The musings of a running tubist

Even the best laid plans...

2012-03-01T11:38:00.001+11:00

The plan was to hit this week hard and taper next week for the Gong tri.

However, too many celebratory post Sydney marathon/Melbourne marathon/Nepean tri/Canberra HIM/Husky long course pints with Roly and Tim on Saturday night, the cricket on Sunday and then a work trip to Carnarvon in WA put paid to that idea. As a result I had done nothing since the 12km I sneaked in on Saturday afternoon until this morning when I rode to work.

Unsurprisingly, the legs felt remarkably fresh after 4 days off.

As a result I broke 50 mins for the ride in - possible the first time ever. 4.08 up Parrawi.

The revised plan for the rest of the week will (weather permitting) involve Track tonight and a swim tomorrow.

The weekend is looking better weather wise, so I might try and sneak in the Striders 10km at North Head on Saturday and back it up with a ride/run on Sunday morning.

Next week looks like a write off as well as I will be flying to Ceduna Monday - Wednesday then in Bourke Thursday - Friday.

Saturday tempo run

2012-02-27T15:04:00.000+11:00

After a full day of ante natal classes, I eventually got out late afternoon.

Decided to push the pace as much as I could. Started off averaging 4.30's which slipped to 4.38's up to Sydney Road.

Ended up going through 10km in 46 mins (4.35's), finishing up with 12km all up, averaging 4.36's for the whole run.

Felt strong throughout even though there was a strong headwind along the beach in Manly.

Friday ride home

2012-02-27T15:02:00.000+11:00

Easy ride home after work on Friday.

All up 19km in just under 50 mins. Nice to get on the bike again after 5 days off.

Humid Track

2012-02-24T09:50:00.000+11:00

With the mid wife appointment dragging on as Catherine needed to be hooked up to some machine to check the baby was ok (it was), I was in two minds whether or not to go to Track. In the end, I decided that the legs were feeling ok and so I jumped in the car, arriving just before 6.30.
On a particularly muggy evening, and after the customary 2 x lap fartlek and stride through warm ups, the main session was split into long and short course sets. After some internal wrangling, I decided to go for the long course session, not really sure whether an Olympic triathlon really constitutes long or short course!

Having made the decision to go long, the set was to be 3 x repeats of the hill outside the oval followed by 4 x laps outside the oval, alternating between 1 easy and 1 hard, all to be multiplied by 2. There weren't a lot doing the long course, probably as the majority of people were backing up from Husky and so I spent a lot of time running on my own, not quick enough to catch the front guys, but quicker than the second group.

I started off quickly, managing to keep Lew in sight for the first few hill reps, and settling in behind the first group for the outside laps.

Felt comfortable for the first set, starting the second lot of hill reps still feeling strong. Managed to hold on to Lew who was overtaking me on the intervals and letting me past on the recoveries until tall Dave came past as we started the outside laps.

From then on I managed to hold on to him for the first couple of laps before he started to gap me again on the 3rd lap, pulling away during the 4th lap.

Timing wise, I tried to concentrate on pushing the harder intervals whilst still recovering at a relatively quick pace. Probably averaging 4.10/4.15's on the intervals and 5.15's on the recoveries.

Finished up with just over 12km on the clock, but some good hard intervals to show for it.

With the heat I was literally dripping by the end of it and so after a couple of warm down laps, I jumped straight in the car and came home. Whilst the legs started off feeling good, by the end I had nothing left in the tank.

In other news, and after some forensic investigation it turns out that I only actually beat 2, maybe 3 of my age group in the swim on Sunday. Out of 190. That's how slow I am...

Recovery Pain

2012-02-22T14:32:00.000+11:00

Just Tim and I as Roly was away with work.

Group 5 or 6, I wasn't sure, and I didn't really care either.

32 minutes, with a 2.47 G2G. It hurt more towards the start than the end.

Good to get it done. I think. I might even consider Track on Thursday!

Husky Long Course Triathlon - 4.54.53

2012-02-22T14:28:00.001+11:00

I wasn't really sure what to expect from the Huskisson Long Course Triathlon. Others (Mike x 2, Andrew, Mark) had all recommended it as the 'best/most enjoyable' triathlon of the year for atmosphere and camaraderie. It therefore seemed a good thing to enter, and it fitted into my plan for the first part of 2012.

What I hadn't reckoned for was the effort needed to sustain the level of training I had reached to complete Canberra back in December. January and February in particular had been long, hard months of training. Nothing new, but a lot of solo Saturday rides and runs home had taken their toll...I was certainly ready that's for sure. Maybe even over ready. Apart from the swimming which had continued to not go anywhere fast.

Due to 6 hours of anti natal classes on the Saturday before the race, I had had to obtain special permission for Tim to rack my bike for me. As a result, Catherine and I didn't actually leave Sydney until after 4pm, arriving at Sanctuary Point just before 7.30pm. We had arranged to stay with Tim, Roly and their respective families which meant that dinner was already well underway by the time we got there. Perfect!

Race morning started a little later than usual at 6am. Tim and Roly, being in the 30-34 age group, had already left as their wave was at 6.40am. Mine wasn't until 8am, leaving time for a lie in. Not something I am used to on the day of a race. Plus, with the forecast predicting upwards of 28 degrees, the later start wasn't something I was looking forward to by the time I got to the run.

But enough of these negative thoughts, I was ready to give this race my best shot!

After attempting to shovel down 2 bagels and failing, Catherine dropped me off at transition around 7am, 30 mins before the race briefing. After setting up my gear and putting on the wet suit, I spotted Mike H and wandered down to the water, totally missing the briefing in the process.

Following a bit of a swimming 'warm up' (what is a swimming warm up anyway!?), I took up my customary position at the back of the large pack of undoubtedly quick blokes aged between 35-39. Then, after what seemed like ages, the hooter went off and we were away.

Although advertised as a triangle, the swim course was actually a big rectangle, but not an even rectangle, more a lop sided one, which meant that the distances between the first and second cans were somewhat less than even. There were also a number of green cans which were supposedly to aid sighting, although they were so far in front of the main cans that if you did follow them you invariably went off line!

Anyway, off we went, and there I was towards the back of the pack...again! The first leg towards the first can passed without much drama. Sure, there was the odd bit of breast stroke as various bodies crossed over in front of me heading in strange directions but I was sighting every other stroke which meant that I was swimming in what I thought was a straight line. It did seem to take me forever to get there though, and I did feel like there was a current pushing against me the whole, but that could have been the wash from the faster swimmers in front of me.

Around the first can and towards the second can was there things got a little more interesting as the second can appeared to be miles away. Literally. By this time, the wet suit had started to feel a little tighter than normal and my breathing had become shallower as a result. This in turn started to make me hyper ventilate a little which made my swimming start to become harder and harder. So much so, that I again resorted to some breast stroke to get my breathing back in order. Meanwhile the second can wasn't getting any closer!

After numerous doses of HTFU (I seem to do this a lot when I am swimming), I got back into a rhythm, got my head down and headed towards the second can. About half way to the can, I stopped for another breather and to check my sighting, only to work out that everyone else seemed to be a long way left of me (100m or so). And there was a paddler right next to me? Had I swum off course?! Was I heading towards the wrong can? Maybe I was heading towards Wollongong? On the positive side, there appeared to be quite a lot of red capped swimmers a long way to the left of me which either meant that there were a lot of slow 35-39 year olds, or I wasn't actually swimming that slowly after all. Clearly looking confused (due to my location and the proliferation of other 35-39 year olds), the paddler reassured me that I was heading straight towards the can...and so on I went.

Around the second can, and the third can again appeared in the distance. Was I ever going to make it? From about this point, I managed to settle into what felt like a more even stroke, which in turn meant less breast stroking. the breathing also felt a lot easier.

After what seemed like forever, I rounded the third can and headed for the shore. By this time, lots of black and pink caps were streaming past me...as the wave behind me and the wave behind that one caught up. That seemed to have a beneficial impact on me though as I upped my cadence a little, knowing that the end was in sight at last!

...after what seemed like ages I eventually stood up and looked at the watch. 45 mins on the nose. Not too bad I thought given the dramas I had had during the first half of the swim. At the time I made a mental note to do more open water swimming and to wear the wet suit more in the build up to races...just putting on the wet suit on the day of the event and expecting everything to be fine clearly wasn't working for me.

But, it was time to move on and the swim was done. However, what I hadn't reckoned on was the stairs leading up to transition! By the time I reached my bike I was knackered, totally out of breath. So much so that I bent over for a good 10 seconds trying to get my breath back. How was I going to have the energy to get on the bike now!

I also felt very dehydrated too. Luckily I had prepared a spare bottle of hydrolyte and so I grabbed it and took a long chug whilst getting my breath.

...and then it was time to get on the bike. Aside from feeling spent, T1 was fairly uneventful. Everything went on smoothly and before I knew it I was at the mounting line and ready to get on the bike.

On the bike and I was away quickly. The bike course consisted of three laps for 83km all up. Having never ridden the course before I wasn't sure just how hilly it was, apart from a passing comment from Andrew that there was a hill, but that it wasn't 'as bad as Canberra'. I was still feeling dehydrated after the swim and so quickly got into my water, interspersing it with the hydrolyte bottle I had put behind my saddle. My nutrition plan was to be the same as Canberra = 1 x aero drink bottle full of water and 1 x bottle of hydrolyte to be topped up every lap, with 1/3 of a power bar every 30 mins and one jelly GU between times.

Still feeling flat, I munched on the first bit of my power bar after about 10km and almost immediately felt better. I was being constantly overtaken by the quicker guys from the swim wave behind me which didn't help, but I figured that I was still averaging over 30km/hr and so I wasn't too bothered. If I had petrol in the tank, I would push the third lap.

The bike course certainly wasn't as technical as Canberra, but there were a fair number of annoying little hills that were just too steep for me to stay aero and which were annoying. However, there were also a fair number of decent descents where you could make up time.

On to lap 2 and I was starting to feel a lot better. Being so dehydrated meant that I finished my water about 2/3 of the way around the first lap but eventually managed to refill my aero bottle, after unscrewing the top with my mouth. An interesting manoeuvre whilst riding a bike let me assure you!

Lap 2 was fairly uneventful, and I seemed to be holding my own against those around me. I still wasn't pushing the pace that much, with Andrew's words from Canberra still ringing around my head about not pushing myself too hard on the bike and leaving something in the tank for the run.

By the end of Lap 2 I was doing some quick calculations and worked out that if I kept up my pace I could sneak in under 2.30...which was my aim. That would still give me a decent shot at 5 hours....and so I put the foot down again.

Lap 3 felt like the quickest of the 3 laps. Whether it was or not I'm not sure, but it felt like it was. I was overtaking people regularly. I was also annoyingly being regularly overtaken by one female rider in particular who every time she passed me would immediately slow down and sit in front of me! At which point I would then pass her and so on it went. At least it kept my interested for the final lap.

I also got warned by the technical officials for being in the 'draft zone'. Probably cos that person in front of me has just slowed down! Very annoying at the time, although as I was to find out later, also very lucky not to get pinged as Andrew and Mike H both got done for drafting...

Into T2 and by my watch I was under the 2.30 that I was aiming for...and I was feeling good. The nutrition had gone well and I had rehydrated after the swim. I still hadn't really pushed the bike that hard, but that meant I still had something left for the run.

After a quick T2, I was quickly out onto the run, passing the annoying woman I had duelled with on the bike and down to the first turn around point. The run course was to be 2 x laps of a 10km circuit. Along the beach front, through Vincentia and back. Again, apparently with only one small(er) hill of note.

I quickly settled in to what felt like a good pace, looking down at my watch to find out that I was running sub 4.30's! Whoah, that's too quick, need to slow down. A quick look at my overall time suggested that I needed a sub 1.40 to get in under 5 hours. That meant I needed to average 5 min/km's. Ok, so let's bank some time over the first 10km and see how I feel after that.

About 4km in I passed Roly running back towards the finish. A quick calculation realised that he must have smashed the race as he still looked strong. Still, I needed to focus on myself.

I managed to hold the 4.30 - 4.35 pace for the first 5-6km before things started to slow up a little. I went through 10km in 47.00 (a little faster then Canberra), again with Andrew's words ringing in my head about his first HIM experience. In fact it's strange just how many times Andrew's words of advice tend to pop into my head during these events.

Up until this point, everything had been relatively easy on the run. Sure, the pace had dropped a bit, but I still felt in control and was cruising along nicely. However, the second lap was a different story. Maybe it was the mental thought of having to do another lap, or the fact that sun was now fully out and therefore I was starting to sweat a lot...I don't know, but things started to get a lot harder and the pace started to drop.

From about the 11km mark, my km splits started to go south quickly and before I knew it I was struggling to hold 4.40's, then 4.45's. At about the 13km mark, I decided to start drinking the flat coke that was on offer. As well as the water, energy drink and anything liquid that I could get my hands on. I was that thirsty.

I soon realised that flat coke was the way forward...and would be the only reason I would be able to continue running...and so I continued on with it. I did try a couple of the GU sweets but they weren't really doing anything for me either.

I also had a couple (4-3) annoying shoe lace blowouts in the final few km. There is nothing harder than having to stop, bend over, tie up your shoe lace and then start running again, all 4 and a half hours in to a race. Especially 4 times! Elastic races next time.

On I continued, taking on the coke where I can, and trying to keep my averages around the 4.45 mark if I could. With 5 km to go, I realised that my 4.55 aim had probably gone, and I decided to concentrate on staying under 5 hours if I could.

With 1km to go, I could hear the finish line, and then I could see it...a glimpse of the watch suggested that maybe I could sneak in under 4.55 after all and so I pushed onwards, along the finishing shute, crossing the line just under 4.55. Totally spent.

After gulping down more Coke (what is it with that stuff!), I met up with Catherine and then Tim and Roly. Tim had struggled to a 5.20 after his goggles broke in the swim (still beating me though!) and having some technical problems on the bike. Roly, however, had absolutely blitzed the race to record a 5.51. A truly amazing turnaround from Canberra when I beat him by 18 minutes! A great race and a time he should be justifiably proud of.

It turns out the oracle (Andrew) and Mike H both got (unfairly?!) pinged for drafting with Mike H also puncturing too. Mark also struggled after a chest infection too.

