Go hard BRICK and GM

Back Friday from another work trip! did no exercise whilst away so thought I would make it up in a single day.  So Saturday, Gussy, Jonesy and I attended the 7am swim session.  I thought it was a good hard session to find out, Jonesy had drafted and hence thought it was EASY!  Well missy, I was dying at the front, so consider that your last cruise and I will make sure I draft off you from now on!!

Then Gussy and I jumped on our bikes for a quick ride to Swanson and back, a couple of hills and undulations :), seems everyone is getting cheeky, Gussy zoomed past and whispered "is that all you got!".  I love it!  of course it meant I had to pick up the pace.

Back at base (Birkenhead pool) we transitioned into running shoes, Gussy drove down to the gym
and I ran (yes Im felling very virtuous).  We did our strength session, normally reserved for Mondays but we are both traveling next week.  Cricky almost killed us, we are weak as *^%!!!.

Glenn Miller Bank concert, it was awesome!

After the session I got a text from Liza to say her and mates were at the local cafe, so I ran down, OK some of the way! Gussy had dropped me off as she raced to the hairdresser.  But up until today (Gussy big mouth) everyone thought I was awesome cos I ran all the way.  But hey don't forget we had already trained for 5 hours so don't let a little 110m car ride diminish my efforts! Please :)

Saturday date night, I had brought us tickets to the Glenn Miller Band, but seems All Blacks vs France at Eden Park was on the same night!.  Buggar, oh not really I wanted to go to GM so it was a good job Liza stopped trying to give away our GM tickets, her dog box was getting bigger and bigger.  Hey and we both had a great time, right Liza my beautiful wife!  Better say yes ....

Im off tomorrow for another week, determined to do some running......back on Saturday ....

Sunday Ride

Ya wanna what?! Someone, not me, thought it would be a good idea to go for a 5hour ride round the hills.  Gussy and I slugged it out for 3 hours but happily left Camp Mother to do the full slog!.
We all looked very cool in our matching NZ Cyclist kit.  Check out my photo, Liza insisted to take it this morning. 

Hat off to CM, she took a leaf from my book! After we had raced up a series of hills, and I had pushed in the final stage to just beat her over the brow.  Yeah GO ME!.  When I was telling Gussy who was the winner, as calm as daisy's, CM says, "oh were we racing? I was just riding my new normal speed, were you racing?".  NICE, completely something I would say !!!

But you were so racing!, too bad I can only manage short burst eh !

Nice work all ....

Learning to Ride

Camp Mother and Jonesy (Learner!)

Since you live with us, it was always going to be inevitable .... get the bug and wanna learn to ride .....  And reminder ... you agreed without any input from me to get lessons from Camp Mother.  After all we already told you about the imaginary Dog!!

Borrowed bike (Cheers Gussy), helmet, shoes, shorts and tops (Cheers CM).  All set to go for training 101 with an awesome coach, Camp Mother!.

The first incident caused by slamming on the brakes, then thinking about removing feet from the pedals, buggar, splat! but no blood so all good. The second incident caused by removal on one foot from pedal, but fall the other direction, double buggar! this time blood oops :).  Don't give up, everyone does this at least once, it just means you already did the dum dum so all good from now ....

Night Runs

Gussy and Jonesy, someone looking a little nervous ??

Wednesday night, 6.30pm (so its dark!) and me, Jonesy, Gussy and Coach have entered a night run, tonight it is at Birkenhead Domain.  Thank goodness you get a free head lamp with a series entry, cos that's all the light you get!

We started out slow, expected given it is a single track, so you go as fast as the dude in front.  One lap is 6k so you can do 6k or 12k, but max time is 2hours.  Coach ditched us within seconds!, but we decided to hang together, after all we had done a test run on the Saturday and managed to get lost in the blinkin daylight, no one wanted to get lost in the dark.....

Jonesy and Me

Gussy, totally dedicated team mate took the lead! Awesome, unfortunately it meant when we hit the whole she feel in it first, so Jonesy and I managed to avoid it.  Nice work !!! great way to take one for the team.  I was next to go, following too close I couldn't see the track so instead of jumping the tree root, I fell straight over it and face planted into the track.  Only Jonesy to go ..... but no .... she was not doing the team thing at all !

We made it, and LOVED IT!

We absolutely LOVED IT and can't wait until the next race :)

Cycle for Life

Returned from Bangkok on Saturday morning, jumped on a plane to meet Liza and Gussy in Rotorua so we could go check out prospective holiday homes in Taupo.  We drove back the same night so we could race on Sunday in the 'Cycle for Life'.

