The Week That Was (Week Four)

This week has been an interesting week as it is the first full week where the rest day was on the scheduled day (Saturday) as there were no interruptions with events or being out of town. That has meant 6 days straight of training for the first time and its also the first time I have done 4 swim sessions. To be honest, I have coped better with this week than I did with last week, where the rest day was on Monday after an a triathlon 13 k run and long ride over the Easter break.

I have increased the amount of training by around 15% to 11.6 hours over the previous 2 weeks. The increase was due to an almost doubling of my swimming from 80 minutes to 150 minutes and cycling of 5 hours 28 minutes (150 k) which was up by 23 minutes. My runs have remained relatively steady at 3:39 and 36.2 k, however my long run today was 5 minutes faster than last week over the same route.

Milestones for the week included:

• the 100k ride and 150 k riding for the week
• improving my swim stroke ever so slightly with the aid of a rubber ducky (I'll explain in a later blog)
• getting 4 swim sessions under my belt for the week
• most training in a week ever, including training for the Southland Marathon last year.

An in-between state

The last couple of days have been kind of strange. All of a sudden I feel stronger - my legs feel more powerful, my shoulders and chest a little bit stronger and overall I feel like I can do a little bit more. At the same time, however, I feel fatigued - my arms ache, my quads are sore I almost fell asleep at 5:15 this afternoon. The first five minutes of any training session are usually hell, but once I get going I feel great (aside from a niggle in my right quad that won't go away).

One of my problems is that I am struggling with sleep. No matter what time I go to bed, it takes me a while to get to sleep and then I wake up several times during the night to go for a pee until, at 5am, I am awake for good and usually with really hot legs - not wide awake, but enough to be restless until I get up around 6:30 or 7:00. I am also waking up quite sore in the morning, especially in the hips and back, and I think that my plantar fasciitis is coming back. Once I get up and moving though I am fine.

I am hoping the strong-fatigued thing is just a stage and that it is a sign that something good is happening - it certainly feels like its a positive thing.

How embarrassing!

I had my first swim session with Aleisha Clark of JC Swim School tonight and I felt slightly embarrassed. I turned up early and Aleisha welcomed me and said that she had read my blog and 'learnt lots of things about me that she didn't know'. I had told her to read it to see how my swimming had been going as my blogs are littered with entries bemoaning my lack of ability in the water.

A little while later the other members of the class turned up - one guy and one woman - and, to my embarrassment, I think the woman is the 'little old lady' that came in behind me at the Lake Hayes Tri that I discussed in my blog about the race. I was far too embarrassed to mention it to Aleisha and I definitely didn't say anything to the woman in the class. As it turns out, while she is petite, she is not as old as I might have made out in my previous blog.

I think that I might have to be careful about what I write here!

Anyway it turns out that Aleisha doesn't think that my basic technique is that bad, but she said that my kick sucks. I kind of knew that was what she was going to say and I also knew that she was going to tell me that the only way to fix it is to do lots of kicking in the pool - and she did. She also said that to get faster I need to swim faster and that means doing sprints in my training rather than endless lengths. I have to say that this is good news, as I don't think that I could have faced doing non-stop lengths in the pool. For now it means doing multiple 25 metre sprints in the pool, but she said that I can work up to 200 metre sprints by about November/December.

My problemright now is facing the embarrassment of going to Moana pool and doing lengths with the kickboard that take me about 5 minutes and include a couple of stops on the way. Watch this space, I am sure that I will be writing more about this in the coming weeks.

100k Day

Today was my first 100k day ever. I went for a ride with Michael at 8am this morning, setting out from the Mosgiel Pool intent on doing about 80km or 3 hours on the bike. We headed though Outram to Berwick and by the time we were back past Mosgiel and Wingatui, we had decided that we would be bloody close to 100km by the time we finished so we made sure that we added a few detours and loopbacks to make it to the magical three figure ride.

I felt great the whole way - excpet for my butt, which is still struggling with the saddle (even the new one) and I have recovered well this afternoon. We managed the 100km in just on 3:40 or just over 27km per hour. It was mostly on the flat and, while there was a bit of breeze it wasn't strong. All in all I am well-pleased with today's effort.

Thanks to Michael for keeping me company and giving me someone to stay ahead of. We both decided at about 90km that he is insane to be doing these long rides with me as he hasn't done any other training. He is hoping to keep up with me on more long rides including doing a 180km ride at some stage. Me-thinks he might need to do a little more time in the saddle or he is going to be in a power of pain - god knows he was today. Good on ya mate!

The week that was... (Week Three)

The end of last week's training marked 40 weeks to go until Challenge Wanaka. As you can tell by my blog on the 9th, it was a pretty tough week after a couple of weeks with back-to-back races.

I managed 10.2 hours of training including: 37.5km running (3:49); 115.7km on the bike (5:05), and; 1:20 in the pool. I was a couple of sessions short in the water with the Easter break and he fact that the lakes were too cold to swim in even though I had my wet suit with me.

Thank goodness for rest days

Last week, in a post, I suggested that I was beginning to enjoy the feeling of slight fatique in my legs all the time - I know, I'm sick and I need help. Well today I am starting to think that maybe that feeling has become more than a little bit slight.

I went for a run with Stephen today and I really struggled to make a decent pace and I had to let him take off on the way home. I still managed almost one and half hours on the road, but it was bloody hard work right from the get go. My legs are just a bit knackered. Thank goodness I have a rest day tomorrow!

Some time in the pool this evening will also help loosen my up and I am going to spend a good 15-20 miuntes in the spa after that.