Overall, I am very happy with the race overall. Some changes for next time though - do more wet suit open water prep before the race, drink more in the preceding days and also eat more in the week before the race. I felt dehydrated and under nourished throughout. You really are what you eat after all! Also, elastic laces would elminate any shoe lace blowouts.

Still, I am chuffed with my time. Sub 4.55 was my ultimate goal and I achieved it. If only I could knock 5-7 minutes off my swim time I could be dangerous. Still, I was very happy with the feel of the new wheels as well although I do need to work out whether to push the bike leg a bit more next time...

Next stop the Olympic Tri in Wollongong on 11 March via the Striders 10km a week on Saturday....that's if the baby hasn't arrived by then. In which case, the bike is going in the garage for a while!

Race Pace Run

2012-02-17T13:46:00.000+11:00

It was a case of should I, shouldn't I today...and the should I won out in the end...it was always going to, given the twitchy tapering feelings I have been having...

The plan was just for an easy 30 mins with a couple of race pace surges thrown in.

Decided on the hungry mile route, turning at the Hyatt and retracing my steps.

Session ended up as:

9.30 @ 4.45 pace (2km)
4.30 @ 5.51 pace
3.10 @ 5.00 pace
7.10 @ 4.45 pace
4.12 @ 5.30 pace
2.00 @ 9.00 pace

All up 6km in just over 30 mins with around 16/17 mins at race pace (4.45).

Very warm out there - I hope there is some cloud cover by Sunday!

Last chance swim saloon

2012-02-17T08:29:00.000+11:00

I was meant to go for a swim yesterday (Wednesday) but the Queenscliff pool was literally empty, presumably for repairs, and so I decided to delay for 24 hours in the hope that the pool was 'working' again. Unfortunately not.

So I had a dilemma, should I just not swim, or make other arrangements...I took the latter option and decided to run to Freshie pool and go for a dip there instead, thereby getting in a short, sharp run as well.

It only took me 10 mins to run to the pool, but by the time I got there it was packed! People swimming all over the place.

Not wanting to swim for very long, I decided on a 200m of warm up/drills followed by 3 x 100m going on 3 minutes, 2 x 200m going on 6 minutes, followed by another 3 x 100m going on 3 mins with the aim being to push the intervals.

All done fairly easily, albeit not helped by the strong cross current created by the inrushing water half way down the pool! A strange experience to find yourself swimming sideways half way down the pool.

All topped off with a run home - there and back in an hour. Perfect!

Only 2 days to go until Sunday...expectations wise, I am not sure what time to aim for, having never done this race before. Based on my Canberra time, I should be aiming for 5 hours or thereabouts, and so anything under 5 hours will be a bonus. Sub 4.55 being my ultimate aim if everything goes well. Unfortunately, the wave starts have me going off at 8am which, while good for the sleep in, doesn't bode well if the heat cranks up during the run...

The good news is that the new wheels are now on and ready to go though!

Whatever happens, I am definitely looking forward to the day. We'll see what happens from there.

Tapering Pain

2012-02-14T14:36:00.000+11:00

Part 2 of taper week involved what was supposed to be an "easy" pain in the domain set.

With Roly deciding instead to run home, it was just Tim and I, with the decision made to plump for Group 4.

A fairly easy set in total with plenty of rest between sprints. Still hard work, but not the complete wipeout that is Group 2.

My Garmin battery dropped out on the warm up so I don't have any stats from the set apart from a finishing time of around 30 mins. In otherwise, slow!

Plenty of banter flying around about this weekend's triathlon. Roly is looking primed after some solid training and Tim is boxing clever after a "shocking few weeks" of training...but a brand new P2 bike in the offing too so we'll see!

Tapering squash

2012-02-14T09:02:00.000+11:00

What better way to start my taper than a hard game of squash?!

On a sultry, humid and generally not very pleasant day, Court 1 turned in to a sweat pit. Literally.

After a quick warm up (I was sweating before I got on court and the ball was bouncing like a pink pong ball from the first hit), I took out a close game 1 to 6, Ric having been ahead for much of the game.

Ric then took games 2 and 3 with the benefit of a good few lucky bounces. At one stage he benefited from about 4 on the trot!

I responded by taking a close game 4 to even things up at 2-2 at which point we called it a day. A strange game really with a lot of corner and wall rallies where it was survival of the fittest. A lot of long rallies too.

Confidence boosting Brick

2012-02-12T19:52:00.003+11:00

With only a week to go until Husky, today was to be the last long brick session before the big day. With Tim and Roly wanting to go longer (Tim never actually made it due to excess alcohol consumption last night), I decided to go solo, not wanting to push things too much...

On a gorgeous morning, I loaded up the TT bike and headed up the beaches, managing to get green lights all the way to Narrabeen which must be a record! I also spent most of the trip in the aero position, something that has been worrying me over the past couple of weeks, given the lack of riding I had done on the TT bike due to the weather.

Made it to the Church Point (15km) turn off in 30 mins and to the bottom West Head turn off (25km) in 53 mins with the legs feeling good after a couple of days off. I actually saw Roly riding in the opposite direction, on the way to a 60/12 set.

From there I continued on up the McCarrs Creek hill and back via Forest Way (staying aero most of the way) and the Wakehurst Parkway for just over 51km all up in 1.47. Quicker than I wanted, but the legs were feeling good.

After a quick change, it was out on the run, deciding to wear my hydration belt for the first time, just with 2 x bottles of hydralite to keep me company.

As with the bike, the legs continued to feel good, and so I pushed the pace a tad quicker than the 5 min pace I was aiming at.

I followed the normal Sydney Road circuit, back along Sydney Road into Manly for 10km all up in 49 mins, averaging 4.54's. Felt comfortable the whole way, with the hydration belt a definite plus.

All up just over 2.5 hours for the morning with the legs feeling strong the whole way...a good sign. Now all I need is to work out how to construct the new wheels and put them on the bike and I could be dangerous.

I will try to keep things easy this week, maybe Pain and a couple of rides, as well as a sneaky swim mid week if I can.

Back to the pool

2012-02-10T15:19:00.000+11:00

With just over a week to go...and having thrashed my legs over the past couple of days...it was either going to be a rest day...or a treck to the pool.

With nothing planned for tomorrow, the pool won out. Although not until a fierce internal battle.

The fact that I had a meeting close to the pool just beforehand didn't help matters either.

After Sunday's debacle in the Cole Classic, I decided on a more structured set, starting with a 300m warm up, split into 3 x drills of 100m each, these being the finger touch (without touching fingers), finger drag and the old fist swimming technique (the latter resulting in my body being so far under the water that I nearly drowned several times).

Once I had got through this, I then decided on the old 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 pyramid set, with the aim being to really try and push each interval. I didn't take a watch, but did feel like I was a little quicker over each interval with the last couple really hard work.

All finished off with a 100m warm down for 2km all up.

Probably the best swim session I have done for a while...looks like more structure might be the way to go! I probably need to invest in some flippers now though...

Ride but no cigar

2012-02-10T07:44:00.000+11:00

The plan was to ride to the BTC 5km TT and then home...but with Roly and Tim both pulling out, and the legs still feeling heavy after a hard few days, I figured that a 5km thrash probably wasn't going to do me much good...although I have to admit that a big part of me still fancied seeing how I went around the oval!

But with the head overiding the heart, I decided instead just to ride home and rest the legs. Having said that, a ride home isn't exactly easy! All up 19km in 50 mins.

Planning on a swim today, more rest tomorrow and then a 40/10 hit out on Sunday morning.

In other news, IM 2013 looks like it may be a possibility after all...watch this space!

Catch up.

2012-02-09T10:33:00.000+11:00

Tuesday evening - ride home. Uneventful apart from a visit to Manly Cycles to check out their Specialized helmets as part of the helmet amnesty. I did some research when I got home and decided to jump on line and buy a Specialized Prevail instead for $40 more from England. 19km

Wednesday morning - ride to work. Uneventful. 2.41 up Parrawi. 19km.

Wednesday evening - run home. Uneventful apart from an unscheduled and very urgent toilet stop at Mosman Oval. Close run thing. 15.5km @ 5.14's. Very dehydrated by the end. Feel tired.

Normal Pain

2012-02-07T15:33:00.000+11:00

Met Roly and Tim for the warm up jog up to the Domain for Pain. The first time the 3 of us had done the session together for a few weeks.

Went for Group 2 which was basically the back half of Group 1 and Group 2.

Started off at the back of the pack for the first few sprints, as per usual, only making it towards the front of the pack from the G2G onwards.

Roly ran off the front of the group for the first half of the set, beating both Tim and I comfortably. However, it all went wrong from there as he pulled up with shooting pains in his head, leaving Tim and I to finish the session as he walked back to the Domain.

I kept pushing hard to the end, Tim taking out the Art Gallery Hill and finished strongly for 28.30 all up. Another hard session, but not as hard as recent weeks.

Time: 28.30
HR: 156
G2G: 2.29

One Sided Squash

2012-02-07T08:15:00.000+11:00

Back to Court 1 again. A quicker game than normal with most games pretty one sided. I ended up winning 4-2 having been 3-0 and 4-1 up, and we still finished with 5 mins left...some weeks we struggle to get 4 games in an hour!

Having said all that, I didn't play badly, even sneaking in a 9-0 which I haven't done for a while.

Ride to work

2012-02-06T08:34:00.000+11:00

With tomorrow looking a little dodgy due to airport duties, and with Catherine heading to work early, I decided to ride into work.

Totally uneventful. 4.16 up Parrawi where I successfully chased a couple of hybrids...and caught them. But so I should!

All up just over 19km in just over 50 mins. Not sure of the plan for the rest of the week, but tentatively I'm thinking of squash tonight, Pain tomorrow, maybe a run home on Wednesday, Track (TT) on Thursday and an easy swim on Friday. See how things go.

Having reflected on yesterday's swim time, I do think that maybe it is time to get serious about swimming...maybe in the off season...if I can be bothered! See how I go in Husky/Gong first. But it really does emphasise just how important the wet suit is to me!

Cole Classic - 2km

2012-02-05T14:57:00.002+11:00

If you had told me 2 years ago that I would be doing an ocean swim in 2012, I would have laughed at you...at that time I was struggling to finish the 750m at Kurnell without resorting to breast stroke!

...since then, I have discovered wet suits, and with that, I have developed more confidence in the water. Such that I entered my first ocean swim today, the Cole Classic....the biggest ocean swim in Australia apparently!

I met up with Mike H beforehand and we walked to the start line, arriving literally just before the gun went off for our wave. Perfect timing.

Due to the swell and the surf coming into Manly, they had changed the route so that it now started and finished at Shelly Beach rather than into Manly. Basically an out and back route.

As customary with my swimming starts I started towards the back of the pack so that I could hopefully get into a rhythm quickly. Which I managed as I headed out towards the first bouy.

From then on, basically it was just like any other swim, fairly comfortable and with no real dramas. Sure, I mixed in a bit of breaststroke when things got a little bumpy. In particular, breathing out of my right side was difficult as we swam parallel to the beach towards Queenscliff because of the swell, but on the whole it was ok. Hard work as the swell was moving quickly, but nothing too dramatic really.

After passing one too many bouys on the return leg, I eventually made it to the finish line, crossing with about 52.30 on the clock. Very slow, but that really wasn't the point of today, it was more to finish in one piece! Which I did.

What the time does do, however, is prove just how much the wet suit does for me...it really does make a massive difference.

Shorter Brick

2012-02-05T14:35:00.002+11:00

Met up with Mike H at Bike Addiction for another ride up the beaches. I was aiming for around 60km but this was soon revised when we discovered that the road to Church Point was closed after a tree had come down. Turned around and ended up with just over 42.5km in 1.48 by the time I got home, so decided to run longer instead to make up for it.

Headed out through the lagoon and on the usual Sydney Road circuit, taking a right at Condamine instead of heading straight into Manly, looping onto the Manly to Spit walk which added another km or so to the total. From there I looped out to Shelly before finishing at North Steyne SLSC.

Pace wise, I was aiming for something sub 4.50's so was happy to come in with 4.49's on the Garmin. 12.4km in just under an hour with the warm down. Very muggy morning and I was soaked by the time I got home.

Good to get another 3 hours under the belt though with just over 2 weeks to go to Husky...

Wet ride home

2012-02-05T14:24:00.002+11:00

Spent all afternoon watching the radar....and then made a run for it just before 5, thinking I had spotted a gap in the weather....

I needed the road bike at home in case the weather hung around for the Saturday morning ride.

All went well until I got to Mosman when I got hammered by the rain, which then disappeared by the time I got to the Spit Bridge. From then on it held off, although I was soaked by the time I got home.

All up about 18.5km in 49.59.

Chaotic swim

2012-02-03T09:11:00.000+11:00

Missed Track last night due to the constant rain we have had over the past few days...so decided to jump in the pool before work and sneak in some practice before Sunday's Coles Classic instead.

Arrived at the pool to find only 3 lanes open to the public with 5 lanes either taken up by squads or some school practice thing. Basically a joke.

Started off in the slow lane where I was joined by all and sundry. Walkers, breast strokers, back strokers, weird side strokers you name if they were all there this morning. The upside was that the whole thing made me feel a lot faster as I was constantly overtaking people. In reality, I was probably a lot slower.

All up 1500m with a 100m cool down. Hopefully, I should be ok to finish on Sunday which is my one and only objective!

Will try and ride home tonight and then get out in the morning for a ride/run. Haven't worked out the distances yet, but probably somewhere around the 60/15 mark is what I had in mind.

Run home

2012-02-02T08:59:00.002+11:00

Met up with Roly for an easy trot home.

Legs felt good the whole way, probably due to the easy pace. Around 5.15/5.30's all up for around 15.5km/16km.

Good to get another long run under the belt.

Solo Pain

2012-02-01T09:10:00.000+11:00

With Tim still taking things easy with tooth issues and Roly in an all day meeting, I rocked up to pain on my own for the first time in ages.

Decided on Group 2 which turned out to be a little slower than usual. Which could have been why I found myself at the front of the recoveries and the back of the sprints. Not sure if that is better than the opposite but there you go.

As normal, I struggled to keep up with the first few sprints before I got into it up to the lamp post. It's amazing just how much you can keep up with the group just by actually completing the whole sprint rather than finishing it 10-15 metres early!

