Tried Tri Again

Posted on March 10, 2013 by admin

So here I was about to attempt my 3^rd Triathlon – Tri the Gong, being run by Elite Energy and I was again tackling the Enticer distance.

The morning of the event Hubby was flying in from overseas bright and early so his parents were picking him up from the airport and on the way picked up Miss 3 at 5.30am.

For some reason I felt no pressure or anxiety and was really relaxed before this race and got a good nights’ sleep.

I was getting ready and loading in the dark. There was 1 benefit of going alone was it didn’t matter too much where I parked as I just got on my bike and rode to the registration tent. I had trouble at the registration area as I stood in the 40+ line and they couldn’t find my information. I spoke to an official who advised me that you are categorised based on the age you were last Dec, which was 39, yeehaa, so still with the younger gals.

I met up with my friend Colleen near the registration area and we hung together for most of the day. We stood in the transition area to listen to the briefing and then headed down for the start of the swim. Our swim start was delayed 10 minutes due to an excessive amount of bikes on the bike course. The swim was in the harbour a bit of argy bargy for the first bit and some congestion around the buoys but mostly open water. Colleen and I swam almost side by side for the whole swim and she got out about 3 steps in front of me. We certainly didn’t come last, as I turned around coming out of the water there were still a few behind us.

I jogged and walk to my bike and had a really slow transition, I was a little bit too focused on getting all the sand and grass off my feet and putting on my shoes and socks, meanwhile people were coming and going. This is something I really need to improve on.

The course for the bike leg was 4 laps and my main concern was forgetting how many laps I had done, someone said to me you will remember that hill 4 times and they certainly weren’t wrong. The course was mostly flat with 1 big uphill but then you had the added benefit of 1 big downhill, winding around the beautiful Wollongong lighthouse and to a roundabout at the other end. I did enjoy the course, getting up out of the seat up the hill and putting on the speed going downhill whilst gasping and grasping for water. I overtook a few people on the bike leg and there was 1 section that was quite narrow which always seemed to be where I needed to overtake, with a little bit of caution I managed to get past and not fall off or knock anyone else off their bike. I was having a laugh to myself doing a bit of Sesame Street counting, as each time I would go past the Start/Finish of the bike leg I would count like “The Count”, 1 ha ha ha haaaa, 2 ha ha ha haaa, etc etc and would do that a few times on each lap so I knew where I was up to, small things amuse small minds as they say, but it seemed to work for me. I still had that doubt when coming into the finish line – “did I finish all my laps?”

I hate getting off my bike because it only means 1 thing THE RUN. I kept telling myself, its only 2k, you can run this far. My friend Colleen had said something to me earlier in the week which was “I don’t want to be the skinny person walking” and I must say, seeing people slimmer than me walking during the run leg at my last Triathlon almost gave me permission to walk and I did. This time I was determined to not walk at all. I remembered to grab my security blanket which is my water bottle, that way if I got a dry mouth I would have a swig and be happy and not feel the need to walk to catch my breath. I also didn’t feel the need to walk through the drink station and reward myself with the water and a walk, so I was set. I declined the drink station and kept on running, there were many many times I wanted to walk, especially when I saw all the skinny/ier people doing it. I just kept up my shuffle, I was being overtaken, every 2^nd step but I didn’t care. I wanted to pick up the pace a bit but waited til I turned the half way mark and then up a small incline and once I got beyond all of that I went from a shuffle to a jalk (jog/walk as fast as a walk but still jogging – I made it up myself). In my speed terms a jalk is a nano second faster than a shuffle per kilometre. I was super excited to see the finish line and run under the giant inflatable NAB sign and then onto the official finish and even managed to pick up the pace to a Rachael Sprint (not as fast as anyone else’s sprint but faster than a jalk). For the first time in my Tri history as I was coming up to the finish line the announcer called out my name, so with a double fist pump in the air I crossed the line. The satisfaction of running the whole way was awesome, I was out of breath but excited. I had done my best and even if my best was last place, this time I was not concerned.

