A strange week which has included a gambit of emotions from frustration, anger, malaise to 'stop being such a girl', acceptance, 'f*ck it, I can do this' & steely determination. Thankfully not too much ice cream was injured in the process.
Mon: rest (post-race) & ice cream at the movies with hubby :-)
Tue: 30mins walk followed by pilates (30mins). And more ice cream.
Wed: 2.8km swim at 6am in the pool at work which felt more like an ice bath than pool actually. Though I wasn't complaining after a hot night in Sydney. I felt very flat (both in energy & motivation levels) during the warm up but both improved as the session went on. By the 18 x 50m, I was flying (well, as much as I ever do). Pilates (45mins) in the PM with Carly left me with jelly legs. No ice cream.
Thu: 42min (interval) bike session on the trainer in the garage at 5am. (15.2k). No single leg drills today as I need to (slightly) decondition the anterior muscles in my hip; they are a bit too over-active. Pilates (30min) in the PM.
Fri: 1.5km open water swim in my wetsuit at the Regatta Centre at 6am. As usual, I zigged and zagged but this time remembered to spit (in my goggles).
Sat: strength session at the gym late morning. Unfortunately I probably trashed my legs a touch too much given tomorrow's ride. Another highlight of the day was date night; we went to see Katie Noonan in concert at Taronga. Thankfully the rain held off until her last number. A fantastic night enjoying a picnic & the incredible music (the songs of John Lennon & Paul McCartney performed as only she can) overlooking Sydney harbour. Oh and a custard tart in lieu of ice cream today :-)
Sun: today's program read 90mins ride "easy but on a hilly" route. Personally I don't normally associate "easy" with "hilly". Nonetheless I drove out to Wallacia & did my 90mins out & back along Greendale Road. I felt rather flat during the first 30mins probably due to a combination of fatigued legs from yesterday's session, dead road surface & dehydration. Although the road surface didn't improve, I soon came good & felt strong for the rest of the ride. I know that my strength on the bike is improving. I normally have to stand to climb the one 'steep' hill (300-400m long) but today I was actually able to stay seated the whole way up it. Month 1 of Operation Alpine is complete :-) 34.08km. 22.4k/h av. 1:30:58 More pilates later this afternoon.
At the start of the week, I was tempted to rethink my goals (as, I think, most do - rather impulsively - after a bad race). But I know better than that. I'm glad I didn't ;-)
Totals for January-
MTD:
Swim: 25.75km - my biggest month yet!
Bike: 247.7km
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
The highlights reel...
Thanks Bruce :-)
I still can't say that I'm in the mood to write a race report. So instead-
Highlights:
- a beautiful clear, still morning in gorgeous Canberra;
- watching hot air balloons float overhead whilst setting up in transitions;
- seeing TA smile AND wave during her blistering bike leg;
- having R & MiniM at the swim start;
- finishing the swim (in what turned out to be a reasonable time) despite having a very unpleasant experience;
- riding my new bike;
- having the best, and loudest, cheer squad of any of the competitors - how can you not smile when there are 10 people cheering for you!
- riding consistent laps on the bike;
- getting kind comments from competitors (as they passed me!)
- not being last out of the swim or off the bike;
- getting a kiss at changeover to R in T2, watching him run & then finish off Team Mango Jelly's race;
- stepping up to the next race distance;
- enjoying a sausage sandwich & coffee while watching the presentation ceremony; and
- getting a solid 2 hour training session (2:02 on the watch) on a beautiful day in one of my favourite places to train.
Lessons learnt:
- remember to use anti-fog in goggles or, if unavailable, spit. Fogged-up goggles make sighting (small) buoys even harder (if not impossible). Heck I even had trouble spotting Black Mountain tower at one stage...
- starting in a mens wave and getting quickly dropped (and lapped) does not necessarily mean that I am hopelessly slow. It's just a (natural) consequence of racing against men.
- a post-swim stomach ache will eventually ease;
- (much) more time on the bike is required. Need to consider riding 3 x p/w.
- Jamaican chocolate cheesecake is great recovery food.
