2009: so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, get lost!!!

Hooray for the the last day of the year!  Particularly 2009, which has been less than ideal on a number of fronts, but pretty bloody spectacular on others.  

Here's a breakdown of 2009:

The good?  Completing my first triathlon, buying my first road bike (plus tri suit and real running shoes), starting my fitness qualification, two trips to Sydney and Melbourne (and Wellington), getting cleared by my knee surgeon to kick butt at the Auckland Half Ironman 2010, moving into this awesome house, hiring an awesome PT, going to the Australian Salsa Classic in Sydney, learning Salsa and Bellydance, going to Phillip Island, losing about 10% body fat, gaining stackloads of muscle, finding Eat Me protein in sexy strawberry flavour, getting back on my bike, getting back to swimming, watching Slumdog Millionaire, buying a heart rate monitor, finding muscles that weren't there three weeks ago...etc!

The not-so-good? Breaking my elbow AGAIN, reeking of chlorine three or four days a week, losing my brand new bathers at the pool after only the second swim, having to move house, Kanye West thief-ing off with poor Taylor Swift's thunder, my old bike dying two weeks before my first tri.

The downright sub-optimal?  The car - 'nuff said, the breast cancer scare in May, Tiger Woods.  

Right, with those demons purged and successes celebrated, let's move on!  

The last four days have been manic.  Monday flew by in a blur, no clue where it went or what I did, other than a bike ride and a run.  Tuesday I rode down the work placement gym (let's call it WPG for short) to check it out (it's awesome but more on this later) and get some paperwork.  Great ride, but boy was I happy to get home as I'd forgotten what cycling in a headwind and crosswind was like! 

Yesterday I rode to the WPG for my first shift.  The place rocks; it's basically brand new and the complex is totally kitted out for training.  It has an amazing pool complex that just won best pool in NZ for the year (or something like that).  It's got a great gym with great views over the pool or the parkland around it, and is set on acres and acres of park.  To top it off, there's plenty of good biking around.  I don't think I'll bother going back to my local pool, it's a hole by comparison! 

The team at the WPG are awesome too.  My trainer is the team leader, and the other four I met yesterday are great.  They have different areas of specialty, one being injury rehab, so I'll be picking their brains as best I can.  

The first shift yesterday was good - I got my bike in for the day riding there and back, but was too tired at the end of the shift to swim before coming home.  At the end of the day, I was advised I had a 6am start today.  Sweet as, I thought, I'll have an early one, get up at 0430 and rock on.  What eventuated was: not getting to sleep until after 1am, smashing the alarm to shut it up at 0430 this morning and finally getting out of bed at 0450.  Oops...I forgot my vogels at breakfast, forgot to pack lunch, and forgot to take a lunch break today.  Nutrition fail!  

By the time I finished at 2pm today, I was tired and hungry - as those of you who know me will attest, this is a dangerous combination indeed! I flicked the swim idea and went home to have lunch before hitting the strawberry farm, then picked up six litres of milk (don't worry, I'll be through it in four days) and went home to sloth about.  I'll swim tomorrow, I promise...especially now that my compression wear-designing friend has a connection who provided me with new speedo bathers (togs) to replace the ones that went walkies at the hole of a pool last week, and an elite pullkick (a fancy pull buoy/kickboard in one).  Thanks X, you rock!

My best friend has very kindly loaned me her old car for a few weeks, otherwise the 6am start today and 5.30am/6am starts next week would have been interesting.   My "car" is going to cost the better part of $2,500 to fix so I'll be flicking it shortly or maybe trying to save up and fix it.  I haven't decided yet - that can wait until next year!

So, until next year, have a great New Year and rock on!

Filex, Swimming and Strawberries

Thank heck Christmas is over for another year!

This one has been less than ideal.  The car is still broken, and I'm pretty sure the transmission is goooooone.  The engine sounds fine, so it's off to the transmission place on a tow truck on Tuesday (hopefully they are open).  Fingers crossed it isn't terminal - for either the car or my wallet!  I want to go to Filex (the big fitness industry convention in Sydney next April), and the car had better not get in my way!

Today it's off to the pool.  It's not my normal swimming day, but they didn't open until noon yesterday and from what I heard it was nuts.  Too many kids crashing the lane swimming, etc.  I'm trying to time my swims for just after they open and want to avoid New Year's day when they open at noon again.  I'll get about 750m in, then bike home, drop my gear and head out on the bike for a couple of hours.

Hopefully I'll be starting my work placement at the gym soon.  I am well and truly movied out, and don't have a lot in the way of uni homework at present, so I am pretty much crawling up the walls.  Some of the things I wanted to do involve car transportation, so they are off the schedule, but there's always scrapbooking - something I haven't done much of lately!

Have a great day :-)

H is for Humbug!

Merry Humbug y'all.

I've done very little today, except laze around on the couch, watch movies, have a three-hour nap and do a 10km bike to get lunch. This broken car thing is starting to get on my wick, especially since I can see said broken car out the lounge window. Grrr!

