This doesn't happen very often

My resting HR was lower than yesterday but still higher than it should be so I took the day off from training.  I can't remember the last time I did that.
rHR 54 BPM

O - O - Overtrained?

Whoops.

Resting heartrate was almost 20 BPM higher than usual this morning (64).  I'll check it again tomorrow morning and then I need to make some hard decisions.

The Rabbit

No, not the single girl's friend but the person who's stronger than everybody else and so sets the pace.  I haven't been the rabbit at Thursday training ever, but tonight, because we trained with the later crew and none of my peeps were there I got to be the rabbit!  It was fun, it made me faster.

AM

Fartlek at the Tan
600m repeat x 1
400m repeat 200 WR x 8
total distance 7.7kms

PM Jeffs @ the Hall

Mobility warm up
including length of hall spider lunge x 2

10kg tyre tube length of hall + return x 4
lunge
backwards lunge
duck walk
jump squat

Push tyre on the floor suicide (which I could do this week!!??) x 5
I ripped the skin off my toes on the 4th one.

Dragon lunge return

New weight belt

AM

It was a bit cold this morning and the pool was kinda empty.  The water was fine once we were in and then we realised that all the triathletes had probably just competed at Port MacQuarie.  We had fun in the water, Jen's bought a new diving belt and I think she's put at least 15kg in it.

The belt is quite heavy and it made me go really fast on the dives.  I sank like a stone and if I pushed off the bottom I could just break the surface and take a quick breath before sinking under again.  We did wonder if people were watching us thinking what on earth are those girls doing???

25m run x 2
25m straight legs x 2
high knees 15 secs x 6
high knees 10 secs x 6
50m 1/2 swim sprint 1/2 run x 6
resistance band run 15 secs 10 secs rest x 6
resistance band run 10 secs 5 secs rest x 6
50m underwater dive
50m underwater run
50m underwater dive
50m underwater run

PM

An hour walk to the pub where I didn't drink beer and did eat steak.

Tightarse Tuesday

AM

My legs were heavy and sore today.  Jen said hers were too. 

I ditched my speed session in favour of a hit out on the trails, it was a beautiful morning and I felt like I needed to get some fun back into my running training.   The trails were in good condition, I think the trail fairies might have been doing some work after the recent floods.  The undergrowth had been cut back and that made it easy to pick a spot to land my feet.  I only heard something slithering away once but I did get stung on the eyelid by some unidentified stingy flying insect.  That hurt but it happened at the end of my session so I didn't have to put up with it for too long.

I started at Studley Park and headed north until the steps then turned back and ran the trails all the way to Walmer where I turned around and ran the trails back to Studley Park.

Dist 11km

Jen and I were discussing my uncontrolled inhaling of food in the afternoons in a bid to stay awake and she suggested that I try a recovery powder after my sessions.  I don't know why I hadn't thought of that but I've given it a go for the last couple of days and it does seem to make a difference.  I'll see how it goes at work tomorrow.  Hopefully it will help me lose these kilos that I've put on.

PM  Jeff's without Jeff in my backyard.

16kg KB

circuit of hell
100 swings
circuit of hell
100 cleans (changing hands on 10, I KNOW soft)
circuit of hell
100 1A Deadlift
circuit of hell
50 2A swings

Anzac Day funtimes

I'd planned a day of multisport today.

AM

10km run.   Spooky morning with a heavy fog making visibility really poor and causing dew to condense on my eyelashes.  Hard run, I'm really struggling at the moment.

Midday

Fun on bikes with Helen and Jen.  They were on their geared roadies, I was on my CX SS.  I don't know where we went, Jen was the boss.  We did some road, some bike path and some trails.  Jen is amazing on the trails, I don't think I've seen anybody with better skills.  I think we were around Westerfolds, I know we looked over Templestowe and Viewbank after we rode up a big hill, and we bypassed the muddy trails that I did with Gavin.
So much fun, I love the bike.  2 hours

Evening

Swimming in Brunswick Pool under a violet sunset.  Beautiful. Peaceful.

The End

Tabata for Easter

I headed back from family Easter in time to make it to training.  It was another gorgeous day in Benders and I couldn't let it pass without doing something.

Jeff took us over to the alleyway for a sixpeat of Tabata, he told us that most normal people would only do one round.  He's such a kind man!

