I'm Tired......

WARNING: May contain some typos and the odd grammatical error.

As the title suggests, I am a bit knackered. All in a good way though, I have that nicely whole body latent muscle ache and permanent mild hunger that goes hand in hand with the build period pre Ironman. Am not as fatigued as previous years however as the car doesn't need to go to the panel beaters. (yet).

Brett+Betty

After a kick up the butt from coach marilyn reminding me that I had put in a lot of work over the past year and to let a little disruption get in the way of my goals would be very dissappointing, I have swung back into action and cranking out some decent hours of training. Had a couple of good weeks of training after my weekend in Taupo; the  Sunday after my big Monday ride I headed out for a 4 hour flat ride with Brett. Quite exciting as we hadn't had a ride together in AGES! Anyhow, with the help of his Garmin 705, Brett planned out a route for us to ride, taking in some different roads. I couldn't face riding out to Little River and back..... the flies, the Easterly headwind on the way home, magpies, boring scenery. In fact- its a great Ironman training ride:))
I digress;   we rode out round the back of the airport and round Maclean's Island then turned onto Old West Coast Rd for a bit and then cut up another road to Main West Coast Road and a right turn through a network of roads that took us to Burnham Army base where we crossed the State Highway 1 and grovelled all the way through Lincoln to Tai Tapu and then home. This felt like a really arduous 4 hour ride. Although the ride was broken up with some long TT efforts, I came to the realisation while riding that long flat rides are far harder than long rides in the hills.

-You never get to freewheel
-No change in position as no change in terrain
-Mentally harder as landscape tends to be less exciting
-More exposed to direct effects of the wind

Of course, it didn't help that  the first half of the ride was on a 1-2% gradient - and the second half was into a headwind. We arrived at Zeroes for post-ride coffee feeling rather spent. My new catchphrase ( purged from Mike C on endurance corner's forum ) is "Flat Hills"- attributed to riding around Christchurch where one has to combat rough chip seal as well as wind -I LOVE it!!!

Alberto+I- bright eyed and bushy tailed

In other exciting news, Wharenui Pool opened on the 14th of March so I no longer have to traipse out to Rangiora for a swim. Hope I haven't lost too much strength in the water. I was about to add speed, but that's not really an issue for me- I only have one !!!!

Off to Sydney on the 18th March for the weekend as Mum is over there so am really looking forward to that. Hopefully work on my tan in the outdoor 50m  pool at Bondi and get some good sets in. 

Quick Update

Oops... well meaning intentions to blog weekly have slipped by the wayside recently! I suspect there is a direct correlation between training volume and blogging. This will just a be a quick one relating to the last 3 or 4 weeks.
 Headed up to Aucklnad on 4th March and then Becs, Mary, Lachie , 4 bikes and I drove down to Taupo to have a good training weekend, hang out and support friends competing in Ironman New Zealand on the Saturday. My best laid plans of lots of swimming and a big bike ride didnt come to fruition; by the time we arrived in Taupo on Friday evening I was able to get out for a run. Saturday we awoke to torrential rain- always optimistic it would clear, decided to go watch the end of the swim and cheer people on. By the time we had seen everyone we knew, I was freezing cold and soaking wet! Quick coffee and a delicious date and orange scone from Bodyfuel and back to the house to throw stuff in the dryer and change. Still no abating of the rain or any sign that it was likely to clear so we all decided to head out in the car and park up on a side road off Broadlands  to watch the cyclists. Took about 5 minutes and we were drenched again, however some heat was generated in the form of ranting at that blatant drafting of the front end age group men with some pro women nicely tucked in the mix. Credit where it is due, a few in there were obviously trying to keep to the legal 7 m between bikes but others were sucking wheel. Quite disgusting especially from professional athletes who I believe shoudl be setting an example by riding clean in races, not cheating.



Ugly Weather

Thats ok but where were the technical officials?? And why bother penalising the back end of the field when its the pointy end that have the most riding on a race result in the form of Kona slots, sponsorship , prize money etc.

