Taupo Half Ironman race report

My main goal for this race was to break 5hrs and earn a super cool MINI coat from my dear friend Neilio - he suggested a PB to earn the coat but I thought that would be too difficult at Taupo since my PB is at Tauranga where the bike is as flat as a pancake.  I figured swim 33mins, bike 2hrs40, T1+T2 6mins (T1 includes a 400m run from the water...) which would leave 1hr 41 for the run - considering my recent comeback and therefore lack of running it could be tight.

SWIM
I started in the 2nd row of the swim and was a bit worried I would get trampled but it actually turned out ok, had a little bit of contact with other swimmers but probably mostly me swimming into other people... I felt like I was swimming well, I went pretty straight and followed feet pretty much the whole way.  I wasn't wearing a watch so hoped there would be a clock at the swim exit, so many times I think I have swum well then I get out of the water and see a disappointing time so I was dreading seeing a clock. As I came out of the water and looked up I saw the seconds say 57, 58, 59 and in front of it was a 31 !!!! I almost had a party there and then.  Then of course I thought it must have been short but I decided to bask in my glory for the meantime anyway.
I ran pretty hard up to T1 having to pass a few people along the way - why do people run to transistion so slow, don't they know it's a race?! When I got to my bike for once I wasn't the lonely bike on the Elite rack - Rooroo had company! Not for long though, my friend Two-Piece had swum about 30sec quicker than me and was just about to head out as I ran in.  I then saw Sammy the Seal across the rack from me who always swims quicker than me so I suspected then that perhaps the swim distance was legit and I'd actually had a good swim.
I then forgot how to put my helmet on properly and lost about 45sec trying to figure that one out.

Looking very calm on my way to T1 but secretly partying it up on the inside

 BIKE
Once on my bike my initial goal was to catch Two-Piece since she wasn't far ahead of me which I did within about 5km.  The weather was a bit yuck and not really as predicted - very drizzly and foggy and by about 1hr it hadn't let up and my hands went numb.  Eating got very difficult and I had to shove my Em's Cookie Bar down my top because I couldn't navigate my pockets properly.
I rode pretty steady and took advantage of the downhills on the way to Reporoa.  I saw J-Rad go past in the second group with Davo on his wheel which I was impressed with, only to see actual Davo go past a few minutes later - the cold must have affected my eyeballs.
I got to the turn at Reporoa and started the long slog back only to realize that we'd had a slight headwind on the way out so a tailwind for the way back - yeeha! This made the hills in the last 20km not so bad at all and I realized the I would make 2hrs40 easily, once I got closer I thought 2.35 would be possible and I finally rolled in with a 2.34 - the clock at T2 had a cumulative time of 3hrs10 so I had 1hr50 to run to break 5hrs - easy!!

RUN
After a quick toilee stop I started my trot.  The Gayman took a while to fire up but I planned to hold 4.30's which would give me 1hr35.  The first few km's were quick and then I settled into 4.30ish pace.  The first 10-12km were pretty good, but about 13-16km I was starting to get a bit wary and times were creeping up into the 4.40's and then 17km came and BOOM! I was over it, baby steps to the finish.  I had a girl from about the 18km mark who was slowly coming back to me and I wanted to try and catch her but just couldn't quite do it.  There was a nasty uphill in the last 500m which I went up at absolute snails pace but by the time I got to the top and made the tun to the finish chute she was right in front of me.  I am not known for my ability to sprint but thought what the hell so I gave it a go and I got her! As I ran towards the finish I saw 4.49 on the clock so I had made it with over 10mins to spare.  Run time was 1hr37 which was a bit over what I wanted but as Coach Lawson says I have to be happy that I can now do a whole race, run included, so I will take it.
The finish line area was pretty poos with only water and Balance on offer - no food, get your act together Taupo Half - $245 entry and no food at the end! How bad is that.

So overall a pretty good effort I think - exceeded my swim and bike expectations and held together for a reasonable run.  And not wildly far off the big girls either.  PB by 4mins and 7th girl overall.  J-Rad had a solid performance to be 8th overall in 4.14 with a run PB and Captain Pudding punctured but perhaps wasn't meeting his KPI's for the race anyway.

Hopefully some more photos to come...