Tabata one full set (8 repeats 20 secs on 10 secs rest) of each

sled drag superman arms
heavy rope up and down
light rope up and down
sled drag arms behind
heavy rope jump lunge
light rope jump lunge

By the 4th repeat of each we were all completely smashed and then it was just a matter of holding on until the end.  The ropes were the killer today.

Easter Sat

Home in Bendigo and I purposefully left my bike in Melb to give my legs a bit of a rest.

I was sad when I woke up to an absolutely gorgeous autumn day that would have been well spent on a bike.

Running adventures

Good Friday AM

I'm not sure what the long weekend will bring my way so I decided to go for my long run today.  I woke up at 7am and headed out the door with a plan to see how far away 25km would get me from home.

My route took me down Lygon St to Victoria, then I headed for Hoddle St.  I walked up the Punt Rd hill and then continued onto St Kilda.

It was a nice morning, not as perfect as it has been lately but still lovely running weather. At St Kilda I headed down Beach Rd.  So many cyclists were out today, and I enjoyed checking out the legs, bikes and kits of the bunches as they went past. 

25km got me to Sandringham Football Club where I stopped, bought a Gatorade from the Caltex and headed inland to find a train.

An hour, a train and tram ride later and I was very cold and very glad to jump into a warm shower at home.

Not surprisingly my legs and glutes were very sore today so running was hard work.  I needed pretty frequent water and rest breaks at the lights but I'm still happy I got through it.

Islands in the Stream kept me good company during kilometres 8-20!

Courage and happiness

AM

No running today because of an early breakfast meeting.

PM Jeffs in the hall

Mobility warm up
10kg tyre tube x 3
walking lunge
duck walk
reverse lunge
jump squat

Push tyre by 5

circuit of hell x 2

I am useless at pushing the tyre (or weight plate) along the floor.  I get no traction with my shoes on and if I take my shoes off I rip the skin off the soles of my feet.  It makes me grumpy.

Jeff switched it up so I only had to do one but everybody else had to keep going as long as I did. That certainly sped me up.

I had dinner with a friend who's contemplating some major life changes.  We agreed that sometimes it takes real courage to make the changes required to allow happiness in your life.

Courage.  Have I got it?

Swimming under the stars

AM

Gorgeous morning at the pool, it was lovely swimming under the stars and then watching a beautiful sunrise.

No Jen, so I didn't push it too hard on the underwater dives.

600m swim
25m sprint x 4
25m straight legs x 4
15 secs high knees 5 secs rest x 6
15 secs high knees no rest x 6
10 secs high knees 5 secs rest x 6
10 secs high knees no rest x 6
max dive swim sprint up to 50m x 6
max dive swim sprint up to 50m x 6
resistance band running x 6

- Jeff Jerk +

AM

I was supposed to do 10km of up and overs today but my legs were just too sore and tired.  There was plenty of resting and navel gazing going on but I managed to get out 7km including 2 Walsh Sts.
I'm not happy with my lack of HTFU but not much I can do about it now, my hip is starting to ache so perhaps giving it a 3km rest was the right choice.

PM  Jeff's without Jeff in my backyard.

I do have to question why I picked the hardest workout I could think of when there was no Jeff to goad me into it.  Maybe I found my HTFU that was missing this morning!

Jerk +

10 Jerks each side after each exercise

Round body pass 20 ew
snatch 10es
lunge 10es
clean 20es
squat 10es
OA swing 20es
single leg dead lift 20es
high pull row 20

I managed to get through the whole thing including a warm up in 30 mins, more than 10 mins faster than the last time we did it.

I wonder why?

A little bit tired

AM

Well, funnily enough I was a little bit tired after my action jackson weekend.

I stayed in bed for 1/2 hour after my alarm went off, but once I was outside I wanted to stay out there longer.

We are so spoilt at the moment with gorgeous mornings, being outside is easy.  I was loving the outdoors so much I was a little late for work.

Running was a bit difficult, I think I was just plain tired, I noticed that I was very weary this arvo so an early night is on the cards.

Dist 12 kms

Unspoken Racing

A gorgeous autumn day in Melbourne had me itching to get on my bike.

I headed up to the Boulevard and was having fun cruising up and down, it was so beautiful up there today.  I don't often get up there any time other than sunrise so it was just gorgeous looking at everything in quite literally a different light.

