Rain, rain and more rain

The weather forcast is not good news, rain, rain and more rain.  The joys of winter training !  Unfortunately 3 hours on the treadmill is just not going to happen nor is 3 hours on the wind trainer, so looks like I need to toughen up and at least go running in the cold and wet outdoors.

Today is Sunday night and Im already down a 3 hour ride which was meant to happen this morning, unfortunately the rain did not help.  Plus not often the case, but we went out last night so the sleep in was most welcome.  Time to pull finger on Monday.

You got to learn to take a bit of hurt!

"You got to learn to take a bit of hurt!" the inspirational remark yelled out during wind trainer class today.   Not sure it was inspirational, but unfortunately very factual.  After a hard swim (60min) and a hard bike (60min) I was happy to sneak out of a run to go watch Miss Amelia play netball.  The most precious moment was the celebration dance after intercepting the ball and passing it on to another, one of the exciting plays earning 'player of the day' not bad for a 5 year old :)

The key swim set today was 2 x 400, 4 x 200 and 8 x 100 wil 10sec res, a quick interchange and into a hard wind trainer with 5 sets of 5min high gear lots of resistance, 30 sec sprint and 3min spin. Tired and sweaty!!!

Todays reward was the collection of a prize I won  for early entry into the Taupo Half Ironman.  See picture, they are super flash and far to expensive and swanky for a simple athlete like myself.  My fear is people will have great expectations of my abilities, then I will jump on the bike and likely fall off just to show how classy I am.  But great colour for a cantab :)

Pumped for K2

After a good catch-up with coach I am now pumped to get lots of hill riding under my belt and give K2 a crack, then I read the following:

The Cranleigh K2 – 2,300 metres of screaming descent !

The Cranleigh K2 is the toughest one day cycle challenge in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also one of the most scenic and varied with the route traveling through sub tropical forest, pacific coastlines, rural farmland and the Puhutakawa coastline of the Hauraki Gulf.

The event is named after Kuaotunu, an enchanting community on the wild eastern coastline of the Coromandel Peninsula. In Maori, the name Kuaotunu means “to inspire fear in young animals” ! The 2 represents the almost 200km that the ride will cover. 

Then I read the statistics, quickest time is 6 hours and longest 10-11 hours.  Lucky for me, coach has already conspired to get the Sunday ride group ride up the albany hill this weekend! Nice.

How to get motivated

Rule number 1:  
Get yourself a nagging wife who loves you heaps and won't let you give up :)
Rule number 2: 
Get yourself some mates who are willing to give you a hug, some encouraging words and a kick in the ass
Rule number 3:
Write a blog so family and friends can leave encourage and smarty pant comments
Rule number 4:
Schedule a face to face with your coach (today), this will surely scare you into action :)
Rule number 5:
Look at the countdown clock and realize you only have 225 days to prepare, wholly goodness!!!

So today I got back into action with a good and steady 90min swim session.  Sweet!  Although I hear you gotta do at least two sessions before you are considered to be back on track so better go for a run later today.

Where has the time gone

I notice my last post was on July 3rd and today is the 17th, where does the time go?

Life has got in the way these last few weeks, unfortunately Mum was rushed into hospital, but is all good now :) Spent a week in ChCh but just out of my routine so didnt do as much training as I should, then away this weekend.  So overall have missed two weekends i.e. a brick and a ride session x 2.

Meeting with coach this week and not planning anymore time from Auckland so hope to get back on track quickly. 

Not your everyday update

So got the following update, not something you see everyday funny :)

Pool Flooded!?!

Unfortunately, the downpour that hit Auckland has filled the swimming pool with bark chips from the bank.  The pool is currently black.  Tonight's swim training is cancelled. 

It is likely that the pool will be back in action for tomorrow night's swim technique class.  I'll send out another email at midday tomorrow if the pool won't be ready for tomorrow night's swim training.

Cheers

Brave or just Stupid!

This is the question being asked by all us "stupid" people in the water this morning.  Cold, dark, windy and icecle rain and we are swimming in an outdoor pool, no wetsuites only togs!.   So the question is "brave" or "stupid", Im sure folks will leave a comment on this :)

Swimming has moved into the next phase, first drills, then steady long distance, now breathing shorter distance focus.  I suspect speed work will follow.

I felt strong today despite the stiff body from Sundays run, and yes I have been stretching!.