In readiness...

Tomorrow my first sprint tri in quite some years. The goal is to finish. It will be interesting to see where I'm at and set more goals from there. I feel underdone on the running aspect, in that I'm not running the times I was hoping to at this stage. It's a little daunting, but all I have to do is keep moving forward, that's all I ask of myself.

Mon; run: 50:44 |  8km | 6.19m/km
Testing the distance. It feels like it's been a while since I've run this far.

Tues; yoga: Simply flow | 1hr
While I want to move up to power flow, all the simply flow classes I've done of late have certainly been challenging enough!

Wed; ride/run: 1:10:58 | 26.8km | 22.6 km/hr hilly ride followed by 12:58 | 2km | 6.28m/km run. It wasn't overly warm and my feet were numb making for some awkward running. Good practice for Sunday, the forecast is not warm.

Thurs; ride: 1:33:08 | 39.5km | 25.45km/hr. Beach rd ride.

Bass Coast Cycle Challenge 85km recap

The short: 4:01:58  |  91km (the ride itself is 85km, but we rode to the start from our weekend base)

The long: I tagged along with my Mum and a few of her riding buddies for the Bass Coast Challenge, riding to raise awareness about road safety - something that has been close to my heart throughout my career. With recent rostering it felt rather indulgent to have a reasonably weathered Saturday to just ride.

We started out of Inverloch and it wasn't too long before the group split. I was out on my own. After a nice 20km warm up I was climbing "Mt Misery" a 3km climb. 500m to the top we were cheered on by a devil and her cross-dressed Heidi.

I found the second climb of the day to be a touch more brutal, but it was rewarded with gorgeous views of green rolling hill tops and some long descents.

From Wonthaggi back to Inverloch I tacked onto the back of a group. I'm not usually one to do this when riding, given I don't know the quality of rider I'm tacking onto and vice versa but the headwind was brutal and I was feeling less than fresh.


The ride was incredibly well run, plenty of aid stations, stocked well with food (ANZAC biscuits, fruit cake, bananas and oranges) and water (or sports drink) and masses of friendly and supportive volunteers. I'd come back and do this ride in a heartbeat, it's always nice to mix up the scenery and take on a slightly different challenge. It was kind of nice to ride with Mum for a bit, at my own pace for a bit and then regroup. Certainly my longest ride in quite some time and a very satisfying one at that.

Needless to say I slept well that night.

The weekend that was

The weather on the weekend was average at best, Saturday morning I got in a yoga class and then headed to the Mornington Peninsula for a birthday BBQ on Saturday night. I headed down a touch early so I could take in some of the two bays trail - I'd run part of it at the start of the year for the Two Bays 28km trail run and I've been keen to revisit. I started from Greens Bush. It was gorgeously serene. I saw one other person on the trail and heard plenty of bird life around me. I ended up jogging on the flats and walking the rest. It's well signposted and somewhat protected from the rain that was falling. Thankfully it was too cold for snakes.

Sat; yoga: 1 hr | Simply flow. Lots of back bends and hip opening today.
Hiking: 1:05 | 7km

Sun; ride: 1:34:20 | 39.3km | 25km/hr. A strong headwind heading out. Very unusual, but makes the way home super fast and fun! I didn't worry about HR, I just wanted to see what I could do.

Mon; swim: 54:00 | 2200m | 2.27m/100m. Lots of drills and a bit of distance. Cramming my two scheduled swims into one.

Off the shelf: 50 Marathons in 50 Days

Have you read this?

This is up there with Born to Run another great running story. 50 marathons in 50 days by ultra marathon man Dean Karnazes is filled with tips about running. Some we've all heard before - the right shoes are important. To some I'd forgotten about - over-training signs; including lack of motivation, and new suggestions like run as far as you can in a day - pack a back pack and a credit card and go. The last one plays on me constantly... and I read the book last year.

Run: 39:36 | 6.3km | 6.16m/km
I had to throw in some speed in the form of intervals to my training. Glad I did, because I wildly underperformed. I really struggled to hold any kind of pace. Doesn't bode well for aim of 5.50m/km in my first triathlon. At least I know where I'm at and the work I need to do.

Time on my side

I like you night shift I do, but I love me some rest days!

Tues; ride: 1:39:25 | 39.6km | 23.8km/hr.
What a day! Blue skies, no wind, shall I say that again, NO WIND!!!  I headed out with Mum and got to catch up on all her recent holiday news. We stopped for coffee of course. Had I not needed to leave for work by midday I honestly think I would have spent all day on the bike. It was beautiful. My HR average was 143. I didn't exactly stick in Z2, but I did manage some Z4 efforts.

Wed; run: 39:04 | 5km | 7.48m/km.
It was toasty, even at 6:45pm when I started the run. I'd procrastinated all afternoon. My dinner plans were canceled and I had no excuses left. Hard to keep the HR down at 140, but an easy run otherwise.

Thurs; ride/run: 1:16:37 | 28.7km | 22.4km/hr ride followed by 25:28 | 4.2km | 6.45m/km run.
Brick session. It was only meant to be a 15min run at 150 bpm or Z3. But I wanted a bit of time to unleash. To let myself run free, so the rest of the run was done as the race will be done with my HR sky high. Felt good to be working.

October Snapshot

A teeny InstaSnap of October.

November rolled in while I was on night shift - the days and nights all tumble into one I tell you.
Very glad this one is done, I lost steam towards the end and the desire to train faded as the week wore on. Thankfully my eating stayed on track.

Today a recovery day from the shift work, a time to restock the fridge, do some housework and get to yoga. Very much looking forward to getting back into swimming, cycling and running.

Yoga; Simply flow 1 hour.
I'm hoping to get to a power flow class later in the week. You know, when I've had more than fours hours sleep.