Adventures in multisport

Testing testing 123

2009-11-22T16:52:00.002+11:00

Hmm, I am not sure how to turn this picture around. I guess I need to just take pictures in portrait not landscape. Anyway, this was my first attempt to blog direct from my beloved iPhone. The picture came through (sideways) but not the text.

What I was going to say was simply, these are the yummy cinnamon rolls that I baked this morning for brunch. Now that I am here I can also say that I got the recipe from a yummy looking blog Our Best Bites. Check it out if you love to cook.

I will also say that can't believe its been almost a year since I blogged, how slack. And that I am going to try and resurrect this blog as I have been thinking of lots of things I want to write about. Not training or racing especially as I have not been doing much of that. But food and photos and stuff. We'll see how I go.

Sri Chinmoy Triple Triathlon 2008

2008-12-30T08:59:00.008+11:00

I first took part in this event in 2004 in a team of 9 girls. Back then just completing one 1km swim leg was a challenge for me. My team was disqualified for failing to make the first bike cut-off, but we still completed the course and I was hooked on the event. In 2005 I completed 2 legs in team of 8 girls, including the big swim. In 2006 I was in a team of 3 girls and we each did 3 legs. I was exhausted at the end of that day and still couldn't believe people did the whole thing solo. But soon after that a little voice inside me starting nagging "triple tri solo". I was overseas for work in November 2007, so 2008 was to be my year.

My training was mixed. I had a fun year, completing some solid hilly trail runs, including the 6ft track marathon and Oxfam Trailwalker 100km, and some good mtb training with the AROC Mogo 100km and the Scott 24hr. I swam consistently over winter and managed 3x per week most weeks leading up. I was fit and definitely had a good endurance base. But I had a dodgy knee in the 2 months prior, so I didn't do much running and no hills for that period. Then various factors (work, family, life) meant I did none of the massive weekend sessions that I had planned and thought I needed, for about 6 weeks prior to the race. I seriously considering not starting, or doing a team of 2 instead, but in the end I figured I had nothing to lose and would never know if I didn't give it a go.

Leg 1 - 1.5km swim

The 7 soloists (3 female and 4 male) gathered on the bank of Lake Ginninderra at 5.30 am just as the sun was rising. The race briefing was succinct: You all know where you are going and what you are doing, right? We wished each other well, the race director said Go and off we went. The water was mild and the smell of it very familiar from my childhood, so I relaxed straight away. I was surprised how quickly the 4 males disappeared but it didn't worry me. I left the water in front of the other 2 girls but lost a bit of time in transition and they both got away on the bike ahead of me.

Soloists start @ 5.30 am

Leg 2 - 35km mtb

Within a km or so we 3 girls were riding along together chatting. We all agreed that our primary goal was to finish. Kate from the US was backing up from Xterra World Championships in Maui, Hawaii a few weeks before and Laura was back for revenge after DNF-ing as a soloist in 2006. Talking to her I knew she would finish today. Just after the University of Canberra we passed my friend and fellow soloist Steve with a flat tyre. He had a support crew member with him and seemed okay changing it. Heading over the top of the first hill of the day on Bruce Ridge, Laura and I pulled away a little. We rode together until the infamous Push Bike Hill, when we did as the name suggests. Soon I was at the top of Black Mt and it has never before felt so easy getting there. I (shamefully) walked a steep section coming down off Black Mt. From then on it was an extremely lovely early morning ride over ridges, through paddocks, along bike paths, even along some single track. I arrived at transition 2 feeling great. Climbing up Black Mountain

Leg 3 - 20k run

I love this run. It goes straight up and over Mt Majura and Mt Ainslie then on to Lake Burley Griffin. I set off feeling good and soon passed Laura, who had again had a quicker transition than me. I walked some steeper sections but ran most of the way and was soon at the top of Mt Majura, another peak bagged. I ran down the road very cautiously as I didn't want to antagonise my knee. The course then passes through some of the Majura Pines mtb single track which is great fun to run, like being on a rollercoaster. I happily jogged along some familiar trails and was soon on the narrow track traversing the top of Mt Ainslie. I arrived at the summit, took in the amazing views, saw my dedicated support crew and started heading down the steep mostly paved descent. Again I was very cautious. I wanted to fang it, but I knew I had to look after my knees and quads to get through the next 2 triathlons. I was passed by a lot of team runners having a blast. From the bottom of Mt Ainslie to the swim transition is a couple of flat kilometres and I was soon wriggling back into my wetsuit for the big swim.

Somewhere on Mt Ainslie

Leg 4 - 3.5k swim

Solo competitors are allowed to have a kayak with them for the 2nd and 3rd swims, keeping a 5 meter distance. I recruited my Dad for this task as I was worried about cramping. The day was warming up and it felt so nice to be in the water and resting my legs. I never kick much and in a wetsuit I get away without kicking at all. I mentally broke the swim down into 3 sections - to the first bridge, to the second bridge and then to the finish. After about 2km a team swimmer passed and gave me a little fright, and one leg cramped. I rolled over on my back for my moment then breaststroked over to Dad in the kayak and hung on for a moment (this is allowed as long as the kayak is not moving forward at the time). The cramp passed straight away but I stopped for a gel and a drink, assured Dad I was fine and then pushed on. As I was nearing the finish I recognised another kayak nearby and knew that meant Steve, who is a strong swimmer, was passing me. I tried to hop on his feet but had no chance and by the time we got to shore he had put a good gap on me. I was excited to be finished the swim with no real problems and was looking forward to the ride. In transition I ate a fair bit (thinking of it as lunch) - a bread roll, chips, creamed rice and an energy drink.

Finishing swim 2 at Acton Ferry Terminal

Leg 5 - 40k mtb

This mtb leg feels pretty mammoth, as you ride over some good hills, down to Coppins Crossing, up and around Mt Stromlo and beyond. I was feeling good as I rode around the lake and passed some team riders. On the way towards Dairy Farmers hill (not summited this year due to road works) I caught up to Steve and congratulated him on a good swim and we chatted for a while. The climb up Mt Stromlo felt long and hard but I kept plugging away and got there eventually to some cheers and a kind offer of being 'sponged'! The trip down Mt Stromlo is on some fun single track that I was familar with from the 24hr race, so I really enjoyed this section. Soon after crossing Cotter Road I started to feel a bit sick and very bloated. I was aware that I had not eaten much for awhile but I didn't feel like anything. I had never ridden the last section along the back of Duffy and Chapman but I thouroghly enjoyed it - very scenic and easy riding mixed with memories of the devastation that the Canberra bushfires brought here.

Fuelling up before Bike 2

Leg 6 - 12k run

As I started this run Julie Quinn (female course record holder and helper to Kate this year) encouraged me and said this was leg was 'the hard one'. VERY TRUE. I hadn't run it before and naively thought - 'its 12km, how bad can it be?' Well, the start goes up and up and up Mt Taylor. I was quickly reduced to walking and started feeling pretty awful. Once I got over the top and started down I ran but my stomach hurt and bouncing up and down was making it worse. I decided to try and make myself vomit, having heard of this being a magic cure for others with tummy troubles. I stuck my fingers down my throat but to no avail. I plodded on and soon Kate came past and said Hi. This woke me up and I decided to try and keep up with her. So down the mountain we went and started along the mercifully flat bike path towards Lake Tuggeranong. Kate was feeling sick too but we jogged along together okay. In the transition I was stressing about what and whether to eat as I still felt sick and now I had to swim. I have never had nutrition problems before and didn't have a plan for how to deal with it. But I was through 2 triathlons now and starting to feel pretty confident that I was going to make it, so that cheered me up.

Run transition laid out and ready to go

Leg 7 - 1.2k swim

I don't think I have ever swum that slowly in my life. I felt so flat, and it almost I was going in slow motion. I couldn't kick at all for fear of cramps and had to really concentrate on keeping my legs relaxed. Fortunately I had Dad paddling again, though at one point it looked like he was having to paddle backwards to keep near me. I just kept stroke-stroke-stroking away and knew I would get there ... eventually. The ladder at the end out of the water was a challenge, but fortunately my legs and arms were still working just enough to get me up it. In transition I think I managed to eat a bit more but my tummy was still sore.

Waving to Mum before the last swim - yay

Leg 8 - 25k mtb

The first part of this leg was a long, flat bike path, into a headwind. I now concede that it wasn't gale-force as I thought at the time. A team female rider got on my tail and sat there the whole way along the bike path. I know this is legitimate and I would probably do it myself, but in my tired state I was so grumpy with her. I wanted to yell "what the hell are you doing? I am a solo - SO-LO, d'ya hear me? Get up here and take your turn". Once out of the wind she passed me and then she rode off into the distance. It broke my heart!

There are some fantastic views on this leg but you have to climb some nasty hills to get to them. I think I hit the wall here. It is a bit of a blur but I remember at one stage I was pushing my bike one or two steps, stopping, gathering all my strength, taking another 1 or 2 steps, etc. I was very tired and still feeling sick but I think the problem was more I had lost it mentally. I wasn't even trying to go. At one stage I saw my support crew and I could tell from their worried faces that I looked bad. Towards the end of this section there are some steep descents which I inched down on my brakes - shame. I wish I could ride downhill properly. Then I started riding behind a father and son team and that kept me motivated. The son looked about 8 years old - what a champ. Finally I reached the tunnel, which is one of the coolest parts of the whole Triple Tri, rode it sucessfully and emerged into the transition to the final leg. Yippee. This was probably my quickest transition of the day because I was so keen to get running. I decided not to take my camelbak because it was late in the day and I could do without the extra weight.

Looking better than I felt on Bike 3

Leg 9 - 13km run

It just wouldn't be right if this leg was too easy, so there were still some more decent climbs to complete. I ran, walked and shuffled over the hills. I felt very tired and thought I could easily lie down and sleep. A bus stop bench looked particularly inviting. But the last 5 or so kilometres are flat, lovely bike path and I can honestly say I enjoyed it. I was able to run and I felt good considering. The crowd at the finish was small but appreciative and I felt like a star being cheered by my family and triathlon buddies. As I crossed the line I unexpectedly started crying - just really happy and really exhausted.

Running on the last run leg

My total time was 13 hours, 59 minutes and 17 seconds. I didn't care at all about the time, but it was great to finish while it was still light and with time for a shower before the presentation started.

One of the best parts of the Triple Tri is the presentation. They put on a big spread of vegetarian pasta, curry, rice etc, with rice pudding, fruit, hot chocolate etc - heaven. Then when they give the awards they have each solo finisher make a little speech, which makes it special. I never dreamed that one day I would be one of those crazy people and I really enjoyed my little moment. Its funny because once you have done it you know its not that hard, but the uninitated don't know that.

I recovered really well. I was leg sore for 2 days and tired for about a week, but nothing serious. As soon as it was over I started thinking about how much I want to do it again and how I could improve. The training I did was enough to get me through but not enough to go at any speed. I particularly faded in the last triathlon and I am sure I could improve that with a better preparation.

In closing I highly, highly recommend the Triple Tri solo experience to anyone who loves going long and being off-road. If I can do it, you can too.

Triple Tri is GO!!!

2008-11-09T15:01:00.004+11:00

I have entered and there is no turning back now - woo hoo! The last few weeks of training (or lack of) have not been perfect, but I am fit and uninjured and have nothing to lose.

My main concern has been my knee and I have done no hilly running as a result. But after a very painful session with Gary the massage maestro last week, I ventured out for 2 laps of Quarry Rd yesterday and had NO KNEE PAIN! I couldn't quite believe it, but that is the best I could have hoped for and gave me no excuse to not enter. This morning I did a 3.5k continuous swim in my wetsuit at the Dawn Fraser Baths and felt great, very comfortable. Sadly the Canberra lakes are not salty.

Highlights since my last post:

Forster Long Course Triathlon - good swim, good bike, crappy run, 4th in my AG. A fun weekend but the race didn't make me want to rush back to triathlon.

Striders 10k @ Lane Cove -I managed under 44 mins, just. Not too bad, better than the previous month at Homebush and considering the course, but I am a way from 10k PB form. But I was very pleased to realise that I have done 8 Striders 10ks this year.

Sydney to Gong ride - We started late and it was crazy busy and annoyingly slow, but we had fun and I really enjoyed racing up the hill out of the National Park. It was Tom's longest ride ever and he did very well. If we do it again I will force Tom to get up early and start at 6AM. (There is a photo here - $49 for a download, hmmm, love that value.)

I have also had a few good training sessions. A couple of times I have gone out to run the Bay 14km and managed to hold 5 min pace, which feels great. I have managed to ride with Group 3 at SOP. And I have ridden the MTB to work at Parramatta a few times, which makes for a solid 40k commute day.

Next time I post I hope it will be as a Triple Tri solo finisher.

Triple Tri Training - Week 5

2008-10-24T23:02:00.002+11:00

This was another pretty light week, as I was 'recovering' from the 24hr, 'tapering' for the Forster long-course tri and travelling for work - phew!

Monday
Rest day - driving to Coff's Harbour. I did go for a nice 'stretchy' walk on the beach in the evening.

Tuesday
AM- 10km run. I was exploring new territory near my hotel in Coffs. Unfortunately I got a bit lost, on the Pacific Highway bizarrely enough, but it was good to be moving again.
PM - 3km continuous swim in the lovely CH War Memorial pool. I did the last 2k as a bit of time trial, finishing it in 38 minutes.

Wednesday
AM - Take 2 on my run. I still didn't manage to do the loop I had planned but I did run to the top of a really big steep hill, surrounded by bananas, with a spectacular view. On the downside, my troublesome knee was giving me lots of trouble and really sore by the time I got back down the hill.
PM - 1.5k swim - Back to the CH pool but it was closed for water hockey or something, so I had to go to the indoor 25m pool instead.

Thursday
AM - I spent the morning in Port Macquarie for work. I am really not going to mind hanging out there once a month. We had coffee at a cafe/bikeshop called Peloton and I eyed off some very nice pink shoes.
PM - I flew back home and did a 7k run with Tom. I did 2 x 1k efforts, each just under 4 minutes and I was feeling pretty good. But Tom beat me in the race home, damn.

Friday
Rest day - I drove to Canberra to get admitted, had a lovely lunch at Mecca Bah then drove back home.

Scott 24hr 2008

2008-10-24T22:22:00.006+11:00

Seeing as how I have lots of blogging to catch up on I think I will let the pictures do the talking. Suffice to say that my 5th anniversary at the 24hr was great fun. I came, saw, rode abit, ate alot, slept none, hung out plenty.

From the CORC website:

6,396 Red Laps = 85,067 Kms
6,394 Blue Laps = 97,189 Kms
12,790 Laps in Total = 182,256 Kms
182,256 Kms = 4.56 Laps of the Planet

2,390 Riders Entered
2,146 Male / 244 Female
631 Riders on Track
142 Solos / 489 Teams

Awesome!

Triple Tri Training - Week 4 - 06/10 - 12/10

2008-10-16T15:57:00.001+11:00

So this week was a bit of a fizzer because I was sick.

Monday

I had a sore throat so I decided (again!) not to go for a big mtb.

PM - swim at Olympic Park. I was supposed to do 3k continuous this week but the pool was closing at 7pm and I had paid for the sauna too, so I only had time for 2k - oops. It was the first time I have swum in the "competition" pool though and it was nice. The sauna afterwards felt very HOT, so maybe I was feverish.

Tuesday

I had a day off and so even though I was feeling a bit off-color, I wanted to get in a good brick session.

AM - 60km ride at SOP. Ummm, so, my return to group 3 was very short-lived. :( There were not many people there, probably due to the long weekend and I swear, those that were there were pouring on the speed. I got dropped after only 2 laps. I was a bit downcast, especially as I was planning on doing extra. So then I rode another 7 laps on my own, at a pretty slow pace. I tried to get down on my tri-bars a bit but it didn't feel comfy at all.

After I got home I headed out for a 14km run. I planned to take it easy and I felt good. I finished with an average pace of 5.15 which is good for me for an easy run.

Wednesday

AM - I was planning to get up and ride but I was extremely tired and decided to sleep in.

Today was my first day in my new job and it was great, though I don't much like the train ride. I found out there are no showers in my building which sucks, especially as there is a nice looking place nearby to run. Hopefully I will be able to sort something out with that. By the time I got home I was feeling really tired with a sore throat and runny nose. I conceeded that I was sick and needed to take some time off training.

Thursday

Feeling sick - sore throat, runny nose, light cough. Did nothing.

Friday

I am starting to feel better today, but am still not training.

This weekend is the Scott 24hr Mountain Bike Race in Canberra. I am riding it for the 5th consecutive year, which is amazing to me. I remember my first time in 2004. I was a late replacement in a mixed team of 6 with Jen and 4 boys. My mtb was brand new and had hardly been ridden. We had done 1 night training ride. I was very very nervous. On the old course at Kowen Forest a lap was >20km and took me well over an hour to ride. I was so scared before each lap and riding the switchbacks at night was particularly hard. But I loved the whole atmosphere and I got to ride the dawn lap and I had heaps of fun. The next day it turned out that the last lap was my turn. That meant I was going to ride more laps than anyone else and I fully expected one of the boys to offer to do it instead, but none of them did. I hadn't slept a wink and I was exhausted and delirious, but I didn't want to wimp out, so off I went. I remember the latter part of the course had lots of logs and I was so sore and so over it. But finally the end came. None of the boys came down to cheer me in and I remember being a bit disappointed about that. When I got back to the camp I expected to be showered with thanks for riding the last lap but they were nonchalant and drinking beers, which was the last thing in the world I felt like. But I was completely hooked on the race and SO proud of the 4 laps I rode - over 80k of mtb in 24hrs! The next day I could hardly walk and felt like I had beaten with a baseball bat.

This year is my second year in an all-girl team of 3. Last year I felt that 3 was the perfect number, with a good balance of riding, recovery time and hanging out. The forecast is fine and I am ready to roll for 'the Woodstock of mountain-biking'.