Santa didn't bring me a new car or a hot mechanic with a spare transmission for Christmas. The cats brought me a dead bird though, and I've unwrapped the triathlon and running magazines I bought myself for Christmas. Good show.

I'm off to make vegetarian hotdogs for dinner. So, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Cars are evil

No, I'm not about to rant and rave about motorists. I'm going to tell you a little Christmas story instead!

Once upon a time in New Zealand there was a triathlete with a silver station wagon. A couple of years ago the transmission in this evil piece of metal died and had to be rebuilt. Fortunately it was under mechanical warranty and the triathlete's share of the bill wasn't too bad. Two happy years of motoring followed...

...Sadly, this tale doesn't have a happy ending! Today, while taking my bike to the bike shop for a chain noise check, the darn car decided to throw a wobbly and not go forwards without massively bunny hopping it's way through a major intersection. I think it's terminal - and the gearbox is probably gone again.

Time for a brief musical interlude, courtesy of Adam Sandler. If you don't do swear words and reggae, don't click on this link. It's gold, but definitely not for the faint of heart!

Anyway, I called a tow truck and got the piece of junk home. I decided it was time to walk to the supermarket and get some milk as the traffic is way too mental today to be riding my bike. I chucked the cats out, narrowly avoided my cat closing the front door on me (she's Siamese and has done it twice now) turned on the house alarm and then promptly closed the door without my keys. Brilliant. Luckily for me, my flatmate forgot she had left a window open so I climbed in, got my keys and went walkies.

I got to the supermarket and back safely and with only one rip-off purchase, a chip of strawberries for $4. Ouch! Normally they are about $2-3 but at Christmas the shops decide we haven't been fleeced enough during the year and then get us where it hurts (in the fruit bowl). I was going to drive over to the strawberry farm and get a 1kg box for $8 but the car stopped that. Munter!

So, no car until further notice or I win lotto. This is going to be rather inconvenient but on the bright side, I was saying just last night that I need to do more riding so at least my bike will be put to good, frequent use.

Having to bike 10km each way to work experience will suck but I will get used to the current saddle faster, I'll have no petrol bill for probably two to three weeks, AND get at least an extra 150km worth of bike in each week. Downside? No cleats yet, so will have to grin and bear riding in running shoes, and if it's raining I will get wet, but I'll just have to harden up and get on with it.

Christmas this year will go on record as being the worst since 1988, but I know it can always be worse. I'll count my blessings for having the foresight to start doing triathlons and buying a bike and decent running shoes - I now have wheels to get around on, and won't get sore feet if I want to walk or run somewhere.

India calling...

Aw man! I found out tonight at training that my trainer isn't allowed to train me in the gym anymore because they are hiring a bunch of contractor PTs. Well, that just sucks! However, the plan is that we now move to outdoor training, run coaching and speed work. This means I get someone to run with who will pace me and keep me progressing (i.e. sticking to my run plan and holding me accountable). That's awesome.

But, my trainer is planning on going to India for 4-6 weeks in February so may miss my half ironman (I'll be VERY upset if he does). Darn, darn, darn! What am I going to do without a PT for up to six weeks? All that hard work and he won't get to see the payoff, and he's leaving when I need him most? That really sucks!

I got mildly thrashed by Mr PT tonight. I've decided that I quite like dumbbell chest press on the swiss ball. I'm learning to like squats into bicep curl into shoulder press, my abs are pretty strong now and I've lost 2% body fat in just four weeks. Awesome! I just have 8.77% to go and I'm at my target of 20%. My tricep fat (aka bingo wings) reduced big time this past month, so the hard gym work and all the swimming has paid dividends. I'm nearly down to 1/4 fat - I was 40% fat at one point...ugh!!! My weight hasn't gone down much but considering how much muscle mass I have, I am hardly surprised. The measuring tape and the body fat are keeping me motivated.

No pace bike tonight - Mr PT reckons I had done enough, so I'll go do my bike on Friday or Saturday. Yes, I know Friday is Christmas Day, but it's the perfect time to head out for a bike as there will be nobody on the roads!

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming

Dory (Finding Nemo) was right. All you have to do is just keep swimming. So, now that my sessions with the swim coach are off until term 1 next year (due to the summer break), I have to keep on swimming.

This morning I got up and did 500 metres, plus 150 metres of drills, at the local pool. 6am starts aren't really my thing but I am getting better at it. Besides, there are no screaming brats or annoying teenagers at that time of the morning. It's quite peaceful, and sets me up nicely for the rest of the day. I'm starting to like the pre-breakfast endorphin fix :-) It's back on Wednesday for more swimming, then back again first thing Saturday. Friday is obviously out as it's Christmas day, but I may pop off to the beach if all goes well. In other news, I lost my brand new togs today. Ugh!!!

My next tri is at Narrow Neck on 23 Jan, which will be nice and close for my shore friends! It's a 3/10/3 event - but is actually a 280 metre swim, 10 km bike and 3km run. Confused? Me too, but Narrow Neck has plenty of grassy park to transition on, and these events are hugely popular as it's girls only! The bike course looks awesome - in fact, it goes past my old house on Vauxhall Road so I know the area well.

