MS Sydney to the Gong Ride Part I - The Fundraising Virgin...

Well the party is almost over.

It's Sunday evening and tomorrow I officially become a triathlete again ... training begins for the 2014 Ironman season.

It's been a fun off-season. I've done some different things to make training seem worthwhile and successfully managed to not gain any weight....BONUS!

The highlight of the last few months though ended up being the last thing on the agenda, and that was last weekend's MS Sydney to the Gong ride. Before I tell you all about it, though, let me just say: if you are in the Sydney region, or can make it to the Sydney region, and you can ride a bike, then you should add this event to your bucket list (or even your regular schedule of events).  It's a really well organised ride with 10,000 participants, well supported and an amazingly scenic route on good quality roads and bike paths.

It's also a fundraiser for Multiple Sclerosis Australia and this was a new experience for me as an individual.  I had been in teams before that had fundraising targets to achieve, but never tried this sort of thing solo.  It was a ride I was keen to do, however, and the minimum $250 to raise seemed almost achievable for this fundraising virgin.  Given the distance of the ride could be seen as not necessarily a huge challenge for this irongirl, I thought I'd make things interesting by upping the challenge for myself if the donors came to the party and threw sufficient dollars my way (well, MS Australia's way to be exact!)

So I put it out there: If I raised $500 I would double the ride distance, doing the Gong ride and then riding back home.  If I raised $1,000 then I'd do the double distance in a crazy costume.  I figured $500 might be on the cards but anticipated a less than 50% chance of having to do it in a costume.

Ha - how wrong was I?!!!

The fundraising started out well - a shout out on Facebook and an initial email around work saw the total head to $400 and then sit there until a week out from the ride.  I was really happy with that - I had achieved the minimum $250 and figured I might just get to $500 if I was lucky.  But the options were open and I was in two minds about doing the return trip anyway.  If I didn't get the $500, no pressure, I could come home on the train.  And if the weather was bad I could definitely come home on the train and not feel guilty!  Or, if it was a nice day then the return trip would make the day a decent training ride.

I therefore felt really relaxed about either option.

A week out, however, saw a major change.  Suzie and Rodina, two work colleagues, remembered to get together and make a joint donation on the website and then decided to also appoint themselves my personal marketing team.  Great move on their part - I'm just the athlete, after all…!  Anyway, on the Tuesday before the ride they sent out a follow-up email around work on my behalf urging people to sponsor me.  The total by then was $465 and so I did another spruik on Facebook at the same time.

And over the next 24 hours the website went slightly crazy.

Maybe it was the timing, but donations started coming in and by the end of Wednesday my donations were sitting at $860 and I was suddenly contemplating not only the double distance ride, but doing it also in a costume.  Only problem was, I hadn't given a costume any more thought since the first week after registering for the ride, when I first set the challenge.

A quick discussion with St Pete on Wednesday night and I was starting to check out costume websites and consider options.  Thursday morning came around and a decision had to be made.  Would I get to $1,000?  Chances suddenly seemed high.  OK, let's commit to this.

A Queen Bee costume had been found on a site that offered overnight delivery and it looked like it would work well over the top of bike pants.  Costume was duly ordered and just as well - by the end of Thursday my donations had surpassed $1,000….wow.

The comments and support coming in from people was both humbling and exciting.  This was like doing my first ironman all over again and I knew I didn't want to let anyone down now.

All I had to do was get out there and do a good ride and have some fun with it.  Time wasn't important - just look the part and do the distance.  Let's do this!

…to be continued...

Rebel Run Sydney - In Search of that Elusive Negative Split

A fair bit of time is spent during the year planning various events to do between my ironmans.  For the last couple of years winter has been a time to focus on running and, let's face it, I need all the help I can get in that department!  We've therefore set up a bit of a routine, with the Blackmore's Running Festival providing me with an off-season opportunity to run a marathon and still give plenty of recovery time before summer kicks in properly.

