A sore weekend

Well I was a little ginger this afternoon...

I have spent the day either on the couch or stretching my knees and rolling my ITB's...

The good news is that I actually feel good. Well actually I feel better, knowing that I have pulled up better than I thought after pushing myself through a rough Saturday morning.

Saturday started with my first group ride with Bondi Fit down at Centennial Park. A 6:20am start on a brisk morning (read: farking cold) meeting the guys for the first time.
Having never been gooby enough to have ridden in a pack before it took a few minutes to get the hang of what they were all on about, but I eventually got it. Until we turned off suddenly and I managed to cut off another poor cyclist doing her morning ride... And I heard all about it. Spot made sure of that. A quick set of 20 push-ups while getting a lecture will make sure I don't do the same again...

I started off with the intermediate group pushing the big gear around the track, but got left behind on the second lap. I fell in with the next group and stuck with them for the next 6 laps and couple of hill climbs or so. Even managed to hang on to the pack as a few dropped off which made me feel better about my efforts! A neat little 33km session under the belt.

There is a run session after the bike session on Saturday mornings and I had thought about trying my knees out, although wasn't sure how they would hold up... I had taped them up in the morning before the ride to give myself the best chance.

I made the decision on the last lap of the ride to drop the bike and join the run session. I grabbed a singlet and tried to remember the directions for the 10km City-2-Surf lap as Spot rattled them off... No hope. Figured I would just follow the pack!

I got through the first 3 or 4 km at a good pace and felt good in the knees. Although just after the 4km mark I started to get a little tightness in the right knee, so stretched it out a little and carried on at a little slower pace.
Got through the next 3km with increasing soreness, then copped some serious pain in the outside of the right knee... Walk time.

The end couldn't come any faster. I got back to the apartment and stretched out, then couldn't move for the rest of the day... except to get out to Skoda to watch Essendon get up over GWS (although un-inspirationally....)

So ends the first week of training with the Bondi Fit guys. Happy with the outcomes and happy looking ahead to what I have in store!

Back to school..

Well this week I went back to school.

Bondi Fit School...

Monday was my first training session with the new team. I snuck into the pool 20mins before my planned stroke correction session to say hi to coach Paul and have a bit of a warm up. Felt good in the water. Spirits were high.
Come stroke correction time I quickly learned that I wasn't as great a swimmer as I may have expected... Sure, I could get through the laps and all, but as far as technique goes, tit became clear there was work to be done!
After a series of drills to start the correction procedure I felt like I had done some foreign activity rather than swimming... Change is good. Even though it was a weird good at this stage...

Oh, and coach was less than impressed with my choice of swimwear... Speedo's or the road was the interpreted message... So off I went to get some sexy shorts... Be fucked if I was going to don the budgie smugglers, so I compromised with the shorts...

Wednesday (at 6am and in my Speedo's if you don't mind!) I joined the squad swim for my first full session 'with the big boys' as Paul so politely put it as I was scratching for breath halfway through a 400m set with my feet tied together... "I'd hate for you to miss out" was his quirky comment as he threw me a tied up bike tube to ensure my legs were as useful as an anchor each lap... Thanks...


Friday squad session was the first time I got to meet Spot. Nice guy. Loud voice. Don't argue. Three key points. Got banished to the slow lane, guess I'll have to spend more time in the pool...!
I had my first chance to try out my new Garmin watch in the pool Wednesday. For the most part it seemed to work alright. There were a few laps that didn't register correctly, but apart from that it seemed ok...
Just have to work out how to get it to vibrate on laps, as it was hard to keep a track of progress lap by ;ap while trying to breath and stay afloat...
The data that it spits out is great though, being able to analyse each lap, stroke count per lap, efficiency, etc
Next squad swim I think I will use the interval feature to decipher between the different drills (normal, bands, bouys, etc). Hopefully that will help soothe my craving for data and help improve across the different drills!

