Tuesday, September 29, 2009

My run on Monday

Saturday, September 26, 2009

A nice day for a bike Ride...the long ride day

Saturday 26 September 2009 ...the long ride day

My training week always concludes with a long ride on saturday.Today was no different.I had to ride 150km on aero and at threshold. It was also the AFL grandfinal between St Kilda and Geelong. For the record geelong won .

I got up late for my ride so I started off at 6.30am and rode down to the city then onto the narrows and Mt Henry Bridge.It was a very nice day .It wasn't too cold. From Mt Henry Bridge I then went down the freeway .Met up with john Hawkins and Meredith who was doing a 150km ride from Joondalup. I rode with them for a km or two then went on my merry way.There was a cross wind but I was doing a pretty good speed between 32 and 39 kph but my heartrate was staying fairly low between 130-139.

I went 54 km down the freeway cycle path before turning back at the 76 km mark.At that point my average speed was 30.9kph. The return trip was hard ...the winds were headon . I was averaging 25kph at some stages and about 20 km from Mt Henry ,a group of 4 riders passed me and i jumped on the back of their wheels and hung in there but I did try to keep the regulation 7 meters some of the time. they were flying and i got up to 40kph at some stages.just prior to that my legs were feeling very heavy but once I got on the back of them it wasn't too bad and I felt much stronger.As in previous week I had very little nutrition.Two bottles of water , 12 dates , a bar and banana >I got by in the 5 hour ride on about 35 g of carbohydrates per hour .

In the end I managed to get back in 5.10 averaging 29.4kph .that was with all the lights in the city and traffic back home.Then it was a 10 min easy run.In the arvo i did a further easy run for 45 Min's.

The rest of the week I managed all the sessions bar my interval run on Wednesday. I did my swim sessions on Monday , Wednesdays and Friday in the evening.The Friday session was particularly strong ,I did a 2.7km session with 8 x 200 m at firm ,medium and fast pace.i did it with a pull buoy so I managed to keep up with the swimmers in my lane.In the end the week went well and the total stats were bike 9.5 hrs, run 4 hrs , swim 4 hrs including a swim on Sunday.

Running this week has been particularly cold and wet .But it has turned out to be a good weekend and the weather has come good.particularly on my birthday on Sunday.
The first swim in the ocean since July and it felt like a shock to the system but I managed to acclimatise to the conditions.I did about 1.5 to 2kms. We then all had coffee at hillary's.It was before the crowds arrived and the weather and ocean were perfect despite the cold.It was a great start to the day.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

THE NORTH COAST TRI CLUB LANCELIN WEEKEND




THE BEACH AT THE END OF THE ROAD FROM THE YHA HOSTEL WE STAYED AT 19/20 September 2009


The weekend riding to Lancelin and back was a good training session for me. We all congregated at Kim and Rob lees home .I was the first there at 5.45am .Rob wasn't even ready. But I didn't want to be late. unloaded the bike and the light was breaking at just past six am.It looked like there were storm clouds hovering around but it turned out to be a good day to ride.

The little cul-de-sac soon was a swam of cyclist gathering for the start . Everyone had to put their name down and emergency contact details just in case ( you got run over by a semi trailer ) Roger P said that as his parents were in Queensland he did not have any so Maria M just told him to put down Joondalup Hospital.

The first batch started off at about 6.15 and the second smaller group were off at just past 7am I started off alone thinking the main group would catch up and they did about 12km later and then we rode in twos through Marmion Drive on to Two Rocks before getting into single file till Lancelin

I felt good despite only having a bottle of water and 10 lollies so I was really feeling quite tired by the end of the ride. I managed to take my turn at the front for a fair bit but towards the end as I was really grinding hard on the hills and my legs were really tired for the last 20 kms .We caught up with the earlier group at Two Rocks and passed all the riders from the earlier group before Woodbridge.Some of them stuck onto the back of our group .I lost the main lead group and John Domican was about 2-300meters ahead of them as well .I turned off into the road leading into Lancelin but wasn't sure if it was the right way so I tried to ring dave but there was no response .I started heading back up the hill when I saw robyn , tracey and stephen so I followed them down to Lancelin and managed to find my way to the YHA Hostel.Had to wait a further half an hour for my bags which were in Marias car and hung around the courtyard talking about my favourite topic tris.Imust have bored several North Coasters.