When the Rebel Run Sydney dropped into our inbox last year we made a mental note of it but, at only 10km, it was barely long enough to justify putting the running shoes on, especially given it was held out at Olympic Park.  This year, however, the organisers added a half marathon distance to the event and that was enough for us to sit up and take notice.

Well, for St Pete to take notice.  Given my plans to do the Spring Cycle and Sydney to Gong ride on the weekends either side, I figured I had done my running for the time being and could therefore play cheerleader and go be support crew for him for a change.

The guys in my life, however, had other ideas.  In fact both of them ganged up on me and Coach Dave had no hesitation joining St Pete in deciding that I should enter it as well.  Well, what the hell - I didn't put up too much of a fight, and what's another training day, just with the bonus of a medal at the end of it?!  D, however, had another very good reason for me to add this to the calendar.

The coach's nirvana - I would aim for a negative split.  Oh joy.

My running's been going great this year, but they've all been characterised by the traditional problem of starting strong and fading at the end, whereas the goal of coaches all over is for us to start out slow, build throughout the distance and finish strong.  So you do the second half of the race faster than the first half, hence the negative split terminology.

So finish time today wasn't of any interest.  What I needed to do was run each 5km split faster than the previous 5km, and I was given the following times to aim for:

1st 5km: no faster than 6min 15sec pace
2nd 5km: no faster than 6min 00sec pace
3rd 5km: no faster than 5min 45sec pace
final 6km: own choice (a.k.a. "go like hell!")

We also managed to rope in bootcamp buddy, Sarah, to join us - although I was under no illusion that I'd keep up with either of them!

The conditions on the start line were pretty much perfect.  Clear skies (although later to be clad in smoke from the NSW bush fires), 15 degrees and no wind.  I wasn't feeling any pressure, just keen to get going.

After a bit of a delay the gun goes off and we're running.  Sarah disappears into the distance and within a minute I've lost sight of her.  Pete decides he needs a toilet stop and so he deviates as soon as we cross the start line, however storms past me at the 850m mark - in race mode and not even slowing to acknowledge my existence.  Nice…lol.

I get going, though, and try to focus on finding a pace and slowing it down.

Not very successfully, however.  First km goes by - 5min 48sec.  Oops, a bit fast.  Try and peg it back a bit for the 2nd km.  Nope that didn't work either - 5min 35sec.  Faster than the first kilometre!

I carry on like this for the first 5km, not feeling flash - no real rhythm, feeling like I'm working too hard and way too conscious of the people running past me.

Don't run everyone else's race.

Finally after 5km had ticked by things started to fall into place.  I felt as though everything was flowing a bit better and I was able to relax into a steady rhythm that wasn't expending too much energy.  There was possibly a good reason why it had taken time to get into it though.  I had run that first 5km faster than I should have, with an average pace of 5min 50.5sec.  Oops.  Sorry Coach :)

The second 5km was much better and I went through that second stage marginally faster (5min 50 pace).  Still faster than had been planned but also sticking to the plan of the second 5km split being faster than the first!

At around the 13km mark I started to become aware of people slowing down around me.  Either that or I was picking things up a bit.  I was feeling pretty good though, and so started occupying my mind with the game of picking off the next person in front of me.  From that point on I started making my way up the field, focusing on passing people and being aware of the fact that no one went past me for that last 8km.

I felt strong, physically and mentally, and was confident enough to back myself and keep the pressure on.  That 3rd 5km split went by in an average 5min 45sec pace - exactly what coach had wanted.  Now I just had 6km to go and could do whatever pace I wanted.  Does that mean I could walk if I wanted????

No way!

There were plenty of people to pass and that's all I was interested in doing.  Hold the pace, keep the form strong and don't stop until you get to the end.

The final 100m is a right hand turn as you head down under the grandstand and then another right hand turn into the ANZ stadium to the finish line and as we headed through the tunnel I passed chicked another guy.  As I went past I mentally prepared myself for a sprint to the finish with him, however he didn't put up a fight and I crossed the line, ahead and on exactly 2 hours.

