The Baby faced assassin

Last weeks training was a bit of a steady as she goes - just ticking most of the boxes in the regular routine. The long run ended up on the scrap heap, mainly due to scheduling issues. To be honest, it was done-in by Mr Procrastination! I had two opportunities to slip it in, but mucked around, and ran out of time on both occasions. So have duly given myself a slap on the wrist!
Sundays ride was probably the most "interesting" session of the week. It was Katie Kennys "going away ride", and there was a good turn-out. Beautiful day for it too. We got the first puncture at around 5km, and usually if there is one - there will be several in the ride! A little further down the road and we have our second little excitement. We have to journey down the Pakaranga hi-way for a short period on our standard long ride loop, and this is a 6 lane road, usually pretty quiet at 7-8am on Sunday morning, but not so good on the way back. Cruising along quite merrily, and out from the right comes a football rolling across the road (across 5-6 lanes!). It is heading for Reuben. Reuben is sure it is going to get him and Reuben is sure he is going to hit the deck! Everyone watching behind (in slow motion of course) is also sure Reuben is going to hit the deck. The ball somehow manages to roll under Reubens bike - between the wheels! Every one seeing this is stunned. However the ball is not yet finished! It bounces off the curb, taking out Mike on the rebound, who was diligently watching the action from behind! Everyone is OK after, although not quite sure how it all happened! Second puncture for the group at around 30km - and a good one too. A sharp stone that cuts through the sidewall of the tyre. So there is a nice turtle head of tube sticking out when the new tube is in and pumped up. Another puncture waiting to happen (not if - but when). Rider number two is now on the way home, wondering how far they will make it before they have to start walking after the call to be picked up! Liz does make it back to the car! The rest of the ride was reasonably uneventful - no dog attacks, rogue drunks on their way home, not even the weather conspired against us!


As it was Katies last official ride with us (she is off to Christchurch, then Dunedin - for University!), I will do a bit of a tribute to her - as she is special! Little Katie, as she is known, starting coming along to the Saturday brick (swim-bike-run) sessions quite early on - as a 12 or 13 year old (my memory is fading). These sessions run for around 3 hours, and can be reasonably solid - but they did not phase the young Katie! I imagine she did sleep pretty well after the first few sessions though! She did not really say much, just quietly got on with things. Over the years she developed into a very handy athlete, moving from triathlon more to cycling. She was captain of the all conquering Dio senior cycling team this year. While butter would not melt in this innocent young ladies mouth, if you showed any sign of weakness she would nail your ass to the wall! Just ask the chickens at the top of Twighlight Rd! Over the last couple of years she has been trying to take my scalp on a hill climb, and we have had a bit of a challenge going. Fortunately my poker face has got me out of trouble a couple of times, when she could have probably rolled me. But she was probably hurting quite a bit, looked over at me, and I probably looked quite comfortable - even though I was about to break, and she would crack first. If I did feel that she had a good chance on an upcoming climb, my other tactic was to put in an absolute 100% effort attack quite early, to put her off. I didn't really play fair! :-). A few weeks ago we were riding up Twighlight road (approximately a 2km steady climb), and was feeling a little average in the legs. With just one corner to go I did sense impending doom, and looked around, and sure enough "little Katie" is on my wheel. I know what is coming next. Sure enough, as we round the corner, the attack comes. Now at the very top of Twighlight, there are a number of Chickens and Roosters that live right on the side of the road. Unfortunately the residence of Twighlight had decided to take their quite newly hatched chiclets for a walk across the road, just as the hill top sprint was being decided. I was not stopping, and dove on the inside, which managed to scatter the wildlife a little more toward the centre of the road, where a second placed sprinter managed to reduce the inhabitant population by a couple of chiclets... There was not going to be any stopping to survey damage - tears would be involved!

Katie is one of those people that will be good at what ever she decides to be good at. Not because of a huge amount of natural ability (she certainly does have some of that though), but because she is very determined! Over the years I have had the opportunity to meet and make friends with some great people. As an athlete and a coach I have made friendships that really have changed my life. I am not really a very emotional person - but it was very sad to say goodbye to Little Katie. I am sure our paths will cross in the future - many times I hope. Good luck Little Katie - you are the genuine Baby faced assassin!

tick, tick, tick...

I know you all need a laugh...

