Nightcaps

Well hello from Nightcaps! I flew down to Invercargill last night and the folks picked me up from the airport for about an hours drive to their wee cottage in Nightcaps which is a tiny wee coal mining town in Southland. It's quite pretty but very tiny! Nightcaps has a population of less than 400 people to give you an idea of the size, however I discovered the other day when I googled it that there is quite a bit of info on Nightcaps as it is the only town in the world with that name and it is quite famous in its own way! This morning I headed out for a 45min run, the folks are cute, they were worried about me running on the main road cos of the trucks. Let me tell you that I saw a whole 8 vehicles while on the road! hahaha. In my 45mins I managed to head out of town and run up a gravel road where the sheep in the paddock looked at me look I was odd, the sheep on Rapaki etc are used to people and seem to ignore you, these guys were very curious! When I got to the end of the road I headed back towards town and took a wee running tour of the town where I pretty much saw everything there was to see, a 4 square shop, a pub and a few small businesses. The people in town also looked kind of amused at someone out running, I'm getting the impression that such things are not normal here! Oh well!

I'm down here for a family reunion that is happening in Gore (yes I probably should roll my rrrr's!) on Sunday/Monday, it will be cool to catch up with some of the rellies! I am a tad worried that other than my wee nieces I may well be the youngest one there as all my cousins are around the age of my oldest brother and he is 10 years older than me. One of my aunts and cousins popped in here earlier as they have been out sight-seeing around Southland as they haven't been here in ages, funny that last time my cousin remembers seeing me I was a toddler!

We've been out seeing the sights today as well, we went to a quilt show in Otautau which is what my mum is into so we do these things! Then off across the road to the Sallie Army shop where I managed to score a couple of bargains, it appears that they get stuff in from the Sallies in Queenstown so have some quite nice stuff that all the tourists can't fit in their bags to take home. I never have time to visit the op shops at home so that was kinda fun. Then we took a wee tekki tour to a couple of other wee towns, Tinkerton and Ohai. Tinkerton is so little and the roads are gravel! Crazy!

Off to Winton tomorrow as that's where my brother and his family live, mum has assured me that there is a good op shop there as well, so more bargains to come hopefully!

It's been awhile

Hmmm so its been a couple of weeks since I posted eh!

I have been in a bit of a slump, it hasn't been an easy or fun couple of weeks. I was reading Rachel's blog about her meltdown the other day and reality hit that I have been having a bit of a meltdown of my own. I tend to go quiet when things aren't going well or am feeling under pressure about stuff. Am feeling more balanced about things now which is good as this time last week quite frankly I was completely over swimming and really didn't care if I never went near the pool again, I kept turning up there and not enjoying it and felt like I was just getting slower every time I swam. Sadly there isn't a duathlon option at IM so it's suck it up time as far as swimming is concerned! I've come to the conclusion that I just need to go to bed earlier at night, I've been kinda trying to stay up till around 10.30 cos Geoff is more of a night person but from now on its a 9.30 bedtime for this girl cos snoozing my alarm for ages means I only end up getting to the pool late which means I feel pressured to cut my swim short to get to work on time. The new method seems to be working, I managed to get to the pool and be swimming by ten past six this morning. Am feeling more rested as well which is good.

Not sure if anyone heard about the cyclist who had a heart attack while riding up Evans Pass a couple of weeks ago, well Geoff happened to be riding past and stopped to give CPR along with some other people. The poor guy didn't make it and Geoff has had a hard time wondering if they could have done something more to help him. Plus the police said they also need to wait for tests to be done in case the guy had anything contagious which they could have come into contact with while doing CPR. So a pretty stressful time for him, he wasn't sleeping and was extremely worried about the test results as you just don't know what you may have come into contact with in a situation like that. So a rough couple of nights looking after him and then finding out about Chris McAteer. I went down to the funeral with Mel and Jazz. Very very sad day! Not cool!

