved to be once again in an English speaking Country. I took a small seaplane (sits 10 ppl) over to Vancouver Island where the Canadian's family lives (in Nanaimo).

Nanaimo is a quiet town on the Island where deer roam pretty freely amongst houses, very cute. We spent a few days doing some home stuff, ate in different restaurants, went to visit shops before we headed to Victoria for a day to see more family.

We went to Edmonton to support the Triathlon World Champs and hung out with some Melbourne friends who also travelled over for a holiday and for triathlon. Edmonton is where I pretty much did most of my shopping and had my first taste of Victoria Secrets. Holy Crap, the things they sell are amazing! I always thought that I was too normal to shop there until I actually went in and found out that I am able to buy 90% of the things they sold. Lets just say I visited a VS shop whenever I saw one and bought something at every shop. They are not expensive (way cheaper than Australian products) and what I have been told, they last forever! Australia - you really need to open a proper Victoria Secrets shop here! I know I will be buying them online if I needed more.

After Edmonton, we travelled back to Vancouver Island before we headed to Vancouver to ride the Whistler Gran Fondo. This is a 120km ride from Vancouver to Whistler. Let me just say - don't do this ride on the back end of a holiday when you have had only one ride on a bike over 2 months. The total elevation was around 2100m. I busted my guts on the ride, took me over 7 hours as I stopped at most of the aid stations and was in granny gear for most of the way there. I may do a proper write up of this one day if I have time.

We spent 2 days in Whistler with the Canadian's family before we headed back to the Island. There wasn't much time left on our Canadian holiday after Whistler as we had to drive back to Victoria to return our loan bikes.

We flew into Vegas on the 10th Sept for 3 nights. We stayed at Paris and spent some time at CrossVegas, Interbike and up and down The Strip. CrossVegas was amazing! The scale of the course along with the scale of support towers over what we have in Australia....like 100 times over! The next day, we ventured down to Interbike....holy cow! Ausbike is childsplay compared to Interbike. You seriously need to take a whole week to go through the exhibition. The scale is unimaginable! After crazy Interbike, we spent the last day just venturing down the other side of The Strip.

The last leg of our holiday consisted of spending 3 nights in LA. We decided to keep it to the coast and stayed at Marina Del Rey but ventured up to Santa Monica (on foot, taxi, bike) over all 3 days. We did some shopping (definitely not as much as Edmonton) before buying excess baggage for our last flights home to Melbourne. We walked a hell of a lot in the US which was great.

 

I know this is predominantly a training blog so I have kept the holiday write up at a minimal. For those who are "friends" with me on Facebook/Instagram would get a better insight of how my holiday was.

I am now back in Melbourne, Australia...I am planning my next holiday already (going to Japan) and forecasting my next holiday back to Canada.

Long Service Leave!

I will be out of Australia from 4th Aug through to 18th September - long service leave yo!

I have been with my current employer for over 8 years now and decided that I will take up the opportunity of taking my long service leave pro-rata. Timing has worked out perfectly as my brother decided to also get married in August and I really don't have any big race-goals for this season. When I say-race goals, I have re-assessed where I am at the moment regarding interest/motivation/commitment/health/time/dedication to triathlon.

Since my concussion, things have not been great. My memory is shocking, my words are so jumbled that I may have to read this entry about 10 times before I press the "publish" button. I may also be distracted from reading it 10 times due to short attention spans I am feeling lately. I went back on the bike (albeit on the ergo) on Tuesday night with the squad and lets just say, got dizzy, headache started and when I turned around quick and looked back at the other guys, my head just went into a whirlwind and it took a while for things to look "balanced". I haven't been on the bike on the roads yet but it won't be happening until I get into Canada in mid August.

I went swimming on Monday morning. I could do everything except for swimming backstroke. I got too dizzy and nearly had a mini spew in the pool. Just a small 2km for me at the moment. Will be bringing a set of Funkita bathers and goggles overseas. There is a big chance that we may be having a day out at the waterpark in Edmonton a few days before we support our friends who are competing in the Age Group World Champs. Oh, before I forget, we have been invited to attend the "Athletes and Family" breakfast on Thursday 28th so we will be in Edmonton from the 27th Aug onwards.

Currently in two minds about what to bring over to Canada/US in terms of cycling. I could just order a jersey and get it shipped over. Been eyeing off some socks and a jersey from Ten Speed Hero for a while now. This way, I am able to save on baggage. Will bring my bibs, helmet, shoes, pedals and saddle and one of my Bike Love cycling cap. I have decided to rent a demo bike from Oak Bay in Victoria instead of bringing or sending my Wilier over...was going to cost me $800 of excess baggage or $660 one way shipping. We haven't yet entered the Whistler Gran Fondo but most likely we will enter it when we arrive in Vancouver. At the moment, I am spending too much money on travel insurance!

My (own) cycling cap which I was planning on
wearing during the Rapha Womens100. Will be wearing this overseas.

I will bring a pair of runners (for running), a pair of shorts and a singlet to keep "fit" whilst I am over there. Will be taking advantage of the great scenery and hopefully get some awesome maps on my Garmin and Strava files. I am looking forward to experiencing Canada/US without the pressure of training to align myself with the program.

We haven't booked anything yet but as we are returning back to Melbourne from LA, we may head to Las Vegas for Interbike as well as the Cross Vegas events.

I am in two minds at the moment about Shepparton in November. I know that I am able to get through the event but is it worth while? I will give it a bit more thought into it when I return and re-assess then. Accommodation is booked so I am happy to just spend a weekend in Shepparton supporting others.

Whilst on holidays, I am going to be working on my side business and bringing it up to scratch. I have decided what type of business I am going to be doing - steering towards the bespoke/custom cycling wares rather than the mass market. There are a few collaboration projects in the pipeline but I am not able to disclose them once I finalise it when I return. I will be writing up about all the work I have been doing since I decided to take orders since June 2014. Two months on and I have completed about 50 orders. Will be trying to ramp up interest especially before the Christmas season, gifts related to cycling will be a big draw card!