MTD:
Swim: 21.45k
Bike: 198.5k
I still can't say that I'm in the mood to write a race report. So instead-
Highlights:
- a beautiful clear, still morning in gorgeous Canberra;
- watching hot air balloons float overhead whilst setting up in transitions;
- seeing TA smile AND wave during her blistering bike leg;
- having R & MiniM at the swim start;
- finishing the swim (in what turned out to be a reasonable time) despite having a very unpleasant experience;
- riding my new bike;
- having the best, and loudest, cheer squad of any of the competitors - how can you not smile when there are 10 people cheering for you!
- riding consistent laps on the bike;
- getting kind comments from competitors (as they passed me!)
- not being last out of the swim or off the bike;
- getting a kiss at changeover to R in T2, watching him run & then finish off Team Mango Jelly's race;
- stepping up to the next race distance;
- enjoying a sausage sandwich & coffee while watching the presentation ceremony; and
- getting a solid 2 hour training session (2:02 on the watch) on a beautiful day in one of my favourite places to train.
Lessons learnt:
- remember to use anti-fog in goggles or, if unavailable, spit. Fogged-up goggles make sighting (small) buoys even harder (if not impossible). Heck I even had trouble spotting Black Mountain tower at one stage...
- starting in a mens wave and getting quickly dropped (and lapped) does not necessarily mean that I am hopelessly slow. It's just a (natural) consequence of racing against men.
- a post-swim stomach ache will eventually ease;
- (much) more time on the bike is required. Need to consider riding 3 x p/w.
- Jamaican chocolate cheesecake is great recovery food.
MTD:
Swim: 21.45k
Bike: 198.5k
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Why?
I was thinking to myself "Why on earth do we do this to ourselves?" both when I was lying in bed on Saturday night & again as soon as I opened my eyes this morning. I suppose the answer to that question is that we, the 'weekend warriors' of the world who try to find the athlete we know, or suspect, or hope is lurking inside us, understand that the comfort zone isn't actually all that comfortable. However a few times during today's race I thought to myself that perhaps it might be 'tolerably comfortable'.
Other than to say I finished my swim & bike legs without drowning, falling off the bike or spending time in the penalty box, I'm not in the mood to write a race report. To be honest I'm struggling to pull any lessons or highlights (other than getting a kiss from hubby at changeover & Team Mango having the biggest, and loudest, cheer squad) from today's race. So I will simply say to Ruth, CJ & Ewen (*waves*) thank you soooo much for making the effort to come down to the race both on Saturday & Sunday to see us & for the (loud) cheering. I really appreciate it & it was lovely to catch up with you as always. Thanks also to Sue & Bruce for everything - including for not delivering the slap across the head I know both of you wanted to deliver ;-P
Other than to say I finished my swim & bike legs without drowning, falling off the bike or spending time in the penalty box, I'm not in the mood to write a race report. To be honest I'm struggling to pull any lessons or highlights (other than getting a kiss from hubby at changeover & Team Mango having the biggest, and loudest, cheer squad) from today's race. So I will simply say to Ruth, CJ & Ewen (*waves*) thank you soooo much for making the effort to come down to the race both on Saturday & Sunday to see us & for the (loud) cheering. I really appreciate it & it was lovely to catch up with you as always. Thanks also to Sue & Bruce for everything - including for not delivering the slap across the head I know both of you wanted to deliver ;-P
Thursday, January 21, 2010
3, 2, 1....
A recovery / taper week ahead of the big race (my goal race for the season) this Sunday.
Mon: 30mins pilates before work & then 3km at swim squad. Felt terrible in the water for most of the session. The green frog that I ate minutes before the session started only kicked in with about 30mins to go. Why do you always have cr*p sessions which mess with your head & dent your confidence in the week leading up to your key race for the season? Don't answer that. A rhetorical question; I know the answer of course but still...
Tue: 30min pilates before work; otherwise a rest day. Oh, and my first ever blood donation!
Wed: AM: 2.3kms swim at 6am at the pool at work including 3 x 500m at race pace; my splits 10.33, 10.27, 10.26. I'm not sure whether those times are a sign that I'm pacing myself consistently or that I only have one speed. While it's probably closer to the latter, I'm going with the former. Pilates in the evening.
Thu: an easy 30min bike on the trainer in the garage at 5am (10.7k) followed by 30min pilates before work.
