So this is 50 – who could have imagined!

My week started off the same as so many of my training weeks had but has ended quite differently. Tuesday morning, I received the dreaded email, notifying all UltraMan athletes that the event has been cancelled and our registrations have been rolled over to 2021. I must say it didn’t hit me straight away, it took about an hour to sink in, then a knot started to form in my stomach then I felt gutted and numb, there were also a few tears. Obviously, I knew it was most likely going to happen, but you still cling to the hope that everything will be fine. With so many months of training under my belt, with every week being planned meticulously so that I can fit in my training around my work and family life, to allow my focus to be set on achieving my UltraMan 2020 goal – to then nothing. The mental toughness in the first place to decide to enter the event, and to believe that I could do it, and to then keep pushing through each week, knowing that I was building my base for bigger and better things – to then nothing just gutted and numb. My pity party lasted about 24 hours, I pigged out on popcorn and had Indian for dinner, talked with my fellow Ultraman wannabes, Chris and Markcus who were both gutted, and also Kaz, my new UMOZ friend from afar, sending each other comforting messages of support. With so many events being cancelled on the same day, and knowing that life was about to change for every single person, it was time to move on, there is nothing I can do to change the circumstances, I can only change the things that I control, and that is my attitude and focus.

In my 12 weeks of training for the event I have so much to be grateful for, I am grateful that my body has allowed me to achieve an amazing level of fitness, I don’t think I have ever been in such great shape. I have been able to go out on long training rides, most often in the hills and work on my climbing and descending. None of this will go to waste, it will build my base for future cycling challenges. I have learned to love running, which has always been my weakness, with so many weeks of running at the botanical gardens or at Dookie rather than on a flat run course, this has definitely improved my run fitness, and in turn making it more enjoyable. Swimming on the other hand had started to become a little bit of a drag, not so much the swim sessions at the pool, more the long swim sessions in the lake, even though I could swim in my wetsuit, I found it harder to stay focussed while swimming. I guess this is something I can work on when I need to do those long sessions again. I am grateful for my training buddies, who were always so positive and encouraging and who were also going to be crewing for me in May, even though 2 of them, Wendy and Scott were going to be doing their own races the week before at Port Macquarie. Helen, who was going to miss Mothers Day with her family to come to Noosa and crew for me. Pam and Stacey, who were also going to make the trip up to Noosa, just to be there and support me, Fiona who was going to attend the event to run with me on the final day. I am so grateful to all of them for committing to the event and committing to me. Of course, I am grateful for Jason, without his guidance and support I would not know where to start or how to train for an event like UltraMan. Most importantly though, I am grateful for my health, years ago I was on the verge of being a diabetic and had been prescribed medications to stop this. I found that with healthy eating and activity I have no health issues at all. Of course, with this current crisis going on in the world, this will hopefully put me in a good stead over the coming months. So, with my focus now changed, my goal is to get done whatever I feel like over the next few months or should I say whatever is achievable in the current situation that is so fluid. At the moment, I can swim in the lake, still go out for a run, ride my bike and mountain bike, whatever I like really, as long as it is permissible. It will also give me the chance to work on my core strength, so all is not lost.

Today we went to Violet Town to ride the hills again, I decided after I had started the ride that I was going to have a red hot go and give the climbs my best effort, after all, I had months of training, so why not achieve something. Happy to report that my ride today was a PB on the climb, PB on the loop and I managed to chick Scotty on the loop by 2 minutes!! All is definitely not lost.

Thank you to all the people that have been following my journey since December, for the messages of encouragement and support, all of these words have helped to fuel my drive. I hope that someone has been inspired to believe that they too can achieve a goal, whether it be big or small. Stay safe everyone.

#IbeatScotty #chicked #chicksrule #thrivechicks

So This is 50 – The Training Must Go On

With under 8 weeks to go now until UltraMan and events falling over like dominoes, I plan to keep going with my training. There is no word of the event cancellation as yet, so I will keep a positive head. After all, if I was not training for an event, I would still be heading out for a ride or a run, maybe not over the distances I have been doing, but none the less still getting out.

As mentioned last week, a few of us headed to Noosa for a mini training camp. With the weather forecast to be miserable over those days, we crossed our fingers and toes, and hoped for the best.