As of January 4th, I'll be working with a triathlon coach as well as my PT and swim coach. The main advantage for a newbie like me in getting a tri coach is that they know what they are doing, having done it all before! I've researched the heck out of the available ones and think that either of my top two choices will be fine. There were three, but unfortunately the third one (who was my top choice) is too busy next year and won't be coaching. Stink one bro!

I've pretty much been deciding my own training volumes, in consultation with my PT. However, it's time to work smarter and harder. There's just over 12 weeks until the Auckland Half Ironman and aside from being quite freaked out about that, it's time to knuckle down and get into some serious training between now and when my tri coach comes back from holiday.

The nine million forms for my work placement (part of the course requirements for my fitness qualification) are complete, and tomorrow I'm off to my trainer's gym for part two of my fitness testing. I also get to check out where I will be doing my work placement. Apparently it's a brand new gym and has a pool onsite so this should be good.

My one-hour sports massage this afternoon was great and just what I needed. My calves were killing me prior, but now they just hurt. Won't take long for that to go, I just needed to take it a bit easier at the gym tonight and I did. Some days it just pays to listen to your body and back off a bit, and today was one of those days.

Recovery time - catch you all later!

The debrief

Okay, here's my SPEL analysis on my first triathlon!

What can I attribute to Support?
Huge encouragement from an awesome bunch of friends and family, so HUGE thanks to my cheer squad: Kylie, Serah, Kate, Allannah, Elizabeth, Jenna, Julia, Antony, Stuart, Sean, Tash, Leilani, Helen, my cousin Daniela, Emma, Kevin, Sonya, Ariel, Stavros, Jess, Nick, Christina, Bella, my sister in law Alison, my Dad Clem, my flatmates, Rodney and Denise from my gym, Dan and Ashleigh from Uni, and anyone else I've forgotten - you guys rock!

Race day photos and logistics - thanks Elizabeth! My trainer who rocks and didn't put up with my bitching and moaning - thanks Gill! and Neil from eatme.net.nz for my protein (try the sexy strawberry, doesn't taste like protein at all).

What can I attribute to Planning?
Thanks to me for having all my gear packed and ready to roll the night before the event, carefully planned training sessions, a good volume of training, swimming coaching, making sure I had water, Mizone and a banana on race day; putting my bike in the car the night before, reading everything i could get my hands on about triathlons and transition, having the foresight to buy a tri suit months before entering anything, researching and checking out bikes, getting spare tubes and patch kits and tyre levers, getting proper running shoes, getting up at 4am to eat breakfast, getting to the event early, having a spare bottle of water to wash sand off my feet!

What can I attribute to Effort?
Doing the event, finishing the event, doing the training...duh!!!


What can I attribute to Luck?
The only things I can think of right now are bad luck re the toe cut and blister thing, and nearly missing the start of the swim! Oh - and on the subject of good luck - actually having a good night's sleep the night before the event was very cool, but a total fluke!

So, what would I do differently?
Make sure I'm in the water before the swim starts. Patch toe cuts before putting on my shoes. Make sure my helmet comes off before the run and my run cap goes on. Get a massage afterwards. Get used to ocean swimming before the event (i.e. do ocean clinics). Get a wetsuit. Train more.

That's about it I think. Overall, not too bad for a first effort. I'm happy, and that's all that matters.

It's showtime, synergy!

Right - this is it people. It's race day! Woohoo!!!

See you in a couple of hours, when I'm out the other side and it's all over!

Newbie no more

All done! I survived, conquered and completed my first ever triathlon!!!!  This a photo of me about 15 mins before the start. I was terrified - it was all new territory and I didn't have a bloody clue what I was in for.

Well, that's not quite true. I've read about 10 triathlon books, numerous magazines, blogs, websites, email lists, etc - but nothing actually prepares you for the madness that is your first tri, better than actually getting out there and doing one that really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of your future "triathlon career" (other than it being the first one you do, of course, which is always special and you will never forget!).

I arrived at the event nice and early, like with over an hour to spare. I needed it; I had to rack my bike, lay out all my gear, figure out what order to lay it out on, etc. I read somewhere that taking a big bright beach towel and sticking it under your bike is helpful for finding your bike later. I'd divided my stuff into three bags (one for each section) and had put my bottles on my bike and my bike in the car the night before. Gold.

The pros started to arrive with their gear in their plastic crates and their wetsuits and $10,000 full carbon bikes. I started to get nervous. What the heck was I doing here again? I felt like an impostor, who would soon be found out while out on the course. I wasn't sure I wanted to look like a dork, but then I figured there were plenty of other newbies in my boat around...somewhere!

I was pretty freaked by the time the race briefing kicked off (late) and they announced they had changed the run course. Apparently someone didn't check it earlier and hadn't found that the pedestrian bridge at Mission Bay was closed (and has been for months, I might add). Epic planning fail!

