She's back

Sorry about that self-indulgent negativity the other day. I thought about not posting, but then I wouldn't be honest. I want people reading my blog, especially those newer at this than me to see what we all feel like at times. Although I don't enjoy reading about other people's struggles, it is good to see my idols and all those super heroes out there feel slow and fat and creaky at times. And THANKS everyone for the wonderful amazing supportive comments and superb advice- I love you guys!

But I'm back. I started to feel better on Tuesday evening when I sat on my trainer just after posting. I sat there in my denim skirt and t-shirt just moving my legs for 10 minutes or so. After dinner, P and I rode "properly" (I changed to bike shorts and put my HRM on). I kept the cadence moderate, gear easy, and HR low. After 30 minutes I was finding it harder to control my HR so I stopped. Easy.

Yesterday I went back to work. I was a bit peaky for some of the day, but felt better by the end of the day, and enjoyed a colleague's farewell dinner. I didn't work out, but walked home after dinner and met my target steps for the day (workplace activity challenge). I think that letting the activity challenge team down was one of the things contributing to my mood on Monday and Tuesday!

This morning I went for an easy 2kish swim in the 50m pool. I was slowish and the lanes were all out of whack so it was a frustrating morning. Not to mention the rudeness of the people I was sharing with- stopping mid length, passing and then slowing down, passing slowly and blocking me in, all those things that are just rude. And yes- most of my grumbles today focus on rude passing, not on slow old ladies! That's partly because I am still getting my swim back and partly because of the lanes. I did my 500 w/up in 10:10 and was doing 100s in roughly 1:50-2:00. Not fishy fast, but usually this sort of pace puts me in the middle of the medium lane/back of the fast lane at the pool (back of the medium lane at Masters!).

Today I was being passed left, right and centre by Mr and Ms Fake Tan. Mr and Ms Fake Tan were the worst pool manners breachers. They're the ones who stopped for a lane rope chat- like two old biddies over a garden fence. I heard Ms Fake Tan breaststroke up to someone in the slow lane and say "Could you swim normal please? I can't pass if we are both doing breaststroke!" WTF? I know how frustrating it is when the fast lanes are fast and the medium lanes are fast and normally fastish people have to swim with the slowpokes. But the slow lane is there for breaststroke. What was he supposed to do?

After work I did my speedwork on the treadmill so I am still on track FIRST wise. The gym was so hot and stuffy. My 10 minute warm up (at 9:36/pace) made me sweat, although my HR was fine. The first mile interval (7:13) almost killed me, and the second interval finished the job off. 2 miles, 14:47 (ouch!!) and I felt like throwing up at the end. I had to do a lot of visualisation to get through- all the people on the stairclimbers became Marathon racers who I picked off one by one over the last two miles.

I thought about going outside to do the remaining (2*800) intervals, and just approximating the 800, but then talked to myself and reminded myself that although Rotorua will probably not be stuffy, it will hurt for all sorts of reasons, so buck up. Turns out the perfect warm up for 800s is a couple of nasty long intervals. I'd barely started when I saw I was at 400m. Hmm. There's room in this treadmill yet. Up. Up. Up. I was going at 6:00 pace when I finished each of the 800s, and did them in 3:25 and 3:23 respectively. Not too shabby. I wish I'd pumped the pace up earlier.

Eating yummy salad now, then heading out on an ice cream date with my honey. It's all good.

Sunday, Sunday

I realised how much I love Sunday evenings.
Last night I got home from Masters to find pumpkin roasting and chicken baking, ready for the next couple of days of salads. I chopped fruit, organised snacks, planned my training for the week and set out my running gear for this morning. Then P and I settled down on the couch to watch Click (not the greatest, but an important message for a sometimes workaholic like me).

On Sunday evenings I look forward to the week ahead. I feel like I can be healthy for the week. I look forward to getting the hard workouts in, to nailing the deadlines at work, to striking that balance right. It all turns to pot after Sunday- by Wednesday, getting up after a hurried dinner to wash dishes and chop more pumpkin is unthinkable- but that Sunday evening feeling is great.