Anna arrived and I decide to run with her for an hour which I was going to do in the arvo and felt comfortable witht he run but my heart rate was a little high at 140-145 . I managed to do an even split time running the same distance in the first 30 mins and back.

We walked to the Pub for Lunch and it was a long walk ...atleast 2km away .Thanks Dave.We had lunch till 4pm and then I headed back to my room and promptly fell asleep and woke up at 6.30 for dinner .We had great salads and meats and sausage and lots of deserts.I went off to bed at about 10pm and got up at 6am although my alarm goes off at 4.45am every morning but i get to doze off for a further hour .Had breakfast and then went down to the neach for a few oics and we promptly set off at 7.30am for the return trip .we made steady progress and we had lots of favourable winds .got to woodbridge abd had a muffin break courtesy of sue and then back down to two rocks and Burns beach to Robs place. it rained for the last 20 kms and so we got wet and cold.
i felt alot better on the return trip as i did not blow my legs going too hard up the hills .On the trip up i averaged 31.6 kph and on the trip down 31kph . overall it was an excellent ride and got 8 hours of good training in.Pity I didn't have a rest day yesterday .Atleast Ross isn't reading this blog .

THE RUNNERS GUIDE TO THE MEANING OF LIFE

At the moment if I am not dead tired and asleep in the evening ,I am reading THE RUNNERS GUIDE TO THE MEANING OF LIFE by Amby Burfoot ,winner of the 1968 Boston marathon and author of the Runners world Complete book of running.

it is a short simple book with some very clear messages about the parallels between running and life itself.

Two lessons I have taken from the book are :

The chapter on the essential traits of a Runner which are
1 Patience
2 Balance
3 Stotanism
4 Respect
5 Humility.

A number of home truths hit me when I read the chapter . Amby started the simple section of Balance with the line " I admit to a fondness for obsessive people"

It is hard to find balance and simply put he says if you are having fun you've probably achieved balance.

I am still striving for that balance.

Stotanism is a phrase he has borrowed from Percy Cerutty , Herb Elliots coach when he won the 1500m in the 1960 Rome Olympics. It is about toughness but not an insensitive , superman approach . he accepts the challenges , the injuries , the disappointments without complaining.

I am still striving for that Stotanic ( if there is such a word) level of understanding.

The second and most compelling philosophy is Simplicity and Materialism

In running , runners as in life search for the quick fix solution.

" We search too much for false prophets.Some runners believe that they must move to a running mecca....Other runners believe that they need expensive heart rate monitors or perhaps , regular visits to an exercise laboratory.....these runners believe that they are most likely to find success by discovering new baubles in the physical world outside themselves. I disagree.... The answers lie within not outside.the best solutions are achieved from personal resolve , not from multiple credit cards."

On simplicity , Amby said that in a race in which he came in third he did nonspecific training and yet he ran faster in a 2 mile race by 20secs.

The race taught him a profound lesson : THE SIMPLE APPROACH IS OFTEN THE BEST.

In this busy world we live in it isn't so easy to put this into practise but like sports and running , there are many life lessons I have tried to live my life by possibly not to the level advocated here but it is worth striving to attain these simple truths.

I enjoy the sport of triathlons for the virtues I see in it .It is a relatively young and not so glamorous sport where there is a frontier mentality of athletes who share a common suffering , a great respect and humility for each other in the triathlon community .(I admit a certain bias and I have been fortunate to be surrounded by people I call friends in this sport who I see in them all these qualities .)

I have enjoyed the book and since falling into triathlons , I am reminded by Amby that is is the simple pleasures in life that are the greatest. Whilst it is hard getting up in the morning and I still strive for that balance. Some of the best moments for me is as he himself states is watching the sunrise on a new day . I did not know such an emotion until I had to drag myself out of bed either to run or swim or cycle.

