Raindrops on road bikes and blisters and kittens

After my mammoth swim effort on Saturday, I woke Sunday feeling more stiff and sore than I do after a tri. Given that my toe blisters came from my bike shoes and had popped somewhere between getting out of the pool and changing, I elected not to ride on Sunday.  I got the blisters after riding in the rain without moisture wicking socks, in my new bike shoes, on the day of the recent crash.  No more riding in the rain for now, or at least until I get a couple of pairs of Thorlo socks and neoprene bike shoe covers.

My blisters deserved a break, and the weather was threatening rain.   I did not need a repeat performance of the blisters.   I also need the blisters gone by next Sunday so I can scream through the 393 at Takapuna.  Word of warning – do not bother with blister-specific plasters if your blisters are on the underside your toes. Not only do they not stay on and require taping down, they are bloody expensive!

Instead of riding, I went out with my friend Ariel from Melbourne who was here overnight and picked up a few bike bits.  I now have a Topeak aero wedge saddle bag, Topeak TriBag (like a bento box for your top tube) and a new Cat Eye Velo 8 bike computer.  Sorted!  As much as I initially loved the cheap and nasty computer I had on my bike, I got sick of it constantly misreporting my speed and the instructions were only in Chinese (no use to me at all!) so I couldn’t reset anything.  Ariel is working on sponsors for me, Woohoo!

Sunday night we had all kinds of feline fun.  My flatmates went out for dinner and found a pair of very cute kittens, but sadly couldn’t catch them and bring them home.  Their cat Cleo brought in a dead sparrow which she proceeded to throw around in their clean washing for around an hour.  I’d only just taken it outside and dispose of it when Cleo brought in something small, dark and fast moving.  She dropped it, it ran under the couch and thinking it was a lizard, I left it for my flatmates to deal with while I watched the amazing race.

The flatmates arrived home and on lifting up the couch, we discovered it was a mouse, not a lizard!  It was faster than Craig Alexander at Ironman, and promptly disappeared after a few laps of the lounge.  My female flatmate and I jumped up on the couch as the rodent zoomed around the room (she screamed, I didn’t), at which point my male flatmate pointed at me and laughed while saying “you do triathlons and you’re scared of a bloody mouse?” 

Oh dear – he had a point.  I was terrified of triathlons six months ago, and now I would rather do a tri than have a mouse run across my feet.  We sent my cat Sydney after the mouse, but she was only interested in searching where it had been three minutes earlier.  Cleo had vanished off outside, and it was 10pm so I went to bed and left them to it.  I had to get up at 5.30am to swim on Monday morning and I was dog tired.

The alarm went off on Monday morning and I shot out of bed.  Fortunately, I was organised and had packed everything on Sunday night.  I was in the water at the pool by 6.03am and swam for half an hour, dodging a kickboard woman and a very slow woman in the medium speed lane.  Ugh… people, please learn pool etiquette and get in the correct lane for your swim speed (or lack thereof), or at least swim up the correct side of the damn lane!  I wanted to do 100m laps but due to the aforementioned human obstacles (which I could not even draft off), I could only manage 50m laps.  So damn annoying!

I hit the gym Monday night energetically too.  I had a great resistance training session, working so hard that my heart rate was over 170 at times.  I did my 3x15 of everything, and then went to grab a treadmill to run on.  However, my plan was foiled by people who had booked the treadmills out right up until 9pm and weren’t even using them!  Yes, yet another annoying situation caused by inconsiderate people. 

I gave up on the run idea, as it was already dark outside, and did my core work for a cool down.  I stretched, went home, had protein and carbs, watched a bit of TV and went out like a light.

Today I had a PT session with a client to check her form with her resistance plan.  She’s doing well – a few minor tweaks and she’ll be getting some great results in a couple of weeks.  Well done her, and well done me!