I'm home from work today. I fell off the end of my lane for the first time last night. When I looked at the times they weren't so bad (50s in 45/43/41, 100s around 1:50-2:00), but I was struggling. Red faced, laboured breathing. Combined with the ear popping of Saturday's long run, it should have been a sign. But this idiot decided to get up at 5:30 for her tempo run this morning. 2mi easy (more like 1.5, down the hill), 3 tempo, 2 easy. I did the first 2.5k in 13:20, feeling my breath struggling with every step. I realised how big the headwind was when I did the second 2.5k in 12:27, for an acceptable 5k (8:18). But I felt rotten, so I came home, rinsed off in the shower and crawled back to bed. I'm really hoping that a day of rest, fruit, fluid and vitamins will nip this thing in the bud before it fully develops. A bad cold is the absolute last thing I need right now!

With thanks to Lana, "Practice makes improvement..."

Thanks Lana for the post title I'm shamelessly ripping off!

I went along to my second ever Masters (second ever any sort of squad..) swim tonight.

Coach: So you're the one who should be in the fast lane?
Me: Uh.. no. I swam with Barry on Weds, it was about right
Coach: You do 1k in 20 mins?
Me: Well, I can. I mean, 20-21, thereabouts, but...
Coach: That's my race pace, jump in.

Unsurprisingly, I soon proved the coach wrong. I started off second from the back, and got passed at 150m in the 500 w/up. By the time we'd finished, I think the coach had lapped me, and I'm sure everyone else hated my guts. Fortunately, I was demoted after that set!

I don't quite know how "can swim 1k in 20 min" equates to "can swim easy-paced 100m drills on the 1:45"?

Anyway, I didn't mind getting dropped. I was at about the right pace for the lane I was in, and I kept to the back where I belonged! I got some really good pointers on my catch, and am going to work on that. I also have a strokes per length target to aim for (it's embarrassing... 19), and have been promised some paddle work next time. I can see the effects that this will have on my swim already.

One of our last sets was 4 x 25m, at 80%, 100%, 110%, 80%. Now, you may remember that on 6 Jan I was excited to knock another second off my 25m, taking it down to 22s. First 25m? 20s. Second was 21 (yuck- I obviously don't *get* 100%). Third- 19s. And last? an 80% effort and under 19s. Woo!

My run and swim are coming together nicely, and I'm feeling like me again. I am slacking on the bike because of marathon training and I'm good with that. Once April 28 has passed, I am going to start applying the "practice makes improvement" theory to my cycling. My summer 70.3 is looking like an achievable goal. Knock wood.

Rest of the weekend was good- we enjoyed a picnic with C and F on Friday, before watching the kiwi classic "The Dog's Tale" outside in the velodrome. Beautiful night, yummy food, toasty hot chocolate- perfect! Saturday was my long run, in completely average weather, then we had brunch with P's friends, and went shopping. My middle sister J was staying with us, and we went out for dinner with the whole family to celebrate my forthcoming move into the 25-29 AG (yuck! that spoils any hope of me EVER placing). I love turkish food! Today was beautiful, and J and I did some shopping before I trotted off to work and she headed home. Now we're chilling out, P watching the cricket (more wood-knocking..don't let us down boys!), me eating cookies. Tuesday is a public holiday, so although we're working tomorrow, we're planning to drive up to the Wairarapa for the night and then spending the day riding, eating good food and going out for a romantic dinner. Can't wait!

Hope everyone's weekends are going well.

Tagged and an exciting first

First, the exciting first. I hope the title hasn't misled anyone too much- it's not that exciting! But tonight I went to my first Masters swim session (or swim session of any sort) ever! I kept up pretty easily during the free sets, but struggled a lot on the IM sets (and did free instead of fly...) I swallowed a lot of water during the first few sets (IM/free kick w/out board), but didn't have to sit out on any sets or reps. Woo! I had a great time and will definitely go back.

