Melburn Roobaix 2015

I am still walking around with a smile on my face from Sunday (28th June 2015). Several great things happened on that day. Firstly, I became an aunt for the first time! My (younger) brother and his wife had a baby boy (yet to be named) and secondly, I participated in my 3rd Melburn Roobaix!

My first event write up can be seen here and the second (much wetter) Roobaix can be see here.

I have to say, this year was my favourite for several reasons:

• There was a single route (last year had 2) so we were able to follow crowds and be entertained the entire day, much more fun.
• There were only 10 manifests instead of 13 (2013) and 12 (2014) and so we were able to stop for chats, coffee and lunch for longer in between. 
• The weather was perfect. 

So the day started out like last year, we parked the car at Abbotsford (kinda in between the start and finish) and rode down to the start along the Yarra with a few dozen others. You know people are here for the Roobaix by the bikes they ride and the costumes they wear.

Once we got there, we lined up to grab our musettes and waited in line for the coffee for about 10min until we decided to just start the event and hopefully grab a coffee at a cafe along the way.

His and Hers

The questions they had at the end of the cobbles were interesting as some were not directly at the end of the laneways which saw a few confused looks and large groups wondering around. The first manifest was a prime example - at the end of the cobblestone laneway was an opened (public) carpark and and not undercover. The first question was how many undercover carparks were there? It was not until we rode a bit further up and saw the small flags and realised that the questions was related to private undercover parking. Sneaky sneaky!

After this, we headed up to Coffee Supreme and stopped for a coffee and picked up our Roobaix drink bottles - one of the highlights of every event, something I can use which reminds me of how fun I always have at these events. They gave you a choice of white, silver or clear. I chose silver whilst the Canadian chose clear.

A latte and a stroopwafel later (we packed stroopwafel as they were on sale from Coles - $1.8 for a packet of 4) for the whole "European" vibe-thing, we headed off to the next manifest stop.

Coffee Supreme!

I don't really remeber much in between manifest 9 through to 6 - they were all really fun and riding through side streets made you appreciate the different types of houses there are around Melbourne. I know somewhere in between, we had free donuts from All Day Donuts and they were awesome!

Manifest 5 was in North Melbourne, similar to 2013 where we carried our bikes up the stairs. Similar to 2013, we stopped near Newmart station for lunch. A slow lunch and a coffee later, we set off to complete the remaining 4 sections.

We then bumped into some of our friends from the Bicycle Superstore group and we rode on and off with them for the rest of the day until we got to the velodrome.

I did half a lap around the velodrome and we settled down and waited for Andy to make the announcements for the prizes. I had a tear in my eye when they announced the winner of the major Roobaix prize which is the trip to watch the actual Paris Roubaix - it was an (older) lady and she was so shocked and surprised when they called out her name. She is also the first female winner since forever.

The Melburne Roobaix is the highlight of the year for me. It is just such a fun day as it is no way near competitive. No one cares if you are the fastest although many people race their mates through the cobblestone sections. It's about cyclists supporting other cyclists as I saw a guy come down from his bike at the tram tracks near Ikea and another coming off at the bridge and plenty of people making sure they were both ok. It's about bike riding for fun with a few coffee stops, donuts, chats and plenty of laughter in between.

Best. Day. Ever.

PS - Plenty of compliments for the Fondo kit I wore for the day!

Training Update

This entry is to keep you all up to date with my training as I am not doing regular reflection pieces as much as before especially having done Ironman. 

I will go through the swim, bike, run, strength and miscellaneous attributes regarding triathlon.  

I have a confession; I am yet to join the squad for the Tuesday and Friday morning sessions. I am still freaking out about doing these sessions with them as I have no concept on how these sessions are being conducted. I have been told that they are different from the Monday and Wednesday session but as Bayside don’t really have progression plan like Tri Alliance (in order to accommodate everyone and their respective races throughout the year), I am scared of stepping into swim session where we are to swim more than 3km. The longest session I have done (on my own) is a quality 2.7km following Swim Smooth programs which I purchased a few weeks ago. I purchased the Level 2 Olympic/Half Ironman program which comes with 35 lessons. I am enjoying them so far as it is structured differently to the swim sessions I have been doing for the last 5 years. I haven’t returned to CF Racing swim sessions as it is slightly out of the way for me and if I sleep in on a Monday morning and I complete my strength session on Monday night. I am not too worried about the swim sessions this time around other than completing at least 2 sessions a week with > 2.5km per session.

Cycling has been coming along slowly but surely. The spin classes at GESAC are really good and the work I get to do on strength have been much better than the windtrainer sessions I used to do. Although these sessions are short, the intensity is much more than a bike will ever on a windtrainer, unless you would don’t mind breaking your bike in half or shredding your tyres. I am also able to do some training on spin bikes at my gym if miss a session or if the weather ever turns stupid ugly. I might have to download a few spinerval programs so I can watch the iPad on the spin bikes rather than staring into space or the people running on treadmills in front of me. 