I spent about a week feeling like utter shite, I had a bit of a tummy bug and generally felt pretty average most of the time. Pretty much lost my appetite, about the only thing that seemed appetising was toast which isn't the best nutrition source when its your only nutrition source, everything else just made my stomach churn at the thought of it. Richard is smart and asked me how I was feeling at the start of last week and when I told him that I had decided that I was no longer sick (I was trying to trick my body into being better!) and had finally eaten a proper meal he suggested that given me less than fine nutrition etc over the past week that I should probably take a day off, I really dislike taking a day off (esp as it was a hard week!) but he talks a lot of sense so I listened and all I did last Tuesday was walk the dog. I felt heaps better after that and a couple of good nights sleep. Went to spin the next day and really enjoyed that esp as we followed that up with a run up Rapaki and back.

Frostbuster was this Sat and Geoff and I entered in the duathlon team category. We won this so that was pretty cool, I've never won a sporting event before. Geoff had the fastest bike split of the day so that is pretty awesome! Must have been because he rode my bike :)

The run was interesting, it appears my idea of running up a riverbed and the organisers is slightly different! I expected to be running over rocks and maybe jumping the odd puddle, bit no! Apparently running up a riverbed means crossing a river as many as a dozen times in water that is freezing cold and at least knee deep in places! Lucky I have been doing a fair amount of off road running and feel pretty competent running over rocks and rough surfaces! It was actually kinda fun and always having to watch where you are going certainly meant there was no time to be bored! It was funny when we went off the gravel road onto where the cows go through and it was all muddy and cow poopy, I exclaimed rather loudly "this is why I am a triathlete not a multisporter, my shoes are all dirty!" This was greeted with a reasonable amount of laughter, they possibly realised what the rest of the run was like! Oh well, at least my shoes were clean by the time I finished! The run up there is beautiful as you head through a reserve when you come off the river and it was really pretty.

Things I learnt on Saturday - multisport is a dirty wet game! Take rain jackets and extra changes of dry clothes when you are multisporting! Never underestimate how quick your team mate might go, I was still sitting in the car when Geoff finished the cycle, not a good look!

Spent Sunday supporting the boys doing 'The Ride' in their build up to the 5 Passes. They set of from Sumner so I went running up the Capt. Thomas and along Summit Rd (figured I need to do some more tarmac running as I'm not doing a lot of it) and back to the top of Evans Pass to get some pics of them finishing. You can check out what the boys are up to by going here: http://aaplcyclingteam.wordpress.com/

Right, am feeling a little caught up, kinda! So its time for sleeps now!

First Tri of the season

Yay, its race time! They reckon there are only 2 states, waiting to race and racing! Well I'm pleased that I can stop waiting to race and actually get out and race!!

Not the best day weather wise alas, when I got up I could see that it had rained but it was warm so I was about to head out in normal cycle kit, then it started to rain so I added a layer and quickly grabbed an extra pair of leggings for after. Nearly managed to sleep in, I set my alarm for 5am to give myself plenty of time to get up and have brekky etc, somehow managed to not set my alarm to go off every 5mins like normal so woke up again at 5.40! Eek, luckily I had set Geoff's alarm as a back-up to go off at 6am.

Put my brekky in a plastic container to eat while waiting in transition, fed the dog and jumped on my bike to cycle down to the start in the pissing rain. No point setting out transition until the weather cleared which it did for long enough to give some hope before starting again! Oh well, stuff gets wet anyway right? And at least I would be able to see in the rain this year!

I managed to remember to hit my lap timer on my HRM at each transition entry and exit so have split times for myself! Yay!

Swim (includes run to transition entry) - 2.23mins

Swim went pretty well, 100m should do tho given how much swimming I have been doing, I managed to get myself on the inside by the lane rope which was good and had a nice clean turn around at the pool which put me in the lead for my wave, yay! Passed another couple of ladies as well, then ran off to T1.

T1 - 1.06mins

No dramas, wondered why I bothered to put talc in my shoes as the rain had washed it all away by now, lovely wet helmet to put on as well!