Crossing the Finish line

So the results were in, official 2^nd last position (secret little cheer about not coming last), and finished in 46:28, now I was thinking that I must have broken some land speed records to improve from Husky Tri by over 12 minutes but then checked the distances and the bike leg was 1k shorter, but given that my average cycle pace is about 3min per kilometre I still made big improvements. I am not sure how accurate the courses for these events either but this race felt better (except for my swim/bike transition).

With my friend Colleen, she inspired me to keep on running.

So for my age/sex category I came 29/30 and overall female 165/184.

Happy happy happy.

Gasping for air at the finish but somehow still smiling.

BirthdayTri – the gift that keeps on giving

Posted on February 18, 2013 by admin

Getting ready to start the swim. That’s me in the RED cap 157 from the back left.

What crazy 39 year old decides to do a Triathlon for their 40^th Birthday? Yep that’s me.

A year ago I tentatively marked the calendar with an event, Husky Triathlon. It was very very tentative booking, but what caught my eye was that it was 4 days before my 40^th Birthday and I had a crazy idea that maybe in some alternate universe I may just be able to do this.

You may or may not know from my previous post about my 1^st triathlon, that a year ago I was in no shape to tackle any of the Tri elements on their own let alone doing all 3, (I may have managed the cycle). So doing a “proper” triathlon was a freaky thought. I say “proper” triathlon because 1^st one I did was Triathlon Pink which was a women only fun event fundraising for Breast Cancer, plenty of people in fancy dress and a more relaxed atmosphere.

The Husky event was from the Elite Energy series with a variety of different distances ranging from the Long Course (half Ironman distances) to the Enticer which I was having a go at. The Enticer distances are 300m ocean/bay swim, 8k cycle and a 2k run.

When I arrived I headed off to register and collect my timing chip and numbers and was pleased to see they gave you a free swim cap. I preferred to swim in my own yellow cap, so grabbed what I needed out of the pack and handed the rest to my mum to mind (good ole mum’s handbag still being used even at my age). I went to the bike area with my dad and racked my bike and set up all my gear and then wandered back to all my supporters (mum, dad, hubby, Miss 3 and Aunty Mar Mar) to give them a kiss before I headed off to the start.

Mid swim, rounding the last turn.

I ran into some friends at the briefing area and got chatting and noticed they all had their matching caps that came in the pack and I said I was going to wear my own, they then informed me that I had to wear the “coloured” cap that I was given in order to start at the right time. At this point I had no idea where my family were, I needed what was in mum’s handbag desperately. I found myself an Event Marshall and explained my situation and he confirmed I needed my swim cap to start, so I kindly asked if I could borrow his mobile phone and I called dear ole Dad to bring it over to me. So he sweet talked other Marshall’s to be allowed through restricted areas, hurdling barricades to get to me quicker with the red cap. Success! I got it just in time and missed the race brief but at least I was able to start.

So everyone competing in the Enticer headed down to the beach for the swim start and they had groups starting at about 5 minute intervals corresponding with their cap colour (pretty important to have the right colour cap now that I think about it). The gun went off and I went out fast and then settled down a bit and I was remembering my pep talk from Miss 3, “big arms and lots of kicking” and from Hubby “if you get crowded in, use the People’s elbow”, I do tend to use mostly arms so the pep talk came in handy to remind me to kick. The swim was hard but I felt good, my arms were tired at the end. As I was coming into shore I overtook a lady wearing flippers and as I ran up the stairs to my bike I looked back at the water and there were still a lot of red caps, so I must have done ok.

I took it easy heading back to the bike, it was up hill and stairs and I heard my trainer yell out to take it easy so my decision was right.

I took my cleats off my bike before the event because I didn’t think there was enough advantage for an 8k ride to warrant using cleats and a 2^nd change of shoes, so I put my socks and joggers straight on, sunnies and helmet and off I went. I wanted to go hard on the bike and try and get as much advantage as I could, but my legs felt like concrete stumps, the ride seemed to take forever until I got to the turning point and by then my legs had limbered up a little bit. By the time I headed back down the main street of Husky I was going hard and overtook a few people, rounded the last turn and I heard my family cheering me on and it spurred me on to finish hard.

