The weekend was a very easy one...just a short ride of about 65 km and a swim on sunday at Cottesloe. Rode round the river and shelley with Tony, trevor and John from the UK .(his doing IMWA as well)

Had a brief chat with Ross at the cafe after the ride on my nutrition plan for the race.

Then coffee ( decaf) at Brew Ha in Subiaco.

On Sunday it was the last swim before the race at the Cott.It was a bit choppy and swam for about 45 mins. the off to coffee at John Street where we sat under these 2 galahs who dropped some bark and sap on our table.It was an enjoyable end to the swim and looking forward to the race .

Thanksgiving

It is not a tradition followed in Australia but I thought it was a good enough reason to reflect on what we have to be thankful for.
There were a few blogs by triathletes and Everymantri that wrote a piece on what they had to be thankful for from a triathletes perspective.

For me it encompasses everything in my life not just the sporting activity I pursue.

I am thankful for:
1 My family and wonderful wife and kids who tolerate my obsession
2 That I have a more balanced perspective to life
3 I am healthy
4 I stumbled into triathlons
5 I have met many wonderful people I otherwise would not have met.
6 I train and enjoy the company of a great group of supporting triathletes.
7 I am in a great Club
8 Great work environment and supportive colleagues .

So much to be thankful.

The week has passed quickly and I it is only 8 days to Ironman Western Australia.
I am feeling better and fresher as the workload has dropped off .it has been a relaxing week and i had a rest day yesterday after swimming on wednesday and doing my run in the evening.

Today I ran easy for 45 mins and swam for half an hour .

With a 2 hour ride tomorrow and a short run , it would have to be one of the easier weeks and then I go into a full taper. I plan to get all my gear sorted out , the bike serviced and write my nutrition plan out this weekend.

hopefully everything goes to plan and Iam hopeful that I will have a good race.


Finally from the blog of the Fat cyclist:
I am thankful for the letter “L.” Without L, it would be impossible to have a wonderful life. Instead, you’d have a wonderfu ife. Which would not only not be wonderful, it would be downright ridiculous.

Craig Alexander Sports performer of the Year 2009

Congrats to Craig Alexander sports performer of the year in Australia at least.
He is the ultimate professional and I enjoyed the short meeting at Total Triathlon before the World Long course Championships in October at Perth.

Again one of the few sports where the elite are so approachable and down to earth regular (accept when it comes to their performance ) guys and gals.

I think endurance sports does teach me alot about life , how you treat others and how you would like to be treated .There is a healthy respect for your fellow athlete and that's why I cannot reconcile some of the horrendous drafting that occurs .It really is not only cheating but a poor reflection of the character of a person despite the significant commitment of time and energy in training and disrespecting fellow competitors who put in so much. It is a sport that is largely self regulating .The marshalls are not everywhere on the course. It is about discipline and standards. There are no shorts cuts in life and there are certainly none in getting to my triathlon goals .

Craig Alexander does reflect some of the better qualities of our sport.

Life Is Good

The week is winding down .I had a very easy run on Monday .On Tuesday the usual bike ride . I had spent Monday evening getting my Zipp 404 wheels on my Specialise bike.
The bike looks good .I got up early 4.45am and got down to the city and rode from my office to Nedlands approximately 10kms . On the way I chased down a peloton of riders , about 25 , and I sat on the back of them crusing at 38kph along stirling hwy and up to Birwood and then did a short spin on the ciruit before the 6am start and met jamie on the way.

Ross wasn't riding today so Lajos sorted out the groups and off we went .I started with Rob , Teneke , Michele , and myself but by the half way point I had followed teneke and we had merged with the other group comprising Juianna , Rod , Jamie and Jason. We then rode with them till I had to stop to get my container cover which I had dropped and I rode the last 10 mins on my own. I had managed to average 36.2kph for the first 40km of the ride which I was pleased about . I felt quite comfortable taking my turn at the front .

As usual coffee at Tiger Tiger was good.My last cup till IMWA for what its worth .

On Wednesday , I swam in the morning doing only 2km ...i was feeling a little sluggish and again was real slow but I am not going to be knocking off 20 mins from my swim. In the evening it was a run with 3 x 2min efforts so it was really easy stuff and anyway there is not much I can do at this point in time.I had a brown dog running along with me for the last km before he went off when he saw another dog in the park. He kept running ahead of me and waiting for me to catch up ...a sort of dog pacer.

