Big Bike Week

Nothing like a Hawaii Ironman to get you motivated. Had a tough work week with some late nights, but have been able to get a session in each day on the trainer and the hours have added up well and for the first time in months, got road rides done on both Sat and Sunday morning. Nothing long alone, but added together got over 300km done this week. Be nice to think that I could do this week on week leading into Roth, but life and motivation always makes it hard to do that.

In the wake of last weekends race, there is some magic stuff on the net to show how the day went as well as to keep you motivated. Try these on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1O4G6Rn_Gc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ1DtfqPif4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-84QhutGQDo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heDqDYuEKTg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=iv&v=r64XLZ_Zv6Y&annotation_id=annotation_979079

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bb306rus4c&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Y68myOWy4&feature=related

Past Years
http://www.youtube.com/user/TimRabe#p/u/5/ckFvoGRPiCU
http://www.youtube.com/user/TimRabe#p/a/u/1/iROsDCzDRRI

Some other things also turned up in the mail this week which helped. Got my new Cervelo kit to replace the ones I ripped when I fell off a couple of weeks back. Have both the Black and White versions and a new Giro helmet. Went for a black helmet this time, and first ride out have found it seems to attract the magpies a lot. One 65k ride and got 'bombed' 5 times. I threw in pics of real cyclists to show what they look like, as they fill out these threads better than me.

Sad that the Cervelo Team will be no more in 2011.

The other major arrival was our new TV. Lisa has done well organising a 55" Sony, which after a fair amount of mucking around including antenna adjustments has given us clear (non pink) viewing of all the digital stations for the first time. Amazing what colours we had been missing for the last couple of years and when connected to the stereo with my favourite doof playing it is Awesome!!!

MACCA

Only one word for today.

Unbelievable performance by Chris McCormack to win his 2nd World Ironman Title.

In one of the closest Hawaii races I have watched live, Macca and Andreas Raelert both were running side by side with about 5km to go. After racing flat out for the 3.8k swim, 180k bike and around 38k of the run, it came down to mano o mano foot race. Not sure if it was experience, superior atheletic ability or jedi mind games, but Macca was able to gap Andreas with barely a 1 km to go.

What an amazing race and performance. Fantastic to watch and gets you fired up to do another one.

Hawaii Ironman 2010

The Big Dance is upon us yet again with coverage for those inclined starting at 3:30 on Sunday morning.

The excitement that usually surrounds this event for us, hasn't been as prevalent this year for some reason. Maybe the experience of watching it will fire us up and get us out and into some regular consistent training.

Speaking of races, is only 5 weeks till the Hamilton Island triathlon. Is only a sprint distance race, which is well outside of our comfort zone. Right now, with a sore foot and unable to run, the thought of it makes my head ache, but with some luck this foot problem will over soon and 4 solid weeks of training and a race will be good for the soul. Add a dash of Hawaii inspiration into the mix and you never know what is possible.

One thing I have found, for myself anyway, is that once you are at reasonable level of fitness, to get that extra ounce of performance out of your body it simply comes down to consistently knocking out your key weekly 'hard' sessions. Not every now and then, but week after week leading into the race. The secret to achieving this (other than being healthy and not injured) is motivation and that internal desire to get out there and smash yourself in those key sessions.

An example happened this morning. Decided to take the chance and go for a ride with Cam and Gabby. Now I wasn't super confident that 2hrs on my sore foot was going to be achievable but once out there it wasn't to bad and really just a dull ache more than anything. After gradually building my riding km's over the last 4 weeks with a solid 120k last week, I thought knocking out 60km at a faster pace should be easy. So each hill I hit today, I worked that little harder, and most of the way out to the turnaround point I lead the pack. Unfortunately, about 30k from home, "kaboom", the body decided that it wasn't real keen for much more of this. Pride and ego in hand I had to draft most of the way home, as that little extra effort on the way out, which I haven't been doing recently, certainly had emptied my legs of all their speed. Good wake up call for a sprint race in 5 weeks and a reminder of the difference between aerobic training and tempo/ anaerobic.

Back to the Big Dance. The men will be very interesting with a race between 4 on the cards - Alexander, Lieto, Raelert, Henning. Macca is always a chance to win if he is 'on', but I don't think he has sorted his cramping issue. Any of the other 4 can win the race, but my pick has to be Alexander considering he is the defending champion and really we haven't seen him pushed on the run yet. As for the chicks, Chrissie first and daylight 2nd. Really not that interesting, other than to see how many Male Pros she can 'chick'. I will got with a guess of 28th this year.

Broken Foot has slowed progress

All set for a big weekend of footy and training.

Get through a 120K ride feeling pretty good and off to Marty and Jane's place for an afternoon of footy viewing.

Unfortunately, St Kilda lost and in the process of jumping the fence to fetch the frisby back I have sprained my right foot. Didn't really notice it much at the time and kept on partying, but somewhere after midnight I noticed I had a big bruise on the 4th toe and some serious aching happening.