I had the good sense to bring my wonderful friend and PT client Elizabeth with me, to help out and help celebrate, plus make sure I actually got in the water, out of the water, on the bike and out on the run course (and didn't bunk off home!). This was of course also just in case my trainer didn't turn up, which he didn't. Oh yeah, and somebody needed to take the photos!

The swim was pretty ordinary. I nearly missed the start of the swim and had to sprint to it, so was off on the wrong foot from the word go. I was only wearing a tri suit, no wetsuit, so had the buoyancy of a stone. I felt like I was swimming through porridge. I was the last one into the water, and the last one out, but I did it. Game on!

Leaving the water and running up the beach to transition, I stood on something sharp and my toe complained. I didn't have time to stop so I ignored it and carried on. I got back to where I'd racked my bike (just inside the bike start/finish - clever), grabbed the bottle of water I'd packed and washed the sand off my feet (double clever). I managed to remember to dry my feet a bit before shoving my moisture-wicking socks on, but apparently not well enough.

I took a little too long in the swim to bike transition, because despite laying out my gear out nicely. I think it was just because the panic was starting to set in (from inexperience). I had the benefit of the tri suit and elastic laces, and with not yet having shoes and cleats, there was no second shoe change. But the extra time came from a lack of focus and a small panic attack :-). I must practice transitions in training again, as clearly once was not enough.

I thought the bike leg was fantastic. I was passing people, but felt bad when I passed a lady whose chain had broken. She just stuck it back together with something and carried on! By the time I hit St Heliers turnaround, the pros were starting to lap me. Ugh! It was really disconcerting to have people with full carbon bikes and disc wheels sneaking up on you! There was a lot of broken glass on the road, so instead of looking at the marvellous scenery, I had to spend my time looking at the road in front of my bike for puncture-inducing obstacles.

Sadly, about 500m out of Mission Bay on the first leg of the bike, my toe started to complain. I have those silly rubber cage things on my pedals, and my running shoes are a little big for them so they don't fit in properly. My toe continued to complain for the rest of the event, but I ignored it and carried on. We screamed back through Mission Bay and out to the second turnaround, just before Ngapipi Road.

I passed a few more people, which was awesome, including some pros with with full carbon bikes and disc wheels who were sitting on the side of the road changing punctures. I did feel sorry for one until he lapped me and yelled at me to get out of his ******* way. I was so close to the kerb I could have BMX-tricked my way up onto it, so how much more of the damn road did the guy need?

I headed back to transition feeling pretty good (aside from the snaggle toe).  Sneaky Elizabeth got a couple of photos - here they are:

I racked my bike and took off - forgetting I still had my helmet on when I was about to take off through transition on the run. LOL!!! Some guy yelled out "hey newbie, you still have your helmet on you moron". He got a rude hand gesture as I flew back to transition to remove it. I then forgot my run cap, but remembered to grab my Mizone off the bike. I suppose the helmet thing was a newbie mistake, or perhaps a silent testament to how comfy Avanti helmets are!

Finally taking off on the run, I felt pretty good, considering the pain in my toe. I walked the first 200m to give my legs a chance to catch up, then ran in short bursts like Forest Gump due to the toe pain. Shortly before the run turnaround just past Okahu Bay, I felt a pop in that toe. Shizzle, it was a blister, and it just got worse. I tried to ignore it and carry on but I was soon reduced to fast walking (or waddling) and I wanted to save whatever was in the tank for running across the finish line. I didn't have time to take off my shoe and deal with it, so I just hardened up and carried on.

By the last 400 metres there was a smile on my dial the size of Texas. I was so stoked! I was actually going to finish this thing, and not just that, I had no clue what my time was. I had forgotten to set the chronograph on my watch at the swim start. Meh - at that point I didn't care, it was all about finishing. The support from random people on the run course was awesome, it's so nice having people who don't know you from Adam telling you that you're doing well and to keep going, it's not much further!

I got to within sighting distance of the event area and started to run. I ran around the fountain, along the beach walkway, through the gate and up the ramp. Job done! I was stoked, and it instantly started to feel like I hadn't done it! I felt great, but it was time for a couple of photos, stretches, a banana and a latte. Priorities!

My time was within the range I had in my head yesterday. I had originally wanted to do it in under 45 mins but that was before learning (thanks to an Ironman friend of mine) that your time in transition is counted in with your race time. I nearly had a coronary, then decided to let it go. I re-jigged and decided that 45 mins to 60 mins would be fine.

My final time? 56 mins, 1 second.


I Loved the experience, I was bloody stoked to finish with a huge smile (mission accomplished), had fun and will soooo do more! And I was last in my age group, ha ha ha!!! I wasn't last overall in my distance though, so that was awesome.

I had a great time, aside from the blister. When I did finally get home after stopping at the gym to skite and stretch a little more, and took off my shoe, I finally got to see the owie blister. It wasn't good. It was pure evil and an absolute nightmare to walk on. Ugh!