So far, I have done two Dandenong rides and planning on a 3rd this weekend since the start of June. I really do enjoy these hilly rides where I can tune out and just pedal along. It has been a while since I have placed myself in the strength work “hurt box”, but I am actually happy. In the month of July, I will venture out to Kinglake to mix things up a bit although I find that there are more hilly variations around The Dandenongs. I might have to look into hill repeats of Kinglake to make up for the distance and time. I do need to work on my cadence as well as my strength. Staying in the large chain ring works on strength where as being in the small chain ring will reduce fatigue in the legs and enable hill climbs to be more efficient. 

With running, I have had ups and downs. I have been trying to be consistent with the events I am entering on the weekends to keep my long runs accountable, however I don’t know if I am mentally or physically exhausted (or both) from some of the events that my attendance on the Tuesday nights have not been too consistent. I think I have 1 more sessions with Tim and I really don’t want to miss out on anymore as I think his lessons are valuable. In July, I have to decide if I am going to run Sri Chimnoy (flat) 10km and see if I can beat my previous time of 59min or do Salomon Trail Run in Plenty Gorge where I will be running 17km and it will be hilly. I will decide closer to the weekend.   

My strength work has been great. I know that I am getting stronger in the legs and core. Currently on Week 8 of my 12 week program. I am getting more toned but my clothes however have not been fitting as well as before. My shoulders, arms and thighs have increased in measurement so I have resorted to buying new clothes and wishing that I had kept some of my pre-triathlon clothes. My weight (on the scales) have been increasing and sometimes I weigh enough to compete in the Athenas category (70kg+) and I am only 156cm tall. Part of me is slightly sad that the reason why I kicked myself out of the “out of shape/unift” rut was so that I can lose weight and aim towards <60kg but I seem to be creeping up the other way. The other (more logistic and scientific) side of me knows that in order to have strength for the bike and run, you need muscle mass and muscle weights more than fat etc etc....I also know that I do carry excess fat around my stomach area and this will be something which I am looking forward to getting rid off in the next 4-5 months. The only time I ever see the fat around my stomach practically gone is around the month before every Ironman race and this is not a very realistic and sustainable means of being toned. Currently, I have 2 sessions of strength programmed into my schedule and this may increase to 3 sessions after Shepparton to work towards 3 Peaks. The 3^rd session may not necessarily be working with weights but could be Pilates Reformer. 

In order to get down to my race weight of <60kg, I need to be more conscious of my food intake and aim for a 2kg weight loss/month. I have been making a conscious effort in drinking up to 2 litres of hydration a day – from electrolytes, coconut water, green tea through to just plain water. I snack of dried apricots and almonds if I feel peckish. I don’t restrict myself to fruits – there is so much noise out there on how fructose (sugars in fruits) makes you fat but seriously, have you ever come across an obese person who consumed too much fruit? I have cut down my coffees to 2 a day and quite often than not, 1 or none over the weekend. With the advice from Chris, I am consuming complex carbohydrates (as much as I can control) within 2 hours of a training session, this includes rice, pasta, pizza, potatoes and sweet potatoes. I tend to head home for lunch so I can have a high protein meal with eggs, tofu or chicken with vegetables and that satisfies me. My partner loves his carbs and luckily for him, they are introduced after training sessions for dinner as I am doing more training sessions after work. 

It has been a while that I have been able to do some form of training everyday of the week. I may have only one day per week off during recovery weeks wherever a massage is booked in place of a session. I am guessing that as strength work is programmed into my schedule and they take 30-45min to complete (and being indoors), I am less likely to “skip” a training session. If I ever have a sleep in due to exhaustion or need to head into work early and miss out on a session, I will make up for it (on the same day) with a gym session on the treadmill or the spin bikes.

Post Shepparton, I will step up the frequency of cycling whilst decreasing the training sessions for swimming and running down to 1 each per week (no long sessions). I will talk about this more closer to November and manage after Shepparton towards 3 Peaks. 

Working towards 3 Peaks (entries open in July), I have already signed up for the following:

Amy's Gran Fondo - 120km (110km + 10km Benwerrin descent) on 13th September. 

Around the Bay – 210km anti clockwise on 11^th October. 

I may sign up to the Audax Alpine Classic in January as part of the training preparation as well. 

Hope this entry is keeping you guys up to date on my training and journey towards a meaningful season of events.

Hilly Rides and the Salomon Series Trail Run (Studley Park)

So this morning, I ran my 3rd ever (official) trail run event. I didn't do a "preview" like I did the previous events because I wasn't sure if I was actually going to do this event and which distance I was going to actually race.

I am still recovering from Run Forest. That event broke me and brought me out of my comfort zone by a mile. I wasn't sure if I was going to do another trail run for a while but I really need to stay consistent with running in order to achieve my goal of a half marathon < 2 hours (road race). I bit the bullet and signed up for the long course on the 11th June. I had a bit of a breakthrough run on Tuesday evening so I knew that running was on the right track.

