A couple of shorties -Mission Bay People's Tri, Stroke n Stride

This week was a further endurance maintenance week, culminating with a triathlon race, The Panasonic People’s triathlon at Mission Bay, Auckland. The week’s training looked as follows:

Monday – 1hr technique swim with Parnell squad
Tuesday – AM - 75min steady run PM – 2.5hr bike including 4 x 10 min descending (working from steady to mod/hard) rest of ride steady with some hills, about 70km
Wednesday – AM – swim squad main set 40 x 120m (man that was tough, I think I only managed about 35, but it was an hour and a half session! PM – St Helier’s Go2Max running squad and 40min tempo run
Thursday – LSD run 2hrs 40 mins first half hills, 2nd flat with 4 x 1 min tempo intervals
Friday – Swim Squad – test speed set 1hr 15 mins
Saturday - 150km Orakei-Botany-Sandstone Hill-Whitford-Maraetai-Clevedon-Whitford-Sandstone Hill-Bucklands Beach-Mission Bay- Parnell-Orakei including 3 x 50min on IM pace (steady), 10 min easy
Sunday – Mission Bay Olympic distance race (1500m, 40km, 10km)

With the race on Sunday, following my long ride, this week tested my endurance and ability to focus on tempo/pacing and “flirting” with my anaerobic capacities! So I went into the race with no taper. Being an Olympic distance race, it wasn’t really necessary, but I rarely follow a long ride with a hard session the next day. I had no preconceptions or race plan going into the race, as I only considered it as a focussed training day and a “C” race. In a way I was looking forward to having my Sunday training finished by 10am!

Whilst setting up my gear in transition, I found out it was a drafting race! Having never been able to draft in a race before, I was looking forward to it, and also to the fact I wouldn’t have to push so hard on the bike, so I could recover quicker afterwards. The conditions were pretty calm, considering that the forecast was for wind and showers. Luckily the wind stayed away until later in the day.

The swim was typically testing for me, and got quite choppy out around the far buoys, but I tried to remain focussed on technique and being calm. My time was about 27-28 mins. I took it steadily through transition, so that my heart rate didn’t rocket. I got onto the bike and managed to get with a small bunch of guys. We worked ok throughout the race and caught a larger bunch ahead of us, which included a group of girls so I was pleased we passed them. Some of the guys did a bit of surging but only because they were all trying to beat one another- lots of testosterone flying around!

Unfortunately I left the speedometer sensor on my training wheels, so I had no idea how fast we were going, so I just focussed on keeping my cadence between 85 and 90 rpm. Having said that, I reckon the bike time was roughly 1hr 7 or 8 mins.

Going into the run, I felt strong and ran off the bike well. On the first lap I realised that if I held back a bit on the first lap and negative split the second, I would be looking at a time of 2hrs 20 mins. With so many different races going on, I wasn’t sure who was in my race, but no girls passed me on the run and I passed a couple. On my second lap, I picked up the pace and did the 10km in about 42 mins, and crossed the line in 2hrs 20 mins. At prizegiving, I found out I placed 2nd in my age group (25-29), and I got a plaque (!) and third female overall. I was pleased with my race considering I had a long ride the day before, and it showed me that my body is adapting to increased training loads, endurance and variations of pace and intensity.

Following the race, my coach advised me to take it easy for a few days to ensure I recovered properly. But in triathlon-speak, taking it easy does not mean doing nothing and putting my feet up too much! On the following Monday I swam with the squad in the morning. We focussed on backstroke for the main set. I absolutely suck at backstroke! I end up on the other side of the lane and have no catch whatsoever. All the same, it was a good recovery session and a bit of variety never hurt anyone! In the evening I had a 75 min steady undulating run. It was windy so I ran along the waterfront with the tailwind from the east, and even managed to get taken out by a freak wave over the wall on Tamaki Drive. It was refreshing, if not hilarious to watch…

On Tuesday, I had the morning off as I had Stroke n Stride in the evening. It was the windiest night and I woke up thinking that it was going to be a repeat of December’s race with the choppy surf! Throughout the day, a bit of fatigue started to set in from the weekend, and apprehension about the evening’s race. So I decided I would drive out to Mission Bay and see what the sea was offering…Well the weather gods had done their job and the sea was somewhat calmer than the morning indeed.

The swim was 1km and the run 3km. I found the swim quite hard, as there was a strong current pulling along the beach and I kept losing sight of the finishing buoys. I swam steadily, knowing I wanted to run well. The idea of doing these races was to build on my experience of swimming with large groups and to improve my confidence in the open water, and not necessarily to smash myself!

I ran well and managed to pass about ten girls. My race time was 32 mins, so I knew I could put in a good 12-13 minute 3km run without damaging my training too much. I finished 5th in my age group and beat my December time by over 2 minutes, so that was great. I warmed down with a 20 min steady run. It was a fun evening session, and as per usual, I felt frustrated with my swimming. On the flipside, my confidence is growing in open water (luckily no sharks have been spotted in Mission Bay!) and my times are improving.

Wednesday morning swim squad. I should have stayed in bed…I pulled out of the squad session and did my own main set, working on 120m for 40 mins with 15 secs rest. Somedays, it pays to knock it on the head. I wasn’t keeping pace and wasn’t there mentally.

On Thursday evening I was feeling tired, but managed my 2hr 40 min run. It was a hot evening, but it’s important to run in all sorts of conditions to train yourself to cope for whatever may come your way in Ironman. So, in order to keep my focus, I tried a different route around Herne Bay, Westmere, Western Springs Park and the Waterfront. When you really feel unmotivated to run long, especially if you have to run after a day at work, changing your route is one way of keeping the focus. For the first hour I also incorporated some hills, and in the second half I focussed on 1 min tempo every 10 mins, and on technique, especially cadence and running tall and strong. It was a long slog that night, but I felt good that I had stuck to my plan. I biked home for 20 mins, which was good recovery for my legs.

Following long runs, I don’t feel like eating a proper meal, normally because it’s quite late in the evening. When I feel like this I have a smoothie, normally containing Xtra milk, plain low fat sugar free natural yogurt, blueberries and banana. I’ll also have a bowl oats and fruit. In this way, I get my recovery carbs and protein into me quickly, with little effort in preparation and in eating. If I could eat breakfast three times I day, I would!

I was supposed to swim Friday morning, but I realised that I needed some rest. At this stage in my training listening to my body and recovery is as just as important as my training .So I skipped the session. If in doubt, leave it out....

I felt bad, so I have to justify it, here goes! I have always found swim squads challenging. Being naturally competitive in nature, I don’t like being held up, so I tend to push myself and put myself in the faster lane. I normally end up being the slowest, but sometimes I push myself too much just to keep up that I go too hard. My coach suggested that squads are fine so long as you have energy for your key bike/run workouts. Well, my swimming needs work, I know that. So does my sleep! Missing out on an hour’s sleep doesn’t out me in the best frame of mind for swimming. I used to swim at lunch in Christchurch, but it’s not really possible with my new job. I had a big Taupo training weekend coming up so I pulled back and had a day off.