LG

Just back from a wonderful 4 days on Brampton Island.



It wasn't all buffet meals, cocktails by the ocean and 8 course degustation meals. We swam, sea kayaked over to a neighbouring island which was actually very hard work thanks to a strong current and walked the very hilly 8.9k of trails through the national park around the island.

I've come back feeling very rested, relaxed & ready to get stuck into my work & training - oh, and engaged, extremely happy & planning an island wedding in about 2 years time :-D







LG

Another week, another holiday :-)

Another good week of training. I love consistent - not to mention, injury free -training !

Monday
AM - headed into FF in the city for my 7am meeting with my new PT for a short fitness assessment (yikes!) & to have a chat about my injuries & goal races. I'm impressed so far. He's very keen to speak with & work closely with my physio - man I love it when health providers work together! Afterwards I did my usual physio-ordered gym session.

Tuesday
AM - 20mins walk + 10mins run. Unlike last Tuesday, I actually did this session at a more even pace so it didn't hurt so much. I've got a long way to go but gee it's nice to out there watching the sunrise again.

PM - back to the pool for another scenic 1.55k swim. I felt reasonably good in the water - a bit unco to start with but I eventually got into the swing of things

Wednesday
Massage this morning. Otherwise it became a rest day. I had a ride scheduled for the evening but as I'm out of the office for the next 5 days (thanks to a 2 day conference + holiday), work had to take precedence today :-(

Thursday
AM - back into the gym this morning for a 12:30min run on the treadmill - my longest in almost 5 months! - before my first (60mins) PT session. Yikes. It was bloody hard work - my legs, chest, back & core all felt like jelly afterwards. But I know that the hard work will quickly pay off. Thankfully I got to sit on my butt at a conference for the rest of the day!

I have a 56mins interval session on Betty tomorrow (Friday) morning. Then after work tomorrow night, its off to a hotel in the city for the night before an early flight on Saturday to Brampton Island. TA has kindly cleared the training program for the time I am away so I can do as much - or as little - as I like. Bring on the cocktails :-)

Hot, hot, hot

Man, it was hot this weekend. And tiring!

Friday night, I crawled into bed after 12am after having to deal with a few emails from a client in the UK. Fortunately I was able to get out of the conference call that was proposed for 3pm UK time - 2am here !

Saturday
AM - after a mini sleep-in, I went out for a 20min walk and 7:30min run. It's getting easier each day!

PM - a 1.9k swim including 8 x 50m hard and 6 x 25m flatout. Yikes. I have to admit that I was dreading this session. I had forgot to put sunscreen on before leaving home so took the sensible, skin-friendly approach of doing this session in the indoor 25min pool. This had the added benefit of being a tri swim simulation as I had kids trying to dart across the lane ahead - or under - me. I only got kicked once. And kicked once :-)

After a quick shower, it was down to the Regatta Centre to watch the Mini Mango make her triathlon debut! Between you & me, I think her dad was more nervous than she was.

Sunday
After a terrible sleep, I was really dragging my feet this morning as we headed back down to the Regatta Centre (thankfully it's less than 5mins from home!), this time to watch R do the Nepean Tri and catch up with family & friends. It was bloody hot down there - combined with the flies in plague proportion, it wasn't the most comfortable morning for cheering. Still, we had fun as always!

Once again, I didn't have enough to eat during the day (something I did on Saturday as well) so we left while the presentation ceremony was on as my blood sugar level had plummeted. Even after a bowl of pasta & a crumpet with honey, I felt like curling up & having a nana nap. But I didn’t - I headed for the Glenbrook National Park with Apollo for my long ride. It was hot, humid & still in the park - ick! I spent 90min on the Oaks & Red Hands fire trails. I took it pretty easy – my energy levels were still pretty low & I’m still getting used to handling the MTB on the varying surfaces – not to mention disc brakes.

Off to bed now. I’m feeling pretty shattered & I have a PT session in the city at 7am tomorrow. Yawn.

