Gearing up and ready to go

I'm slowly ticking off the stuff I need on my triathlon journey. Recently I've finally got a wetsuit (thanks to the great team at XOSize in Bentleigh for helping me out - and into it, LOL). I have yet to christen it but I'm sure that Race 3 on Australia Day will sort that out. I only really bought it so jellies wouldn't cuddle me when I swim, but with the bodyfat shrinking

I picked up a new wind trainer on sale, and after a last minute decision to have a glass of harden up, I made a mercy dash to Bunnings to grab a pair of multigrip pliers to change my pedals back to my Mavics. I need to get back into the joy of riding as one with my bike and after a quick swap, I had a lovely hour on my bike tonight in the lounge back in my cleats. Hell, I don't have to worry about not unclipping in time when I'm in the lounge, and I can practise clipping in and unclipping until my cleats loosen up a bit.

I got a stack of 2XU vouchers for Christmas, so I'll be raiding the Spencer Street and DFO outlet stores soon and cleaning them out of XL ladies stock. If I can find an XL black ladies tri suit that fits I will be stoked. If it doesn't fit, it will be hanging up as motivation!

Since arriving in Oz, I am very frustrated by the fact that because I'm between sizes and a funny shape, I find it nigh on impossible to buy training capris or shorts. If it fits around the waist, it's too big in the butt, the hips and the legs I'm about a 12 around the shoulders now, but bigger in the bust, the waist and the hips. It's frustrating and annoying that I can't buy fitness gear that looks good and actually fits - and wicks moisture. I will not train in heavy cotton or anything that will end up feeling like a wet blanket after 10 minutes. NO WAY JOSE!

Sure, places like Big W have a larger ladies range, but the only place I'm larger is around the waist and all their gear looks like MC Hammer Pants on me. Plus, their gear for plus sizes doesn't wick moisture. Ugh! I also refuse to pay like $100 for a single pair of capris. Get real! It's not worth it when your shape is changing, your bodyfat is plummeting and you're an apple shape. 

I think I just need to design something and make it affordable somehow. Or, I'll have to go back to NZ and buy stuff from the Warehouse. Shizz, that's not appealing. Hopefully I can find some good gear on sale at 2XU which actually fits, I have heaps of stuff for later when I'd down a waist size, but right now it's training gear limbo land.

I also now have a Bike Pod.  It's the shizz.  Here's a photo:

Basically, it's made of 600 denier EVA - so similar to a samsonite fabric suitcase. It's got inline skate wheels, two moulded handles and then strap handles as well. Its got places to stash the wheels (mental note, get some extra skewers) and tonnes of space for everything else that can double as padding. I bought it because I am heading to Sydney for the Dextro in April, but I may have a surprise for y'all in store about where else I will be taking it next year.

It's awesome. It also only weighs 7kg so with my bike on board, it's up to 16kg. Sweet, dude.  Note to triathletes - if you fly Virgin Blue within Aussie and have bought the checked baggage allowance of 20 or 23kg for an extra $10 with your flight, they are nice enough to give you an extra 5kg of checked baggage allowance for your sporting equipment - free. The only conditions I was told about are that you need your bike suitably packaged (check) and to check in at the counter at least an hour before your flight. I called and asked if they needed to add the info to my booking but was told no. 

I will triple check this and advise closer to Dextro, but I suggest if you want to do this, call them and check it out for yourself.  I take no responsibility for a budget (but in my experience very good) airline and their policies.

So, with most of my major purchases out of the way I can concentrate on buying food, new runners every 6 months and saving for a tri-specific bike. My Avanti Sprit is quick, but I don't think it will be comfy enough for an Ironman and I need to add aeros to it (when I'm more aerodynamic myself, of course). I've  been told it's well nigh impossible to clip aeros onto a roadie and be comfy enough to bash out an Ironman, so I guess my gorgeous Sprint won't be coming with me when I do Ironman in 2012. Stink one bro.

Gotta bail, need my sleep or I'll be a cranky pants!

Born to be alive

Today I drove over the Westgate, through the Burnley tunnel, to Ikea, and procured a roast dinner at the roast kitchen in Kew before driving my stuff home and returning Pacman the flexicar! Go me!

