Timaru Tri '09

I actually really really like this race although after today I am kinda scratching my head wondering why! It was hard and I mean really hard!

We headed down to Timaru yesterday and did all the registration stuff yesterday as well as showing Al round the course as he was doing the multi-sport race and hadn't raced down there before.

Up bright and early this morning, we had found out that transition is numbered for your bikes which was good cos that meant we didn't have to be there super early to get a good place in transition. It was almost a sleep-in really getting up at 7am on a race day! We decided we would leave at about 8 as we were only about 5mins away and although race briefing was at 8.30 our race didn't start until 9.30 (they started the 3:9:3 race at 9am tho so we needed to be out of transition by then. So got all set up and ready to go, its almost second nature setting up transition these days. I was trying a couple of things out today to be prepared for IM, one was to put my compression socks on in T2 so last night I figured out the best way to roll them so they would be easy to be put on, the other thing of course was trying out the flash new aero helmet, I worked out yesterday that you have to put your sunnies on first or you can't get them on!!

At 9 we headed off down to the beach to watch the first races do their thing and have a quick swim before we started, before long it was 9.30 and time to go. The guys went first and we went 5mins after with the teams and kayakers going 5 mins after us. The water looked relatively flat until you got out a bit further and then it was a little bumpy but nothing major and it was easy enough to sight, helped by the fact that the buoys are a decent size and colour! Timaru is quite a shallow beach and its a running start from the beach so you end up running quite a way before you can stop running/duck-diving and can start swimming. On the way back I could touch the sand with my hands only several strokes after rounding the buoy! I always get lapped by the guys and this happened about 2/3 of the way through my first lap, geez they go fast! Still I managed to catch some guys, I passed some and chased some others up the beach to T1. It is such a long run up the beach to T1, honestly its about 1km with the tide out like it was this morning. T1 was pretty slick, the other girls are swimming well tho and my bike was the only left on that section of the rack when I got there. Never mind, it was on with the knob helmet and off I went. Only change to T1 was just making sure my helmet was on at the right angle etc to get the best advantage out of it. I made Geoff take pics of me on my windtrainer with it on so we could work it out, I need to make sure it is about 2 fingers above my eyebrows or it sits too high on my back. I was feeling a bit jittery about the bike today as I crashed out in my last race. I managed to suck it up and just get on with it tho and used my aerobars far more than I have been doing recently in training so that was good progress. Spent a lot of the time focusing on what I was doing with my head so I could get the best advantage out of wearing my helmet, at one point when I had a big head wind I tried turning my head sideways and tipping it down to see what would happen, boy oh boy did I slow down!! Now I can use my head to brake instead of using my brakes! In general it was pretty comfortable to wear, except it was so hot out there that my head was roasting and I really wanted to take it off at one stage! If it is that hot at IM I don't know that I would wear it, the discomfort of being over hot for 6-7 hours compared with the gains are pretty negligible. I will wear it again at the Canterbury Classic and see how that goes. It was a little weird feeling the point on my back from time to time but it was a good reminder that at least I probably had my head in the right position. Other than that the cycle was tough!! It was really really hot and pretty windy as well. No real tailwind at any point, more head or sidewinds constantly! I must have bumped my rear derailleur in transition as when I hit the zig zag (evil hill!) I tried to go into my small cog so I could spin up most of it only to find that it wouldn't go, so I had to grunt up there in a bigger gear than I would have liked, not much fun halfway through the cycle leg. Never mind, I made it and thats what counts. T2 was ok considering I was trying new things, putting on my socks probably cost me a minute, partly because I had to sit down to put them on and that doesn't bode well with me! Still they went on pretty smoothly so that was good to find out. Next race I will try the black socks as they are slightly harder to get on for some reason. Run was hot and hard! Bless the Timaru people who have sprinklers out for us to run under! That was heavenly! There was also a lady along the piazza area with bottles of water to tip over yourself, that was fantastic!! The water was great on my socks to help cool my legs and me down! Al caught me on the last lap and was quite the gentleman staying with me and encouraging me along when I didn't want to run anymore, with luck we managed to get a team photo taken with us running up the hill from the beach (shame I'm not in Complete Performance kit!!) and he held back at the end so I could cross the line first, I was trying to make him go first but he wouldn't!