Secondly-I've been tagged by Michele:

1. Describe a memory from your first triathlon ever
Cold, raining and stressful! I did not want to race at all that day. I capsized my bike in T2 and turned the wrong way to go into the swim (reverse order tri). I was hooked.

2. Describe a memory from your most recent triathlon
Standing with the sun beating down on my wetsuit- not being able to wait to hit that water!

3. What's the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you in a tri?
Dropping my chain, and then 15km later, toppling over when I passed another person who'd dropped theirs.

4. What's the most thrilling thing that's happened to you in a tri?
Does hi-fiving Andy Potts count? Just kidding! Hi-fiving excited little kids at the finish line of New Plymouth (my first "real" sprint) and then collapsing on the grass.

5. What is something you discovered about yourself by doing triathlons?
That I am not very good at swimming or cycling--but that practice makes perfect and doing things I'm not naturally good at is better for me than only doing those things that come easy!

6. What is The Big Goal that you're working towards?
First marathon in 3 months, planning a half-iron for summer 07/08!

I tag Jodi, Wes and Jessica!

Yay!

Today was one of my "B+/A-" races of the season, the Capital Classic event in the Ocean Swim series. A 2.8k swim in the harbour, out to the lighthouse and back.


I felt pretty daunted by this event when I signed up for it last year, but focussing on my swimming and a couple of short stroke correction sessions have helped me to improve my form and stamina immensely, so by this morning I was feeling pretty good. My super dream goal was to come under an hour, realistic goal was to beat a famous polititian who I knew was doing it (I panicked a bit when I read about the training he'd been doing with an elite triathlete over the holidays) and my "hmm" goal was to make it back before the cut-off.

P was volunteering at the race (sorry honey!) so had to leave at 5:30 while I slept. I was pretty nervous, and instead of my usual hearty pre-race breakfast, I struggled to get down cheerios and yoghurt. Hmm. I made some toast, but couldn't even face adding peanut butter, so chucked it out, added a banana to my bag and set about getting ready. It had started drizzling by this stage and the forecast predicted southerlies dying out so I was a bit nervous about the water on the other side of the harbour! My Miss Negativity training buddy wasn't helping at all (friends sure help increase your motivation, but not when you have to spend the whole workout trying to make them enjoy it!)

Listened to some power tunes, danced around the house and then walked down to the venue, collecting my thoughts and enjoying my nerves and excitement. There's nothing like a new race to really get the adrenalin pumping! Fortunately, once I could see the other side, I saw that it was calm, and that the fog was high. Although there was quite a current, visibility looked fine and I didn't think I'd have to put up with seasickness or waves breaking in my face. I was so relieved- I'd have been frustrated if the swim was hard, but was absolutely dreading the possibility of a contingency plan (1500m in 2 750m laps! boring!)

The water was quite cold, from torrential rain last night, but I'm reasonably tough in that respect (compared to my friend, anyway), so although I went for an extra cap, it wasn't too bad. I warmed up, working on keeping my stroke long and slow. Race briefing was boring (though I did find out that my man to beat was wearing a purple cap, amid the sea of baby blue), we seeded ourselves at the back, and before we knew it, we were off. I wandered slowly down, hoping that avoiding the adrenalin rush and "race" feeling would help me get off on the right track.

It was bedlam out to the fountain (the first major obstacle) but I was able to swim my own stroke most of the way. After the fountain I was in virgin territory- although I had done sea swims of over 2k, we had never felt safe enough by ourselves to head out that way (although we had done some sighting practice). I felt happy and free, and excited to be passing all sorts of "landmarks" on the shore. It was hard to tell what my position was or how it was changing, as everyone had a different view of what a straight line to the lighthouse was! The lighthouse seemed so far away, but it was steadily getting closer, and I had some people around me who I worked to stay with.

