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I'm not officially signed up yet but I'll get round to it when the finances allow!
As for accommodation, last year D74 and I stayed at DeBretts. He camped in his super campervan and I stayed in one of the cabins. I'm going to book myself in again, most likely Wednesday to Monday. Registration is on Thursday and the awards night (which I recommend, the curry last year was primo) is on Sunday. If you need extra tickets for supporters (you get yours in your race entry) then I suggest you get them asap as they do sell out.
DeBretts isn't particularly close to the events centre, rego venue nor IM start/finish but it does have hot pools and spa facilities for a small fee. It's very quiet too, which is always a bonus when you need to get to sleep early and at this year's event there were IM competitors next to my cabin.
As for training, suffered a motivational issue yesterday but managed to get through both sessions (swim am, run pm). Swam my 3km set and ran 7km. This week is an easy week. Hooray! Tonight I have two bike/run sets of 20min/10min.
Well done on getting the sessions done yesterday despite lacking motivation Ally. Hope this evening's double goes well..
Jaggy's doing it too. Pirate numbers creeping up slowly
Follow the pirate tradition and start a list:
aandersnog
Ally Bally Bee
Jaggy
Troglodytes
Supporters:
Mrs Snog and Eileen the Minisnog
Assorted friends of Trog's (I hope!)
Armchair Supporting from UK:
Happychap
XFR Bear (if someone can lend him an armchair, otherwise an ordinary chair will have to do)
Have had a slight change of plan re today's training. I have to go to an auction at 4.30pm (a wildlife park is being sold off in a mortgagee auction, big news, was even on telly last night) so I made a deal with my chief reporter. I go to the auction which is in training time if I can do training in work time.
Really it means I take a longer lunch break, get training done and work late. Don't mind really, except it does mean more people will see me on my turbo than normal (have to set it up in work garage which is the main route to lunch for the 300 people who work here!)
Hope you were wearing your best Lycra for them
All seasons would be a better bet out of the two although I've not stayed there before. The location looks good but is probably the same distance from the start/finish as Debretts.
Debretts is very close to the events centre for the carb party/awards night but the other benefit is when you come to leave the centre most people will be going the opposite way (ie back down spa rd into town, instead of left along the back roads to Debretts).
Best run ever! Usually run 6:15min kms but on my run sections I ran 5:45min kms!
And I had a good swim this morning. 12 x 75 build-up plus 1km pull with first 250m drills and last 250m modertae pace.
But it's raining now and I have a 3 hour bike tomorrow. Hope it's a bit drier.
Don't you just love it when you have a really great training day?
All your hard work is obviously paying off. Fingers crossed for a break in the clouds for your ride on Saturday Ally.
No ill effect from yesterday's massage, apart from a few finger-tip shaped bruises on thighs and a massive invisible bruise on right calf.
Lovely day today, sunny but not too hot. Good bike this morning, just under 3hrs and, for the first time ever, I recorded an average speed of 15mph
Route was gently undulating and though I slowed quite considerably over the last few miles I'm really pleased to have hit that small target. Probably largely due to Happychap leading the way for most of the time so thanks for that. Achieved some other firsts too - managed to eat a couple of snacks without having to stop or dropping half of them on the road and successfully removed feet from shoes to achieve a shoeless dismount at the end. I should say approach to home is gentle downhill so didn't have to actually do any pedalling while unstrapping.
Then this evening a speedwork session - 4 x 1000m which also went well.
Racing on Sunday - a sprint - so will probably just swim tomorrow though might do a gentle bike too, depends on the weather.
The end of lap 2 at IMNZ involves a left turn then quick right turn into T2 so I would suggest taking feet out on the main stretch through town (as it's straight).
Have a good race on Sunday!
I've had a couple of near misses with my new bike. The set up is different to what I'm used to and the seat is higher up than my last bike (riding in TT position).
It means when I go to stop and put my foot down I wobble a little bit - and I have to be sure I'm on a flat piece of road too!
Good ride there Trogs. We did pick the pace up this time and it's good to see it's paying off with increased averages.
Loved the new route as well.
