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| Me and Taddy on the road |
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| Pretty casual end to a bike ride |
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| The patter of teeny tiny feet |
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| But not for long for this guy |
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| The guy was telling me to put my number to the front but it was stuck down my pants... |
Monday, December 23, 2013
Oh my goodness I forgot Taupo Half photos....
Taupo Half Ironman and Other Stuff
I am writing this blog from my delicious shiny new Samsung laptop - oh my. And I am all techno-ed up so maybe my Samsung laptop and my Samsung tablet and my Samsung smartphone will all talk to each and seemlessly transfer photos and information and mean that I become committed to blogging more often. Actually I am now so far into cutting edge technology that all these devices should probably write my blog for me. In any case I have some new toys which are fun to play with.
So back to triathlon news.
Last week I competed in the Taupo Half Ironman with a rather relaxed attitude due to the relaxed-ness of my training leading up to it but also with a bit of apprehension since I was on the Elite start-list and was feeling not so worthy of being there.
The race went ok - the swim was a bit embarrassingly slow, the bike was ok and the run was actually pretty good.
I was riding without power so was riding with gay abandon and hoping to break 2.40 - rolled into transition in 2.39. There were a lot of bunches on the bike but also a lot of marshals handing out penalties, actually where I was there weren't really bunches which were sticking together it was more like just lots of people getting in everyone else's way.
The run went surprisingly well despite all the crap long runs I had done in preparation (approximately all 3 of them) and I even managed to hold my pace to the end thanks to a girl who ran up to me at halfway and it took me about 5km to shake her off. My goal was to break 1.40 and I did 1.39 (or 1.38 if you don't count my toilet stop...). My final goal was to be in the top 10 and I came 10th so can't really complain. I went through the usual mental anguish after the swim of being the slowest elite, I don't belong here, people will be looking at my low race number and snickering about how slow I am, etc, all those normal thoughts I get when I race elite/pro. I even wonder if I would have had a slighter better race if I had of been racing age group because then I would have been at the front and not at the back. But I guess someone thought I was worthy since they offered me the entry although not too sure if I will be asked back based on my result though!!
Anyway the highlight of the race was FINALLY seeing the plane in the paddock on Broadlands Road! I have ridden along that road probably 30+ times and I thought it was a myth. Not sure how I have missed it all those times but I was very excited to finally see it. I was even so excited to see it that I scrolled through Google Maps so I could see it again.
Not much has occurred since the race especially with the usual pre-Christmas kerfuffling and over eating going on. With no races locked in it may be a bit difficult to find some motivation to train and I am getting sick of the shocked look people give me when they ask what race I am doing next and I say nothing, so I may have to find something to enter.
I shall leave you with a lovely picture gallery of some photos I found on my phone that I took on one of my lunchtime runs when I had my femoral stress fracture and was a bit unsuccessful with running so I took my camera phone and took some photos instead. This track is about 30 sec run from my work and is one of three trails I can run on - LUCKY!
And some photos of me in lycra at Stroke and Stride locked in The Battle of the Midgets.
Oh and a final thought to His Royness who had a spectacular and mysterious crash yesterday (hit a rock? went to blow a snot rocket and lost his balance?) and fractured his clavicle and four ribs - we salute you Uncle Roy, get well soon.
So back to triathlon news.
Last week I competed in the Taupo Half Ironman with a rather relaxed attitude due to the relaxed-ness of my training leading up to it but also with a bit of apprehension since I was on the Elite start-list and was feeling not so worthy of being there.
The race went ok - the swim was a bit embarrassingly slow, the bike was ok and the run was actually pretty good.
I was riding without power so was riding with gay abandon and hoping to break 2.40 - rolled into transition in 2.39. There were a lot of bunches on the bike but also a lot of marshals handing out penalties, actually where I was there weren't really bunches which were sticking together it was more like just lots of people getting in everyone else's way.
