What did I say?

I kinda listen to myself....sometimes.

Met with JBSECT this morning for a boulevard ride.  Melbourne was on her best behaviour this morning, it was more gorgeous than usual and made me miss my Fi.  Mornings like that are made for 20k and lots of talking.

This morning instead I ate stem trying to keep up with Kath who is now over 7 months pregnant and so fast it's just kinda ridiculously awesome.   I've said it before and I'll say it again. I like riding with that crew. 

The knee that I banged on the MTB hurt me alot today, so much so, that I pulled the pin on Postmans this morning and tried to take it easy.  It felt fine walking around today (and yes, I am back wearing high heels) but getting on the bike to ride home was an exercise in gritting my teeth.  It hurt.

Did half a session with Helen as I had to go out to another meeting.

Warm up run around the block, stopping to do jump squats, windmills, jump lunges, squat jumps and lunge walking.

Then 1 min each of
Burpees
explosive push ups
jump squats
jump lunge
mountain climbers
v sits

Then run to the milk bar and back
Helen did some more, I pulled the creeper out of the garden.

riding is fun

Riding with JPBSECT is awesome.  They are such a nice group of people, they're generous and friendly and fun!

Thursday is Boulevard day.  I decided to ride my SS - don't ask me why - I won't again for a very long time.

7 laps of the crit track. Then a Richmond TT, then bike track into breakfast.
K kept me company, she's 6 months pregnant but her slow is still my on the rivet. 

Breakfast was good fun, they make me laugh.  It's good to be amongst fit new friends and it gives me a good reminder about what it must be like for people to show up to the running girls for the first time too.

I've been very tired all day.

Round Up

Sat

Went for a gorgeous run with Fi on the Boulevard, it was lovely.  Noticed that my quad felt a bit twangy on the downhills and thought it must have been waking up after hitting it into the tree on Tuesday.  Stopped and stretched it out and kept going.  It felt ok.
Got back to the car and jumped on the bike and nearly fell off with the pain that shot up my quad.  It was so tight it felt like it was going to tear every time I turned the foot over.  Worst pain ever.  I put the bike in an easy gear and tried to ride it out on the flat.  After about 10 mins it was no better and I was putting all my weight through the handlebars to try and ease it over. 
We called it quits and went to a cafe for a pre breakfast tea.

Sun
I was the only person to show up for the strongman session.  I was glad they still ran it for me.  Leg seemed to be ok but I didn't do anything to overly load the quad.

Heavy session, nearly spewed.

Circuit- 3 times through of each

Farmers Walk 25kg each hand
Big tyre flip

Keg snatch x 3
snatch 20kg dumb bell
sled pull

olympic deadlift
sled run

Bang

I'm a bit tired and sore now but here's what I wrote about today's ride somewhere else.

I went for a MTB today on some truly awesome trails off the Great
Ocean Road between Anglesea and Torquay.   So many trails to
choose, from wide old fire road to rocky single track. Such good fun!

I only had 2 stacks, the first caused by poor pedal position hitting a
rock and sending me careening into a tree. It was pretty spectacular,
happened on a down hill, I saw it coming but don't have the skills to
correct once I've picked a line.

Anyway, picked myself up, collected everything that had flown out of
my jersey, found my sunnies, straightened the seat post, checked chain
and both brakes still ok and continued on the descent.

After my back wheel sliding out majorly a couple of times, I realised
I had NO front brake and hit a log at a bad angle, made it over but
then headed over the handlebars. Ha! All my brake fluid had leaked
out after the first crash.

Kept riding around for another hour or so, was pretty careful and got some training in at riding with one brake.

Some logs I was brave enough to go over and some I wasn't. 

Banter

Loving my classes at the new gym, but it's so, so quiet.  They'll get used to me soon.