Big Jo training Nov 21 - Dec 3

SWIM

After my sloth-like swim at the Auckland Tri I have been at a bit of a loss over what to do with my swimming.  I seem to be swimming better in the pool but had such a slow swim at the race that I don't know what to think and I certainly don't want to be floundering around doing 7km sets in the pool if it's not helping.  Over the last two weeks I did Stroke and Stride and the Kohi Summer Swim series which pretty average results but not as bad as the Auckland race.  So I have decided that the true test will be at Taupo Half next weekend - if I swim slower than 33-34mins then I will definitely have to change my tack.  Oh you sub 60min Ironman swimmers don't know how lucky you are...

BIKE

~11hrs and 270km per week for the last 2 weeks which was good.  Had a pretty solid Hour of Power last weekend and was reasonably sizzled afterwards. 
I was in the closing stages of a 20min effort the other day and Kezzle and J hyphen Razzell were tootling behind me waiting for me to finish, I passed some guy who immediately jumped on my wheel.  He said to Kezzle "wow she's a rocket, I bet she doesn't like me sitting on my wheel" to which Kezzle replied "no she doesn't" so what did he do? He continued to sit on my wheel, by then Jared had come up beside me and alerted me that I had a cling-on and to drop him so this guy was busting his arse to stay there. WTF is wrong with these people?!! If someone passes you let them pass you!! ARRRGGHH!!!

Post training feast.  What a non-broken eats to keep themself non-broken

RUN

I am still reveling in the fact that I can actually run, it's pretty exciting.  I did an hour last weekend and 1hr10this weekend and seem to have slotted right back into my pre-leggie issue pace which is good.  In fact my long run yesterday was actually the fastest pace I have done on that course which was interesting.  It wasn't particularly easy but wasn't any harder at the end which was surprising.  So now I just have to pull out a 21km next weekend which may be a little bit more difficult, if I could run under 95mins I would be absolutely ecstatic.  The course is pretty flat though so fingers crossed...

In all my glory, nerdy calf sleeve and all

 IN OTHER NEWS

Our new friend Scraggle-Anne, much in need of some love and food

   

Auckland Tri Race Report

This wasn't my best result and wasn't an A race so will do a picture report...

J-Rad and Nick sharing a pre-race moment

Jess hitting up Sarah about wearing the same wetsuit as her

Neilio and Alistair being fab supporters

Lou leading her wave out to battle

Far right. With a stroke like that how come I was so slow?!

Hello RooRoo

Up Gladstone

Jared Razzle big bottom

Sneaky Kezzle tucked in behind Haymey

One man pain train

It runs!

It can run well after a 30min puncture stop

10km got me to about here - someone measured the course well...

Our hero Garth

Big Jo training Nov 14 - Nov 20

SWIM

~15km

7km long swim this week!! I did my pre-squad 800m or so and as I was approaching the end I noticed that no-one had got in for squad and more importantly the lane ropes were closing in on me until it was only about Jo-width.  The swim coach had decided to forgo the lane ropes and do some kind of open water swimming practice which involved swimming in zigzags all over the place and beating each other up swimming in circles.  As fun as it was I was very agitated not being able to keep track of my distance so I abandoned the squad and made an impromptu program to get me to what I think was about 7km.
Did 1500m the Kohi Swim Series on Thursday which involved a bit of wading through the water as the tide was a bit low, I was only a bit outside of my goal time and thought without the water wading I would have been a bit quicker so had high hopes for the race in the weekend.  Oh how wrong I was.

To walk or to swim? Lucky my arms are short so I can usually swim the furtherest (?) before beaching myself

 BIKE

Not a big week on the bike with some shorter rides towards the end of the week due to the Auckland Tri and obviously no long ride on Sunday.  Nothing much to report here really.

RUN

Only ended up doing one run during the week of a bit over 4km and then a brisk trot on Saturday which involved some uptempo work which nearly killed me.  I didn't get the memo that the 2nd km was uptempo and wondered why the pace was so hot.  We then did an easy km and then one last uptempo which I clocked 4.05 for and thought I was going to die.  The head wind didn't really help.  Given my time off running I wasn't surprised that running uptempo hurt (my entire body not my shin) but was able to see that it wasn't going to be a fast 10km the next day.

Brief Auckland Tri race report to come...

Big Jo training Nov 7 - Nov 13

SWIM

~12.5km

Another fun 6km set, this time I did 3x (10x100m), 3x (10x66m), 3x (10x33m) with a mixture of no gear, paddles, and paddles and fins. Exciting eh.
Next week is supposed to be a squad only Monday then 7km the following Monday but with the Auckland race on in the weekend I can't imagine I'll want do a long swim the next day so I will swap them around.