Tomorrow morning (Friday) will be an easy 1km swim down at the Regatta Centre during the club's open water swim & then that's it til the race on Sunday. I only hope my lovely hubby is up for the sub-40min 10k I know that he is capable of ;-) Strangely, despite the fact that it's my 'goal race' for the season, I can’t say that I’m particularly excited about the race day; I'm actually more looking forward to catching up with friends. Stay tuned for the race report...
MTD:
Swim: 18.95km
Bike: 158.5km
Mon: 30mins pilates before work & then 3km at swim squad. Felt terrible in the water for most of the session. The green frog that I ate minutes before the session started only kicked in with about 30mins to go. Why do you always have cr*p sessions which mess with your head & dent your confidence in the week leading up to your key race for the season? Don't answer that. A rhetorical question; I know the answer of course but still...
Tue: 30min pilates before work; otherwise a rest day. Oh, and my first ever blood donation!
Wed: AM: 2.3kms swim at 6am at the pool at work including 3 x 500m at race pace; my splits 10.33, 10.27, 10.26. I'm not sure whether those times are a sign that I'm pacing myself consistently or that I only have one speed. While it's probably closer to the latter, I'm going with the former. Pilates in the evening.
Thu: an easy 30min bike on the trainer in the garage at 5am (10.7k) followed by 30min pilates before work.
Tomorrow morning (Friday) will be an easy 1km swim down at the Regatta Centre during the club's open water swim & then that's it til the race on Sunday. I only hope my lovely hubby is up for the sub-40min 10k I know that he is capable of ;-) Strangely, despite the fact that it's my 'goal race' for the season, I can’t say that I’m particularly excited about the race day; I'm actually more looking forward to catching up with friends. Stay tuned for the race report...
MTD:
Swim: 18.95km
Bike: 158.5km
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Another week closer...
Mon: the first night of swim squad for the year. And what a session, including 500m of sprint kicking with fins (10 x 50m on 1.15) followed by 18 x 100m (on 2.15, 2.10 & 2.05). Hooly. Dooly. 3.15k
Tue: rest :-)
Wed: Pilates (60mins)
Thu: a double day due to an inability to get out of bed on Wed morning after a particularly horrid's nights sleep. 64min bike (interval) session at 5am (23.7k) & then at lunch a 2.3km swim including another 10 x 100m (on 2.20s). If I don't swim another 100m for a week, I'll be happy ;-)
Fri: 1.5km swim at the Regatta Centre at 6am at the club's weekly open water swim. My shoulders were very fatigued after yesterday's swim. About 32min in total (including the wetsuit factor & a few stops to check on how the Mini Mango was going).
Sat: rather than my usual strength session, I was a 'guinea pig' for myself; experimenting with a series of functional movement exercises from a DVD I recently ordered (30min). I started with the Level 1 exercises today. No weights were involved. Just subtle exercises & movement patterns designed to improve ROM and function. It reminded me that body weight & gravity is often under-rated ;-)
Sun: long ride again today & my first ride since Boxing Day on my lonesome :-( I had 2 x 10min @ race pace in the 2hr ride so I stuck to the Northern Road as it is the closest, and most convenient place to do it. I'm glad I started at 7am; it was rather hot by the time I finished. 46.3km. 1:57. Av.23.5k/h. Dropped the bike in for a service afterwards as I have a slightly grumpy rear derailler at the moment.
Plus approx. 30mins of pilates each day (except Wednesday).
Ready for the race next week; well, as ready as I'm going to be. Recovery & taper this week before heading to Canberra on Sunday. Hopefully we can actually enter. The entry system isn't accepting team entries for some reason that the race organisers are unable to work out....
MTD:
Swim: 13.65km
Bike: 147.8km
Tue: rest :-)
Wed: Pilates (60mins)
Thu: a double day due to an inability to get out of bed on Wed morning after a particularly horrid's nights sleep. 64min bike (interval) session at 5am (23.7k) & then at lunch a 2.3km swim including another 10 x 100m (on 2.20s). If I don't swim another 100m for a week, I'll be happy ;-)
Fri: 1.5km swim at the Regatta Centre at 6am at the club's weekly open water swim. My shoulders were very fatigued after yesterday's swim. About 32min in total (including the wetsuit factor & a few stops to check on how the Mini Mango was going).