I am hoping to keep this blog going whilst I am away on holidays alongside my website. I bought a new Macbook Air last week. Replacing the battery for my old Macbook + updating software was going to cost me only $300 less than a newer and slimmer laptop. I am looking forward to sitting down in a cafe and just enjoy me time.

XX

Weekly Reflection 19/07 - 25/07 (It's a long one)

This week's reflection piece will be different, I won't be going into the sessions I did/didn't do, I won't be covering the 4 points which I usually do but I will be putting down a few life lesson points down at the end.

A small portion of my current audience are also connected with me on either Instagram or Facebook (I don't really use Twitter as much anymore). The ones who are not will not be aware that I had a fall on my bike on Saturday 19th which has affected me in a greater way since then....I will start from the beginning.

As I mentioned last week, I was heading over to the Womens CX skills session out at Essendon Fields where there will be an actual event on the 27th. I thought that I will brush up on my skills before the day.

When I talk about brushing up, I meant just ride around....because I am still not confident enough to do a flying mount. I can do a dismount with no hesitation but the mount....maybe that could be my life goal.

So after about 1.5 hours of the skills sessions (ran fantastically by DDCX and Sunbury CC), we had a "go" of the course. Now I have mentioned before that I am hopeless at turning right (getting better but still not 100%). So at one of the more tricker parts of the course, instead of being able to manoeuvre my bike towards the right to follow the flow, I went up on the embankment and just came down on the other side, face first.

I was out (felt like forever), winded and confused. The guys who were onsite attended to me straight away and their actions were commended. I spent most of my time on the ground, with my body down along the embankment (head filling up with blood) with a throbbing headache and neck pains. I could feel that my face was scratched as it stung bad. When the adrenalin wore off, I actually started to cry a bit as I was just scared of what had happened and my headache was too much to handle.

The guys from Sunbury CC called the ambulance and when they arrived, attended to me onsite. Once the OK was given for me to move from my position, I sat up and cried even more - I was embarrassed, I felt like I had ruined a perfectly great day for all, I felt like I had let so many people down. I wasn't able to stand up and felt even more dizzy.

At this point, the spine board and neck brace came out and I was placed on the board so I could be carried off the embankment and into the ambulance. I felt nauseous.

I was in the ambulance for what felt like 30min before it left the site. They gave me an IV drip of something, then something else was jabbed into me....I dídn't take morphine as I was feeling sick. No pain killers as I rated my pain at about 2 or 3 and I could tolerate it. The trip to the ambulance felt like forever. Whatever they gave me to settle the motion sickness didn't work as I threw up once the ambulance stopped at Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH). I threw up again when I was wheeled from the reception to my trauma room.

The trauma room was an experience all together. They tried to remove all my clothing, great difficulty with the ratchet of my bike shoes. They cut my "sports crop top" when I told them to as it was no easy to take off without going over my neck brace. Lucky I wore a cycling jersey which had the zip going all the way down. All my jewellery was removed so I could get a chest X ray as well as a CT scan. I was naked on the table with a thin cotton sheet over my body whilst I was being examined by the doctors and nurses. I was given a tetnis shot during the examination which hurt like a bitch! I think I also bleed from that injection onto my hospital bed.

After what seemed like an eternity of being examined, I was finally wheeled into an area to be parked before a "room" was available. I remember tears started to roll down my face and the Orderly wiped the tears from both my eyes once he stopped wheeling me from one area to another. I thank you for that, it meant something to me.

When a room was free, I was brought there to be rested. I was in my neck brace for about 4 hours before it could be removed. That was excruciating, especially for a person who cracks her neck and shoulders several times an hour! When all the hustle subsided and there was nothing further to examine, I was in my room with an IV drip feeding both antibiotics and saline into my arm. Both fluids were so cold that it started to hurt a bit.

I was attended by so many people throughout the 6 hours I was at RMH, everyone introduced themselves to me - paramedics, nurses, doctors, orderlies. It was slightly overwhelming.

I was discharged from RMH around 7pm. Went home, ate a huge bowl of laksa (comfort food and also my first real meal for the day). The next few days I was constantly dizzy and nauseous. The scabs on my face only came off on Wednesday evening in the shower. Bruises on my body are still appearing and I still have a dull headache like I am wearing a really tight helmet.  I didn't end up participating in the Rapha Womens100 ride on Sunday 20th either which I was really sad about, just scrolled through photos throughout the morning and felt really jealous and filled with guilt.

I haven't done any training since Saturday, not even a gentle walk mainly due to catching up on work. I took myself off the stress of training and giving my body a bit of a break. I may get on the bike on Saturday and I may do a small jog on Sunday. I will be back at Essendon Fields on Sunday to spectate the CX event as well as picking up my bike from the guys at Sunbury CC.

I also learnt that the private health insurance I am on (paying $180/month) which is sold as a "sports insurance" DOES NOT include ambulance cover....does not make sense. I am waiting on my ambulance bill and finding a way to pay that. Since Tuesday, I have paid for an ambulance subscription, something which I would have done earlier if I had known that my current private health insurance does not include ambulance cover....especially as I am paying about $500/month on insurances already (very risk adverse person).

Huge Lessons Learnt:

• No matter how much ambulance appears to be covered under your private health insurance - just pay for a subscription. I will do this after I change to another health cover, not happy with my current one, feel like I am paying too much and receive no better benefits compared to another one which is $50 less per month.
• On the bike - look where I want to travel rather than where the bike appears to be heading.
• Ride more off road - get better bike skills
• Must learn how to mount the bike - no point turning up to these skills sessions where I am not really learning anything new as I am not practising them.  