I was joined by Chris Pye and Markcus Brown who are both Thrive Endurance members and also UltraMan 2020 wannabees. Becca Fellows from the UK also joined us for a couple of days. I arrived on Sunday in Noosa, as it was a planned rest day it didn’t matter that the weather was already bleak, miserable and raining. Monday, Markcus arrived, a little later than planned with his plane unable to land in Maroochydore due to the terrible conditions, the plane headed back south to Brisbane to land, and he was bussed back to Maroochydore. We planned on heading out to the Noosa Main Beach for a 4km swim, but due to large swells and rips we only achieved 400m!!! It was only after getting out of the water that we noticed the sign advising against getting in the water at all. Tuesday, we planned to ride 4 hours of Day 1 course, the day didn’t start off so well, with Chris breaking his chain about 5km into our ride. His claims of too much power being the cause fell on deaf ears. With Chris being rescued by his forever patient and understanding wife Sarah, we headed back out on the course, planning to catch him out there. We copped a big downpour just after leaving him, which made waiting for him uncomfortable as we started to shiver, so we headed off without him after he encouraged us to go on. Wednesday, we had a 7 ½ hour ride planned, with Day 2 Bike course in our sights. We adjusted the route to what we thought could be achieved in the time. Chris, Markcus and I headed out, with me quickly being dropped on the first climb and losing sight of them, as I had taken the course route with the boys taking a shortened loop to get to our first town. We were having the best conditions of the few days, not a drop of rain in sight. About 80km into my ride, the boys rode up behind me, they had taken another route again, so we had finally met up, with the boys grabbing my coffee order as they passed me just as we hit the climb 10km before Kenilworth. It is only a 3km climb, with a maximum gradient of 9.7% and average of 6.1% but coming at approximately 160km into the ride on Race day, it will hurt. I arrived at Kenilworth just as my soy latte hit the table, and just as Markcus and Chris took their first bite of a Kenilworth Bakery doughnut. I don’t know about you, but there is no way my stomach could bear the thought of a cream filled doughnut. I opted for a vegetarian pizza bread slice instead, I was not fuelling as I normally would for a long ride, I had grabbed a handful of the cliff bars, as I was unable to make my normal rice cakes or nut balls, and my stomach was not feeling the best, there is only so many cliff bars you can eat, I found that my limit is 5. I was also fuelled by my infinit carbohydrate mix and coconut water, which I was finding hard to swallow by the end of the ride, I felt like I had overloaded my tastebuds with sweetness. We headed back out on the course, with me waving the boys off to go ahead, I didn’t need the pressure of trying to stay on their wheel, I knew the way, and they were only a phone call away if needed. The winds had really picked up by this stage, at first, I wasn’t sure if it was a residual effect of the doughnuts the boys had eaten, but realised it wasn’t given they were a fair distance in front of me. When I hit the David Low Way, the winds were at my back, and I enjoyed an awesome tail wind for most of the 40km home, what a great way to finish off my 180km day. Wednesday, we woke again to the sound of pelting rain, but thankfully it stopped just as we headed out on our 2hour run. We copped another downpour during the run, which was probably a welcome relief really, I got back about 5 minutes before Markcus, and sat down on a ledge while waiting, and Oh My Lord, my buttocks were on fire, so decided it was best to not sit down for too long. We quickly headed back to the house packed our bags, and headed to the airport, arriving back home Thursday evening. Friday morning was supposed to be my swim session at the pool, but I was stuffed, tired from the travel and training, so sometimes you just need to listen to your body, so breakfast with the crew it was. Saturday, we headed over to the Violet Town Hills, the winds were horrendous, with trees down and debris all over the road making for not only a technical ride by having to dodge limbs on the road, but a little scary with so many trees surrounding the road. To top it off, my Di2 went flat, so I was only able to roll down the hills without peddling, as I had no big gears. No racing Scotty on the downhills today. Sunday was a much calmer day thankfully, Jase and I rode with Mickey and Cynthia, the guys ended up heading back up to the Violet town climb, with Cynthia and I heading back home. Training Week complete! Not as much swimming as I needed to complete, but I am sure Jase will load up next week.

We think they put the sign up after we got in the water + The boys fuelling on Doughnuts

Week 11

Training Hours – 21 Hours

Swim – 3.4km

Bike – 433km

Run – 31km

So This is 50 – 9 Weeks to Go

It’s Sunday as I write, sitting on my flight heading back to Noosa. The plan is to have a big couple of days riding some of the course again. I will be joined by fellow Thrive team members and UltraMan 2020 athletes Markcus Brown & Chris Pye a little mini training camp. Jase was planning on being there with us but has arrived back from New Zealand a little under the weather, so he didn’t get to make the trip. We will also be joined by former Thrive member Becca Fellows who is visiting AUS from the UK, she was part of the UltraMan crew in 2018 when Jase completed the event. The plan is to ride approx. 12 hours over Tuesday and Wednesday, and then back it up with a long run on Thursday. It will be interesting to see how the legs and butt cope. I haven’t talked about how my butt is coping, wasn’t really sure anyone would be interested, but incase you are concerned about my posterior, it’s been going okay. starting to get a bit over all the long rides, but coping. In preparation for the big rides coming up, I have done very little cycling this week. There has been more of a focus on running, I have had my biggest run week to date, this week I have completed 61kms. My run training still consists of interval sessions, 1km run and 100m walk, all within an easy Heart Rate Zone 2, this seems to be working for me, and fingers crossed I stay injury free. My longest run is still only 20km, but Saturday was another double run day, 20km in the morning and then another 11 km in the afternoon. I felt great after my 20km morning run, and could have easily kept going, promising signs, as come race day, I would still have another 64km to run, that sounds freaking crazy when you think about it, well crazy to me anyway. I mean who thinks of these distances and why is It that people like me want to complete them? Well I have already told you my reasons why I want to complete this epic event but when I stop long enough to think about it, as I said before, it sounds freaking crazy!! Best I not stop and think about it anymore. When I do think about what my biggest fear is for the race, it is still the 10km swim. It is not the distance that has me worried, it’s the open water. I still remember my first open water swim in the lake at Shepparton 6 years ago, I FREAKED OUT, I am sure my reaction was totally hilarious for those swimming with me, it came out of the blue. I honestly was not even concerned about open water swimming, until I jumped in the murky Vic Lake waters and put my head under the water, total panic. I probably resembled a dog being thrown into the water for the first time, panicked and doing a frantic paddle while trying to regain some composure and breath. I did overcome that, and have no problems at all swimming in the lake now, it doesn’t even worry me when completing ocean swims at events, most of those events are with another 1000 people though, Ultraman will see 50 of us with our support paddler spread out over the swim course. I guess my theory at the moment is, that if I verbalise my fears, it will help me to overcome them.