BIKE

Time: 10hrs34
Distance: 273km

A bit of time spent in the hurtbox on the Sunday ride with His Royness and the ninjas but nice to be out riding in the sun.  Pretty unremarkable week on the bike to be honest... We rode another lap of the Auckland World Cup course and it it still hilly with sharp corners but hopefully won't be wet and slippery.

RUN

Time: 1hr18
Distance: 15.66km

Baby steps... 3 out of the 4 runs were good, one run I started and leggy was not good so I turned around and walked home after 3mins (how sensible was that?!).  It was a bit random because the other runs were pretty good, a bit fragile but all good.  I got a bit carried away on my Saturday 'long' run and ran 7.75km woo! Only have to do another 2.25km next weekend...

Roll on next weekend, looking forward to pulling on some lycra, oh yeh...

Big Jo training Oct 24 - Nov 6

Opps getting a bit erratic with my updates. I promise to be better...

SWIM

Missed a swim last week with Monday being a public holiday but made up for it with a 6.7km swim the next Monday. I was actually aiming for 6.5km but 33.3m pools are so confusing and it's so hard to count and swim... Am trying to settle into a 7km with squad/6km solo/just squad 3 week cycle for Mondays so I get my long stuff in.  Luckily the days are getting warmer so the pool seems less arctic.

BIKE

Last week was big (~15hrs), this week not so much (~9hrs).  I started joining the Saturday 2-lap group to do a longer ride in lieu of a long run until my running is back on hence the 15hr week.
We rode a lap of the Auckland World Cup race which is on on the 20th of November and oh my! They are all roads that I am pretty familiar with thank goodness because some of the descents with sharp corners at the bottom would not be pretty for people who are not from around here.  I think there could be a bit of carnage if it is wet... It is a pretty hilly course so should be quite Jo-friendly hopefully.

RooRoo squared

The SC Rainmaker testing out the World Cup course

 RUN

I'm back! Started doing a couple of short runs last weekend and it was slightly iffy but thought it would be ok to continue and it seems to have gotten better with each run - woo hoo! So I got up to 5km on Saturday with no problems and even backed it up with a 2km run off the bike on Sunday.  So my new Gayman is finally getting some use and all the pool running and elipticalling I did must have worked because so far the Gayman is telling me mostly 1km splits starting with a 4.

WHAT ELSE?

Oh the excitement of lunchtime in my world

Cat in a Box

 

Big Jo training Oct 17 - Oct 23

SWIM

Only ~10.5km this week - it was my off week from a long swim so I just did squad on Monday and no more - woo hoo! Not sure if doing squad is any good for me but at least it means I can swim for a bit without having to make up my own sets from my limited assortment that Haydn suggested.  I have been going to the gym in an effort to grow some muscles so hopefully my pull will improve and I will swim faster one of these days.

BIKE

Time: 15hrs19
Distance: 405km

Oh my! I figured since my Saturday runs weren't happening I should do a longer Saturday ride so I joined the crew for a double Royport and ended up with 132km.  Then I back it up the next day with a Waitak/Devonport ride of around 110km.  My leggies were pretty sizzled at the end of that.
I have been venturing out with no leg warmers or gloves which is pretty exciting, and I even noticed my tanlines were slightly rejuvenated after last weeks long ride.

RUN

2 x pool runs this week and a few goes on the elliptical thingy.  I am hoping that this coming weekend will be the start of my run comeback and I have had my orthotics recovered in anticipation.
My weight gaining program isn't going so well - I somehow lost half a kg at my Monday morning weigh-in - WTF?! I have spent the last 5 yrs living by the motto of "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" and now when I am trying to do the opposite I end up loosing weight!  I have been getting to the gym 2-3 x per week to pump some iron so hopefully it all starts working soon.

IN OTHER EXCITING NEWS

The All Blacks won the World Cup! I am not much of a rugby fan - standing on the sideline as a physio for many years and witnessing firsthand the injuries which happen will do that to you - but NZ has gone rugby mad so I felt obliged to watch the last few games.  But we had a pretty sweet setup at Dr Yung's Corporate Box with a big giant screen and some comfy couches to make it all a bit more bearable.

Practicing using my 'TRY' sign. I only had to use it once

Grim Reaper making muffins and I still lost weight.

