yeah but no but yeah

I got a kind email from a friend that said

"suck it up princess and do the 2km..."

So I am. 2k it is. She'll be right. And at the end of the day I am more than willing to float on my back and put my hand up and call for a lifesaver to rescue me :)

plus I have absolutely no time expectations! I'll go to ocean swimming squad on Friday night just to get a bit more of a feel.

I woke up last night with a really sore throat which is a cold-precursor for me so I am resting today and inhaling vitamins C, B and zinc (and the odd iron supplement!). tomorrow will be a picture of health and wellbeing.

the Monday special

rough day at work today.

luckily one of my work friends bullied me into going to the pool with her (in the nicest, not really pushy at all kind of way :) so I wasn't forced to fail my weeks swimming goal already. all i wanted to do was go home and turn my head off in front of the tv with some chocolate. Compromised with a swim and a chocolate flavoured protein bar. Really - those things are just chocolate bars under the guise of recovery food. This one was particularly chocolatey-fudgey-delicious.

2k again (the Monday special) but 300m of it was with a kickboard so I finished in 55 mins. Would have done more kickboard laps but when I felt the strain in my quads I decided that it was not the best choice for my 'rest' day :)

trying to decide whether to do the 1k or 2k in the Cole Classic on Sunday... will probably go for a run beforehand too. So maybe the 1k... or am I just being a pussy??

four days of fun

i have to say that I am pretty happy with how I have trained for the last four days. it hasn't been precisely what I would have liked or should have done but I still did it and i feel good.

Today I hit the trainer again for 60 mins (and even though I have it on the easiest gear I still don't find it easy!!) and then I ran down to the park to meet Lulu who wanted to just do an hour (fine by me!!). I ended up doing 1hr 12 mins and 10.87 k at 6.40 pace. It wasn't pretty in parts but I did it! The company made things easier :)

because I pissed about for about 5-10 mins after getting off the bike I don't think I got the full brick effect and interestingly I found that my legs felt good on the first bit - must be that I am used to starting my runs cold and tired and I was actually warmed up this time! however that didn't last too long and I felt quite sluggish.

We made it though and a nice coffee at the end with S was ace.

Even though I haven't been on the road each time I have still been on the bike for at least three hours in the last 3 days. won't teach me to drink while I ride, but it will get my legs conditioned a bit more!

EDIT - bit of a weekly summary:

Swim: 1 session - 2k - 52ish mins
Ride (this is a conservative estimate given that I have no idea of actual distance): 3 sessions - 70ish km - 3hrs15mins
Run: 4 sessions - 37k - 4hrs40mins

8hrs 47mins training this week! Not bad I reckon :) Still there was a conspicuous shortage of swim sessions. Next week the goal is to do a minimum of 3 swim sessions including at least 1 surf swim plus 3 rides and 3 runs (minimum).

trying out the home trainer...

after not doing my long ride this morning (i needed the sleep - really!!) I decided to go into work and pick up the trainer and try and set it up. despite being an expert ikea instruction reader I still struggled with this one. after a few false starts I think I got it sorted and I was good to go.

I bought the dvd series of Love My Way (a foxtel only aussie series filmed around the eastern suburbs of Sydney) so I watched a few episodes. Unfortunately they were the very sad ones - so I hope I haven't subconsciously made an association with riding the bike :)

I found it pretty comfortable, and although its not as good as getting on the road it is still time on the bike which is good news. All up this afternoon I did 75 mins. No idea what that would equate to in distance! might get one of those bike computers one day!

penrith 10k fun run

This morning was a 10k and 5k fun run out at Penrith which I was attending with Jen and the Owl - fun!! Not so fun was the traffic last night from the city out to the 'riff. 2 hours later though I was massively compensated for the exercise with Jen's mum's roast dinner (omg... heavenly...) followed by waffles and ice cream.

Despite some resistance this morning (not wanting to get up etc) and some vacillating at the registration (10k, 5k, 10k, 5k...) I registered for the 10k (it was free too - how cool is that????) but decided not to go too hard because this weekend has a lot of training involved!

