Week 4 Recovery Week

Recovery .... hasn't that got a nice ring to it. Say it fast... rjrjhklmlsenyy ...or say it slow reeeecuuuuveeeeryyy!! it still means the same thing... lower kms and more rest time ... Yee haa!!!!

I took the opportunity this week to get on top of all my paperwork and accounts for the business so its a good feeling to have a nice clean desk and in tray.

So here goes ...a really brief look at the week

Monday 3km swim

Tues morning 60k cycle and then intervals in the evening totalling 8kms

Wednesday 2.3 km swim

Thurs 51kms on the bike followed by an afternoon run of 13kms

Friday 2.6km swim

Saturday 60km bike with 6km run off the bike

Sunday 10km run

All up just 12 hours of training

Wednesday there was no ergo session, instead we all met at Nat and Chris's house ( fellow squad members) for yummy soup and crusty bread ( chef's Nat and June should be commended on their pumpkin and curried vegie soups...MMM MMM). It was a great night for us all to touch base , chat about the program and see how everyone is going. Everyone is slowly getting to know each other . There are some wonderful characters in the group and so far our few gatherings have always managed a good laugh.We were then given the next 4 weeks of the program "Build Phase".. physiological strengthening and adaptation.. but I'll talk more about that next week!!

Saturday morning was nothing but spectacular!!! Hardly a breath of wind , the Swan River looked like a mirror!!! Just stunning. ... and we were about to ride and run alongside, around and near it all .So very very lucky to not only have all this as our training ground but to all have our health to get out there and enjoy it..

Even though we only had 60k bike and 6k run this morning its never just an "easy " ride. Coach Brad always makes sure that nothing we do equates to junk miles (or should i say Kms!!). So it was warm up of 10k then 3 by 10 min efforts ( 9mins at Max Sustainable Effort with 1min sprint all out!!!!)..... now just breath, breath.

Its starting to get busy along the freeway path and you do have to keep your wits about you.... there are other riders ....RIDER UP!!!.... there are walkers....WALKER UP..... there are even Skaters..... SKATER UP.... and every now and then a surprise like this Saturday.. About 2ks from finishing and it was PLUMBERS CRACK UP!!!!!! oops! Sorry who ever you were but it certainly was a sight.

Sunday morning here in Perth and its a big day here for many runners with the City to Surf. Quite a few of my friends were doing the 12k and the half with a couple doing the marathon. Well done to all of you. However there were a few of us not heading in to brave the crowds this year so a run was organised from the Hillarys Marina. Everyone just ran the distance they wanted to .... I ran 10 and some of the others training for the Melbourne Marathon ran 20-21.... and others ran distances in between . It was called...

Here's a picture of all of us before we headed off. A big thank you to Dennis for organising it.

After a coffee and breakfast it was home to get myself organised for the next week of work, training and general life. Then it was off to the movies with my long time friend Meredith to see Red Dog!!! Interesting movie, very , very Aussie!!!!
So let's hope this great weather continues over here. It certainly seems to have the ability to lift everyones spirits to another level.

"Sunshine is delicious,rain is refreshing,wind braces us up,snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather"

John Ruskin

Week 3

Understand that this is not a dress rehearsal

this is it - "your life"

Face your fears and live your dreams

take it all in

yes every chance you get

come close and by all means

what ever you do

Get it on film ( or blog it!!!!)

John Blaisman

Don't you just love these words!! Even though I did my first Ironman last year I feel like I am facing all those same fears over again. Why is that ? Maybe it's that " face your fears" line..I'm not sure I'm ready to answer that question quite yet.... a little scared at what the answer might be. But needless to say it certainly is a journey where , on a fairly regular basis, you need to dig deep and find SOMETHING to keep you going.

Mon. wednesday and Friday this week were my usual swimming days. I'm still swimming with my fins on for each session. Fridays session was the first one that I didn't need to take any nurofen afterwards so hoping that's a good sign. If that happens again next week I might try getting thru minus my "crutches". All up 7.9kms in the water.

