nearly there

the time has nearly come to board that big bird in the sky, smile sweetly to the airline staff (to get my bike on board) and go to the north island for the race. Its been a long time coming this bloody race...after cancelling my half ironman last year due to old lady lower back pain i have worked hard to get it right and to be ready to race!!

After reading endless blogs, the amount people race in the US of A is unbelievable. So much. We over here seem to pick one race for the season (as our summer is about as long as my attention span) and then fill it up with other little races. I am talking about people doing 3 ironmans and 5 halfs over a season. Holy moly....

anyhoo im ready to go race and after an endless beauty of sunshiny days here in the south it seems that Tauranga is being hit by some shittingly awful rain....im not getting into the obsession of constantly checking the weather (well maybe once or twice an hour) but it will be what it will be.

We are supposed to be rewarded after the hours and hours we all put into this lovely sport by THE RACE and race i will. But i'll also be smiling from ear to ear to know i CAN race, i CAN swim bike run and I WILL be doing this for a long time (or until the old lady back screams for me to stop).

Give it hell ladies and gentleman i know i will :)

I am so sick of these......

But love getting presents like these :)

southland summer tri (sprint distance)

My friend and I travelled to Gore (2 hr drive) to participate in the sprint (me) and duathlon for her. Quite a small field but as there were points available for the nationals there were some big guns. There were many distances including a 1/3 ironman, sprint, 10k, duathlon.
It was stinking hot on the drive down so we knew it would be hot day _suncream at the ready!
I was feeling good and rested so wanted to see how i was feeling with 4 weeks to the half ironman.

Swim
750m in a pond, and i mean pond. There was mud and grasses touching your hands as you swam. As 750 is not my distance i got left behind by the fast swimmers and thus had no feet to hang onto! No time recorded (and the gun went off before i could set my watch!)

short run up to transition and onto the bike

bike
20k of two laps with quite a large hill (with false top) and then a speedy down hill and slight headwind- felt great, tried to stay in big ring and aero as much as i could but the legs felt good and heart wasn't pounding (apart from getting on after the swim)

run
one lap along the road into a farmers field, starting with a big hill. I tried to keep the cadence high and keep moving the whole way. The sun was high and hot now so everyone was panting. I felt awesome on the run and managed a 25 minute run. (which is what i get for a run only 5k race so i was pleased!)

I beat my sprint time (ok on a different course) by 8 mins ending with a 1.23 pb for me and a smiley face at the end.

I loved it and managed to get some speed in the legs on the run and feel good. I could have probably gone harder on the run but am still slightly scared of blowing up!
A great day out! :)

spread the scary!

I have a new concept- not to anyone else just to me...spread the scary! This season i am doing everything that scares me- rgroup rides, long swims, ocean swims, runs etc etc.

The first was a scary womens road bike race- freezing, fast and i survived

2) scary road group tuesday nights- fast and scary and with lots of blokes- i went i hurt i survived

3) entered 3.8k swim for challenge wanaka team- im swimming lots lets see if i survive January 21st

4) Tauranga half ironman- can do the distance but can i do it in the ocean with sea water lapping my face and a course i dont know? Scary yes? will i survive- yes!!

5) entering as many races as possible that scare the hell out me......TBC

Do as many things scary as you can this season- go on i dare you!! Spread the scary! :))

forever

I wanted to write this down so i can come back to it and look at it when times are hard...I have of late started to doubt myself when it comes to racing, training etc. Getting down in the dumps about all the training im doing and then the results from the races not being what i wanted.

I had a revalation the other night that it all comes down to forever. I get to do this stuff...forever (hoping all my limbs stay in one place). Everyday i get to get up and run, bike, swim as much as i want and only ever get stronger, fitter, happier, faster FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

This kind of made sense to me that the most imprtant thing in all of this is being happy. Enjoying getting outside and being healthy. This may be the horror of horrors for some but unless you discover the joy in all of this you will never be happy in your sport/ exercise / whatever makes your heart race.

It can be about times, pb's some of the time but the fact of it is I get to do this for a very long time!

I may be getting sentimental in my old age!

race two

race two was well race two. I wanted to leave this post at that but wont. A 44k (actually 46k) womens only bike race. The night before there was snow on the ground and a cold day ahead but we hardened up and got out there.
I set off at a decent pace which i hoped to keep up all the way to the turnaround, i knew there would be a headwind on the way back so thought i may aswell keep it up now as im rubbish in windy weather. My first novice mistake was to get on the front of the bunch, 3rd group, and then work until the next woman came up and took her turn......which never happened. I stayed there moving for someone to come upfront and even grunted and saying 'hello anyone wanna take a turn' but it never happened.
Thus on the turn around i blew up. And the women blew on by. I couldnt stay up there and with the wind my speedo dropped and dropped.

Feeling pretty deflated i cheered my friend up to get her 1st place age group and sulked home. Feeling and wondering why i was training at all.

Looking back at the day gave me some good tips- i had a big week this week and tired legs are not true legs to race on, i blew up with my novice brain in a bike race (some good mistakes learn for next time), tomorrow is a new day on the bike.

I think i need to stop looking at what others are doing and their results and just listen to my body. Its the thin line between wanting PB's and aiming so high you end up always feeling deflated with results.

Lessons learnt!!

A great weekend of sport though and well done to all who got out there- pb's and not! :))

Race 2

and this one will be a chilly one! 13 degrees sunny and cold forecast for saturday's womens only bike race in wanaka. Im slightly scared as it may be a fast-fest but im still on my do all the races you can and dont be scared by them......so here's to Race 22k's of slight uphill and then turn around and do 22k's of slight downhill.

I am fearless!!

race1

Race one is over and although it was a short duathlon 3k/20k/3k it was a good indication of where im at at the moment.
Freezing day which didnt really heat up, but it wasnt too windy out on the bike (although a nice tailwind on the way back).

Run started off fine and as usual my heart rate was through the roof. I dont train with HR as ive never been able to control it. My resting is normal 59 but can shoot up to 150/ 160 walking upstairs.....! So i usually work on RPE for most work outs.

I kept just behind some fast ladies and then onto the bike. It was an out and back with a bit of a headwind and always a slight uphill with some big climbs on the first 10k. I felt awful but just concentrated on keeping my legs spinning and not pushing too hard and trying to bring my breathing down.

I honestly thought id got lost as i saw noone on the lap...until near the turnaround when i finally saw the leaders. The turnaround was great as a tailwind greeted us and we could push home on the, now, slight downhill :)

The final 3k run was fine and i pushed the last 500 metres to the finishline.

Still lots of work to do on the bike though!!
results:14.25/48.57/15.38

(running with eyes closed is probably why i always get lost :)