I'd noticed that I was pacing off one particular fella.  He'd pull ahead of me and then I'd overtake him on the next hill and vice versa.  I wasn't really paying too much attention to him as I was checking out the scenery, that was until I went to pass him on a climb and he attacked to stop me from getting past.

Hmmm, that smelt like competition and at any whiff of competition, I"M OFF! 

Soon we were both going full tilt, he'd attack, then I would and we traded 'the lead' a few times. Neither of us said a word or acknowledged the other but we both knew what was going on.  I was working hard and so was he.

Then, as he came up behind me on a descent, he said ' Hang on, you don't have any gears on that bike.  I thought you were just being cheeky but I've just been checking out your bike and couldn't believe it.  Wow, you're amazing!'

I said thanks and we talked about what a gorgeous day it was.  He'd been riding up Donna Buang on Friday and was loving the warmer weather today. 

By this stage we were at the flat over the freeway and with a laugh he took off and said 'Now you can chase me up the next hill!'  I couldn't keep up with him on the flat so he got quite a bit of a lead, I couldn't pull it back on the next hill and I knew there was only one climb left.  (the one that has the pipe bridge at the bottom of it).

I'd been giving my legs a good talking to, and with one more COME ON LEGS I gave it everything I had.  Red line, vomit in the back of my throat, quads screaming.  come on, come on,  come on.  Almost at the top.

And with probably two pedal strokes left I just got my wheel in front of his.  HAH!

As we scooted down to the Guide Dogs he wanted to go back around again, but I was done.  I rolled very slowly home and then had a nap.  Such fun times.

PM

Jeff's without Jeff @ Jen's

25 m
Usual Tues warm up x 2
cossack side lunge x 2
lunge arms to outside of feet

5kg plate
walking lunge x 4
duck walk x 4
jump squat x 4

16kg kettlebell all, rest in prone push up position 1 minute duration for all
goblet squat
rest
backwards lunge
rest
OA swing
rest
OA swing
rest
jump lunge
rest
jerk
rest
jerk
rest
jump squat
rest
round the world push up walk x 2

Forearm and grip work 10 minutes (ouch)

Pretty good effort.

Didn't think I'd make it

AM

I had a few wines to decompress last night. Not the best prep for a 23km run after a very slack week but they were much needed.

Fi had picked the starting point in Richmond today and took us down Swan St to GE and onto the flat boulevard.

We headed up the the pedestrian bridge at the St Kevins rowing sheds and headed along the Gardiner Creek trail, past the Hawthorn Cycling Club to Fi's house.   I considered turning back there as I was feeling more than ordinary but after a gel I continued on Fi's loop with her and Dee. 

We took Gardiner's Creek Trail back the way we'd come.  We looked up and noticed the beautiful sunrise and on the way back a couple of cyclists were scooting round the track.

Back along Swan St and Fi and Dee got a bit of a break on me, that made me get a bit cranky with myself so I took off with 1.5km to go to try and catch them.  They crossed the road without realising I was chasing so I continued back to the cars alone.  I was able to smash it for that last bit which was completely surprising after how I'd started out.

I ended up doing some extras to make up an even 24km.

Not bad.

Regulated

Well, today turned out to be every bit as difficult as I'd hoped it wouldn't be.  After the meeting, I wandered around the city dazed and confused for a while, then went back to work.  I was too shattered to be any use so I headed off early.

Back to it

AM

Was hoping to get a 10k run in this morning but made do with 7.5km.

Started from the Thursday meeting point, around to Fed Square and then instead of heading back I did the Swan, Church St loop in reverse.  It didn't quite get me the distance I wanted but was a very pleasant run.

No Jeff's tonight, he's got an open.  I was considering getting another run in but spent the evening on interview prep instead with the soon to be firey.

Pool in the cool

AM

The heater wasn't working properly at Fitzroy pool so it was pretty chilly in the water this morning.  Lucky we were working hard and that warmed us up.

I noticed that I could smash it this morning so going into one of these sessions rested obviously makes a big difference.  Hopefully when I'm back on my feet tomorrow the running will be good too.