I left out one important thing. I had a Wog Boy 2: Kings of Mykonos moment while driving over the Westgate. I imitated Steve who was singing along to "Born to be alive" by Patrick Hernandez while driving. Sadly, I wasn't in a Valiant Pacer, just a Honda Jazz. But the sentiment was there and that's what matters! Get the movie out, it's a scream. I love anything with Nick G or Vince Colosimo in it, hence why I have both Wog Boy movies, Underbelly uncut, and a few other obscurities on DVD.

On Tuesday I'm off to see my favourite band, MUSE, live in concert at Rod Laver Arena. I missed them in January at the Big Day Out in Auckland because my (then) stupid car decided to blow up on Christmas Eve and couldn't afford a ticket. So, when tickets went on sale on June 4, I snapped one up. I've had the ticket for over six months and I finally get to use it in three days. Hooray! At least there's no chance of my car blowing up on Christmas Eve this year, because I don't have one anymore. Ha, take that!

On Monday I hope to go back swimming. I haven't been able to train for weeks because of that stupid virus and I'm sick of sitting at home doing sweet nothing. I'll see how I go, I managed swim coaching today (but only just). I won't be racing next weekend which is annoying, and I bet the weather will be perfect just to spite me! I have decided to do my volunteer service next weekend at Race 2, so at least my conscience will be clear when I get to Race 3 - which I have already entered, by the way. Talk about organised.

Not much else to report, so I'm off to catch up on some pre-recorded Foxtel before I hit the hay.

Oh - actually, yes there is. I lose 1.6g this first week back on WW. HOORAY!!!

Ciao.

You're the one for me, fatty

The last week has been a hazy blur. I didn't get to race in my first tri of the season because good old mother nature had other ideas (see the post on November 28 for the [lack of] race report). Then, my body decided to beat the crap out of me and basically just shutdown. It was a blue screen of what felt like death - or if you're a Mac user like me, that pretty spinning pinwheel is probably more accurate.

Monday, the day after said lack of race, I felt okay-ish. A little tired, a little sore and a little stupid. I put this down to it being the day after the race the day before. Except, walking to work that morning, I noticed two fingers and some of my left arm were numb and tingly. That night, I fell asleep on the couch at 7.30 and was in bed not long after. Weird.  Tuesday I had half my left hand playing tingly wingly and again was in bed before the sun. I had the headache from hell too, and a sore throat to boot.

By Wednesday morning, the numby tingly wingly had hit my other hand and some of my left foot. I wasn't too concerned, but I was very, very tired. I left work early and went to the doctor. After a thorough exam she proclaimed that yes I had a nasty virus, that I was overtired and on the verge of exhaustion from not having had a holiday in 18 months, and sent me off for a full round of fun at Draculas Castle (i.e. blood tests for everything under the sun)...including the lovely Eppstein Barr virus test, better known as glandular fever or to Americans, mono. Because there were two fasting tests required, I had all the tests done Thursday morning first thing. I fainted at the lab and had to get a cab home. Fun, fun, fun.

Friday I started harassing the lab for my results. After a very stressful day, I finally found out at 6.04pm that it wasn't glandular fever, or thyroid, or diabetes, or cancer, or crazy high cholesterol. I also wasn't anaemic or missing vitamin D. Well, grand. But WTF is going on with me?

Saturday I went back to the Doctor and was read the riot act. My fasting glucose was at the top end of the acceptable range, meaning that I'm basically pre-pre-diabetic; I was suffering from exhaustion and needed to sort out my weight, pronto. Being a fat triathlete is not good. I read myself the riot act and said, "that's it, I'm going to join Weight Watchers online TODAY. What's my weight?"

True to my word, I came home, got on the net and joined WW Online. I also got onto the website to register for my age group spot in the 2011 Dextro Energy ITU World Championship in Sydney.  It's an Olympic distance race in which I get to swim in Sydney Harbour, bike over the coathanger (Sydney Harbour Bridge) and run past the Opera House. Aces! It's on 10th April. That's just over four months away, so as soon as I can go back to training I'm doing so!

