Pages

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Big Jo training 11 July - 24 July

SWIM

Not much new to report, just been continuing on my same program.  Had a good 4km+ swim last week and almost had blown my foofoo valve by the end of it which is a rarity with the way that I swim.  I am doing a training camp in Australia in the next couple of weeks so will do a good block of swimming in the nice outdoor pool in the nice weather while I am there.

BIKE

I really suck at cycling at the moment.  It is not good.  I went through and compared my recent powerfiles to ones from 2009 and my power is about the same I just seem to be slower.  It's pretty depressing and the abuse I am getting for it isn't helping.  It's not that I am not trying because I am.  We have this Race of Six Friends this weekend and I'm pooping myself that I am going to be holding everyone up.  I had a terrible long ride on Sunday just been - my legs had nothing up the hills and I was so slow, so fingers crossed my leggies remember what to do next weekend.

RUN

Running on the other hand is going really well - yay!  I have gotten up to 50km p/wk so will be keeping it at that or there abouts and just increase my long run every week.  I had a stellar long run of 22km last week and will be upping it to 25km this week.  I have to change my days around so I don't waste my legs with a long run the day before our big ride so hopefully having 2 long runs only 4 days apart won't upset my running equilibrium.

WHAT ELSE IS NEW
Three generations and a person with a silly look on their face
I became an aunty! Just like I said I would.  It took a while though - 46hrs after induction! We thought she was never going to arrive.
Murfy Razzell enjoying the heater and not enjoying winter

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Big Jo training 27 June - 10 July

Whoever reads my drivel may have noticed that I am only updating once every two weeks - this is a combination of being a bit lazy and also being winter there is not a lot happening in my world.  But never fear I will resume my weekly updates in due course.

SWIM

Averaging around 10-11km in the pool per week, I only managed 4km as my longest the last couple of weeks because of work (how rude!) but since podiatry patients are a bit scarce at the moment I have to take what I can. 
There has been a bit of unrest at GI with the squad starting to take up 5 of the 6 lanes in the pool much to the dislike of the swimmers in the public lane who are getting muscled out as a result.  I think it is bulldust because it is a 33m pool and we used to have way more people per lane (like 14 at the most) at the Teps which was only 25m but we just sucked it up and got on with it but the GI squad are thinking its busy when there are 10 in a lane - ha! It is supposedly only a trial period so may go back to what it has always been.  Here's hoping especially after I almost swam right into an extra large lady's bum when she was doing breaststroke in front of me and I was swimming with my head down *shudder*.

BIKE

Did 13.5hrs on the bike somehow, followed by about 12 hrs the next week.  My biking has been a bit sub-optimal recently and I seem to be getting dropped when I normally wouldn't so I need to sort this out.
I have gotten roped into doing the Solo Race of Six Friends at the end of the month which is a ~130km race where you have a team of six people and you basically just have to finish as a team.  The course is only revealed 30mins beforehand and it is unmarshalled so we have to check in a certain spots so that they know we haven't cheated.  The say it is about 10% on gravel which is the part which is keeping me awake at night and I think it is just pretty gnarly in general.  It is a handicap race and anyone over 45 and also girls get extra handicap hence me being invited into the team.  Pressure is on though because I think our team will be reasonably competitive and I really don't want to be holding everyone up.

RUN

2 x 45km weeks done! I am feeling like I am running properly again for the first time since my terrible stress fracture in 2009 but I am sticking to the plan so as not to break myself again and so far so good.  I will now step up to 50km per week and keep around that for a while.
In September it is my birthday and it is what we would refer to as a 'significant' birthday ie. it ends in 0 and I move up an age-group... and lots of people have asked me if I will be having a party or doing something to celebrate.  Clearly anyone who asks such questions really don't know me at all because the last thing I would do for this (or anything else in my life for that matter) is have some kind of party.  Then I found out that the The Legend Marathon just happens to be on my birthday this year! This is not just any marathon either - it was inspired by Arthur Lydiard and is run over the course where he used to train his athletes, so it is pretty special.  I couldn't think of a better way to spend my birthday than running this marathon followed by a birthday lunch at McDonalds - perfect! And if anyone is upset that I am not sharing my birthday with them then they can run it with me, or bring me cake at the finish. 
It is pretty brutal course over the Waitakere Ranges and as my first stand alone marathon I will just be doing it to do it.  It is definitely not a course to go fast on so I will just be pootling along and enjoying my day.

IN OTHER EXCITING NEWS
Junior Mints in NZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Who doesn't like Junior Mints? They're chocolate, they're peppermint, they're delicious!"
By the next time I blog I will be an aunty! My sister is ready to pop any second now with the first of the next generation of Carrel's - exciting!