Gear

This week I have had some issues with my bike. A buckled front rim from the Lake Hayes Tri, a graunching noise in the bottom bracket, noisey brakes and the replacement of a front shifter that was replaced under warantee. I have bought all my bike gear from Cycle Surgery (Dunedin) and I get my repairs done there too. The guys are really helpful and friendly and Goughy usually does me a good deal on parts and accessories. I especially like that Emma takes an interest in my training whenever she sees me in the store and the fact that she remembers my name.

I have a 2009 Scott Speedster S40 and I like it a lot. Apart from the seat, the only things that I have changed are the wheels. Goughy traded in the factory wheels and $200 for a set of entry level Mavics and I am astounded at the difference. I am also astounded at the difference a descent set of tyres has made to the ride.

I am not a slave to the latest gear or the newest gadget but I am happy to spend good money on gear that is functional and that I really need. This week I bought a new seat for my bike as I am sick of my neather regions going numb or my little fella falling off (not literally, but it certainly feels like it sometimes) after about an hour on the bike. So far all of my cycling clothing is second hand (thanks to Michael) or old and none of it has any logos or labels. I am always on the lookout for a good deal on clothing on Torpedo7. Its an awesome site and the deals are great, but I haven't found quite what I am looking for at the moment. I've bought a pump and some lights there so far, but I buy most of my gear from the Cycle Surgery because I appreciate the advice and the fact that I can take it back straight away if it doesn't work.

My wetsuit cost me $99 and is fine for keeping me warm, but it weighs a ton with all of the water that it holds. Its not really designed as a swimming wet suit, but it'll do for the moment. In spring, I'll get a new one in the spring when things warm up and I am able to hit the harbour again some open water swims.

My wish list/gear list for the rest of the year is as follows:

• A couple of pairs of cycling shorts
• Another pair of bib shorts
• Some thermal gear for winter
• A proper triathlon wetsuit
• A trisuit (when I have lost enough weight to not look like an overstuffed sausage)
• Aerobars
• A Garmin Forerunner 310XT GPS watch (This really is wishlist material and it is the one exception to my 'no flashy gadgets' rule).

I am just really lucky that Carleen is fully behind this and that she is happy to have me spend a reasonably sizable amount of money in the lead up to Challenge Wanaka. Thanks, Carleen!

A weighty problem!

Training is going well and I am managing to keep largely to my schedule. I have had to juggle a few sessions this week as its been hard to fit things around travelling back from Hawea and also getting my bike in for some servicing.

To be honest Easter has thrown me a little bit, not just because of the travel to and from Hawea, but because it has really highlighted one of the key barriers that I have to overcome. You see, I’m not exactly the slimmest guy around. In fact a number of people call me “Big Guy”. Easter has highlighted my biggest weakness when it comes to training - I eat too much and I love chocolate!

When I started serious training about 18 months ago I was nudging 135kg with a BMI in the morbidly obese range. I’ve dropped almost 30 kgs since then, but I’ve stalled at around 105-107kgs since December.

I have been to a sports nutritionist and paid too much money for an eating plan, stayed on it for about 6 weeks and loosing about 4 kgs. However, I soon became bored of the menu and I also find that my training makes me hungary. I know what I am supposed to eat and when and I stick to it about 75% of the time, but the other 25% of the time I eat way too much and I give in to temptation too easily.

My target weight for race day is under 85kgs so I am going to have to loose another 20 or so kgs over the next 40 weeks. With the temptation of easter eggs gone, I am hoping to be more disciplined and hoping to drop 10 or so kgs over the next 10 weeks. For the moment, I know I am changing shape and that, with a recent increase in training, I am building up muscle especially my quads, glutes and shoulders.

I know that as I drop weight I am going to get faster and stronger and that it will aid my training. For the meantime though, I just need to stop eating crap and start turning to a completely healthy diet.

The week that was (Week Two)

The week started on Saturday with my PB at the Southern Lakes Half Marathon and finished with a 1:30 finish at the Lake Hayes Tri. All-in-all a pretty good week of competition and training.

Including races, I managed 4 run sessions totalling 36km and 2 hours 17 minutes, 4 bike sessions totalling 120km and 3:38 and 3 swims totalling 1:24. That's a total of 10 hours 20 minutes of training; 2:20 more than scheduled thanks largely to the extra long bike ride on Sunday.

My swimming sucks!

I completed my second triathlon on Good Friday. It was the Salomon Lake Hayes Tri. I’ve done the duathlon at this event a couple of times in a team with Michael and we even won the duathlon teams’ event one year. It’s a reasonably tough course, especially the run, which follows the lake front along an undulating (sometimes quite steeply) gravel track.

This year was my first attempt at the full triathlon and my target was 1:30:00 (20 minutes for the swim, 40 minutes for the bike and 30 minutes for the run). In fact I made it in 1:29:49 and I was pretty pleased with all of my splits and overall time. I was especially pleased with my ride which I felt was very strong and I managed to go from 75th (out of 76) overall to 52nd overall so I picked up 23 places on the bike and run legs. BUT, my swim sucked – even though I did it in the time I thought it would take. I was second last out of the water and second last out of transition and the only person behind me was literally a little old lady. It’s bloody embarrassing and it is costing me heaps of places and heaps of time.

I know, I’ve already said it in another blog, but this has really brought it home to me – I must get some coaching and I must spend more time in the pool. I am pretty sure that I will be able to complete the 3.8km swim for Challenge Wanaka, but at this rate it could take me a couple of hours. At least I am realizing it early and I still have a little over 10 months to get it sorted.