Camp Mother and I headed away early as we were registered for the 107k race, Gussy and Liza would follow as they entered the 45k race.  Got to Clevedon, with only minutes to spare we got our bikes and raced down the muddy road to registration.  As we sat on the start line waiting for the gun we noticed wheels, brakes and gearing was all coated in thick mud gathered from the short ride from the car. I was relieved to hear CM suggest pulling out of the 107k and doing the 45k.  Im pretty sure things would have gone bad if I had raced around up and down the hills with failing brakes and gearing and she was thinking the same.

Winner ! our special prize giving

Take 2 - CM, Liza, Gussy and myself all at the start line for the 45k. We started out slow and not long before the first hill.  CM and I raced ahead, although that didn't last long, CM soon zoomed by on the down hill whilst I had a little girly freak out !!! Wet, slippery and no brakes, not loving this !!!!!!!!!!!!  The next time I saw CM she was heading back whilst I was still slugging out to the turn around.  Unfortunately I didn't realize it was a tail wind until I turned round and hit the blinkin head wind.  I played it cool when Gussy and Dean biked past, they had visions of catching up hehe, wait until they hit the head wind :)

Go CM, she caned it! 2nd woman over the line and first in her age group !!!!  Too bad it was a
charity ride, despite sticking around for prize giving, the was no mention of placings except for the overall winner.  So buggar that we had our own prize giving!

Poor Liza ... as we were bout to jump back on our bikes to go support Liza on her final leg, I got a call from a random number ... it was Liza who had borrowed another competitors phone.  She got a puncture at the 30k mark, yes she managed to change the tube as I had taught her, but unfortunately ended up with a suck tube with a short valve and her and many other passer bys were not able to blow the damn thing up.

My brother thinks I totally suck, the first race I got Liza into was 90k and now the second race was super hilly and she got another flat .... Im sorry my beautiful xxx

The Travelling Wanderer

A380

So for the first time in 3 years my work travel has suddenly taken a fast track, fantastic in that I may not drop as far as 'Jade' (Air NZ Status) and will even revert back to 'Gold' where I have enjoyed the luxury of Koru for some time.

Despite the business class and 6 star hotels, I swear it is work, work, work from the time I land to the time I leave.  So what did I see, well the airport, the hotel, and a couple of restaurants!

Me and a couple of colleagues

And yes, Liza and I are still in the honeymoon period so this was the first time we have been apart for so long (a entire week!)  Despite talking daily it was hard, although easier for me as I was consumed by work.

This trip was to Bangkok, where I have been before and it seems somewhere I may have a few more trips.

Local Food Store

concrete pills

Yeahup - maybe Carron has a point in this mornings email:

Tuned in for my Thursday update ..... oh thats right - You didn't ride !!!!!
Concrete pills are on their way by courier as I type.  

Kind regards
Carron

Sadly a late night at work, followed by a 5am text from Chris who had just got back to the hotel after a night out in Bangkok with her work colleagues, and I needed more than concrete pills to effect some "harden up" mentality today.

CM - promise to pedal my little heart out on Sunday when we complete the ride for life.

Jafa takes over the blog for a few days

Well, currently Chris is over in Thailand (Bangkok) for work. So to be fair, a bit tricky to do any major training, she will be lucky to fit in a couple of sessions in the hotel gym.

So I am hijacking her blog with an update on this weeks training by her extended support crew and training buddies.

Yesterday Camp Mother got all super keen and efficient (a pretty normal state of affairs for her to be fair!), and I was booked in to a spin class.  This was held at the local bike shop in Takapuna, Kiwivelo.  So this is a "flash-as" bike shop selling some really expensive bikes - so I was feeling somewhat intimidated!  I was running on time thank goodness, and when I got there, CM had us front and centre!  Yikes!  But I had a good view of the TV and the Giro d'Italia.  

The lady to my right was pedalling so frenetically her bike and wind trainer were slowly moving backwards! We did a lot of pedalling in the small chain ring, slowly moving up the gears and then going flat out before a wee rest and starting it all again.  I think we did this about 35 times....at least that is what it felt like when I got off and felt like my legs were wobbly!  I did seem to have some co-ordination issues geting myself back to the car carrying the windtrainer, and pushing my bike.  I got home and it was the best shower ever!

