Hardest week so far

Wednesday
This morning was my midweek long run - about 16k in 90 minutes. To be precise it was home, Balmain Cove hill loop, Bay, and back to the corner store - in 87 minutes. This week I felt really good and enjoyed every moment. It is so nice around the Bay in the morning.

As expected I arrived at the pool tonight to be told (with a smile) "Hard set tonight Zoe". We started with 500FS, 300Pull, 12x25 odds sprint/ even catch up on 60. Then it was 10x100 on 1.45. I worked very hard on my attitude, banishing all thoughts of "I can't". I was at the back behind 2 others and worked hard to stay on the feet of the person in front. The first few were easy, with 10secs+ rest, the last few were very hard but I did it. Then 200 pull easy. Then 6x150 on 2.45, but trying for the same pace as the first set, just with a longer rest. The first few were easy again and I thought we are going too slow and was even going to offer to lead out a bit faster. Then someone poured concrete powder into the pool. My arms felt so tired and it was like I was swimming in slow motion. I haven't felt like that for ages. I managed to keep to the time, but with only about 5 seconds rest and it was not pretty by the last repeat. Then we did 200 warmdown and it was 8pm. So only 3.2k, but still the hardest swim I have had in a long while.

I arrived home to an absolutely LOVELY home-made 3 course Valentine dinner - entrée, main and dessert. Very lucky Zoe. :)

Thursday
After the bitter disappointment and nagging annoyance of MISSING A RIDE on Tuesday, I was very keen for the ride this morning and even arrived on time. So I headed off with Group 3 but I struggled right from the start. I don't think the pace was any faster than last week, I just wasn't feeling that great. My legs felt heavy and weak. On the 2nd lap I thought I might have to drop off, but I hung in there and took it easy on the short hill sprints to get a bit of a recovery.

I decided not to run off the bike today because if I run off the bike on Saturday and do 3 hours on Sunday, I'll have done 65k again for the week and I think that is plenty. I feel like I am doing a high-wire balancing act with my training between enough and too much and I want to tend towards less rather than more.

Tonight we went to see Babel at the Open Air Cinema at Mrs Macquarie's Chair. It was AMAZING. I had really wanted to go to see something there, but by the time I went online to book a few weeks ago, all sessions were sold out. So I went along after work tonight to line up for on-the-night tickets and after much waiting, uncertainty and drama, I got the last 2 tickets! So I ducked across the road for a quick swim at the ABC pool (2km in 35 minutes) and Tom biked in to meet me with a picnic dinner. It was a perfect night, clear sky, no wind, calm and silent. The view, with the city lights skyline on the left, the big screen in the middle and the bridge and opera house on the right is too amazing for words. If there is a better open cinema anywhere in the world I would be very surprised. Anyway, I enjoyed it quite alot. ;)

Friday
I didn’t get to bed until midnight on Thursday and didn't set my alarm so I woke up at 8.30. Shit, I have a meeting at 9.30! Straight out of bed, into my gear, onto the bike and off to work. I am (finally) feeling really tired. I would have liked to squeeze in an extra swim today as I am going to struggle to fit it in over the weekend, but I really really need my rest day today. I am feeling pretty daunted at the prospect of the weekend. Hopefully a day off will improve the outlook.

The wrong side of the bed

I was accused of having gotten up on it this morning, as I stumbled around in the dark muttering and changing from my cycling gear to my running gear. I got up at 5.15 to ride to SOP, checked the BOM radar, not much rain around, so off I went. As I got out the door it started drizzling softly. By the end of the street it was really coming down and so I abandoned ship. So I decided to have a go on the wind trainer, which I have actually never used before. I buggered around for ages trying to get it right, seemed too easy, then too hard, then after about 10 minutes I discovered I had it completely wrong and my tire was melting!! So I pulled the plug - the trainer was set up in the bathroom ;) - and went for a nice simple 10k run instead. After all that I decided to go watchless and just enjoy it.