G2G was ok but not great...

Time: 29.24
HR: 146 (ave) / 172 (max)
G2G: 2.37

In other news, I have now entered Husky as have Roly and Tim. What with Mike H, Mark and Andrew all down there too, it should be a good day...

Not sure whether to do the Striders 10km on Saturday or head out for a long ride again...with Husky only 2 weeks away, this weekend is really the last time I can fit in a long ride...

Back to school ride

2012-01-31T09:57:00.003+11:00

As has become routine, I backed up squash with a ride in this morning. After a very muggy night, it was a particularly warm start to the day. With the schools all back the traffic was a lot busier too

All up 19km in 50 something minutes. All fairly leisurely. 2.46 up Parrawi.

Hot hot hot squash

2012-01-31T09:57:00.000+11:00

Sydney finally reached 30 degrees today...the first time this summer apparently. Just in time for a nice warm game of squash. Lovely.

With the ball bouncing like a tennis ball from the start, there wasn't much of a need for a warm up and so we were quickly into it. I managed to take out game 1 after a marathon game which seemed stuck at 4-4 for ages. Ric then hit back to take game 2 and 3 (helped by about 10 lucky bounces!) before I evened things up in a tight game 4.

Lacking in motivation for some reason and were it not for the generous bounce of the ball I think I would have lost all 4 games. Not helped by the fact that I was dripping wet from the first point, which in turn made the grip on my racket a tad more slippery than normal.

Longer Brick

2012-01-30T08:52:00.000+11:00

Met Roly at 6am and headed up the beaches on a lovely morning (at last).

Took the roadie as Roly's EMC is in for repair so thought it only fair to match. The legs felt dreadful to start with, probably not helped by the 5kg of pasta I threw down my neck late on Saturday night...followed by the 2kg of chocolate!

Added to that, there was a strong headwind as we were cycling up Pittwater Road....plus Roly was pushing the pace blah blah, all excuses. Basically I just didn't want to be there!

We followed the same route as last week, getting to the Church Point turn off in just over 30 mins (slow) and to the West Head junction in under 55 mins (fast). From there, we rode towards West Head, turning around with the Garmin showing 35km.

We decided to retrace our steps rather than chance the Wakehurst Deathway, returning to Manly with 71km on the clock in just under 2.46. Incidentally, the outward 35km was done in 1.20 with the homeward split in 1.13. I guess that proves just how strong the headwind was on the way out!

From there, Roly only had time for a short run, so I headed home as I wanted to crack a longer run if possible. After a quick change, I was out and running along the beachfront, to Shelley and back, through the lagoon, along Pittwater Road and then back along the beachfront for 10km all up. I struggled with the pace early on but soon settled into a relatively comfortable 4.42 pace which I managed to hold for the whole 10km, finishing in 47 mins on the nose.

All up, just over 81km in just over 3.17.

A hard morning, but a good session to do. Nice to get a couple of longer runs under my belt last week too.

Quick swim

2012-01-28T11:07:00.002+11:00

With Catherine working late, I decided to take advantage of a spare half hour and jumped into the pool for what was intended to be a quick km.

Went through the first 500m in just over 12 mins with the second 500m closer to 12.30 as per normal.

Felt surprisingly good considering the run and ride already completed. I think this was the first time I had done a swim, ride and a run all in the same day. A true triathlon day!

Ride home

2012-01-28T11:05:00.002+11:00

Easy ride home with Roly. Legs felt ok. Roly seems to like pushing the pace on the hills through Mosman, although his bike makes some very strange noises when he puts his foot down!

All up about 20km in 57 mins.

Making up for lost time

2012-01-27T09:24:00.000+11:00

What with the rain preventing me from running home on Wednesday night, and with Australia Day and Catherine's ceremony taking up much of yesterday, I decided to take advantage of being in the city early this morning with an easy run.

Started off running through Barangaroo before looping up and across the bridge and back, down to Hickson Road, through Circular Quay and on to Mrs Mac's chair where I turned around and retraced my steps (without the bridge), finishing up in front of Cargo Bar for 15.5km all up in 1.16.41.

Pace wise, I struggled early on, averaging 5.10's across the bridge, before getting into something of a rhythm around Farm Cove and back through the Quay, ending up averaging 4.56 for the whole session. Still not as fast as I would have liked, but not too bad.

Very muggy out there today and my shirt and shorts were totally soaked by the end of it. Will probably ride home tonight, try and sneak in a swim tomorrow and then head out for a longer ride/run on Sunday morning.

Muggy, tough Pain

2012-01-24T14:56:00.001+11:00

Tough Group 2 Pain today. The legs just weren't feeling it, although I managed to get into some sort of form by about half way. Big group.

Still, good to get it out of the way. Probably the least useful of all the sessions I am doing at the moment - but equally probably the hardest and most enjoyable.

Lost all 3 sprints to Tim...but didn't really put up a fight either.

All up 28.38. HR: 149 (ave) / 192 (max). G2G: 2.35

Confirmation ride to work

2012-01-24T09:45:00.004+11:00

Backed up the swim with an easy ride to work this morning.

All up 19.5km in around 53 mins. 4.24 up Parrawi.

I managed to get caught in a large pack of riders coming through Mosman...during which time I confirmed my earlier thoughts that 70% of all cyclists are in fact total pricks...

Another swim!

2012-01-24T09:45:00.000+11:00

With an early hospital appointment and squash cancelled, I managed to squeeze in a swim before dinner. My third swim in 4 days...this must be a record.

Just decided on a straight 1km effort, going through 500m in 11.57 and finishing up in 24.03 so 30 seconds quicker than Sunday...

Door to door in under 30 minutes...that pool is so handy!

Recovery swim

2012-01-23T08:37:00.000+11:00

After a long day yesterday, I eventually made it into the pool late afternoon, getting there just as Mike H was finishing his set. Great timing...the fewer people I know who see me swimming the better at the moment.

Decided just to crank out 1km, splitting it into 2 x 500m intervals with the first 500m done just under 12 mins and the second 500m at 12.30. Identical to my splits on Friday, despite being in salt water.

Encouragingly, my parents who were also in the pool at the time seemed to think that my stroke looks a lot better than they remembered...but given that the last time they saw me swim was when I did the swim leg at Kurnell breaststroke about 4 years ago, that doesn't say much really. Still, nice to get some small compliment I guess...

Solo Brick

2012-01-23T08:33:00.000+11:00

With Tim on baby duty, Roly at the dentist and Mike H opting for the BTC time trial at Centennial Park, I headed off up the beaches solo.

The intention was to ride 70km and then run a solid 7km off the bike....and so that's what I did!

Despite looking out of the window to see looming grey clouds, I had prep'd the TT bike the night before and decided to stick with that choice anyway as I need as much time on that bike as possible before Husky.

Although I ended up getting soaked riding through Collaroy, the ride was fairly uneventful and I turned around about 3/4 of the way to West Head with 35km on the Garmin, despite being very tempted to go all the way, with the time in the back of my mind, and knowing that the run was as important as the ride.

I decided to come back along Forest Way and Wakehurst Parkway which actually isn't that bad really and enabled me to get aero for longer. Apart from being hit by every flipping traffic light coming back along Sydney Road into Manly.

All up just over 70km with the return 35km taking 3 minutes quicker than the outward 35km (1.16 vs 1.13 for 2.30 all up).

After a quick garage/T2 transition, it was off on the run which took me along Queenscliff Road, down to Pittwater, through the lagoon and out to Shelley and back.

The first few km's were a bit of a struggle, and it wasn't until I hit the beach that I started getting down to 4.45's which is my usual benchmark for running off the bike.

Back from Shelley was a struggle too as my average km's started to rise, and it was only after a concerted push over the last km that I managed to get the average down to 4.45 again, eventually finishing at 33.13 for the 7km, an average of 4.44.

So all up, just over 77km for the morning. Happy with that, and the way the bike is feeling. I just need to get that entry into Husky now!

Back on the slow horse

2012-01-20T14:12:00.000+11:00

Having exhasusted all other excuses (head colds, tired legs, sinus infections...), it was time to head up to Cook & Phillip for the first time since before Canberra.

I have become very aware of my lack of any long swimming recently, having only done 1.5km once since Canberra.

With things being a little quiet at work, I headed up early and was in the water just after 11.45 which meant that the pool was virtually empty and I had the lane to myself. A far cry from the situation at the end of the session where the lane was chockers.

My aim was to simply crank out 2km and that's what I did.

As per usual, I started off well, going through the first 500m in under 12 mins before slowing to 12.30 for 500-1km. I lost a further 30 seconds between 1-1.5km and a further 30 seconds between 1.5-2km (not helped by an unscheduled stop to dive down to recover my watch that had fallen off half way down the pool.

All up, 2km in 51 mins. Very slow.

Muggy Track

2012-01-20T14:03:00.000+11:00

Managed to drag Roly along to this session which meant I had company on the ride to Mosman and then back home.

No coaches this week due to a training camp in Jindy meant that it was a free session for Roly's first turn out.

After the customary fartlek and stride through warm ups, the set was split into short course and long course options, although both were actually the same set with the long course being outside the oval and the short course guys inside.

The set was to be 2 x laps @ 80% with 1 x lap @ 90% followed by 1 x lap recovery. All to be done 4/5 times.

With tall Dave not attending, and with no-one else there of my (average) speed, I spent most of the session running at my own pace with Roly just behind, apart from the last set when Andrew ran with us. As a result, the pace was a little down on where I would have been normally. That being said, we still managed the 2 laps at about 4.20/25 pace with the quicker lap starting at 4's but quickly settling to 4.15's. However, the recoveries were only done at about 5.15 pace so there wasn't much difference across the whole lot!

With the ride to and from the session, all up 20km on the bike and 12km on the running side.

As ever, a very solid session. I think Roly is sold - just need to get Tim along now...

Humid run to work

2012-01-18T11:10:00.002+11:00

Man was it humid this morning! What a day to pick to run into work for the first time in about 6 months...my shirt was soaked before I even made it to the end of Kenneth Road...and from then on it was just a matter of survival, with the only thing keeping me going being the thought of the next downhill section!

Parrawi was lethal, as was the pull up to Sydney Road...and Clark Road to the bridge felt like the Iger. Small hills felt like mountains today.

Didn't help that I was running with a backpack on but still, it was pretty ugly stuff. Saw Andrew and Jeff coming across the Harbour Bridge, also soaking but looking a lot fresher then I felt!

I managed to get to Kent Street in one piece, struggled into the 7-11 and downed a Gatorade on the spot. Probably the best drink I have ever had.

All up, just over 16km in just under 1.30 at 5.25's. Ugly ugly ugly. But good to get a long run under the belt I guess. Humidity and me just don't mix!

Ride home

2012-01-17T18:33:00.000+11:00

Ride home, the legs actually felt surprisingly good after the lunchtime flogging.

The roads were quiet as I left work early.

All up 20km in just over 50 mins....fairly uneventful really.

Quick Pain

2012-01-17T18:20:00.000+11:00

On a warm Sydney day, Tim and I rocked up to a big turn out, deciding to go in group 2/3.

Started ok, but as per normal, the first few sprints felt quick, with the recoveries more sedate. For some reason I always struggle in the first sprint along Farm Cove where everyone around me seems to go off like s**t off a shovel!

G2G was slow but at least I managed a hollow victory with Tim struggling.

From then on, I warmed up and felt comfortable, aside from the Art Gallery hill which was as hard as usual. Managed a quasi sprint to finish off.

Time: 28.17
G2G: 2.38
HR: 149 (ave) / 172 (max)

Late squash

2012-01-17T11:39:00.001+11:00

A late start for squash due to a late meeting followed by chaotic traffic along Military Road meant there was very little time for a decent warm up.

Despite this less than ideal preparation, I took out game 1 to 6 before Ric evened things up with a whitewash in game 2 which he took to 1.

I then pulled things around, taking out games 3 and 4 before wrapping things up in game 5 which I took to 7.

All up, happy with a 4-1 effort, and in particular with the quality of my serving which seems to have improved over the past few months.

Dripping wet at the end as it was particularly humid on court.

Dodging the rain

2012-01-16T09:45:00.000+11:00

Met up with Tim for what was supposed to be a ride and run. I hadn't been feeling the best for a few days so the plan was to take things easy.

Headed out along Pittwater Road and then the rain hit. Not just normal rain, this was monsoonal rain. Driving, horizontal type stuff. We immediately turned around and rode back to Queenscliff...where the rain stopped! We then decided we would head up to North Head to see if it was any better up there, but by the time we reached Manly the rain had started again and so Tim decided to head home and call it a day.

I was still keen for a ride so rode up to North Head, only to find myself in the middle of a Warringah Tri Club triathlon! Quite funny riding on a race course but not actually being in the race. After a lap of North Head, the rain was still torrential and so I decided to give it up and head home myself...only for the rain to stop again as I made my way along Pittwater Road!

Sod it, I will keep going so, with things looking a little brigher up the beaches, off I went, making it to Bay View before turning around (I only wanted to do 50km) and getting all the way back without any further rain interruptions. I decided to come back through Dee Why and Curl Curl, forgetting the hill between the two beaches! That is a monster.

I was tempted to tack on a small run, but figured with the head cold that probably wasn't the best idea and so called it a day at 54km all up. Not too bad really considering the disastrous start to the morning!

Track

2012-01-13T08:44:00.000+11:00

Haven't been feeling the greatest since Tuesday, like I am on the verge of coming down with something, so took Wednesday off after deciding that perhaps swimming wasn't the best thing to do in such a state.

Was feeling slightly better by the time Thursday afternon rolled around and so, being the competitive bugger than I am, decided to give Track a go, knowing that there would be no hiding place if I wasn't 100%.

Started with the customary ride from work to Mosman before a couple of laps of the fartlek loop, the oval and some stride throughs as a warm up, before Bruce split the group into those doing long course and those who wanted to do the shorter option.

The long course option consisted of a pyramind set of 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-2-1 minutes, all done at 85% with 90 seconds floating recovery between each interval. All to be done either outside or inside the oval, whichever we felt like (essentially follow my leader type thing!).