CM is determined to push me along, so I was commited to a 5:50am meet at the Quay St cafe to do a Tuesday morning ride along Tamaki Drive. This requires me to wake up at 5:15am.  And I would like to confirm that I am still not a  morning person.  I made it in time, and we met up with Yvonne too.  CM pushed all of us along to St Heliers, then we headed back, and CM did her little activities she needed to as part of her training, whilst Yvonne and I pegged it back a wee bit.  We headed back towards the city, then after about 10 minutes turned around and rode back to St Heliers and then turned around again to get back to the city.  

What a beautiful morning and spectacular sunrise.  Yvonne is a star and stuck with me as I progressively got slower and slower.  CM caught us up and helped drag us back to base, with a couple of speedy bursts.

My coffee this morning never tasted better - and it seems tomorrow is a recovery day (I translate that to a "sleep-in") and then Thursday CM is suggesting an even earlier start to go out with her bunch along Tamaki Drive and then Yvonne and I can peel off and do our own little set of hills whilst the bunch carries on.  Tune in for more updates on Thursday :)

I see a wall

I kicked her Butt, go me!

Went for a long ride today with Camp Mother, what can I say !!! did great for the first 2hrs 30 then I
had a repeat from Rotorua, hit a wall and before I knew it Camp Mother is screaming past me on the up hills ..... Bummer .... good for you CM!

I was so crap, after 3 hours I bailed and called in my support crew.  Thank you my beautiful wife, I love you heaps :)

A couple of Marathon Crazies

From left, G, Nana, Gusy, Me and Liza behind the camera

Another weekend away from home, this is about 8 in a row....but all for a good cause, we are in Rotorua for the marathon. Gusy and Nana are primed and ready to knock it off!.  Graham, Raff, Holly, Liza and I are support crew, however I have been talked into doing the half marathon first.

The weather was meant to be rain, rain and more rain !!! but we had perfect run weather, overcast and the rain held off until we all got back to the bach.  We stayed at the lake house an awesome bach on the edge of Lake Rotorua.  Fab views :)

An odd late start, the half kicking off at 9am and the marathon at 9.30am.  I started out in a steady run, I was hoping to do a personal best time, and that was looking good until I hit the 13k marker.  Then the legs caved and the rest was a crawl and push all the way home. 

Yup - I finally finished!

Felt like I had done a blinkin Ironman for goodness sake.  I was sooo happy to finish I went and spent $8 on a finishers medal.   Too dam tired to bike round and meet the girls, I meet up with Liza who had been on her own training ride round the lake, so we jumped in the car and drove round the course.  After a few hours we gave up and headed back to the finish line, for sure we would catch them there.  I am such a grap supporter!!

Nana knocked it over in under 5hrs and Gusy cruised in not longer after in 5hrs 30.  Nice work ladies ! Bring on an Ironman eh ?? :)

Well was easy bring on a IM!

Still running at 41k NICE

The girls looking fab and ready for another!

We are soft ... but thats OK

This morning Liza and I got up at 5.15am with full intention of meeting CM in town for a ride and a feed at the cafe.  As we got closer to the city the harder it rained.  In silence both Liza and I kept watching the wipers go faster and faster on the windscreen.  By the time we got to meet CM we had both decided riding didn't sound like much fun at all.

After some coaxing from CM we at least got out of the car, it did mean I had to give up my heated seat !!!.  In prior times I would have ridden, but it certainly was not appealing today ... so yup both Liza and I wished CM good luck with her ride, jumped back in the car and headed off.  Before we pulled out, CM came back with a change of mind ... but to her credit did text me later to say she decided to ride after all.  Go girl you are tough :)

In the meantime, we headed home where I cooked Liza scrambled eggs and we enjoyed a cooked sit down breakfast together .... I don't care if folks call me/us soft it was worth it :)

A pig in mud

Wah hoo ! my new wheels have arrived :) and I got them super cheap $400 off RRP. I know!. They are not deep dish racing wheels but they are a thousand times better than what I had and I can use them everyday.  In fact they are the same as the ones CM let me borrow for Ironman.

Yes, as the photo reveals I did put on tyres and tubes in the lounge :)  My wife loves me .... now I have brought a cassette but have opted to drop the granny gear to see how I go.  I even watched a you tube video on how to put on a cassette.  Need to build up the bike tool kit :) Buggar

Hill training 101

Yes Im still smiling!

Go wifey !  Im super impressed with your hill training efforts today, and look you even got a smile at the end.  Perhaps we should have made you do a few more hills on the way back to the coffee shop.

