Saturday, February 28, 2009

A bit of Pain

On thursday morning bright and early like 5am whilst it was still dark I set off on my 2 hr bike ride
It was supposed to be 5 x10 min thresshold rides with 5 min breaks but with the lack of any light I chose a steady ride till i got to Whitfords city .Ran into dave as he was cycling to the meeting point.
did 2 loops with the group round hillary then headed home .did 55 km overall.traffic was heavy on reid hwy.

in the evening did interval training at hillaries with NCTC .Was about 50 min of 800m , 400m and 200 m sprints.The last couple of runs ,i felt a twitch in my left hammy so i pulled up and jogged the last lap.

It was still sore in the morning ...The next day I skipped swim training in the morning but went in the evening.
still sore but managed:
400m free with pullbuoy
300m 25 back 75 free ,25 breast 75m free
3x400 free
150
150
100
first session firm fast fast
second session fast firm fast
third session all fast
3 x 25 back 75 free warm down

focus again on my stroke used the pull buoy because of the sore hammy.

slept like a log in the evening and got up at 5.30am for Sat Ride
Again 4 hrs in the hills did the ride from home to helena valley, darlington ,mundaring up the mundaring weir road then turned around and came back.

It was a slow easy ride accept for the hills ..it was a grind witht he wind as well .But on the ride back I got up to speeds of63kph and on the flats 50kph with the wind assist.
I was feeling extra sore in the legs ,I put it down to the hammy and fatigue.

Kept up the nutrition well and drank 1.5 l and lots of carbo by way of dates.The weather was good ..not too warm at all.Saw a few cyclist around only.

In the arvo it was lots warmer when I did my hour easy run .the sore hammy was less of a problem as I ran longer.

sunday is rest day but marshalling a tri at hillarys.

The journey continues .....to austria




Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The week began well accept that i slept in after having some difficulty getting to bed.
I did a 55 min run in the evening and at easy pace .it was reasonably warm , followed by swim
training .
swim training:
400 free /medley
100 free
6 x 250m
100 warm down free/

Had an early night and got up at 4.39am
the ride this morning was good ..kept up with the group despite having to follow and not take my turn in the rotation.Averaged approx 31.9 kph including riding out to birwood avenue.

In the evening I did a body pump class just to get back into some weight training.
Feel sore after the first outing

wed morn slept in again...no running for me.
did swim today at the 6.30 session.
swim consisted:
200 free
200 medley
6x50 6strokes free 6 backstroke
1 x1000 m pulbuoy
1x 800 m pulbuoy

did the swim focusiing on stroke keeping my elbows up and high as much as i could
my stroke count i believe has improved down to 50 strokes every 50 m

north coast newsletter out :
http://www.northcoasttriclub.org.au/bulletins/09/week09.pdf
the article on IMNZ 25 anniv is great.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

the tummy rumbles

Thursday became a dud day with no training as I continued to feel unwell with a cramping stomach .Either the slimming tea or something I ate was making me ill.I had alot on at work as well and chose to take it easy.friday was better and I swam in the evening ...a first for me as I usually go in the morning.
It turned out to be a good session.Concentrated on the technique with ross pointing out my stoke was good when he was watching but I would revert to my old habits when he wasn't .
well it might be true but it took alot of concentration to get it right.Just need to keep plugging away...afterall I have 4 months before IM Austria.
I do feel Iam getting a smoother stoke but iam just as slow.

Saturday I got up late but as I was riding on my own it didn't matter .headed off just before 7am and got back at about 11am .Rode up thru Helena Valley and kaalmunda ...I did Mundaring weir road twice.
It was slow and easy but felt good.It was pretty hot by 10am and I managed to draft behind a group of riders at guildford for a short way till bassendean and lord street .A bit of respit.
I then did a run in the arvo.The temp was atleat 35C and that really took the energy out of me.Running at 4pm was lonely and hot.
I slept well on sat night and got up late.Sunday was a rest day so I decided just to do a spinerval of 1.25 min and that was good .
the rest of the day was just relaxing around the house and went over to tims after taking JJ to the railway museum , to watch the Hawaii Ironman on foxtel (he had saved it on his harddrive)

Ironman NZ and Langkawi come up and I have read lots of interesting bits.
Here are some of the links I have added to the newsletter this week:



www.mantoani.com
LINSEY CORBIN
Ironman turns silver
Sunday Feb 22, 2009

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

another manic monday ...

After the racing on the weekend I was sore and glad monday was a rest day ...noswimming or running as usual .
I felt good by the end of monday despite a hectic day.
Got my bent wheel fixed coutesy of ron at balmoral cycles.
Iam definitely gettinga bit of a reputaion as a crash dummy ...emphasis on dummy .

