A(nother) busy week. Work has been busy but steady & will shortly wind down (*yippee*). Thankfully this means that I will also be working on a part time basis from mid-December which will give me a wonderful opportunity to get my business officially up & running (*yippee*).
Mon: a short 25min walk/shuffle today. Probably more walking than shuffling but as I haven't run - sorry, I meant shuffled - much in recent weeks, I took it very easy today. Swim squad after work was a solid session with 8 x 50m breaststroke kick (ie, no arms) and later 4 x 200m, each one successively faster. Ouchy! 2.45km
Tue: I had planned to go to the gym straight from work but managed to leave my gym bag at home. Stoopid. So rather than waste time travelling to/from the gym, I decided to spend some time 'playing' with ViPR instead. 25mins in total consisting of sets of 45sec effort & then 45sec recovery. A short but solid session.
Wed: 60mins pilates with Carly.
Thu: a big-ish day of training for me. 70min interval session on the windtrainer at 5am. My legs felt flat & as such I probably didn't work as hard as I did last time. Oh well, it got done. 24.5k before my cadence sensor on my bike died at the 58min mark. Then at lunch it was off to the pool for a 2km swim. It was a solid session and finally I felt like I am starting to swim well again.
Fri: a 45mins walk/shuffle along my usual route. I haven't done this distance in several weeks now so I took it very easily with only short 'shuffles' intervals and regular walks.
Sat: up early for my 4hr long ride before a busy weekend. I set out from home just before 7am for the ride out along Cobbity Rd. I haven't done this ride since June & so was very uncertain as to how it would go. Cobbity is a bit like a roller coaster; the initial hills are short & sharp. Each hill then seems to get longer & harder until the last hill makes you feel like someone is trying to remove your lungs via your nose (*apologies for anyone eating whilst reading this*).
The last time I did was ride was on June 5. I didn't feel like I was riding up the hills any faster - I certainly saw 9km/h more than once - but I certainly felt like I was recovering faster from the hills. Despite the lack of big mileage lately, when I checked my stats when I got home I was very pleased to see that I did this ride 9mins faster than I last time. Beautiful weather for a hard ride. 92.7km in 4:03 (av. 22.8k/h)
Sun: an overnight trip to Newcastle for my aunt's surprise birthday, and the logistics associated with it, meant I wasn't able to ride this morning. By the time we got back to Sydney it was raining, so I headed to the windtrainer in the garage for my 80mins ride. So I did the first 80mins of one of the aerobic endurance Spinervals DVDs that I recently added to our collection followed by a 5min cool down. A (very) solid, and sweaty, session - tiring but good :-) 36.7km in 1:25.
A recovery week to look forward to now after another solid training block. Oh, and a trip to New Zealand ;-D
MTD:
Swim: 13.5km
Bike: 402.1km
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
9...
Thanks everyone :-) It's not hard too miss racing Ewen when you've forgotten what it's like. In fact I have often distanced myself (even further) from racing by choosing not to spectate at races that R participates in. Constantly getting ask why you aren't racing gets a bit old after a while - not to mention after 2.5 years!
I wouldn't say I am back in the game Chris. My 'run' leg revealed that I have a heck of a long way to go in terms of being able to control momentum, particularly when running off the bike. This is going to be crucial if I am to remain injury free as the distance (hopefully) increases over the next few months. But at least I am getting a much better awareness of how my body functions (or doesn't as the case may be!)
I felt incredibly tired earlier in the week but working from home on Thursday & then taking Friday off work helped to make me feel human again.
Mon: swim squad after work was a relatively easy one as most of the squad was backing up from the Nepean Tri the day before (2.45km)
Tue: rest
Wed: 60min pilates w/ Carly
Thu: 8hrs of sleep - unheard of on a school night - and I was feeling almost human again. This allowed me to smack myself during the Spinervals "Big Gear Strength" DVD on the windtrainer in that garage at 6am. 56min including 3 x 10 lunges. 20.6k
Fri: an early start despite being a day off work (yippee!) in order to head down to the Regatta Centre for an open water swim. 1km only today as it was my longest open water swim since Yeppoon in August; the distance will slowly increase over coming weeks.
Sat: after weeks of cr*p weather, I was very relieved to see a beautiful clear blue sky when I got up. With a 3.5 long hour ride on the program & only 9 weeks until Alpine Classic, there was only one thing to do; psych myself up & head for the hills! First I went headed out towards Richmond (which is flat & dead) before turning off onto Springwood Road for the trip up the 'hill' to Springwood. The first part of this is tough; a short steep incline followed by lots of switchbacks but then it eases off.
