Tuesday 19 March 2013

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.

Monday 18 March 2013

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.

Wednesday 13 March 2013

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 :)

Tuesday 12 March 2013

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 .....