I ITT'd there this morning after a quick light change on the bike meant I was running late.  Had a good race with a guy down Flinders St and Clarendon.  We were sad to say goodbye.

bit of a warmup

Circuit 3 times through 1:30 or so on each station
duck walk
explosive push up (ouch)
bag kick
run with the keg
box jump
ropes (in and out)

after each round,  around the block 20 squat jumps 20 lunge walk x 2
last time through we were running late so instead of the lungewalk squatjumps we ran around the big block

rode around Albert Park, Prahran and Richmond for an hour until the caf opened.  Then extended commute home.

Dug a hole in the garden and went for a walk. 

Ride to Work

Today was Ride to Work Day, I rode Upfield Bike Path and stopped at the Commuter Cycles breakfast for muffins and coffee.

Nik and Justine where there with some other familiar CX faces.  I had to leave there quickly to meet Mel at the Bridge.  She's just returning to work after illness so good on her for being on the bike.

We stocked up on fruit and goodies at work as well.

I rode Marc back to her car which I guess was in Hawthorn.  We had fun tootling along the bike path and Marc displayed some very good safety signals.  It was such a nice night for a ride, I think I'll join her again soon.

I ITT back to Nth Fitroy for dinner.  The Glenferrie Rd hill was the only place I was wishing for gears.  My CX bike is such a nice ride, it's a great commuter.

Now I am tired.

JPSECT AP

I rode with JPSECT this morning and did a speed session at Albert Park.  By golly, they go hard.   One day I hope to stick with them for one circuit. 

I did 3 laps and pulled up a little too early as I had time for one more.   Down in the drops pushing pit lane then, gear down and into the wind for the ride into the city.  Hard work, snot dripping off my chin kinda hard work.

Very delicious porridge to follow at Degraves.   Not sure how I'll fit more of these sessions in because I won't take my road bike to the gym for Jeff. 

Gran Fondo

I am utterly smashed. 

  Amy Gillet's Gran Fondo

I drove down to Dean' s Marsh where I was staying with Team Specialized and tried to get the best possible sleep in a top bunk.

We woke up at 4 30 to be ready to drive down to Lorne before the road closed.  It was drizzly when we woke up which made me a little nervous as there had been much mention of dangerous descents in the race briefing the day earlier. 

The course was 110km of racing, followed by an 8km descent back down to Lorne.  Check out the profile of the course in the link above.  That's alot of climbing and a long way for someone who's not spent alot of time on the bike.  The most training I'd done at pace was 40km, the only hill training was the Boulevard and I've never ridden further than 80km in one day.

I knew it was going to hurt.

We lined up at the start with the 3000 other competitors.  This was no fun participation event, there was serious money on offer and qualifying for the World Champs next year was a possibility for the winners.

I've never seen so many expensive bikes in one place.  I had decided to play 'pick the nice bike' but I had to change to 'pick the pile of sh#t'. 

I'd been having a lovely chat to a nice girl at dinner and was a little stunned to discover I'd been chatting to Natalie Bates, she was very generous with her knowledge and very friendly.  She was there as team manager for The Daisy Chains, a really nice group of girls.  They ended up winning the women's team category and were super excited.  They were very kind to give me some good tips about descending as well.

The stage was split into start waves of 200 and Team Specialized were in the third wave.  I knew that I would get spat very early in the piece and I was really worried about getting cleaned up. 

The first two waves took off really quickly even though the first k and a half was under control for safety, we started in no time and I made it to the official start line with the team.  Then I managed to stay with them for about 5kms.  I'd started to far back in bunch and when they ramped it up I had no hope of sticking with them.  I feel a little better as some people have told my that Team Specialized gunned it from the start and overtook alot of the first two waves.

Once I was spat, I knew I was in for a really long day in the saddle, in the wind, by myself.   I tried to merge into some groups but for the GOR sector no one was really too keen.

My back started hurting about 30km in which I can only put down to my lack of hill experience.  I stopped for a toilet break at Skene's creek before the King of the Mountain and saw Fee so stopped for a 10 min chat to her.  She'd missed Steve going past unfortunately.