Juggernaut

Just keeps rolling along - happy days :-)

Monday
Rest

Tuesday
AM - 20mins walk + 7:30mins run. Man, it was hard work. Probably because I suspect I started a wee bit too fast. But gosh it's nice to be out & running before dawn again!
PM - massage at lunch. Then gym session + a (scenic) 1.4k swim including 10 x 100m efforts with variable rests. The swim was pretty ugly. I felt like the wheels were turning but I wasn't making any forward progress - in fact, I may have been going backwards. Though I didn't have much to eat in the afternoon which probably didn't help the case.

Wednesday
AM - interval session on Betty (6 x 2min hard/1min spin) before work. Talk about dead legs.

Thursday
AM - headed out for a (scenic) 20mins walk around beautiful Rooty Hill and - wait for it - 10mins run! My longest run in over 4 months now - woohoo! But geez, I'm unfit. I've certainly lost my running fitness - thankfully I know it will come back quickly :-D

I saw the physio at lunch today. He is really pleased with how things are progressing. I've got the ok to increase the distances and big plans to shake up the strengthening work (which I'm really excited about - I'm a weights junkie at heart) so I've joined FF & am meeting with a PT on Monday.

Friday
AM - 40mins tempo ride on Betty.
PM - gym session

Thanks to a few belated donations, I've now raised $1,470 for MS Australia as part of the Gong ride which has more than exceeded my 'lofty' goal. I don't suppose anyone wants to make a further contribution & push it over $1,500?? I'm persistent, I know ;-)

One week tomorrow until Brampton Island - woohoo !

Lest we forget

Thank you to everyone for your comments! Well I pulled up very well after last Sunday's adventure - no DOMs, no niggles. Happy days :-)

I sat down yesterday & worked on my goals for the next few months. It's a rather eclectic mix of trail runs, triathlons, open water swims, "aquathons", adventure races and MTB races. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life !

This week was a recovery week. I love them - especially when they involve 2 long boozy client lunches (one of which ended at 6.30pm!) and 3 dinners with family & friends. Yikes. Let's just say it's probably safe to assume that I've more than made up for the calories I burned through last Sunday ;-)

Monday
PM - easy (scenic) 20min swim with flippers

Wednesday
AM - up at 4.45am for a 45mins walk(!) to stretch out my legs. I don't think the weather has actually any warmer than it was the last time I was outdoors exercising at 5am - in July!

Friday
AM - up early again for an easy 30mins spin on Betty. Had a physio appointment but had to reschedule due to work

Saturday
AM - sleep-in :-)
PM - gym session followed by a 1.4k swim in a rather refreshing pool thanks to all the rain we've had this week !

Sunday
AM - first up was a sleep-in then a (scenic) 20min walk + 5mins run. Then after breakfast, the time had come to dust off Apollo, get off the bitumen & hit the trails again - woohooooooo ! I spent a very enjoyable 75mins working on my non-existent MTB skills along the Oaks Fire Trail & the Nepean Lookout trail in the Glenbrook National Park. And before anyone asks, no I haven't ridden down - then up - the causeway.

Yet ;-)

Sydney to the Gong - 90k ride report

First & foremost, thanks again to everyone who donated money. Ultimately we raised $1,245 for a very worthwhile cause ! Secondly, thanks to everyone for your SMS' and emails over the last few days before the event - it meant alot!

To finish this ride has been a goal of mine for the last couple of months - though it has only been in the last 8 weeks or so that I've been out on the road. Before that, I hadn't been on the bike outdoors since my Six Foot training! Needless to say, I had a bit of work to do... Time is and was always irrelevant. I only wanted to relax, enjoy and finish this event - an event I've wanted to do for a few years - smiling. Which I did :-)



I started to get very nervous about doing this ride when it started raining on Friday. Thanks to Sydney's drought, I had never actually ridden on wet roads, let alone in the rain. But by the time I was in bed and listening to the thunder, lightening and heavy rain on Saturday night not far from the start line, I couldn't help but laugh.