Overall my time is the same as last year which given the conditions I am ok with that, esp as when Nicky Samuels was on the podium she reckoned she was slower than last year as well so we shouldn't worry if our times are slower too! It was much tougher out there and even tho I had sunblock on I have new tan lines to prove how hot it was.

It was also a bit of a sad day today in that the Timaru Tri was Chris McAteer's home race, the Timaru Tri Club have donated a Chris McAteer memorial trophy which goes to the quickest male swimmer in the standard distance race, that went to Bryan Rhodes today so that was pretty cool. After the race we headed up and put some flowers on Chris's grave, it seems quite fitting that the cycle leg actually goes past that particular cemetery.

The easy week is over

Phew, I think I prefer the hard weeks, at least you know it will hurt!! haha

Had a pretty cruisey training weekend really and it was kinda nice for a change, it also meant I actually got some housework done for a change cos I had time!

Yesterday was a swim at Corsair, the water was lovely and warm and flat which was great. Then after a rather slow transition where I ate my breakfast I headed off for a ride, I went up Evans from Corsair, back down to Lyttelton and along to Governors Bay and then back to Corsair. Was riding up Evans when Paul Davies caught up to me and was nattering away saying he was tired, hmm methinks my level of tired and his may be a little different! I was panting and struggling to keep up with him while talking and he was definitely cruising! We were talking about IM and he scared me a little when he said he could still remember the pain from last year. No-one ever said this was going to be painful!! Eek! After my ride I had the obligatory run off the bike, I swear that when I ride to work now I feel like I should be getting off my bike and going for a run! I headed off down the road into Lyttleton and back up the track following the 5km loop they use when the tri is on over there. I had my compression socks on and could hear these girls cycling past talking about them, so I called out and said 'yep they work!' and they stopped at the next corner so they could quiz me about them so that was entertaining!

Today was a nice short 1 hour run, it was quite lovely to head out for a short run especially as it was an off-road hill run! After a nice sleep-in, I have had some shite sleeps lately so really needed a sleep-in this morning, I headed off to Sumner to my old faithful the Capt. Thomas walkway, not sure why I like this one so much cos it is tough, esp those steep bits at the bottom, maybe its cos the view is stunning or because I get to drivethru WAC Cade for a coffee on the way home! Love not even getting out of my car for my caffeine fix! Was stoked that my run went really well this morning as I have had some utter bollocks sessions this week, so was nice to have a good effort and put the bad ones behind me! Onto next week now, Timaru Tri this weekend! Yay, I love that race!

Easy Weeks are Hard!

Why is that? One would think that an easy week would be easy. I suppose it normally is but coming at the end of the biggest week I have ever done probably means that anything would be hard. Last week was pretty huge 17-18 hours of training plus going back to work. I suppose I should be grateful that I survived!

Tuesday was unfun, cycling down Hackthorne from the Cup I managed to drop my chain and it flicked itself up between my chain rings and frame and wouldn't budge, well it might have with brute force but that may well have ended with a hole in my bike frame!! So it was the damsel in distress call for help! Yay for peak hour traffic, it took poor Geoff ages to get to me with his tools in hand, meanwhile I was sitting on the side of Hackthorne Rd feeling less than impressed and getting really cold! Its funny what people say when they go past, one guy asked if I had a puncture or if I was just having a rest, I must have looked really helpless!! Finally underway again but by now I quite frankly could have just gone home and chilled out instead. But no, I was good and continued on my ride, I never really seemed to warm backup so it was hard work and then a stoopid little dog chased me down a street yapping away at me. Am tempted to go back there with my big dog!! hehee. Once home it was time to head out for run, that didn't go well, it just didn't work out eh. Oh well, I guess some days thats just the way of it.