Started off following tall Dave and Joey Sprange, managing to hang on to their coat tails for the first pyramid before they gapped me as we started the second pyramid. At this point, I was caught by one of the quicker girls, who I then managed to hold on to until she decided to run around the oval for the last couple of intervals. By this point, we had caught up with tall Dave again and so I kept him in my sights for the remaining intervals.

Not sure of the splits as I couldn't upload the Garmin info last night, but I suspect my surges started at sub 4 min pace but ended up closer to 4.15!

A lap of the fartlek loop as a warm down before I jumped back on the bike for the ride home. Surprisingly, the legs didn't feel as stuffed as last week but still a hard old session!

All up 19km on the bike and 12km on the run.

Painful struggle

2012-01-10T14:43:00.000+11:00

Just Tim and I for some Group 2 Pain today.

From the start the legs felt heavy and weary, and this continued throughout the session. The recoveries were fine, but for some reason there was no zip in the legs for the sprints. As a consequence I found myself bringing up the rear for most of the intervals. Tim took out G2G as I had nothing!

Longer route given the works around Farm Cove for the cinema. Probably an extra 400m all up.

Will give the legs a rest tomorrow and go for a swim. Then Track on Thursday all being well.

Total distance: 6.26km
G2G: 2.37
Time: 31.39

Ride to work

2012-01-10T11:52:00.000+11:00

Ride to work. Took it very easy. All up 19.2km in 52.48. The lights on Kent Street screwed me big time with the Garmin auto pause thing not kicking in for some reason.

4.21 up Parrawi.

Squash

2012-01-10T11:50:00.000+11:00

Very muggy game for our first game of 2012.

I easily took game 1 to 3 . Game 2 was an epic, I eventually ran out 16-14 in what was probably the longest game we have ever played! It must have lasted over 20 mins with both of us having chances to win.

I also took out Game 3 to 6 before Ric pulled Game 4 back, again in an epic, 11-9. Some very close games, but the skill level was rather average. It certainly showed that we haven't played for 3 weeks.

Still, good to get back into it, although I was literally dripping afterwards!

Reluctant swim

2012-01-09T09:04:00.000+11:00

After an earlier aborted attempt (due to an influx of 3 million nippers on a Sunday morning), I finally made it down to the pool late afternoon with Catherine. I wasn't really up for a long swim, so decided to try and push the pace and crank out a fast (ish) km.

Tried to concentrate on pushing my arms over quickly, going through 500m in 11.55, with the second 500m slightly slower at 12.20 for 24.15 all up. I actually felt faster than normal, although the time clearly wasn't that quick! Still, a swim is a swim...

Then finished it up with a 50m thrash in 1 minute flat. Now that's more like it!

The plan for the week is for squash tonight, a ride/Pain tomorrow, a swim on Wednesday, Track on Thursday and then see what happens at the weekend. My folks arrive for 3 weeks on Friday which may mean weekend training might be a bit hard for a few weeks, but we'll see.

Back on the horse!

2012-01-08T09:40:00.000+11:00

Met up with Mike H and his mate Kieron (doing IM Melbourne in 11 weeks) for a ride up the beaches. First trip out on the TT since Canberra.

Only wanted to do 60km on the bike as was keen to get a longish run in so left the boys at the West Head turn off and headed down to Akuna Bay before the long pull up to Terrey Hills. I then continued back to Manly via Forest Way and Allambie Heights Road before a lap of the front to get the mileage up to 60km. Legs felt tired the whole way, still probably feeling the after effects of Thursday's session.

60km in 2.20. Not too bad really.

After a quick change, I was out onto the run. The plan was to do 10km so I decided on the Burnt Creek/Sydney Road loop.

Again, the legs felt heavy from the get go and I struggled to maintain any kind of form, averaging 4.45's until the hill up to Sydney Road where my pace dropped to 4.50's. Managed to pull it back up to 4.45's by the time I made it back to Manly for 47.29.

All up 70km for the morning. Good to get back out on the P2 but definitely need to rest those legs on Sunday now! Maybe a swim instead...

Ride - Track - Ride

2012-01-06T16:40:00.000+11:00

Back to flog your legs Thursday for my first BTC Track appearance since before Canberra.

As was the plan before Canberra, I rode to Mosman, changing into my runners once I got there.

No Chrissie or Bruce so Bern took the session. Started off with 2 x laps of the farklek loop before some stride throughs.

The main set was split into two, the first half being 2 laps at 80% followed by 1 float lap, all done 4 times.

After a couple of minutes recovery, the second half of the set was 1 x lap at 85/90% followed by half a lap float, all done 8 times.

Managed to average 3.50 pace for the first half of the set, and started off well during the second half, although I was quickly running on my own as the group just in front of me gapped me early on, and I was unable to bridge the gap, even in the recovery. As the set went on, the pace dropped such that by the last rep my legs had gone and I was just holding on to 4 minute pace!

Reps for the 2 lap efforts went XX

Reps for the single lap efforts went XX

After a recovery lap, I decided to bypass the core session and jumped straight onto the bike for the ride home. This was where things got really ugly, especially the pull up BB at which point I actually considered walking as my legs were rooted.

Made it back home just after 8pm with my legs thoroughly trashed. Still, a good session, and one that I hope to continue for the first few months of 2012.

In other news, I have now officially pulled out of 6 Foot for 2012. A shame, but a decision that had to be made given its proximity to d-day as well as my desire to focus on triathlon things for the first half of 2012. Likewise, I will probably give the Sydney Marathon a miss and focus on the flatter Gold Coast option in an effort to squeeze under 3.20.

So the goals for 2012 are now:

19 February - Huskisson Long Course Triathlon
11 March - Wollongong Olympic Triathlon
1 July - Gold Coast Marathon
7 October - Forster Ultimate Triathlon
28 October - Nepean Triathlon
16 December - Canberra Half Ironman

Cool down swim

2012-01-05T10:08:00.001+11:00

Another very warm day meant that by the time I reached Queenscliff, I was more than ready to jump into the pool, if only to cool off!

Met Catherine and got straight into it, feeling surprisingly good from the start, and dare I say it even quicker than normal...

Split the set up into 3 x 500m with a 100m warm down. I was originally aiming for 2km but the pool was getting choppy and the wind had picked up by the end of the set and so I called it a day.

Ride to work

2012-01-04T14:06:00.000+11:00

Back on the bike this morning for an easy ride to work. Very warm day.

All up 19km exactly in 51 mins. Legs felt like lead to start with but soon got into it up Parrawi (4.10) and from then on all was good. Very quiet on the roads which was nice.

Will try and back it up with an ocean pool swim on the way home from work tonight. Will probably need it by that time as it is blooming hot today!

Painful 2012

2012-01-03T16:11:00.000+11:00

With squash canned at the last minute yesterday, after 2 weeks off, and on what felt like the hottest day of the year so far (it is only the 3 Jan after all!), it was back to Pain to kick start 2012 with a bang.

With most people not back at work until next week, it was a small turn out - the result of which meant we ended up going in group 1. With the St George cinema in full construction mode, the route took a detour up the steps and around the back of the cinema site which added about 300-400m onto the route.

Felt good until the steps where my legs went, and struggled to hold on from that point, basically jogging the last sprint. G2G went well though, with no resistance from the boys, Tim claiming a knee injury and Roly likewise with a foot.

Very hard session in the heat but good to get it done.

Time: 30.37
HR: 157 (ave) / 179 (max)
G2G: 2.32

In other news, it would appear that all is not yet lost for Husky with entries re-opening on the 1 Feb for those who have withdrawn. Fingers crossed I get an entry!

Assuming I do get in, I will therefore probably pull out of 6 Foot Track and plump for Husky and Wollongong Olympic as the 2 races I will focus on pre baby. Post baby, I might join Tim and Roly up at the Gold Coast for the marathon, then on to Forster for the Ultimate Tri before finishing the year off again with Nepeana and Canberra. Well that's the plan at this stage anyway.

Back to back swimming and Husky full!

2011-12-31T13:57:00.004+11:00

On a delightful Sydney afternoon, I decided to take advantage of a spare hour and head down to the pool for my first serious swim since Canberra.

Decided just to do a km as the pool was quite busy - felt hard to start with, probably due to the fact I hadn't swum for a while, but soon felt comfortable as I got back into it. Sighting was a problem as it always is in the pool, with the sun making every other 50m very difficult to see the other end.

All done in just over 24 mins. Compared to 21 mins with my wet suit on. Slow, but still enjoyable.

Backed it up this morning with another 700m, this time with Catherine, and before the pool was taken over by thousands of kids for the normal Saturday morning swimming carnival. No timing this time, preferring just to enjoy being in the water.

In other news, the Husky long course triathlon has now sold out unfortunately, which means it looks like it is off the agenda for 2012. I have emailed the organisers to see if there is a waitlist, but the website suggests that the race is closed. I am very disappointed not to have entered this one, as it was to have been one of my main races for the first part of 2012, but it is my fault for not getting my act together earlier...

This all means that I now need to rethink what I will do in the first half of 2012. Maybe 6 Foot is back on the agenda after all. There are also a couple of Olympic distance tri's in Nowra and Wollongong I could go for, along with maybe 1/2 Kurnells...and then there is always the Gold Coast marathon in July too if I fancy it...

All options I need to give serious thought to now!

Akuna Bay Reversed

2011-12-29T12:08:00.003+11:00

Met Tim and Roly and headed up the beaches for an early ride.

From the start the pace was quick with Roly in particular keen to put the hammer down.

Got to the Church Point turn off under 30 mins, making it to the West Head turn off under 55 mins - both quicker than normal.

From the West Head turn off, we decided to continue on to Akuna Bay and brave the hill back up to Terrey Hills, returning back down McCarrs Creek and out the same way we came in. Roly was having problems with his back wheel, managing to develop a slow puncture twice, once at the bottom of the Akuna Bay loop and again in Dee Why. The stop at the bottom of the Akuna Bay hill in particular was a welcome break at the time!

By the time we got to Dee Why, I pushed on, leaving Tim to help out with the puncture repair, as I was late back and still wanted to sneak in a run if I could.

After a quick garage change, I was quickly back out again, retracing my route of Christmas Eve to Shelley and back.

On the way back, I met Tim and Roly who were running in the opposite direction, so decided to retrace my steps and finish off with them.

Pace wise, I ran the first 5.75km in 4.34's, with the last 2.6km at 4.22's for 8.4km in 37.50 at an average of 4.30 overall.

All up, 69km on the bike in 2.38 with 8.4km in 37.50 for a total of 77km in 3.15.

Chrestmas Eve Ride and Run

2011-12-28T20:47:00.003+11:00

With Andrew, Mike H and Mark all (literally) last minute withdrawals due to some drizzle in Mosman, it was just Roly, Tim and I who ventured up the beaches.

I decided on the road bike with the rain in the air.

All went well (and dry) until we turned for West Head when it started to rain. And then it started to pour. After about 5 minutes of driving rain, we decided to turn around and head back the way we had come, back down Pittwater Road, arriving back in Manly before 9am.

With the sun now out, and the boys deciding to call it a day, I made a quick change in the garage and headed out on foot, keen to get some time on the feet off the bike.

Ran along Queenscliff Road, back through the lagoon and along the beachfront to Shelley and back for just over 7km. Started off fairly slowly but quickly got into a good pace, managing to average 4.35's over the 7km.

All up 64km on the bike in 2.25 and 7km on the feet in 33.09 for 71km in just under 3 hours all up. Perfect per-Christmas fare!

Humid birthday tempo run

2011-12-23T10:47:00.000+11:00

On a particularly humid morning, I decided to start my birthday off with a trot around the normal Manly Road circuit.

Set off at a good pace with the aim being to average under 4.45's if I could.

Never felt totally comfortable the whole way due to the humidity which meant I was wet through from fairly early on. Kept pushing the pace throughout.

Saw Roly on the final pull along Manly beachfront which gave me a welcome rest.

All up 12km in 56.58, averaging 4.44's. Not bad considering the humidity, conditions which I always seem to struggle in.

Ride home

2011-12-22T11:48:00.002+11:00

Decided to back up this morning's effort with a ride home.

Fairly quick as there wasn't a lot of traffic around.

All up 18km in under 50 mins (49.xx).

Perfect weather - nice ride.

Easy ride to work

2011-12-21T10:24:00.003+11:00

With Roly riding early doors up to Church Point and back, Tim and I decided to take the easier option of a ride to work.

Very slow and uneventful and included being overtaken by about 10 mountain bikes and also getting abused on the bridge. Tim and I have come to the conclusion that at least 50% of all cyclists are twerps!

All up around 18km in about 55 mins with numerous stops.

Last Pain for 2011

2011-12-20T16:26:00.001+11:00

Met Tim for the last Pain for 2012. \

A lower than usual turnout on a deceptively warm day - when the sun got out it was very warm and muggy.

Went for a group 2/3 mixture, lead by a guy who shot off like a jack rabbit and was leading all the sprints until the G2G when he blew up. I didn't see him after that.

Felt slow, but comfortable the whole way.

G2G was done in 2.29 and ended up being a dead heat, although I think I might have taken it out on the line....

Finished strongly, although not the greatest of times overall - the recoveries in the second half in particular seemed slower than normal.

Time: 29.20
HR: 148 (ave) 182 (max)
G2G: 2.29

Back to squash

2011-12-20T09:13:00.000+11:00

After a couple of weeks off, it was back to Court 1 for some squash action.

After an elongated warm up, I took out game 1 to 4 before Ric came back in games 2 and 3 including the latter game to 1 after a game in which the ball landed on the wall/floor join more times than I care to recall.

I then managed to take out a close game 4 before sneaking home in the decider to 5 after a topsy turvy game.

Not the highest standard of squash we have ever played, but still good to get back on the court and get a win.

Legs felt sore afterwards. Will probably rock up for Pain tomorrow and then maybe ride in on Wednesday.

Manly 12km slogfest

2011-12-19T09:26:00.002+11:00

Decided it was time to test out the legs since it had been a week since the half ironman.

With 12km in mind, I headed out on the normal Manly circuit, intending to take things easy at sub 5 min/km pace if possible.

After running the lagoon twice due to an urgent toilet request, I headed out along Kenneth Road. From early on it was clear that the legs just weren't co-operating and it was going to be a long run...and so it turned out to be.