So, my plan is as follows:

• Work my way back down to the bottom of Athena Class (70kg). I should be no more than 69kg but I have stacks of muscle which I need for my big races next year. Stuff the BMI, I'm currently 34% muscle and don't want to lose any!
• Finish the Dextro in Sydney in under 3.5 hours. 1.5km swim in under 30 mins, the 40km bike in 1hr 30 mins and the run in under 1hr 15mins. The swim and the bike are definitely do-able in these timeframes and the run should be okay with this timeframe too.  I can't run more than 2km at present but have like 17 weeks to sort that out!
• Finish my PT certificate over Xmas / New Year and then book in for the work experience and practical assessment.
• Attend 3Fest, the Triathlon/Multisport Conference and Expo in late January.
• Coach myself.  I CAN do this.

It's bedtime folks, I am yawning my head off now and need some shut eye.

Ciao.

T-5 days and counting

In seven days I'll be enjoying (read: panicking) the night before the first race of the season - and the longest race of my triathlon career to date. Okay, so it's only 100m extra in the swim, 1.75km extra on the bike and no extra on the run - but the swim may feature jellyfish (gross!) and will be my first swim in a wettie, and the bike will be interesting considering I've spent hardly any time on it since moving over from NZ.  

I've been out for a few rides, some very long and others not very long at all. Not being able to get my left pedal on due to not knowing that the left crank is threaded differently to the right was a newbie error. In my defence, I didn't pack my bike to come over here, my bike Mechanic Ben did. I don't think I could even change a tyre, hence why the instructions are in my saddle bag. I have bought a floor pump with gauge and a multi tool/repair kit as the tyre cement wasn't allowed on the plane in my bike box (adhesives are banned in unaccompanied baggage). Meh.

This Saturday (i.e. the day before the race) I get to go and buy a wettie. I am a little worried about this, I'm not girl shaped and sure as hell not girl sized, so a man's wetsuit is my only option. Manufacturers of practically everything don't seem to have cottoned on to the fact that there are Athena class triathletes (i.e. women over 70kg) like myself and thousands of others worldwide, who don't fit into nice little size XXS gear. 

Go lose some weight and get over myself, I hear you say? Well, I'm doing just that. Sadly, it doesn't happen overnight and gear shopping is a bit of a nightmare because there's all this nice stuff out there that doesn't fit little fat me. I think I can still squeeze into my Danskin tri suit from last season, so I will be wearing that on race day. My shape is changing - I've now got almost no fat around my arms and shoulders so this area is the first to feel cold. I've also lost it around my legs and butt. It's coming off my bouyancy belt (or my stomach if you will) but not as fast as other places. It is moving though, which is great.

So, Saturday is all about getting a bike check and a new wetsuit. Right now however, I need sleep.

Ciao.

Silent lessons for a quiet war

The war I'm referring to is a mental one. My brain keeps trying to talk me out of racing on the 28th, with all kinds of BS excuses - such as I'm not fit enough, I don't have a wetsuit, I don't like jellyfish, I'm going to get stung by said jellies, I'm going to react to being stung by jellies and need an epipen and will get a DNF, etc.  Yep, BS excuses indeed. No amount of freaking out about the unknown/uncontrollable will stop these things from happening.

The long range rain forecast isn't looking good for race day.  I've never raced in the rain, so this should be interesting. It will mean wet socks + wet shoes = wet feet, an equation I'm not keen on.  And wet gear! I don't mind running in the rain but riding in the rain is suboptimal. At least it's only 12.5km, but still, wet bike shoes are not good. I'm actually thinking it would be a good idea to do this race with my old pedals on, not my cleats, and do the whole thing in my runners.

I've been swimming religiously, twice a week on my own plus one swim coaching session per week. I've been a bit off with my weight training and bike and run, but that's life.

It'll all be fine come race day.  I hope!

Should I self-coach?

It's a lovely morning here in Melby, or at least it was. The wind has been howling all night and blew over a few things at the back of my house, waking me in the process each time. Those who know me well are aware it is not a good idea to wake me up unnecessarily. I can be a bit of a tyrant when sleep deprived or my routine is disrupted. All patience goes out the window and I turn into a grumpy demon.