Busselton IM Practice Swim Session #nosharks

This Weeks Training

My week has been fairly hectic, my current workload has been mentally draining, thankfully my job is not physical as well. I have also had some family issues with Miss 22 being unwell, although she is big enough to care for herself, you never stop worrying about your babies. So luckily my training plan had less hours this week. Monday morning was a 10km run followed by a 4km lake swim in the evening. Tuesday morning a 65km ride, Wednesday morning a 3.1km pool swim in the morning followed by a 13km run in the evening. Thursday morning another 8km run and an indoor bike session that evening. Due to poor sleep on Thursday night, I skipped the swim session Friday morning and didn’t get to squeeze it in at all. Saturday was my double run day, total of 31km completed for the day. Sunday another rest day, flying back to Noosa.

Training Hours – 13

Swim – 7km

Bike – 101km

Run – 62km

Workouts – 0

So this is 50 – Food for Thought

It is just under 10 weeks now till Ultraman Australia, my training has been going close to plan. A couple of tiny setbacks – sore calf and a sore groin, but I was able to manage these, by taking a rest for a week once I knew they weren’t going to just go away. When I say rest, I was still swimming and riding, but I had backed off the running. My current volume of training has been pretty high, and I don’t feel like there is any signs of grumpy Shaz as yet……ALTHOUGH after my long ride on Saturday, 160kms I was just hungry, borderline hangry, I just wanted to eat and have my coffee, I am pretty sure if I didn’t get some sustenance asap, there was a possibility Grumpy Shaz was about to rear her ugly head. I did fuel for my ride, I am currently trialling rice cakes on my long rides, a recipe from Nigel Mitchell ex head of Nutrition at Team Sky and current nutritionist for Education First. The rice cakes are pretty much tasteless but are easy to eat and fairly easy to carry with you, I just need to work out how to wrap them better. They are very easy to make, rice, water, coconut butter, coconut oil, sugar and vanilla essence, throw it all in the rice cooker, once cooked set it in the fridge and then slice up into squares once cooled, providing plenty of carbohydrates for my ride. I normally make date and nut balls for long rides and I plan on trialling some salted roasted potatoes soon also, I think it will be important to mix up the food that I am taking in come UltraMan, especially Day 2, 280kms on the bike, making sure there is a good mix of sweet and savoury options. I also love a good peanut butter sandwich on my ride, of course using my favourite sourdough from Higgins Bakery, I think I will have to take a few loaves up to Noosa with me for the event. I think fuelling on the bike ride will be fairly easy. I am starting to worry about what food I will be able to take in on day 3 for my 84km run. I am currently up to a 20km long run on weekends, so will have to start trialling some nutrition soon. I guess come UltraMan it will just be a case of getting in what I can, I imagine that I will need to have lots of options available, as you just never know what will work come the day, it will be pretty hard to try and simulate now how my body will react to food on day 3 after 2 huge days. Nothing to worry about now, but just need to be aware of this, and my team will also need to be aware as they will most likely have to force me to eat something while running. Food intake in our house is mainly plant based, I have very little processed foods in the house, Jase is 100% plant based, I am vegetarian, I still eat eggs and butter. Of course I try and buy organic where possible, eggs are just such a convenient source of protein, and it is so easy to go out for breakfast and I know I am getting all my nutritional requirements, we find that most cafes don’t provide enough options for plant based eating, sure you can normally just omit the eggs and cheese on most dishes, but they don’t add in a protein source. I will also need to plan the foods I will eat after each day of the event, recovery by the way of physical and nutrition will need to be on point in order to get up to face the next day.

Week 10

Monday I was back running around the Botanical Gardens in Shepparton – the only place where there is any elevation, so laps of the old tip site has been regularly on my plan, followed by a 5km swim in the Shepp Lake, my plan had a 4km swim, but as Fiona still had another 2 lengths to swim, I decided to swim them with her. Tuesday morning Fiona and I rode to Dookie and back in the morning, 3 hour ride complete while catching up on all the news. Wednesday morning a 3.3km swim session in the pool followed by a 12km run that evening. Thursday morning was another run session, just over 8km and I completed an indoor bike session in the evening. Friday was another 5km swim, this time in the pool, no swim drills, just freestyle for the whole session. Saturday morning was my long ride, 160km, not sure exactly why, but this ride took me just over 20 minutes longer than it has for the past few weeks, maybe it was just one of those days. I felt pretty fatigued after my ride, and I still had an indoor bike ride to complete in the afternoon. Don’t exactly know how or why, but after the 30km indoor session, I felt ontop of the world, totally rejuvenated. Just over 190km for the day in the saddle. Sunday was my long run, I went back out to the Botanical Gardens and ran quite a few laps around the circuit, I lost count of how many laps I did, a freaking lot, 20km ran for the day. I am still feeling pretty good after my big week. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

Swim – 13.3 km

Bike – 300 km

Run – 50 km

Strength/Core sessions – 1

Training Hours – 21:15 Hours

Lesson Learned: A bad start to the day can always be turned around.

