The Fifth Discipline

I have slowly but surely started to get back into a routine.The emphasis is on slowly but the honey moon ends this week .

I sound much like the spoof clip on Shit Triathletes say doing the rounds on Facebook. Seriously it is very hard to be motivated when the race is 4 months away and it is hot. I have started my swimming and did 2 runs in the hot weather... but no cycling this week despite the best intentions. Laying in bed at 5.30 am was a much more attractive proposition.Not for long though.

I have put in 7.5km of swimming and 17km of running.I also did my Yoga session today and sweated a bucket. I have had to slow down a little with a strained back from my monday evening run.

There is lots going on this month and next.There is the City of Perth Olympic Triathlon tomorrow , Rottnest swim 10km trial , ATTA time trial and WAMC run race and a run trail race as well.All tomorrow.I am just trying to get out of the naturally lazy unmotivated phase which I will get out of as I start  my programme for Busselton Half in February.

The main focus is getting fit and losing the weight I have gained.I am beginning to feel better in the water and so that is a good start.

Today at Helen's Yoga , one of the newbies to Yoga mentioned that she had heard my short talk at North Coast New members evening last year and she felt very inspired and motivated. Felt good as I had at least reached out to one individual.. You cannot fake genuine interest and desire.

Triathlon can be infectious and fun and all encompassing.At times a little too saccharine in taste when you are in a room full of enthusiasm . Its not bad just too much is not a good thing. So I have tempered my joy of the sport so that I don't bore to death the next unsuspecting individual.

The other singularly frustrating part of any activity is the sayings that go . It is inspiring but sometimes just again too much.

In preparation and in keeping with all good Triathletes around, I have managed to prepare not only for the 4 disciplines of racing but the fifth all important one. The excuse.

In no order of importance after the Busselton Half Ironman 2012:

1. I was sick
2. I over trained
3. I under trained
4. I did not taper enough
5. I tapered too much
6. Everyone was drafting
7. I got my nutrition all wrong
8. I did not have enough Nutrition
9. I had too much nutrition
10. It was too hot
11. It was too cold
12. The injury flared up
13. I had a mechanical problem/punctures etc
14. I did not do enough course specific workouts
15. I didn't have the right coach
16. I trained alone
17. I trained in the wrong group
18. I was too heavy going into the race
19. I was too light going into the race
20. I did not take enough salt
21. I took too much electrolytes
22. I could not keep anything down
23. I don't know what happened
24. I just had an off Day
25. I had a new programme
26. I didn't have a programme
27. I can't swim , bike and run
28. I just blew up on the run

But all this is irrelevant if  I win my age group , restore some respect to my performance , and don't get chicked by every female age grouper. ( and pigs will fly)

But if  I don't  I will definitely be using one of these lines .It is in the psyche of a triathlete. Like the off the Internet specific tailored training programme for the triathlete , these great lines will be available at the end of each race . I know I will be hearing them lots of times before the season is over.

Chinese New Year

Today is Chinese New Year Eve. It is the year of the Dragon , the more powerful of the chinese zodiac animals and hence more babies , at least in Chinese culture usually a good year and the Water Dragon  signifies a calmer animal.

This week has been a  rather slow start to training . I had 3 days where  I was very busy with work but otherwise  , this past week marked my return to training.No runs but 2 bike rides ,  2 swims and Yoga.

On Monday I had a hard swim session doing 2.6km with a 900m and 700m and 600 m swim with a warmup of 400m. On Tuesday I joine Exceed riders out at Shelley where it was a flat hour ride with groups of 3 and 4. I hung on to bryce and Stuart and could only take my turn in the front on the return leg of each loop . That was a 2 hour ride with just under 60km .
I had no training for the next 3 days and then on Saturday  I did my first longiah ride .A 90km ride with coffee at the 80km mark. Rode to the narrows where Exceed had its photo session with the new gear and a driver watching us ride along  crashed into the rear of a car stopped at the roundabout . The guys rode round the river and at Cottesloe took off.I could'nt keep up and bryce was behind and I maanged to stick to him an dhe dragged me back into the group. I got dropped again at Point walter a few kilometres further and I was on my own for about 45minutes till i got to Shelley where 2 of the guys had bad falls (one with a broken collar bone). I then rode with the remaining group back to the coffee shop but lost some of the riders when they went through a road closed section and I went round . Managed to get back although it was pretty hot by then.

