Last one for 2013....

I know Christmas is yet to come and then the whole New Years thing but today is my last day of work for 2013 so I thought it would be fitting to post my last entry for the year before I head out for the holiday fun.

And so it begins....

354 days

until Sunday December 07 2014

a Sunday 11 months and 19 days from today

 

 

 

 

 

And this is my 50th post...a double milestone ;)

 

 

Wow this is a random post....

So I have been a little BLOGGER AWOL for the last couple of weeks…life continuing to get in the way of life really J

In a bit of a funk...

I am sorry but I am in a bit of a blue zone right now and this could be a bit of a whinge fest…stop now to avoid me being a sook.

 

Inspired and a little bit terrified of the challenge to come!

So on the weekend I took on my longest ride to date with a 50km ride to Mandurah to go and watch the Ironman 70.3 race that was on there.

Terenzo Bozzone (winner Mens) "flying" in his second lap of the run
(Look he is airborne!!!)

Training changes and asleep on the couch (at 2130)

The changes I have applies to my training regime has resulted in me feeling very lack lustre of late. In short – I feel shagged! In thinking through the changes that I have applied of late I realised that I have done a considerable step up in training…

Not quite an Ironman schedule.....YET!!!

I am now into week 3 of this regime. First week was tentative and not as full on as I could have been (plus I was claiming recovery from the marathon). Week 2 was the “official” start of the plan with me trying to set the benchmarks and baselines from which to improve and build upon.

The learning’s continue…

1)      I have improved my cycle time to and from work (3mins in and 4 mins home). Some bike confidence is returning and I am happy with that. A couple of small tweaks to the bike has me feeling happier in the saddle.

2)      Swimming – I like getting back in the pool. Hoping to continue to build my fitness to then start working on technique. I will focus on pool fitness over the next month or so.

3)      Running – this has taken a backward step (at least it feels that way). I am not running as fast as I was a few short weeks ago (and in honest truth I find that a little demoralising (pace down to 5:30 – 5:40 per km from 5:05 – 5:15s)). I am treating it as back to basics and working on getting this new type of fitness up to then start improving from there.

4)      It takes me about 1km to get some level of normal feeling back into my legs from the bike ride (and that 1km also involves a generous hill climb).

5)      Fuelling still eludes me both for the BRICK and in life it seems. I need to curb the sweets now! The free pass has expired and time to get back on the wagon. 4 weeks of cleaner eating starts NOW!

6)      I tried a new fuel pre and during the BRICK (Dextro). It was ok – the premix (mix your own) sports drink gave me a little bit of indigestion on the ride (too sweet I think) and the energy “gel” was liquid (taken at 15kms ie 5km before the run start) and wasn’t all that pleasant so will move away from that one.

Am enjoying the change that the variety in activities is forcing my body to make and am hoping to find my rhythm/groove in a week or two once I fine tune the regime adequately and find some consistency in it.

Looking forward to going and spectating the Mandurah 70.3 this weekend. Really looking forward to experiencing my first Ironman environment and seeing the athletes giving their all!

On a disappointing note – I did email a local tri club (shall remain nameless at the moment) asking some general questions about membership and services/processes as a newbie triathlete and am yet to hear anything back. A bit bleak about this and hoping that they will get back to me soon. Was going to go to one of their race days to see if I can observe and talk to someone directly rather that the faceless email… 

Thanks for reading and here’s to falling asleep on the couch at 9:30 a few more times J

Happy swim, bike, run!

NOTE: This is simply my training schedule trying to move from the world of running (in my own little amature way) into the world of triathlon (again in my amature way). I am working off my own training schedule and the above is a simplified snapshot of a week. I plan to build up the distances once I gain further fitness in multisport and as I work towards my goal of an Ironman.

My first BRICK session

Wow – not what I expected.

I have read countless blogs and articles on the “odd” feelings in your legs after a ride and at the start of a run but all that reading doesn’t really compare to the first-hand experience (as is the case with so much in life!). I was wondering who switched out my trainers for concrete boots!

The old Annual Anniversary of....

....ME :)

Yup - October 23rd - my birthday - woooo!

Well that surprised the legs...and shoulders....and glutes...and bum!

So I am 9 days post Melbourne Marathon and I have done very little in the way of exercise (done some but nothing like previously) unless you count ninja sneaking into the pantry to raid the chocolate box when the wife has gone to bed....that poor little chocolate box twitches every time the pantry light goes on!

Melbourne Marathon and the end of a challenge…(and my longest post ever)

How to start the end of a year long challenge??? A LONG recap and a new challenge…

SPOILER::::::The sweep is complete

Melbourne marked the final state in my quest to run around Australia. A personal challenge that started back in October last year with an idea about running in every State and Territory. What an adventure it has been. I have met some amazing people for very different walks of life. It has been a year of personal growth and widening of comfort zones and the pushing of personal boundaries. It has been a year of great fun, lots of flying, hotels, spare beds, meeting old friends and running!

Not the Marathon lead up I wanted...

So I have the final run in my Australian Challenge in two weeks time and it is a full 42.2km run (rather than the 21.1kms I have been doing) and I have had a shocking lead up to it.

Last week I took a dramatic downturn health wise and ended up at the after hours doctors clinic. I had pretty extreme chills (whilst sweating) and some pretty high levels of pain and cramps in my lower back/kidney region. Add to this that I also had conjunctivitis and my eldest son was with me in pretty poor shape of his own we made for a very sorry site.

Blackmores Half Marathon - Sydney

So this past weekend I flew to Sydney for the 7^th race in my run around Australia. Just as a spoiler – I had an absolute blast…easily the most fun I had running this year!