I patched myself up, watched Home and Away, had breakfast and then had a hard-earned nap.

Job done, so will debrief you all later!

Client Screenings

I just passed my client screening practical assessment and I am stoked! In fact, my skills coach said it was one of the best screenings he's ever seen or experienced. Woohoo!

So, with that scary, stressful experience out of the way, I can concentrate on the fact that it's just two more sleeps until my first ever triathlon. Another scary,m stressful experience - but after Sunday morning, I can look back at what went well, what didn't go so well, do my S.P.E.L assessment (what can be attributed to support, planning, effort and luck) and then make a battle plan for the next tri!

I have a session with my swim coach Connie tomorrow, so we'll be doing recovery work and maybe a small time trial just to see what I can knock the swim over in. I wonder how different it will be in the ocean? I know that sadly it will be 7am and not in a nice heated pool (and I don't yet own a wetsuit) but Connie will have a plan.

Nerves are starting to kick in a bit, so it's time to watch a movie and then hit the hay.

One more sleep!

One more sleep!

I had one more session today with my swim coach. The swim session went well, I can do the 100m swim in under 3:30 in the pool (and that's with emergency backstroke). With freestyle it takes even less time but I'm expecting to be feeling a bit worn out a bit sooner in the open water. The plan is to freestyle it until I get a bit tired, backstroke it for a while, then finish freestyle. We'll see!

After the swim session it was off to event registration this arvo. As I was leaving the pool, I found out that my trainer is a real creeping Jesus. I got to my car and he was bloody well parked next to me. Call me paranoid, but perhaps he was spying on my session with the swim coach too?

I arrived at Mission Bay just on 2.30pm. I had a wander around the half setup transition areas, took lots of photos and checked out the course maps. I then went and registered - boy it was easy, find my name, then get my race number and swim cap. No event info in the pack - in fact, no event info anywhere apart from a list of rules on the back of a sign post. Meh, not impressed with that. Had to go back and ask if there were timing chips, was told no. Slightly concerned by this, but grabbed my nasty blue latex swim cap and buggered off home. Triathlete number 140 ready to go!

Bring on 7am tomorrow, I think I'm ready for you

Cats don't like tiger balm

My cat has moved out - or at least, moved on to greener pastures. In an effort to calm my back down before my massage, I've been slopping on tiger balm. Sadly, the cat doesn't like the smell of it and has decided my flatmate's bed is the greener grass on the other side of the fence. Bed hopping fleabag! There's now 100 days until my half ironman, and only three sleeps until my first tri. Awesome, but crikey, am I ready for this? Mentally, 95%. Physically? I guess we will find out on the day. My trainer says I'm ready, my swim coach says I'm ready, and from not having done a great deal of training this week, I am wound up like a jack in the box ready to pop! So much to think about - what to pack isn't one of them, but what to pack it in is! My bike is ready, I bought a tri suit a couple of months back (it was my first official triathlon purchase), and I've been training in shoes with elastic laces for years so I don't have to worry about shoelaces on race day. The tri suit will be great - no changing between the swim and the bike, which cuts down transition time, and hopefully my trainer shows up on the day which will help keep me calm and focussed (only because he scares the bejeesers out of me!). I've been doing bricks for the last two weeks (bike and run), so my legs are used to what I want them to do. However, I've only done one full practice run - so hopefully my brain remembers and tells my body what to do! I read that kicking for the last 25-50m of the swim will get my legs to wake back up and prepare for the bike. Pedalling faster in a small gear will get my legs ready for the run - allegedly! Roll on race day. I'm coming to get you!

Taper weeks and laziness

It's official - tapering sucks. I'm bored out of my skull and crawling up the walls. Tomorrow night I have a final gym session before my event on Sunday morning. I suspect I will be thrashed, as per usual! My back is still grumpy from overdoing things on Saturday (run, swim session, bike) and Sunday (long bike) but I have a massage booked for tomorrow which should turn the knots into bruises. Excellent! My run time is down another 36 seconds over 2km so I'm well pleased with that result. I've found a great website that generates triathlon gear checklists - so will be making the most of that. Don't want to get down there on Sunday and find that I've forgotten my bike or my goggles or something else crucial! Five days to go...

New Bike!!!

And here she is. What a beauty! Of course, she needs pedals with cleats, aerobars and a million other things, but oh my, isn't she pretty??? I've even had the bike fit done. A guy at work is sponsored and used to race, so knows his stuff. He did my bike fit, put the saddle on, changed the stem and gave me lots of good advice. Now I get to take her for a spin! I'll go out the back of the airport, where there are numerous cyclists and the roads are relatively quiet - just until I get used to the gearing. I reckon that will be sorted in under an hour. Then it's off for some more serious long rides. This is awesome, I'm so happy that this is sorted as it was the last piece of the puzzle for this short tri on December 13. I am so going to enjoy this bike. I had a great ten speed when I was a kid and used to ride every day. Then some punk real estate agent reversed out of a driveway without looking and took me out! I got a bit freaked after that and didn't ride for ages. Then I started playing sport in a big way and just ran out of time. Fast forward nearly 20 years and I'm back on my bike. I'm still apprehensive when out for a ride but I just need to harden up and get on with it!

