1 Month today, I would have hopefully finished by now. That would make the finish time for me a sub 11hr race! The way the training has come together and continues to do so makes me more confident in the race each day I train. Whilst I am not going to be doing anything spectacular out there, the fact that I will finish will be sensational! I think the only reasons I would not would be technical issue or some sort of injury. I was up util yesterday really concerned about my nutrition, but whilst down in Huskisson last weekend, I found a product from called Perpeteum. Jeff said he had used it during the race (just over 2hrs on the bike) and it was good, so I got some and tested it yuesterday. It was excellent. I consumed that for the 5hrs of riding (160km) with 2 gels only and felt great, so I am very chuft! Thanks Jeff for explaining it all on the phone to me. Its quite involved getting it ready, and tastes like rice wheels...nice break from all the sweet stuff we ususally eat on the bike. It made the gels all rather exciting as well! Anyway, its good to not have to be stressed about getting the right amount of Carbs into your system, this stuff seems to have all the right levels of nutrients needed to get through the ride. I think I will test it on one of my long runs as well this coming week, because fuel on the run is just as, if not more important....Rollo was saying thats where the race starts, on the run, and 20km odd in, its carnage! Bodies all over the place.....man, there was carnage at huski last weekend, although, I must say, half way through the run, it was 36 degrees!
So, onto Huski, I did write a report last week, but never got round to finishing it, so let me give you (if you dont mind) a very brief report. Huskisson is an awesome race. Its 2km swim, 83km ride, 20km run.
Swim - I was in the front pack pretty much from the start, found the feet of some bloke who was swimming at a good pace but not threshold for me and stayed there, conserving myself. I did not see the point in pushing hard to move right to the front. Nice and easy! I was 8th in my age group!
Bike - After cooking myself in Port during the Hlaf Iron Man, I was determined not to over do it this time. I thought I would hold my Heart Rate in the 140's and conserve myself for the run, there was no way I was going to walk or not enjoy it. So, off I went, pretty much held 35km/r for the 83km, and the HR averaged 147! I was very happy with that. Rollo afterwards thought I could have gone a bit harder, so that was good for the confidence. The new bike was great to. Time : 2.21
Run - Jeez I was loving to be running! I came off the bike, feeling pretty strong, and wanting to run again to Heart Rate. This time, keeping the HR under 160, and not worrying about the pace. Well, I went through the 1st km in 4.21 and thought I had better back it off a little, but I was so comfortable. I went through 10km in 43mins odd, feeling super. I was going well with the fluid intake, no cramps and no fatigue. Then, at about 12km, I got a cramp in my gut, boy, it was sore. I was pretty much doubled over whilst running at over 6min a km, I strgulled to the last turn around, and walked whilst trying to stretch the cramp out and drinking cola for the 1st time. Of all the times for someone to see me, Vlad comes flying round the corner, yells at me to run, so throw the cola back, and being running...gingerly, and just as it had started, no warning or signal, the cramp stopped and I was able to run again for the last 4.5km. Must have been something in the cola, but man that was pain...next time I wont wait so long to get some in me! I finished the run in 95mins....and to be honest, dissapointed with that. I was hoping for a sub 90mins. But, it was a good run, very very hot, and physically I was good, just that cramp hurt me.
So, all done in 4.25, which for only my 2nd long course triathlon, I must be happy with. I reckon I could shave 20mins off that time next year, more strenght on the bike, and more conditioning on the run, and I will do it....I have already told rollo that this is the target for the next one!
The past week has been pretty good as far as training goes. I had a brick session on wednesday which was pretty hard, but a lot of fun! Yesterdays ride was great, very hot again, but I did 160km in 5hrs so thats good hit out for the Iron Man ride. The run today was a good one, I went out wanting to hold a good solid pace, and ended up running 25km! I felt I could have gone on as well, which was good.
So, as the title says, 4 weeks to go. In exactly 4 weeks time, i will hopefully be preparing myself for a few well earned beers whilst cheering people home. Thats one of the great things about the race, every finisher, every person who gets over that line is celebrated and celebrates their own achievement, and its deserved! Its going to be a tough long day out there, but jeez I am pumped and ready to go!!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
The end of LSD!