Triple Tri Training - Week 3 - 29/09 - 05/10

2008-10-06T08:42:00.002+11:00

Monday
AM - Swim squad 3.9k.
PM - Hill session with Tom 11k run. My first time back to Lilyfield Rd in a few weeks and I was a little apprehensive, but it was great. My first rep was 1.17, which is the fastest I have ever done. After that it was 1.18, 1.18, 1.23, 1.24, 1.23. I felt good and pleased with my speed and form. I think the secret was being fresh, I usually do that session later in the week and more fatigued.

Tuesday
AM - Ride at SOP 45k. I decided to have a go with Group 3 at the last minute. I hung on for 4 laps but I got dropped on the incline on the 5th lap. But I was v.happy to almost make group 3.
PM - Pain in the Domain. This was the last time I will be able to go to PITD as I won't be working in the city from next week :(. So I tried to enjoy it. I went with Group 4, I felt okay but not great. We finished in 29.05 which is pretty solid.

Wednesday
AM - Ride at SOP 45k. This was the first time I have been on a Wed, when they do a recovery ride. It was looovely. A nice gentle pace and lots of chat. I could get very used to that.
PM - Swim at ITAC 2.8k continuous in 56.14. Another torture-fest for the mind. Bizarrely I think next week when I get to 3k it will be easier. There is no kidding oneself that its not long and boring.

Thursday
AM - Ride at SOP 45k. I gave group 3 another go and I made it! Horray. I was very satisfied with that, its been months since I rode with group 3.
PM - Run from work around CP. I didn't have my Garmin but I think its about 9k in 49 mins. I felt good and strong. We had a very nice dinner in town at Ramen Kan followed by Cold Rock icecream. Yum.

Friday
AM - 4k swim squad. I felt quite good this morning, and I think I might be improving a little bit. But I still need to develop/find/buy/steal some speed.

Saturday
AM - Striders 10k at Homebush. I was hoping to go under 43 minutes but it wasn't to be. I only managed 44.04. I felt like I pushed quite hard, so I was pleased with that, but was disappointed with my time. I think I have to chalk it up to having already done 9 sessions in the week.
PM - We were planning a big mtb, but Tom was feeling sick and the weather was crap. So instead I sat around feeling a bit frustrated and worried about my lack of long mtb at the moment.

Sunday
AM - A last minute invitation saw me getting up at 4AM (pre daylight savings time) and driving north to Cammeray to do the 3 Gorges Ride through Bobbin Head, Berowra Waters and Galston Gorge. I was a bit apprehensive about such a long ride (I have not done near 100k on the road since last year) but it was just fantastic. I felt great, loved the climbs, loved the views, loved rolling along in a bunch, loved the ferry ride, especially loved the coffee stop. It was my first time ever riding "north" and it almost enough to make me want to start road riding on the weekend again. We did 104k in 4 hours riding time.
PM - 14k run. I planned to go whatever pace I felt like and it turned out to be quite quick, with an average pace of 5.00 exactly. That is probably the fastest I have ever done that loop. I felt good but definitely spent by the end. After dinner I lay on the couch watching Australian Idol do ABBA and eating Chocolate Brownie icecream - both were great.

Weekly total
Swim: 10.7km - Good, I am happy as long as I am getting in 3 swims.
Bike: 240km road, 45km commute, 0km mtb - Very happy with the road kms, not great about the mtb but I will make up for that next weekend.
Run: 54km - a solid effort but no long run.

I finally made some real progress on the bike this week which was nice. I am running out of time to build my long run but everything else is going okay and as long as a I am running consistently through the week I should be okay. I am not sure how my knee would cope with a long run at the moment. Next weekend is the Scott 24hr mtb in Canberra and the following weekend is the Forster short-long-course event, so I am going to be busy.

This week also marks a possible major turning point in my training. I am starting a new job which I expect to be less flexible and more demanding on my time and energy. If this means that my training and racing suffers I think I am prepared for that. On the plus side its a 20k commute from home. ;)

Triple Tri Training - Week 2 - 22/09 - 28/09

2008-09-30T20:29:00.005+10:00

Monday
AM - 10k run around Mt Ainslie in Canberra. This is one of my favourite places to run and it was a gorgeous warm morning.
I flew home to Sydney after work, the flight was delayed and I was sooo tired and grumpy. I must have been frowning and sighing rather prominently because the man sitting next to me on the plane actually asked me if I was okay.

Tuesday
Unscheduled rest day. I was planning to get up and ride but it was raining when the alarm went off at 5.00. I went back to sleep until 7, which felt good. I slept for 10 hours so I must have been buggered. I was also planning to run at lunch but I was busy at work and decided I probably needed a rest day anyway.

Wednesday
AM - Swim squad 3.8k. I felt good but I don’t seem to be getting to be getting any faster yet.
PM - 14k run with Tom. This was an amazing run for me. It started out really bad - Tom wanted to go quick and it felt too hard for me. We had run all the way around the Bay and were steadily getting faster and then Tom said we had to keep it up until we got to the netball courts. I protested but he said it was a good challenge. And suddenly I felt great. For the next 1km I ran so well and it felt so easy. I was imagining that I was running a marathon at my perfect marathon pace and each step was strong and controlled. It was a feeling I have never had before running - like riding with a big tail wind. To top it off I beat Tom on our 'race home' for the first time. I was on such a high after. :)

Thursday
AM - 45k Ride at SOP with group 4. I am still feeling heavy and slow on the bike.
PM - Lunchtime swim at C&P. 2.6km continuous in 51.39. Slow slow slow and it is so boring swimming 52 laps without stopping. I am so not looking forward to 2.8 next week.

Friday
AM - Swim squad, 3.7k. I was slow - I couldn't make 1.40 for 100 fast at the end of the set, even trying really hard. I guess 3 days in the pool in a row didn't work well but I was pleased to fit in 3 decent swims.

On Saturday we drove down to Fitzroy Falls for the Fitzroy Falls Firetrail Marathon 10k. I had kinda wanted to do the marathon but with a slightly niggly knee and other fish to fry I decided not to. I figured that I would get more benefit out of a week of good training either side than I would out of 1 42k long run. The 10k was good fun. I went out too hard and struggled a bit on the hills coming back. My time was 46.14 which is a bit slower than I hoped, but I scored a bottle of wine for 2nd place. It was kind of embarrassing because I was 10 mins (10 mins!) behind the winner. But it was still nice.

On Saturday night we camped at Wingello with some friends and had a really good night in the pub and toasting marshmallows on the fire. Then on Sunday we did a great ride on the 25k Red Loop at Wingello. I really enjoyed this trail - very smooth single track, nice native bush, fast and fun firetrails. I will be back to ride it again for sure.

Weekly totals

Swim: 10.1km - good.

Bike: 45k road, 45k commute, 25k mtb - not great but could be worse.

Run: 34k - low ks and no long run.

All up I was happy but objectively it was a pretty light week, especially the weekend. I really need to get in some longer mtbs. Mt knee felt fine running but I am not sure how it'll go with longer stuff.

Triple Tri Training Week 1 - 15/09 - 21/09

2008-09-26T20:07:00.004+10:00

Monday

AM: LPAC Swim squad 3.7k. I am loving swimming in the morning. It makes for a lot of 5AM starts but it is so nice to be done with a long session by 7 in the morning.

Tuesday

AM: 45k ride at Homebush, group 4/5. I felt a little tired on the way there and consoled myself with the thought that my focus at the moment is on consistency. Just getting out on the bike consistently is going to make a difference, eventually. It was very windy and I hung on with some difficulty until the group exploded at the end.

PM: Pain in the Domain. I went with group 5 as its been awhile since I did anything fast. I felt pretty good except for on the long interval when I was slack. Finished in in 30.05 which is not bad.

Wednesday

AM: LPAC Swim squad 3.9k - a good solid swim.

PM: Lunchtime run from work around Centennial Park, 9k approx. I didn't have my Garmin on but I felt good and strong.

Thursday

AM: 45k ride at Homebush, Group 4. It was a better group than Tuesday. Got home and then ran to work, 7k.

PM: Ran home from work 7k. I was pretty tired and kept thinking how "hilly" the run is - but its not really :).

Friday

AM: 2.4k continuous swim in 48.14. I was going to go to squad but I could not face a 5th straight day of 5AM alarm so I went to C&P before work instead. I was a bit disappointed with the time as I did not feel like I was going that slow. I am planning to build my continuous swim by 200m each week up to 3.5k, hopefully it'll get faster along the way.

Saturday

AM: 9k run, 2 laps of the Pinnacle. This is a lovely off-road loop with a big mother hill. It was a beautiful Canberra morning and I felt good but a bit tired towards the end after the 2nd trip up HB hill.

PM: CORC 3 Hour mtb race at Sparrow Hill. I have not ridden at Sparrow for ages and was really looking forward to it. But I didn't enjoy the first few laps much. I spilled some blood on the first lap and that put me off a bit. It seemed like there were more aggro riders wanting to pass in an unfriendly way than usual, but maybe I was just being sensitive. After about 90 mins it got dark and I started enjoying myself a lot more. I had my new Ay-up lights, which were fantastic. I wasn't able to push hard, it was partly physical and partly not feeling super confident on the trails. Which was weird because it was not technical at all. I guess some days you have "it" and some days you don't. But overall I enjoyed it and it was a "good training" - my mantra at the moment. I think I was 10th out of about 20 solo females. This is from the CORC website: The 296 male and 41 female riders clocked up 1829 laps or just over 13,000km of Sparrow Hill trails.

Sunday

AM: 22k-ish long run with Tom. We did an adventurous route from Hawker, past Mt Painter, down towards Lake BG, past the Cork Plantation, over Dairy Farmers Hill and then off road back towards Hawker via many hills, dales, paddocks and fences. It was a lovely route but my running wasn't. I was okay on the flat but there was not much of that and I had nothing on the hills. The dominant theme for me was seeing Tom disappearing into the distance up another big hill, like some sort of energised mountain goat. I was a bit bummed not to run better, but it has been a big week.

PM: I was staying in Canberra for the night so I went to the AIS for a lovely lovely recovery swim, spa, sauna and plunge pool. It was faaantastic.

Weekly totals

Swim: 11.k

Bike: 90k road, 30k commute, 50k mtb.

Run: 63k

All up it was a good week. If I can put together a few of these I will be on my way.

Two centuries in ten days

2008-09-14T09:50:00.005+10:00

Time flies, ha ha. The week after Trailwalker I felt great. I did nothing Sat and Sun, swam Monday, did nothing Tuesday, swam Wed and rode on Thursday. I was feeling so good that when I got an email from the organisers of the Angry Doctor 100k mtb saying there was an entry available (it sold out months ago) I was seriously tempted. It involved a slightly crazy plan of running the Striders 10k at North Head on Saturday morning, then driving 5 hours to Tuross in the afternoon, racing on Sunday, then driving 5 hours back to Sydney on Monday. But I had so much fun last year that I could not resist. And I didn't regret it for a minute. I had a great run in miserable conditions at North Head (just under 43 minutes) and then left the foul weather in Sydney behind and drove to the lovely South Coast.

I started near the back and tried to take it easy. I had a few moments early on of thinking it was going to be too hard to finish, especially after 10k and 20k, when I felt sore and tired and there was still such a long way to go. But I eventually found my groove and started really enjoying myself. I chatted to people whenever I could and enjoyed being in the bush, riding, eating, riding on and on and on.
At 30k there was a tricky narrow bridge which I rode (yay) and then a feed station where I stopped, stuffed my face with fruit bun and sports drink and then stuffed around for ages going to the toilet, due to poor planning and lost my glasses, bugger.

At 50k the course passes back through the start and there was a great atmosphere there, I dumped my extra clothes and food back in the car and got on my way again pretty quickly.

From 60-75k I was feeling pretty ordinary, moving slowly and had to walk a couple of the bigger hills. Then a friend Steve caught up to me and that woke me up. I rode behind him and another guy for a while and remembered that riding fast is MUCH more fun than riding slow and discovered that I had more energy than I thought I did. I stopped at the 80k feed station for just long enough to drink a Red Bull and left Steve behind.

From then on I could smell the finish and worked hard to keep up a decent pace. By this stage I was passing lots of guys that were obviously cramping - able to ride the downhills okay but nothing else. That was where I was last year and it was really nice not to be cramping, I think I managed my hydration better and it was cooler than last year too.
I got to this finish in 7.10 which is undeniably slow. But it was 10 mins faster than last year and considering I have done little riding this year and even less mtb, I was pretty pleased. There were not many women so I also got 2nd place in my age group (embarrassingly 30 mins behind the winner of the category and 90 mins behind the female winner, but hey) so I scored some very nice prizes from Netti too - a waterproof jacket and a new helmet, woo hoo.

I had sore and very tight shoulders for a few days but my legs were okay and I got back on the road bike out at Homebush on Tuesday with no problems. It was a great kick start and confidence booster for my mtb training for the Scott 24hr and the Triple Tri.

Sydney Trailwalker 2008

2008-09-01T20:58:00.006+10:00

7am Friday at Brooklyn

1am Saturday at Mosman
Mission accomplished! :)

Willy to Billy 2008

2008-08-25T20:36:00.005+10:00

Before I signed up for Trailwalker, the Mt Wilson to Bilpin 35k was a goal race and I was targeting under 3 hours. After joining my TW team I abandoned that plan, but the girls were all planning to do it, so we agreed that we would do it but take it easy.

I car-pooled with Keith, Simone, Geoff and Jocie. We left Balmain at 6.45am but after a scenic detour through Rooty Hill, we only arrived at Bilpin in time for the last bus to Mt Wilson. Fortunately there was still time to eat some of the famous scones. I've stared tapering for TW and had 2 complete rest days on Thurs and Fri last week, so I was feeling fresh on the start line. I also felt like a celebrity because we had our ACZD Girls team t-shirts on and got lots of photos.

I started out running alone and trying really hard to run "easy" - a bit of a contradiction. I didn't feel very comfortable for the first bit, I guess just trying to settle into a pace. Then I ran with Danielle for a while and that was good - we chatted and I started to relax a bit. There are lots of little ups and downs in the first half and it felt good to run and stretch everything and get rid of some nervous energy. At 22k there is a long gentle descent and here I was very conscious of going gently and not pounding the legs too much. It still felt fantastic to be running and the scenery was very nice. Then came the 6k gentle climb. I ran the whole way but I didn’t push. Just before the top I put on a bit of surge and then I ran steady along the road to the finish. It felt great to finish strong with plenty left in the tank. My finish time was 3.03. I am sure I could have gone under 3 if I had raced it, but I don't know by how much. Next time.

Keith had a blinder and finished in 2.41 in 11th place. Geoff, Jocie and Simone were nursing various injuries but ran together, had a nice social day and still did a good time. The other ACZD Girls all had very good days too. The organisation by the Rural Fire Service was amazing, including blankets and personal drink givers at the finish, wonderful hot showers and even towels provided!

On the nutrition side, I was not as regular with gels as I normally am, because I was not concentrating on it properly. But I had 3 in 3 hours, which is enough, and I stopped for water or sports drink and jelly beans at every aid station. On Sunday I was a bit sore but nothing serious. Tom and I went for a gentle walk at Kurnell and it felt good to be moving.

Now its 4 days till TW. My taper plan is pretty simple. I do nothing and sleep as much as possible. A swim or two and lots of stretching, that’s it. I don't see the point in trying to 'sharpen up', especially for 100k. I am really, really excited. I think we are a great team. Everyone has worked hard and is very dedicated. We have the same goals and intentions. No one is injured. We have done all the planning and have a great support crew. We are as ready as we can be.

City to Surf 2008

2008-08-25T20:30:00.002+10:00

This is a quick report for City 2 Surf, so I remember it for next time. In 2007 my time was 71 mins, which I remember I was disappointed with and came off not much training. This year I wanted a big improvement, close to 60mins. But in the end I was not expecting a good time due to Trailwaker training (70k run the weekend before) and no speed work. I was hoping for under 65 mins but thinking it might be slower.

In the Red group Tom and I tried to get a good start position and lined up more than an hour before the gun. After an hour I was busting for the toilet but decided not to go. It only took a minute or so to get over the start line. It was pretty congested through the tunnel, but no walking at all unlike in previous years. I had planned to go easy till Heartbreak Hill, then try and run up hard. But I found myself running pretty quick for the first few k. Its hard not to with all the excitement and other runners. After 5k I knew I had to stop for the toilet. I found a port-a-loo right by the road with no line, so the whole thing was probably done in 30 secs to a minute. I felt much better after that and set out to try and make up the time I lost. I didn't feel strong on HBH (who was I kidding about that?) and just slogged it out along with everyone else. From the top of HBH I felt better and seemed to be passing people. I flew down the hill as hard as I could - I love that section of the course when you can see and smell the ocean. I died a bit in the last kilometre to the finish and I didn’t manage to hold my pace. But looking at my watch I realised I was going to be closer to 60 than 65, so I didn’t really care. So I finished with 61.xx gun and 60.40 chip time. I was pleased and surprised with this. And wondering how much better I could have gone with a more dedicated preparation. Now I at least want to go under 60 mins next year.

Trailwalker training

2008-07-26T22:20:00.003+10:00

I finished my last post saying I was going to have a recovery week. And I did. I did next to nothing, just one ride and one run, for 5 days. Then I was invited to join a team for the Oxfam Trailwalker 100k. Its an all-girl team of experienced runners and I couldn't say no. So since then I have jumped right into training.

Last Saturday I did 40k with the girls on the trail, starting from Brooklyn and finishing at Mt Kuringai. It was a gorgeous day and I really enjoyed being out on the trail. But geez, its really tough, lots of up and down and rock scrambling. The team was doing 60k, but I decided that was too much for me. I finished up feeling like I could do more but happy to be stopping too.