Great run, and while it was 2 minutes off my PB that didn't matter.  What did matter is that although I started out faster than I was supposed to I still managed to improve my pace for each 5km split.

Coach will be smiling :)

Spring Cycle 2013 - Perfect Way to Spend a Sunday Morning

So this morning I ticked off the Spring Cycle.

Despite living in Sydney for 2 years now it was my first time doing this event.  I first came across it only a few weeks after we moved to Milsons Point.  It was something I thought would be cool to do but for various reasons didn't get around to actually entering until this year.

It's organised by Bicycle NSW and one of its main drawcards is that it's the only event each year where you get to ride on the road over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  It starts out in North Sydney, heads over the bridge and then winds its way through the city and then west to Olympic Park.  For the kids (and less "able" there is a shorter 15km City Ride which lets you ride over the bridge and then finishes in Pyrmont.  The Classic Ride, which I did, is 50km (well actually it turned out to be 54km according to the Garmin) and then for the first time this year they also offered a 100km Challenge Ride.  This longer distance followed the same route as the Classic Ride but then added 50km of criterium-style laps at Olympic Park, targeted at the elite and club riders.

Spring Cycle Route

Given the size of the event I really wasn't sure what to expect.  In particular, would the crowds make riding a bit of a dodgem game and would that take some of the enjoyment out of it?  Would it be a  bit like the City to Surf (crowds-wise) except on bikes?  In the end, and after a bit of a strategy talk with Coach Dave and St Pete, we decided that I would treat it as simply a bit of fun - go out and have a blast, try and find a bunch or two to hang onto and see what happens.  The important thing would be to get to the end in one piece and have fun doing it.

So being the good irongirl that I am, that's what I did!

We woke to perfect conditions.  The plan would be for St Pete and I to walk up to the start at North Sydney (only about 20min up the road from home).  There were several advertised start options - 6.30am for the 100km riders, 7.00am for experienced riders doing the Classic and 7.30am for the social riders.  I therefore planned for a 7.00am start and then Pete would head out to Olympic Park on the train and meet me at the finish.

A bowl of porridge to start the day and we were out the door just after 6.00am and walking up the road to North Sydney.  As we arrived the first bunch were assembled ready to get started and so we were able to watch them go by as they headed off.  I noticed, though, that there were a number of Classic Ride numbers amongst the Challenge Ride numbers, so it didn't seem that the groups were being policed at all.

Irongirl has ants in her pants...

Furthermore, once the main group went off we realised that other riders were also heading off, rather than reassembling and waiting for a 7.00am gun.  It soon became evident, then, that the start gate was in essence being left open and you could therefore get going whenever you wanted.

Being a non-timed event this was a great way of spreading out the crowds and seeing as I hate waiting around I was soon putting on my bike shoes and saying to St Pete "well I may as well get going"!

By around 6.45am then I was on my way, with probably only around half a dozen people around me and plenty of road space to move.  Soon I was shooting down the hill and into it, up and over the harbour bridge, along Cahill Expressway, up to Hyde Park and down to Mrs Macquarie's Chair.

We then climbed out of the Botanic Gardens and retraced our path to Cahill Expressway, heading down and then through the city and around Darling Harbour before slowly making our way west towards Olympic Park.

What followed, then, was a couple of hours of pedalling fun.  The crowds weren't too bad and the open, "start when you're ready" idea had a lot going for it in terms of thinning the numbers out - although I don't know what it was like further back in the field.  For me it was relatively easy to pick off people.  So I'd pass someone and work towards catching up to the next person, maybe sit behind them for a little bit if I needed a break and then, when they got too slow for me, I'd go around them and hunt out the next guy.

