Weekly Update - 26.04.10 - 02.05.10

SWIM

Swims x 4

~10.8km

Getting a bit more into the no-squad swing of things and managed to get a decent amount done this week. Managed to stick with the 3km M/W/F 3km rule so far. Not much else to report in the swimming department really, I'm hoping the Teps will be opening again soon so we can have our squad back but no-one is sure about it yet.

BIKE

Time: 13hrs26
Distance: 325km

A bit eager this week and ended up riding everyday. I have been having one day a week off the bike but it was such a nice day on my no-bike day that I couldn't resist since I had most of the day off work.
Redeemed myself from my last attempt at the TT in the weekend with a reasonable ride in terms of power and time. There was new seal on the waterfront which was nice and smooth but had quite a bit of surface water so I think I lost a little bit of time being a bit muppety on the corners.



Nice morning for a TT

Had a top 5 worst weather experience during the week with some of the most torrential rain I have ever ridden in. I was trying to be good and carry on with my efforts but it was starting to get ridiculous (rain and wind) and then the dreaded bouncy feeling at the back tyre started and I discovered my tyre was going down. Luckily I was close to home so had to make an executive decision to put some gas in it (I had 2 cannisters but no hand pump) and hopefully it would get me home. I had to stop half way to use the other cannister and made it home luckily. The next day I was plagued with another puncture then a slowly leaking tube so after spending half of my riding going into different bike stores for air when I got home I located the culprit which was the inner wire/kevlar strip (?) of the tyre was poking out a tiny bit enough to cause teeny tiny puctures in my tube. So sadly I had to say goodbye to that tyre but was glad I solved the mystery puncture problem without wasting any more tubes.


Even the Serottica needs to stop for wees sometimes

RUN

Time: 3hrs58
Distance: ~51km

Good solid week this week with 81mins as my longest run. Had a disappointing 5km at O'Hagan's - was trying really hard and came in just over 19mins when I expected it to be 18.50ish. I'm not sure whether I should be worrying about my 5km time or not since its more 20km+ is what I'm really training for. I'm doing Huntly half in a couple of weeks so will see how I go there before I try anything different to get me faster over a short distance. I'm feeling better running for longer now which is good.

Weekly Update - 19.04.10 - 25.04.10

SWIM

Swims x 3
~8.8km

A bit sad in the swim department as I feared would happen. Monday's swim was a bit of a mess trying to fit into a public lane with a whole lot of random people doing crazy things. Fortunately it was a 50m pool so there was a bit more space but still very frustrating. I did one swim in my pool which was nice and undisturbed but very boring by myself and I tend to dribble along when I am swimming alone. We had a bit more structure for Fridays swim so it was a bit better but don't think we are very popular with the regulars who we are muscling out. I have decided to instigate a M/W/F 3km minimum to make sure I get a reasonable amount of volume for the week and will try and add in at least one extra swim per week.

BIKE

Time: 12hrs16
Distance: 294km

So I seem to be going the same distance each week but taking longer to do it. Hmmmm. Did some good 5min efforts this week until I blew myself up then had to creep back to work. Have got a super duper front light for winter which will hopefully stop me from being run over by cars. Since I have been working in Howick I have had so many people pull out on me along the Pakuranga Highway at all times of the day, I'm sure there are plenty of cyclists riding along there so not sure what is with those Eastern drivers.
Big ups to all the Hot Cyclists who fronted up to Gallipoli Cup on ANZAC day, pity about some poor handicapping decisions but good on Roger and Cookie for hanging in there.

RUN

Time: 3hrs 40
Distance: ~44km

Broke 19mins for 5km this week!!! A year ago that would have been a very poor run but I was pretty excited to see an 18 on my watch instead of a 19... Now need to work my way through the 18's and back to the 17's.
Long run of 80mins which was pretty comfortable, I have about another 4 weekends until Huntly half so will be more prepared in terms of distance than I was for last year where I think I ran over an hour maybe twice for Huntly, and hopefully will have got a bit more speed back by then as well.