As far as my training is going, I think “pretty well now that I’m cleared for normal activity” would be a good description.  My training plan is as follows:

Monday

Swim AM

Gym + Core + Interval run PM

Tuesday

Bike + short run off bike PM

Wednesday

Swim AM

Interval run PM

Thursday

Spin Class AM

Gym + Core PM

Friday

Rest day

Saturday

Swim coaching + Core + Short bike + Long Run brick PM

Sunday

Long Bike AM

Of course, if there is a tri on the weekend, I have modified the plan slightly to fit in a rest day and the race day.  I have mapped out the next 16 weeks so there are no excuses for not knowing what I need to be doing and when.  I am organised! Training is so much easier when you have everything scheduled and ready to go.  Packing and laying stuff out the night before helps when you have a crack of dawn session.  Watching the sun rise from the indoor heated pool is nice, watching the sun set when you’re out for a run or out on the bike is nice too – but not having to run around like a banshee at 5.30am trying to pack breakfast and lunch and snacks and gear, is just awesome!

I am starting to think this triathlon thing is 80% perspiration and 20% organisation. Experience tells me I’m right.

 

the week that was

Another week down; another week with very little training and another week of elbow pain.  I went back to the Doc on Wednesday and got good news - my elbow probably wasn't broken, just sprained and grumpy.  I had to wait until Thursday afternoon to find out that the xrays were clear, and for Thursday evening to see the sports physio for a checkup.  The consensus from my team of medicos was unanimous = all clear, and back to training. Yay!

I also received good news from the transmission mechanic.  The transmission in the car is fine, but the car is idling too fast on startup, which is causing the jumping into reverse if you have no patience (and I sure as heck don't first thing in the morning) and don't wait for the idle to come down before shifting into reverse.  So, I reverse into my car space at night and drive out in the morning.  This little workaround will have to do until the car goes in for a service in a few weeks.

On another positive note, all my requested papers for this year have been confirmed with Massey University, so I'm going to work on my Bachelor of Sport and Exercise degree.  Yes, it will take a few years to complete, but hey, nothing good ever happened overnight!

And, it was off to the pool today for my swim coach session with Connie.  We've inherited another two people this term, although how long they will last is anyone's guess.  Neither can swim a whole length of the pool and struggle to complete half a length even with dog paddle, so either I'll be put up to level 3 or they'll be dropped to level 1 (or just drop out). We'll see.

Anyway, I discovered I can swim 150m nonstop now - 100m freestyle, then I have to rollover and do backstroke.  My arm didn't ache during swimming which was great, but my shoulders did by about 80m so obviously I have some work to do there.  I did my lesson (300m) mostly breaststroke, followed by another 700m in blocks of 100m freestyle.  I felt good - great in fact, until I realised my blisters from two weeks ago had burst.  Owie!  I procured bandaids from the pool staff, patched myself up and went out to get boxing gear to use when training a client twice a week.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to hurt tomorrow, and with my blisters being so gross I'm not riding with them in that shape.  I need them sorted for training this week and my tri next weekend, plus a friend arrives from Melbourne tonight who is helping sponsor me with gear and we're shopping tomorrow for a few more things off my list.

Best away, got to go pick her up at the airport soon!

Welcome to the dark side

After yesterday's swim FAIL, I figured a ride was in order. Sadly, it's now swim FAIL and ride FAIL. My elbow just won't cooperate and riding in constant pain is not fun. I did about 7km on a selection of flat and hilly roads but had to give it up as I was just too uncomfortable. Epic FAIL.

Heck, I might actually have to go water jogging...and back to the stationary bike at the gym. Nooooooooooo!!! At least weights weren't giving me any problems last week, even if I only did two sets of the arms and thrashed my legs. Okay, so my hammies weren't happy with me the next day. I went way too hard on my legs at the gym and then smashed them with 20km at serious race pace. 

Pain was my best mate the next day, but that's not always a bad thing. I look at it as my muscles telling me they were worked hard, and need a break. I tried a variation on an existing exercise that made it at least 150% harder than my legs were used to. Fortunately, the next day was a total rest day so by Saturday they were ready to roll and were loosened up in the pool. Sad I can't say the same about my jolly elbow! 

In other news, I've booked my trip to Ironman New Zealand 2010. No, sadly, I am not competing in it this year. But my friend Sean is, and I want to go support him and the 1000+ other awesome brave souls who could be racing up to 17 hours straight in one of the toughest endurance events around. 

Ironman kicks off at 6.45am on the Saturday for the pros, and 7am for the awesome mortals. I've also applied to volunteer at Ironman, so I'll let you all know what job I get (if any!). I've been feeling a bit down about my tri season thanks to my stupid elbow injury, so hopefully Ironman gives me the inspirational kick up the jacksy that I need right now.