It was Wednesday that Ironman Australia, Port Macquarie, opened for entry... within 58mins it had already reached 70% capacity. A sure sign that I would have to be on my game to get an entry to the Cairns event in a few weeks.

Speaking of Cairns, a lovely course preview appeared on the Ironman Asia Pacific facebook page... Just in case I wasn't totally aware of the stupid distances involved... Scenery looks nice though!

I also got a call from my new coach Spot. He mentioned that I should consider entering the Port Macquarie event as he thought the Cairns 2013 event may be a red hot favourite with rumours of Lance Armstrong being a starter...
I thought about my options, but decided that I would stick to my plan and aim for Cairns. Hell, it would be great to be competing with the great Lance Armstrong in an event like this. If I miss out, then another mate is looking at the Busselton 2013 event, and that would be my back-up race. Plus that would give me the chance to pump through a full Tri season before starting to train for the Ironman... To much to think about... I have about a month to make a decision...

Well I'm locked in for my first bike session in the morning, and potentially getting roped into a run session straight after (which will no doubt lead into a surf swim session just for fun after that...) Better get some sleep tonight, thinking a session on the couch watching Geelong try their best to get up over the Doggies is on the cards.

The cost of ambition

 

 

After coming to terms with what I was getting myself into yesterday (which included the announcement to Aimee, which was met with her ever enthusiastic sarcasm!) I have started to seriously plan the route ahead.

I need coaching

Lets be honest, there is no way that I would get through the training required without understanding what it takes, let alone the hell of the course itself.
Spending time looking around and searching for training programs and reading heaps about what others put themselves through to complete an Ironman, I decided that I wanted a comprehensive training plan. One that I could stick to and one that others can hold me accountable for.

Enter Bondi Fit

During my search I found a local triathlon club Easts Tri Club that operate around the Eastern suburbs of Sydney. Perfect. The training partner is the seemingly well respected Bondi Fit.
After firing back and forth a few emails with the Bondi Fit crew about training plans and schedules and having an inspiring and confidence building chat on the phone with Sarah, I decided that I had found my training inspiration and decided to jump on board, starting off with their 3 month Triathlon Program.

I had it on good authority from many people that Spot Anderson from Bondi Fit is the man in the know to develop and push me towards what I wanted to achieve. The team are competing in the Sydney Half Marathon this weekend and are having some celebratory drinks Sunday afternoon, so I plan on wandering down and meeting them for the first time.

This weekend happens to be the Eastern Suburbs Relay for Life, and I will be spending the night in the cold at Centennial Park with many a bottle of Port to keep spirits high. It also happens to be my last weekend before I dive into my training program. Then...

Game on

Come Monday morning it is game on. First session in the pool to sort out where I stand (or rather float) in the water, followed by more sessions as the week progresses. Next Saturday looks like it will be my first session on the bike to get a feel for where I have to get to. Exciting times!

As you could imagine this all comes at a cost. I had done some quick scribbles on what it all may involve (ok I lied, anyone that knows me, yes, I have a bloody spreadsheet) and it is manageable but significant!

From my quick sketch (read: detailed spreadsheet) I have built up a list of what I need to get in order to complete my goal. Simply there are a few key items that I never thought I would ever own... yes, including bike shoes and bike shorts... But that's all part and parcel!


I was fortunate enough to find a really good deal on a new road bike (the fixie wasn't going to cut it!) from the good guys at BikeLAB Bondi Junction. I looked around a fair bit and by far the two best places were BikeLAB and Albion Cycles. In the end it only came down to which of the bikes I tried fitted and felt better and ultimately that choice was the full carbon Kestrel rt800sl

Never have I ridden something that had it's own desire to go fast. It fits well and feels good. Most importantly I think I feel comfortable on it, more so than any of the others I tried.
Paired up with my first set of clipless pedals and shoes (and lycra...) I feel fast!
To be fair though, those clipless pedals (that are actually clips... I still don't get it...) are tricky to use at first! There were plenty of "OH SHIT!" moments stopping at lights for the first few days! But I soon learned the tricks to get out of them fast!