Wednesday was a swim at Corsair Bay which was nice and went well, this was followed up by the CP cycle session and that hurt! Lots of silly wee hills, they should be easy, actually they are easy but they felt so hard! My legs just didn't want to play the game at all. I actually thought about bailing out and going home. I sat one section out as I just knew I didn't have the gummies. Poor Richard, I think he thinks I have lost the plot! Previously we had talked about maybe upping the coaching level leading up to Ironman, so after Wed he emails me suggesting we do a training session together once a fortnight or something as he found it useful to see how I was going. Hmm, since I wasn't going well that day, can that be a good thing? Time will tell I suppose!

Took the dog for a run at Bottle Lake on Thursday morning, Geoff came too which was weird, he is just getting into this running lark. The dog certainly enjoyed having him along as well and Geoff got to see what a good boy Zac is when he is out and about off lead.

Here's hoping the easy weekend is less hard than the easy week!

Long long ride

Phew, 5 hours on your own on a bike is quite a long stretch, I guess this is the part of the training where it really pays to enjoy your own company cos you get to spend a lot of time on your own. Yep I know there are plenty of people who will ride with me but there are a couple of reasons why it is good to go on my own particularly for these uber long rides - I tend to not use my aerobars when riding with others so that is bad - I need to ride on my own on race day - who else really needs to be doing 5-6 hour rides?

I had a good plan tho and knew where I wanted to go so that was good, even better is that it panned out to be pretty much 5 hours exactly, I may have been a minute or two over.

I headed north via Kaiapoi, over the motorway bridge and off to Rangiora then around the Ashley Gorge to Oxford, back to Rangiora into a stinking headwind then home via Kaiapoi. I have done the ride around Ashley Gorge numerous times but have never biked out from home to do it although Geoff sometimes does. It is quite a mission and quite a weird feeling to be such a long way from home on your own on your bike. I got a bit worried when it looked as if it was going to rain, I only had a vest with me so I would have been in a bit of trouble if it had poured down! Lucky it just cooled off a bit and never actually rained.

I've worked out that on these long missions the first hour is the hard part and then it seems to become easier, it took just under an hour to get to Rangiora and then it was just a case of riding around the gorge and getting home, sounds easy when you put it like that eh!

I needed a loo stop and had decided that I couldn't wait till Ashley Gorge or Oxford so had to have a wee (haha) pit stop on the side of the road where there were some big bushes, nice country roads also have very little traffic! I considered trying the peeing on my bike thing but only had electrolyte drink in my bottles, so no water to rinse off with! Will need to try that at least once before race day methinks!

Made a friend out on the road as well which was nice, a guy had passed me and said hi on his way past but he never really got away, he just stayed a few hundred metres in front for ages, then he stopped for a pee (guys have it so much easier!) and then we rode together till we got to Oxford and went separate ways. Turns out he has just turned pro as a triathlete, his name is Aaron Billings for those that need to know. He is heading off to try and win Ironman Malaysia which is the week before IMNZ, so that is pretty cool. He was lovely and friendly and chatted away to me heaps about IM and gave me some good advice which was really nice. Turns out I had met him once before as Geoff has bought something off him on TradeMe. Small world eh. Riding with him for awhile certainly made the ride go quicker for a bit!

Had to do a run off the bike when I got home, only 20mins but man that hurt! Never mind, all good practice for the big day eh!

Where shall we run to?

When we go for a 3 hour run? It's often quite tricky to plan out where to go on a long run, esp when it is a flat one, let's face it those ones are a little boring! No exciting views or anything like that. I tend to do my flat runs from home, makes sense as I live on the flat and living by the river generally means it is quite a pretty run, often with a bit of abuse from kayakers that I know and see on the river! Today I dilly-dallied around wondering what the weather would do as I was really supposed to do my 5 hour ride today but with the fickleness of the rain threatening (I got rained on about 3 times driving to and from Corsair Bay for my swim) and eventually decided that I would do my run today as tomorrow's weather is supposed to be far nicer which is good as I don't fancy being stuck out around Ashley Gorge in a rainstorm!

