Tuesday 29 September 2015

The Book of Horrors

Chapter 1. Back in the Pool

It helps having a training buddy to drag me to the pool. Yes this battle is still ongoing but after being told that every triathlete hates swimming I felt that excuse was no longer valid. Last week Larna and I moped our wedgied tog covered asses to the pool and smashed out a decent 1km swim. I felt pretty good being back in the water and I may have enjoyed pushing myself in this session.

What happened next was terrifying.

I had a great meal and was doing really well with my nutrition. Oh, no wait, AFTER that.


Chapter 2. The Spins

Wednesday morning I woke up suddenly at 4am with my room spinning out of control. Ever had that feeling when you've had a few too many wines and when you lie down you stop moving but the world doesn't? Well it was like that but without the fun of the wine. 
After a morning of falling over and walking into things (more than usual) I went to the doctor. BPPV was my diagnosis. 

BPPV. Sounds like an STD. It's not.


2 days spent in bed meant I missed my RPM classes (big sad face) and couldn't train. Friday I was back into it but after a run with Larna figured out things weren't as simple as this easy diagnosis. I went to see Fiona at Proactive and she untwisted my neck giving me back a bit of stability. Thanks to her and Maddie I'm getting back on track.

Darren from Cafe Refuel was the light of my dark week with his present to help out my training. 
A whooooole lotta sugar! And some Replace supplements.

Chapter 3. Discipline

After a rubbish week of training, getting back into my weekend big sessions was not an easy feat. Wellington put on its finest weather display of hail, wind and horizontal rain and bed seemed like a better idea than going outside.

Here's how my weekend panned out.

I manned the f*ck up and I trained. I did 90 mins on my bike on my trainer in my lounge and I ran for 80mins in the rain and blistering cold wind. I hated every second of it. 

But I did it.

Realising that running in the rain and wind wasn't my idea of fun, I turned to the treadmill for a hills session a few days later. Courtney and I ran and laughed, we laughed and ran. We pushed the incline, we tested our speed. And while she yelled motivational quotes to push the last few strides, I hung over a rubbish bin trying not to lose my breakfast. 




Chapter 4. Work, Work and More Work

Here's where I lost it. The plot thickens. 
With just 10.5 weeks to go, close out week hit. This is the last week of a sales month where stress levels get high, the pressure is on and long story short, I worked my ass off. My training suffered. 
Something pretty huge that came of this week was that I got the courage to admit to Emma when I'd missed a session. Or 2... It means I'm not lumped with training I can't handle the following week. It means she can adjust things for me so I don't put myself at risk of injury, or burn out.

I also hit my budget, which means I can at least now buy a wetsuit!


Chapter 5. The Soul Destroying Session

With sales month over and celebration hangover faded, I felt it was time to readjust my priorities. There's nothing like a long hilly run to heighten your awareness of 2 shit weeks of training. 
Again, having a training buddy was crucial to getting through this session. Larna (my training saviour) and I spent our Sunday afternoon battling "spew mountain" followed by another 12km of whinging, quitting and tears. That was just me. Larns was amazing. 
This is a session I will look back to. An important page in my training book of horrors. It contains moments that I will look back to when race day becomes too much. Moments that hurt, that seemed too hard to get through, moments that I did get through, moments that didn't kill me. 

Top of Mt Victoria. The smiles are fake. We ran another 10km after this. BOOM!

Next race day is Sunday 4th October with another Scorching Duathlon. It's gonna be a good test of how much fitness I've held onto over these past challenging weeks. Course: 8km run/36km cycle/4km run. Goal: 2hrs30 and no injuries.

Wednesday 16 September 2015

Learning From Every Mistake

Races are just training sessions you pay to do.

To take the pressure out of race situations, I've been using them as training sessions. The big day is a mere 12 weeks away so these little races are just an excuse to put my training into action, push myself a little harder than normal and practice nutrition.


There are many reasons you practice things before the big event. Here's a few things I've tried and tested - what works and what doesn't.

Eat at least 2 hours before racing/training
I actually mastered this one a few months ago after the need to sprint to the nearest toilet to relieve a "code brown" 3km into a run. Running causes things to move. Always eat early, and always have a pitstop BEFORE the race starts.

Oats for breakfast
Oats are easy to measure out, easy to stomach, easy to digest and don't sit heavily in my stomach. They're slow release carbohydrates and don't leave me feeling lethargic. You know what doesn't fit that criteria? The banana and almond milk smoothie I left in the bush just after Waione Street Bridge at the 20km mark of the Pelorus Trust Half Marathon. 


Wear clothing that won't chafe
Previous blogs would suggest I should have learned this lesson months ago too. Thanks to the amazing team at Lululemon, I didn't need to stress about this one. These amazing girls kitted me out with shorts, a sports bra and a lightweight singlet perfect for race day. Check me out! The machine next to me is Emma (my coach, race buddy and idol).

Chafe free outfit thanks to Lululemon Athletica Wellington
Hydrate before, during and after
This one I thought I had down pat. Drink when thirsty. Yeah, not quite that simple. 
Playing catch up on thirst isn't the way to go about it. I started the race with some minor dehydration which meant I felt the need to stop at every drink station and top up my already stagnant smoothie with even more liquid. Lesson here is drink plenty the night before, include electrolytes. Drink enough to top up with breakfast (about 500ml) and pace it throughout the race. 