Big Jo training Oct 3 - Oct 16

SWIM

6.2km long swim woo hoo! Backed up by a solo 6km the following week - all made up of 66m's OMG! 90x66m - fun times.  But I got it done and didn't freeze to death which is a plus.  Now I need to find a way to make my next 6km swim interesting, if that is actually possible.

BIKE

Been cracking out RooRoo for my weekend rides recently and doing a few efforts.  Did 4hrs on RooRoo today which was a bit much but its all part of the bonding process, I got a bit of a sore back but it won't take too long to get used to riding it long again.  Mostly all recovered from my little spill at the RoSFv2, elbow is still a little sore and my front tooth is a bit concussed (!) but pretty much 100% and not having too many flashbacks thank goodness.

RUN

Oh runnys... I have been for a 15min run on grass and a there and back run to the gym (1.4km each way...) but have decided to give the leggy a bit more time because it still isn't quite right and as long as I am running by the end of October I should be right for the races I want to do.  I haven't had a scan and since its improving I'll just wait it out and only get a scan if things aren't getting better, I think I have exposed myself to enough radiation in the last wee while to not rush things...

IN OTHER EXCITING NEWS...
How exciting was Kona!! I could sit and watch that race all day every day.  We obviously did a fine job of hacking for Jess in Australia as she pulled out a 10.21 which is a Kona PB for her and good enough for 4th in her AG - she's not called The Hammer for nothing. 

Kona watching over multiple methods of technology

I had a meeting with my friend Mikki who is a nutritionist extraordinaire and she is helping me through my eating issues so I am expecting to be a lean and muscly running/triathlon machine in no time.

Big Jo training Sept 19 - Oct 2

Oh dear my weekly standard has slipped already... Mostly due to a small mishap on the bike last week which left me in an un-blogging frame of mind, but more about that later.

SWIM

Got up to 6km in my weekly long swim woop woop! Had a catch up with swim manager Haydn who said I need to build up to 7km once every 3 weeks - schnitzel von crumm that is a long way... If I get in before squad and do 600-800m then do squad of about 3.5km then I just need to do another ~2.5km afterwards, easy?!  Its an easier way of doing it than doing 7km myself at least but I'll still knock out a solo 6km every 3 weeks to keep me focussed.  I have been adding a little bit of fly to my shorter swims - 6 x 25m - to get me stronger and the other day I managed a whole 50m of fly - OMG! I was pooped and am not sure if we could still call it fly but I'm sure it all helps.

BIKE

Last week was version two of the Race of Six Friends and I volunteered myself to be in the B team because I thought my legs would be a bit munted from the Legend Marathon - as it turns out I had nothing to worry about...  The course was out South and the weather forecast wasn't great which was disappointing.  Our team started out with high hopes of the weather clearing and a better team of navigators than last time.

Jared Razzle's shock as he sees the course profile involving a very very large hill

Oh so happy and oblivious to what will happen in the next 5mins

Still with all my skin

As we approached the first turn which was 2km from the start, JT (who was riding in front of me in 3rd wheel) all of a sudden came crashing to the ground with no apparent reason, I thought "oh that's a shame but I can go round him" and next thing my front wheel gave way from underneath me and I went skidding face first into him and the two behind me came and joined us in our pile up.  We still can't work out what happened other than something like diesel on the wet road, but all the other teams went that way without any problems so it was a bit odd.
Anyways after sitting on the ground for a moment and regrouping ourselves we eventually headed on with me and Gerry being the most badly damaged.  I had a bleeding and fat top lip and ouchies on my elbow, knee and both hips.  The thought of riding another 128km wasn't a very happy one.  After about 15mins it became clear that things were not all well with Gerry and once our saviours Neilio and Paulio came past us in their cars we flagged them down and Gerry called it a day, turns out he had a fractured rib.  I was feeling pretty beaten up but decided to carry on for a bit even though our time wouldn't count anymore with only 5 riders, but after standing around for 5mins and getting a bit cold and then starting to ride again my knee was super sore so I took the opportunity to flag Neilio down and ended my ride.

Not too duck-like yet

After seeing the rest of the course from the car I can safely say that the day would never have gone well for me even if we hadn't have crashed, there was a 15km gravel road which has the gnarliest up and downhills - max of 15% gradient in several spots and 3 out of my 4 remaining teammates had to walk.  The downhill looked awful - thick gravel and steep little descents, it wasn't really suitable for roadbikes and I think it would have been terrifying for me.  Plus the rain meant a lot of cold shivering people waiting for punctured teammates - all very Jo unfriendly.