25m sprint x 2
25m straight legs x 2
high knees
15 secs on 5 secs rest x 6
15 secs on no rest x 6
10 secs on 5 secs rest x 6
10 secs on no rest x 6
jendive 4 x 25m with additional drag on the last rep
50m underwater dive for balls x 2
push ups on high wall 10 x 3

Jen said she wanted porridge for breakfast so we went to Mixed Business. Yum!

Have a break

I took the day off work today and had a 4 hour sleep (can't really call that a nanna nap).  I'm feeling quite run down for no good reason, so I'm hoping that I'm not coming down with something.

It's hard to take time out, I know I'm addicted to the endorphins and I'm already having an enforced break from Jeff this week.  I have to keep reminding myself that a short break now is better than a long one later because I've made myself sick. A few missed sessions is not going to impact my fitness in any great way.

A busy week at work culminating in a very ordinary Friday means that I won't have time to make up any extras so I'll try to make peace with resting.

At least this will give the skin under my toes time to grow back! 

Paris Roubaix

I couldn't go to bed while Mitch was in the breakaway and racing strongly so that meant a late night for me.  15th at 47 secs - wow!

I slept in this morning and have been wrecked all day.  Not sure if I'll be able to make up the session this week, so I'll have to be content that a bit of rest won't do me any harm.

Interview with Mitch after the race

Quiet Sunday

AM

Pulled out all the creepers in my back yard and then when it started raining I moved inside and did housework.

I needed a quiet day today after feeling really sick following my massage yesterday.  There must have been some really nasty stuff hiding in my muscles that James released.

PM Jeffs in the alleyway

56kg tractor tyre drags

5 x
superman arms
bent arms
straight arms behind
backwards

dragon lunge
duck walk
cossack lunge x 2
reverse lunge
duck walk

Thank you for not punching

AM

Step back weeks are easy right? Ummmm, not so much.

Maybe it was the couple of champagnes I drank with Emily last night, maybe it was exactly what my trainer predicted.  The step back weeks are going to feel hard is what he said.  I didn't quite believe him then.

Dee, Fi and I met at Mixed Business this morning.   I'd planned a long loop that would take us around some of our favourites.

Along Hoddle, where Dee did an impression of our run on Thurs that had Fi laughing so hard she couldn't breathe.  We turned left at the river, left at Chapel and right on Swan.  Back down to the river at GE where I was feeling incredibly thirsty, slow and yuk.

We stopped at the drink fountain, and then continued along the river to Walmer and headed up onto The Boulevard.  I tried to take notice of how pretty it was up there, but I was more focussed on one foot in front of the other, repeat.  Fi whispered a little secret that she was hurting too which made me feel better.  Last week we smashed it, this week 10km felt like a long way.

We left the Boulevard at the Gipps St bridge and detoured around Trenerry Cres and back to Clifton Hill.   The human GPS had to recalculate a few times but we ended up with 17km which was just over our target of 16.

Fi told me that we'd actually averaged our marathon goal pace today which surprised me as it felt so slow.  This is where I have to trust the training.  We've been getting steadily faster and I had been warned about how I was going to feel so actually, everything is going to plan.

Massage with James and his evil fingers of death

OUCH.  Hamstrings and calves sore, had a few adhesions.  Achilles not so great.  Glute not so bad until he got to glute med, then it all got awfully bad. James thanked me for not punching him at one point. 

Goodness! It's Friday.

rest

rippin it up

AM

Another blistering lap of the tan followed by 8 repeats of Anderson St.   I knew we must be fast when Dee stopped talking, a check of her Garmin and she confirmed we were at 4 45 pace.

Dee kept me going up Anderson, I was ready to give up after 5 but we ripped out another 3.

Total dist 7.7kms

PM Jeff's @ the Hall

Mobility warm up
Cassock lunges were ridiculously painful, luckily I have an appt with James and his evil fingers of death on Saturday.
10kg tyre tube
length of hall + return x 2
lunges
duck walk
jump lunge
board squats

weighted plate push
length of hall + return x 4

length of hall return

I tore the skin off the sole of both my big toes. Not optimal for running so I decided to retire from plate push and went to a wheelbarrow plate drag for 2 lengths.

feet on plate, reverse bridge walk
length of hall
wheelbarrow plate drag
length of hall

10kg tyre tube
clean to back of neck and squat x 50
around body swing 25 ew
Russian twist 25 es

making it up

AM

It was a beautiful morning at Fitzroy Pool, there was steam coming off the water and with the change in daylight saving we could swim in the light.