Weekly Reflection 12/07 - 18/07

This week has been better than the last, I have been able to walk and do some training (winning!). On Saturday 12th, I was the coach on hand for the Beginners/Lower Intermediate group at Studley park. The tacks found on the blvd has been around for MONTHS and the issue is still there. I did a drive by on the blvd around 6:15am and everything seemed ok. When we started the ride around 7am, we were all prepared for some tyre changing as the previous week, there were plenty.

I was planning on riding 5-6 laps of the course with a few Yarra St attempts. The first 2 laps were ok, my legs were heavy from the lack of movement from the previous week but I rode at my own pace. On the 3rd lap, I noticed that more and more people were changing their tubes....I thought to myself, uh oh, it's going to happen....and BAM! on my 3rd lap, I copped a flat. The tube change was quick and I went on my merry way...then when I was onto my 5th lap, I noticed that my front wheel was bumpy and that's when I noticed that I had my 2nd flat, I stopped on the side to change the 2nd flat. Both tacks I put into my jersey - no point throwing it to the side as it will impact the next person. Then I only rode for about 200m and noticed that the air just escaped straight out of my tyre....at this point, I couldn't be bothered anymore, I walked the bike back to the car park and dealt with the fault at home.

The rest of the day consisted of making more cycling caps (one for a bday present that evening) and the rest were orders which came through during the week. Sunday, due to my lack of running and I wasn't sure how emotionally I could deal with being put on the spot when I couldn't meet expectations, I decided to just run around the neighbourhood. Good news - 10km at a slow pace was done with only some minor pains on the lower back.

Monday I did my own recovery swim at GESAC, windtrainer on Tuesday evening at MSAC and that's about it for the training for the week! We had a Tri Alliance team meeting on Thursday night and no swim on the program for the Friday. To be honest, I wasn't complaining as I have a pretty big weekend ahead.

Favourite session of the week: As much as it was only 10km, I really enjoyed my run on Sunday. I was running at a low pace but I was just grateful that I got myself through it.

Least favourite session of the week: My ride on Saturday sucked due to have 3 flat tyres and the fact that someone (or a group) has been endangering lives for at least 5 months now and it is still happening...seriously, not fast enough!

Advice of the week: As much as I am not doing much training at the moment, it is recovery week and I am resting as much as I can.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I have a few fun things on the calendar this week ahead which I am actually looking forward to! Firstly, I am going out to Essendon to do a womens skills session on the new Essendon Fields on Sat 19th. I am going to do my first CX event on the 27th July and so a few laps of the course would do good for me.

Secondly, I am participating in the Rapha Womens100 on Sunday 20th. I have looked at the course and as much as I have done distances > 100km, I am so nervous as I haven't been training for this event! There will be hills and this is what I am nervous about - being that person who doesn't have power to ride hills. I will try to relax for the day and not let the group pressure get to me. There are 5 groups and I am sure I won't get lost.

Weekly Reflection 05/07 - 11/07

Oh My God....I went from an awesome, fun, exciting week of training to one of my worst! No consistency, lacking motivation and very lethargic. I sensed something was wrong from Saturday afternoon when my lower back ached like there was no tomorrow... then later on that evening, my episodes started along with my favourite time of the month....blergh.

My cramps, back aches, migraines, sore legs stayed with me all week until the point where I was taking medication and went to the doctors on Thursday evening as it went on for over 5 days which was the longest pain I had experienced for a long long time. A visit to the doctors, I walked away with a prescription and a referral to an ultrasound. I am still yet to make an appointment.

Back to the training side of things, I had one of my best rides in a long time during Saturday morning. We rode from Eltham to Kinglake and back. I was suppose to go to Kinglake West but as I was escorting a group through, I couldn't leave them by themselves as they had never been to Kinglake before. I really enjoyed that ride as I nailed my gearing, I held my core and I also took on my nutrition right on time. By the end of the 3 hours or so, I was feeling great. I loved every incline and gained confidence on the descents. I didn't have any anxiety attacks nor did I hesitate when I needed to swerve towards the right. Loved it! As I had mentioned before, my pains started on Saturday night and so I couldn't do anything more than roll out of bed and sit on the couch and my sewing table - there was no way I could do my long run.

I didn't do any other training during the week apart from the windtrainer session on Tuesday night and that was done very uncomfortably (sore back and sore hips). So my lack of blogging about my training was pretty much due to my lack of it....

On the side, I have started on my website for my cyclingwares - I will be blogging about my work which I have become engrossed in over the weekends. I am not making millions but I am enjoying creating special pieces. http://bikelove.co/ The website is light on content as I only started it last week when I blogged about a cycling cap that I created to match a bike.

Favourite session of the week: The bike ride I did on Saturday 5th July was great! I loved riding towards Kinglake, I love the way it pushes me to work on my core, my glutes and my technique. I nailed my nutrition and couldn't wipe the smile off my face!!

Least favourite session of the week: Where do I start? I hated not being able to do any training whilst I struggled with all my pains - I didn't swim, I didn't run, I couldn't even supplement my training with any strength work...so so shit.

Advice of the week: I guess the advice I could give this week is to nail the nutrition during training - when you are correctly fuelled (correct in timing and type), your body will thank you for it!

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I don't actually have many weeks left of training before I head off on my long service leave. I am looking forward to being able to get back into the swing of things and work more on my website and passion.

Weekly Reflection - 28/6 - 4/7

Boy I had a pretty fun week! Due to the Roobaix on Sunday, I swapped my run day to the Saturday. It was recovery week so there were no big rides and we had time trials instead - so running by myself was a good enough compromise.