We didn't have closed roads and so there were times when we had to stop for traffic lights and also times that we had to pay attention to the directional signs on the corners.  On most intersections there were Spring Cycle arrows indicating the direction and usually a volunteer also pointing the way.  A couple of times we missed a turn - the first time I hadn't cottoned onto the arrows and followed another couple of riders around a corner only to hear yelling from behind us as the rest of the loose bunch we were in sailed straight through.  I learnt my lesson after that one and paid much closer attention to the arrows for the rest of the ride!  The second time I noticed the left turn arrow but two riders ahead of me didn't and sailed on past.  I doubted myself for a split second before doing a U-Turn to confirm that the arrow did actually point left and not straight ahead.  Thankfully left was the correct way to go - hopefully the others didn't go too far before realising their mistake - they were long gone before I could shout out to them!

Intersections with traffic lights were also mostly manned by police, their most important job being to press the pedestrian crossing button on the signals to change the lights for us.  Well even they deserve an easy day every so often!

Overall it was ride I really enjoyed and one I think will likely go onto our regular schedule.  There were a few short, stiff, climbs to deal with and there was also lots of smooth fast road and cool downhills.  And for the closet mountain biker in me there were also a nice selection of narrow windy (sealed) paths that required nerves of steel to maintain a decent line and hold off the lads behind me!  Even better there was some great scenery and would have also been a great day out for those taking their time further back in the field.

As we got to the end I had some new guys catch up, a couple of them on tri bikes, and so I took the opportunity to jump on behind them to push the final kilometre to the finish, rolling over the finish line 2hr 10min and 54km later.

The finish area at Olympic Park was well set up - plenty of food tents on site for people to grab a bite to eat - and the triple chocolate muffin and coffee that St Pete went to get for me went down a treat afterwards!  We then wandered over to the Bike and Lifestyle Expo and spent a couple of hours there checking out fab bikes, bike tours, meeting my favourite T-Shirt designer, Cycology, and catching up with Em of Em's Power Cookies. Mmmmm.  The bike even got some love - data dot embellished and registered on the national bike register using DataDotDNA, offered free to everyone bringing their bikes to the expo.  Great service!

All up, then, a great day out and a simple train trip back home where I spent the afternoon with feet up reading and getting ready for a certain little 18km training run scheduled for the morning....

... an Irongirl's training never ends :)

Garmin Edge 810 - Testing a New Tool

Another winter/off-season is over and summer is poking its head around the corner.

Before I head into full-on ironman training again, though, there's a few more "fun" events coming up.  In fact they'll be occupying the next three Sundays:  Tomorrow it's the Spring Cycle, next Sunday the Rebel Run Sydney (half marathon with St Pete) and the Sunday after that the big one, The Sydney to the Gong Ride.

A summary of my next three Sundays...

With the purchase of Black Beauty I have had the opportunity to turn the Avanti back into a real road bike - so the clip on aero bars have come off and I have taken her in to see Mark at Jet Cycles for an adjustment to my bike fit, ready for pure road riding rather than hybrid road/tri riding.  And that's left me able to do the Spring Cycle and Gong ride, both huge events on the Sydney riding calendar.

Today was time for another ride, though, and with a slightly different purpose.

Coach Dave had set me a 3 hour easy/steady ride and that was a perfect opportunity to test out the latest toy tool in my training arsenal, the Garmin Edge 810.  The great thing about the 810, and the reason for getting it, is its ability to navigate.  With my plan to ride back from Wollongong in a couple of weeks I was keen to ensure that once I hit the 180km mark, getting lost would be the one thing I wouldn't have to waste precious energy on.

So in preparation for today's ride I mapped a circuit in GarminConnect which would take me across the harbour bridge and out to Olympic Park.  Once there I'd sample a few of the bike trails then head across the Parramatta river and follow the Ermington shared cycle path before carrying on through Lane Cove and back home via St Leonards and North Sydney.

The route was a mixture of roads and bike paths, and would provide a good mix to test out the unit and get used to its operation.  It's also a route I would never have dreamed of trying to do on my own in the past.  It was really exciting, then, to be trying something new and seeing some different scenery.

This is what I would try to follow...