Cycle - (includes run from transition exit to the cycle mount) 20.31mins

Cycle went well, I could feel the burn in my legs from yesterday's run! Phwoarr, they knew they had done some kms yesterday. Took it easy on the corners due to the rain, I didn't want to risk sliding off on a corner just to gain half a second or so. Didn't use my aerobars on the way out as it seemed a bit slippy but decided to use them on the way back in and had no issues so that was good. And I managed a nice clean turn around on the bike as well, we all know how much I don't love doing U-turns on my bike! Must have bumped my wheel sensor when cleaning my bike yesterday as I only had cadence and no speed showing on my bike computer so rode by feel which was quite nice, I must have been going at a reasonable clip as no-one passed me which was cool.

T2 - 1.03mins

Slipped my feet out of my shoes while on my bike so just had to remove my helmet and put my runners on, again wondering why I had bothered to talc my shoes. Left shoe was fine, then my right calf decided to cramp while I was trying to get the second shoe on! Not fun, I tried a couple of times before doing a wee dance and swearing, then I just told myself to breathe and it went on fine! Grr! Put my race belt on as I headed off for the run, had a quick look at my watch and figured I would be about the same time as last year and was ok with that.

Run - 15.04mins

Felt pretty good on the run, was worried my legs wouldn't want to play after yesterday's run and feeling the burn on my bike. Passed Kathryn as I headed out on the run, give her a big well done and said I would see her at the end. Run was great today, I encouraged a couple of other girls along who had stopped for a walk, people always used to do that to me which was cool so it's nice to be able to pay back the encouragement. Normally on the run there is just a parade of people passing me which can be kinda demoralising to be honest, well today I was only passed by 2 people!! One of which was Lynette and given that I had passed her just after the bike turn around and given her a hurry along I figured this was ok, especially as I bet she had been chasing me down since then! So pretty stoked with the run, except for the fact that a certain coach who shall remain nameless was out on the course taking piccies! Really tho, it was kinda nice to have Richard out there cheering us all on!

Total time - by my reckoning is about 40.10mins.

Last year was 42.55mins, kind of exciting to have an improvement that big given the training I have done this week. For a bit of a giggle I went back and looked at my previous years results and in 2005 that same race took me 48.59mins and I realistically didn't see how I could go any faster at the time! Progress is good!

Pics are up: http://www.nzinsure.com/gallery/2008/

Chris has done well, of the 3 photos of me, 2 are ok and 1 is not, thats not a bad ratio!

Well done to all the other girls who did the tri today, it wasn't the best weather for it but it was a great day out nonetheless!

I'm feeling quite pooped eh, more from the early start than anything else I think. So I have been to the library and have a couple of good books so am settling in for a nice afternoon on the couch. I also figured my improvement needed a reward so I got my nails done while I was at the mall. Lucky I did all the housework yesterday cos I'm not doing anything now in case I ruin my nails! haha

Nades's Transition Tips

Transition Setup

• Bright coloured towel on the ground beside your bike
• Lay out gear in the order that you need it, eg cycle shoes close to the front, runners at the back. Leave room to stand on the towel to wipe off your feet
• Helmet upside down on aerobars, place on top of cycling shoes if no aerobars
• Pre-fit helmet to your head so it can go straight on without having to adjust or remember to adjust in transition. Also make sure helmet is sitting so you can pick straight up and place on your head the right way round.
• Talcum powder in both sets of shoes, makes it easier to slide wet feet in
• Ensure shoes are sitting with tongues sitting up, again easier to slide feet in
• Use elastic laces in your runners, saves time doing up laces and they don't come undone
• If wearing a cap for run place it under your runners so it doesn't blow away
• If wearing a race belt place this in your helmet so you remember to put it on
• Also place glasses/sunglasses in your helmet if you plan/need to wear these
• Ensure bike is in a gear that will be easy to take off in
• Work out what hand you have on your bike when you run and set up accordingly, eg I run with my right hand on my bike so looking at my bike in transition I set everything up on its right so that I can just turn around and run rather than running to the other side of my bike
• Make sure drink bottles are on bike as well as toolkit/bag
• If planning to put a top on before the cycle make sure this is placed on top of your helmet, its a little difficult to put tops on once your helmet is on
• Do a walk through of transition to see where the entries/exits are
• If not at the end of a row look for distinctive items at the end of your row so you can easily find it, try not to use the bike at the end as an identifying item, it may well be gone when you get there

