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 – 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 – 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.