Paul’s Week 17 – ending 30/10/11 – Path-epic Week

Swim – 7.6k (2 x sessions)

Bike – 162k (2 x spin class, 2 x home spin session, 1 x road sessions )

Run – 63.2k (1 x interval run, 2 x long/aerobic run (1 as brick), 1 x brick run )

Total –    16:52 hours

Monday – Rest Day

Doh ! – had a 60 min run on program but completely missed it – even tho’ I was staring at my diary most of the day !! Anyways, after Sunday’s longest ride ever in history (...would you believe in training then ??) there was no way it was going to happen anyways me thinks

Now with that thought I think I’ve just given myself a half easy week to start, supposedly the Epic stuff happening from Thursday...mmmm...

Top Gun swim race session for Ellie – great night out as she got the breastroke trophy to keep for a whole month... very proud again !!

Tuesday – AM Swim

AM – Swim

Automatic pilot for this one now, 1k sets with some 200’s thrown in. Will do a 3.8TT on Friday arvo to see how I’m travelling

Bridie at squad this morning and first time Shell picking her up to take to school. All went ok, except she’s got school swimming for phys ed which she was none too happy about !! ha ha ! toughen up princess

dist – 3.8k

time – 1:15

Snacked way too much tonight.....ate really good all day at work.....fruit and pasta, no extras....all blown out the water in a rush to the biscuit barrel and vegemite on toast (with evil butter)... I am really bad at this !! ....gotta dial this snacking in as race day is coming and race weight needs to happen (fook knows what race weight is but if I can drop a kilo think mentally I’d be happy)

Wednesday –  AM Interval Run + PM Spin Session

AM - Interval Run – 8k run test

Ran with PJ after spending to night before trying to work out to ride or run or ride or run...fark...hate worrying about whether it’s going to rain, or be fine or hail or sleet or flash floods or Armageddon....gotta be more to life than worrying about this sh!t !

Had planned a 80k ride with the 8k run at lunch but have now decided a 8k run in the morning and I’ll do a spin class tonight and a extra hour at home on the wind trainer...junk miles but good for the head........for some reason I can’t get my head around having to ride two days in a row (had planned to ride this morning and Thursday as well)

8k run test planned for Amigo PJ, I went along for the ride (run) – but the silly old fool stuffed his custom Garmin program and we did god knows what – kept trying to tell me we were running at 5.30 pace which it did not feel that at all !!...

dist – 9.2k

time – 0:47

avg hr – 126

max hr – 138

PM  - Spin Class + Home Spin

Edgars spin class – chalk and cheese again to the usual Monday night class – he’s pretty damn good at getting the best out of you.

My legs felt absolutely trashed half way thru and the simple 8k run in the morning obviously taken more out than I figured

Spin Class

time – 0:47

avg hr – 126

max hr – 138

Home

time – 0:43

avg hr – 112

max hr – 124

As some of you know the Rat doesn’t like getting wet out on rides.......and of late I have been getting on my spin bike at home doing some of these IM sessions where it fits...also nice to get a break from getting the bike ready the night before – plus I think I’m dining out on Sunday’s 180k for a little while...no rush to get back on the road

Here is some footage of me last night I thought you would all enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyTTu4Hmx6s

Supposed to be a storm coming thus later – can’t see my Thursday 100k planned happening either but need to pull my finger out and commit.....

Thursday – Ride Planned – Swapped out to Spin Class + Home Spin Session

Lizzy (the Queenie) was supposed to bring the mother land’s weather with her today so I decided the planned 100k road ride I would do as 1 x spin Class at the Arena and try and follow up with 2 hours spinning at home

Well, to say I’m peeved off is a understatement. Day 2 of Epic week is now officially known as Path-epic Week....rain didn’t really eventuate in the morning or the bloody afternoon so I could’ve got at least a 3 hour ride in either before work or at 2pm........not happy Lizzie..

So instead, off to spin class with the plan to back up extra at home. Dirk’s class was good, plenty of 100rpm efforts. Good to chat with Nicki who haven’t seen in ages since stopping gym classes at the start of my program

Well – all I can say is my legs are not used to the trashing they were getting at spin so by the time I got home – was semi-committed to get onto home bike and turn legs over, but had nothing left and pulled pin at 45 mins...