During the week we did a great night run on the trail, over the last 20k from Davidson Park to the finish. It was heaps of fun. We got a bit wet, but I loved being out in the dark, it was a real adventure. I would like to do more night trail running, it feels similar to mtbing at night.

Today I am down at the coast and I did a 50k run on my own. Well, Tom came with me for the first 15k or so, but I was on my own for the rest. It was slow (average pace 6.30) but I was happy to make the distance. I was perhaps stretching the definition of "running" towards the end. Particularly the last 2k, it was along the beach on soft sand and was pure hell. I was singing ABBA songs out loud to myself just to keep going.

Together with a couple of other runs during the week, this has been my biggest (kilometres) week ever, at 90k. It'll be interesting to see how I pull-up, but I think it'll be alright as all the running has been slow or very slow.

4th in line to the throne

2008-07-14T20:11:00.002+10:00

I can so rarely think of decent post titles, but this one came to me riding home tonight. Yesterday was the Shoalhaven King of the Mountain 32k race and I came 4th lady.

I didn't have any great expectations. I thought it would be nice to try and run an average 5 min pace, but I didn't want to spoil the fun doing it. I decided to start out conservatively and not try to stay with anyone like at W2G. This worked well and meant I gradually gained on and passed people all along the way, which was nice. At the half way point I realised that I was feeling really good and should go with the flow and not let any negative thoughts get to me. I felt really strong on the hills and employed my 6ft "power shuffle" to good advantage. From the top of Mt Scanzi there is a rather step descent and it was lots of fun fanging down it. From there it wasn't far to the finish and I tried to concentrate on keeping a steady working pace. With 4k to go I thought I could probably go under 2.40 which would be good, so I pushed a bit harder. The last section down the main street of Kangaroo Valley seemed to go on a bit, but then there were a couple of bagpipers there, "piping" us on. It was really cool.

I finished in 2.38, very pleased with the time and how I ran, both physically and mentally. Then there was scones with jam and cream and hot tea for the finishers. All in all it was a really great day.

Today I feel great, not particularly sore or tired. But I am going to have a recovery week anyway.

Go Cadel

2008-07-06T20:03:00.002+10:00

The Tour has started and for the first time in 3 years we are not away on holidays and can watch every stage. I am excited.

It has been a fairly good week for me, training wise. Fortunate, otherwise I would have been miserable thinking about everyone running up at Gold Coast. I would have loved to be there but am commited to doing local stuff at the moment.

Monday
2k continuous easy swim at ITAC and 20 mins in the sauna, 10 in the steam room. Ahhhhhhhhh.

Tuesday
Pain in the Domain. I went with group 5, my legs were a little bit sore but not too bad considering W2G. I got around in 29.45 and it felt (almost) easy.

Wednesday
I had a real mental battle about running today. I wasn't sure what the plan was until I started running, but I felt quite good and did my 14k with 10k "tempo" at well under 5 min pace. I don't seem to be able to run 5min pace very well, I either go "hard" and its faster, or "easy" and its slower. I guess that’s the idea of practicing.

Thursday
Ride with LACC. I went with Group 4 and felt a bit wimpy, but I think that was a good call. Group 4 pace felt quite quick and I was really pushing on the last lap. Also a couple of the regular Group 3 girls seemed to get dropped. I'd like to get back to doing this 2x a week and Group 3 feeling easy. One day.

Friday
Morning squad at LPAC. I was pretty much "alone" again. Its still better than trying to swim 4k on your own, but I would so love to find a squad with lots of other swimmers at my speed and a dedicated coach. Still, 2 swims this week is good. And its winter.

Saturday - Striders 10k at Homebush. I had a reasonable run, doing 42.56. I actually thought I was going a bit faster than that and could get a PB, but nope. I was happy enough though, under 43 for the second time and that is where I need to be. I was pushed by a couple of other girls near me which was really good.

Sunday - I planned to do the STAR at Dee Why but the temptation of staying up last night and watching the first stage of the Tour was too strong. So I slept in instead and did a long run from home. The first 20k was a gentle pace with Tom and then I did another 10k by myself. I aimed to run the 10k at 5min pace (NOT faster). For the first 7k this was easy and felt quite slow, but then a started to struggle and I actually had to dig pretty deep mentally to keep it going. I tried to think of all the runners at Gold Coast and how they would be hurting but not giving up. I was quite pleased with myself for this run, but rather exhausted for the rest of the day.

Total running for the week: 65k. But it felt like more.

So this week Triathlon Australia announced the dates for the new National Series, now dubbed the Challenge Series, which will be the qualifying races for Olympic Distance Worlds at the Gold Coast next year. I was disappointed that there is no Nowra race, which has been a good race for me the past 2 years and lightly attended. All the races except one are in Jan-April 2009, with only Adelaide in late November 2008. The Sydney race is the day after the BMC Mountains to Beach, which I really really want to do. Perth, which is double points, is the day after 6ft. So some very tough decisions are going to have to be made.

Woodford To Glenbrook 2008

2008-07-04T19:25:00.002+10:00

I targeted this race for a good solid run and a good time. I had heaps of room for improvement over last year's 2.20 (when I was underdone and recovering from a cold). After studying last year's results I decided under 2 hours should be achievable for me.

My plan was to take it steady for the first 15k and then put the pedal down for the last 10k. The plan went straight out the window with a sub 4 minute first k. Everyone seemed to be running really fast and I wanted to too. I eventually settled down to a more comfortable pace. I found I struggled a bit on the hills, and I walked some of them, which I am pretty sure I didn't do last year. Too much 6ft training! I really don't think its necessary to walk such short climbs in such a (relatively) short race. I think my problem was that I didn’t have a plan in mind as to how I was going to tackle them. It wasn't a big deal as there are only a few uphills, but that’s something I can improve next time.

I passed Geoff E at about 12.5k and the time was just under 1 hour. I commented to him that as long as we did a negative split we would go under 2 hours. But not long after that I had a small disaster when my shoelace snapped. I tried to quickly tie it back together but it kept coming undone. I eventually had to stop and fiddle with it for a minute or so. I was really annoyed to lose that time and set off to try and catch some of the people who had passed me. I thought I would have to push a bit more now to reach my goal. I felt like I was moving well on the gentle downhill and I tried to concentrate on good form and not slowing. I really enjoyed this section and the feeling that I was fit enough to run it "fast" and not be struggling in the second half.

With about 5ks to go I got sight of Geoff in front of me in the distance. He didn't look to be running particularly fast, but his legs are about twice as long as mine. I slowly made up ground on him, but I didn’t quite get there. A few runners came past me in the last k or so, really accelerating. The end was a bit different this year, down a steep grassy slope, across a bridge and up a small rise to the finish. I surged a bit to try and get Geoff but he crossed the line just in front of me.

I finished in 1.57 and 13th female. I was pretty happy with this. Maybe I could have run a bit smarter and pushed a bit harder, but maybe not. Tom finished in 2.07, enjoyed himself and easily beat his time from last year. I have pulled up really well this week. Tired and some soreness on Monday but nothing serious. I think the solid downhill running the week beforehand in Canberra may have helped.

Wordle

2008-06-29T17:38:00.005+10:00

Computers are cool. I am still very much a gumby when it comes to this stuff, but I love trying new things. This comes from Wordle. I got the idea from Plu, thanks Plu. I just cut the words from the last few weeks of my blog.

Body training, mind wandering

2008-06-28T10:51:00.002+10:00

I have had a good week, and recovered well after feeling a bit tired from the weekend. It was so great not to have it raining every day.

Monday
PM - Easy 2k swim followed by 20 blissful minutes in the steam room.

Tuesday
AM - Rode with LACC. My legs were feeling a bit tired so I went with Group 4 - a solid effort but not super hard.
Lunch - Pain in the Domain. I was anointed leader for group 5, which is fun, but it means I don't run as hard as I would otherwise. I got the group around in about 29:45.

Wednesday
AM - 14k run around the Bay. I just couldn’t motivate myself to do my <5mink>

Thursday
PM - 5k Bolt at the Bay with Balance Tri Club. I wasn't sure how I would go and so guesstimated 21:30, but I ran well. It was strange to be running fast in the dark, but good. I finished in 20:19. If I had been honest with myself and estimated 20:30 I would have won the handicap - silly girl. The course was possibly a little short, but now I can smell the sub-20 and will aim for that some time soon. 19-something sounds so good.

Friday
AM - swim squad 4k. It was quite a hard session and I was on my own, with the other swimmers being mostly faster and some slower than me. I have been thinking about finding another squad, with more people and triathletes. But there is really nowhere as convenient.

Saturday -CR 5k challenge. I planned to take it easy and ran without a watch. I think I did about 23 minutes. It was a lovely morning with great company and banana bread for brekky.

So this week I have been thinking I would like to get back to dedicated tri training. Its been 6 months now of just running. Yes, I swim and ride once or twice a week, but its not the same. The biggest difference I guess is not doing long rides on the weekend. And I must admit I don’t like the idea of going back to those. Its nasty road riding in Sydney and its not very Tom-friendly. I am really happy with my progress as a runner this year and there are lots more runs I want to do. But I do feel a stirring. Anyway, I am not going to make any changes right away, I'll just see how things develop.

Tomorrow is Woodford to Glenbrook. I am aiming for under 2 hours, which is a big step up from last year's 2.20, but I think I can do it. Last year I was sick and not as fit as I am now. We'll see. Its sure to be a great day out on the trail in any case.

Canberra Capers

2008-06-24T20:50:00.004+10:00

We were down in Canberra on the weekend for little Miss Chloe's 4th birthday party.

But I managed to squeeze in some good running too. On Friday I did a great long run, in two parts. The first part was 20k with Tom. It was an adventure run around the back of and over the top of Mt Majura. We only averaged 6min ks, but that included lots of hills and some bush bashing. The second part was another 10k on my own. I wanted to go fast, so aimed to do a lap of Mt Ainslie in under 5min k pace. I really struggled on the up hills and had to fly on the downs to make up time, but I did it with an average pace of 4.59 and was really chuffed.

On Sunday was the 10k Canada Run for Cancer. I did this run years ago and fondly remembered the pancakes at the end, and Tom and family were keen, so we went along. I wasn't sure how I would feel after the long run on Friday, and whether a sub 43 PB would be on the cards. But once I started running I felt pretty good and thought I could do it. It was a gorgeous morning and the course is great, a gently undulating out and back. At the 5k turn-around the negative thoughts started to creep in, thinking lots of women would catch me on the way back. But I kept up a decent pace on the way back and none did. (A few blokes did.) I finished in 42.49 and 6th women, so I was really happy with it. Tom felt really sick on his run, but was pleased to finish in a respectable 46 minutes.

Now its less than a week till Woodford to Glenbrook - I can't wait! :)

Blue Gum Forest

2008-06-17T20:26:00.005+10:00

Its taken me a little while to upoad these photos of our bushwalk on the long weekend. The weather wasn't great, but we had a great time.

Looking down into the Grosse Valley, where we were headed.

Looking up at Govett's Leap falls

Beanie weather down in the valley

Cooking lunch in the tent in the rain

The lovely Blue Gum forest

Climbing back up the Perry's Track

CoolRunning 5k Challenge and Great NOSH Footrace

2008-06-06T19:32:00.001+10:00

It’s a bit late now but last weekend was blog-worthy.

Saturday was the CR 5k Challenge. This is a monthly time trial around the Bay, where the runners handicap their start times so everyone finishes more or less together. Then we jog the 5k back, have breakfast and talk about running (what else?) I have not been for ages and was looking forward to setting a new PB. I have recently run around 21.15 for the first half of a 10k race, so sub 21 was the goal. I started off with another woman who was also aiming for 21 minutes and we ran together for the first 3k, at a good pace I thought. She then stopped with shoelace issues so I had to slog the last 2k out alone. I forgot to start my watch unfortunately, but I think I did about 20.30 and was pleased with that. At brekkie I was seated at the 'ultra' end of the table, so I got to pick up some priceless tips, such as how it is important to be able to vomit while running without breaking stride. True.

Sunday was the 34th Annual Great NOSH Footrace. I have literally been looking forward to this for a year, since reading about it on CR last year, and I was not disappointed. I LOVED this run. It is 15k from Lindfield Oval to Seaforth Oval, mostly via bush tracks with some good hills. There was heaps of single track and I just loved running on it. It’s a narrow start with a few hundred runners and so I had to do quite a lot of passing in the first half, but I prefer passing to being passed. I went out pretty hard and was worried my pace was too fast to maintain, but I was really really enjoying myself, so I thought I might as well make hay. Over the last 5k I started to tire, but I passed a couple of women, so I was still going okay. With about 1k to go I spotted my friend Geoff up ahead in his lairy 6ft Track shirt and so I tried to catch him, but I couldn’t get him. The last 500m was single-track and very fun and challenging on tired legs. I finished in 1.20.40 - 3rd in my age group and 6th woman. :) I think the running gods might be trying to tell me something, because this year I have had 2 great runs off-road.

Which is a good segue way to what next? I feel like my running is going pretty well and I have been contemplating doing a marathon and trying to improve my "a bit soft" PB of 3.54. Gold Coast would be fun and fast, but its too soon now and would be expensive. At the end of July are 2 cheaper options - Cities, which is on-road and would be a reasonable prospect for a fast time, and also the Bush Capital Marathon in Canberra, which is off-road and would be slow, but very enjoyable and good training for other stuff. Or I could not do a marathon at all and keep busy with Woodford to Glenbrook, Shoalhaven KOM, City 2 Surf, Mt Wilson to Mt Bilpin, Striders runs and trying to get more time on my mtb - all of which I want to do anyway. But then I would be left wondering what time I can run a marathon in. Decisions, decisions!

Beyond that is definitely the Mogo 100k mtb in September, the Scott 24hr mtb in October, Triple Tri in November and maybe Canberra HIM in December. Beyond that is the triathlon season and the allure of the Olympic Distance World Champs on the Gold Coast and/or Long-course World Champs in Perth, both in 2009, but qualification details are not available yet.

On the more immediate horizon is a long weekend bushwalking in the Blueys and no running whatsoever.

A lovely big weekend

2008-05-28T20:21:00.002+10:00

On Saturday I did the Manly to Palm Beach 30k Fatass run. It was a beautiful day, the views are truly wonderful and I never get tired of running near the ocean. I hooked up with another girl right at the start. She kept up a pace that was not feeling easy at all for me and I kept thinking I should tell her to go on ahead, but I figured she was free to do that if she wanted. In the end we ran the whole way together and it was really nice to have the company. We were only going about 5.30 pace but I was struggling a bit, I haven't done a 30k run before 6ft. Its quite hilly too. We finished in 2.47 and I was definitely spent at the end. I think I would have been a lot slower if I had been running alone. I will need to do a fair few more of these if I want to run a marathon soon. It was a great feeling to finish at Palm Beach and when we were driving back down the peninsular it seemed like a very long way to have run. I wasn't at all tempted to do the 60k return trip, but the option to do a full marathon distance and return to the Newport Arms hotel next year could be a winner.

On Sunday was the Working Week Series 8 Hour Mtb race at Appin. I had organised my friends Jocie and Simone to do a team of 3. It was freezing and foggy when we arrived and there was a lot of muttering about a "very technical" course. It was a 9.5k loop which none of us had ridden before. I did the first lap and as usual it was very slow and congested for the first half of the lap but it got better in the second half. There were some pretty challenging sections, and plenty of stuff I had to walk, but overall it wasn't half as bad as it was made out to be and I really, really enjoyed it. It was almost all single track which is just so fun. Jocie was next up and I started straight into the eating and drinking. Jocie came back from her lap with a big smile, but she'd had a big stack on the way around and was bleeding. Fortunately Simone didn’t notice that before she went off for her lap! Jocie had nasty cuts, grazes and bumps on every limb and a very sore shoulder, but was still keen to keep going (crazy girl). Simone returned in one piece and said one lap was enough for her. It was my turn again and I was a little more nervous this time thinking of Jocie, but had another very enjoyable lap and rode a few bits that I had failed at on the first lap.

Jocie and I swapped off turns for another 2 laps before she decided that considering her numerous injuries, it was sensible to call it a day. Now that our team had gone from 3 to 2 to 1, I could have stopped too. But I was really enjoying myself and the course and not feeling tired at all. I felt amazingly good actually considering the long run the day before and my lack of mtb training. Oh well, make hay while the sun shines, so I kept going. After my 5th lap my hands and wrists were very sore. This is because I grip the handlebars and brakes way too hard, which is very poor form. I was going to stop then as there wasn't any "point" going on - we were not going to win our category or anything like that. But there was a nagging voice in my head saying - this is an 8 hour race, you need to ride for 8 hours. Plus I was definitely still enjoying myself and had a few more scores to settle with the course, so I went back for one more lap. I was so glad I did because this time I managed to do both the creek crossings perfectly for the first time. There were still 3 bits I couldn't do (a biggish drop-off, a biggish step-up and a tricky rocky climb) but I had improved on lots of other bits which was just what I was hoping I would get out of this race. Plus a tidy 55k of mtb in the legs. I couldn't ask for more. :)

By the time we got back to Sydney I was very very verrrrrry tired. I crawled into bed, didn’t set the alarm and slept for 12 hours.

SMH Half Marathon Race Report

2008-05-22T19:35:00.000+10:00

I had no idea what to expect for this race. Last year I did 99 mins which was just from post-Ironman fitness and 2 weeks solid running beforehand. This year I have less endurance fitness, but a lot more running under my belt. I felt I had been training pretty well for the past 6 weeks, doing regular speed and hill work. The only thing lacking a bit was long runs but I have done 3 longer than 20ks, so it wasn't too bad. I thought that the next nice round number down (95 mins) was probably a bit out of reach, but I might get there on a good day. McMillan predicted 96 mins based on my 10k time from 2 weeks ago and I thought that was do-able. My result was 97.20 gun time and 96 mins flat chip time (which I am taking) so I am happy, but not over-the-moon, completely chuffed, floating 10ft off the ground happy. But still happy.