I sneaked a peek at my watch as we rounded the lighthouse and was blown away when I saw 24:31. Woohoo! I lost track of my buddies in the mass of arms and legs and headed back to shore. Time to pick up the pace! The way back was a little harder to navigate. There seemed to be people all over the place- miles out to the left and miles out to the right. I think I lost a bit of time zigzagging, but I soon found some new buds to stick with (unfortunately including sleeveless bumping man, who seemed to think the best place to swim was wherever I was..) and kept going, passing the buoys and looking out for the last buoy at the raft on the way back. Finally got there and tried to get a sprint, hit the ground and we all looked around at each other, kind of dazed. My calves cramped and my feet protested as I hit the soft sand, but it made it up the beach and through the long finishing chute, to see 52:54 on the race clock. A guy asked for my chip, but I pushed past him to P. What's the use of making your man volunteer if you don't get to have him take your chip ;-)

It seems that times were fast today, and I wonder whether the course was short. But I don't care- I blitzed my goal and I can wait to go sub-50 (or better?) next year. Mr Purple Cap came out of the water, looking absolutely overjoyed, about 10 minutes later and my friend finished in a little under 1:05.

The whole thing was won by a 16 year old (nicknamed GPS because of his amazing ability to navigate open water courses) in about 28 minutes (woo! another "goal" was not to double the winner's time), but the guys who impressed me most were the 12 year old he did 35 minutes with NO WETSUIT (it's coooold in Welly) and, of course, the two guys in the 70+ category (beat them, at least)

All in all, a great morning. I'm so happy that I've worked on my swim, and I really love ocean swimming. My only complaint? 2.8k just doesn't seem that long when you're doing it. Maybe I should find an IM team event for next season (I'm planning a half, but would love to do the 3.8k swim too)...

(Sorry about the lack of pics in last two race reports- camera is in the shop. Grr)

Awesome...

6 x 500 at the pool the other night, sharing a veery wide lane with one speedy dude and another speedster in the lane next door. Aside from the enjoyable view of tanned, toned bodies in the tight trunks under the water (you've got to do something to pass the time, right?), it was fun to try to keep up as much as possible and not get passed too often.

So when I took a break between set 2 and set 3, and the hottie in the next lane called out "Come on! I'm trying to keep up with you!" I felt pretty darn good. My next 500 was the fastest of the lot and it wasn't until at least lap 14 that I started questioning myself, eventually concluding that if it wasn't sarcastic it must have been patronising...

Anyway, on a training update note:

Key runs 1 and 2 of week 14 (to go) went well. #1 was my tempo run on Monday while P du'd. It wasn't quite 5 miles (probably more like 4) as I wanted to be back for him on his bike, but I'm ok with that. P did my speedwork with me on Weds, and all 6 800s were run between 6:55 and about 7:08 pace (slightly under my target of 7:15) (for Ellie- 4:20 and 4:30 min/k). We actually did what I did last time, which was run for 3:40 efforts, and take pace from the 500m markers, so rather than running 800m in 3:27 our fastest rep would actually have been more like 850m in 3:40. However, this approximation plan is the only way I can do my speedwork outside in the morning, and I'd rather be inaccurate outside than accurate on the t/mill at this stage. I may do some work on the t/mill later on, to make sure I'm on target. Key run 3 (a nice slow 12 miles) will probably be on Sunday, as I have my ocean swim on Sat. Soo nervous and excited. Can't believe I've signed up to drink saltwater non-stop for 2800m!

A (talented but not all that obsessive) triathlete friend of ours has decided to run Rotorua. I've recommended FIRST to her, so it'll be interesting to see how she finds it. She lives nearby, so I may be able to stop dragging P out for speedwork. I'm buzzing with that great feeling of inspiring or helping someone. Yay! Am getting the same feeling from talking to my little sis about our family tri in April. R, Mum and I are doing the team event (4k run for me. Sahweet!) and J is doing the whole shebang. Yay! We're actually hoping that J will be able to take on Mum and R and that we will be able to run together. She wants to stay below 5:30min/k for the run leg, and I know she can do it but that the added motivation will help also, I would love to cross the finish line together.