Excuse me but are you walking?!

 Both our teams didn't complete the course due to mechanicals and our crash, the roads were pretty slippery and dangerous and our friends in the Hot Cycles team had a nasty crash on a downhill which resulted in 4 of them being taken to hospital.
Not really a day to remember.

The beginning of the end

Grumpy much? Where are your teammates Jared?!!

 RUN

Oh and another sad story...
I haven't attempted to run since my pre-Legend jaunt, shin is feeling much better but still not good enough to hop on which is my criteria for running.  I went and saw one of my sports physicians who really put the hard word on me, he reckoned I am too skinny and I need to put on some weight to make my bones stronger which is why I am getting injured so much.  The term Female Athlete Triad was bandied about a bit and is something that I learned about at uni but never thought it applied to me.  I certainly wouldn't say I have an eating disorder (first step of the triad) - and anyone who knows me would know that I never go without food - but I do have a few issues with eating bad foods and am pretty au fait with the fat and kJ content of most foods that I eat.
I conducted a short study of BMI's of some of the top female triathlete who are little (ie. Emma Snowsill, Andrea Hewitt, Mirinda Carfrae, etc) and my BMI was way lower than any of theirs.  I know that BMI is not really considered an accurate way of assessing body composition but I think in similar populations it would be relevant.
I have had so many injuries these last couple of years despite not doing huge volumes of running and have done everything I know of to prevent further injury so now putting on some weight really seems to be my last option, even though it leaves me feeling quite panicky that I might turn into a fatty fatty boom boom.  The thought of jumping on the scales and seeing 43kg or even 45kg stresses me out but I am coming to terms with it.  I have got a plan involving starting some weights and upping my protein intake to put on a couple of kgs of muscle and a teeny bit of fat.
In the meantime its back to the pool running and using the elliptical trainer at my new gym in lieu of running.
*sigh*

Big Jo training Sept 12 - Sept 18

A weekly update - oh my! I had planned to resume weekly updating at the start of September so it has taken a while but I have made it back...

SWIM

~11.5km

Longest swim of 5.9km this week - you may ask why I didn't just do an extra 100m to make the full 6km but it was in a 33.3m pool and its so hard to keep track of distance... The bulk of the swim was in the squad and I thought I had kept count of how far I had gone but underestimated it slightly and it wasn't till I added it up later that I realized I was closer to 6km than I thought.
Anyhoo I think I shall use the squad for my long swim for a while because it makes swimming in the arctic pool a bit more bearable, I just have to suck it up and keep swimming till I reach 5.5-6km after everyone has gotten out.

BIKE

Have been a bit slack and haven't downloaded TapTap for a while so not sure of the weekly total but it was probably pretty average.  The weather has become a little bit unpredictable and I even had to crank out some efforts on the windtrainer to avoid the squally storms and gale-force winds earlier in the week.  I think its about the 2nd or 3rd time I have used my windtrainer this winter so its not too bad.

RUN

Exciting news - I got my very own Gayman!!

Not so exciting news - I was a DNS for The Legend Marathon... :(
I have had a niggly shin/deep calf pain for the last couple of weeks which kind of came to a head after my long run last Saturday, it's never been anything bad but just there even when I am walking around.
I had some physio and was dealing it myself and didn't run at all during the week.  By the end of the week I wasn't noticing it with everyday stuff so I strapped it up and headed out for a 10min trot to test it and to test out the new Gayman.  It was sore from the first step - not super sore but definitely there.  Most importantly I broke in the Gayman with a 4.38 km so the standard has been set :)
After that I felt like I had set myself back at least 3 days of rest and was back to fidgey-widgeyness with walking.  I fretted about it all night and decided to start the race and pull out after the first loop (7km) if it was no good, but in my heart I think I knew it wasn't going to go away so at about 3.30am I made the decision not to even start the race.  I had my gear all laid out and everything so it was pretty gutting.
If this race had have been my one and only then I would have given it a go but with all I want to do this triathlon season I know that I made the right decision and the ghost of Kona certainly helped me to make up my mind.  It certainly wasn't a decision made lightly and a few tears were shed and I had a headache for the most part of the day from thinking so hard.
I don't there is anything too major happening in my leg - tib post is certainly a bit incy-wincy and judging by the way it presented with running I suspect there could be a bit of periostitis where tib post is attaching to the tibia.  I wonder if the area below where I had my Kona stress fracture is now under a bit of extra stress due to the massive bony callous which formed to heal the fracture.  But I'll just take it as it comes and start right away with the pool running and hopefully be back on the road to show my Gayman whose boss in a couple of weeks.
On a more positive note, my friend Mikki had a stellar race to come in as 2nd lady - yay Mikki!