I found the pacing a bit hard, and was never sure if I was going too fast or too slow. I don’t feel like I have enough experience racing this distance yet, as its only the 3rd half-marathon I have done. I was fairly happy with my mental effort, I pushed myself pretty hard, especially over the last few kilometres. But I lost concentration and probably slowed down too much a few times. I really struggled going up the Hunter St hill both times. I have no idea why because the Argyle St hill felt great and the Mrs Mac's chair pinch was fine too.

It was a beautiful day and the new finish in Hyde Park is a huge improvement over Hickson Rd. Afterwards we sat around with Mum and Danny eating bacon and egg rolls and drinking coffee and enjoying the sunshine. Its expensive to enter and very crowded, but this is still a truly fantastic race.

Tom cruised it to finish in 104 mins - safely under 5 min per k pace - and he really enjoyed himself. He claims he is now "back" which is great. We are both going to do the 15k NOSH footrace in 2 weeks and then Woodford to Glenbrook at the end of June.

SMH Half Marathon Training Taper Week

2008-05-22T19:34:00.000+10:00

For the record, this was my final week of training before the Half.

Monday
AM - Gentle run on some hilly dirt tracks in Castlemaine. I intended to do an easy 8ks, and all was going well until I got completely lost. Ooops. Fortunatley I turned on the "Back to Start" function on my Garmin and followed the arrows back. I have such a poor sense of direction, its scary.

Tuesday
Complete day off

Wednesday
PM - Swim squad. I enjoyed this session. The highlight was 6x100 where I managed to do each one on 1.40. This is slow pretty slow, but I was really trying hard and that felt good. We probably did about 3.2k.

Thursday
AM - 45k ride at SOP. I went with group 4/5 again and felt pretty good. A return to Group 3 should be on the cards soon.

Friday
AM - 6k easy run to the river. No watch but I felt good and my legs felt pretty fresh, which I was hoping for after doing next to nothing all week.

Saturday
No running, but we ended up doing quite a bit of walking around South Head and I felt really tired at the end.

All good - I had planned a very light week and that’s what I did. I really wanted to do another swim but I just couldn’t fit it in.

SMH Half Marathon Training Week 5

2008-05-22T19:31:00.001+10:00

Monday

PM - Swim squad - I am really struggling with motivation to swim, but once I get there I never regret it. But unfortunately tonight I did regret it because I backed our new car into a tree when I was leaving. :( I was very annoyed with myself about this.

Tuesday
AM - Got up at 5 to ride and halfway out to Homebush I slipped on some sand on a corner and fell off my bike. I grazed my left knee and thigh and got a small but deep wound on my right thumb. I thought I was okay and was determined to keep riding, but my wheel was a little bit buckled so after a few attempts I turned around and went home, had a shower, cleaned my wounds and got back into bed.

Lunchtime - I felt okay so I went to Pain in the Domain. I went with Group "4b" and the pace was better than last week. But I really struggled mentally and was kind of mentally flagellating myself the whole way around. I do this quite a lot normally, but today the negative self talk was completely out of hand. 10k total.

By the end of the day I was in a real funk, just feeling very down and almost teary. I guess I was annoyed at myself about the car and the bike and yet another graze on my knee which was now infected and very sore. Maybe it was something hormonal too. Anyway, today was not a good day.

Wednesday
AM - Up for my usual medium run around the Bay. I felt better and decided to try and challenge myself (and more so my negative thoughts) by doing the whole 7k around the Bay in less than 5 min k pace. I did this without too much difficulty and felt considerably cheered up. 14 total.

Thursday
AM - I decided to get back on the bike ASAP and went out to Homebush. I was pretty nervy on the corners at first, but I felt okay by the end of the ride. I went with group 4/5 which was all old blokes and had a good time.

PM - Hill reps with Tom. After riding in the morning I was expecting to feel cactus but I had quite a good session, keeping each rep under 1.30. I only did 6 as Tom had had enough, but I could have easily done another couple I think. 10k total.

Friday
PM. I went for a swim after work at the new-ish Ian Thorpe pool in Pyrmont. I just did 2k continuous easy. It’s a nice pool and there is also a sauna which I enjoyed for 20 mins after my swim.

Saturday
AM - Long run with Tom into the city. After 10k Tom turned for home and I pushed onwards, running along Hickson Rd and trying to do some positive visualisation for the race next week. I felt good and by the time I got home I had done about 26k with an average pace of 5.15. I was happy with that. I just wish I had done a few more of those in the past few weeks.

Sunday
AM - I was staying down in Melbourne with my friends Josie and Ben and planned to do an easy 10k run with Jasper the friendly dog. Unfortunately after a few ks Jasper lost her enthusiasm and it became a very slow plod, with me literally dragging her along. But it was funny and nice to have some four-legged company.

I finished with 10k in a very slow 60 mins. But it was a PB for Jasper. :)

So, my last week of dedicated half-marathon training and another decent total - 70k running, 2 swims, 1 bike. I am pleased with my consistency, especially with doing PITD and the hill reps.

Next week will be very easy with little running, I feel like my legs need a good dose of R&R before the race. I still have no idea what my goal should be. But I am thinking I need to run with a smile (enjoy it) and finish with a smile (know that I did a good time).

SMH Half Marathon training Week 4

2008-05-07T20:02:00.001+10:00

Monday

Rest day

Tuesday
AM - Ride at SOP. I was slack and went with Group 5. The pace was not easy, but it was comfortable. Next week I will have to go with Group 4. 40k approx with a coffee break.

Lunch - PITD. I had promised myself I would go with Group 4, so I did. Unfortunately the pace felt too fast for me, I struggled to hang on and I couldn't put in a good effort on the intervals. I was vindicated at the end when we finished in 28:40, which was only 10 seconds slower than Group 3! Next week I will try and get a group 4 and 1/2 going and aim for about 30. 10k total.

Wednesday
AM - Medium long run around the Bay. I planned to do 5k in the middle at sub 5 min k pace - and I still felt okay at the end, so I did an extra 1k fast. 14k total.

Thursday
AM - Lilyfield Rd hill reps. A somewhat slack session and I only did 6 reps not 8. I missed having Tom there to motivate me. 11k total.

Friday
I had planned to swim in the morning but we had a late night at the theatre so I slept in instead.

Saturday

Striders and Athletics NSW 10k Champs at Homebush. My plan was to do the first 5k in 4.20s and the second 5k in 4.15, which would have me finish in 42.55 - a new PB and under 43 minutes. The first k was way too fast (3.55) but I settled down after that and did around 4.10s, then slowed down a bit to 4.20s. I was watching my Garmin closely and thought I was on track with my average pace under 4.15. The Garmin ticked off 10k in 42.15 (fabulous!) but sadly there was another 250 meters to go (bugger!), so I crossed the line in 43.08. It was a PB (compared to 43.21 at North Head 2 months ago) but, considering the kind of training I have been doing recently, I had been hoping for a more significant improvement. Tom was happy with his run on limited training - back under 45 mins, and heading in the right direction.

Sunday
I was down in Canberra and determined to do something resembling a long run. I headed off with a plan to do 2 laps of Mt Ainslie plus some extra hilly single track bits and that’s exactly what I did. The first 10k didn’t feel that great, but once I settled into it I felt much better. It was a beautiful gorgeous lovely Canberra day, perfect for running. I was stuffed at the end - 25k in 2.5 hours.

So, a decent week. 70k running is good. One ride is good. No swims is very bad. The 10k race was a bit disappointing but I still feel motivated to try to improve and be a runner. My thoughts are now turning to my goal for the half marathon in 2 weeks. Simply "better than last year" is not good enough, but 95 mins is too much of a stretch. Hmmmm.

SMH Half Marathon training Week 3

2008-04-30T20:57:00.001+10:00

Monday
AM - 10k easy. Yet another wet day, and I got soaked, but enjoyed the run.
PM - Swim squad, 3.5k - felt pretty good.

Tuesday
AM - I got up at 5AM to ride but got 1k down the road and aborted because it was too wet. Back to bed for an hour.
Lunch - Pain in the Domain. I went with the slowest group again, finished in 31:10 and it felt a bit "easy". Next week I WILL go with Group 4.

Wednesday
PM - Hill reps with Tom. It was so great to have his company, and I did a new PB for the hill by 2 seconds - 1:16. I might up the reps to 8 next week.

Thursday
AM - My second attempt at a ride and it was only raining very lightly, but no-one showed up at Homebush. I rode around by myself until I bumped into some tri people I know. I rode with them (tried to) for a few laps and realised how unfit I am on the bike. :( 40k approx.

PM - 2k continuous swim in the rain at LPAC. It was great, the pool was deserted.

Friday
Anzac Day - Did 14k around the Bay, with a goal of doing the CR 5k in the middle at 5 min pace. I managed this at about 4.45 pace. I am aiming to build this up each week so I can maintain 5min pace more easily.

Saturday
AM - Long-ish run up at Nelson Bay with Tom. We included a trip up Tomaree Headland in our run and saw a huge pod of 50+ dolphins. It was a beautiful place to run but for some reason I didn't feel very good. We finished with 18.5k in 1:50.

Sunday
AM - 10k run by myself along the beaches to the west of Nelson Bay. It was gloriously beautiful and after a slow start I started feeling better and ended up feeling great.

So I finished the week with around 70k run, plus 2 swims and a ride, which is all I am aiming for ATM. I was disappointed to again have no decent long run, but apart from that it was a good week and I felt strong. I am excited for the Striders 10k next week and am hoping that (what seems like to me) a lot of running will pay off with a new PB.

SMH Half Marathon training Week 2

2008-04-23T21:58:00.001+10:00

Monday
PM - Swim squad 3.5ks - slowly starting to feel a bit more like "I can swim".

Tuesday
AM - Rode at SOP with group 4/5. I have definitely lost some bike fitness, but I can still keep up. I want to go once per week and hope to get back to group 3.

Lunch - Pain in the Domain. 31:05 for the intervals, 10k total incl w/up and c/down. It felt easier than last week but also harder because I am a bit more fatigued. I am very keen to keep going consistently. Love the pain!

Wednesday
AM - Medium run around the Bay. I felt a bit flat and was not running well. 14k.

Thursday
PM - Lilyfield Rd reps x 6. The first rep was c-r-a-p, but I pulled my socks up after that. Felt good on the way home too. 11k.

Friday
AM - Swim squad - 3.8k. Struggled a bit with motivation as there is no one else at my pace.

Saturday
Adventure race - see post below - 5.5hrs general exertion.

Sunday
REST (and bike cleaning).

This wasn't the week I wanted running-wise, just because of no long run. But overall it was pretty good with 2 squad swims, a ride and a 5 hour race, so I can’t complain.

The Pulsettes go AROC

2008-04-23T21:52:00.002+10:00

I have done triathlons, multisport races, mountain biking, rogaining and even recently some paddling but I had never done an adventure race. My long-awaited debut in the sport at the AROC Paddy Pallin race could not have been more perfect - a lovely all-girl team, an inordinate amount of mud, navigation challenges and a podium finish!

The race was held in the Wallarah Peninsula National Park on Lake Macquarie. I drove up to Newcastle on the Friday night in torrential rain and stayed at casa pug with my team-mates. In the morning after dropping our bikes off and lining up to get our maps and instructions, we had less than an hour to plan, which was a bit rushed. We just had enough to time to mark a suggested route in highlighter, waterproof the map and control card and get ready to start.

Leg 1 was an foot orienteer to about a dozen checkpoints within a small area with a detailed map, and at each CP you had to solve a crossword clue. We moved around pretty quickly finding them and solving the clues, which was fun and soon we had a completed crossword. I couldn’t help letting out a "woo hoo" as we sped to the first transition.

Leg 2 was another orienteer but the CPs were further afield and the map much less detailed. We came a bit unstuck in this section and spent a lot of time trying to find the CPs. At this point we didn't have a clear plan for who was navigating and I didn't have my bearings at all. After what seemed like ages we finally got the 3 CPs and headed to transition to the paddle.

Leg 3 was a simple paddle down the lake, with a stop-over to collect one CP up a rocky scramble. For the first few minutes the conditions were calm and we got a good rhythm going. But soon we were out in the wind and it became extremely arduous! I was literally paddling as hard as I possibly could trying to keep us straight, but it was never hard enough. The other girls were brilliant at staying cheerful but I was struggling to remember that we were having fun and I was very glad when the paddle was over.

Leg 4 was another foot orienteer on suburban streets, so the navigation was simple and we found the CPs easily. I was feeling a little spent at this point and not keen to run very quickly. Without a sense of how long we had been going and not knowing how long we had to go, it was hard to measure how much energy to spend and how much to keep in the bank.

Leg 5 was onto the bikes (yay!) and within meters we were knee-deep in the first of many huge mud puddles. I had a mapboard (home-made with clipboard, cable-ties and bulldog clips) on my bike so I took possession of the map. It took awhile to adjust to being on the bikes, moving more quickly and working out how that translated to where we were on the map. But we managed to find the first CP fairly easily and just keep picking them up from there. The trail was very muddy which slowed things down a lot, but it was good fun, with some nice single track thrown in.

Leg 6 was a short out-and-back foot orienteer section collecting 3 CPs. On the map it looked hard because the terrain was hilly and the CPs were not right on a track, but we seemed to find these ones quickly and I think we made up some time on other teams here.

Leg 7 was the home stretch on the bikes to the finish. We had problems finding one of the CPs in this section. The track we were supposed to turn off on was half-way up a rather large hill and I think we missed it in our struggle. After standing around shrugging our shoulders with some other teams we back-tracked and eventually we found it. It might have helped to look at the contours on the map and pay much closer attention to how far we had travelled - a bike computer would help with this. With around an hour to go until the cut-off of 5.5 hours and still 6 CPs collect, we started thinking that we might have to sacrifice some of the CPs. We picked up our pace and kept passing other teams on the nasty hills. I felt a bit guilty about hogging the map, but I really enjoyed navigating, it adds a whole new dimension to racing. I just need to get a lot better at it.

With less than 20 minutes to go we still had 2 CPs to get and so we had to decide whether to go for it and risk getting a time penalty. We decided we would prefer to complete the course so we pushed onwards. The very last section back to the finish looked simple on the map - a nice straight line along the water. In reality it was a muddy, slippery, hilly and technical single-track, but we fanged it as fast as we possibly could and then cruised into the finish about 3 minutes late. We were shocked to hear from our support crew that we were the second all-girl team to finish. This was the icing on the cake as we had heaps of fun together and learned a lot for next time.

2 hours later after the BBQ and presentation I was driving home and it had started raining heavily and there were still teams out on the course. I felt so sorry for them - that would have been super-tough.

The next day I had a sore neck (from the paddling I think) and I was too tired to do the run I had planned, but apart from that I pulled up well and am keen for the next adventure, whatever that may be.

SMH Half Marathon training Week 1

2008-04-13T20:48:00.002+10:00

So my next goal event is the SMH Half marathon. I am not feeling all that enthusiastic about it, I would rather be doing something longer or more interesting, but seeing as I am entered I figure that doing some solid focused training might help get me keen.

Monday
12k run at Port Macquarie on the Ironman run course. Nothing like running on the IM course to make you keen. There were lots of other people with the same idea, it was almost like a fun run. I felt pretty good and maintained a good tempo-ish pace.

Tuesday
My return to Pain in the the Domain. Its been a long time, but it felt better than I expected. I went with the 32 minute group, but we finished in 30:40 and I was happy with my effort in each interval. (Except the damn 3rd last one where I always seem to struggle.) Jogged to and fro from work, so a total of about 10k.

Wednesday
My birthday so I gave myself a birthday treat of a 14k run around the Bay. I always love a longish midweek run. I felt good the whole way.
After work I did a quick 1.5k swim before we went out for an 8 course degustation dinner.

Thursday
No running but I had a wonderful massage. As always I felt much better afterwards and ready to take on the world.

Friday
Made it to squad in the morning for 3.5k in the pool - I always love Friday morning squad, its such a good way to start the end of the week. After work I did my 6 x Lilyfield Rd reps. I struggled a bit mentally but kept each one under 1:30. Total of about 11k running.

Saturday
Nothing. Went to see Lars and The Real Girl - wonderful movie.

Sunday
Did about 22k from home, around the Bay and into the City. I have only done one long run since 6ft and I really felt it. The first 10k were okay, the last 10 were pretty ugly. I really need to run long every week now.

All in all a good solid week, and if I can do another 4 or so like that I think I will be in good shape. At the moment my goal for the SMH is to beat last years time - 99 mins.

Kayak for Kids

2008-04-01T21:16:00.003+11:00

On Sunday I participated in the Lifestart Kayak for Kids, a 20k paddle

from Manly to Blues Point. A friend from Canberra Steve was in Sydney for the weekend, has a double sea kayak and needed a partner. Having not paddled much, I was a little nervous about how my arms would hold up and how long it would take, but I knew was in good hands with Steve.

This was the first year so there was a small field of around 60 teams, about half corporate teams paddling 3 person sit-on-tops (described as like paddling a fridge) and the other half in single and double sea kayaks and surf skis. Steve had borrowed a fancy PFD for me, complete with its own bladder which you could drink from hands-free, and a super fancy carbon fibre paddle, so I was very well equipped.

It was an incredibly gorgeous, calm and sunny morning as we set off from Manly wharf. Sitting in the front Steve was responsible for steering and setting a good paddling rate, so all I had to do was try to match it. I was surprised how easy and good it felt to paddle. I think it was a combination of a lovely boat, a super light paddle and a strong paddler in front of me.

The first leg took us straight across Manly Cove and around to CP1 at Clontarf Beach. We cruised along at a good pace, enjoying a perfect day on the world's most beautiful harbour. Steve called out a friendly greeting to each boat and every one agreed what a sensational day it was and how great to be there.