On Saturday morning, I actually slept in for a bit...I had my phone in my hand and clicked on a link which a friend posted about "running when you feel like you run like a hefer" - this is me. After spending about 5min reading the article, I got my sorry ass out of bed and went for my long run. For some reason, my July training timetable was not available to me but I remembered that it was about 12-13km. I decided from the start that I would try to run the entire way. I decided to pace myself so I would not be too tired. Happy to report that this run was a success! I didn't feel like death and I ran the entire 13km (apart from stopping at lights etc). The pace was slow (we are talking 6min-7min/km) but whatevs...I got through it. My energy levels were good and even when I carried nutrition on me, I decided to not take any and worked on my "fat adaptation" but made sure that I properly fuelled myself with a ratio of proteins, fats and carbs post run.

Sunday was Roobaix day! Rain, hail and a little bit of sunshine! Read all about it here...Best Day in the year. (the following pictures were downloaded from health.com.au taken by Simon Pollock simon@gtvone.com)



Check out my rad corning skillz

This would have been the part where I fell
and just got back onto the bike...

Riding in the rain...

I swam on my own at GESAC on Monday evening, legs and shoulders not OK due to my fall on the bike the previous day. Tuesday's windtrainer saw us back at MSAC due to the closure of Bayside Aquatics due to the school holidays. MSAC, saaaaah hawt! I hand delivered a few cycling caps to people at the session whom I haven't seen in a while which was good.

The swim sessions out at Northcote have discontinued so we had the last session there on Wednesday morning. This was followed by breakfast at Penny Farthing. We haven't done this in about 6 months. The Northcote pool is out of my way but it is a gorgeous pool to swim in especially on a sunny day.

Coach Rupert's Thursday night run session was good as he combined his (own) group. We did a few intervals after our warm up and stride through. I rolled my ankle (again!) during the warm up but it was not too bad during the main set.

As the MSAC pool is out of action at the moment, I decided to swim at Prahran pool this morning. Not too expensive - $5.90 for entry (GESAC is $9.00!!). The pool has a really really shallow end with a sudden drop in depth at the deep end. Very similar to the old Brunswick pool. I did my own set this morning but followed the program to a T. I love the Friday endurance swims - hardly any thinking - just swim! After a 1km warm up (600F, 4 x 100F (25 sculls, 75 free)), the program had 16 x 100 PB&B. I can't count past 5 so I broke the set down to 4 x (4 x 100) - does anyone else have trouble counting laps? Cool down was 400 back stroke. I swam in the double lane for the first time ever....I was sticking to the left but had to ask someone what the etiquette was to double lanes - so it seems that you still stick to the left but as this lane is for "various" speeds, you have the space to over take them in the middle. I think there was about 7 people in the double lane this morning and I was the only female. Men don't like to be chick'd, that's all I have to say from my experience this morning.

So I thought I was taking the ride at Studley Park this weekend but that's next week. This weekend, I will be joining the main crew at Kinglake starting from Eltham Station. I only rode up Kinglake once last year (with much anxiety) so lets see how I go in the morning! I will join the crew on Sunday for the long run but we will start at the Duathlon location instead of Fairfield carpark.

Favourite session of the week: Gotta be the Roobaix.

Least favourite session of the week: I wouldn't say it was a session which I didn't like - more that I was the most uncomfortable. During last Sunday's Roobaix, we stopped at the cafe for lunch/break. As we were riding the entire time, we didn't feel cold even during the rain and hail. I was shivering when we got started as we had to put the wet layers back on.

Advice of the week: Wool rocks! Wear wool gloves and socks during cold runs and rides - keeps you warm but wicks away sweat so you don't shiver. I am wearing merino socks under my colourful socks during my rides because I have #sockgame.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I am actually looking forward to the long ride and runs this weekend! We are also trialing g a non-coached Tuesday morning session at the athletics track with a few TA people who live around the area.

MELBURN ROOBAIX 2014 - I LOVE MELBURN

As the saying goes....You Only Live Once, the Melburn Roobaix is something everyone in Melburn, who loves feeling like a kid zooming down the side streets on their bike, must put on their "To-Do" list.

This is my 2nd year (last year's write up here and here - same write up, different links) and comparing the two days was like comparing chalk & cheese (mmmmm cheese).

So this year, I decided to leave the single speed "George" hanging in the garage and took "Betty" CX out for a spin. We decided to park the car at Abbotsford as it is approx the half way mark between Hawthorn (start) and Northcote (finish).

We left Abbotsford around 9am and rode down to Hawthorn H.A Smith velodrome ready to register and pick up our 2014 musette race pack. It started to shower but as we were moving, it wasn't too bad. The rain got stronger the closer we go to the start line.

The crowd at registration was not as big as last year, no one wanted to stand around in the rain as I found out 5 seconds after I opened up my race park, the map fell into pieces when it got wet just like the Wicked Witch in Wizard of Oz.

Betty CX

Crowd at registration

The Canadian and I decided that we would take the red route. I am guessing keeping the many cobblestone routes down to the 12 check points was hard so why not let the public decide where they wanted to go - great idea.

The hill just out of the velodrome proved to be much easier with gears compared to last year when I rode George. The first manifest was an eye opener...when I say eye opener, I meant how cobblestones become slightly slippery when they are wet and I came down pretty hard on my sorry ass. Bleeding knees were hidden by my knee length knicks, a few "yes I am fine" to mask my total embarrassment, I got myself up and going again. Maybe too cocky to start out with - thinking that my bike skills have improved dramatically over the last 12 months with about 3 rides on the mountain bike and a Dirty Gran Fondo event? I was not the only casualty of that section, I was also there when a guy's tubeless tyre blew up like a grenade and also saw a guy with blood down his cheeks - ouch!

A friend of the Canadian, Adam, recognised us and being able to ride with him was the best! He not only could read maps really well, he knew his bike paths better than the Canadian, he was also wearing fingerless gloves so he could access his musette easily.

The second (or third, I forgot) section was memorable, it was NOT flat. I initially could ride up the steep laneway but when the cobble stone section appeared, I was too afraid that I was going to slip so I had to push my bike through the cobblestone climbs. Apparently, there were several falls on this section.