The week has been good .It was light and I am feeling better ,Craig Alexander was named Sports performer of the year and well deserved , Ironman Malaysia is on the date they said it was after all that confusion ...so the world is Balanced (my tri world that is.)



From Emma's blog ...I hope she doesn't mind but it is so funny .
http://teamtrihard.blogspot.com/

And finally a link to chuckie V latest comment in his blog ...The Mystery of Ironman.

If there's one thing that absolutely mystifies me about this whole Ironman "lifestyle" (if you will), it's this eternal impulse to celebrate something we can't wait to finish. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that.

http://chuckiev.blogspot.com/2009/11/ironman-mystery.html

Some things in life are meant to be a mystery especially when the world is in balance.

The Funny World Of Triathlon

The training is done and I have been surfing this evening looking at various blogs of triathletes.
What strikes me immediately is
a) Iam not alone , strange or obsessive
b) There are heaps of people who indulge is this passion called Triathlons

I almost feel normal.

It is great to see the enthusiasm , the time and the energy people around the world put in .Clearly it brings great joy and I feel more in touch with humandkind in my sport then ever before.There is an immediate connectivity .I do not feel alone in a strange country or a place when Iam at a trievent.The is common purpose in this madness we love.

I do enjoy reading the blogs and the training everyone is doing not only the pros.
Its amazing what triathleets can blog about as well .I have attached a few interesting links which are great for a laugh.

Finally whilst surfing I came across the tritwins blog and he wrote a great piece about his rivalry with another triathlete who is returning back home after several years in Malaysia.It is heart warming to read about the friendships that come out of the sport but the desire and attitude to challenge oneself each race against another but to not let it get out of hand.

heres my hit list of stuff on triblogs and or links from triblogs:

Do Pro/Ellte Women Have A Sex Drive???
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Do_Pro/Ellte_Women_Have_A_Sex_Drive_P2544399

Emma Bishop
http://teamtrihard.blogspot.com/

jonathan in the distance
http://jonathaninthedistance.blogspot.com/2009/11/lighting-candle.html
personal.

20 Questions with . . . Graham Fraser
http://stevefleck.blogspot.com/2009/11/20-questions-with-graham-fraser.html
An excellent interview of Graham fraser and his involvement with Ironman events in North America .

There are lots of blogs that I sort of dip into from time to time but with time at a premium for training , I don't get the opportunity to surf the internet as much.

Having said that it is so much more fun to be experiencing life ...the trilife.

Swimming among the fishes

Sunday Morning was usually a rest day but for the last few weekends I have been swimming at Cottlesloe just to build up some confidence in an ocean swim start as following the black line at the bottom of a swimming pool really does not help prepare for a swim start. It is helpful in so far as maintaining my aerobic fitness.

Well this sunday was no different and in keeping with the wildlife theme for the weekend as we started off from Cottlesloe Beach , Free Willy taps me on the shoulder .I thought I had collided into him accidentally but it turned out he had just seen the biggest fish ever ,a sort of groupa or wrass.I missed it completely.The water was exceedingly calm and great for a swim with absolute clarity .There were large schools of fish around but I miss the big one.

we swam for about 50 mins and then headed for the john Street cafe with Fish and family.It was a really nice Perth day.My swim was reasonably good and managed to keep up with everyone. The amazing thing is despite the whole ocean to swim in I still collided with a swimmer on the way out and on the way back...just not the same swimmer.

The hard training is now done and I just have to get my pacing and the nutrition right.

On Monday 23 Novemeber , I skipped my morning swim and ran on the threadmill for 50 mins at an easy pace which was just over 10kph.It felt good and I did not get my heart rate up . tomorrow is the usual hard ride at nedlands.i spent the evening changing my wheels and will get the bike serviced this week.

Snakes Alive

I know its sad but when you ride week in week out on the same piece of bike path as I have , seeing a big brown snake slither across is the most exciting part of the ride.

Well it finally happened , I got to see a snake after a few false alarms and one dead snake on the SW hwy to Bunbury.It was rather thick and was already half way into the bush at the side of the road by the time I got sight of it .It was probably a brown snake which would have been poisonous and definitely a snake to avoid.

The ride was otherwise uneventful and I had a slow ride into the city before getting onto the freeway bikepath and a 45 km ride down the freeway .There was a reasonable wind and about 1.10 into the ride I was joined by a cyclist heading to Mandurah and we took turns rolling and managed a really steady pace.I stayed at sub threshold throughout and managed a steady 30kph overall with my slow start especially with all the stops at lights.It was just past 9am when I headed home .I managed to ride pass Baldivis and Safety Bay Road.The ride back wasn't too bad and the wind seemed more favourable.I managed to get home just before 11am but the ride back to Mt Henry Bridge I had averaged just over 31.2kph at the 100km mark .

