Hit the pool for the lunch-time workout to day. Was a little stiff after yesterday’s swim, but I was pretty happy with the 50s sprint and the 300 w/ paddles.

400 Easy
9 * 100 as {
    3 * 50 K/50 FS,
    3 * 50 Fist/50 FS,
    3 * 50 One Arm BF/ 50 FS} 10s/100
4 * 50 Sprint on 1:15 (30)
300 FS on 5:30 (4:12)
300 Pull on 5:30 (4:25)
300 Paddles on 5:30 (3:55)
6 * 50 Easy on 65
Total: 2800m

S: 2800m

The results of the swim are now online here:

Overall Time: 28:52.6, 67th out of 1,314. Winning time was 23:18.3 but that guy was just back from winning the World 5km Championships in Dubai. Next after him was 24:15.0.

I came 14th in the Male 30-34 age group, out of 264.

Well, I just got home from the Bondi To Bronte Ocean Swim which was between 1.8km and 2.2km depending on who you listen to. I left it until Friday to decide to race, only to find that online entries were closed and there were a limited number of late entries available from Bronte SLSC on Saturday morning. Got up early and as luck would have it Jacqui arranged to meet Tiff, Nick, Dave & Lee for breakfast in Bronte, so we got down there, they organised a table and I ran over and entered the race. Shortly afterwards the wind started picking up leaving me hoping that this wasn’t the start of some dodgy weather.

Awoke this morning to a beautiful summer’s day, walked out on the balcony and saw that the ocean was as smooth as it could be. Excellent! No wind to speak of either. Jacqui was content to stay in bed until I revealed that I needed her to come down and mind my bag while I swam, and if she could transport it to Bronte that would be great too. Thankfully she agreed, though she said she’d meet me there as I had been told to be there at 8:30am for race registration, briefing etc. etc. and there was no point in her hanging around for an hour and a half before the start. As it turned out, there was a bag van which would transport the bags for you, though I didn’t realise this until afterwards, not having done a sea swim before. Anyway, I rrock up to Bondi at 8:40, collect my timing chip and white hat (for the 30-39 age group) and I’m all done in 3mins. That’s it? Nothing else to do until 10:06 when my wave was due to start, so I got changed, sat in the shade, drinking water, looking out at the course and thinking ‘Shit, that’s a long way.’ After a couple of trips to the toilet Jacqui showed up, so I stripped off, lathered on the sunscreen, plus Vaseline on my lats to prevent the rashes I got at the swim in Watsons Bay, handed Jacqui my bag, as she was going straight over to Bronte, and wandered down to the start.

There was a bit of a delay as they tried to get the first wave, and only the first wave in place, so the race didn’t start until 10:06. I decided to position myself off to one side to avoid the rush to the first buoy, but by the time the 30-39 age group was ready I ended up in the middle. The whistle finally went around 10:16 and we were off. I got out past the breaks without incident – no-one tried swimming over me, no kicks in the face etc. The first few hundred metres or so was a bit awkward as the swell was still big enough to break up any rhythm I tried to get in to, but after the first buoy it was fine. I picked a couple of swimmers who seemed to be about my standard and just swam along, using them both to pace me and as guides, so I only had to sight a buoy every 30 strokes or so. The swell was side-on until we passed the 4th buoy and turned towards Bronte, after which I was behind us. I started working the swells as they came through – cranked up the kick a bit beforehand and let the wave pick me up and carry me a little further. It was fun and helped to break up the distance a bit.

Once I got around the final buoy, I was heading straight for shore and the end was nigh. Myself and the people around me started picking up the pace as one, though we actually seemed to be making less headway. I could see the bottom and we didn’t seem to be moving forward at all. I thought for a moment that we may have chosen to swim in against a rip, so I started looking around to see if I’d drifted off from the main bunch. Next thing I knew I could stand, so it must just have been a break between sets or something. I managed to run ashore, unlike the last time when I stumbled getting out of the water, and it was all over. I forgot to bring my digital watch, so based on a very approximate analog watch I reckon I swam around 27mins. I’ll have to wait for the official results though which should be up on the web soon. All in all, it was good fun and I’m looking forward to another one. I’ll have to check the ocean swim calendar and see what the options are.

