2 more BIG weeks

Week’s to go 5 PJ ‘s Training Summary 31-10-11 to 06-11-11
A big week this week (and next week) with 4 sessions of each discipline and a BDT ( Big Day Training) day Saturday. The aim is to consolidate my ability to tick along all day race day without slowing up.
I’m feeling the pinch with my training funds as I seem to be running out of stuff and need to buy specific things for race day.

Monday
I just had a pool session to do today so bashed out a 2.7k set at Melville Pool in the evening. Lots of short, fast….50’s and 100’s
Tuesday
I needed to get a bit more time on the bike this morning so I drove to work and rode from there leaving at 4:45am in order to get to the Left Bank for a 5:30 groupo depart. The plan was to leave 7 minutes before the group and put in some 20 min Z2-3 efforts. I got to Christchurch before I came across Dave W and Bobby who had shortcutted and were ahead of the group. Dave and I “ran the gauntlet “ down the “Princess Hwy” but were held up at the rail crossing. Rosco, Fluro and Rob Mac joined us and we hit the hammer back to Freo, ahead of the group. I took it easier from the Left Bank back to work, all efforts were done.
I had an easy Aet run to do and opted to run off the bike as it was Melbourne Cup day and after a hearty work lunch I didn’t think it would happen if I left it till evening. I ran the Bridges from work. The conditions were fantastic.
Wednesday
I had a Tempo run today. A 15 min warm up then 12k @ my VDot 21k pace. I had the pace range set on the Garmin with alarms but I really struggled to hold it. I found this really hard. I think I still had some fatigue in the legs from the weekend. It was really humid as well and I was sweating bucket loads.
The swim set tonight was straight forward 3x1k descending. I used the pull bouy for the lot and managed my kay’s on 22 minutes which is good for me.

Thursday
I was at the point where I was feeling pretty burnt out mentally, tired as well so I opted to take a sick day from work to reset and just catch up on a few things. The forecast wasn’t too good with rain and a possible thunderstorm coming through. I was supposed to do a RTR 1 ½ hour TT flat chat Z4 but there was no way I was going to do that in the pissing rain. As it happened I woke up to quite a nice morning, bugger !! I went back to bed and had a lay in. After Jenn had gone off to work I got the wind trainer out and did 1 ½ hours of 5 and 10 minute efforts. I set up by the pool where there was a nice little breeze coming through. It was still very humid though. I dropped Sam at school as it was chucking it down by then. I went to Garden City and spent a black fortune at the chemist. I stocked up on Sustagen Sport, Echanasia, Iron, Magnesium powder and more. Jenn will have a pink fit when she sees the transaction !! I got some overdue maintenance work done on the bike. I washed the chain and re-oiled. I also put bigger spacers under the tri-bars. I wanted to try them to see if that’s what was causing a little bit of lower back pain I was getting on the bike. My run intervals were hills efforts so I did these on Le Souef Drive near home. 4x400 uphill at FT effort then 4x400 downhill hard. It poured down through the whole set and I got drenched. I was all done by 3:30pm though and was able to pick Sam up from school.
Friday
I got to work nice and early today so that I could get to the pool earlier in the arvo. I cut the set short to 2k as I wanted to get home to help Jenn set up for Phoebe’s 22nd birthday party tonight. She was at work and had supposedly “done everything”. Jenn and I put in 2 solid hours of work to get everything sorted. That kids organisational skills are shocking !!! I was just hoping they didn’t keep me awake too late as I had the Big Day Training tomorrow and a 4:30 am start to get everything in.

Saturday
Friday night was a bitch. In between getting nutrition and gear ready for BDT I was helping Jenn prepare food for Phoebe’s party etc. I got very little sleep as the kids were pretty loud. I managed to get out the door at 4:30am for my 5 hour ride. I headed to Freo for a clockwise RTR before heading south down the freeway path. I was supposed to alternate efforts at 40min@ IM then 20min@ HIM efforts. It wasn’t happening and I was just focusing on doing the time. Just south of Safety Bay Rd six riders went passed in a tight group. It was Stuart Durham and 5 of his Eclipse Fitness dudes. I jumped on the back but 12m distant. They were humming along nicely at about 38k/hr and it was good to have some company. There were a few showers coming through now but they were isolated. The wind seemed all over the shot. It was a tail wind at times then it was a crosswind. I turned at my calculated time which was a few kay’s past Lakes Rd and headed back solo. There were a few more IM bikes on the path now. I got just north of Thomas Rd when to my surprise I passed the Amigo’s going the other way. Wtf ??? I thought they were going out the Roe Hwy path today. I managed a verbal acknowledgement with Dazz but it was just a wave for Rat. I got to Gateways and realised I had misjudged the turn around and I was going to be over time by about 15 minutes at least….bugger !!! the day was going to be long enough without doing more than required. I got home and was supposed to rest and refuel for an hour to get the food processors working. I cut this short to stay on schedule and got out for the 2 hour run at 10:30am. Good to see that Phoebe had done a great job of cleaning up and I didn’t have to feel guilty about not being home to assist with that task. The run went really well and the legs were fine off the bike. I ran from home around the river to the Raff’s and back.
Jenn was not impressed with me as I grabbed my wettie and trannie bag and headed out the door for the third time today. Down to Champion Lakes for a squad swim. I was a little late and the guys and gals were all ready to get in the water. I had decided I was only swimming to the first bouy and back as per last week. It wasn’t a long swim but it is good to just get the wettie on and to practice some sighting. I made an early exit and was home at 3pm. I was absolutely spent.
BDT totals: bike 5 hrs 18 min 162.4k run 1 hr 52 min 20.7k swim 17 min 700m 4457cals burned.


Sunday
The training option today was a recovery ride of 1 ½ hours easy spin. It just didn’t happen. I was exhausted and feeling pretty guilty about spending all of yesterday out training. I had pulled up really well so very pleased. We had a big breakfast and went down to the Fremantle Arts Centre for a few hours to listen to WAJO playing under the tress on the lawn. Some very talented kids playing some great jazz and swing. Took me back to the days when Phoebe was performing at Perth Modern School. I finished the day kicking back a bit with a Weber Sunday and a few beers. I tried to download my Garmin data from BDT but the file was corrupt for some reason and it wouldn’t upload off the unit. I could read the totals on the unit ok though…..spewin because I like to analyse the sessions, especially such a biggie.
A solid week all round. Totals:- Swim 8.5k, Bike 278.3k, Run 55.64k 17 hours 42 min