Bye bye base phase

What a great week. Nothing like the joys of having a recovery week. I would have to look back and see if it was an easier recovery week or the same as normal but to me it felt the best. It could have been that the week before was really hard. I don't know but I am happy with this week. I was reduced to only doing two of everything this week. woohoo. With that I see the end of the base phase. Its hard to explain so here is the plan.

Well there it is the full 40 week program that is going to get me to the finish line. Well that's the plan anyway. :) Next part is the build phase. I don't know what that means for my days yet until tomorrow night when I get my new schedule. My assumption is that it will be longer, harder and faster sessions.

I have started receiving countdown emails for the 70.3 in November. Only 10 weeks to go. So exciting. This is the first time that they have held a 70.3 in Sydney so it should be fun. The course has been published online and as it is only 30min drive from home it looks like we will be making a trip up that way to ride the bike section. The swim and run I already know as its where my club holds its races but the ride heads out into the streets so I have not done that part yet.

I have been going over the race schedule. They seem to have a nice spread of activities over the three days. I have to rack my bike the day before so that will give me some time out there looking at the store, expo, transition tour and race video. I might try to get out early enough to watch the ironkids race as well. May as well cheer the young ones on. Then Sunday the race is on at 6am. That will mean I can finish before lunch and have the rest of the day to moan about how much my body hurts. haha.

Apart from that excitement I have entered the first club race in four weeks time followed by the Nepean Tri the week after. Both are shorter distances but should give my gear and transition a good shakedown.

Last week I purchased my new wetsuit. I have been looking around for some time at what I want to get. In the end it came down to fit and the service of the people at the Aquashop in Gordon. I don't know if the top down zipper is going to be a pain or not as you can't do it up yourself but we will see. One thing is it stops someone from undoing my wetsuit during the swim so that is a good thing.

I am taking it out for a test run in the ocean this weekend so we will see how it goes. I don't know why I am heading into the water this early after winter. Doing an IM makes me think I have lost my marbles so maybe this confirms it.

All up the weather has been changing for the better. Warmer days are happening. The magpies are still swooping but I have worked out that if I ride with a mate they don't get us. Maybe he is my lucky charm.

On another note a good friend Amy is doing her first ever triathlon this weekend. She chose to do the olympic distance which is crazy for a first crack but I know she will do well. I am kind of jealous I am not joining her or even getting to cheer her on from the sidelines but seeing as I am nowhere near San Diego it makes it hard to get there. haha. So on that note I end this entry with my final words being.. Go Amy!!

Winter is over.

Last week marked the end of another winter. Not all bad really. Lots of sun to keep the training pleasant. Sure it was a little cold at times but at least it wasn't always raining. Yes the last couple of weeks has been almost non stop rain but I guess we needed it so it all works out in the end.

My physio sessions have been going well. We are down to fortnightly sessions although I did run and ride this weekend without any pain so I don't think I will be needing the physio for much longer. Yay. Always a win in my books. I also believe that I found a good masseuse. She seemed to know all the right places to prod and poke. Also she explains what she has found and what I can do to prevent being so tight. So that was a win as well.

The easy week didn't turn out to be as easy as I had hoped. I don't know what I was looking for. Maybe a couple of days of watching movies. :P Anyway it was easier than the previous week and the weeks that have followed. Training generally is going well. I am still eager to get out there and do an event though. My biggest pain about the training right now is the magpies and plovers. Damn stupid bird breading time. I might have a backwards sense of caution or something as we are supposed to have most of the worlds deadliest snakes and spiders but what I worry about while riding and running is getting pecked on the head by some stupid bird. So far I have been swooped twice while running and had three birds chase me while riding. I find if you go fast enough they can't get a shot at you and will just follow from above. Either way I get out of rhythm and it annoys me to have to look over my shoulder. I can only hope that the next eight weeks go by fast so they will stop. If they don't they might find themselves on the wrong end of a piece of lead.

The training is getting harder but nothing that I wasn't expecting. I now have to do three sessions of everything. In total a little over 11hrs of training for the week. Weekends have been hard to do anything after training. I get so tired that I tend to want to sit around and watch some sport on TV. But with the first of the races around the corner it will be more fun soon. Sunday was another group training session. It was fun as it was different. I don't know what you would call it but we sort of named it a transition session. We got ready like we were leaving T1 and headed out of the coaches driveway where we mounted the bikes. Then did about a 20min ride at reasonable pace out and back to his place where we had to dismount, complete T2 and run off for about 5min. We did that four times. Yes it got a little competitive each round as the pace and talk started to pick up. But it was fun. I started doing different styles of flying mounts which I have not really tried before. I am happy I never fell on my head and I think that I have found something that will work for me. I have to practice a bit more and get everything right before I really feel comfortable but it will get there. Not that I think I will be doing that in the IM.

Well I guess its time for more training..... Swim, bike, run, repeat...