The pull up to Sydney Road felt ok but from then on it was just a case of putting one foot in front of the other. I just didn't have any oomph whatsoever.

With the leg up to Shelley and back (through the masses of swimmers who were doing a 1km race), I ended up at about 12.3km, just managing to sneak in under 5 min km's for the run.

Not a great start to my Sunday - but good to get the legs moving again.

Need to come up with some targets for next year now...starting with Husky now I have managed to sort the bike racking issue.

Canberra Pics

2011-12-15T16:02:00.000+11:00

Bad idea Pain

2011-12-14T11:01:00.000+11:00

In hindsight this probably wasn't the brightest idea I have ever had...but Tim was keen, and being the sheep that I am, I decided to follow...

Unfortunately Tim was supposed to meet a friend in Martin Place who didn't turn up and as a consequence we turned up at the tree to find no-one there. Tim was sure this was just because Christmas was around the corner but I wasn't sure and so we headed off on our own hoping to catch up with the later groups.

We were pretty much on our own until the interval after the lamp post when we managed to catch the last group. We stayed with them through the G2G and up the stairs before pushing on to the next group for the up and over interval, staying with them until the end.

Although my legs were sore to start with, and in particular the hamstrings, I didn't feel too bad by the end. Tim even managed his usual effort next to the art gallery! I took the whole thing a bit easier.

The plan for the rest of the week is to rest up and see how I feel at the weekend. I feel tired and need to recover fully before getting back into anything.

In other news, it looks like Husky might be a goer after all as they will let someone else rack my bike on the day. I suspect I will probably pull out of 6-Foot as a result.

Tim: 29.20
HR: 141 (ave)/166 (max)
G2G: 2.54

Canberra Half Ironman - 5.18.41

2011-12-12T16:36:00.001+11:00

...and so it was on to the final event for 2011. The biggest and toughest year of racing I have ever done. But more about that later.

The weekend started on Saturday morning with the loading of a car full of more sporting gear than you can shake a stick at. Bottles for this, bags for that, food, wet suits, you name it, it all went in Roly's car.

All went well until we had passed Goulburn, at which point we were stopped for a random breath test. This wasn't the problem as of course Roly, having not drunk for 2 weeks, passed with flying colours. However, what we weren't aware of was that the rear bike rack apparently was obscuring the number plate such that it couldn't be read from the rear....and so $350 later we were on our way...still with a rear number plate that couldn't be seen! Meanwhile endless streams of cars with similarly obscured bike racks were racing past - we were just the unlucky ones! Not a good start to the weekend.

Anyway, we eventually made it to Canberra just after 3pm, deciding to go straight to transition to register and rack our bikes. After queuing for what seemed ages, we were let into transition and racked the bikes, then went and checked into our accommodation at the ACU, only to have to return back to transition for the compulsory briefing. By this point the sun was out and it was literally scorching. Quite why they made 1300 triathletes sit in the baking heat for 45 minutes listening to information we had already been given, while getting sun burnt is beyond me. Great preparation!

The upside of the briefing was that I got chance to catch up with Andrew and pick his brain about race tactics and nutrition in particular. He recommended that I only carried 1 x bottle of endura on my bike with my front aero drink bottle full of water, the plan being to fill both bottles up at the aid station at the end of every lap. What this meant was that I had to discard one bottle and pick up two bottles at the aid station every lap. Either that or I wouldn't have enough liquid...a dangerous tactic, but one that I would probably go with to save weight, unless it was scorching hot in the morning which would therefore necessitate carrying an extra bottle or Endura.

Once the race briefing was over, we drove out of Canberra a little way and found a nice pasta place where we indulged, then on to Coles to buy breaky, before returning to the accommodation for more prep and then off to bed.

After a fitful night's sleep as per normal before a race, the alarm went at 4am. T - 3. I threw down a rather dry blueberry bagel (another idea of Andrew's) and some bran bread, saving the rest of my food for closer to the race given that my wave wasn't until 7am.

The weather was surprisingly clear on the drive to transition and so we laid out our gear out in almost perfect weather conditions. If only we knew what was on its way...

After yet another "final" race briefing, it was down to the water for final preparations, which involved some more bran bread, a power bar and half an up and go. I was now ready.

My wave was due to go 30 mins after the pros, but due to the fact that the swim entry was the same as the swim exit, we all had to be in the water about 15 minutes earlier than we have been normally, in order to give the pros chance to exit the swim without having to push through a load of age groupers trying to get in the water.

After a bit of a practice swim, Tim and Roly, who were due to start in the wave 5 minutes before me, were away, leaving my wave, the older guys and the teams the only ones still left.

By this point, the weather was starting to really turn, the wind had got up and there was something rather large and murky blowing in across the lake (aside from the duck poo that was seeping between my toes). We had heard rumours about storms throughout the morning but this looked rather ominous. Luckily this distracted me for a while such that we were soon given our 1 minute warning to start. As usual I settled towards the back of the pack, a few metres behind the start line.

...and then we were off.

As normal, all hell broke loose at the start with flailing limbs very much the order of the day. For some reason, like the ITU experience, there were still people around me all the way to the first buoy which was definitely very strange. Luckily, the sighting to the first buoy was pretty easy as we just headed for the large tall building on the horizon.

After what seemed like ages, I rounded the buoy and headed towards the second. By this time, the rain had well and truly arrived and it was bucketing it down. There was also a fair amount of chop and swell as the storm blew across the lake - all of which made for some particularly interesting swimming conditions.

I rounded the second buoy and set about trying to find the third one. The briefing had told us to aim for the flag pole. However, unfortunately, with the storm, the fog had also blown such that I couldn't see a blooming thing! Great...anyway, not to worry, just follow everyone else like a sheep.

By this time my lats were also starting to ache and my stroke was becoming noticeably slower. Just keep it going, over half way now...it will soon be over I kept telling myself.

To be honest, this part of the swim was simply about focusing on some kind of form and hoping that I was actually moving forward. I was now being passed by those swimmers who had started two waves behind me and so literally there would be no-one behind me. I could therefore quite conceivably be the last one out of the water!

After what seemed like ages, I rounded the final buoy and headed for the white archway which luckily was clearly visible through the murk. However, despite swimming hard, it wasn't getting any closer! At one point I actually looked back to see if I had made any headway from the last buoy...

And so after another dose of HTFU I got my head down and focussed on my stroke, eventually making it to the archway, standing up in just over 42 minutes. A little slower than my target time of 40 minutes but still a whole lot better than it could have been. And that was the worst over. Game on - time to fire up!

The run from the swim to T1 was about 350m during which I managed to pass quite a few people, although in my haste I also mucked up my watch, pressing the lap button twice which in turn gave me a time for T1 of about 2 seconds. In my post swim headspace I then decided to stop the watch so that I could hopefully record an accurate bike time, only for a minute later realise that that wouldn't give me an accurate overall time.

It was still bucketing down as I located my bike, and as a consequence, everything that had been laid out dry as a bone only 2.5 hours earlier was now totally soaking wet including my top and towel. Lovely. And so on went all the wet gear and the helmet. Unfortunately my glasses were also soaked but I still put them on anyway. More automatic pilot than anything else.

Out of T1, over the line and I was on the bike and quickly into it.

Andrew had recommended not taking any nutrition onboard until at least 15 mins into the ride and so I sipped on a bit of water and some endura for the first part of the ride.

Due to the incessant rain, the first lap of the bike course was very wet and pretty damn treacherous. Being the hesitant rider that I am in the best of conditions meant that I didn't push the pace, with the aim being to average 30km/hr if possible. That, and Andrew's words of not pushing the bike too hard were ringing through my head throughout the first lap.

The descent into Coppins was particularly interesting and a little fraught, in fact at one point I didn't think I could actually put the brakes on any harder! The climb out wasn't too bad though and I seemed to pass a fair few generally on the hills.

Just before the end of lap 1 was the singular aid station and as it was critical in my hydration plan that I replenished both my water and my endura, I slowed right down. I had actually managed to drink all my water by this point which was a good sign, and about 2/3 of the endura, but this meant that picking up spare bottles was vital. I took on a water bottle from the first guy before realising I didn't have time to empty it into my aero bottle before the endura pick up, so quickly decided to instead shove both bottles in the cages behind me, slow down after the endura stop, empty the water into the aero drink bottle and then discard the empty bottle before the end of the aid station. Manageable, just, but it meant that I was passed by a fair few riders in the process.

Once I was rehydrated, it was on to lap two. The nutrition was also going well by this point, and I had settled into a routine of a jelly gel thing every half hour, interspersed with 1/3 of a power bar, all with water. The power bar was actually going down particularly well and seemed to be working well as I still felt strong.

By the time lap 2 started, the rain had stopped and the sun started peaking out, all of which made things a lot easier and also meant that I could start taking a few more risks and pushing the pace a bit more. Again, I kept drinking both the endura and the water interspersed with the power bars and jelly shots.

The only issue I was having was the fact that my toes were numb from about 30 mins in, which meant that I had to slow down every 45 mins or so to restart the blood flow to my feet...that and my gears were jumping a bit.

Again, the aid station worked well, despite me dropping the first bottle I picked up, and I managed to replenish both bottles again.

On to lap 3, and I decided to try and push the pace a little as I felt like I still had petrol in the tank. All was pretty uneventful until the climb out of Coppings Crossing when I saw Roly ahead of me which in turn gave me a fillip as I quickly caught and passed him towards the top of the climb. He told me that Tim was only a minute ahead of me and so I immediately picked up the pace to try and hopefully catch Tim before the end of the bike.

By now, the side of the road was littered with punctured bikes, presumably due to the rain that had fallen and the debris that had blown onto the road. It was carnage with so many people broken by the roadside At one point, at the top of Coppings, there must have been 4 people standing together...almost like they were waiting for a bus! As a result I spent most of the last lap counting down the km's, paranoid that I was about to have a puncture - luckily it didn't happen and I made it to T2 in good shape and with a bike split of just under 2.47 having managed to eat both power bars and half the bag of jellies. Perfect.

After quickly racking the bike and putting the trainers and visor on, I headed to the exit, quickly spotting Tim also making his way on to the run and about 100m in front of me.

Tim seemed to be moving well (and quickly) and so I quickly decided to settle in behind him and not expend energy trying to catch him too early in the run. The half marathon route took us out along the lake foreshore one way before doubling back, past transition the other way before again returning to transition. All done twice. So basically a psychological nightmare! All flat aside from a little hill at about the 7/18km mark.

By about the 2km mark, I had caught up with Tim and we then ran together for a while. Apparently Roly had beaten him out of the water and then they had both spent the ride overtaking each other at various times before Tim took the lead half way through the third lap. He was feeling strong (and running quickly - 4.30's to be precise) and so I stuck with him for a bit.

At about 6 or 7km I was still feeling good and so decided to push ahead whilst I still felt like I could. At the back of my mind I kept remembering Andrew's advice of the previous evening where he had recounted his first Canberra experience which had involved going through the first 10km in 47 minutes only to hit the wall very soon after and take over 70 mins for the second 10km!

Lo and behold, I went through 10km in 47 mins! Great - when would I hit the wall then....but on I went, by this time maintaining an average pace of around 4.45's. Still below the aim of sub 5 mins km's which is what I was aiming for.

By this time, the sun had come out in all its force and I had started to sweat a lot. Time to up the fluid intake at the drinks stations. With that and the couple of jellies that I still had left, things were still going well and I was managing to hold a decent pace without ever feeling that I was really struggling and my HR still felt under control. On to the second lap and the seemingly endless loops of the water front, back past transition, past Tim and Roly running in the opposite direction and back again. By about the 15km mark, I was starting to feel the first signs of tiredness and the legs started to get heavier and heavier with the pace dropping a bit. Only 6km to go. Then 5km. And then I was on the final leg back to the finish line. I popped my final jelly with 3km to go and concentrated on maintaining my form and focus. 2km, 1km and then I was into the final km and then into the finish shute and the archway which signalised the finishing line. Over I went, stopping my watch with a half marathon time of 1.42 - an average of 4.50's - the same as my marathon pace and under the target pace of 5 min/km.

Because I had mucked up my Garmin timings, I wasn't sure of my finishing time, knowing only that my watch showed 5.16 - so taking into account the time the watch had been on pause whilst in T1, I could have broken 5.20!

After gathering my thoughts, I turned my attention to the next hurdle - removing the timing chip. This was a lot harder than it should have been, and very nearly ended up in me passing out right next to the finish line as the limited blood elsewhere in my body immediately rushed to my head...

Eventually, and having removed the tag, I grabbed some coke and set about waiting for the boys...just as the heavens opened and it started absolutely bucketing it down. I managed to seek shelter in one of the drinks tents happy to have finished and be out of the rain.

Tim came home about 10 mins later reckoning he had managed a 5.31 (no watch) with Roly finishing a further 5 mins back with a 5.37. I still had no idea what time I had done at this stage...

After grabbing some ice cream (what a great recovery idea!), we headed back into transitions to grab what was by now our very wet gear. My towel was absolutely soaking as was my wetsuit and bag.

We then made our way back to the car, changed, racked the bikes (taking care to remove the number plate and place on the rack) before starting the long drive back to Canberra.

It was only in the car on the way home that I checked the results on line to find out I had actually done 5.18. Not too bad for my debut half ironman...

Very happy with that to finish the year off...

Last minute psychological swim boost

2011-12-09T09:55:00.001+11:00

After last Sunday's swim, I was keen for another hit out in the wet suit before race.

Having watched a couple of You Tube clips on how to put on a wet suit, I knew that I needed to ensure that the suit was tight around the armpits and groin area, so I spent a bit of time making sure all was well in those crucial areas. It still felt tight, but at least I knew it was on properly.

Once fitted up, I waddled down to the pool, jumped in and got straight into it, quickly feeling a lot more comfortable than I had last week. The breathing seemed a lot easier and I felt more bouyant too. Swimming in a straight line was still an issue, but at least things felt better. The shoulders felt a little tight to start with but again that soon eased once I got into my stroke.

Decided to go for very easy km, touching the wall in just over 21 minutes. Compare that to the same distance at Nepean where I swam 3 minutes slower and the effect of the suit is obvious.

Maybe standing up in 40 mins on Sunday is possible after all! We'll see.