Weekly Update - 12.04.10 - 18.04.10

SWIM

Squad x 3
Non-squad x 1
Sea swim x 1

~15.5km

This was our last week of squad before the Teps closes for who knows how long. Had a good 25x100m threshold set on Wednesday and then a bit of a pootle and some fun relays for our last squad on Friday. Managed to fit in a squad in my private pool without having to share which is always a bonus and then did a 500m sea swim for the Peoples Tri in the weekend. That will probably be the last sea swim for a while since it is getting a bit wintery here and the water is definitely getting colder.
So the goal for the next few weeks without a squad is to make sure I actually swim. Hopefully a few of us will band together and try and do our own little squads at different pools but it won't be as regular or as practical as swimming at the Teps is, but I need to hang in there because I certainly can't afford to lose any swimming fitness...

BIKE

Time: 11hr49
Distance: 291km
Boyfriends: Probably half of the men's sprint field...

A bit of an average week on the bike, attempted the TT on Saturday with a pretty pathetic result, not sure what my problem was but my power was pretty sad and I just could go any faster than about 35km/hr... Made up for it with a solid 20km ride at the Peoples Tri which was about 3mins faster than I have ever done that course before. Its a draft-legal race and the bunches were huge. I started my ride and was passing a few men (they started 5mins ahead of us) and a couple of girls and by the time I got to the first turnaround I had at least 10 people in a bunch on my wheel, I was shocked I thought there were only 1 or 2. And they stayed there for the whole race!!! One of them had a surge of testosterone coming through Mission Bay (his girlfriend must have been watching...) and came to the front then dropped the speed by about 3km/hr. So I had to come round him and gave him some advice about taking a turn at the front. All these big men drafting off a 40kg girl, I'm so low on my TT bike that I doubt there would have been must draft anyway but shame on them for not even taking a turn. It does kind of put me off that race a bit.


Good morning Howick

RUN

Time: 4hrs17
Distance: ~57km

What a big week!! Getting back into the long run in the weekend and manged 75min this weekend. Did a couple of 50min runs in the week plus the O'Hagans. Am a bit concerned by my lack of speed so may look to add a few different things in to try and remind my leggies how to run fast again.
Managed to run down quite a few people at the Peoples Tri (hopefully all the lazy men who sat on my wheel and all the girls as well) but still was hoping to run a bit closer to 20mins for the 5km (did about 20.30) so a bit disappointing in that respect.

Weekly Update - 05.04.10 - 11.04.10

SWIM

Squad x 2
Non-squad x 2
River float x 1

~18km

I figured I should put some of my lack of working hours to good use and got myself to the pool to do a couple of sessions on my own. Our pool that we do squad in is closing at the end of next week making us homeless for a while. I have access to this pool:

which I usually have all to myself, but the problem is my level of motivation when swimming alone...
My river float for the week was a 6km race down the Waikato River which I completed in 57 minutes, thats an average of 57sec/100m !!!! If only I could swim that fast all the time...

BIKE

Time: 11hrs19
Distance: 297km
Boyfriends: practically the whole of D-grade

Got back on the hill rep wagon, a bit easier with where I am working as I have easy access to a decent 5min hill.
Did a club race in the weekend which I won (1st woman anyway, but 3rd overall - mostly men, shame on them being beaten by a little girl...). Lucky for me it finished up a good Jo-hill so was a good course for me. I might have to move up a grade for next time.
Did a ride in Cambridge the day after and got a new 5min PB thanks to the brutal hills in French Pass. Now need to find another 20w to move me up to 'World Class' on WKO for w/kg...



RUN

Time: 2hrs17
Distance:~30km

A couple of long(ish) runs (50mins) plus one easy run before the club race. Nothing much to report really, am thinking about doing some intervals to help get my speed back.

New Zealand Deer Velvet

I'd like to introduce a new sponsor to my small (but growing!) collection of sponsors/supporters.

Deer velvet is a supplement which has been used in Asia for over 2000 years due to its powerful health promoting properties.

One of my first concerns with taking deer velvet was making sure that the deers weren't harmed in the velvet removal process (velvet is on the deer's antler) and was relieved to know that New Zealand is the only country in the world to have a government regulated velvet removal program which ensures the welfare of the deers during this process.
This program specifies that velvet may only be removed by a veterinarian or by a certified farmer who has successfully completed the veterinarian-supervised training program.
So no deers were harmed in the making of my deer velvet :)

Also I needed to know that deer velvet is not a banned substance, which it isn't.

And lastly I wanted to know how taking deer velvet was going to help me. The benefits of deer velvet include:
- improved immunity
- healthy joint function
- improved cardiovascular function
- improved recovery
- improved oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood
- better strength and endurance
A study by Broeder et al (2004) showed how deer velvet can have positive effects on body composition and strength/power in athletes.