The run went surprisingly well despite all the crap long runs I had done in preparation (approximately all 3 of them) and I even managed to hold my pace to the end thanks to a girl who ran up to me at halfway and it took me about 5km to shake her off. My goal was to break 1.40 and I did 1.39 (or 1.38 if you don't count my toilet stop...). My final goal was to be in the top 10 and I came 10th so can't really complain. I went through the usual mental anguish after the swim of being the slowest elite, I don't belong here, people will be looking at my low race number and snickering about how slow I am, etc, all those normal thoughts I get when I race elite/pro. I even wonder if I would have had a slighter better race if I had of been racing age group because then I would have been at the front and not at the back. But I guess someone thought I was worthy since they offered me the entry although not too sure if I will be asked back based on my result though!!
Anyway the highlight of the race was FINALLY seeing the plane in the paddock on Broadlands Road! I have ridden along that road probably 30+ times and I thought it was a myth. Not sure how I have missed it all those times but I was very excited to finally see it. I was even so excited to see it that I scrolled through Google Maps so I could see it again.
Not much has occurred since the race especially with the usual pre-Christmas kerfuffling and over eating going on. With no races locked in it may be a bit difficult to find some motivation to train and I am getting sick of the shocked look people give me when they ask what race I am doing next and I say nothing, so I may have to find something to enter.
I shall leave you with a lovely picture gallery of some photos I found on my phone that I took on one of my lunchtime runs when I had my femoral stress fracture and was a bit unsuccessful with running so I took my camera phone and took some photos instead. This track is about 30 sec run from my work and is one of three trails I can run on - LUCKY!
And some photos of me in lycra at Stroke and Stride locked in The Battle of the Midgets.
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| All fun and games in T1 |
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| Not so fun anymore |
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| Spot the difference - not much |
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Post Ironman Slothiness
Yes I am still alive.
I have had a nightmare of an insurance claim for a replacement laptop screen which resulted in me sending my laptop away to be fixed about 3 weeks ago and I am still waiting to get it back. We do have another computer in the house but writing a blog on any computer other than my laptop seems rather foreign to me so I had been putting it off but we'll see how we go.
So in my last post I had fulfilled by triathlon goal of finishing the Hawaii Ironman and had arrived back in NZ and back to reality. Boooooo.
Things have progressed slowly since then with a bit of S/B/R'ing which has built up to my usual amount mostly due to the fact that I am set to compete in the Taupo Half Ironman next weekend. That kind of crept up on us and interfered with post Ironman slovenlyness.
I think I am in ok shape for Taupo but the problem is I am racing Elite (they offered me a free entry so I wasn't going to say no was I...) and don't want to embarrass myself.
The swimming and the biking is going ok but I forget that I had 6 weeks of no running before Ironman then two weeks of run/walk training leading up to the race followed by two weeks of no running and then I wondered why it felt so hideous when I got back into it. Ummmm I think I was a bit unfit. From about the 2nd km of my first long run (of 11km...) I felt like absolute poo and wanted to walk. But I persereved and have made it up to 15km which will just have to do for Taupo. And it has gotten a little more pleasant but is still very slow. I found a new run buddy with my friend Annemarie from school days who has just moved up the road from us so hopefully we can do some running together which will be nice to have some female company in one aspect of my training.
Stroke and Stride has started for the season, the first race being a real shock to the system and was probably the first time I have run anything quicker than about a 4.50 for a km since August. The 5km run was about 2km too long for me but I still managed to pass a few people to come about 17th - long gone are the days when I used to come in the top 10 for these races. Although I think it is a bit more competive these days with heaps of young kiddies who can swim and run fast. The men's race was won by a 14 year old and I think Jared was rather pertubed by the number of young boys in front of him.
The second race was a bit more successful and I even managed to make it into the top 15 - wooo! The swim was really rough but I managed to come out closer to the people who usually waste me and even beat out a couple of people who I never swim faster than. I was then locked in a battle with my little midget friend Pip for about 2.5km but she must have just been toying with me because all of a sudden she took off and left me in her wake. She has been running 18.30's for 5km recently so I was pretty happy that I could keep up with her for a bit, I need to go back to O'Hagen's after Christmas and test out my 5km time.
