Sunday Morning Brick

I've been tired all week so it was a bit of a struggle to get up early this morning and get out the door. The plan was a 25min run followed by a 2hr bike followed by another 25min run. Managed to get to the 'start line' at 7:15 and set out for a run around the Mount basetrack.

I had a bit of extra motivation because I got my Christmas present early ... an Ironman watch! :) I told Jo that now she has bought me this it means that I must, in principal, be training for an Ironman. The half ironman is a stepping stone to that goal ... to be accomplished before I hit 50!


........ to be continued (when we get back from beach)

...... beach was great although sea was freeeeezing. Adam boogy boarded but I just paddled. How the hell I'm going to put my head in that next week I don't know. Instant brain freeze! :)

So back to this morning ..... set off around the Mount with my new watch.
2.3 miles in 21:50 (about 9:30 pace)

T1 back at the ute - 5:48 (sloooow)

Bike. Set out along the coast road with a slight tailwind. It felt fast in the same way that running off the bike feels slow. Got a few K up the road and then bang. Puncture! Great ... first one for ages though so I suppose I can't complain too much. I didn't have a spare tube so had to patch it. Took me nearly 20 mins to get back on the bike. I had limited time so I decided to cut the bike short. I missed out all the out and back doglegs that the organisers put into the official route to get the distance up. Just did a straight forward 'as far as you can go along the coast road' ... and back. Averaged 29.7km/hr on the way there with a slight tailwind. I knew it was going to be harder on the way back but I was determined to defend the 29 even if I had to concede the 0.7.

I managed to keep the speed fairly high and as I got close to 'home' the speedo was saying Av 29.5km/h which was very pleasing. A roadie pulled up alongside me and said that I had made him work hard trying to catch me. I almost felt like a real cyclist. We chatted for a bit and then I wished him a safe ride and told him I now had to run. Looked at my speedo and the average had gone down to 29.4km/h. Damn sociable riders!!! :) haha

T2 - 3:56

Run - 2.3 miles around the Mount in 21:02 wooohoooo!!! :) faster than the first run - average pace of just under 9:09 mins/mile. Very pleased with that.

So now it's into semi-taper as I prepare for next Sunday's Tinman Oly distance. Same course as the Half Ironman so it'll be good practice. I'm just praying for a calm Pilot Bay ... and no wind :)

Good News

This is not Tri related at all but it is the news I have been waiting 18 months for. I am a Pom living in New Zealand teaching electrical students in a Polytechnic (same job as I did in UK for 15 years) BUT up until now I haven't been 'NZ Registered'.

The Polytech were going to look at my 'viability' in the new year if I couldn't get registration. There was also talk that I would have to do 2000 hours 'work experience' in order to get registration. I was almost resigned to losing my job becasue I wasn't going to go out there and crawl through roofs for hours on end .... And then today an email came through from the registration board saying my registration had been approved.

The relief is hard to explain but there's been a smile on my face all day. I still won't believe it until I get my hands on the license but I've checked the date and it's not April 1st so I think I'm OK.

Next post will be Tri related