Mistakes ... I made a few!

They do say that you learn more from your mistakes than anything else and if this is true I should be an expert on training after the last few days.

Today's ride (Sunday) was a total disaster. Saying that, nobody was hurt (or killed) and so disaster might be too strong a word but it felt like it after I plodded home at 3km/hr after only an hours ride.

The failure of the ride can be (I think) attributed to 4 main mistakes made in the preceding days. It could also be attributed to mental weakness during the ride but I think sometimes it's wise to cut these things short and live to fight another day.

So ... my mistakes in chronological order were:

Mistake 1

Friday's swim was supposed to be for distance and technique rather than speed and I was supposed to take it easy and just get some swim time in the bank. So what did I do? I tried to beat the previous day's 2K time of 39:53. I went all out and took 59 seconds off the time. It felt great and I was so pleased that after only a few times in the pool I was able to get my time down to where I want it to be. Big mistake. I was shattered in the afternoon and wasn't really feeling like doing my Friday night long run.

Mistake 2

So after the overdoing it in the pool I set out on my long run (14K). The further I got into the run the better I felt and I forgot about being tired and was really enjoying it. It just turned into one of those runs where it feels effortless and you feel like you can run forever ... and this was over the part of the course that is relatively hilly.

The return road runs parallel to the hilly road but is almost perfectly flat. I made the turn, took a gel and felt 'fast'. I started to up the pace a bit and it felt great. The Garmin was showing Sub5 minute K's. I knew it was too fast and I slowed down a bit ... but the music on my i-pod kept getting to me.

I had Bono singing Magnificent in one ear telling me that he was 'born to sing for me and lift me up' ... and run faster apparently and I had a fellow blogger (who shall remain nameless) in the other ear telling me to 'slow down you bl@@dy idiot, long runs are supposed to be SLOW!'.

Unfortunately Bono won and I kept up the pace and ran the last 5K at about my 5k pace. Fortunately nothing went 'snap' and my legs felt strong and I felt 'high' for about an hour after the run. After that I felt shattered and had to fight to keep my eyes open for the rest of the evening ... although that's not that unusual.

Mistake 3

I love making curries. I have been striving for that texture you get in the restaurants. I could always get the flavour but I have only recently perfected the texture. I made a (smacks lips while writing this) gorgeous Chicken Madras for me and Jo Saturday evening.

I thought it a bit risky having a curry the night before my long ride but we had it early and so didn't worry too much ... and I think it would have been OK if I had left it at that but ... we had ice-cream for desert and I had a bit too much for my own good. We needed it to cool down our mouths.

Still felt OK though. I think the actual mistake of Mistake No3 came when I was putting away the left overs (I always make a big batch for dinner the next day as well) in the fridge later that night just before going to bed. It looked so good and curries tend to mature a bit after they're cooked and I just had to have a bit of a taste to see how it had 'developed' ... so I had a bowl (just a small bowl mind!). Gorgeous!

Mistake 4

I woke up early Sunday morning ready for my ride. My stomach felt awful from the curry/ice-cream/curry combo and my legs felt trashed from the 'too fast' long run. I had rested well Saturday but I didn't seem to have much energy this morning. I couldn't face a proper breakfast but managed to eat a bit of a banana.

My main mistake this morning was not wearing appropriate clothing for the weather. It had been warm the day before and I presumed it was going to be the same today. It seemed quite nice when I looked out of the window and I went with a short sleeve top. Couple of minutes into the ride I realised the mistake when the wind picked up to gale force and the rain, which felt like icy sleet, blew horizontally into my face. I was freezing.

I tried to pick up the pace to generate some heat but my legs protested (something about being tired from Friday!) and I couldn't get my HR up at all. I did a 10K loop and went home for some warmer clothes. I nearly canned the ride then but decided to get back out there and at least make it to 2 hours.

After about an hour in total I was done and just wanted to get home. If I had been doing a long out and back I suppose I would have been forced to stay out longer and I would have plodded on but I was staying close to home and it was easy to head back. It was a failed bike ride but it's only one session in a 10 week block. No big deal. I was going to run off the bike but there was no way that was going to happen. I'll put it down as a 'learning experience'.