Oh well, sometimes you get that with these programs and I’ve been pretty good following the plan so far so a little hiccup is ok...still feel a little under done on kays on the bike but sure it will look after itself

One positive is I have now caught up with every Ironman WA dvd I have from 2004 to 2008 so only a couple more to go for inspiration !!

Spin Class

time – 1:02

avg hr – 128

max hr – 149

Home

time – 0:47

avg hr – 111

max hr – 120 -------- Pathetic ! .......seriously thinking of selling home spin bike early to recoup some cash...obviously not getting out of this what a I really should be ! Prob best waiting til end of November just in case

Aiden likes to ride his bike around the garage whilst I’m spinning – little bugger probably got more out his ride than I did !!

Friday – Aerobic Run & Swim (3.8k TT)

Public Holiday here in the west, decided to catch up on some work and put a full day in and head off to pool about 3pm

Slept in til 4.30am.......did plan to run from work at 5am but just couldn’t get out of bed. What a magic morning – headed down to Melville again, hit the wall on the way back at 3k to go...must be the spin classes maybe or just my path-epic efforts of the week ??

dist – 18k

time – 1:29

avg hr – 139

max hr – 149

PM – Swim

Got to pool at 3.30pm – as no squad training lots of lanes available. Picked one – hopped in and straight into the 3.8k...decided to go in 3 lots of 20 laps and then add the 16 at the end as guaranteed I’d lose count somewhere !!

Pretty happy with time, there was a couple of 5 sec stops, plus a chat with Sarah V midway thru so all considered not bad. Sarah is on Brad Hoskings plan and has a leg injury which is threatening to pull her out of the race...fingers crossed she gets thru the next few weeks..so hard coming this far to let it all go, especially as she walked most of the run last year

dist – 3.8k

time – 1:08

Home for big meal of pasta and other treats to carbo load for Satday

Has given me a fire in my belly to finish off what is left of the planned big weekend...swim this arvo 3.8TT, 160k/12k Satday and 90k/24k Sunday...fingers crossed

Saturday – Epic Day (well..nearly Epic !!)

160k Bike + 12k Brick Run

Met Daz at his place early – 5am – rolled out and were both whingeing how bloody cold the wind chill was. Didn’t take long to warm up, down the coast and around Freo, past work and the Raffles.

Headed down fwy path, we must’ve had a bit of a tail wind as I was hitting 33-35k on way down – Daz disappeared off into the distance as I didn’t want to hold his pacing back.Tried to hold back the pace a touch just in case it was a full on head wind on the way back as we would still have a 1.5 back around the coast once we got back to Raff’s ....turned at 5k past Safety Bay Road – 80k on the button...great...got focused again and before you know it we were back at Thomas Rd – brilliant re-fuel courtesy of Daz with a ice cold Gatorade – man, that tasted soooo good

Back to his with 160 odd kay on the dial, in the car and down to Scarboro Beach for our 12k run.

Held pace with Daz as we went out pretty easy, legs felt really good and only struggled on the ups of the hills. Will be pretty happy with a 134 heart rate on the day, back and finished - quick dip in the cold water and there you go – another 6.5 hour set done !

Bike

dist – 162k

time – 5:38

avg speed –  28.7km/h

avg hr – 133

max hr – n/a

Brick Run

dist – 12k

time – 1:00

avg hr – 134

max hr – 143

Shell had the girls and Aiden at Challenge again for another swim carnival so another early start for them. They got home at 2pm then off Bridie goes to another party...then a sleep over...no wonder she’s tired !! No pb’s this week but still pretty close times for both girls

Got to late Saturday arvo and just wasn’t feeling upto to backing up the planned 90k ride....so text Daz to say I really needed a sleep in (as such) Path-epic again....feels like weeks since last had a weekend when I could take my time in the morning and not stress about swimming or cycling or running...decided a mental break was needed plus the under carriage was a little tender

Fat day for dinner of KFC and planned to have a cooked breakie in the morning.....roll on extra spare tyre around the waist !

Sunday – 90k/24kSwing Day (Reverse Brick) Well, that didn’t happen...........

So opted for a 2 hour run mid morning to try and get some acclimatisation. Pace was steady not super fast, drank loads and took some coke which was magical as it always is !