"Our greatest glory is not never falling , but in rising every time we fall" Confucius

training for a train wreck

The week has been busy with work but I managed some training. After the easy week accept for last weekend where the wind on the long ride and the rain on Sunday's ride did exhaust me somewhat.I skipped monday mornings swim session and it was raining on Monday evening so I could not do my long run . Tuesday truend out to be a bit of a wet day as well so I didn't ride although I later learned from some of the guys cycling that it wasn't raining in Nedlands and they only caught a shower at the end of the session on the way back into the city.Well I decided to stay in bed on Tuesday but i did run for 1.5 hrs in the evening ....not quite the programme. I ran round the bridges and again it was a windy day with dark storm clouds and a bit of a drizzle along the way.It was just cold and miserable but I managed a steady pace and felt strong at the end. The legs ached a bit but not too bad.

Wednesday I did do my interval workout again in the rain and then went for the swim session.That was a little tiring but I could not make the swim session in the morning and so had to do the evening session and run before hand.

On thursday , I sat on my windtrainer for 1.5 hrs with a 5 x 10m session at threshold and watched Kona 2008 and ironman UK on DVD.

Finally on friday I had an easy 45 min run and swim in the evening and felt pretty good at the end of the week.

Having said that there is a compulsion to train eventhough I know I need a long break .I have trained since January 2008 with 3 ironman races after 2007 and 2 half ironman races and countless shorter triathlon races with 2 months of no training .After Austria , I continued a routine not disimilar to my programme accept when I was ill and injured which ironically came on just before the Painathon and the City to Surf Marathon .But I can't seem to stop.

Ready for the hard weekend of riding to Lancelin and back with the North Coasters.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

BALANCE

BALANCE

My training has been a little chaotic with the wet weather .But as everyone in Perth knows we can’t complain as we need the rain to fill up the dams . There isn’t much else that is important to life .The Monday was a washout as I didn’t go swimming in the morning and I was going to run but it was a gloomy wet evening and I had the North Coast Tri Club Committee meeting at 7pm .I have passed the point of feeling too guilty about missing sessions. As Ross said there are some core sessions and there are the ones that are just fillers. Its quite a contrarian view to many who believe in quality sessions all the time.

Tuesdays ride

I did manage my bike ride on Tuesday morning. It was cold but dry and a solid hour of hard riding .I was in a small group of 3 so I had my fair share of turns in the front especially as the girls were tired after the first lap. We did not end up too far behind the main group. The guys who were racing in the worlds only did two hard laps of 10km each. I managed 55 km with 30km of hard laps and the average for the whole ride was 30.4 kph ,meant that the 3 laps were atleast at 34kph The best part of the morning is coffee at Tiger lily’s with a muffin. Life can become very satisfying and simple after a hard bike ride.

I did try to run in the evening and managed a 1 hour session in the wet and cold weather. running from the Bayswater Gym , there was just no one around .It was miserable but as I am often reminded I have to be prepared for all conditions in the race.

swim sessions
On Wednesday and Friday I did rock up for swimming ,I am the slowest swimmer in the slowest lane so it is a little depressing especially after the number of sessions I have done I have improved so little. That is the frustrating part about swimming .I just can’t seem to have the power in my stroke others have and when I do speed up I am exhausted from the effort. Most swimmers are just so streamlined in their position and movement. We did a 1500 meter set and I clocked 31.52 if I counted the laps right .On friday it was a lot easier session with a 200 meter warm up , 200 m medley and 300 m PB , then 3 x 200m easy , firm and fast then 200m easy followed by 8 x 50m sessions and then a cooldown with a 25 m kick 50m free x 4.

I forgot my running shoes on wednesday so I ran on thursday instead and got wet again .Ran only for 40 minutes with Tim as it was just too wet on the footpaths.I skipped the morning ride as it was just too windy and I was tired.

Saturday was just another very windy day .I did a 120km ride with just water and 2 fruit bars and a mars bar .the wind was everywhere for the whole ride but it did not rain for the first 2.5 hrs.I rode down reid Hwy and nearly came to grief as there was a white metal pole on the bike track and i thought it was a plastic sheet i could go over but my tire just slid across the bar and fortunately i did not fall.