Skene's Creek was the only KOM and it was 9.5km long.  Check out the profile in the link.  I discovered some happy news.  I can climb!  I was very comfortable the whole way up (well as comfortable you can be with screaming legs and max HR) but I had enough air for Islands in the Stream and a couple of phone calls to Marce.

Adam from Team Specialized had been helping someone else up the climb and kept me company for the last couple of k's.  What a nice guy!  He was actually, the only company I had all day.  He told me to take 3 deep breaths just before the KOM finish and look like it didn't hurt.  Good advice - hope the photo turns out ok.

From there, I experienced my first dangerous descent ever.  I LOVED IT!  I was laughing out loud, and very tempted to shout 'WHEEEEEE' at the top of my lungs but I decided concentrating might be a better option as I wanted to keep all my skin where it belonged. 

The ride into Forrest was a bit of a slog as I'd run out of water and I was thirsty.  At Forrest, the wait for water was 30mins and then I took a toilet break there as well.  70kms done, 50 to go.  Piece of cake right?

The sector between Forrest and Dean's Marsh was hell.  I hated it, strong hot headwind/crosswind made life really difficult. 

I discovered that my legs were useless on the flat, I couldn't turn the pedals over any more.  I was fine on any of undulations but anything flat was hurting like nothing else.  My back was sore, my quads were sore, my right ITB was twanging away and my calves were on the verge of cramping.

I was not a happy camper at all.  I'd been eating really regularly, the banana I'd eaten when I stopped at the top of the KOM was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten, and the fruit cake at Forrest was similarly so.  I can only put my fury down to a hunger flat.  I was so angry with the world, I got off the bike and threw a tantrum at nothing.

It was time to phone a friend.  I ran through the list of people who I knew would get it and decided to call my lovely Fi.  She was brilliant. I was not happy at all and thought everything was stupid. 
She talked some sense into me and I slammed two gels and was good to go.  I realised that I needed a bunch.  I'd done 70-80kms by myself by now and I was exhausted.

I jumped on the back of a bunch going past and found some instant relief.  The effort required seemed to half instantly and I was back to being a happy camper again but hanging out for some more hills.

Unfortunately, my quad cramped like all get out right at that point and I had to stop.  Bye bye bunch, thank you for that 5 minute reprieve.

I was back in the wind by myself.  After what seemed like a couple of hours, I finally made it to the final drink stop at the base of the Dean's Marsh climb.  12km to go.

I rang Fi again who reminded me that we run 12km in an hour all the time. 

Turn right and start climbing.  Hallelujah! said my legs.  We like to climb. 

I found a good gear and started tapping away. Up and up.  Got a few comments of 'how are you doing that?  You look so strong' as I passed people which gave me some confidence.

Up, up, keep going.  No more cramping.  Bizarro world.   I was expecting another KOM so was surprised to see the 1km to finish sign.  In that last km (which was the steepest of the whole day) I passed over 20 people. 

Finally finished - then came 8km of the most fun I have ever had on a bike.  I was by myself, closed road so I could go wherever I liked on the twisty windy downhills.  I had a smile on my face the whole way down and would have turned around at the bottom so I could do the descent again.

I really enjoyed the hamburger, chips, coke and caramel slice I slammed in Lorne while I watched the Daisy Chain girls on the podium.

The scenery was gorgeous all day, such a well organised race.  The volunteers and spectators were fantastic.  It was a tough day out for me.  120km solo is a hard slog for anybody. 

My time was listed as 5 hours 58 minutes which is probably the reason why my bum is so sore.  I think I lost at least 45 minutes between talking to Fee, the Forrest water queue and my phone call to Fi at the side of the road. 

At this stage, I'm not sure I'd do it again.  We'll see how long that lasts for.

Smashfest

Ha!  My legs are still sore from Thursday, or yesterday.  I woke up, got up had a snack and went back to bed for more sleep.

I was meeting my cousin for brunch so when I did actually got up, I got on my CX bike and rode down to Nth Melbourne for some very delicious food.