As this was a "run" and not a "race", I still went out on my hilly ride on Saturday. My friend Dale and I have decided to make the next 12 months count in terms of our cycling goals and both have signed up for some events to pick up our game. I did my first "hilly" ride last week (13th) up at the Dandenongs by myself. I wanted to ride at my own pace as I couldn't ride with the tri squad as they were doing a 130km ride from GESAC and then through to Dandenongs and then doing a loop at Emerald - this would have been too much for me and would be left out on the highway by myself which is unsafe. I am happy that I did this ride last week as it set my expectations for the Dandenong ride for this week and I could pull back slightly without compromising my bike strength work.

I did a similar ride yesterday with Dale but without the SkyHigh loop which is an extra 6km or so. We started around 7:15am and the temperature was hovering zero degrees. It was hard to breathe as it was that cold, Luckily I had a buff, beanie, deFeet gloves and booties, knee warmers, wool socks, arm warmers, base layers and a vest over my normal cycling attire. We ended up with 2.5 hours and around 43km. I ended up riding up 1-in-20 in the big chain ring which was comfortable enough so I know that my strength work is coming along well. Whilst we rode repeats of the 1-in-20, a few guys were attempting their everesting attempts. They started at 3am and estimated that they would finish around midnight with 35 laps of the 1-in-20.

Next week, we will aim to do more than 3 hours and maybe try Sky High and Devil's elbow (which I am yet to tackle).

With the trail run, I had planned on arriving around 7:40am (an hour before race start) so I can pick up my race number, visit toilet, drop off bag, warm up the legs before race start. Tried to sleep at 10pm but was still awake at 10:30pm. The alarm was set at 6:30am so I can leave the house at 7am.

When I got there, the temperature was so cold that I dug around the car hoping to find a pair of gloves  (which I did) and wore for the entire event. I caught up with a few Tri Alliance friends and chatted with them for a while before the start.

The actual run was pretty good although I had some bad moments - my shoe laces came undone twice, I rolled my ankles once and towards the last 4km, the fast 10km guys were finishing which meant that I had to stop mid run to get out of their way as the paths are narrow along the Yarra. I ran pretty much most of the trail except for the steep stair climbs and some of the rocky descents which I was careful so I don't roll my ankles again. I really liked my Mizuno Hayates and they worked well on some of the slippery surfaces. The course wasn't muddy and I would rate the difficulty of the Studley Park course as a 10th of Run Forest.

I had a gel at about 8:30am with the next at 45min and 30min mark along with about 300ml of hydration over 15km. Although it was a freezing morning, I was sweating due to the Ultimate Direction vest and on the insides of my elbows as I was wearing a long sleeve. I kept my gloves on the entire time and I was able to use it to wipe the sweat off my face.

My goal was to finish the run under 1:45 and my time was 1:40:11 so I am pretty happy with that time. If I was to run 15km by myself, I would have finished it around the 2 hour mark with plenty of walks in between.

My Stats
Overall placing for long course run: 439/460
Gender placing: 166/182
Category 20 - 39: 103/110

I know the pacing wasn't great and might have some fatigue in the legs due to the hilly ride (especially spending much time in the large chain ring) but this is not an A race for me but just a motivator to keep running.

Next week, I will do the run session on the Tuesday and Thursday as the weekend will be about cycling with a long hilly ride on Saturday followed by Melburn Roobaix on Sunday. It is also my rest week so I am not getting too worried about it. I am still yet to decide if I am to run Race 2 of the Salomon Series or TrailX in July.

Strength Training - Intro and Update

I am currently on Week 6 of my strength program and absolutely loving it! Why? Some reasons why I have put down to:

• The temperature of Melbourne is getting pretty chilly and not being outside is slightly comforting. I have become more of a fair-weather athlete after a few years....
• I am seeing huge improvements in the following:
• Holding my core
• The weights I am lifting, carrying and how comfortable I am with the movements.
• Although the scales are not heading towards the right direction, I am feeling that I am getting more toned especially around the stomach area. 
• I am reporting to Chris (Excite) about my progress and I am being accountable.
• I am not in a group situation and being deflated about being too fat or slow. I am not surrounded by people who are constantly being competitive, will leave this to the guys at the gym. 

My program (without giving away too much IP) consists of warm up, pinnacle movements, then a superset, followed by core work.

Warm up is about rolling my muscles out, using a stick to introduce movement in my joints around my shoulders and back. I then use the foam roller to warm up my legs especially the quads and calves. 

The pinnacle set is where I do squats and dead lifts with weights and barbells. I started out with 35kg in my squats and now have moved onto 50kg. Deadlifts I have increased from 25kg to 35kg. I have very short legs and quad dominant so I am really enjoying the squats. I am getting better at my deadlifts (both single legs and standard) but I needed work on my technique due to my hyper-mobility through the shoulders. 

I do my strength training every Monday and Wednesday. The superset varies between the two days and how fast I am able to breeze through these sets depends on how busy the gym gets. 

After the superset, I end the session off with core work which consists of planking and crunches. On Wednesday, I often do a bit more pilates core work as this day ends quicker. 