The last turn on the bike leg, I look happy….. happy to be getting off my bike.

I threw my bike back on the rack and headed off for the run, my leg muscles were burning, I had really lacked the transition training leading up to this event and I was feeling it now. I wonder if I went too hard on the bike or if I would have felt like this anyway, it is hard to know. I ran (so slowly) as much as I could but it did walk a bit, I think my mind let me down in the run, I need music to keep my mind off the pain and next time I will be packing my Ipod. Once I rounded the half way mark my mind joined the event and I managed to run more on the home stretch and even had a sprint to the finish line. I was exhausted and a bit wobbly.

So my personal goals apart from finishing this race was to not come last and to complete the race in under 1 hour, the official times and placings are on the web and I came 3^rd last in my age group 35-39 year old females and I scraped in with a time of 58:01, yay.

Finally about to cross the finish line, the run felt like the longest 2k.

My one regret was having Gatorade a few hours before I started and I sipped the last of it on my bike leg, By the time I hit the running leg, my tummy felt like it had a rock in it, not a good idea, next time will be water all the way.

After getting congratulated by my family I headed back to collect my bike and they were not letting anyone in yet as there was still a cyclist out on the course, it was announced that it was a 79 year old lady who was competing in her first triathlon, so inspiring and she got the loudest cheer as she got off her bike.

My biggest supporters…. love these 2 with all my heart.

We were staying in a house nearby and the plan was to have a little birthday gathering. When I arrived back some friends of mine had decorated the house with Fit Fab Forty picture collages and it looked amazing. My brother also arrived with his 3 kids and my family and friends prepared a fantastic seafood feast with some salads and after guzzling some water, having a shower I had a well-deserved glass of champagne, in a specially selected glass.

It was a lovely relaxing meal, great company and I received some of the best presents. I had a fantastic birthday weekend, I am one lucky girl.

The week that Was – Shark Attack

Posted on January 13, 2013 by admin

A few things I am happy with this week, including the discovery of my WORD OF THE YEAR, which is “Staunch”. I must remain staunch in eating better, saying no to the bad things or having a small portion and the control to walk away from more. So far, my head is in a good place.

I also started tracking my food again on My Fitness Pal, every day, weekends included.

Monday – I realised that it was the first session of a 4 week course at Circus Bootcamp, yes you saw that correct, Circus Bootcamp. Circus Monoxide are a “half-high” circus offering classes from beginner circus/fitness to experienced Circus performance classes and toddler and kids classes. I purchased a deal off an internet site months ago and before I knew it today was here. The 2 hour class started with introduction of ourselves around the circle, there were 11 of us all together, then we went into some warm up games, followed by Yoga stretching, all of this taking about 30 mins, then it was time to learn some of the apparatus. 1^st was the “tissue’s” which are the 2 lengths of fabric used for acrobatics, I always use a P!nk Concert as reference and most people know what I mean. 2^nd was the trapeze where we had to learn to hang and swing. 3^rd was to get up into the seated position onto the trapeze. By the time we had all had turns and practice on these 3 apparatus, almost another hour had past. We then moved onto some hula hooping and finally stretching and before I knew it the 2 hours had flown by. So my performance was dismal, however, I sweated buckets and I know my HR was increased (will wear my HR monitor next week to check on my calorie burn). My mission of doing something new is accomplished, but with 3 more weeks of classes I have PLENTY of room for improvement.

Tuesday – A cardio session at the gym including 15 minutes on the Cross trainer and 15 minutes on the treadmill doing interval work 30 seconds walking and 1 minute running at 9 kph, followed by 5 minutes of abs.

Wed – I was invited by a swimming group to have a swim in Wollongong Harbour which is the course that I will be swimming when doing the Aquathon in a few weeks, so I jumped at the chance to train on the course. I completed 1 lap with about 4 other girls in a little pack which was comforting, I am still not fast but felt confident in finishing the 400m distance. Because I got there a little late everyone had finished their 2 laps and I had only done 1 and really wanted to do a second to feel like I had done a good training session. Another girl offered to watch me from the shore, so I headed off by myself, I got about 1/3 of the way and started to panic, not because I couldn’t swim, I had an “OMG swimming in a harbour alone and there could be sharks in here” moment, fucking stupid thought to have when you are swimming (excuse the language), but seriously you can’t control your thoughts and stupidity sometimes. A blessing came in the form of another swimmer zooming past me, then I had a “thank goodness, if there is a shark, he will get eaten first” moment, and all was good in the world. I think I need therapy.