I'm heading down to Taupo on the bus on the Friday, arriving early afternoon. I've got a nice room booked about 10 minutes walk from everything and have already google mapped my trip. Sorted! My bus returns mid-afternoon on Sunday, so I have time to attend the "considering doing an Ironman?" session on the Sunday afternoon. I'll even have time to chillax and walk along the lake on the Friday afternoon and Sunday morning. Awesome! 

The accommodation and bus fares come in at under $100 total so that's made attending a lot easier. The petrol alone to drive down and back would have been well over $100 and to be honest, I'd rather sit on the bus so I can take photos, chill, and enjoy the scenery.

The demonic car seems to be playing up again (in reverse this time) and although it's under warranty for another week, I am nervous and unimpressed. I'll take it back this week and get it checked out. I'll be car-less again for a couple of days but it's all good. I can't train much at the moment anyway, so don't need to be driving to the pool for now. 

Must sleep, dog tired and have work tomorrow. 

Ciao

The elbow strikes back

Well, it's been about six months since the last time I "broke" my elbow (aka radial neck).  And it appears I may now have done this for the third time!  I didn't swim at all this week, so this morning I braved the pool.  I did my swim, but it hurt like hell and I ended up giving up earlier than planned and heading back to the doctors.

I saw an awesome doctor named Belinda, who consulted the ACC book of lies and told me that a radial neck/head fracture should be in plaster (according to ACC).  Well, since the fracture still isn't confirmed, I was sent on my unhappy way with instructions to come back on Wednesday for more xrays, which will apparently show if the bone is starting to knit.  This Doc is nice - knows her stuff, has a bedside manner, isn't an airhead - unlike the one I saw the day of the accident.  Perhaps he should shadow Belinda for a week and maybe he'll learn some people skills!

Oh yeah...Belinda told me no swimming until the next xray results come back.  Bugger.  In the interests of actually healing, I guess I will follow her advice.  However, the gym workout on Thursday night didn't hurt despite my doing seated row, shoulder press, bicep curl and rowing machine work.  It hurt more on the bike to be fair.

Wednesday can't come soon enough, I hate not being able to train.  I'll try my bike tomorrow and see how I go, except this time I'll drive around to the back of Airport Oaks for a ride where the traffic is a bit lighter and there's lots of other cyclists (and triathletes) around in case I get in any trouble!

never mind the bollocks, it's Sid and Nancy.

When I had my last knee surgery, two titanium screws were implanted in my left tibia. I named them Sid and Nancy, and here's a portrait of the little darlings:

They don't actually touch in real life, and thanks to these freeloaders, I'm banned from the leg extension machine for life. Awesome. Of course, having a rather warped sense of humour, I named all my equipment. My brace was Elvis (who left the building in style four months after my surgery), my crutches were Thelma and Louise. But Sid (4cm long) and Nancy (3.5cm long) will always be with me, and being made of titanium, they will cause me less trouble than their real life namesakes caused in their lifetimes!

I'm proud of these screws, and of this xray. The first time I saw the images, I freaked.  I figured I'd never do anything sporting again. But, true to his word, my surgeon cleared me to get out there and live it up last November and I have to make him proud. Hence my decision to not just do one sport, but three - one after the other in quick succession (or slow, if you analyse my transition times thus far), and turn it into a bit of an obsession AND a way of life.  

I'd had 17 years of knee pain, knee problems and knee frustration up to this point.  This image represents me being given my life back. My advice to anyone having knee surgery is to think about something you'd really like to do that you never thought would be possible, then get off your jacksy and go do it once your surgeon clears you.  

Trust me, we regret more the things we haven't done, than the things we have.

*motivational speech ends*

Maraetai's murderous bike course

okay, calling the bike course for next weekend a "murderous bike course" is a total exaggeration.  It wasn't THAT bad.  Well, it was bad for me, but not that bad on the whole.

I got up early, packed the car, picked up my Dad and set off out to Umupuia for a tri sim session.  I'd finished a couple of goes at the swim when who should appear but Annie from the Bucklands Beach session.  Awesome!  I had someone to ride with.  Perfecto - but I wasn't planning on riding and hadn't had a lot of fluids before or after my swim, so I wolfed a gel and set off behind Annie to tail her out and back.

