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.

In the swim

I'll be honest, swimming is not my fave. There was a time I liked it, but I'm pretty sure that was more to do with my hot instructor than anything else. I try not to think of it as the necessary evil, because it does have its advantages. When it's howling with wind and pouring with rain, swimming indoors becomes the favorable option. It's also a little easier on the body and can aid in recovery. I have access (through work) to a pool that is under-utilised, and free! There is never the need to share a lane and as a result I no longer suffer from "lane rage".

The key to sessions is having a plan. I used to not and ended up swimming many a 1500m+ straight. It has its benefits but not every session. I write out my program and stick it to my water bottle. Then I have less thinking to do at the pool. Less thinking when the blood is elsewhere works for me.

The key to getting there in reasonable time is a dedicated pool bag. With my pull buoy (that doubles as a kick board),  goggles (I swear by Aqua Sphere), moisturizers (the chlorine is drying) deodorant (and stinky) and hair dryer. Not forgetting underwear works a treat if I wear my bathers to the pool too. I have spent far too much of my time looking for errant goggles. Now they live in the bag. The bag lives in the cupboard a cursory check to make sure I've got enough shampoo and I'm off.

Swimming presses my hungry button. I usually pack a few dates (nature's Gu) or a peeled orange that I can tuck into once I'm done.

Sun; brick session ride/run: Bike 1:23:16 | 31.6km | 22.7km/hr
Run 15:04 | 2.18km | 6.54m/km
Bike was all Zone 2, low heart rate. I could have pushed it a little more and still been within the zone. I got to practise a transition dismount. There's some work to do. The run was Zone 3. My heart rate just wanted to climb and climb and climb off the bike. Rein it in. Rein it in.

Mon; swim: 2000m | 48:00 | 2.24m/100m
The first session in a while where I've actually put the work in when it said 'effort'.

Mon; yoga: 1hr. Simply flow.
The danger of doing this prior to night shift means all I want to do when I get home is snooze. 

Good things Friday

• I harvested this pomegranate from our tree this morning and plan to enjoy it with some yoghurt later.
• I'm on afternoon shift so I've got the whole morning and a little more to do as I please.
• Part of my morning was spent running. Awesome for two reasons (a) it stopped raining and (b) gosh running, hard but so so good.
• Looking forward to the Puffing Billy run on Sunday.

Run: 53:03 | 8.41km | 6:18/km. 4km of flat, 4km of hills.
Strength: 15 min. Crunches, push ups, shoulder presses, dumbbell flyes, lateral raises.

Wed; strength: 35m. Ahh strength, you save me on rainy days!

Tues; strength: 30m

Mon; strength: 30m

Easter recap: Saturday & Sunday

Sun; ride: 45m | 9.8km | 13.1km/hr. There were ambitious thoughts about riding up the Mt Buller road. However the more I thought about it, the less likely I thought it possible. I'm no where near bike fit. Let alone fit enough to climb for 1:40. So I made a deal with the Man and my friends that they'd give me a head start and pick me up along the way. It was perfect timing. I probably would have made an hour climb, but I was pretty tired at the 40m mark.

Sat; run: Mt Buller Mountain high Fun Run: Buller Breaker 8.9km.
1:09:17 | 9.4km | 7:22m/km. Both P and my Garmin measured 9.4km, I'm taking it! Oh man, the hills, they kill me! It's an improvement, two years ago I did the 6km course and averaged about 10m/km. This year there was still plenty of walking, but clearly a little less and over a longer distance. I felt ok up until the 5km mark and then really struggled. I certainly could have been dressed warmer and I will remember gloves for next time, it was super cold! And the gloves would have been a big help when I tripped and supermaned along the ground, leaving a fair chunk of my palm on the mountain.

Salomon Trail Run; Race 2

The short version: 1:35:48 | 12.5km | 7:40/km

Pre-race routine:

Being directionally challenged and all, I left Melbourne with plenty of time to get to Mt Macedon. I cranked up the heater and listened to the live music from Splendor in the Grass and an hour before I was set to run started eating my stale bread & jam sandwich. Mmm dry.

Event warmup:

Parked the car with 10 mins to racing and walked to the start line. Opted to wear t-shirt plus arm warmers, so while it was fresh to start, it wasn't freezing. I popped some powerbar shots.

We got a race briefing, but I couldn't hear a thing because people were talking loudly, I got the gist, follow the pink/red/orange signage.

Seeded myself towards the back.

Run comments:

And we're off. I had no idea what to expect or how hard the course would actually be. The profile looked kinda nasty, but I didn't want to think about it too much.

I wanted to start conservatively. The first two kms were downhill. All good. From kilometre 2-8 it was a gradual climb. The terrain was a mix of 4WD track, grass and single track.

At 4km I ditched the arm warmers. I ran behind a guy whose footing was incredibly solid, for some reason it gave me a whole lot of confidence and I did my best to stay with him.
At 6 km I seriously questioned my sanity, but did my best to push those thoughts out of my head. At 7km we came to a clearing that had stunning views and a hugely rocky terrain that was un-run-able. I got out the iPhone to snap a few pics and in doing so I think I was snapped by the photographer slacking off. We had a laugh. 8km was all about the water stop. I wasn't thirsty so much as needed a proper excuse to walk.

Then it got hard. Just after the water stop we descended. There was no running involved at all, it was just a slippery muddy slope, complete with awkward rocks. There was lots of tree holding in this section and it was frustratingly slow going and I'd lost my guy by then. At the end of the descent it was all uphill to the finish. There was a group of about 5 of us whom I thought would make it to the finish line together. Except they were walking when I thought I could run and so I ran albeit slowly.

1.5km to go was the toughest, I was doing the run/walk thing between posts and surprisingly passing people. I caught up with a girl I went to uni with and got her to start running again. Finally at half a kilometre to go it flattened out, she took off, I did my best to stick with her but it wasn't happening. And finally the finish line. In the end I finished a second in front of her!

What would you do differently?

It's easy to get caught up in a group of people walking. I know this happened in the marathon and it happened for a little out on the course today. Yes it was tough, there were some hills so steep that running up them was futile, but on some sections I asked myself why am I walking. I have to be more mindful.

Warm down:

We were provided with a goody bag and I was able to get some water, electrolyte and protein recovery drink to have on the way home. I made my way pretty quickly back to the car because I had to get back to Melbourne.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I'd say hill training would have helped.
I also seem to have no confidence in my foot placement. Does this come?? Any trail training tips and I'll take them!