Yes still irregular posting, still irregular training. Swimming is still going well, it's the one thing I really don't have to go out of my way to do. I'm currently working on my top end speed with sets of 20 x 25, with each 25 at or below 19 seconds, 100s under 1:30 with 30-45s recovery and the like. Feeling pretty good in the pool.

The bike still hasn't happened other than a couple of general rides. I am feeling more motivated though, need to start rising earlier though. Although I won't be doing any of the official Kinglake rides coming up, I am planning on tackling the course a few times just to get it done.My first attempt will hopefully be in a month or so as the weather continues to improve as does my motivation and fitness.

Runnning, well that's just been okay too, just ticking over at MAF or below. It's slow going, but I don't think I can use my shins as an excuse any longer, I haven't felt even the slightest twinge since I've started training this way.

With my goal race being chosen, Geelong 70.3 in February, my official training plan begins next week. I'm starting off slowly with about 11 hours per week, building to a maximum of 16 or so during November. Nothing too strenuous, but should have me feeling pretty fit by the time the race rolls around, should I be able to maintain motivation until then.

If only I could get to bed a little earlier I know I'd find consistency again. Late night conference calls don't help, neither does late night reading either.

Well, my best plans of regularly updating have been dashed by our company firewall. I rarely hop on the computer at home any more, I just dont seem to be able to fit it in.

Anyway, training has been going okay I suppose. I'm swimming well at the moment, back to my old speed after just a few weeks and I'm sure I can give my 1km PB a shake if I had the motivation to do so. I've been spending some time helping some guys at work with their swimming too which has seem immediate results which has been good as well.

Running is okay too, but not coming along as well as my swimming. I'm back to my MAF training and haven't really seen too much progress to date. I'm not as slow as I was when I first tried this form of training late last year but I'm still nowhere near quick, yet I'll persevere, for the sake of my shins of nothing else. At least nothing hurts.

As for the bike, well, it's been poor. I can't seem to motivate myself at all. I've been on a few rides, but nothing further than 60km and nothing too hilly either. I've enjoyed a couple of the rides, but it's just not exciting me too much at the moment.

With a couple of bike events appearing on my doorstep, this and this, I'd love to do either one (or both?), but sadly, I don't think I'll be ready in time. There also a duathlon at the Waterfornt in Melbourne and another just up the road in Yan Yean that I was really looking forward to doing, but unless I find myself on the bike regularly, they're just not going to happen.

I better get to bed, I'm due for a ride tomorrow morning before I head off to the city to attend some training. I'll b happy with even an hour or so...

Hello?

....anyone...

I've decided to return the the blog to store my training thoughts, it's idea for when I'm travelling and an easy place for those that help me with ideas every now and again to have a look at how I'm going.

So, a recap of life since January...


Training

Little to speak of, and none structured. I tried to get started a few times, but I simply wasn't ready. I've been running a few times a week, riding to work on occasion and swimming intermittently, but that'll all be changing from now.


Depression

Dee has improved, yet there is still a long way to go. At least she smiles and laughs now, there was a long spell where she did neither. There's good days and bad days, easy days and terribly difficult ones, but we soldier on.

A personal observation though, it's amazing the effect this had had on me. When we first had the counsellors over, they basically said if I ever felt depressed, there were a number of organisations I could talk to. I didn't think much of it, generally being the happy guy and all. It is scary how much something like this can bring you down though, how the typical daily routine that you've been doing for years becomes all but impossible to maintain. I'm sure that what I've experienced on occasion is only the slightest hint of what Dee has (and still is) going through, I'm really amazed at how she's coped.


Other Stuff

I've been helping Dee with her food and exercise and whilst the exercise is still irregular, I've been pretty strict with eliminating the rubbish from our diet. She'd kill me if I gave numbers, but she's lost near enough to 15kgs over perhaps 8 weeks which has been great. That included a couple of weeks in the US (I was there two weeks, she was there for one), where we ate out three times a day. There's even talk of possible races come summer...

Devony came along with us to the US and was perfect on the plane during each of the 6 flights, so much so she made a friend of Jennifer Garner who played with her quite a bit on one of the return flights.

Athletics with the kids went well, our club won the shield by quite a fair margin at the Little Athletics centre, quite obviously due to their fantastic coach ;)
To be honest, it was on the tails of a couple of exceptional athletes performing really well for us. I'm really looking forward to next season though and have already spent quite a bit of time training and building a much more structured program.

Still on athletics, my kids cleaned up in terms of awards for last season, at the club level the three girls won their age groups, Finnen came second in his. Rach also picked up the trophy for mst PB's out of the senior girls and Chloe won the same for the junior girls. At centre level, Finnen came 3rd in his age group as well, and they all won medals at the championship weekend. They're now doing cross country over winter, whilst Chloe has given it away, the other girls are winning each week and Finnen sits second to third. Can't tell I'm proud hey?


Future Plans

So, I'm at the beginning again. I'll be doing some testing this week to see just what I've lost in terms of fitness. It's sure to be quite a lot, especially on the bike. I've planned out my races for the year including the duathlon season starting in July and the Gatorade Tri series around November. There'll be no thoughts of IM just year, with my goal races being Olympic distance, hopefully the Bairnsdale event is still running as that will be my late season "A" race. There might be an 1/2IM at either Geelong or Shepparton but these won't be a focus and hence treated as such. I'll fit some runs in around these events to fill it out, with possibly the GOR Ride included as well.

Lots of plans, now to execute.

I didn't realise it's been so long since my last post, I suppose that generally happens around Christmas time.