Thats it, today was the end (I think) of the long, slow strength building phase Rollo has had us doing over the past 8 weeks or so. I must say, the legs are really feeling the miles under them, but, I can also say I certainly see the differance in my (and the other guys) strenght. Simple things like how far we end up Mooney Mooney hill for each rep compared to how we fared 4 to 6months ago is huge. Running off the bike after 140km of riding in the hills and holding a decent pace (for Iron Man that is) with the HR under controll has been good. Being able to backup the next day with long runs have been hard, but again done and improvements felt! I think all of the guys under Rollo's programs have been able to recovery really well after each session, which proves he has done the right thing by all of us. I also feel we have been very supportive of each other to get through each long week, so its been pretty good. We are on a recovery week this coming week (although not sure how 20 x 200m efforts toimorrow morning in the pool is recovering!), Andrew, Matt and I are off to race in the the Husskisson Long Course triathlon this coming weekend, its going to be a hoot. It wil be good for Andrew and I to race to be able to test our race plans, most importantly our nutrition, and of course gauge were we are at since last year...having not raced for 2 months now. Jase is going to AC/DC..tough choice I must say! Its been a good week again this week. I have been lucky enough to get a new Bike. A Felt D12. Very excited Imust say. I picked it up on Thursday, looking forward to riding it on Saturday, and could not get the bastard cleats off my shoes, nor the pedals off the Bike I have been riding for the past 9months or so, so in the end, near midnight on friday I gave up and was forced to ride the old one again....very frustrating because I need to get time on the new bike to adjust to it for the race, but, I am sure it will be fine. I had to leave my bike shoes at a bike shop to get the cleat screws drilled out....muyst be all the crap rain we have had which have rusted the screws. Back to saturday, the order of the fay was more rain and high humidity, I along with most other cyclists I am sure are sick of the rain.....man it makes it hard and dangerous riding. Matt came off his back rather badly early into the ride, hurting his shoulder and taking bark off, just shows how careful we all have to be, his hand I think slipped off the bars due to the moisture...he went home after that, hopefully he will recover in time for the race this weekend.
Lastly, I have to thank Andrew, Jase and Matt for all the very very early starts I have asked them to have to fit in with my schedule. I have had these guys up before 5am many times during the week and every weekend so as I can finish as early as possible and either get to the office or back home to see the family. These guys have been awesome supporting me along the way, and its been so good seeing them getting stronger and stronger. Its also been an absolute hoot with them...very funny bunch of guys. I get told by them I dont shut up, but I must say, they are a chatty bunch as well, and we all seem to have the same sense of humour, same drive to do the Iron Man well, and to do it well....(hang on, I am getting rather emotional typing these, better get the tissues!)
Righto, so this week (as I said, last of the LSD I think) before we move into race prep was :
Swim :8.5km (2.20hrs)
Run : 61km (5hrs)
Ride 220km + 2hrs on TT (9hrs)
Total : 16.2hrs
Great week again, lots of laughs along the way (gollum! and my favourite for the week was jase's comment about an EPO Fart....I was still giggling about that on the run this morning with him and Andrew....makes me lose my rhythm).
Next week I will probably post a race report, I am pretty excited about this race as apparently its a wonderful course, pretty fast and doing it with the boys is always fun!
Lastly, I have to thank Andrew, Jase and Matt for all the very very early starts I have asked them to have to fit in with my schedule. I have had these guys up before 5am many times during the week and every weekend so as I can finish as early as possible and either get to the office or back home to see the family. These guys have been awesome supporting me along the way, and its been so good seeing them getting stronger and stronger. Its also been an absolute hoot with them...very funny bunch of guys. I get told by them I dont shut up, but I must say, they are a chatty bunch as well, and we all seem to have the same sense of humour, same drive to do the Iron Man well, and to do it well....(hang on, I am getting rather emotional typing these, better get the tissues!)
Righto, so this week (as I said, last of the LSD I think) before we move into race prep was :
Swim :8.5km (2.20hrs)
Run : 61km (5hrs)
Ride 220km + 2hrs on TT (9hrs)
Total : 16.2hrs
Great week again, lots of laughs along the way (gollum! and my favourite for the week was jase's comment about an EPO Fart....I was still giggling about that on the run this morning with him and Andrew....makes me lose my rhythm).
Next week I will probably post a race report, I am pretty excited about this race as apparently its a wonderful course, pretty fast and doing it with the boys is always fun!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
The monsoon season is definately in swing!
And, as much as I like rain (well listening to coming down whilst at home on the deck, or lying in bed), it has pissed me off to no end over the past couple of weeks. Man, its made training pretty difficult, mainly because out on the bike its pretty unsafe in the rain, more so in the dark which is when we do start our long rides.....yeah you could say 'toughen up', which we do, but it still sucks! I am sitting typing this blog, and guess what, its raining agian! I looked at the weather for Sydney this coming week, and.....its raining! I think I have done my rain prep now...and would appreciate a few weeks of nice calm not too hot weather to lead into the race.,...not much to ask for huh! I know the other guys I train with would like to have a break from the rain, especially after our 6hr ordeal in the rain and wind yesterday.....
