Wind and Rain, and Screaming Kids, and Wind and Rain

Christmas has come and gone and, all of a sudden, I am staring January in the face.  That's a tiny bit freaky as January is the last month of full-on training before February, which is the taper. 

eek!!!

December has been a mixed bag weather-wise.  The distances in the pool are building up and I am now doing sessions of over 3km in the 50m outdoor pool at Jellie Park.  The outdoor pool is great, although it does become a real test of your patience at times when you have to share it with screaming kids.  (What is it about kids that compels them to scream all the time?)

One particular session occurred during what must have been the last week of school.  I got to the pool at lunchtime to find that every school in Christchurch seemed to have chosen that day to have their end of year pool party at Jellie Park.  The place was absolutely heaving with kids and I'm sure the noise could have been heard from the outer city limits.  It was absolute bedlam and it was all I could do not to turn around and walk straight back out again.

But no, a workout was required and I knew I'd be glad I stuck it out once it was done.  Usually there are 3 or 4 lanes in the outdoor pool roped off for lane swimming.  On this pool party day, however, the lane swimmers were given 1 lane and as it was such a nice day, there were half a dozen swimmers sharing that space, determined to make the most of the weather and not be intimidated into using the indoor pools.

So I jumped in and duly finished the swim.  The lifeguards had their work cut out for them as the kids weren't satisfied with having only 7/8 of the pool and frequently decided they should be able to play in the lane as well. We adult swimmers got our revenge this week, however, when the skies opened and the rain came pouring down.  The kids showed their true colours and retreated inside while we lane swimmers had the outdoor pool all to ourselves, and it was bliss!

Bike sessions have also moved up a notch and 3-4 hour rides are now the norm with 5-6 hour rides coming up next month.  The weather has played its part in this (most frequently the wind) with several days of strong, gale force nor westers.  These winds are notorious, coming straight off the southern alps and gaining temperature and losing moisture across the Canterbury plains until they hit Christchurch as a hot, dry wind that induces migraines and leaves people feeling generally cranky. 

One of the real gains I've noticed, however, is that the winds are affecting me less on the bike than they used to.  Earlier in the year a headwind would knock the stuffing out of me and turn the ride into a complete misery.  Now I hit a headwind and just change into a lower gear and keep spinning away.  Yes, I go a little slower into the wind (as does everyone), but my attitude is completely different and it makes the ride much less torturous. Plus there's always the tailwind to look forward to as well!

The winds, then, didn't hugely affect my training apart from one day when they were strong enough for me to cancel the ride and do a run instead.  Flexibility is a great thing. 

The Christmas weather hasn't stopped there.  We've also had a deluge of rain across the country and that's meant flooded rivers all over the place.  Today I had direct experience of that during my regular bike ride out to Sefton.  It requires me to bypass the motorway and head over the Old Waimakariri Bridge.  However the bridge was closed due to high river levels, a fact I wasn't aware of until I got out there and found the detour signs and cones out across the road.  There was a security guard there as well and so I thought I'd check to see if it was OK for pedestrians/cyclists to go across.

"No, you can't ride over, but we can give you a lift across to the other side", he said. 

What? 

It turns out that Environment Canterbury had a staff member on duty with a ute whose primary responsibility today was to provide a shuttle service for cyclists.  He put the bike on the back of the ute and then drove me and the bike up the motorway to the other side of the river where I could resume my ride. 

The Old Waimak Bridge - the high river level meant nothing was getting across this old dame.

Apparently he had done several trips already this morning and had also found out that cyclists' sense of humour usually showed an inverse correlation to the value of the bike when he told one lycra-clad bloke to "just throw the bike on the back of the ute, mate".  The polite response, I believe, was something like "ah, this bike's worth $20,000, mate - it won't be thrown anywhere". 

oops

Seriously, though, it was a great service being provided by Environment Canterbury and much appreciated by this irongirl - who still had her sense of humour.

The 12 Days of Christmas (Ironman Version)

(Feel free to sing along - you know the tune!)