Swimming last night was also noteworthy. I was 30 minutes late and on the way in the lady at the desk said "I don't know why you are bothering" but I said "Better late than never". And it was worth it because I got a stern pep talk from the coach. The basic gist was that I don't push myself hard enough (in races) and I can swim faster than I think I can and he does not want me "bludging" in the slow lane any more. He said do 5x100 on 1.45 which I thought I could never do, but I did it. It was really hard but I did it. So it got me thinking about my attitude. I like to think that I am just conservative, rather than negative or pessimistic. But maybe that is just linguistics. Food for thought for me.

Just going back one more day to my long run on Sunday. I was pretty buggered and also waited till the afternoon to do it, so it was feeling even harder. Hence I decided to break my self-imposed rule against the iPod on long runs and take it. It was funny because I listened to an episode of Ironman Talk and Bevan did this big spiel about being kind to yourself in training, and if that means listening to music sometimes that is fine, and its better to enjoy a session and get through it than really struggle and end up miserable. So I felt totally vindicated.

A typical IM training day

5AM: Get up, eat large breakfast of 2 English muffins, banana and Sustagen.
6AM: Ride 160k. Eat museli bars, energy gels and sports drink till you are so sick of them.
12PM: Run 10k off the bike. Eat more gels and drink more sports drink.
1PM: Stretch and chat with mates, talk about how good it is to be done for the day and what we are doing tomorrow.
2PM: Get home. Eat eat eat. Favourite banana smoothie and risotto on toast.
3PM: Lie down and have a nap for 2 hours.

Geez!
But actually, it was fun. :) We rode to Kurnell then Sublime Point again and back via Waterfall and Sutherland and we averaged over 30kph. We ONLY had 2 flats so got back to the Park at a decent time. I felt good on the run, much better than I expected again. We were doing just under 5.30 pace.
Now, dinner...;)

Bagelicious

Tom made real bagels - boiled and baked - tonight. They turned out great. I enjoyed my day off training and now I am ready for a nice early bed before my long ride tomorrow.

Midweek miles

Tuesday
This morning I got up and rode out to SOP. On the way there I was tossing up between groups 3 and 4 but I was about 2 minutes late and so 3 was rolling out just as I was arriving. That was enough to put me off, so I went with 4, but then I ended up feeling frustrated because the pace was just a touch slow. I made up this for by sprinting up the hill on each lap, but no one else seemed to want to play. Oh well, it'll have to be 3 on Thursday now.

I wasn't at work today so I couldn't make it to PITD. Instead I decided to run about an hour at slightly-faster-than-normal pace. I was feeling a bit down so I wanted a good run to cheer me up. I started out feeling pretty good and I decided to try to do a negative split. I timed myself on the 1k by the canal and did it in 5.30. I got to the turnaround point in 32.30 so I figured I had to be back home before 1.05. I picked up the pace and was surprised how good my legs kept feeling. The same 1k on the way back was 4.58 and I was back home in 1.02, and was well pleased! This made me feel ridiculously great - I was on a big high after that. gMaps tells me its 5.5k to my turnaround, but I am sure its more like 5.75. :)

Wednesday
I was pretty sure I was going to pay for yesterday's fast run on my long run today. I wanted to do about 90mins/16k on my Bay Run + Balmain Cove Hill loop. I didn’t feel grrrreeeat, but it was okay. I didn’t have anything to eat before I started and I took a muffin bar but I didn’t eat it, so I was flatting big time by the end.

I could not make it to squad tonight and I was disappointed about this because Dani had promised a nasty set. I decided to do a 3k continuous swim at lunch time instead. My stupid old goggles gave me no end of trouble - I really need to get a new pair. I decided to take splits for each 500 to check my consistency but then I accidentally deleted them. Silly girl. Total time was 58 mins - not too flash, but it did include lots of stuffing around with the bloody goggles. And I felt less tired towards the end than I did on my last 3k continuous swim, so I was happy with it.

