Week 7- The easter bunny comes this week

After a long day on the bike on Sunday I started the week feeling good.

My long run on Tuesday morning went really well. I have been running the same route every week. My first few weeks had  me reaching for a gel after only about 30 minutes as I hit the first hills through Ashgrove, however this week I got through 21 kms in 2hrs 10 (avg pace about 6:16min/km). My first couple of long runs my avg pace was closer to 6:35min/km and I covered about 16kms in 1:45.

Despite my running going well, I started to notice a few niggles in my feet, which if my past experience had anything to go by signalled more trouble in the way of plantar facitis.  I have averaged about 50kms per week over the past 2 weeks.   I have been careful to get back into my trigger point therapy. This stuff works really well in treating areas of tightness. 

I decided to do a windtrainer session instead of Cootha's on Wednesday morning so I had a bit more time at home to do some stretches. 1hr:15min on the windtrainer in the big ring on the front and smallest ring on the back is a tough set. I did 3 mins on, 2 minutes off 10 times through followed by warm down.

On Thursday morning I got through another 10kms at Robson's run session and also put in a good session at the pool on Thursday night. Coach Brad had told me to focus on pulling through further in the last part of my stroke. Thursday was a good opportunity to practise this as I wasn't feeling as tired as I was on Tuesday nights swim.

It was nice to have a bit of break from work with the easter long weekend. I did an easy river loop on Friday morning, then headed up to Mum and Dad's at Maleny.

Brett and got up early and did 2 hours of riding around Maleny on Saturday morning finishing in town with coffee and fruit toast. It was a glorious day to be up in the hinterland, the weather was mild and the view of the glasshouse mountains was stunning.  As I was feeling like I was coming down with a cold, I abandoned my plans to do an open water swim in the dam at Maleny on Saturday afternoon and slept for about 3 hours. ( I must have needed it).

Brett and I spent the day with Dad, whilst Mum and my sister Megan went out for the day. Unfortunately Dad can't really be left at home on his own so it was nice for Mum to have a few hours out of the house without having to worry. 

Dad was in pretty good sprints and we all went out for lunch to a nice winery just outside of Montville.   It is not until you have spent sometime with someone needing wheel chair access that you realise how difficult it is for people with disabilities.  We turned up at the restaurant to find that the only disabled park was taken ( by an able bodied person who happened to walk out just as we were unloading Dad from the car).  They did look mildy embarrassed when they saw us there.

It was nice to see Dad in a more positive place. My past few visits have been very emotional and weigh heavily on my mind. At least Dad is starting to come to terms with his situation and hopefully looking for the highlights in his life.

My Sunday ride was supposed to be 5.5hrs, plus 30 min run off the bike.  I had been feeling a bit off with a cold, so decided to set out and see how I went. Brett dropped me down the range outside Bli Bli and  I rode to Coory via Noosa then back to Maroochydore on the David Low way.  I felt like the stuffing had been knocked out of me so I decided to stop on 4.5hrs and still do my run off the bike.  I still managed to cover 120kms.For those who have done the Noosa tri course, coming down the Noosa hill is way more fun than going up.  The hill is about a 10% gradient, challenging enough but not unbearable.  As I was passing through Noosa I spotted Belinda Granger and her husband out for a training run.  That was a nice bit of motivation. Belinda looked like she was running well.

After I finished my ride/run Brett and I had fish and chips and then headed back to Brisbane.  I love the sense of achievement I feel on Sunday afternoons. I regard the long rides on Sunday as the toughest session of the week ( mainly just the mental focus to sit on the bike for that amount of time). I always allow myself to indulge in a treat of gelati and few pieces of dark chocolate after one of these sessions (don't tell Sally Gerrard my dietitian...) Although over the Easter weekend I did have quite a bit of chocolate which I sure will be a great source of fuel for the half IM at Port Macquarie next weekend. Thats what I keep telling myself anyway!!!

Week 8- Not long to go now

I started the second week of my 3 week strength block feeling good. 

My long run on Tuesday saw me cover 20kms in just over 2 hours.  I was lucky enough to run into Shane one of my fellow BTS squaddies who is also training for Cairns. We ran the last half an hour or so together. I now feel more confident about my run at the half at Port Mac 70.3 in 2 weeks time. I know my bike and swim have got heaps stronger but I had not really been doing much in the way of longer runs over 1hr 45 initially due to concerns with plantar facitis.

The Tuesday night swim session really tested me. Coach Brad had us doing some speed work building upto 6 X 50's at 100% effort. Feeling a bit fatigued from the morning run it was a mental challenge to hold the faster sets however I still managed to swim my 50's on 45secs at the end of the session.

On Wednesday morning I was back riding with my old friend Mt Cootha. I set myself the challenge of completing 5 reps this week up the quarry side. It is amazing that a month ago I was only just managing 4 in the same amount of time. So I now can really see the fitness gains. 