Once I got to Springwood, I had some extra time to make up so I turned right & headed further up the mountain. I discovered that is a vortex between Linden & Woodford; it turns out there is nowhere to turn around so you get sucked along the highway all the way to Woodford. Of course, this also has to be one of the hilliest sections - go figure!
I was surprised how reasonable I felt - I won't say I was feeling good - when I got to Woodford (el. 609m). It put both my goal of riding to Katoomba this summer and Alpine Classic in sharper focus.
Finished with 82.3k in 3:46 (21.8k/h av - aver HR145)
Sun: after my mum's surprise 60th birthday party last night, I wasn't too enthusiastic about getting out of bed this morning for my ride. But another beautiful clear blue sky made the decision a bit easier. 80min ride on the program today so I did an out & back along Northern Rd which is basically flat with a detour via Chain O Ponds Rd which is like the local equivalent of Matthew Flinders Drive in Port Macquarie but on steroids. Legs were feeling a bit flat & without much speed in them. So aside from Chain O Ponds, I just focused on keeping my cadence steady & disregarding speed. Finished with 30.8km in 1:19.
The next 6 weeks are incredibly hectic so time to focus on looking after myself as much as possible
MTD:
Swim: 9.05km
Bike: 247.3km
I wouldn't say I am back in the game Chris. My 'run' leg revealed that I have a heck of a long way to go in terms of being able to control momentum, particularly when running off the bike. This is going to be crucial if I am to remain injury free as the distance (hopefully) increases over the next few months. But at least I am getting a much better awareness of how my body functions (or doesn't as the case may be!)
I felt incredibly tired earlier in the week but working from home on Thursday & then taking Friday off work helped to make me feel human again.
Mon: swim squad after work was a relatively easy one as most of the squad was backing up from the Nepean Tri the day before (2.45km)
Tue: rest
Wed: 60min pilates w/ Carly
Thu: 8hrs of sleep - unheard of on a school night - and I was feeling almost human again. This allowed me to smack myself during the Spinervals "Big Gear Strength" DVD on the windtrainer in that garage at 6am. 56min including 3 x 10 lunges. 20.6k
Fri: an early start despite being a day off work (yippee!) in order to head down to the Regatta Centre for an open water swim. 1km only today as it was my longest open water swim since Yeppoon in August; the distance will slowly increase over coming weeks.
Sat: after weeks of cr*p weather, I was very relieved to see a beautiful clear blue sky when I got up. With a 3.5 long hour ride on the program & only 9 weeks until Alpine Classic, there was only one thing to do; psych myself up & head for the hills! First I went headed out towards Richmond (which is flat & dead) before turning off onto Springwood Road for the trip up the 'hill' to Springwood. The first part of this is tough; a short steep incline followed by lots of switchbacks but then it eases off.
Once I got to Springwood, I had some extra time to make up so I turned right & headed further up the mountain. I discovered that is a vortex between Linden & Woodford; it turns out there is nowhere to turn around so you get sucked along the highway all the way to Woodford. Of course, this also has to be one of the hilliest sections - go figure!
I was surprised how reasonable I felt - I won't say I was feeling good - when I got to Woodford (el. 609m). It put both my goal of riding to Katoomba this summer and Alpine Classic in sharper focus.
Finished with 82.3k in 3:46 (21.8k/h av - aver HR145)Sun: after my mum's surprise 60th birthday party last night, I wasn't too enthusiastic about getting out of bed this morning for my ride. But another beautiful clear blue sky made the decision a bit easier. 80min ride on the program today so I did an out & back along Northern Rd which is basically flat with a detour via Chain O Ponds Rd which is like the local equivalent of Matthew Flinders Drive in Port Macquarie but on steroids. Legs were feeling a bit flat & without much speed in them. So aside from Chain O Ponds, I just focused on keeping my cadence steady & disregarding speed. Finished with 30.8km in 1:19.
The next 6 weeks are incredibly hectic so time to focus on looking after myself as much as possible
MTD:
Swim: 9.05km
Bike: 247.3km
Monday, November 15, 2010
10 (farkkkk) .....
Ewen, it wasn't just my first triathlon in 2.5 years but my first race of any kind. Last one was the 10km at Bush Capital in Canberra in July 2008, not long before I took time off work to go travelling. Seems like a lifetime ago now...