On the 1st day of Christmas my true love gave to me

• a Taupo Ironman Entry

On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me

• 2 aero wheels
• and a Taupo Ironman Entry

On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me

• 3 spare tubes
• 2 aero wheels
• and a Taupo Ironman Entry

On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me

• 4 sports bras
• 3 spare tubes
• 2 aero wheels
• and a Taupo Ironman Entry

On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me

• 5 number pins
• 4 sports bras
• 3 spare tubes
• 2 aero wheels
• and a Taupo Ironman Entry

On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me

• 6 vaseline tubs
• 5 number pins
• 4 sports bras
• 3 spare tubes
• 2 aero wheels
• and a Taupo Ironman Entry

On the 7th day of Christmas my true love gave to me

• 7 water bottles
• 6 vaseline tubs
• 5 number pins
• 4 sports bras
• 3 spare tubes
• 2 aero wheels
• and a Taupo Ironman Entry

On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me

• 8 training programmes
• 7 water bottles
• 6 vaseline tubs
• 5 number pins
• 4 sports bras
• 3 spare tubes
• 2 aero wheels
• and a Taupo Ironman Entry

On the 9th day of Christmas my true love gave to me

• 9 gooey race gels
• 8 training programmes
• 7 water bottles
• 6 vaseline tubs
• 5 number pins
• 4 sports bras
• 3 spare tubes
• 2 aero wheels
• and a Taupo Ironman Entry

On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me

• 10 lycra tri suits
• 9 gooey race gels
• 8 training programmes
• 7 water bottles
• 6 vaseline tubs
• 5 number pins
• 4 sports bras
• 3 spare tubes
• 2 aero wheels
• and a Taupo Ironman Entry

On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me

• 11 ripe bananas
• 10 lycra tri suits
• 9 gooey race gels
• 8 training programmes
• 7 water bottles
• 6 vaseline tubs
• 5 number pins
• 4 sports bras
• 3 spare tubes
• 2 aero wheels
• and a Taupo Ironman Entry

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me

• 12 bars of chocolate

...
(because I'm still human, and it is Christmas, and my true love loves me...)
...

• 11 ripe bananas
• 10 lycra tri suits
• 9 gooey race gels
• 8 training programmes
• 7 water bottles
• 6 vaseline tubs
• 5 number pins
• 4 sports bras
• 3 spare tubes
• 2 aero wheels
• and a Taupo Ironman Entry

Merry Christmas!!!

A Day to Challenge the Most Determined

Today was one of those training days I'd rather forget.  Well that's not quite true.  There were some definite positives, but it was more of a day that seemed to put more than the usual number of obstacles in the way of a great training day.

I had taken the day off work especially.

Yesterday (Sunday) St Pete was competing in his first ultra marathon, 50km in Hagley Park, and so I had arranged for Sunday to be a rest day for me so I could support him in his quest.  In return, I took today off work so I could complete my traditional long bike ride.

So I was set down to do a 5 hour bike followed by a 60 minute run.  The plan was to break it up into two rides.  First would be a 3 hour circuit out through Kaiapoi, to Sefton, Rangiora and back to Christchurch.  I would call in at home to replenish the food and water supplies on the bike and then head out again for a 2 hour ride around MacLeans Island to Prebbleton and back home.

Simple.

The day dawned fine and warm, and not too windy to start off with and so Pete suggested I put the new aero wheels on.  Great idea.  So it was done and by 8.00am I was out the door.

As I headed out of town the wind started to pick up a bit and, by the time I got to Kaiapoi there was a persistent nor-wester making life reasonably miserable.  Never mind, I thought, once I turn at Sefton it will be on my side and once I turn towards Rangiora it will be behind me all the way back home.

Until then, though, life was challenging.  Having deep dish aero wheels does improve your performance but it's a bit like going from the comfy family station wagon to driving a Formula 1 race car.  In side winds they can be quite twitchy and so you do need to be able to keep your nerve and pay attention to what's happening around you in order to stay on the right trajectory. 

And then there are the trucks.  Big trucks.  Logging trucks.  Milk tankers.  The side winds they generate as they tear past you  with less than half a metre to spare are enough to blow you off your bike if you aren't paying attention and I definitely had a couple of F... moments.

After a reasonable slog, however, I was rewarded with the turn towards Rangiora and I knew from then that I'd be able to make the most of my speed wheels and have a great run back into Christchurch (and get my average speed for the ride up as well!).  For half an hour I had a fantastic time, getting up to about 44km/hr.  It felt really good, powering along and the wheels were doing their thing in fine style. 

