men’s shorts no work on ladies, take note TA

Hi all,

Well considering the husband had fantastic news (anaconda winner!), i thought no one would notice if i was in hiding for a little while! We’ve been moving house bit by bit, I’ve been getting out Outdoors and Gardens magazine at work and working on my new project… almond butter! I’ve started making and selling almond butter to friends and family which has been loads of fun. I have four flavours; traditional (100% almonds, no added oils, sugar, salt nothing! just pure almond goodness), coconut vanilla almond butter, honey roasted cinnamon AB and 70% dark chocolate AB. I may go public soon but for now have just been making for nearest and dearest… if the interest is wide enough it may get bigger!

Anyway, training… I’ll start with the Freo Half Marathon last Sunday (20th Sept) where I did a PB, same day as Sean won anaconda! It was a good day for the O’Neills! Managed to run a 1.50.24 which was slightly over my goal time (aiming for sub 150) but a big PB. Hurrah!

Last week I had a 1km swim time trial in the pool too and my pal Chris and i managed to hang together and produce a rocking time! I was very pleased with my 13.31, only 9 seconds off my PB (13.22).

Thursday I came down with a nasty pants cold but luckily got in a well-needed cycle before I felt the effects. Sean came with me to Bulldog’s Floreat ride which was pretty good fun! It was tough but i love hanging out with Glenny, Corin, Paul, Big Jim and of course, Sean, Dog and Kimmy which i don’t often get to do on the bike. Sean gave me a few pushes and i was starting to feel kind of weak so it was very appreciated. Was good to try a new ride and got in 56km.

Friday I was devastated to miss my favourite session of the week, swimming followed by Deli Chi Chi with the gang. I was literally on the verge of tears all morning at the thought of missing out on the fun and feeling rubbish with cold. Yes I’m a baby when I’m sick and yes Sean may have had to deal with angry Rooster for a little while. But we had a fab friday night having Flipside mini burgers (they’re the perfect size! the big ones are too big but mini ones fill you up just right!) and he let me choose the dvd and yes i did pick 17 Again. It was kind of lame but totally fun and I enjoyed it. Sean even laughed a few times although tried to cover it with a cough.

Saturday training was off again, for both of us this time as we both had miserable colds! Thankfully we were distracted with packing up our house and i got to buy my first massive box of almonds for the AB!! I’m loving it. Our beautiful friend Karlos helped Sean make a big trip up to Bedfordale to store stuff and then we got to have dinner with him and Kel that night which was tops. But word to the wise, Peko Peko in Doubleview is GROSS for hot meals. Don’t go there unless for sushi or rice paper rolls which are palatable.

So finally starting to feel better, Sunday morning went out for a trot with Kim who was stuffed from her hills ride and we got to run together (approx 13km). It was good fun and full of goss, and finished with scrambled eggs at Beaches. There may have been 5-minutes of ocean swimming in between run and breakfast but blink and you would have missed me. I got in, the guys set off before i was close and i couldn’t bring my scared butt to bridge the gap. It was also take your breath away cold. I hung around for Glenn, Corin and Bulldog and had a splash with them before they agreed breakfast was better option. Weeeee!!!

Monday morning was Brickie McBrick and unfortunately his nemesis Windy McRain joined us. After 30 minutes ploughing through a nasty head wind plus rain, the downpour ceased and Sue and I were left behind from the group to work hard while laughing it up. I wanted to turn around early but Sue kept me so entertained and distracted from my pain i lasted the 90 minutes before turning around. She is a very special friend! With a fab tail wind carrying us home we hopped off the bike in 2hr45 and headed off for a 30 min run which was really tough. I really need to work on bike to run transitions!

Monday afternoon I got all hardcore and cray-cray and went swimming too. Mary-Anne organised a fun session so Kim and I joined her, Chris and friend for a splash. I was exhausted but it was good to swim while feeling stuffed. I got home and literally stumbled around the house organising dinner, ate it and went to bed all in zombie mode.

Tuesday was a blissful day off, albeit a walk with Oscar as we’re house/dogsitting at the mo.

This morning I swam 4.5km with Tanhem squad which was quite good. Peter’s so creative, we had 4×600m main set, broken into 50, 100, 150, 200 on 45 sec cycle and 100 easy for first set, then time went up by 5 secs per hundred each set and effort increased. Unfortunately i stayed at a similar pace the whole way and was knackered in the 3rd set, thankfully recovered in the 4th a little. Was good to have that in the bag though. Tonight is all about rest, Oscar, hugs from Prawn and a little Home and Away love. Yay!

Things are getting exciting, only 3 and half weeks til worlds! Got uniform yesterday… not over the moon about getting “men’s running shorts” which are apparently unisex yet the UGLIESt piece of clothing i’ve ever seen. The crotch is ridiculous and the small size i have come down to my knees. The race suit has no built-in bra and barely covers the girls so i’ll be wearing sports bra on the day. So wish i could wear my Zoot suit tri suit which i love. So glad i forked over hundreds of dollars for my uniform. Thanks Triathlon Australia, yet again proving value for money cough cough. Although my name is on the front and back of tri suit which kind of makes me feel awesome, so i’ll try to get over the other issues. Darn ugly shorts.

Happy training, long may the sunshine last!!!