Jen made up an excellent hypoxic drill.  We tied out bands together and then put them around our waists.  The person in front dove underwater and swam for as far as we could dragging the person behind.  Hard work, good fun.  I'm going to name it Jendive. We've both been very hungry and tired all day.

500m swim
25m run sprint x 4
25m straight legs x 4
high knees 10 secs on, 5 secs rest x 6
high knees 10 secs on, no rest x 6
high knees 15 secs, 5 secs rest x 6
high knees 15 secs no rest x 6
jendive 25m x 3
push ups on wall run to rope
20
30
30

The kilo

AM

A while ago, Neil tried to explain the effort it takes to race the kilo. 

I think I worked it out this morning.  600m repeats are a killer.  They seem to sit right in between energy systems, every single time I looked at my watch thinking that was enough, there was nothing left, I'd only run 400-500m.  600 was just that little bit extra that really hurt.

Lucky, I was working from home today because I ended up having a 1 1/2 hour sleep at lunchtime.

8 x 600m repeats, 200m jog recovery
9km total distance

PM Jeff @ the gym

1min work, change hands or direction every minute

16 kg Kbell
2 x around body pass (4 mins in total)
One arm swing x 2 ( 4 mins in total, you get it?)
Jerk x 2
Clean x 2
Rack lunge x 2
Snatch x 2
One leg deadlift x 2

Lunge circuit of hell

30
20
10

Lunge circuit of hell =
goblet squats
reverse lunge
jump lunge
jump squat

Limits

Mitch Docker is an absolute champion.  Made the breakaway in Tour de Flanders, cobbles, HARDCORE.  He was giving it everything.  Star!

AM

After watching Mitch's epic ride there's no way I'm going to complain about how I'm feeling.  Am I working to my limits. No!  Toughen up Princess.  No excuses.

12km run

Bike racing

My peeps did will today and I'm proud of them.

I went up to Mt Macedon to be support and cheersquad at the Duael pairs MTB race.  Gavin, Justin and Jeff were out tearing up the course.  They were pushing every lap and working really hard.  It was a great day out and I wished I was out there with them.  Neil and Steve didn't make it up which was a shame.

Lovely friendly people out on the course.

Poor Tim hit a tree at speed and got taken off in an ambulance with a broken arm.  This was his comeback race too after his broken hand so that's a bit sad for him.

Good luck to Mitch tonight in the Tour of Flanders.  He still looks like he's having fun on the bike.  Funny to think that I used to train with him in the shed, he laughed a lot.

Faith and Balls

AM

Another gorgeous morning for a run and with 22km on the plan we had plenty of time to talk.

It's funny how running in the dark doesn't seem to count, there's no way this morning felt like 22km.  We had hit 10km without really thinking about it and held a good pace the whole way.

Route was almost exactly the same as last week.  Starting from Richmond Pool, heading across to Abbotsford then up Johnston to Princes Park.  Down the back of the Park, along Swanston, over to and around Exhibition Gardens, along Spring to Fed Square, then along the River to Anderson St.  Cross the road, down Alexandra Ave to Church, across to Swan, down to Burnley, back to Highett and back up to the Pool.

Well, when I write it like that it feels like along way but it felt great this morning!

We had a good chance to talk and plan things and Fi and I both agreed that we have a bit of uncertainty about a few things.

I feel flatter that I have ever felt about running and I'm far more excited about being on the bike.  It's not that long since NYC and I haven't backed up two difficult programs before so understandably I'm feeling quite fatigued in the legs and taking much longer to recover. 

I'm also carrying extra weight (blah, blah , blah) which makes running that much more difficult. 

Fi hasn't run a marathon before so while she's got pace, she's untested in endurance.

Basically, I think it all boils down to 2 things.

Faith and Balls. 

Faith that the training we're doing is working and though we feel tired now, off the back of a taper we'll be strong and fast.

Balls, because over 30km it's all about the size of your cahunas.  You've either got the balls to tough it out, or you don't.  There's nowhere to hide, it's gonna hurt, and it's gonna hurt big. 

I know I've got the balls and I've got faith that Fi has too.

Thoughts

I've been in quite a contemplative mood today.   I'm looking forward to a long run and chat tomorrow morning.