And then it turned to custard.

Just as I was approaching the bridge that goes over the motorway, just before the Waimak bridge, I realised that the back wheel didn't feel right.  I stopped to check it and, sure enough, it was punctured.  Bugger.

Never mind, I had a spare tube and so set about replacing it.  Unfortunately I only one spare tube so it was going to be a case of getting home and then changing the wheels over and using the regular wheels for the second ride.  Not to worry, I set off again.

And got about 3km down the road.  To Belfast, just on the outskirts of the city.

Yep, the back wheel was flat again and this time I was stuck.  I didn't have another tube and so the SOS phonecall went out to St Pete (who had also taken the day off work) to come out and get me.  Damn.

We got home and I proceeded to change the wheels over and, while doing so, noticed that the tyre on the front wheel had a pretty big bulge in it.  Double damn.  A quick ride around to the bike shop confirmed my worst fears - the tyre was stuffed (broken they called it) and was likely to blow at any time.  Even worse, a blowout on the front wheel could be pretty nasty so I really didn't want to be riding it at all.

New tyre on wheel, and wheel back on bike, I finally headed out the door for my second ride at 1.00pm - two hours behind schedule and feeling reasonably fed up with the whole thing.  Because my first ride had only lasted 2 hours 30 minutes I needed to increase the second ride and so had to aim for a further 2 hour 30 minute ride. 

By this time, though, the wind had gathered sufficient force to turn the ride into a total grovel.  Heading out to the airport and around the back past MacLeans Island was right into the wind and I finally got to experience a decent tailwind once I crossed over the Old West Coast Road and started heading towards Prebbleton.  As with the stretch from Rangiora earlier in the day, this section of the ride finally put a smile on my face and the wind had increased sufficiently that I was able to hit a top speed of 48km/hr.  Awesome!

Of course it didn't last nearly long enough and before long I was back at Halswell and riding around Cashmere and up Colombo St, again into the wind, before getting home.

By the time I walked the bike through the front door at home it was 3.45pm and I was completely over the day.  Physically I could have done the run as scheduled.  Mentally I just couldn't drum up the enthusiasm after the events of the day.

The run can wait until tomorrow.

The Real Work Starts Now

It's December and suddenly we're into the final 3 months of training before I-Day.  Given that the final 3-4 weeks is spent tapering, it means that I have 2 months of real work to be as prepared as I can be to tackle the ironman challenge.

And real work it will be.

Over winter I have been given a variety of training programmes that have focused on the different disciplines of ironman.  There have been the long group bike rides.  There has been swim camp and the swim drills to get the technique going.  And I have maintained some running and completed my favourite running events to maintain that discipline as well.

The last couple of weeks, then, have been relatively relaxed as far as training goes and, as an example, this was my schedule for the last week of November:

Monday: 1000m swim
Tuesday: rest day
Wednesday: 1 hour bike
Thursday: 1 hour run
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 30min swim, 1 hour bike, 45min run
Sunday: 2 hour bike

My fitness/strength/endurance must have improved as that type of schedule seemed pretty relaxed.  What I hadn't quite realised, however, was that it would be the calm before the storm.  Coach Dave had big plans and he was saving it for December and January.

When I got my training programme covering the period up to 6 February (when the tapering begins) there was one word to sum it up.

Yikes.

My comment on Facebook summed it up pretty well also: "...makes my training up to now look like a walk in the park.  The real work starts now!"

Basically we're into the serious stuff now and this is where every session becomes critical to my eventual success in Taupo.  I can expect to get tired and so need to focus on making sure I get enough sleep and recovery time.  I need to eat well.  And I need to focus on completing one day at a time - otherwise I'll get overwhelmed with the enormity of it all.