Our team, "2 Mangos & A Brownie" - which actually consisted of Mango, Nando, Brother Mango, his mate & myself - set out just after 7am in light rain.



Brother Mango & his mate quickly took off as they needed to be back in Sydney early but the rest of the team - R, Nando & myself - rode the whole way together. Thanks for the great company boys & for keeping an eye out for me the whole way.



I took it very, very carefully on the wet, crowded roads to start with. Despite the very crowded conditions over the first 10k, almost everyone was very considerate & mindful of those around them & stuck to the rules which allowed me to settle in & get used to handling Betty in the conditions very quickly. The rain got quite heavy at one stage - which I found hysterical - but by the time we got to Brighton a touch of blue sky could be seen in the sky to the south & the sun had just started to poke out from behind the clouds. By the time we got to our first stop at Loftus (26k), the sun was out, the roads were almost dry & the choc chip muffin hit the spot !

Back on the road and the climb to Waterfall gave me a big confidence boost. I rode this section very comfortably, overtaking lots of people who were clearly (and loudly) struggling with the hill. We had to stop and wait for about 5-10mins at Waterfall station due to the numbers of people converging on the tight & narrow drop down in the Royal National Park. I was really nervous about riding this hill and rode my brakes heavily the whole way. Let's just say that we'll be checking the brake pads before I ride Betty again ;-) I have to say that while I was passed by lots of people who were flying down the hill, 99% of them announced that there were passing which was very reassuring.

The ride through the Royal National Park was gorgeous - perhaps my favourite part of the ride. The rolling hills combined with the sun streaking through the trees overhanging the road made this section an absolute delight. The climb back out of the park wasn't so delightful. I had been warned that this was perhaps one of the toughest sections of the ride - they weren't kidding. I was in my granny gear early & worried that I was going to run out of puff - but I didn't. Just kept grinding away and overtaking lots of people, some of whom were walking their bikes up the hill. However the view from the top of Stanwell Tops more than made up for the tough climb.

We continued onto Bald Hill (56k) where we made our second stop for a banana, some water & to take in the incredible view.



Back on the bike and the last 30k turned out to be the toughest section - lots of short, sharp, steep hills which kept coming most of the way to the Gong. Riding over the Seacliff Bridge was a particular highlight through this section.



Unfortunately the course is short - only 84k - but didn't damper my spirits. My folks had planned to pick us up from the finish, though I certainly wasn't expecting them to be at the finish. But there they were:-)





After lunch in the sun, it was into the car with my folks & and the Brothers Mango for the entertaining drive home (man, it's a long way to Wollongong!). A long shower, yummy dinner & glass of vino to celebrate rounded out a fantastic day!

I've pulled up incredibly well today. While I'm sleepy tired & my legs are a bit fatigued, I have no DOMS. And before anyone answers, no my butt isn't sore either !

Thanks to Coach TA and to my domestiques ;-) for a great day.

So what's next? An easy recovery week & then its time to set a few new and scary goals. How exciting !

Edit: some of my official photos are here !

Rain rain go away....

First up, the month that was October -

S: 10k
C: 213k*
R: um, ask me at the end of November :-)

The bike total only includes my weekend long rides. For some reason my cadence sensor isn't picking up speed so I don't know the distance covered during my mid-week, indoor sessions - the actual total must be over 300k.

Overall, October was a very busy month for me on the work front so I missed alot of sessions :-( Still, it was my second consecutive month of training sans-injury (which I've never done before) so I'm mighty happy right now :-)

An easy 30min spin on Betty in front of the telly this morning to turn the legs over one final time before the big day. I love carb loading :-)

Looking forward to the rain clearing, the roads drying out & giving my domestiques a run for their money on the hills on Sunday ;-P

Thank you

Less than 2 weeks ago I wrote -

"I've set myself the goal of raising $1,000 - a HUGE task given the race is only 2 weeks away but hey, what's life without lofty goals :-) "

Thank you for helping me achieve my 'lofty goal'. Together with donations promised but not yet made, we passed the $1,000 mark today. I have heard from so many people whose family have been affected by MS. I will be thinking of them, and the generosity of all of you who have donated, as I power up the hills on Sunday.

