How Jen got her groove back...

Well that was loads of fun :-)

We spent a very hot Saturday afternoon down at the Regatta Centre watching Roslyn (aka Mini Mango) doing the enticer. The BOM said it was 39.9 at Penrith but I think it was a tad hotter than that. Throw in a strong wind & it made for very difficult conditions. Roslyn however achieved both of her goals & had a fantastic race.

Headed home feeling rather dehydrated (despite drinking 3+ litres of water during the day) so we tried TA’s half-a-packet-of-chips salt loading regime which worked; I felt much better almost immediately. My team mate, and “legs” for the race, Rags arrived soon afterwards.

I had a late night & woke feeling tired & nervous, thinking “what on earth am I doing?”. Today’s race was the longest I have done to date (1km swim/30km bike). I was pretty comfortable with the bike leg but feeling very uncertain (read: scared) about the swim leg.

Pre-race w/ my hubby-


The swim went (surprisingly) well. The teams started in the final wave with the M40-44 so I positioned myself at the back of the pack & had the pleasure of clear water in front of me for most of the race so I was able to concentrate on my stroke & breathing. I was hoping to do around 25mins; much to my surprise I saw 20:49 on my watch when I got out of the water. I was also greeting by Roslyn telling me that Mango wasn’t too far ahead of me (2mins as it turns out). I’ll catch him next time… ;-)

The run into T1 probably hurt more than any other part of the race. It always does but when you haven’t really run in the last 18 months, it really sent my HR soaring. Onto the bike & I was overtaken by soooooo many people (men). However they all took off up the road so I didn’t have to worry too much about needing to drop back. I basically had the course on the second lap to myself so I made the most of being able to take the racing line; something I don’t often get a chance in races to do. I really enjoyed the ride & saw the results of all my hard work over winter. My bike split (excl transitions) was 1:08, well ahead of the 1:15 I was anticipating.



Came into T2, racked my bike & then ran up to the teams transition area where I gave Rags a kiss, the timing chip & race number and sent him on his way.



After such a long absence from racing (in any form), it was wonderful to be apart of it again. I certainly feel like I have my mojo back now & I'm looking forward to racing again soon

Thanks to Coach TA who was taken my riding, in particular, to another level over winter. My next challenge is the swim / bike combo again at the Olympic distance race in Canberra in January. I’m nervous already. Bring it on :-)

Official results:
Swim: 21.42
Bike: 1.10.16 (incl T1 & T2)
Run: 48.41
Total: 2.20.40

MTD:
Swim – 7.4k
Bike – 148.7
Wedding – 1
Overseas holiday - 1
Cocktails consumed – too many to count!

Back to life, back to reality...

She says channeling Soul II Soul from the 80s. Anyway what a week it has been. A return to work after the wedding & honeymoon, a new club membership and, coming up this weekend, my first race of any kind in over 15 months.

Mon: back to swim squad for the first time in 4 weeks & it hurt. Lots of short sharp sets & 100s on descending swim times to get everyone ready for the Nepean Tri on Sunday. As if I wasn't already really nervous about the race.......2.something kms.

Tue: 52min bike session (including 4 x 6mins efforts) on the trainer before work. This session is always a struggle after 6 hours sleep & swim squad the night before but I felt reasonably good & it past quickly. I have an idea of my race pace for Sunday but we'll see.... 20.3k. Av.23.3k/h. AvC85

Wed: strength session (upper body) before work.

Then after work, I headed down to the Regatta Centre, signed up to the Penrith Cycling Club & joined a Women's Cycling Program it is running for the next 4 weeks. The program actually started last week but it I only heard about it over the weekend. The Club also races on a weekly basis at the Regatta Centre so I might be a good way to get in a hard session on the bike on a semi-regular basis.

