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 😉