Countdown...

Only 4 days to go before you'll miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sponsor me to do the TdG for MS :-) Ok, so it's more likely to be a yearly event rather than a once-in-a-lifetime event but you don't want to miss out do you? :-) Just in case you missed it, donations can be made here!.

Thank you soooooo much to everyone who has donated so far. Together with a few more promised-but-yet-to-be-made donations, I'm up to $865 which is a sensational result - but I think we can do a little better. It is, after all, only $135 short of my goal of $1,000. And it's tax deductible. C'mon on - help me out here. You know you want to :-)

Monday
PM - gym session + 7:30 run + a scenic 1.5k swim followed by the most important element of any session in the pool - practicing my (underwater) handstands & backflips :-)

Tuesday
Rest. I've had a mini-niggle in my left quad (ITB related I think) since Monday morning. Unfortunately I had to cancel my massage due to work (again) so I'll have to sort it out with a rolling pin & butt plug myself (ouch).

Wednesday
AM - 27mins session on Betty in front of the telly at 4.45am today with lots of short, sharp efforts.

Getting nervous now...

Blunt force trauma

I love Rocky movies. And recovery weeks.

Friday
AM - up at 4.30am (!) for a 45min session on Betty including 2 x 10mins AT. Ouch

Saturday
AM - 20mins walk + 5mins run (road)
PM - a scenic 1k swim

Sunday
AM - long ride.

A recovery week so only 2hrs was on the plan today. Finished with 45.43k in about 2:10. Felt very strong on the hills but feeling v. nervous about next week. Taper time.

You've got to be kidding me...

Not happy J(e)n. In fact I'm rather annoyed & pissed off.

Have just discovered my goal race for 2008 (Xterra to be held in Vic) is on the same weekend as R's goal race for 2008 (Port Mac IM).

So Six Foot is out & now Xterra is out. Great.

Tour de Canberra

Woohoo!! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far money to the Tour de Gong for MS. We are up to $295 so far which is wonderful!!! Keep it coming :-D

Unfortunately, my grrrrrr week at work last week continued so much so that the week was pretty much a write off so far as my training is concerned. Missed 2 x swims, Friday's ride, 1 run, 1 gym session & too many physio-ordered exercises to count. As I said, Grrrrrrr. I am beginning to think that my lifestyle isn't particularly conducive to training in multi-sport events which annoys me immensely. But life is now so I will continue to persevere & take every available opportunity to get some training done.

Friday
PM - gym session + 5:30 run + (supposedly) daily physio ordered exercises

Saturday
AM - daily physio ordered exercises.

Sunday
AM - 3hr 15min long ride - last long ride before recovery & taper weeks

Today's route was courtesy of the Brothers Mango Cycling Tours who took me on a tour of Canberra. Although the distance was down from last week due to hills & (particularly over the last hour) traffic lights, it was the longest amount of time I have ever spent on a bike. We basically did a big loop around Canberra - from north of town along the Federal Highway, past the War Memorial, Mt Ainslie, ADFA, the National Art Gallery, Old Parliament House, (new) Parliament House, the Lodge, Government House, Canberra zoo, Black Mountain etc. Thanks for the guided tour boys! I made it (almost) half the way up Mt Ainslie before pulling the pin just before my heart was about to explode. I can't wait to get Apollo & his granny gears down there to see how much further up it I can go....



We also spent some very productive time over the weekend working on an anthem for our team for the Gong ride (2 Mangos A Brownie - our team name had a 'lost in translation' moment). Let's just say it's a work in progress. And no, there was no alcohol involved ;-)

Thinking about my ride I can hear Ellie in my mind doing her Little Britain impersonation ...."I'm a laaaaady". After peeing behind a bush in one of the parks in the centre of Canberra because the toilets were locked (something I would never have contemplated doing prior to my trip to Nepal!), spitting out a mouthful of water because I had swallowed a bug and coming home with a grease covered calf, I'm not sure that either of the Brothers Mango think I am anymore ;-)

Monday
Work-related rest day for the start of a recovery week

Tuesday
PM - massage + 6min run + gym session + scenic 1.2k swim. Nice !

