Stupid Bike.....

Another day to cement my feelings towards my stupid bike. Although it was hardly the bikes fault... reeeeally.

Like I've said before, the Mount area at this time of year is full of teenage hoons driving cool cars, who obviously don't know what a rubbish bin is, so therefore throw their beer bottles out of the car window. They then lie smashed all over the place, just beckoning to the virtuous cyclist to ride over them. I didn't want to ride at the Mount for the next month, but when you have a 60km time trial effort to do, that is the best place because it is long and flat!

So, over Welcome Bay hills as a good warm up, then onto the Tauranga Half Ironman course that went straight through party central. It was only 9am, but the whole road was packed from one end to the other (alot of km's trust me), with cars, young people, and even security guards at the camp ground gates! This place is going to be a mess on New Years day. It doesn't seem to matter that there is a liquor and glass ban throughout the area, because it was everywhere!

So, the likelihood of getting home without a puncture was probably fairly slim, but I just about made it. I had 3 kms of my time trial to go, and 7kms to get home, when my poor tyre finally succummed to the glass. Oh well, by that time I was sore anyway, so it was a good excuse to get off the stupid bike! I changed the tyre successfully, found the glass culprit, and then was pumping it up when the end of the valve snapped off in the pump. BUGGER. It is now stuck in there too, so lord knows how I'm going to get it out. The pump still seemed to work ok even with the broken piece inside it, so I decided to try again. Got back to the "pump it up" stage and was going fairly well until my arm got tired, so decided to swap to the other side, then promptly snapped the whole damn valve right off the tube! Now that was a real BUGGER as it was my last tube. So, another phone call to hubby to be rescued!! The kids were just lauging at me when they pulled up this time - HOW RUDE! And on my birthday too......

So, 90kms of 100kms was completed. 57kms at the Ironman RPM of 90-95. I actually managed this ok and the speed seemmed to stay more constant than when I mash it out at around 80RPM. While the day ended in rather an annoying fashon, the ride itself was quite positive and I'm sure it's heading in the right direction for Ironman. I still get a numb bumb, and I shuffle around like I got antz in my pantz, but I suppose that is just something I'm going to have to try and block out. How the hell do those people ride the Tour de France day after day - it is really quite amazing!

Now I'm off for a wee nap I think. This training lark is quite tough after 12 days of doing nothing, and I have now done 10 hours in 4 days - pretty good effort I think! Then we are off to my Dads for my birthday tea - mmmmmmmmm - birthday cake.....

Sea swimming.... complete with CREATURES...

After my vain attempt to swim in Lake Taupo on Wednesday, I had my first real session on Thursday which was a 2 hour run. I have to say that it hurt quite a bit actually. I did it, but afterwards everything just ached. I suppose the body has to get used to being hammered again after a 10day rest! Did a 3km swim at the pool yesterday. I stole an idea off another blog page I read about doing a ladder swim, and I really enjoyed it. It felt like a continuous swim sort of, but you got lots of little rests in between. It goes like this: 100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 500m, 500m and back down again - I did 20secs rest between the 100/200/300 and then 30secs rest between the 400/500. The last 300/200/100 I used paddles and pull bouy. It's definitely worth giving it a go if you have a long set to do!

Today was my first brick session since the Half Ironman in Rotorua 2 weeks ago. It was to include my biggest open water swim so far - 3kms worth - sounds kind of boring to me, but I guess I have to do it at some point. Met a friend down at the beach who is also doing Ironman so we decided to swim together. Got in and immediately saw all the "little jelly things" that have been filling the ocean over the last month - I would have thought by now they'd have gone!! But, it also seemed that some of the "little jelly things" have grown into "bigger jelly things" (= JELLYFISH), and we saw one of them before we even started swimming. So, all freaked out and looking everywhere but where I should be, was how the swim basically went from there. We both had a thumping headache and stressed shoulders and neck by the time we got to the other end of Pilot Bay - then the large STINGRAY I swam over just gave me the complete heebies and I jumped up yelling expletives that would make your toes curl - much to the amusement of the 2 blokes going out in their boat - they made a sort of attempt at picking us up by offering to take us fishing - I have to say it was very tempting!!!

