Back on track

I still have a nasty sounding cough but I am feeling much better, great in fact! Could be something to do with the mega-excitement.

After doing absolutely no training at all from Monday - Thursday, I got back into on Friday. After work I went for an easy 2k swim then easy 40 min run around the Bay. The swim felt great, the run felt pretty average. It was really windy and I felt crap, but I figured that was probably to be expected.

On Saturday we had decided on a "late" start of 6.30 - the extra 30 mins sleep was great. And we were "only" riding to Waterfall, what a treat. Unfortunately we were cursed with 6 flat tires so still didn't get back to the park until 10.30. Then we ran 2 short laps, took about 38 minutes for about 8k, so it was a fairly quick pace but it felt good. After a nice stretch and plenty of chat about guess what, I drove to Coogee for a recovery dip. It was so beautiful. I remembered to vote on the way home.

Today (Sunday) I stayed in bed till about 9 and then ran 14k around the Bay. I finished in 1.16 so I was probably going a little faster than I should (steady pace), but I guess I was keen to get home and be finished. I was going to go for a swim this afternoon but decided to give it a miss. At this point my number 1 priority is getting plenty of rest and recovery.
I can't quite believe that in exactly one week I will running the marathon at Ironman Australia. I am getting pretty nervous. I said to a friend yesterday that I have never felt so well prepared for a race, but also never so uncertain as to what will transpire on the day.

The dreaded lurgy

Well, something had to go wrong. I have been sick since Monday. Not super-duper terrible sick, but head cold, cough, tired sick. I am doing my best not to freak out. Its still 11 days or so till the race, I am sure I will be better by then, and any missed training this week isn't going to make much difference. Its still annoying and extremely stressful, but this is literally the only setback I have had in 3 solid months so I can't complain too much.

I have not done any training since Sunday. I went to work on Monday, but had yesterday and today off. I have been dosing up on echinacea, vitamin c, ferrphos, gallons of OJ and lemonade and salt gargles. Last night els made me a very soothing tomato lentil and spinach soup for dinner and today I have slept and watched a DVD. I am hoping to feel good enough to train on Friday and then do my planned sessions over the weekend, but we will see. Top priority is to recover fully.

2nd last weekend

Saturday

I drove to Centennial Park to meet my crew for a 6am start. Somehow out of 12 people I was only one with a decent front light so I had to lead till it got light. That’ll learn me for being Miss Prepared. I had thought/hoped we would just go to Sublime and back for 130k but the other IM-ers were keen for 150, so we went through the National Park from Waterfall to Stanwell Tops. It’s a pretty ride and we were making a pretty decent time. I felt good for the first hour or so, then I didn't feel so great and was really not keen for the extra k's, then I felt good again and enjoyed the ride and the company. But then on the way home from Sutherland I started feeling pretty bad. I had a very more muscle or something in my right bum cheek - I have never been sore there before. I also felt really bloated, I think from not eating/drinking enough at the start then eating/drinking too much. Fortunately it’s a pretty easy ride back from Sutho so I just hung in there. When we got back the others wanted to do an extra few laps to get up to 150, but I went straight back to the car.

I waited for the others and then 4 of us set out for a 10k run, 2x5k loops around the park. On the first lap we did a pretty solid pace, I am not sure exactly how fast but probably sub-5 min ks and much faster than IM race pace ! But I felt good, my sore bum muscle was not bothered so I went with it. On the second loop I started feeling a bit tired and the others pushed ahead strongly, but I kept up a reasonable pace and finished (gladly) in 52 minutes.

I picked up at a bag of ice at the servo and had an nice ice bath when I got home - that felt great. Then I had my yummy favorite frozen banana smoothie, tomato and ricotta pasta and several (!) homemade oat choc chip cookies for lunch. Then I lay down and had a 1 hour nap - I felt really refreshed when I woke up. After that it was hurried shopping and tidying up before picking Ella up at the airport at 9pm - horray! :) Then I didn’t get to bed till midnight.

Sunday

I didn’t set the alarm but woke up at 7 and went out for my run at about 7.30. I was planning to do a swim beforehand but I decided not to. I had already done 3 swim sessions for the week and I kinda knew that extra one might not happen. I ran from home around the Bay, planning on 2 hours but not really sure where I would go. I felt pretty flat around the Bay and I really didn't want to drag myself around a 2nd lap, so I decided to repeat last weeks out and back to the far side of Anzac Bridge instead. I felt better on the hills than I did on the flat and started enjoying the run more, but then the last 3k from the bay back to home dragged a bit. All up about 21k in 2 hours. It was an okay run but I was glad it was over.