8am flight meant that I at least got to see my eldest before I left home, although I did leave him and my wife happily tucked up in bed at 6:30. Once I got to the airport and was all checking in I tagged myself on Facebook and in hindsight am really pleased that I did.

Comfort zones...

So I have been on a management course in Melbourne for the past week (promise I will abstain from all the management lingo). It was an excellent course and talked a lot about personal development, being your own sales person and having self confidence (also had an amazing catered kitchen which meant too much food and about 3kgs of additional weight on the trip home)!

There were also several exercises/activities that really tested the limits of your comfort zone and made you put yourself out there.

Did I just interval train???

Well the weather this afternoon is still pretty ordinary (read pouring with rain!) so I decided to make the best of a bad situation and to try to get my head straight re training and hit the treadmill.

Side note: the gym at work whilst it is well equipped it has SHOCKING ventilation (ie NONE!) and so you end up drenched in sweat no matter your activity.

Keep on keeping on...

With two runs remaining in my trek around Australia I am finding that my love/desire for running is waning a little.

Post the City to Surf on Sunday I ended up going to see the physio about this pain I have been getting in my foot. It is on the top of my right foot, pretty much under the laces. Doesn't really give me any grief once I get going but sure does ache once I am done.

Perth City to Surf and my lack of hill training...

Perth City to Surf kicked my butt!

Phew – my lack of hill training shone through in all its glory this weekend.

The Perth City to Surf is a well organised and huge event in Western Australia. I have read that initial numbers are 48k registrations (new record) and that about 39k competed. The weather at the start of the day was pretty ordinary with a couple of squally rain showers pre-start which I am certain put some people off - sensitive folks here in Perth ;).

Be that "someone else"!

source: Cuz It's Hilarious - Facebook page

Darwin running and fire alarms

So I am still up in the beautiful city of Darwin in the Northern Territory this week following the Alice Springs Running Festival on the weekend.

 Knowing that I was going to be up here for most of the week and that I have the Perth City to Surf Half this weekend coming I planned to get a couple of runs in. I had given myself Monday as a rest day and set the alarm for 05:15 (and the second alarm for 05:17!). It gets really hot and humid here in Darwin. Yesterday the temps hit the mid 30’s (degrees C) and humidity was in the high 90%’s hence the desire to run in the morning. Pretty different to my usual stomping grounds in Perth.

Alice Springs - race report

Sunday August 18^th saw the fifth race in my quest to run in every State and Territory in Australia this year. It was the turn of the Northern Territory (the NT).

This was a small event (240 total runners across 4 events – Ultra, Full Mara, Half Mara and Half Mara Walk). This is by far the smallest event I have been in to date so I will admit to having some level of nerves about coming in last…

HTFU*

Yesterday, I woke up early (…ier than planned) with toothache that stretched up into my ear and down the right side of my throat. Sad to admit that I am still technically teething at 36 years of age. Yup it is one of my wisdom teeth moving about. The odd this about this is that it only really gives me grief when I am stressed or at a low point. I am not at a low point and yesterday was a particularly “special” day on the hamster wheel so I know it was stress induced. Nothing to do except suck it up and carry on. The ear ache though is a new twist….anyway.

Clothing cleardown

The excuse given to me for this horrible task was that my family needs to know what I need for my upcoming birthday (October!) and as I have so many clothes we "needed" to clear it out! I think that my wife was just sick of the piles of clothing touching the ceiling.

Gee it is a miserable task. Well while part 2 (youngest - one year old) was napping the wife, part 1 (6 year old) and I got to task. I was surprised to see how much was actually taking up space in the wardrobe. Once the area was clear it completely covered our queen size bed.

Weekend long run and no thank-GU...

...not my 1st choice in running fuel.

So last week I did something that I have never done before. I went for a run at lunchtime on a work day...what a new experience. I mapped out a 7 km route and in between rain showers (been a really wet week here in Perth) I dashed out. Despite feeling "heavy" on the run I blitzed it :) 36mins. Amazing the motivation of needing to get back for the afternoon shift in the office can be. Was I productive in the afternoon....hmmm I plead the 5th ;)

The Mental Game...damn you brain!

When I started typing this post I must have deleted the opening sentence 3 or 4 times…..why?? Mental Games…something that is uniquely personal yet is such a common trend in all of us. So how can I type about it?

"I can’t…I won’t…I shouldn’t…I hurt…I’m tired…sheesh why bother…."

Brisbane Marathon Festival

Early start Saturday morning (4:30 alarm) to enable me to wake up and get to the airport by 6:30 for my 7 am flight. HUGE temptation to hit snooze but common sense prevailed and I dragged my carcass out of bed.

 

Uneventful flight (although a spare seat next to me – SCORE!!!!). Landed and caught the airport shuttle to the city and after a short detour of taking the wrong turn out of the station and doubling back I found the hotel and checked in. There I met one of the nicest hotel staff ever. She showed genuine interest and enthusiasm over the fact that I (with many others) was there for the run. She seemed so genuine and nice – it was really refreshing! Cab over to get my race number (on advice of nice hotel lady – wish I had gotten her name!) then took a walk from the hotel to the start line at the Botanic Gardens (12 mins!). Beautiful gardens and a really nice walk through them on my mini explore.

Well its been a while....

Last posting 8th of January – wow…I have no excuse! I wish I had something cool or hip or dramatic on which to blame the absence but I have none. Sorry.

 What has happened since Jan 8….

4 Days to go till my first interstate run!!!

December 2^nd was the last time I posted…my bad! Not sure where the time has gone between then and now but holy smokes it has flown by…

Firstly, I hope that any and all readers have had a fantastic Christmas period and all the very best for a safe and healthy New Year!

On to the update…