Tonight's session was largely skills based; learning to ride close to another rider (so close that are elbows were touching & then by resting your arm on their shoulder). Scary stuff! Learning to slalom between traffic cones first by ourselves & then with another rider close by our side. I also managed (somehow) to bend over & pick up a traffic cone while riding (albeit slowly) without falling off! Finished with 60m sprints to feel the difference of different gear combinations & then a 5km time trial around the Regatta Centre. Program was great & I'm looking forward to next week but the TT left me more than a little concerned about Sunday. (9.3k)

Thur: rest

Fri: easy 1.1km swim at lunch. In other news, I had some good news from the physio today - I'm allowed to start pilates. If you remember this post back in August (!), I've been working over the last 3 months to correct some dysfunctional movement patterns & to get my muscles in around my pelvis/core activating when they should (which included wearing a delightful ‘preggy belt’ which produced an even more delightful ‘muffin top’). All the work I have done has been static – basically laying on the floor in the lounge room – so now I’ve got the ok to start moving (LOL). This means I start working with a physiotherapy-trained pilates instructor on a weekly basis. Gunna cost a fortune but it will be worth it…

Rest day tomorrow (Saturday) and I'm ready (?) for the race on Sunday; my first tri race (even if I am only doing 2/3rds of it) in almost 20 months & my first race of any type in 15 months). Uber nervous…

MTD:
Swim – 6.4km
Bike – 118.7
Wedding – 1
Overseas holiday - 1
Cocktails consumed – too many to count!

Kia orana..

...is the standard form of greeting in the Cook Islands. It actually means 'may you live on'. What a wonderful way to greet someone. So a few pics from our honeymoon (before I again resume boring y'all with words again)...

Our chariot for a few days on Rarotonga-


On the hike across Rarotonga-


The view from bed in our over water bungalow on Aitutaki :-))










The view from the deck of our bungalow (which was complete with steps down to the water & a freshwater shower) down to one of the restaurants / bars on Aitutaki-






Doing my core work whilst out on the paddle board-






And just to prove that it wasn't all hard work-


No, this isn't pork or steak or chicken; it's tuna!

It's only (lots of) words...

About time I got back to words (though I will post a couple of photos from our honeymoon in the Cook Islands later in the week).

Now let me see:

Mon 2/11: I love holidays. Started my 2hr long ride at 9am :-) Easy ride with 2 x 10mins @ race pace. A really enjoyable ride on a clear but warm morning. Funniest moment came when a (male) cyclist pulled up beside me, started chatting & then asked for my phone number & if he could call me. LOL. And no, I didn't give it to him. Finished with 2.07.33. Av.24.4k/h. C84. 51.5k

Tue 3/11: strength session in the gym in the late afternoon. It was 39 degrees out here in Penrith today. Nasty.

Wed 4/11: 1.9km swim in the morning including drills & easy 1km (in just under 22min) before picking Owly & Cirque up from the station & heading up to our wedding venue to kick back & relax with both of our families.

Thur 5/11- Sun 8/11: rest & recovery unless lots of dancing at your wedding counts ;-) Oh, and we just happened to head to the Cook Islands for our honeymoon on Sunday morning.

Mon 9/11: strength session (chest, shoulders, tris) in the gym at our resort on Rarotonga

Tue 10/11: we did what all honeymooners do; a 3.5 hour (moderate) hike through the mountains & across the island of Rarotonga. I had looked into whether it was possible to hike to the summit of the highest point on Rarotonga. Unfortunately it isn't so this hike would have to suffice. Only approximately 5km in total distance but we climbed from sea level up to the base of "The Needle"; a narrow sheer rock cliff with views to both the north & south coast of the island approx. 400m ASL (will post some photos later this week). It was a rather humid day but fortunately heavy cloud cover prevented the temp from climbing too high.