"Training" vacation styles

I started the holiday with high hopes for training, but my real goal was not about training as much as about lifestyle. I knew I would come away happy if I felt like I had been "active" every day. And, guess what? I nearly did it. I wish I could say I did it, but I'm not beating myself up too much!

On the first full day at P's parents place, we drove into Hamilton, the nearest city. While P checked out the shops at the scary huge hypermall (tiny by US standards), I swam 2000m in the local pool. I was a bit disappointed in the pool, to be honest- the outdoor 50m pool was closed (the weather wasn't great, but wasn't THAT bad) and the indoor 50m pool was split up. BO-ring. It was an OK workout though, and it felt good to check it off the list!

In the course of my swimming pool research, I discovered some hot pools located in the region that boasted the longest opn hot water hydroslide in the country. Perfect way to entice a boy to a swimming pool! We tossed up riding out there and back, but once I realised it was at least 65k in each direction I decided it wasn't so smart. As we drove, we breathed a HUUGE sigh of relief- it was another 23km of steep windy hill to get to the pools after you reached the town! That would have meant over 100m of pretty hard riding that day. The hot pools were fun- not the fanciest, but not too bad. I didn't do any particularly "active" swimming, but running up the steps to the hydroslide's got to count, right? I didn't take any pics, which was a little silly! After that P drove me out to Raglan, which boasts some of the most beautiful beaches in the country. I fell completely in love with the place and can't wait to go back there next time we're up in the area.



When we got home I was feeling antsy, so I persuaded P to run with me after dinner. The one problem with staying at P's parents' farm is that it's right on the state highway, so you can't just run from home. It's not really a big enough farm to run around either. Since I don't drive, I was kinda reliant on P. Excuses, excuses! We drove into the centre of town and ran for about 50 minutes around the streets and some lovely trails. It was great being able to run on trails after 8:30pm, and to be able to run on trails that weren't 90% vertical!

The last day before we left for the beach we rode. We didn't go far, and although it was high on P's list of "top holiday moments", I was feeling a little bit stressed out for some of it so it wasn't quite as fun for me. Having said that, the stress ended pretty early on and all in all it was AWESOME. I love love LOVE riding out there. It's mostly rolling and some medium sized climbs, and you can go off on country roads and just fly. So so fun and SO different to riding in Welly (where it's UP or DOWN or FLAT and if you want to do anything other than ride round the bays, you're in traffic. Yuck.



When we got home, we ran twice round the horse track. P needs to do some bricks to get ready for his du on the 22nd!

The drive to the beach from Cambridge was the MOST beautiful ever, absolutely breathtaking, and I am embarrassed to say that I do not have any pictures.

It's probably not necessary to spell out the details of my other workouts/"active" activities, but I ran for 30-45 minutes 2 of the mornings we were at the beach, fell in love with the swimming pool in New Plymouth (I didn't "train" as such- I probably did about 10 laps of the 50m pool- the rest of the time was spent playing, going down the hydroslides and mucking about in the wave pool), we went on a couple of walks (other than the one I talked about yesterday) and spent some time in the surf. I did some "proper" swimming in a lake on our way back, my guess is about 400m though, so nothing too flash!

The last workout I wanted to talk about was on our last full day- the day of the Round the Mountain ride that we had originally intended to do. We planned some of our route during our drive to the mountain the day before, and were thinking we'd do a loop of about 70 km. The first 12 km looked easy, but oh my god, I was ready to stop at 12! That was the hardest "easy" 12km every. Basically, combine a loong false flat with strong headwinds and a really bumpy road and you get one tired and frustrated Kate. It got a bit better after that, though it was so cold I had to stop to put a polyprop on- the roads were better, we could mostly ride next to each other and we got to enjoy the undulations a little more (my speed was still only in the early 30s (km/h) on the downhills though!). P pushed me to keep off the brakes on the downhills, and I got much better at letting myself go, even with him cruising in front of me (it drives me CRAZY). Pretty much before we knew it we'd arrived in a smallish town a little further on than the one we'd originally planned to stop in, about 47k from the start. We had a late lunch in an Irish pub (yum), refilled some water bottles and then headed on. We also got to see some of the stragglers in the Round the Mountain race go past. The next part of the ride was hard but fun- riding hard into cold headwinds on the state highway. It's amazing how having cars speeding past you makes you push that much harder! My water bottle holder came loose, which was very distracting- it sounded as if some important part of my bike was making that odd clinking noise, so we stopped in the next town (where we'd planned originally to turn off) to fix it. As we slowed down, I noticed that we hadn't clipped my front brake on. Hmm.. only like 70km in!!

