5....

I have a feeling I have miscounted the weeks until the ride. There is a reason I am a lawyer & not an accountant...

Wow. What a week it has been. I'm (almost) sick of the sight of food - and it's not even Christmas yet - and I'm exhausted. So just another typical lead in to Christmas basically ....

It's hard to believe that I forgot to mention anything in my previous post ;-) I did! I dropped my bike (aka Javier, Spartacus, Tenzing depending on my mood) in at the best bike shop in the world for a service after my ride last Sunday as he has been acting a little strangely lately. Turns out he had reason to be grumpy. My handle bar was bent quite significantly. The right hood (the top of the brake for the non-cyclists out there) was about 5cm lower than the left one. No wonder I've been getting a few aches & pains in my right leg recently :-O

Mon: 25mins walk/shuffle. As its been almost 2 weeks since my last walk/shuffle I decided to be sensible & take the short loop today. What little run fitness I had has certainly disappeared now. At lunch it was off to the pool for a 2.3km swim which included 6 x 200m at 70% then 4 x 100m at 80%. The additional spare tyre I seem to be carrying around my waist at the moment certainly has improved my buoyancy and body position in the water. Unfortunately it couldn't save my arms falling off during the 100m efforts...

To round out the day, I walked the 2.5km from my office to the ANZ Stadium at Homebush where I met R to attend the U2 concert :D

Tue: 14mins R&R (recovery & regen). I really wanted to do a strength session - not only do I lurve them but I also hate some changes in my body that I have noticed since my sessions have been inconsistent. However the rational side of my brain accepted that tired legs & less than 5 hours sleep is a sign the mind may be willing but the body is not. Yah for me for listening to my body!

Wed: (unscheduled) rest day. Stuffed up my train & therefore missed my last ever session with Carly. I am very sad to see her heading back to Perth :-( I did however manage to get to the bike shop in time to pick up Javier et al from the bike shop with a straight handle bar (yippee!) as well as get a much needed massage trying to straighten out my poor body after riding a wonky bike for so long.

Thu: 25mins brick session consisting of 20mins easy spin on the bike, quick shoe change then a 4 mins mostly downhill run (which is no doubt the only reason I managed to run for 4 mins straight).

Fri: rather than go to work, I called the office & told them I wouldn't be coming in, and instead spent the morning sightseeing in the Blue Mountains with my 'baby' brother, his g/f and their friend who arrived from Canada for Christmas on Thursday. After walking half way down, and then back up, the stairs at Wentworth Falls and having a steak sandwich for lunch, it suddenly occurred to me that it probably wasn't the best way to prepare for the Club Tri later in the evening - oh well. Turns out it works for me.

The club race started at 5pm. I again did the 'enticer' distance; this time 250m swim / 10k bike / 2 km run. There are no (official) splits for each of the legs but my official finishing time was 37:14.

I had a reasonably good swim; I looked up at one stage & could see heaps of people ahead of me which left me thinking that I was swimming slowly (which is what I do at the start of my normal (pool) swims). Apparently I wasn't as my watch read 4:32 as I got out of the water - about 30sec faster than during the Nepean enticer last weekend. The bike leg was largely uneventful except for when Mini Mango overtook me and I went into a mental meltdown for about 5mins. I can't begin to tell you how much it gets up my nose given how little she rides; something I know I need to work on as she is only going to get faster as she is starting to train seriously ;-) The run hurt my lungs; I must have been up above 90% the whole time. But I did manage to run a whole kilometre without stopping to walk. It is probably the first time I have done that during this comeback. I have a l-o-n-g way to go before the HIM in May though....

Sat: "rest" (if you consider Christmas shopping, a facial, a guest for afternoon tea & then dinner at a local restaurant with my family, a "rest")

Sun: A l-o-n-g day. A 5hr ride on my program today & no company so I set off on my own just before 6am for the Cobbity / Greendale loop. Within 15mins I had managed to ride over, and impale in my rear wheel, a 4 inch nail in my rear tyre. Time to change my tyres I think...

Otherwise it was an uneventful ride which actually seemed to pass quite quickly. I am feeling a bit frustrated by my riding at the moment. I am still seeing 21-21k/h on the same parts of the Northern Rd & 8-9k/h on the same hills on Cobbity that I was seeing at the start of the year. I am certainly getting fitter & I am building up more endurance. But it isn't translating to increased speed. Grrrrr. Anyhoo, it turned out to be my longest ride ever both in time & distance; 113.9km in 5:07 (22.2k/h)

Then it was off to the Bon Jovi concert at the SFS with my mum. I had thought that my legs would be protesting this given we were 'seated' in the mosh pit & I knew that we would be standing for much of it. We ended up standing for the entire 2.5 hour show. But I discovered that 2.5hrs on your feet dancing along to the music is a perfect way to keep the blood flowing through your legs; my legs feel fantastic! None of the 'dead legs' I experienced after last week's ride!

Mon: no run this morning; stayed up too late talking & raiding the mini-bar with Mum at the Sir Stamford Hotel at Circular Quay where we stayed after the show :-) Swim squad after work. I stopped counting the distance somewhere in the torturous laps where Michael was breaking down butterfly & *trying* to teach us. Let's say 2km for the sake of it. Did I mention it was torture??

Tue: rest

An easy week ahead before TA & I head off to tri camp in Victoria next week. Feeling very nervous about the whole thing, particularly about seeing the hills that are part of the Alpine Classic course :-O

MTD:
Swim: 3.45km
Bike: 298.7km