I tried to chug down my drink to wash down the gel but just past the turnaround point on the bike I had the stitch from hell.  It sat in my right side for about five minutes, before I tried to stretch out and then sat up on the bike.  The fact that I was going up a long grindy hill didn't help, so I looked at the road just in front of my bike and pretended I was on the flat.  I've only ever had one stitch on the bike before and got rid of that by going aero on my road bars, but couldn't bend that far today so sat up with my hands on the top bar.  Bingo - within a minute, the stitch was gone and didn't' come back.  Lesson learned - water, then gel, then more water, followed by more water.  Clown!

I ran straight off the bike and did about 1.5km with no random side of ankle and foot pain. Cool - maybe it's gone now - and my legs didn't feel heavy or jelly like.  Possibly because they were still in shock from the grindy hills on the bike course.  Don't know for sure, guess I will find out next week at the event.

Speaking of which, I think my times will go out the window.  I just want to finish this next one, I really don't give a rats backside about the time.  I know the swim and T1 will be around 12 minutes, and the run will be around 28-30 minutes, so if I allow 30-35 minutes for the bike and T2 I'm back around 1hr 15-1hr 17 or so.  That will be fine - this is by far the most difficult course to date and I'm not out to thrash myself as I want my PR the weekend after at Mission Bay - when I want to do 50 mins flat or less.

Dad got video of my swim, which was lopsided as hell owing to a nice shot of hamthrax (better known as a flu shot) the day before.  I couldn't do anything about it so it didn't really matter.  My left delt is grumpy as, so right now I'm just ignoring it.  I imagine the itching around the jab site will start soon, and my lungs already feel like they are full of gunk, so whatever!

Anyway, off to bed as I am buggered.  More later.

Trucks are not cool

I had my first run in with a moving vehicle today.  Actually, a truck tried to run me off the road.  I'm okay - bruised, sore, bashed and really hurty, but okay.

I rode out to and then round the back of the airport today.  Just as I was turning round to head home, I got clipped by a truck who decided he needed the whole road and the kerb and white shoulder area.  Not cool.  To cut a long story short, I have a HUGE bruise coming up on my left glute, another coming up at the base of my left thumb, and two sets of xrays for my left wrist and left elbow with question marks on them.  I'm in a sling for the rest of this long weekend.  Not cool at all.

I rode home after being scraped off the road and back onto my bike.  Heck, it was only 12km and the adrenalin and endorphins were pumping so why the hell not?  I then hit the A&E for some xrays and a sling.  Joy oh joy - and with instructions to not swim or bike until the pain subsided or about seven days (whichever was sooner).  So, looks like I'm on enforced rest for a week. 

We'll see how long that lasts!

I love cleats!

Tonight I headed down to my bike shop to get fitted with shoes, pedals, cleats and a proper bike fit. I've been dreading getting this done for weeks, not because of the price, but the whole "I'm scared of cleats and I'll fall off and break another bone" thing. It came time to have a bowl of harden up, and get into it!

I was fitted with Specialized Sport Rd shoes in beautiful black.  I'd originally wanted tri shoes (one velcro strap instead of three or four) but they don't come in "short foot" size (I'm an 8, which by normal standards in this country is on the big side). So, I have road shoes instead.  It's okay - the velcro still fastens fairly quickly, although it takes a bit longer to get the shoes off, so my bike to run transitions will be a wee tad slower. I think I can cope with an extra 15 seconds at this stage!

Next up were "real" pedals. I was struggling with trying to choose between Shimano and Mavic. I really and truly liked the Shimanos, but to be honest I originally thought the Mavics looked like darth vader's helmet. It was after a second look that I realised that the Mavics were on sale (and were almost half the original price) and thought "screw it, take me to the dark side". Good choice, I like the science fiction look.

By this time, my bike was up on the Dialed in Motion trainer and it was time to saddle up and ride off into the sunset. Well, almost. I was stuck to my bike, which was stuck to the machine. A few minutes later, it was all go. My bike was set up for me and I was out the door and off home for a quick ride.

I got home, got the bike out of the car, got on and rode out to the kerbside...then promptly fell off into the road due to having no momentum and trying to clip in while stationary on a road bike.  What a clown...I got up, got back on and rode off down the street. I figured I'd do about 5km but 17km later I was home and well happy with my updated bike setup. Nice work, Nick the bike man!