Speaking of Sunday, anything under 6 hours and I will be happy. Sub 5.45 and I will be very happy. Sub 5.30 and I will be ecstatic! My plan will be to take the bike easy on the first lap and then build from there, hopefully leaving enough in the tank to bring it home in the run. And eat regularly.

That's the idea anyway...

Comfortable Pain

2011-12-06T14:47:00.000+11:00

Wasn't sure whether Pain was a good idea today...but after a thoroughly boring morning at work, and having been in the office since before 7am, I decided I needed to get out of the office and what better reason than to flog myself around the Botanic Gardens!

With Roly and Tim resting for the whole week, I ended up going with Group 5 - one below the bunny group, whom we managed to keep in sight for basically the whole session.

Took it very easy throughout, not wanting to push myself, and with one eye on my HR. Lifted the pace a little around Farm Cove, and for the last couple of sprints but felt in control the whole way, hiding in the middle of the group.

The course was a little longer due to the Domain being closed for Homebake, as well as the area around the Governor General's gaff.

Time: 30.55
HR: 133 (ave) / 179 (max?)
G2G: 2.41

Wintry squash

2011-12-06T09:33:00.000+11:00

Winter has arrived again...and yet Court 2 was still a sweat box!

I was keen to take things relatively easy to avoid injury, but that is virtually impossible with squash. After a long warm up, Ric took out game 1 to 4 before I responded to even things up.

After being 8-x up for ages, and having to suffer numerous mis hits against me on game point, I eventually took it out 9-7 with another mis hit!

Ric then fought back, winning the last game to 4/5. There was probably time for a decider but I called it quits, not wanting to push my luck any further and with the legs feeling a little tired.

Not sure about my plans for the rest of the week, will probably due a very easy pain/jog at lunchtime today and then an easy wet suit swim at the pool tomorrow...

Last big one

2011-12-05T09:49:00.001+11:00

Met up with the boys for our last hit out before the big one next weekend...

Catherine gave us a lift to Shelley where we donned the wet suits and waited for the Bold & The Beautiful to start on their return leg, deciding to follow them back to Manly instead of plough through the masses of pink caps.

Roly was off like a startled rabbit and so I decided to follow Tim for as long as I could. He ended up veering left near the rocks, at which point I went right and a little off course. Sighting was a bit of an issue as the swell was quite big and I managed to get caught in a rip coming back into Manly. All of which made the whole thing a little hard work! That and the wettie felt a little tight across the chest and shoulders which was restricting my breathing - all of which meant I was last out of the water again. I need another wet suit swim before Sunday. even just for some reassurance.

Once on the beach, we ran all the way to Roly's before removing the suits and getting out onto the bike. This was the first time I had ridden the bike with the new cassette and chain and with the bottom brackets now 'aligned' (no idea what that means). I also now have some weird latex thing in my tires which will hopefully mean less chance of punctures...to be fair the bike did seem to roll a little better and I did feel like the power I was putting through the pedals was making things a little faster. Probably psychosomatic though!

With an aim of doing about 40kms, we decided that Pittwater Road probably wasn't the best idea with the number of lights and so opted for loops of North Head instead preferring to hopefully get into a rhythm rather than stop starting.

Luckily, we arrived just as some criterion bike race was finishing and so largely had the road to ourselves. After quite a bit of faffing with various bars, saddles and the like we settled into loops of the car park and back to the roundabout over and over again. What I had forgotten about was the number of speed bumps along the way though. Very annoying when you are trying to get into a rhythm! To break up the monotony I tried to time the laps but didn't seem to have any consistency, with times between 5.15 and 5.30! Strange as I thought I was maintaining a solid pace. Maybe it was the timing at the end of each lap which was in the approach to the roundabout and which meant I had to brake suddenly whilst also taking a reading on the Garmin. Not the best time to stop the watch.

We called it a day with the Garmin showing 35kms and headed back to Roly's (39km all up). Average speed of 30km/hr all up which was exactly what I wanted. 38km in 1.16.

After a quicker than normal change (Tim held on to his bladder), we were off onto the run, deciding to run the shorter Sydney Road loop for 8km. Despite Tim stopping for a pee break along the Burnt Creek Deviation, we were averaging sub 5 min/kms all the way to Sydney Road where Tim (who had only had 3 hours sleep on Sat night and who was struggling as a result) told Roly and I to push on and we would convene back at Roly's place. I still felt ok and so decided to push the pace along Sydney Road, dropping Roly before the descent into Manly where I ran along the beachfront and back inland to the finish.

All up 8km in 38.27, averaging 4.42/km.

A good last hit out, despite the swim issues which will hopefully be sorted with another wet suit trial later in the week. Time to take it easy on the running and riding front now though.

6 Foot Track

2011-12-03T19:44:00.000+11:00

Turned laptop on at 8.55, laptop crashed at 8.57, rebooted, online again at 8.59....

9.03 - 6 Foot Track all entered.

9.09 - 6 Foot sold out and waitlist full!

Not sure I will end up doing it, but it's so popular, I would rather have the choice than not...plus I really enjoyed it last year and feel like I have unfinished business after smashing my ankle 13kms in...

Watch this space!

Tempo run

2011-12-02T09:12:00.000+11:00

Couldn't be bothered with the hassle of going to Track as I was feeling a little tired after the past couple of days.

Instead decided to go for a tempo run around the Manly circuit with the intention being to push the pace as far as I could whilst still remaining comfortable, i.e. my intended race pace for Canberra.

Set off still feeling tired, but managed to get into a rhythm by Kenneth Road, averaging 4.42's all the way around to the Burnt Creek Deviation.

The pace dropped a little on the pull up to Sydney Road, but the legs came good again along Sydney Road and back into Manly, by which time I had got the average down to 4.40's.

Pushed on to Shelley and then back along the beach front, finishing at the lagoon, the last 4 km's of flat enabling me to get down to an overall average pace for the run of 4.35's.

Felt in control the whole way which was my principal aim, focussing on my form and using the arms to keep up the momentum.

Very happy with that session for where I need to be. Will take today off, might swim tomorrow before the mini tri on Sunday, being the last big hit out before the big day...

Ocean pool 2km swim

2011-12-01T08:47:00.000+11:00

With Catherine at yoga, and after a particularly warm and humid day, I jumped into the ocean pool at Queenscliff on the way home for a long swim.

There were a couple of other swimmers doing the same thing, all of whom were faster than me, but I still managed to crank out a slow, comfortable 2km.

Ride home

2011-11-30T10:20:00.000+11:00

Despite trashing my legs at lunchtime, I decided to ride home. Probably not the best idea as the wind was up which made things a little interesting on the more exposed parts of the ride.

Made it back in my customary 51 minutes, although I was more happy not to have been blown off the bike especially along the flat section just before the Spit Bridge!

For some reason, maybe due to the fact that I left work a little later than normal, there appeared to be more bike morons on the road than normal last night. By morons I mean those cyclists who insist on using their commute home as some kind of criterion time trial, especially through the backstreets of Mosman and Seaforth. Some crazy riders out there. Pointless and also quite dangerous if you ask me.

Sweaty Pain

2011-11-29T16:33:00.002+11:00

It was a very warm day in Sydney today. Not a lot of breeze but the humidity was high which meant I started sweating the moment I left the office.

Met up with Tim and Roly for a relaxed jog to the start, deciding to go for the bunny pain option given the state of our legs after Sunday's effort.

All went well from the start, and I felt strong, albeit lagging at the back of the pack with Tim and Roly just behind me.

On to the G2G and I went out strongly again, and could feel Tim in my back pocket the whole way, managing to hold him off though for another victory...he reckons it was due to me taking the racing line around a roller skating guy, but I knew better...

As per usual, Tim took out the Art Gallery hill before I found something for the final sprint to the line.

A hard session as per usual.

Time: 30.06
HR: 141 (ave) / 176 (max)
G2G: 2.26

Sweaty squash

2011-11-29T09:21:00.000+11:00

Very warm on the show court last night. I had dropped the bike off beforehand and was running late so ended up sprinting to the court so was dripping wet before I even got there.

After a quick warm up, Ric took game 1 to 6 before I replied, also to 6. Game 2 was a marathon which I eventually took out 10-8. Very close. Ric then ran away with the final game to 4 but my legs were literally gone by that time. My serve was less than impressive throughout which was disappointing.

A good, hard game all the same, but my legs are suffering this morning. I didn't even ride in, preferring to rest before Pain at lunchtime.

The end result of taking my bike in was that I need a new cassette and chain apparently. That probably explains the gear jumping over the past couple of rides. The guy didn't recommend I replaced my Dura Ace, so I plumped for the Ultegra set instead. Much cheaper and very little difference in weight. The guy also recommended some kind of weird gel thing to prevent punctures. I was sceptical at first but for $40 decided to give it a go....if it means I don't get a puncture in Canberra it could be the best $40 I have ever spent!

More Nepean Photos

2011-11-28T14:25:00.000+11:00

I emailed the guy who took the photos for Nepean and he emailed me back with some more pics. Not too bad really considering!

Last big ride/run

2011-11-27T12:07:00.004+11:00

Met up with Tim and Roly for a 6am departure. Mike H was a late scratching as he had come down with a bug yesterday. The guys had both fitted their tri bars yesterday with Tim also sporting a borrowed front drinking bottle thing. The same one that Roly and I have ordered....

After stashing our running gear, we headed out up Pittwater Road. The plan was to ride to West Head and back with a 15km run off the bike.

We made it to the Church Point turn off fairly quickly in 30 mins. Probably due to the tri bar effect!

We then continued to the West Head turn off, continuing on to the turnaround for a quick pit stop, before retracing our steps back the way we had come. I tried to push things along the West Head loop and spend as much time as possible down on my bars.

Successfully so as I felt a lot quicker after last week. I also tried to eat more regularly to simulate what I will do in Canberra, taking half a banana and some bran bread and eating a bit every half hour or so with some water. It seemed to work as I felt strong throughout.

From the West Head turn off, we decided to ride back down the beaches rather than push on to Terrey Hills, and risk the Wakehurst Parkway, eventually getting back to Manly with 2.48 on the clock (moving time). 3.04 including all the stops. Total kms: 77.5km.

Not too bad, and I didn't feel like I had pushed too hard. The run through Dee Why was a nightmare though as the wind had got up by this time and the road surface along that part of Pittwater is just dreadful! No wonder there are so many bike accidents along that stretch of road.

After a slow changeover we were out on the run, just as the heat of the day was warming up. I had forgotten my visor and so the sweat was starting to run into my eyes. Lovely.

We weren't sure where to run apart from the fact that we wanted to do 15km and so we headed back through the lagoon and out along Kenneth Street and up to Sydney Road. From here, Tim lead us on a loop of Seaforth, back along Panorama Parade and then back to Manly along Ethel, White Street, looping back onto the harbour front walking track, past the pool and to the wharf.

From here, we headed to the beach front, out to Shelley and then all the way back to the QLSC, turning around and finishing back at Roly's place for 15km. Total km: 15.24, time: 1.21.18 (5.20/km). We stopped a few times for Roly to catch up, and had a few water stops as well due to the heat.

To be fair it was probably a little slower than I could have gone, but I wasn't bothered, preferring to spend time out running rather than push the pace. Hopefully that will happen on the day.

Picked up my bike from Roly's and rode home happy to have another long session under the belt. The legs are a little sore now, but nothing like I felt last weekend! Maybe all this training is helping after all...

Track - hill repeats with a ride each end

2011-11-25T10:55:00.000+11:00

On yet another dank evening, I rode to Track, reserving a decision as to whether I would actually do the session until I got to Mosman.

After two laps circling the oval on the bike, I decided to toughen up and do the session seeing as though I hadn't run home on Wednesday as planned.

After a two lap of the longer fartlek loop as a warm up, and with the oval deemed too wet for us to use, Bruce decided on a hill repeat set interspersed with laps of the shorter loop. In detail, 4 x hill repeats on the road next to the oval with a jog recovery followed by 4 x laps of the loop with 2 x hard, 2 x recovery. All multiplied by 2.

Despite the ride to the session, my legs felt fairly strong, and I am usually ok on the hills and so I was able to hold my own for the hill repeats. I ended up running solo for the majority of the session, not quite quick enough to hand on to the shirt tails of the front guys, but quicker than the following pack. Kind of between a rock and a hard place.

Pushed the hills and the quicker loops, averaging low 4 min km's with the recoveries not a lot slower, as per normal.

Jumped on the bike for the ride home, by which time my legs were pretty well rooted, although the pull up BB and then up to the roundabout felt ok on the lowest gog I have.

Got some useful nutrition tips from Andrew who was "taking it easy" and still running off the front of the fast guys!

Will have another rest day today, a Manly to Shelley thrash and back tomorrow before a long ride/run with the guys on Sunday morning.

New goggles

2011-11-24T14:52:00.000+11:00

My new goggles/diving mask arrived from Wiggle today. Despite them not being tinted as requested, I figured that I didn't have time to send them back before Canberra and so I will have to make do with what they sent me.

With yesterday turning into a rest day (I had planned to swim and run home but work and general lethargy stopped me - I did run from Chatswood to Forest Way, but got Catherine to pick me up) I decided that a lunchtime swim was a good idea. The rain meant that the pool was quiet with only a couple of others in the medium lane.

The goggles went well and they have much greater visibility compared to my old set. Likie wearing a full on snorkel mask. They did leak a little towards the end, but that may be due to me fitting them badly to start with.

The swim itself was slow, but I am used to that. Ended up with 2km, split into 1km - 500m - 500m with small breaks in between and just under 55 mins all up.

Good to get it out of the way.

Humid Pain

2011-11-22T17:35:00.000+11:00

Met Roly (Tim is in Brisbane on a work conference) and jogged up to the start. Plumped for Group 3 - no idea why, but it looked like a good idea at the time.

Started quickly and kept up a good pace all the way around.

Roly took out the G2G with a big effort 50m from the finish, having shadowed me all the way around Farm Cove!

I knew he was gone from that point, so I easily picked up the hill and final sprints.

Felt strong during the back half of the session, leading the recoveries during the latter stages. A hard, session, but a good one to tick off. Very humid out there and I was quite literally dripping by the time I got back to the office!

