Rugby World Cup.....yeah !!

Week 6     PJ ‘s Training Summary

1 more week of FTP run focus. This is to be a recovery week  because my IM specific prep will be starting next week. Time to get some “long” on the end of the “fast”. Can’t believe there is only 13 weeks to go. The time seems to be flying by.  I am really enjoying training with the Fluro crew at the moment. They are all waaayyyy better athletes than me so I am constantly being challenged. Each session seems to bring apprehension on my part but a huge amount of satisfaction after it is done and dusted. Can I sustain it? I guess time will tell.

Monday  

 Evening I bashed out a 2.4 k swim set. I felt a bit sluggish though and was thinking of cutting the session short but persisted.

Tuesday

I rocked up on the TT bike today due to the demise of the Cervelo. I rolled out 4 minutes ahead of the groupo as per Fluro’s instruction. They caught me at the Raffles Canning Bridge so a good 30min hard effort for me. A big group today 25ish. Rob Mac punctured on the Narrows Bridge and nearly took everyone out. Plan was to sit in which I did till we “ran the Gauntlet” at Christchurch. We got to the rail crossing and bugger me if the barriers weren’t down again. 2 weeks in a row!  They weren’t down for long so we took off up Curtain Ave. Rick dropped off leaving me Fluro & Rosco powering up the hill heading towards the roundabout. The group caught us near the summit and we just sat in till we got to Freo. I was done. Coffee at the Vanilla Bean to follow.

I had a massage with Tony Bence at lunchtime. Great to iron out the legs. I have booked 2 more appointments a month apart.

Wednesday              

Just an easy run this morning Aet HR effort for an hour. I left work at 5:45am and opted to run along the river to Mt Henry Bridge then up the freeway side of the river back to Canning Bridge (hoping that none of the 2 wheeled super commuters would mow me down).  I then ran around to the Waylen Bay tennis courts and back to work. A beautiful clear crisp morning. Quite a wind chill but it is great running near the river at that time of day. I feel my running economy is definitely improving. This run at 5:21 min/k’s  with HR 145 bpm av. 

Pool session tonight. 2k straight. I was thinking I need to drag out my waterproof mp3 player for these sessions.

Thursday

I dragged the old Giant out of the shed to use. I had to gaffer tape the lights to the bars because I had left the bracket on the Cervelo which was now in Aldo’s repair shop. Doh !!! It hadn’t been used for a year but looked ok. We met at the Left Bank at 5:30am and headed over to Mosman Park to do some hill repeats… 9 to be exact. At least they were short and sharp. The hardest was doing “ Devils Elbow” in the 53/11. I was expecting to see some knees exploding! Another toughie was doing the golf course climb from the river level changing into a higher gear every 20 secs. Man that killed. A good 1 ½ hour session finished off with coffee at 9 Seeds in East Freo.

A beautiful evening down at Point Walter for run intervals. A bit cool but sunny and clear. I had to do a 5k test for Vdot. No one there when I arrived so I did a 3k warm up with a few sprints in. Still no one at 5:30pm the designated time so as I was keen to get this out of the way I took off from the bollards at the end of the car park heading west straight into a moderate easterly.  2k in and I was hurting. Got to the 2.5k mark just inside the tree cover at the eastern end of Attadale reserve. The wind was on my tail going back. I was loving every beep from the Garmin as every kilometre  ticked by. I felt I had put my best effort in at the end. A guy says to me “man that must have been a good run“ I think he thought he may have to resusitate me !!!  Rob Mac turned up to do his intervals but I was done and left him to it. Result :- 5k  22:35.20 4:30 min/k’s. This put’s me @ Vdot 43. I’m happy with this, a PB for the distance. 

Friday

Rest day today. I thought about swimming in the afternoon so I don’t have to do the 3.4k session tomorrow. I felt like a break though so let it go. Just as well I did as I got a call from Jenn on the way home to say that the opening game of the Rugby World Cup (AB’s v Tonga) was live on channel GEM. Whohoo !! so I was straight home to watch. I did have a few beers which I haven’t done on a Friday night for ages but hell….this was the AB’s and a World Cup game.

   

Saturday

Early start to ride down to the Raffles to meet the Freo group 1 boys for a hills ride. All the strong boys rocked up so I knew I was in for a toughie. We headed out and just got to the first lights on Manning Rd when there was an almighty bang like a gun going off. Rosco’s back tyre had exploded. The rear wheel breaking surface had worn so thin it parted company with the rim and the ensuing puncture had peeled it off like a banana skin !! hell of a way to get out of a Hill’s ride Rosco. The ride was the standard up Welshpool up to the Observatory, back down to Lesmurdie and back to Freo via the Roe Hwy bike path. I got dropped on the Hills as did Phil Fraser so we hung out a bit. Heading back down Welshpool I took it real easy as the braking surfaces on the Giant’s wheels are pretty worn and I didn’t fancy doing a Rosco !! On to the Roe Hwy path and Neil punctured. Then Tom picked it up on the front and we are hammering towards Freo at like 45k/hr. I was starting to struggle by Nicholson Rd and dropped off the back. I kept going next minute Dave Wrighton hooks on behind. He had been dropped as well. We got to the Freeway and on to Farrington and the guys were waiting there. Tom and Alex headed home from there thank god so the pace was more sedate back to Freo. Paul Z punctured on South Terrace about a 2k from Troppo’s. We pulled up for PZ and Dave Wrighton pulls straight over, gets off his bike and lies down under a bush “I’m fooked” he says. He looked so bloody funny lying there on his back that Fluro gets his little video camera out to record the event !!!  Back to Troppo’s for coffee and food. Easy ride home after that, legs were toast. 100k all up 3hr 39 min.  

I cut the afternoon swim short because I had to pick Sam up from his mates place and get home for some more rugby action. Lovin this World Cup viewing. 3.5k planned but 2.5k actual.

Sunday

This morning I had to be down at the Esplanade at Freo at 6:00am to help out at the Marathon Club Freo fun run. A great turn out 700 showed up for both the 5k and 10k events. Bob Braid from Runner’s World was the race director and although he seemed disorganised I think he has organised this race for so many years he just goes into auto pilot and the event ran very well. Great to catch up with an old friend Jules Marr looking fantastic and getting back into some training after she and hubby Timbo had a little boy. Tim is a great athlete but now he is a fully fledged doctor he is putting in the huge hours at Rockingham Hospital. It’ll keep Tim.

Jenn was going out to catch up with friends at 1pm so I drove down to Point Walter and did a 45 min fartlek run, my last session for the week. It was glorious there, warm and sunny. A good run but the legs were very heavy after yesterday’s ride.

Well that didn’t really feel like a recovery week in the end but it’s done and dusted.

12hrs 42min all up. Swim 6.9k, Bike 190k, Run 28.6k