So this is 50 – My Motivators

Last Week I was asked to answer the following question in my blog “what motivates me to keep going?” After being so pumped last week to answer this, I have found it a little more difficult this week to think about it. In week 1 I touched on the fact that I am doing this event BECAUSE I CAN, something that really touched me deeply to want to be healthy was my mother’s illness, she suffered from COPD for many years. When the doctors finally sent her to the Alfred Hospital to be assessed for a lung transplant, she was so unwell and unfit that she could not pass the first test before getting on the transplant list, she needed to do a 6 minute walk test, it didn’t have to be fast and she didn’t need to go a certain distance, she just needed to walk for 6 minutes, she couldn’t, her health had deteriorated so badly. I tried to help her from there, I was able to get a treadmill in the house, one that she could easily get on while still connected to her oxygen, but she was still unable to progress, she just had too many health problems at this stage, and there was no way she could get the lung transplant without a base level of fitness, as she would not survive the recovery. This was a cruel lesson in the importance of looking after your health for me. This week has been 3 years since her passing. So, my mother’s health problems played a major role in me wanting to be healthy, and I started my journey 6 years ago as a result.

Less than 12 months into my journey, my father was diagnosed with cancer, and given 3 months to live, he was 65 and had just retired. Most of my childhood memories of my father were of him going to work at 6 am in the morning and not coming home till after 6 at night, he was dedicated to his work and had finally found joy in his retirement, had moved up north to a caravan park by the water and was absolutely loving life, until he received the bad news. So within only a few months of retirement and moving away, he was back home in Shepparton to be near family and treatment, all to no avail. My father’s death taught me to not wait to do the things you love, live your best life now. I find that when I am racing, I quite often draw on strength from their battles, telling myself that I am only enduring a few hours of discomfort, they both endured so much more. So, as you can see, my parents inspired me to start my health journey, and to endure, but I am inspired by so many others now also. I find myself surrounded by people who are out there living their best life. I am inspired by every one of them. Some may be on a different path to me, but they are challenging themselves, setting goals and enjoying their lives now. Their goals might be their first 21km run, a trail run in the mountains, mountain biking, or a weekend away riding with their girlfriends. Whatever their goals, they are doing it NOW. Jason is also a huge inspiration to me, I wish I had the physical ability that he does, I know I have the desire! I also love listening to podcasts or audio books while I am running. There are some crazy people out there who have done some amazing things, alot of which are not for me, but they make me feel like anything IS possible. I try to surround myself with positivity, and while sometimes everyone gets a little down, or is in need of inspiration, or is even searching for a motivator to help with an insecurity, I find strength in the people around me and the audiobooks I listen to. And I try to smile often, you know, it’s contagious, there is nothing better than being greeted by someone who is smiling, it can instantly change another person’s demeanour.

Week 8

Monday was another open water swim with the tri club. 3km in the Vic Lake.

Tuesday, I had a 1:20 run planned at the botanical gardens, for some hill repeats, after 6.5km I could start to feel some tightness in my groin, so cut my run short. Last week’s run training has taken a toll.

Wednesday was a 5km swim in the pool, while I would have much rather have completed this swim in the Lake, in my wetsuit, I did as was planned. After all, training isn’t meant to be easy. Breakfast has never tasted so good after that swim! (yes, I had sourdough!) That night I continued with the indoor bike session and did another Threshold build set. Thursday, I had another run on my plan, my groin felt fine, so I headed off for my run. 6km into the run I could start to feel the tightness and new I wouldn’t be doing a long run. Friday morning was a 3km swim, and I finally had some acupuncture treatment for my groin strain, a not so Happy Valentines day! The run training still the likely culprit for the soreness, with my back and hips the most likely cause due to the hills. Saturday was another long ride, thankfully the air was clear this week, we rode to Violet Town with a loop of the Hills and home again. Sunday is normally my run day, but I also know that I need rest to recover from the strain. So, I rode to Dookie and completed a loop of the hill circuit there before riding home. My legs are feeling much stronger on the bike, I just need to be able to get some consistent running happening. I was planning on racing at IM 70.3 Geelong next Sunday, but I am not sure if that is going to be achievable at this stage, will see how the run goes later in the week. Fingers crossed.

Swim – 11.4 km

Bike – 288 km

Run – 14 km

Strength/Core sessions – 1

Training Hours – 15:20 Hours

Lesson Learned: 2 steps forward, one step back, is still a net gain.

This Weeks Training block – hasn’t gone to plan 😦

So this is 50 – So, what was it that nearly broke me?