So, about 10.30 I headed out the door and followed the river along New Brighton Rd and just kept following the path all the way along past the estuary and you eventually come out on Godwit Rd and onto Rocking Horse Rd. That part was quite pretty and interesting, then came the long straight haul all the way down Marine Parade, at least I had the wind behind me at this point and the good thing about running down there is that there are toilets and drink fountains at all the surf clubs, very handy when out on a long run as it is difficult to carry enough water, so I had a few wee stops to fill up the bottles on my fuel belt. Once I got to North Beach I headed up the Pegasus Bay walkway again and through the plantation. Back onto the road to head home, had to tack on a detour along Travis Rd and cut through Brooker Ave to get back home in a little over 3 hours. Quite a long time on my feet but I really enjoyed my day out and about! Had a really great run for me, if I can run like that at IM I will be stoked. Ran non-stop for the first 30mins, walked while I took on a gel and some water and then ran for the next 30mins. After that I was prob only walking about every 15mins and I never felt like I had to walk as long as I used to before I started running again. So running is good! It felt nice today and I seem to have gotten over the bruised rib as I didn't feel that at all today so that is good. I made sure I sun-blocked properly before going out and I must have sweated off my sunblock as I have new tan lines yet again from my singlet! Just hoping I don't have tan-lines from my socks! Hehehe

Honestly I think I must look like Rambogirl or GI-Jane when I head out for a run wearing my long socks, hair scraped back in a pony-tail with a headband holsing the rest of it back and my fuel belt slung around my hips! Haha!

226 kms

When driving up to Kaikoura yesterday I saw a sign that said Picton was 226 kms away. That is the distance of an Ironman race, crazy to think that soon what is a reasonable length drive is the distance that I will cover in one day using just my feet, arms etc to swim/bike/run that 226 kms!

I guess the good thing is that this realisation didn't seem scary, just kinda real!

It's hot in the city!!

Blimey, but its warm as all the ChCh girls know! Today was my first half day on a Wednesday so that I can do a big mid-week training session, more than a few people questioned my sanity today when they learnt that I was heading out at 12.30 to train for 4 hours in 30 something degree temperatures, as I said tho I will be doing it on the day no matter what the weather is doing so best practise now! After stepping outside I actually questioned my sanity, leaving that air-conditioned comfort and going outside was like walking into a wall of heat! Jeepers! Lucky my ride was on the flat cos hills in that weather would have sucked big time! And the wind from this morning had died down, but not a lot though as I found out! I headed out towards Halswell and Tai Tapu, I was having a pretty good ride esp as I was convinced I was cycling into the headwind, umm wrong!! I turned around at Tai Tapu and promptly slowed down a lot!! Grrr, the wind was soo frustrating, it was all over the place, nice tail wind to Sumner, shitty head wind on the way home. I was so hot when I got to Sumner that I stopped at the dairy for an ice cream and a cold drink! My drinks had been in the fridge at work so started off nice and cold but were warm and gross within 30 minutes!! Yuk!

Made it home and was sposed to run for an hour, now that would have been insane so I just did a 20min stint through the reserve and that was more than enough in this heat. I had thought about doing my run later but given the current temperature I'm pleased I didn't, better a short run than no run.

Had to do an open water swim as well, so headed off to Corsair along with the rest of ChCh! It was really busy there, luckily everyone else just hangs out near the pontoon so I headed out around the back of the boats. It was a little choppy out there but I had a good swim and practised breathing on both sides which I am not good at doing in the open water.

Here's hoping things are a little cooler tomorrow! Looking forward to going back to my air-conditioned comfort at work :)

Nades' Big Day Out

Yesterday was my turn to be taken out for the day by Geoff, wow I'm pleased I went first cos he set the standard pretty high!! Geoff is normally pretty casual about timelines etc but he had planned everything down to a T and we had to leave home by a certain time etc etc, was quite cute to see him stressing about being somewhere on time and he couldn't/wouldn't tell me where.

