Permit me a freakout moment for a little post ...
So, if Kate, who is a strong swimmer and whose half marathon PB is around 20 minutes faster than mine, takes about the time I was thinking I might take to do a half IM, then what am I thinking?
Let's not even mention the fact that I can't SWIM A LENGTH yet. Oh, and then there's the whole aero bar thing. I can't even imagine putting aeros on Cleo, and there's no way I can afford to buy a a tri bike. And a hot, hilly half marathon at the end of all that? What am I doing? Once again ... what am I thinking????
I guess I'm going to be a little selfish and say right now that I'm happy the Buckeye group seem to be planning to return in 2009, because I am going to need all the support I can get.
Seeing that freaking out isn't very helpful, what else can I do to work through this? Well, for a start, I can take advantage of being on holiday for most of January and spend as much of it as possible in the pool or swimming at Oriental Bay. Running the Rotorua marathon will be a huge confidence builder, and with Dave's programme I'll run another two half marathons after that. I just want to finish the marathon, but I want to sub-two hour a half marathon this year as well. I'm only three minutes off that. Perhaps I should aim for a 1.50!
On top of that, I have a huge amount of space for improvement on the bike. I have the Yarrows Round the Mountain, the Grape Ride, the Taupo challenge and any number of lead-up races in the Wairarapa to improve my speed. From what I've read, if I CAN go aero I'll get a big improvement in power. I'm anxious about the refit that would go along with adjusting to an aero position, but I know Shane at Pennys will be able to help with that.
It would help if I didn't have such a strong sense of pride. I know I'm never going to win anything, but psychologically I've always felt a real need to be mid-pack. The way I'm going I'm facing being closer to the tail-end Charlies. There really is NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT, and my ego is a terrible demon that I need to squash beneath my Adidas-shod heels.
So, if I can sort out the psychological cr#p, the only thing I need to worry about is not getting injured.
If only I hadn't just spent the equivalent of a new pair of running shoes on a new cell phone!
Help me, Buckeye veterans. Help!
Showing posts with label Rotorua Half Ironman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rotorua Half Ironman. Show all posts
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
In reflective mode
There's a lot to post about at the moment but I can't seem to summon the mental fortitude to document it all in a coherent fashion. It started when I took a quick peek at my archives and realised how far I've come with my riding this year. In January I was still terrified of riding clipless and my first ride with Sarah was a tiny 25km.
By April I'd worked my way up to a long ride of only 55km. That was how I went into the Grape Ride - carrying an injury, a little undertrained and riding Lola, a Diamondback Interval road bike that was too heavy and didn't fit me properly, even though I loved her dearly. That 101km nearly killed me.
After that I picked up the running again and got it together in time for the Harbour Capital half marathon in June. Again I was undertrained, but I still managed a four minute PB, even if I was still three minutes off my goal.
Since then I've fallen in love with my new Genius, Cleo and become a cyclist for real. Somewhere along the way my attitude changed. Riding 160km turned out to be easier than I'd thought, even with a cold. Running a marathon? When the suggestion was made it seemed like a fantastic idea. Half Ironman? Sure, why not? I stopped worrying about whether it was possible and just started planning to do it instead.
So here I am, and if I am to have a theme at all this year it will have to be consistency. I've done really well this year but I've done a lot of it all on less than optimal training. My running, in particular, has been stalled on a couple of occasions and I can't take a break from it again.
I have to stay calm this year. I am getting a training programme together, helped by an experienced Ironman personal trainer. I will need to stick to it. Even more importantly, I will need to take care of myself so that I dont get injured. I can't do what I've done for the last two years and get injured just as I'm peaking. It's the risk of getting injured that scares me the most.
So this blog will increasingly become more about becoming half an Ironman. There will still be poetry, there will still be random ramblings. However I have to be honest with myself and admit that my training is my main focus, and that it is the primary factor in shaping the me I am becoming.
It's fitting that I'm typing this on the day that Kate, Mike and Kathy are doing Rotorua. In Taupo my new trainer is doing a half as well. Incidentally, I've compared the two half Ironman courses and am glad Kate pointed me towards Rotorua. It's much more appealing! They are all in my thoughts and I'm keen to hear how they all get on.
It's going to be a huge year but I'm incredibly excited. I'm ready, so let's bring it on!
By April I'd worked my way up to a long ride of only 55km. That was how I went into the Grape Ride - carrying an injury, a little undertrained and riding Lola, a Diamondback Interval road bike that was too heavy and didn't fit me properly, even though I loved her dearly. That 101km nearly killed me.
After that I picked up the running again and got it together in time for the Harbour Capital half marathon in June. Again I was undertrained, but I still managed a four minute PB, even if I was still three minutes off my goal.
Since then I've fallen in love with my new Genius, Cleo and become a cyclist for real. Somewhere along the way my attitude changed. Riding 160km turned out to be easier than I'd thought, even with a cold. Running a marathon? When the suggestion was made it seemed like a fantastic idea. Half Ironman? Sure, why not? I stopped worrying about whether it was possible and just started planning to do it instead.