A strange week. The start of the week was relatively quiet; the second half absolutely feral with work. I also took custody of another 2 Spinervals DVDs as I contemplated last week. I needed a couple of good aerobic, 'long ride equivalent' DVDs given the effect that La Nina is having (and will probably continue to have) on the weather at the moment.
Tue: rest
Wed: 60mins pilates w/Carly including a few acupuncture needles in my hip to settle down some tightness. I haven't mentioned it previously but the needles are part of my management plan. I get a couple in my hip every second week at the moment. And provided I don't go too crazy with the running, they seem to be the best / quickest way to settle any tightness I get.
Thu: 70mins on the windtrainer in the garage (28.5km) at stoopid o'clock doing my own thing while I watched R torture himself doing another Spinervals intervals DVD. And then at lunch a 2km swim in the pool at work
Fri: rest
Sat: with the race being at 4pm meant that I could have a much needed sleep-in after a rough week at work. Of course the downside is that you spend the day watching the clock & (seemingly) counting down the minutes until the race.
I could go into all the details suffice to say that I was happy with my swim (5:02),
A strange week. The start of the week was relatively quiet; the second half absolutely feral with work. I also took custody of another 2 Spinervals DVDs as I contemplated last week. I needed a couple of good aerobic, 'long ride equivalent' DVDs given the effect that La Nina is having (and will probably continue to have) on the weather at the moment.
Tue: rest
Wed: 60mins pilates w/Carly including a few acupuncture needles in my hip to settle down some tightness. I haven't mentioned it previously but the needles are part of my management plan. I get a couple in my hip every second week at the moment. And provided I don't go too crazy with the running, they seem to be the best / quickest way to settle any tightness I get.
Thu: 70mins on the windtrainer in the garage (28.5km) at stoopid o'clock doing my own thing while I watched R torture himself doing another Spinervals intervals DVD. And then at lunch a 2km swim in the pool at work
Fri: rest
Sat: with the race being at 4pm meant that I could have a much needed sleep-in after a rough week at work. Of course the downside is that you spend the day watching the clock & (seemingly) counting down the minutes until the race.
I could go into all the details suffice to say that I was happy with my swim (5:02),
reasonably happy with my bike though perhaps I went a bit too hard on the first lap because I had forgotten (!) that I had to run afterwards (23:26 official time incl T1 & T2/20:20 bike computer) & the run (14:52) was a case of survival. I couldn't get my heart rate down when I got off the bike so I probably walked more than I ran in the first 1.25km. But thankfully in the 2nd half another competitor & I worked together to run to a certain point, take a quick walk break before running again. I have no doubt that I ran further thanks to him than I otherwise would have. Still I was very disappointed with my run. 6min/km pace average is a good result given how little I run so I should be happy. Of course I'm not - no surprises there ;-)
It was nice to have so much encouragement out on the course; hopefully no one saw me walking :0
I did get very down when I got home, checked my results to discover that Mini Mango, who spends a grand total of 2 hr every month on her bike, had a faster bike split than me. Farkkkk. I know I shouldn't compare myself to someone 20 yrs younger & far more genetically gifted
than me. But I do.
So official time was 43:21 & 26th/68 in my category (20-30 women). Looking to my last race in March 2008 - also an enticer - made for an interesting comparison (bearing in mind a slightly different course with timing taken in different places)
2008
Swim: 6:23 (1:21 improvement since then!)
Bike: 21:22 (over 2mins slower. What. The. Farkkk)
Run: 14:12 (only 40sec slower - pleasantly surprising)
And yes, I know I am too hard on myself...
Sun: rest - if you can call spending the day on your feet in the hot weather cheering on your friends & family ;-) My hip pulled up fine. Though how much of that was due to the (precautionary) voltarin & red wine chaser (or alternatively the celebratory triple choc muffin
w/ ice cream) I'm not too sure :-)
Getting very nervous about Alpine Classic now....
MTD:
Swim: 5.6km
Bike: 113.6km
Run:: 2.5km :-)
Monday, November 08, 2010
11...
A long post - apologies in advance!
Thanks to Ewen for fixing my blog header. I love this photo. I took it from the front of seat of a bus on the trip from the town of Arica on the coast at the northen end of Chile up to La Paz in Bolivia in 2005. It brings back fond memories of a great trip; my first into the mountains :-)
Barb, you will love Yeppoon - it's a fantastic event! I hope to do it again next year.