I mentioned before that my weight (what I see on the scales) are creeping the other way, I am also seeing that some of my clothes are not fitting as well as before but have been told that this will go down as I lose more fat whilst I gain muscle. 

I should have taken photos of what my body looks like from Day 1 but didn’t have the chance to. Hopefully I will get a body scan soon and be able to compare data.

Calluses from 7 weeks of strength training.

Run Forrest - Race Report

Yesterday, 7th June, I competed in my hardest event to date. I have never been pushed so much out of my comfort zone before - this event was the toughest in my life.

We got into Forrest by about 9:10am which gave me 20min to put on my socks, shoes, pack my hydration bag and run down to the start to pick up registration and go to the toilet. They said that registration was opened from 7:00 - 9:30am but the line to pick up the numbers went on and on. Not sure what happened, maybe they were understaffed but I think they had extra help when they realised that people were still waiting to pick up their race numbers by 9:45am. I still hadn't gone to the toilet yet at 9:50am and luckily people who were racing the 10km who started at 10:30am let us in the long line.

I didn't really pay attention to the race briefing as I was in the toilet line and just finished in time to run to the start and off I went. The start of the race was good. Everyone was in a good and comfortable pace. The first part of the event where I walked was when the route came back to race area and up the hill. I jogged as much as I could but the 1km climb so close to the start of the event got to me and about 30 other people.

We ran through some lush fern covered narrow paths where I felt the pressure of the pace. The path was too narrow for people to pass and due to the ferns, it was hard to step aside. Where I could, I stepped aside for the faster people to get around me as at this point (3km), the constant hill climbs caused my legs to be heavy. We then ran down a path and then onto the dam walls with amazing scenery. The volume of water in the dam was just unbelievable.

At about the 7km mark, the faster runners were actually running the other way, that was how strong some of these regular trail runners were. The constant hills were tricky especially when some of the paths were slippery and with some areas needed your hands for support.

Pretty much where there were climbs, I either walked or jogged/walked up ungracefully. I remember the 12km mark where I walked for the longest distance for the entire event, the climb was constant and felt like it went on forever.

The last 5km was tolerable as it was downhill but with some of the most trickiest paths to get through. There were many hands for support action happening and where I could feel a blister on the feet. The blister on the bottom of the foot felt like I was stepping on a piece of glass with every downward path. I stopped at this point to also check that there was nothing in the socks which was causing the pain apart from the blister. At this point, 3 guys ran passed me but luckily I caught up to and passed them soon after. The last part of the run was the hardest as I had to run past the finish line but in a different direction with a great monster of a climb 1km from the finish line. The last climb proved to be too much for my little legs that I had to run up the hill backwards.

The last 1km was a relief. It was downhill and I knew that I was close to finish. Unfortunately I didn't finish the 21km within the 3 hours as I had planned. I finished in 3:02 which wasn't too bad I suppose. 3 hours out running/walking/climbing was a long time out there, I don't even ride for that duration or climb that much in elevation!

My Ultimate Direction vest - awesome!

I downloaded my Garmin and here are some stats:
Total time: 3:02.05
Total moving time: 2:58.03
Average pace: 8:44min/km
Average moving pace: 8:33min/km
Elevation gain: 1,773m
Maximum elevation: 372m

Nutrition - I had 4 gels in total. One at the start, pretty much as soon as I exited the toilet stop and onto the start, then 3 during the race, one at every 45min or so.

Comments/Lessons:

• Although I ran 21km and it was the hardest event I had ever done (harder than Ironman), I am glad I did this distance rather than the 10km. Although 10km would have been manageable, driving all the way to Forrest for 10km was too much to ask. 
• This event was out of my comfort zone by a huge mile but I am glad I did it. 
• Need to work on more hill running, my legs felt weak - similar to riding along Beach Road month after month and finding any climb a real slog. 
• Although the hydration vest was good, there was a bit of chaffing due to my elbows rubbing against the side of the bag. I found accessing the bottles from the front much easier than from the back. 
• I think I could go half a size bigger in my trail shoes - I wore 2 pairs of socks (3 layers in total) and this was what caused the blister as my feet were squeezed together. 
• I don't know if I will do this event next year...I will have to gain super strength in running to be able to take at least 15min off my time. 

Run Forrest - The Preview

This Sunday (7th June) - I will be doing the Run Forrest 21km trail event. I thought as I am not going to training camp this year (first time in 6 years) that I would still do some training which gets me out of my comfort zone.

The event is held at Forrest (in Victoria) and the 21km will be a tough one as it utilises the mountain bike trails which is usually accessible only by mountain bikers (not opened to walkers/runners). There will be hills, fast descents, rocky tracks on both fire roads as well as single track trails. I am looking forward to this event as it will be more "trails" than my previous trail run (Afterglow Run in Nov 2014). 

