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

Paul’s Week 10 – ending 11/09/11 – Last Of Lots Week

Swim – 5.4k (2 x sessions)

Bike – 137.8k (1 x spin class, 2 x road sessions )

Run – 34k (1 x brick run, 2 x long/aerobic runs )

Total –    10:36 hours

Monday – Spin Class

Well finally decided to get my sh!t together and push myself in these sessions. I figure it’s me that has to make this work and the instructor can only do so much – even some are better at pushing than others. Happy with efforts and managed to spike the hr at 158 with a fairly reasonable avg for the whole set. Legs felt laboured maybe after Sundays brick run, but I think I’m not liking the new Livestrong bikes – way too quiet and just a little to hard to get setup dialled in unless you are prepared to spend half an hour adjusting and measuring.

Hopefully the last Monday spin class for a while and road sessions will take over if weather is playing nice and spin is only used as a emergency plan. Given all my whinging I do feel I get a lot from the spin classes but need the ‘proper’ road kays under the belt !

time – 0:53

avg hr – 132

max hr – 158

Core Stability Session –   15 mins – not enough time after swim pick up and before dinner...Slept in skins and legs felt good on waking

Tuesday – Recovery Swim

Wanted to get at least 3.0k in this morning and only just managed to as I had to cut short 100m in last 400 due to a knot in the neck developing. I tend to get a crook neck every now and then. Little stiff now but not as bad as previous episodes. Happy with efforts, managed some good splits and the 50’s on 1’ were pretty easy

600 W/U 

10 x 50 fast on a  1min cycle 

5 x 400 (Free, buoy,  paddles,  buoy, free)

dist – 3.0k

time – 1:06

Core Stability Session – not even on the radar. Snacked again on some biscuits...gotta have more self control....

Wednesday –  Bike – Easy Aero (TT setup)

It’s back !! The old 6 year old Giant Trinity is back on the road after a lay off since Busso in May. Bit hesitant at first on how the fit and feel would be but needn’t have worried...felt a bit odd for the first 40 minutes but once I sorta got used to it I found I could push some efforts a bit. Up hills is crap – will not being taking it anywhere near the hills but once she gets going on the flats she a joy to ride. So much so that I had convinced myself that the settings on my Polar for ‘bike 2’ were in-correct as every now and then I’d look down and see I was cruising at 35k or 39k ...figured I must have the wheel circum mixed up and when I finished the ride I’ll see if that was true as this was going to be a stock RTR ride – 51.7k. Well, surprised myself as the kays came in the same and was a slightly quicker ride than normal...so, a few factors of a tail wind at first and the aero setup got me a decent avg speed. Punching up the freeway path was tough into the wind but not un-bearable. Had a super commuter coming the other way yell something at me and couldn’t work out what it was but then figured it was ‘turn ya light down !!’...ha ha !! got the Ayups pointed nice and direct as it’s pitch black at 5am on roll out so will have to remember to tilt down once daylight kicks in...guy was still a twat tho’ ...even if he was right... :O)

dist – 51.5k

time – 1:41

avg speed –  30.6km/h

avg hr – 138

max hr – 163

Core Stability Session –   surely if I leave this heading in I’ll get off my @rse and do something about getting some core work done....*cough*cough*

Thursday – Aerobic Run & Swim

Ellie’s School Sports Carnival Day !! More importantly:- Day Off from work – oh yeah !!

AM – Run

Bit of a sleep in, got out at 6am and back for breakie with the kids. Reversed my Quinns Beach loop, amazing how looking at things from the other way can so make you think you’ve mixed things up immensely !! :O)

dist – 10k

time – 0:50

avg hr – 136

max hr – 151

Great day watching Ellie at their sports carnival. Awesome weather this time as it’s usually raining and getting re-scheduled, but got wind burn on our faces as we didn’t sun screen up – rookie mistake again now that spring is here and summer is on its way

Absolute classic Aiden moment when he lined up for the kindy race. Standing there dancing away to the music on the loud speakers then off he goes, in only the way that the little boof knows how to run !!

Pure gold, looked like he was enjoying every second...so much so I’m sure he was trying to get last !! ha ha !! I still reckon he was showing us how my run would possibly be come December !! Good on him for getting out there and giving it a go – pretty proud of his participation ribbon he was. As Shell said, can’t see anyone in our house taking over her year 6 runner up champion girl title !!

PM – Swim

Bridie crook today so she wasn’t swimming, Ellie got asked to try out for Inters (next squad up) but with the sports carnival she was ‘tired’ and didn’t want to go......so I thought stuff it – I’ll keep the Arena attendance up for the Manning’s swimming this week and got down there at 4pm and knocked out 2.4k. Neck was playing up again but got home and put the heat pack on and settled it down considerably. I only breathe one sided and feel an old dog like me will take too long to learn bi-lateral

200’s tonight and sooo much easier than the 400’s of late, think I actually enjoyed it !! (cheated a bit by using pull buoy on every second 200, I love my pull buoy.....”it’s my favourite” !! – to quote Aiden !!