More later, I'm pretty tired yet exhilarated at the same time, so best I go to bed! I'll leave you with a photo of my cleats:

I kicked some butt!

My second tri is done and dusted! I finished in a very respectable time - in fact, 1 hour 14 mins 36 seconds. I beat my own expecations in terms of time, as I figured it would take between 1 hour 15 mins and 1 hr 30 mins, but was hoping for the lower number. Even with a very relaxed swim to bike transition, I came in under, yay!

Of course, had I run between the water and transition I could have saved a few seconds. If I hadn't stopped to wash the sand off my feet, dry myself a bit and have a big gulp of drink, I could have saved a few more seconds. Meh, whatever...I'd rather be relaxed in transition than stressing out like everyone else!

The swim wasn't as bad as I had imagined. I started out breast stroke, just to warm up a bit. I then moved into freestyle and backstroke, before finishing waterpolo. I was constantly slammed into doing freestyle, despite getting out of the way, and was really quite disgusted with the attitudes of those who slammed into me - not one apology, and one woman swam right over the top of me and nearly drowned me (and she wasn't a small lady either)! So very rude - what happened to good manners? 

It was a loooooong way from the water to transition. I didn't want to sprint, from having the foresight to drive the bike course before the race due to arriving early, I knew that I'd be better off saving my legs for the short nasty hill and long grindy hill on the bike. Good plan, as it turned out - I watched many ladies struggle up the short nasty hill while I dug in and ground it out. Many were getting off their bikes and pushing them up the short nasty hill. 

Halfway through the first bike lap, I started feeling hungry and a bit short on energy as I'd only had half my usual breakfast after feeling a bit seedy from the nerves at 4.30am on race day I'm proud to say I managed to scarf down a gel while on the bike, without stopping. I kept knocking back the grape mizone and just ground out the hills. I averaged 14kph on the hills, 22kph on the flat and 26 kph on the downhills so not a bad effort!

At the end of the second lap, I arrived back at transition. My feet were complaining (I still don't have proper pedals, shoes and cleats), so I took the rest break. I was then "helped" off the bike, which was a nice gesture but cost me time as I'm used to doing that myself and suddenly had some guy volunteer in my face trying to wrestle me off my bike! I didn't need the help, I just needed a kerb to lever myself off the bike. I racked up, removed my helmet, grabbed my run cap and water bottle, and set off at a nice fast walk pace.

I made it to the first run turnaround, and started to jog. I even passed a couple of people, and was feeling pretty pleased with myself until I saw the hill we had to climb! The first crack at the hill was awful, I could feel my calves on the verge of cramping so I backed off the pace a bit and just kept on plugging. 

At the top of the hill was a short flat spell before a downhill stretch. The downhill was seriously welcome, and I started to jog again. At the bottom of the hill for the second lap, I think the gel kicked in. I plugged away, got up the hill in less time than the first lap, scorched down the hill and around the corner, and headed for the finish line. Hooray for my first negative split!

I walked across the road, and when I found the grass 200m from the finish line, I broke into a trot. When I was just about to hit the line, the trot turned to a sprint. Job done!

This Tri was much better than the previous one. No silly newbie mistakes, no running with my helmet on, and lots of laughs at the start. Why the laughs? Well, an hour out, we were on the beach chililng out. Next thing we know an old couple come down for a swim. And why is this funny, you ask? Well, the old guy was wearing a pair of hot pink ladies bikini bottoms, the kind that tie up at the side. Ewwwww!!!

I woke up yesterday with a sore shoulder and sore ball of my left foot. They are less irritating today, but I'm over it - I wanted to go to the gym yesterday and again today but think I'm better off resting my foot and shoulder today and tomorrow. 

I'll hit the pool on Wednesday and the bike on Thursday night when I get my bike kit. Besides, I have uni today, tomorrow and Wednesday so it's not like I'll be bored.

So, roll on Thursday when I finally get shoes, pedals, cleats, aero bars and a proper bike fit!

T-26 hours and counting

It's now about 26 hours (give or take a few minutes) until my next tri, and I'm pretty excited.  Yes, I am a little bit nervous too, but nowhere near as bad as prior to my first ever tri six weeks ago.  I was so freaked out on race morning that I wanted to puke, and almost missed the start of the swim (see my entry on December 13 for more gory details!).

Registration in 10 hours or so, looking forward to seeing the event shirt :-)