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Race Report – Anaconda Gold Coast

After finishing 4th, 3rd & 2nd in my last 3 Anaconda races respectively i thought it was about time i cracked a win. The organisers from Rapid Ascent thought so too and with the absence of Kiwi Richard Usher (World Adventure Racing Champion) they seeded me at number 1. I prefer going into races without any pressure and this now put a target on my back but training had been going well and i just hoped that would pay off. Fortunately i also had the added benefit of my parents coming across to act as support crew for the weekend which gives a huge advantage.

The swim start was impressive with 450 people entering the water simultaneously but i managed to take it wide around the first bouy and avoid the carnage. I looked up after 100m to find approx 30 or so people ahead and thought straight away this was going to be a tough day. Thankfully the sprinters started to fade at the 200m mark and i found myself slowly moving up the field. We had to exit the water and run around a can at the 400m mark before jumping back in and heading out of the Currumbin river mouth. At this point a small group of 7 guys had broken away and i was left leading the second pack alongside Hayley Batup (Nitro from Gladiators). After negotiating the surf out through the heads we swam side by side for the remainder of the swim and on exiting the water she asked if i would unzip her wetsuit for her. Considering her arms are twice the size of mine i didn’t argue but mentioned she should give me a complimentary tow on the ski for my help. I finished the swim in 8th place overall and held a narrow lead of 26sec over the next individual competitor in Boyd Conrick. 

The first kilometre of the ski leg was great as we had to negotiate the swell once again heading out through the heads at Currumbin. Hayley took one look at my pathetic paddling technique and decided she wasn’t about to wait around for me. Probably best that she didn’t as she then proceeded to kick my arse by 9mins in the paddle. I had a number of groups pass by containing other solo competitors, the first of which was Glenn Kirby and Boyd Conrick. I tried desperately to hang on and despite sitting in the wash i just couldn’t hold the pace. We were only 3kms into the paddle leg at this point and i was already starting to fade. My serious lack of training in this department was starting to show but i kept plugging away. The next group to come past contained Guy Andrews and knowing his paddling skills i thought i would try my luck again at hanging on. This lasted for about 2kms before he looked behind and decided he didn’t want me there any longer. A quick surge was enough to dislodge me and i was left all on my lonesome once again with about 7kms left to paddle. It felt like eternity as boats continued to fly past and to make things worse i was now collecting debri in my rudder. The feeling is like running with car tyre dragging behind you and on the first occassion i managed to dislodge it. A bit further upstream i collected more but this time couldn’t shake it and for the last kilometre i was being passed by people in plastic boats. Finally relieved to hit dry land i slipped on the shoes and proceeded out on the run. Thankfully nobody told me how far behind i was as i probably would have packed up and gone home but the good thing about adventure racing is anything can happen and the next two legs were my favourite. I was sitting in 10th place, 14mins down on the leader Robert Pommie who had just blitzed the paddle.

The run starts out in some paddocks before heading into a creek and running along the banks for 7kms. This bit went relatively smoothly and i was feeling quite good but i had only made up 1 position and i was quickly running out of ground. Just as we exited the creek i caught Boyd Conrick who stayed glued to my shoulder for the next 3km road section. This was a fairly good sign as Boyd was ranked No.2 but being an Ironman specialist i didn’t want to have to race him side by side all the way to the finish. We turned off the bitumen road and proceeded to climb straight up. There is no way of describing how hard this hill is but there is nothing in WA that even comes close and at some sections you are scrambling with your hands to keep moving. With a 2km continual climb before proceeding 2kms back down the other side i had managed to make up another few places and was now sitting in 4th. The hill certainly took its toll and as temperatures reached 33 degrees i was starting to fade myself. I was just hoping the guys ahead of me were hurting more.

I managed to skull half a bottle of water in the next transition thanks to my folks, then set out for the final mountain bike stage. The first 3kms is on bitumen but you quickly realise why no-one on a road bike would attempt such a climb. The first ascent is approximately 1km in length and peaks at 22% gradient, at this point i was finding it hard to keep my front wheel in contact with the road. At the top you turn on to a dirt track which runs along a ridge following the NSW/QLD border for the next 12kms. The track is a mixture of grass and loose gravel with no flat sections to speak of and what seems to be continual climbing. On two occassions i had to push the bike but as i passed 2nd place walking up one of the climbs i knew others were hurting just as bad. Thankfully there are some pretty good downhill sections where speeds in excess of 60km/hr are not uncommon so long as you can work up the courage to take your hands off the brakes. Finally we hit the tunnel passing under the M1 Motorway and on exiting i saw Glenn Kirby just 50m up the road. This would have to be the best feeling of the day and i quickly caught my second wind. We were now on bitumen footpaths and roads for the final 2kms to the finish and Glenn was still hanging on to my wheel. I put my head down and pushed as hard as possible all the way to the end of the mountain bike where i had established a 20sec gap. This was enough of a lead to jog home the final 2kms to the finish and snare my first ever Anaconda win.

A huge thankyou must go out Bruce from Dexion Balcatta who has come on board recently as a sponsor and helped me get over to the Gold Coast for this race. Rapid Ascent also helped out with the use of a ski and put together another gruelling yet fantastic event.

After such a pathetic paddle leg i will be getting back on the ski after the worlds in preparation for Anaconda Augusta and Anaconda Lorne later in December. The win was certainly a good morale booster heading in to the Worlds and if anything it was a pretty tough training session.

Seano.