So, bright and early this morning I set out, ready for an adventure or two.  And the morning didn't disappoint!  By the time I returned home I had learnt a lot about the 810 and had a much better understanding of what it does really well and its limitations.  Most importantly, it'll be great for my ride home from Wollongong.  Here's a bit of a summary, though, of what I found with it.

It does great turn by turn instructions when you are following roads.  As with the car GPS units, Garmin on the bike does great navigation.  It doesn't talk to you but it puts up on the screen the next turn instruction.  Once you are a certain distance away it beeps at you and brings up the distance and estimated time away from the turn and counts this down.  You get a couple of beep warnings of this as you approach the turn and then a different beep at the turn.

If you go off course it does another type of beep (I sure learnt that one fast as I heard it plenty of times!) and if you stay off course you'll get the option of recalculating the route or finding your own way back - and you'll get a beep when you're back on course.  At one point, when I ended up on Parramatta Road, I realised that giving it the option of recalculating is probably not the best option to take as it wasn't keeping me away from one of the busiest roads in Sydney.  It might have been one of the other settings I had, but in any case I stopped allowing it to recalculate and that fixed the problem.

While the turn by turn instructions are fab, they stop working when you are on bike paths.  So there was a bit of confusion (for me) while I was on bike paths going across bridges and all the way around Olympic Park as I could see the track I needed to follow on the screen but suddenly stopped getting instructions.  What would happen then is if I didn't look at the screen at the right time I could (and did) miss turns and end up wasting a bit of time trying to get back on track.  And of course I didn't realise immediately that it was simply not recognising the bike track - I spent most of the time thinking I was lost.  It wasn't until later that I figured out that it only wanted to give me turn by turn instructions on actual roads.  It was a bit like playing one of those mystery location games as a kid:  you're getting cold, colder, warm, warmer, got it!

The final lesson, and the most crucial one is ...it pays to charge your unit regularly.  Doh.  OK, this was completely my fault and no reflection on the 810 - I've had it for a fortnight now, used it extensively in that fortnight and not charged it since its first charge when it was unpacked.

Oops.

Once I got to Olympic Park I stopped to admire the scenery and have a quick bite to eat.  Next thing the unit beeps at me.  I look down and can't believe my eyes:

"Low Battery Warning"

Shoot.  OK, that's not exactly what I said...I was thinking much worse!  Here I was at the furthest point on my loop and I had 11% battery life left in the lifeline that was going to get me home.  Hmm, do I turn around and ride home the way I came?  Do I jump on the ferry and bail, or do I get going and wing it as long as I can?

Turning around seemed a pretty lame option and getting on the ferry even lamer, so I stopped mucking around and got going.  I figured I may as well get as far as I could and if all else fails I had the iPhone in my back pocket that I could bring up maps on.  It meant, though, that I wasn't going to be able to stop and take photos along what would be one of the more pleasant parts of the journey - the shared cycle path between Parramatta and Meadowbank.  Never fear, though, there is a YouTube clip of it and so here it is for you to get a taste of.  Parramatta's Ermington shared cycle path:

11% battery power, however, wasn't too shabby as by the time it finally died I was on the cycle path alongside the M2 stopped at traffic lights taking a look at the first signs pointing towards North Sydney, just 9km from home.

Lane Cove - Chatswood - North Sydney
I'm not lost!!!

All in all, then, it was a great morning's ride and brilliant to try out some different locations.

And while the 810 struggles a bit with providing instructions on bike paths, it's nothing I can't get used to and a huge improvement on having nothing at all.  I can see we're going to have some great adventures together...

That's if I can remember to keep it fully charged.

...Hmm, another job for St Pete I think!

Sydney Marathon - Irongirl Kicks it out of the Park

Well this could be a pretty short blog entry.  Here's the report card from Sunday's Sydney Marathon and a recap of the goals I had set:

So, this non-runner kicked it out of the park with a 25 minute PB on last year's time.

Happy?  You bet!
Sore?   You bet!
Tired?  You bet!
Couldn't care less?  YOU BET!!!