Wednesday
AM - easy 30mins spin on Betty in front of the telly. Thanks to the fact it is a recovery week, I got to sleep in until, wait for it, 5am - woohoo ;-)

Only 10 days until the Gong ride. OMG !

Le Tour de Gong

I (finally) entered the Gong ride this morning and later sent this email out to some of my friends & family -

Hello all :-)

As some of you know, I have decided to do the Sydney to Gong ride in 2 weeks time. For those of you who don't know, it's 90kms. Yes, that's right. 90kms. On a bike. OMG !

Anyhoo, this is a fundraising event for MS Australia so I encourage everyone to sponsor me :-) I had absolute no idea that the average age of diagnosis of MS is 30 (!) and 5 people are diagnosed every day. Besides, knowing that there is money on the line might be the only thing that stops me from climbing off the bike & curling up in a foetal position and sucking my thumb by the side of the road somewhere between here & the Gong ;-)

I've set myself the goal of raising $1,000 - a HUGE task given the race is only 2 weeks away but hey, what's life without lofty goals.

J x

Donations can be made HERE!

Ugly

Another one of those weeks so far I'm afraid. Grrrr

Monday
Rest day. Up to Brisvegas & back for work. 17 hours working & travelling does not a very restful rest day make. Eventually got home at 10.15pm. Nice.

Tuesday
Gave myself a sleep-in this morning until, wait for it, 6.45am. How sad. Unfortunately I didn't get home from work until after 9.15pm so another rest day thanks to work. Grrrrr.

Wednesday
AM - finally some movement. 40mins session on Betty at c100-110 at 4.45am. Given my pedalling style is more Ulrich than Armstrong, it was tough.

PM - home from work at 8.30pm so Monday's swim/gym session is officially a write off. Grrrrrrrr.

Not happy Jan.

Found - 1 pair of VMOs !

For the first time in my life, I have discovered my VMOs!! Woohoo. I don't think you can quite understand how exciting this is unless you are a woman who has (had) a bad Q angle & who was struggled with hip & ITB problems for years. I know Lulu will understand :-)

Saturday
AM - long ride - 61.76k in 2:41 (aver 23.0k/h)

I have been feeling a bit nervous about the Gong ride at the moment. Today's ride was a huge - and much needed - confidence boost for me :-)

It was very cool out on the M7 bike path this morning in the shade. Thankfully I was able to borrow R's arm warmers so I didn't freeze to death. The first 20-30mins were pretty rough as my quads reminded me of the torture I inflicted on them on Thursday. But slowly & surely we picked up the pace. It's amazing the difference that the last 2-3 weeks of consistent training has produced - I felt really strong & fit today climbing the nasty hills out near Elizabeth Drive. The first time I rode up them on Betty (3 weeks ago now) I almost got off & walked! Happy days! I am however investigating putting a granny gear on Betty before the Gong ride - her lowest rear gear is a 23 - but I'm a bit undecided as to whether I'll need it...we'll see

Sunday
AM - after a sleep-in and following the big race at Kona - Macca & Crowie you bloody legends!! - I headed off to the pool. I have arranged a couple of private swimming lessons to work on my stoke. Given that it's been about 25 years since I last had formal instructions, I thought it was unlikely that my stroke was as effective & efficient as it could be ;-) The session was great & much to my surprise, she said my stroke was pretty good & gave me a few small things to work on.

Afterwards, I moved into the big pool for my 1.9k session keeping my new tricks in mind. I felt much better in the water than I did on Wednesday. From the pool it was into the gym for my 5min run on the tready followed by the usual gym session. Legs are feeling pretty stuffed now!

Off to Brisbane for work tomorrow & possibly Tuesday and then we are in Canberra next weekend for family stuff so my sessions over the coming week will have to be shuffled around. Again.