Anyway, enough on the soap box :)   Didn't end up doing any training for the rest of the Saturday as couldn't will myself to even go for a swim - the lake was shrouded in low cloud and after spending all day in a semi-saturated state, swimming had lost it's appeal.Thus I also passed the day battling feelings of guilt about missed sessions and despondent about the impending Ironman. Watching the poor soaked souls out there shuffling their way up and down the lakefront made me start to question why on earth I decide to take these things upon myself? Why? Why? Why can I not just be content with some social riding, running and swimming for health and fitness instead of this obsessive, life-encompassing quest to see how quickly I can cover 226 km?!!!!!!! Deep huh?!

Next day it was still wet ; albeit slightly less miserable so Becs, Lachie, Mary and I set off for Whakaipo Bay. Becs+ Lachie were going to mountain bike the W2K track in training for Xterra, I was going to do my 2 hr 15 run and then aim to get at least half an hour of lake swimming in and Mary was going to go for a shorter run and look after the car keys. I had a very pleasant run  which climbed up hill for several km through forest and the track was quite wide with a soft surface and not too many tree roots to trip over! Made it in for a swim after the run, though there was quite a bit of swell and  about 50m out I couldnt see the bottom of the lake at all which freaked me out a little - I guess because I was onmy own - so I swam back and forth parallel to shore which was not altogether that pleasant but I stuck it out for just under 30 minutes. Getting out and walking to shore was rather difficult however; I was feeling quite sea sick and couldn't walk in a straight line let alone stand on one leg to remove my wetsuit!! Am sure the ducks were highly amused.

We drove back to Auckland that afternoon and I got the last flight back to Christchurch, ever optimistic that Monday would be a dry day and I would get in a good long ride.

Am I brave enough to tackle the Levy??!

Hey Presto!!  A cold but sunny day beckoned - so had a good jaunt over the hills to Purau  and back then out on the flat with the condition that I didn't ever use my small chain ring. Ended up having a gratifying 5 and a half hour ride; pleased that I can at least ride the bays of Lyttelton Harbour between Governors and Purau. I did debate as to whether I shoudl really try rip my own legs off and go over to Port Levy and back, but i was a bit too scared about potential  rockfalls on the road so I chickened out of that! Maybe next time.

Reality Bites

Well, has been a rather up and down couple of weeks since my last post. I had intentions to write last week  as I had a post composed in my head during an episode of insomnia broken up by the odd aftershock or two:)  But I never seemed to have time - we still didnt have any running water  at home til last Friday (the 4th of March) - so my spare time between being at work and training was spent driving to friend's place for a shower and to get a couple of loads of washing done. On this note - John and Mair -THANK YOU!! for the use of shower and washing machine; was a lifesaver!!

Spot the Canadian

First few days after the quake I couldn't get my head around training. It seemed a rather selfish way to spend my time, as well as not being able to have a shower afterwards!.However, I also felt rather anxious about leaving the house by myself just in case another big one struck.So, rather than ride my bike last Sunday, Brett dragged me over to Sumner to Lidia and Andrew's house which sits nestled up Sumnervale, a few metres below Captain Thomas track. It was almost a 4 wheel drive adventure to get there as the roads through Ferrymead and into Sumner are a huge MESS. Rockfalls strewn across some pavements and if you happen to look up as you  drive into Sumner past Shag(ged) Rock on the cliffs, you can see the houses on the top have decks overhanging the edge now where the cliff has crumbled away. We also spotted parts of barbecues and laundry in the debris of boulders and other detritus lying in what was previously a small reserve . Anyway, spent the day helping build a rockprooof fence at the top of their garden. I have to mention that the gradient of the garden is about 30% so I certainly got a satisfactory strength workout for both upper and lower body - have you ever tried hammering in a waratah??!!!! I also learnt how to tie steel; not dissimilar to making removable orthodontic appliances really!

This is across the road from work

Went back to work last Monday, cleared out 6 years worth of old journals and other trash from the surgery so that was something. The entire week was quite unproductive  as anticipated  and I expect that is how it 's going to be for a little while. After a mild panic attack about finances, lack of swimming pools and shaking ground I came to the decision that I stick to the original plan and stay at work til Easter  then head north  either to Aus or UK after we return from Utah. I don't cope well with a disrupted routine as i am a creature of habit and after weighing up pros and cons of staying put vs leaving , staying won out in the end.