The incredible shrinking woman

I seem to have shrunk - and own several pairs of formerly well-tailored trousers that are now reminiscent of MC Hammer pants. Drat - have to go shopping! I am seriously looking forward to getting my measurements and fitness testing done in two weeks, it should be good news! I have also found a road bike, yay! It's black and red and gorgeous. It's a 2007 Avanti Sprint and I pick it up later this week. Good news, considering I now have 1.5 weeks until my first tri. Eeek!!! Will post photos when she arrives :-) I have also sliced a whole minute off my 2km run time in just under a week. Oh yeah, and did I mention I'm now cruising along at 9.2kph for the first time since before my first knee surgery seven years ago? HELL YEAH!!!! I get my bike on Friday - can't wait.

30km bike and apple cider

We had our housewarming on the weekend, and I had my first drinks in a very long time! A couple of Monteith's Crushed Apple Ciders to be precise. I wasn't going to drink, but I fell victim to peer pressure and caved. Turns out it wasn't such a bad thing - the morning after, I had the most awesome 30 min run off a 15km bike! I got thrashed by my trainer on Thursday night, had a great swim session with Connie my swim coach on Saturday, and did the gym and a 30km bike tonight. I'm still bike-less but have found a shop that hires road bikes so should be fine. Failing that, I'm going to email the girl at work with the roadie for sale to find out a bit more about it tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

No bike, no bike (sung to the tune of Noiseworks' "No Lies")

Yep, no bike. Went for a ride on Saturday on my ancient Avanti Breeze and the gear shifter jammed. So, it went to Avanti Manukau and it's basically DOA. It could be fixed - but by the time I've spent a few hundred on it, I may as well buy a secondhand decent road bike. Bugger. I am presently bikeless, and with my first tri under three weeks away, this ain't good. I can't do the whole brand new bike thing right now, but there's a girl at work selling a secondhand Avanti Sprint which I may have to check out.


Found an awesome quote online today - "It's not the life you lead, it's the courage you bring to it" ~ Sri Singh Sahib Yogi Bhajan. He's jolly well right. And speaking of inspiring people, Google Rudy Garcia-Tolson. He's my current inspiration.


I have a sore arm, a sore shoulder and a sore back. Like, can't move them sore!!! Mental note to self, going to for a run in the rain with your trainer is fine. Doing your weight training after said run is fine. But then playing badminton afterwards is a recipe for disaster of the one-handed typing kind. Not good! Owie!!!


I also have new speedo bathers (togs, swimmers, etc) coming courtesy of $22.45 spent on nzsale.co.nz - Awesome. Should be here in about three weeks, which will be handy. My current ones are getting a little big and the other pair will probably be the same by then! Final thought for the day?

"If God invented marathons to keep people from doing anything more stupid, triathlon must have taken Him completely by surprise." ~ P. Z. Pearce

New Shoes!!!

I had the most awesome PT session last night. This guy really knows his stuff, and with my first event slightly over three weeks away we’re ramping up before the pre-race taper.

After having yet more “squats with dumbbells and shoulder press” exercises loaded on me, pushing 150 pounds on the leg press and then doing a 10km time trial on the bike, my legs actually feel great today. I must be getting stronger and have my recovery routine sorted out again. However, I think it’s going to be another week before my body gets back to normal with the nutrition after the Wellington trip. Poor body!

Last night was also fantastic because I now have proper running shoes and did last night’s gym session in them. I am now running in Asics, thanks to the wonderful Tatiana and Rachel at Shoe Clinic. I have loads of Asics running gear already, but now I have the shoes to match. So, I guess this means my last excuse to avoid running is out the door, darn it.

Tatiana gave me some running tips, basically centred on the fact that with my knees and kneecaps structured the way they are, I run like a penguin version of Forest Gump. Rachel is a podiatrist and gave me some more running tips, but basically I’m not going to hurt myself running the way I do now. I just need to make some small tweaks to my “style” and keep up my leg work in the gym and on the bike. More bike, more weights, more squats.

I found my favourite brand of gels is about 25% cheaper at Shoe Clinic than the health stores. Triathlon is a bloody expensive sport, so this was cool. Shoes, gels and a bottle of Shoe Clinic water for well under $300? Legend.

The PT will be taking me out running on Sunday morning, which is great because I need someone who won’t put up with my bitching and moaning, and he is an Olympic medallist in some running area. I’m also going to have to start running on my own which scares me a bit. I live in one of the least illustrious parts of New Zealand, but I can always drive somewhere nicer and run.

No excuses!!!