I ended up crossing the line in 58.16 which was a comfortable 5.50 pace (my half marathon pace). it was a bit tough at the end and was starting to get pretty hot but I made it :)

I was also lucky enough to have some company in the form of uncle dave for a bit of a ride around the regatta centre afterwards. we rode around for just under an hour I think and dave was full of useful hints for riding and clipping in and out and I even got to the point where I can indicate left!! unfortunately we discovered I am not an ambi-indicator so for now its only left :) I reckon I'll even be able to drink while riding one day!! perhaps not tomorrow :)

then a lovely lunch with the girls rounded out the Australia Day trip to Penrith. A nice day all round!

i got nuthin'

out for dinner last night at tandoori palace with a bunch of lovely running sorts to catch up with portrunr who was down from Port for the Big Day Out. OMG i ate so much food. and i left my wallet on my desk so sparkie had to sponsor me :) oops.

after a bit of gasbagging with jen who was staying at my house I was rudely woken at 5.00 to get up and go to sweat. At 5.30 miraculously i did get up and get dressed and even get out of the house.

even though I didn't do anything yesterday I was feeling reaaaallll bad today. 3.7k warm up and then wild wally hill reps. Sean had programmed me for 6 but I was sceptical. Also running the 10k out at Penrith tomorrow so I had that saved up as an excuse...

did the first rep in 3.36 and promptly decided that was probably it. i was cactus. my legs had absolutely nothing left to give and i wasn't even pushing hard. (i did feel like i was a bit free-er on the downhills though).

So i took a rest and decided to do every second one which would make 4 for the session. However, after 2 rests i decided i was being pissweak and should toughen up and do the last 3 in a row. So i did. 5 reps all up: 3.36, 3.39, 3.35, 3.44, 3.37 (3.37k, average pace 5.25).

604m cool down :) and 7.6k for the day. Brightshoes set the course record in a blistering 2.00m flat this morning.

baked dinner at jen's tonight and aus day 10k at penrith tomorrow followed by a ride with uncle dave - noice.

EDIT - just got this little email...

2007 Cronulla Triathlon Registration Confirmation

Dear Ellie

Thankyou for entering the 2007 Cronulla Triathlon

Below is an itemised receipt for your recent online credit card payment.

And wait! Just got a delivery... cool...

sweatin' up a storm

well this morning was my first sweat session in over a week. and MAN did it hurt.

However, obviously my down week has served me well because honestly I even surprised myself. On the program was a 2k loop, 5 mins recovery and then 1k.

Did a warm up of 3.5k and then got into it. Then I decided to give the 2k everything and as sparkie would say - crash or crash through. I thought that something was up when I was still pretty close to Bernie G at the 1k point, and yes, that k was 4.48. (what the???). I figured I was going to crash then and that 2nd k was agony!!! But I did it in 4.55 for 2k in 9.43!! How cool is that????

The next 1k loop was like dragging two lumps of lead around the oval. Still I was pleased to keep it under 5.00 pace - 4.58 to be precise :)

2.2k cool down for 8.7k. I suppose a week off training does make you fresh after all! maybe i should rethink the training plan to incorporate more doing nothing...

Monday Swim 2k

Quick trip to the pool after work with my workmate who is hopefully getting the green light on her stress fracture today!

2k in about 52.30 (although I stuffed up the stop watch yet again). Getting a little quicker! Was pretty packed at Cook & Phillip this evening. I usually go a bit later which is good because when the squad there starts everyone jumps into the remaining 4 lanes. I used to hate the busy lanes but now I think of it as good practice!

next steps

went for the iron results this AM. they have again improved, but not as much as they should have, and bearing in mind that I have now been on double supplements for 3 months it is taking too long. so now i have a referral to a haematologist to talk about iron infusions. The appointment is not for a few weeks unfortunately, but better than nothing! on the plus side my cholesterol has improved a lot!

i take it back!

all my moaning about how summer hasn't arrived and its practically winter etc etc.

this morning I slept in despite going to be before 9 and planning to be up at 5 to beat the heat. so there would be no running in the AM. Fortunately that meant I could join Owly and Caro for their run this evening at the bay. I had 2 hours on the schedule but had decided that 1.45 with the girls would be more than enough.

turns out that was really optimistic. We didn't get out until about 7.15 and jeez we were suffering right from the start. We would splash ourselves down and make wet t-shirt gags at the water fountains only to be dry in a matter of metres. none of us were on our game at all. we ended up dragging out 9.2k in just over an hour and it was a huge struggle. eventually after one lap plus a canal loop we decided to just walk for another 20 mins or so.