Monday afternoon ran around Lake Joondalup with my friend SJ. The sky looked ready to open up on us but we were lucky only experiencing a few drops of rain... 8kms.

Well after yesterdays run the heavens did open up , and didn't stop so this mornings ride was back on the windtrainer for 50kms. For some reason I hit the wall today and was really tired at work. Kept feeding myself coffees in the hope some caffeine would work its magic..... sadly no! In the end it was a little 30min power nap before heading off to track . All up about an 8.5k set. The main set being 9 x 400 with a minute plank on the 3rd, 6th and 9th lap.... good session with the wobbly arms setting in on that 3rd plank.

After swimming in the morning we had our usual wednesday ergo session. Tonights was 90mins long and it was tough!! Not alot of talking goin' on that's for sure. Then its up at 4.30am ( note not pm...crazy) the following morning for a 40km bike with "Time Chasers " thrown in for good measure!!! 4 repeats up a hill with each time trying to beat your previous time!! OMG. Will , Fiona and I were just going for it the best we could. Those Thurs morning sessions are always tough on the legs after the Ergo the night before so I always feel really good about getting thru them . In the afternoon it was back to Lake Joondalup for another run of 13kms. This time there was Lisa, Jenny, Fiona and myself. It is just so lovely around there and with the temp around 20-22 , lake full of water and an abundancy of bird life you couldn't ask for a more beautiful place to run!!

So Lisa and Jen are going to hate me for putting this photo in but hey.... I did ask them to look after my phone and look what happened!!!!! Crazy Ladies!!!!!

Friday was just a swim and then it was up early Saturday morning for our brick session. It was soooo nice not to have to wear so many layers . Forcast was for 23 degrees and the morning was just beautiful and warm. 70kms with a couple of 15min efforts thrown in for good measure then a 7km run around the Swan River at Deep Water Point... would you really want to live anywhere else????

Today ( Saturday) is my eldest son Kales birthday...23years old. He is currently in Java as part of a 2month surfing holiday. I am sooo excited for him as he's having the best time, best surf and in his own words "being really mindful of every moment!!" Tomorrow he is off to Sumatra.. how awesome is that. So Happy Birthday Kale!!!!!

Out to friends for dinner tonight and we had a great laugh, good food with some nice red wine thrown in . I did struggle a little to keep my eyes open but I managed to hang in there till around midnight. Pretty good for someone who is generally in bed by 9... must have been the company I was keeping... thanks guys.
Well its Sunday morning and I've awoken to another glorious day. According to the weather bureau the wild weather is on its way but you couldn't tell this morning. We've been hitting Lake Joondalup a bit for our runs this week and this morning we were right back there. If you run the whole lake its about a 17km run but this morning I just had a recovery run of 6.5kms. So Nikki , SJ and I headed of and finished at Leapfrogs cafe for a coffee. Nikkis husband Brendan then picked us up. After that I went back to SJ's for a massage..... sheer luxury!!!! Thanks SJ you're a legend.

Well guys thanks for dropping by. ... and don't forget the opening line of Jon Blaisman's poem
"Understand that this is not a dress rehearsal" ... so get out there and have a go at something you've been putting off... Just do it
Take care and have a great week

Totals for this week 14hrs 28mins

Swim.. 3hrs..7.9kms
Bike... 6hrs 51mins...200kms
Run...3hrs 52mins...43kms
Core...45mins

Week 2. " Is this Melbourne or Perth ??"

It's great having a rest day on a Sunday ...such a lovely way to get started on the next week of training, staying well rested. We had my friend Imelda's 50th at 3 o'clock on a beautiful sunny Perth afternoon. Standing around with good friends and catching up with those I hadn't seen in awhile... perfect.

The great weather continued into Monday morning. Today I had a double day run. 18kms total. So I ran 9k in the morning and 9 in the afternoon. 5am in the morning, hardly any wind, the moon reflecting on the ocean. . . . not a bad way to start the day hey!! However...Afternoon run , wet, cold and windy!!! Someone tell me I'm not in Melbourne please!!