I smashed it into the headwind on the way home and practised some more 'look Mum, no hands' in my street.  Today, I could keep turning the pedals over rather than just rolling. 

PM
Gavin had requested a smashfest so I set up an old school Jeff circuit in the backyard.  We did 1 minute on, 10 seconds break for 50 minutes.

The stations were:

tree chin ups
2 x 20kg step up to lunge
16kg renegade row/man makers
burpees
tyre jump in and out
tyre tube squat
Girevoy jumpsquat
push up
sandbag shoulder

Then we went for a run around the block.  It was hard to hold the intensity for the whole time, much easier when there's a big group to banter with.  We were both spent by the end though.

2 bikes are better than one

AM
I'd decided to give Beach Rd a miss this morning in favour of breakfast with the running girls and the Boulevard.   I've been missing them and feeling a little disconnected by all my bike time.  Fi's not back to running yet so she decided to join me on the bike.  We've never ridden together so we were both quite excited by the prospect.

I tried to get to the Boulie the same way JBSECT did the other morning but I got lost and was riding through the back streets of Northcote when Fi called to say she was at the Gipps St bridge.  I was passed by a new friend in Rush Cafe kit and rode with him to the Boulevard where he headed off to the Dandenongs.

I met up with Fi and we cruised for a bit to warm up.  I introduced Fi to Yarra St which I'm sure she totally enjoyed.  I didn't much like her asking me which way to go half way up, I could only choke out one word and I'm glad she didnt turn around to notice the snot hanging off my chin.  So attractive!

I thought one Yarra St was enough for the first time, so we headed to Walmer St for some Postman repeats.

I think I was turning around a little later than the other morning but that just gave us a couple of extra seconds rest. We hit out 5 repeats with the gear getting a little harder each time.

We still had some time before breakfast so we rode the flat boulevard all the way out and then time trialled back.  We were still the first for brekky even after spinning a couple of blocks around 3 Bags for a cool down.

Fun time!

Vix was picking up her new bike so we decided to meet in Northcote for lunch.  I took the CX bike out - I'd put the bigger gear on it after the last Dirty Deeds and need to remember to change it over before the CV race next week.

I rode over, had a nice lunch and then rode home where I realised I'd left my water bottle behind.  A quick phone call to the caf to make sure it was there and I headed back out to collect it.  It's all about the extras hey?

big ring, grind, repeat

AM

Steve arrived at my house just before 6am (what kind of crazy world do I live in where this is normal?) and we rolled down to the bus stop in Nicholson St to meet the JPBSECT gang.
A strength workout of hill repeats on the Boulevard was the session planned for today and we quickly made our way to the pipe bridge and up the hill to the Boulie. 
TT to Walmer St where we turned left put the bike in the big ring, sat down and ground all the way up to the post box.  Turn around, back down to the Boulevard where we rode back down to the playground then repeat 5 times.
I didn't get 5 repeats out, I lost the group on the TT to Walmer and by the time I'd got there they'd already done one rep.  I got out the 4.

This was a great workout.  I loved it, hard work but the efforts were something I felt comfortable with.  I've always loved the hills and the Boulevard is my favourite place of all time.

I was very tired all day and lucky I was working from home so I could have a nap.  I've needed to eat alot of food too.

PM

Skipping and deck squats to warm up

Box Jumps
30
30
30
20
20
Single leg explosive step up to squat
30
30
30
20
20
Tabata squat, elbows to knees 21, 21, 21, 20, 23, 23, 22, 24
Tabata kb swings 16kg, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12
Tree chin ups, no kipping, 4, 5, 3, 3
KB side twist 20, 20, 20

off air

My laptop's been in the shop for a few days so I haven't been able to post.

Sat
Made it down to Mordi and back with the bunch!  Yeee Haaa!  I was so excited.  I should mention that the bunch rode back slower than usual so they could practise rolling turns.  They clapped for me when we got back to St Kilda because I was so excited to still be there with them.

It was confidence boosting even though I know I'll get dropped again next week.