One of the challenges of IM training is still making an appearance at social events. I didn't want to miss a birthday dinner for Merinda on Wednesday night. I didn't get to bed until nearly 11 which only gave me 5 or so hours sleep.

I enjoyed my Thursday run session at Robson's squad run. Its a  mix of some speed work and a long warm up/warm down which saw me cover 10kms in just under the hour.

Despite a strong start to the week I was really starting to feel the pinch towards the end of the week. The heat has been turned up and work and I ended up staying back on Thursday night until after 7 meaning I missed my Thursday night swim. I was beginning to feel like I was coming down with something so I decided to take the day off training on Friday and miss the wind trainer set.  I fell into bed at 7:30 on Friday night  feeling exhausted and slightly unwell.  It appeared to be  wise decision to take Friday off training as I woke up on Saturday and did my usual 3km swim, 1hr 30 min bike.  Whilst I am not one for missing sessions ( I have been very consistent at sticking to my program sometimes you have listen to your body and not push through.

I was feeling good so I finally got around to doing an easy 30 min run on Saturday night. It is down as an optional run on my program however I have never got around to it/ or been too tired.

One other thing that has been worrying me is the choice of wheels to run at Cairns. Brett bought me a set of zipp 404's. My big stress was changing the tyre. So many people had said to me "oh tubular's are tricky, you sure you really want to take the risk". Anyway Brett talked me through the process and I have to say if the tyre is pre-stretched and pre-glued it really is quite easy to change and much easier than a clincher.  Of course pit stop is the first solution. However I am going to carry a razor blade to cut the tyre off just case I need to change it and I can't break through the glue.

My tyre changing skills were tested this morning. I left home at 5am with the aim of doing a river loop before meeting the red dog girls group for a ride at 7. My training buddy Jac was away for the weekend so I didn't want to ride by myself for the whole 5.5 hours. Well 5 minutes after rolling down Cootha I got a flat. Thankfully it was close to a street light. I really struggled because the tyre was brand new ( Brett had replaced it the previous day) and I couldn't get it to stretch to the last part of the wheel. Despite about 20 cyclists asking if I need help I was determined to manage it on my own. Eventually I sorted it but my thumb has a nice blister from pushing on the tyre. It also took me close to 40 minutes to finally sort it.  I can be very stubborn and determined when I want to be and I wasn't going to let the tyre win!!!'

The group ride took me out to Samford via Settlement Rd. It was good as a few of the girls were much stronger riders than me so it pushed me a bit pick up the pace through the hills. Given my delays in the morning, I ended up needing to do another 2hours 30 mins to make up my ride time.  I did an extended river loop and despite taking on extra nutrition I need a bakery stop to get me home. Who's complaining about fresh hot cross buns.

 Today was my first run off the bike after a long bike. Running after 5.5hours on the bike is way different to running after an Olympic distance ride.  I got home and almost stumbled out the front door. However I kept at it and started to feel better after about 10 minutes. We live in very hilly area so I was faced with an uphill run for the first part of the run. I managed to maintain the same average pace as my long run so I was happy enough with that. The 30 minutes went fairly quickly.  This week has seen me clock up 50kms of running. Thankfully the body is holding up- so far so good.

One more week of this strength block then, I have a recovery week before and after Port 70.3. I really looking forward to racing at Port. It will be a good chance to test out  my race planning for Cairns.

Week 9- We are into single figures now

Week 9 the commencement of my next strength block of 3 weeks.  I am starting to get a better routine happening and found that I was less tired this week.

On Monday I ran home from work via Ashgrove. Not the flattest run I could choose so I got through about 7 kms in 45 mins.

Tuesday morning was my usual long run. Again I ran into work and covered about 16kms in 1hr 45.  The run felt good and to date no real niggles.

 I have found doing training in my commuting time gives me more time at home/work. It just requires a bit more organisation. I need to take a couple of days clothes with me on Monday.  I end up looking like a pack horse but that is nothing unusual.  My work colleagues are also getting used to the sight of me in Lycra in the morning!! What a way to start the day.... They on a whole think I am nuts anyway with all this training.

I am gradually seeing my bike fitness improving. I managed 4 1/2 reps of Mt Cootha for my Wednesday morning ride in the same time as it took me to do 4 the previous weeks.

Thursday morning saw me back at Robson's run session.  It was a great hit out. Robson sent myself and Krista ( who is doing Port IM in a few weeks time) plus a few others training for marathons over winter off for a longer warm up run. We then had to do some 1km race pace efforts.  I was amazed the first couple I was jogging along chatting at just over 5min/km pace. It felt easy!!! We then dropped down to 4:45 min/km pace for the next few. With all the long slow runs I have being doing and  I wasn't sure I would manage much speed work. Whilst this is quite a bit faster than I am expecting to run the marathon ( more like 6:30min/km pace) it certainly gave me a bit more confidence to see what I can do on race day. I covered close to 10kms in just under an hour for the session.

I missed swimming on Thursday night ( One of only a few sessions I have missed over the past 11 weeks) but I just couldn't fit it in any other time!!

