Big Jo training May 14 - May 20

SWIM

I have been maintaining my 3 swims a week despite the onset of the wintery mornings.
I did a 500m TT to check my time against the girls from the first German race that I stalked the results of.  Their race was in a 50m pool so times are comparable.  My time was about what I expected it would be and would have put me in the middle of the field which isn't ideal but I was worried they would all be uber swimmers and I would be last by a mile, so it seems that won't be the case.
I still have time to improve though and will hopefully start a daily swim regime once I get there.

BIKE

I TT-ified my Serottica for the weekend with my mini TT bars which I have been kindly loaned for my trip.  Apparently ITU rules state that the bars should not extend beyond the length of the STI levers which appears to be impossible for Little Muppets like myself.  I'm not sure if this rule will be policed in the German league but will give them a go anyway.
Can't say they are the most comfortable bars and I ended up with some nasty bruises on my bony forearms after Sunday's ride but should be better once I get used to them.

Mini bars which are not mini enough

On Sunday I rode down to Huntly with a little posse who were doing the Huntly Half Marathon and 10km.  It was pretty much 90km of flat roads with a section on the Waikato Expressway which follows on from the motorway and felt very wrong to be riding on.  And it seemed that a few cars also thought it was wrong for us to be riding on it as well.  Apart from that it was a good ride (somewhat cold - the sign in Huntly said 2 degrees when we arrived and that wasn't the coldest it had been) and we got there in got time for the others to refuel a bit before their run.

RUN

Running has been a bit frustrating with a great 5km time reminiscent of my old times on Tuesday followed by an aborted run on Thursday due to my adductor starting to niggle again.  My tolerance to niggles is very very low so I took the rest of the week off and am getting stuck back into the exercises.

I have to admit that I had no remorse what so ever for not running at Huntly, it was so cold and didn't look appealing at all.  J-Rad wasn't feeling the running love and pulled out at 10km after being sick for the back end of the week and feeling like poos after only 6km of the run.  I have to admit that I was concerned about the amount of sweat on his face when I saw him at the 4km mark and I suspected that things were not right.

Run about to be aborted

Big Jo training May 7 - May 13

SWIM

Getting up for swimming has become a little bit difficult in the cold dark mornings but soon I will be in the sun and not having to swim at ridiculous hours so I persevere.
I have been averaging around 3.5km for my swims with our little pseudo-squad, trying desperately to keep on the feet in front.
I have a new job which is making it difficult to get to the gym to keep my armies buff but will hopefully have access to somewhere in Germany to keep the strength work up.

BIKE

I have said it many times but I will say it again - I pass you because I am riding faster than you so why do you feel the need to jump on my wheel?????? Had an encounter with a very annoying man in white shorts who jumped on my wheel while I was doing a 20min effort who then had to pretend that he usually rode that fast when I sat up at the end of it.  But since we had already passed him twice he obviously didn't ride that fast and then we passed him again after about 10mins when he had blown his foofoo valve.
If you want to ride with other people then find some friends!!!

RUN

Finding my running legs again and all seems to be going well but still keeping up the strengthening.  My new DS Trainers have changed my life - so light and comfy and my cadence goes up by about 5 steps/min when I wear them because they make my feet go so fast.
They are delicious. 

I'm back

I have been a very slack blogger indeed.
But I am back in more ways than one and am committed to keeping updated.

SWIM

The sea has turned a bit chilly here so all swims have been confined to the pool.  Our old favourite pool (the Teps) will be opening again in June after a $16million makeover so the gang is most excited to be going back there.
I will soon be spending 6 weeks in Germany with a 50m outdoor pool at my disposal so fingers crossed that my swimming improves so I can keep up with the German girls.

BIKE

The weather here has turned a bit arctic here so I have had to bring out the winter artillery.  Luckily the rain has stopped so we have been getting some good rides in.
Lesson for the weekend is don't be too lazy to download your taptap - I rode my little leggies off on Sunday keeping up with the big boys (most of the way...) but we will never know how awesome I was because Taptap was full after 80mins. Gutted!
My Serottica has been Germany-ified with some new bars and stem so now I need to track down some mini TT bars so we can take on some short distance races.

BFF's

RUN

Running has been a bit up and down and I ended up taking a couple of weeks off to get rid of my adductor issue.  It seems that Pectineus was the culprit (for anyone who is interested) and after a multitude of strengthening and stretching it seems to be pretty good so I am easing back into it.  I was planning on doing Huntly Half Marathon but have had to scratch those plans due to this little setback but if it means that I have avoided anything nasty then it will be worth it.

New shoes! Fast feet!

I am an Angry Bird