Ah well. Sometimes you got it, sometimes you don't. tonight - i don't. I am also going to the doctor tomorrow AM to get the latest blood results which will be very interesting. some things lately have made me think that it isn't improving but the results will let me know for sure.

ah... bed time....

stroke correction #3

had a largeish night last night culminating with some dancing at Slide and someone deciding it would be a good idea to buy me (and us all) a jaegerbomb (sp??). ugh. red bull 5 mins before I wanted to go home... ah well. I still slept ok and got at least a few hours sleep. Still I wasn't feeling up to riding in between the Chiro and stroke correction. Still harbouring some half arsed plans to ride later this afternoon/evening.

i really felt my stroke change today. i have to concentrate on keeping my arms shoulder width apart, my hands tend to point in so i need to concentrate on keeping them out. I also need to focus on the 'catch' of the stroke and include a bit of a pre catch glide to really take advantage of it. The biggest thing came right at the end when one of the coaches told me I needed to shorten my stroke. I felt that right through the big muscles in my shoulders and back which is exactly what should happen. So that is pretty good.

Still time will tell! I need to get some good ocean swims in too before Cronulla. Some thought at this stage of not doing the all womens tri (as there is one at kurnell the weekend after) and instead doing the striders 10k and the cole classic ocean swim on sunday. (and then my long ride one afternoon.

thank god summer has arrived :)

Chiropractor visit

First trip to a chiropractor this morning and I have to say I have come out of it completely untraumatised. Admittedly this is just the intro session so there was no cracking, but I did feel like I was in very safe hands. This guy came recommended by Owly, Jen and 2P so I thought he must be alright...

Lots of tests to see what was good/bad about my spine and he tested the strength and flexibility of all my muscles and joints. There are lots of imbalances, some of which make a lot of sense about my right knee playing up at the moment. I don't get much back pain but there is some stuff going on around my neck and apparently it could be related to tightness across my chest which also has an effect on breathing and even circulation to my hands!

anyway - off for some stroke correction!

yeah...

after a few down days trying to let my knee behave (subtext - also being a bit lazy) I went to spin class at lunch and absolutely smashed it. I LOVED it. My heartrate must have been through the roof and I was breathing very heavy but it felt great. Bit of a relief actually - i keep thinking that I've lost it every time I don't do anything hard in a couple of days. But no - I can still work hard. If only I could do that on the real bike!!!

definitely anaerobic training...

yeeha!

a brief interruption in transmission

knee is still bothering me even when I am just walking to i elected not to go to sweat. it was a terribly hard decision at 5am when my alarm went off and I was so comfortable in bed... :P

still last night I went to the pool after work. actually had to work late so had one of the lovely work meals around 7 and I think that i felt heaps better swimming after I'd eaten. The pool is packed at 8pm it turns out - but dead by 8.30. Definitely the way to go though.

All up I did 2k. Ok - time to face the hard truths about how slow I am...
VERY - 2k in around 54 mins. On the plus side I didn't stop at all and I was feeling great - never got puffed or anything and was trying out all my new techniques. At least I know I can swim the 1.5k. Fast is a whole other story...

big scary goals!

well today started off on a very pleasant note with some more blood letting. all in a good cause though :) getting the iron under control. Will check back in with the doc on monday for the low (hopefully not) down.

knee is still niggling a bit today - seems to be connected to the high heels. I decided not to do spin class at lunch but will swim after work.

so - depending on those two things (the knee and the iron, not the high heels and the swim) I am going to give myself a REALLY SCARY challenge and do this:




Is a bit nuts but I reckon I can do it. 8 weeks to go. I am resigned to coming last. But just finishing a race like that would be something. The rough program has been approved by miners (my on-call guru) and i have enlisted the help of a few other fabbo people so its all stations go.

Any and all motivation/suggestion/ass-kicking/positive reinforcement from anyone who reads this will be very much appreciated :)

you can tell me you think i'm a fool too - but most likely i'll take it on board and then ignore you :) in a nice way :)

what a lovely way to spend a morning

getting pummelled by tiger at the crack-o-dawn.

actually it was good, looks like we might have found what has been causing my knee issues. I am not going to go into it - but lets just say it went something like this:

"you have groin/inner thigh muscles like arnold schwarzenegger, and all the rest are weak as piss"

Charming :)

Still its nice to know I do actually have some muscles...

been a lazy girl - struggling with motivation and also energy levels. going to get the ole iron checked out (think its been around 6 weeks) and if it hasn't improved look at what the next step is.

might go to spin class at lunch. might not. all depends...