Friday morning was a indoor windtrainer session.  I am still not great at setting up the windtrainer. Things got off to a bad start when Blair noticed I had not put the feet down properly on the floor ( that could have ended badly with me crashing over into Matt Hoppers bikes on the floor at Avanti Cycles). Thankfully we fixed it before the session started. Then I managed to rub my back tyre with the tension being set incorrectly so Brett has ordered me a new set. There is message here don't let me near windtrainers especially first thing in the morning!!

Did the usual 3km swim set followed by the 1hr 30 ride. Jac, Ray and I were joined by Tim Franklin, Glesso and Blair on a ride out to Sandgate. The guys are weeks away from Port IM and are feeling good. Thankfully Glesso didn't unleash on the hills through Ascot  until right at the end. I was just able to keep the group in sight over the last few kms.

I had a few social things over the weekend with a yummy birthday afternoon tea at Max Brenner Southbank ( go there if you are huge fan of chocolate). It was so nice to have a girls catch up for my friend Bec's birthday. Unfortunately during IM training sometimes social engagements get put off in favour of training. I also had time to see my friend Christy and my god son Jack who were in town overnight on their way to Perth. We enjoyed take away Thai from Thai Green Mango at Bardon ( lovely!!!)

I met Jac for our Sunday long ride and Kristen also came along. We decided to head up to Mt Nebo ( I had plans of going up to Glorious as well but thankfully we decided to turn around at Nebo).  I then took the girls along Gap Creek Road. We were all a bit tired after nearly 3 hours of hills on Nebo so the idea of another few hills didn't sound great  at the outset. I think it is good that we challenged ourselves mentally to do it because on race day I am sure we will be faced with a similar situation where we need to push through.

There are a couple of steep climbs totalling a few  100 metres but apart from that it mainly rolling hills. I had ridden along the road with the Red Dog ride and Brett about a month ago and I nearly died. I was still swearing at Brett by the time I finished the ride so I was mentally scared from my last time on Gap Creek Rd.  This time around I got to the end of the road and I thought is that it?? My memory was that it was worse than that. Yay all those Cootha reps are paying off. 
I am lucky to have such great people to train with. Thanks to Jac and Kristen for being awesome company today.

My other focus for the ride was upping my carbs. Coach Mark nearly died when I told him I was only averaged 30gms per hour in my last few rides.  The guideline from the dietitian Sally  for was weight loss is between 15-30grms per hour, but I have decided that I need to focus on race performance now so I managed closer to 50gms per hour today. I must admit I finished the ride feeling much less fatigued.  However if you are eating whole foods it is quite a lot of food to get through. I will be interested as to how I deal with running off the bike with this amount of food in my stomach. I will be practising that more over the coming weeks.

Week 10- Recovery week

Things eased off a bit this week with a recovery week. I really enjoyed a couple of sleep ins and one complete rest day on Monday.  Its amazing how refreshed you feel when the volume drops off a bit.

I had a 30 min run Tuesday night and then on Wednesday morning met the recent IMNZ finishers plus a few others for a easy river loop. It ended up pouring with rain by the time we got to coffee but it was nice to see everyone.

Thursday night was a swim session ( approx 2.5km) and Friday morning  I did the squad windtrainer session.  Brett bought me a new windtrainer after i managed to stuff the last one ( don't let me near anything mechanical!!!)  I had to muck around with the tension on the back tyre and someone mentioned they could smell burning rubber. Clearly I didn't have the tension right and I could barely turn over the peddles so more tinkering required.   We did a few runs off the bike around the block.  It made me smile as I ran past a couple of guys who shouted at me common love you can catch them ( I was a bit off the back of the main group).

Saturday morning I did my 3km swim set, followed by 1hr 30min ride. Thankfully the heating was fixed at the pool as Thursday nights swimming was freezing!!!. We had a group of 4 so it was nice to have a bit of a social girls ride as well.

On Sunday morning I met some of the others training for Cairns ( Jac, Ray and Andrew) for a ride out to Mt Mee via Petrie. As per usual we encountered "rummed up bogans" to qoute Jac. Its a lovely way to start the morning with some yobbo slobbering out the window at our group yelling "f....heads". I fail to understand the aggression some drivers show towards cyclists, especially at this hour of the day when there is hardly another car on the road and plenty of room in all 3 lanes for us all.  All I could do is laugh at the situation.

We got through about 120km in just over 5hrs and it was nice to have the boys along to push the pace a little bit towards the end. 

I am going into a 3 week hard block and I am looking forward to the new challenges. The rides are stepping up to 5.5hrs and I am guessing there will be some running off the bike coming in soon.

On a final note I am banning myself from the kitchen ( good reason why Brett does most of the cooking) I managed to splash hot oil on my forearm whilst cooking fish tonight. Thankfully only have a few minor burns on my arm. Brett was at work so I had to cook. ( there is the problem!!!)  Hopefully I will only end up with a few skin bubbles. Silly numpty I am. 

Take care until next week.