The last 25-30km were amazing. We both found a second wind, the wind was at our back and instead of a gradual uphill, we had a gradual downhill, with lots of super fun rollers. WOOHOO! My speed went below 30km/h ONCE for those last ks and that was on a short hill and it went down to 29.5. I was glowing, just loving it! My cadence improved, and we think we would have averaged over 35kph on that last bit. If only we could have a whole ride like that! When we got back into town, we were at about 97 km so we decided to be a bit pathetic and to zigzag back home for the next 3 km. I was also sitting at 2984 calories or something, so I was keen to kick those last 16 calories in the butt :-) We hit home at 100.31km, and 3031 calories burned. I am so proud of us- that's our longest ride to date by about 30km, and getting past that 100 mark is so cool. I know now that if we keep up with our training, we WILL be able to do some proper rides during 2007, and also that I will be able to ride with P stress free.

I'll probably post some more random pictures, but other than that, that's it for my holiday tales.

A break from reminiscing..

..to discuss all that training yada yada.

Today I began my Official Marathon Training. I spent the morning thinking about a training plan (I had done some thinking already but hadn't quite decided) and eventually decided on FIRST. On tap for today was a 9-miler, so I planned out a cool new route (which I accidentally navigated away from before I saved it), squeezed into my new Skins, added an ipod and headed out.

The route I planned was probably a bit hard for a first official "long" run. It took in some quite exposed places on a VERY windy day, and included a pretty steep uphill that's over a mile long. I was feeling pretty average and my HR showed it- my average was 162!! AND I only just made it home within 1:30 (10min/m average). I'm feeling a tad concerned about an April 28 marathon, but I've reminded myself that the point on training is to get BETTER so I'm hardly going to be ready now. Also, getting used to the "finishing is success" mindset- tough considering that my marathon training originally started when an unofficial BQ was a potentially achievable goal!

Later this afternoon I went for a very good 2000m swim. I evenly split my first 2 sets of 500m (10:30) and negatively split the last set of easy/medium/hard 50s (the first two were 1:03/58/55 and the last was 59/57/53!) I beat my old PB 25m time (hit 22 for the first time ever) and for the first time felt that I was keeping reasonably good form during speedwork. YAY

I am planning to swim every workout day (6 per week) for the next week, until I start back at work, as the Capital Classic is in exactly 3 weeks! Some of these will be sea swims, probably either 750 or 1500m, so they won't be particularly taxing, so I will be adding some strength work, running and maybe cycling too. I still have a sprint tri this month and possibly an Oly in Feb, so need to keep up with the biking. Plus, it's a great way to spend fabulous quality time with P (we are finally riding together well!) It is also hopefully a good way to get rid of the SIX extra pounds of FAT that have crept (ok, not so much "crept") on over the holiday/vacation period. That and a massive reduction in sugar and deep fried food. Repeat after me: "Chocolate is not a breakfast food." Overall I want to lose 10 lb, and have a racing weight of 129. Obviously, if I manage to put some muscle on, I will be comfortable with a higher weight (low 130s) but I definitely have a LOT of fat I need to lose (so don't look too closely at those bikini pics.. PLEASE.. except for the ones where my arms look nice and defined. Look at those.)

Since my last post...