Week 7

I arrived back home Sunday night last week, there was a pile of washing in the corner of the room, and a pile of clean clothes downstairs to be sorted, I think I arrived home just in time, as Jase had gone through every pair of jocks and socks he had, his next option would have been to wash and sort his own, or start wearing mine… I should have stayed away longer to see what he would have done! It has been a pretty busy week, while I can work from anywhere, when home, I still need to go into some workplaces. Monday was a double swim day, both swims were open water swims in the Vic Lake, the water in the morning was so calm, quite different to the afternoon swim, a total of 6km for the day. Upon waking Tuesday morning, my arms were sore from the day before, I ran out to the Botanical Gardens for some hill repeats, late last year when these hill repeats were on my plan every week, I would run to the top, followed by a 30 second walk to bring my heart rate down, this week I found that I could run to the top, and did not need the walk break, I could continue to run, although downhill, and stay within my zone 1 heart rate, I guess this means that my fitness levels are increasing, as my heart rate recovers quicker after intense efforts. We have also decided that I need to incorporate more indoor bike sessions into my plan. While in Noosa I completed an indoor session while it was raining, and I immediately recognised how easy it is to slack off when riding outdoors, which was not going to be any benefit to me come UltraMan – no time to slack off on that bike course! So, Tuesday night was a Threshold Build session on the trainer.

Wednesday morning, I was back at the pool, my arms had recovered from my double swim on Monday. I love swimming with familiar faces around me, always wishing I could keep up with the swim kids in the lane beside me, before copping a backhander from one of them while they do their backstroke to quickly put me in my place, always followed by breakfast with my Tribe. That night Jase and I had planned to do a 3 hour ride at the hills around Violet Town, as it was getting late, we drove part of the way there, parked and rode the rest, a few hill repeats up Harrys Climb before heading back on our way home, 30 minutes from the car I started to feel every damn bump in the road, looking down I saw the back wheel with no air! We stopped to fix the puncture – when I say we, I mean Jase took over and I stood the required distance back, you know, that distance close enough to pass something and hear the mumbling, and far enough to avoid any tires being flung. Well the fixing process was not working, the inflator was not piercing the C02 cartridge, grrrrr. This meant that Jase had to ride the 30 minutes back to the car and then drive back to get me. So, what do you do when you have a 40-minute wait, on a deserted country road, at 7:30 at night? Well checking the emails and keeping up to date on any important social media issues was not on the cards, as my phone had 1% battery left. So, I did what any time poor Ultra-man wannabee would do, 1 legged squats, calf raises, stretches, and whatever other exercises I could think of! Gym Session Done!

Thursday morning, I woke with my glutes on fire…. hmmm, maybe too many squats the night before, I had nearly a 2 hour run to complete before heading into work, so needed to be off, no time to feel sorry for myself, downed my Fat Black Coffee and ran 18km around the much flatter trails and streets of Shepparton, finally a bit of relief for my legs. I arrived home, famished, so was looking forward to my breakfast. I quickly showered, while thinking of my poached eggs on sourdough with fresh spinach and avocado drizzled in olive oil, yum. Went to grab the sourdough out of the freezer and there was none left, now I know there was some in there yesterday, I could feel panic starting to set in, I was freaking hungry and on a time limit, I scanned the room, and that is when I noticed Miss 22, sitting on the couch eating my sourdough with avocado for her breakfast, my heart sunk, I paused, now this was either going to go down one of 2 ways, either I was going to throw a massive tantrum and Miss 22 was probably going to bear the brunt of it, or, I was going to walk away. After a quick pause, and biting my tongue, I decided on the second option, and retreated to the bathroom, deciding on getting ready for work and stopping at the café on my way to work to grab my breakfast, now although I didn’t have a hissy fit, I was sulking, for all of about 3 minutes, before Jase walked in and offered me half of his breakfast, after first refusing, I realised I really did need to get some nourishment asap. Crisis averted.

Friday, another swim session in the morning, followed by my indoor bike session in the evening. Saturday’s plan was to ride 6 hours, ride the 54km to Violet Town, do a 52km loop of the hills then ride 54km back home. We woke Saturday morning to see smoke haze, but decided to ride on anyway, we met Wendy and Scott in Violet Town, Wendy gave us some face masks to try, so we rode the hills with the masks on, our own little altitude training camp right there! We definitely noticed the breathing difference, each breath was quicker, added with the hill climbing made for an interesting experience. I was pretty happy with my loop of the hills, I recorded my fasted climb and my fasted descent to date, I think all the training up north has paid off, but I am very mindful that the hills around here are nothing like the hills of the UltraMan course. Sunday was a much-needed sleep in, 7:30 we rose, consumed our Fat Black Coffees and loaded up on some protein porridge, before driving over to Mt. Major to run some hill repeats, the weather here in Victoria is much more favourable for training in, not nearly as hot or humid as QLD thankfully, although I am sure I benefited greatly from my few weeks of training up North. Run completed, we headed back home, had lunch, and not long after I headed out for another run, Sunday Funday Double Run Day! Week 7 Training completed!

This week I have had a question, about what motivates me to keep going, I have had a couple of days to ponder how to write this and will share with you next week.