Time: 28.13
HR: 144 (ave) / 172 (max)
G2G: 2.27

Damp ride to work

2011-11-22T09:50:00.002+11:00

As has been the norm over the past few weeks, I backed up this morning with an easy ride to work. Despite the fact that it had poured overnight, the rain had stopped by the time I left home, although the roads were still slippery.
The heel is still giving me grief - time to wear the orthotics 24/7 I think.

All up 19km in just over 51 mins. 4.18 for the pull up Parrawi.

Good news on Tim's bike, apparently it is just a paint scratch and not a crack in the frame - seems like a pretty big oversight to me! Still, great news for Canberra.

The plan this week is much like last week: Pain today, a swim/run home tomorrow, ride - track - ride on Thursday and a swim on Friday.

The boys want to ride/run long on Sunday this week - will see how things pan out for the rest of the week. I may go Saturday to get it out of the way. See how the legs pull up.

Nearly time to make the 6 Foot vs. Husky Tri decision with entries for 6 Foot opening up soon. Very tempting to attempt both with 3 weeks rest in between, but that would be madness wouldn't it?! I suspect after Canberra, I will want to do Husky - but then again, 6 Foot is such a great race. We'll see!

Losing squash

2011-11-22T09:49:00.002+11:00

Back to Court 1 again for squash night.
The heel has been a bit sore since Saturday's ride and so I felt hesitant throughout the evening, not wanting to push off too hard on the left foot, which is a problem when playing a game that requires quick changes in position!

Anyway, no excuses with game 1 going to Ric, game 2 to me, game 3 to Ric, game 4 to me before Ric took out the decider to 2. Overall a good game though with some tight points. Once again, Ric took the lion's share of the luck and I swear he must have won about 5 points in game where the ball just died against the back wall!

The only negative point for me (apart from the foot) was my serve which was erratic to say the least. No consistency at all.

It's been a while since I lost!

The Bold and the Beautiful

2011-11-20T16:32:00.004+11:00

...named after the daily group that swim from Manly - Shelley and back every morning of the year at 7am.

Today I did something I have been wanting to do since we moved to Queenscliff, swim from Manly to Shelley (and back).

Mike had mentioned it yesterday which got me thinking and so when Roly suggested it for today (unprompted), I jumped at the chance (despite the legs still feeling tired after yesterday).

With the fog still hanging around we headed out through the waves at South Steyne and made our way fairly directly to Shelley, using a couple of moored boats as markers. After initially struggling to get through the surf, once out the back, I found it fairly easy to get into a rhythmn.

We made it to Shelley in just over 17 minutes, turned around and retraced our steps back to Manly. The return was harder than the outward section, due mainly to the current and waves coming around the corner into South Steyne.

All up, just over 33 mins for the return journey. Not sure how far it is, but I suspect it is about 1.2km all up so not that quick really.

Still, some great open water practice, and sans the wetsuits. Both Roly and I agreed that we should aim to add this to our weekly routine as it is invaluable practice in the lead up to Canberra.

By the time we got back to Manly the fog had lifted too!

Great swim.

102km Saturday

2011-11-19T17:53:00.003+11:00

With Tim off to Brisbane and Roly in Adelaide, I met up with Mike H, Mark and a.n.other for a ride this morning. Compared to recent weeks, it was a relatively civilised starting time of 6.30am. With Catherine away, I was keen to push for a longer ride and run with only three weekends left before Canberra.

After meeting up with the guys at Dan Murphy's, we made our way up the Beaches and on to Church Point before taking the West Head turn off, looping back to McCarrs Creek and Terrey Hills. Mike had brought his TT with him and so I bent his ear on the way up to West Head talking all things tri. Always useful to feed off someone more knowledgeable than me. Mike did Canberra and Nepean last year.

It was also useful following Mike along the West Head loop as he was aero more often than not and so gave me an idea of when I should be down rather than up. Basically anything that isn't uphill I should aim to be aero.

After the pull up to Terrey Hills, Mark scooted off home with Mike and I deciding on an additional loop out to Duffy's Forest for an extra 10km. A lovely flat route gave me yet more time to get aero, a position that I am now starting to feel more comfortable with on the P2.

Once back in Terrey Hills, it was the normal route back along Mona Vale Road/Forest Way and the Wakehurst Parkway, leaving Mike in Seaforth, and finishing along Sydney Road and along the Manly seafront which was engulfed in a strange, thick fog by this time.

Got home for 90km in just over 3.15. Not bad considering the hills.

The legs felt tired, but I was determined to run off the bike and so after a quick change and a gulp of water, I headed off on the same 12km route I had done the other week (that time off a 50km ride). I shovelled down some jellies and quickly got into a rhythmn along Kenneth Road.

Although I felt that I struggled during the run, especially the long pull up to Sydney Road, I was determined to keep the pace under 5 min/km's.

Made it back to Manly and back into the fog which was actually pretty cold and a welcome relief. From there I ran out to Shelley before turning around and retracing my steps to the QLSC for 12km all up in 58.50 - 4.54's and only 40 seconds slower than I had been last time. Not bad considering the longer ride and the temperatures!

As has become usual, I finished up with a dip in the sea to cool down the legs before making my way home thoroughly satisfied with my morning's work.

All up probably the longest training session I have ever done outside a race, but good to get the longer ride in with the run too...also good to catch up with Mike H and Mark who will also be in Canberra.

I may take the day off tomorrow...but then again Roly is swimming Manly to Shelley return which might tempt me depending on how I pull up in the morning...

Friday night swim

2011-11-18T20:58:00.000+11:00

Due to an afternoon meeting in North Sydney, I was home by 5pm. On a spectacular's summer evening, I decided to head down to the pool.

Decided to just do 1km straight up.

Went through the first 500m in 11.55 with the second 500m in 11.45. Tried to focus on turning the arms over quicker and it seemed to work when compared to the 12.30 I was doing at Cook and Phillip on Wednesday. Then again, that could just be the salt water making me more bouyant generally.

In other news, Tim took his bike in for a service today, only to be told that he has a crack in the top tube...apparently they reckon it is an impact crack which could void the warranty = new bike. Poor guy, seems like very bad luck. Not sure what it will mean for Canberra.

Looking forward to another ride/run tomorrow. Aiming for West Head and return backed up with a 12-15km run if it's not too hot....

Ride - Track - Ride

2011-11-18T08:31:00.000+11:00

Having not been to Track for a couple of weeks due to Striders and Nepean, it was time to get back into what is probably one of the more useful sessions of the week. Kind of a quasi brick session.

It was drizzling when I left work with lots of moisure in the air which lead for a particularly soggy evening. High humidity meant that I lost a lot of fluid as well. And the bike ended up caked in grit.

Despite a chain incident at the bottom of Spofforth, I made it to Track in time for the warm up and stride throughs. Due to the weather, it wasn't a large turn out, but still enough people there to make it a good session.

The set was to consist of 1 x lap hard, 1 x lap easy, 2 x laps hard, 2 x laps easy, 3 x laps hard and 3 x laps easy, all done twice (it was supposed to be three times but there wasn't enough time).

I started off the first set pretty conservatively, picking up those ahead of me and who had gone out too quickly throughout the first couple of intervals until it was just me and Lew running together. He is much like tall Dave in his metronomic style which means you are fairly much guaranteed even splits throughout.

Whilst Bruce's instructions were for us to run the hard laps at 80% and the recovery laps at 70%, what invariably happened was that the hard laps were done at 3.55/4 minute pace with the "recovery" laps done at 4.45 pace. More like 100%/80% then! But that it always the case.

Pacing myself off Lew I was able to maintain this pace onto the second set quite easily, finishing up with just over 12km in the bag including the warm ups and stride throughs.

After a quick catch up with Andrew it was back on the bike for the ride home, getting back to Queenscliff just before 8.30pm. The legs were tired but not ruined. This session really is good for building the endurance off the bike...

A legs rest day today. Maybe a swim if I have time and then a long ride/run tomorrow with Mike H and Andrew...if I can keep up!

Drizzly run home

2011-11-17T08:33:00.000+11:00

Despite the drizzle, I decided to run home after work. Something I hadn't done since September. Tim was working late and so I ran solo. Normal route up Spit Hill, Ethel Street and through Manly (stopping off for cheese at Coles!). All up about 16km in 1.25. By the time I made it to QLSC the rain was annoyingly persistent. Lets felt surprisingly good throughout especially on the hills. Averaging 5.20 the whole way which isn't quick, but more important to get the time on my legs.
16km in 1.25.

Ride - Track - Ride tonight which I suspect will be tough.

2km swim

2011-11-16T09:02:00.000+11:00

With a busy work day ahead, I decided to take advantage of an early start and nip to Cook & Phillip before work.

Having not done a solid long session for a few weeks, I decided to just crank out 2km straight. After all it seems to be working for Tim.

Managed to keep the 500m splits kind of even. 12.30/13.00/12.45.12.45 for 51 minutes all up, only losing a minute overall based on my usual 12.30 splits.

Tried to concentrate on technique - high elbows, breathing early, diaphragm breathing, gliding etc. Not sure it had much effect, but at least it distracted me from the actual swimming part!

Nice to tick this one off before work. I think the plan is to run home tonight. Catherine reckons I am not doing enough long running - she may have a point.

Strong Pain

2011-11-15T15:13:00.000+11:00

Warm day with no wind.

Large group 2 (or 4 as it was called out?!). Whichever, it felt quick from the start with some longer sprints and all jog recoveries. Good leader.

Felt strong from the start, managing to pick up the pace from the sprint to the lamp post.

G2G was quick with my new tactic being to go hard early and hang on. Tim and Roly were nowhere to be seen! From then on, I was towards the front of the group, giving Tim the Art Gallery sprint (although I wasn't too far behind him!) but taking out the last one easily. Roly was struggling towards the end, think he was dehydrated after the past couple of years.

Time: 28.16
HR: 150 (ave) / 189 (max)
G2G: 2.23

All the lunchtime talk was about how to get more aero on the bike...aero helmets may indeed be the way to go as the picture below suggests:

Nepean Pictures

2011-11-15T10:35:00.000+11:00

Ride to work

2011-11-15T08:55:00.004+11:00

Rode in to work this morning, Uneventful as ever. 4.13 for the Parrawi split. Fairly comfortable the whole way without ever pushing the pace. Good to turn over the legs after a hard squash game last night. My Cannondale seems to have developed an annoying clicking noise on the back wheel which I lose when around traffic but which was starting to drive me nuts on the quieter sections of the route!

Plan for the rest of the week is Pain at lunchtime today, an early morning swim and run home tomorrow before a ride - track - ride session on Thursday.

Catherine is away this weekend so I will probably go for a longer ride/run on Saturday and back it up with a long swim on Sunday if I can. The plan has to be to hit the next few weeks pretty hard as Canberra looms on the horizon!

Muggy squash

2011-11-15T08:55:00.000+11:00

A stiflingly hot, muggy evening was probably not the best conditions for a game of squash but Monday night is squash night!

As has been the usual form of recent weeks, I won game 1, this time to 0 however, before also taking game 2.

Ric took out a close game 3 before I managed to steal game 4, Ric rounding things off with game 5 for a 3-2 victory.

Some good rallies despite the heat. I seem to be hitting the corners a lot more which is encouraging. Plus, the legs felt surprisingly fresh after racing on Sunday.

Nepean Triathlon - 2.04.12

2011-11-14T10:01:00.000+11:00

The Nepean Triathlon was to be my first triathlon since the ITU Olympic distance race in April. Whilst distance wise it shouldn't have been an issue, I needed to practice how I would go in transitions as well as the interface between the 3 legs under pressure. That, and my swimming in a race situation.

The day started very early with a 4.30am departure from Manly. Roly driving with Tim, Ed (Roly's friend) and myself. Two bikes on the roof and mine flapping off the back(?).

Made it out to the Riff for just before 6am, leaving plenty of time to ride to the start, check in and rack our bikes into transition. It was a lovely morning, a little overcast which were perfect conditions.

With the water temperature at 25 degrees it was a non wetsuit swim which, whilst it didn't suit me, I was actually quite pleased about as I it would tell me where I was swimming wise without any artificial help...

Tim and Roly were in wave 7 and I was in wave 5, which meant a 30 minute wait at the start whilst the other waves went off.

After what seemed like an eternity, it was time to get in and on with it and off went the hooter. I deliberately seeded to the back of the wave so as to avoid being kicked by other swimmers and this worked as I was quickly into my rhythm. As expected, the rest of the wave quickly disappeared off into the distance and I was soon swimming alone at the back. There were actually a couple of others around me but I was definitely going slow!

As luck would have it, the lines that joined the buoys meant there was basically a route to follow down the lake which meant I didn't need to sight for the first 750m (once I had worked out not to actually swim on top of the rope - actually swimming over a buoy is never a lot of fun!). All went ok and I managed to freestyle it the whole way for once. That being said I was still very slow, standing up in 24.13.

The run from the swim to T1 was long (but then again aren't they always long?!), and after a relatively quick change for me, I was on the bike 3 minutes after I had left the water. Not too bad. Note to self though, no need for gloves on a tri bike.

On to the ride, and I was soon down onto the aero bars from the start on what was basically a flat, technical bike course around the lake and then into the Penrith suburbs. I was surprised just how many people I was passing early on, and I thought I must have been pushing too hard and so I backed off a bit, saving myself for the second lap and the run. Despite this I was still regularly passing people. The bike was flying by this time and I was feeling strong, ripping through half way in 26 minutes. I decided to put the foot down for the second lap and to go for it instead of holding back. As such, I kept passing people throughout the second lap including a fair amount of bling, tear drop helmets and carbon wheels, all of which gave me confidence that I was doing ok.

Caught a glimpse of Roly stopped by the side of the road changing a tyre - he had obviously punctured poor guy.

Kept pushing the pace, and despite my obvious lack of biking ability, as evidence by my breaking skills on some of the sharper corners, I was able to put the pedal down on the straight sections, getting off the bike in just under 52 minutes, and making my ride a slight negative split.

T2 was quick, just over a minute to be precise (again, more time spent removing my gloves!), gulped down some water (I hadn't drunk enough on the ride - another note to self, must look at a more efficient hydration system), put on the trainers and visor and headed out for the 10km, still feeling strong and with enough petrol in the tank to know that that I could give the run a good shake up.

