12...

Ewen, the ViPR I suspect is also very useful for creating holes in ceilings. No I havent done it yet but I have come close a few times ;-)

Mon: I fought a close battle with the doona monster when the alarm went off at 5am but I eventually defeated it - just ;-) R & I got up & did a 43mins Spinverals DVD on the windtrainer in the garage which R 'found' on the interweb called 'No Slackers Allowed'. It must have been one of the first they made; the fluro steel bikes and mullets circa-1980 helped to distract me from the pain in my legs! BTW if you get a chance, ask R how he went during the high cadence sprints. Let me give you a hint; 'ka-boom' :-D 17.1km

After work, I made it out of the office - just - in time to get to swim squad. 2.9km later & I was one sleepy gal.

Tue: spent 5mins in the sun in the morning playing with ViPR trying to mobilise my thoracic spine & keep my shoulders happy after swim squad last night, otherwise rest.

Wed: 60mins pilates w/ Carly in the morning.

Thu: had to cancel a massage with Tigger due to a meeting at work - which, in turn, got cancelled on Wednesday evening (of course!) - so instead I headed to the gym for a 40mins strength session. I lurve strength training. I love it more than anything else I do including all that triathlon-related 'cardio' stuff. It's a shame there aren't more days in the week to do more of it :-(

Fri: dragged myself out of bed for a walk/shuffle. Let's just say that I should have stayed there. I ran a total of about 7mins and then walked home close to tears. In a very bad head space at the moment in terms of my running, how slowly it is progressing & frustration at my body. Got home & investigated the date by which I need to withdraw from the HIM/70.3 race next May (28 February 2011 is the answer to that question). 35mins in total. Then a 2km swim in the pool at work during lunch.

Sat: 80min ride out & back towards Richmond on a gorgeous spring day. Only downside to this ride was that I came very close to being a hood ornament on a Holden Commodore. It was a mistake on the driver's part; he didn't see me. I think he was more shaken up by it than I was. Finished w/ 31.6km. Av. 23.8k/h Followed it up with 10mins playing w/ my ViPR in the garage & then 30mins of stretching & SMR.

Sun: a bad night sleep thanks to a tooth ache :-( so I dragged myself out of bed when the alarm went off at stoopid-o'clock so I could meet Sue at Hornsby at 7.30am for a 3.5 hour ride. None of our rides seem to be uneventful of late. Today it was an overturned car at the top of Brooklyn Hill near Pie In The Sky and not much later Sue exerted so much force after a brief stop that she broke a spoke on her back wheel. Thankfully 2 very kind gentlemen came to our rescue & fixed it for us which allowed us to continue our ride up to discover the cafe at Mt White & return to Hornsby. Finished w/ 69.7km. Av. 22.0k/h in 3:09. I am very nervous about how much work I have to do over the next 12 weeks so it was nice to have a solid start :-)

Next week brings a recovery week after my first solid block of training since Yeppoon. My tooth ache this evening - possibly a wisdom tooth misbehaving - is my only real concern right now. I'm doped up to the eyes on Nurofen Plus this evening. The red wine chaser is also helping ;-) Hopefully it won't interrupt my training too much over the next little while. Fingers crossed!

End of month:
Swim: 17.2km
Bike: 336.3km

Girl, you'll be a woman soon...

A break from my usual post title in honour of Neil Diamond after watching a story on him on Sunday Night this evening. I grew up listening to Neil Diamond courtesy of my folks. That probably explains a few things.. ;-)

Mon: 43min walk/shuffle. I am looking forward to the day that shuffling for more than 4mins at a time isn't hard work....

Then it was off to swim squad after work for the first time in about 3 weeks. Nasty! It's amazing how quickly you can lose your technique & feel for the water. 2.65km

Tue: rest

Wed: 37mins bike session on the windtrainer in the garage before work. Nice easy but hard session. 15.2k

Thu: was supposed to run today but a few aches & pains over the last few days reminded me that I have continued to increase my running component of my walk/shuffles for weeks without an easy session (opps). So I skipped this morning's run & spent 30mins in the garage playing with my ViPR. Lots of short hard efforts with short recovery. Tough but good session :-) I am amazed at the changes that these sessions immediately have on my body. I notice a huge improvement in my shoulders in particular after these sessions.