[EDIT - ummm... just to put some context around that - if anyone doesn't know *'hi mum!'* 'Tiger' is Gary the massage therapist... and by 'pummel' i mean 'massage'... :) ]

Lady Carrington Drive - Royal National Park

Wow! I had heard people talking about the National Park but hadn't managed to get there myself so I was really pleased to be heading down there this morning with Sara and the Owl to meet up with blkbx, beki, gronk and georgie. I had 2 hours on the program but wasn't particularly committed to a time/distance.

The National Park is just gorgeous. I think I might have to get a year pass and go down every weekend! The weather today was particularly gorgeous and it was reasonably cool and on a shady track there was no issues in that regards. Not to imply of course that I didn't get a good sweat up!

But the run wasn't all peace and tranquility and good company. oh no... firstly poor owly stacked it mottram style when a rogue stick caught her foot from behind bringing her crashing down. Fortunately she didn't take any of the rest of the pack down and was able to keep on running - but not without an impressive bloody wound on her knee.

Then it was my turn to bring the crew to a halt at about 6km. My right knee was starting to hurt and I stopped and stretched and kept going but it got beyond a niggle into actual pain and i couldn't keep running. BUGGER!!!! I was quite worried and owly kindly started walking with me. The temptation was to try running every minute or so to see if the pain had gone but she made me give it a good shot. After about 10 mins of walking we were mucking around and i was trying a funny running style as a joke and it didn't hurt so I suggested we keep going. Then I seemed to be right as rain and we ran back to the start. That was about 12 or so km, 1 hr 23ish (I forgot my garmin!) and I was actually doing OK and the Owl was looking very fit and strong so I suggested we head up the path again to re-meet up with the guys doing the whole length. About a k in we hit Beki and Sara so turned back with them. All up I think we did 14ish km in 1hr 43.

Another highlight of the run was a bit of a celeb spotting! When Lorna and I were walking a massive pack of triathlon-y looking boys zoomed past and at the front - no less than Chris McCormack - Maccccaaaaaa!!!! Cool!!! Lorna didn't quite understand my adulation and I think was a bit embarassed when we saw him coming the other way and he said to her 'how you doing?' and as soon as he passed i was like "oh my god chris mccormack asked how you were!!!!!!!"

Anyway so the scenery was good, and so was the view :) We even saw a lyre bird - I've never seen one of them before!

Finished up with breakfast in kirawee (? i think) and no shit, my meal cost $2.50. noice.

EDIT - an action photo and a close up of Owly's bleeding knee on gronk's blog:
http://gronkblog.blogspot.com

also check out beki's blog:
http://dailywafflings.wordpress.com/2007/01/14/a-gaggle-of-cool-runners/

stroke correction #2

two late nights in a row has meant that yesterday was a rest day and today I didn't do anything until stroke correction this afternoon. I do have good reason for the late nights - thursday i NEEDED a drink (or 15) and last night we were celebrating the lovely brisvegan coolrunner Cirque being in town. Lulu's coffee table was up to the job and don juan provided some 'special' entertainment and a lovely night was had by all.

After a couple of 2am closes I didn't much feel like a brick session this morning though!

But stroke correction was a nice way to ease myself back into it. 2 hours is a long time and I was thoroughly prune-y and chlorinated by the end. Just to remind myself - this week I need to practice 3 drills... 1 arm breathing drill with no stroke, 1 arm breathing drill with stroke, 4 stroke drill.

I feel like I am improving - but don't really have much of a benchmark unfortunately. still - time in the pool has to help!

fartlek schmartlek

that was how i felt about training this morning. but i did have a giggle at coach Sean's t-shirt. On the front it said "FARTLEK" and the back said "its a running thing.. you wouldn't understand".

warmed up to the tune of 2.9k then I was programmed to do 5 x 1k fartlek loops. it just seemed like a hard slog, even before it started. Still somehow I was at the start line and the first 3 went by ok, was puffed but not about to collapse. Then lap 4 my knee started hurting. Woah - my brain started to go 'is this psychosomatic? did generate myself an injury cause i can't be bothered? is this karma for being a COMPLETE AND UTTER WHINGER this morning?'.