So, us being the scaredy females we are, the decision was made to swim as fast as we could back to the other end and call it a day. 1500m out of 3kms is not a great start to my increase in open water swim distances... I've not had much luck with that discipline this week really. Now I have to go to the pool this afternoon and do a proper swim me thinks - bugger. Plus - I suppose I need to "harden up" as my husband so nicely puts it!!! Not much of an Ironman when I'm scared of a few "creatures" - hey, you do know a stingray KILLED Steve Irwin!!!!!

The bike was good considering it is the first time I have got on it in 2 weeks - 60mins in total including big gear intervals at 70RPM. Felt strong and muscles seemed to have recovered ok. The 60min run was very hot - only 9am and it was already a scorcher. The Mount base track was crowded and the main beach area was packed too - the Mount at New Years is always like this, so will be sticking well away from it when I don't need to swim down there (although after this morning I'm considering commuting to the Blue Lake for the swims!!!).

So, tomorrow is a 100km ride including a 60km time trial. Will be interesting to see how this goes. In 8 weeks time 100kms will seem small, so best get used to that "bloody bike" and it's nasty effect on my butt!!!!

Boxing Day swim in Taupo

Today was the day to get back into it slowly. We decided to take my Mother-in-law and the kids to Taupo for the day and show them the Ironman course. Plus it was a good excuse to do my first swim in Lake Taupo.

Well, that was all good in theory, but when we got there it was blowing a gale, squally showers kept coming across the lake, and Lake Taupo looked like an ocean beach. Oh well, "just do it" as Nike tells us, so in I went. The water temperature actually wasn't too bad at all - much warmer than I had expected. There were waves coming in all the time though, so I had to breathe to one side only. I was swimming along thinking how cool it will be on Ironman day to see the whole cliff top full of people watching us swim when I saw out the other side that the sky was getting darker and darker. It began raining heavily, the waves started rolling in faster, they got bigger, I started kicking like hell, and then it got that dark that I couldn't really see alot. Paul and the others had driven further down the lake to meet me, so I swam to the beach under the cliffs and ran along there until I found a path back up to the road. I was so worried that they would think I had drowned if they couldn't see me. By the time I got back to the road the rain was horizontal and I was glad I had a wetsuit on because it was HARD. Found the family parked up waiting for me. I only managed 12mins and it wasn't even a km!! Oh well, there's always next time.

THE START OF THE SWIM IN LAKE TAUPO

LAKE TAUPO REALLY TURNED ON THE WEATHER

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We have just come back from spending an extended weekend in Auckland having an early Xmas celebration with the family in that city. We had to visit Auckland Zoo of course, as no trip to Auckland can be completed without it. So, 100 photos later of every animal living in the place, and the one below is what I hope NOT to become once I have finished Ironman.....



We also took a trip down Franklin Road in Ponsonby. The street is full of delightful old villas, and pretty much the whole street lights up there homes at Xmas. When we lived there we usually did a Xmas drive by to take a look, but since we moved to Tauranga 5 years ago, we haven't been back. It's popularity has soared in that time, and we were amongst literally thousands of people walking up and down a 1km stretch of road looking at lights and listening to christmas carols being played by musicians and sung by gorgeous singers. We even spotted SANTA. There was bumper to bumper traffic, a coffee cart, santa hats for sale, and plenty of kids out in there PJ's having a late night up and generally soaking up the sights of Xmas. It was truly magical! Here's a couple of snaps that really don't do it justice - being there is everything!









Oh, and that's right - somewhere in amongst all this frivolity, chocolate and vodka (which somehow slipped into the weekend), I am having to remember that it is less than 10 weeks until Ironman - I simply cannot believe that it is that close - it seemed so long to wait when I first decided to do it, and now it is nearly here. I've got the last block of training from the coach, and I have to say it is going to be tough. I knew that, but to see it in writing just makes it real..... So, Xmas day off and back into it on Boxing Day - the rest of that Vodka will have to wait until March 2nd, and then I will probably have the biggest hangover ever recorded - on 2 drinks!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Rotorua Half Ironman - race report

What an end to a very busy (and very very tiring) few weeks. It all started 3 weeks ago with 160kms of cycling around Lake Taupo, followed the next weekend by an Olympic Distance Triathlon, one weekend of final training, to end with a very tough Half Ironman day.