There will be a few things which I will take into account:

• My time will be between 2:30 - 3 hours considering the terrain of this event and my current level of fitness. I will run at a pace I am comfortable with and trying my hardest to not roll my ankles. I also finished the Afterglow run in 2:35.
• I am going to use my Ultimate Direction running vest for the first time - This is not a "race" so technically, I am not trying anything new...I will report on the pros and cons of wearing a hydration vest compared to my trusty belt.
• This will be my longest run since January 2015 (2 weeks before Challenge Melbourne). 
• I will enjoy the scenery as much as I can - I heard it is beautiful out there. 

 

On Saturday (6th), I will ride Beach Rd but I will make sure that I recover well after the ride by soaking in the bay to reduce inflammation and lactic build up. I don't want the same thing to occur on the run as last week.  Once I am recovered, I will pack and head over to Geelong to stay with my parents so that the drive down to Forrest will be about 1.5 hours (rather than 3.5 hours).

Wish me luck!

Looking Ahead - July

In terms of events, July appears to be a more calm one compared to May and June....so far.  It will be the middle of winter but I will take advantage of this "quieter" month to do more cycling strength work such as hilly rides without stressing out about how I will recover and be ready for the next day's events.

Events
On the 19th July weekend - There are 3 running races on

• Trails+ - You Yangs 15km Trail Run
• Salomon Trail Series - Plenty Gorge 17km Trail Run
• Sri Chimnoy - Princess Park 10km or 21.1km

Closer to the weekend and see how I am travelling with regards to my health and fitness, I will decide on which run event to sign up to. I know that Bayside will sign up for the Sri Chimnoy as it is one of the key events which the run training we have been doing leads up to however I do need to build some strength with trail running so it will most likely be the trails. TBC.

26th July - The next event which I have within the month of July is the Womens100 Ride with Jaggad. This time last year, I fell off a bike onto my head/face which stopped me from participating. I am looking forward to this ride and being amongst this women's cycling movement. It is on the same day as Run Melbourne but I think that joining smaller runs events during the year is sufficient enough for me. Will do a run the day before this ride and ensure that I recover well before the 100km ride the next day.

Small Goals/Key Sessions

• For the month of July, I will be in phase 3 of my strength program with Chris (Excite). I am not finding it hard to stay motivated with these sessions as I am really seeing the benefits and the improvement. The sessions are done in the gym so it doesn't depend on the weather.

Dirty Duathlon - My Race Report

So this morning, I completed my first official duathlon! The forecast was showers/gale force and I heard all this on Saturday night which woke me up several times. In the morning, I got all my things together and got my hydration sorted before I left the house. Apple maps advised me that it would take approx 40min to get to the You Yangs park from Armstrong Creek but it ended up taking approx 30min to get there. I arrived just as the parking area opened and I realised that parking was in a private property (like, someone's front yard). I got the bike out of the car and applied lube to the chain as nothing had been done to the bike since my Dirty Gran Fondo ride, got my bags together and rode to the venue.

I was so early to the race venue that by the time I picked up my race pack, put the race number on the bike, set up my transition and visited the toilet, I still had 45min left to kill before race briefing so I just sat at the stage area (the only area to sit) and just killed time on social media.

With 15min left until race start, I had my pre race gel for the day and took my bag to storage. We were ushered to the start and then it was "off we go".

The start was slightly uphill so my heart rate shot up quick. After a few hundred meters or so, I realised that my legs were just heavy and didn't want to move...I was so frustrated, I could run faster than what I was doing but the legs just didn't want to play! I knew what I had done wrong - I did a 80km ride on Saturday and as much as half of the ride was done at <20km/hr (with the Liv Ride), the other half was also done with intensity. When I came home from the ride, I didn't recover well, I didn't ice my legs and I didn't spend time on the rollers. I paid the price and lessons were learnt.

During the first run, I noticed that I was second last in the race. When I finished the 5km run, I was so glad to get onto the bike. I had ridden this course before. It's not too technical and when you have good bike skills, you can do this bike course very well as it can be flowing fast. For me, I don't have the confidence and enough bike skills to handle myself at high speeds so I still applied brakes. I actually rode through some of the areas which I never did during my previous rides so that was something which I am extremely proud of. I actually "raced" the bike leg as much as I could. I had no one around me the entire time as the first run really blew my time out big time. Whilst I was going passed the marshals, I was telling them that I could be last or second last on the course.

I was a bit disappointed that the bike finished and I had to do a run. It is only 4km but my legs were still not coming out to play. I jogged the first 1km and my legs just collapsed under me that I had to stop and walk on and off for 2km in between. With 1km left to go in the run leg, the volunteer started to ride with me - my emotions at this point was mixed....One side of me was just shattered, I came to realise that I am THE LAST PERSON on the course (the other guy must have pulled out) knowing that I was the only one left last was just a huge slap in the face (not intentionally of course). But the other side of this emotion was actually a positive one - he was actually encouraging so I kept my run accountable. I think as I was the only one out there for a while, it felt like any run I was doing by myself - not stepping out of my comfort zone and stopping whenever I liked but with him there, I made sure that I was just running and stopped thinking about how shit I was feeling.