Sat: rather than my usual strength session, I was a 'guinea pig' for myself; experimenting with a series of functional movement exercises from a DVD I recently ordered (30min). I started with the Level 1 exercises today. No weights were involved. Just subtle exercises & movement patterns designed to improve ROM and function. It reminded me that body weight & gravity is often under-rated ;-)
Sun: long ride again today & my first ride since Boxing Day on my lonesome :-( I had 2 x 10min @ race pace in the 2hr ride so I stuck to the Northern Road as it is the closest, and most convenient place to do it. I'm glad I started at 7am; it was rather hot by the time I finished. 46.3km. 1:57. Av.23.5k/h. Dropped the bike in for a service afterwards as I have a slightly grumpy rear derailler at the moment.
Plus approx. 30mins of pilates each day (except Wednesday).
Ready for the race next week; well, as ready as I'm going to be. Recovery & taper this week before heading to Canberra on Sunday. Hopefully we can actually enter. The entry system isn't accepting team entries for some reason that the race organisers are unable to work out....
MTD:
Swim: 13.65km
Bike: 147.8km
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Operation Alpine
I can't believe that I've only been back at work for 1 week after Christmas; it feels sooo much longer ;-)
Unfortunately I managed to upset my dodgy ankle in the gym last Saturday which saw me using ice & compression on it on Saturday evening & Sunday. Not too much damage; the treatment was more a result of fear of what I might have done to it rather than any actual evidence of damage to it.
Mon: back to work. So I struggled through to mid-afternoon & then headed to the pool at work for a 2km swim. A strange swim; I felt rather uncoordinated in the water to start with - as though my timing was slightly off - but it came together & felt pretty good through 1.2km of firm efforts.
Tue: rest
Wed: arrived at the pool at work at 6am to discover it was closed for maintenance. Argh! Very annoyed as I really had to psych myself up for the swim ahead. So I headed to the gym for what I thought would be a half-arsed strength session but actually turned into quite a good session; I trashed my legs :-) Pilates in the PM.
Thu: hard interval bike session at 5am. Sooooo nice to be on the bike again. I am loving riding at the moment. Can't wait to get out there again on Sunday. Good thing too given that I have some big bike goals in the next 2 years :-D 17.1k
Fri: rest. I had planned to go to the open water swim at the Regatta Centre in the morning but as I am not very fond of backing up 2 days in a row (knowing that I had Wed's swim to do tomorrow), I stayed in bed :-) I then took my swim gear to work in the hope I would be able to swim at lunch. No such luck. The pool was (still) closed for maintenance. So I went to yum cha for lunch instead :-))
Sat: 2.5km swim in my own lane at 8.30am in the sun. Nice. Included 1.8km at race pace which is my longest non-stop swim today. Given that the 1.8km set was intended to replicate a race scenario, I also managed to inhale a mouthful of water & had to stop briefly mid-lap to cough it up (as I tend to do at least once in each race). It took me 39mins which is a tad slower than I would have liked. I have real trouble pacing myself in the pool. I always hold myself back (perhaps too much) in the first half of the swim out of fear of 'running out of steam' later. Oh well, I guess it will comes with practice & more racing.
Sun: when the alarm went off at 4.10am, I couldn't but think to myself 'what a stoopid sport'. Of course it was entirely my decision to head to Terrey Hills to meet Sue et al for a long ride around Akuna Bay & West Head starting at 6am. It was my first time at the infamous AB / WH area so all I knew to expect was hills.
And I got them in spades. We started with an 'easy' 30mins round trip out to Duffys Forest to wake up the legs (for a while I thought that I may have left them at home) before heading down to Akuna Bay. Our stop at West Head was rather prolonged thanks to my chain jamming itself between the cassette & spokes, requiring 2 complete strangers & 20mins to get out. A hard & challenging ride on a hot morning. I'll be spending a bit more time out here in this year. I managed to devour half of the bakery after I had finished the ride. Felt pretty shattered for much of the afternoon; (despite having a full breakfast) I probably didn't have enough fuel during it (2 gels) 2:48. 57.1km. Av. 20.4k/h
2 weeks to go until the Oly at Canberra which will be my longest race to date!
