So what has happened over the course of week 9 of
training…
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| Week 9 - distance skewed by the indoor trainer work... |
Tuesday bike intervals. Wowsers. Intervals consisted of
hill repeats up Reabold Hill. I like short sharp hills, or at least I thought I
did. I managed 7 repeats of the course before I was all in. We were tasked with
trying to get one gear harder with each climb…I managed to get three harder
(i.e. fourth trip) and then I reverted back to an easier selection…
Tuesday night long run I missed through a work commitment
but I made up for it on Wednesday night. Wednesday morning I had endurance
swimming and despite forgetting to start my watch managed a respectable
session.
Wednesday evening I wanted to make up for the missed run on Tuesday. I have been feeling that I have missed a few runs lately (in reality I only missed the two running sets the week before…but I was feeling sensitive… I feel that the run is my weakest element). So I decided that I would run laps around Lake Monger. So 1.75kms from the office, 3 laps (11.5km) and 1.75km back to the office = 15km run. Firstly, laps around a lake at BORING…..secondly, I was slightly out in my calcs and ended up having to run past my office and down the road and back, and back again to make it up to the 15km target I had set my self (or total of 80mins of running). It was not pretty. It was humid, I was tired and grumpy. I put a lot of the issues of the world to bed during that run. I was thirsty and to make it worse I was starting to get some tightness in my calves by the end.
Thursday, rode in the Water Tower challenge. Always a
great ride. That is the second time I have done that one now and I felt much
better this time…always help knowing the course as it allows you to pace
yourself a bit more. Thanks to one of my training buddies for pulling me back
at one intersection as I was off on a mission and who knows where I would have
ended up.
Due to the long run the night before I opted out of the
interval run (yes yes, the irony of making up a run as I was conscious of
missing them is not lost on me at this point in time). It was an uphill 5km
time trial trail run (the perfect storm) and after the tightness from Wednesday
I took the rest option.
Saturday…well, there was a major weather system bearing
down on the West coast of Australia and we were informed by our weather bureau
to prepare for some wind weather in Perth. As such, events and training
sessions all over Perth were cancelled as a precaution for the event. Nothing
happened…the cyclone, thankfully, fizzled out before it got to Perth and
quickly became the anticlimax of the year so far. Unfortunately, it meant that
the planned BRICK session (which was going to be a biggie) was called off and
an indoor equivalent was suggested.
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| Set up for Saturday... |
Sadly, I did not get through it unscathed…
During the first run I pulled up with pain in my lower
leg. Specifically between the calf and Achilles. I tried stretching and slowing
the pace down but it was a hobble at best. By the time of the second run it was
worse as it had tightened up more during the “break” on the bike.
To say I was sulking on the drive home is an
understatement. I iced and elevated the leg once I was home and that evening my
darling wife proceeded to torture assist me with a “massage”. She even
managed to find a knot that enabled me to leap vertically off the bed in a
lying position…
Sunday, I sadly had to decline an offer to join a break
away group with a ride in the hills for fear of my calf acting up 50kms from
home. In a petulant state I climbed back onto trainer. I ended up managing to
complete two one hour blocks on the machine…probably lost an Olympic pool worth
of sweat and got through a couple of episodes of Game Of Thrones (season 1 –
re-watching prior to the new season start). The positive is that I managed to
get my average cadence on the trainer to be 92rpm…happy with that. I also
maintain that as you don’t get any downhill or freewheel options on the trainer
that it is tougher than the road ride…I am clutching here people…
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| Notice fancy arse iPad stand... |
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| Damn anatomy... |
So, I underwent some pretty hard core paid torture
massage and acupuncture. All the while my oldest son was sitting watching,
giggling at me having to restrain myself as I was no longer being tortured by
my long suffering wife who I can tell to stop hurting me but by a professional
person whom I was paying for the privilege. His giggles did stop once the
needles came out and went into my leg and he watched with a morbid curiosity…at
least me watching him was a distraction.
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| Hardest selfie ever... |
So check it out – I am now ahead in my updates…week 10 in
a nut shell…nothing!
I will be going to Karri Valley this weekend but I will
not be completing the whole course. I have been given clearance to swim (1.5km)
and ride (60km) and I will pull out before the run. It is my thoughts that the
swim in my wetsuit will be a good test in race conditions and the ride will
allow me to test nutrition better in readiness for May.
I will return to training next week but not to running
until (hopefully) the week after, once I get clearance from my physio…who I reminded
I have 6 weeks to go!
Thanks for reading and I will post my run down of Karri
Valley next week.
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