A few hours into the ride, we saw the Bank of Melbourne van and they were handing out FXYO bottles - grabbed one of the last pink ones - YIEWW!

My confidence along the cobblestones increased throughout the day but there were still some sections which were tricky to handle. I got a few "Don't Stop!" and "Keep Left" from other cyclists when I was riding along the cobblestone obstacles slowly but they didn't bother me, if they want to ride past me, they should have good enough skills to do so.

Similar to last year, we stopped after Manifest #9 for a lunch break and we stopped at the Old Bike Shop Cafe. I ordered a pretty big breakfast (again) of eggs, toast, mushrooms, bacon (I heart bacon), avocado and spinach whilst the boys had burgers and philly steak sandwich. We don't know if it was due to the cold and wet weather but the coffee there tasted a.m.a.z.i.n.g! So good that we had more than one each. As we had lunch from about 12:30, we killed nearly two hours in the cafe before we moved off outside. We only had 3 more manifests to go and they are pretty much within 3km, no point finishing too early as we would have had to wait around at the Brunswick velodrome for hours.

Once again the guys at health.com.au were at Manifest 12 for general cheering, photo and a Freddo Frog (which I had to grab quickly and held on with my teeth until the end). Disappointed that people threw so much of the wrappers along the ground in between Manifest 12 and the velodrome (stop 13) tho - tsk tsk tsk kids.

Everytime I saw them - Potassium!

Mr and Mrs White

Compared to last year, we finished each section quite quick. We didn't go as far around Melburn as last year either (I think we ventured further SW). Due to the abundance of sunshine last year, I actually stopped and took way more photos too. This year, the camera came out twice - once at the start and once at the finish. None the less, I still loved every pedal. I only got cold (shivering cold) when we left the cafe, once you got moving, it was fine.

getting rad

Highlights:
- Instead of second guessing the right answers, there was just a single letter at the end of each pave sections, some were tricky to find. After about 6 Manifests, you could kind of guess what it spelt out.
- Another awesome musette!
- Picking up another 2 spare FXYO drink bottles after pack up - scoring 3 in total!
- Photobooth!

- Bike skills getting better
- The never ending rain


Lowlights:
- I didn't win the grand prize (flights to Roubaix, France in May)
- Due to the rain, I wore my vest and you couldn't see my complete matching outfit
- The never ending rain

Will I do this event again next year? Hells Yeah!!! As long as I am in Melburn and I can still ride a bike, I will be there for sure.

Thanks again to the crew at FYXO - without them, it would have been another unmemorable rainy Melburn day.

Weekly Reflection 21/06 - 27/06

I actually had one of my biggest training sessions followed by a week of doing pretty much sweet f-all. How is this possible you may question? Well let me take you back to last Saturday....

*que back in time music*

As I mentioned in my last entry, I was doing my first hilly ride on Sat 21st June. I had been rostered on to take the beginners ride for the last 2 months which consisted mainly of:
- 50km flat ride on Beach Rd
- About 2 and a half hours (we stop at Mordialloc)
- Small chain ring so I can keep the group together as much as possible.

I have a Gran Fondo event coming up in September and I have not done any strength work on the bike this year at all. So last Saturday I met with the group at Wantirna Mall as an athlete. What ended up happening was that I was placed to supervise a few athletes who had never ridden out there before and therefore I couldn't leave them out in the hills by themselves. I didn't end up riding down Devil's elbow or The Wall as I took some other athletes up and down 1-in-20. I didn't mind as I was familiar with 1-in-20 and could work on my strength there. 65km (program said 3-3.5 hours) and I was done for the day. It was my first hilly ride (enjoyed it) but it was a tough session. I was buggered for the rest of the day but had to make cycling caps which people had ordered during the week (6 in total).

Sunday was a write off, I was so exhausted from Saturday that I decided to sleep in until I met up with friends for brunch at 10am. After brunch, we headed off to Darebin Parklands to watch the Dirty Deeds cyclocross races. Everytime I watch these races, I want to do an event (in a non-Elite category) but then I realise....that I have no bike skills. Maybe next year after a few more months on the MTB?

The only training session I have done the entire week was an attempt at my 1km swim time trial at GESAC. As I did my first of 2014 swim time trial there, I thought it was a good idea to benchmark myself in the same pool. Little did I know that the boiler at the pool had broken down that day and the water was no heated! Bayside Tri Squad who trained there all were issued an email about it and they decided to change this session into a wetsuit swim session - that's how cold it was!!! As much as I tried to warm up during the warm up session, I was still shivering before the time trial. I thought to myself - lets just see what happens, if I get a better time, good, if it is slower, don't dwell on it.

I pretty much swam with goosebumps on my entire body for the whole 1km and came out with a time of 22:12 (4 seconds slower than my last attempt) - this could be due to my lack of swim squad attendance as I had been swimming at my own pace for the last few weeks or it could be due to the water temperature....who knows?!

This may be an exaggeration of how cold the GESAC pool was....

This weekend I have the Melburn Roobaix (CAN'T WAIT). I will be riding Betty (the CX Bike) this year. Need to sort out my kit for the event.

In two minds about what to do for Saturday training. I know I need to do a run session (must be done on the Saturday) yet I need to also do some bike strength training in the hills. The Roobaix on Sunday although will be a few hours on the bike, it's a fun event.

Favourite session of the week: Hilly Ride in the Dandenongs on the Saturday! It is still my favourite route to ride.

Least favourite session of the week: My 1km swim time trial! The water was just way too cold, I had goosebumps from start to finish....and I only did 2 session for the entire week so if one was my favourite, the other had to be the not-favourite.

Advice of the week: As much as this week is a recovery week, I do need to harden up and just go to early morning (light training) sessions rather than sleeping in and not doing anything for days....