Els and I mooched about all morning and she was impressed with me eating 2 breakfasts. In the afternoon we went to the Art Gallery and saw the Archibald Prize. It was not as good as last year, I didn't like the winner especially much. I liked the Toni Collette and Ex de Medici portraits best. We also saw the HSC Artexpress exhibition which was pretty amazing and interesting. Then we joined the hoards on the walk across the Harbour Bridge to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the bridge. It was maybe a bit of a cheesy thing to do, but I really enjoyed it, it was a great atmosphere heaps of families and a sense of occasion. The best thing was all these windchimes that were hanging at one point, it sounded amazing. Then we headed to Newtown and met Bree for a couple of beers at the Courthouse Hotel which was nice. But by the time I got home to bed I was SO tired - combination of beers, a long day and a late night.

Better sessions

Much better sessions! No grumbling today, promise :)

Wednesday
I did 14k in the morning in 1.20. I took it nice and easy and felt fine. I decided not to ride to work which I think did me wonders - maybe more mental than anything else. Taking the train means taking it easy. I wanted to have a good session in the pool after feeling rubbish on Monday. I got there a bit early and jumped in and did 500FS easy before we started. The the proper warm-up was 600FS. Then 20 x 50 pull on 1 minute and then 12 x 200 on 3.45 (2 easy, 2 very hard x 3) - whoa massive main set! But it was good, I felt strong and managed to stick to the times - just. Finished with my longest swim set ever I think at 4.5k.

Thursday
This morning I got up a bit early and went out to SOP to do an extra lap before we started because I knew I'd have to leave 1 lap early. Group 3 started off massive but the pace was pretty quick and it was a game of attrition. I felt good and enjoyed the ride and reluctantly left after 4 laps to get home and straight into town for a massage. Massage was GREAT! Floated out and into work. Then I squeezed in a quick 1.5k swim at lunch time. I was going to squeeze in a run today too but have decided not to. Rest day tomorrow.

Grumbles

Well, I didn’t enjoy squad last night. We did 800FS, 12 x 25 sprint on 40 breathing only twice per 25, 3 x 4x50 with the kickboard between your legs on 1.15, breathing every 3,4,5,6 strokes, 8 x 75 on 1.30 with 25 sprint in each 75 and then THE DRILL FROM HELL: swimming with a kickboard between your legs is hard enough, but then try doing it for 25m using only 1 arm, then 25 using only the other arm. It was very hard, I felt completely unco, and couldn't really see the point. We were supposed to do 10x50 but I only did 8 then the 200m warm down - only 2.9k total but I was over it. I was really cold for most of the set and then I had to ride home in the rain and dark. Not much fun! Whinge whinge whinge.

Then this morning I headed out to SOP. The road was wet but it wasn't actually raining. Group 3 didn’t really work for me today. First up I got a lecture from some guy about not "soft pedalling" on the front on my turn. Fair call probably, I am not very good at that, but we had started out much slower than usual and he didn’t have to be so rude and patronising about it. Then we were all over the place, with people dropping off the back, refugees from Group 2 coming back to us, some guy sitting right at the back the whole time (which is okay if you are struggling and need a short rest but I don’t think you should do that for the whole session because it can be dangerous) and then two people got into an argument about some bunch etiquette issue I missed the details of. Then at the start of the last lap I look around and its suddenly just me and 5 blokes. Uh-oh, testosterone alert. Then just as we finished it started raining quite heavily! Oh well, I tried to look on the bright side, at least it held off till we finished and I got to do my ride, much better than Thursday. I came home and went for a 30 minute run. For the first 10 mins my legs felt a bit heavy but then I felt much better and enjoyed my run. Then back on the bike, into work, got my hard-earned coffee and banana bread and the world looked much better. :)

Last big session

I was very pleased with myself today. It seems that the day off yesterday did wonders for me and I felt really good on my run. Woo hoo! :)

I started out with a 4k continuous wetsuit swim at the Dawn Fraser Baths. I have not done much wetsuit swimming and I wanted to see how my arms and back felt after that distance. I seem to get a sore back in the wetsuit, I guess because my legs are higher in the water so it is an unfamiliar body position. Just something I have to get used to. By the end my arms were tiring and my back was a bit sore, but it was fine. I took it at a very leisurely pace and finished in 1.12. I am not too sure how that will translate to race day, but I am happy with where I am.