We headed north out of ChCh, accidentally going through Kaiapoi cos I distracted him by asking where I would turn off if I was biking out to Rangiora. Oops! A quick stop at Pukeko Junction to buy me coffee so that I wouldn't be tired and grumpy :)

Then to Pegasus Bay Winery for some wine tasting, yum! I love Peg Bay vinos! I now have a new favourite wine tho, the Pegasus Bay Aria is the most heavenly Riesling I have ever tasted!!

Then we headed off to ride the Weka Pass Railway! This is heaps of fun if you have never done it before, due to the fire ban they weren't using the steam engine but the diesel one is pretty cool anyway. You go from Glenmark through to Waikari, they stop partway along and you can get off the train while they back it up the track a little and then drive back so you can take photos etc. You then spend about 30-40mins at Waikari before heading back to Glenmark. All up about 2 hours doing something a little bit different, we rode in the open carriage on the way back which was pretty cool.

Next stop was Waipara Springs Winery for lunch, we had the platter and it is scrumptious and very filling! Pair that up with a rather nice Riesling while sitting in the sun listening to some live music, makes for a pretty nice afternoon!

After chilling there for awhile we headed on up to Hanmer where we were booked in for massages at 5.30, was quite odd having a relaxation massage after all those sports massages I have been having! Time for a bit of a splash around in the pools before and after which was nice, really really busy tho!

We had dinner reservations at The Laurels at 7pm, it's a good thing we had the massages cos we were able to use the showers etc at the Spa and they had a hairdryer etc which was good cos I wasn't prepared for swimming followed by a nice dinner. Dinner was lovely, The Laurels is a small intimate restaurant, tables for 2! Geoff had done some Googling and it was listed as the most romantic restaurant in Hanmer so that was pretty cool!

Very wicked day out and he had me home by 10pm so that I could get ready for work today which included sorting out swimming gear etc, as well as remembering how to use the iron!

Ohhh, so cute!

I've had a very rare evening home on my own so I watched Horton Hears a Who on SKY movies, it is the coolest movie! It's a Dr Suess movie so fully animated and cartoony but very funny and sweet :) Definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet!

The Holidays are Nearly Over

Gutted, just when you start to feel all relaxed its time to think about going back to work!

Still have managed to get some good training done in some rather stellar (if hot) weather. So to catch you up on the last week since Geoff's big day out, ohh and my big day out is tomorrow, it feels like Xmas Eve again and he won't tell me anything even with all my bugging and general annoyingness!

Monday was everybody's birthday! That is Geoff, Libby (his daughter), Kalina, Libby at work and Pete's son, anyone else have a birthday that day?? Crazy eh! So I headed over to Jellie Park to swim in the outdoor pool for a change, its lovely swimming in that pool. I did remember to sunblock up before I went but still managed to get a random stripe from my HRM strap! Then off for my weekly massage, aah that was heavenly! Then to the Fox and Ferret at the Palms for a couple of drinks with the birthday kids from our place, yep Geoff's middle child just turned 18! Took Geoff shopping in the Palms, he wanted some togs and running shorts, he is thinking of doing a couple of short distance triathlons so that will be cool and he will probably whip my ass!

Tuesday was hot! And I had to do an hour hill ride and a 40min run off the bike. I headed over to Dyers Pass Rd and did 2 loops up to the Cup, down Hackthorne and back round. Frig it was hot!! I had sweat dripping off me!! Eww! Then home to go for a run? By this time it was around 10.30 I think and it was sweltering! I headed off for a lap around the river which was daft as there was nowhere near enough shade! I was very tempted to jump in the Avon and swim home, the only thing that stopped me was the ickiness of that water! It is disgusting! I was very pleased to get home and out of that heat!