Speaking of Jedi mind tricks, I've been a lot more focussed this past week. I completed all my training sessions and bought my hard-earned replacement Sennheiser headphones yesterday. I was even more excited by the fact that they were $30 off. So, I went to Rebel Sport and bought a yoga mat bag, and new gym gloves.  I'd just joined Rebel's Season Pass Programme, and had a $20 credit so the gloves ended up being free and the mat bag was only $25.  I was still up by $5 so I met up with two friends at Highpoint and had a coffee.

I still haven't heard back from the Tri Coach I contacted, so I guess I'll be coaching myself for Ironman. I'm rather disappointed by this to be honest, it's bad enough I was stood up the day after I got back from Malaysia when I was jet-lagged and in no way in the mood to train, but Ii hauled butt down to the assigned meeting spot, bike and gear and all. So, this is just BS. Here I am wanting to give someone money and they can't even be bothered responding. Ah well - I guess that's life, and maybe I should get a coach who has actually done NZ AND will respond to queries.Or, I'll just pick the brains at the club and coach myself with the help of books and triathlete friends for advice. Better yet, the next coaching course the comes up through Tri Vic that doesn't clash with a race will be game on.

If Chrissie Wellington can train herself, why can't I? Just because I haven't done an Ironman YET doesn't mean I can't coach myself, right? Perhaps I should! At the very least, I'll give it a crack. I also remembered today that my skills coach from uni has a boyfriend who is a coach in NZ AND is at the event because he's the swim announcer. That could be handy.

I'm realistic, I know it is going to hurt almost as much as when the nerve block wore off after my last knee reconstruction. If I can get through that, I can get through Ironman. I know I have work out my nutrition, that's the story of my life, really. Then there are just rest periods and tapers and key races and build ups and time trials and a week off after every 12 weeks of hard yakka, and increasing anything (volume especially) by no more than 10% per week, and periodisations and intensities and distances and showing my body what it needs to do and my jedi mind tricks and progressions and etc. It feels a little overwhelming but it can be done.

I have done pretty much everything my whole life on my own, so surely I can do this on my own too? There are plenty of internet forums, magazines, books, internet articles, Ironmen at my tri club and triathletes that I know, so maybe I should just go for it and coach myself. I won't have to pay myself anything, I don't have to worry about my coach not showing up for meetings, and I'm sure I can do this with the support of the trainers at my gym, my swim coach and an accountability partner. At least the cat always supports me, no matter what I do (well, except for when her bowl is empty - but with an automatic pet food dispenser that hardly happens anymore).

So, let the experiment begin. I will enlist help as I need it, if and when I need it. I'm a very organised person by nature, so as long as I stay organised it should be sweet. I just need to plan, plan, and plan some more. I need to think and plan and organise and sort and prepare and plan some more.  I did 7 triathlons in four months last season without a coach (and for three months, without a PT). I CAN DO THIS!

Let it rock.

It's persisting down

Saturday started well for me. Some slight drizzle on the way to the pool, a good swim coaching session, then straight over the road to the gym for my 1.5 hours of weights, bike, run and pilates. I finished up about 10.15am and headed off down to the village for coffee and fresh bread.  

At some point during swim coaching the rain stopped, but since lunchtime it's been coming down gently and steadily. We've been threatened with a month's worth of rain in 24 hours, so I guess it will still be hosing down tomorrow too. I did want to get out and do a few things, but I just can't be bothered in this weather. I'm having a quiet day at home instead, enjoying the serenity of the Indian neighbours having a screaming argument...again, and the schizophrenic French guy neighbour's random loud world music.

There are plenty of indoor things for me to do - for example, I have to make my new range of Christmas Cards (I may hate Christmas with a vengeance due to blatant over-commercialism, but that won't stop me from cashing in on it and using the cards to help pay for my triathlon habit). I also have Wog Boy 2 - Kings of Mykonos on DVD to watch tonight, now that I've completed all my training sessions this week I have certainly earned it!  I have stacks of Foxtel to watch on my iQ box, and the Ironman New Zealand 2010 DVD may just end up playing again too. I have photos to sort, muffins to bake and books to read. Life is good.