Then I was off for a 3 hour run. I had been debating where to run, should I do 4 laps of the Bay, or go into the City and across the Harbour Bridge and back, or attempt to explore the Harbour Circle Walk even though I was not sure of the way or... decisions! Even when I started running I had not decided, but then after a few minutes I had a great idea - I could do a mini simulation of the IM run course, ie 2 laps with the first half of each lap flat and the second half hilly. I was excited by this idea, so I did 2 x a lap of the Bay plus the canal, then to the bottom of the far side of the Anzac Bridge and back. Each lap is about 16k I think and I finished in 3.05. I felt GREAT. My 5k CR split on the second lap was 26.45. I thought I was going to really struggle on the second hilly section but I just kept feeling good. So it was an excellent way to end my build and start my taper. I still have plenty of training to do for the next 3 weeks, but I won't run that long again.

Came home, ATE, and had an ice bath which felt really good. Then I spent some time reading the 6 Foot Track posts on CoolRunning. I am so impressed with all who did it and I can't wait to read more stories. I saw someone out - walking! - this morning wearing a shiny new 6ft t-shirt and I couldn't help but call out "well done!" Now that is a race I would love to do. I am not sure when though ... one day I guess.

Working 9 to 5

Yesterday I had the day off the work. So instead of going to work I did 7 and 1/2 hours of exercise. When you put it like that it seems kinda bonkers. I had organised to have the day off because I was going to go up to Port Macquarie for a training camp. When I decided not to go away, basically because I did not want to drive that far or spend the money, I thought I could have the day off anyway, do a big day training, then have a rest day on Saturday, and train again on Sunday.

I parked the car at Loftus Oval and rode 160k, which was two loops out to Sublime plus an extra 1 loop from Sublime to Helensburgh. I wanted to practice my nutrition and eating exactly to race plan and also practice riding alone and spending a lot of time down on my aero bars. And it was a great session for all these things. I averaged 27 which I was very happy with. I was not working hard at all, I ate and drank and did everything I was supposed to and there were hills and a good head wind, just like at Port. I felt fine when I finished. Then I did a 90 minute run into the National Park and along Lady Carrington Drive. This was the best brick run I have had, I felt really comfortable and steady. So all in all a really pleasing day.

Today (Saturday) was a great pleasure. A whole weekend day off. Slept in, made a yummy breakfast of pancakes with blueberries, strawberries and banana, read the papers, went to the beach, had a picnic, ahhhhh :). Everytime I felt guilty I just reminded myself that I did a good solid day yesterday. And long swim and run await me tomorrow.

Just backing up to last week...

Wednesday
I did a 15k run in the morning, Bay plus Balmain Cove loop in about 90 minutes. I felt really good and really enjoyed the run. My split coming back on the CR 5k was 25:50.
In the evening I went to squad and we did 1k straight warm up, then 10x100 on 1.45, 10x25 kick easy, then another 10x 100 on 1.45. We did the first 10 pretty easily, the 2nd 10 were harder. But I felt good and strong - much better than last week.
Thursday
I woke up at 5 and it was pouring rain so no ride. Not happy! Then I was annoyed all day, it is hard to "let it go" as I know I should. I had a really busy day at work but managed to squeeze in a 1.5k swim at lunchtime, just to keep me sane.

Wind is our enemy

So said our fearless bunch leader this morning, valiantly struggling to get the troops to ride more tightly and smoothly in our battle against a stiff enemy. I know its good training and I know its likely to be windy at Port and I know it’s the same for everyone, but I. STILL. HATE. RIDING. IN. THE. WIND!!! I was all set for a cruisey group 4 ride today, but numbers were down (maybe they were kept awake all night by the howling gale) so 3 and 4 were combined, which was probably perfect for me. Halfway through I was longing for it to be over, but by the end it was okay, maybe even bordering on enjoyable. And at least it stopped raining. Far far better to ride in a horrible wind than not ride at all.

Then I came home and ran the 10ks to work. On the way I listened to two podcasts of the Law Report (I have run out of back episodes of Ironman Talk) and I had a very enjoyable run. Its funny, for quite a few weeks now my Tuesday runs have been good runs. When I planned out my program at the start of the year I remember thinking if I could do a midweek SOP ride then run to work by this stage I would be going well, so I was pleased. And it’s a great feeling to have all your training done before the day even starts!

200k in a day and run/swim/run

Well, another good weekend is under the belt, done and dusted, locked in etc.