As a comparison, then, here is my program for the week immediately after Christmas:

Monday: rest day
Tuesday: 3200m swim + 40min run
Wednesday: 3hr bike + 40min run
Thursday: 90min run
Friday: 3hr bike + 30min run
Saturday: 70min open water swim + 2 hr bike + 60min run
Sunday: 4hr bike + 40min run

The time allowed for all this also represents a significant increase and to give an idea of the scale of the training load over the next couple of months, here is a weekly summary of the hours I'll be dedicating to training:

Week beginning	Swim	Bike	Run	Total
29-Nov	1:20	8:30	1:35	11:25
6-Dec	2:10	9:00	3:40	14:50
13-Dec	2:30	10:00	0:50	13:20
20-Dec	1:30	7:00	1:40	10:10
27-Dec	2:50	12:00	5:00	19:50
3-Jan	3:05	13:00	3:30	19:35
10-Jan	3:00	4:00	1:10	8:10
17-Jan	3:00	8:00	2:45	13:45
24-Jan	3:10	12:00	4:50	20:00
31-Jan	3:40	12:00	4:00	19:40

Ironman is definitely my part time job in the short term ... albeit unpaid!

Dreams are Free

One of the natural thoughts you have while training for ironman is, will this be the only ironman event I ever do, or is this destined to be my "calling" in terms of sports?  Am I about to discover my ideal sport, the one that I am going to go back to year after year or am I going to finish the 2011 event and say "never again"?  

St Pete probably hopes that once is enough although publicly he'll tell you I'll probably do one more, just to get it out of my system.  And on the basis of doing at least one more the conversation invariably turns to bikes and a prediction as to whether my current speed machine has another ironman in it after March, or will it be time to invest in an upgrade.

My Avanti Cadent is a great bike, no question.  It's a full carbon frame and Ultegra componentry and I've now got a pair of awesome Fast Forward carbon aero wheels for race days (and other days when I want to give myself a treat and ride the special wheels!).  If I were to get a new bike it would have to be a specialised time trial bike and wouldn't you also want it to be a bit special....with a custom paint job maybe...???

With that in mind, and because dreams are free, I've come across the Trek website where you can custom design your own bike.  They do a fantastic time trail bike, the Speed Concept 9.9, and you can use their website to design your own colour finish and even have your name printed on it.  

For a cool US$9000 here, then, is my dream bike:

mmmm.....

Livestrong Junkie

Over the past few months I've turned into a bit of a Livestrong junkie.

It all started quite innocently enough, back in June, when St Pete and I went to New York for a week - a prize I won with Qantas and radio station MoreFM.  While there I came across a Livestrong bike jersey in a sports store and decided I had to have it.  I've always admired Lance Armstrong and the work he's done with the Livestrong Foundation and I figured I wouldn't see many of those jerseys back in New Zealand. 

So the jersey duly returned to New Zealand with us and became a regular feature on my long Sunday rides.

Not long after I started thinking about getting some new sunglasses.  I had a new aero helmet for Ironman and it fitted close in around my face and I had been finding that my sunglasses were slightly too wide to fit inside the helmet comfortably.

I was quite keen on Oakley's Jawbones and as luck would have it, that model comes in Livestrong colours.  It only seemed right, then, that this should be the pair to get, to match my cycling jersey.

In rapid succession followed the Radioshack limited edition 28 jersey.

This jersey was designed for the Radioshack team for their final day of the 2010 Tour de France and has the number 28 on the back, in honour of the 28 million cancer sufferers around the world.  Because they didn't get it pre-approved by the Tour officials, though, Radioshack were forced to remove the jerseys before the race started and had to ride in their regular red and grey colours.  At the end of the day Radioshack claimed the Team honours for the tour and the jerseys finally got an airing on the podium and gained enough notoriety to be in hot demand by Livestrong/Radioshack/Armstrong fans worldwide.

I admired the jersey along with the rest of the world but never dreamed I'd see them on the racks in Scotty Browns in Christchurch.  All reports were that they were being released as a limited edition and it seemed pretty obvious that they'd be snapped up well and truly before heading to this part of the world.  It was an opportunity then too good to pass up and one was added to my ever-increasing Livestrong collection.

The latest addition has been the Giro Ionos Livestrong Helmet.  Completely unnecessary (there was nothing wrong my with previous helmet) but the balance has shifted to an extent now where I can only think of myself as a Livestrong Junkie and so must have the entire collection...if Lance's Giro Livestrong aero helmet ever appears on the shop shelves then St Pete had better hide the credit card!!!