Thursday
Surprise - back to SOP this morning. This time there was no vacillating and I went with group 3. This turned out just fine, it was pretty big so the turns were infrequent and the pace was consistent. All in all a very enjoyable ride. When I got home I ran for 30 minutes off the bike - down to the river, across, along a bit and back, about 5k total. I did exactly the same time each way which is good because it’s downhill there and uphill back, so I got better as I went along and the legs got going. I finished the run feeling super pleased with my week so far and even more pleased that it’s a rest day tomorrow and I don’t have any more training to do till Saturday. Repeat: Rest day tomorrow. No training till Saturday. Whoo hoo. :)

A lesson about rice pudding...

Don't eat a huge bowl of it before training! I took it out the fridge and thought, I'll eat half of that, but lo and behold, 6.2 seconds later, the bowl was empty. This was 30 minutes before squad and I had a stitch-like pain in my belly for most of the session. Apart from that, the swim was good. I am definitely starting to feel stronger, just seeing the benefits of consistent training I guess.

The results from the Cole Classic were up today and I was 19th out of 80-odd women in my age group. Happy with that. Even better was the fact that I beat Tony Abbott. He did 44 minutes, heh heh. He beat me in the Sydney marathon last year so this was my revenge. I know he cycles too so I wonder if he does triathlon? Another celebrity, David Wallams from Little Britain, did about 28 minutes. He also swam the English Channel last year!

The sourdough that Tom has been lovingly tending for the past 3 weeks finally produced some bread tonight and it is spectacular, and worth the wait. Especially slathered in Nutella. :)

Absolutely classic

This morning I swam in the 2k option at the Cole Classic ocean swim at Manly Beach. For my first ever ocean swim it was FANTASTIC. We got there and I had to laugh at my fears of big surf, because there was hardly any surf at all. (The surf report online said "don't bother").

My wave started at 11.13am, females 20-29, with pink and green caps. It was easy to get out through the virtually non-existent waves. There were lots of people to follow, the cans were clearly visible and there were no rips, so navigation was no problem. There was a very small swell but no chop so breathing was no problem. You could see the bottom most of the way, and around near Shelly Beach there were lots of rocks and pretty fish and scuba divers to look at. I had to keep reminding myself that it was not a triathlon so I should not be taking it too easy. I finished in 32.45, which I was happy with. The salt water makes a difference with bouyancy. Results are not up yet, but I will be interested to see where I sit. Somewhere in the middle I predict. ;)

Then Tom and I went headed off for a run. First we did a lap out to North Head, the views there are so spectacular! Then we headed along the Manly Scenic Walk towards The Spit. Tom turned back around Fairlight as he was doing 70 minutes, and I kept going out and back to finish at Manly after 2 hours total. It was hot and I was feeling fairly tired and slow, but it was fine. I had 2 gels, at 45 mins and 90 minutes, and drank about 2 litres of water.

Now I am happy and satisfied to have made it to the end of another week intact. And I did all the training I wanted. Approx totals for the week - Swimming: 9km/3.5hours, Cycling: 330km/12.5hours, Running: 47k/4.5 hours.

Absolutely sublime

This morning I rode with some Pulse people, starting at 6am at Centennial. We rode to Sublime Point lookout, via La Perourse and back, plus two laps of the park (to get us up to 150). It was a great ride! I have not been to La Perouse before so that was really nice. I am reading a great novel at the moment about a convict settler (The Secret River by Kate Grenville) so it was cool to be at Botany Bay. On the way to Sutherland we hooked up with a bunch from BondiFit, also mostly doing IM training and we rode with them for awhile. They were all really friendly which was nice. Some bunches are not so friendly. One of our crew got a flat at Sutherland so we waited there for awhile, checked out the loos at a different servo to normal (much better than the 7-11 we decided) and then continued on to Waterfall, and then on to Sublime. Another spot I have never been and it really is sublime, with a wonderful view down to the coast and towards Wollongong. I felt strong and confortable the whole way, although that may be partly because I got to sit to behind the guys most of the way. ;) Our total was 150k in 5.15 hours ride time (7 hours total), average speed 28kph. When we got back to the park I ran for 1 lap which is about 4k in 22 minutes, with my iPod. I felt really good, and like I could have run longer, but I didn't. When I got home I wasted no time refuelling with a yummy sustagen, honey and frozen banana smoothie, toasted chicken, tomato, rocket sandwich and a peach. Yummmm.
Looking forward to the Cole Classic swim tomorrow - hope the surf is kind to me - and long run from Manly after.