Sound good? Go get yourself some velvet now!!

More info can be found at www.velvet.org.nz

Weekly Update - 29.03.10 - 04.04.10

SWIM

Squad x 2
Sea swim x 1

~10km

Easter meant that we lost a squad this week so went for a nice pootle around the yellow buoys at Takapuna. Some of the lane 4'ers were doing a swim from Devonport to Takapuna (about 6-7km) but didn't think it was in my best interests to attempt that so decided to stick just to Takapuna. Some women in the changing room freaked me out and said that the water had turned really cold and they were freezing after their 45min swim. I hadn't counted on super cold water and happened to have my pointzero-muppet suit in with my wetsuit so decided to double up to keep warm. As I was walking into the water I realized it couldn't be any colder than Wanaka and it wasn't. In fact it wasn't any colder than Auckland half or the People's Tri a few weeks ago so don't know what those women were on about. Nonetheless I had a nice swim, don't think I broke any speed records, but learnt that a swimskin under a wetsuit is reasonably comfortable if necessary.

BIKE

Time: 10hrs 39
Distance: 266km

A bit disrupted this week with a new job starting at 7am (!) on my usual riding mornings so a bit of reorganizing required since I will be doing that for another 4 weeks. I have a bit of a new approach to riding leading up to my next race in June, more like quality over quantity, so may see a reduction in time and distance for the week but hopefully will see an overall increase in power.
With my new working situation I have been able to get out during the day a bit so often have all the roads in Whitford to myself.


The downfall of commuting to work by bike is when my system fails me and I need to bring something home on a day that I haven't brought my backpack. So a bit of creativity was needed this week to bring my book home to read over Easter and since it wouldn't fit into my pockets I had to call on my strapping skills to find a way. Only a little bit of scrapage against my knees but overall worked pretty well.


RUN

Time: 2hrs42
Distance: ~34km

Made my second comeback at O'Hagan's this week and managed to knock out a 19.07, I was definitely trying harder than when did it a few weeks ago but it was also a lot windier. I haven't done any form of speed work (not that I usually do) but I think just a bit of extra running in my legs helped to go a bit faster.
My long run (64mins) was done in Cambridge with the Poo-Paraders and what a sufferfest for me. I was suffering bigtime from about the 35min mark, I don't have the fitness to run at a decent pace for any longer than that. But I toughed it out and made it to the end but was pretty wasted afterwards. Suffering like that is what will get me fit again so guess I will have a bit more to look forward to.

Weekly Update - 22.03.10 - 28.03.10

SWIM

Squad x 3
~9.5km

An alarm malfunction on Monday meant a pretty short swim session, was still a bit stiff from the Half so it wasn't such a biggie. I was starting work at 8am this week in Highbrook so had to sacrifice a little bit of swimming for the week but I figured since it was only for the week it shouldn't matter too much. I have decided that either the people in my lane either warm up too fast or else it takes me a long time to warm up at the beginning of the session because I seem to struggle the most to keep up in the warm up. I had to swim in the lane below for a bit when I got in late on Monday and the difference in speed between lane 2 and 3 is huge. I barely even had to kick in lane 2 to keep up because it was so slow then when I moved up to lane 3 I got dropped when I had paddles on. So think I need a lane 2.5... Or I just need to learn how to swim faster.

BIKE

Time: 7hrs21
Distance: 183
Boyfriends: 2

The weekday rides were pretty lax, in a bit of lazy mode this week. Managed to get out into the Whitford hills for an hour or so while I had a break at work and got rained on!!! Haven't been rained on for a very long time so it was a bit of a shock to the system, and really not very fun having to pull on wet lycra for the ride home..
Did a club TT on Saturday which was 25km. There was a HUGE headwind on the way out (I was struggling to get it above 30kph) and so an awesome tailwind on the way back. I came about midfield which I thought was ok especially since I was competing against actual cyclists... And my power was not too bad as well. And I got to stop on the way out there at the Tran Bakery in Drury to get the BEST custard twist in the world so all in all a good day :)

RUN

Time: 1hr47
Distance: ~24.5km

Longest run this week was only 35mins, just taking it easy after the half so will start to do a few longer runs (60mins+) after next week. The next run focus will be the Huntly Half Marathon in May which I did about 1hr29 last year after I had completely lost my mojo after IMNZ. So will be looking to improve on that time. Hopefully won't be too hard to do.