From Clontarf was a short leg to CP2 at the end of Balmoral Beach and we started passing the floating fridges who had a half hour start on us. From Balmoral we paddled around Middle Head and into Obelisk Bay, where the marker buoy was close enough to shore for us to identify that it was a nudist beach. I wondered what they thought of the parade of passing boats but we didn't hang around long enough to find out and paddled on to CP3 at Chowder Bay.

Around this point we must have slowed down a bit and two other double sea kayaks caught up to us. We said our friendly greetings but simultaneously picked up the pace, and by the time Steve had expertly steered us through the moored boats at Little Sirus Cove to CP4 we had lost them.

From there we were on the home stretch and as we came around Cremorne Point the Harbour Bridge came into view. I remarked to Steve that I have ridden over it, climbed to the top of it and run across it in a marathon, but I had never paddled underneath it. Just like the other 3
things it was fun and a bit scary to do so. The conditions were rougher with some swell and we took on a bit of water, but I felt very safe with Steve in control. We cruised across the finish line at Blue's Point in 2 hours 6 mins, which I believe is respectable. We were the second double sea kayak to finish and first in the mixed category so we even got prizes which was cool.

I am very keen to do this again next year (hopefully with some more paddling in my arms) and encourage others to do it too, because it was a beautiful way to spend a Sunday morning. I pulled up a little sore in my wrists and shoulders but nothing dramatic.

Here is a link to Steve's report with photos and GPS maps.

Wisemans Ferry Run and Blue Mtns Bike

2008-03-23T19:22:00.004+11:00

Like a good little endurance athlete I made the most of the *long* weekend with a *long* run yesterday and a *long* ride today. (My concession to Easter was baking and eating hot cross buns. Yum. And eating lots of chocolate.)

Yesterday was up to Wiseman's Ferry for a Fat Ass run. I have never been there before and it was a lovely spot for a run. After taking Monday to Friday last week completely off training (nothing!!) I figured I would either feel fast and fresh or really flat and slow. Sadly it was the latter. But it was still very enjoyable as it was all offroad, lovely and quiet in the trees and I had great company from another woman runner. We took the "short" 27k option and finished in 3 hours. I was very glad I did not take the 34k option as I would have really suffered. 61k was not an option. ;)

Today Tom and I took the train up to the Blue Mountains for a long day in the saddle. We started from Wentworth Falls and rode Anderson's firetrail to Woodfood. I have not ridden this before and I was a little disappointed. It was fine but nothing special. There was a long rocky steep descent which is just not my kind of riding - I ended up with sore hands from gripping the brakes too hard. Then there was a nasty long climb back out. I had been looking forward to this as I usually like climbing more than descending, but it was really hard! I said the f-word several times. We got to Woodford where we planned to have lunch, only to remember that there is nowhere there to eat, so instead we had a banana and a hot-cross bun and pushed on towards Glenbrook on the Oaks firetrail. This was much more fun. There's lots of downhill but mostly not steep, there's lovely open sections, a very long and fast single track section, some good technical stuff at the end and then a nice hard climb out (on bituman). All together we covered around 60k in 5 hours and we finally got our lunch at Glenbrook.

Six Foot Track 2008

2008-03-20T21:41:00.002+11:00

This is the unedited, uncensored and loooong version of my race report...

The Six Foot Track Marathon is a bit like a trail running equivalent of Ironman. There is a lot of hype and excitement, you have to qualify by first completing other events within a cut-off time, the finish line has an incredible atmosphere with plenty of emotion and the finishers t-shirts are worn with great pride.

The trail is 45 kilometres off-road from Katoomba to Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains. As it’s longer than a traditional marathon (42.2k) it is technically considered an ultra marathon. But the hard part is the hills – there’s over 1500m of climbing and 1700m of descending, which is apparently more than you do going down and back up in the Grand Canyon.

An oft-cited rule of thumb is 1.5 x your marathon time, but due to the big hills and varying terrain it’s hard to predict and a lot depends on what happens on the day. I had a secret goal of finishing under 5 hours, but I wouldn’t have admitted this to anyone beforehand, and if I had, they may have thought I was being a bit optimistic.

I started in Wave 3 and had a nervous chat to friends Bruce and Brian before the gun went. I was shocked at how steep, rocky and narrow the start is. I didn’t jostle for a position, but just ran comfortably until the start of the stairs. The stairs go for about a kilometre and were wet, slippery and uneven, but fun. It was a walking pace conga line here, but I wouldn’t have felt safe going much faster.

Bruce got in front of some slower runners and he disappeared from sight but a few ks later on the firetrail Brian and I saw him again. We had a nice chat but they were running a little bit fast for me at just under 5min k pace.

My right leg started hurting very early on in the run. This had come up on an easy run Tuesday before the race and I hadn’t run since then, hoping it would settle down. It was sore but not slowing me down, and I was just worried about it getting worse.

After climbing the stile and crossing the Megalong rd (8k) I slowed down and was soon enjoying the beautiful single track descent to Cox’s River. I really loved this section, it feels like mountain biking and I enjoyed every step. There was no conga line and I had no trouble passing people when I needed to. I had a good chat to a lady in groovy red shoes and started passing some of the very senior runners from the early wave.

I reached the river (15.5k) in 1.29 which was on pace for sub-5 hours. I didn’t feel exactly fresh, but I was glad to be at the first milestone and one third through the distance. I had planned to take off my shoes to cross the river, but at the last minute I didn’t want to risk hurting my feet so I kept them on. I crossed the waist-deep river quickly using a high knees technique. I didn’t pick up too much sand and decided I could stop later, but I never needed to. (At this point I have to say thanks to my socks. They are sports wool and were brilliant for this race, my feet never felt wet despite numerous creek crossing and I got no blisters. Love em!)

From the river its up up up up to the Mini Mini saddle, down down down to the Alum River, then up up up up up up up up to the Pluviometer. Climbing up the big hills I walked more than I had planned, but I really power walked and I was quick, passing lots of people. All but the top runners walk parts of this race and at times it felt like being on a bizarre bushwalk with a bunch of people in skimpy outfits, rather than a running race. I tried to really use my bum and thighs (my biggest assets!) and stuck my bum right out. This must have looked a bit strange but it seemed to work and I never felt like the hills were that bad. I took it pretty easy on the descents and was caught by Bruce who is a good downhill runner.

I finally arrived at the Pluviometer (26k) at 2:55 and thought okay Zoe, sub-5 is a real possibility now, so go for it. For the first 5 kilometres of the (relatively) flat Black Range firetrail I didn’t feel very good. My leg was still hurting and I was running, but not very quickly. Brian was alternating running and walking here as he was cramping so we kept passing each other and he gave me lots of encouragement. Bruce kept catching me but then stopping to empty his shoes again.

From the end of the Black Range there was 10k to go and I had X minutes to do it. It was hard and I was hurting but I was on a bit of a roll. I walked some of the nastier hills, one nicknamed Insult Hill which I actually laughed out loud in disbelief when I saw. I was starting to feel very slight twinges in my calves like I could cramp at any minute so I was running gingerly and trying to keep a steady pace. I knew it was going to very close to 5 hours but was sure if I ran too fast I would blow it. With just under 5k to go another runner asked if I thought we could get under 5. I replied loudly and firmly that Yes we could and we would.

Bruce and I were running together on and off now and encouraging each other. At one point I remember I tried a deep and meaningful spiel about how lucky we were to be able to run and in such beautiful surrounds. Bruce is usually a talkative guy, but all he said in response was “Does not compute”.

The last 2 kilometres are insane. You’ve already run 43 kilometres and its very steep, narrow and rocky straight downhill. Who’s idea was this? I kept thinking that my body was never going to forgive me. A lot of passing happened here with a mixture of walking wounded and flying desperados. At one point a lady fell sprawled onto the track right in front of us. Bruce and I both stopped to help her up but she had a severe cramp in her leg and could hardly stand. We were both torn between wanting to stay and see that she was okay and the urgent desire to get off the side of this mountain as soon as humanly possible.

The finish of the race at Jenolan Caves is amazing. The bottom of the narrow and steep valley is a natural amphitheatre and as you descend you can hear the cheering crowd coming up to greet you. Once I hit the concrete path with 500m to go I starting grinning and shouting with excitement. Just before I could see the finish I heard the announcer say over the loudspeaker “Here comes Zoe Cameron from Dulwich Hill, and she is going to break 5 hours”. From there I relaxed and enjoyed the finish line, got my medal and gave Tom a sweaty kiss.

I finished in 4:58:05, 18^th woman and 8^th in my age group. I was thrilled with this because I think its exactly what I was capable of. I also think I can improve in the future with more training. I definitely want to do this race again. I was also part of the Sydney Striders team that won the Female Teams trophy, which made me very proud. I am only new to Striders but I have already made some really good friends.

Nutrition wise it was all good. I carried my own gels (I only like Gu) and had one every 45 mins, six in total. I drank at least a cup of water or sports drink at every aid station and had Coke in the last 2 hours. I tried to eat half a lolly snake at one point but almost choked on it – I have never been able to run and chew at the same time. I needed to pee for the first 2 hours, but I never did and then I didn’t need to go until an hour after the finish, so I was probably a little dehydrated. If it had been hotter I would have needed a lot more to drink.

y recovery has been fine. I felt sore for a couple of days and just did a few gentle runs and some swimming. One week later I did a team multisport race where I paddled, biked and swum. total of about 5 hours. I felt strong but not fast. After that I decided to have a complete rest week which has been good, but I am looking forward to getting back into things now.

2 runs worth blogging

2007-12-23T17:51:00.000+11:00

I am pretty slack with blogging and my last few posts have just been race reports. But I had 2 runs this weekend that are blog-worthy I think.

The first was Friday night at the CoolRunning Summer Twilight race at Silverwater. This is a very low-key casual chance for a good hitout at 7pm on a Friday night. I got lost on the way there and so didn't arrive at the start until 15 minutes after the start. But the host kindly let me head out then and said he would wait for me. There was a choice between 5k and 10k. I had planned to do the 10 but thought maybe I should do the 5 as I was late. But when I got the 5k turn-around I was feeling so good I really wanted to keep going. So I did. It was warm and very humid with a strong headwind from 1 - 2.25 and 5 - 7.5 and a good tailwind on the rest. I just concentrated on working hard and trying to go fast and it worked pretty well. I was really happy to finish in 47.38 or thereabouts. There were cold drinks and lots of friendly CRs at the finish, so it was a most enjoyable evening. And I am motivated now to try and improve my 10k time at the Striders series next year. And that leads to my other good run...

After nearly 2 years living in Sydney and no plans to leave just yet, I decided it was time to join the Striders. They have a 6ft training group that runs on Saturday mornings and so I joined them for the first time yesterday. We started at Marsfield and I think we were in Lane Cove National Park. I have no idea where we went, but there was lots of up and down, heaps of splashing through flooding creeks and it was brilliant. It was only a very short run of about 11k but that was enough for me - sore calves, and I got a great taste for what the group was like, and I loved it. So some more motivation there, hopefully enough to keep me going through the next 2 weeks of eating and lazing and holidaying.
Merry Christmas to all and Happy running. :)

Canberra Half Ironman

2007-12-19T20:24:00.000+11:00

I had been looking forward to this race for quite a while and it would be my first big triathlon since Ironman in April. Canberra is my home town and I have worked on the aid station at the Canberra Half since I was a novice 4 years ago, and now it was my turn to be on the other side. Unfortunately overseas work commitments meant that I did not have an ideal preparation. I didn't do much swimming or riding in the 6 weeks before the race, but I did lots of running. I was confident that I would be able to finish and was feeling quite fit considering, so hoping that I would be able to have a decent race.

It was a wetsuit optional swim with the water temp at 22.1. The ladies started at 6.38 in the 3rd wave. Before the start I moved towards the front of the group, not because I wanted to lead but because it would be less far to swim. I spotted a friend nearby me at the start and I know she is a better swimmer than me but not heaps better, so I thought I would try and stay on her feet. This worked really well for the first half - I followed her and was trying hard to keep up to her pace. This meant I swam harder than I normally would but I still felt I was within myself. But after awhile I noticed she was further and further in the distance and I gave up. For the last 300 meters it was so strange, there was no one around me at all - it was like I fell off the back of the fast-ish group and there was no one behind for ages. Anyway, I got out of the water and looked at my watch and I thought it said 35 minutes. I was happy with that especially as I felt that I had swam faster and harder than I usually would. It turned out that I looked wrong and it was probably more like 32.

There was a long jog to transition and by the time I got there my feet were numb from running on the concrete. (One day when I do Escape from Alcatraz I am going to wear sneakers). I did the usual struggle out of the wetsuit, put on my usual loose bike white jersey, socks and bike shoes and headed out onto the bike. It was drizzling but not cold so I did not bother with arm warmers. The bike was 3 laps of 31k, with 1 steep hill and quite a few moderate rises on each lap. I don't have that much to say about the bike as I didn't really enjoy it. I never found a rhythm and never felt comfortable. It was like I was working harder than I should be, but going slower. A few times girls passed me and I tried to keep them in sight but never could. I wasn't having fun like I usually do on the bike, but I was a good girl and concentrated on eating and drinking according to schedule, getting down on my tri bars as much as possible and not drafting. It rained on and off, sometimes quite heavily, but this didn't really bother me. One thing about the rain is that its good for peeing on the bike. I know this is too much information, but peeing on the bike saves a lot of time, and its not very nice to do when its hot and dry. I was happy when the bike was over and looking forward to seeing how I would go on the run.

In T2 I peeled off my soaking wet jersey and grabbed my soaking wet hat and shoes. I didn't have a second pair of socks and was a bit worried about my very wet feet, but they turned out to be fine. I started running and was feeling good. I had planned to try and "push it" on the run but instead I just ran "comfortable" and was happy with that. The first lap went by quickly. I some nice chats to fellow runners, got cheered by lots of friends spectating, said hi to other friends racing - yep, this is why we do it. :) After about 14k my legs started to reeeaaally hurt, and after about 18k I felt like I was very borderline crampy and not running very well any more. But I was still moving faster than plenty of other people and passed 1 or 2 girls in my age group. I finished in 5.36 and felt sore but still really good. I would have loved to finish in under 5.30 and it was my bike split of 3.14 that let me down. But I was happy to finish 7th in my age group out of 28. The 6th placed female was 10 minutes ahead of me so I figure I beat everyone I was going to beat. I was also lucky not to get any flats as there were plenty of them with the wet conditions.

I am happy and proud to be a Canberra Half Ironman finisher and feel that I had another good solid race. At the moment I am feeling like I want a break from triathlon for awhile, but I will wait and see how I go after Christmas.

Nowra Olympic Distance Triathlon

2007-10-29T20:18:00.000+11:00

Another great weekend away racing. This time it was down at Nowra for the opening of the National Series. I did this race last year and enjoyed it and knew it would be good fun again. I was also keen to have a bit of race before heading overseas for work for 4 weeks. I have been training fairly consistently, but not doing very much running. My plan was to have a strong swim and bike and not worry too much about the run.

The swim is in the Nowra river, and is a straight 750m upstream, turn and 750m back. I concentrated on not slacking, long reach with my arms and good kick. After about 500m I got on the feet of someone. I tried to pass her a few times but it did not happen so I figured it must be a good pace and I stayed there. I came out of the water in 23.XX and I was happy with that ( it was prob a bit short).

The bike course was an out and back, steady gradual climb to 20k, then mostly down again n the way back. I got down on my bars and concentrated on pushing fairly hard. After a few kilometres I hooked up with another woman, no 44. We then played cat-and-mouse for the whole bike. This could have been annoying but it was actually really good as it made me work harder and reminded me that it was a race.

Before the race the TA officials had demonstrated how to pass correctly and emphasised that you must stay in the draft of the bike in front as you approach and only move out to pass when you are just behind them, so you are not blocking. I have never done this before, tending instead to sit out to the right when I pass, so I make sure I don't look as though I am drafting. But this time I followed the rules exactly and realised the benefits of doing this - you get a slingshot effect that is quite awesome.

I got off the bike in about 1.15 and I was pleased with that. I felt that I had pushed fairly hard and done my best. I was "curious" to see how the run would go. No 44 was just ahead of me going out of transition and I reached her as we crossed the bridge over the river a the start of the run. We said hello and she said she was trying to qualify for Vancouver Worlds next year. I passed her fairly easily, but then about 500 m later on the biggest hill on the course, she passed me. I thought "maybe I should try and stay with her", but the truth is, mentally I can be weak sometimes and this was one time when I was. I let myself just keep plodding along. My aim from there was to keep a positive attitude, concentrate on my form and not go too slow. The run course has two loops out and back where can see other runners and so I tried to hold or decrease the gap to other runners. When there are only 2k to go its all downhill, so from there I tried to really pick it up and finish strong. In the end my run split was 48:XX which is not great, but not terrible. But I think the run course might be a little short. (I was not wearing my GPS).

I crossed the line in 2:28:XX and was happy with that. Its a minute slower than my Olympic distance PB, but 4 minutes faster than I did this race last year (although the bike course was different). I was lucky to get 3rd in my new age-group of 30-34. If I had still been in 25-29 I would have been about 9th I think.

It was really great to get the tri season started with a race, and a good idea of where I am up to with my training (still lots of room for improvment). Now I go overseas for 4 weeks so the plan is work on my running and hope that magically I don't lose too much on the bike.

Scott 24hr Mtb race - Stromlo Forest Park

2007-10-21T17:10:00.000+10:00

This was my 4th year in the Scott (the race formally known as the Mont). The first 2 years I was in a mixed 6, last year an all-female 4 and this year an all-female 3. The previous years have been held at Kowen forest and this year was the first time at Stromlo using all the new trails built by CORC. I have enjoyed every year but this year surpassed the others by miles, I absolutely loved it. I really enjoyed the new course and 3 was a perfect size team, offering plenty of riding but not enough to be punishing. Plus my 2 team mates were awesome.