Exceed tried a new coffee place on Angove Street called Matrio  .Great coffee although I was too done after the ride to eat anything .

After the ride , I watched the Wanaka race on the internet and saw Gina Crawford cross the line winning her fourth Challenge Wanaka title and after having a baby 6 months earlier. I had Yoga in the afternoon and it is helping with getting more flexible and working on my core. Saturday night was the first night i just crashed and did not get up at all. I slept till 6am and then drove to tonys where we drove to Coogee for a swim.It was overcast and as he described it Sharky weather. We still swam .Ran 1.5km down the beach and swam back .It was alittle choppy and unfortunately there were lots of stingers .i got it on both arms and torso. I swam the whole way .

Breakfast was coffee and muffins at Daisies in Cottesloe. It is back into the routine next week.

I now weigh 76kg and training will be gearing up with running back on the menu.I got the January issue of Triathlete Magazine (US) and a timely article after yesterdays crashes , titled "Bouncing back from a bike Crash " There were 5 pointers , the first AVOID A CRASH . How funny .

The other interesting piece was from paul newsome who is local to perth and he wrote a pice for the magazine called "DO YOU KONW YOUR APE INDEX".That is the difference between the length of your arms and your height. I have a difference of 2 inches , my arms  are just 2 inches short of my height. It means that I pretty much have to swim with a higher /faster stroke cadence.  See Arm length and the Ape index .

Finally a piece on  A Physiological View Of What The Human Body Goes Through In An Ironman  again from the Triathlete Website:

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2012/01/training/a-physiological-view-of-what-the-human-body-goes-through-in-an-ironman-2_46170/2
 
 It's obvious and I have read several articles prety much saying the same . In an ironman , the body is put through a lot but having said that , with proper nutrition and rest , the body equally can recover . it is like all else striking the balance.
 
 
 
 
 
 



The Road less travelled

The Road Not Taken by Robert frost 1916

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;


Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.


I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The holidays are over . The 5 weeks of doing mainly nothing are over . It has been a complete rest bar the Inter club race on the 18 December and a short swim and run session with Tri Fam Tri buddies in Singapore.

It was a complete change of routine and I slept lots.

I also put on a lot of weight and Iam about 7kgs more now. But the preparation for the Busselton Half Ironman begins next week with the proper training starting in february.

I believe it was a much needed break after IMWA . I am hoping to be able to refocus and set some achievable goals for the Half.

The priotrity will be to get back to base fitness and drop weight.
The next goal is to get to a level of swimming competence I had pre May last year. that will mean a commitment to swimming for the next 4 months.

Then there will be the meat and potatoes of triathlon , my bike and run . Still alot more work on just getting to a level of consistentcy.

This week I started with a short run and a swim on Wednesday.I was pretty much out of shape and struggled . I did a 6 or 7km run followed by a 2.5km swim session. Today it was my first Yoga class. Again I am more inflexible then flexible but we all have to start somewhere.

I will be more consistent with my eating habits and training for 2012. There doesn't have to be major changes , just minotr but critical changes. I am looking forward to the year and the rides and runs and swim sessions.

Starting the year off , I stumbled on a blog titled Mark and Angel Hack Life with many and varied list of wisdom. One such list is 30 things-to-start-doing-for-yourself .

the website Mark and Angel Hack life

The goals are simple , it is the application and commitment that make this road , a road not often travelled . I hope I don't lose my way  .