Another week of fun

Monday
I slept in after the race and felt pretty good when I woke up. I rode to work and went to swim squad in the evening and did 3.6k, feeling comfortable. I had a chat to a lane buddy about the Whale Beach to Palm Beach ocean swim over the weekend. It sounded beautiful. I really hope the Manly Swim next weekend has similar fine conditions. I am started to get a bit freaked about my first proper ocean swim. Like maybe I am crazy to think I can do it.
Tuesday
I got up at 5.15 to ride at SOP. It was a bit of a scrappy morning. I started out with Group 4 but at the end of the first lap there was some confusion - not a good thing in a bunch! - about whether we were going straight or turning right due to some road closures. Thankfully no one came to grief, but about 6 of us who went straight got separated behind the main group. I tried for 1 lap to catch back up but after another lap on my own they were nowhere in sight so I waited for Group 5. But then an older guy decided to "whip up the pace" in 5 and started telling people to pull through faster, and within minutes the group had disintegrated completely and I was by myself again. All in all not the most consistent ride. Rode to work.

At lunch time I went to PITD. I started to feel, a bit like I did when I was training for the marathon, that it is too fast and I don’t have the legs for it. But its actually possible to do it a slower pace and stay with the group, just stay towards the back for the intervals and then jog the recovery a bit faster, and still get a worthwhile run, so I will continue for as long as I continue to enjoy it. In the evening I was feeling really tired and a bit worried that it is only Tuesday and I am tired already.
Wednesday
Today I got up for a long-ish run. I wanted to do 80 minutes which is about 14k - from home, around the bay, and back. I was feeling really tired and unenthusiastic so I decided to be kind to myself and take my Ipod. Tom ran with me for the first 20 minutes then he turned back and I plugged in and plodded on. I continued to feel tired but listening to an Ironman Talk podcast was a great distraction and I got through the run unscathed mentally and physically. Rode to work.
In the evening I went to swim squad. It was a relatively long set - 500FS, 600pull, 10x50FS, 2x (4x100, 200, 2x50kick) then another bit I can't remember and 200BK, total was 3.8k. After the swim I remarkably felt much fresher, better and more positive than I had for the previous 24hrs. Gotta love that.
Thursday
Up again for SOP ride. Today was much better than Tuesday. We keep a consistent pace, maybe a tiny bit slow? Our average speed was 35kph for 40 minutes. There was this one guy in the bunch who I thought was going too fast, each time it was his turn he went through really fast and didn’t slow when he rolled over - and I was the rider behind him. I thought about saying something to him but he looked like a much more experienced rider than me so I just made sure I got away from him in the bunch. I guess I am still learning the etiquette of the whole thing. When I got home I ran for 20 mins with the Ipod. It was hard at the start but after 15mins I started feeling more comfy. Then I jumped back on the bike and rode to work.
In the evening I was still feeling good and "not tired enough" :) The temptation to skip my rest day tomorrow is great - maybe just a little swim. But no, I will be strong! I have a scary big weekend ahead of me.
Friday
REST DAY. I even took the train to work. What a good girl.

Canberra Capital Race Report

I have not been training for 'short' races and despite having a rest week last week, I did not feel like I was in great shape for an Olympic distance race. But I was still really looking forward to it, and celebrating the anniversary of my first ever Olympic distance race at this event in Canberra 3 years ago. Wow!