Swim – 12 km

Bike – 300 km

Run – 50 km

Strength/Core sessions – 1

Training Hours – 20 Hours

Lesson Learned: Stop and breath – before talking 😉

So this is 50 – The journey continues

I have been thinking about what it takes to complete Ultraman. I don’t think it is just my commitment to the event, there is so much more. Of course, I have to be willing to commit a heck of a lot of time to training for this, but there are others around me that need to be onboard as well. As I have mentioned before, I am lucky that I can work from any location, all I need is my computer and access to wi-fi, which makes it easy to travel. I can also shuffle around my hours, giving me some time to go on my long rides during the week if needed. This definitely makes it easier to get the training done while working. My children are adults now and have their own lives. Having Jason as my partner and coach makes it easy, we are both on the same page. Jason completed Ultra Man in 2018, he came 2^nd in what was an inspirational race to me and many others. I can’t imagine training for this kind of event without his support. We all know how selfish triathlon can be as a sport, training days can take time away from family, holidays planned around events and let’s not even mention the cost! And this is all as an amateur, wannabee, well for me anyway, Jase is actually a very accomplished athlete. He is a 3-time Kona finisher, runs a very successful coaching business – Thrive Endurance, all while working his full-time job as an Orchard Manager. So, he knows what it takes to get this done. I feel confident that I can get there with him onboard. His coaching philosophy ISN’T about ‘no pain no gain’ it’s about training sensibly and setting a foundation for longevity in the sport. The commitment also comes from your support crew, without them you won’t be doing this race. Ultra-Man is a fully self-supported race, your crew is responsible for making sure the athlete has hydration, nutrition and can offer mechanical support if needed, and speaking from experience, they might even have to help with some navigation. The crew are going to be supporting you for the 3 days of the event, that is a big commitment. My crew have signed up, but I just want to make sure I haven’t scared them off!

Week 6

This training load this week has ended up a bit lighter than what was originally planned. I made it to my last swim squad session with the Noosa Tri Club, these sessions have been great.

I have been out on 2 rides this week, I finished off the last 80km of the 280km Day 2 course Wednesday and rode most of the 140km of Day 1 on Friday. I can tell you that my legs were HEAVY! I failed to make it up the last pinch of the first climb and walked the remainder, I wasn’t overly disappointed, as I have had a few big weeks of training and if I don’t make it up on race day, it doesn’t really matter, but, I still have 13 weeks of training to get stronger.

Tuesday and Thursday I headed out onto the run course, making the most of my last week in Noosa before heading home. The humidity on the Sunshine Coast has been crazy, I am very thankful that the event is held in May and not January. I had a 1:50 run planned for the weekend but ended up booking a flight home, so thought I might get the run done on Sunday when I returned. BUT I made it back to Melbourne in time to enter the 2XU Sprint Triathlon on Sunday, on the provision that I don’t do anything stupid, in other words, pace yourself. Due to the downpour in Melbourne on Saturday that left the Elwood water quality poor, the race was turned into a Duathlon, which is not ideal for me, since the run is my worst leg. I was so happy with my result, I ended up 3^rd in my Age Group and had a 5km run PB. A great way to end the week, and glad to be finally home again!

Week 6

Swim – 7 km

Bike – 228 km

Run – 30 km

Strength/Core sessions – 1

Training Hours – 16 Hours

Lesson Learned: Tired legs will recover

So This is 50 – Noosa Life

After I applied for entry into UltraMan 2020, I recall going through so many emotions. When I sent in my application on the 30^th May, I was so excited, memories of the 2018 event that I had crewed for came flooding back. I loved the atmosphere of the event; I had no idea at the time how much of an impact the 3 days would make. The comradery between crew members, the stories we had of our crewing adventures, the craziness of it all, the dedication of the ‘DREAM TEAM’ to make this event happen, and this was my experience, not as an athlete. I wanted to experience the event as the athlete, I wanted to see what my body can achieve. I saw 50 amazing people complete the event in 2018, I heard their stories at presentations, each and every one of them were inspirational. Some waddled up onto the stage to collect their trophies, others had a spring in their step, but they all had that grin on their face. They had all completed the event. As the 30^th June came closer, the day they were going to send out invitations to race, I grew increasingly nervous, ‘what if I don’t get selected’ even though I was fairly confident that I had ticked all the boxes for the required criteria to race. 30^th June came, my email arrived at 9:32 am I quickly opened it, “Congratulations…… we are delighted to extend our official invitation to race UltraMan” wow, finally confirmation, the feeling of relief was very quickly surpassed by the butterflies that had started to move around in my stomach. Then, I think I started to lose some colour in my face, the reality of the distances that were required to finish the event started to hit home. What have I done! Emotionally I had been on a huge roller coaster ride, and I hadn’t even started training yet! Thankfully I have a great coach/partner, who after completing the event in 2018, knows what it takes to get to that finish line, now to remain injury free.

