Olympics - at least it is only every 4 years...

Gee these blogs have fallen a bit behind schedule! I can only blame the Olympics - certainly not training, possibly work - but not really. I was not really into the games as they were rolling around, but they have certainly grown on me this time. In fact I think they have been great! There have been some great performances, some great results, and of course a few disappointments. On the whole I have been pretty stoked with the kiwi's - they have thrown off the chokers shackles and stepped up and shown what a bit of hard work and perseverance can do. As with some most sporting endeavors there are the stand-outs and the disappointments. What I always look for is when an athlete crosses the line, and there is nothing more they could have done to do better. They trained as hard as they could have, and they races as the absolute best they could have. If they look back - there is nothing they would do differently! In my opinion, then that does not matter if you are first or last - that is where you are! That is what the Olympics are about - putting yourself out there and seeing where you stand - and that takes guts! Phelps is amazing - an incredible athlete who found his niche - he is able to totally dedicate himself to train insane amounts, and cope with that training. On top of that he really knows how to win. What ever it takes- what ever he has to endure to get there...
For the kiwi's - you have to feel for Mahe Drysdale- he obviously went as hard as he could, being sick absolutely robbed him of significant performance, and he still comes up with a medal. But four years of hard work to be undone by a bit of deli-belly (or a dodgy roast dog rib in the cafe..). The twins came in a little written off by some, but with the pressure of defending champs - and showed why you NEVER give up until you cross the line. If I was them I don't think I would be wanting to look at that finish photo too often either! On the other side, I thought some of the swimmers under performed - they train pretty hard, but many just don't appear to have that ability to step up on the really big days. Athletes like Beatrice Faumuina annoy me a little - from my perspective (and I am guessing - I don't have the facts), she has the ability to do what she wants, but does not understand what it does take. She has failed to prepare properly, and it also appears she was not prepared for the probably failure. Those giving out the money to support NZ athletes will not be happy with her attitude. I am sure others could have put in a better effort.
One of my swimming companions obviously had Olympic-itus. She was starting her training for the 2012 Olympics at Monday squad. I was not that impressed at all to be fair. After tanning my ass in the first hour of the session, she declared she was now stuffed and that I should lead. No chance - you bought that on yourself, and you can suffer the consequences!! Fortunately I had a relatively quite time the next day, with only a couple of young guys in the lane, and after the first few reps they have burnt themselves out, and you can cope with the session just fine! So managing to knock 3 squad swims out per week, which is OK at the moment. Performance is also OK, nothing spectacular, but a good base to kick on from I think (well - if I need to kick on).
Cycling is OK - although I am finally a bit sick of the rain! Almost to the point that I am not that concerned about getting wet - just to see what riding on the road is like again. A couple of spin classes last week, and lost Saturday (I swear, it just disappeared!). Sunday was raining (again!), and decided a long run (not done at this point) was far more productive than a long ride (which would be 2 hours on the trainer). It was a little later in the afternoon when I left, and decided to go and check some bush tracks I had not been to for a couple of years. Probably not the best plan after 6weeks of relentless rain. It actually went really well, and enjoyed the change. The tracks were pretty similar to last time - although one had gone from a clay mud-put to a reasonable gravel track. So I followed that along for a while - and it was a reasonably long track. Popped out on to a road - no idea where I was, possibly a vague idea of a general vicinity. Then thought to myself - this is a bit darker than expected, there was only one way to go back - but managed to get through the tracks without breaking an ankle on an unseen-due-to-darkness tree root. Overall, almost 2 hours, and it felt reasonably easy and much shorter! All good! Distraction from the task at hand is sometimes good. Nothing too spectacular with the other runs, but they did get done. Just under 5 hours running last week - so a good tick in that box.
This Just in from Ant Ham - he is the one behind Olympian Shane Reid - looking far more relaxed...

Too much on TV...

Missed the update last week - so better get A-into-G and get writing! I was hoping to do a bit on Caffeine - but it is proving to take a bit more time than I originally thought (there is a lot of newer research coming out on caffeine). Just recovered from the tour de France, and now I have to get through all the Olympic games coverage! Sleep is certainly going by the way-side! Anyway an update on the training progress...
Last week had a couple of hiccups - had a "sleep through the alarm" on Monday morning and missed the first session of the week - which I hate! Already behind and it is only 7am on Monday morning - darn it! So only 2 swims for the week, OK for maintenance, but not really moving forward. Weights also went by the way side - mainly as I do it after Monday and Wednesday swimming. Missed Monday swim, and I was just plain stuffed after Wednesdays swim! So I think I am going back to square one on the weights - so this coming week will be an introductory week back to weights!
Cycling had something novel in it - the long ride on the road, and in fine weather!! Managed 3 hours, pretty cold to start with, but a very nice day once it warmed up (sun on your back, no wind...). Second Sunday road ride for in over 3 months - a long time between drinks! The long ride was not without incident. Obviously many motorists were not use to seeing cyclist, and there were a few incidence. We passed someone who was being looked after on the road who had obviously been knocked off his bike in a solid manner - not a nice sight to begin a ride with. After avoiding a few motorists who appeared to look straight through our bunch (always scary), Deno managed to get knocked down going around a round-about reasonably close to home. I am sure many motorists do not actually see cyclist - in that they are only looking for cars - and someone on a bike just does not count as someone you have to give way to! The group finished the ride as it had been most of the day - quite a pleasant pace with only a couple of little "hit-outs". Little Katie managed to give the boys a hurry up on the two climbs of the ride (either side of the halfway turn around). And as she had missed a few sprint training sessions, we finished the long ride with a few "pedestrian crossing sprints" on the way home. I was surprised to see that I managed to go over 900watts for most of the sprints (cracking 1000 a couple of times), as I am really not a sprinter! Spin classes where fairly unspectacular. The intervals were solid, but not record breaking, and I took the Wednesday class was reasonably easy. Taking the school kids out on Thursday morning ended up being a hill fitness ride - due to low turn-out! Tut-tut boys! Well done to the two that did turn-out, and attack me with vigour on the first two hills, forcing me to ride "tempo" :-).
There was a little progress running - new shoes! The last two pair were getting a bit past there "best by" date, and I was getting VERY sore legs and feet each run. Each run in the new shoes has been better, particularly in regards to the sore feet. I may have been pushing my luck a little with the shoes! I will run in the new shoes for a few weeks and check the new model is OK, then look to get a couple more pairs and rotate them each run. Got a little over an hour and a half for the long run, which did feel OK, probably better than most that have been over an hour. Although I did finish a little later in the evening, and had run intervals early the next morning, and ended up tweaking the hamstring a little in that, and suffered a bit in that run! One good and one average... Did get another hour and a bit run on Saturday, so not a bad run week overall, and the hami settled down with the very easy run on Saturday.
Next month will be 6 months to Ironman. While that may still sound a long way away, the last few months have really passed in the blink of an eye. I think at the end of the month I will need to set some monthly goals again, and really make sure I stick to my guns in achieving them, or it will be 3 months to ironman, and I will be doing the same thing still!