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5 Weeks to Go

Monday 14/9

This week i will be looking forward to a slight taper ahead of the Anaconda Gold Coast race on Sunday. The plan is to reduce the load a little bit but keep up the intensity until Wednesday when i will start taking it easy. The best part about this was the fact that i got another sleep-in this morning and went to swimming training with the Stadium crew tonight. The pool was packed with over 50 people attending the session and I believe it had something to do with Corin’s return. I didn’t feel so good in the water tonight but i still tried putting in a solid effort for the main set which consisted of a series of 150m. Mark and Paul led the lane while i just tried to keep up but the last 150m was max effort and that is where i said goodbye.

Tuesday 15/9

I woke up this morning feeling worse than yesterday and the pouring rain didn’t make things any easier. I took the opportunity to have another sleep-in and try to recover before intervals tonight. Somehow the rest of the gang, excluding James, still went out for a ride which was an impressive effort but i’m sure it would have been like riding in a bath tub.

Thankfully the crew were all showing up for intervals tonight or i would have contemplated an easy run on my own. Corin was keen as mustard after a 4 week hiatus in Scotland and did the long session from last week. I set the girls a shorter but still fairly hard session and decided that i would do the same but backed of the pace from previous weeks. It was the first time i have seen Glenn miss a session in a long time but after the last month of solid effort he has done there is no wonder he needs a break. A much easier session tonight and it was good to see Courtney Crater fly around the track while we were cooling down. I still have a lot of improvement to go and it will be good to be able to run like that one day.

Wednesday 16/9

Went along to swimming this morning despite knowing full well that there was a 3km time trial. I decided i would do a 1km time trial instead and set of 15sec after the main group. It seemed to take forever to catch Peter Tanhem and i started to think to myself that today was going to be a very slow time. Fortunately Peter was just swimming very fast and i managed a respectable 13:22. No PB today but still happy i can hold that time when i’m not feeling so great and i will be aiming for a PB in about 2 weeks time when i do my final time trial before worlds. Lisa booked me in for a massage tonight and boy did it help. Bronwyn, the massuese found some pretty big knots in the same place i cramped during the City to Surf so hopefully she has fixed them up before Anaconda this weekend and they don’t come back again.

Thursday 17/9

I woke up early this morning and decided to ride with the Georgiou group from Floreat doing a relatively cruisy lap around the river before heading in to work early. Everyone seemed to come out of the woodwork today including Stuart Fuller and there was the occassional hard section but it was good to get in 40kms before flying out tonight. Now i have the task of packing when i get home and the horrid midnight flight to Brisbane.

I have my parents to thank for this trip as they are taking up their own holidays to travel as my support crew for the race. With the amount of gear you need and having 3 different transition areas throughout the race it is a logistical nightmare. So having a support crew will be excellent and hopefully a big advantage on the day. This will be my last hitout before the Worlds and a good test as it is similar in duration lasting for approximately 4hrs. If i go alright this weekend i should have plenty of confidence going into the Worlds. Fingers crossed and i will report back next week with a full wrap-up of the race.

Seano

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Let there be rest week

Happy humpday y’all!

Seeing as I have the half marathon this Sunday, my rest week is being split into half this week, half next. So i have just finished all of my hard sessions this week and thank the lord!!

Monday night I headed to swim training and felt reeeally flat before jumping in the pool. The exhaustion of some pretty big training miles on the weekend had finally sunk in! Luckily I swam pretty well for most of the session, swimming 2.00 pace for our 150s of hard free. It was fun to swim with the gang, especially as Mama Ropes was back in the pool! And looking like a hot mama at that! While I was tired, I still managed to use the bowl-shaped pelvis to my advantage and beat all the boys in the kick set woo! 4km under the belt and was so tired tonight went straight to bed after training.

Tuesday I knew Monday night that i wouldn’t be cycling this morning, i was so tired!!! The heavy rain reaffirmed my decision and had blissful sleep in with my husband! I was pumped for the run set tonight as figured with no cycle in the morning, i would run well! It started off well with Red Panda joining the team of Kimmy, Prawn, Markedo, Glenny and Corin and we had matching outfits! Em ended up getting the lululemon top after my rave review and deserving something special after doing massive kms for marathon.

Ok, I don’t know why the pic won’t go the right way up but y’all will have to strain your neck to see the glamour girls!! So anyway, started off pretty, ended up U-G-L-Y. Coach Sean set me 1600, 1200, 1000, 800 and 400 with only 60 secs rest which i was ready for. Body had other ideas. I held my first time of 7.06 (aiming for 7.10), but then missed the 5.15 goal with a 5.23 then it went down hill! Could only manage a 4.35 for my 1km and then 3.42 for the 800m and i was super disappointed. My legs tightened up and i felt so heavy, i was close to tears on the 800m. My right hamstring nearly popped on the last lap and i knew it was time to call it a day so I ruled out the 400m and did a cooldown lap. Sigh, obviously legs do need a rest, thank god for rest week now! Got home and Liz and Gerard (Sean’s parents) had come round to pick some stuff up for Sean and Liz helped cook us dinner which was a bit of a treat! So sad I’m not joining them on the Gold Coast, they’re going to have the best time!