Permission to launch !

Friday
PM - 15min walk + 5min run + daily physio-ordered exercises

I saw the physio at lunch today. He's really happy with my progress & has given me to the ok to slowly crank up the running as of next week! Woohoo. So far as the daily exercises & gym sessions are concerned, he doesn't want to change it too much now due to the Gong ride only being 3 weeks away. But once that's over, the strength work will also have a serious overhaul & increase. Woohoo !

But don't worry, "crank" of course is a relative term. I'm under instructions to make a slow transition to running on the road again after running on the tready for a while & to make very conservative increases - around 10% each week - which means next week I get to run for a whole 1min 30sec longer, LOL ;-) Still, it's better than nothing- happy days!

Life is now

Right. In an effort to prevent my posts being longer & more boring than Ulysses, I'm going to try & post more regularly. Well, that's the plan anyway!

Work has been messing with my training plans - again. If anything this week has been a reminder to make the most of my training opportunities when they arise because work can become fn feral very quickly. But hey, that's life I suppose. Besides it's hard to be grumpy when you've just booked an escape to Brampton Island for a couple of days next month :-)

Monday
PM - gym session

Got stuck in the office so ran out of time to do both my gym session & swim so the gym session won. Then home to do the rest of my daily physio-ordered stuff

Tuesday
AM - up at 4.45am for a 40mins interval session on Betty.

On the menu today was lots of short & hard efforts. Ouchy. Turned out to be a feral day at work - unfortunately I had to cancel my (much-needed) massage & didn't get home from work until after 9.30 so catching up on Monday's (missed) swim was out of the question.

Wednesday
PM - gym session + 5mins run on the treadmill + 1k swim + daily physio-ordered stuff.

The swim was cr*p. It was supposed to be 1.4k including 2 x 500m efforts but I had absolutely nothing in the tank. It was a struggle even to do the 1k.

Thursday
AM - up at 4.30 to do 60mins on Betty in front of the telly off the seat with increased resistance to simulate hill climbing during the ad breaks.

Ouchy. Very ouchy so far as my quads were concerned. And let's just say tv viewing at 4.45am in the morning does not make for the most interesting hour. It was quite amusing actually. Thanks to the US morning shows today I learnt what handyman things around the house you should & shouldn't do yourself, how to disguise good healthy stuff in meals for your kids and how to potty train your children from 3mths old so they are "diaper-free". LOL Yep, all very helpful stuff ;-) Next time I'll be looking for a movie that we've taped with adds still in it...

Feeling very tired & fatigued now. Other than a physio appointment (which will include my 5mins run) tomorrow (Friday), nothing now until my long ride on Saturday. Good - I need some sleep.

She's back.....

I've decided October is the month that I pull my finger out & get back to running :-) No (more) excuses or laziness!

Wednesday
AM - up early (again) for an cadence-based interval session on Betty while watching part of Dirty Dancing - another of my favourite movies :-) Let's just say the session proved to be tougher than it appeared on paper!

PM - headed to the pool after work to do the 1.6k swim that I was supposed to do on Monday but was too lazy - um, I mean tired - to get out of bed to do. Despite the outdoor pool being much more 'refreshing' than the beautiful warm pool at Southport, I really enjoyed this swim. It was one of those times when it all comes together - my stroke stayed long even during the efforts and body roll was good (something I struggle with abit given that I was taught - many many moons ago - not to roll). Oh and it was scenic ;-) Happy days !

Thursday
PM - gym session (including 5mins run, woohoo!) then home to do my daily physio-ordered stuff & a baked dinner courtesy of mum :-)

Friday
AM - another interval session - 52mins in total - on Betty on the trainer. 8 x 3mins efforts hard with 1min spin recovery were on the menu today. Yikes. After last night's gym session my legs were just about ready to drop off by the end of the session.

Saturday
AM - long ride - 51.24k in 2:28 (aver 20.6km/hr)

I've never ridden on consecutive days but this week's events (principally Tuesday morning's flight & Sunday's plans) left me with little choice. So I made sure that I was properly recovered after Friday's session.