Swimming is proving a little difficult at present with no pools open here in Chch; the nearest pool being in Rangiora or open water at Pegasus lake which are both 45 mins- 1 hour drive away, depending on the time of day. However, its not the end of the world. We still have a house to live in that is basically undamaged, friends and loved ones are all accounted for and Jemima hasn't run off in fright.

Shaken ... and a little stirred.

So, this week has seen a rather unexpected turn of events to say the least!

Jemima mimicking my post training pose

 Said Goodbye to Mum on Monday afternoon; wasn't as emotional a farewell as usual since we will catch up again in Sydney on the 18th of March - am heading there for the weekend- may as well since is only a 3 hour flight away as opposed to the 33 hours I have to travel to get back to Edinburgh! 
Managed to get all my training in successfully last week with some reduced working hours and good time management. I admire people who train for Ironmans and have to juggle young families, 40 hour work weeks and the rest- I just cannot conceive how they get enough sleep!

Tuesday morning I made it to swim squad but the pool was still at 50m (is usually set to 2 x 25 m pools on Tues, Wed+ Thurs) which meant we had about 10 of us with a much wider variety of speeds in the lane. I don't enjoy squad when it is like this as I am generally the slowest in the lane and have to keep skipping some of the intervals to stay in the same sets as my squad mates. However, I tell myself that it is good to push out of my comfort zone a bit and hope that I am swimming faster than normal just to hang on! I was a bit sluggish tho; my shoulders were tired from Monday's set so I was glad when the hour was up and I could get out. Headed back toward home and did the groceries en route as had had a couple of cancellations so wasnt starting work til later in the morning. Ugh I find grocery shopping a tedious chore but when a pocket of time becomes available it has to be used!

Anyway, in the midst of my last morning patient and suddenly the lights go off and the building starts shaking like crazy and drawers are opening, stuff is flying off the shelves and the work surfaces and I hear the hiss of pipes  and the rumbling noise of a shuddering roof combined with the banging and crashing of items falling off surfaces throughout the practice. Once the worst subsided we all went outside into the car park ; standing around like stunned mullets in a bit of disbelief. A few minutes later we could feel the rolling and rocking of the ground as sequences of aftershocks came.Went back inside to get my bag and couldnt even see the floor of my surgery! Shame I didnt take a photo to record it but didnt want to linger in the building for too long. We lost a few roof tiles but otherwise the structure of the practice seems to be ok. Took forever to get home; the building across from work by the large intersection had a collapsed roof and the traffic lights were out as well as silt and liquefaction pouring out from the gutters and craters appearing in the road.

Got home eternally grateful that the house was still standing and that Brett was there, also unharmed. We had some broken mugs and glasses; all the photo frames had fallen over as well as the shelves in the spare room. We still had power on thankfully but no water. Next panic was about Jemima but I stood in the garden and called out to her and lo she appeared from underneath a bush. Phew! I missed all the action in September when the first earthquake struck; the subsequent aftershocks never really bothered me but on Tuesday afternoon I spent feeling mildly traumatised and terrified at the slightest wobble.However, when we turned the TV on and saw the mass devastation in the town centre we felt exceedingly lucky.Needless to say, it was a bit of a sleepless night. Wednesday seemed a little surreal; thankfully internet connection was restored so was able to track down some people I hadn't heard from via Facebook. We had a few friends come round who were still without power to charge up cell phones and lap tops and it was a relief to talk to other people and hear their experiences.

What earthquake??!!

As for training,can still run and ride in various places (but no Long or Short bays for a while). Swimming- well, I am not sure where or when will the pools will reopen. Its a minor though in the great scheme of things and my heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones in this disaster. Makes one have some appreciation for the things in life we take for granted. Kia Kaha

Coughs. Colds and Clan Gatherings

Alec,Mum and Christine staying upright in the wind

Mum arrived last Friday and is here until the 21st of February. I was in a bit of a panic about how I was going to fit in some good  training, work and quality Mummy time. My Uncle Alec and his wife, also called Christine, arrived late Thursday night and are here until Tuesday. They live in a small town called Foster which is about 2 1/2 hours drive from Melbourne, Victoria.  The picture above is of them standing by the summit road along the Port Hills; they are positioned by the top of the Bridle Path which is a steep track which rises from Lyttelton on the South side over to Heathcote Valley on the North side. The first settlers into Christchurch walked with all their belongings over this path to get to the flatter, fertile plains of Christchurch. No obesity epidemic in those days!!