1st and 2nd Melissa and Mikki - clearly good runners have names with start with M

 

Big Jo training 29 August - 11 September

SWIM

13km of swimming last week - weeeeeeeeee! Biggest swim was 5.5km and I even added an extra swim into the week because I was so keen.  I'll be building up to 6km so am almost there but have to admit I am using a few of the swimming toys to get me there, while I have always turned up my nose at people who use a whole assortment of swimming condiments I have actually found fins and paddles to be quite helpful.  One of the biggest goals of my swimming is to get my stroke count down and by using fins I get a better appreciation of the water and can slow my stroke right down while still actually moving through the water.  If I do it paddle-less I don't have the strength to pull against the water effectively since I am gliding so much more than usual hence the paddles to make my pull actually pull.
So don't point and laugh if you see me finning and paddling up - at least I am not using a pull buoy as well...


BIKE

Averaging out at around 10.5 - 11hrs on the bike with ~3hrs being the longest so nothing super exciting.  I have been making a concerted effort not to pootle as much on the bike after getting my own WKO+ and actually looking at the graphs and realizing how much time I spend in the pootle zone.  So now I ride to work with a purpose.

We had a very wet ride last weekend which turned into a very cold and shivery ride after an untimely puncture stop.  I had flashbacks of IMNZ.  My hands got so cold that I could change gears because my fingers just crumpled everytime I pushed the gear lever.

No matter how wet it is this jacket is never acceptable

I am loving my new short little bars and feel super speedy whenever I use them, and have also been admiring my lovely bar-tape job which I had to do myself (thanks to Google for the best way to do it) since nobody else in the house was interested.

Why RooRoo what lovely bartape you have

RUN

Ugh.  Not going so well.  I have been struggling with my calves a bit for the last year, just getting super tight when I run for no good reason and they seem to be getting worse, plus I have this burning pain/incy wincyness near my shin/side of my calf which is bothering me and the last couple of long runs I have done I have felt like a bit of ITB syndrome was knocking on my door.  And I am scheduled to run a marathon (a very hilly marathon) in 5 days time... 
I think my shin/side of calf problem is my Tibilais Posterior or Flexor Digitorum/Hallucis Longus revolting against me because it seems to be worse with plantarflexion but I can't really get to them myself to try and work it out.  I wish I could do acupuncture because I feel like having some needles stuck in there could really help.
I have a theory that since my dreaded posterior tibial stress fracture in 2009 and subsequent 4 months off running, I have become less of a heel striker which has in turn loaded up my calves but they are not strong enough to take it.  So I have started doing heel raises but it is too late to see any change before the weekend.
I am seeing my go-to man Graeme White - physio extraordinaire, tomorrow and will just do the dreaded pool running up until the weekend and hope that things hold together...  Is this what getting old is all about?!


IN OTHER EXCITING NEWS
Spring has sprung!

Daffodil safe from the neighbours thieving fingers...

Check out our lemons nom nom nom lemon on EVERYTHING!

Big Jo training 16 August - 28 August

SWIM

Swimming, swimming, swimming.
Well I did miss one swim because of a bit of an annoying cough/sniffles, but lucky I missed that day because apparently the pool was only 25 degrees brrrrrrrrrrr!
Without getting too excited I think that the swim block in Aussie has made me a bit faster - OMG! My go-to pace seems to be about 5sec quicker so I am doing my best to make the most of it and not slack off.
I have even started doing a few exercises to up my shoulder strength, including push ups (lady push ups of course), I can do 2x10!!!!

BIKE

Not quite the 518kms of Aussie but getting out in the cold was quite an achievement in itself.  Got back on the Poo Power Program but TapTaps hub battery went dead and couldn't be changed for a few days which made doing any efforts a bit pointless.
I suddenly had an epiphany the other day that my aero bars are far too long.  RooRoo looks like it has antlers and there is about 7cm from where my little hand rests to the shifter.  So I convinced the Managers of Muppetry that the bars need to be chopped.  So after a bit of chopping and filing the cables were ready to go back in which is where the problem started.  The front derailleur cable was getting stuck which turned out to be due to the guide tube inside the frame having a spack attack.  I thought RooRoo's time might be up but luckily Andrew at Hot Cycles (who is the man) found a way to get in and get things working.  Phew.
My short little bars are awesome though and I feel like a real cyclist without antlers.