I've never been brave enough to try the shoeless mount and dismount
200 days to go.
Good race on Sunday and did actually try to race it. Swim was ok, bike was pretty good (for me) though it did take me 3-4 miles to get into decent rhythm, run was moderate which suggests to me that I was actually working hard on the bike (av pace 15.5)
Tri club swim tonight was pretty good too. Decided to try to really concentrate on tequnique rather than trying to get through the entire programme. As a result only did 1.7k but could definitely feel when I was getting stroke right.
Glad you enjoyed it - makes all the training worthwhile when you get to put it all together.
Everything is going well here. I've upped my vitamin c intake to 3g a day to try to ward off the lingering bugs that everyone else seems to have - don't want to miss another two weeks of training.
I noticed my calves were getting a bit tight so have started using my massage roller in earnest (and it hurts!) and applying the antiflamme (a must for all athletes) more often.
The weekend was good. I did 70km on the bike, first half into a strong headwind but great on the way back. Took 2:30 so was quite pleased. Ran 1hr on Sunday but only managed just under 9km due to tight calves.
On Monday I had a 3km swim set, including 6x400m with 2 easy 2 moderate and 2 threshold. Was pleased with times. I'm not particularly fast but I got faster during the session. And after work I had a 45 min run. Legs were less tight due to massage roller and I did 7km, which I was quite pleased with.
Today I have already got my 90 min bike (on trainer) out of the way (but I did have to get up at 4am!). I have a shoulder and back massage after work and then I'll go home and work my core and use the roller again on my calves.
Really enjoyed the race on Sunday and felt like I was flying all the way round. Was actually quite disappointed with swim and bike times as it felt much faster than it turned out to be.
The good news is the swim technique was a lot more solid than normal, speed should come later!
I've also officially been diagnosed with Sciatica which is a bit of a bugger. Been referred for physio which will hopefully help. Been struggling for a little while so it's finally good to have something diagnosed and treatment in the offing.
Thanks for the tips. I mentioned my calves to my massage therapist last night and spent more time on my legs than my back. It was agony. And I really mean agony. There were tears welling in my eyes when she massaged my anterior tibialis.
She told me to use the roller every day as well as the antiflamme and eventually they'll come right. I have a 60 min run tonight (and she said flat only) so we'll see how they are then. The legs were rather tender this morning that's for sure.
Everything else is going well though. I had another 3km swim today and my 200m sets were faster than usual. Still not as fast as they were pre IMNZ08 but my technique is much improved.
Make sure you do gentle stretching as well - downward dog position is perfect for calf stretches. Don't do any dynamic stretches or bounces as you might cause an injury.
Re the vitamin C, I read of a recent study that found people mega-dosing on vitamin C tend not to benefit so much from the effects of training. 3g is a pretty large amount of Vit C, you might want to check on this. On the other hand...I take 500mg vit C and glucosamine/chondroitin daily. After reading about the study I stopped the vit C for a few days and promptly got a mild cold sore, so I'm back on it now! Hard training knackers your immune system so look after yourself if it's winter, people have colds and you're doing heavy training sessions!
That would be me, looking pretty awful too I imagine as it was a hard day.
There were three of us from the forum (D74 and AndyS) but I was the only one in pirate kit.
Legs are feeling like magic, as if I've got a new pair. My stretches are pretty gentle and I don't overdo the massage roller. My anterior tibialis muscles are probably the worst, I have tears in my eyes when I use the roller on these but I know it will only be this way until they loosen up.
As for the Vit C - I'm only doing what my coach told me to! I don't question his ideas other than to ask how they will benefit me. Everyone else around me has had flu or heavy colds at least twice this winter. I'm still feeling fit as a fiddle having only had one such cold. Mind you, one of the pharmacy girls told me to be careful with the Vit C as it might interfere with some other vital non-baby pills. Good job I only see my husband on weekends!
Hey Trogs! Where are you?
Better not have skipped training!
We are almost into spring (yippee) and the days are getting longer, warmer and less wet.
Fear not Ally, I'm still here and training; just haven't got around to reporting back this week. Our days are getting shorter all too quickly and though it's still warm, summer has been a bit of a non event this year.