MTD:
Swim: 6.7km
Bike: 74.2k
Unfortunately I managed to upset my dodgy ankle in the gym last Saturday which saw me using ice & compression on it on Saturday evening & Sunday. Not too much damage; the treatment was more a result of fear of what I might have done to it rather than any actual evidence of damage to it.
Mon: back to work. So I struggled through to mid-afternoon & then headed to the pool at work for a 2km swim. A strange swim; I felt rather uncoordinated in the water to start with - as though my timing was slightly off - but it came together & felt pretty good through 1.2km of firm efforts.
Tue: rest
Wed: arrived at the pool at work at 6am to discover it was closed for maintenance. Argh! Very annoyed as I really had to psych myself up for the swim ahead. So I headed to the gym for what I thought would be a half-arsed strength session but actually turned into quite a good session; I trashed my legs :-) Pilates in the PM.
Thu: hard interval bike session at 5am. Sooooo nice to be on the bike again. I am loving riding at the moment. Can't wait to get out there again on Sunday. Good thing too given that I have some big bike goals in the next 2 years :-D 17.1k
Fri: rest. I had planned to go to the open water swim at the Regatta Centre in the morning but as I am not very fond of backing up 2 days in a row (knowing that I had Wed's swim to do tomorrow), I stayed in bed :-) I then took my swim gear to work in the hope I would be able to swim at lunch. No such luck. The pool was (still) closed for maintenance. So I went to yum cha for lunch instead :-))
Sat: 2.5km swim in my own lane at 8.30am in the sun. Nice. Included 1.8km at race pace which is my longest non-stop swim today. Given that the 1.8km set was intended to replicate a race scenario, I also managed to inhale a mouthful of water & had to stop briefly mid-lap to cough it up (as I tend to do at least once in each race). It took me 39mins which is a tad slower than I would have liked. I have real trouble pacing myself in the pool. I always hold myself back (perhaps too much) in the first half of the swim out of fear of 'running out of steam' later. Oh well, I guess it will comes with practice & more racing.
Sun: when the alarm went off at 4.10am, I couldn't but think to myself 'what a stoopid sport'. Of course it was entirely my decision to head to Terrey Hills to meet Sue et al for a long ride around Akuna Bay & West Head starting at 6am. It was my first time at the infamous AB / WH area so all I knew to expect was hills.
And I got them in spades. We started with an 'easy' 30mins round trip out to Duffys Forest to wake up the legs (for a while I thought that I may have left them at home) before heading down to Akuna Bay. Our stop at West Head was rather prolonged thanks to my chain jamming itself between the cassette & spokes, requiring 2 complete strangers & 20mins to get out. A hard & challenging ride on a hot morning. I'll be spending a bit more time out here in this year. I managed to devour half of the bakery after I had finished the ride. Felt pretty shattered for much of the afternoon; (despite having a full breakfast) I probably didn't have enough fuel during it (2 gels) 2:48. 57.1km. Av. 20.4k/h
2 weeks to go until the Oly at Canberra which will be my longest race to date!
MTD:
Swim: 6.7km
Bike: 74.2k
Saturday, January 02, 2010
The name's Athlete. Professional Athlete.
Well that's how it felt this week when (for the first time since I can remember) I had the joy of staying at home during holidays. It's probably been 5+ years since I last did that. So this week has basically been occupied by training, eating, sleeping & reading. Nice :-)
Mon: my training week started nicely with a sleep-in :-) followed by a 2.5km swim consisting of lots of drills. Thanks to the rain the pool was largely empty. Nice way to start the week!
Tue: thanks to being on holidays, I was able to switch the order of my training sessions in order to join TigerAngel for a long ride along the M7 bike path. Thankfully the rain had cleared so it turned out to be surprisingly warm by the end. It was great to catch up with TA; thanks for the company. Finished with 2:26. 55.58km. Av.22.7k/h. AvC85.
Wed: another long swim, this time 2.9km. I didn't feel quite as strong in the water to start with but my performance didn't drop off as much as I thought it might.
