1. THE GOOD - Achieved first serious session on the turbo this week. To date I’ve been loafing about on it like an over-fed seal pup, trying to convincing myself that I am doing “technique work”. So banged Coach Troy onto the DVD, hard work, and I felt pretty good about making it to the end too. My disposition for telling Coach Troy to F@#$-off whenever he invited me to “go-harder” when he can’t even see my fatigued body rolling all around the bike like an inexperienced lover probably doesn’t detract from what I think is a good value training session none-the-less.
2. THE BAD - I hit the pool. Yea-ha! Big session 8x100 – hilarious really, flappin’ about like a flathead in a net. Was planning to do a very modest 10x100, but had to pull up stumps early as I was running late to meet Mrs J at the Blue Elephant for a curry. There are probably a thousand words that describe the way I feel when I swim, but hypoxia certainly seems to sum up the general experience better than any others that I can think of.
3. Saturday’s planned grind up the service roads to Wenty Falls happened. Always feel good when I get this one knocked out, as there are a number of pinches across the 40km of climbing, and the dead roads make the journey slower and significantly harder also. I have probably had 10 attempts over the years and only made it 4 times (from recollection). Coffee and caramel slice at “Fed’ also delivered the goods, and it is a welcome addition to my training regime to sit on my fat freckle and drink coffee with mates of a sunny Saturday morning. Which also raises the side issue – how good is Morgan’s Coffee. Haven’t been to a shop yet that served a rubbish Morgans. Don’t know enough to be able to determine whether this is a function of co-incidence with good baristas, or whether it is in fact good coffee. Further investigation required.
4. THE UGLY Mango down!. Rommel came off in some thick gravel between Lawson and Hazelbrook. Nasty, nasty outcome – plenty of claret, a bad knock to the side of his face near the eye. Required an ambo, and may well require subsequent surgery. Horrible reminder of how quickly things can go the crap on a bike.
5. Spent 90min perched on Bubba on Sunday, and can report that we are gradually becoming friends. Just some laps of the road next to the lakes, but I started to become far more comfortable and confident. Speed will come……. Hopefully.
6. Leg – calf muscle still knotted/spasmed/generally rooted, but I suspect it will come good soon. Can’t walk properly, but strangely it doesn’t feel like a serious injury.
Near enough 10 training hours for the week, though due to leg issues, too many of those were gym work. Still, a stronger core, and a few extra bike miles probably won’t hurt in the long run. 6:35 on bike, 800m swim, 663m of running (before collapsing into a screaming whining heap) and 2:35 of gym work.
This week will be all about having some crossed fingers for Mango, some more massage for my calf and trying to keep hitting the sessions.
314 days to go, an optimism still sitting on a healthy 8.26 out of 10.
W
