Week 7

It's been a funny old week. I ended last weeks blog saying that there was no race on the horizon and then during this week there a staff email went round offering FREE (FREE!!!) entry into the local 'sprint' triathlon. I couldn't pass up that now could I? I've never done a sprint tirathlon before.

The week started out normally with an hour run on Monday. It was also the release of the new U2 album. A BIG day for me! All my podcasts were wiped from the i-pod and replaced with the 11 tracks. I was really looking forward to running with them!

From Buckeye .... Running 2009-03-02 10.25 time : 01:03:30 pace: 06:11mins/K
1st run (Fraser St to town) with new U2 album on i-pod. 10 mins from home with presumably endorphins flowing and 'Breathe' playing I had such a natural high. Sheer joy! Even the hills felt great. I'm far from religious but I think it's as close as I get to a 'spiritual' moment.

This is the place to pour out emotional feelings right? :)haha. Can't wait till my next run :)

Tuesday - No training. Worked late. Too busy for swim at lunchtime. No problem.

I think it was Wednesday that I found out about the triathlon so I thought I'd better get in the pool and at least get one swim in before the race.

Wednesday - 2009-03-05 750m swim 00:20:00

Swim with wetsuit just to stretch it out for Sunday. Felt great. Just did a few 50's (around 46/47 seconds) a couple of 250m (4:27, 4:38) and a few warm up /cool down laps. Will swim the race distance tomorrow (600m) just to get a rough estimate. (Didn't do it)

Wednesday evening we went to see Adam at camp in the Kaimais about 40 mins away. He was having a great time. They were having dinner and although we resisted that we were 'forced' to eat pudding! Apple crumble mmmmmmmmmmmmmm .... only had 2 bowls :)

Thursday

2009-03-05 5.00K 00:22:29 04:29mins/k

I thought I'd better do a 5k run before the sprint. Not sure why? I wanted to go fast and so loaded up the i-pod with the fast tracks from the album. I must admit I didn't care what was on the i-pod towards the end but it was good in the beginning. 'Boots' is definitely my ideal stride beat cadence thingy. Just felt natural running to that beat.

I knew I was running faster than I have ever run before but I was surprised (pleasantly) at the time of 22:29. The idea was to post a time (hopefully just below 25 mins) to improve on over the season. 22:29 was a bit tooooo fast for my liking. I am now going to have to work f@*#^ing hard to get anything off that!

I didn't have any complaints from my calf but during the stretch afterwards there was a slight feeling/tightness/tweak/niggle in my calf. Same place as Rotorua. Oooops! No reaction next day so didn't think much of it.

Friday

Decided to rest calf. In reality it was p!$$in down so much that I didn't fancy going out there much ... and besides I was sort of officially on taper. So Friday became a rest day ... as did Saturday. Spent a lot of Saturday following the NZ Ironman on the Internet. The 3 people I knew doing it did great.

Sunday - Race Day.

It was very weird on Saturday because I had no thoughts of the race and no worries about it and wasn't going through every little detail like all my other triathlons. I suppose it as because it was much shorter and things like nutrition was a case of having a sports drink on the bike ... full stop! I also decided to carry a gel just in case.

I was awake at 4:30am, 15 mins before the alarm went off. I was wide awake so got up and had breakfast. Got everything sorted and faffed about a bit on the laptop (our PC got frazzled by a storm on Friday - fixed now) and I was out of the door at 6:15am ready for the drive to registration which opened at 6:30am.

I turned the key of the ute and 'click' ... no roaring engine. DEAD! Checked the lights. Yep they were left on. Sh!t!!! Must have left them on Friday. No warning 'bing bing' in the ute if you leave the lights on. Sh!t!!!. I would have to ride there. It'd be a good warm up. I strapped the enormous triathlon bag full of wetsuit, trainers, towel and other heavy bits and pieces and rode to the start. It's only about 15k but that's only one K less than the bike course distance :)

Got there in plenty of time, registered with my FREE!!! entry (wonder if work can get me into Ironman FREE!!!) and had a walk down to Pilot Bay to look at the swim. It was crystal clear and calm. Nice!

