Big Jo training 13 June - 26 June

SWIM

Still just razzling along building up, did a couple of 4.5km session without any problems.  The rest of the swims have been around 3km.  I can't really tell if I'm getting faster but I think the point at the moment is more to reduce my stroke rate which seems to be going ok.
I have had a bit of pool rage recently which I have managed to contain but I seriously wonder what goes through some peoples heads when they are swimming in public lanes.  Luckily I have mastered the art of squeezing down the middle of the lane to pass slow people (yes there are actually people slower than me) and also performing closely executed tumble turns when there are people blocking the end of the pool.

BIKE

Last weekend was the 2-up TT which I was supposed to do with Nicky, sadly she pulled out on me the day before so I was a bit stuck.  I still wanted to do it but had already struggled to find a partner so I was a bit desperate, desperation led me to ask Uncle Roy... I had to make sure Uncle Roy understood the whole point was that we ride together and that he was not to drop me, and he did very well at keeping me on.  I only had to yell out to him a couple of times mostly around corners where he doesn't slow down at all and I muppet around.  We did really look quite ridiculous and I even heard the guys who started behind us say afterwards "that little girl and her old man did really well!!" - shame!!

My concentration face and Roy's happy face

The rest of the time I have been doing quality over quantity with my own private battles with annoying men who sit on my wheel during efforts.
I had a sad wheel episode involving a very very large pothole which snuck up on me.  I don't know how I didn't crash and I even stayed on aerobars somehow.  Sadly my rim didn't really make it so now I need a new one. And I was only using that wheel because the rim on my other wheel is stuffed so I am not doing so well in the front wheel department.

Sad face

RUN

My running has been going well, with the last two weeks at 40km so now I can step up to 45km woo hoo!  Nothing much else to report though, its getting very muddy on our usual paths which isn't so fun and my running shoes are looking pretty sad.  I have been channeling my inner Paula Findlay (who I have a small non-lesbian crush on) during my runs and trying to be awesome.

IN OTHER NEWS

Fun times with the Razzle-cat. Not only do I have a smartphone but I also have a smartcomputer

Big Jo training 30 May - 12 June

SWIM

Knocked out my longest session of 4km since my shoulder issues - woohoo.
We had a weekend at the Cambridge Triathlon Institute over the long weekend so got to swim in the St Peter's school pool and it was super duper.  Despite being outside and having to do a cold dash from the pool deck to the water, it was the perfect temperature (something GI pool could learn something about...) and was lovely and clean.  And it was fast! I thought maybe it was just me... but sadly my sources confirmed it as being a fast pool.
Now that I have got 4km out of the way I will be slowly building back up to the dreaded 6km session and maybe I will have grown scales by then.

BIKE

Averaging about 10hrs on the bike at the moment enjoying not having to do the 4hr+ rides which I have had to do over the last couple of winters with Kona and Wisconsin to train for.
During our CTI weekend we did a club race which was a 30km points races with 6 sprints.  My mission was to not get dropped in the sprints, it took me a couple of sprints to get into it so by the end I was in the first half of the pack instead of the back - yay! My sprinting skills are still very sad though - on my WKO+ graphs for 5sec power I am in the 'Untrained' division where as for 5mins and 1 hour I am much higher up the graph.

We have started to get back on the efforts wagon and I am really struggling with annoying men who sit on my wheel when I pass them. It is SO annoying and it happens all the time to me.  I come past them (obviously going much faster then them since I am overtaking), and they jump on my wheel so I can just see them, or even worse, hear them, out of the corner of my eye.  They don't get the message when I swing out wide or attempt to surge.  Last week it was a guy on a MTB (yes a MTB!!), in the end I let him pass them dropped back but he slowed down and the whole process started again.  In the weekend it was a whole bunch of men and the most insulting part was when they started to encourage me as they all sprinted past me at the end after I had dragged them along for almost 8km - ARGH!!!
This weekend is the CMC 2-up TT which I will be doing with Nicky, we are not exactly compatible in terms of size or speed or equipment but I guess it is better than not doing it at all.  Although not sure whether Nicky will think that after she has dragged me along for 40km.
Last year I did it with Jess who is a semi-midget and we had a few issues along the way but by the looks of things we were happy at the start.

Jess's helmet suits her much better than mine. I look like I am wearing a bowling ball

RUN

Keeping my mileage nice and controlled with 35km last week and 30km the week before.  Next week will be 35km again and then 40km - see a pattern?! I think once I get to 50km I'll keep it there for a while and then try and get fast.
Last weekend we did our long run (1hr!) on a new path which I have been waiting for about the last 5 years to be built.  For anyone in the Auckland area we ran on the new boardwalk thing which goes around the Orakei Basin which is pretty exciting because I used to have to run to the end and then turn around and run back the same way.  If only this had've been built about 5 years ago when I actually lived a lot closer.

OTHER EXCITING NEWS?
Nothing that I can think of... My smartphone isn't smart enough to take photos when I forget hence the lack of photos in this blog.

I managed to get hold of another pair of gloves to replace my beloved glove which I lost a couple of weeks ago.  I emailed SmartWool when I was desperate to find some and their online store didn't ship internationally and they never replied to me - boo, hiss, boo. No more love for you SmartWool.  Very poor form when a company doesn't reply to a doting customer ( and I was very doting), even if they couldn't help me am I so unimportant that they can't even reply to tell me that?  Very poor form indeed.
It pained me a little bit to continue to support their products a bit because of this (I take it VERY personally when I get bad customer service) but I am just so in love with their gloves that I couldn't boycott.  But I have added them to my memory bank of bad service, I don't forget these things...