Wed 11/11: 30mins elliptical machine (including 5 x 2mins intervals)

Thur 12/11: 2hr hike attempting to climb up to another lookout on the island. Let's just say that we became "navigationally challenged" and took the "scenic route" - ie, we somehow managed to miss the turn-off & spent over an hour bush-bashing our way up one side of the hill until coming to a dead end. We'd like to say that we were 'trailblazing' a way route to the summit ;-) Still, any day in the mountains is a nice way to spend a day.

Fri 13/11: 10mins on elliptical then strength session (legs & back)

Sat 14/11 - Sun 15/11: rest - travel to Aitutaki & lots of R & R (and cocktails!)

Mon 16/11: for something different, R & I did a SUP Fit class. SUP = stand up paddle boarding. Great fun. Basically it involved firstly learning to balance on our knees & then stand on the paddle board. Once we had 'mastered' that, we paddled along a channel into the current, turning around (much harder than it sounds) & then using the current to float back to the start while doing things like push-ups, childs pose, 'salute to the sun', planks, supermans etc while balancing on the paddle board. The class went for 60mins & then R & I spent another 30mins playing on the paddle boards (and, in my case, 'trying' to paddle in a straight line!). Was great fun - I really enjoyed it. So much so that I've been looking to find places that hire out paddle boards since I got home...

Tue 17/11 - Thu 19/11: rest (travel from Aitutaki to Raro & then home, losing a day due to the date line)

Fri 20/11: I think TA has a crystal ball. My first day back training - and the day it hit 41 degrees out here in Penrith - and TA had a swim scheduled :-) 1.4km swim including 10 x 100m.

Sat 21 /11: 95min ride (including 10mins @ race pace) along the Northern Road. Nice to be back on the bike again after 2 weeks. Av. 23.6k/h. 376k

Sun 22/11: rest

Friday's swim & Saturday's ride were hard work which leaves me a tad (even more) nervous about the Nepean Triathlon next weekend. I am doing the swim & bike legs as part of Team Himalaya with Rags. Still, the extra 3kgs I'm carrying should help with buoyancy in the water. Finished crossed...

MTD:
Swim – 3.3k
Bike – 89.1k

A picture speaks...

Thursday 5 November 2009

T'was the week before the wedding & all through the house....

Jen was eating & drinking up a storm :-)

A crazy busy week at work as I prepared to finish up at work for my holidays. Training suffered a bit towards the end of the week; a necessity as the training & lack of sleep would have only left me feeling even more tired (than I already am). Though the (considerable) increase in food this week thanks to a variety of family / celebratory dinners has left me feeling like I've packed in 5kg over the course of the week!

Mon: about 2.5k at swim squad tonight. A mixed session; a few efforts, drills, torpedoes and underwater swimming for something different

Tue: a late night due to swim squad & a bad night sleep resulted in me reseting my alarm & giving myself a much needed sleep-in (the first time I've done in months). Got home from work just before 8pm & straight onto the bike for a short 30mins ride. I had 45mins on the program but I figured 30mins was better than nothing. I probably could have skipped this ride but wanted to do it to counter the effect (probably mentally moreso than physically) of the multiple family / celebratory meals I'll be having over the next week (never mind on the honeymoon!). 13k

Wed: great strength session in the gym before work.

Thur: 70min ride on the trainer at 5am including single leg drills & 3 x 10mins. A good session which past by remarkably quickly; I felt much stronger than last week. 27.3k. Av.C87 (No HR reading - I think Garmin Elektra though is dying a slow death....)

Fri, Sat & Sun: rest days. Friday & Sunday were scheduled. Saturday was not. C'est la vie; I had a great weekend thanks to various 'hen' events :-)


CoolChicks L-R: TigerAngel, Ellie, yours truly, Owly


Yum!


The morning after: breakfast with Mum, Mini Mango, Erin & Owly.

There are a few more picks on my other blog for those who are interested

Of course, Saturday brought the end of October. The totals for October will look rather different next month!
Swim: 13.7k
Bike: 348.9k

4 sleeps to go now until the wedding so my next post may be a little different from the usual training report :-) Wish me luck !!