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.