Not the usual cheerful “Rest Day” update for you this week but rather the “Melancholy Monday” caffeine fuelled update instead J
Another good, solid week of training under the belt. The
tri course is going well with two more time trials conquered this week.
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| Extract from the Garmin site...a good week last week! |
Saturday BRICK session. We had good weather – WOO HOO!!!
Finished our bike skills sets and then completed a short ride/run set. It was
only about a 5/6km ride followed by a 2km run. Felt really strong on the run
and came in with a 4:50/km pace!
Chuffed as it has been a LONG time since I saw a 4:xx in my pace!
Monday, the usual club running course. This week had a
2km TT in store. For some reason I had it that the session began at 18:00 so
arrived “early” at 17:45 only to find that it began promptly at………17:30!!
Thankfully there was another chap on the same misguided thought process and we
took off for a quick 1km warm up lap together. The time trail consisted of us
completing two laps of an out and back course. Mass start and bang off we went.
In the group environment it really is difficult not to get caught up in the
competitive side and take off like a mad fool too fast (like I did). As
I adjusted my pace to suit my style and reality a little more (aka slowed
down!) I was dropped by the lead pack. All said and done, I completed the
course in 9:31 (4:51/km…I
know….again with the 4s!!!). Really happy with this over 2kms! Worth noting
that the lead runner completed it in 7:44! I made sure to high 5 everyone on
the second out and back…convinced that it helped them and me get to the end!
Wednesday was the EARLY
bike training (6am start!). This was also a planned Time Trial. After a warm up
lap of the course we were told it was a 10km TT and we could go as hard as we
wanted……and GO! Three laps of Perry Lakes (was actually 11.5kms but hey!). The
course offered a good mix of up and downs with the usual traffic hazards mixed
in for good measure! Pretty sure that the traffic light helped me hang on to 3rd
overall. Managed to finish with a 21:30
(28kph). The lead rider came in with a 21:07 and 4th was 21:45. A
pretty close bunch.
A nice little Segway here is to point out that I have an
informal rival already. It is also questionable if he knows that I am competing
with him or not J.
So far he is faster on the run, I am faster on the bike (he was the guy that
came 4th….by the timing of a traffic light!) and we were tied in the
pool (both 7:46 for 400mtrs). Watch
this space for future “races”.
Wednesday night we smashed the stairs and hill again. 10
stair repeats and 1 of the hill!
Thursday was evening swimming. Another great session of
drills and techniques with a short interval session towards the end. All up we
swam close to 2,000mtrs for the evening. Coach had us swim 100mtrs back stroke
to “release our chest and shoulders” after so much freestyle. Well….that was
comical and I drank a fair amount of pool water from that little task!
Friday = best day….Friday = rest day!
Saturday was a new location for our BRICK training. The
beautiful Nedlands foreshore (sorry no photos as I forgot!). This week we also
completed a double BRICK session. 15km ride followed by a 1.5km run…twice! It
was glorious. I will admit to going off too strong on the bike as my legs were
a tad heavy at the start of the run but I loved it all.
I was 3rd off the bike but was passed by two
on the run to finish 5th in the group. I was ABSOLUTELY SMOKED by
one of the girls on the course…she blitzed passed me like I was standing still
(point to note I was again running at a 4:50/km
pace…yup yup 4:xx….cool hey!)
Sunday…so far the only gap day in the schedule really.
However, that is soon set to change with a club scheduled long ride set to
begin on a Sunday morning. My plan here is to attend the long ride one week and
complete a long run the next week. I feel like the distance runs are missing
from the schedule at the moment.
Also on Sunday, I watched part of my first ever viewed
Kona Ironman Championship. It started about 1am local time here so I tuned in
on the iPad around about 7am once the family all had a cup of tea in hand. This
was part way through the run. The men’s race was good to watch and was
dominated by Sebastian Kienle with a fantastic day overall! The woman’s race
was even better (in my opinion)! This was won eventually by Mirinda Carfrae.
She wasn’t the fastest swim of the day, nor was she the fastest bike. She
actually was reported to have been around 14 minutes behind the lead off the
bike! Her run was spectacular!!! She ran a 2:50:26 marathon. Not only did she
make up the 14 minutes but she won overall by a clear 2 mins! What a race and
what a competitor! Fantastic achievement and what a way to win back to back
Kona Championships! I almost felt bad to be there, lying in bed eating a bacon
sandwich watching the live streaming of the event…..almost, it was a pretty
good bacon sandwich!!
Nearly forgot, the reason for the title is that tomorrow I
am planning on starting to ride to work again after a couple of months off…stay
tuned!
Hope you all have a great week and thanks for reading!
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