300 W/U

Main set

10 x 200

- 1-3 free-hard

- 4-6 paddles-hard

- 7-10 free-hard

30 sec RI

100 cd

dist – 2.4k

time – 0:46

Core Stability Session – zero ! --- ok, next week – Week 1 of specific IM training......must start core ! ...self affirmations must work...surely ?? ..think I’ll just give up on writing this title down, it’s not working !

Friday – Rest Day

Arena Swim Club race session for the kids in the evening, ended up volunteering for time keeping as there were still 3 spots left with about 2 mins til race start, amazing how some parents cannot make a effort to assist others! 2 hours later we’re off home for dinner, gear sorted for Satday ride and into bed early with no beer again

Saturday – Brick Session

Drove down to Daz’s as he was doing the exact same session this week, he was Cylcosportif’ing on Sunday so would take it easy (his easy is my hard !!). Rolled out at 5.50am, got about 60 seconds down the road and had turn around to go back and get his sunglasses....he should’ve taken that as a sign me thinks !! – more on that later

Ride was a basic Runners World RTR modified Circuit 1 – few of the old estranged Uncles rocked up this morning (Spud, Greggie, Marko)

Headed south on the freeway path....I took off at the Rowing Club for the Mt Henry effort and let the guys chase me which they did and caught me in due time, slowed to turn at the bridge and I decided to wind the guys up again and put the hammer down straight away and be the rabbit once more. They caught me just before the Raffles and was given some nice words of encouragement !! ha ha !!

More efforts along Burke Drive and The Left Bank, Daz broke a spoke just before Leighton so we decided we would carry on up the coast and swap out his wheel and then carry on further to get the planned 3 hour ride time. Left the guys at Eric St Cottesloe and punched into the wind back to his place in Scarborough, wheel change then off up West Coast Hwy to Sorrento and back.

Can’t stand that stretch along West Coast Hwy at that time of day when the sun’s shining and every bugger is out for Sunday drive on a Saturday morning, way too many cars and not enough lane space.....then again, we shouldn’t really be riding on that road anyways so bit un-fair to blame the cars, just frustrating it’s such a nice road but too bloody dangerous to share. Returned inland a touch to escape the traffic, Daz then snapped his front derailleur cable and had small chain ring only !

Back at Daz’s and changed into running gear and a easy 6k brick run, reminded him that we peaked up to sessions like this for the half ironman !! ha ha !! ......and now we’re just starting to get serious ! Crazy...

Last game of netball for Bridie, they got done...but played great again, such a cool bunch of girls and the parents are a great laugh too. Nothing’s taken too seriously what’s happening on or off the court. They finished 3^rd (out of 4 mind you !! ha ha ) in the A division for 12 year olds out of 4 divisions (they got moved up at the beginning of the season) so they did brilliantly and well done to Nigel for coaching and Shell for the fantastic manage-ring !!

Nap in the arvo then caught up with Entourage and Suits

Bike:

dist – 86.1k

time – 3:14

avg speed –  29.6km/h

avg hr – 147

max hr – n/a

Run:

dist – 6k

time – 0:31

avg hr – 137

max hr – 150

Sunday – Long Run

Up to Jindalee and back this morning, heart rate stayed low for most of the early part but finished strong, maybe need to work a little harder at the start

dist – 18k

time – 1:32

avg hr – 134

max hr – 154

Back home for breakfast, few jobs around the house done, then out to Joondalup for Shell’s birthday present shopping with the girls, back and was going to take the dog to the beach but waaay too many tired peeps around our house so sat in the front garden with Rani the dog watching the kids run around the cul-de-sac on their scooters.......with a beer in hand of course.......couch, then sleep.....another weekend over – just like that !

Week 1 IM Proper next week, time to get focused - long runs, even longer rides and double sessions for swim/run days.......bring it ~ !!

Cheers

Paul

10. 1st Big Week - Dazz 11/9/11

Well this was my first full week of Race Prep training (even though the 12 week phase officially kicks off tomorrow - but thats another story). It wasn't too bad, except for the hacking dry cough I had all week. As I type this, there is 83 days, 13 hours and 47 min until IMWA 2011 starts! So less than 12 weeks to the starters gun fires!

I hit every planned session, but did not achieve everything set out for each workout. Due to the change from O/S plan to Race Prep and the man cold (cough) I did not do a 5k TT and did very poorly in my 40min bike TT. Between last Sun (which is in last weeks stats) and Thursday this week, I ran about 67km in 5 days. No wonder my legs were a bit trashed! This week I did 5/3/3 - runs, swims & rides in 12:06hrs.

Monday was an easy 40' run (with 8x 30" strides) and then a lunchtime swim (1.8k). My avg pace for 100m has improved about 6-7" since last week, so I think my swimming has just clicked into gear. Tue was run intervals (barfing up a lung) instead of a 5k TT. Wed was my Epic Fail bike TT. It was also my first ride back on the Cervelo P2 since the Busso 70.3 about 5 months ago. The plan was 40' TT with the 2nd 20' being used to determine LTHR threshold etc. Well, I only managed 30' and the last 20' return was an avg speed of 36.0 and an avg HR of 80% of max. (Last test was 37.2 km/h and 84% of MHR). Anyway, no excuses, it is what it is. I will try again this week and hope this cough etc has gone by then. After this ride I then did a 25' brick run with the hound dog.