My attempt to self-diagnose the problem in my jaw Sunday week was w-a-y off the mark; a visit to both the dentist & doctor on Tuesday revealed that the primary cause of the problem was an ear infection but I also have a slight issue with my bite. I asked someone to take me out the back & shoot me but they refused. The ear infection meant that there was no swimming later in the week. It was, thankfully, a recovery week so it simply meant a slightly easier week than normal
Mon: after last Friday's walk/shuffle debacle, I decided to leave the watch at home during today's walk/shuffle and run all the downhills, some of the flats, none of the uphills / inclines / false flats & generally not beat myself up over how much, or how little, I ran. Needless to say, I was in a much better head space when I returned home. As much as I am struggling to get back my "run fitness", I need also to remember that I haven't run since July 2008 - yep, almost 2 1/2 years now - so all my ligaments & tendons are going to take time to get back to full (run) strength. 45mins in total.
After work it was off to swim squad for about 2.5kms of torture. I wasn't pushing myself as much as I probably should have been but it was still a hard session. I say "about" 2.5km because I lost count when the hard efforts started. And then the bungy cords come out.. :-O The session also left me thinking that perhaps my tooth problem was in fact an ear infection because I couldn't put my ear plug in because my ear was a bit swollen nor could I rest my swimming cap on my ear (like I normally do). Turns out I was right :-)
Tue: back on the bike this morning for another windtrainer session, this time the "Suffer-O-Rama" Spinervals DVD. Certainly a case of false advertising with this DVD; it says it goes for 45min but in fact went for 53min. But there was no false advertising in its name; there was plenty of suffering. 21.8km. Av. 24.8km. Av.HR 143. Spent what felt like the rest of the day either waiting for, or seeing, both a doctor and dentist.
Wed: 60min pilates w/ Carly. She has given me the ok to (slowly) increase the duration of the shuffling component of my walk / shuffles. Someone needs to tell my aerobic fitness that...
Thu: rest. I had planned to get up for a run but I've been feeling very tired this week (not surprising given that my body is fighting off my ear infection) so I turned off the alarm & went back to sleep.
Fri: A day off work to celebrate one year since the best day of my life...
But before the celebrating could start, there was hard work to do; a 2.5hour ride which, due to Sydney's inclement weather, was spent in the garage on the windtrainer with R & Coach Troy to keep me company. If anything this session gave me an excuse to go buy more Coach Troy Spinervals DVDs; if only so that I had an aerobic/base building type DVD which was more appropriate to replicate a long ride rather than the torturous one we did which was full of (hard) efforts & intervals. Finished with 53.3km in 2:15 for 23.7k/h av. Then it was off to Lilianfels at Katoomba for a lovely weekend
Sat: rest
Sun: after returning from the mountains, I was feeling rather guilty about the amount of food I consumed. So - while it wasn't on my program - I took myself off the gym after we arrived home. I figured that after 2 days of laying around eating, drinking, sleeping, talking, reading, eating & drinking, I was sufficiently recovered. 45min strength session.
Mon: another enjoyable (approx.) 45min walk/shuffle this morning sans-watch. The only time I have gone without Garmin Elektra over the last 4 years has been on those rare occasions when I forgot to charge her or she refused to play. So it's rather liberating to train without her reminding me of how slow I run (or ride for that matter).
Then it was off to swim squad after work for session with James (B+) today. 2.85km in total including quite a bit of speedy stuff. I think that maybe, just maybe, I might be getting closer to that place where I left my swimming form after Yeppoon. The fitness is still lacking but it's slowly returning.
The training this week isn't too heavy due to being entered in the enticer race (250m/10km/2.5km) at the Nepean Triathlon event on Saturday. The distance hardly seems worth getting out of bed for. But it's a bit special for me. It's hard to believe but this will be my first race of any kind in which me, myself & I will do the whole event AND cross the finish line since July 2008. Yep, almost 2.5 years. I'm a bit nervous; not about the race itself but about how my hip will pull up afterwards. Keep your fingers crossed for me please! Edit: as an aside, I know 2.5km is very far but let's just say I have't run 2.5km non-stop yet. Probably only half that. So it will be a true walk/shuffle during the race!
MTD:
Swim: 5.35km
Bike: 75.1km
Thanks to Ewen for fixing my blog header. I love this photo. I took it from the front of seat of a bus on the trip from the town of Arica on the coast at the northen end of Chile up to La Paz in Bolivia in 2005. It brings back fond memories of a great trip; my first into the mountains :-)
Barb, you will love Yeppoon - it's a fantastic event! I hope to do it again next year.