We drove down to Rotorua and stayed in a really great log cabin at a camp ground on the outskirts of Rotorua. Went to registration, got the bits we needed, and left! I have to admit that I really wasn't looking forward to racing at that stage. I was tired, I was negative, and I just wasn't in the mood. We loaded up on the usual pre-race meal of pasta, organised a million bottles (Paul was doing the cycle in a team, so there was lots of mixing of the usual potions going on), packed up gear into race bags/ boxes etc.. and went to bed. This was the first sleepless night I have had before an event in a very long time!!! I felt like crap when the alarm went off at 4.30am - why do I do this again???????

Paul nicely informed me that I might want to roll over and go back to sleep because it was raining. Great, my already negative mood was going downhill fast! At 5.00am we headed out to the Blue Lake. It felt like a bit of a death march really - the looming day was just not sitting great with me at all. I felt like I just needed a holiday, not a Half Ironman! Luckily when we got to the lake it hadn't even rained there, so that was the first hurdle dealt with. There was lots of talking going on inside the head, reminding me that I just had to get through the race, and then I could have the next 2 weeks recovering, doing Xmas, not working, and not much training going on either!!! Just ONE MORE DAY......

So, into transition, sort out the gear, and then Steve the sponsor from Alpe Gear finds us. With his PHOTOGRAPHER - "don't mind him" he says, "just go about doing your thing and he's going to take some pictures". It actually bouyed my mood I have to say - I felt very important standing around in transition while some guy lay all over the place and got into all kinds of picture taking positions. I'm sure all the people that were parked up around me wondered who the hell I was!!!! Thanks to Steve and his photographer (sorry, the name escapes me now), you actually turned my negative mood around!

WOMANS SWIM START

After getting all set up, we headed down to the start line for briefing, to hear the gun go off for the men to start - oooops missed the race briefing, but so did heaps of men, who all started flying down the road and running into the water to catch up with the rest of the field who were already heading out towards the first bouy. Luckily the woman had 5mins to go, so I zipped up my suit and dived in to get wet and ready - stupidly I forgot to do up the top flap around my neck so water streamed down my back and filled the suit. I had to get out to empty it. All good, no time for worrying about it, and off we went. The swim was LOVELY. Nice fresh water, beautiful temperature, one very long stretch out and then back - got into my own patch and just swam. No jellies to worry about, or other dreaded sea creatures! 38:31 later for 2kms, and I was pretty happy with the first bit. The photographer chased me up the beach and snapped every little bit of my awful transition from swim to bike - I hate that transition the most. There is so much to remember, putting stuff into pockets, clothes to put on and swim gear to take off...... it always seems to take me AGES!! Finally I got organised and it was onto "that stupid bike

SWIM TO BIKE TRANSITION

"That stupid bike" lived up to its name too. The first 70kms were fine. Managed to do alot of 90rpm spinning in the flat parts on the aerobars, and then grovel my way up any hills that came along. Steve and the photographer went for a drive to find us, so he was hanging out the window taking pictures - now I know what it fees like to be followed by the paparazi.... hahaha..... They were at the turn around on the bike too, and it was really nice to see familiar faces out there. Back towards the Blue Lake and up the dreaded Hells Gate hill, to find 2 more familiar faces from Tauranga half way up cheering everybody on. It sure made that hill alot easier knowing I had to put on a good show. However, my luck kinda ran out there. Not long after reaching the top of Hells Gate, I punctured! My first one ever in a race. I got off the bike and was shaking so much I could hardly hold the bike let alone change a flat. Thankfully the friends who had been standing on the hill were now heading for the finish line, so they stopped and changed it for me while I caught up on my nutrition which had gone a little bit haywire! Thanks heaps Mark and Sally - you are awesome in every way!!!!! Back on the bike I knew the tyre wouldn't be so pumped up and hoped it would last the final 20kms. I was carefully trying not to ride through glass etc. Then it rained - no it poured!! I had to take my glasses off as I couldn't see. It didn't last long, but enough to soak me.