Good things:

Appearing in court on my own for the first time (seriously small potatoes stuff, but fun)
Swimming in an outdoor pool at 6:30am
Finishing my 2500 endurance swim at a faster pace than my 1k "time trial" the other week
Getting unexpected and excellent work-related news last Thursday
Buying my Christmas presents to me (bike jersey, swimsuit, compression tights)
Finishing most of my present-buying
Choosing and trimming our tree with my sisters and my sister's boyfriend
Kicking Christmas off with a carol concert/singalong at the Town Hall
The warm feeling in my stomach when we started "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"
Going for a run around the waterfront after work tonight
Wearing my cute dress to the firm function and being asked over and over where I got it (the answer- local department store, $47.99)
Staying on my strappy heels until 2am (not exactly a HUUUUGE night out, but me + strappy sandals....)
Summer food


Bad things:

Only having time for 35 minutes after work
Watching people swimming in the sea with jealousy dripping off me like sweat
HR training
The beginnings of pre-Christmas stress starting to get to me
Housework (in particular, making our "spare" room-- which is now known as the sport room and should be known as the tip-- inhabitable)

All in all, a happy few days :-) I love this time of year!

Like a fish.

My next "A" event is a 2.8k swim in the Wellington Harbour. I'm fully registered and paid up (though where that training cap they promised me is, I do not know) and I started my "official" training for it on Monday. So far it's going well. I'm not swimming like a fish at all, and I have noticed my technique slipping since my lessons finished, but I am finding it easier and easier to knock off the distance. A 1.5k swim was one quite an effort- now 2k is easy, and 2.8 is fine. I'm also really loving it! I did a 1k time trial last night- took it easy, with a few harder efforts towards the end. My time (21:45) isn't exactly great (though I was quite happy to do it so easily), but it gives me some idea of where I'm at now, and I'm looking forward to watching it go down (below 20!) as I go through my training. Next trial will probably be in 3 weeks or so.

P and I still have not made up our minds about the Round the Mountain ride. It's on January 2, which is rather soon all of a sudden and we simply have not been riding long, in groups or outdoors enough! Something always seems to come up. Yesterday we spent 2 hours on our trainers watching James Bond in The Living Daylights because the showers and freezing southrlies started as soon as we got out the door! Hopefully we will get out today- last chance to enter before late fees. It looks ok at the moment, anyway and I'm sure we can get at least 50 miles in. However, doing just under a century in 3 weeks still sounds a bit chancy, however fun the ride looks!

This week has been a relatively big training week, Kate-wise. Luckily work was incredibly relaxed (too relaxed, almost) and I was able to do pretty much everything I wanted, when I wanted. I'm feeling great, though I was knackered on Thursday and my weights workout turned into stretching and ITB massage (partly because the bus was late and I didn't get to the gym until nearly 7). Monday I did 2.8k in the pool, Tuesday was weights and track (w/up, some drills and stride outs, 1k reps- 4:19, 4:25; 4:23- badly needing improvement there!), Weds was a 2k swim in the am and 90 minutes on the bike (about 15 outside before it got dark and the other 75 on the trainer in front of the telly..) in the evening, Thurs was the aborted weights workout and Friday was a well-earned rest! Yesterday, as I said, was a trainer ride and run-off, and the 1k time trial. Today we will hopefully get out for a ride, and I have 1800 of drills tonight, which hopefully my swimming buddy will join me for!

Good luck to Jodi, Lana, Wes and anyone else racing this weekend!

A perfect run

On Friday night, P and I agreed that we would not leave the house on Saturday until it was tidy. We didn't have any plans apart from some shopping and a vague intention to go for a ride (my "schedule" suggested two bricks this weekend in the lead up to next week's sprint). But Saturday morning dawned clear, sunny and beautiful and I knew I had to be part of it as soon as possible. So I mapped out a 7.3m route and started getting ready. As I was debating ipod or no ipod I had a Eureka moment. What's better than music on a "long" run? That prevents boredom without interfering with the experience? Company!