Onto that ride, jase, Andrew and I headed out at 5.45am, it was not raining at the time, but by 30km in, we were in amoungst it, and, to make the challange a little more unpleasant, some head wind to make the journey out more misreable. It was that crap, that by the turn around 80km into the ride, my feet were numb, and, there was this awesome smell of charcoal chicken being emitted from a take away.....thats what I craved, instead, I had another 4hours or so of old sandwich, gatorade and other things you would not want to consume. We also had 3 punctures between us....so we ended up being out there for ages. We did hill repeats right at the end which I love, and here is the good part, we all ran off the bike very very well. It was so good to get a slight idea of how the legs will feel coming off after 6hrs on the saddle, and jesus, its not pleasant for the 1st 2 to 3kms. Let me be clear, the use of the word 'pleasant', I dont expect the run to get any better or easier, but on Saturday once the legs got going and into a rythm, holding a good pace for 6km or so was pretty easy. Shows, rollos programs are awesome. Jase really took some confidence from the session yesterday, which he should, he has been riding really well for the past few weeks, and to be able to come off the bike and run strong for 50mins really boosted his confidence. I think, like Matty P, he is sand bagging now on his ability and estimated race time. I wont put a time here for him yet, but he knows if his race goes to plan he will do really really well....good on him, he has trained hard!
Andrew M is back doing weekend sessions again with us which is great. The man is a machine....just ploughs through each session, not stopping for anything, very strong!
Matt raced in Geellong Half today, and smashed it. I said 9.15 a few weeks back, and going by his time today, he is on track for that! I wont steal is thunder is this blog, he writes excellent race reports which are posted on the Central Coast Triathlon website, so I recommend you read it when he posts on, but man, his time was very very very fast......would loved to have seen him in full flight, because thats exactly what he did!
Thursday was the toughest run set I think I have done, it was 20 x 400m efforts, all done about 20secs faster than rollo wanted, so I am really still tender from them I think.I certainly dont think I recovered from them for todays 2.15hr run (24km), and the legs were really fatigued. More of those 400ms this week, oh dear!
So, again, another huuuuuuge week for me. I have no idea if I am getting stronger, fitter or faster. I think the volume we have been doing has left me with that cloud of fatigue, which i know is there, but does at times cast a bit of doubt into your propgress. I guess the race in a fortnights time will tell exactly how i am going.
This weeks details :
Swim : 7.5km (2.5hrs)
Run : 55km (5hrs)
Ride : 145km + 3hrs TT (9hrs)
Total : 16.5hrs
A really solid week and look forward to this one coming.
On a sad note, my sisters husband lost his sister this week, she was run over whilst running back in Zim, terrible accident so I remind you all out to stay alert and keep your wits about you.....very important. My condolescenses go out to Ants and his family for the loss......
Onto that ride, jase, Andrew and I headed out at 5.45am, it was not raining at the time, but by 30km in, we were in amoungst it, and, to make the challange a little more unpleasant, some head wind to make the journey out more misreable. It was that crap, that by the turn around 80km into the ride, my feet were numb, and, there was this awesome smell of charcoal chicken being emitted from a take away.....thats what I craved, instead, I had another 4hours or so of old sandwich, gatorade and other things you would not want to consume. We also had 3 punctures between us....so we ended up being out there for ages. We did hill repeats right at the end which I love, and here is the good part, we all ran off the bike very very well. It was so good to get a slight idea of how the legs will feel coming off after 6hrs on the saddle, and jesus, its not pleasant for the 1st 2 to 3kms. Let me be clear, the use of the word 'pleasant', I dont expect the run to get any better or easier, but on Saturday once the legs got going and into a rythm, holding a good pace for 6km or so was pretty easy. Shows, rollos programs are awesome. Jase really took some confidence from the session yesterday, which he should, he has been riding really well for the past few weeks, and to be able to come off the bike and run strong for 50mins really boosted his confidence. I think, like Matty P, he is sand bagging now on his ability and estimated race time. I wont put a time here for him yet, but he knows if his race goes to plan he will do really really well....good on him, he has trained hard!
Andrew M is back doing weekend sessions again with us which is great. The man is a machine....just ploughs through each session, not stopping for anything, very strong!
Matt raced in Geellong Half today, and smashed it. I said 9.15 a few weeks back, and going by his time today, he is on track for that! I wont steal is thunder is this blog, he writes excellent race reports which are posted on the Central Coast Triathlon website, so I recommend you read it when he posts on, but man, his time was very very very fast......would loved to have seen him in full flight, because thats exactly what he did!
Thursday was the toughest run set I think I have done, it was 20 x 400m efforts, all done about 20secs faster than rollo wanted, so I am really still tender from them I think.I certainly dont think I recovered from them for todays 2.15hr run (24km), and the legs were really fatigued. More of those 400ms this week, oh dear!
So, again, another huuuuuuge week for me. I have no idea if I am getting stronger, fitter or faster. I think the volume we have been doing has left me with that cloud of fatigue, which i know is there, but does at times cast a bit of doubt into your propgress. I guess the race in a fortnights time will tell exactly how i am going.
This weeks details :
Swim : 7.5km (2.5hrs)
Run : 55km (5hrs)
Ride : 145km + 3hrs TT (9hrs)
Total : 16.5hrs
A really solid week and look forward to this one coming.
On a sad note, my sisters husband lost his sister this week, she was run over whilst running back in Zim, terrible accident so I remind you all out to stay alert and keep your wits about you.....very important. My condolescenses go out to Ants and his family for the loss......
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