The day was a stunner - clear, no wind and warmed up really nicely during the morning.  As we did last year, we had breakfast and then had time to watch all the half marathon runners go past before wandering down to the start line.  The plan for the day was to find the 4:30 pace setters and try to stick to them for the duration.  So we found the two guys standing with 4:30 flags attached and took the opportunity to make ourselves known and let them know that we hoped to stick close.

They were great to talk to and they explained that one of them would be going for the gun time (gun guy - Matt) and the other the nett time (nett guy) and so we wanted to try and stay between them.  Great plan.  They had sorted out splits down their arms, iPhone GPS data and GPS watches - they were taking no chances here!  And, finally, they were intending to to run even splits throughout the race, although Matt would start out a bit faster to make up the initial 3 minutes he expected we'd lose getting across the start line.

So we positioned ourselves at the start behind nett guy and Matt and eagerly awaited the start.

It was to be a race of three parts.  The first 15km warmup, the second 15km needing a bit of work, and the final 12km where the true character test was held!

The first 15km felt really comfortable, I didn't go out too hard and stayed within myself.  The focus was staying relaxed and, as we headed over the bridge, St Pete edged ahead towards Matt and I trailed behind, happy with the pace and remaining slightly ahead of nett guy.  At around the 5km mark I had caught up to Matt and Pete and stayed with them as we headed down and back out of the Botanic Gardens.  As we headed into the gardens Matt called out to the group that they had made up their time and so was dropping the pace back a little.  Matt and Pete were running side by side and I was still feeling really comfortable and so I edged slightly ahead of them and would remain there, no more than 50m ahead as we headed out of the Gardens, through Hyde Park, up Oxford St and into Centennial Park.

Through Centennial Park and the second 15km was getting a bit tougher. I started having to concentrate more on form and ticking over the kilometres.  I maintained that small gap ahead of the 4:30 pace group and St Pete was doing a brilliant job sticking with Matt - fantastic pacing on his part.  However I was definitely starting to feel it in the legs.  A welcome distraction for part of this section was having a couple of colleagues from work catch up and go past, and having a chat to them enroute.  Russell and Monica were doing their first marathon and would end up finishing in 4:09 - a great effort on their part.

And then we came to the final 12km - and that was pure pain.

At about the 29km mark Matt's pace group came beside me and so I tucked behind them for a little bit thinking that they might have to drag me through the final section.  As we headed towards the top of Oxford St to head back down into the CBD Pete started to run ahead of the group and I followed to try and get a little ahead of them again.  Pete was looking really fresh, though, and I knew there was no way I could stay with him.  He picked up his pace slightly, and disappeared down Oxford St.  Meanwhile I started cursing, for the first time in my life, having to run downhill!  The quads were starting to complain big time.

This section, though, was all about gutsing it out and that's what I did.  With the gun group right behind me I just kept repeating various mantras to myself: relentless forward motion; just keep going.  I'd occasionally check my kilometre splits and saw that they had dropped below my desired 6:23 but I knew we had run the first half ahead of schedule so I had time up my sleeve.  Plus the 4:30 pace group was still tracking just behind so I didn't panic.

At the far end of the course we were at Pyrmont and were heading up the road towards the final climb where we would do the final U-turn and start heading for the finish line.  Behind me I heard Matt say to the group "just one final hill guys, and then we're home".  "Home" was relative - we still had 5km to go, but once we got over that hill and over the other side it was a 3km flat stretch to the finish.  I got up the hill - at that point I was climbing much better than descending - around Darling Harbour and back down the final drop and the second to last aid station.  Paused there for a drink and the pace group came past, grabbed drinks and they kept going.  I tried to follow ... but couldn't.  I needed to take about 10 seconds to get the legs working again and could only watch them disappear into the distance while I got going.  That was OK, though, they were on gun time and I was only concerned with the net time.

So I dug in and got going.  Only 3km to go.  By this stage lots of people around me were suffering big time and, as I did last year, drew strength from those people and used their walking  (and occasional swearing!) as a reason to keep running.

