City to Surf - 'Tick'!!

firstly I apologise for missing last weeks blog, something I thought I would not do...pretty fully on week before, with loads of training and work, so come sunday night, I never got a chance, and then I figured I would wait until today to update!

Well, this week was a 'light' week on the training front. The usual 3 swim sessions n Mon, wed and Friday, I had a great session with Vlad on Tuesday morning. The animal was doing 6km efforts at around the 3.30 per km pace which is incredible. I was joiing him for a kilometer here and there. He rain in the end 24odd km, this all before work. I probably ended up with about 17km with some sprints in between. Having not had them in my program for months, its kind of a nice change to be able to do them. They hurt like hell though!
Thursday I did some bobbin head hill repeats with Vlad again. I gave him some serious words of encouragement on the 1st one up, after which I did not see him on any of the others, so glad to have been of help! Seriously though, the guy is strong on the hills on that bike....I think though, I am coming along nicely. Its really tough I must say though, getting up at 3.45am, getting down to Turramurra, and on the bike for just after 5am. Its pretty freezing here still, and going down that bloody hill is really cold :-(. Vlad would vouch for my winging all the way down!
On that note, we did a Calga Time Trial the weekend before. Its a 43km ride, I surprised myself with the time I did (1.19, avg 33km). I was expecting to be much slower than that, so it was good to know that the progam Rollo sets for me is working.

So, onto one of my short term goals, which was the City to Surf today. A few blogs back, you might remember I set a goal of 56mins as my target. I was not 100% confident I would achieve that because of the hilly course, however, I knew I would not be far off. Anyway, I finished it in (according to my watch, so not official time yet, but it will be close) 54.40!! I also went through the 10km mark in 39.10 which is another PB) Considering I did it in 69mins last year, its pretty good improvement, and even better that I got under the 55min mark! WOOHOO! One very big tick for me I must say, not because it means anything else other than I was able to push through pain, up that hill, and really keep the pace pretty consistant all the way.....once again, shows the program is working for me, and shows I have good guys around me keeping me going!
Vlads 2XU shop opens next week, so after the race i helped him hand out flyers to all the finishers. There were so many people, it was awesome! I also wore 2XU gear, and it was pretty comfortable stuff! I hope the shop does really well, because Jo and him deserve it, and they are selling a bloody good product and its in line with something they are passionate about! (anyone in Sydney reading this, get down to Paddington next saturday to support them!) Vlad the crazy animal finished in 45odd mins....how good is that! Considering the guy who won it finished in 41mins, shows you how fast Vlad goes! Well done vlad!!


So, another week down, another PB down, another goal achieved, and I am really enjoying all the training and hard work. Really, its down to the support I have around me from the training Grant (Rollo) gives me to the boys who I train with (Vlad, Jase, Eddie, Al, Andrew, Skinny Wiggle) to name a few.

So just to keep in line with my summery, this week :

Swim - 8km (3 hours)
Run - 40km (4 hours)
Cycle - Aprox 4hours (Turbo trainer sessions and Bobbin Head hill reps)

Still 11 odd hours in total, and this was a light week! In saying that the intensity (apart from Tuesday and Thursday and Today) were much lighter. Remember, I have a pretty hectic life at work, long hours, and pretty much on the go from the time I get there, plus wanting to be there for my family, and it does not leave much time for anything else let alone training for an Iron Man.

Ahh..lastly, I am offically now in the Port Macquaire Half Iron Man in November. I paid for my place this past week, so no turning back now! Friggin fantastic!! Its not that long away either, 80 odd days to the longest race in my life! Bring it on!

well done to all the guys from Smart Salary for having a crack today as well.