A funny shark montage in honour of my irrational thoughts.

Thursday – I did another cardio session at the gym again with 15 mins on the Cross trainer and after chatting with my PT she suggested I do longer distances with my intervals on the Treadmill, so 1 minute walking and 4 minute runs at 8.5kph for 15 minutes. I did happen to mention I had never done a distance run of any substance on the treadmill so it was proposed to do 3k every time I came in to do Cardio until the Aquathon.

Friday – day of rest

Saturday – I headed into the Gym with the aim to do a quick warm up and then my weights program but the 3k challenge was eating at me and I wanted to see if I could do it. So here is how my 3k went down:
0-0.25k @ 5.5kph walk
0.25-1k @ 7.8kph (this felt like my w/up)
1.0-2.5k @ 8.0kph
2.5-2.9k @ 8.5kph
2.9-3.0k @ 9kph
So, in conclusion, my 3k time was 23.49min which apart from being a PB distance on the Treadmill, it was a record for me for a 3k in general. It is hard to compare outdoor running to treadmill but I am pleased about picking up the pace. In hindsight I should have stopped after 500m or 1k warm-up and stretched and started again and I think my time would have been even better, oh well there is always next time. I finished off my session with upper body weights and abs session. I was so happy and jumping out of my skin after his work out I felt great.

Sunday – no official workout but spent a few hours of the day at the local Show with Miss 3 and what a fun time we had. We went on the dodgems, the giant wavy slide 7 times (I secretly loved it too), the big bouncy slide, the harness trampoline bungee thing, side-show alley and a pony ride. We relaxed and enjoyed a donut whilst watching the horses in the arena (could not find a skim chai latte anywhere). For me there was lots of walking and walking carrying Miss 3 when she got whingey, plus 7 rounds up the stairs to the slide. It was fun, not many people there and not too hot. We got chauffer driven by hubby as he had to go to work for a little bit. A fun way to end the week.

: Giant slide, we both loved it.

Bungee Trampoline, she was a bit scared at first but once she got going wanted to go “Super High”.

The Week that Was – short and sweet

Posted on December 30, 2012 by admin

So to follow on from a fairly good week of exercise last week and with the interruption of Christmas and Boxing Day eat-a-thons, here is my week in short.

Monday – did a little swim in the lake, practicing open water techniques, for which I have no idea, in the afternoon I got back on my bike with cleats and had a much more confident 17k cycle.

Tuesday – Christmas Day – eat drink and be Merry

Wednesday – Boxing Day – eat drink and be more Merry

Thursday – rolled out of bed whinging about how bloated I felt, then when I stopped feeling bloated I ate some more.

Friday – back on the exercise wagon, short cycle to Ocean pool to meet up with a training buddy and my Personal trainer, 400m swim, 3k run (with hills), 400m swim, skim chai latte and short cycle home. Felt great to get such an awesome workout in before work.

Saturday – no exercise.

Sunday – 3x 500m in the ocean pool, came home and ate some more.

Can anyone see a pattern here? Although I managed a few good workouts, I am pretty sure they were voided by the eating. Evil chocolates are taunting me. I am hoping that with the New Year I will click back into being good. I am on the downhill countdown to the BIG 4 0 with about 6 weeks to go and although I am confident I am fitter and will complete my fitness goals (slowly but surely) I really want to see double digits on the scales – 99kgs here I come.

The Week that Was – New plan of Attack

Posted on November 26, 2012 by admin

So this week I started a new program planed out by my Exercise Physiologist Rob Botocchio , it works on a 4 week cycle, 3 weeks hard, 4^th week have an extra day or 2 of rest.

So this week went reasonably well with a few highlights.