Anyway, my training has pretty much taken a backseat to life over the past few weeks. Dee has been diagnosed with a severe case of post-natal depression so I've been spending pretty much all my time at home helping out. As for training, it's a few runs here and there only.

Work has been great, allowing me to work from home over the past few weeks, and I have 3 weeks annual leave coming to me so we'll take things as they come, but I'm sure we'll do okay and get over this.

I'm not missing the dedicated training too much, actually I've been excited by the switch to a more family oriented focus. A part of treatment for Dee is more regular exercise so we've started walking together more, and that'll increase over the future with some goal setting and other types of exercise.

I've also been running with Finnen riding his bike next to me now he's ditched the training wheels which has been fun. Quite a few runs has included a stop by the lake to explore or throw rocks into the water.

As a final fitness exercise, my middle daughter has always wanted to do some form of martial arts so I may be doing that with her this year. Something completely new to me but she's the one child of mine that needs to learn that practice makes perfect and that it takes time to become good at something....here's hoping I can actually become a little proficient otherwise the lesson will be not everyone is good at everything!

So that's it for now, there wont be too much training wise to blog about, and since that's all this blog is, I'll likely be silent for some time to come. I know it's all temporary, but it'll be interesting to see whether my goals have changed when I return. Until then, take care.

First, the summary:

Week 6 (29/10/07)

Base 2-3
Planned Time: 15:10
Actual Time: 15:07:46
Swim: 7.6km (2:31)
Bike: 208.3km (7:21)
Run: 54.76km (5:14)

It was a big week, a good week. Hit everything I had planned, including a 4 hour ride through driving rain on Sunday morning. I'd left home a 5:10am so I could make it back in time for Finnen's swim lesson, and the weather was okay up until about 6:40am when the rain came, along with the wind. I was drenched within 20 minutes, so with no possibility of getting any wetter, I continued on. Got home, forced myself out on to the 30 minute run in the rain, then it was straight to swimming. A tough morning that turned out well.

I ended my Sunday with repotting, wiring and trimming of our bonsai which is something I've neglected of late but am finding renewed interest in. We even managed to pick up a few more which I'll pot this week as I'm on recovery and should have plenty of time.

Finally Geelong is definitely out, but it wasn't our decision in the end. Dee's brother is getting married on Feb 10. I can't say I'm too fussed about missing the race, I'll find something else I'm sure.

Bit of a poor week training wise last week, work got in the way of many of my swims, and I missed my long bike with family stuff. Just missing those few sessions really brought my training time down. With dropping my key down the drain and a puncture during the week, things didn't go at all smoothly.

Week 5 (22/10/07)

Base 2-2
Planned Time: 13:05
Actual Time: 6:53:09
Swim: 2.6km (0:59:15)
Bike: 69.0km (2:17:04)
Run: 36.88km (3:36:15)

This week is the big week for my cycle where I'm aiming to redeem myself with a 15 hour week. There's no room for putting off sessions but already I'm down a few minutes on the bike after another puncture this morning due to my distraction after a kangaroo bounced across the road in front of me and I it a largish rock. Perhaps I should have given my tires a bit of air before I left to avoid the pinch flat.

Oh, and the plan called for 6 x 30 second strides at max speed yesterday during my easy run. I wasn't able to accurately see my pace, but my max HR for the session was 194, quite obviously my body is not well adjusted to running quickly. I started with jogging recoveries, but these were reduced to walks as my HR rocketed and I had to stave off vomiting.

That's generally why I never do speedwork.

The last of my issues for the week is again related to the cost of triathlon. After working out a plan to enter the Geelong HIM next Feb ($280), I was pretty pleased that I could race. Now I see my tyres are on their last legs and probably need replacement sooner rather than later, especially if I'm to continue riding as much as I have been. Tyres I'm looking at cost about $40 each from the UK, so including a few tubes that are cheap from the same store, that's about $120 delivered.

Then there's nutrition, following the philosophy of training what I plan to use, I need to restock my supplies of Perpetuem ($60 for 2 containers) and Endurolytes ($55 for 2 containers), plus delivery ($10).

Oh, and I need a new chain too ($35) and perhaps a new cassette ($75), both from the UK.

I suppose the above would be required purchases. Include with this the cost of accommodation ($140?) and spending money ($200?), the trip down the highway to Geelong becomes quite expensive.

Then there's the optional spending that I've been thinking a bit about too, a bike fit would be nice ($100?), likely requiring a new stem ($100), as would new base bars ($190) and aero bars ($200) too. Of course, with the aero bars would come new shifters ($100) and new cables ($50), new brake levers($50) plus getting someone to put all this on ($80?).

So, as much as I'd love to race, I'm still struggling to justify it to myself. Dee keeps telling me to just go and do it, but I just don't think it's seems worth it at the moment.

When I was just running it was all so simple...

Today's ride was cut short. I wasn't late, I wasn't tired, just an idiot.

I'd adjusted my seat slightly as I was planning to spend some time down on the bars today. The last time I did this, I found I hadn't tightened my seat enough and it moved a bit during the ride, leading to an uncomfortable trip home. Today I was prepared with my allen key just in case it happened again.

During my ride I was hearing a little, I suppose, clicking sound. I couldn't work out where it was coming from until I felt my seat move a little. I hopped off my bike, pulled out the allen key and started tightening the bolts.

For some reason, whenever I use an allen key, I always end up dropping it at some stage. Today, when I decided to stop and fix my seat, I ended up adjacent to a stormwater drain.

Needless to say, there's a shiny allen key now in that drain.

I then rode home, uncomfortably.