Wednesday am it was all about the team! Seeing as I had done my 3km time trial last week and was muscle meltdown girl this week, I decided to pace Kimmy to do a good time for her 3km TT. We were aiming for a sub-48 which is 16min/km pace but i thought Kim could go faster! I took her through for a 15.12 first km, we went through the 2km at 31.00 and we finished with 46.59! Kim definitely exceeded her expectations (she PBd the first 1km!) and I was thrilled to help her. I enjoyed the recovery swim and my legs feel a little looser. Massage at 2pm, hurrah!

Hope to see some of you out at the Freo Half, hope the weather gods are kind, last year’s Freo Half was nasty!

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It’s all starting to come together

Ok, so i don’t want to jinx myself or anything, but each of the disciplines seem to be coming along quite well for me at the moment. Don’t get me wrong, they all have room for improvement, but I’m starting the week feeling pretty happy with where I’m at! So, here’s why.

Tuesday pm I was feeling rather exhausted tonight but homegirl Kimmy was back for more running love and we encouraged each other to get a good session in. We had intervals at the track and we had Sean, Glenn and Markedo joining us. Kimmy likes me to go first so she can either chase me down or pace off me, but after catching me easily tonight I spat the dummy and told her I wasn’t going to be her rabbit anymore! I wanted some of that rabbit action! So she took the lead and the set panned out pretty well (apart from the nearly spewing bit at the end). 2 x 1600m (were supposed to be sub 7.20 and I did the first 7.04 and backed off a bit for the 2nd and did 7.12), 2 x 1200 (supposed to be sub 5.25, did the first 5.22 and then killed myself for the 2nd to do 5.13) and finally 2 x 400m. I only did one 400m because i said to myself if i could run sub 5.15 for the last 1200m then i didn’t have to do the final 400ms. Unfortunately, coach/husband saw me do a cooldown lap alongside my bud Markedo and told me it wasn’t good enough boo hoo. I thought it was? A deal’s a deal? Apparently not, as Sean wasn’t a part of that deal. So off I trotted for the compromise of one 400m. Sean said if i went under 1.40 I didn’t have to do the last one. Grumbling away I did one last lap, managing 1.36 and held my lunch down, both hard efforts. All up we ran about 9km.

Wednesday am Well, sleeping was hard work tonight as I was really nervous about the 3km time trial this morning. Would I miscount the laps? Would I die of boredom with only myself to talk to for around 40-45 minutes? Would the sheer distance have me rendered in the foetal position for the rest of the day? When we finally got to the pool (early for once! A sign of my commitment to the treacherous task) I was psyched up and ready to go. Then Peter tells us the 3km isn’t on until next Wednesday! Gah! I couldn’t wait, i couldn’t endure another sleepless night plus Sean had set up my polar watch on the block… we were just all ready to go. Anna was going to be away next week and Sean wanted to taper for Anaconda so we pooled together  and decided to get it done anyway. The first 1km was great, i felt strong and managed to get closer to Sean and managed to hit 14 mins or just under (yah i totally beat him in the first kay whoop whoop). Unfortunately my swim cap’s behavious was ridiculous, totally unwilling to hang on for the ride. So i had a few frustrating stops pulling it back down before it finally stayed in place. I started to tire around th 1600m mark which is when Sean, unfortunately, revved up! I saw Anna starting to drop back too so I knew Sean had definitely picked up the pace. But moving away from his feet meant my pacesetter was gone and the mental challenge to hang tough was all the more present. I went through 2km in 14.25 and saw Adam who I’d gapped by 30m before starting to gain on me. Eep! Try as I might, I couldn’t hold off Adam who managed to catch my by the last 400m and passed me but hallelujah i got some feet to hang off. Sweet sweet draft how i love thee. The last 1km ended up being a 14.34 and I finished with 42.59 which was pretty good. I wanted to hold 1.25 pace or better but i wasn’t far off and who knows, maybe without the cap drama at the beginning i might have. Perhaps i’ll go for round two next week with Peter!

Wednesday pm Night off, my faaaaaavourite! And Sean was home early and decided to stay in (I may have encouraged him, but he is the master of his own destiny y’all!). I wasn’t complaining, it was lovely to hang out.

Thursday am Boo hiss, the wind and wild weather was in force so off to spin we went and met Kimmy there. Was a pretty good class but like the boys, i just can’t take the boredom anymore. This weekend i’m heading out rain hail or shine.

Thursday pm My run with Kimmy ended up being a no show as homegirl was sick and my attitude was bad. It was raining so heavily and my new iphone has just been registered so I was happy to skip this session. I might regret that at the half next weekend! Had a lovely dinner with my PRM friends Cathie and Tony at a Singaporean restaurant in Wembley. It was fun but i don’t think we ordered enough food! Although Sean seemed to be going back for thirds so maybe i need to learn how to eat faster. He comes from a family of 5 kids, I’m an only child! I need to work out some tactics here, leaving a shared asian meal hungry is not something i’m used to!

Friday am Swim squad again. Felt a bit like Groundhog Day this morning, up and down that black line. The set was 6 x 400s with 300 hard, 100 loosener (2 x 150, 3 x 100, 6 x 50) x 2 and I was happy i could hold 1.20 pace for the 150s, 1.17-1.18 for 100s and 37-40 for the 50s. Coffee afterwards was good fun as usual, I love my swimming buddies especially my lane buddies Anna and Chris (and Sean and Kimmy obvi).