CM, Liza and myself headed out along Tamaki cruising along at a steady 29k.  And although Liza was drafting we were super impressed she was sticking with us, nice one!. At the end by St Heilers and up we go on the first hill, a lot of huffing and puffing but to be honest I think it was a put on, as you seemed to be fresh as a daisy when we finished and headed back to the cafe.

Anyway remember hills are great, they make you strong and tone your butt so you gotta love them! bring on more hills :)

Welcome Turbo Jnr

Hello I'm TURBO Jnr

Meet Camp Mothers new addition, Turbo Jnr.  He is a cute and playful bundle of fluff .. yes you heard it here I am a softy :)

Look whos a techno whizz

Look at me with my techno thingy! :)

The weather is so horrible, decided to ditch biking with KV and went for a run with Gussy.  Actually been for a few runs with her, including one day where my program said run 2hrs with Gussy, problem was I was only running cos I thought Gussy had a long run in her program.  But turns out they had changed it around, so approx 1 hr into our run I found out she only needed to do a short run. Buggar! I suggested we headed directly home, but unfortunately it was still a good 1.5hr run. Oh man!!!.  Coach you need to find a way to link our programs so when you tweak one the other updates!

On this run Gussy was excited to use her 'map my run' function, all good to keep track of speed and ks, however when you get back and find you were short a few ks. Someone (not me) decided to turn around and go for another run to round it up. In these situations the nifty techno suks!

Lizas blog

Covered in road grit and muck from riders in front

Let me set the scene, cold, wet, early morning so still a little dark and we are out riding our bikes, Camp Mother and I with VB and Liza on her own. Then to really show how crap it was take a look at my photo, that dirty stuff on my jacket is the grit and dirt off the road.

A series of texts were received:

6:36 ":( I have a puncture"
6:37 "Rear wheel. I am going to gas up my wheel and head back to the car"
6:38 "I cant change a flatty in the pissing rain"
6:41 "OK that was fruitless. Flat again already I will bike home I guess"

Followed by:

"Got on my bike to go for my ride along Tamaki Drive.

Started to rain.

Not a good start.

Got to Ngapipi Road and thought “what is that funny noise coming from the back of my bike?”

Stopped and sure enough had a puncture.

It’s now persisting with rain.

Swore a few times.

Put myself under a tree and thought hmm, how do I fix this.

I have no idea – never taken a back wheel off, and never actually changed a tube.

It’s still pissing with rain.

I am getting very wet and cold.

I am getting pissy with the rain, the cold, the bike, and the stupid traffic that keeps driving in the puddles and splashing water around.

In fact I am pissy with everyone and everything!!!

It’s still pissing with rain.

So I thought, well maybe it was a slow leak. I’ll gas it up and see if I can get back to the car.

Found out that Chris has thrown away my nice little black caps I had on my valves.

Pissy again – I liked them, they looked neat and tidy.

Bah humbug!

Used the magic gas canister.

Could her the Phsssst of the air coming out faster than it was going in.

<insert expletive here>

Got angry at the wind, the rain, the trees,  the leaves, and the stone in my shoe.

Put my gas thingy away. Sent Chris some texts but figured she was way too busy riding hills.

Walked back to the car parked in Tyler Street.

It pissed with rain the whole way.

Took me 35 minutes to get back and walking in cycling shoes makes you look like you have some sort of affliction.

Figured new cleats are cheaper than a new wheel hence I refrained from my temptation to ride down hill

Just as I was putting everything back in the car to pack up, Chris arrived looking bedraggled and muddy

Its stopped raining.

Damn you weather god.

So at least all was not lost – I had coffee and breaky with Chris, Carron, Clint and Andrew.

Stupid *&^%$ing puncture.

Stupid bike

Went to work, had a shower, warmed up and had another coffee.

Life is feeling not so bad now!!!

So there endeth my story.  Have a great day everyone!!!"

A new day

Sorry it has been a few days since my last post, the prior post had been in draft for sometime as I contemplated on whether to post it or not.

Liza and I had a great weekend in Raglan to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary Yay!, it was also an opportunity to review a budget.  Now last time we set a budget we blew it within 30mins by going out for dinner.  But this time WE are determined to stick with it.

Within our budgeting decisions, despite Liza already finding a way to pay for one of the operations, I decided that the personal benefits were insignificant to the other things we wanted to do in life and Im cool with that :) I mean its not like the excess skins inhibits anything I want to achieve!!!

And so begins a new day ... 

Got a spare 80,000 thousand?

Monday was NOT a great day for me!  For a while now I have been thinking bout whether to see a surgeon for removal of the additional skin left over from the old Chris.  Thank goodness for Nana nickers which cover from your bum to your boobs, I have no doubt these have prevented horrific injuries form flying body parts (best not to picture it!)