Yesterday the plan was to do 200k on the bike. I wasn't too fussed if we did 160, 180, 199.9, 200 or whatever, but my training buddies were keen and I was happy to go along for the ride. I left the house at 5.15am and got back at 3pm so it was a loooong day. About 7 hours of that was riding time, the rest was fixing flats, refilling water bottles, the obligatory Baker's Delight stop and all the usual stuffing around. We rode from Centennial to La Perouse to Sublime, back to Waterfall through the Royal National Park (big hill!) then out to Kurnell and the National Park there (beautiful!), then back to the city then home. All in all I had a good day and I felt pretty strong. Total ride was 205k, average speed 29kph (though I was doing plenty of drafting to achieve that). I came home and tried to watch the live Ironman NZ coverage on the net but I could not get it to work. Settled for the athlete tracker function to "watch" Julie and Dave finish.

Today I ran into town to do the Sydney Harbour Swim and then ran home after. The run is about 13k each way and the swim was 1.6k. I felt great on the first run, got to registration with about 30 minutes to spare and had a good stretch. The swim was enjoyable, esp because the water was nice and cold - its been so hot and humid here the past few days. There was a bit of chop and current and I think my navigation was less than perfect, but I finished in about 27 minutes. Not brilliant but fine for a training swim. I was 11th in my age group out of 40. Then I ran home again. My legs still felt surprisingly fine, but I was feeling a bit tired and a bit over it. I was 3 minutes slower coming back and was glad to be home and finished my training for the day.

The week after

Monday
I did no training. I had the day off work and we had a delicious breakfast at Kiosk in Husky and then a lovely time checking out some beaches in the Jervis Bay area. In the evening I was feeling very tired and a bit teary and grumpy - a definite sign of over-tiredness.

Tuesday
I decided not to get up and ride and slept in instead. I rode to work and did an easy 2k swim at lunchtime in 40 minutes - pretty slow. I am still feeling tired and my legs are sore in strange and unusual places - like the back of my thighs and the outside of my calves.

Wednesday
I did a 14k run in the morning, aiming for an easy comfortable pace. I felt reasonably good. My split for the CR 5k on way back was 27 minutes.

I went to squad in the evening and we ended up doing a pretty long set. 500FS, 600Pull building each 200, 12x25 on 40 seconds sprint the odds. Then 10x50 on 60 seconds, finger tip drag drill on the odds. Then 20x100 coming in on 1.45 and leaving on 2. This pace felt good but definitely getting hard to maintain by the last few. Total distance 3.8k. I was extremely impressed by a new guy who was doing squad for the first time and did the whole set - what a legend.

Thursday
I rode at SOP. I was STILL feeling a bit tired and I was definitely only going to go with Group 4. But I was late and when I got there what I thought was group 4 was rolling out so I chased them. I had to work very hard (with a couple of other guys) for the whole first lap to catch the group by the pool, only to realise duh! it was Group 3. So the next four laps were pretty hard for me, I really recovered on the hill every lap and just about got dropped during the very last 2k - I was just sitting off the back behind someone else, staying on but not rolling through. Someone pointed out that there was a former multiple world champion in our group - having an easy day of course! :)

Then I made the mistake of complaining to Annalisa my adventure racing friend about being tired from the weekend and she gave me a lecture about triathletes being famous for not listening to their bodies and getting over-trained. I didn't feel I deserved this lecture, but its always a good message to remember.

Afterwards I rode with a bunch straight into town instead of home first then work so I could met a friend from Canberra for breakfast. We went to the famous "bills" which I have been wanting to try since moving to Sydney. I was really disappointed! It was fine but not worth the price - $16.80 for hotcakes with banana, $16.30 for scrambled eggs, toast and tomato. The food was good quality but there was not the attention to detail and extra-specialness I expected. I would not go back.

Thursday night we went to see Yo La Tengo at The Metro. It was really good, Ira absolutely ROCKED and it was a completely different show to the last time we saw them a few years back at the ANU with 30 people in the audience and no stage. :) But it was a late night which I just cannot handle at the moment - I just hope it won’t screw me for the weekend.

Friday
I slept in till 8.30 again, then the train was very late so I was very late for work - whoops! I wanted to fit in a run today but knew it wasn't to be with the late night. I decided that rather than go to squad I would do a longer swim on my own straight after work so I could get home and get to bed as early as possible. I made up the following set: 600FS, 600Pull, 4x400 on 7.30 with 30 seconds recovery, 10x100 on 1.45 with 15 seconds recovery, 200 BK - total 4k and I felt good.