Wednesday was a 3 hour ride and an hour run off the bike and the weather forecast was for another scorcher so I set my alarm this time and was on my bike before 7am which isn't too bad for a holiday day! Headed out to Sumner, went through Heathcote along the base of the hills out over the Halswell Downs and then returned via the same route. I got a bit smarter with my run this time and decided to do laps through Horseshoe Lake Reserve as it is quite shady for a large part of the run and the bonus is that there are drink fountains at each end which meant I could stop for a drink about every 10mins, very good planning! Only frustration was running past home on each lap, run went a bit better this time, wonder if that was cos I was wearing my pretty new CEP compression socks?

New Years Day - just a swim for the day! Nadia and I met up over at Corsair Bay around 2pm and it was busy over there! The carpark was chokka, we had to park up on the road and it was like people soup in the water!! We headed out to the boat on the far right of the bay and it looked so nice out there that we decided to head over to Cass Bay and swam up to the beach there. As I started walking through the water some guy starts talking to me, took me awhile to recognise him but it was Richard's mate Graeme from R&R Sport, he was there with his family. Just goes to show you really can't go anywhere in this town without being recognised. Had a wee chat then Nadia and I swam back to Corsair, Nadia is swimming really well for someone who hasn't been swimming a lot lately! Watch out for her at the Auckland Half IM!!

Friday is normally my rest day and was going to be my big day out but after some negotiation (read - discussion!!) I changed my Sunday workout to Friday, we hadn't realised that Friday was a public hol so lots of stuff isn't open! The plan was for a 2 and a half hour run, hmm, fun! Actually it did turn out ok tho which was good. Again the alarm was set nice and early as it was supposed to be hot again! I did snooze the alarm to start with as it was really windy out there when the alarm first went off. Was out the door by 8am which is pretty good since I needed to have breakfast and let it settle a bit first. I had no expectations on my run as I'm not normally a good early morning runner and I hadn't had a good run all week. Maybe that was a good thing as I ended up having a really good run and really enjoyed myself! Maybe it was the socks again? I am loving them! My legs felt really good yesterday in my run and after, my hips were a little sore about 90mins in but otherwise I felt fine! From home I followed the river down to New Brighton then headed along Marine Parade which was straight into a head wind of course! Then followed the Pegasus Bay track along the beach to Bottle Lake, ran through the forest and then along the roads towards home, added on a lap round the reserve and a detour up a street or two before getting home. I was wearing my fuel belt but managed to find enough water fountains along the way to stop and refill my bottles and splash water over my hot face and hands which helped heaps! I had a nice wee nap after that effort!

Today I swam with the tri club at Corsair Bay this morning which was good fun, those guys are very friendly, if you haven't joined the tri club you really should! Then off home for my bike ride as I had to do 3 and a half hours on the flat with small hills?? Nadia met me at home and we also picked Tanya up on the way, Geoff started off with us but was heading out to do reverse short bays. We rode the Bridge St ride in reverse which was fun. So off to Sumner, Heathcote, along the base of the hills, thru Halswell, past Prebbleton/Templeton, along the back of the airport then through Belfast, Kainga, Brooklands, Spencerville to home, it was a very well timed ride, I think I was 32secs short of the 3 and a half hours! We got pretty lucky with the weather esp as it was forecast to hail and be really nasty! I got rained on coming through Brooklands but about a km after Spencerville it was dry? Go figure! It was lovely to ride with the girls again! With us all doing our own things we don't ride together much anymore and it was fun to have a catch up and do some training at the same time. Poor Nadia tho, she thought Tanya was having one of her blonde moments when she asked how her 'treadly' was going. Nadia thought Tanya was just making words up, it took me some time to convince her that it was a real saying and that Tanya wasn't actually having a blonde moment for a change! Funny!

So yay all my training is done and dusted for the week! Not looking forward to going back to squeezing it in around work stuff but hey if I didn't do that I wouldn't be able to pay for all the fun stuff now would I? We have managed to squeeze in painting the front lounge as well, well its started, we did the back wall which was covered in a lovely pink floral wall paper! Hmm, tasty!