Immediately I started easily picking people up as I settled into an easy, but quick pace of 4.18/km. With the memories of my last tri still in the back of my mind (the ITU where I struggled to a 50 minute 10km), I wasn't sure whether to keep this pace up or back off, fearing that I would struggle during the latter stages of the race. After about 2km I still felt comfortable and so thought I would just continue at this pace for as long as I could manage and hope to hold on if I did start to struggle.

The run route was basically two laps of the lake finishing in front of the grandstand. I continued to feel strong and was managing to comfortably hold a sub 4.20 pace, passing 5km in just under 22 minutes. Lap 2 continued much the same as the sun came out and the temperature rose. Again, I kept passing people (that's what a slow swim does to you!). It's amazing just how much confidence having the age group written on one's calf does for you as I kept reeling in those with '35' etched on their calf, each time cursing my slow swim time.

At 8km I still had some petrol in the tank and so I decided to pick up the pace again for the last couple of km's, and again at the 9km mark to cross the line with a 43.46 run split and with an overall finish time of 2.04.12. Far quicker than I expected and yet actually surprisingly comfortable.

I then grabbed a drink and set about waiting for Tim and Roly who had started a few minutes back from me.

Tim crossed the line a while afterwards with no idea of his time as he wasn't running with a watch.

Roly was a little further behind having spent 15 minutes mending his puncture and with an angry 10km behind him!

Time wise, both the boys were quicker than me in the swim, not surprisingly (Tim put 2.5 minutes into me, Roly, 1.5 minutes). I was quicker on the bike and the run though, although Tim had me until the run!

In the wash up of the results, I didn't do too badly, beating 250 people in the swim and a fair few in my category! We'll see what happens when the mighty wetsuit comes out.

For me, however, the big plus of the day has to be the bike. That thing just flies, and I wasn't even putting the pedal down hard either! Plus, I felt very comfortable in the aero position - all great signs for Canberra. I do, however, need to sort out my hydration. Having 2 bottles behind me means that I don't drink as much as I need to. So now I need to decide whether to go for an extra frame bottle, a torpedo mount between my tri bars or one of the front hydration systems...hmm maybe I will seek advice from higher authorities.

A great day and a race I would thoroughly recommend.

Swim - 24.13
T1 - 3.03
Bike - 51.54
T2 - 1.14
Run - 43.46

Time: 2.04.12

JP Morgan Corporate Race - 22.22 (PB)

2011-11-10T09:14:00.000+11:00

With no specific training, tapering or preparation, it was the JP Morgan 5.6km corporate thrash around Centennial Park last night.

After flogging my legs on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, my legs were a little delicate by the time I lined up on the start line. The organisation was much better this year with dedicated starting pens based on estimated finishing time. I have always aimed to finish the race in under 4 min pace, but hadn't yet managed to achieve it - and with the lack of dedicated speed training, I wasn't holding out much hope for this year either. Still, it was a good social event with workmates I thought.

I ended up only 10m or so back from the start line which meant that I was able to get a clean start and could run fairly freely from the gun which was nice, and very different from the previous times I have run this event when I have spent the first km or so darting in amongst slower runners.

I knew the first half km or so would be uphill so the plan was to push things hard to start with and try to hang on from there.

Felt strong up the hill as I knew I would, going through the first km marker in 3.50, although the Garmin reckoned I had only done 0.96km. From there, I tried to hold the pace at sub 4 min pace, but with another little hill that I don't recall from previous years, I went through the 2 km marker with a split of 4.19! Although again the Garmin gave me a 1.07km distance for that split. I was therefore slower than where I needed to be.

Knowing that from this point to the finish, the course was either downhill or flat, I pushed on to the 3km marker which was basically all downhill, still feeling comfortable, recording a 3.42 split (Garmin again showing 0.96). Ok, so things were back on track again. I just had to hold a sub 4 min pace until the end and I was over half way.

3-4km was basically all flat, and it was around this point that I started overtaking people who had clearly gone out too fast. I managed to hold the sub 4 min pace, with a 3.57 split. Still going well and only 1.6km to go!

Between 4km and 5km the wind picked up and there was an annoying very small hill as the road passed the Randwick Gates. I could feel that I was slowing down at this point with a couple of runners sneaking past me. Just hold on I kept telling myself, get to 5km and then just go for it.

I eventually passed the 5km mark with a split of 4.06 and the Garmin agreeing with the km markers for once. Disappointing given the effort I had put in. Still, I was in with a fighting chance to crack the sub 4 min pace race (I worked out afterwards that my target time was 22.24) especially given the long downhill finishing chute!

With only 600m to go, I decided it was now or never and so put my head down and tried to up the pace, entering the finishing chute, down the grassy bank and crossing the line in 22.22.

At the time I had no idea whether that meant I had managed to average under 4min and indeed it took me about 10 minutes and lots of calculations to work out that I had managed it with 2 seconds to spare!

I grabbed a drink and a protein bar and set about waiting for the rest of the City Plan walking team to come in just under an hour before walking back to the car and driving back home, happy that at last I have broken 4 min km's for a proper race at last!

Still a long way to go to get under 40 mins for 10km but after the pounding I have given my legs recently, it was nice that I was able to notch another PB - my third for the year!

Km splits (according to the markers, not the Garmin)

3.50, 4.19, 3.42, 3.57, 4.06, 2.26 (600m)

Distance: 5.6km
Time: 22.22
Position: 211/5927

Humid Pain

2011-11-08T16:04:00.002+11:00

On what felt like the hottest day of the year, it was just Tim and I for Pain today. Apparently Roly was deep sea fishing - sounds like a perfect taper to me.

With Tim hungover, and my legs feeling like lead weights, a speed session in the domain was just what we both needed.

Ended up plumping for the bunny group 4.

Started off ok, albeit towards the back of the pack, before picking things up from the light pole onwards.

Unfortunately I was too close to the front of the pack on the recovery before the G2G and so got chosen as a bunny, finishing 3rd for the interval which wasn't too bad. Tim was nowhere!

Clearly he was saving himself for the Art Gallery hill though as he outsprinted the whole pack to win by a fair way.

Managed a sprint to finish things off. A very hard session in the heat.

Time: 29.34
HR: 146 (ave) / 171 (max)
G2G: 2.32

Hot squash!

2011-11-08T10:13:00.000+11:00

Hot squash last night - it must have been 35 degrees on Court 1.

I knew I would have to start well to have any chance, as I was feeling tired after the past couple of days and the lunchtime swim.

Luckily I went 2-0 up, easily winning both games to 3 and 5 respectively and was feeling strong.

I then proceeded to lose the next 3 games, although I was competitive in each game. It has to be said that Ric had his fair slice of luck on his side though, with at least 7-8 points resulting from some dodgy bounces. The luck was definitely on his side and he knew it!

Lost the decider to 6 in the closest game of the lot, including some marathon rallies that had us both on our knees. Happy with the way I was making him play the corners though..just need to be a bit more delicate about it next time.\

A good game, even though my body temperature was through the roof and I was sweating for the rest of the night!

Pointless swim

2011-11-07T13:54:00.000+11:00

A very warm day in Sydney today. 29 degrees and sunny.

I was dripping by the time I reached Cook and Phillip Pool so was thankful so get into the water. Not to swim, just to get in.

Started off with an easy 500m trying to put in place everything I had been taught on Friday. Breathing early, straight arms, bubbles out of the mouth....anyway, it took me over 12 minutes!

Then decided on 5 x 200m intervals with each one taking about 5 mins to complete so very slow indeed. In fact each one seemed to get slower until it was all fairly pointless and so I got out and went back to work.

In hindsight, I should have taken a day off....will see what happens on Sunday in the swim I guess. At least the ride and the run are looking ok...

All up 1500m

Sunday morning brick session

2011-11-07T09:09:00.002+11:00

Up and out early for a ride/run. With Tim and Roly having already gone yesterday, I was on my lonesome for this one.
The plan was to ride the Church Point route for about 50km and then tag on a 12km run if I had time.

On a lovely morning, the traffic was a lot quieter than normal, which in turn meant that I was able to get aero for a lot of the ride up Pittwater Road. Felt a lot more comfortable as a result. And much quicker as a result. Made it to the turn off in Mona Vale in just over 30 mins, getting to the West Head turn off and 25km in 50 mins, basically averaging 30km/hr despite all the stopping along Pittwater Road.

Chowed down a nana at the bottom of the McCarrs Creek hill before attacking the hill. By this time, my left pedal was making an annoying clicking noise which was driving me nuts, but I continued on to Warringah Road for some more aero time and on to Forest Way. Luckily the traffic noise seemed to blank out the clicking!

Felt strong all the way back along the Wakehurst Parkway, arriving back home with 51km under the belt in just over 1.45. Perfect timing and a lot quicker than previous weeks, probably as I hadn't stopped and had deliberately pushed the flatter sections. That, and the annoying clicking noise was driving me bonkers!

Dumped the bike, put the trainers on and got straight out for the run part of the morning. The plan was to run the Manly 10km route and then add on a couple of km's at the end to make 12 km in total.

I was quickly into a nice pace, averaging 4.50's for the first 4 or 5 km before the pull up to Sydney Road where my pace dropped a bit. Managed to pick it back up coming into Manly before heading out to Shelley to get the km's in. Went through 10km in 48.30. Coming back along the beach front, the temps were starting to climb and I was starting to feel it after being on my legs for over 2 hours. In the end, I actually only needed to add in a loop of the Queenscliff SLSC to make up the 12km, for 58 minutes all up.

After gulping down some water and spending some time cooling off the legs in the sea, I was back home by 9.15, perfect and a really satisfying session.

Spent the afternoon at Balmoral with Catherine's, and even managing time for a splash up and down the beach. Very choppy but good to get some open water time in amongst things. Probably about 750m all up, but hard work in all the chop!

The plan this week is a swim and squash today, Pain and a ride tomorrow, the JP Morgan on Wednesday, a ride on Thursday and a swim on Friday.

With Nepean this Sunday, I want to give my legs time to rest so I will probably take things a little easier this week....

Sydney Striders 10km, Lane Cove - 42.54

2011-11-07T09:08:00.002+11:00

As it was the last race of the Striders season, I decided to give this one a go as it is my favourite course and where I set my 10km PB. Having not seriously run any distance since Melbourne, I wasn't really sure what to expect with the legs still tired after a hard week on the bike and in the pool.

On a warm morning, I arrived nice and early to register and trot through an easy warm up. No familiar faces meant it was going to be a lonely race! Plus, with the Run 4 Fun the day after there wasn't as many on the starting line as usual.

So the gun went off and I was away quickly, keeping the 40 minute pacer in view for the first couple of km's whilst feeling relatively fresh.

Up scribbly gums and the pacer started to get away from me, on to the annoying flat part and the split road, and from this point I knew it was going to be a hard race. Despite feeling ok, the legs were already tired and people around me with whom I usually run at the same pace, were starting to get away.

I didn't lose any more places up to the turnaround spot (I even took a few on the last part of the hill), but on the downhill part, and when I needed to pick up the pace and push on, there was just left nothing in the legs to go with those around me. To be fair it was pretty warm by this point, but still I was hoping that there would have been a little something to push the last 4km or so given that it is largely downhill.

Despite this, I managed to hold on and didn't get passed by that many people, even managing my customary sprint finish to cross the line in 42.54. A disappointing time really given what I was expecting and my times this year.

Still, it was nice to race again and push my legs for the first time since Melbourne. Looking at the difference between my building up to North Head and this race, it is clearly the longer runs that are lacking at the moment. For me, it would appear that these longer runs (even at a slow pace) more often than not result in quick 10km times.

Time: 42.54.

Swimming lesson

2011-11-04T16:45:00.001+11:00

Took a day off yesterday as I was feeling jaded after a hard few days.

Back to it this morning with a swimming lesson with the Bondi Fit guys. The lesson was with Paul at the new Ian Thorpe Pool in Ultimo.

Started off with another horror video session after which I was told that I would need to take my technique right back to basics...great.

Learnt a lot during the hour though with some useful tips on how to move forward...especially:

Maintaining a straight arm/high elbow as I bring my arm around - even to the point of my arms slapping the water
Breathing a lot earlier than I currently do - i.e. as soon as my front arm starts the pull I should be turning my head to breath - at the moment I am breathing far too late, which means that my body is unstable in the water as my head is out of the water much later than it should be. My legs are also all over the place as they try and balance my body due to the late head roll
Trying to glide through the water a lot more - deliberately slowing down my stroke as a result
Looking sideways/backwards instead of forward through the stroke
Getting rid of my bubbles through my mouth, not through the nose, and only as I am turning my head to breath, i.e. holding my breath more under the water
Opening my mouth before my head surfaces (hard one this without getting a mouth full of water)
Breathing using my diaphragm rather than my chest (should be easy for the tuba player in me!)
Using more drills as part of any session
Practicing breathing out of both sides

A good session and some useful tips.

If only I lived closer and the squads didn't start at 6am, I would give this more of a shot....

Longer, quicker swim

2011-11-03T10:19:00.000+11:00

Managed another early mark from work, and with Catherine doing yoga things, I popped down to the pool for a dip. Decided to wear the tri shorts instead of the budgies...hopefully for increased buoyancy.

The pool was probably the coldest it has been so far, and so I got straight into a 500m warm up which I completed in 11.25. Focussed on straight legs, making myself taller in the water and wide arm entry points. Felt a lot stronger as a result.

I then decided to try out the 5x200m intervals again, the aim being to go at 5 minute intervals.

Not sure why (maybe it was the shorts!?) but I easily managed all 5 this time around, with a 25-30 second recovery which was plenty.

I then decided to take advantage of the positivity and keep going with 5 x 100m intervals, going on 3 minutes with each 100m being around 2.10.

Very happy with the set and how I felt in the water with the shorts on, even happier that I wasn't filmed. Will see how the lesson goes tomorrow morning...

I might get out for an easy run later on before the pub, will see how I feel.

Ride to work

2011-11-02T09:21:00.000+11:00

Ride in to work this morning. 19km again in just a tick over 50 mins. Lovely morning in Sydney.

Parrawi was done in 4.33, although I'm not sure I started the clock at the same place as last time.

After Sunday's swimming debacle, I have booked a lesson for Friday morning with Bondi Fit. $80 for an hour. Probably will do no good, but anything's worth a try after the horror video session!