On Monday Liza and I went to see such a surgeon, he had a operating and recovery suite at their offices, slightly creepy reminded me of Nip and Tuck TV show.  Anyhow all good until we heard the price (hope your sitting down!) a mere $40,000 per operation and I was to need one for the stomach area and another for the top of the legs.

Crikey! I bet Liza had no idea how 'expensive' I would be ah!.  Well when we got home, I had a cry (knowing this was well out of reach) and ran as fast as I could for an hour or so .... a good workout but must admit the legs were a bit sore after.

No KONA this year :(

Kona lottery draw today at 5am.  Unfortunately it did not include my name, Buggar!

Only one person from NZ in the legend lottery (completed at least 15 prior Ironmans), good luck Roger King of Auckland!! You are clearly deserving after 15 Ironmans! Enjoy it.

Now I just need to work on my run and try to qualify off my own back in March 2014.  All I gotta do is drop my run time by a few hours, easy! Yeah Right.

XTERRA, Rotorua

Myself all kitted up

I decided to extend my recovery to the entire week, hence why I have been slack on updating the blog. But now Im feeling like I need to go hard ... and that kicked off with XTERRA this weekend down in Rotorua ... although this was to be a fun event as Liza had been invited through her work and I was the tag along.

We headed to RotoVegas Friday after work, registered and picked up our kit, then downed a reasonable amount of wine with our hosts.  Oh no! Sat morn and both Liza and I are waking up to Panadol.  A quick breaky around 6.30am then off to the Blue Lake.

Liza looking cool

Liza and I decided we would run/walk the 11k off road together, and for the first time we actually finished an event together, "hand in hand" crossing the line, although I secretly suspect Liza tried to slip her foot out in front just to beat me over the line.  It was nice but I can see this was the first and most likely the last time such an occasion would happen, after all we are both fiercely competitive !!!.

We had a great weekend, our hosts were extremely generious, as you can see by our cool kits which included addidas run t-shirt, tights/shorts and a puffer vest, the race pack had a hat and other goodies.  We ate and drank like royality and where grateful for the sleepin on Sunday morning before our leisurely drive home.

Another highlight for the weekend was a new wetsuit purchase, Blue Seventy had a stand at the expo with a range of demo suits and great specials.  So on the Sat after our race I slipped into my togs and tried on the recommended suit, of course it was a top of the line Helix.  A new suit with not much stretch it took a bit of effort to get into, only then to go for a test swim and be told it wsa too big.  So wet I tried to squeeze this not so slim body into a suit which looked like it wouldn't even fit my sister in law.  About an hour later :) I finally got it on and went for a swim.  Once it was on it actually felt really good and come off in record time, so SOLD.  Oh yes and I scored a brand new Helix for $400 off the price, normal RRP $849.  I will include a photo soon ....  

Slowing down B4 the Wall

On Monday I joined Gusy for an easy 45min run.  We were both feeling it from the weekend activities. To bad Gusy didn't notice she had an "optional" rest day until after she had agreed to run, always gotta read the fine print :) Hehe.

When I got home my legs felt like they had done an Ironman, not sore - but fatigued.  In the back of my mind I keep coming back to what coach had said, "it will take 3 months for the body to fully recover from Ironman, you can continue to push along and may even feel good, but soon enough your body will have had enough and you will hit the wall".  Im feeling that wall was near! I had been cycling 4 times per week, with running and swimming on top.  So ... after a chat with coach I now have the next 2/3 days off from training, I even went for a "not so relaxing" massage with super massseur, Juls.

Day one of rest .... wide awake at 5am! Nice.  But was awesome to rollover and snuggle for another hour :)

Event overload!

The gang, from left, Yvonne, Gusy, CM, Liza and Me

Still recovery from the "the flyer", today we are off to do the first race of the Run Auckland Series a 5k or 10k run. Nice!  A heap of us have signed up for the series with the "Koru Flyers", thanks Gusy! means we scored entry at half price and a sexy t-shirt!! check out our photo, don't we look cool!

I headed off with Gusy although she started at speed, passing a heap of people.  Must admit legs were a little tired from yesterdays ride, so as we approached the end of the second lap (5k) I decided that was good enough for me and bowed out.  I was pleased to do 5k at a good pace (29mins). It was fun cheering on everyone else!! Go CM, 100k yesterday and you still managed to run 10k! You do have some mightly big stones in your crit, go girl! I love it. :)  Gusy went on to complete her 10k plus another 2 laps, 15k in all.  Makes my 5k look a bit pathetic, you are well on your way to a good marathon in May!!

