Quality, cows and banking Kona kilometres

After a real volume - based week last week, I had a recovery day on Monday, which meant I was immediately dropping my bike volume for the week. It's easy to get so caught up in volume and hours with training, and forget that the "money" sessions, often shorter but more quality-based are just as, or even more important. I tend to find the long, slow sessions harder to cope with mentally, so they can be the bigger challenge, and what I am always striving to improve on.


"My cows"



So I had an easy day on Monday, but did myself out of my first lie-in in weeks, by arranging to head out of Melbourne at 6am to do some PhD work with "my cows"! They are based at the DPI in Ellinbank, which is about 1.5hrs east of Melbourne. It's really beautiful down there, the rolling hills remind me of Wales, where I grew up, and I love heading out there. The problem is always the juggling act with training though - cows are milked at about 6am, and if I want to do anything with them, I need to be down there by about 7.30am. The great thing about my PhD and my supervisors is that as long as I plan ahead, they are pretty flexible about when I go down there (hence the trip on my recovery day).



As is often the case after a big training weekend, I felt GREAT on Monday, but TERRIBLE on Tuesday!! I had nothing in the pool on Tuesday morning, and after a full day on the computer at Uni, felt so exhausted by Tuesday night, I did my fartlek session, but only did a total of 45 mins running (as opposed to 75-90 mins). The amazing thing was - the fartlek was all miles faster than the same session 3 weeks before (when I had felt fresher). So as is often the case, my body surprised me, and my legs felt strong. I realised that lack of sleep was really the problem, and hit the sack REALLY early, to try to catch up. 

Wednesday was a really hard session on the Boulevard at Kew, but the extra sleep had done the trick and I flew around 3 laps. By Thursday (after another trip to the cows) I felt back to full energy levels. It's amazing how your attitude follows - I was really excited about the run session on Thursday night, and was beginning to really look forward to the weekend's sessions.

We said goodbye to some really great friends on Thursday - Mark and Lynn plus their little boy, Damien who are moving to Austria. It felt a bit like the end of an era - we had swum with them at Melbourne Uni when we first started the sport, and Mark, who is an incredibly talented triathlete was a major source of support and inspiration to me in my early days of Ironman. He narrowly missed out on a slot for Hawaii on a couple of occasions, and hasn't done a triathlon since Ironman China in 2008, where horrific conditions made for a less than ideal race. I really hope they have a great life over there, and I would love to see Mark rekindle his passion for the sport, and grab the coveted slot, that I am so fortunate to have.

Which almost brings this week to a close. I had an awesome ride on Saturday, somewhat shorter than last weeks, as I had my longest run since France to do on Sunday (2.5 hrs). I kind of got the priorities wrong though, mentally, and after really focusing on finishing the ride well on Saturday, I just couldn't be bothered with the run on Sunday!! All the positive thoughts in the world (plus the guilt trips like how lucky I am to be going to Hawaii) just wouldn't cut through that feeling of "just can't be bothered"!! I think the problem is that in the early days, just getting through a long run is the challenge. Once you've done it multiple times, where is the challenge? I think the answer is to set a realistic target, and break the run down.

The end of my long run

      So I broke it into 3 x 50 minutes, and decided to aim to run further in the final 50 minutes than the other two. I then broke the whole run into 10 min segments, with 9 minutes "on" (ie, focused and running "well") with 1 minute "off" (not easier, just having a sip of drink, or taking a gel, or looking around at the scenery). Low and behold, I got out of the door, and before I knew it I'd hit beach Rd and my first 50 minutes was done!! I did the rest as an out-and-back and ran a total of 30.45km in the 2.5hrs. A new long run PB pace! And that final 50 minutes was WAY faster than the other two. I was absolutely thrilled with not only the pace, but how I'd managed to turn "couldn't be bothered" into a real positive. For me, just another example of the mental side of the sport being such a major part of it.
My "Kona buddies" Kristy and Sean, plus a load of my other teammates raced a Half Ironman in the sunshine in Yeppoon this weekend. Kristy did an awesome job, with 3rd overall. Sean was a little disappointed with his result, but given where he is with his training I think he will surge forward from here. Although I would have loved a hit out (especially in the sun!!) I actually don't feel like racing yet, with Ironman France only 7 weeks behind me. I'm glad I got to "bank some Hawaii training kilometres". Here's to a great recovery week, then it's the final big push to the taper!!

8 weeks to go -
Hours trained = 20.5
Swim = 13.8km
Bike = 208km
Run = 67.3km