Biking has progressed from a couple of half-assed midweek rides and something a bit longer in the weekend (but still pretty half-assed) to a few 4 hour Sunday rides and even some intervals. I suddenly had a panic attack about 3 weeks ago about Taupo so decided I had better take things a bit more seriously since weekdays rides were frequently consisting of me not bothering to get up early and then just riding to the ferry for all of about 27 minutes of riding.
I don't have anything planned race-wise post-Taupo but hopefully I can keep continue this level of biking (maybe no need to ride for quite as long as 4 hours) afterwards to keep my fitness up. I have been considering Auckland Half Ironman which always seems like a good idea at the time but not so fun when I am at the turnaround at Kaiua all alone and facing a nasty headwind, so I'm not rushing into that just yet.
So that's about it really. We have slowly been kitting out our new house in some styley furniture from Cintesi and I have also become a master fence painter. I envision there will be a lot of fence painting happening this summer...
I have had a nightmare of an insurance claim for a replacement laptop screen which resulted in me sending my laptop away to be fixed about 3 weeks ago and I am still waiting to get it back. We do have another computer in the house but writing a blog on any computer other than my laptop seems rather foreign to me so I had been putting it off but we'll see how we go.
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| Riveting |
Things have progressed slowly since then with a bit of S/B/R'ing which has built up to my usual amount mostly due to the fact that I am set to compete in the Taupo Half Ironman next weekend. That kind of crept up on us and interfered with post Ironman slovenlyness.
I think I am in ok shape for Taupo but the problem is I am racing Elite (they offered me a free entry so I wasn't going to say no was I...) and don't want to embarrass myself.
The swimming and the biking is going ok but I forget that I had 6 weeks of no running before Ironman then two weeks of run/walk training leading up to the race followed by two weeks of no running and then I wondered why it felt so hideous when I got back into it. Ummmm I think I was a bit unfit. From about the 2nd km of my first long run (of 11km...) I felt like absolute poo and wanted to walk. But I persereved and have made it up to 15km which will just have to do for Taupo. And it has gotten a little more pleasant but is still very slow. I found a new run buddy with my friend Annemarie from school days who has just moved up the road from us so hopefully we can do some running together which will be nice to have some female company in one aspect of my training.
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| Xterra cake for speedy Xterra people |
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| My new workmates for a morning |
The second race was a bit more successful and I even managed to make it into the top 15 - wooo! The swim was really rough but I managed to come out closer to the people who usually waste me and even beat out a couple of people who I never swim faster than. I was then locked in a battle with my little midget friend Pip for about 2.5km but she must have just been toying with me because all of a sudden she took off and left me in her wake. She has been running 18.30's for 5km recently so I was pretty happy that I could keep up with her for a bit, I need to go back to O'Hagen's after Christmas and test out my 5km time.
Biking has progressed from a couple of half-assed midweek rides and something a bit longer in the weekend (but still pretty half-assed) to a few 4 hour Sunday rides and even some intervals. I suddenly had a panic attack about 3 weeks ago about Taupo so decided I had better take things a bit more seriously since weekdays rides were frequently consisting of me not bothering to get up early and then just riding to the ferry for all of about 27 minutes of riding.
I don't have anything planned race-wise post-Taupo but hopefully I can keep continue this level of biking (maybe no need to ride for quite as long as 4 hours) afterwards to keep my fitness up. I have been considering Auckland Half Ironman which always seems like a good idea at the time but not so fun when I am at the turnaround at Kaiua all alone and facing a nasty headwind, so I'm not rushing into that just yet.
So that's about it really. We have slowly been kitting out our new house in some styley furniture from Cintesi and I have also become a master fence painter. I envision there will be a lot of fence painting happening this summer...
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| Check out those barstools |
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| Before |
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| During |
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| After. Oh la la |
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