Liza and I were saving ourselves for an afternoon of hardcore gardening! Lucky Us.....

The 100k Flyer from Taupo to Rotorua

This weekend there are so many sporting events including Oxfam 100k walk, ITU Triathlon, King of the Bays Ocean Swim (with Jonesy and Gusy competing) and of course the Flyer 100k cycle race from Taupo to Rotorua.

Jonesy and Gusy at the photo booth

Joneys and Gusy did a great job at "King of the Bays", both knocking it off in under 60min and so proud of Jonesy as she held her ground, headed for the bouy despite folks swimming across her.  She gave as good as she got, Nice Work!  And they both looked like they had lots of fun! why did it have to be on the same day, oh man!

Camp Mother, myself and our wonderful support, my super wife Liza! all headed to Taupo on Friday after work for the 100k Flyer race the following day. The plan is to stay the night in Taupo, then on Sat morn CM and I ride to Rotorua, Liza to meet us there and then we drive home.  So we got to the hotel, had a very healthy burgar for dinner (carb loading you know!) then proceeded to layout gear in prep for the morning.  Squeals from the next room as Camp Mother realized she had left her cycle shorts at home, I know!  For someone who is normally so organized this is something unexpected.  Luckily she had told me to pack for all weather, so I packed long pants and shorts YAY! Go me :) Some spare shorts for CM.

Pre race, from left, CM, Liza and Me

Sat morn, despite the 10am start we were all wide awake early, so CM and I nipped down to the event centre for registration, then back to the hotel for final prep and breaky.  After a few photos we biked to the start line, where we checked out the start waves and debated which strategy to take i.e. start a group ahead and hence try to push yourself but risk getting dropped.  We started a group ahead, after all our plan was to go hard!

The first leg was out to Reporoa, a piece of road I knew well from Ironman, more downhill and generally with a tail wind. We were entertained counting the CANTAB Chris signs which were still standing on te roadside from Ironman almost a month prior, good sturdy signs eh!. We were in great form, keeping up with our bunch with a 35kph average, at times cruising along at 50kph.  We past several major crashes, one was on state highway 5 where cyclists were lying all over the road covered in blankets, a heap of bikes on the side and ambulances heard from afar. 

The rest of the race was an unknown for me, but I knew it had hills.  But turns out they were undulating with long downhills and gradual turns apart from one small section.  I felt good at 50k so continued to push on, seperated from CM.  After a while there were only two of us, a guy who I didn't know previously (Paul).  We pushed on together, I was determined to give it my all

Startline, Me

and leave nothing on the table.  He felt the same so we would race along and took turns on the front, I was surprised when we keep passing everyone, including people who looked to be fit and strong riders, but confirms just like Ironman there must be a mental qualitity??

Startline, Graham and CM

On a downhill there was a car being cautious not to pass another rider, unfortunately it mean't we almost rode into their boot!. So after a quick consult we decided to pass the car on the downhill, I know!  A few more uphill pushes, I think Paul was a little surprised I was able to keep up with him since he called me "a little ripper". I didn't realize we were so close to the finish line when he sneaked off in a sprint, I was stuck behind another cyclist but managed to pass and gunned it to the line, racing another guy who had hooked onto us around the 90k mark.  He pipped me, but I didn't care.


Let the results speak for themself, 100k in 3hrs 2mins, avg speed 32.6kph, 26th female home and 6th in my category.  Im pretty happy with that! :)

CM was please with her result, smashed her goal time and gave it her all! Which to me desires respect as I love people who have got a bit of grit! Well done!

Race recovery, from left CM, Graham and Chris

Here are my full Garmin results:

Missed the Memo

Water logged! from left Camp Mother, Liza and Katie

Its raining, and not just spitting, its "proply" raining! And who should show for this mornings ride with VB, well certainly no one from VB, we must have missed that memo!  Only hardcore Quay St riders and Liza showed this morning.  Admittedly both Katie and I had texted Camp Mother hoping for a golden pass, but none was being offered, Buggar!  So rather than allowing an opportunity for Camp Mother to mock us we both showed.

Water from all directions, but the worst is the spray from the back wheel of the person in front as it includes road crit and muck NICE.  But the coffee and cooked breaky was worth it!!

My apologies ...