Tuesday morning was hard ...I only slept 4 1/2 hours before heading out at 5am .cycled to nedlands from the city and we did a 1hr of fast riding.
I managed to stick to jerry and the other guy (not sure of his name) ...we tried to stick onto rob when he came by and managed it although it was hard catching up to Rob.that lasted till I lost them passing a peloton of cyclist at the top of the hill and the roundabout.
I cycled on my own till the girls came by and jumped onto them ..that was much more bearable.
despite the speed My computer only showed an average of 30.5 kph including my slow ride to nedlands

I felt better than last week so I think Iam slowly getting stronger.

Total training on tuesday 2hrs.
I was going to start some core exercises but got distracted int he evening sorting out payment for my tickets.

Wed was swim and run day.
Swim session was 2.5km
with 400 warm up
with 100 free 50 backstroke /breast repeats
2.5 800m comprising 400 with pullbouy , 100 medley and 300 firm.
warmdown with kick board.
I had moments of good technique ...

In the evening ran for 45 mins easy .

I had bought some slimming tea a few days earlier to help with the weight but turned out to be a disaster.Have had a sore stomach and purging all day .

for some light reading :
The Adventures of Jimmy and Memphis: BACK FOR 2009
By Amanda Balding and Luke McKenzie
http://www.xtri.com/features_display.aspx?riIDReport=5363&CAT=21&xref=xx


Monday, February 16, 2009

A day at the beach triathlon

941 Sprint John Cooke m
m40-44 941 1.37.53 20 88

The next tri for the weekend of training was aptly called a day at the beach tri.I managed to get there early enough waking up at 4.30am and getting to the tri at 6am .It was still dark and the bike troute was shortened toa 1.7km circuit which we had to do 4 laps for each leg and there was 4 corners so it was really difficult to get into any proper groove particularly with the number of first timers and mountain bikes.

The format for the sprint was 200m swim 8km ride and 2 km run repeated 3 times with a 170 metre run to the beach and a 50 metre run back to the bike transition on the th beach sand ...real fun.

The swim was ok and I actually think i went faster in the 2nd and 3rd legs .My transitions weren't too bad and raf baugh won the dprint in 1.10 .I did a 1.37.53 which wasn't too bad considering that i found it difficult to ride with the number of potential crashes and my worry that i was trying to avoid anyone who went down unexpectedly particularly when i saw a few wobbles and people keeping to the right or 3-4 riders riding abreast .It was going to be difficult to pass them. I felt strong again on the run although by the third round I was glad it was my last.
overall i felt good with room to improve the swim and cycle .the run will follow if I can come out of the water with a lower heart rate . It was at 15 and did drop rapidly to 140s in the cycle and then in the run went up to 152-160 .I think that was about right for a sprint course.

Had a good break .I managed to falll asleep without any difficulty on sunday night and had a nap in the afternoon as well .The race did take alot out of me but felt better by monday night.
My triceps seem to be very sore after two days of racing ?
Its back to tuesday morning rides and the rest of the week training .

I am a step ccloser to booking my flights and will send details to ken re my travel in the next few weeks.

what was really uplifting was the number of people I knew in the race and the ppeople cheering from the sidelines .

Or a different note an interesting blog re lances press conference before the tour de california:

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Lance Attacks

http://stevefleck.blogspot.com/

http://velonews.tv/?articleID=2591

Saturday, February 14, 2009

champion lakes Tri

I had a pretty relaxing day today .no long ride in the hills and just a sprint race in the arvo.
It was at the champion lakes rowing complex ...a new rowing complex in the suburb of armadale in perth.
A straight road down tonkin hwy to the complex from my place.I thought I had lots of time but I got there at 11.50 and everyone was already at the briefing.
I managed to find a parking spot and decided to cycle to the start but my bag got caught in the spokes of the front wheel and over I went ...no damage just a bent shifter and a not so straight wheel and a sore elbow.
it did swell up a bit after the race.
I rushed thru transition and registration just in the nick of time as they were closing transition.
Got my gear sorted out and then waited for my start which was the last.the water wasn't too cold but pretty murky.

