Strength in numbers

Week 1 of 12 was to put it lightly....strength. Strength on the bike, on the run and in the water.

A whole bunch of different sessions, but the toughest would have to be the Wednesday/Thursday combo. Wednesday, I was on the bike at 4:10am to meet up with the IMA group at Mount Cootha. The ride was just over an hour and then I got to hit the mountain. The ride consisted of 4 loops up and around while all the time sitting in the saddle, no standing on the pedals while ascending. Each loop took between 20-25 minutes and was a hard effort. Once the session was done, it was off to work, so the whole time on the bike was 3:20. This was followed up with a 5:30am trail run through, you guessed it, Mount Cootha, which was up and over twice for a total time of around 1:40. Throw in a good stretching session right after and off to work. The tough part came Thursday evening when at the squad swim, it was drills, drills and more drills. The main focus was on a strong kick..AHHHH! This was not good, but I held on and got it done. Friday morning, which I had off (weird feeling that was), I went to get out of bed and my legs were screaming, not just a tiny scream, but one which could have been heard in the vaccuum of space! I stretched and got the roller out to ease the battered muscles, and it was enough I could make it to work without hobbling....much.

Our long ride of the week was one from just outside of the CBD (downtown) and out to the base of Mount Glorious, back through Samford, then out through Dayboro and up Mount Mee. While Mnt. Mee isn't a big one, it's a constant rise for just over 10km. Once we were at the top, it was a turn around back to the cars. Total time was 4:40 and a distance of 120km.

This morning I attempted to swim with the group out at Sutton's Beach, but I called it quits after 10 minutes and turned around. It was too rough for this flat lander, with waves of around a meter. It wouldn't have been bad if the surf was consistent, but there were waves coming from every direction it seemed and no matter what you did it seemed each time you came up for a breath, you had a wall of water smacking you in the face. Oh well, I gave it a go, and considering a year ago I wouldn't have even put on my wetsuit, is a small victory. Off came the wetsuit, throw on the running gear and a good run along the beach to finish the week off. Around 15 hours in total this week with the monthly tally looking like this:

Running: 55.4km
Swimming: 15.45km
Cycling: 615km

Total training time: around 36 hours for the month.

Oh ya, 9 out of 10 session made...you guessed it, ditched the core and played Wii with Alyssa. (Family time is important, and besides, have you ever tried to play Wii and not break a sweat? This really should count as a half session so 9.5 out of 10 for the week).

Not much else to say this week, but to expect more of the same in the coming weeks. Next weekend is Australia Day weekend and what better way to celebrate it with...a triathlon camp,, WOO HOO!

My training is taking up a bunch of my time, so I'd better get moving on my "honey do list".

Cheers and happy training.

Richard