I finally got to the last hill - Tarawera Road, back to the Blue Lake, is just a killer. It is steep, reasonably long, and being towards the end of 90kms, it's just hard. However, my luck ran out again half way up, and my tyre was now flat again. I was tempted to just pump it up and carry on, but I had no idea if it was going to get 100mtrs or the whole way, so I changed it. So, I have finally changed a tyre in a race. It's always been something that has terrified me, but now that I have done it, it has taken away the fear - that's one positive to take from it I guess. But as I watched more people pass me, I knew I was now way way back in the field - I'm normally fairly way down, but not THIS far down. I thought about just giving in and calling it a day, my biggest dread doing events has always been coming last. But, quitting wouldn't have made me feel any good either, so I decided to keep going.

However, to add to the growing list of crap happening on "the stupid bike", I must have knocked my gears somehow when I was changing the flat. When I started off again up the rest of the hill the chain kept slipping out of the easier gears, so I had to use harder gears than I would have normally. Then, when I was coming down the final hill to the transition, my chain came off. I wasn't stopping to put it back on as I knew the rest of the ride was all downhill, but I had to cruise down it rather than fly down it, just in case the chain got caught in the wheel! So, all in all "the stupid bike" just enhanced it's reputation. My bike computer says I did 3hrs 44mins, but the results say 4hrs 10mins - so that equates to 26mins for both transitions and 2 puncture repairs - not too bad I guess considering!!!!!

ONE MORE LAP OF THE LAKE TO GO

For once I was actually relieved to be running. The weather was great. Warm, overcast, not much wind - perfect. The run starts with one lap of the blue lake, which includes single track bush trails, and is just lovely. It then goes down a long gradual hill to Lake Tarawera with abit tacked on the side for extra distance, to then return up the hill, back through the finish, and around the Blue Lake again. My main aim was to run as best I could, stopping for brief walk periods when needed, and not grovelling to the end. This was exactly what I did. I felt great (probably because I found coke on the aid stations and LOVED it), I walked on the odd occasion, but made sure I kept a good pace going through those bits, no longer than a minute at a time, and it worked. I even ran the whole way back up the big hill to the lake lookout without stopping once - that was probably the biggest achievement of the race for me. I could hear my coach's voice in my head - "keep straight and tall, small fast steps, and drive the arms"... it worked too - there's a reason I pay her money.... My final run time = 2hrs 36mins 25secs

YAY I FINALLY FINISHED!!!!!

So, after a long hard day that kind of had a bit of everything thrown in for good measure, I finished the race in 7hrs 25mins & 37secs. Not the time I wanted, but I was pretty happy to have just finished it. The swim was great, the bike sucked big time, but the run was superb.... not my fastest in a Half Ironman, but certainly the best in terms of execution (oooooh, big word).

Back to our camp ground for a soak in some absolutely sweltering hot pools, and then a swim in the semi heated pool to cool off, and some of the aches were starting to ease. We went out to dinner with my coach and her hubby who also competed. It was Paul's birthday which we just completely forgot about - sorry honey, but you forgot too, so I can't feel too bad. It worked out ok though, because at the prizegiving (which is just a ripper of an event and must be experienced), he won a spot prize just because it was his birthday. A weekend away in Taupo for 2 nights - doing some sort of triathlon training???? - the details are a little sketchy because Hooksie had had a few, so an email to his lot will sort that out hopefully. The highlight of the night definitely had to be the chorus of "You've lost that loving feeling"..... it's a long story as to how a hall full of triathletes ended up singing that song, but they did, it was awesome, and a definite winner in my book. Well done to Hooksie and his crew for delivering another fun event and great entertainment to boot.

Thanks to Steve and the photographer for getting me out of my blahs so early on. Congrats also to Graeme & Kieran - I hope you guys enjoyed your race, and am looking forward to being out there with you at Ironman.