Dialled in some pace and heart rate that would like on the day, legs were pretty heavy from big ride yesterday and glad I didn’t do the 90k part probably woulda been ok tho’ but coulda got ugly

In the pool for a quick cool down, Weber on, beers and feet up with the paper – actually sat still for 2 hours !!

Long Run

dist – 24k

time – 2:03

avg hr – 132

max hr – 167

So, bit disappointed that the Epic Week turned into Path-epic Week but only person to blame is myself as I should’ve been a little more committed but at the end of the day I had a good 160k ride with a brick run and a 2 hour run in warm conditions.

Think I’m on the wind down knowing I’ve peaked with the distances...still a little way to go and need to keep mentally alert and not let too many session slip

Cheers

Paul

17. Big Tri Week - Dazz week ended 30/10/11

This week includes my BTW - Big Tri Weekend. But that's not until Wednesday.

Monday
This morning I did intervals - 3 x 1.6k z4. I taped my left foot up again, to keep any plantar fasciitis at bay. After this week, it is only 5 weeks to race day! Anyway, the run went OK, though my legs were fairly avg considering I had a rest day yesterday. Must be a bit sore still from the big race rehearsal ride on Sat. Got through 12k in 58 min overall. After work I hit the pool for a speed workout. Lots of hard sprints - eg 200's with the last 50 sprint, 150's with 50 sprint and a bunch of 100's etc. 3.5k all up in 1:01 hrs.

Tuesday
My usual easy/recovery day with a swim in the PM only planned. The arms felt a bit heavy but I got into the groove for some longer endurance sets, such as 6x400's and then struggled through 10x100 with 50 sprint/50 easy. All up I did 3.9k in 1:07hrs

Wednesday
This is the scheduled start to the Big Tri Week (5 days). The purpose of which is to inject some extra long kays into the program, as a one off hit, to boost endurance. The E.N. program I follow tries to keep regular weekly training time reasonable, so that the rest of your life is in relative balance. Anyway, I am taking tomorrow off as A/L and then it is the public holiday for CHOGM on Friday. So I have some extra training time available. I saw a real funny thing this morning. As I was riding through Wembley Downs on my way to City Beach (back streets) I passed a house where a guy on a bike was just rolling out of his driveway. I glanced at him but didn't think anymore about him until he came up behind me, as we climbed up the hill at the end of the Wembley Golf course. I could here him coming, so a I put a tad more effort in - as he didn't look especially good! Anyway, he caught me near the top of the hill and went by. But then we got to the roundabout and a car was coming, so he went real slow and next to the curb as he was going left. Then he all of sudden just fell over into the garden bed next to the road and muttered a few profanities. It was most uncool. But it was sooo funny! But I managed to keep a straight face and just kept riding...as my Mum said to me many times as a kid "pride come before a fall"!!!! (I was usually showing off on my bike when she said it.)

I didn't really get the kays planned in today, as Lisa leaves for work at 640am and I do the school run (plan was bike 90, run 8) but I did do 45k on the bike before work in 1.5hrs. I did intervals, 3 x (6 x 30/30's) and then just rode steady after that. I ran at lunchtime in very humid weather and clocked over an easy 8k. It didn't feel to easy though and I felt a bit off colour all arvo and that night. I think I am fightin off a cold or something.

Thursday
This was effectively Day 1 of the BTW. I had to help out on the home front and juggle kids activities before school etc so I hit the pool about 615am and did 2.5k. I felt slow and tired and it was hard work from start to finish. Avg pace per 100m was nearly 1:48, which is a few seconds slower than normal. It was a mental battle not to get out early. But I got through the set by doing descending distances after my w/up - 600, 500, 400, 300, 200 & 100. Then it was home for a feed and some home duties before a big ride.