Friday pm Was worried coming down with a cold with a killer sore throat but rested up this afternoon and honey and lemon drink made me feel a whole lot better. Sean cooked some yummy lasagnes for his brother, sister and their partners coming over tonight. We had a fun night catching up with them and I got to have a lovely one on one chat with his little sister Bridie (are you allowed to pick favourite siblings? I’m an only child so i don’t know the protocol but i think you know where i’m heading here… Bridie is a doll). It was kind of a late night as these guys are young party animals and by the time i got to bed i was ready to collapse!

Saturday am Thank god i felt a lot better this morning with a mere snuffle the only effects of the looming cold. I needed all my strength with an 18km run ahead of me! I met Kim and Emma down at Matilda Bay and we set off with our garmins set up to beep at each km. Are these things not the coolest training invention ever? I love them! Emma was only doing a little run and after about 20 mins of chatting she headed back. Kim and I plodded along at a good pace. I love running with Kim, we chat a lot but we also have nice quiet patches where we soak up the run and focus on breathing (or puffing in my case!). I think my fastest 1km split was 5.08 and slowest 5.38 with the big variance due to the strong winds giving a tail wind and head wind at various parts. I finished at 1hr36 at 5.23 pace which i was super happy with. Legs were sore but i raced off to cheer Sean on at the Sorrento Challenge which was good fun! Saw lots of fun friends there cheering or competing so lots of good catch ups. Dinner with the Zanis and Thorstensens was good fun, they are all happy chappies and such good company.

Sunday am Apart from intervals run, this was my next most dreaded session! Riding almost certainly in the rain. Sean and I decided to ride with STC hills group and he was out on his mountain bike, which he still kicked my ass on! Gah, demoralising. Had a good team there including Markedo, Kimmy, Robin and Jimmy (and others i don’t know their names!). I actually rode well today! I climbed Welshpool at a reasonable pace and wasn’t too far behind the pacesetters. It rained on us for about 70% of the ride though, at times I wanted to have a cry and go home but i think i knew it had to be done and I’d feel good once i was home. I really enjoyed Abernethy rolling through with the guys and at one point Sean had to give Markedo a push… when i was at the front of the peleton! Ahaha yes that’s right folks, this time it was me putting Marky in the hurt locker! I love pushing hard on flat sections and rolling through, i guess all the roll throughs with narrows is finally paying off. We finished with 100km and finally as I rolled through our front gate, I was happy again! Good finish to the week.

So as we missed swimming this morning looks like I’ll be heading to Stadium swim squad tonight. I soooo hope i can give the boys a run for their money! Come on body, are you with me?!!

Happy training xo

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6 Weeks to Go

Monday 07/9

Another late Sunday night and another Monday morning sleep-in. With the option of swimming on Monday night it doesn’t make getting out of bed on Monday morning any easier. The weather was absolutely miserable today and Lisa phoned me about 3 times trying to get out of swimming tonight as well. I tried to convince her to come but her ultimate excuse was “i don’t like swimming when it is raining” and on that note she went home and cooked dinner for us both. I was glad i went along and ended up swimming much faster than i have been in the mornings. Having Mark Lawson and Paul McKay there to push me along certainly helped and we managed to hold 1:15 pace for the majority of the main set. Mark did his usual sprint finish for the final 50m but it didn’t make up for all the time he lost over the remainder of the set.

Tuesday 08/9

I jumped on the bike this morning feeling quite good and managed to do an 90km river ride before heading in to work. It seemed to be quite a big group today but i stayed up the front as much as possible trying to get a better workout. Snuck into work a bit late but thankfully no-one noticed and i spent the rest of the day dreading the afternoon intervals ahead.

I arrived at the track to meet Glenn who had already run 8kms from home along with Mark, Kim and Lisa who were all doing a similar session. Todays workout was 2×1600m, 4×1200m & 2×400m. It is one of the longer sessions we will be doing but the emphasis is still on quality so it was going to hurt. I felt OK for the first 2×1600m’s holding 4:58 and 4:55 but that was as good as it got. I faded throughout the 1200’s and was well off my previous times when it came to the 400’s. Very sore and tired after tonight and not looking forward to the 3km time trial in the pool tomorrow.

Wednesday 09/9 

After arriving at the pool early Peter announced that the time trial wouldn’t be on today and had been re-scheduled for next week. Although i was dreading it, i was kind of looking forward to getting it done and posting a time so i was dissapointed to hear the news. Lisa, Anna and I decided that we would do it anyway and 2 others from the squad joined us. I led the lane but was nervous i would be holding up Anna who was hot on my heels. Sure enough, after 300m Anna had caught me but quickly jumped into the next lane and we swam side by side for the next kilometre. Lisa was absolutely flying and after 1500m i couldn’t shake her from my toes. Little did i know that we had gone through the first kilometre in 14:05, a long way outside of my target pace. I decided to slowly pick up the pace and after 2kms i was on my own without Anna to pace me or Lisa to push me. I felt surprisingly good over the last kilometre and was able to build on my pace the whole way without fading which is a good sign, finishing in a time of 41:28. I still think i may have gone out too easy but it was a much better feeling than fading towards the end. So i was relatively happy with the result and hope to break 41mins if we have another time trial before Worlds.

Wednesday night was a solo river ride on the way home with the intention to do a 30min run off the bike. After arriving home it was evident Lisa didn’t want me goiing anywhere and being 7pm and dark already i was quite happy to stay indoors.