Australian Long Course Triathlon Championships

We drove down to Huskisson on Friday night after work. It is not the best drive, especially in the dark, especially after you get past Wollongong and we were both tired, so we were glad to arrive at the house we were sharing with the Bilbys gang.

Saturday morning was absolutely beautiful. I got up early and rode an easy lap of the course on my own (27k). It was nice and quiet out there but getting warm and humid by 8.30 when I got home. Tom and I had a lovely swim at the beach when I got back, then went into town for a yummy breakfast and coffee with Jen and Terry. Tom did the 5k fun run at lunchtime in hot conditions, and comfortably beat his time from last year which was his goal. In the afternoon the storm clouds rolled in, we all got soaking wet checking our bikes into transition and it rained almost continuously all night. I went to bed at 10pm after watching half of the "What it Takes" DVD. I slept pretty well but every time I woke up it was still raining.

I got up 5AM - still raining! I had two big pikelets with banana and nutella and a large milk with sustagen. It was still raining as we set up everything in transition in plastic bags. But as the sun came up it was a big relief to see that the water was much calmer than it had been last year - there was some swell but no big waves. I also noted that, unlike last year, the buoys had not moved 500m closer to shore and so the course was certain to be an honest 2k. :) If anything it looked long.

Up till Saturday afternoon my race plan had been to go hard on the swim, take it easy on the bike and practice my eating and drinking and then go hard on the run. But on Saturday afternoon after a pep-talk from Dani I decided to push it for the whole race and see how it went.

All agegroup ladies started in wave 6 at 7.17AM. I tried to go out faster than usual and I was aiming to stay with some sort of bunch, rather than end up in no-mans-land between medium-fast and medium-slow like I usually do. The swell was big enough that it was impossible to see the buoys (why don’t they make them bigger?) so I just followed the other orange caps. I never felt like I got a good rhythm but I was pushing fairly hard and thought I had had a solid swim until I looked at my watch as I ran up the stairs to transition and it said 36 minutes damn! I was disappointed because the last 2k swim (Cole Classic) I did in 32 minutes and that was with no wetsuit - and I had thought I would be faster than that.

My transition was also pretty terrible. I decided to wear my gloves and they took forever to get on and so did my socks. On the positive side my wettie came off with no trouble. I came into transition right behind the woman next to me on the rack (445) and we then stayed near each other for almost the whole ride. After my drafting penalty at Canberra I was determined to take no chances whatsoever, which made for an annoying ride. I braked or stopped pedalling as soon as a passing person's wheel came in front of mine and only passed someone when I was able to do it easily. This is what the rules require but its actually not how most people ride.

I lost count of the number of times 445 and I passed each other but it was kind of good as it helped me stay focussed. Just like the swim, I was pushing fairly hard but I never felt good. Excuses - there was a bit of head wind and the road surface is not great. My legs were probably not as fresh as they could have been. I had done 190k on the bike in the week which was probably too much in hindsight. In the end my bike time including T1 was 2.40 which is 2 minutes faster than last year. I expected to have improved more than that so was again disappointed but others said they thought it was a harder ride this year, so I am not too worried.

I was really hoping for a good run to redeem my disappointing run at Shepparton HIM in December. I was aiming for under 5 minute kilometres which I thought would be hard but do-able - on a good day. I had a couple of big running weeks for me leading in (65k) and was feeling confident. I started running and felt surprisingly good. It is 2x10k out-and-back loops so I got to see heaps of Canberra and Sydney mates along the way which was fantastic. I did the first lap in about 47 minutes and I was pleased. I slowed a bit in the second lap and was definitely feeling fatigued by the last few kilometres, but I hung in there and finished with a watch split (not including transition) of 1.35.37. I am VERY happy with this. Even discounting for the possibility that the course is slightly short, I am confident I was still under 5 min pace and I never EVER thought I would be capable of that. My goal for this race last year was 6 min pace and my run split last year was 1.54, so I have really come a long way. :)

My official time was 4:54:22 and my splits (category place) (gender place) were 36:33 (9) (42); 2:40:32 (9) (42); 1:37:15 (10) (36). I was 8th out of 23 in my age group - compared to 21st out of 28 last year.

It was not exactly perfect IM training because I was going too "fast" to pay proper attention to my nutrition and it was not hot at all so I probably didn’t drink enough. But it was good for my confidence and IM will be a very different race - MUCH SLOWER!