Anyway, enough history. Woke the early hours of last Saturday morning with a scratchy sore throat and had trouble getting to sleep again. My body was feeling quite achey, but I had done a weights session in the gym the day before and with Ironman training there are always some latent muscle aches. I had also had a massage 2 days previous so was hoping and praying that it would pass.I attempted a ride on the Saturday morning but I was starting to feel worse and worse so decided to quit the workout early and knock things on the head. Sunday was our hottest day of the year - a sweltering 35 degrees so Mum and I went for a walk up round Cashmere hills for a couple of hours. Monday was back to work and my throat was still a bit sore and I was feeling pretty tired as it had been so hot on Sunday night that I hadnt had the greatest sleep.
Managed to train Tuesday and Wednesday, altho blew myself up on Tuesday night with some FTP intervals. Had 4 intervals of 15 mins with 4 mins recovery to do; first two were fine, third one I rode up Kennedy's Bush Road to enable me to hit the power target and the 4th... well I crawled home like a dog with no legs!! (Actually FELT like a dog with no legs by this point!)

Thursday I awoke to Brett having disappeared - he had moved into the lounge and was on the couch since i was snoring so bad (??!!moi??!!) - and the dull ache above my eyeballs and through my cheeks of full blown sinusitis.Ugh. So much for thinking I had gotten over my little cold; should have known better than that going back to pathology days at Uni...virus first then the bacteria flood in a few days later. (thats why your snot is clear at the start of a cold and green by the later stages. Interesting, huh?!)  Missed swimming but managed a wind trainer session in the afternoon. Had to leave home at 11.15pm to go to pick up Alec + Chris from the airport which wasn't ideal so Friday I felt even more crap and was certainly not up to excercise.

Attempted a flat ride on Saturday morning, tho my HR was quite high for my effort and similar while running this morning. Both resting and training HRs were higher but my run pace was way off. Brett had to wait 4 minutes for me at the top of Captain Thomas track - we are usually together or I can pip him a bit on the uphills. By then I had come to the conclusion that common sense should apply and there was no way I could struggle on for a 2 hours plus run round the Godley head circuit, let alone the thought of climbing up all the zig zags back over Whitewash head. Brett suggested that we turn back and that I needed to get over this cold and not to panic about a shortened workout (again).

Godley head and Boulder Bay.My favourite run :))

Its 11 weeks to IM St George , keep telling myself I have plenty of time and NOT to worry at this stage. Better to recover properly and ensure I get to the start line fresh and healthy. I have managed to  avoid  headcolds since November 2009  so I guess I am not doing too badly.I always have that nagging doubt of "Am I being lazy or a bit soft and should just train??My symptoms are above the neck after all ?".  This is one time where the HRM and the Power Meter are a useful tool - they tell you that you are not quite right!



View from Hilltop

On a brighter, less self-centred note, we took the rellies to Akaroa yesterday and they loved it. Have to admit it it is a stunning place. Last time I was there was a few months ago ( ah...back to me again!) and that was by bike with a few of the boys. I had a wheel out of true and a broken rear spoke with another about to break so I was terrified descending back down to Little River from Hilltop. It was one of those epic days where we had a horrendous norwesterly to contend with on the way home. The boys kindly said I could just sit at the back while they took turns at the front (phew....!).  Anyhow, yesterday's trip over made me have a yearning to ride there again and hopefully have my climbing legs with me this time as well as 20 intact rear spokes!

Wouldnt have a spoke problem on this baby!

.

Lake Wanaka Half race Report (Sat 15th Jan)

Short version:   5 h42.x  7th female in 30-39 AG, 12th female o/all. 91st out of 332.( Average fiinish time was 5.56 )
   
                      Swim- 37.20x   t1 5 min >      Bike 3h05  t2. 2min   Run 1h 52.5x


Looong Version:

For those of you unfamiliar with this beautiful part of the world, Wanaka is situated in the South Island of NZ  a groovy town  situated by a large freshwater lake fed from glacial rivers and nestled amongst mountains. Weather in summer is one of two patterns - Southwesterly which means littl wind, clear skies and very hot days. Or northwesterly which means very windy and/or heavy rain which causes the lake to rise.