So, bit of a patchy training week. Couple of swims, one pool, one ow; couple of runs, one speedwork (7x300m plus 1x1200m), one slow almost 14 miles; one 2:20 bike (34miles) and today my longest ride to date at 4:15 for 55 miles. It was definitely an undulating route including a climb up to the highest point in Surrey. It also felt like there was a whole lot more up than down - how does that work? Having said that, I did feel pretty comfortable, generally, for most of the time. Hopefully Vitruvian will be slightly less undulating and I'll be able to maintain a slightly faster pace than today.
Seemed to get my nutrition strategy about right through most of the ride but tailed off eating/drinking towards end. Still haven't worked out the best way to carry Powerbars in such a way that I don't fall off the bike trying to unwrap them or ending up with a solid sticky block of bars too large to handle. Did find them reasonably edible though - at least the raspberry/cream ones. Also High5 gels/drink which are provided at Vit so that's good news. Will start testing out the Powerbar gels once IM training proper starts. Seem to remember trying one during marathon training several years ago and finding it particularly
!
Will either have a day off or a gentle swim tomorrow.
Excellent work.
I don't use the IM nutrition - I prefer to take my own stuff so I'm not relying on them having what I want. I train using the myoplex bars as a pre session snack and some Aussie Bodies energy drink. Then during a session more aussie bodies and some muffin bars.
This last week was a moderate week for me and was about 13 hours I think.
Total of 8km swimming (2.5 hours), 6:15 biking (but 4hrs on road, 97km), and 4hrs running (38km ish).
Planning to carry a variety of food with me too but thought that if I can use on course nutrition it might make life a bit easier. Suspect I will be bringing a supply of malt loaf and marmite with me to NZ.
You can keep the marmite but any spare malt loaf is always appreciated!
I've a friend who's taking part in the world champs at Almere this weekend and I've given her a little list - malt loaf and fig rolls!
On the run there were potato chips, pretzels, oranges, bananas and the usual sponsor stuff. They used pepsi though, not coke, which apparently has a different sodium content.
Raspberry cream Powerbars - YEUCHHH
! I had one of those around 40km in IM France this year and it kept haunting me all the way to the first half of the run...Never again!
Vegemite sandwiches in your bike special needs bag, that's my top tip!
Never tried vegemite, that's what the marmite is for though. Can't eat bananas at all if running; has wholly undesirable effects. Haven't tried running after powerbars yet so will be testing that out at Vit. Not too fond of pepsi either, though used to drink copious quantities of coke (but only if it had bacardi in it
)
4(ish)k ow swim this morning. Took a while (1:40) and really had to concentrate to maintain any kind of decent stroke over last 1k. Wanted to get the distance done before venue closes for the winter in about 3 weeks time and I get confined to a pool until about a week before the main event. Shoulders ache a bit now. Hopefully six months of pool work will consolidate/improve technique and swim strength.
Gentle run planned for this evening.
Hey Trogs,
You may start to like the Pepsi, especially in the last half of the mara (that's when I switch to Pepsi/coke). It's the sugar that gets you through (that and the thought of 21km being between you and a nice medal).
Your 4km time is actually quite good for where you are right now. You still have a long time to work on your technique. I did a couple of 4km swims in the pool as I couldn't get to the lake very often. If you arrive in NZ before the Saturday prior to IM you could always enter the Across the Lake Swim (canned this year due to rough weather). It's 4.2km and very well patronised by IM competitors, school relays and other mad folk.
Don't forget also that your IM swim will most likely be faster due to the drafting effect and currents. The swim exit is close to the Waikato River so you get a little bit of a boost coming back to shore as the river sucks the water out of the lake. The current isn't the fastest it can get as they close the control gates for the swim.
And spring is almost here, well I'm feeling as if it's spring even though the offical start of spring date hasn't passed (September 1). It's getting lighter earlier, darker later and I only have to wear two layers of clothes at work instead of the four at the height of winter.
Blue skies outside, now just got to wait for the bay to warm up so I can dip my toe (will probably have to wait until early November for that!).