I will consider myself told off! Seems I have a following of readers who are not pleased I have been a slack bum and not posted since mid-March.  So here you go, a mix n match of the last few weeks and I promise to stay regular :)

Going to HELL, they have nice pizza.

Our house fit/fat camp is not going well, we were to lose weight but it seems we all put more weight on, and it wasn't muscle!  Perhaps the photo evidence (Pizza Night) could help to explain why ?? Despite the relapse for fast food, at least we have all picked up on the exercise front.  Liza has taken to riding 3 times per week, Tuesday and Thursday morning and a coffee ride in the weekend.  And when possible sneaks for a round of golf.  Awesome work babe!

Coffee Ride, from left Gusy, Camp Mother, a "ring in" and Liza

Prep for Swim at Takapuna

Its hard work trying to line up 3 different training schedules, Camp Mother has her cycle program, Gusy is currently training for her marathon and I have my own program to maintain fitness and improve running.  On a Sunday I try to take a look at everyones program and lineup where possible.  So been riding Tuesday, Thursday with VB, Wednesday with KV and Sundays with NZ Cyclist.  Running on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday or Sunday.  Lucky work is off to a slow start, as I need those afternoon naps :)

Helensville Toilet Stop

Did my first long ride with NZ Cyclists on Sunday, a great excuse to get out of gardening over the long weekend.  But seems the working party also took a break but they watched movies ... buggar.  Anyway I did enjoy our 90k ride to Helensville and back, even enjoyed the compulsary stop at the Helensville toilets.  The ride was a lot faster than previous times, everyone has improved! And all have the team gear, whilst I stick out like the "odd fella", in my orange vest.  It was also the first time I have caught up with the troops since I ditched them for the long solo rides for Ironman buildup.  I was great to share stories!

Still enjoying the food recovery

Joined the Kiwivelo ride this morning, a pathetic effort on my part! I was having trouble concentrating so rather than do something stupid and take out the entire bunch I quietly moved to the back, then spent the rest of the ride merely trying to hold on.  If it wasn't for Camp Mother being on the ride I would have bailed and panced out after the first 20 minutes.  We have the 100k Flyer in the weekend so perhaps I should ease off so we can go hard on Saturday!

Gusy and I joined Bethan for a lunch time ocean swim.  Bethan is so ready for her "King of the Bays" swim on Saturday.  I tried to prepare her for a bit of rough which always happens when swimming in a group.  First she merely laughed when I swam over top her, then she smacked me round the head! Nice one!.  I always say "give as good as you get".  Her and Gusy will kick ass in the water on Sat and Camp Mother and I will kick ass in the Flyer.  GO US!

Just keep pedalling ...

This morning I joined Camp Mother to take on the Kiwivelo group ride. Last time I joined them for the Christmas ride I was dropped after a mere 10 minutes, admittedly we didn't realise there was a slower group which left at 5.50am.  But from the stories I have heard, keeping up with the "slower" guys is going to be a challenge.  Great, can't wait :)

It's dark (some might say probably dark) with a little chill in the air, for the first time in a while I wore arm warmers and a wind vest.  This route is different to our regular tues, thurs. Predominantly flat with some undulations, no major hill work.  So as expected, from GO it was fast!  Going up undulations was as fast as going along the flats.

I was a pansy on the downhills (I mean downward undulations) and in my defence I think I can be a little cautious when you can't see the road cos it's dark!.  For me it meant I had to go hard to catchup and every now and then I would cop some flak from those behind me, actually nobody said anything but I sense they were near.

Certainly no time to take a sip from your drink bottle, although I desperately needed a sip there was  no way I was taking a risk of getting dropped, that's for sure!  I felt for CM who led the bunch of 20+ most of the way under the watch full eye of Lance, who you would see give a little wave every now and then, indicating to speed up.  I was strategically positioned behind Lance, DRAFTING :) go me!

Going guns, I was chatting to a 72 year old who was cruising along side. I swear my chain jumped off the big chain ring without any influence from me, but it did allow an excellent opportunity to catch a few breaths and fall to the back.  Thanks to tips from Anton I knew what to do, simply changed gear to pickup the chain whilst on the go.

Success! Both CM and I hung with the group for the full ride. Loved every minute so will be back next Wednesday for sure.  I have to admit I was a nana, and had a wee nap on the couch whilst I was eating breaky.

Just keep running ....

I'm determined not to let my run fitness drop off, so when Bethan (new house guest and training buddy) offered to come for a run with me this morning, I thought why not.  After all I have been training for a while now and did a marathon recently.  I certainly wasn't expecting to get an ass kicking!