The two days preceding the race were clear, calm and hot. However, a norwester was forecast for Saturday. Metservice website said the wind would pick up in the afternoon so we were all optimistic that by the time the wind got strong(er) we would be well off the bike (unless you were doing the full distance).

So the alarm went off at 4.45am on Sat morning, brekky of 1 and a half bagels with peanut butter and 1 and a half bananas plus 2 cups of coffee. Followed MM's advice that I needed more calories for breakfastso forced it all down. Listened to my Ipod and my prerace psyche up songs (this is a new thing I am trying out!!)
 Applied first layer of sunscreen/stretched my shoulders+rotators and put some muscle rub on my neck and shoulders too.Decided to head outside since it was getting light and check out the weather. UH-OH.......its NOT a good sign when the trees are swaying ferociously at 5.30am!!

We headed down to transition and got numbered and into wetsuits and headed across to the lakefront as the full distance competitors were about to start. As expected the lake was choppy with lots of standing waves ( tho was relieved no white caps at that stage!). Oh well, at least the water temp was 17 degrees this year and not 13 like last year ....I have to admit I had a bit of trepidation as I have always been lucky enough to have smooth conditions in all the major races I have done. Stood in the water for a bit and assessed where the hardest work was going to be - we were swimming in an anticlockwise direction so heading out into the chop, a surf on one side and side on chop back to the big orange buoy then 100m to shore. Had a good warm up, once the men started I headed out as the women were starting 3 mins later and its a deep water start.
I lined myself up in a good position closer to the small orange buoys on my left, of course once the gun went off the usual melee occurred but there were heaps of people doing breaststroke already- i was feeling quite assertive so just kept pushing on remembering MM's instructions that I was to go hard from the start - just had to keep poppong my head up every 3rd- 4th stroke to see over the top of the wave and keep the buoys in sight. Made it round 2/3 of the triangle with a good line - the final stretch heading back in was the hardest part - side on waves meant I kept swallowing water ( but this lake water is highly drinkable - the lake is clear like Taupo so you can see the bottom apart from the really deep bits ) and every time I sighted it felt like the bouy was not getting any closer. The whole swim i was aiming for high turnover and short punchy stroke, kept telling myself I was just in the pool doing MMs fast 25s with BB and counting my strokes. This seemed to work and I passed a few AG men.
Was expecting to see 45 mins on the clock but highly pleased to see 37.17(37.22 to the timing mat) on my watch, last year i did 37.07 but the lake was flat.

Swim- 37.22   avg HR 164 (!!). 

T1- 5 mins.

Out on the bike and the first 35 km are an out and back to Hospital flat which is a pleasant leg by the lakeside and lots of rollers. My race plan was to let everyone zoom past up the road to the turnaround and force myself to take it easy and let my stomach settle - good practice for IM anyway. After a study of Going Long and Hunter Allan';s book I set my Power caps to be 190 for the small hills but aiming to hold 150-160 W (which =80-85%  of FTP).  I had no choice but to do this anyway asi could feel the lake water sloshing away in my stomach ( at least I would be well hydrated) and had to burp a few timesbefore I came right. This section passed uneventfully and quickly then it was back thru town and up the hill out then a left turn towards Hawea. More rollers and then a decent climb up to Hawea dam (^50km mark) straight into the wind. Worse to come was riding across the dam with my bike being blown towards the centre line as I tried to stay upright. THANK GOD I decided my Powertap was more important and had my 32mm Eastons on!Steepish climb out of Hawea  and then a few more rollers and a small uphill (still with crosswind) made this hard work and my Garmin was beeping like mad as I couldnt keep the watts down (!). The reward for this tho was a huge tailwind on the slight downhill along Hawea Flat to Luggate Bridge (this section of road has the roughest chip ever!).I kept hammering away at the pedals tho  and used the time to get some more food and drink in - where I felt safe enough to reach for my bottle...slightly scary drop down to Luggate Bridge and then a sharp climb up and eventually hit the right turn back towards wanaka where a longish climb back into the wind ensued before a gradual descent into town.
Robbie Ventura's mantra of "Go fast when the race is slow" had been ringing thru my head the entire ride and here was the prime place to prove that theory..passed a lot of people up here and kept the pace on, knowing that the last 5km were all downhill, albeit into the wind. I hit 75km/hr on my aerobars down here and managed to beat my bike time from last year by 1 minute in much worse condtions. So I was quite chuffed when I got into T2