Training today was hard yakka (that's hard work for all you non-Aussies reading this), but well worth it.  Pulled an extra five minutes above my program specs on the bike and the run, did extra ab work despite having been tortured at yoga last night (more on that shortly), and all my weights. I skipped the 1km rowing warm up as by the time I left swim coaching and got to the gym my heart rate was over 120 and I'd just done 500m in the pool working on technique.

Yoga last night was interesting. I got there early again, which meant Tom had an extra 15 minutes to help me torture myself. First stop was the ropes on the wall (yes, those ones from last week). I got to criss cross them, climb into them with my back to the wall, pull them up to my hip flexors, walk out about two small steps and bend forward at the hips until my hips couldn't take it anymore and I was almost bent in half. Then I got to hang in that position for five sets of one minute each. Just when I thought my hamstrings were going to burst, Tom had me walk my hands forward as far as I could go. Now my calves wanted to burst, along with my hammies, quads and glutes. Owie. 

After climbing back out it was time for back bends over a wooden barrel. Ouch, ouch, ouch. I did however manage to roll backwards to the point of a correct back bend, with my shoulders on the floor. As I rolled out and back in the first time, my spine cracked one vertebrae at a time and felt fantastic. By this point it was time for class to start, so we did sun salutations. Tom and the other lady in my class did 54 in 35 minutes, I got to 19 and piked. Not bad for my second week, apparently. I was given a myriad of other poses while they completed their sets of sun salutations. After another 30 minutes of poses including Warrior 2 and a bunch of stuff on one leg, it was what I like to call blankie time. Bliss. I left feeling awesome again. It was good to sweat and pose and hurt the week away.

So, three hard days of hard out training in a row and I have certainly earned a day of chill time and a nice choccie milk. I've had second breakfast, lunch and a nap on the sofa, but might head to bed and nap for an hour or so. 

Four weeks until Race 1. Bring it on, I know that I will be ready for it.

Motivate me...I wanna get myself out of this bed

My motivation has flagged a bit this week and it's been hard to drag myself out of bed. I'm still using bribery to motivate myself to do my sessions. It's not a lack of desire, it is the fact that Ironman is still so far away and  my head keeps telling me I have heaps of time. Evil head!

House dramas haven't helped this week - the sink wouldn't drain all weekend and the plumber couldn't fix it until Monday. Sunday night was spent bailing it out with a bucket every time the guy upstairs ran his sink tap. Awesome. The plumber came on Monday and threw some acid down my sink which sorted everything out.

Monday was tainted by some pushy house valuer calling to demand I come home and let her in because the landlord's bank wants a valuation. I basically told her to get stuffed and to talk to the real estate agent, who I called and went slightly postal at. The agent was meant to call me and warn me but hadn't got around to it. Judging by her lack of care, urgency and basic communication since I was offered the house five months ago, I wasn't at all surprised by this.  

I got home that night and discovered that the lock I thought was keeping my bedroom window secure for all these months, doesn't even work. And last night I arrived home to find a death threat from the water company because the landlord hasn't paid the water bill for about six months. So, yes, I have been slightly distracted this week.

I've had a reasonable training week. Monday's swim session was good, as was last night's - well, aside from the noodles in the pool who were mucking around with pool noodles in the lanes, not in the recreation area of the pool. They wouldn't move and were quite nasty when my friend the water walker suggested they might have more fun in the half of the pool dedicated to mucking around. Some people just don't get (or want to get) pool etiquette.

I did almost all of Monday's swim session with flippers on. I did half of last night's with flippers on, and let me tell you, it makes a heck of a difference to your speed. My warm up is four laps with kickboard and flippers (about 100m), and my cool down is much the same. Last night I thought I'd do the cool down without the flippers, and it was so slow that it felt like dragging the Queen Mary through custard! I came home and had the makings of foot cramps, so I made sure I took my magnesium last night.

Tuesday's gym session was skipped as it was my Mum's 22nd anniversary and I just wasn't in a good head space. I did however go and get some new yoga clothes (on sale, two complete outfits for $49!), which will be great for Friday night Iyengar. I wasn't comfy in last week's class and had a wardrobe malfunction (not good when your teacher is a bloke) so I spent part of the class constantly readjusting my outfit - not so good for the concentration.

