Paul’s Week 9 – ending 04/09/11 – Lycra Regulations & Leisure Rules (Save Ferris)

Paul’s Week 9 – ending 04/09/11 – Lycra Regulations & Leisure Rules (Save Ferris)

Swim – 3.4k (1 x session)

Bike – 117k (1 x home spin class,2 x road sessions)

Run – 59k (1 x interval session, 1 x long run, 2 x brick runs)

Total –   11:24 hours

Monday – Bike - RTR

Finally got out for a Monday morning ride as weather looking pretty crap for the rest of the week and have a few swap-outs to do to accommodate a swim carnival and fathers day on the weekend

Hardly anyone out this morning and didn’t see anyone travelling in the same direction as me. Did all the climbing in the saddle in the big change ring

Apart from that a stock standard 51.4 RTR mid week ride, nothing exciting, no super commuters, no guys in netti yellow jackets with goatees with aero bars made out of table tops.....pretty damn boring actually ! Good change from the stock standard spin class Monday night 8 year routine tho’ !!

dist – 51.3k

time – 1:47

avg speed – 28.9 km/h

avg hr – 131

max hr – 157

Core Stability Session – 20 mins (it’s a start !!)

Tuesday – Fartlek Run

At last – some heart rate figures worth recording for a run but nothing too out of the ordinary about the actual run itself.

Plan was:

10’ WU

4 x Fartlek repeats  at 5-10k pace (3’ build, 3’ hold, 3’ recover)

15 min CD with strides

Yeah well think I can forget the strides, put’s my run style way out too much and my body says ‘no way mate’..I’ll stick to shuffling along and cooling down

Daylight is back, time to crank the early starts

dist – 13k

time – 1:00

avg hr – 143

max hr – 158

Core Stability Session – 20 mins (must try harder !)

Wednesday –  Brick Session (swapped out from weekend due to other commitments - 2:30/20 planned)

Finally cracked over the 51.3km mid week ride distance that has been the same for the past 5 or so years !! And as they say, the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results !! man, also sounds a lot like work lately !!

Anyways, to mix it up I rolled out from work at 5.15am and decided to turn right instead of left for RTR !! ......yeah baby that’s me...mixing it up big time...!! Made an effort to make sure I was ABP the whole ride with Daz’s little voice inside my head reminding me that ‘work works, ABP VO2 max’ etc etc

Managed some good efforts along Burke Drive, Left Bank and Leighton and tacked on most of the Shelley Loop to finish. Copped a flat on the way back about 200m from work – couldn’t swing out to miss some glass as a car was right up my jacksie......decided to pick the bike up and walk across Canning Hwy in my full lycra*.....just kept my head down and hopefully no-one took offense to a bloke in lycra walking along the street !!

Chucked running shoes on and off for a 20 min run down to Heathcote and see if could further continue to scare a few old ladies still in the lycra. Felt good and had some good form despite during the ride there were a few times where that familiar feeling came on of ‘how am I going to run after this’....can’t wait for those 5 hour rides with the 45 min brick run...should be Fun !

*Pretty sure the old ‘bathers bathers bathers undies’ routine works for rules on lycra:

if ya on a bike in lycra it’s ok

if you’re running off that bike in lycra then that is still sorta acceptable (only just)

if you’re at a coffee shop with a bike within a 5m radius is marginally acceptable (tho’ rule is accepted without argument if more than 3 lycra clad 40 something’s are also in attendance, as long as it is before 8.30am on a Saturday and before 7.30am during the week)

but ..........if ya just walking along the street in lycra it’s definitely not ok

(I suppose I was still touching a bike so technically it was still sociably acceptable – I’ll take that line)

dist – 65.7k

time – 2:18

avg speed – 29.0 km/h

avg hr – 134

max hr – 164

tried to get some core work done but was never going to happen...maybe Thursday before Entourage !! (yeah right)

quick update on Dad – he’s all good...they are going to fit a pace maker and hopefully will sort out the ups and downs he’s been getting. Fingers crossed

Thursday – Long Run

This morning’s run was one of those runs that all just clicked. No efforts, intervals or anything – just run ! Rolled out at 5.45am from work and headed along Melville Beach. Felt super strong and there were quite a few moments where Tiesto on the ipod was kicking in at the right moment to really give me that old ‘raving’ feeling that I used to get back in the early nineties !! tho’ that high wasn’t from running if you know what I mean ;0) ....Oh how things change over the years !!

Magic morning across the bay with a haze/fog descending over the city....along Burke Drive open space it was pure awesomeness, a very special time of morning to be out and felt privileged to able to be there and thank whoever for the fitness and physical ability to be in that moment (.....bit deep but I know what I mean !)

The mid week Runners World crew came past on the path and completely ignored me.....tried to take out La Chicksta as she rolled thru across the walk path.... She says she saw a rat in her headlights and was transfixed and couldn’t move. Saw also PJ and Kat doing TT efforts and a surprised Pitoony riding past also

Felt like a loaded donkey with all my accessories: quad tights, calf tights, hat, ipod, Polar foot pod, easy breathe nose plaster thingy and fuel belt. No lucky gonk ?? Tho’ not quite as loaded the other guy coming the other way who had full skins, upper long sleeve skins, gloves, baseball cap, mp3, singlet etc...but more on him later

Turned at Pt Walter toilets and felt comfortable that I’d be able to hold a decent pace the whole way back to work. Felt a little tired and had to re-confirm mentally that this was to be expected, then decided to rip off the breathe thingy and see if it actually made any difference...tell ya – it actually works ! cos no sooner taking it off that my crappy sinus’s were ever present and getting a straight breadth in directly thru the nose was laboured. So there you go, they do work and I’ll be keen to try them out again on another long run. Not sure about race day as they look pretty naff but if I’m finding they are assisting in the lead up I’ll think about it again

Back to the other running pack mule who went by earlier – well, he came past me as if I was standing still.....he was on about 4.10-4.20 pace I’d say and running with a weird ass form – legs kicking out and swinging from the arms in sprinter mode,.......,man he was moving. He took off and I could see him gaining more and more on me and I realised that of all those times I had a rabbit in view and ran them down this time it was me.....and I’d been spat out big time !!