I again had a few panic moments but otherwise got into a rythm and managed to come out of the water better than I usually feel and not too bad a time ...was 20 min an improvement for me in a non wetsuit swim
I then managed to get a good start in the ride and even though the wheel was touching the brakes i just had to got on with it as the specialised had a very different catch for the brakes.
did the ride in 39.57 again for a 22km course was better than normal.but lots of improvement ahead.
the run was very good i didn't feel I was pushing myself and did the run in 24.07 and managed a steady pace of 90 strides every 58 secs.

overall did a 1.24 min and was 18 th in my age group .not so bad given the circumstances .i know my bike leg will improve as will my swim .
tomorro another race.

173267JohnCooke01:24:2145-4918Male143Finished00:20:152422400:39:571121100:24:0714113

Friday, February 13, 2009

Ironman Austria 2008
my next race in july 09

its all about the swim

wednesday ...instead of the morning swim session i slept in as I was just dead tired from the tuesday session and work.
I got home in the evening and it was stinking hot.I drove to terry tyzarks and then ran for 45 mins in the heat slow and steady .i managed to keep my strides consistent at 90 right strides a min.
saw raf baugh at yokine park with a group of runners .

I did a 45 min session and was glad to be out of the heat
headed to the pool for the swim session\
that was an easy session today:
did
400 free and easy
200 medley
200 freestyle
3 x 400 firm with 30 sec rest
200 warm down and 100 kick

then had a one on one session with Ross to watch my stroke
he sacrificed his nuts to demonstrate the stroke on the side of the pool .LOL
But is was very valuable...as i learned first hand 4important points
1 My hand coming out of the water with the elbol loose and high
2 entry of hand and arm straight ahead and 5 inches below the water surface and entry half way between myself and the furthest point my arm gets.
3 bend my hand and bring my arm and hand to just below my chin and fingers not protruding further than the midline of my chin and chest
4 using all the force to feel the water pushing back in the follow thru beyond the body to the thighs
5 keeping my head lower and hin tucked in slightly.

concentrate on my swim stroke and not speed and feel the movement of weater around me.

we ended up finishing the session at 8.30 pm Long night
On 12 feb Thursday , I skipped the morning ride but did my interval sessions at hillaries with NCTC

Great fun to run with others .joined group 2 and ran a 35 min session with a cooldown and warm up before .It was hard as I managed to do a 1.30 400m and a 3.40 800m run

friday 13 feb was supposed to be a swim but again I just could not get up.Did sleep late so from next week the sessions will build up as i will be back into the routine but i am more concious of the need to listen to the body and rest as I don't think there is any point putting the body under any stree this early into the build up.work and the stresses probably do not help in the motivation to get up.
thew eekend is set to beinteresting with 2 races on sat and sun ..champion lakes tri on sat and leighton beach on sunday.

its all about the swim

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

another week...training




The recovery week didn't feel like a recovery week but Iam now in ato a new week .It was hard getting up yesterday morning 9 feb .Its darker in the mornings and at 5.30 its still night outside.
thats the hardest part particularly as my legs were a little stiff from the sta and sun rides however short.just not as fit yet...
the swim session once in the water went well.I managed to keep up most of the time and trailed the main gp in lane one (weakest lane) by 100meters .
did 200 free
300 medley
800 firm 30 sec rest
(actually did 1000)
just can't count followd by
500 m firm
and 400 recovery and 100 kick
felt good if not tired.
work was full on and then collected my bike from TBE .It looked good and ready for the ride tomor.
went for a run 1hr in the hot weather .must have been 33C or hotter at 5.45pm
did an hrs run approx 10 k slow .

Got up early today for the 2 hr session at Birwood pde .First ride out and it was noticeably dark .thankfully had the bike lights

got to nedlands early from the city and we did our laps .I managed to hang on but eventually got dropped by ross and jerry and the others ...caught up in the last lap and again dropped once we had turned off to return to the start . It wasn't too bad but it was hard to stay on and i have lots of weight to lose and strength to build before Ican hold my own . we did a hard ride for 45 mins and then 15 mins of running 5 mins fast .i had atleast improved that aspect from the previous run.
tuesday's ride was better than the previous outings on the raceline .The ride back was hard as well with the headwind and my legs just fatigued ....coffee and tigerlillies was good.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

On friday I had a reasonable swim session with approx 2.4 km and lots of 100 m firm and recovery swims.
my stroke count was down to about 50-52 per 50 and I managed to keep up with the group just .
I felt good after first struggling to get out of bed .
arrived home just t 720am when the mega seal people ..they do sealing f baths etc arrived .
i did my intervals in the evening along foreshore from hillaries to trigg and the wind was howling with sand hitting my face but the run back was comfortable .i did 12 x 400m runs approx based on running hard for 1.30m and than recovering for 1.30min.
had a hot dog and I was glad i wasn't doing the aquathon today .the swell was bad.
Got up earlu enough for the ride ...nut was late for the 6.30 start and had to catch up with them .Caught up with them at uwa and they rode to freo via claremont and cottlesloe and through the cyclepath and left bank befor point walter and raffles then onto mount henry and shelley and curtin and victoria park .
i then cycled home did about 90km which was a bit longer than I should have done .
rested for the rest of the day.
sunday morning ad a late start and rode for an hour just spinning along reid highway but the ride back was tough with the headwind .
did a total of 11.5 hrs for the recovery week with 2 tri on the weekend will be interesting.will be getting my bike as well.
finally.

did my links for the newsletter at North Coast Tri club and came across another Ironman motivation video .