Based on my goals and the importance of being able to analyze my performance (and my underpinning addiction to toys and gadgets 'He who dies with the most toys wins') I wanted to set myself up with a triathlon watch that was going to be able to provide me all the information that I wanted.
I have researched and looked at many options although there was one that was recommended above all others that would provide me the details I wanted and the race useability to make it worth the money.
The Garmin Forerunner 910xt with the Heart Rate Monitor was the choice.
Being able to use it during the swim leg, pair it up with a cadence sensor for the bike leg and then utilising a foot pod for the run leg made it a great choice.

Now it's time to find myself some flippers and some dignity saving swimming shorts and get in the pool ready for my first swim session!

Bring it on!

Eying off the road ahead

Well in short I have (perhaps foolishly) set my sights on Ironman Cairns 2013...

This all came about in a way that will have most people a little confused (myself included)

I have always had a drive to be busy doing something, ask pretty much anyone who knows me and I'm sure they will agree that I have a problem sitting still. I thrive on a challenge and love nothing more than pushing myself towards something I want.

Competitive? Maybe just a little...

The path to here makes sense (somewhat) if you see the quick history....

It all really started with my first 12km City-to-Bay fun run a few years ago. It felt good to have something to train for, even though I had never run more than about 2km in one crack!
The event itself didn't go so well, with soreness (read: unfit) at the halfway point making it rough to finish... To top it off after saying goodbye to Aimee at the start line so we could run our own race, she managed to find a groove, slip past me and ultimately beat me over the line! This isn't over by the way!

From there I laid low for a while and spent time working in Melbourne and then Sydney before the Mens Health Urbanathlon was announced in Sydney. It sounded like a great challenge and in no time I had whipped a few guys together and had signed up!

Then some of my work colleagues put up the challenge to complete the Tough Mudder Melbourne and how could I resist!

We smashed the course (See here: Stuck In The Mudder Video) although unfortunately at the same time smashed my knees...
I finished with a badly strained Patella Ligament in the left knee and a strained ITB in the right... spelling the end to my Urbanathlon dreams...

So began recovery period... 2 weeks spent being able to hardly walk followed by repeated Physio appointments over many weeks, stretching and strengthening programs and all in all a pretty miserable experience...

Then I got the itch again. I looked at people running in their lunch break and had a strong desire to get back into it and push myself further and harder than before.

Enter the world of Triathlons.

It was just before the Tough Mudder event that I was able to go and support my lovely girlfriend while she competed in the Nissan Corporate Sprint Triathlon Series. I had never been to one of these events before (let alone competed in one) and it appealed to me more than I could have imagined! I wanted in. Big time.

So I set my sights on being back in form ready for an Olympic length Sydney triathlon!
1.5km swim / 40km bike / 10km run

Then I may have got a little carried away and after research I decided that I wanted to aim for the Elite Energy Olympic Series. 5 triathlons spread out over the Summer season up and down the NSW coast. Sounded magic.

Then I definitely got carried away and after hearing about some colleagues competing in a 70.3 Half Ironman in December. I loved the idea and thought I would set my sights to complete something like this next year after a season of triathlons...

Enter Cairns Ironman 2013.

If it was any earlier in the year I would have stuck to my original plan. Although the fact that it was in June made me stop and think... It was possible (perhaps) to complete the triathlon series, building up enough experience to attempt the impossible (to most people, including me). Complete an Iron length triathlon..

Just an FYI. Ironman = 3.8km swim / 180km bike / 42km run
Yes. After swimming for what would seem like forever and riding a bike for an eternity, you get to run a marathon...

So here I am. Starting to plan for what may just be the most intense and focused year of my life...

The next step is to start the planning, the training schedule, the nutrition plan, the equipment required and not to forget develop the mental toughness to endure 3 of the toughest events on the planet compressed into one painful day...