A can of whoop-ass

Had an awesome session with my PT last night. He rocks, but I rock more, I'm going to kick some serious butt at my first triathlon! Okay, so I may not get to go all "Waterboy" and open a can of whoop-ass on the others in my distance or my age group, but as long as I finish before the cutoff I will be stoked! This is not all fun and games. I'm usually so tired when I get home that all I want to do is eat and sleep. I end up doing at least two and sometimes three loads of washing a week (for one person, i.e. me!) thanks to all the gym, swim and bike/run gear on top of the work clothes and play clothes. I stink of chlorine three days a week, the calluses on my hands have calluses, and all the training is on top of fulltime work and a fulltime uni course load. At least I don't get blisters! So why the heck am I doing this to myself? To be honest, I have no idea what is driving me, except the conviction that I have to do this. It's not easy - but then nothing worth doing ever is. No one said it would be easy, and if it was easy I sure as heck wouldn't be able to look back in six months and appreciate where I started from, let alone the journey in getting to the destination. The way I see it, is that I sat around on my butt for 32 years doing nothing courageous, outrageous or totally crazy. This way, I kill all three birds with one half ironman. Awesome! This time four years ago, I couldn't even walk 100 metres without crutches and a serious limp. Now, I'm training to run a half marathon after a 2km swim and a 90km bike! It's all about how badly you want something. I've always been impulsive, impetuous, stubborn, pig-headed and a few other less salubrious things. But, I want to complete that half ironman really badly - and I will complete it. I may not win, I may not place, I may well be last in my age group. I don't care, as long as I finish before the cutoff time. Bring it on.

Owie ouchy ow!

I've come to two conclusions. One, I'd much rather be a fulltime sponsored triathlete than stuck in an office all day. The main reason for this is that sitting down all day is hell, especially if you've gone hard the night before and felt okay. As soon as you get up from being sat down for a couple of hours, suddenly your calves, quads and hammies start to complain. Ugh! Conclusion number two, my legs still hurt from Sunday. I went and did a 25km easy bike tonight to loosen them up, and my evil plan worked a charm. No soreness! I was considering going home and slothing on the couch, so, take that laziness!!! Tomorrow I'm going to enter my first triathlon. My swimming is going well, my run time is starting to drop and my bike is awesome. A little more training and I think I'll be right.

Squats, lunges and other torture...

I went to uni tonight to meet with my skills coach. We went through my own programme and had a chat about it. He liked the simplicity, the fact that every exercise prescribed relates to my goals and specific training areas, and the way it was written. Well done Mr PT!

My skills coach did question one of the squats exercises (with dumbbells, squat into standing bicep curl into standing shoulder press) as apparently it’s quite advanced and tricky, but when I explained that I can do them and do them well, and that the only problem I have with the exercise is a mental one, he got the picture.

Basically, I’ve spent seven years telling myself I can’t do squats or lunges. For one year out of that seven, I had surgeons and physiotherapists telling me not to do them. So, after seven years of reinforcement, my brain says no when my body says yes. It’s just a matter of conditioning my nervous system and it will take a bit of time. Maybe a format and rebuild of my hard drive would help?

Bring on training tomorrow, I know I will be thrashed but I need it

Triathlon entered!

Okay people, I'm now officially entered in my first triathlon. I'm doing the Try-a-tri distance at the Panasonic People's Tri on December 13 at Mission Bay. It happens to be my Dad's birthday and I believe in signs, so this will be a great birthday present for him - once I tell him about it! So, my first tri is in 3.5 weeks. Aaarrrggghhh!!! It's only a baby one (100m swim, 10km bike, 2km run) but it's my first one and to be honest, I'm a little freaked. As a noob, I have like a million questions and there's next to no info on the website that is of any use! I have a couple of triathlete friends and my tutorial leader at Uni is a triathlete so I have experienced people around to ask. Plus, I am reading everything I can get my hands on. So, here goes with the training!

There's no place like home

I am soooo glad to be back in my own bed, in control of my nutrition again instead of being at the mercy of New World Wakefield Street, and I'm even more pleased to be back in my gym for a session with my fantastic trainer this morning. I'm starting to think that travelling for fun while training for triathlons isn't such a great plan. I like to be in realtive control of my environment (e.g. not in a total dictatorial way, but being the mistress of my own destiny instead of having to rely on supermarkets and suboptimal gyms in farway cities). I found this trip rather disconcerting and quite stressful! I think that maybe if it had been Sydney or Melbourne, it would have been different :-) I am starting to feel a bit sore and might have overdone the training today. I did two hours in the gym with increased weights and increased core training, a pace ride, and then a 500m swim at the pool up the road - I think it's time for a protein shake and a lie down! My measurements and skinfolds are all down, which rocks. My weight aint shifting, but my bodyfat is well down so clearly there is muscle going on and fat coming off. Awesome! Bet I'm going to hurt tomorrow...

Wellywood is freezing!