The new course is based on a "hourglass" with two separate laps = red lap and blue lap. Each team or solo rider must ride 1 lap of each in order for the 24hrs. Its up to you whether you do single laps, double laps, or any other combination as long as go redblueredblueredblue etc.

The red lap was about 11k and notable for the fact that it climbs basically to the top of Mt Stromlo through a series of switchbacks, then does a really fun, fast and flowing traverse of the mountainside then returns to transition down a moderately steep section. The blue lap was about 14k, is more rolling, with more firetrail and slightly more technical sections.

Red was my favourite but I also enjoyed the blue. But mostly I loved the fact that there was two different laps, it made it much more interesting. Also because each lap was shorter than at Kowen you could go harder, and not worry too much about food, drinks and lights. So the course was fantastic.

I was riding the first lap which is done Le-Mans style - ie. you run to your bike and then jump on. The run was very short this year, only about 300m. I started at the very back, which in hindsight was not ideal because it meant I got stuck behind almost every rider on the course. Next year I would go for closer to the middle of the pack. Anyway, the first lap (red) was very slow and congested until the top of the climb, then spaced out a bit. Although there is very little firetrail, its easy to pass as the singletrack is quite wide. The first lap seemed to be over too quickly as I was having so much fun.

We had decided to ride mostly single laps and each do a double lap at night to give some opportunity for a longer sleep or rest. This worked out perfect for us, being a team of 3 meant each person got to ride alternate red-blue laps each time. The 3 of us were similar in times for each lap, averaging around 50-55 minutes in the day.

With less than 2 hours between each lap, my routine was to finish a lap, eat and drink something, change into normal clothes, get my bike ready for the next lap, each and drink some more, relax and chat to everyone in camp for about an hour, get changed back into bike gear and go down to transition for the next lap.

My first night lap was a disaster. Well, it was going great for the first 10k but then my batteries failed and I had no lights. This has always been my worst fear in this race but its never happened before. (I think my batteries are just getting old and crapped-out, and I had not realised that they no longer last more than half an hour because that is the longest I usually ride in the dark when I am commuting.) Anyway, I limped home, trying to follow other riders and generally just being lucky that I didn't stack. I was very glad to make it back into camp.

My second night lap was scheduled to be the double and go from about 11 pm-1 am. Unfortunately it became apparent that none of my batteries, including all the spares I had borrowed from a friend, were up to the task, so I had to rely on a headtorch for most of the time and save my highbeam helmet light for the tricky sections when I really needed it. I had a few small falls and my confidence was not great, but I managed to get through red and most of the blue, but then I got a flat tyre. To cut a very long story short it took me more than 30 minutes to change - cold, tired, dark and my brand new spare had not one but two holes in it that had to be repaired. This time I was really really glad to get back to transition.

After that the other two girls did their double laps so I had enough time to have a faaaantastic hot shower, get into my sleeping bag and sleep for about 1 hour. And by the time I had to ride again it was light!! I have never appreciated the simple fact of being able to see quite as much as I did on that lap.

By time 11am rolled around, we had done 24 laps total, 8 laps (4 red and 4 blue) each. After carefully checking in the results tent that we had a large margin on the only other team in our category, I decided not to go out again for a final lap - the symmetry was too perfect to disturb and yes, I was tired.

We got some really good prizes, a plaque, 2 jerseys, shorts, a light and sport drink mix. All in all it surpassed my expectations of a wonderful weekend. I love mountain biking, its so much fun. One day I hope I get a bit better at it. This year my fitness is definitely better, but my skills are still lacking, especially on the descents. Next year I think a team of 3 again, it was perfect for me. And I have to get much much better lights.

PS. The amazing photos are from sportograf. I can't get over how good how they. Their business model is one flat fee for digital copies of all the photos of you. For this event the cost was $35 and there were over 20 pictures of me. This is SOOO much better value than stupid Triathlon Photos who charge $30 for 1 photo print and won't give you digital versions unless you pay more than $150. I love sportograf!!!!!

Race Report - The Angry Doctor 100k mountain bike

2007-09-02T21:34:00.000+10:00

[This post has taken me ages because I have been trying to get on top of the technology to put in lovely graphs and maps and photos ... I am learning]

I had been planning to do this event for months, but I didn't manage to do much specific training for it. I was not too worried as I knew I could do it, but I was not sure how to pace myself or how much exactly it would hurt.

The race was part of a lovely weekend down at the South Coast. I rented a house at Broulee on the headland and it was so nice. Tom and I stayed there on Friday night and Bronwyn, Lina and John joined us on Saturday. We had a fantastic feast for dinner and after packing ridiculous amounts of food and fiddling with our bikes we had a pretty early night.

The start was at 7AM in Mogo and we 4 started together right at the back of the bunch. It was a cold morning and I had on arm warmers and full leggings over my knicks. The first 5 or so k were on bitumen and it was really fun whizzing along on the road in a big peloton of mtbs. Soon we got to the dirt and the comical sight of people walking on the first hill! I had some "mechanical" problems to start with, which turned out to be just the noise of my very solid home-made powerbars rattling against my bike in my bento box. Once I figured out this mystery problem I had been separated from the others and settled in to ride my own steady pace for the day.

I felt really good in the first 30 kilometres. The hills were easy and my newly fitted disc brakes felt great. There was some really lovely singletrack and fun bits. At about 35k I met up with Libby and we rode together chatting which was nice. Libby was putting in a good pace on the fire-trail and could go much faster than me especially on the descents, and then I took the lead on the single track. We reached the 50k half way point back in Mogo in about 3hours 10 mins and I was pleased with that. We both stopped and had a quick toilet and food break. I had not drunk much of the water in my CamelBak which I had should have worried about and I also did not bother to fill it up - stupid!

As we rode away I said to Libby that it was really nice to ride together but she should not wait for me, and so that was the last I saw of her. Shortly after that I stopped to make a phone call and also to SMS Tom. This either amused or concerned those around me.

At about 60k one of the marshalls said: "You are the 7th girl." For a moment I wished she had not said that because I felt pressure to keep up my pace. But then I figured that was stupid - for all I knew there were only 7 girls in the race and I was last, so it hardly mattered.

Shortly after passing the 75k aid station and not stopping I ran out of water (stupid!) and started feeling pretty flat. I told myself I would be okay with the half bidon of sports drink I had left, but that was delusional - I would have been cactus. Very fortunately I remembered there was another aid station at 8ok. I got there at 1pm (6 hours riding) and I filled up my CamelBak and guzzled a Lucosade, fruitbread and some lollies. After that I felt heaps better and sent Tom another SMS saying I was feeling good and would probably be another 1.5 hours to the finish.

Just past the 85k marker I suddenly got a painful cramp along the inside of my right thigh. A few seconds later my left leg cramped up too. Uh-oh. Riding with cramping legs was pretty tricky. Specifically pedalling was a problem. At one point I fell off my bike and could not get up and another time I went to throw my leg over and it seized up and I kicked a tree. Fortunately at 89k there was a really sweet single track section that flowed downhill so I did not have to pedal and it put a big smile on my face. It was so fun I was almost tempted to ride it again.

Once I was inside of 10k to go I didn't worry too much about the pain and just rode as fast as I could without cramping, which was extremely slow. It was a good feeling to return to the Mogo oval and cruise across the finish line. I finished in 7 hours 20 mins. The Garmin said it was 96k which was slightly disappointing, but close enough. I was 7th women out of about 20. The fastest guy finished in 4 hours 20 mins - just amazing.

Bronwyn and Lina finished with big smiles - yay! And Libby got 2nd in the Open women category and 4th overall - nice. I scored a lucky prize of a new Netti jersey which I earned by having worn no less than 5 separate items of Netti gear on the day (knicks, longs, jersey, armwarmers and headband) - not on purpose either. Afterwards Bronwyn drove me back to Canberra and I was so tired and hungry I got takeaway for dinner and just crashed into bed. I was pretty tired and sore for most of the week after.

I really enjoyed this event and can't wait to do another 100k mtb. I think next time I could go faster. My main limiter is my skills rather than fitness. I am embarrassingly slow on the descents. I was also STUPID about my hydration and probably did not have enough salt either, hence the cramping. I am not sure why I thought I did not really have to worry about it, as its a long event. Next time I will pay more attention to that.

Good ol tired legs

2007-08-10T20:33:00.000+10:00

It never ceases to amaze me how the body adapts and changes. I feel quite buggered after this week, which has been bigger than my usual of late, but not much compared to an IM training week. I have ridden the mtb to work each day, which is 10k each way, total of 100k. The plan to "go hard" started out well on Monday but then slowly petered out and by today I was definitely cruising. Ah well. I also did 45k road rides on Tues and Thurs, both enjoyable, and ran 11k on Wed and 14k today, both easy. This was supposed to be my week to get back in the pool but I got a nasty ear infection in Darwin, and have been on antibiotics, so that'll wait till next week.

My sis and bro-out-law are coming up tonight for the C2S on Sunday. I have a red bib that I got on the strength of my SHM Half time, but I am not sure how I'll go. I have been running abit, but my right leg has been sore for a few weeks now. I don't think its anything serious, but it does hurt and I just "feel" like I have no speed at the moment. But it should be a fun day anyway. I will wear my CR cap and hopefully get some cheers and meet new people. Tom will do a good time I think, his running is going great guns at the moment. :)

Now I am starting to really look forward to the Angry Doctor and a weekend at the coast. 3 weeks to go now. Next weekend I am heading down to Canberra to do some more last minute mtb training.

Mtb bootcamp

2007-08-06T20:41:00.001+10:00

So, many months ago I signed up for the AROC Angry Doctor 100km Mtb Endurance ride at Mogo. Now suddenly its 4 weeks away and I have done very very very little training. Eeek. So I have enrolled myself in my own personal bootcamp. This just involves doing as much mtb on the weekends as I can, getting in plenty of ks on the road bike during the week, trying to also keep up my fitness with running, and riding my mtb to work each day with have a rule that I have to go as hard as I can (safely) on the hills there and back.

I kicked things off on the weekend. On Saturday I did two laps of the single track at Manly Dam. Its great riding there and I really enjoyed bumping and rolling around by myself. This was only 20k, but has some decent technical sections, some of which I rode! ;) On Sunday I drove to Sutherland then rode from there to Waterfall via Lady Carrington Drive and back. This was only about 30k but it had two decent climbs, albeit on the road. But the important thing is that I was out there riding, rather staying home whinging that its too hard to mtb in Sydney, I have no-one to ride with and I am never going to be ready in time.

Bay City Roller

2007-07-22T22:00:00.000+10:00

This seems like a good name for my long run today which involved a lap of the Bay and then in to the city and back, with some hills along the way. After a few weeks of disappointing runs and feeling like I am getting nowhere, today I felt great and REALLY enjoyed my run. :) I completed 27k in 2:34 and my average speed was 5:41. I felt like I kept a good comfortable steady pace the whole way. Although I enjoy running with Tom, it was nice to run alone and go completely at my own pace, no pressure and no one to feel grumpy towards when its hurting.
I am still undecided about doing the Sydney marathon or half marathon, but am thinking I would really like to do Mt Wilson to Mt Bilpin. We are off tomorrow for 2 weeks holiday in Darwin (yippee), so the plan is to see how everything is going when we get back. We will try to run up there, but between the weather and some overnight hikes we may not manage many ks.

Woodford to Glenbrook 25K 8 July 2007

2007-07-14T19:16:00.001+10:00

1512 Mr Thomas Roberts 30-39 2:10:41 33
1380 Ms Zoe Cameron 30-39 2:22:17 9

Striders 10k 7 July 2007

2007-07-14T19:05:00.001+10:00

2352

Kirk McKenzie

0.41.09

130

2508

Thomas Roberts

0.43.54

205

2345

Zoe Cameron

0.48.30

259

2477

Ella Cameron

0.52.50

Sick or just a recovery week

2007-07-04T09:52:00.000+10:00

After another solid week last week that I was reasonably happy with, this week has become a write-off for me with a cold. :( I am trying to see it as a positive thing, an opportunity to recover really well, ward off injuries etc, but I still feel a little miserable.

I am/was really hoping to do the Striders 10k on Saturday and then Woodford to Glenbrook on Sunday this weekend, but at the moment that seems unlikely. I am at home today, in bed with the laptop, taking lots of tablets and potions and hoping for the best.

A good solid 65k week

2007-06-30T12:25:00.000+10:00

Last week was such a good and varied running week for me, I wanted to blog it, even though I am very behind now.

Monday 18th - I did an easy 7k down and back to the Bay. I don't much enjoy running in the dark but its nice when the sun rises while you are out.
Tuesday 19th - I was planning to run in the evening after a slightly boozy work function on Monday night, but it was raining and dark and I had limited time before another work function, so I had a go on the hotel treadmill. I set it to 11.5k, incline of 3 (whatever that means) and slogged it out for 40 mins. It was not esp enjoyable, but it was a run.
Wednesday 20th - Surprise, it was raining and dark again in the morning so I opted for a 1.5k swim and went for my run with Tom in the evening instead. I don't usually run in the evening and I did not have anything to eat before I left. I ended up feeling quite strange. I felt like I was not running and my spatial sense was all screwed up. Tom said this is exactly what happens to him when he runs on an empty stomach - not recommended. But it was was still a nice run with Tom - 10k.
Thursday 21st - I finally got out on the bike for bunch training at SOP. I rode with group 4 and felt pretty good.
Friday 22nd -I did a long-ish run from home around the Bay. It was not raining but it had been and I was surprised how few others were out running. It was very quiet and I enjoyed an easy 14k. In the evening after work I squeezed in another 1.5k swim.

We made a last minute trip to Canberra for the weekend, after the Woodford to Glenbrook run was postponed. I was not very keen to go, but it turned out to be lovely. It was glorious Canberra winter weather, sunny and clear and calm both days.
On Saturday afternoon Tom's marathon program dictated a fast 10k and I went along too. We ran around Lake Ginninderra which is very familiar territory for me. The sun was setting and it was just so beautiful, almost enough to distract me from the pain of trying to run "Fast". In theory we were targeting sub 5 min k pace, but ended up with an average speed of 4.40, and 10k in about 46:45.
On Sunday morning we took advantage of the great opportunity to run off-road in Canberra and ran from Hawker to Black Mt and back. It was quite hilly and I felt pretty tired but it was still a very enjoyable run in PERFECT running conditions. We finished up with almost dot on 20k in 2 hours - average speed 5.59. When we got home we cooked up a massive brunch for the family - bacon, mushroom, tomato, eggs 3 ways and croissants with jam. Tom summed things up when he reached for his second croissant and said "well, I did do a long run this morning". :) In the afternoon we did a lovely "recovery" ride around Mt Ainslie with Ella on the mtbs.

So I finished the week with a massive (for me) 65k running and I felt great about it. I am feeling like a I really need to get some consistency back into my training, so hopefully this is a good start.

Geoquest Adventure Race

2007-06-17T19:56:00.000+10:00

Last weekend I spent being support crew for the team Out of Range in the Geoquest Adventure Race. My aims in order of importance were to help the team, have lots of fun and learn a bit about adventure racing.

Unfortunately one team member had to withdraw on the first night with a back injury, but the rest of team went on unranked and completed 3 out of the 4 legs. I know they were all disappointed not to finish, it is a race that requires a big investment of time, money and emotion. But I thought what they did was amazing nonetheless.

The highlights for me were:
- Watching the team do their planning with the maps the night before the race.
- Seeing our team get safely out and back through the waves on the scary ocean kayak leg.
- Being told in the local bakery that they did not sell anything vegetarian because: "we don't get many vegetarians around here." :)
- Meeting my support crew buddies James and Jane.
- Eating yummy gelato in lovely Bellingen

The lowlights were:
- The horrible pizza we ordered for the team from Sawtell on Friday night
- Waiting for our team to call us for a pick-up during the race from 9.30pm until 1AM, literally thinking they were going to call any minute. That was excruciating.

I am still undecided if this race is something I would like to do. It looked like fun, but like very, very hard fun. I think I would like the paddling and the mtb and the team aspect. I think I would struggle with the sleep deprivation. I would have to improve my navigation skills which are currently non-existant.

In adventure racing the 'premier' category is Mixed. Mostly the mixed teams are 1 woman and 3 men and that means in most teams the woman is the slowest, and might get towed on the mtb and helped along by the boys in other ways. This year the woman in the winning team explained that last year she raced in all-female team and they came last! That seemed to sum up the situation rather well. Interesting.

Anyway, I had a really enjoyable weekend and got heaps of insight into 'what it takes'.

Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon

2007-05-26T17:15:00.002+10:00

I am a little late posting about this race, possibly a reflection on my feelings of slight ambivalence. I had a goal of 100 minutes and I did 99.29 gun/99.18 net so I was happy. But it was a struggle and I did not feel like I was running very well. But I didn't really train for the race so what should I expect right? Anyway, it was a lovely day for a run and there is nowhere else I would have rather been.

Kirk came up for the race, just like last year. On Saturday night we had a yummy pesto lasagne for dinner then watched the crossword doco Wordplay until the dodgy pirate dvd gave up, so we went to bed nice and early. In the morning we got an early train and arrived at the start about 6.40AM (7.30 race start). We did the portaloo thing and dropped off our bags and then we lined up.

The first few kilometres Tom and I ran together. We went too fast for a bit then settled down to around 4.30 pace. We did 10k in 45.55 (possibly a new 10k PB for me) and I felt pretty good on the first lap.

It all started to feel pretty hard on the second lap, I lost sight of Tom and after passing the Mrs Macquarie's chair turnaround the second time I really started struggling. The kilometres started to get closer to 5 minutes, a couple even went over 5 - I exclaimed "shit" out loud after one.:)

For the last few k's I knew it was going to be fairly close for the 100 minutes, but I had nothing left to pick up the pace. In the final k, 3 seperate people came past me and said "not far to go now", or "nearly there", so I must have looked pretty bad. I was glad to cross the line and get my (crappy, ribbon-less) medal.

