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!