Thursday saw me start the weekly long runs in this new time slot. The plan was 1:40, which I did and covered 20.8km. It had 2 x 10' of Z3 work in there (4:20-4:30 pace). It turned out to be an exact even split run, as I got home right on 1:40, after turning around after 50'. I felt pretty good, considering how many kays I had done in the last 5 days. I did have a bit of an incident though. I had my normal routine before exercising, (eat/drink/toilet etc) and set off. But before I got to the beach (< 2km) I felt a bit funny in the guts. So decided I better stop in at the public loos. Wow! Was I glad I did. Lets just say, I came out a bit lighter than what I went in! Friday was a nice easy recovery day, with another 1.8km swim. Friday night was a social with work at the Boulevard pub, but I had 1.5 beers and switched to water very early. Some of the staff can't understand how I could knock back free beer - but I find it very easy! My desire to be healthy and fit with no hangover, so I can train well, far surpasses any desire to drink beer (at least at this time of the year!)...so it is easy for me.

Rat came by on Sat morning and we spun in to RW to join in a RTR ride plus some. Our goal was a 3:00/0:30 brick. It was all going well, except for all but Butch and I going the incorrect route at Pt Walter, in typical RW fashion - of not listening to briefings! Anyway, just after we crossed the train tracks in North Fremantle, I heard a ping and looked down to see a broken spoke on my rear wheel. The wheel was pretty buckled, but I was able to loosen off the brake and still ride. Rat & I then decided to just head for Scarborough so I could duck in and swap wheels over. We then headed up the coast for a bit to get the last few kays in. On the way home, just near St Mary's school, I then snapped a front derailleur cable! So, bout time for a major service from Phabbie me thinks! Anyway, made it back and then tacked on our short canter for 6k. After Rat left, I went into full recovery mode - eat/drink/shower and then compression tights. Legs elevated for 10' and some anti-inflams. Then more eating and drinking...etc

So after I watched the Eagles push the Pies all the way to the last 5 min of the big final at the MCG, I headed into RW. Next week we play the Blues at Subi - and I will be in Sydney! Doh! So the next game I could see live would possibly be the GF - as long as we win the next 2 games! Which would be pretty tough indeed. Anyway, I'm stoked with how far the boys have got this year anyway. Poor Phab was busier than a one armed Kabul brickie! So I wrote out my own service card and attached it to my bike for him. By the time i got home, the kids were at the mother-in-laws for a sleepover, so Lisa & I had some quality time together with no kids around! On Sat night we went up to Cafe Relish with Paul & Julie for dinner, which was nice. Except the joint was so loud you could hardly here your self think. By 9pm I was ready for bed, or at least a comfy couch. It ended up being 10pm before I got horizontal though.

Sunday was the Cyclo Sportif TTT down at Byford. We were entering a team of 6 under the SRG/Bikesure name. So I picked up Bernie on the way through and we headed down to the SE outer suburbs. We just parked the car and saw Rod. Unfortunately, we then found out that Jono and his mate were going to be DNS. Doh! The 6 was now 4. Bernie, Rod, Marko and I. No matter, it would just be a bit harder (like last time!) The race went well, as we soon joined up with a group of 8, that then joined another group of 8 and a bunch more jumped on our wheels! Marko expertly let them do all the work and we flew along. We avg'd nearly 39km/h for the first 30min! As we neared the first undulations, one of the groups we were sitting on broke up, as one of their team mates faded. We cruised by them and continued to sit on the other group, allowing them to do all the work! At the bottom of the big 1st climb, our 'lead out train' had a mechanical and so the Bikesure team was on their own... The climb was pretty steep at 1st and went on for a fair while, with about 8km of general upwards trends. We worked well together and passed many remnants of teams and a few whole teams as well. The last bit before the turnaround at Serpentine Dam was a great down hill blast. Bernie, the downhill specialist, took the lead and passed a few cars and dudes on Harley's before we hit the dam wall. After we started back, Rod really picked up his work rate and found his legs. So we sped homeward flat out. Each downhill bit would be another opportunity to charge in the 53/11. At one point I looked back to see the little whippet Marko, peddling flat out and nearly getting dropped as we raced down a hill at about 79km/h !!! Unfortunately we found no other teams to work with on the way home on the flat bit (the last 24km). It wasn't all plain sailing, as Rod & I had a touch of wheels at about 40+ km/h and that sent Rod flying off the road into the gravel, the long grass and nearly a barbed wire fence! He was damn lucky not to eat dirt! Could have been a CLM - Career Limiting Move!

So a pretty good week, all things considered.
Swim: 5.4km
Ride: 195km
Run: 53km
Time: 12:06 hrs

Stop Press: Just got the results back for the Cyclo Sportif race on Sunday - the SRG/Bikesure team came in 3rd place! A podium finish out of 47 other teams is pretty good. We had an avg speed of 34.91 km/h! Wish there was more of these, but that was the last one for the year...

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