On reflection I think I have worked out why I did not enjoy it as much as I usually enjoy races. It was not a big goal race that I had worked hard for so my heart was not fully in it. As I was going around I was telling myself that I did not really "deserve" to meet my goal. But at the same time I had set myself a (arbitrary) goal and it was one I had to stretch for, so I did not let myself just race at a nice easy pace that did not hurt and enjoy myself. I have not figured out what I have learned from this - I guess its just a different part of the whole journey.

I was VERY happy that Tom met his goal and ran 98.10 - well done! :) Kirk did not do his fastest time but was happy with a solid 95.xx following his LA marathon earlier this year.

Thanks to CR and blogger sfGnome for the photo above - it is much better than any professional race photo I have ever had.

First time on the podium

2007-05-14T05:46:00.000+10:00

Wow, what a red letter day! Today I got 3rd place in the 5km at the Hague Royal Ten fun run. I got flowers, and a trophy and even 10 Euro prize money. I was totally stoked. It was not a big field, maybe 250 people altogether, as the 10k is the big deal. While I was disappointed not to do the 10k, I was very glad with the outcome. I felt like a star.

It was a bit of a stress entering, dropping off my bag, renting Championchip etc, all without a word of Dutch, but I made it to the start line. It was a completely flat course and a cool day. I started out quite quickly and did the first 1k in 4.02. I knew that was too quick.

After that there were not many people around and I was looking ahead at a women in a yellow singlet (YS). She looked like she was not out of my league, ie she did not have that great running form and she was lean but not super toned or muscled, so I decided I could try to chase her. I caught up to her and decided to try and stay with her.

There was a turn around at about 2k and I (incorrectly) counted that there was only 1 other woman ahead of me and YS, so figured we were in 3rd and 2nd. Shortly after that I moved ahead of YS and thought I would just do my own thing. The next k was 4.13 and then 4.30 - I was flagging abit but told myself it was only 2k to go.

With just over 1k to go I could hear people coming up behind me and looked and saw that it was YS and a man. As they got right behind me I realised the man was not in the race and was pacing YS. They ran just behind me for a little while, and then I thought hang on, I don't want her behind me where she can make a sneaky move, so I slowed just a fraction.

They moved right next to me and I saw him signalling with his hand for her to 'hold'. Two thoughts went through my mind quickly. First was, give up, let them go, I don't care, she can take it, I'll probably still get third. But then I got angry and thought I don't want to let her beat me when she had this guy helping her, I am going to give this everything I have and see what happens.

We came around a corner into the final straight and there was 400m to go. Pacing man pulled off the course, I gave him a filthy look and then I started going as fast as I could. I kept looking back to see where YS was, but she did not keep up with me. With about 100m to go it was really hurting and I told myself to block it out.

It was a great feeling coming across the line and knowing I had "won", not the race, but the race with YS. She and another fast finishing woman were just behind me. I forgot to stop my watch but I saw the time 21.12 on the clock when I crossed the line.

I was given a little finishers medal and rose and an official told me the ceremony would be in about 15 minutes. I spoke to YS briefly and she said there were actually 2 women in front of us and so we were 3rd and 4th. Then I was even more pleased that I had not given in. There was a little ceremony, all in Dutch ofcourse, I just stood on the podium and smiled and waved my bunch of flowers for the photographer. It was pretty cool!!

I watched the start of the 10k, it looked like some pretty serious runners at the front, Kenyans etc. Then I rushed back to the hotel to shower and change before chairing a meeting for 4 hours.

Afterwards I thought how it was really fun to "race" against someone, though its not what I usually do. I also thought about the pacing thing. It seemed sooo unfair to me, but I don't know. In triathlon its completely against the rules and she would have been DQd. But it seems like its different in running. I also thought about what I should do with my prize money. Probably frame it. :)

19 knots

2007-05-12T07:50:00.000+10:00

That was the speed of the wind this morning at the beach at Scheveningen, where I chose to take my long run. It was also raining. The first half of the run was not too bad. I had a couple of old eps of Ironman Talk to catch up on on the iPod and I just plodded along. But when I turned around after about 9k I had to head straight back into the wind. The section on the waterfront was ridiculous, I could literally hardly move, it was blowing so strongly. I was also soaking wet by the end, and seriously questioning my sanity. But I had a reward to look forward to. I allow myself one morning of allyoucaneat hotel buffet breakfast and today was the day. It included a healthy portion of the Dutch speciality of chocolate sprinkles on white bread. Gotta love that.

Tonight we had dinner at a REALLY really lovely restaurant called C'est Ca. They only have a very small menu and it changes every day, depending on what is good at the markets. I had crab cake, butterfish with white asparagus and lobster risotto, and banana cake with rum sauce. The very nice (English speaking) waitress just loved that I called my coffee a flat white. Anyway, highly recommended as a special but not too expensive dinner spot in The Hague.

I was bitterly disappointed today because I won't be able to do the 10k on Sunday - I have a meeting instead! But I will be able to do the 5k I think, so that was a small consolation. Tomorrow I will have a rest day.

Dutch runs

2007-05-10T16:46:00.000+10:00

So, the plan while I am away was to run evey day and alternate between easy runs and something more challenging.

On Monday I did 7k easy, just down to the beach and back. Total time was about 40 minutes, I did the last 2k abit faster - around 5min pace.

On Tuesday I did a session based around the Mona fartlek - intervals 2x90secs, 4x60secs, 4x30secs, 4x15 secs, you repeat the times for recovery in between. I did 10 min warmup, 1 rep of the intervals, 10 mins easy, another rep of the intervals, then 10 min cool down. This was fun and I enjoyed it, but I was not pushing the intervals very hard, especially in the second rep. Approx 14k.

On Wednesday I just did 10k easy down to the beach and along to the end and back. There is a sandcastle festival here at the moment. The battery on the Forerunner died before the end.

On Thursday I did this 10-20 session I read about. 20 minutes warm up, 10 minutes fast pace, 10 minutes recovery, 20 minutes fast, 10 minutes cool down. It went pretty well. It was a miserable morning, rainy and very windy. I did the 10 minute interval along the waterfront with a gale force tail wind, that was quite fun. I felt pretty tired towards the end. My right leg has been unspecifically sore for a few days. I could do with a swim I think.

The exciting news is that there is a fun run here in The Hague on Sunday afternoon, which I am going to do. It is called the Dutch Royal 10. So far I have not been able to interest any of my colleagues in joining me!

Den Haag long run

2007-05-07T05:28:00.001+10:00

This morning I got up early to do a longish run before starting work. It is nice running in Den Haag, it is familar because I have been here and run here twice before, but also unfamiliar at the same time. I wanted to do 18k and decided to head down to the beach and then into the dunes to do it. The dunes area is world heritage listed or something I think and there is a nice hard gravel path wending through it. I was pretty slow and feeling a bit sore in the legs, but it was still a very enjoyable run. It was pretty early on a Sunday morning, so there was hardly anyone around and it was very quiet. I have now run 4 days in a row, total of 50k, so tomorrow I will do something short and easy I think.

Highland runs

2007-05-06T05:20:00.000+10:00

I had 3 good runs in Fortrose in the past few days. I hope when I get home I will be able to load up a Garmin map or graph or two, but for now I will just blog the details.

Thursday morning I ran from Tigh-Na-Rudha down to the Point through the golfcourse, then around and along to Rosemarkie, up the stairs and kept going till I had done 5 kilometers, then I turned around and came back the same way. I was taking it fairly easy and I think my average speed was around 5.40.

Friday afternoon I did pretty much the same run, but did 10 minutes warm up, then 20 x1 min on, 1 min off intervals, then another 10 minutes warm down. I was not going to any particular speed, just trying to go fast, then recover. My plan is to try and do some of this sort of thing while I am away, rather than just running easy every day!

Saturday I decided to go somewhere different, and headed straight through the village, up the hill and along this quiet laneway for about 6k. I got to Killen and then turned around and came nack the same way. It was beautiful and I felt really good. It was kinda hilly so I figured that was enough.

Photos

2007-04-28T17:37:00.000+10:00

Yes, life moves on and so will I, eventually. But for now, its another IM related post. I wanted to put in some photos from various spots.

Splits from Ironmanlive

2007-04-23T22:34:00.000+10:00

TOTAL SWIM	2.4 mi. (1:04:15)	1:41/100m	613


BIKE - 18.6 mi	2:05:59 18.6 mi @ 1:01:44	18.08 mph
BIKE - 37.3 mi	3:02:16 18.7 mi @ 56:17	19.93 mph
BIKE - 55.9 mi	4:06:38 18.6 mi @ 1:04:22	17.34 mph
BIKE - 74.5 mi	5:06:48 18.6 mi @ 1:00:10	18.55 mph
BIKE - 93.2 mi	6:16:17 18.7 mi @ 1:09:29	16.15 mph
BIKE - 112 mi	7:19:11 18.8 mi @ 1:02:54	17.17 mph
TOTAL BIKE - 112 miles	6:14:56	17.92 mph	775

RUN - 3.7 mi	7:55:32 3.7 mi @ 36:21	9:49/mi
RUN - 5.9 mi	8:14:55 2.2 mi @ 19:23	8:48/mi
RUN - 9.3 mi	8:48:39 3.4 mi @ 33:44	9:55/mi
RUN - 13 mi	9:21:53 3.7 mi @ 33:14	8:58/mi
RUN - 16.7 mi	9:58:43 3.7 mi @ 36:50	9:57/mi
RUN - 19.2 mi	10:19:41 2.5 mi @ 20:58	8:23/mi
RUN - 22.4 mi	10:57:13 3.2 mi @ 37:32	11:43/mi
RUN - 26.2 mi	11:33:59 3.8 mi @ 36:46	9:40/mi
TOTAL RUN - 26.2 miles	4:14:48	9:43/mi	616

TOTAL RUN	26.2 mi. (4:14:48)	9:43/mile	616

Ironman Australia Race Report

2007-04-12T21:33:00.000+10:00

Yes, this has taken awhile. And its very long...kinda like the race. :)

An athlete I greatly admire said two things about Ironman. Firstly it’s about the journey, not the result and secondly it is tougher mentally than it is physically. Now I know how true they are.

My journey started more than 12 months ago, after my first long course triathlon at Jervis Bay. I started thinking maybe, one day, maybe, I would like to do Ironman. I am not a good runner and I really wanted to improve my running, so I decided to train for a marathon over winter. I also thought it would be a good step towards Ironman.

Completing that marathon really changed me and my attitude. I discovered that I was not the absolute worst and slowest athlete that I had always thought myself to be and I learnt the lesson that a healthy and determined person can do pretty much anything AS LONG AS THEY ARE PREPARED TO TRAIN FOR IT.

After that I started training for the Shepparton Half and carefully suggesting to Tom that I might think about giving IM a go in 2007. He was not keen at first, but once he realised it was something I really wanted, he was 100% supportive. I “qualified” at Shep and thinking that it could not possibly be 40 degrees+ at IM, I took the spot. The fact that it was going to be my best-training-buddy Jen’s first full IM too made it even more exciting.

I absolutely loved the training. I missed my Canberra Bilbys, but I was lucky to find the “small but powerful” Pulse crew in Sydney who gave me so much encouragement and support. Who would have thought that Saturday long rides to Sublime, with the obligatory Bakers Delight and 2-for-1 Gatorade stop at Sutho, followed by a run in the heat at Centennial Park could be so much fun?

I think most triathletes secretly relish doing heaps of training and I loved racking up the big weeks with 10ks in the pool, 350ks on the bike and 60ks running. I miraculously stayed well and un-injured all through the training and I basically had the perfect preparation.

Race week was fun. We had a great house of wise and experienced Irongods, nervous Ironvirgins and solid-gold Ironsherpas. I was nervous and scared but not overly so and amazingly I slept really well every night.

Race morning I ate a big bowl of OJ/oats/yoghurt/honey/grated apple, two pieces of turkish toast with nutella and a bottle of Gatorade. The feeling at the start was weirdly similar to a normal triathlon, but this was Ironman!!! The announcer said: “Yes, it is really April 1. No, you are not dreaming.”

Although I had plenty of time, somehow I didn’t get into the water till late so by the time I swam out to take my place with the orange caps, there was only 1 minute to go. I felt strangely calm, less nervous than I ever have before a race, almost ho hum, and then we were off – the start of a long long day.

The bashing and congestion at the start was worse than any other race I have done. You just had to stay calm and roll with the punches - literally. On the second lap I found quite a lot of open water which was nice. Also for the first time ever I found some nice feet to sit on for perhaps about 500meters, so I enjoyed that while it lasted. My guestimate for the swim was 1 - 1.15, but on the day I took it very easy and was thinking it would be about 1.10, so I was happy to see 1.04 when I got out of the water. I think if I had really pushed it hard the best I could have done would have been 1 hour flat and what is 4 minutes in the scheme of the things?

It was strange in the change tent because I wanted the helpers to chat to me but they were very serious and focused on the job. I took my time, got properly suncreamed and jogged to my bike. I could hear someone screaming my name and turned around and there was my mum going nuts – thanks Mum.

The first 60k lap on the bike felt great. The 30k turn around came so quickly and on the way back into town with a tailwind I felt like I was flying, passing heaps of people, including many guys on fancy bikes. The infamous hill on Matthew Flinders Drive was no problem, almost fun. I was trying to be conscious of not going too fast, but my first lap was 1.55 which I knew was too fast – ie I would not be maintaining that pace for the next 2 laps and doing a 5.45!!!

On the second lap my lower back started hurting. It has never hurt there before and it was really not slowing me down, but it was really uncomfortable and mentally draining as I was worrying about it. I stopped at the aid station just before the turnaround, partly to use the loo but mostly just to stretch my back. I was sticking like clockwork to my nutrition plan and had no problems, apart from losing half a banana at one stage. The smartest thing I did was sticky-tape my plan to my aerobars (what to eat and drink at what time). My concentration was hopeless and I could not have stuck to the plan during the race without having it written down in front of me. After another trip up the hill and heaps of support from my family the second lap ended. My time was about 4.00, so I had slowed considerably, but felt I was right on track.

On the way out on the third lap I went through a pretty low point. My back was really hurting, I was so tired, everyone else seemed to be drafting to avoid the headwind and I felt like I was at the back of the race. And I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that I still had to run a marathon. I wondered if I had been stupid to think that I was going to be able to do this. I stopped again at the same aid station just before the turnaround to stretch my back and I also drank the can of Redbull I picked up at the special needs station. It worked its sugary magic and along with the tailwind, the final 30k was much easier and more enjoyable. My bike computer time for the 180k ride was 6.11, average speed 29.3kph. My guesstimate had been 6 - 6.30 so again I was pleased with my time and even more pleased to be off the bike.

Back in the tent I did a complete change of clothes and the ladies commented on how calm I was. I told them I was just terrified and it was true. It is difficult to describe the run. It felt hard from the start and it just got harder and harder and then harder some more. But at the same time it was never really really terrible. Does that give you an idea? I did the first 10k which is flat in about 53 minutes comfortably and thought if I can maintain this pace I will be very happy. I had been feeling strong running hills in my training and hoped I would be able to work the hills well, but that was not to be. The hills were really tough, especially the second time around. My first 21k lap was completed in about 1.55 but my second lap was a lot slower, about 2.15.

Nevertheless I was determined not to walk. I can understand why so many people do walk. Running really hurts. Your body tells your mind that if you stop running the pain will stop and after 2,3,4 hours that message is soooo hard to ignore. But I told myself that if I had trained to walk this thing, my training would have been a whole lot easier and so I owed it to myself for all those training runs I did to keep running.

People say that if you are running in the later stages of the marathon, no matter how slow, you will be passing lots of people and that was how it was. I had heaps of support on the course from my family and the big ZOE sign my sister made, which was wonderful. I tried to smile and be positive for them. I also had the benefit of Brownie out there on his bike during the second lap. His calm and meaningful comments were so helpful and welcome.

The best thing about the run was that I got to see all my friends. For me triathlon is very much about the people I have been lucky enough to meet and train with, and it meant so much to me to share the experience with some of them out there. My friend Simone was not far behind me for most of the run and I told her to hurry up and catch me so we could have a chat. Even though you are surrounded by people it’s still lonely somehow.

As I headed out into the hills for the last 12k I passed Jen coming back approaching the finish line. It was so nice to see her and to know the next time I saw her we would be together at the finish.

As I approached the finish line I expected to feel euphoria coming on and that the last few kilometres would be easy. Wrong! Maybe my body had simply run out of endorphins. When I finally got to the chute I found my family and Tom. I was so happy to be able to give Tom a kiss and thankyou before I finished. As I jogged towards the line I could see Simone on the big screen finishing just in front of me and a close-up of her smiling face. That was cool. I don’t remember hearing my name or the famous four words. Despite everyone giving me advice to make sure I enjoyed the finish, it’s a blur for me. I know I was very relieved and happy but it was so overwhelming. I hope the video will bring some of it back.

My final time was 11.34.00. I believe this was a result of consistent training, good planning and a well-paced day in which nothing went wrong. I think it is close to the best I could have done and I am very proud of it. But on reflection I have realised that Ironman is not about your finish time. The time does not tell anything near the whole story. It is about being brave enough to commit to something very scary, the months of working hard for it and dreaming about it and just the fact of achieving something that seems impossible to most people.

I finished in the top half of the race, top third of my category and top quarter of women. This is proof that anyone (healthy) can do Ironman and do it well. To be blunt I have no natural ability or talent. Before I started a triathlon novice program 4 and a half years ago I had done no sport at all my whole life. In my first Olympic distance race I finished about 21^st out of 23 in my category. My good mate Garry confessed to me afterwards that he had never thought I had an Ironman in me. But I really love triathlon and I work hard. If you are reading this and this sounds like you and you have a dream to do Ironman, you can. You can!