So here I am, and if I am to have a theme at all this year it will have to be consistency. I've done really well this year but I've done a lot of it all on less than optimal training. My running, in particular, has been stalled on a couple of occasions and I can't take a break from it again.
I have to stay calm this year. I am getting a training programme together, helped by an experienced Ironman personal trainer. I will need to stick to it. Even more importantly, I will need to take care of myself so that I dont get injured. I can't do what I've done for the last two years and get injured just as I'm peaking. It's the risk of getting injured that scares me the most.
So this blog will increasingly become more about becoming half an Ironman. There will still be poetry, there will still be random ramblings. However I have to be honest with myself and admit that my training is my main focus, and that it is the primary factor in shaping the me I am becoming.
It's fitting that I'm typing this on the day that Kate, Mike and Kathy are doing Rotorua. In Taupo my new trainer is doing a half as well. Incidentally, I've compared the two half Ironman courses and am glad Kate pointed me towards Rotorua. It's much more appealing! They are all in my thoughts and I'm keen to hear how they all get on.
It's going to be a huge year but I'm incredibly excited. I'm ready, so let's bring it on!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Good News, Bad News
Hamish and I are fans of the American medical television series House. We got into it a couple of seasons ago and watch each episode as it becomes available. It seems like nearly every episode one of the doctors suggests that a patient has the condition sarcoidosis, but I don't think anyone has ever been found to have it.
Now I'm fairly experienced in dealing with the health system, and I'm also pretty used to using the Internet to find information on health issues. When I was diagnosed with Addison's Disease I got Hamish to print some stuff off for me so that I could ask my Endocrinologist more relevant questions. I also know that there are pitfalls in relying on television and the Internet for that information.
All the same, when Mum was told that she needed a lung biopsy I did a Google search to see what was involved, and one of the things I noticed was that the biopsy is used to diagnose sarcoidosis. At that point, purely out of curiosity, I decided to read a bit more to find out what sarcoidosis actually was. Which was the point at which I started to wonder whether Mum had cancer at all.
It turns out that sarcoidosis is the result of a faulty immune reaction. It can cause lung lesions, shortness of breath, weight loss, pain and fatigue, sinusitis and red eye, all of which Mum has been suffering from. It is also associated with an underactive thyroid and B12 deficiencies, both of which Mum has, and occurs in people who have had a lot of exposure to agricultural chemicals. Mum spent most of my childhood working in a market garden where sprays were used regularly and our house was bordered by grape vines which were also sprayed.
I didn't want to get Mum's hopes up, but it all seemed to fit. Now it seems that the respiratory specialist she saw today is thinking the same thing. Which is great, because it's mostly treatable. Now we're just waiting for that biopsy. Fingers crossed! Even if it is lung cancer the lesions are apparently very small and almost undetectable.
In other good news, I met with PT Dave Creamer yesterday. We've agreed on my priority events, starting hopefully with a 10km race in Belmont the weekend after Taupo. After that I'll train towards the Yarrows Taranaki Cycle Challenge on 24 January (the day before Dad's birthday). I'll follow that up with a return to Marlborough for the Grape Ride in April. Dave thinks the Rotorua Marathon is achievable in May 2009, and possibly also the Harbour Capital half marathon in June. After that there'll be some lead-up triathlons and possibly the odd local cycle race or fun run, the Taupo Round the Lake cycle challenge again in November (if I'm still feeling good), then the big one, the Rotorua Half Ironman.
Phew - I think that was it! Dave's going to put together a programme for me, including weights sessions as appropriate and the odd RPM or Balance class. He's also recommending I do the Masters swim sessions at Huia or Barbara's Oriental Bay swims over summer. Hmmm. Might need to have a few lessons with Lesleigh first!
I left my meeting with Dave feeling super super excited and had a great final RPM class with Adam and Dee team teaching and the Shifters wearing hats or helmets. It was stinking hot in that room and the helmet definitely didn't help! I felt a wee bit off and was wondering about that cough I've had all eek. It was a great class though all the same, and afterwards Adam handed around fruit cake and a few of us headed off for coffee.
Which is where the luck ran out and the only bad news of the week kicked in. That cough? Ahhh, yep. I woke up this morning with a full-blown cold. Bah.
Thankfully it's not as bad as it could be. My ears aren't blocked up so I can still actually hear and although my sinuses are sore I can still breathe, even if my nose is running like a mad thing. Ironically the cough has stopped! At this stage I'm still planning on heading up to Taupo but I'm not kidding myself that getting around is going to be easy. I'm going to have to take it really easy and I've decided to take planned rest stops to refill water bottles and take extra medication. I took off from work at mid-day and had a bit of a nana nap on the sofa this afternoon. If I nurse myself I might just make it to the start line.
Sigh!
Now I'm fairly experienced in dealing with the health system, and I'm also pretty used to using the Internet to find information on health issues. When I was diagnosed with Addison's Disease I got Hamish to print some stuff off for me so that I could ask my Endocrinologist more relevant questions. I also know that there are pitfalls in relying on television and the Internet for that information.