Monday morning, I headed to the ocean pool for a swim in my wetsuit, I managed 200m and was feeling woozy with the added buoyancy. Managed to do 500m in total and was feeling really sick so got out and walked home. Upon discussion with hubby I mentioned using a weight belt to which he said, don’t use the wetsuit and “HARDEN UP”. Something to consider, if I must, lol.

Monday evening I did a workout with my PT, a bit of a light jog and some core strengthening exercises, nothing too hard, just a bit of a wind down after the NSW Indoor Rowing Champs on Sat.

Tuesday I managed to get to the Buggy Fit class run by my gym, this is an outdoor class where you can take your kids, they have a trainer to look after them and we get to run around. So the class this week involved a lot of interval running, starting with a warm up, then sand running, sprints, hill running and 1k time trial. I will be making the effort to get to this 1 more often.

Wednesday I had a day of rest which should have been a workout day.

Thursday I got into the Gym did a 10 minute warm-up on the Spin Bike and then 30 minute weight session, I would have stayed longer but Miss 3 was with me and had just about reached her limit in the kids play area.

Friday morning I met with Rob for him to assess my running technique and do a bit of a time trial. So after a 1 k walk/jog warm-up he set the clock and GPS for a 3k time trial. The outcome was all positive, apparently I have a pretty good running style which I need to maintain even when I get tired, and I did a 3k in 24:16 which equates to about 8min per Kilometre pace, my usual pace is around 8.45-9.05 per kilometre so a great PB, time to up the pace on my “shufflin”.

Saturday I left the house at 9.30am and didn’t get home until 8.30pm, a very busy day a brief catch up with some old Paintball buddies and then spent the rest of the day hanging out with some great friends. By the time I got home Miss 3 was crashed in the car and went straight to bed and I was pretty knackered and not far behind her. Not enough hours in the day for a workout.

Sunday in an attempt to make up for yesterday I headed out for a bike ride with a swim in the middle. I headed north which was has more hills and did a 9k cycle and a 500m swim in the ocean pool (without wetsuit). It was the first time I have ridden my bike since I stacked it, more about that here. Since telling people about my fall everyone has a laugh and says “oh you will probably fall off another 6 or 7 times before you really get the hang of IT”. “IT” being cleats and clip-in pedals. “IT” then gave me a huge dose of claustrophobia and anxiety when I was riding with a hint of paranoia. I felt like everyone or everything was going to jump out in front of me and make me crash. I was very slow, over-compensating by unclipping waaaay too early to avoid falling off. I am hoping that with each stack-free ride I will get back the confidence and lose some of my anxiety.

On the food front, my weekdays were pretty good with a little splurge on the weekend, but not over the top. I have cut down the sugar in my cups of Tea. Originally I used to have 2 sugars, and for about the last 4 weeks I was down to 1.5 sugars and this week I cut down to as much sugar as I can fit on 1 Teaspoon, I hope to level this out soon.

So here’s to next week stepping up and completing all my workouts and making smart food choices.

Try Tried TRIATHLON

Posted on October 7, 2012 by admin

I did it I did it, I completed my first Triathlon, here is my story.

The 2 nights leading up to my Triathlon I had great difficulty sleeping. If I woke up in the middle of the night, either of my own accord or by Miss “Almost 3”, I would have great trouble getting back to sleep. I had so much doubt in my mind. Would I be able to do it? What if something went wrong? Will my ankle hold up? Will I look fat in Lycra? Well I know the answer to that last 1 is “yes” but I had to ask the question.

The picture I was reluctant to publish, but this is me wearing Lycra. The suit was really good for the event, just not good for hiding the lumps and bumps.

To de-stress a little I arranged for Miss “Almost 3” to go to my Brother’s on Friday night for a sleep over with her 3 cousins, whilst hubby and I got a hotel room right where the triathlon was being held, walking distance. We had a very rare relaxing grown-up meal and I was alcohol free and in bed early.I got organised early and headed off to the marshalling area, as I was walking over I saw the start of the kids (under 10yrs) Fun Run 1k event, I was so inspired by the kids, 1 little girl was either exhausted or scared running towards the crowd and the Event Marshalls got her moving and helped her and it brought a tear to my eye and a giant cheer from the crowd.