Use food/gels that your stomach can handle
Rule number one. Don't try new things on race day. Especially gels. Gels are basically made from pure sugar and provide a fast carbohydrate top up when fuel is needed. Because they are so rich, always consume them with fluid as they can sometimes cause gastric upset (thats the most PC way I could describe it). They can make me very gassy, or worse. 
Gu gels for me so far have been great. So naturally, I took a Balance gel with me in the half marathon, without water. Tasted great. Let's leave it there. 

Wear Sunscreen
My tan in the above photo is from a bottle. I am naturally a translucent white. Why I didn't wear sunscreen during this beautifully sunny day, I don't know. 

Be aware that race pace is often faster than training pace
I found myself getting frustrated when I couldn't hold my pace under 6min/km in the later stages of the race. I was tired and struggling more the harder I pushed to hold it. It was in a "f*ck this" moment when I slowed to a walking pace that I realised I had been training at around 6.20min/km. Of course my body was going to be struggling! I gave myself a few more steps to slow my heart rate and stretch my calves before I picked my run back up to a 6.10min/km pace and sat there happily, praising my body for what it was going through. 

Have a support crew waiting at the finish line
The last km of this race was agony. My stomach was churning, my calves burning and I felt I had nothing left. Until I saw my Personal Trainer pointing a camera at me. Suddenly I smiled, lifted my feet a little higher, increased my stride and ran the last 500m with Scotty on my heels. His last min encouragement, telling me I still looked strong, was enough to push me over the finish line in 2.09.54. Thanks Scotty!
It's a PB and all things considered I'm pretty happy with the time. 

Approaching the finish line






Monday 7 September 2015

On Your Marks, Get Set...NO WAIT! I'm not ready.


I have a mental battle with myself before every training session.

Every excuse I could possibly come up with will tempt me back to bed. Tempt me to stay within the warmth and safety of my duvet. Urging me to nestle back into my pillow and "do it tomorrow instead".
Sometimes my head still wins, but more often than not I've dragged my lazy ass out of bed and am out the door before my head realises what's going on. 

Except for swimming. I still hate swimming. 

The sessions where I win the battle are always the best. 
This blog was started to remind me of my entire journey though, not just the best sessions. I write this to remind me that I've survived the worst moments too.

The moments where I look like this...


Can you guess what I wanted to say to the camera man?


About a month ago I was gearing up ready to race my first duathlon. Taupo had given a me a new excitement to race and I was nervous but excited to get stuck into race season.

A little dabble around Scorching Bay with a 2k run/12k cycle/2k run/12k cycle/2k run. Seemed pretty easy, but the night before stress got the better of me. On top of the bigger stresses came the stupid excuses. Where will I park? What if I can't get my bike in the car? What if I can't find the registration tent?
It's not often my coach (Emma) will tell someone not to race, but through the waves of insanity (which turned out to be a 2 day migraine) I managed to read the text telling me to rest. To take an easy week and reset. 

Turns out this was pretty amazing advice. Emma re-wrote my programme and eased me back into training. We built back to long runs and rides, and took the pressure out of the swims. The next race was a month away so we had time. I listened to stories of other clients who kept pushing through stressful weeks and burned out resulting in sickness and missing weeks of training. 

Yup, I listened! And it paid off.
I actually didn't have a choice. On top of everything, I put my back out that week as well.

I'm now comfortably running 18kms, riding for 3-4 hours, and can happily swim 1km. I'm even starting to nail the nutrition side of things and am feeling GOOD while training. 

Halfway through 16km run
Halfway through 18km run







Nailing post 80km ride nutrition with an iced chocolate

The biggest mental battle to date - Scorching Duathlon - Upper Hutt

10km run/40km cycle/5km run. Goal - 3 hours.
Reality: 3hrs 22 mins of hell.

After hiding in a bush from the mini hail storm I started my Garmin and off I ran into the sunshine towards Rimutaka Prison. Now when I write it down, it seems obvious it was going to be hell! 1km into the course came a rather steep hill, most of which I managed to run. Until the next part of the hill, and the uneven downhill terrain, and more up hill. Oh and the stairs. 
Heart pounding, legs burning and a few swear words muttered to the photographer slowing my breathing, I still managed to keep going and catch the back of the pack on the downhill and hold on back to transition. That was ONE loop, of two. FML.

There's a dark place your mind goes to when you're coming dead last in a race. 
The frustration carried into the ride where I finally got the chance to have a drink and get some fuel on board. No amount of Replace could have prepared me for the dread I felt when I saw Wallaceville hill 3km into my ride. 

Here's what I learned during the bike phase. 

  • When you're coming last in a race you're only competing with yourself. The race becomes about finishing and doing the best you can.
  • Quitting will not make you proud.
  • Chaffing sucks. Buy some chamois cream!
  • I wasn't actually last, there were 3 people behind me
  • When you catch the person who you thought was miles in front of you, the race is back on! Screw doing your best, just stay in front of this guy!


Last was the little 5km run. Easy. 30 mins and I am done. 

Nope. 

A combination of dehydration, not enough food and the posture I held on the bike caused my back to seize up again and I limped/walked most of the 2.5km loop before deciding to cross the finish line early. As much as I regret not fully completing the race, I think I made the right choice in not injuring myself further.
Thanks to Simon for bringing me food, giving me hugs and being an awesome race buddy!

Next race is a half marathon this Sunday. It doesn't involve hills and I'm quite excited.