Thu: Loving living life as professional athlete at the moment - even though it meant leaving home at 6am to get to Bobbin Head in time to join TigerAngel for another ride, this time hill repeats up the Turramurra side of Bobbin Head. 3 hill repeats for me as I (and TA's cycling buddy Jan) played domestique for TA as she powered up the hill 4 times. While I only seemed to notice the rain when going downhill, it was either raining or drizzling for most of the ride which was good practice riding in the rain which is something I don't often do; I tend to retire to the trainer in the garage at the first sign of rain. It was also nice to get out on the bike twice in one week; I normally only do one ride on the road each week with the rest of my sessions on the trainer. Finished with coffee in Turramurra where we were joined by Gnome (*waves*). In all a lovely morning. :-) 1:39. 28.97km. Av. 17.4k/h
Fri: I enjoyed Thursday's ride and coffee so much I woke on Friday morning wanting to do it again. Alas, I had a swim on my program. The pool didn't open until 10am so it was a good excuse to sleep-in. Not that I needed a sleep-in after falling asleep about 11pm on NYE (*she blushes*). The new year started with a 2.2km swim which started with 1.6km straight (sans warm-up) to simulate a race scenario. The 1.6km component took about 34mins which is a tad slow but still it was my longest non-stop swim ever so it was a good confidence booster ahead of the Oly in Canberra later this month.
Sat: strength session at the gym.
Rest day tomorrow (Sunday).
Thursday's session of course brought the month of December (and the year) to an end. Despite December being a busy month, I managed to complete almost all of my sessions. It was also my biggest month in the pool (by far) to date -
Swim - 23.4km (!!)
Bike - 264.6km
Since June 2009 (which is when I started keeping a tally of my training) to the end of 2009, I swum 94.7km & ridden 1,553.1km! Bring on 2010; the year of the hill :-)
MTD:
Swim: 2.2km
Mon: my training week started nicely with a sleep-in :-) followed by a 2.5km swim consisting of lots of drills. Thanks to the rain the pool was largely empty. Nice way to start the week!
Tue: thanks to being on holidays, I was able to switch the order of my training sessions in order to join TigerAngel for a long ride along the M7 bike path. Thankfully the rain had cleared so it turned out to be surprisingly warm by the end. It was great to catch up with TA; thanks for the company. Finished with 2:26. 55.58km. Av.22.7k/h. AvC85.
Wed: another long swim, this time 2.9km. I didn't feel quite as strong in the water to start with but my performance didn't drop off as much as I thought it might.
Thu: Loving living life as professional athlete at the moment - even though it meant leaving home at 6am to get to Bobbin Head in time to join TigerAngel for another ride, this time hill repeats up the Turramurra side of Bobbin Head. 3 hill repeats for me as I (and TA's cycling buddy Jan) played domestique for TA as she powered up the hill 4 times. While I only seemed to notice the rain when going downhill, it was either raining or drizzling for most of the ride which was good practice riding in the rain which is something I don't often do; I tend to retire to the trainer in the garage at the first sign of rain. It was also nice to get out on the bike twice in one week; I normally only do one ride on the road each week with the rest of my sessions on the trainer. Finished with coffee in Turramurra where we were joined by Gnome (*waves*). In all a lovely morning. :-) 1:39. 28.97km. Av. 17.4k/h
Fri: I enjoyed Thursday's ride and coffee so much I woke on Friday morning wanting to do it again. Alas, I had a swim on my program. The pool didn't open until 10am so it was a good excuse to sleep-in. Not that I needed a sleep-in after falling asleep about 11pm on NYE (*she blushes*). The new year started with a 2.2km swim which started with 1.6km straight (sans warm-up) to simulate a race scenario. The 1.6km component took about 34mins which is a tad slow but still it was my longest non-stop swim ever so it was a good confidence booster ahead of the Oly in Canberra later this month.
Sat: strength session at the gym.
Rest day tomorrow (Sunday).
Thursday's session of course brought the month of December (and the year) to an end. Despite December being a busy month, I managed to complete almost all of my sessions. It was also my biggest month in the pool (by far) to date -
Swim - 23.4km (!!)
Bike - 264.6km
Since June 2009 (which is when I started keeping a tally of my training) to the end of 2009, I swum 94.7km & ridden 1,553.1km! Bring on 2010; the year of the hill :-)
MTD:
Swim: 2.2km
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