Tuesday Will and I met up with friends ( at 4.30am) , Fiona ( who's doing her first ironman in December ) and Claudia. We headed north to Iluka for a 40km ride. Will left early as he had to get back to get ready for work while the 3 of us continued. I had sent Fiona a message the day before telling her that there was going to be no wind , no rain, great morning for a ride. Well it started raining pretty well as soon as we started. It wasn't heavy but we still got nice and wet!! I got home to find Will nursing some pretty nasty wounds... on his way home he had hit something on the road and come off ( we think it was a lump of wood that Fiona and I also closely missed and commented on). Lucky nothing was broken but he is somewhat battered and bruised and his beloved Orbea has suffered a few scratches and scrapes.

In the evening was off to the track for our 3k time trial. The time we get here will dictate our pace ( threshold and interval pace) for all our track sessions over the coming weeks. After a 2k warm up it was on. Bum!!! i am slower than last year!!! Not happy about that. Well i have my work cut out for me. It certainly has given me the impetus to get my backside into gear ..on the running front that is.

Wednesday morning another swim 2.7kms and our usual evening ergo session in our garage. Tonight was a 70min session with about 8 of the squad turning up. Always a good , tough session.

I couldn't join the guys for Thursdays session so instead went to the gym in the afternoon to complete it . A Multi Brick Session... 10mins running, 10 mins riding x 4. Short, sharp and high intensity. You work solid for the 1hr 20 mins that's for sure!

Friday has ended up being a bit of a carbon copy of yesterday. A Beautiful sunny wintry Perth day...22degrees. What was I saying at the beginning of the week regarding the weather??? Please dismiss! Anyway in the pool today for 2.5k and that's it for the day.

I'm kind of glad I have the afternoon free as its been a pretty big week in my husbands family . My father in law was admitted to hospital where he spent 2 and a half weeks with pneumonia and various other complications. Thankfully he is now out of hospital and recovering back home. But at 88 years old you worry for them. He is still struggling a bit to breath but we are hoping that the medication will be kicking in soon to give him some welcomed relief. While Gino was in hospital my mother in law went in for tests as well as she had been struggling with her breathing and had pain under her heart. Wednesday we were told she had lung cancer.. It stopped us all in our tracks! Not our Ada.. not our Mum. You can imagine how we felt. Her reaction was however amazing!!!! "let's go shoe shopping " she said, "everything will be OK". Such strength. I am sure with that type of attitude she will beat this thing and knock it on its head. She certainly has us all behind her in her battle.

Saturday morning 6am under the narrows bridge and there is the biggest full moon reflecting in the Swan River. I really think I might need to take photography lessons after all this training as this photo does not reflect the actual beauty AT ALL!! You had to be there!!!! Anyway off for an 80k ride with 4 x 10min efforts. Just like last week we had a wonderful tail wind on the way out and a shocking head wind on the way back. I just kept thinking of what my Mother in Law must be about to go thru and it does help you forget about yourself and helps put things into perspective. No run off the bike this week which was nice.
So it was home for shower, food and then off to the pool for 2.7k swim. Tomorrow is a rest day!!!

I know ...you can't see much but that white dot was actually the full moon... just use your imagination!!!!

A great rest day for me. Met up with some friends who were running around Lake Joondalup in their prep for the Melbourne Marathon and then off to the markets for some yummy fresh fruit and veg. Hows the size of the Ostrich Egg they had there. $14.99 . Bet you could make heaps of scrambled eggs with that!!! Then off for another catch up with my friend Claudia with the afternoon spent ironing and getting ready to start my new week !!