The last aid station is always a welcome sight - only 1200m to go and the nett guy caught up to me here.  I looked at my watch and it was reading 4:22.  Fantastic - 8 minutes to do 1200m.  I would do this!  Ears pinned back I headed for home, eyes only for that finish line in front of the Opera House.

I had no sprint me in for that final stretch but that was OK - my final km split was 6:23 and that was all I could do, but it was plenty.  I crossed the finish line in 4:28 and was so happy to see St Pete standing there waiting for me.  He had paced his race so well and had crossed 4 minutes ahead in 4:24.

A great day for us both and, when asked later on by Coach Dave what I'd do differently next time, I really couldn't give him an answer.

Full marks!

Trying Not to Chew My Arm Off

So this blog entry is all about one thing.

Filling in some time before tomorrow morning's race.

Tomorrow is the Blackmore's Sydney marathon and so today is all about putting my feet up, resting and doing as little as possible.

And I HATE it!

You see, one of the defining characteristics of ironman athletes is that we all seem to be addicted to staying busy.  You really do need to be able to thrive on being busy in order to juggle training, family and work life in a way that gets you to the start and finish line of your A race.  At some point during the season we all moan and complain about it all being too much, and feeling bad about the lack of social life we lead.  However get to a day like today, when I have free rein to sit around doing nothing, ALL DAY, and I'm like a fenced in cougar, pacing around my pen, getting grumpy.

OK, maybe not grumpy.  But you get the idea.

And I don't have St Pete to take my mind off the ticking minutes.  He's gone into work for the day, leaving me to my own devices and it really has been like having ADHD.

It's not like I've got nothing to entertain me.

There are a pile of triathlon magazines on the table waiting for my undivided attention.  The Saturday paper is on the same table, open.  There are recorded programs on the TV to watch.  I can easily fill in the time.  I've tidied up.  I've caught up with printing out finisher's certificates and photos from previous events.  I've had a cup of coffee (and a piece of baklava or three...). I've cruised YouTube and Facebook.  I've bought some songs on iTunes to add to the iPod playlist.  I've stood out on the balcony having a quick chat to Mel S and stood on the footpath briefly catching up with Chrissie.

And now I eagerly watch the clock waiting for midday to come simply so I've got a reason to make lunch!

All this nervous energy is hopefully a good thing.  I've had a tough few weeks training and am confident that Coach Dave has timed my build up perfectly in that, as taper approached, I definitely noticed the fatigue levels starting to creep into my stats.

Heart rate decay during a run - a sure sign of fatigue

My heart rate stats usually show a pretty consistent rate during a run.   However, a check of my profile after a session that felt less than optimal confirmed that I wasn't missing something.  Fatigue had set in and it was time to taper!

So we're there now and all I need to do is hurry up and wait.

And my plan for tomorrow?  There are several - and in a show of how far I've come and how much better I am when it comes to backing myself, here's the rundown before the race!

Number 1 Goal: Finish  
This will always be my number 1 goal!  No matter what happens a finish is a finish and the day will have been a success.

Number 2 Goal: Do better than last year's time of 4:53:06
Should be doable - I'm lighter, faster and stronger and all my run times this year have been ahead of last year's stats.

Number 3 Goal: Achieve Coach Dave's benchmark for me of 4:45:00
OK, just quietly, I think he's being really kind to me :)  Hehe, I think I can do better than that, and so.....

Number 4 Audacious, Kick it out of the Park, Goal: Sub 4:30:00
Yep, that's what I'm going to really go for, just quietly.  But don't worry, I've done my research, analysed my training stats and I don't think it's too unrealistic.  It requires an average pace of 6min 23sec/km and that's what I'll keep an eye on tomorrow. Of course all the stars probably need to align and, much like ironman, it's still a long day out there with plenty that can go wrong.  But I'm backing myself here!

The plan, then, is to find the 4:30 pace setter and try sticking with them for the duration - sticking with a pace group will be a new experience in itself, but hopefully it might make the kilometres tick over a bit easier as it'll give me something else to think about.  A bit like being on a club run.