Didn't end up having an xray, as either way if it was broken or strained, rest, ice and taking it easy was the going to be the recommended course of action. So it looks like I will get the opportunity for an enforced run training rest.

Maybe the silver lining to this problem is that I will get my ass into the pool and get some extra bike miles in the legs. But with Hamilton Island tri coming up, I am hoping an extended rest from running won't be required.

Crash

Got my long ride done today in some pretty ordinary conditions. Was cool and overcast when I started, but at th45k mark the rain started to come down. The original plan was to get 120k done, but riding back into town soaked to the bone, it was pretty easy to decide that 90k will do for the day.

No magpie buzz today coming down Mills Avenue which was a positive, but last turn into my street and wasn't concentrating and before I knew it was skidding across the bitumen at 30km/h. Been the first time I have hit the ground for a while and luckily only some skin and bike parts were damaged. Disappointing that the Cervelo knicks now have a hole in them and the machine is pretty scratched up.

Went to probikekit and did a price check on the items that looks 'bashed up' from the fall and Shift levers at $589, rear derailleur at $135, pedals at $227, derailleur hanger at $35, bar tape at $33 and cervelo knicks at $95. Makes falling a pretty expensive proposition. No broken bones and not hit by a car, so pretty cheap really!

Hopefully this is not a sign progressing up to Roth. Speaking of which: its 287 days!!!

Better mention that Lisa is smashing her way through training, although not on the road yet, with all her sets being on the mag trainer. Gotta admire someone that can spend # hrs on the trainer, as that is pretty hard mentally. Although, when i keep talking up the rough roads and come home with a bloody side, I am not sure she will be on the road anytime soon. In saying that, the run kays are being done legitimately, with a solid 1 hr 40min long run during the week.

More Inspiration

Cool links to watch

http://www.youtube.com/user/challengeroth?gl=DE&hl=de

And this

http://www.youtube.com/user/challengeroth?gl=DE&hl=de#p/c/E47810FB3622D910/0/0onyKl6XSK4

Getting a Century under the Belt

So not what I would call a textbook week in the build up again. These are starting to become a little to regular, but some mile stones all the same. Was able to get to 2 key sessions in for the week including a 15km run and 100km ride. Both done at comfortable intensities and excellent aerobic workouts to help build the engine that will power me in the coming 10 months.

Just checked the Roth website again and how time flies. As of today there is 300 days to the big race and it appears the race is sold out, with around 40 Aussie's lining up for the event.

Back to the Grind

So after a couple weeks of being a lazy bugger and deferring to Jimmie and a sleep in, rather than getting out and doing the hard yards on the road, I finally got off my ass this morning....

So what is the opposite of pleasant? Not sure which words would best describe it without swearing, but I am hoping the next 44 weeks are not like that one. Windy, the type of wind that drains your energy at a rate faster than the kilometres tick over, start of the magpie season and the first swoop and finally a road surface that seems to suck the marrow out of your bones.

Well maybe I am exagerating it a little, but when your head isn't in the right spot, riding a bike sucks. LOL. I wonder if the pool will be more forgiving after lunch......

At the opposite end of the spectrum, I am so jealous of Sonia and the kids who are going skiing tomorrow. Reminds me of this:

Leadership Week

Been a slow week when it comes to training as I spent it away at the Leadership Conference. Was able to get some sets done and had my first run back after Yeppoon, but nothing consistent. The weekend was going to be the catch up time, but with road works on the way into town this doesn't encourage you to get out and ride.

I think I will call this "Celebration Week 2" and start from here to get a little organised.

In theory we were planning on doing the Airlie Beach Triathlon this weekend, but with little extra speed work under our belt and a long way to travel we are still undecided.

One highlight for the week is the realisation that this summer there is some serious talent heading to Australia to play some Doof Doof for us. Found the following collection of concerts to choose from:

StereoSonics
Sunday 5th Dec - Brisbane - $135
http://www.moshtix.com.au/event.aspx?id=39241&ref=moshtix

Armin - Mirage
NYE - Melbourne - TBC
http://www.arminvanbuuren.com/schedule/
http://www.inthemix.com.au/news/aust/47458/Armin_Only_lands_this_New_Years_Eve

SummaDayze
Sunday 2nd Dec - Brisbane - $140
http://www.thevine.com.au/music/festivals/summadayze-2011-national-lineup-announced20100812.aspx
http://www.ticketmaster.com.au/event/1300450DF93C6412?artistid=1075473&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=52

This is 'not' a Session

Ever noticed how the small low key events somehow turn bigger than first planned?

Went out for a quiet drink at the Workers Club and that turned into something a little bigger.

Spent the weekend recovering. Plenty of pictures taken, but not sure any of them can be shown here, lol.

Will see if I can post something later