Week 5

This week I swam with the Noosa Tri Club, the swim squad sessions have been fantastic, it’s great to be pushed that little bit more, I think I have been too comfortable swimming back at home, and not pushing myself, it’s very easy when you are swimming by yourself to grab the pool buoy every now and then, when I know I don’t need it. I also never swim to the clock, I swim to my watch, so, a 10 second break can quite easily become a 20 second break. The swim set also goes quickly. I am definitely enjoying these sessions. I still need to get back into the open water here at Noosa, if not this trip, maybe in March when I come back this way.

My calf has felt great this week, I had 7 days off running last week, along with some acupuncture and this seems to have done the trick. So, I have been back to running along the course. The run course makes it way behind Coolum and there are some steep climbs along the route. I made my way there during the week to walk these, and I am sure that come UltraMan weekend I will be walking them again. I am comfortable with that, I know what my limits are, I am not going to be setting record pace for the double marathon, my goal is to complete the event. This week I have done some more riding along the course, I think my legs are getting stronger with the hill work. My 6 hour ride on Sunday had me going back to the climb that I ended up walking up 2 weeks ago, I was a little anxious about doing this ride again, by myself. I contemplated turning around at the halfway point, just before the climb, and riding back the way I came, but I was determined in the end to make the climb. The temperature was not as hot or as humid as it was 2 weeks ago, I also made sure I was hydrated and started my nutrition earlier on the ride. Happy to report that I made the climb! It really wasn’t even as hard as it was 2 weeks earlier, which confirms my suspicions that I was dehydrated and hadn’t had enough to eat the first time. All in all a great week of training.

Week 5

Swim – 10 km

Bike – 309 km

Run – 37.7 km

Strength/Core sessions – 1

Training Hours – 21 Hours

Lesson Learned: Persistence Pays Off

So This is 50 – My Silver Lining

Well this week started off well, back home, which meant that time was precious, and I needed to be back into my normal routine, back to juggling work hours with keeping house and training. I am fortunate with my work, as I am able to work from any location, so most of my workdays are spent working from home, which eliminates precious time wasted travelling to and from work. So, no longer being on Noosa time meant no longer lying in bed those extra minutes before heading out for the ride or run. No longer taking that extra look at social media for no real reason, just time wasting, time is now precious again!

I pulled up a little sore in the calf after my run Monday morning, it didn’t feel like I had torn anything, just felt very tight, I massaged the calf that night and hoped for the best. Swam Monday night in the lake at Shepparton, it felt nice to be back home, the water was so calm and smooth, like gliding on ice, and great to be back swimming and training with the regular crew. Tuesday morning, I was planning on doing another run, but my calf still felt a little tight, I headed out, and only got approx. 1.6km before I pulled up and walked home, the calf was not right. I organised some treatment that day, and just did an easy ride that night. Wednesday I was still sore from the treatment and knew I wouldn’t be running for the rest of the week. I have been prone to injury over my 6 years of triathlon, I guess my story is a lot like many other triathletes I have met. A history of being overweight for many years, losing some weight, finding motivation and then finding triathlon, and as a result of not having years of strength behind me, I break easily, even with the best intentions of not overloading my training. My volume of late might seem a lot to many, but it is not like I have been doing nothing for the last few months. I like to think that I train wisely, I am very careful to not increase my run load by more than 10% each week, I would normally only complete 3 run sessions a week, and my longest run has never been longer than 2 hours and 20 minutes (in training), this gives my body enough time to repair and recover before the next session. This is all information that I have learned from my Physio and of course from Jason, who as my coach, has learned these lessons over many years, and after coaching many athletes. I am sure that this tension that I am feeling in my calf is a result of the hill riding that I have done over the last 2 weeks. It will recover, I just need to be smart. I also started my core and strength work from home this week. I have been a little lapse on this, and I am sure that this contributed to the soreness, with my glutes most likely slacking off and still on Noosa time! With my training load up around the 19 hours, and my work hours at about 34, it is much easier to complete these sessions at home. So, with my training week, somewhat altered, there was more of a focus on swimming and riding this week. Wednesday morning, we headed to the pool for swim training, the haze from the smoke was pretty thick, so we decided to swim in the indoor pool, the air quality in the indoor pool was only marginally better than the air outside! Jason and I drove to Dookie that afternoon, in an attempt to ride some hills – Dookie hills are really just a bump in comparison to the Ultraman course hills, but a storm was on its way, and we didn’t even get on the bikes and had to drive home. Thursday evening, we headed over to Violet Town in another attempt to ride, but Jase had left his shoes behind!! So, no riding for him, I rode the 52km back to Shepparton, in record time, thanks to a tail wind for most of the ride. So far, my altered week of training had only achieved the swim sessions and smaller rides! With a check of the weekend weather forecast we decided that Saturday would be the best day for a 6-hour ride. So, I made my energy balls, and prepared our overnight oats in readiness for the ride. We woke early Saturday morning, prepared ourselves for the ride, headed downstairs and could instantly smell the smoke in the house, we headed outside and was greeted with smoky haze, not ideal conditions for a 6-hour ride. We decided to wait and see if the haze lifted, it cleared around 10:30, but this was now too late to leave on our ride, we decided on an indoor bike session instead. We also used the time to check out air purifiers, one of our friends and training partners Helen, had just purchased one, we had all discussed the air quality after our swim session Friday morning, at our regular breakfast, where all the problems of the world are discussed and most often solved. Yes, it was a pricey purchase, but how long is this air quality going to be poor for? I can already feel the scratchiness in my airways.