Fri: 60mins pilates w/ Carly during which session she told me she was leaving (*sob*). I will be very sad to see her go. Not only has she put me back together after I spent 6 weeks with a belt holding my pelvis together in August/September last year. But she has also allowed me to pick her brain about all things anatomy, training & biomechanics related as my study has continued & developed

Sat: a reasonable sleep-in and then off for a ride on a glorious Sydney morning. Warm weather + clear sky = bliss! 70mins ride out & back towards Richmond. 29.8k. 1:11. Av. 25k/h

After a snack, it was off to the pool for a 2km swim where I was reminded that I hate going to the pool at 11am for the next 6 months; kids everywhere doing stoopid things like swimming across the lane ahead of you with complete disregard as to what is going on around them. Grrrr.

Sun: a forced rest day after a migraine last night floored me. Today was spent moping around the house feeling flat, tired & hungover sans alcohol :-(

I must admit that I am getting a bit nervous about the Alpine Classic at the moment. My training hasn't been consistent for one reason or another in weeks & I really need to get some consistent, long & hilly hours in the saddle soon otherwise things are going to be painful come January 23...

MTD:
Swim - 12.3km
Bike - 220.9km

14...

Mon: 45mins walk/shuffle before work then 60mins pilates w/ Carly after work; I would normally go to squad tonight but this was a pilates session to make up for one I previously missed. It was a lovely surprise to see Mr & Mrs K when I arrived :-)

Tue: rest

Wed: My usual 60mins pilates class with Carly.

Thu: 38mins windtrainer session on the bike this morning in the garage whilst watching the Chilean miner with the wife & girlfriend be rescued. Unfortunately it didn't prove to as 'exciting' as I had hoped ;-) 14.9km

Fri: 40mins walk/shuffle this morning. I had planned to do a slightly longer session than on Monday but I was feeling tired & struggling to maintain good form so I decided to pull the pin slightly earlier than slip back into old (read: bad) habits.

Sat: I had a 60mins ride on the program for today but woke to the sound of high winds so I rolled over & went back to sleep :-) Once I dragged myself out of bed, it was off to the garage with Coach Troy for his 'big gear strength' DVD, 56mins of glute & quad torture :-D 22.2km. 26.3k/h. Afterwards I played with my ViPR for about 15mins before crawling into the house. I was supposed to do a swim in the afternoon but spent much of it working :-(

Sun: I had a 2.5 hr ride on the program today so I joined TA's group at Seven Hills for a ride out towards Richmond. 3hr 15mins riding time, 78kms, 2 toilet stops, 1 flat tyre & 1 broken chain later - neither of which was mine thankfully - we arrived back to the car. This was a tough ride mentally given that at one stage we were within about 10km of my home, but 40kms from my car ;-) But as TA said at one stage, it was nice to know that we could do a 78km ride off minimal training in recent weeks (in TA's case) or months (in mine). Thanks TA! 78.3km. 3:15. Av. 24.1k/h

Another busy week ahead - but is there any other kind?

MTD:
Swim - 7.7km
Bike - 175.9km

15...

A huge week in many ways, not least because my Certificate IV in Fitness (Personal Training) arrived in the mail. Gee, you can get anything off the back of a Weetbix box these days... ;-)

(Public holiday) Monday: as it was raining (again/still), I decided to skip a windtrainer session in the garage & go to my spiritual home instead; the gym. I have changed the way I'm doing my strength work at the moment in order to gain as much strength as I can over the next 10 weeks (in the hope I can convert it to power in the weeks that follow so I can get up those mountains in Vic in December & January a tad easier)...

Tue: up at 5am early for another 40mins walk/shuffle, a 2.6km swim at lunch & a 7 hour meeting at work which ended at 10pm made for a long day

Wed: 60mins pilates w/ Carly (& another long day at work on no more than 5 hours sleep - nasty!)