All the same, when Mum was told that she needed a lung biopsy I did a Google search to see what was involved, and one of the things I noticed was that the biopsy is used to diagnose sarcoidosis. At that point, purely out of curiosity, I decided to read a bit more to find out what sarcoidosis actually was. Which was the point at which I started to wonder whether Mum had cancer at all.
It turns out that sarcoidosis is the result of a faulty immune reaction. It can cause lung lesions, shortness of breath, weight loss, pain and fatigue, sinusitis and red eye, all of which Mum has been suffering from. It is also associated with an underactive thyroid and B12 deficiencies, both of which Mum has, and occurs in people who have had a lot of exposure to agricultural chemicals. Mum spent most of my childhood working in a market garden where sprays were used regularly and our house was bordered by grape vines which were also sprayed.
I didn't want to get Mum's hopes up, but it all seemed to fit. Now it seems that the respiratory specialist she saw today is thinking the same thing. Which is great, because it's mostly treatable. Now we're just waiting for that biopsy. Fingers crossed! Even if it is lung cancer the lesions are apparently very small and almost undetectable.
In other good news, I met with PT Dave Creamer yesterday. We've agreed on my priority events, starting hopefully with a 10km race in Belmont the weekend after Taupo. After that I'll train towards the Yarrows Taranaki Cycle Challenge on 24 January (the day before Dad's birthday). I'll follow that up with a return to Marlborough for the Grape Ride in April. Dave thinks the Rotorua Marathon is achievable in May 2009, and possibly also the Harbour Capital half marathon in June. After that there'll be some lead-up triathlons and possibly the odd local cycle race or fun run, the Taupo Round the Lake cycle challenge again in November (if I'm still feeling good), then the big one, the Rotorua Half Ironman.
Phew - I think that was it! Dave's going to put together a programme for me, including weights sessions as appropriate and the odd RPM or Balance class. He's also recommending I do the Masters swim sessions at Huia or Barbara's Oriental Bay swims over summer. Hmmm. Might need to have a few lessons with Lesleigh first!
I left my meeting with Dave feeling super super excited and had a great final RPM class with Adam and Dee team teaching and the Shifters wearing hats or helmets. It was stinking hot in that room and the helmet definitely didn't help! I felt a wee bit off and was wondering about that cough I've had all eek. It was a great class though all the same, and afterwards Adam handed around fruit cake and a few of us headed off for coffee.
Which is where the luck ran out and the only bad news of the week kicked in. That cough? Ahhh, yep. I woke up this morning with a full-blown cold. Bah.
Thankfully it's not as bad as it could be. My ears aren't blocked up so I can still actually hear and although my sinuses are sore I can still breathe, even if my nose is running like a mad thing. Ironically the cough has stopped! At this stage I'm still planning on heading up to Taupo but I'm not kidding myself that getting around is going to be easy. I'm going to have to take it really easy and I've decided to take planned rest stops to refill water bottles and take extra medication. I took off from work at mid-day and had a bit of a nana nap on the sofa this afternoon. If I nurse myself I might just make it to the start line.
Sigh!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Oh, what the heck
I am officially declaring. 2009 - I am there.
Kate, I would pin this on you, but I'm going to accept total culpability for this one. The problem is that I've reached a point in my training where I know I can get around the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge just fine. So of course I started thinking today about my next challenge. I couldn't bring myself to get excited about training for a marathon, however I needed a stupidly monumentous goal.
Bike - no problem. Run a half marathon after the bike? Yeah, probably, if I train for it. To go from not being able to swim a length of Freyberg without flippers though to swimming the whole distance in the lake? Now that's the challenge right there.
Not so long ago I could not ride a medium size hill without walking. I could not ride clipless, let alone ride clipless through rush-hour traffic in the centre of town. Not that much longer ago I couldn't run 500 metres without dying.
Liz signed up for the Taupo Round the Lake Challenge despite not having ridden a bike before. I have to keep asking the question - what am I really capable of?
I guess that in just over a year I'll be finding that out!
Is there such a thing as a half-m dot?
Kate, I would pin this on you, but I'm going to accept total culpability for this one. The problem is that I've reached a point in my training where I know I can get around the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge just fine. So of course I started thinking today about my next challenge. I couldn't bring myself to get excited about training for a marathon, however I needed a stupidly monumentous goal.
Bike - no problem. Run a half marathon after the bike? Yeah, probably, if I train for it. To go from not being able to swim a length of Freyberg without flippers though to swimming the whole distance in the lake? Now that's the challenge right there.
Not so long ago I could not ride a medium size hill without walking. I could not ride clipless, let alone ride clipless through rush-hour traffic in the centre of town. Not that much longer ago I couldn't run 500 metres without dying.
Liz signed up for the Taupo Round the Lake Challenge despite not having ridden a bike before. I have to keep asking the question - what am I really capable of?
I guess that in just over a year I'll be finding that out!
Is there such a thing as a half-m dot?
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