Jase and I are also lucky enough to have an apartment in Noosa, one that is let out for holiday rental. With the apartment currently vacant, we decided that it would not be a stupid idea for me to head back up there, where at least the air might be cleaner, and I can get out and train, and as I mentioned before, I can work from any location. Saturday afternoon, we drove to Echuca to support our friends at the Echuca Triathlon, prior to the sore calf, I was planning on participating in the event. It was probably the best weather the event has had in years, great for spectating also, I was busy timing the races within the race, keeping a close on the time differences between fellow Thrive Endurance members and training partners, the stakes are high, bragging rights are the prize! Happy to report that Wendy won the McHugh stakes over husband Scott – Girl power is strong at Thrive Endurance!

Sunday, we drove to Melbourne Airport and watched the smoky haze get worse as we drove, this justified the decision to go North for a while. I arrived at the Sunshine Coast, grabbed some supplies, unpacked the bike, and headed out for a quick ride. Not sure how long I will stay up here for, time will tell, just hoping the calf feels good next week and I can try some running.

Week 4

Swim – 12.6 km

Bike – 200 km

Run – 15.7 km

Strength/Core sessions – 2

Training Hours – 13:35

Lesson Learned: There is always a silver lining.

So This is 50 – Hills WILL be my friend

We had most of our week in Noosa again. I was familiarising myself to the bike and run course. Although I had crewed for Jason in 2018, I really could not remember most of the actual course that was ridden and ran. As a crew member, my job at the time was to keep Jason’s nutrition delivered. Easy right? well not really. Along with Chris and Sarah on Day 1, it was a matter of Chris driving, Sarah navigating and me, preparing the nutrition for the next point that Jason had requested, we very quickly realised that this was not the easy job that we had signed up for. It’s hard to explain exactly why, I guess you have to be there to experience the frenzy that it is. As crew members for Jason, we were lucky that our days were short in comparison to the other crews on course. Jason finished Day 1 (10km swim and 140km bike) in 6:47, Day 2 (281km bike) in 7:52 and Day 3 (84.3km run) in 7:07!! Lightning quick times, I realized on my ride during the week, that my crew are going to be out there for a long time. The cut-off for each day is 12 hours, and while I hope to finish each day before the cut-off, the reality is, it is going to be a hell of a long day for everyone. My crew will not only have to make sure that I have the nutrition that I need on the course but will need to make sure they themselves are fed and hydrated. A small consolation might be that it might not be the mad rush as it was with Jason. In 2018, Sarah would stand a hundred metres behind the parked van, and pass the bidon, with Chris at the van, in-case anything was missed, and me standing 100 metres past the van to pass any food, by the time we gathered back at the van, refilled any bidons, and grabbed the food we needed for the next stop, it was time to get back in and drive to the next handover point. Most of the time we made it to the next location with only minutes to spare. You can probably start to understand the craziness that it was. I am much more understanding; I won’t put the same pressure on my crew…. I will give them much more time between handover points on course….

Week 3

This week I ran a few runs along the course. The 84.3km run is from Noosa to Twin Waters back to Noosa, so is not a flat run course, which I knew, but it hit home more when I actually ran along it, especially coming from Shepparton where you have to drive at least half an hour to find any hills. I need to make sure that I start on my strength program and continue to drive to find those hills. Jason and I rode some of the Day 2 bike course on Thursday, we rode 140km with a total of 1600m of elevation, which took me just under 6 hours to complete. I didn’t quite make it up one of the climbs and had to walk the last 200m to the top, I think it was a combination of bonking and not having enough gears on the bike, the temperature and humidity were quite high, and I am sure I was dehydrated due to the sweating. I also need to change the cassettes on my bike to a 34 on the front and a 30/32 on the back. On the day of the actual Ultraman event, I would still have another 140km to ride, although there would only be another 400m of elevation. So, with the accumulated fatigue in my legs, some dehydration, wrong gearing and very high temperatures, it made for a very long bike ride, again finding myself questioning if I can actually achieve this. When we arrived in Eumundi, (20km from home) I would have easily jumped in an UBER to get home, I say that at the time, but I know how disappointed I would have been with myself if I actually did. I can tell you that by the time we rode back to Noosa, showered, ate, rested, ate again, rested and ate again it was time for bed. I wasn’t quite sure how my legs would recover from the ride, but I woke up the next morning and completed my run. My legs felt fine. That gave me a HUGE confidence boost, I know I can still do this. We arrived back at Shepparton on Saturday, completed a quick swim, and went over to Violet Town to ride some hills on Sunday. We have been lucky to be in Queensland the past 10 days, so I have not realised how smoky it has been here in Victoria, even though the haze wasn’t that bad on Sunday, once we stopped riding you could definitely feel the scratchiness in your throat. So, I am crossing my fingers and hoping that it won’t be too bad this week.

Week 3

Swim – 8.3 km

Bike – 294 km

Run – 34.6 km

Gym Sessions – 0

Training Hours 19:00

Lesson Learned: Stay hydrated and fed