So I jumped on P to wake him up and invited him out. I may have downplayed the distance a little, but he seemed enthusiastic. Anyway, the run was perfect. We ran out around the bays and over the Maupuia track- my favourite place! It was early enough that it wasn't hot, and somehow our pace managed to fit just right. Usually we're a little out of sync when we run. We tampered a bit with the route, and went up some extra hills at the end, so we could push a downhill finish instead of having to finish on the up! I ran fast for the first bit of the downhill but pulled back a little when I got scared! But still, finished strong and fast. We bought choc-ice blocks from the dairy (I almost fainted from the stale air inside after pushing down the hill and being out in the sun for too long) and then wandered back home. Our stats are a little off, but I think we averaged roughly 9 min miles, which is good considering that we had to walk down from the trail back to the road as it's quite treacherous!

Sunday I had planned a long walk with a friend, but the weather had deteriorated and was looking pretty awful at the time we'd planned to leave. A little disappointing, but the silver lining was being able to fit a swim in, and have a lot more time to catch up on that housework. I was pleased with myself for doing 2500m in the pool- that will be small potatoes once my swim training starts (next week!!) but is still a good effort for me now. Time not so good (not sure exactly), but the suggested workout involved a lot of rest and a lot of technique. It also had 600m or something of straight kicking- not something I'm used to, but it wasn't as bad as I anticipated! My stroke has improved so much, and I was able to decrease my stroke count during my cool down. Yay!

We met at my sisters' place on Sunday evening for a thanksgiving dinner. We have been meaning to have a thanksgiving celebration for so many years now (since we came back from CO in 1988!) but this is the first time we've done it. We made candied sweetpotatoes (my word those are weird!!) and I tried my hand at my first pumpkin pie (which, served with gingerbread ice cream, was really good!) We also started planning our Xmas and our summer holiday. It's really feeling like the festive season now! I'm so excited.

As you can probably tell, I am still feeling great after last week. And after to sinking to new lows weight wise (131.2!), I have managed to regain all that I lost (thanks to a dinner out with P on Saturday and unofficial thanksgiving dinner on Sunday). Hopefully I will be able to start losing the fat for real now- I'm feeling very flabby indeed and can't wait to hit the weights tomorrow. This week is mostly a weights/cycling week and spin class this morning was fun, if not the best workout ever. This instructor tends to run the class more like an aerobics class than a cycling class. Today we did a lot of very slow, mostly out of saddle, climbing on very high resistance. My HR was reasonably steady and I felt pretty good. Good enough for a fast 6 minute run-off at the end (1.4km, 6:51min/m). I have to do a 6 min track time trial by next Tuesday for this season's track programme, so hopefully will be able to do at least 1.4km in that. Most of my speedwork to date has been on the mill, so I'm not really sure how I'll go when I don't have that external motivation (keep moving or fall off on my butt) spurring me along. We shall see!

Hopefully will be doing some mini races this week- 5k tomorrow and a splash and dash on Weds. I hope I don't get too discouraged if I bomb out in the 5k. I'm thinking about just doing the 200m swim on Wednesday- I don't want to be dead last!

I am feeling OK about my running speed and endurance at the moment and thinking seriously about finishing this season without doing an Oly, then training for Rotorua (the closest we have here to Boston!) in April. I'm thinking 6 weeks of AeT base training (using Maffetone) and 6 weeks of marathon specific training. I won't expect too much of myself, so I think that balance should work. I guess I am feeling inspired by everyone's training logs and race reports! I am also learning that I don't need to get the time I want to achieve my goals. I will still be a marathoner, whether I finish sub 4, sub 5 or whatever! Tri-wise, I'll have 2 more sprints after next weekend's, as well as the century ride and the 2.8k swim, and I think that's a good enough first tri season, even without the Oly.

Anyway- hope everyone out there is feeling happy today :-)

Update: Life's so easy when you finish work on time! I was out the door before my secretary tonight, on the early bus home and in the door by 5:30!! Amazing. I made tofu and vege stir fry for dinner, made lunches and packed for tomorrow, finished most of the cleaning we neglected over the weekend, spent too much time online, read some of my book, did some ab work, watched some bad TV... and it's still only 9pm (nearly bedtime!) If only it was always like this...