Either way I decided to stop just in case it was a real injury. I am also a little cautious after the run on sunday with no orthotics and no inner soles in my shoes. I have a massage with Gary next week which will hopefully iron out the kinks. Sean things from where the pain is - and he poked it nice and hard to be sure - that its not my knee but a hamstring tendon and stretching gently is ok but too much stretching is bad. So i walked and jogged home - another 4.3km and 7.2k all up for the morning.

woteva

and thanks flake for pointing out my position relative to the male athletes on sunday - nothing like a bit of a confidence boost from your mates :)

spin class

didn't go out for a ride in the real world this morning so racked up a lunchtime spin class. always a good workout! although i was not beetroot red afterwards this time which makes me feel like maybe I didn't try hard enough :)

official results

are in! from Sunday.

Overall time 1.36.57, swim: 20.32, ride: 46.31, run: 29.55.

2nd last girl (35 of 36):) but i beat a bunch (ok 4) of boys too!

By way of comparison, 1st chick was 1.05.34, first bloke was 56.07.

reality check

there is nothing like a return to Sweat and squad running to bring my ego back down to size :)

I exchanged some emails with coach Sean last night, mostly because I hadn't told him what my goal races for the year were and he wanted that before he did this month's program. As I have identified a beginners cycle squad (cheeky monkey one, apparently for beginners... i remain suspicious...) on Wednesdays I am going to go back to two sweat sessions per week. Things have changed though and now Tuesdays seem to be hills and fartlek and time trials and thursdays tempo or track or something.

Anyway - looks like I am going to leave the marathon off the calendar this year and look at it for 2008. I am happy with that! Triathlons and half marathons for 2007!

Back to todays session... good warm up 4.17k including strides and accelerations. The I was programmed 12 reps of a new instrument of torture 'wild walter'. This is a shorter version of wild wally - about 400m with 100m uphill, and the rest flat and downhill. I ended up doing 10. I did 5, took a break, 3, then a break and then finished the last two. My legs were really heavy, but i wasn't breathing too hard - just couldn't go any faster!

Times were: 2.04, 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.07, 2.09, 2.09, 2.08, 2.05, 2.12 - all up 4.06km

Including cool down about 8.8km.

EDIT:

Ok - there seems to be some curiosity about which particular half maras I am going to do. sadly nothing exciting there - what I told Sean was this (amongst other blabbering on). Always open to more suggestions!!!


In terms of goal events:

- 4 Feb - Sprint Distance Triathlon (Nepean - All Womens - more of a casual one)
- 11 Feb - Sprint Tri (Kurnell)
- 3 March - Sprint Tri (Nepean Summer Sprint Series) (might drop this
one actually but not sure)
- 11 March - Sprint Tri (Kurnell)

Striders 10k series where possible
May - SMH 1/2 marathon
August - City to Surf
Sept - Sydney running festival 1/2 Marathon
December - Central Coast 1/2 Marathon

I did it!!!

hehe - all my cool 'i've just done something i thought i couldn't do' posts are called 'i did it!'.

i had to wake up at the ungodly hour of 4.30 this morning, which was surprisingly easy and I got a surprising amount of sleep given the nerves. I also spared a thought for the guys up at the Coastal Classic 12 hour track race who would have been in the really hard part, 9 odd hours in... congrats to horrie and belinda who I hear had fantastic runs and jen and will who were up there counting laps!

anyway - got on the road at 5am to make the trek out to jen's homeland, penrith. I have never been there before, except on my way through to the blue mountains and can't say I saw much of it today. I really enjoyed the drive. I had the radio up very loud and sang even louder the whole way. talk about relieving anxiety - i'm amazed i had any energy left!

i saw TA & the Gnome, Wildthing and Mr Wildthing, nitetimerunner and mouse and my new coolrunning friend Nihao and her husband almost immediately which was great. I took my bike up to registration which seemed to have a bit of a line but I was soon directed to the ladies line which was, predictably, empty :) The fear inched up a notch when I saw that the list of women doing the sprint (as opposed to the shorter enticer distance) was very short... coming last was a REAL possibility... i cheered up though when the man wrote my number on my arm and leg, obviously I am actually a serious athlete :)

i pottered around, set my bike up in the transition area and generally distracted myself perving at cute boys for a while and then after the race briefing we headed up the lake. For those not from sydney, this race was at the regatta centre which was built for the sydney olympics. It is a 2k straight lake meant for rowing (obviously) but lends itself nicely to triathlon! We jsut walked 750m down and jumped in!

The swim was ok, i decided not to bust a lung trying to keep up with anyone and I ended up doing 19.05 which was faster than I anticipated. I was definitely in the back few but I did overtake a few blokes who started 2 mins earlier so that was nice!