I then rode down west coast hwy to freemantle and then onto Mt Henry and down the freeway to Anketell Road and back through the city.
After 2.5 hrs my legs were really sore which i suspect was from the lack of nutrition but i managed to get back.Averaged 27.2kph but it was quite windy and it did rain a bit.

Felt OK and eventhough tomorrow is a rest day I have decided to ride and run as I feel good.

I know I haven't got the balance right but I think part of the challenge is to make mistakes and learn.Started reading " The Runners Guide To The Meaning Of Life " by Amby Burfoot .

My son has started on his list of christmas presents to ask from Santa and he has already compiled 70 items.I think I need to start my list which will be much shorter...

Sunday, September 6, 2009

The first week of the " Programme"

I started back fully on training this week with swimming on monday ,wednesday and friday morning.It was particularly cold on friday morning and everyone is back and there are some new faces from north coast tri club training at the pool.

I rode on Tueday morning with the girls as I was quite sore from Sundays marathon but took my turn at the front for the 45 mins and continued cycling whilst everyone ran for 15 mins. Rob had a bit of a mishap ,he fell off his bike but not sure of the details .Fortunately he wasn't injured and didn't seem to collide with anyone.It was a little wet on the road.

On wednesday evening and Friday I ran for 45 mins and an 1.10 respectively so I feel I am slowly getting back into the swing of things.It was an easy run pace and tim ran with me on wednesday and iw as anble to have a conversation all the way thru.

saturday was supposed to be a 120km ride but with the wind and rain i sat on the windtrainer for 3 hours doing Coach troys tough love spinerval with lots of standing on the bike and climbing .that hurt alot . Dropped taking any energy drink , limited now to just water and some lollies for carbohydrates and felt a little faint at the end .I ran for ten minutes off the bike and felt ok.

sunday was a rest day and I just relaxed .I was tempted to do something but decided against it as I think I need to rest as much as possible.
Weight still the primary issue for this preparation.Will be signing up for Busso this week as the numbers are rising.

More Pictures




More pictures from the City to Surf Marathon Last week .

Inspired bicycle video ...

It's not just about speed.


Saturday, September 5, 2009

The Road Runner Final Episode ...



This video cartoon clip was forwarded to me by my coach .
I immediately wondered , a little embarrassed but truthfully , what did this all mean.
Was there:
a ) some hidden meaning behind this important clip I was suppose to decipher like the little grasshopper in Kung Fu ( showing my age as well) before I could unlock the true wisdom of triathlon enlightenment.
From wikepedia:
Enlightenment broadly means wisdom or understanding enabling clarity of perception. However, the English word covers two concepts which can be quite distinct: religious or spiritual enlightenment and secular or intellectual enlightenment. This can cause confusion, since those who claim intellectual enlightenment often reject spiritual concepts altogether.

In religious use, enlightenment is most closely associated with South and East Asian religious experience, being used to translate words such as (in Buddhism) nirvana, bodhi or satori, or (in Hinduism) moksha. The concept also has parallels in the Abrahamic religions (in the Kabbalah tradition in Judaism, in Christian mysticism or Gnosticism, and in the Sufi fitra tradition of Islam).

In secular use, the concept refers mainly to the European intellectual movement known as the Age of Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason referring to philosophical developments related to scientific rationality in the 17th and 18th centuries.

b) it was just a funny video clip.

Well I enjoyed the clip coach but I couldn't help focussing on what it meant in the wider or for me narrower context of my world of triathlon. There had to be a meaning in there somewhere , a lesson to be learnt .Maybe if you keep chasing something and when you finally get it all purpose in life is lost so don't ever catch what you are chasing...it should be the unobtainable. That made a whole lot of sense...NOT .

Have a mission and like the Wile E. Coyote ...devote all your energy towards it.Then when you have accomplished what you set out ...turn to God.

Didn't make any sense.
In the end I am just going to ask him on Monday morning at swim training.But I sense the answer was b .

Lighten up .Life doesn't revolve around your passion be it chasing road runners or triathlon mecca.

There I go again reading more into a cartoon then just enjoying a video cartoon from my coach .
Thanks Coach The video clip was lots funnier than the program.