My attempt to self-diagnose the problem in my jaw Sunday week was w-a-y off the mark; a visit to both the dentist & doctor on Tuesday revealed that the primary cause of the problem was an ear infection but I also have a slight issue with my bite. I asked someone to take me out the back & shoot me but they refused. The ear infection meant that there was no swimming later in the week. It was, thankfully, a recovery week so it simply meant a slightly easier week than normal
Mon: after last Friday's walk/shuffle debacle, I decided to leave the watch at home during today's walk/shuffle and run all the downhills, some of the flats, none of the uphills / inclines / false flats & generally not beat myself up over how much, or how little, I ran. Needless to say, I was in a much better head space when I returned home. As much as I am struggling to get back my "run fitness", I need also to remember that I haven't run since July 2008 - yep, almost 2 1/2 years now - so all my ligaments & tendons are going to take time to get back to full (run) strength. 45mins in total.
After work it was off to swim squad for about 2.5kms of torture. I wasn't pushing myself as much as I probably should have been but it was still a hard session. I say "about" 2.5km because I lost count when the hard efforts started. And then the bungy cords come out.. :-O The session also left me thinking that perhaps my tooth problem was in fact an ear infection because I couldn't put my ear plug in because my ear was a bit swollen nor could I rest my swimming cap on my ear (like I normally do). Turns out I was right :-)
Tue: back on the bike this morning for another windtrainer session, this time the "Suffer-O-Rama" Spinervals DVD. Certainly a case of false advertising with this DVD; it says it goes for 45min but in fact went for 53min. But there was no false advertising in its name; there was plenty of suffering. 21.8km. Av. 24.8km. Av.HR 143. Spent what felt like the rest of the day either waiting for, or seeing, both a doctor and dentist.
Wed: 60min pilates w/ Carly. She has given me the ok to (slowly) increase the duration of the shuffling component of my walk / shuffles. Someone needs to tell my aerobic fitness that...
Thu: rest. I had planned to get up for a run but I've been feeling very tired this week (not surprising given that my body is fighting off my ear infection) so I turned off the alarm & went back to sleep.
Fri: A day off work to celebrate one year since the best day of my life...
But before the celebrating could start, there was hard work to do; a 2.5hour ride which, due to Sydney's inclement weather, was spent in the garage on the windtrainer with R & Coach Troy to keep me company. If anything this session gave me an excuse to go buy more Coach Troy Spinervals DVDs; if only so that I had an aerobic/base building type DVD which was more appropriate to replicate a long ride rather than the torturous one we did which was full of (hard) efforts & intervals. Finished with 53.3km in 2:15 for 23.7k/h av. Then it was off to Lilianfels at Katoomba for a lovely weekend
Sat: rest
Sun: after returning from the mountains, I was feeling rather guilty about the amount of food I consumed. So - while it wasn't on my program - I took myself off the gym after we arrived home. I figured that after 2 days of laying around eating, drinking, sleeping, talking, reading, eating & drinking, I was sufficiently recovered. 45min strength session.
Mon: another enjoyable (approx.) 45min walk/shuffle this morning sans-watch. The only time I have gone without Garmin Elektra over the last 4 years has been on those rare occasions when I forgot to charge her or she refused to play. So it's rather liberating to train without her reminding me of how slow I run (or ride for that matter).
Then it was off to swim squad after work for session with James (B+) today. 2.85km in total including quite a bit of speedy stuff. I think that maybe, just maybe, I might be getting closer to that place where I left my swimming form after Yeppoon. The fitness is still lacking but it's slowly returning.
The training this week isn't too heavy due to being entered in the enticer race (250m/10km/2.5km) at the Nepean Triathlon event on Saturday. The distance hardly seems worth getting out of bed for. But it's a bit special for me. It's hard to believe but this will be my first race of any kind in which me, myself & I will do the whole event AND cross the finish line since July 2008. Yep, almost 2.5 years. I'm a bit nervous; not about the race itself but about how my hip will pull up afterwards. Keep your fingers crossed for me please! Edit: as an aside, I know 2.5km is very far but let's just say I have't run 2.5km non-stop yet. Probably only half that. So it will be a true walk/shuffle during the race!
MTD:
Swim: 5.35km
Bike: 75.1km
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)