After race briefing we walked to the start of the swim. Jo and the kids had got there about this time and Adam ran along the beach to get some pictures. I got in the water and it was so warm. Did a few warm up strokes and noticed that my 'non-TI' stroke was taking over 'subconsciously'. I decided to ditch the TI and go with it. It was only 600m and so it wasn't like I was going to ruin the race by going too hard or whatever.

The klaxon went for the start and we were off. First mistake (if you don't count leaving lights on) was to not hit the start button on my watch. I've forgotten that tooo many times before. I really should be able to remember to do that!

The swim went OK. I think I zig zagged quite a bit cos one minute I was in deep water and the next shallow but I felt reasonably good throughout and kept with the main bunch. There weren't many of us doing the 'long' course. Probably only about 20 or so. I got out of the swim and the time was 8:17. I either swam very slowly or it didn't start at 8am. Not too sure which. I was hoping for 12 minutes.

There's quite a long run from the swim exit to T1 but it wasn't as bad as I thought it might have been. Adam got some unflattering shots of me running after the swim.

T1 was OK. No problems. Out onto the bike. I had been looking forward to this bit. I was just going to go for it. I could survive the 5.5K run afterwards. I had a great first lap and my speedo ranged from 32km/hr to 38km/hr. I don't think I've ever rode so fast in a race. It was after this first lap that it went a bit pear shaped.

At the end of each lap you turn left and start the next or go straight on to the finish line. I knew that I had to turn left but seeing the short course people going straight on totally confused my tiny brain and I followed and went to the finish, realised what an idiot I had been and turned and rode back to the turn. It was probably only 2 or 3 minutes but it was a stupid mistake. Know thy course Mr Triathlete!!! ... although I have to say the marshall on the roundabout was useless. He wasn't interested at all and calls out to him during the 'error' went on deaf ears. At each lap as I passed he was talking to people around him and not directing at all. Still totally my fault though!

I tried to make up for lost time (I think 3 mins in a sprint is a lot of time) and I passed loads. Admittedly there were a lot of people/kids on mountain bikes but it still felt great to fly round fast. Bl@@dy train tracks were a nuisance though. Nearly lost my bottle first loop so ended up holding it each time after that. Great flat course though!

I have no idea what my time was for the bike. I'm really p!$$ed that I didn't time it properly. T2 went Ok and I was out on the run.

I took it fairly easy for the first 5 mins along Pilot Bay. The main part of the race is around the Mount base track. I hadn't run it for ages and hadn't run it clockwise for a few years now. It felt good to be running it. The lumps and bumps felt less lumpy and bumpy and I think that I confirmed that my legs have become stronger over the last few months. Nothing felt as 'hard' as my regular rolling hills (Fraser St) course. I wasn't fast but my plan was to kick for the last bit on the flat back along Pilot Bay.

I got to the end of the basetrack and it either goes down to the beach boardwalk or straight on through the campsite. There was no marshall so I took the route down (as in all the other triathlons I have done on the Mount) and the two women behind me went through the campsite. Doh!!! I re-joined them around the corner but now they were in front of me by a good 50m. Doh! I started to up the pace and bring on my killer kick. It as at this point that my calf piped up and reminded me of the pain of Rotorua. Sh!t ... surely I can finish a sprint!!! I immediately backed off the pace and the pain subsided. Tried a bit faster and it came back ... OK fair enough I'll keep it easy. Easy pace = no pain. Not ideal but I can sort of live with that. Go hard on the bike and just survive the run.

I saw Jo and the kids near the finish and Jo said I looked 'strong'. High praise indeed :) I told her about the calf and that I hadn't been able to push the pace. Least I made it to the finish though.

we got some pics afterwards and then I rode home. Legs were hurting a bit but I think it done them good to have the nice easy ride back. Nearly got killed by a truck on the harbour bridge but other than that it was an uneventful ride home.

Wonder what delights Week 8 will bring?