I wasn't feeling too fresh or motivated (as Rat had changed his plan and wasn't going to ride with me now) and it had been raining heaps overnight, but I just got on the old bike and headed off. The plan was a 'century ride' in the old money or 160k. So I hit the road around 8am or so. It felt strange as there were so many cars around and people going to work/school etc. The weather was fine and not much wind to speak off, but it looked very threatening as I headed down the coast towards Freo. I thought I would get soaked later and probably get a flat too! I guess that was my negative mindset. Anyway, I got the old engine working after a while and was able to get a bit of a rhythm going. I didn't feel like I had much power on the hills though. I went RTR to the Raffs and then down to the bike path. The slow bit annoyed me more than previously as did the detour for roadworks. I hit the lap button at Roe Hwy (the start of the open road) and off I went. It was a pretty uneventful ride with hardly anyone out. The path was very wet around Thomas to Safety Bay Rd but it didn't actually rain on me at all. Then it started to dry up and the sun even came out a few times, briefly. I was stiffening up a bit in the shoulder/neck region but otherwise felt OK. I turned around about 6k past Safety Bay Rd right on 80k and about 2:30hrs which was a reasonable avg so far of 31.9k. The last 10-15k were a bit harder as a bit of a WSW'ly wind had started up.

I started my return trip with a slightly more upbeat mood. The sun had come out, I should have a bit of a tail wind and I was on the way home. That lasted about 2km as I found the wind more of a cross wind and my legs not that interested in going faster either! I swallowed a couple of No-Doze ate some more food and promised myself a pit stop at the Thomas Rd servo. I reckon I was hit by about 7-8 dragon flies on the way home. They seemed to be on a mission to take me down! I stopped at the servo and purchased a couple of Gatorade's and used the facilities. That 5min break seemed to pep me up a bit and I felt much better after that. I made pretty good time and had avg'd 34.5 back to Roe Hwy, which lifted my avg speed for the ride to 32.7 km/h. I dropped in to see Rat & PJ briefly at their work, which was good, as I was sick of my own company! I then had about 70min to home from there. RTR was into the Westerly and was hard work, especially the hills. Then I ran the gauntlet of all the semi-trailers around Freo port and got to the coast. The wind seemed to have a bit of south in it, which was a welcome relief as I headed north up the coast to home. I ended up with a 2min negative split, which was pretty good I thought. So overall 160km in 4:58hrs at 32.2. I was glad to get off the bike and kick back for a while, that's for sure.

Friday
Today the plan was a semi-long run and a long swim. But I tried to sleep in as long as I could 1st. Managed to doze until almost 7am before I gave up. Faffed around, had a bit of brekky and headed off with 2 bottles on my Fuelbelt. It wasn't long before I new my legs were fairly fatigued. But as tired as they felt, I still managed a steady clip. Hopefully that is a little bit of mental training for IM. I ran up the coast for 8k and back. There were heaps of people out on bikes, Rollerblades, skateboards, walking and running. Taking advantage of the lovely spring weather on the public holiday. I managed an almost even split run and finished the 16k in 1:17hrs. The foot felt OK but I was pretty tired. Eggs on toast went down a treat. With the the kids off with the grandparents seeing the Queen, I tried to have a kip around noon. But the phone rang just as I was dropping off and the moment had passed.

After lunch (my 3rd meal for the day!) I went to the pool. Goal was 4k made up of 7x400's + 8x100's. I warmed up with 4 x 100 1st and didn't feel too flash. Then hit for the 400's, which were to be done at RR pace less 2-3 seconds. So 1:44-1:45 per 100m. I manged to do that for the first 6, but the last one slipped to 1:46 pace. I did have to dig deep to do it, as the arms were pretty fatigued. Then, I resisted the urge to get out and did my 8x100's as 50 sprint / 50 easy. I can say that the sprints became less so as I progressed! So I got my 4k in 1:10hrs. I came home in time to pass Lisa as she went out the door to work. I had a few snacks & some fruit to top up my carbs, as tomorrow is a big day. Today feels like Sunday, but is only Friday! Woo hoo! I was in bed by 845pm and asleep about 5min later!

Saturday
This was supposed to be the 'Epic' day in the BTW. With a swim/bike/run. But Rat & I made it semi-Epic only by doing our swim yesterday. The plan was a 160/12 brick. So Rat rocked up at my joint at 0500hrs and we hit the road. It was very breezy with a 15-20 knot cool Easterly wind blowing. We both were a bit cold for a while and wondering why the hell we were doing this exactly! But after a bit we warmed up. The roads were deserted at this early hour but the breeze made things pretty ordinary. We went down the coast and RTR to Mt Henry Bridge and onto the bike path - the exact same route I had take less than 48 hrs ago! Progress was much slower than Thursday, due mostly to the horrid wind blowing in our faces.