I am now having a 2 week break from training - just a couple of things thrown in here and there to keep the body ticking along, but other than that - NOTHING... I must say I wasn't really looking forward to the time off. It feels like I should be out there doing more, not less, but after the lack of enthusiasm for the race I experienced on Friday, I can see I need it. I have been going full steam ahead every week since March, apart from one, so it is definitely deserved. Don't expect to hear much from me over the next 2 weeks - have a great Xmas and enjoy your holiday period. Will be back with alot more stories to tell in January as the last 8 weeks thunder by towards Ironman New Zealand on March 1st 2008......

2 more sleeps...

to go until the Rotorua Half Ironman. I am nervous, I am excited and I am sore! For some reason this week I have had a very sore/tired back, neck and shoulders. I think I am long overdue for a good massage, and my body is really feeling it. I make it train and train, but never really do anything nice to help it recover. So, some time over the next 2 weeks, I am going to have one. A Xmas treat to myself.

This week has been fairly easy. A small run Mon morn, and then a 2km swim Mon avo. The swim was supposed to be in the sea, but it was very windy and I went to the pool instead. God it was boring. I have had enough of seeing that black line! Tues was a short windtrainer spin with a 10min run. Wed was supposed to be a swim/bike/run brick at the sea, but as I stupidly left my wetsuit at home, I just biked and ran. The bike felt like crap, and the run was finally going well in the last 5 mins of 20, so not overly estatic about that traning effort. Today was a rest day and tomorrow is a 300m sea swim, 30min easy flat bike, and 20min easy flat run - all in the name of waking the body up and showing it what it has to do on Saturday - either that or it's going to fail me completely!!!!

So, my evening will now be full of packing, packing, checking and packing, but we will hopefully get to bed early. Only 2 more episodes of Shortland Street left for the year, thank goodness, as it is really butting into my organisation time!!! Gotta find out who the killer is......

Ciow for now!

And the rain still falls......

I had 2 key sessions this week - my 2 hour run, which I did on Thursday in the pouring rain, and my 2.5 hour ride that was today, including a 30km HARD time trial. Well, the weather was still crap, very windy, blustery and just plain misearble. So, I headed out, but any plans of a hard time trial went out the door as I just plain struggled to cycle. I did manage to keep my average speed above 20kms/hr and used my aerobars for most of the 30kms that I rode straight into the wind. All good signs really, as a 20km/hr average is the absolute lowest I can go at Ironman to have any chance of surviving past the bike cut off. So, considering I achieved that with 30kms of head wind one way, and then 20 kms of hills on the return trip home, I can be fairly confident, that barring major catastrophe, I should make it ok in Taupo.

I also haven't had a puncture in AGES, but today I got one. I have to admit that I have been fairly lucky in this respect, so I do hope it's not the start of some bad luck. The Mt Maunganui area is bad for smashed glass & bottles, and particularly at this time of year when there is a huge influx of young people all partying hard at the beach. So, I kind of had a feeling today would be the day I got a flat, as it is very hard to see all the glass when it has been raining, so instead of avoiding it, you just ride straight through it. Seeing as I wasn't very far from home, and only had 15mins left anyway, I played a marvelous damsel in distress. I couldn't be bothered sitting on the side of the road in the rain, trying to change a flat that I have had no practise at for yonks. So I called my faithful hubby to come get me. In the meantime I decided to walk up the road to meet him - unfortnately he came a different direction in the car, so was driving round and round trying to find me, as I wasn't where I said I'd be - he then complained that I should know the first rule for search and rescue, and that is NOT TO MOVE!!!! oooooops. So, after recovering me from the side of the road, we went home and I had a refresher on changing a flat. All done pretty smoothly I might add to.

We then had a pretty relaxing Sunday afternoon. We took the kids to the library for their 3 weekly visit, and armed with 40 books!!!!! to keep them occupied, we went and caught up with some friends. It was pouring with rain, so it was a good excuse to sit around and do nothing but yakkity yak. They had gone to Kona for the World Champs, and we wanted to hear all about it, plus pick her brains for tips. She had qualified at Taupo in her first Ironman, so we had a really good talk about the ins and outs of Ironman, heard all about Kona and her experience there, and just basically talked about training, nutrition, money, bike, racing, blah blah blah - all that stuff that our "normal" friends just don't get and don't really care about. Her hubby is now enthused too, and is also doing Ironman in March. What a great way to spend a rainy afternoon.