Anyways, I get to near the boardwalk at Heathcote and I see him duck off into the reeds so I’m thinking he’s gotta pee..........uh ah...........I roll past and there he is pulling up his jocks (under his skins no less !!) ..........so technically the tortoise won !! tho’ not sure where I was racing him too but I beat him to somewhere !! ha ha !!

He caught up a bit later again –  flying by then slowing to introduce himself (glad he didn’t want to shake hands ifyouknowwotimsayin)......nice guy as it goes, who is training to go top ten at Rotto Marathon, gave me a couple of tips on to swing my arms to get my torso going which will move my legs betterer..yeah........point taken but mate – I just run !! That said I think running with him for that last 10 minutes made me negative split the run by 3 mins so maybe he had a point !!!

Back to work for porridge and fruit bread toast..some things are just pure bliss !

dist – 20k

time – 1:41

avg hr – 138

max hr – 151

Friday – Swim (3.4k planned)

Had planned a 3 hour ride and 20 min brick today due to Bridester’s Swim Club Relay Day at Challenge Stadium all day Saturday but weather and Ellie’s Top Gun swim session tonight put paid to that. So have swapped that out again to a home spin session on Sunday with a 60 min brick longish run

This is even tho’ it’s Fathers Day then but Shell appreciates my desire to fit everything in and is pretty easy going on what I do. Had planned to do nothing but Shell’s is also such a understating partner that I am grateful of her support with all this stuff and she knows me a lot better than what I think I know myself as well !! And as she said, there’s no way I could sit still all day and do nothing anyways...which why I’m probably a skinny runt from being a figgidy small boy who couldn’t stay in one spot for more than a minute

Finished with time keeping for the juniors top gun, and quickly got changed to swim as Bridie started her session. Knocked out the Strength/Endurance set that I did last Wednesday. Think it is going to be my favourite set to do when stuck for ideas...managed the whole session in a hour this time so 7 mins better than last time. Pretty happy with splits, form did drop near the end. Big box of chips at the end for Bridie and managed to wind up the other kids by sitting there up close and personal eating away as they were doing their land training stretching !! ha ha !! The joys of teasing young children ~ !!

dist – 3.4k

time – 0:58

Beer count –   0 !!  3 weeks an counting

Saturday – Run – Aerobic 55 min

Early start at Challenge, got there at 7.30am and grabbed a great spot - which makes a change as we normally end up way over near the diving pool and see nothing of the day. That said, being front and centre we got to see the manic of getting 30 plus kids organised by coaches Tiff & Karen.....man, that is one hard task with so many kids and races to sort out, and most kids hassling them out on everything thing from ‘I’m cold Tiff’ to ‘Tiff, what swim cap shall I wear ??’. Hats off to the coaching staff and everything appeared to go smoothly.

Bridie down for 3 relays, managed to fit in a 55 min run half way thru and got out to Reabold Hill for a couple of repeats (was hard mentally getting away from the crew but had really wanted to hit this session for the weekend due to missing out on a long ride). Had no idea where I was going but managed to time it spot on, awesome weather out and was warming up a bit, hich made for the climb up the path interestingly tough. Back to stadium, showered and got to see Bridie’s second relay. She got bumped on the last one which was cool as we managed to get away early. Popped in and saw me dad as he was home from hospital and now has a monitor thingy in his chest to keep an eye on what his ticker’s doing. Great to see him and he is looking heaps better. Also gave me some time at home later to swap some tyres over and get the TT bike ready for action

dist – 11k

time – 0:55

Sunday – AM Home Spin Session/Brick Run (1:30/60 planned)

What a great Father’s Day ! Decided to spend the mid morning doing the spin session brick to get a sleep in. Should’ve not bothered as I was awake at 5am and tossed and turned until the kids came in at 7.30. Got some quirky presents from the kids (as always) and also some great pictures..one awesome one of a Coral Bay view that Ellie did that I’m absolutely wrapped with and is now pride of place on my wall at work. Also Aiden had made a great pen holder that’s got prime position on my desk.

Jumped on spin bike at 9am and was determined to complete the full session, again as no long ride. Did Spinervals Totally Time Trial and hit some good heart rate zones and funnily enough the 90 mins just flew by. Off the bike and quickly change, grabbed Ellie who was going to ride with me as I ran and off we went. Had a great chat along the way and didn’t get wet as it looked it was going to bucket down

Rest of the day spent sorting laundry out – still got plenty to do tho’. Got the Weber on with a bit of lamb and chicken chucked in. Took dog down to bottle shop to stock up on some Guinness. Early roast dinner which was magic and retired to the theatre room to watch my all time favourite movie Ferris Buellers Day Off.......awesome day !!

Spin:

time – 1:27

avg hr – 129

max hr – 154

Run:

dist – 11k

time – 0:55

avg hr – 135

max hr – 155

Recovery week next week which is basically one less run planned. Still holding back on bike distance but itching to get stuck in...

Cheers

Paul