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.
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