Spirit of Titans-Motivating Ironman Athletes

Produced in partnership with JoyfulHope.org and Heather Gollnick's IronEdgeCoaching.com. It is a motivating film to inspire prospective Ironman athletes and their families of the joy and inspiratio...

Thursday, February 5, 2009

tuesday had a morning ride of 2 hrs with the group . Hung on for as long as I could but it was a struggle.Partly the weight issue and the bike .Had to ride back to the coffee shop as well.but the new bike is coming and hope to then be able to keep up.
wed had swimming and did about 2.3 k and whilst i was tired i managed to finish the session feeling better.
stroke count horrible at 50-60 strokes per 50m .did a run round the foreshore past the brewery.
45 mins and very windy saw kim running and lots of cyclist.
thursday turned out to be a non starter as I was too sleepy to get out of bed so i didn't ...just too stressful so I will run and swim tomorrow and cycle on sat and Sunday.
Had the bike set up today in the evening and saw the specialized bike s-works which looks good and hope to have it by next week.

Monday, February 2, 2009

other ramblings

As i scoured the internet for triathlon stories I came across an interesting article on 2 Singapore triathletes and a competition ban placed on them a they breached the Association rules when their coach found them in the same room at the Bali beach games in October.The explanation was reasonable as the female competitor was alone and in a part of the resort with none of the rooms occupied and felt worried given it was the weekend of the execution of the Bali Bombers and there had been bomb threats made.

Triathletes banned
By Jeanette Wang

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_332901.html

Read Jeannets comments on her blog as well as she had written the article and copped some flak.
Not deserved at all.
If it wasn't so serious it would be hilarious that the petty mindedness of officialdom stretches in Singapore to even sports.TAS needs a good dose of commonsense .Just a reprimand and counseling the athletes to just seek out an official would have put this matter to bed.

on other matters I had a sort of rest day for Saturday...did the boring bits like housework etc and tried to recover from the fatigue from the Aquathon on Friday.
on sunday rode from 6am to 10.30 with a break for coffee 45 mins .Did close to 90km in the hills around Perth from my home to guildford , Mt Helena and Mundijong and Kalamunda and back home.
It was stinking hot and just did not hydrate enough .Tim was strong on the hills and got a half km ahead of me in the end up Mundaring weir Road.

I had my raceline pave and everything was rattling down the hill so did not dare push it.
on a brighter note waiting for my new bike.Think I have atleast put a dent on the weight issue with the training starting in earnest.
hard long day at work.Did an hours run to the pool and chatted with Ross. Did not swim today just had no energy in the morning.

its an easy week and I will focus on my swim and technique.
Ross will try and correct my lack of technique.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

first day in February


Riding the Hills
After fridays State aquathon I was knackered .A morning swim session of 2km and then work , followed by the aquathon took its toll.
I managed a 57 min time for a 500mswim followed by a 2.4 km run X 2 .The swim was rough and the swell was quite spectacular but pretty normal for a friday evening at hillaries given all the North Coast aquathons I have been to ...but it doesn't make me fast .
I decided to rest for saturady and just tidy the house .Rode with tim on sunday morning .i left home at 6am and got to his house by 6.20am and then off through bassendean , guildford ,Mt helena , mundijong , mundaring weir road all the way to Kalamunda and then back thru the zig-zag road and guildford.
It was hot and the there were a few hard hills but with my old allu bike I managed to spin up .A lot slower than tim though .
Did a comfortable 88km but it was hot by the time I got home.we did have a good break at kalamunda with bagets and capucino. Afterall in ross's programme it said an easy ride.
the training starts in earnest as I try to tackle my swim.
goals for the year are as always :
A better swim time 1.15 for the IM distance
Improve my bike endurance 5.30
and run 4 hr marathon
get the weight down to 68-70 from my current 78kg
Waiting on the new bike and it is a specialised s-works frameset built up but realised it will be different tribars on it.