So, next weekend is the Rotorua Half Ironman - I am nervous about it, but also kind of looking forward to it. It is a lot tougher than the previous Half Ironmans I have done in Mt Maunganui, so it will be a real test of my endurance! I hope the weather clears up for it, and the punctures stay away. Paul is doing the bike in a team, my coach and her hubby are competing, two of the other Alpe Gear sponsorees are also competing, plus numerous friends from here in Tauranga are entered as teams and individuals, so it should be quite a fun event. The after match function is a right royal crack up - an awards evening like no other I have seen in triathlon circles, and one not to be missed. Watch this space next Sunday for the race report (and no doubt the photos!!).

Rain rain go away..... I need to RUN

After sucessfully managing to do most of my big training sessions for the last few months without getting rained on, the luck finally ran out today. Today was my first 2 hour run for quite some time. This has had me worried, as I am doing the Rotorua Half Ironman next weekend, and my running has taken a big backseat while I pedal that damn bike! So, after a few days of worrying about the session, this morning I woke at 4.50am to the sound of RAIN!! Nice!!! I waited around until 5.45am to see if it would let up, but alas no - so out with the running jacket and into I went. Thankfully it wasn't overly cold, so the jacket actually got dispatched. It was muggy, wet and a little blustery, but it went pretty well.

The idea was to do a LSD run (Long Slow Distance for those of you who think I've turned into a druggie - read the latest Multisport & Triathlete mag - there's a good article on it). I had to keep the heart rate between 145-150. The first part of the run was ok, but for the second half I struggled abit to keep it down, so ended up averaging 153 - close enough! I managed to do 18kms which averages to 9kms/hr. Not bad considering I did a number of reasonable hills, and it was raining buckets!!! Got home 45mins before I was due to start work, so it has been a bit of a mad morning. Thankfully my mother-in-law had the kids overnight so I didn't have to get them off to school. Otherwise they would have been late too, not just me!

The rest of this week has been fairly easy - except for the 4kms I swam yesterday! I did a mixture of swimming, drills, kick, paddles and pull bouy. I started off aiming to do 2.5kms, that grew to 3kms, then I figured I may as well swim the Ironman distance of 3.8kms, then I decided that I may as well round it up to 4kms!!! I thought that was a pretty good effort considering I was swimming by myself - normally I need the motivation of people behind me and the coach at the end of the pool to make me swim that far! I did it all up in just under 1hr 30mins - I have my eye on a 1hr 15min Ironman swim time, so I think that should be a reasonable guesstimate. I need to get out of the water as soon as possible to allow as much time for "that damn bike" as possible!!!!!!!!

So, a swim/bike/run brick on Saturday and a 3hr ride on Sunday, before I finally have some sort of taper for Rotorua next weekend. I'm a little concerned at my lack of running going into this, but I guess on the day it will all come together - so long as I have a good ride on "that damn bike"......

Tinman Olympic Distance Triathlon - Race Report

Transition
The finish line
The Female Swim Start

Afew pics above of the transition, finish line and swim start which my hubby nicely took. Best get his story out of the way first - his all male team won that division, so they were a happy bunch of blokes!!! Go hunny!!!

Anyway, to my race. The idea was to have a HARD training day as you might recall. Well what I thought might happen was that I would blitz the swim, hammer the bike, and survive the run - and you know what - that is EXACTLY what I ended up doing.

THE SWIM
This went well - there were a few jellyfish/ fish eggs (gross stuff basically), lurking around, but not thick with them like it was yesterday thankfully. The water was lovely and warm, and we started in waves of men first, women 3 mins later, and teams 3 mins after that. The first lap was great - went hard for the first couple of minutes, then relaxed into a good groove. We had to exit the water halfway through the swim, which is always a bugger, but I decided to run it, doing all the flash leg flicking stuff the coach had taught us a couple of weeks ago. As it was low tide, the leg kicking seemed to be going on for some time, and by the time I got back in to swim the second lap, I was STUFFED. So, the start of the second lap was pretty slow just trying to get my breathe back. But, it went relatively smoothly and I think I did the swim in about 28 mins (going by the official race clock).