I ran out and into transition which I have to say was very smooth! Given that I can't drink on the bike yet I gulped down some powerade too. I lost a bit of time when I had to stop and carefully clip in etc, but better that than a stack at the very start! this was a 4 loop course with each loop being 5k. Including both transitions (poor stop watch management :) the time for this leg was 47.48. Definitely room to improve. The course was dead flat which was good for me. I overtook a couple of people but was being constantly lapped by the speedy dudes as it was a multi lap course. The last lap was the best, not just cause it was the last one, also cause I could watch all the runners and distract myself from my own pain for a bit. Plus the view was again very nice :)

The ride/run transition was a DISASTER! It was all fine until shoe time. I had my orthotics in my shoes and the stretchy laces, unfortunately the orthotic covers have seen (much) better days and as i was pushing my foot in they kept bunching up and moving around and there was no way i could have run like that. 3 tries later i gave up, ripped them out and ran in my shoes with no inner sole or orthotic at all. The knees were groaning before I even started the run. Actually apart from some blisters and a bit of a knee creak it looks like that is all ok.

But the run! my god - I felt like a little old lady and like i was stationary! I didn't get my legs until 3k but it was a sweet relief when I did and made those last 2k much more pleasant. I could have sworn I was doing about 7 min k's but in reality I did the 5k in 30.05, so nice neat 6 min ks. Damn it hurt though. TA gave me a cheer about 400m out and it really lifted me across the line, as did all the coolrunner cheers - so much appreciated guys :)

I collapsed on the grass with a sense of satisfaction and mild nausea and overwhelming relief that it was over for today. I crossed the line in 1 hour, 36 mins and 58 seconds. Heaps faster than I thought. And I have learnt a lot of things that I think will help me improve for the next one in Feb (on the same course which is great!).

anyway - now I am a little less smelly and have cooled down and hydrated I am pretty darn pleased and a little bit proud of myself. I never thought I could do anything like that. But apparently I can/have. :)

Had a lovely breakfast also with TA & Gnome and n.t.r and mouse. We went to the whitewater centre which is ace! I am definitely heading back for a try - it is an artificial whitewater rafting course that we saw fill up with water. So cool!

Thanks to everyone also for all the good luck wishes - I remembered every single one, particularly between kms 0 - 3 on that run!!!

EDIT - what I also meant to say was a HHHHUUUUGGGGEEEE congrats to wildthing and tigerangel on their runs. pretty inspiring women i reckon :)

stroke correction

to distract myself from the increasing hysteria re tomorrow I had a 2 hour stroke correction session this arvo which is part of a 3 week course. it was really great actually and I think that it will really improve my swimming.

the first pleasant surprise was when I got immediately in the slowest lane and they put me into the middle lane! and that is without flippers! cool :)

second pleasant surprise was realising that my lane buddy was fellow coolrunner nihao who is also doing nepean tomorrow - so i have a buddy in my event!

the 2 hours went by really quick, firstly we just swam for a bit to let them have a look at our stroke. then we started a series of drills which were videotaped. they had to do with body position, which i really struggled with. I need to work on some core stability... then we started on breathing right - mostly when you breathe out and when you breathe in. It was interesting to watch that stuff close up on the video. I didn't seem to be doing anything horrendously wrong, which is almost annoying cause something really bad I could fix and go super fast straight away!

still, improving my breathing did help because at the end we did about 10 or 12 laps breathing only every 4 strokes (slowly of course!) and i was nowhere near as puffed as I would otherwise have been. Cool...

now heres hoping I didn't tire my arms or legs out for tomorrow - i didn't ever feel like I was struggling or pushing so i think i should be ok. i do reek of chlorine even after a long shower though. 2 hours is a long time!

OMG

I am VERY VERY VERY VERY nervous about tomorrow...

hehe just heard the song 'over my head' by the fray... strangely appropriate...

recovery 4k

i was a bit apprehensive about going for a run today. i know it was only 15k on monday but give the course it was actually the longest i've ever run and suspect that my legs were a bit shocked. Decided to take the legs out for a gentle lap of the park and a bit. 4k in roughly 25 mins something. Just under 6.30 pace. This is approximate as the garmin completely cracked up and was telling me for a long time that i had run 1 or 8m and then it would get up to 15, and then start counting down again. hmmm...

anyway - felt a bit of a struggle but glad i got it out of the way. didn't feel the need to do much more - good to be fresh for sunday after all!

the plan for the rest of the week: tomorrow AM do a gentle 3 lap ride of the park, and then run one lap. saturday stroke correction. Then it is sunday. holy bejeezus.

tesso - the distances are: 750m swim, 20k ride, 5k run.