On Friday I ran to the pool and did an hour swim of 2.7km and ran home . did not manage anything in the previous two days largely because I was still sore and had a sore throat.I had worked out that the general fatigue I had this week was largely from the lack of sleep.I was waking up at odd hours and not sleeping enough.But on friday evening I slept well after the 2 hour workout .

With the 120km ride today , that was the last long ride and the taper begins with shorter rides and more relaxed runs. There is a life after training....

Resting Up

After the Monday run and tuesday ride in the morning ,I was not feeling too well...with a sore throat and very tired and aching legs.It was raining this morning so I decided to skip the swimming and running today and just rest.

Tuesday mornings ride was a hard session of 1hr with a hour hour ride to nedlands and back.I got to the start late as i fell as my bike clipped the pavementbut it was at very slow speed and just had a sore knee and fortunately no damage to the bike.

I caught up with a group but soon after had a loose cage and had to stop to get it off.Then turned around to catch the group of 2 cyclist michelle and james and rode with them and Ross taking turns at the front till a cyclist joined us and I started to ride with him as we took off from the others on a slight incline and he rode off eventually and I was left on my own on the return leg of the circuit and caught up with meredith and tried to get them to hang on but to no avail and ended up cycling on my own again. I was slower than last week because I was mainly on my own but did a credible 32kph including the slow ride to the start of the session.i managed a 50k ride all in for the morning.

With the race a few weeks away ,Iam not really taking or pushing myself so this morning I just decided it was better to rest than chance getting sick .Iam listening to my body alot more and I was really very tired .

I will ride and run tomorrow and swim on friday and that will help .One last longish ride of 120km on saturday and then the taper begins.

The Club is gathering momentum to get a cheer squad down to Busselton and putting on a bit of a show especially for members racing but as the biggest club in Western australia , I think its a good showcase to the community and our international visitors it is a great club.It will certainly be welcomed by me on the run course.

The Right Balance

I was asked in discussions about my level of training compared to my first programme under a different coach and that the level of hours of training has dropped but its not about the volume more the right balance especially for anyone working.
Here is my reply:

I am averaging about 15 hours with the peak periods at 20 so its not as hard as budgy .But the intensity of the riding and running is greater.Ironguides progs don't have high volume of hours but builds up to 20 hours so you don't feel tired.If you are working long hours and training long with little recovery you will just not perform.
so its not about the hours ,more the build up and being consistent and rest is the key .
ultimately if you want to ride fast you will have to ride hard for short periods and slowly allow the body to adjust to longer periods at the intensity u want to achieve and it can take a long time to build as iam finding out.Why don't you ask chris whether he should put up the training and see what his reasoning is .
Read chuckie V one of my hero coaches:
http://chuckiev.blogspot.com/2008/12/free-triathlon-training-program.html

http://chuckiev.blogspot.com/2009/04/readiness-ramp-test.html

I am still doing more and not following the programme religiously but I am not beating myself up when i miss sessions and it is usually the right thing.I have just had a hard 4 days with a hard run on friday wheni sh have been doing an easy run , a long166km sat ride and run and a sunday swim when it was suppose to be a rest day .But i skip my swim on monday and just do my run.So by this morning I am tired and struggle out of bed to ride .
hope that helps
Iam only slowly learning how important rest and recovery is .I keep wanting to chase that rabbit down...

Iam still learning but improving.It may not be the optimum way of getting to my optimum level of fitness or race goal but when you set off on this journey it is partly the trip and the twist and turns we all take including coping with many external pressures and unforseen circumstances such as injuries or illness which may throw us off for a while but may often be a blessing.

Ironman 70.3 World Championship at Clearwater

The Taper begins or does it

VIDEO: 13.11.09 Nine News Narrows 50th

Rode over the Narrows bridge on my way to a 166km ride on the day the Bridge turned 50

It is now 3 weeks to Busselton and the easy week last week was a lifesaver The body is feeling less fatigued and definitely fresher.The week wasn't going to be much less than my harder weeks accept for the long ride. Monday began with a long run ...2 hours with 1 at a medium pace .i ran round the river again and across the river at Burswood and back to the esplanade and to the swan brwery and back. It was a reasonably warm evening at 5pm but soon got cool after 6 and dark by quater to seven . I decided to run in the vening and did not make my swim session.