After initially thinking “Never EVER again” I am now sure that I will do another IM in the future, but probably not for a while. There are lots of others things I want to do, some multi-sport related, and some not.

I have only two regrets. The first was that I did not go back to the Finish line afterwards and watch other people finish. I had planned all along that I would do that and I really cheated myself by not doing it. Next time! The other was that I didn't meet any CoolRunners. The days before the race were so busy and on the day I only saw the caps while on the bike. Again, this will definitely have to be rectified next time.

Back on track

2007-03-25T15:47:00.000+10:00

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

2007-03-21T13:21:00.000+11:00

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

2007-03-21T12:56:00.000+11:00

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

2007-03-15T18:33:00.000+11:00

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

2007-03-13T19:34:00.000+11:00

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

2007-03-11T15:02:00.000+11:00

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

2007-03-10T19:17:00.000+11:00

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...

2007-03-10T18:55:00.000+11:00

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

2007-03-06T20:59:00.000+11:00

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

2007-03-04T15:45:00.000+11:00

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

2007-03-03T18:19:00.000+11:00

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

2007-03-03T17:54:00.000+11:00

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!

Hardest week so far

2007-02-17T15:10:00.000+11:00

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

2007-02-13T13:35:00.000+11:00

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

2007-02-10T18:31:00.000+11:00

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

2007-02-09T20:47:00.000+11:00

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

2007-02-09T20:43:00.000+11:00

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...

2007-02-05T21:21:00.000+11:00

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

2007-02-04T16:22:00.000+11:00

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

2007-02-03T17:03:00.000+11:00

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

2007-02-03T16:55:00.000+11:00

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

2007-02-01T21:46:00.001+11:00

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

2007-02-01T21:17:00.000+11:00

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!

Last week

2007-01-21T16:11:00.000+11:00

Last Sunday I headed up to Threbdo for the annual Bilby's camp. Things did not all go exactly to plan but it was still a great week and I did plenty of training.
On Sunday morning I did my long run around Lake BG, finishing up at the ACT Sprint Champs to watch some friends racing and catch up with people. It was a good morning. Then I had lovely brunch up at mt Stromlo with Christine and Tim, and then drove straight up to Thredbo. When I arrived I unpacked my ludicrous amount of gear and went for a swim at the pool. I did 2.5k continuous and I felt good.

On Monday morning a large group of us headed off for the traditional ride to Jindabyne. Its almost all downhill on the way there and lots of fun. My maximum speed was 81kph - a new record for me. At Jindi we stopped at the Bakery Café in Nugget's Crossing shopping centre. I was very impressed with the wide assortment of treats. I had a little almond meal and raspberry tart - yum. The trip back was (obviously) mostly uphill and Ivo's hill is the hardest one. It was pretty warm by that time and I struggled a bit but made it eventually. Brownie came past me near to the top and said "Come on Irongirl", which was good encouragement. When we arrived back in the village we hopped in the river to cool down - lovely. The total ride was 70k.

I had some lunch before going out for my run, which turned out to be a bad idea. I had a great big bowl of pasta and then I felt really sick on the run. So I learned that that doesn't work for me - pretty obvious really. Apart from that, the run, up to Dead Horse Gap and back, was very nice. I did about 10k at approx 7min K pace. Pretty slow but I was happy that I kept running.

On Tuesday we decided against attempting the epic ride to Khancoban because of the fires at Tom Groggin. I was kind of relieved because I wasn't sure how I was going to handle all that climbing. We will do it another year. Instead we planned a route from Thredbo to Eucumbene Dam and back via Berridale, estimated by Stu to be about 140-150k. There were a couple of stronger guys on the front most of the way out to Eucumbene Dam and the pace was just a bit too fast for me. The turnaround point was 80k and I decided to go straight back to Thredbo as that would be 160k - my biggest ride ever. So most people pushed on to Berridale but me, Stacie, Brownie and Sal headed straight back. I actually felt heaps better on the return journey because I was able to ride at my own pace. We stopped for lunch at Jindi and Stace bought us lemonade icy poles, which went down really well. We also soaked our jerseys in water (on Sal's suggestion) which was lovely for the first part of the ride back up to Thredbo. The climb up Ivo's was tough but we got there and then continued on at a slow and steady pace back to the village. We hopped into the river again, full body immersion this time, blissful! The longer group arrived back not far behind us. On Tuesday night I had a 30 minute massage from Ian Ingram which was wonderful. He mostly worked on my legs and said he could tell my quads had been working (good!) and also my neck and shoulders which get really tight on long rides.

On Wednesday I had a nice sleep in and then went down to the AIS pool for a swim. I don’t usually like doing a long set by myself but today turned out to be one of the best swims I have ever had! I did a 1200 warm up, then 3x400 then 20x50 then 500BK to cool down. 4k all up and I felt really strong and comfy in the water. It was so great, I think it was the fact of not having any time pressures, that I could take as long as I wanted to do it.

After the swim some of us went into the village for a coffee and the waitress informed us that all visitors had to leave by 3pm due to the fires. Lots of people, especially those with kids, decided just to pack up and go home to Canberra, but about 10 of us decamped to the Jindabyne backpackers. It was not as nice as the YHA, hot and stuffy and seriously lacking cooking gear, but it was better than going home!

On Thursday morning a bunch of us headed off for a long run. We drove back out to Eucumbene Dam and ran along the Happy Jacks firetrail. This was good because it was an out and back, so everyone could run as long or little as they wanted. It was a gentle uphill for the first 13.5k to Adaminaby Trig. It was a beautiful run through the trees with some great views back over the dam and open plains. I ran till the Trig with Jen and Julie, with the boys ahead going just a bit faster and waiting for us along the way. I turned around at the Trig and ran back on my own, downhill all the way. I had my Camelback which I found to be really comfy and I kept drinking, but I neglected to eat for over an hour during the run and started to feel really flat. After scoffing a Gu I felt heaps better. In the last few ks my knees and ankles were feeling quite sore and I was glad to stop running.

The others continued, aiming to do about 40k. At the designated turn-around Stu's Garmin said 21.1k exactly! So they ended up doing a fall marathon. Afterwards I was slightly downcast that I was did not do the full run. But I know it would have been crazy and stupid for me to try to run that distance when my longest run in the past few months had been 2 hours and I would not have been able to keep up with the pace of the group.

By Thursday afternoon everyone had decided that they would head home on Friday. The hostel was really hot and stuffy, making it difficult to sleep and the forecast was for very warm weather over the weekend. So after that I attempted to do a wetsuit swim in the lake, which was one thing I had really wanted to do this week. I was by myself so I was not brave enough to go across the Lake, and just skirted around the edge of a bay instead. It wasn't the greatest session ever, but hey at least I gave it a try. That night we had a big BBQ at the Gaden Trout Hatchery, a really lovely spot by the Thredbo River. Julie made yummy lentil burgers and I made a nice potato salad featuring Nando's piri piri mayonnaise. I'll have to remember that one. To top off the week later that night back at the Backpackers Jason performed an unforgettable song called Iron Chicken, dedicated to Simon.

On Friday I drove back to Sydney, stopping off in Canberra on the way home to meet Mum for lunch and have a swim at Dickson pool. It was a good swim but I STUPIDLY got very sunburnt on my back while swimming. STUPID! I never usually swim in the middle of the day so I just didn’t think. STUPID.

On Saturday I decided to have a day off so I could spend some quality time with Tom. We took advantage of it and drove up to the Blue Mountains for the day as I have not been there since I was little. We had a very yummy early lunch at a café, excellent toasted sandwiches on organic sourdough bread. We walked from Echo Point down the Giant Staircase, along the valley, then took the cable car back up to the top to "Scenic World" (ooooh) and then walked back to Echo Point. It was very touristic but fun and a good introduction to the area. I would love to go back and do some proper walking soon (after April!).

FINALLY, on Sunday I did a good brick session. I rode down to Waterfall by myself and then headed into the RNP and did a few loops, finishing up at Lady Carrington Drive with 90k. Tom drove down and met me there and we did a 10k run along LCD, which is great for running. Tom's Polar footpod thingy said we only did 10k in 60 minutes but we definitely going faster than that. We went steady on the way out, probably just under 6 min pace, and then picked it up quite a bit on the way back. It felt fast to me! Anyway, I felt really good and strong at the finish. In the afternoon and evening I was MEGA tired. But I had made it to the end of my first 3 week build for Ironman - woohoo!!

Yeeha - 120k solo

2007-01-13T20:06:00.000+11:00

I got up at 5.15 this morning to ride, checked my phone and there was an SMS saying it was pouring rain with 40kph winds down south, so the bunch ride was off and we should get on the roller or windtrainer. 120k on a windtrainer? I couldn't face it so I went back till bed until 7 and then pondered what to do. The weather had improved but I didn't really fancy doing a long ride in Sydney by myself, I am still pretty hopeless knowing where to go. I was going to drive to Canberra for the night after my ride so I decided just to go to Canberra and ride on familiar territory. After a quick drive down the Hume listening to some Ironman Talk podcast, I headed off from Hawker at about 2pm. I was dreading it. Not that I don't love riding, but I much prefer to go with someone or a bunch, and I was worried that I just wouldn't be up to or bothered to do the 120 I wanted to do. I decided to do a very simple ride, north up the Federal Highway to Collector and back. Some would say its not all that pleasant but I don't mind it. Anyway, once I got going it was fine, I really enjoyed it and did the full 120 in 4.45. My average speed was 26kph which is good for me. There was a headwind on the way out and a so lovely tailwind on the way home. Fortunately not one of those days when you turn around and suddenly the wind does too. I was so pleased with myself that I did this solo. Its given me some extra confidence, not for the race so much, but for the training.

Ah Friday night

2007-01-12T18:50:00.000+11:00

Well, I am still getting the hang of this blog thing. I could have sworn I blogged earlier in the week by email, but the post does not seem to be here. Maybe I never sent it. Oh well, I am still learning. An abbreviated recap:
Monday - swim at squad 3. something k, felt good. Monday is seeming like a very light day with only a swim, but I think I will soon need it to recover from the weekends.
Tuesday - morning ride at SOP then to work - 60k, felt great. PITD at lunch time, I felt a bit slow but happily my legs were fine after riding in the morning.
Wednesday - morning run, 14k in 80 mins, including the "lovely" Balmain cove hill loop. Swimming in the evening. Just the warm up of 1200m felt LONG, then we did 20x25 sprints, then 3x400 build, then 20x25 kicking. I was very glad when it was over.
Thursday - rode at SOP again, 50k. I went with group 3b, after some encouragement from another girl on Tuesday morning to give group 3 a try. I blew-up and got dropped after 30 minutes, but held on for longer than some and was the last girl standing. Is it wrong to be proud of that?
Friday - rest day. I was looking forward to it but also still feeling like I wanted to do something. I settled for riding to work. It was very humid today.
On Sunday I am off to Thredbo for a week with Bilbys - I am really looking forward to it. :)
Before I go I have to put in this link to a truly wonderful shot taken this morning by a friend in Canberra on the weekly Friday morning mtb ride he organises. I love it.

One wedding, one 30th and 3 training sessions

2007-01-09T20:38:00.000+11:00

Friday was a rest day which was a good thing because we were down in Canberra for the wedding of Cassandra and Alan. It was a really lovely day and I felt privileged to share it. The ceremony was at the Black Mountain Tower lookout, just below the summit, which has great views. During the ceremony they had everyone sing Elvis' Fools Rush In, which was cool. Its quite hymn-like and people singing together is always such an uplifting feeling. The whole day was really relaxed and fun and we also got to catch up with some old friends from college.

On Saturday I did a 100k ride in Canberra with Jen, from ANU to Tidbinbilla space station and then back via Uriarra Crossing, 100k all up with some decent hills. Along for the ride was a friend of a friend, a guy with 10 years+ IM experience. It was great to chat with him. His tip for a first timer was to achieve a consistent and steady pace all day. That suits me as I race conservatively. His example was that a 1 hour swim, 6 hour bike and 4 hour run (all relatively slow/steady times) would give 11 hours which is a pretty respectable time. He also gave a tip about not giving up on the run, which is to ask yourself "What is it about this piece of pavement that deserves to be the spot where I quit?" I like that and will try to remember it.

Saturday night we were back in Sydney for Pip's 30th, which was good fun. They have a great house for parties and there was heaps of yummy food. I can't quite believe all my friends are turning 30.

Sunday morning I decided against doing a long ride from Sutherland to Jamberoo with the Pulse guys. I really wanted to but I figured I needed a run more and by the time I got home from the party it would have been a huge ride on about 4 hours sleep. So I slept in and went for a long run instead. I only did 16ks/90 mins, but it was my first long run for over 4 weeks so thought I should not do too much. My legs were quite sore towards the end but I had plenty of energy to keep going.

In the afternoon I went for a swim, my first visit to the Dawn Fraser Baths in Balmain. I want to swim regularly in my wetsuit so I can get my arms more used to it and the harbour water is a good temperature for a wetsuit swim. Also there are no lanes so it is good practice for swimming straight and looking up. I found invariably when I did not look up for more than 9 strokes I would be wandering off in the wrong direction. I seem to do this much more in my wetsuit, I think it might be because I don't kick much. I did 2k very easy in 38 mins.

So, at the end of my first week of official IM training I was tired, but not too tired to watch a DVD on Sunday night, and one with subtitles even, without falling asleep! Pretty amazing for me. It was called Hidden, starring Juliette Binoche and Daniel Autiel. It was really good, but I felt a bit like it was somehow over my head. I made a yummy dinner of pork burgers with an asian style coleslaw, a Bill Granger recipe from Good Living.

Back in the saddle

2007-01-04T17:04:00.001+11:00

Back in the saddle

While it was damp this morning, it was not actually raining so I headed out to Olympic Park for the 6AM Lidcombe Auburn Cycling Club training ride. I started going late last year and really enjoy them. Its 10k/30 minutes easy out there, 20k/45 minutes hard paceline around the park, then another 10k/30mins easy warm down back home. Perfect.

Continuing the theme of this week, there were not many people there, so we started with 2 groups, a fast and a slow. The slow group started rolling at a very civilised pace and not pacelining. This was sensible as the road was a bit wet and there was probably a great variety in ability among the 20 or so riders. But after 1 lap a couple of people decided to form a slightly faster group and so off we went. It was still a comfortable pace, but worth getting out of bed for.

When I got home I headed out for a 10 minute run off the bike and took my new IPod for the first time. I have always had a thing against people who run with music. Firstly because you can't talk to them. Last year in the Sydney marathon I ran almost the whole way with a girl wearing headphones and I lamented that if she was not wearing them we could have had a good chat. Also I like my time running to just think and take in the scenery. And I worry that I will get 'addicted' to running with music and then not be able to do without. But I gave it a try and liked it. The album was The Pixies, Trompe le Mond, good running music I discovered. I think I will use the pod for my brick runs because they are usually just slogfests anyway and I could use some distraction and performance enhancement.

Then I rode to work - very slowly. On the way I passed a cyclist sweeping up broken glass with a dustpan brush on Anzac Bridge. Yesterday there was heaps of glass on the cycleway and when I got to work I spent 10 minutes trying to find someone (RTA? City Council?) to call to ask them to do something about it, but in the end I gave up. So thank you man in black - you are my hero of the week. :)

Hoppers for dinner

2007-01-03T21:40:00.000+11:00

Tonight Tom made hoppers and curry for dinner. Hoppers are yummy Sri Lankan pancakey things and I bought a special pan to make them in Sri Lanka. They turned out much better than we expected, although the recipe needs a little more fine tuning. The curries were dahl and a really delicious pork one from Charmaine Solomon.

I ran this morning, about 11k to Iron Cove Bridge return, in 1.06. It was a beautiful morning, I love the Bay in the early morning light. Tonight was my first time back at swim squad for over 3 weeks. I felt as good as can be expected after that long not swimming. We did quite a bit of stroke count and pull, focusing on long strokes, so that was good for me. Did 3.3k total. Tomorrow I am going out for yum cha for lunch - I can't wait.

Ready, Set, Go

2007-01-02T20:45:00.000+11:00

Yesterday would probably have been more auspicious, but oh well. Today is the day I start my blog and my official journey towards Ironman Australia. I guess the journey really started a long time ago, like when I first started riding my bike to work in 2001, then started swimming 10 laps to get a bit fit, then started running around the block, then did a triathlon novice program in 2002 ... and so on. But today I entered, paid and started training in earnest after 3 weeks off.

My alarm was set for 5.15am to go for a ride, but I woke to the sound of the pouring rain. Good news for the farmers, bad news for Zoe. My morning at work was spent dealing with 230 emails(!) and soon it was time for Pain in the Domain. Only 12 people turned up and none of the usual leaders were there, so we formed 2 groups of 6, a fast and a slow. As I usually run with the 6th and slowest group I was not sure this would work for me, but it was good and we stayed together well. It is always a really good hard run, and I feel great afterwards. I felt slow, but my legs were fresh and I really sprinted the last interval, neck a neck with the bloke next to me. Our time was 31.20.

I don’t know whether I am going to be able to keep going to PITD with IM training. When I was training for the marathon last year I felt I couldn’t do it, I was always too tired from my longer runs. I would like to keep going though because its FUN.

After work I went for a quick swim. I took it very easy because I have not swum for 3 weeks. I did 2k in about 42 minutes. I got an Ipod for Christmas and my first podcast last week was an episode from Ironman Talk. They interviewed an NZ swim coach and one of his tips was to focus on decreasing your stroke count as all good swimmers have a low stroke count. So I tried to focus on that today. The podcast also had some good tips on peeing on the bike, but thats a topic for another day. :) Home for dinner and Tom had cooked our favourite lentil bolongaise with spaghetti. Yum.