Thursday 10/9

A slight bit of moisture in the air today and gusty winds were enough for Lisa to convince me to go to spin class instead of riding on the road. I have to admit it was a very soft option as Glenn and Bulldog still managed to ride and reminded me all about it throughout the day. The 40min spin class just doesn’t cut it regardless of how much you sweat so in future i will be riding rain, hail or shine.

Thursday night Lisa had booked us in for a dinner with Friends in Wembley at 7pm so i couldn’t do my usual run from Perry Lakes. I set the Garmin with a pre-recorded session of 6×3min efforts with 1min rest and proceeded to do my session around the Bridges after work. It was good to see where we will be running for the Worlds course but lets hope we don’t have gale force winds to contend with. Heading east along the south side of the river was great but the minute i turned into the wind if felt as though someone had applied the handbrake. My pace went from 3:15/km to 3:45 but it was good to get the session done. 

Friday 11/9

This mornings swim session wasn’t overly difficult but my body was in taper mode due to the Sorrento Challenge tomorrow. I decided to swim second in the lane all morning getting a draft but even if i din’t have a race i would have stuggled today. My arms were still tired from the 3km time trial and the legs knackered from this weeks running. At least with Friday i only have the morning swim session then have the rest of the day off so i should be feeling better by tomorrow.

We had my brother Eugene and sister Bridie along with their partners around for dinner tonight and caught up on all the news. It was possibly the last time they would see our place before we move in a few weeks but we still have one last dinner party planned for tomorrow night.

Saturday 12/9 – Sorrento Challenge

Well, today was the day for the Sorrento Challenge but as i drove to the race along the coast i was dreading the thought of heading out in the conditions. With a 5m swell and 25knot westerly winds it was a day for the surf club athletes, i just hoped i could stay in my ski for the paddle leg. I did this event 2 years ago and come out about 12 times so hopefully i could do better this time. The gun went and i quickly settled in to about 10th position before i swam way off course and was told to head back to shore by a jet ski. I don’t think i went too far off course but trying to tell the difference between a white bouy and the whitecaps out there was impossible. I exited the swim still in about 10th spot before hitting the dreaded paddle leg. Thankfully i made it out through the surf OK and proceeded along the coast battling the wind and chop before the gun paddlers started flying past. I felt as though i was going backwards until Candice Falzon came by and i managed to stick with her for the remainder of the paddle. It was good to have some company and thankfully this year i didn’t fall out of the boat once  but i was glad to hit dry land. After putting on the shoes i proceeded to try and make some ground back on the run but at this point i was 10mins behind the leaders and had no chance of catching them. I felt OK on the run and managed to catch a few guys working my way into 6th position which i was relatively happy with considering the conditions. I will need a bit more work on the paddle leg if i want a good result in Anaconda this year but the priority at the moment is worlds and paddling doesn’t quite fit into the training regime just yet.

Saturday night was our last dinner party at our place and we got to have the Zani’s little baby Summer come around. Lisa cooked one of my favourite dishes being fish, wrapped in proscuitto and covered in garlic and caper butter, mmmmm!

Sunday 13/9

After missing the long ride yesterday i decided to head out in the hills with the Stadium group on my mountain bike. I figured it would give me some resistance training and get me use to the MTB setup before Gold Coast Anaconda next weekend. It certainly worked as i had to really push myself on the flats and uphills to remain with the group and by the time i returned home it was as if i had just done a 90km time trial. My legs havn’t felt that fatigued coming off the bike in a long time and it was a good test to see how i could run afterwards. I hobbled out the door and proceeded to run 10kms trying to negative split on the way home. I managed to hold 3:47/km pace on the way out and 3:45/km pace coming home but i was physically spent by the end and had nothing left so i will have to keep working on the distance over the coming weeks. The race is 20km’s and i will be just as fatigued coming off the bike so my aim will be to run 3:45/km for the entire run, something i haven’t been able to do very well in the past.

Thankfully we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon off and caught up with Dave and Sue for dinner and a movie night at their place. It is always good catching up with Sue and Dave as Dave has a similar Ice-Cream addiction to me.

Next week will be a slight taper week as i get ready for Gold Coast Anaconda and hopefully this year i can come home with the goods! Fingers crossed and i will report back on all the action next Monday.

Seano

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7 Weeks to Go

As i write this we are already approaching 6 weeks to go but i figured my serious lack of training last week didn’t really warrant a blog post. Apparently some vocal readers thought otherwise so i will attempt to remember what i did last week other than laying on the couch and whinging about not being able to train.

Monday 31/8

The day after City to Surf and i just wish i could have stayed in bed. Both quads were feeling very sore after the race and i was in desperate need of a physio. Thankfully my work involves a large amount of sitting down and i made the most of it today. I rode into work as usual but couldn’t manage anything faster than 25km/h and called in to see the physio on my way home. The prognosis was a variety of factors that resulted in serious tightening and cramping of the quad muscles. Basically, i didn’t drink any electrolytes, i hadn’t had a massage in a while and the hilly course all played its toll on the day. At least i know what to do next time but for now i have been ordered not to train for 3 days!

Tuesday 01/09

Not being able to train also meant not being able to commute to work and i quickly realised how much a part of my life triathlon is. I spent the evening stretching and cooking dinner while Lisa went out for a run. The legs were still extremely sore with some bruising now showing up but hopefully things start to improve tomorrow.