THE BIKE
This was pretty good too. I ended up averaging 28.2kms (incl the runs in and out of transition). It was a tail wind heading out, and a head wind seemed to pick up going back. The aim was to go really fast at a lower RPM with the wind, and spin out against the wind. I managed to stay on the aerobars for most of the ride, even into the wind which I don't normally do. There were some very large bunches out there which was annoying, as this is a no drafting race, so that was a bit frustrating to say the least - but I stayed honest, and apart from the 30secs I talked to fellow blogger SUB6, I stayed draft free! I didn't really drink much as I was abit stupid and did the one thing you should NEVER do in a race, and tried some new electrolyte!! DUMB - can't say I liked it much, and so I didn't drink it. Not a good way to set myself up for the run - which ended up HURTING!!!!

THE RUN
This was HARD - My PB for this distance is 2:56:00. I needed to do a 60min run to break this, which I know I can do when I'm feeling good, but as soon as I started running, I knew it wasn't going to be today! My legs felt like lead. I normally like running off the bike, but they hurt, they were tired, my gut felt crook and I just wanted to lie down. I guess I do have to remember that I did a 160km ride last weekend, and have been training all week too - not really any tapering going on. That's my defence anyway and I'm sticking to it!! The flat stuff along the Mount main beach was going fine - managing to keep an even pace just ticking over, but as soon as I hit the Mount base track I knew I was in trouble. I had to walk the first hill - WALK - I have NEVER walked in the run in this event before, and I was p*$#%& off that I did today, but there you go. I did it up one more hill towards the end too, but other than that it was just survival and grovel to the finish. I felt light headed, hot (even though thankfully the sun chose to stay behind clouds), and my legs hurt - I kept telling myself that Ironman was going to be like this, so get over it and run! I was so glad to get off the base track, and start running up the last flat km to the finish line. My hour was passing by, my PB went walkies, and I think I ended up doing around 2:57:00 - not too sure on the official time, but somewhere around there. I just wobbled to the ground at the end not feeling flash at all. Oh well you live and learn - NEVER try something new in a race - god I'm an idiot!!!!

I finally met SUB6 out on the bike course, and judging by how he was going, I would say he will be a very happy bloke right now - well done Mike!!!

Hubby was on hand to take a photo as I was finishing, so here 'tis - not pretty, but it's there.

Me Finishing!!! YAY ME (my friend Anna behind me who just did her first Olympic Tri)


So, onwards and upwards - I have only got 2 weeks until the Half Ironman in Rotorua. I just have to try and think positive and not dwell on how hard today was - I still can't quite believe that in 2 weeks I have to double that run and bike ride! You never know, maybe I might find the long, slower, paced race easier than the GO HARD shorter stuff (can't believe I class an Olympic Distance race as short......)

I have a fairly easy week this week, apart from a 2 hour run on Thursday, so will be trying to get plenty of rest and early nights. The countdown is on to Rotorua, and I need to be prepared!!!!!

I almost forgot - the highlight of the day went to the Dolphins that appeared in Pilot Bay while the prizegiving was going on - my kids were there and that has now given them a great story to write at school on Monday!! First time they have ever seen them wild - LOVELY!

Fish Eggs

I have never seen a fish egg before, therefore I had no idea that the squillions of things I was swimming through this morning were fish eggs!!! As I was merrily entering the water at low tide (so a big walk it was), I noticed that the water was swarming with see through, jelly like things about as long as your fingers. I started yelling at my hubby who was standing on the beach yakking to friends, and was politely and nicely informed that they were fish eggs, they won't hurt you, and I should harden up!!

Well excuse me for not liking the fact that when I was swimming it felt like I was cycling through a swarm of insects!! They kept hitting me everywhere and the last thing I wanted to do was swallow them, so I kept my mouth tightly shut while I was being bombarded, not overly great for breathing, but I was NOT going to eat the things - the next question is.....

WHAT EATS FISH EGGS......?????? ARE THEY COMING TOO.....???? Ohhhh and I was sooooo looking forward to my triathlon tomorrow, now I have to contend with fish eggs, whatever eats them, and hundreds of people!!!!! Can't we do it in the pool???