I finished the 4km run in about 27min which was ridiculous. When I crossed the line, they announced that I was the last person across the line and when I went to the bike storage, it was the only bag left on the table, I walked over to the transition area to grab my things and my bike was the last one left - everyone had gone home. I mentioned in my last post that I was sure that I was going to place last again but I guess I am reflecting on this more and how I shouldn't be (satisfied at being last)!

Lessons Learnt/Comments:

• I need to still train through these non A races. This means that I need to take care of my body better and recover better in preparation for the next day's event. 
• Do runs off the bike. In the next level of my training, I will start to incorporate Wednesday morning rides so I will try as much as I can to do runs off the bike. For now, I will somehow do this after my Thursday morning spin class and my Saturday long rides. 
• Wore the SOAS tri shorts for the first time. My stomach is still huge at the moment so the shorts are rolling down my stomach. This was frustrating me during my run. I am still to try and race with the entire SOAS tri top and shorts. Waiting for the warmer months do try this. 
• I wore thick wool socks with a pair of cycling socks as I thought it would be cold. This was an overkill and will not be doing this next weekend for Run Forrest. 
• For the terrain, I would not recommend trail shoes - normal runners is sufficient as the run is over the fire trails and not forrest trails or single track. 
• I rode without gloves and I found it fine for this event.

Race Stats:

Run 1 = 33min, 

Bike + Transition = 1:11

Run 2 = 27min

I placed DFL for the entire event - 79th for all the people who turned up and finished for the day. 10/10 for females 19-35, 21/21 for all females. 

Dirty Duathlon - The Preview

This Sunday, I have my first official duathlon event. Although I have completed several duathlon races - most of them being the corporate triathlons, I have never signed up for one on purpose!

This one is an unusual one too as it is off road. It is held at You Yangs and the event distances are:
5km Trail Run
17km Mountain Bike Ride
4km Trail Run

Why did I sign up for this event? I have mentioned before that this year, I am making myself accountable for my training and signing up to events, albeit will occur expenses throughout the year, will make me push beyond my comfort zone and will help me achieve my goals.

I felt that this event was do-able for someone with little confidence in mountain biking and less than ideal fitness levels. I have really enjoyed riding out at You Yangs (Kurrajong trails) so I signed up for this event when I saw it on social media around April. 

As this is a duathlon and off-road, my gear would need to completely change! The event is held at You Yangs, so I thought I would stay at my parent’s house out of Geelong so the drive over there would be around 45min instead of 1.5 hours.'

I have decided to wear just a plain pair of tri shorts for the entire event. I have never really found it too uncomfortable on the saddle on the mountain bike even though the saddle is totally different from the one I have on all my road/CX bikes. For the top half, I am either going to wear a short sleeve or a long sleeve running shirt. I am not going to bother with a cycling jersey or tri-top. I currently don’t have a tri suit to wear and I don’t think a tri suit will be required for a duathlon although I would like something to hold my stomach in. Considering it will most likely be showers on Sunday (today’s forecast for Sunday) – it will most likely be a long sleeve shirt. I will wear socks throughout the event, I might even double sock up for some comfort. 

On Run 1, I will have my trail runners on. Coming into transition, I will change out of my running shoes and into my MTB shoes, put on my Camelbak hydration bag for ease of drinking on the bike, have my helmet near my bike. Coming back into Run 2, I will change out of my bike shoes and into my running shoes, take off my hydration bag and off I go. 

I don’t know if I will wear a hat or glasses. I won’t be carrying any hydration on the run as there is a drink station on each one of the run legs. I will carry my nutrition on me. I will definitely have a gel before the start and one (or maybe two) more on the bike and then nothing for the 4km run. Based on my estimations, I will do the following times:

Run 1 – 0:30 – 0:35min

Bike – 1:15 – 1:20

Run 2 – 0:20 – 0:30

Total time of 2:20 – 2:35 (including transition)

Considering that I am very hesitant on the mountain bike even though the course itself is not technical, I am prepared to take the DFL placing again. Once again, I am not bothered as I am doing this event to make my training accountable and placing myself out of my comfort zone.

We received our race numbers yesterday - I am "duo29". 

Post Fondo & Sri Chimnoy Race Report

The Fondo ride I completed on Sunday 17th May was my longest spent on the saddle since March 2014. That ride really put me out of my comfort zone in terms of strength work on the bike as well as endurance. On Monday, I decided to have a sleep in and complete my strength session after work. This meant that my swim was going to be pushed to Tuesday.

My body was still fatigued as I could only finish about 500m of swimming on Tuesday morning. The biggest sign that my body was in need of recovery was that I came home early on Tuesday afternoon post site visit for work and pretty much crashed until the next morning. I completed my 2nd strength session for the week on Wednesday night, it was all I could do.  

I didn't want to over-do my training so I decided to stick to running on Thursday night rather than try a double session for the day. I was actually looking forward to running that night which was strange for me as running has always been a hesitated session. Everything about the run was great. We started out with 2 x 1.2km laps of the reserve and the main set was 4 x (1km @ uncomfortable 10km pace followed by 200m walk). I made a new friend (Kirsten/Kristen) that evening as we both ran at the same pace. This was followed by a cool down lap where we got to know each other. 