It's been blimming well freezing in Wellywood, and I don't do being cold. There has been lots of fast walking going on to try and stay warm! The temperature is in the early teens, but the wind chill is making it drop to barely over double digits. Mental note to self - next time, bring snowboarding jacket! Travel is always a challenge, but this time it's a bit of a mare. I have to eat every couple of hours and have quite a restricted diet at the moment (no junk, no grog, no choccie, no excess sugar or fat, etc etc etc) - and that's before we consider my multitude of food allergies. We were staying in a hostel which has a supermarket across the road, which has been my saving grace. It's been back and forth to the supermarket for breakfast, lunch and dinner, snacks, milk...etc. Four or five times a day, it was off to grab something else! Packing to come down was interesting too as I had gym gear, swim gear, protein, normal clothes, trainers, jandals and thermals. This all had to fit in a 10kg baggage allowance on the way down, and a 7kg on the way back. My advice for travelling with carry-on baggage only? Pack stuff you are happy to dispose of before you go home. I deliberately took things that were two sizes too big thanks to all my training and dropped them off in the clothing recycle bin at the hostel after washing them on our last day. Sorted! And take books - audio or real ones. When you're a total nana like I am these days and want to go to bed at 8pm because you're tired, it helps to have things to read :-)

33 metre pools and other gyms are indeed different

Okay, so swimming in a 25 metre pool is a bit girly. Especially when you have the 33 metre Freyberg pool in Wellington to swim in for four days! I went down, swam a bit over half a km (managed to bamboozle myself with maths for a change) and came out feeling great. Rock on! I may not be the fastest swimmer around, but hey, it's the technique and the distance that count. I am missing my gym terribly. I got a big shock when I went into club physical on Manners Street. I was shocked that there was one person on the desk but no staff on the gym floor. Their stationary bikes weren't great and they had weird reebok machines. My gym may not be Les Mills or be kitted out with TechnoGym (mmmm, TechnoGym *drooling like homer simpson*), but it has awesome Life Fitness equipment and there is always at least one person on the gym floor. Meh! To cut a long story short, I lasted probably seven minutes at Club Physical, then got miffed and left. I decided a swim was a much better option and I was right. I just can't sit around for days on end and do nothing - I turn into robobitch now. Not a good look! Mental note to self - when I buy my own gym in a few years, it's going to be the shizzle!

Busted!

I hurt like heck today after a bloody hard gym session last night. And to top it off, my trainer busted me in the supermarket looking at fresh pasta sauce - then lurked in the shadows while I got my vogels bread! LOL! For those of you overseas who aren't expat Kiwis, Vogels is the most asesome wholegrain bread. I like the 12 grain one, which I never seem to tire of - the mixed grain did my head in after a month, and I stumbled on the 12 grain quite by accident (i.e. grabbed the wrong loaf at the supermarket, got home, incinerated it in the toasted and since then it's all I buy). In other news, my iPod is back from hospital. It now has a shiny new screen, courtesy of a five year extended warranty I took out at purchase. A warning for those of you with a 30GB or 60GB video iPod (circa 2005) - your screen will crap out, with lovely horizontal rows of pixels dying across your screen. The bad news is that it's taken all night to copy all my 12,000 songs back onto it. Epic time fail.

Swimming lessons are going well - I love Swimsation swim school :-) I first learnt to swim with Hilton Brown (yes, THE Hilton Brown) back in primary school and from memory I got pretty good at it, but then got to teenagerhood and all of a sudden swimming wasn't cool. I should have kept at it - I wasn't cool either - so swimming and I could have been good outcast nerdy friends. Ah well!

I'm off to Wellington next week and have discovered Freyberg Pool at Oriental Bay, hopping distance from the accommodation. The gym situation looks a little grim, but there will be plenty of walking done so I think I can probably take four days off the weights and bike with the usual big improvements showing next week.

Time to pack my bags and head for bed - have a great day tomorrow everyone!

All systems are go

Went and saw my knee specialist yesterday about my right knee. I haven't been to see him since my 6-month left knee post-op appointment in January 2006. I was pulled and pushed and prodded and twisted and bent and yanked. I explained that I wanted to do the short course at the Auckland Half Ironman in March 2010, and he asked me why I was only doing the short course! Turns out there's nothing wrong with my right knee, and I'm cleared to do the full Half Ironman. Crikey! Anyway, the clearance has fired me right up. I did my usual hour of weights last night followed by one hour bike and then I went for a very short run. I can run!!! Yay!!! I can't run far, or for very long, but I CAN run and there's nothing physiological stopping me now. Onward - there's only 4.5 months to go!

Welcome!

With friends and family scattered all over the world, this is the easiest way to keep everyone up to date with my triathlon training! Hopefully I can keep you all entertained, informed and inspired. Who knows, maybe one (or more) of you will give triathlon a go. It's not all about Ironman, $10,000 bikes, wetsuits and carbon fibre. My first triathlon is a 100 metre swim, 10km bike and a 2km run. It will all be over by the time most people are starting to stir from a nice sleep on a Sunday morning. Heck, if I can do this after my knee surgeries, carrying an extra 20kg and with a long history of laziness - so can you! I may run like Forest Gump - but I don't care. At the end of the day, it's about completion, not competition. Yeah, sure, I'd like to win a tri someday, but for now it's about getting experience, fitness and endurance. Enjoy :-)