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: MELBURN ROOBAIX!!!!!!!! Last year's event write up can be found here....(and here on FXYO's page) CAN'T WAIT!

(More than a week's) Reflection 10/06 - 20/06

This week (or fortnight now) has been an odd-ball of days. Having the long weekend and Lorne camp really through the consistency of training out the window. As much as the spike in training during Lorne Camp was a great thing, it also made me tired and out of energy for the next few days post-camp. I think also my injury (broken finger), work stress also got the better of me.

I gave myself a few days off training after camp. As much as the Coaches all advised that we take it easy but continue training, my tiredness just got the better of me. I didn't do any swim sessions the week post camp and only got back into the swing of things on Thursday when I did the run session on Thursday night.

I coached on Saturday morning with the beginners and that was a very good session. I had a beginner who had never ridden with a group before, did a few mini triathlons and the longest ride was 40km from his place in Port Melbourne to Mentone and back. We rode from the Great Provider to Port Melbourne, then down to Mordialloc and then back to the Great Provider. Just a touch over 60km and his longest ride to date. He was pretty happy about that and learnt plenty about road safety, signalling, drinking and eating whilst riding and also what do to when riding up hills.

After the long flat ride, I then went on a little adventure to the You Yangs with my friend Sally (hello Sally!!). I had never been there before and looked forward to this ride. We rode about 80% of the Kurrajong trails and I loved every minute of it. Even when the heavens opened up and it rained heavily, I still had a smile on my face and enjoyed being out on the mountain bike. In a couple of weeks, we may head back there again and ride the easier parts of the Stockyard trails (now I am scared!).

Sally and I - after our rainy ride at You Yangs

The run technique sessions were moved to the afternoon as Coach Rupert was not available that morning. I joined the Fairfield run group instead and was put through the reigns with Coach Greg. I haven't ran with this group in about 6 months and I did noticed the drop in my fitness because of my non-attendance. We did about 12km in total but it was broken down into plenty of hill work, technique, core work, lunges etc. A soak in the Yarra river was also a welcomed recovery routine - my legs are not sore for days after long runs.

I didn't end up going to the re-scheduled run technique session due to my cap sewing commitments - I had 4 caps to make over the weekend.

Navy blue, yellow and white (to match Tri Alliance colours)

 

Black and green for www.krunchies.com.au



The next week was no different in terms of training - I lacked consistency due to work which really sapped up my mood and energy levels. I did the windtrainer session at Mentone on the Tuesday night, swam by myself on Wednesday at GESAC and ran with Rupert on the Thursday night. We ran along the athletic track of the junior school of Mentone Grammar which was great! Enough light for us to see and the track is nice and smooth. Would be great to be able to return there to run again but can be harsh on the joints as the track has very sharp bends.

This weekend, I will be heading out to the hills!!! It will be my first hill ride due to coaching commitments which meant that I have been riding on flat (and not in the most harder efforts). I am also catching up with friends on Sunday so I will commit myself to run in the morning along Beach Rd.

Favourite session of the week: The mountain bike session on Saturday last week - such fun riding in the rain and being on a bike!

Least favourite session of the week: Although I enjoyed the long run session at Fairfield, due to my lack of fitness (and still trying to find my run-nirvana), I felt like a hefer. I have no strength and power (as Coach Greg mentioned) as I haven't been working on them. Can't blame anyone but myself.

Advice of the week: I am really enjoying the mountain biking rides. Will try to cater for this within my training schedule. I want to keep my training fun, as much as it is easier to say this (after I have done several Ironman races) - there is more to life than just triathlon.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: I am actually looking forward to some riding in the hills this weekend. I really need to work on this for the Gran Fondo (Vancouver to Whistler).

Lorne Camp - 2014

Wow....this was my 5th Lorne Camp with Tri Alliance.

2010 - no blog

2011
2012
2013

No matter how many times I have attended Lorne Camp, I learnt something every year. I attended Lorne Camp as a coach for the first time this year. I only attended as an athlete the previous years. I decided that as a coach, I would stay onsite to provide as much support to the athletes as I could.

I decided to head into Lorne on Friday afternoon. The same routine I had been doing the previous years - arrive in time to check in, do the Friday night run, dinner at pub.

Friday was my first "big drive" in my new CX5. I had borrowed a bike trailer from a friend and had my mountain bike and my road bike at the back instead of being inside the car. This was so much more convenient. I could just throw all my bags at the back and not have to worry about playing jigsaw with bikes, bags and boxes.

I arrived in Lorne around 2:30pm, walked up and down the life saving club with all my bags, doona, pillows, bikes. During one of my last trips to the car, I slammed the car door into my left index finger. I haven't really appreciated how much I used my index finger until then - I couldn't really do anything with the left hand without the use of the index finger.

Fractured Finger

So during the camp briefing, we received our packs - gotta say - BEST PACK EVER!!!! Not only did we get heaps of swag from our sponsors, we also received a Tri Alliance visor and some booties (which I didn't own already!).

FREE STUFF!!!!

So after the briefing, it was off to our rooms, get all your stuff ready for the next day. As I have attended this camp on several occasions and have collected several items over my years in triathlon and was able to pack all my clothing/accessories into bags ready to go for the next session - 3 cycling bags, 3 run bags and a swim bag.

I was asleep by 9:30am and the alarm was set for 5:45am as breakfast was to be served by 6am.

For the Saturday, I was riding with Group 2 as an athlete. I started out OK but did realise that my quads were very sore as I couldn't stay in the water to recover as I had to rush to attend the Coaches meeting the night before. Sore quads = slow Ev. In addition to the sore quads, my finger was still throbbing. Every bump on the road could be felt through my finger. I rode on the hoods with the index finger sticking upwards (couldn't bend) and when I needed the brakes or change my gears, I had to lean my hand forward and grip onto the levers with the middle finger onwards. Couldn't really steer the bike properly too as my balance was completely out of whack!