Tuesday morning was the usual ride at Claremont and as it has been really light at 5am onwards there were lots of cyclist out.The squad was practising transitions after several in the group had raced bunbury on the weekend with very good results .A few won their age groups. We now have over 10 riding on Tuesday. Whilst everyone went off to practice transitions in the Park , Rod and Julianna had an easy ride.Meredith rode with them and that left Rob P and me.Rob whilst overweight and starting back in preparation for IM NZ is still a fast rider.Eventually Ben who was late joined us and tried to keep up but would drop off and join us on the return leg of the circuit.

I rode hard and kept up with Rob taking my turn in the front .I managed to climb better but Rob was definitely stronger on the flats.Did an average of 34.2 kph with my slow ride out to Claremont .But was a harder ride with just 2 riders taking turns out front compared to the usual group.

I felt good considering my run the night before.Wednesday I did a swim in the morning .I did a 2.7-2.8km swim as I started a little earlier .In the evening , I did my interval running with 5 x 4min efforts. Thursday was supposed to be a ride but as it was a little wet I decided not to ride , having a rest day.Friday I did a straight 1 hour swim and did 2.7km with lots of crowding in the pool.In the eveening it was the annual Max grieve run ,a North Coast Tri Club event to honour one of the founding members who pased away from cancer 10 years ago .The event has been run for 10 years and is a 5km and 10 km run .I managed a 44m40 sec run and felt good with a new PB for the 10km .Legs were a little tired after the race.Brad hoskings and loretta Wesley , a double World championin the OD and long Course race this year , won the 10km race .Brad and a non Club memeber dead heated but only club members can win .I did get their finisd time but Brad would have done a 35 min run.

Saturday morning i was a litlte sore but rode down to the Narrows bridge to join john dominican and his group training for Busselton.Set off at 6am with a tailwind down the freeway .I did 2.5 hours from home which turned out to be 83km at an average of 32.8kph.I turned around before the rest and the ride back was tougher .By the time I got back to the Narrows i had done 153km averaging 30.8kph.then just did an easy ride home for 166km .Managed 3.5 bidons as it wan't too warm .had 3 gels , half a power bar and half a protein bar and 10 dates and gatorade .a total of 240gms of Carbohydrates.not quite enough so i will need to make sure I have another 100gms .
But did not feel lethargic.I ran off the bike for 15 mins had a rest in the arvo and then ran for 45 mins in the aftrenoon .

I was dead tired in the evening and had a really good nights rest .The kind where all you remember is going to bed and waking up the next morning.I had to get up early as I had to get to Tony's place at 6.45am to get to cottlesloe at 7am .We eventually got started at about 7.35am with Trevor trying his new wetsuit.the conditions were great with little swell but the waves were crashing on the beach.The water was otherwise good and felt a little warm . Trevor and Tony took off and I lagged about 100 meters behind.We swam approximatly 1.5km or a little more before turning back , a total of 3km in just over an hour. iwas feeling tired but otherwise good and it would be about the pace I would swim as my heart rate remained low.

It was overall a good training week .

Ironman florida the drafting peloton

This is a hoot. ...video footage of drafting in an ironman race.
well Busselton will be flat and with 1500 over cyclist there are going to be packs about.I don't have the dilema cause by the time Iam out of T2 everyone is on the bike course. I just have to focus on my pacing and not blowing up overtaking constantly.
LOL

A really Easy Week

Cottlesloe Beach



Free Willy and The Fish having coffee at John Street after the swim


The weekend was a nice leisurely weekend made up of an easy 3hr ride ...not quite 3 hrs and a swim on Sunday at Cottlesloe beach. I think I needed the break as many headed down for the first race of the West Australia triathlon season for the Bunbury triathlon. A race I have not missed since I took up triathlons .It was my first Olympic Distance Race in 2006. The whole family came down with me and then promptly slept through the race. By the time I finished they had got up ,had breakfast and showed up. well it was fun.

The Saturday ride started relatively early and I headed down Reid hwy and West Coast for Freemantle .I jumped on the back of a few cyclist but decided to chase a few more and finally at Point Walter one of the cyclist in the group commented on my IM Austria cycling top. Told him I had done it in July and there were a few hills and not enough in Perth to ride up.I then found Nat and Jason riding leisurely round point Walter and tagged on ( they were racing Bunbury the next day and did well...ie top ten finish),riding back to Perth where we had coffee at Tiger Lilys .We got there before the massive influx of roadies. I then took the long way home round Bayswater and Embleton.