On Saturday, I changed my training plans around and rode with a few friends who live down around the Peninsula. We did hill repeats of Humphries Road. I felt that my strength work on the bike during the Fondo event as well as my strength sessions have helped with the hill climbing. I felt comfortable and definitely used my core during the climb. As I was riding with friends rather than training partners, my average speed was around 20km/hr but it meant that I was able to push myself on the way home without feeling stuffed. 

On Sunday 24th May (today), I entered my second Sri Chimnoy run event. There was 7km, 14km and 21km. I know that I am not fit enough to do run a solid 21km and a month ago I had just done a 10km so 14km was a good distance. Last minute, due to road closures, they shortened the 14km to 12.8km. I left the house around 6:45am this morning, hoping to get to the start line by 7:15 for my usual pre-race prep of a toilet visit. The morning was sooooo crisp! I could not feel my lips nor my fingers. Luckily, we could walk around in our warm gear until around 7:55am, 5 min before race start. I also consumed a gel at this time. 

The 21km and the 12.8km distance started together at 8am with the 7km starting off 5min after us. I started off slow. It took me a while for my body to warm up. Wasn't sure if it was due to my hill climbs on Saturday or the coldness of the morning but my legs just didn't want to move! I remembered hitting the 4km mark and that was when I was happy with my pace and breathing-I was no longer huffing and puffing from my throat. My iPod died at the 5km mark which meant that I was no longer running with music, I just had to pay attention to my body and my technique.

There was a lady who ran past me in purple crop top and purple shorts and I remember seeing her off to the side after a few minutes and I knew that she stopped for toilet duties. What happened after that was something which I couldn't avoid or remove the image from my mind. She ran past me (as she was faster) and she had so much shit running along the back of her shorts. I wasn't sure if she went to do her business but didn't have anything to wipe so she just put her pants back on - it was so wrong!!!

At about 8km, I consumed my 2nd gel at the aid station. With about 5km or so to go, my body started to tell me to stop. My legs started to get heavy but I pushed on. I started to pick people off in front of me to aim for. I could pass some runners in front of me who started to walk whilst I also tried to run away from the people behind me whose footsteps and breathing I could hear. I am happy to report that I ran the entire way, only walked through aid stations. 

With about 1km to go and the path led back along the river, I pushed my little legs out. At this point, the 21km runners ran passed me like I was standing still. The fastest 21km runner finished about 6min before me - that is crazy talk!

Like all events, my Garmin read a shorter distance than the actual event. I finished the 12.7km in 1:16 which I am pretty happy about. I had no expectations for the time for this event, I just wanted an event to make my runs accountable and meaningful. I had my serving of pancakes after the event which is what I love about the Sri Chimnoy runs - no medals or show bags, just fruit and pancakes!!!

(UPDATE) - I placed 48/76 for females and 40/52 for my category (18-39 females). 

Dirty Gran Fondo - My Fondo Race Report

My longest off road ride was 35km - it was done during last year's Dirty Gran Fondo (my first off road event) where the mini one was 35km rather than 30km. Lately, the rides on the mountain bikes have been somewhere between 1 through to 2.5 hours. I knew that I was going to step out of my comfort zone with the 65km.

I did some calculations last week and estimated that I would take more than 5 hours to do this event. My aim was going to go out there and do a ride rather than trying to race against others. I am still not fit enough and don't  have the confidence to tackle the up hills and fast descents respectively.

With regards to nutrition, my plan was a gel per hour so I packed with me enough for 6 hours. I had my hydration in my CamelBak as I wanted to be able to just drink without too much fiddling around with bottles and chewing mud. I kept my spares and canisters within a small tub and kept it in my bottle cage instead.

Our morning didn't start off too well. Apple Maps took us to the middle of nowhere in Wondong so by the time we arrived onsite, we had 20min or so to pick up our race numbers, toilet stop and to prep our bikes for the ride - read - I didn't really touch the bikes, the Canadian did it all for me whilst I went and picked up our numbers.

The Canadian and I got all our shit together just in time as the briefing started and I rode to the back of the line to start the event. We all rode off at 8am and I stayed at the back towards the left so everyone could ride past me without being in the way.

The first 2km was pretty muddy - I tried to pick the right line and tried to be more relaxed. I don't remember much of the first climb apart from getting warm really quickly. I had on a merino wool base layer, my FYXO jersey from last year's Roobaix, fleece arm warmers, fleece knee warmers, fleece ear warmers and two pairs of wool socks.

The routes for the DGF changes every year and this year, they took out that crazy descent which meant that I rode for most of the first 10km. My first "walk" was at the 13km mark but I think it was a short one and where I took off my knee warmers. The second walk was at the 16-17km mark. I could hear the music playing in the distance and knew that I was coming close to the first feedzone. At the 18km mark was where I decided that the arm warmers also had to go.