Group 2 - I was coordinated with pink

The program for Group 2 was to ride to Apollo Bay and back within 4 hours. I only did 70km (instead of 90km) as I turned around after 1.5 hours. Into the water I went to recovery and then I went to bed for a nap as I was exhausted.

I woke up for lunch and didn't really have an appetite - not sure if it was the amount of gels I had taken (3 within 3 hours) which is the most I have had since Ironman Day in March), work stress or that I was injured. After lunch, I went back for a sleep and got up in time for the Mizuno talk. Trent from Mizuno gave out free t-shirts! We love free stuff! I don't normally wear t-shirts to run in but I do love my Mizuno shirts.

Before Saturday Run

The Saturday run took us around the caravan park and then up the hills through Lorne. My calves (being tight since last week), were tight from Friday night's Mountain to Surf run. It was not functioning 100% and the hills hurt my calves rather than my quads. The run down the hill was a welcome relief and the run along the flat was also good. After the run, it was a quick rest followed by dinner and then another team meeting.

On Sunday, I was coaching Group 4 for the ride. The plan for the group was 2-2.5 hours in total. My plan was that I would ride up Deans Marsh road after this session and it worked out well as some of my athletes from Group 4 who were stronger riders wanted to challenge themselves and do the same. We also rode up the hill in time with some of the Group 2 and 3 riders.

Myself with some of Group 3 and 4

I had real trouble getting my core temperature up after I ascended down from Benwerrin that I couldn't recover in the water for too long. There was a water session on after lunch and I opted for the Pier to Pub swim - this was the BEST!!! The water was cold but when you started swimming, it was actually refreshing. Sighting was a bit of an issue as the route was slightly on a curve and we also had to dodge the surfers out there.

Pier to Pub Swimmers

My calves were tight and niggly so instead of the run on Sunday, I rode around Lorne on the mountain bike instead. Great fun and can't wait for another mtb session with my friend Sally next weekend - we are heading to the You Yangs!

On Monday, there was only 1 session left to do but I was also coaching. I took group 3 (and 4) out on a neutral ride out for 45min and then we seeded them for a TT ride back to Lorne. I think everyone pushed themselves extra hard as it was the last session for the entire weekend. Everyone did well.

I really love Lorne training camp - it happens early in the winter season that it gives you a good spike in training and a big kick up the bum to the work that needs to be done in the months ahead to get to your potential again.

What I loved:

• Pier to Pub Swim
• The Great Ocean Road!
• The Mountain to Surf run
• The goodie bag

What I didn't like:

• My broken finger
• My stomach - gels....bleg....
• My tight calves - dry needling helped (I do love a dry needling session)
• The endless amounts of washing to be done post camp

Will I do another Lorne Camp? Only time will tell. Another year, over and out.

XX

(Not Quite) Weekly Reflection 02/06 - 05/06

I thought I would get this down before Lorne Camp. This week's training has been tracking well. I had to juggle a few things around but I am glad that I did something everyday.

Due to the hill work we did as part of the Run Technique on Sunday (1st June), my calves pulled up tight and sore on Monday. I tried to massage it out with my thumbs (it was too deep for rollers). I did my swim set on Monday and I doubt that swimming with fins helped it either.

I had my bike in for service so I didn't have a bike to use at windtrainer. I had planned on commuting into work on the CX on Tuesday but the weather turned terrible. I decided to park the ride aside as I couldn't be bothered when Lorne Camp was coming up so soon. I went to the gym instead and did some strength and core work. Since I haven't done much of this for the last few months, the post strength and core soreness were very noticable. So noticeable in fact that I couldn't laugh without feeling my abs were pulling me in.

Swim on Wednesday was back at Mentone and Coach Anna made us (slower lanes) do the following:
Warm up - 300 mix, 200 kick
Main Set - 5 x 200 (various stroke correction techniques), 4 x (150m 75% hard, 100m pb+p breathe 2, 3, 5 7)
Cool Down - 200m (I did breast and back)
As much as remembering what you did for swim training is really boring for some people, I am noting them down as it is different from what I have been doing for the last 4 years. It is a welcoming change and the fact that you don't know what you will be doing is also a novelty. The 25m pool is still a pain in the ass but I am getting used to it.

I didn't do my Thursday afternoon run due to work issues which I won't dwell on. I hate it when everything falls apart - work issues which led to no training which led to being unhappy as either tasks were not completed and letting myself down. I packed like a mad woman on Thursday night. My head was not in the right head-space and I couldn't be bothered making much of my meals which I had planned on doing. I decided to bring both my road bike and Annie (the mountain bike) with me and if I needed to ride to the shops, I could. It ended up being a good thing which I will talk about later.

My side project has been going well. I have been selling a few cycling caps from my own range and setting up the online shop is slowly getting there.

Weekly Reflection 26/05 - 1/06

There was a noticeable drop in temperature over the weekend as the first day of winter settled in. We actually had a great run of 20+ degrees during the week which made the early mornings easier to tackle.

I pretty much trained everyday except for Friday of last week (as per the training schedule). I swam by myself on the Monday at GESAC and followed the program. I do have a few pet-hates and one of them happened at the pool that day. There were 2 fast lanes, 1 medium lane and 2 slow lanes and the rest were reserved for squad. I swim in the fast lane in the suburbs but if I am doing a slow set I will move myself down to medium. During my main set, a couple decided to jump into my lane and continued on swimming breast stroke the entire time. If you can do breaststroke fast, then swimming in the fast lane is acceptable but not when you swim without getting your hair or face wet (yes, those ones). What annoyed me more was when I was going to over take them, they moved over to the right thinking they were doing me a favour which didn't allow me to over take....annoyed! I also had to make sure I swam as close to the lane ropes as possible as they kept kicking me with their wide strokes. As my swim set was over 2km, they ended up getting out after doing a few laps which meant that I didn't have to change lanes mid set - why should I have to move when I am swimming at the right pace? My other pet-hate is when people use my swim toys too which the lady tried to do with my swim fins....like seriously!?