Speaking of St Pete, he's being slowly sucked into the Livestrong collector's vortex and has ordered his first Livestrong products...along with Livestrong bike pants for me, all on their way from the Livestrong store in America!

A Day of Distractions

On my ironman journey, Saturdays have now become simulation days.

They are the days when my training session consists of a swim, followed by a bike, followed by a run.  (Just like the real thing, but shorter!) And now that summer is officially here the swim is happening in the open water, either in the lake at Pegasus or in Corsair Bay, over the hill in Lyttelton.

Last Saturday's session was no different.  I was tasked with a 40 minute swim, 2 1/2 hour bike and a 30 minute run.  Andi, training for the Lake Wanaka Half,  had a similar program although a shorter bike and so we decided to do the swim and bike together.  The plan was to drive out to Corsair Bay with the bikes, do the swim and then bike from there home where I could then do my run around Hagley Park.

Pegasus would have been great but thanks to the power of Facebook I had found out that there would be waka sprints out there that morning and, while they weren't starting their races until 9.00am, likely preparatory work in the lake (i.e. setting up lanes etc) could have made swimming a bit of a pain.  So Corsair Bay it was.

It was an early start.  While Pegasus was out, there was also the distraction at Corsair Bay with the annual Harbour Ride, one of Christchurch's premier road cycling events.  The route for the ride would go past Corsair Bay and up over Evans Pass to Lyttelton, exactly the route we were planning to follow after our swim.  We therefore wanted to be well out of the way before we got mown down by elite riders such as Hayden Roulston!

We therefore pulled up at Andi's place just after 7.00am, loaded her and her bike, and by 7.30 we were pulling wetsuits on at the water's edge at Corsair Bay.  It was a gorgeous day and there were already a few swimmers out in the bay doing laps around the boats.  Coach Dave was already there and had done his first lap by the time we got in.  He decided to do another one with us and so off we went.

Google Earth view of Corsair Bay with a typical swim circuit marked in yellow - approx 1km

Swimming conditions were great, although it did get a little lumpy once we were out by the yachts and out of the shelter of the bay.  We got our first lap done, though, and Dave headed off to his next fitness session of the day leaving us to do another lap.  I had a much better time with sighting and we set up a good routine - figuring out our next landmark (or yacht), swimming to it then stopping and refocusing on the next point.

We got out after about 55 minutes and had done about 2 km of swimming, so a good effort.  It was then out of the wetsuits and up to the car to get the bikes ready for a ride.  Drinks and food loaded, I started walking the bike onto the tarseal to start riding and suddenly realised I was still wearing my Nothinz.  They are so comfy I'd forgotten I was wearing them but it's a bit like walking out the door of your house in your snuggly pyjamas.  ...and tricky to clip into the bike pedals!

My orange Nothinz - ugly as, but SOOO comfy!

Senior moment sorted, we headed away.  It was a slight downhill into Lyttelton but once we passed the main centre of town we started a steady climb up to Evans Pass.  It's not a steep climb so I quite enjoyed taking it slowly and (almost!) having time to enjoy the scenery.  Andi went off ahead (because virtually everyone is still faster than me on an upward slope!) but waited at the top of the pass and it was at this point I stopped as well.

We were conscious of the elite riders coming through in the race and there was a decent group of spectators and photographers stopped at the top of Evans Pass waiting to see them come through.  We waited for a few minutes trying to work out if we had enough time to carry on, and not get run over, and eventually decided we may as well have a shot at getting down the hill first.

So we headed down and got through Sumner and Redcliffs and to the end of the causeway.  At the end of the causeway the race would make a hard left turn for the final kilometre to the finish line.  Being enthusiastic cyclists it was only right that we allow ourselves this little distraction and see the leading riders come around.  So we stopped there and a couple of minutes later the leading riders started coming through.  It was great to watch and we ended up waiting until the first of the elite women came in as well - fantastic stuff.

It wasn't to be our only distraction, though.

We carried on around to Brighton and rode along Marine Parade, only to find the road closed up ahead.  The suburban Santa Parade was on and so the road was blocked with sugar-enriched children and their frazzled parents.  Thankfully Santa had just gone past by the time we got there and so we were able to slowly make our way through the crowds as they dispersed back to their cars.

Just goes to show that a bike ride never has to be an ordinary thing.