I really enjoyed the ride after the first feedzone. It was undulating but very manageable (for me). The terrain changed several times but the scenery was great. I walked around 27km mark before reaching the 2nd feedzone around the 35km. At this point of the ride, I realised that anything I do after this will be a PB for me as I have not been on the MTB further than 35km before. Others who were riding the 90km distance also came through this feedzone on their way back towards the finish line so I wasn't too lonely from this point onwards although all of them flew past me in a blink.

I don't really remember much of the last 30km apart from my confidence on the bike improved - I was able to ride descents without applying on the brakes and was able to enjoy the fast speeds without the anxiety of losing control and falling off the bike.

Once I rode through the last feedzone, I knew that I was on the way back to the finish and it was mainly downhill. The Canadian (who rode the 90km) flew past me with 5km to go. At this point, I looked down at my watch and knew that I could finish this ride well within 6 hours. I was happy with the official time of 5:33 even though I had placed DFL in my category (Womens 65km). This was my longest off road ride and I had no idea how I would fare with a ride more than 3.5 hours long, which has been the maximum duration of my long rides since Ironman Melbourne 2014.

I am absolutely amazed at the times that others completed the event in. I am looking forward to getting fitter on the bike and improving my time for next year's event. I am pretty sure that I will do the 65km again on the mountain bike unless I become a cycling machine with awesome bike skills to be able to handle 90km or participate on the CX bike. Next year, my aim will be to not come DFL and to reduce my time closer to the 4 hour mark for the 65km.

Comments/Lesson learnt:

• The strength sessions I have been doing for the last 2 weeks have helped especially with activating the glutes. 
• Trust in my abilities more especially when riding downhill on the descents
• Trust in my abilities in riding up hills on the mountain bike - I was worried more about not being able to unclip off the bike rather than staying on the saddle and pedalling through the climbs. Need to maintain the momentum by spinning my little legs up the climbs.
• I didn't have the urge to go to the toilet at all during the event which surprised me as I am a frequent go-er - although I would recommend that toilets be provided at the feedzones. Being a female, we were not able to stop and pee like the boys on course (unless you are comfortable with that sort of thing).
• I had so much fun throughout the event - at no point did I regret signing up for the 65km. At the 18km mark (Feedzone 1) I actually thought that there was no way that I would complete the 30km as it would have been finished in a blink and I would have gained nothing out of it. 
• Smiling when riding up hills and looking ahead (but not upwards) really helped when I could climb. During the rare moments when I was in the zone, I could actually grind up those hills. It was when I looked up to see how much more further and steeper I had to climb was when I stopped pedalling and walked.
• Next year - 65km - aim for 4 - 4:30! Having done this distance/duration, I know where improvements can be made.

Some Stats:

• Total Distance (according to my Garmin 64.18km)
• Total Moving Time 5:15, total time of 5:33
• Total Elevation 1870m
• Average Speed 11.6km/hr
• Average Moving Speed 12.2 km/hr
• A whole lot of fun! 

Special thanks to Big Hill Events for my 2015 entry. You guys once again did an amazing job with everything - from marketing through to ensuring that everyone would have an awesome time! I am already looking forward to next year's event!

Looking for Fondo

This Sunday (17th May), I will be participating in my 2nd Dirty Gran Fondo (event). I am yet to be fit enough to enter the actual Gran Fondo (90km) so for now, I am happy at riding the shorter distances.

I have written about my first event last year where I entered the 35km. It was my first off road event and with minimal skills, I was happy I got through considering it was a day made for ducks.

I have spent about 20 or so hours on the mountain bike since that event in 2014. Why?

• I fell on my face/head with concussion during a CX skills session in June. Wasn't able to swim/ride/run for 4 weeks.
• Went on 8 weeks long service leave August - September.
• Rode the TT bike since my return from holidays in preparation for the triathlon season of November 2014 through to Feb 2015. 

My bike skills are yet to improve to a level where I can ride the CX bike for this event. I will stick with the mountain bike for now and this Sunday, I have signed up for the 65km. My rider number is 413. Funny enough, last year, my number was 414.

2014 Baby Fondo - James Taylor Photography

 A few lessons learnt from last year which I will take on board for this weekend include:

• I will start out wearing an old jumper/jacket during the briefing but will remove it when I ride. Lesson learnt from last year - I wore a rain jacket last year as it was raining but I got too hot and removed the jacket after riding only 1km or so. The weather this weekend is looking good although the roads will be muddy due to the crazy weather we had. 
• Remember to hydrate on the bike. 
• If it's raining and muddy, what you see at the end of the ride amongst your chamois is not sh!t - don't be alarmed. 
• Bring extra towels, all the toiletries, warm clothing and extra food - after the event, I can take a proper shower, put on warm clothes and eat whilst I wait for others to finish. 
• Bring extra cash - buy a burger from the local club.
• Don't forget that this is a FUN event - don't forget to smile, you never know when the cameras are present. 

If you are reading this blog post and have also entered, don't hesitate to say hello!Good luck!

Slow, Steady, Strength

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

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

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

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

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

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

The DGF shirt I ordered

Training Week & Dealing with Anxiety

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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