70.3 Training – Week 2…and 3…and 4 Opps!

Yup…I’ve been pretty slack over the past few weeks. For the couple of people out there still reading I am sorry and I will endeavor to get back to some kind of normality and regularity with my postings.

Yup - Mondays - not fun!!

In interests of keeping the training blog up to date I will do a whistle stop recap of weeks 2 – 4, mainly with the highlights.

Week 2:

Solid start to the week with most sessions achieved.

5km Time Trail (TT) on the Thursday evening. Very pleased with this. I paced off one of my fellow recruits and was chuffed to come in with a time of 24:55 for the 5km. Breaking 5:00/km was an effort but really was the purpose of the TT.

Sadly, some sort of 24/48 hour bug hit on the Friday and I was man down Friday and Saturday and opted out of the ride on the Sunday with a view to recover better. Not pretty nor pleasant.

Stretches achieved most days (apart from Saturday and Sunday).

Week 3:

Monday was a public holiday and what better way to start the day than an open water swim event. The swim was a chance for me to give my wet suit an outing and proved to me that I need to get more swims in it so that I can become more comfortable with it and some ease in getting it on and off. That said the swim was good. I swam off course (poor sighting and a few other excuses) but due to race restrictions didn’t have my Garmin to tell me my actual distance but race results had me record a 29:05 for the 1.25km course. I think I swam much closer to 1.5km but that is just me.

Next highlight was interval sessions at the track on the Thursday night. This was my first outing to the track for training. Our 600m lap times were to be based upon our TT finish time from the week before. Mine showed that I should be running about 3:00 per 600. Really pleased to have maintained an average of 2:50 per 600. Need to work on my contact with the track as apparently it was pretty audible that I was making my way round the course…

I then had an extended rest period before my first Olympic distance race on the Sunday. I’ll do a separate post on that one.

Stretches achieved most days (apart from Monday).

Week 4:

Almost a return to normal service. Love the recovery sessions on the beach on a Monday morning. What better way to start an otherwise crap day (not a Monday fan!) with the sun rise and a swim in the ocean.

Tuesday, the weather in Perth was particularly unstable (stormy with a dash of lightening). When my alarm went off a 4:15 it was lightly raining and so I opted out of the interval ride (which incidentally went ahead) and stayed in my bed. Then that evening, the weather turned south again and the long run was cancelled too. Mother Nature looking after me and ensuring I was rested after the Oly in Busselton the weekend before!

Thursday, I moved up to the next group in the cycle and was much happier with the speed and pack so I think I have found my niche for the next few weeks.

Thursday evening I was able to take part in my first STC Cup. This is a handicapped 5km “race” with a trophy awarded to the eventual winner. Well, I was given a 6:00 handicap. This meant I was off 6:00 after the first runner left. In context the last runner went off at 9:45 (he also beat me!). The course was a new one due to some park restrictions and by all accounts was a tough one. Not to whinge too much but there were A LOT of hills and we finished up the top of a VERY steep one (Reabold…you may remember from previous riding whinges recaps). It was great fun and I look forward to the next one. Oh and according to official results I was 1:58 off my handicap so here’s hoping for a more lenient time next outing J

Saturday. This saw my first running of a “Long Brick”. It consisted of an 80min ride (40 out and back) followed by a 40 min run (20 out and back). Despite navigating almost every traffic light I still managed 39.4kms on the bike and then 6.75km on the run.  It was a good ride and having two teammates with me made for some encouragement and comical banter too!

Sunday. My first trip up into the hills on my bike. So a few things went awry for me on this session (brace for excuses…). I was a little cooked from the long brick the day before (who wasn’t). Being my first trip up the hill I kind of defeated myself before I started not knowing what to expect and being a bit anxious about the whole thing (learning about headspace here!). I seemed to tack onto the incorrect group (for my abilities) as the route out of town to the base of the hill was achieved between 30 - 35kph which meant that by the time we arrived at the hills I was already thinking that I was tired (not the best start/mood). That said I was very grateful to have one of my partners in crime from the day before to ride with, ensured that I stayed motivated and honest to the course (and kept my language in check too). We managed to tack up the first major hill(s – there was a false plateau) and then stopped to check our phones to ensure we were on the right track. Needless to say we had a few more stops and double checks but made our way to (as it turns out) the furthest point on the out lap before we looped around and headed on home for a well-deserved milkshake! A whisker under 63kms achieved for the day. A small joy was hitting 66kph on the downhill section (whilst feathering the brakes!).

A picture is worth 1,000 words right...just a little climb on the ride!

So, if you are still with me all the way down here thank-you and congratulations! It was a good few weeks and despite a couple of low points I think it has been a constructive base phase of the plan. This week ahead is a recovery week and I have only planned one session per day in the lead up to my sprint distance race this Sunday. The next four weeks after this will be the strength phase and I am excited about what that will hold!

Thanks for reading…