Sunday was a nice day at the beach swimming at 7.30am at Cottlesloe, one of the premier beaches in Perth.The weather was good but the sea was lumpy , there was a fair bit of seaweed about and the stingers were out. I was swimming with the Fish and Free Willy . We set off along the coast pass the Blue Duck Cafe and it would be about 1.25km and then back .I was zig-zagging abit but otherwise it was a reasonable swimming effort for me in 47 mins.Fish swam between the groin and the sea wall as he had a sore shoulder . We then headed for coffee. I have become a caffeine junkie since I started doing triathlons. the atmosphere at the cafe on John street just off the main road facing the beach was great with good coffee and a discussion of my favourite topic ...tris. It just rounded of the easy week and made missing bunbury bearable.

Becoming an efficient swimmer

So What Do You Want To Be…
A Fast Swimmer or a Fast Triathlete?
Simply being a fast swimmer will not make you a faster triathlete

Hazen Kent - Tri-Newbies Online
http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_swim/tno_swimarticle_01.asp

How to Use Swimming Drills to Improve Your Swim
How to implement swim drills into your current training
plan and workouts
http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_swim/tno_swimarticle_18.asp

It has been a great week as I have been relatively stress free and feel more relaxed not tense or anxious or just tired.

The body has recovered from the chest infection ( or nearly).I had a good hour run with 6 x 1min efforts on the thread mill.I ran at 11-12kph and then put it up to 14-15kph for a min each time .It was good .Did not feel tired given that I had not been doing a morning and evening session.

I swam again on Friday and we did several drills.It shows up that I am just still not an efficient swimmer .Ross stated that if I just focused on the drills and concentrated on my stroke I will get faster.Well it has only taken me 1.5 years to work that out.

The other interesting point is the subject of the article above. Trying to swim efficiently allows me to keep my heart rate lower and come out of the swim with my heart rate low enough that I will not be cycling above thres hold and possibly bonking down the track.

It is all simple in theory.But putting it into practice is the issue.In retrospect my swim times have improved and I feel more comfortable in the water.Now to just get faster ....

Finally for those who wonder into this blog ...help Craig Alexander win the Australian Sports Performance of the Year Award
(but you have to be a resident of Australia to vote)
sorry to the many visitors to this blog from around the world including someone from Iran ...Iam intrigued now ,do they have triathlons in Iran???

Help Crowie (Craig Alexander) Win!
Craig Alexander nominated for Australian Sports Performance of the Year Award
http://ironman.com/events/ironman/worldchampionship/craig-alexander-nominated-for-australian-sports-performance-of-the-year-award

LETS DO IT RIGHT

I have got my training programme for the last 5 weeks of training before the West Australian Ironman Race in Busselton.

I have the usual short note from Ross and the weekly programme .I have an easy week this week and I need it.
I have been coughing up the mucus and Iam glad the end is in sight.
Here is Ross's note:

John,

Lets do the last 6 weeks right and have great day out there.

Get salts up and keep nutrition on target for entire day, be vigilant.

I expect a PB whether in time or position, I know Austria was not good for you but I also know you are heaps better than that so start being that better athlete the squad knows you are. Yes John the squad sees what you have achieved and know how much you have improved so repay them with a good result.


Keep up the diet

See you out there and enjoy the easy week

Ross

The week began well enough .I had to skip the swim session on monday morning as my son had a sleepless nite and as such I did as well. As I had a North Coast Committee meeting in the evening I ran after work for 1.20 easy and managed a reasonable pace .I met barry who swims at Bayswater pool riding round the river and had a brief chat with him .Mentioned all the tough spots I have had these past few months and I think I will need a long break after Busso.He reminded me that I had said that last year .
how true. After Busso I will probably have a break but get back to another race next year . After all I am thinking of IM China afterall.

The run went well and it was a fairly nice warm day. Monday is always a rush .With the meeting ending at 9pm I rush home and get myself ready for the next morning before I can relax.