Sun
I walked for 2 1/2 hours today to get home after a massage.  My back was so tight that Bec didn't get time to work on my legs as well. 
We started doing a kb workout in the backyard but I was concerned about Helen's technique.  I knew she was moving unsafely but I couldn't work out how to correct it. 
We took the tyre and rope down to the car park and spent the hour on rope shenanigans and tyre runs.

Mon
I ran for 6.5kms this morning around Princes Park, I held a pretty good pace and felt good.

I feel like I'm finally on the way back.  It's a good feeling.  I like it.

Race 3 Dirty Deeds CX

Finally - I found my sweet spot with CX!  I was so chilled today, I was yawning before the race.  My strategy was to just go easy on myself and have fun after how crook I felt yesterday.

I rode the course once during warm up and noted that it was going to be tough going on most of the infield and 2 of the hills were unridable on my SS.  I could however smash it up Pavlich's hill, so that was confidence building.

We took off and it took me about 20 secs to realise this course was perfect for me?  The muddy infield was unridable for almost everybody and guess what?  I can run good!   I could smash the hill as I suspected and thanks to Jen, I'm confident to stay off the brakes on the downhill.  My legs were strong enough to make it up the steep stairs ok and the mud pit where I stacked last year was no problem.

I gritted my teeth and passed people running up the two hills over the back of the velodrome and could hold my own riding around the river.

I still need to sharpen up my dismounts and flying mounts because I lose alot of time on both of them.

I have no idea where I placed but I think I was mid pack somewhere.  The results on the website are likely to be wrong because everything got a bit mixed up but I'm happy with how I rode today.

I didn't want to stop and if A Grade hadn't been a full field I would have gone around again. 

Good course for a SS, good course for strong legs, good course for a runner.

What a shame it's all over for another year.

Flatted

I decided to give the Shop ride a miss today.  My legs were pretty tired after a big week and I wanted to save a little something for CX, luckily I think I made the right decision.   I wasn't happy to realise that I'd bailed on Gavin though.  I'll make it up to him another time.

I did almost 4 laps of Albert Park (sprinting pit lane) before Heather flatted.  She didn't have any kit with her so we tried to use my spare tube which didn't fit her flash tyres.   After 2 patches failed to fix it we ran out of gas in my cannister so H called her husband to come and pick her up.  I decided to keep riding as it was a gorgeous day and I was having fun.

I did another lap and a half of Albert Park and then headed to Rush for breakfast as I knew I'd well and truly missed the girls.

Leaving Rush the weather had got even better so I rode down to GE intending to head to the Boulevard and take the Chandler Hwy exit home.

I made it to Walmer St without any problems but heading up it I started to feel really off.   I took a rest break half way up and got the shakes.  I slammed a gel and kept going. 

Down the hill was ok and I passed the Gipps St bridge thinking I'd come good.  As soon as I started up the next hill though I was cactus.   I turned around and took the exit and made my way home. 

I called into Small Block for my second milkshake of the day.   I hope I've eaten enough today to recover the energy stores for crazy cross tomorrow.  I think I'll know within a minute of the race starting....

Dist 50km

JPBSECT + 1

Oh my golly goodness, the bunch that I rode with this morning were fast.  I should have been warned by the cannonball run through the city to get to Albert Park.  They could accelerate like nothing, I've got some work to do.

At Albert Park, they headed off for 5 laps, sprinting from the pool around to the street where Junction Oval is then a steady pace back to the pool.

I was redlining during the steady pace, I couldn't hang on to the back of the bunch on the sprint and then worked hard to get back on. The second time around, once I was off the back, I couldn't get back.  Kath dropped off the back and we worked together around, well, really, I hung onto the back of her wheel into the wind and she dragged me around.  I'll repay that favour one day.

I need to work on cornering, accelerating and hurting. 

PM  Backyard Blitz

2 x 20 deck squats
5 min skip

30 box jumps x 3
20kg kb step up 5 es
16kg kb step up 5 es
20kg kb step up 5 es
16kg kb step down 5 es x 3

run around the block, sprint to finish.