Swim/bike Transition

• Cap and goggles off while you run to bike, throw to back of your transition area/towel
• Stand on towel and wipe feet on towel while putting on top/helmet/glasses/race belt
• Shoes on, do them up (No socks unless you absoultelyhave to! If you do need them set them up by putting them on your feet at set-up and then roll them off so you can roll them back on. It's not easy to put socks/clothes on when you are wet)
• Head off to transition bike exit
• If it's a wetsuit swim, get wetsuit down around hips by the time you are at the bike, then push to knees and use feet to step out of it while putting on helmet etc

Bike/run Transition

• Change into an easier gear when cycling up to dismount, this makes it easier for your legs to transition into running
• If you can, get your feet out of your shoes while on the bike. Don't try this for the first time on race day, it's not as easy as it looks!
• Run to rack, keep helmet on until bike is racked
• Hang bike back up, cycle shoes off if not already
• Helmet off
• Runners on
• Grab cap/top if wearing one, you can put these on while running
• Run to transition run exit

Thats about it, its been awhile since a race day so I may make some changes after Sunday but I think thats most things covered. I never wear gloves or socks when racing, I find them too fiddly to put on while wet so don't bother. I rarely put a top on before the cycle leg, I normally race in a tri-suit tho, perhaps if you are in tri shorts and top you may want to put a top on before the cycle leg, if you do this have it sitting on your helmet placed in a way that you can just pick it up and put it over your head. If you don't have a race belt you will need to put a top on with your number on it, some races you can get away with doing this just for the run section and by then you are a lot drier and you can put a top on while running. For longer distance races you will also need to ensure you have your nutrition on your bike or if carrying it in a pocket place it in your helmet so you remember to take it with you. Other things you may want to think about are if you need to carry an inhaler or something along those lines and ensuring that you have it somewhere easy to grab in transition. For longer races you may want to have a thermal top or running jacket in transition in case the weather turns bad while you are out on the bike.

I have done transitions this way since I started racing and used exactly the same process for the Half IM last year, only difference there was that I had extra nutrition to grab at the second transition. It does work, I am generally pretty quick through transitions, I go with the theory that you need to keep moving forward so spend the least amount of time standing still that you can.

Let me know if something doesn't make sense and I will try and explain.

That was kinda fun!

OK, I may have a sad idea of fun! I had spin class tonight followed by an hour run. Strangely enough this was actually my own idea?? Really it was. I talked to Richard a few weeks ago about how Wednesdays are days where I could do more training but don't really because we have spin class so I suggested leaving my bike at spin while he takes the next class and heading out for an hour run. It's nice and close to the hills and there are plenty of options for places to run, plus its kinda close to where the marathon runs start so I know where all the fun wee tracks and steps are. Tonight was the first night I did this and one of the other guys from spin decided to join me, we run at about the same pace so that worked out really well and we had a bit of a chat while we ran along. It's nice to have company on runs from time to time and I probably pushed myself a bit more than if I had run alone so thats good as well. We headed up Bengal Dr, down Hackthorne, up Valley Rd and those steps, down Dyers, we realised then that we were tracking well for time so we took a loop up Merlewood because its evil and its there, then headed down Barrington, Rose St back to Pioneer. We were still a little early so lapped around the field and still arrived back before the class was over so headed off to check out the paths around Pioneer before heading back in to tick away on our bikes while the next class finished so that we could stretch with them. So, pretty full on workout cos spin is never an easy event so to back that up with a hill run makes for a big evening!

Quote for the Day:

An intellectual is someone who has found something more interesting than sex.

- Edgar Wallace