Tonight it's gym night.  I've decided to do two resistance sessions a week, but give myself the freedom to do them on a choice of three days. This way I can have a night off if I need to and not feel super guilty for it. I figure that the Yoga class is so intense that it basically compensates for a third session anyway, plus gives me time to work on my flexibility - especially my lack of foot and ankle flexibility. If I skip a night during the week, I have to do it straight after swim coaching on Saturday, which is okay because the gym is across the road from the coaching pool. Literally!

Bring on Yoga this week, I need some Zen time.

Fat floats

Fat does indeed float. Most days I am thankful for the extra buoyancy that the fat provides, and of course the warmth in winter. But on Friday, in 28.6 degree heat, I was reminded that fat + heat is not a good combination.  Fortunately, the gallstone has some rather strict ideas about my diet, and with the new eating plan and ramping up the training, my buoyancy should be on the decline.  Then it will be cries from my swim coach of "keep your hips up" in the water when I'm swimming...LOL!

There's five more weeks until the season starts, and four more weeks until the season launch.  In the past  week I have managed to complete most of my training sessions.  This week would have been a 6/6 if I hadn't had a techie fail at work which resulted in my staying back for a couple of extra hours to try and sort something out. I missed a gym session, so have tried to make up for it with lots of walking and housework - but who am I trying to kid, it's so not the same thing!

So, I decided on the basis that I had done a great job with almost all my training this week, that I'd buy myself the reward I promised myself anyway.  It's Wog Boy 2: Kings of Mykonos on DVD.  Whether I watch it this week or save it for next week when I've done every single training session is still up for negotiation.  I think I'll save it for next week.  It's still shrink wrapped so I'll put it on my dressing table and look at it like five times a day as motivation!

My new training schedule is as follows:

Monday - swim

Tuesday - weights, bike, run, core

Wednesday - swim

Thursday - weights, bike, run, core

Friday - Iyengar Lotus Yoga (1.5 hours)

Saturday - Swim coaching, bike, run and core.

Sunday - sit on butt.  

Lotus Yoga sounds relaxing but it's hardcore Iyengar which includes hanging from the wall on ropes for one minute at a time, into a squat while still hanging on the ropes for another minute and then pulling yourself back up with all your muscles.  And stacks of poses that involve wrist, hand, foot and leg strength.  My ankle and foot flexibility will improve with this class, and the best part is probably the 15 mins at the end where we are lying on mats on the floor with blankies and eye bags.  LOL!

I pickup up my new club hoodie today and it's fantastic!  Wow, wow, wow.  I'm already wearing it with pride and look forward to wearing it more often.  It's super light, super warm and super awesome, so will be a regular part of my wardrobe until it dies.  All good - I'm not THAT hard on my clothes, but it's going to see some serious wear from now on.

Until later, rock on with your bad selves.

Jetlag, time differences and narcolepsy

I arrived home from Kota Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo yesterday morning and despite a lot of sleep and even napping on the plane, I'm still buggered.  Oh yeah, and I have a kidney infection to boot.  Woohoo!

I had a wonderful time in KK.  I adore Malaysia, and my second trip did nothing to reduce the adoration.  I've decided to spend at least one week a year in Malaysia, as it is such a wonderful place to explore. 

I swam in crystal clear water on a private beach on an Island in the South China Sea, drank mocktails under the spectacular sunsets over Dalit Bay, got a bit of a tan and two henna tattoos, watched Orang-utans from just a few feet away, and worked my butt off - but still had time for some minor shopping (two pairs of shoes, two sarongs, some coasters, a couple of batik fans, a pair of 'PRADA' sunglasses, some lovely bamboo placemats, some triathlon mags and some candy).

I managed to lose my precious noise-reducing Sennheiser headphones at Melbourne airport before jumping on two flights totalling 10 hours.  Feck.  Then, on day two in KK, my precious Canon A430 decided to have lens issues.  The message 'lens error, restart camera' is still haunting my dreams. 

Fortunately, I took my iPhone so was able to get most of the shots I wanted thanks to the great iPhone camera.  Not having a flash in the 3GS camera is a pain in the posterior though, but I struggled through and managed to get a good couple of hundred photos.  Here's a selection of the best:

More to follow when I'm less jetlagged and tired and grumpy!