Week 3 (14 weeks to race day) - Tour de Hills and the looming NSW Club Championships

Training stats from 17th Feb to 5th Mar, 7:00am:

• Swimming 4h:16m/11.5km
• Cycling  14h:16m/349.68km
• Running  1h:45m/21.32km
• Gym      3h:00m

Well... I have just sent off a scan of my stamped 7 Peaks passport (see previous blog post). The next challenge is to do the Strava - March Gran Fondo. I missed out on the February one. Not happy about that...

The March challenge is 160km. I am thinking I might do the 180km Ironman distance at the Penrith Regatta Centre in using the course for the Sydney (half) Ironman in November.

I know, I know... It isn't a Gran Fondo without at least 2000 metres of elevation gain...

Maybe I should do either the Ironman 3.8km swim beforehand or the 42.2km run after. It depends on whether the Regatta Centre has any events on the day of my attempt. I really need to start doing the big kays and big days, linking the disciplines together!

It is either that or find some more mountains to make it more challenging than it really needs to be!

I really don't like making things easy for myself...  ;-)

Time and water temperature wise, it would make sense to do the swim and bike legs while the water is still warm which should take 7.5 to 8 hours - 1:30 for the swim and 6hrs for the ride at an average of 28-30km/h.

My Garmin GSC 10 for some reason has stopped transmitting ANT+ back to the unit. The cadence and speed sensors are picking up the magnets as they come past but the GSC 10 isn't pairing to both my Garmin 910XT or Edge 500 units! NOT HAPPY. It makes trainer sessions impossible to do properly.

Tour de Hills (TdH)

Last weekend (2nd of March), I rode in the 90km (actually 87km) Tour de Hills charity ride in north western Sydney. That was a really fun course. I felt strong and was able to stay on the front of a bunch of around 12 riders for around 80km of the total distance. The strong pace of 33.2km/h over the 87km distance dropped all but 2 riders (plus Nicholas, a friend I did the ride with on the day). I actually think we were the first riders to finish after starting 5 minutes behind everyone else.

Thank goodness Nicholas took a turns on the front to give my legs a break. I was really surprised at the sustained power I was producing!

I think the work in the pool, gym and mountains is starting to pay off. My average estimated power output based on what Strava says was 216 watts over the 2 hours and 37 mins for 87.1km at an average speed of 33.2km/h.

Cairns TO DO List (so far):

• Buy/borrow some aero bars
• Organise car hire
• Find out how to get CO2 cannisters for puncture repairs during the race. They will certainly not be allowed to go on the plane, being pressure vessels... Might have to get them posted to where we are staying and ready for when we arrive.
• Buy an aero-helmet! The winning candidates so far are the Kask Bambino:

• and Garneau - AeroTT/Vorttice Black Knight which is more aero:

Training and Racing

I have a club race (500m Swim/20km Cycle/4km Run) this Sunday so the Gran Fondo will have to wait till next weekend.

I have been feeling pretty good in the water lately so I am looking forward to the NSW Club Championships on the first weekend of April.

It will be my first open water swim as part of a race for some years so it will be good to get out of the pool!

The open water doesn't bother me (being a diver). The added wind chop, swell, currents and need for course correction is the thing that makes the open water races fun but so tiring!

My training this week started a bit slow due to Sunday's ride at TdH.

I had Monday off, Tuesday morning off and was faced with an evening smash-fest by Rena my personal trainer from My Way Personal Training:

Set Group 1:

5 Sets of 10:

• None weighted bar bell:
• Front squats
• Back squats
• Lunges using dumbbells
• One legged squats

Set Group 2:

As many rounds as possible in 7 minutes:

• 15 x Tire/box jumps
• 12 x push ups
• 10 x 6kg medicine ball high throws against a wall and catch into a squat

I got 5 rounds done, plus the jumps, push ups and 4 of the 10 ball throws...

To top it all off, I finished with 2 x 2 minute planks. One leaning against a weight bench then the second, horizontal on the floor.
Looks like my core is finally getting stronger. One day I might be able to keep up with my wife when we are doing sit ups!

After all those squats my knees were a little tender so I decided not to do the 1 hour run I was meant to do. Instead, I devoured several homemade burritos and tacos... :-)

Due to catching up on training planning, paying bills, entering events, making lunches and ironing for Wednesday, bedtime was pretty late so my plans to wake at 4:30am and run at 5 before swimming at 5:30 did not happen. I did swim at 5:30 though... My knees were still a little tender anyway.

The Rest of the Week

If I stick to the plan which I am still trying to modify to accommodate for Friday and Saturday, this is what it should sort of look like:

• Wednesday:
• Morning Swim up to 2km (easy with an increase on pace in the final 1km)
• Night: 2 x SufferFest videos (2 hours) - The Hunted (Climbing) & Downward Spiral (Speed)
• Thursday:
• Morning: Swim 2.5km
• Night: 2 x SufferFest videos (2 hours) - Maybe: The Hunted (Climbing) & Downward Spiral (Speed)
• Friday:
• Morning: Run 45min (easy-medium) and Swim 2.5km
• Night: Rest
• Saturday:
• Morning: Light jog with the kids on their bikes. 
• Night: Rest, stretch, eat and hydrate for Sunday's club race.
• Sunday:
• Morning: Macarthur Triathlon - Club race (500m Swim/20km Cycle/4km Run)
• Afternoon: 22km Run

Bye for now...

:Pat