Though today was not my longest ride (either in time or distance), thanks to the conditions it was by far my toughest. We left Rooty Hill to head to the M7 bike path at about 10.45am. For a change of scenery, we headed north & turned around on the T1 bike path not far after the end of the M7 bike path. It was hot & still - ick! Not long after the turnaround the westerly arrived (too late for us to get the benefit of the tailwind). Nice - a strong head wind. And then it become a crosswind when we followed the bike path as it headed south. By the time we made the final turn for home somewhere beyond the chicken farm, there were really strong (cross) wind gusts which pushed the bike sideways toward the guard rail - ick. I've never ridden in conditions like that. It was a bit scary at times. I didn't care about the time or speed anymore, I just wanted to get back to the car in one piece.

Of course the weather gods hadn't finished with us yet & so decided to add a duststorm to the equation. About which time I'd had enough & yelled out (much to the amusement of R) "bring it on weather gods!". After getting home, I discovered that the bike legs in some of the races at the Club Teams Champs at the Regatta Centre in Penrith had been cancelled due to the wind. Wimps ;-)

Needless to say the fact that our average speed was down wasn't surprising. I had planned to head to the pool to do my long swim in the afternoon but was too stuffed after the ride so I will have to miss that session for the week.

PM: daily physio-ordered stuff

Sunday
4 weeks to the Gong ride. OMG. I'm really nervous about this. Not so much the distance but the hills.....man, I really hope I don't have to get off & push. How embarrassing that would be....

AM - 20mins walk including 5min run. Legs feelin very fatigued after yesterday's ride.
PM - daily physio-ordered stuff

Whose to say where the road will lead us...

Pipe, I guess I can't call myself a real bike rider yet then - because I had my left foot out at the time of the fall. Unfortunately for some reason my balance - and Betty - went right ;-)

Friday
AM - a 50mins hills session on Betty as planned at 4.30am. On the trainer again using a variety of 'grindy' gears for untimed intervals. My knee is a tender & bruised after Wednesday's spill but otherwise ok.

Saturday
No opportunity for a sleep-in I'm afraid. We got up early-ish (well, early for me on a Saturday) and headed for the Southport pool which was less than 10 mins walk from our gorgeous apartment for my long swim. 2k in the beautiful warm Qld sun was a perfect way to start the weekend. The sun was, however, a little too warm. I managed to get a bit burnt despite the fact that we were out in the sun for less than an hour & back at our apartment by 10am. Man, I hate fair skin.

After breakfast & a cruisy morning in our apartment, we headed off to race HQ so R could check his bike in. During the (long, hot) walk from the car to race HQ, I managed to stub my toe - badly - and produced even more blood than came out of my knee last week. While there is no (still) photographic evidence, we did manage to capture the mess on video :-) After we had some lunch & R checked his bike in, we met up with Miners at the expo (*waves*) and checked out the goodies in the expo & the bike porn in the compound. Nice. Very nice.

Sunday
Cheersquad duties on a bloody hot day - the temp was somewhere around 35 degrees! It was lovely to see Cirque & Owen (*waves*) who joined in the fun in the cheersquad with the rest of Team Mango. For once I actually tried to pay attention to what the competitors were doing, particularly in transition, rather than just perving - on the bikes of course ;-)

Despite being unable to run for the last 3 weeks due to a calf injury & riding about 25k without fluids after the aid stations ran out of water (wtf !), R had a great race & finished his first HIM in 5.23, 7mins inside his goal of 5.30. It was wonderful to see him out there looking strong & happy out there - even if he was a bit emo at the finish ;-) Congratulations mahal.

After the race it was back to the apartment (not to mention the air-conditioning) for a relaxing afternoon before Team Mango sat down to a wonderful dinner which may just become our traditional post-'goal race' celebratory dinner - pizza, fresh prawns, beer & wine. Oh, and ice cream :-) A great way to end a fantastic day.