All set up for transitions before the event.

It was a bit daunting not knowing what to expect with my first Triathlon; however once in the arena the organisers were very helpful and guided me to where I had to go. There were over 700 competitors in the Long Course event which involved 300m swim, 9k cycle and 3k run. What amazed me was that there were all shapes and sizes ages and abilities and to be honest there were some quite large ladies. Before the event I asked Hubby what he was going to yell out to cheer me on and he said “Run Fatty” which I thought was amusing, however once I saw the variety of competitors we both agreed this may not go down well.

With my Facebook friend Christine who I only met IRL a few months ago because of our like-minded goal of doing a Triathlons.

I was very pleased to run into a friend of mine who I met IRL a few months ago from a Facebook Group so we stuck together and headed to the briefing poolside. The swim was in an Olympic pool, zig zagging around buoys to complete 300m, at the start you could dive off the side of the pool, it was staggered at 2 second intervals however once in the pool everyone seemed to bunch up, the water was really choppy. Before I got in I noticed that plenty of people were doing breast stroke, back stroke and doggy paddle and some even stopped at each end to catch their breath. I don’t propose to be a great swimmer however I managed to mostly keep my head down and did freestyle the entire way, even though I was very slow, I was happy with my result when I got out.

Pounding out the swim.

I had no real plan of attack, however once I got out of the pool everyone was walking to the transition area, I decided there would be no harm in running a bit, so I got moving and ran what felt like an eternity to get on my bike. The bike leg is my favourite, I feel like it is more of a cruise, with more of a muscle burn than a lung burn. The first lap of the circuit my legs felt like concrete stumps struggling to get moving after the swim but the final 2 laps of the course I felt better. The weather was a bit drizzly so I was really really careful on the corners not to wipe-out. I really enjoyed the cycle.

Exiting the bike leg to hit the run.
Oh look I’m winning ………….. oh no I’m not, but I am still smiling.

I jogged my bike back off the road and parked it ready for my nemesis “running” leg. Because of my sprained ankle I had not run for 4 weeks until 3 days before the event so my running fitness was not as good as it should have been. I took the extra second to put on my Lorna Jane sweatband “Never Give Up”; it is funny how looking at that can truly inspire you. The first part of the run leg was horrendous, straight up a long gradual hill, legs still getting the hang of running after the cycling. I wanted to quit almost straight away, I just thought to myself, don’t keep up with everyone else and I shuffled along at my own pace. I had to tell myself I could do this, the first 1.5k just felt so long, but when I hit the turn-around I was a relieved to know it was half over and managed to find a spring in my step for the last half. I ran most of the way, only a few walk steps after the water table to have a quick drink and about 20 steps up a hill near the end, I picked up the pace again to run up the long gradual hill which was just before running back into the Athletic Centre where the finish line was, it felt like I was finishing a marathon, running down the straight of the athletics track towards the finish line, once I shuffled into the arena I had my trainers voice in my head which said, “leave nothing in the tank” I sprinted the last 150m to the finish line, even overtook some people.

Sprinting down the home straight.

I freakin’ finished, I was still in disbelief that I had done it. I was a little teary after the finish until I found hubby and gave him a big cuddle (he gives great hugs).

To be honest when I got the idea in my head earlier this year to try to do a Triathlon I had so much doubt I never really thought I would do it and I seemed to have a stack of obstacles thrown at me in the last few months, with a never-ending cough, full on sickness, 2 funerals with friends and family, hubby away for a few weeks and a badly sprained ankle, I think these things were sent to test my dedication. Once I registered for the event I was not going to let myself down.

I am pretty pleased and surprised with myself for finishing and now I know I could probably push myself a bit harder next time.

Finished and pretty proud of myself.

Update 9 Oct 2012 – So the results are in for the Triathlon Pink I came 681 position out of 774 competitors in the Long Course with a time of 1:09.57, pretty happy with that, I achieved my goal of not coming last, woohoo.

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