Once we got past Roe Hwy we agreed it was down to business. Rat & I chose our own pace for the next hour and pushed on down to the turnaround. My neck/left shoulder felt pretty ordinary. The extra kays in the pool and on the bike seemed to have contributed to it being pretty sore. It was a cross wind most of the time, with a little head and a little tail thrown in for good measure. We hooked up again at the end point on the 80k mark. Then we did the same thing on the way back to our pit stop at the Thomas Rd servo. I got there 1st and went in and grabbed a couple of nice cold drinks, They tasted great too. We then rode more or less together for the rest of the ride. It was nice to get a tail wind for most of the route RTR and we put in a few efforts and chased a few other riders down, for something to do. We then got to the last leg - up the coast to home. It was a relief to have the end nigh.

We rolled into T2 - my garage - after 5:16hrs and 161km with an avg of 30.5. Not too bad considering the conditions and that it was my 2nd 'century' ride in couple days. A quick change and in the car for a drive to the beach and it was off on a 1hr brick run. We took it fairly easy but ran a pretty consistent pace, avg was 5:09 for 11.7km. Then the best part was the short swim and standing in the water at Scarborough Beach. That felt really good! So a good session was achieved and another box ticked. Tomorrow is the 'Swing Day' in the Big Tri W/end - which means you can decide on what you do based on how you feel. So it might be an easier day for me. I'll check with Rat later as we did plan on a Yanchep ride. But I'm off for a nanna nap now!

Sunday
The Swing Day proved to be just that. Rat & I agreed to do our own thing, which for both of us is probably just a run. I went to Surf Club with the kids after a sleep in and leisurely breakfast. Did the club swim with my new massive handicap of 3:55 min! (I have been ripped off!) and then helped out for a while, including a board paddle with Mikayla's group. I had an early lunch and then prepared for a run in the hottest part of the day. I want to be as acclimatised as I can (a bit hard this far out) for race day, as most of my running training is in the early morning cool. I'm glad I didn't ride this morning after all. Was a good call for the Swing Day. The 1230pm start time will be similar for my IM run leg. So I set off for my 18k loop course. Down to the coast, north along the path, then turn inland at North Beach and across to the Fwy path. This section is hot and treeless, just like IM will be. Then down the Fwy to Innaloo and back to Scarbs. It is mostly a solo course and pretty hot. I started OK, and thought the legs were good, considering what I have done the last few days. But after about 6k I started to feel it - very hard work from then on. The heat was a factor also. But I motored on and maintained a sub 5min pace. The left arch felt a bit sore, but I think it hung in there OK. I got home and stood under the outdoor shower for nearly 5min. That felt great. I was pretty hot. Ended up 1:27 for 18.2km which is 4:48 pace.

So, that is the end of my Big Tri Weekend. All up this week I completed 5 runs, 3 rides and 4.5 swims. It was a big week...

Summary
Swim - 14.2km
Ride - 365km
Run - 66km
Time - 21:16 hrs

Paul’s Week 16 – ending 23/10/11 – Training PR’s, Swallowed Bugs & Angry Birds

Swim – 8.0k (2 x sessions)

Bike – 269.7k (1 x spin class, 1 x home spin session, 2 x road sessions )

Run – 58k (2 x long/aerobic run, 1 x brick run )

Total –    18:48 hours

Forgot to mention last week we have now sorted most of the supporters gear for the day....should look awesome !! (hopefully Aiden wears some pants on and not pj’s !! ha ha !!)

Monday – Spin Class & Home Spin

Program had a 2.5hr ride which I thought maybe I could do in the morning before work RTR....nah, no chance after Sunday being last day of holidays, couldn’t be bothered getting my gear sorted the night before so decided to spin class it instead. Did feel a bit guilty as I hadn’t hit the road on Sunday either, but that feeling only lasted for a few seconds

Spin Class at Arena for 55 mins – was going to back up another hour straight after together but again all got too hard and decided to watch Ellie swim and do later at home. Probably knew the second 50 mins would be junk but felt I needed to get at least more than one hours training down and I actually don’t mind just spinning on the bike as to me is more a mental thing...