Wednesday 02/09

Despite the doctors orders i jumped in for a sneaky swim this morning and felt OK. The arms were fine but pushing off the wall was difficult so i swam the majority of the session with a pull bouy in and managed 4kms. Surely a swim wasn’t going to do much damage and i often find it loosens up the body if anything.

Wednesday night i attempted an easy run along the coast but made it 200m down the road and new it wasn’t happening. Both legs were still sore and i knew that if i pushed them it would take longer to recover or make the injury worse. I ended up with a grand total of 2kms before returning home.

Thursday 03/09

Finally the legs were feeling good and nothing like a solid SRG ride to give them a good test. It’s amazing what 1 night of recovery can do and i woke on Thursday as if i was 100%. Anything less than this would have meant i was out the back door as it seemed like the group had taken their angry pills. Maddog was off from the word go and the minute the pace dropped Clint decided it was time to attack. This really stirred the pigeons as Maddog caught Clint and proceeded to put him straight out the back door and we were only 5kms into the ride at this point. The group continued in similar fashion all the way to Freo and after looking over the shoulder on several occassions i could see the group had diminished from 15 to 7! The south side of the rive loop was a bit more tame but still no time to take a breather and we finished with a 39km/h avg. Quite happy with todays ride but i need to get out on the time trial bike more often and do some solo efforts.

Tonights run session was another 6×3mins at race pace with 1min recovery between each. The legs were still feeling quite good and thankfully i didn’t have Mike to rip them apart as he was tapering for the Gold Coast Worlds. I averaged 3:15/km pace for the hard efforts today and made it 200m past my previous best a few weeks ago so things are still going OK despite the recent setbacks.

Friday 04/09

 This mornings main set at swimming was 5×500m broken down into 200m/150m/100m/50m all with 5sec rest between each and trying to get faster over each 500m. For some reason i am struggling a bit with speed at the moment and couldn’t hit my desired 1:20 pace per 100m but hopefully this will improve soon. Another 4.5kms done today before an easy ride to and from work.

Saturday  05/09

Today was the money session and a small crew was to assemble for a 90km time trial effort up to Yanchep followed by a 30min run off the bike. All the trash talk was aimed at Bulldog who never shows up if there is a hint of rain but today it was James Roberts who earnt the “Gunna”  title (i was gunna ride but it was too wet). In the end it was Bulldog, Glenn and myself who set off on our shiny time trial machines with a 30 knot SW’ly to contend with and the odd shower. Not ideal riding conditions but character building stuff and made Lisa’s home baked biscuits taste even better on our return. Glenn wasn’t his usual self today as he was dislodged fairly early but it meant the majority of the ride was a proper time trial with no drafting and we re-grouped in Yanchep before the hard slog home. After feeling so good and much to Glenn’s satisfaction i ended up puncturing with 20kms to go  and wasted 2 CO2 cannisters trying to inflate the new tube. With only 50psi in the tyre i was left to hang on to Bulldogs wheel for the remainder of the ride but the extra resistance was good training. We hit the run at 3:50/km pace for the first 15mins before turning around and picking it up on the way home. I managed to average 3:41/km pace over 30mins today and just another 45mins to go on race day.

Sunday 06/09

Another long run with the crew today and Mike led us out at a cracking pace before peeling off at 5kms and heading back. The joys of tapering. Glenn, Bulldog  and myself ended up doing 80mins which was 10mins shy of the program but i had lost the car key in the process and new Lisa wouldn’t be impressed. I had also lent Lisa the Garmin today for her long run but word of warning, never lend a piece of technology without thoroughly explaining the instructions. When Lisa arrived to see us sitting at the coffee shop enjoying our breakfast she didn’t look impressed and was frustrated due to the fact she couldn’t get the Garmin to work properly. Telling her i had lost the car key and she couldn’t get her warm clothes out resulted in a very angry rooster but 10mins later we had retraced our steps and with the help of Bulldog found the key. hurrah! i was saved from incarceration.

Stay tuned for next weeks installment as we have a 3km swim time trial scheduled and the Sorrento Challenge next Saturday!

Seano.

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Busy bloggie

So, ahem, it’s been a while but fortunately I still retain gold star blogger title as I was the last to post. Hey, i have to beat Sean at something (although the tally is accumulating – spelling, cooking, sudoku, butterfly, now blogging!).
So last week was quite a goodie although i have been hitting struggletown with this crappy winter weather. Monday last week and this week i decided to have a rest day because i just couldn’t face the pool in the miserable weather.

Tuesday morning the girls (Nadia and Jodes) texted that it was raining down their way (they live south river) and cycling was a no go. Considering Sean was wounded, I enjoyed more doona time (sleeping folks, this is a PG-rated blog) and got up at 6am for an hour with coach Troy. Here is proof I did not doona it up all morning;

Tuesday afternoon I could have thrown the towel in. Sean wasn’t training, the weather was yet again MISerable and my legs still sore from City to Surf. However I met my pals Markedo and Emma and despite the rain we managed a 5km trot around Perry Lakes with a lot of fun chatting, not a lot of speed. Intervals training was not happening today. Headed home early for the best night on TV of the week, Packed to the Rafters!

Wednesday morning we were back for more fun times in the pool and to congratulate Peter on his first marathon! I know I got in 4.3km this morning but struggling to remember what the set was – gah! I think it involved a 500 max effort, some loosener and then another paddles 500 hard effort (although lost my paddles boo). I’m pretty sure I hit 7.00 for the first and 6.50 for the second and didn’t feel flash.