Tuesday morning starts really early at 4.45am and I get down to the office and park my car and ride out to Nedlands about 8-9 km from my office and meet up with the rest of the training squad and Ross at 6am.We then start an hour of hard riding , doing laps.We end up doing about 35km in the hour. I rode with Julianna , Rob , Jamie , Tenike and Michelle later . It was an easy week but I said I would try and stay with them for as long as I could. Rob set the pace and it was reasonable in the first lap but i struggled in the second lap as I was coughing and spluttering through the ride so I could not take my turn in the front as often. I was much better in the third lap and hung in there till the end .I had managed to average 35.5kph .My fastest average for the whole year on a Tuesday morning ride. the tuesday ride is easily the best few hours of training for me .


The best part is always riding back into the City and to Tiger Lilys for coffee.You do not appreciate the simple pleasures of life until you have such a start to the morning .It is also the great company talking about what I enjoy ...cycling and triathlons.

Wednesday 4 November .I got up early 4.50am and got to the pool at about 5.30am and actually started swimming early .I did a 500m warmup with a PB and then 50free , 50 breast ,50 back, 50 free , 100free x 2 =900m
the we all did a 1000m time trial and I managed a 21.50 which was good for me . I then did an easy 600 and a further 300 free .A total 2.8km swim .
I was supposed to run in the evening but work got in the way so I will do my run tomorrow .Old habits are hard to break eventhough its another rest day . the week is looking good as I am feeling better .

more pictures from World Long Course Championships in Perth 2009

CARPE DIEM

I thought it was worth while putting up the short clip with Robin Williams in dead poets society from Chuckie V's blog which I follow and for the fact Robin is a triathlete.

Now is as Good a Time as Any
Now is that time of year when triathletes tend to start looking ahead to next year. Though this is not entirely a bad thing, I personally feel that it's too soon for it, but who cares what I think, right? I'm not even sure I care what I think!

(The reason I think it's too soon for it is because when we look ahead all the time we tend to forget the here and now. Life isn't made up of a bunch of tomorrows; it is made up of the here now…this gift we call the present. And anyway, the future will soon be a thing of the past, so we must embrace the gift of today.)

http://chuckiev.blogspot.com/2009/10/now-is-as-good-time-as-any.html

Five weeks to Busso

After the Long Course World Championships last Sunday , I felt really tired but other wise pretty good despite the bad hay fever.I think the volume of Telfast and Claratyne was kicking in with a vengeance .I had a slight fever and was a bit delirious in the evening , mumbling myself to sleep about the world champs.

I had a bit of a cough and chest infection and eventually saw the doctor on Tuesday and got lots of antibiotics which had an immediate effect .I wasn't able to train for 4 days and went back to swimming on Friday morning and did a run along the coast on Friday evening ...it was pretty windy and cold.

Spoke to Ross re the bad swim and the funniest comment was there was nothing wrong with my stroke per say but I was just slow. DOH as homer Simpson would say ! I will need to improve my swim which was the intention this year and there has been an improvement with my Busso half swim time but overall I will have to knuckle down to a more systemic system of improving my swim times and possibly some gym work and long ocean swims.

I do need to work out next years plans for the major races I intend to do and have a long break to improve my swim.

On Saturday I did a long ride .Left at about 5.30am and thankfully it is nice and bright .The winds wasn't too bad in the morning but after fremantle it was beginning to get stronger .I made reasonably good time to Mt Henry but with traffic stops and the rolling hills I was still averaging under 30kph. I was also trying a new Carbo source , condensed milk . After Mt Henry down the Freeway bike path it was hard going and after Baldivis the wind was gusting and at some points I was pedaling at 20kph.

At the 105km mark I turned around glad of being out of the headwind.It was about 15km short of the end .The legs were really feeling smashed but after a quick few minutes off the bike and a banana , gel and a powerbar I was feeling better.The return ride was lots better and managed to get up to 50kph but mainly at mid 30s to 40 kph .The wind did turn from time to time as the bike track meandered.I tried to keep up with some stronger riders but didn't last .one of the riders jokingly said he was hoping I would drag them along but they disappeared strongly at over 45kph.I passed a guy riding with a water bladder strapped on his back but he passed me twice , once after a pee break and at the narrows when he mumbled as I passed him not you again.The last 10km I rode with a group to Mt Henry before heading to the narrows and then home .Got home at noon averaging just under 29kph .Ran off the bike for 15 mins.

Last long ride of 180 km for the year. No cramping issues and the weather was good bar the wind.It was like a 6 hour wind trainer session . My legs felt really like jelly .I tried to do 5 x 20 km stints on aero at threshold but I think I wasn't able to get my heart rate up to threshold that often. The nose was still a problem with the hay fever.