So, there you have it.  One sleep to go and this irongirl is ready to go and do her best.

Watch this space to hear how it all went!

Training for a Cause - Sydney to Gong Ride for MS Australia

Doing an event for a cause has become the thing to do these days.  No matter what event you do - fun runs, bike events, walks, ocean swims, ironman - there's an opportunity presented to you to raise funds for a charity at the same time.

There are many reasons to do it.  Some will be doing it for very personal reasons, i.e. in memory of a family member or friend who has suffered or passed away.  Others will be using it as motivation for themselves to achieve a particular goal.  For the charities it's a great way of raising much needed funds in these times of constrained budgets and reduced public funding.

At a personal level I've only infrequently got involved with fundraising alongside my own participation in an event.  The last time I did so was in 2007 when I pulled together a team from work to take part in the Oxfam Trailwalker in New Zealand.  We fundraised together and (mostly) trained together, before completing the event together.  It was a great experience but, ultimately, it wasn't the fundraising that was the most rewarding part of it.  Don't get me wrong - Oxfam is an amazing charity and fully deserving of everyone's support.  It's just that the fundraising wasn't a motivating factor for me.  The training and then achieving the goal of completing the event was what got me excited and enthusiastic.  And that's what I look back on fondly.

It's a great example of how people are motivated by different things.

With ironman there are similar opportunities to raise funds for partner charities.  Ironman New Zealand are currently considering a new partner charity, however previously it was Cystic Fibrosis.  And as entrants we were regularly encouraged by IMNZ to set up a fundraising page and jump on the money raising bandwagon. It's not something that's ever got me enthusiastic, however, and again it's got nothing to do with the charity.  It's more about the fact that Ironman is my own personal challenge and that is what motivates me to do it - not some external factor.

However the barren wasteland that is my charitable activity is about to change for a little while!

Yesterday I entered one of Sydney's iconic rides, the MS Gong Ride.  It's a 90km bike ride from Sydney to Wollongong and is a major fundraiser for Multiple Sclerosis Australia.  As an entrant everyone undertakes to raise at least $250 each and, with a cap of 10,000 entrants, it's obviously a pretty popular cause.

It's a ride I've followed since we moved to Sydney and always looked like a great event to do - afterall, what irongirl wouldn't jump at the chance for a 90km training day down to Wollongong on the bike and back home on the train?!   This year I've taken the plunge and entered and I figured that $250 can't be too scary to raise from people?

Can it?  Well I'm about to find out!

As a way of making it a bit more interesting (I hope), I've upped the stakes and hopefully provided a bit more of an incentive for people to join in the fun with their wallets.  It seemed that you'd probably all think that a 90km ride for me would be a bit of a doddle so I started thinking about being iron-tough and riding home instead of taking the train.  I could round it out to 200km and therefore make it longer than I'd do in an ironman.

But to do that I'll need more than $250.

And then the brain went into overdrive....how about setting a second level, at which point I'll dress in a silly costume?  Think Xena, Warrior Princess, Wonder Woman etc.  (St Pete is keen on The Incredible Hulk....yikes!).  And that's not all - Sarah, my friend from bootcamp, has decided to do the ride with me and when she heard my madcap idea of riding back she decided that she'd join me ... as long as I raised double what I set for my own ride back.

So here it is - MS Australia - a fantastic cause for an horrific disease that we can all only hope we don't get.  And my training day on 3 November will be determined by you, my friends, family, supporters and readers.  This is what I'll do in return for your donations:

$250   Do the ride (and enjoy the train ride home)
$500   Double de Gong (ride down and ride back and make it a 200km journey)
$1000 Double de Gong Madcap ( ride down and back, 200km, in a crazy costume)

So, what are you waiting for?  Get to it!  Check out the Sponsor Me button on the right hand side of the blog, or go to http://register.gongride.org.au/2013-Sydney-to-Gong-Bike-Ride/Irongirl101

Love your work guys :)

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