Oh my, what short bars you have RooRoo - all the better to be aero with my dear...

RUN

I thought my running was going quite well until I did a pretty average 5km O'Hagan's race and then an even more average Cambridge Half Marathon.  I am not even going to say what my half time because it is so bad.  But it did include a brief splatter on the ground when my ankle just decided to roll over nothing and I face-planted on the road - nothing that I'm not used to anyway.

Not that impressive but more impressive than nothing

I have done my last long run for The Legend so will head out for a bit of a course reccie this weekend which will give me a good idea of how painful it is going to be... 

Mancave action at the Cambridge Triathlon Institute

Aussie Kona Camp Report

So the point of our little soiree to the Sunshine Coast of Australia was to give Jess (aka The Hammer) some company while she trains for her third time in Kona.
It was mostly swim/bike focus since the running around where we were staying wasn't great.

SWIM
8 x swims
24km

Pool's a bit crowded today

Our swimming hole was a quaint little 50m outdoor pool which we had to ourselves most days.  It was lovely and warm - between 27 and 28 degrees - something GI could learn from, and nice and clean.
We did 3km sets every day after riding so wasn't anything too strenuous but good to be doing it regularly.  As we got towards the end of the week and my little arms and legs were starting to feel quite weary I would think to myself I'd start swimming and see how I went, but I always made the full 3km - its amazing what you can do what you think you can't do any more.  If you get my drift.

BIKE
Time: 19hrs15
Distance: 518km

We rode a lot. 2.5-4hrs everyday bar one no-bike day and one easy 60min ride.  The Hammer took us all over the hills from Caloundra up to places called Maleny, Montville, Landsborough and Bald Knob.  That's right, Bald Knob.  The Australian's have some funny place names.
It is pretty hilly once you get away from the coast, although we did a ride up to Noosa which was flat until we got to Coolum and then it was big chainring, little chainring, big chainring, etc, every minute or so.  Lucky RooRoo was in good working order.
Some of the towns we rode through we pretty old and looked a bit like time had forgotten them but very nice at the same time.
Our last ride was pretty epic - The Hammer mapped out a ride for us which involved some unknown territory.  Based on the terrain around that area we thought it would be a bit undulating but nothing worse than what we had already encountered.  We started off well and found the roads we were to take, things were going well until we hit the 'Gravel Road' sign followed by a wiggly 6.5km sign.  We didn't have much option other than turning around and aborting our loop so on we pressed.  And a wiggly 6.km it was. In fact it was pretty much all downhill and slightly terrifying - not much fun on a TT bike.  I tried to remember that going faster downhill on gravel is safer than going at snails pace but it was very scary.

Starting the descent into the unknown

We saw a couple of kangaroos at the end of the gravel section which was exciting and there were a few rustles in the bushes as we rode past which were a bit ominous.
So finally back onto the tarseal and I began to wonder about the 6.5km of downhill we had ridden knowing that our final destination was up in the mountains and what was the profile of the rest of the ride would be like.  This question was answered pretty quickly with a 2.5km climb sign, it started off as a gradual climb - nothing too difficult.  Then it got steeper and steeper and every corner I got to thinking I must be at the top it just carried on and continued to go up.  I have NEVER been so close to getting off my bike and walking in my life, in fact, one of the members of our group who will remain nameless, actually did get off and walk for a section.  The last section was the worst, my handle bars were creaking so much with the force I was pulling on them that I thought they were going to snap.  The hill maxed out at 21% gradient - eek!  It was very, very steep.
That ride ended with a trip to the Montville Bakery which we felt was very well earned.

Nom nom nom

RUN
Time: 3hrs55
Distance: 45.3km

We did one long run in the Noosa National Park which was actually quite hard.  It was either soft sand or knobbly rocks underfoot and I rolled my ankles so many times I lost count.  I did an extra hour by myself and once I was a bit tired I rolled my ankles so much it was ridiculous.  I had to stick to the main tracks because I was worried I would roll an ankle so bad that if I went on an empty track no-one would find me and I would get eaten by snakes and crocodiles.  Luckily it didn't come to that but my right ankle was a bit sore for the next day or so.
The other runs were around Caloundra and were nice and warm.