I am guessing that I will do about 20 mins for the swim (maybe more...), anywhere between 45 mins and an hour for the ride and between 27 and 30 mins for the run (that is optimistic too!). I will be happy to finish under 2 hours!

on yer bike

this mornings ride had a sole purpose - find out whether I can do the 20k required in the sprint triathlon at nepean on sunday.

The answer - yes. THANK GOD!! I did 6 laps of Centennial Park which is roughly 23.4 km. Not sure how long it took me because i left the watch behind (again...) but it was not too far short of an hour I think. I don't care how slow it was - I finished it, intact. Actually I think it has done wonders to work the tightness out of my quads. If only the calves were as happy.

I still find it hard, but I am counting on the nepean course being as 'flat as a pancake' as everyone tells me. That I can handle. Hills not so much :)

Had a near miss at the end when I unclipped but my weight was leaning towards my clipped in shoe. That would have been messy. Fortunately instint kicked in and the right foot unclipped itself with nanoseconds to spare. Would have hurt! But would have evened up my scrape from the Black Stump nicely!

Interesting note also, I find wearing plain bike shorts (rather than padded ones) more comfortable. Very unusuallll... perhaps I bought boys ones or something :)

roll on sunday...

ouch!

woke up a *little* sore in my calves and quads. I also discovered that my left shoulder was killing me - and i had no idea why. Shortly thereafter I remembered that I fell over yesterday and grazed my leg but also broke the fall with my arm!

anyways - i was not in any shape for a run although it probably would have done me so good. I had a huge sleep also and wasn't up in time. All was not lost though! Hit the pool after work for 1600m. Didn't remember my lovely new waterproof watch so have no clue how long - but I felt good.

As well as the triathlon this weekend I also start my 3 week stroke correction course that is 2hrs each saturday. Hoping for a miraculous swim style improvement that takes hours off my times... but i suspect for me i just need practice and to build up arm strength. but who knows!

i'm struggling to keep focussed at work at the moment. how long has it been... 6 months? 7? could be time to trade up :)

F.O.H.R. - Black Stump - 15k

Wow - New Years Day! 2007! Of course it would be a great idea to torture myself over 15k of 'technical trail' and sheer rock face ascents.

Actually it was absolutely great. I had the perfect lead in with dinner at Lulu's last night where I was treated to a sumptuous feast of baked Fig with blue cheese and proscuitto (entree), pork loin with orange gremolata and baby carrots and delicious little cubed potato thing - i'm sure there is a more gourmet name for them than that (main) and a cherry and raspberry tart (dessert) and a bunch of cheese (the next course...). Not to mention all the gorgeous wines and the campari with blood orange juice which was bloody amazing.

I very rudely left before midnight (under the 'crazy running expedition' clause) but proceeded to toss and turn and listen to drunks in the street (ah those were the good ole days...) till it was time to get up. The trip up to Berowra was a lot quicker than I had imagined thanks to sparkies navigation.

In the end I had a few people to run with. Jen had decided to do the full 33k version but we ran the first 8k together quite conservatively walking the hills and then Jen showing me up with her excellent downhill running skills. She went on to have a blinder finishing way quicker than she had expected. What a star :)

I ran the rest of the way with beki and blkbox and the keg and thomo for bits and pieces. The return journey from the ferry (the 8k point where the longer distance runners crossed the river) was a nightmare! But was strangely great too. A bit of a run along the water and then we started going up. 2k that took about an hour (well I have no idea how long but definitely half an hour at least!) that was predominantly up. We were mostly climbing up rocks and stairs and in some parts clambering over the rocks any way we could. Just when we would think we were at the top and start jogging again we would look up and see more rocks and groan. Eventually we hit the top and ran along some trail before we hit the road. Those last 4k of road were possibly even harder than the rocky stuff! Andy and Beki pulled away a bit here but I had to keep them in my sights because they had my map!

Finally made it in 2hr43mins- only about 15 mins faster than the fastest people doing the full version... eek!

Never mind - I think that running today is a very symbolic gesture of how I mean for the year to continue - bring it on!!!!

Key:
F.O.H.R. - "F*ck Off Hard Run" :)