Tuesday I joined the bayside squad for the windtrainer and I swam at Bayside Aquatics on the Wednesday morning. As much as a 25m pool still annoys me, I will set that aside to do these sessions close to home. We worked on stroke correction as well as feeling the water which was a good start to Wednesday morning.

As I mentioned previously, fartlek sessions are not my friend at the moment and that was what we did on Thursday night. After our warm up, we did 10 x (1min on and 1 min off). I was buggered by the 7th and slowed down considerably for the next 2. My legs just didn't want to fire, let alone for a whole min.

I coached on Saturday morning with the beginners ride - only 3 people showed up. We did a 50km ride from St Kilda down to Port Melbourne and then return after Mordialloc. My 2nd run technique session with Rupert on Sunday and we worked on hills.

Favourite session of the week: I am enjoying the run technique sessions at the moment. They are not too intense but they are good in working on the basics.  It was a hill run session and we worked on the following:
1) Steady hill inclines - what technique to use when you are running up a hill which may be long
2) Hill inclines with slow jog recovery - similar to fartlek run sessions with the recovery being a slow job instead of stopping fully.
3) Strength - Steep hill inclines (shorter distances) with recovery jog.

Run Technique with Rupert

Least favourite session of the week: I think due to my pet-peeves at the pool on the Monday night, I didn't particularly enjoyed that swim session as I couldn't get into a rhythm without being kicked in the guts and head and trying to navigate my way around people.

Advice of the week: I am currently not taking on any supplements for energy (gels) during much of my training (no need to). I only took one gel during the week and that was during my long ride as it was about 2.5 hours. No need for the excessive sugar at this stage in training.

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: Lorne Camp! WOOT WOOT!

Weekly Reflection 19/05 - 25/05

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There is no Off-Season...

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

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

We need to remember the following:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weekly Reflection 12/05 - 18/05

Last week was a great week! I am still on a high from my little project which started on Friday night and eventuated on Sunday evening with a blue print to my final product. See....I have been venturing back to my crafty days of sewing. I have mentioned before about the person I use to be before triathlon training...one of the things I didn't mention was how I use to be really crafty and would make everything from scratch. Anyways, I will update this blog later on the project.

Meanwhile, in the training side of things, getting back into the routine of training on a daily basis has proven to be more harder (not as easy) as I thought even though this is my 3rd year of long course training.

Due to the hectic weekend which consisted of my first off road event, going to Geelong for the MDC and then driving all the way back to Melb for a gathering, I was pooped and needed the sleep in. I decided to do my own swim in the afternoon by myself but did as much of the program as I could.

The next day was a write off. Due to my allergies, I was sneezing too much and burst a vessel in my nasal cavity and didn't go into work or did any training due to a bleeding nose. Sexy, I know. Did my own swim TT on the Wednesday night as I couldn't make it into Northcote in the morning and came out with a 1km TT of 22:08. This is my slowest 1km swim TT but I didn't really expect much - I hadn't been doing any strength work or much swimming over the last 6 weeks. I also had someone else in my lane which wasn't doing a swim TT but luckily we didn't clash. My tumble turns started off well but ended in a mess by the end of the 1km swim - was just a case of CBF.

I thought I was going to be picking up my new car on Thursday afternoon so I didn't plan on attending my run TT. The car thing didn't eventuate so I missed out on running as well as a new car - double boo. I would have had to do a 5km TT as I doubt that I am able to run 10km in under an hour at this point.

I rode with the Bicycle Superstore shop ride on the Friday morning. We started at the shop at 6:45am and instead of turning around with them at St Kilda BP, I continued into work. Luckily there was a Northerly as my legs still felt like they were made out of lead so the ride home in the afternoon was more comfortable.

Long ride with the squad on the Saturday - remind me again to not ride close to the front. Riding at 35km/hr is not sustainable for me. Even had two "pushes" from Coach Ollie as I couldn't keep up. I couldn't drink nor take in nutrition when I was with this group - too much for me! I decided to drop back as I was cramping up bad and rode by myself until a few other squad guys caught up with me. We then rode back into Elwood as a tight group and even had rolling turns at a comfortable and sustainable pace (into the head wind).

I was planning on running from ELSC on the Sunday before joining Kerri's yoga session but I decided to run from home instead so I was able to take a shower before yoga. The plan was a 9km run and for the first 6km, it was fine. I was running at a slow pace but I didn't stop. The last 3km was uncomfortable, I stopped to take breaks and walked. It was my first long run session for the season and I felt tired and very unfit. I then took a quick shower before I headed off to ELSC for the fund raising yoga session.

Favourite session of the week: I really enjoyed my Sunday yoga session (with Karen). It showed that even though I am pretty flexible, I needed to stretch as I was tightening up from training and the lack of massages. I couldn't hold much of the warrior poses as my quads were burning.

Kerri's fund raising page can be found here:

https://italiandolomites.everydayhero.com/au/kerri

I used to do the sun salutation yoga in the morning. I think I will do it again and try to make it a habit.

Least favourite session of the week: My long run on Sunday - made me feel unfit, slow, tired, sore and generally negative about running as a whole. I really have so much to do to be comfortable with running again. Hoping that the run technique course I am doing will help me in the right direction.

Advice of the week: Do what you love - this goes for my side project. I will go into detail when I have my business plan down pat. As for running, it is not something which I love at the moment but when I am comfortable with it (and it has happened a few times before), the feeling you get is amazing!

Thing I’m looking forward to next week: Fingers crossed that I will pick up my car sometime this week. I am also looking forward to my first run technique session on Sunday. I am looking forward to anything that will help my running at the moment.