Nice view from lunch post-run. A surf club without a fish burger on the menu?! Unheard of!

Midget bikes were the norm on this trip

BMW and MINI represent

So we are home and are VERY cold!! We are experiencing a 'once in a lifetime polar blast' as the people on the news keep telling us.  It even snowed in Auckland for about 30 seconds which is just crazy.

Big Jo training 25 July - 31 July

SWIM

Had a catch up with Coach Haydn about my swimming this week and now have a few different things to work on.  Unfortunately I am about to become one of these people that I like to make fun of who use all kinds of paraphernalia all at once like fins and paddles.  I have already had to become a person who uses a watch instead of the clock but only because the GI has such crappy clocks in such dumb places that I can't actually see them when I am in the pool even with contacts in.  But if it makes me a faster swimmer I'll do it.
Only did 2 swims this week due to a reshuffling of sessions because of the race in the weekend and I ended up having to cut my swim in favour of my long run.

BIKE

Took it quite easy early on in the week in preparation for the big race in the weekend.  For the newcomers to my blog - me and 5 of my cycling buddies did the Solo Race of Six Friends which is a style of racing known as a Gentlemen's Race for those people who know what that is.  Bascially you have 6 people in a team and a course which is revealed about 15mins before you start, you are given directions and it is unmarshalled but with a few check points along the way.  It is handicapped and teams leave at 2-3min intervals.

A frosty start

 I was the token female in our team to get us more of a handicap. 

What are you doing Neilio?

Roy's Rebels looking sharp thanks to BMW sponsorship

 I was a bit concerned about this race with my current bike fitness but a last minute change in team mates took the pressure off a bit.  We got off to a good start, passing about 3 teams in the first half hour and getting through the gravel sections unscathed.  I was quite worried about the gravel but it turned out to be ok, pretty hard packed in most places and some very large ruts, they told us about 10% would be gravel but I think it was a bit more than that, some of these sections went on forever.

Gravely gravel

Uphill gravel

J-rad checking that Joanna Razzell is still on

I got a lucky break with a couple of punctures in our group on one of the big downhill gravel sections which meant I was able to cruise down at my own pace while they fixed the punctures which I think saved my legs quite a bit.
We regrouped after the punctures and started making some good time but unfortunately had a major stuff up in the navigation department and ended up 8kms out in the wrong direction with no option but to turn around and head back.  We had been team time trialling it with Uncle Roy on the front averaging between 35-40km and it was very sad to have to head back from where we came. I think it definately broke our spirits a bit.

Check in point

 

First check in point - still riding with gay abandon

Stuck behind Neilio in the gravel

J-Rad and Neilio

The Serottica in action

Uncle Roy the stalwart

Once we were back on course (with an extra 16km in our legs) we got to the nastiest hill of the day which maxed out at 18% gradient.  To add insult to injury the last 50m, which was the steepest part, was gravel - ever try to ride up an 18% hill on gravel?! There were a lot of causalities and I believe that more than one person in the race had to get off and walk.  I think one of our teammates was pretty close to this by the looks of the photos and one unnamed member of our team managed to get a bit of tow from our supporters car...

Some major suffering going on

Whats going on at the bottom of the hill?!

Happy little pace line

We then took another wrong turn which could have been very bad for us but luckily our supporters were onto it and managed to wave us back.  Tempers were getting a bit frayed at this point but we got back to the finish the shortest way possible and ended up with about 12km more than anyone else.
Despite our problems it was a great event and had a certain spirit to it which no other race I have ever done has had.  We were very lucky with the weather for this time of year, I think that the vibe in the team could have been a bit different if we had kept taking wrong turns in the pouring rain...

Sums up the spirit of the race

Hopefully Amy Taylor and Mike Little don't mind me stealing a couple of their photos...


RUN

A bit under 50km for the week with a long run of 25km, it has been a very long time since I have run that far in one go!  I even had to take a Gu with me.  I had to do this run before work mid-week which is definitely not a usual time for me to run, especially that far as well.  But it generally went ok, not quite as quick as the week before but still a decent pace.  I won't do my next long run until next week at our Aussie training camp so it will be slightly more exotic than my usual route. 
Leggies have been holding up ok, one calf and one shin have been a bit niggly and sadly my massage lady is in France (how rude!) but I have been managing ok.  I will be very glad to see her when she gets back.