Total 12hrs and 49 mins

Swim..... 7.9kms....3hrs

Bike......180kms...6hrs 3mins

Run...32kms...2hrs 46mins

Core...1hr

August 1st 2011 Wild Weather in Perth

As the title says , the weather here in Perth has been a bit crazy. I suppose its allowed to be as it is winter but not the most pleasant weather to train in.
Monday I hit the pool (2.8kms) .. my first squad session in what feels like a long long time. I will be doing most of my swimming over the next few weeks with my fins on to try and keep the pressure off my right shoulder and will just have to re address how its going as the weeks go . In the afternoon I had a 7km run to do. About 500m into the run the skies just opened their arms and down came the rain and nearly washed poor Helen off the footpath!!!!! The wind was coming in at such a strong angle and it stung as it hit your face. You certainly know your alive when you run in weather like that!!! The funniest thing was though that as all this was happening I have my ipod on listening to my music and I swear I'm not making this up BUT the song that was playing while I was getting soaked thru to the bone was...... "Stormy Monday" by Eva Cassidy ( a great singer by the way .. awesome voice!!) It certainly made me laugh and sent me on my way. I've provided a link if you'd like to have a listen .

Tuesday morning and the stormy weather was still full on. I had 40k on the bike to do so set up the windtrainer and watched some terrible American shopping shows that they put on at 4 30am in the morning.... how bad are they :( After a few months break , interval training was set to start back tonight. This session is open to anyone not just those that Brad coaches and I was looking forward to catching up with the guys from the squad. I don't know what was going on in my head but I rocked up at 6 30 instead of 6 and everyone was finishing ! Lucky the original session had been cancelled because of the weather. We were initially going to be doing our 3k time trial but instead had a 2k warm up with the main set 400m on pace 400m slightly of by 10... so all up a 6k set.
Back in the pool Wednesday with a 2.6k set. This evening was our first ergo session with the squad. My garage has now been transformed into a sweaty gym with 8 of us working really hard on the windtrainer while Brad called out the efforts... 80mins all up of really hard work.
Thursday four of us met at the Sorrento Surf Club for another 40k session before work. 10k warm up and then we were broken into groups ...2 girls 2 boys. We had to work as hard as we could solid for 40mins constantly sprinting to the front as soon as the other rider had passed you. My legs were still tired from the ergo session last night so really felt that one!!! No training this afternoon (yes!!)
Looking at Friday's sessions it was a "Swim and/ or 10k run" I opted out of the swim this morning to give my shoulder a rest and decided to run when I got home from work. Today couldn't be anymore different weather wise than Monday... an absolutely stunning day, sunny, 20 degrees and a light breeze... Perth at it's winters best.
As always Will and I are organised the night before our Saturday ride. Bikes on the car and everything , helmets , shoes etc packed and ready to go sooooo how frustrating was it this morning when we jumped in the car and it wouldn't start!! So a quick reversal of our son's car ( who is on an amazing 2 month surfing holiday through Indonesia) and throw everything from one car into the other and off we go. We were meeting at Deep Water point in Crawley. A beautiful part of Perth right on the Swan. 60km ride south along the freeway, back to the car for a 5k run along the river. The first 30k was great, I don't think we realised we had such a strong tail wind!!! Although that was soon to be felt on the way back. I hadn't done a brick session since the half in May (as was probably the case with most of the squad) and struggled some what on the run. I know this is the area I most need to work on and am sure/hope that over the next 18 weeks my body will adjust .
After the brick session we headed to a cafe for the all important, all reverent Coffee! You must excuse the photo attached, husband's thumb included in the picture. Never mind!! This is nearly everyone from the squad... a few had to dash home and a few were sick. Will try and get a better photo for next week.
Tomorrow is a rest day.... yeah baby!!!! Won't be having to many of these. Off to a friends surprise 50th in the afternoon with a great bunch of friends and rest up for week 2. Week 1 done.. how time flies.
Thanks for dropping by

This weeks training... a lovely, do-able 11hrs and 25mins
Swim 5.4 kms... 2 hrs
Bike 178kms......5hrs 58
Run 28kms........2hrs 27
Core... ................1hr