Monday
Does spending the day at Dreamworld count as cross training?

I hope so. After being up at 4am on Sunday, I couldn't drag myself out of bed early enough to get my swim in first. Besides I must have been very close to my MHR on the Giant Drop. Oh. My. Gosh

Rest day today (Tuesday). Flew home on the 6am flight from the GC & went straight to work. Man, business class is even better after 4 hours sleep. Looking forward to getting to bed early tonight before getting up early tomorrow morning for a ride.

Bucking Betty

LOL ! Thanks for all your suggestions, much appreciated! A few of them have made the shortlist. For some reason, I'm finding NTR's suggestion of "Cheryl" very amusing (apologies to anyone named, or whose female relative is named, Cheryl). 2P, Artemis was the goddess of the hunt. Rather appropriate for a tri bike. However she did also have a thing for killing off men so I don't know if R will agree with that suggestion ;-) Will keep you posted on a decision which will probably be made after a few glasses of vino on Sunday night.

I've had a much better week work-wise. I've managed to do all my session so far this week (as opposed to only doing 1 from 5 last week). And I've managed to fry my butt by getting back into the physio-ordered stuff. I'm off to Queensland on Friday night for the long weekend - to join Team Mango as R does his first HIM - so I've had to shake up the training a bit this week to fit it all in.

Monday
AM - my maiden (indoor trainer) session on Betty - an AT session with 2 x 10mins AT efforts at 5am.

PM - a (scenic) 1.6k swim.

The fact it was scenic was about the only good thing about it. After 9 days out of the pool (I missed both sessions last week), I felt like I'd lost my 'feel' of the water. I completely forgot what set I was up to. And then I got stuck in a 'medium' lane with a woman practising her kicking sans-flippers. And then I got clipped by a man doing butterfly. I was in a rather ordinary mood by the time I'd finished. But after we got home, we turned on the telly to watch something while eating dinner & discovered a program on "Compass" about the situation of women in Afghanistan 5 years after the end of the Taliban regime. Anyone who thinks the position of women in Afghanistan has changed very much - or is likely to change any time soon - is kidding themselves. Talk about a reality check - a huge reminder of how lucky I am as a woman to be born in the west.

Tuesday
PM - massage + gym session (including 4mins run)

My hip has really improved recently. No niggles during the run & more importantly, none on the walk back to the car which is when it normally really affects me :-)

Wednesday
AM - a day off work (woohoo) and long ride - 49.09k in 2:08 (aver 22.9k/h)

After a sleep-in, I headed out on the M7 bike path with Betty for my long ride. I woke feeling tired & flat and given that it was my first time on a 'road bike', I decided to ignore speed & distance etc & just get used to handling her. So I took it easy, clipping in & out from time to time to wear the new cleats down a little, rode the brakes a bit going down hills (getting used to the difference between brake pads & disc brakes) and took it very carefully when cornering. I just basically had a play. However I wish that Betty had Apollo's lower gears - geez, it was hard work getting up the big hills.

Lance said it's not about the bike. Well, with all due respect Lance my boy, I think the bike makes a wee bit of difference. Today's ride was 2.5k/h faster than my last session on Apollo over largely the same course with, if anything, decreased effort. I wonder what will happen once I stop playing & start riding!

Betty the b*tch however is responsible for my first ever cleat stack - Apollo has never thrown me off before....



It actually look much more impressive than it really is. It's a bit smeared because the only thing I had to clean up the blood was my training program (sorry TA!)

Thursday
PM - 4mins run, LOL.

I went to the gym to do my usual gym session but my butt (Tuesday's gym session) and knee (yesterday) were too sore to do my eccentric exercises so I did my warm up, ran for 4mins on the treadmill & then went home to do my daily dose of physio-ordered stuff. I might even upgrade to 5 mins next week - woohoo - stay tuned ;-)

Tomorrow morning (Friday) I have a 50mins hills session on Betty before work. Then after work it's off to Queensland until Tuesday where the temperature forecast is in the high 20s for the next 4 days. Bring it on :- )