Bethan aka Jonesy

On the cards was a 60min run, with 4x 30sec up tempo (increase the cadence).  We headed off from home up a few hills (undulation) just to tire her out, then we kicked in with the up tempos.  I kicked off thinking I would make a little head way, but NO! I could hear her on my shoulder then just as we were finishing off she speed up to over take me!!! Same repeated for the next two up tempos, despite my best effort she blinkin past me again.  BUGGAR this, I saved the final up tempo effort for a good up hill leg, surely I could maintain a lead, surely!!  Unfortunately I started to get tired so we didn't reach the top of the hill, but I made sure she didn't get a chance to overtake so called the finish line early.  Yay I finally won!

Goodness me, I need to keep up this run training, I mean Bethan aka Jonesy, has only been back run training for a few weeks as part of our house "fit camp", was "fat camp" but we didn't like this name.

Girl Guide Biscuits ... yum yum !!!!

I feel like Im losing my mojo, but I expect it is due to being back at work.  After two months of NO work and prior to that one month part-time, this whole working full-time is just not working with my preferred life style.  It has been one week and one day back at work. This morning I struggled out of bed at a casual 9am, lucky I only have to wonder down the hall to start work in the home office!.  This is not like me at all, normally I am wide awake at 6am or earlier.

Enjoying a Guiness

On a more exciting note, Liza brought me an unexpected gift.  An entire box of girl guide biscuits AWESOME!  And on Sunday I celebrated St Pattys Day with mates, unfortunately I had to wear the Pukey hat due to last years efforts and despite my best endeavours I wasn't able to pass it on this year. Man o man.

New cycle group ...

Whilst I have been off riding 6+ hours on my own, Camp Mother has found us a new regular (Tues, Thurs) group to ride with, Velo Boutique or VB for short.  There are more people and they ride just as fast up the hills as they go along the straights so this should surely make us stronger!!  They wait at the top of hills and if your falling behind you may feel the 'hand of god' on your back pushing you along. i.e. one of the strong guys pushes you along at great speed and gives you a final shove where you find yourself shooting past everyone else :)

Kit with fluro, even matches the bike!

Today was my second ride and Im seeing some conflict on the no fluro rule, but obviously it is ok if it is part of your sexy matching kit, I will try to get a photo! 

Yes coach I am sticking to my one hour ride time, its great cos I miss the final hill and are first in line for the coffee orders at the cafe. Today was a special treat as Liza got out on her bike, then met us at the cafe later.  Always nice to have a pretty face to look at :)

A new challenge ....

Finish line NZ Ironman 2013

Im back !

Some people are surprised but most are not, including my wife (Liza).  After finishing the 2013 NZ Ironman in a time I never thought possible, and being able to do it with realitive ease, the Ironman blues started to kick in.  So I needed to set new goals and unfortunately anything less than an Ironman felt like training and a short term goal.  I needed a BIG one!

On reflection, I had already started to make plans when I entered the lottery for the Kona Ironman, a 1:800 chance of winning a slot so Im not confident to get one.  But you gotta be in to win eh!  What better than to top a NZ Ironman, but to repeat an Ironman on a lava field, overseas and at the ultimate Ironman World Champs in Kona.

There are 3 ways for which I could try to get an entry, the first is to buy it on eBay however given there are only 4 slots sold in this way and in 2011 they sold in the range of 45k to 60k USD each, I dont see this as a viable option.  The next is the lottery which offers 100 slots to anyone wanting to enter and who has/will complete a qualifying race prior and thirdly you can qualify by being top in your age group, Yeah Right! I only need to go 3 hours faster.

So what to do ?? well it would seem the NZ Ironman 2014 is the 30th anniversary and as such, additional Kona slots are up for grabs.  50 allocated to age group qualifiers and an additional 10 as lottery open to all who are in the event, bringing those lottery odds down to 1:140.

On Friday I met with coach, when she asked if I would do another, I merely smiled, she laughed her ass off.  But I needed to check could I repeat an Ironman but significantly reduce the impact on family, friends and work i.e. I couldn't take another 3 months off work.  Her reply was muisc to my ears, it seems I have the base so can focus on maintaining this, then kick in the hard training 5 weeks out from race day.  Which we would plan this peak training around work etc... That was all I needed to hear before taking my plans to the wifee for the stamp of approval.

To be honest, I suspect Liza was expecting it and with my puppy dog eyes and the sight of me being so happy to do IM, I was a shoe in :) The green light given, I signed up for NZ Ironman 2014 yesterday and so the journey begins .....