Wednesday night i tried my new yoga dvd! It’s a bit kooky with some weird wrist movements involved, it’s called Flow Yoga and incorporates some dance elements. I just want to get the instructor’s abs, so i’ll persevere with the weirdness! Whatever works!

Thursday morning was the biggie – 80km with the girls (Sue, Kimmy, Nards and Jodes for half) doing the group ride and Shelley loop. I didn’t eat before and suffered in the last quarter and was reprimanded by seasoned early morning eaters in the group. Had two big efforts in the group when our massive group was split at red lights and i was in the unlucky back half both times. My favourite comment was from Nadia when she got cross with Jodie and I for going too fast and leaving her behind as we worked to get back on the pack. I apologised while patting myself on the back muhahaha. I required a lot of good coffee today.

Thursday night was another battle to train, after the big effort this morning. I had nothing in the tank and was moaning to Red Fox at work that i didn’t want to go. She is good friend (unlike Prawn) and said i didn’t have to if i didn’t want to. Alas, I knew i had the half marathon in just over two weeks and needed more running kms under my belt. So I psyched myself up on the drive home with some bad ass music and got myself into a running frenzy!! Ran along the coast south doing a Coach Prawn set of 10 min warm up, 4 x 5min efforts (he said 5 but i rebelled in a small voice “no thank you, 4 will be fine”) with 2 mins recovery. I was sandbagging dying a slow death in my last two before i heard a rustle in the bushes and suddenly was challenging Usain Bolt. Made it home just with very grumpy face on while Sean worked his magic to make me smile again. He is a very good husband sometimes ).

Friday morning swim was nothing to write home about, except I told off a man in our lane for bad lane etiquette. I felt quite bad when he got out shortly after bawling into his towel, but cry me a river, i need order in my swim squad! And my pal Anna backed me up, bad etiquette is not cool for the little ladies. He didn’t really cry btw, he’s a big, tough water polo player possibly in his 50s who works in insurance. I barely touched the surface.

Friday night I got to hang out with one of my fave people in the world Crockpot (now known as Rachel Forbes) and her hubby and my longtime pal, Forbesy. I tried to take a pic of the group but Forbesy said y’all would clog up my system with fan mail for the big guy, so he politely declined (he ran and hid, possibly from the camera, possibly to get more ice cream i’m not sure).

Saturday morning was BLEEP BLEEP BLEEPING (PG rating strikes again) awful. I’m so sick of this weather i want to punch this lingering winter in its big grey face. Sean, Bulldog and Glenn got out and about while i promised them breakfast after my windtrainer session and another hour in bed before they got back! Here they are with interesting headwear!

So they left and me and my pyjamas went back to bed… and only got up when i heard them get back! While they were off on their run, i made breakfast (homemade toasted almond butter which was dreamy and yet-to-be-named, all natural cookies). Andrea bought Hula and Henry the baby schnauzers over which was highlight of the day (plus seeing lovely Andrea!), they love their Aunty Lisa and I love them! I did manage to get on the windtrainer and suffered through yet another Coach Troy session, boring! Sean bugged me by sitting down with the paper and telling me i wasn’t doing it right. Grrrrr…

Sunday morning session of the week! 90 minute run and based on Sean’s coaching, i needed to go 5.30 pace with the loan of his Garmin. I started off feeling so good and held 5.04 pace for 4.12km before obligatory toilet stop and very quick stretch. The next 24 minutes until turn around I held a solid 5.14 pace before a stretch and Gu at the halfway mark. It pretty much rained on me the whole way but i really enjoyed this run. I ran back to Port beach holding my 5.14 pace before Garmin played with me (had a lesson from Prawn after the frustration!) and ran the last 5km at 5.30 pace. I think i was running really well until the last 2km where it totally hit me that this was by far my longest run in a long time. I managed 17.1km and did a few high fives to imaginary friends and cheering fans as I headed up the finishing chute to Beaches Cafe. So proud of that effort!

Monday as you know was a big ole write off with lots of putting feet up and catching up on Home and Away story line. Also had first book club meeting which was very fun and girly, i like! We chose Mao’s Last Dancer which looks good.

Tuesday morning I was supposed to join Bulldog’s ride but Kimmy was sick so I decided to join ole faithful with Narrows. Back tyre did not feel good the whole way and feel like it needs a fair bit of inflating. Must do that from time to time, pump up the tyres. When the big boys group passed us, unfortunately I was in a bad position and got dropped with about 6 others. I worked with my friend Nera who we picked up along the way but unfortunately everyone else free-loaded and let Nera and I do the work. Yes I practiced my “dirty look” many times. They still didn’t get it, but at least i got a good work out up front. Nadia and i did Mt Henry together and had a good goss. Now trying to psyche self up for may-juh track session tonight. Same session as last week on the cards – 2 x 1600m, 2 x 1200m, 2 x 400m on the track and I’ll finally have friends -Mark, Kim and Em are all joining me and Sean and co should be there too. Hurrah!

Check out what will be fuelling us tonight- Little Gems Cakes dropped around these to the Scoop offices today and I nabbed one for Sean, Kim and Mark! Yum! Check out their website www.littlegemscakes.com for more info. They’re so delish.

Have a great week everyone! Enjoy the one day of good weather, i am lapping up the blue sky and sunshine like nobody’s business! I love it!

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