Thu: a very sweaty 65min bike session on the windtrainer in the garage after a whole 8 hours sleep; what a luxury! 27.5km (av. 25.1k/h)

Fri: another 40mins walk/shuffle, very humid in the mornings at the moment. Another 2.6km swim at lunch & another slightly grumpy shoulder; this time my right shoulder - the good one. Swimming clearly doesn't agree with my shoulders. Or more to the point, it doesn't agree with the shoulders of someone who spends so many hours, slumped, I mean seated at a computer ;-)
Sat: I spent Saturday doing a ViPR Master Trainer certification course which basically consisted of getting my HR up whilst throwing the ViPR around a large room; needless to say lots of fun! The ViPR is an amazing tool for functional strength and mobility; can't wait to torture myself - and my prospective clients - with it ;-)

Sun: Kona baby! With the Hawaii Ironman on this morning and a Team PIS member racing, there was no way I was heading out for a ride. Besides it was raining & I was spending the day caring for my nan who has Parkinsons. So I watched the coverage from Kona, ate Tim Tams and did some study instead :-)

MTD:
Swim: 7.7km
Bike: 60.55km

16....

And so the countdown starts again... :-))

Mon: I slept sooo heavily on Sunday night (which is really unusual for me) but still woke feeling tired. It was a bit of a struggle to drag myself out for my 40min walk/shuffle but I'm glad I did.

Swim squad on Monday night saw the return of B+ to take the session which, I must admit, brings with it a sense of dread probably as the sessions tend to be hard, hard work. And work hard I did. Our session was probably only 2km in length. But a great one in terms of (difficult) drills, learning about body position in the water & understanding what my 'standard' swim times should now be. I also discovered what it feels like to want to throw up in the pool courtesy of some butterfly which sent my HR & lactate levels through the roof .

Tue: rest

Wed: 60mins pilates w/ Carly

Thu: this week at work was slightly less demanding (before it ramps up again with 6 weeks of hell starting from next week). So I was able to take Thursday & Friday off work to make it an extra l-o-n-g weekend :-)) So a big sleep-in this morning was followed by another Spinervals DVD on the windtrainer in the garage, this time with R for company (who was working from home). Remind me not to do so again on an empty stomach after not eating for 14 hours. Farkkkk. 45mins video called "Uphill Grind" designed to improve your climbing skills. Ouchy, ouchy, ouchy. 45mins. 19.4k. Av. Av. 25.7k/h

Thursday of course saw the end of the month; my lowest training month in a l-o-n-g time..

Swim: 4.5km
Bike: 156.4km

Fri: another sleep-in (yippee) followed by some lazy time on the couch & then a swim. My swims at the moment are not particularly enjoyable; they are hard work. It has been a great lesson in how quickly you can lose fitness & technique. Throw in leaking goggles & school holidays (ie, kids swimming across the lane in front of me); did I mention it wasn't that much fun? ;-) 2.5km in total

Sat: R & I had planned a 3hr long ride along the Old Pacific Highway today. But heavy rain put an end to it early. We set out from Hornsby about 8.30am, heading down the Old Pacific Highway before turning off at Berowa Waters Rd for the (fast) roll 4km downhill to the ferry. A quick toilet stop & then it was time to turn about & head back up the hill which I managed in about 19mins.

Arriving back at the top of the 'hill' I was surprised to see the sky largely filled with heavy, dark clouds & the smell of rain in the air. And not just rain clouds; storm clouds that had me thinking "this is not good". So we turned right & headed for home, cutting our ride short. Of course, the rain started shortly thereafter & didn't cease most of the afternoon. It was fun riding in the rain for the first 15mins until I wasn't able to see the road through my glasses & got cold. 30 (long) minutes later we were back at the car drenched & trying to dry off while the rain tumbled down. C'est la vie. It was the right decision to make; we could not have got any wetter had we continued our ride but the risk of would only have gone up. As it was, I had to rely on my mountain biking skills to go over the top of a branch that was on the road when R braked at the wrong time coming down hill & gave me nowhere else to go. 1:31:26. 33.05k. Av. 21.7k/h

Sun: another sleep-in (I'm getting used to them now!) followed by a 40mins walk/shuffle in the pouring rain..

MTD:
Swim - 2.5km
Bike - 33.05km