Bike time 3h05   total ascent 697m   avg power 141 ( think Normalized power would be quite a bit higher) avg HR 157.
T2 2 mins

Out onto the run- its  a gradual uphill (into the wind) by the lakefront  then along the lakeside on a gravelly track and then thankfully a bit of shelter on the Clutha outlet track where finally had a bit of reprieve from the wind. I was running 5.30ish/km which was ok..I was in a nice rhythm and couldnt go faster or slower.The track is quite undulating and about 11km you pop out of the track and have a long uphill (Gunn Rd) then a long 4 km slight downhill (into the wind again!) down Aubrey Road which I have always found a mental slog.. This year the course had changed so no in and out section here - just straight up 2 steepish hills to the park then back to Beacon Point (into that b****y wind again!) to make up the extra distance (which seemed a LOT longer than the previous in and out on Rata St!). Once out by the lake YAY only 2 km to home and the wind behind me....played a bit of cat and mouse with a woman in the age group above me and manged to outsprint her to the line.

run - 1.52.5x  avg Hr 167.  1st 10km in 53.52  11km in 59.08. Pleased I kept my run pace relatively consistent.

Nutrition - 2 gels, bag of GU chomps and most of a bag of cola flavour Powerbar Gel blasts + 2 bottles of water w Nuun.

               Coke + water only on run.  No issues at all

Thoughts?

Am pleased as went 3 mins quicker than last year in very testing conditions. Mostly pleased as  I was in very good headspace for the whole race and didnt waste any energy stressing about the wind or the waves. I had listened to an old episode of IMtalk where the boys interviewed Mark Allen a few weeks ago - his message about focussing on the moment really struck home and I said to myself at the start line that I was really grateful I was fit and healthy enough to be able to do this especially in these beautiful surrounds; I was going to enjoy every minute and I know that my Dad would have been really proud. Yes, I know that all sounds really cheesy but on Saturday I got the "flow" and its a great place to be in
This was also the first time I had raced a longer race with my Power meter - I couldnt stick to the power caps on some of the short steep climbs but where I gained the MOST use of it was when I slacked off (despite thinking I was working) a bit and could see that I could put more effort in. My sole focus for the bike was staying within my power parameters and making sure I ate every 30 mins; the ride would take care of itself and surprisingly I was a minute faster than last year.
I would have liked to run less than 1.50 but maybe its hard to do on this course? I was pleased with relatively even pacing and didnt walk any of it.The wind was very tiring on the run; more so than the bike. The swim was also tiring but my strength has definitely improved and can see all the pullbuoy/paddle work Ive been doing is paying off.

Looking forward to St George now - the longer steady climbs suit me a lot more than steep short rollers. At least the roads there are a lot smoother than here in NZ.

New helmet -old one had a crack and failed the check.

Day before the race=perfect weather!

I would encourage any of you to come race here -its a stunning spot, great honest course and fabulous atmosphere.....there is a full distance, teams for the half and full and a sprint race the evening before so something to suit everyone.

Wed 26th January

Well, since this is my first every blog I will keep it brief :))

2011 heralds a bit of the unknown - heading to Utah in May to do Ironman St George  and then heading to Penticton to do Ironman Canada in August. So two ironmans in places I have never raced before ( though I have managed to ride some of the St George course) and two iron distance races in the same year. A whole new challenge!

Add to that my resignation from work ..so i will be leaving the comfort zone of the practice I have worked in for the last 11 years at Easter so that I can head somewhere warmer ( either Edinburgh - though debatable how warm that can be in summer- or Australia) to train for IM Canada. Though I will still have to work and hoping I land a cushy locum job somewhere..... 3 days a week wil be fine. Brett is staying home to look after the house and my cat, Jemima since he has just started  a new job here in Christchurch supervising some of the rebuilding of earthquake affected residential properties.

So, as mentioned before - a delve into the unknown which is exciting and also a little scary - what better a time to start a blog and document my adventures?!!!