I am still planning on doing Spinervals Tough Love – 3 hour session at some point soon.......will wait til there is crappy weather and slip that one in. Found that 5 years ago it was a good mental exercise and certainly made me appreciate the boredom that comes with a 6 hour bike ride on flat and non-undulating surfaces !

Tuesday – AM Swim

AM – Swim

Another chance to get a good 4.0k in as I was dropping Bridie back home after her squad training. She got out at 7.15 and I had enough time to get my session in, showered, dressed for work and quick breakie of yoghurt, up & go and a muesli bar. Pissing down with rain so freeway was a absolute nightmare (can’t see why Perth people panic in rain) 1.5 hours to get to work !! ...just a bit longer than I spent horizontal in the pool !

dist – 4.0k

time – 1:20

Bridie got spring netball tonight so no interval run, not enough hours in the day !!

Wednesday –  Long Run (Longest Planned For Program)

dist – 33.3k

time – 3:00

avg hr – about 130 ?? – reset my watch half way thru !! doh !! lucky PJ’s Garmin supplied data

max hr – n/a

What a epic run !! Furtherest I’ve ever been in run training and to be perfectly honest the way me and fellow Amigo PJ executed this one it was as easy as a 24k run. Rolled out at 5am and headed to Melville, kicked along nicely and before you know it we were at the Left Bank pretty much and ready to turn

Was great to have some company for this long run – I had planned a solo run on Friday as I shuffled a few sessions around being busy on Saturday but so glad I did change around and run with PJ. Time went pretty quick and we fuelled correctly topping up our bottles with water where possible.

I was going to only do 28k but as we were running at a fairly easy pace I thought ‘fook it’ and carried on to do the whole 3 hours...figured there wouldn’t be too many times in my life that I’d be close to cracking over 30k in a run other if I decide to do a marathon anytime...

Thursday – Ride

Hooked up with PJ down at the Left Bank, we turned and headed RTR. I left him at Freo and carried on thru to Shelley Loop – bit of a fav at the moment. Felt good for most of the ride and didn’t really feel any soreness in the legs from Wednesdays mammoth run. Good to ride with PJ as we’re out of synch with our ride days during the week

dist –88.4k

time – 3:07

avg speed –  28.3km/h

avg hr – 129

max hr – n/a

Friday – Aerobic Run & Swim

Stock standard run down to Melville – had a couple of rabbits which made it more interesting. Turned at park entry near Burke Drive and pushed the whole way back to negative split. Swallowed a fly or something 3k from work and nearly threw up everything I’d eaten that morning and possibly the night before !

Why is it with bugs that get swallowed they always stick to the back of your throat and won’t go down like any other normal bit of food you put in your mouth.......and then you’re constantly thinking of how much bug guts are oozing into your delicate small intestine slowly festering and mutating into some horrid creature that threatens to explode from your chest....

dist – 17k

time – 1:19

avg hr – 140

max hr – 155

PM – Swim

Friday arvo’s are great at the Arena – still a few in the lanes but ok enough to get some rhythm going. Girls didn’t want to train so another Manning solos attendance (we are at Arena 365 days of the year it seems)

Did 3 x 1200’s again 21:00 approx for each

Good to get done (especially as work had a sundowner on at the Raffles which I flagged) .......home for a beer instead – first one on a Friday for a while (don’t let that fool you....Thursdays have taken over from the usual Friday drinks !!)

dist – 4.0k

time – 1:15

Saturday – Rest Day – Swim Carnival

May as well have been training – had to leave the house with all 3 kids by 6am, so was up at 5am....

The  Southside Swim Carnival had to start early to fit all the entrants in. Ellie was doing her first official swim meet so we were all pretty excited – as much as 3 tired grumpy kids could be in a car with a 40 min trip planned...

Got a great spot up the back of the stand when we got there (still plenty people there before us) and settled in for the morning – we had planned to try get away by lunch with the races we’d picked for the girls so was optimistic the early start was manageable

Well, what a great result for both Ellie and Bridie – 9 races and 8 pb’s and..... 2 state times for Bridie – she was pretty chuffed.

All the hard work they’ve both been doing is paying off. Ellie was .34 off a state time in breaststroke so she’ll be getting that soon too......well done to my girls !! very proud...oh, and Aiden doesn’t mind sitting on his butt for hours just watching portable dvd’s, not moving much and eating endless snacks !!