The water temp was 25 so it was a non-wetsuit swim. After the first 50 meters or so I was a bit surprised to see so many yellow caps ahead of me, it felt like I was at the back of the wave when usually I would be closer to the middle. It wasn't particularly rough at the start and I didn't have many people around me for most of the swim. I tried to swim moderately hard, i.e.. a bit harder than I usually do and I was breathing quite heavily most of the way. Towards the end I started to tire and I was breathing every second stroke, which I have noticed in races before. My split was 27.5x minutes which is okay for me, but not spectacular.

It was a little cold when I first jumped onto the bike but I soon forgot about that. I started at about the same time as two women in my age group that I know. Both I estimate are slightly stronger than me on the bike, but not heaps. We each passed each other a few times to start with and then they were both in front of me and I noticed one pass the other on the left. I know that is an automatic DQ so I thought, 'naughty' and also, 'I want to stay clear of them'. At that moment the official motor bike pulled up along side me, showed me a yellow card and said "Number 88, penalty for drafting, you did not get out of the draft zone in time, you must serve a time penalty, do you understand?". I was shocked and I just said yes and kept pedalling. At that time I was sure I was more than 7m behind them, but I guess I must have been wrong. I felt that at most I should have got a warning as it would have been obvious I was not cheating. For the rest of the lap I just stayed about 20 meters behind them and tried to put it behind me and ride well anyway. I was not 100 per cent sure if I had to serve the penalty on that lap or I could wait till to the end of the bike, but when I got to the box there were 4 other people there so I figured it must be at the end of the lap. (Later I discovered that not serving it at the end of the lap means a DQ). Not surprisingly, everyone else in the box was also protesting their innocence and the strictness of the draftbusters. I had a good drink and a stretch for my 3 minute penalty time and tried not to watch all the people passing by. The second lap was MUCH more enjoyable as I didn't have anyone around me. I tried to ride hard on the flats and spin quickly up the hills. My bike split was 1.14.xx, so maybe I could have done about 1.10 without the penalty. Maybe not. Oh well. I had 2 gels on the bike and about half a bidon of water and half a bidon of sports drink. I actually really needed to pee on the bike and at the start of the run, but I just held on.

Getting off the bike my feet were completely numb but I felt like I was running okay. The run was 2 loops of a figure-of-8. I much prefer a simple out-and-back. I was never quite sure where I was up to on the course. My plan was to run the first lap steady and the second lap hard, but as usual I just managed to run steady-ish the whole way. At the start of the second lap Brownie came past me and I tried to stay with him but that didn't last long. Then with about 2k to go a woman in my age group came past me. I said to myself 'try to stay with her' but my legs would not do it. I really don't know if its mental or physical weakness. Probably a bit of both. My run split was 45.30 which I would be ecstatic with, but I am sure the course was short. I am not running 4.33 ks for 10k (yet) and others said the same thing about their splits. It would be nice if triathlon runs could be more accurate, but I know its hard to set a perfect course. I took one gel with me on the run but I didn't have it because I felt like I didn't want to slow down that much. I had just a few sips of water at the aid stations.

All in all I was happy with my race. I finished in 2.27.xx which is my best time for an Olympic distance race, and my first time under 2 and a half hours, even with the penalty. I didn't finish in the top half of my age group (10th out of 17), but I think that says more about the quality of the field than about me. I definitely went harder and faster than I did at Nowra when I got 2nd! I also learned that I have to be even more careful about the drafting rules. Its not enough to be not cheating.

I followed some recent tips I heard on recovery which was to drink plenty of sports drink straight away, do a reasonable cool down run, have a swim, eat a good meal with some protein, elevate your legs for 10 minutes, and keep well hydrated. I also had 9 hours sleep and the next day I felt great.

Catching up again

I am not doing a very good job with this keeping the blog up to date and I am now more than a week behind again. So I will try to do a very quick update on last week.