It was a disappointing end to a really good training week. I managed to get three swims in, two great bike interval sessions on the windtrainer and a great, if a bit too fast, long run in. A good bike ride today would have made it a perfect week. Unfortunately that will have to wait till next week.

Next week's goals

1 bike interval session on Tuesday

3 swims but only one 'fast' session - NOT on Friday

3 runs including a long, SLOW! run on Friday. I will up the distance a bit so that I can't run too fast.

A decent Sunday morning bike ride of at least 2 hours.

No Saturday night curry!

Can't wait!

10 Weeks Till Rotorua

It's getting very close ... and it seems to have crept up very quickly. I don't have much time to write this entry but I just wanted to document roughly where I am at in my training.

My swim training has been a disgrace recently. I made the decision to cut back on the swims and get more 'bike fit' and I think it has worked to a certain extent BUT I was supposed to have got back in the pool way before week 10.

Oh well. Can't change the past. I will make every effort to get in the pool at least three times a week for the next 10 weeks. How hard can that be? I'm not looking for a super fast swim. If I can match last year's 40 minutes then I'll be happy.

My bike speed on the flat has definitely increased since last year but unfortunately that doesn't seem to translate to the hilly Rotorua course. My recent attempt at the course was very similar to last year. I have lost weight which has helped because I seem to be able to climb the big hills easier ... I just don't climb them any faster. All good though cos in theory it should give me more on the run.

I'm much more comfortable in the aero position this year and I'm sure my bike set up is more aerodynamic and more 'right' for me. I'm hoping the energy I save with this can be used on the run.

So ... I don't think I'm going to be any faster than last year but my theory is that (hopefully) I will get off the bike with more energy for the run. If I can get off with a 3:15 bike I will be happy. 3:10 would be better but I'm not sure how realistic that would be.

Now we come to the unknown. I don't have the experience of last year's run to use. I just hope that I can get further than 5K into the run this time. What I do have is the experience of the build up to the race where I pushed it too hard on training runs. The calf was on the brink of injury 2 weeks before the race and it just took the over enthusiasm of the start of the race run to tear the muscle. NOT going to happen this year.

I am going to push the pace in some of the runs but I won't be going silly. I'm doing the Rarapiro Half Ironman run in a team and I want to push that BUT if I feel the calf playing up I will ease back (sorry Kate and Phil).

My running suffered a bit last week cos I hurt my rib (don't ask) and couldn't run at the start of the week. Got plenty of bikes in and I finished the week off on Saturday with a good 2hr bike / 10k run. The 58 minute 10K wasn't exactly fast but I felt strong and in control and if it had been a race I felt I could have gone faster ... not much but a little bit.

So ... the maths says that I need a Sub2 on the run course. Gawd knows if I can go that fast after the bike ride. I feel confident that I could do it as a stand alone run but that means Jacksh!t in a triathlon. My legs felt really good coming off the bike last year and I know I am stronger this year so I'm hoping to feel as good.

I did feel a bit sick at the start of the run last year but I'm putting that down to the chocolate muesli bar that I had on the bike last year. Tasted great at the time but I think I'll pass on that this year. I did the recent bike ride of the course using only fluids and it seemed to work. I'll go with this I think. Going to get one or hopefully two more rides on the course to try a few things and then make the final decision.

The next 10 weeks are going to be VERY important to the success of Sub6 at Rotorua. I don't want to get to Race Week regretting that I didn't do everything to make it possible. I know that I am going to miss some workouts but I hope to get to the end of each week and to have done at least:

1 interval session on the bike

3 swims

long run of at least 90 mins

Consistency of runs is also important. I need to run every other day ... even if it's just a 20 minute jog around the block. I need it to keep my calfs flexible.

Going to do the following

Weeks 1 - 3 HARD!

Week 4 - Relatively easy - cut back on long stuff

Week 5 - 8 HARD! with one or two race bike rehearsals (also includes Half Marathon for Team in Week 5)

Week 9-10 Taper! ... and make sure I have something to taper from!

So it's simple. Run every other day, get my key sessions in, stay healthy and turn up fresh on race day. What could be easier!

Let the countdown begin .....