Training for the week starting 17th November:
I was keen to get my training back on track this week, and did feel reasonably motivated after the race last week. Or possibly more desperate to keep the wolves snapping close at my heels a little further at bay! I took Monday quite easy, cruised the swim - at an almost pathetic level, but it was the right thing to do as I felt way better by the end. Put some running shoes on later on Monday to go for a run, and that was not going to happen - due to a few blisters on the feet from Sundays adventure. Tuesday was reasonably solid - the bike intervals went well, probably the best in the last 5-6 weeks, so that was good mentally. Wednesday was a good day too - it was the first day that I actually felt "power". I felt quite strong in the pool - didn't really smash the swim - but did one of the fastest 1500m pull (standard Wednesday swim) in a while, and that was with calf cramps in the last 500m (which cut the swim a bit short). The evening spin class was also showing signs of change - with a much lower HR for the effort than usual. Now normally this means I am starting to get fatigued and slightly over-trained - but it did also feel easy. Then woke up feeling pretty average on Thursday - so I had not grown taller and become bulletproof! And this was about when my week started to fall apart. 
Rolled through the squad swim OK, but was a bit tired. After a feed, jumped on the bike to do a "steady" ride - a stepping stone session to get me back to my half IM simulation levels - so wanted to include 3-4 efforts of around 10minutes at between 275-300w. I was not 100% sure on the power level, but wanted to keep the HR around 150 (nothing over 155 at all). About three quarters of the way through the first steady effort and the effort started to feel a bit too solid, the HR was climbing - this was not as planned. Check the power and that was climbing - but the speed was constant (I was on the trainer). OK - this is not a good sign, look down at the back wheel, and sure enough - the back tyre is pretty flat looking! Darn-it! Quickly jump off and pump it up, in the futile hope it is a very slow leak. Of course it is not, and 10 minute later I am back off changing the tyre. Unfortunately I was on a tight time line with a couple of appointments soon after, so had to cut the session short after all that. The efforts that I did do, sort of went OK, but it was hard to determine exactly what I wanted out of it with the starts and stops. Oh well... The day got a bit worse. Went to go for a run, then "where are my shoes"? After over an hour of hunting high and low, I came to the conclusion that they have been stolen from the front door (where they normally reside when not on my feet!). Great! Someone really does not want me to run! A day later and a new pair of shoes, and managed a half hearted long run - very slow to start with, but it sort of came right. The neighbors then decided to crank up the garage band at around 1am Sunday morning. So after a call to noise control, things become quiet enough to get some sort of sleep in, but at 6am, getting ready for a long ride was not a happening thing. So after a grumpy start to Sunday, I did manage to knock out 2 hours on the trainer, but was not that happy about it! At least the weather was a bit crappy...
On to the next week (which is now last week!):
Monday morning for another week, and swim time. I was getting my ass handed to me! I felt OK, although we were doing 400's and I really don't like them. Longer is OK, and so is shorter, me and 400's have just never got on that well. I am pretty much the slowest swimmer in the lane, but I was getting lapped by everyone, no matter how hard I tried. After a couple I checked the 200m split, and it was 2:30 - so it was not me - I am swimming OK, it was the other sod's in the lane that were on fire and giving it what for! That made me feel slightly better, so chucked the pull gear on for the rest of the set! Rolled through the easier training quite comfortably. For some reason the bike intervals were not really that good - OK, but probably 20-30w under what they should have been. A little bit from weights I think (there was a bit of DOM's going on), and not really that into it. The long run need to be done during the week - due to a wedding at the weekend, and that went OK. Followed the usual theme, very slow and sluggish at the start then feeling much better in the second half. Not really much quicker, but at least feeling better. I think the calf raises are actually starting to work too. I feel a little more confident running - whereas previously I was sort of waiting for the impending doom of a calf popping each run. Running intervals are a bit average still, I would have thought that with a few weeks of semi regular semi-decent long runs (hour and a half or better), that the running would actually be getting a little better - but not yet (hopefully yet). Lost Saturday, with taking training sessions and social functions - but well worth the evening out! Was a bit hard getting up in the morning for the Sunday long ride, but well worth it - a glorious riding day. Nice warm weather, and bugger all wind. Just a great day to be out. Now if I can just get a slightly stronger leash for Phil (Morreau), all will be good!
Christmas is rolling around very quickly. Good in some ways, but I do like my routines, and they will go out the window a little. But it is an opportunity to do a few training that would not normally get done. Also have to cope with the stress of finding my mothers Christmas present...