Monday
I couldn't go to swim squad in the evening, so I decided to do my swim at lunchtime instead. I did 3km continuous at a steady pace. I felt pretty good but I faded significantly in the last 500 metres.
In the evening we went to see a really fantastic play as part of the Sydney Festival. It was called Small Metal Objects and it was one of the best things I have ever seen.
Tuesday
I managed to stuff up my alarm and woke up at about 6am so I could not go to SOP. I did about 25k on the Haberfield Canal loop on my way to work instead.
At lunch time I went to Pain In The Domain. It was warm but I felt pretty good and enjoyed the run. There was a post on Tuesday on CoolRunning complaining about PITD. Basically it was saying that its not safe and its annoying to other runners and users of the park and where is the public liability insurance etc. It made some valid points but the thing is, its really fun and enjoyable - that is why so many people turn up most weeks.
Wednesday
In the morning I ran for an hour. I wanted to do 6 km at race pace but my pace was not that flash, just managing 5 min ks. I did 2.5k warm up and cool down for 11k total.
In the evening I went to swim squad. The main set was 20x100 with fins on 1.40. I did the times with about 5 seconds rest and it was TOUGH! I have never really swum with fins before. Dani said it is good for strengthening your legs and my legs felt really tired and dead at the end of the session. But it was good fun to swim 'fast'.
Thursday
I made it to SOP and had a fun ride. It had been raining so there was only one bunch and they decided to just do it at "chat pace". So first I had a good chat to a guy who told me he did Ironman "before I was born" (1989 actually so I was 12). His IM tip was to have a proper meal and a sit down between the run and the bike. Then I chatted to a nice woman who told me she had been cycling for 2 years and made it to 17th in the national women's ranking. And she is 42. Wow! On the last lap she decided to go off the front for a fast one and so I went after her. For about 1k I could keep up alongside her, then she saw that I was flagging so she said to ride behind her. I lasted about another 1k there, then dropped off. But it was fun while it lasted. I limped home and went for a 2k easy run off the bike.
Friday - Australia Day
I had a 100k ride on my program but I decided to do nothing instead. I was tired and planning to run on Saturday and race on Sunday so I figured I should/could have a rest day.
We spent the morning at Parsley Bay in Vaucluse with some friends and it was absolutely lovely. It turned out to be a gorgeous morning. The water was beautiful and it was great seeing lots of families having BBQs and lots of Aussie flags. I couldn't help but feel patriotic. In the evening we went to a show celebrating Spunk Records 200th album - Holly Throsby, Andrew Bird, Bill Callahan and Joanna Newsom. It was brilliant. Bree made a special appearance on the keyboards with Holly which was cool. Andrew Bird was really interesting - the best whistler I have ever heard. I always love Bill Callahan - unfortunately his set was short because he was supporting. But Joanna Newsom was really amazing. I would not buy her records I don’t think, but live she was incredible.
Saturday
I got up early to go along to the monthly CoolRunning 5km Challenge. This was my first time so I was a bit nervous, but everyone was very friendly and I had fun. I was not sure how fast I would run and didn't want to go really really fast, so I headed off on 24 minutes. I felt great at first and was running quite quick for me. My splits were 8.44 (2k), 4.25, 4.34, 4.34. I slowed a bit in the end and I think I could have run maybe a bit faster, but I didn't want to go all out before the race on Sunday.
Then we jogged the 5km back to the start. I met a CR who is also doing IM for the first time and we had a great chat. I was a bit freaked when she told me she has already done 3x170k rides in the preparation but I know I have to have faith in my plan and not worry about what other people are doing.
After I got home we drove down to Canberra. Then in the evening we went up to the Pinnacle to check out the McNaught comet. It was not exactly spectacular but it was pretty cool, you could see the tail very clearly and it was way better than Haley's comet. I can remember getting up in the middle of night to see that and just seeing nothing but a fuzzy star. There was a guy up there taking photos and he showed us some really amazing shots he had taken during the past few weeks. I was feeling VERY tired and went to bed at about 9.30. During the evening my legs had felt really sore and I was a bit worried about how I would be the next day. So I slept in my Skins and the next day they were fine - no idea if these things are related or not.

Hmmm, that was supposed to be a QUICK recap. But it was just a really great week!