I was so tired today I had to come home to have a nanna nap before training.

super magneto

I bought myself a trainer the other day and today was the first time I used it.  I was a bit scared that I'd set it up wrong and would ride off into my glass cabinet but it was all ok.

I did 20 mins of speed intervals and then went outside for 5 mins of skipping. 

Tomorrow morning I'm riding with a new bunch that Steve has hooked me up with, hope it goes ok.  I'm sure I'll get dropped but that's ok.

Boulevard

I took my road bike up to the Boulevard for a spin this morning.  I quickly realised that my knee and my glutes are still pretty sore from CX on Sunday.  I won't have time to train the next couple of days so that will give me time to recover.

New bike smiles

I took my road bike out for the first time today.  The weather wasn't great, but although the ground was wet the air was dry when I rolled out the front door.

I took the time to do a couple of back and forths up and down my street to get used to the road pedals and shoes and then headed off to meet Steve and Gavin at 6.30.

At 6.40am I got a call from Gavin to say he'd slept in but was on his way, but still no Steve.  Then a silent SS rolled next to me and I saw it was Jim. 'Oh, hello, are you riding with us today?'  'Maybe'.  Eeek.

Let me set some context.  Jim makes the other competitive people I know look soft, he smashes every session and goes hard every time.  Training with him scares me even though he's lovely, good fun and great company.

Just after 7am, and Steve let me know he taken a wrong turn but was on his way.  Gavin showed up, so Jim, Gav and I decided to roll the Boulevard and wait for Steve to catch us.

I was dropped on the second hill.  But, OMG, my bike.....so light!  Gears!  Quiet! Lovely!

Jim and Gavin took off and I kept a pretty good pace.  I was getting a bit more comfortable with the gears, but still standing up to get up the hills rather than gearing down.   Jim and Gavin set me straight on that front and encouraged me to keep spinning and sitting rather than stand up.

I attempted Yarra St, but pulled hard on the bars expecting my heavy bike and gave myself a fright when I pulled myself across the road so I headed back down.

It was raining by now and the roads were really slippery.  We kept going for a bit longer, but when Steve got a flat we decided to call it quits when he'd fixed it and went to 3 Bags for porridge.

Nice ride, nice guys. Nice way to start the morning.

A good day

AM

It was a nice morning at the Tan today and I was happy to be running.  It felt good and I wanted to keep going.

5.5kms

PM

I was late finishing work so I rode like the clappers to meet Helen and then we continued onto the Hall.

Usual warm up then 15 mins of
10kg tyre tube
board jumps
bounds
dragon lunge
lunge
reverse lunge
jump lunge
cossack lunge

30 round body pass
30 swing to squat
30 squats
30 reverse lunge
30 jump lunge
30 jump squat
30 round body pass

Tabata 1 round (8 repeats alternating)
jump squats
jump lunge
squat

tyre tube push
3,3,2,2,2

rode to the hospital to visit Gavin but he wasn't there, then I actually rode up Burgundy St for the first time!  I've been too scared to do that on the big gear but it was ok on the 42:22.

rode back to Moreland Rd with Helen having a lovely chat then I said goodbye and continued on home.

Dirty Deeds CX

Dirty, sooo dirty.  So much fun.  I am shattered.

I finished racing over 3 hours ago and I'm still coughing.  That is honestly the hardest effort ever.   I felt much more confident in the mud, so confident in fact that I had fun taking the deepest lines through the mud pit much to the delight of the crowd.  It was nice that some of them came and said thanks for the entertainment later.

I took a beer hand up which made me want to spew so I might not do that again.  I was the only girl riding a SS, I just can't keep up with the gearies so was pretty happy with 5th.

My dismounts were good until my legs gave out and then it felt a little hairy.  No crashes but I still managed to take bark off my leg and have a massive bruise on one of my knees that will need some ice.

Can't wait for next time.