Was in constant contact with the fellow amigos via text throughout the day and sounded like they were getting some good mileages in...feeling a little jealous and apprehensive about my 6 hour ride planned for Sunday

Popped into Runners World on way home – bought some more gels and some butt cream as I figured a fair bit of riding to back up soon – Shell couldn’t believe I spent $35 on cream for my ‘arse’..ha ha !!

Sunday – Long Ride/Brick Run

This one was going to be a tough one mentally...not only had I had to wait another day to do a long session but rolling out from my base at work at 5am on a Sunday was just damn ridiculous (I decided to start from work as it was easiest and safest for traffic RTR and then onto freeway south path...and plus the brick run could be down around Mt Henry)

Rolled RTR heading south to Freo (again !!)  – glorious morning out and saw only a few cars and even less other cyclists.

Got back to work, swapped out a bidon and removed arm warmers, grabbed the ipod shuffle and off onto the freeway path for a few hours of ‘fun’. Flipped the headphones in and hit play for some Above and Beyond trance podcast and hoped the player would last the 4.5 hrs planned !! – 2 hrs 15 out, 2hrs 15 back !!  here we go !

Bit of a head wind kept my pace at around 30k on way down, and didn’t want to blow up so conserved a bit and spun on the hard sections.

Got to Pagonini Rd and felt a whack on the back of my helmet – thought someone had ridden up behind me and tapped me, but no – it was the dreaded nest protecting magpie ! I’ve read 3 blogs on people training for this same Ironman plus each Amigo have all said that they’ve be swooped by this same magpie !! So I feel quite proud to among those that have !!  Tho’ I thought I had it’s measure on the way back and prepared for her but I must’ve miscalculated as she hit me on the other side of the underpass from where I thought she was !! ....ha ha !! again Whack..Whack !! ...man that got the adrenaline going !!

So, turned at the spot I wanted near Pinjarra Rd and mentally prepared for 2 plus more hours of getting back to work for approx 170k......well, with the wind behind me got my spirits up so I decided I would do whatever it took to get the bike to roll over 180k......even if it meant doing a Ferris Bueller and chocking the bike up with my un-dead body under it - spinning the last 300m if need be !!

Back to Raffles, onto the Narrows to add those extra kays, back to work and clicked over that magical 180 figure !! Can hold my held high with the fellow Amigos and tick that box......nice

Run shoes on, (actual race shoes complete with Dorothy Red Laces – now to be known as Dorothy’s slippes) off round the bridges for a 8k loop....felt so strong surprisingly,....actually felt really really good !

Home by 1pm – looong day considering I left at 4.30am !! walk in the door and Aiden wants to go for a bike ride !! doh !! so off we go to the shops, walk did legs good me thinks...back and tidied up a bit and rugby on the big screen, couple of beers and some chips ...mmmmm !

Bike

dist –181.3k

time – 6:14

avg speed –  29.8km/h

avg hr – 131

max hr – 156

Food Count –

Gatorade – 3 x bidons

Water – x 2 bidons

Winners Bars x 2

Spicy Fruit Rolls x 3 biscuits

Shotz Gels x 3

Bananas x 2

Power Bar x 2

Vegemite Sandwiches x 2 (squashed together to a millimetre of their lives !)

Oven Baked Bar x ½

Carbs – approx 498g ...little bit more credit than needed considering I weigh about 67kg x 6 hours = 400g ?? but, felt so bloody good and with the variety didn’t feel like I couldn’t get down any of it. Note for race – will prob drop the spicy fruit biscuits and go with a extra gel instead

....swapped to water and gels in the last 20k of bike – seemed to help....box ticked on nutrition..filed away for later

Brick Run

dist – 8k

time – 0:41

avg hr – 144

max hr – 152

So all round -  big week as far as some personal records in training goes..... but more importantly some good mental hurdles tackled and shut down for use later (ie. Dec 4^th)

....now onto Epic Week next week – which is slowly becoming Slightly Less Epic Week as work seems to be getting in the way of some training plans....still, will be a another full weekend starting Thursday - 100k bike, Friday - 1.5hr run + 3.8 TT swim, Saturday – 160k bike + 12k brick run, Sunday – 90k bike + 2 hr brick run

........ stay tuned !

Cheers

Paul