S: 4800m – B: 15km

Almost finished another lazy week. Went for a swim yesterday lunch time:

200 FS Hypoxic 3/5
4 * 50 FS on 60
4 * (25K/25S) on 1:15
4 * 8L/8R/8full on 1:15
4 * Fast K/Slow Arms on 60
4 * 100 FS on 1:35 (1:18)
6 * (25 IM Order/25 FS) on 60
3 * 100 FS on 1:30 (1:20)
6 * 50 FS on 60
2 * 100 FS on 1:25 (1:16)
6 * 50 FS on 60
Total: 2800m

Went for a 15km cycle around the various hills in my area: Down to Rose Bay, then uphill through Bellevue Hill, down to Bondi, up Military Road, along Old South Head to Watsons Bay, then up through Vaucluse to New South Head Road and back down into Rose Bay.

My toe is much better, so it will be back to running next week. I’m off to Bronte now to see if I can get a late entry for the Bondi to Bronte Ocean Swim which is on tomorrow morning.

S: 2800m – B: 15km

We’re at the 3-month check point stage of Fat Club, so here’s the progress:

Monthly exercise totals since August 23rd:

So, the rate of weight loss has dropped off over the last two months, in step with the work rate. November had one big week (200km) of cycling and not much else. Consistency is the key, so I’m just going to have to coem up with a plan that allows me to do a reasonable amount of each discipline each and every week, not the current week-on/week-off stuff I’ve been doing.

Went for my first session down in the Boy Charlton Pool. The session didn’t start until 6pm, so I got a run around the Domain in beforehand. It’s a nice area of Sydney to be running in. The pool is salt water which made a huge difference on swim pace due to being more buoyant. I reckon I was up to 5s/100m faster. Still, this was going to be the longest session I’d done to date so I was taking it easier than I might have otherwise. Plus I kept bloody cramping and salt water doesn’t taste good!

300 Reverse IM
10 * 50 Stroke Count on 60 31 strokes, 37s
5 * 200 Paddles on 2:50 (2:35)
4 * 400 Pull on 6:00 (5:48)
10 * 50 Drills on 1:15 (55)
300 Easy FS
Total: 4200m

On a positive note, this is the first week I’ve done 10000m of swimming so I plan to do at least one of the 1.5hr session per week in order to keep the distance up. Off to bed now to get up at 5.30 for my long bike ride. Yawn!

S: 10000m – R: 10.25km

Got a good 400 in during my lunch-time swim session today: 4:53 with paddles at a reasonably decent effort, but not killing myself. Pretty happy with that, though the rest of the session was pretty easy. I think I’ll have to start swimming at a faster overall pace and doing one longer session (4-5km) per week in order to drop my average pace down a bit more.

400 WU as 200 FS, 200 Choice
2 * {
    4 * 50 FS w/ hard kick, 20s rest (36)
    200 FS easy, 20s rest (2:50) }
600 FS Easy on 9:30
400 FS Hard Padddles on 6:15 (4:53)
200 FS Easy
4 * 50 FS Hypoxic 3/5/7, 15s rest
400 Swim Down as 100 BR, 100 BC, 200 FS
Total: 3000m

S: 5800m – R: 6.55km

Got another run in last night, this time a shorter 3 laps of the park rather than 4. Legs still feel good this morning so it looks like I’ll be able to pull off the 4 runs/week. Today’s a day off then I’ll get runs in on Thursday and Friday too. The weather seems to be improving so hopefully I’ll get out on the bike tomorrow.

S: 2800m – R: 6.55km

Got a long run in fairly blustery conditions in this evening. 4 laps of the local park, then a bit fo stretching to finish off. Took it nice and easy with an average HR of 143 or so.

S: 2800m – R: 3.75km

Well another attempt at a big week starts today. I’m going to try for 150+ aerobic points and try and maintain that level week-in week-out, unlike the last time where I topped 200pts only to be exhausted the following week. I’m also going to try an get 4 runs in this week instead of three.

400 FS
3 * {
    100 K on 2:00 (1:48)
    150 Drag/50 FS on 3:30 (2:59) }
2 * 200 ???
3 * 200 IM on 3:30 (3:02)
2 * 200 Form on 4:00
100 Easy
Total: 2800

S: 2800m

Went out MTBing last night with the lads from work and had a brilliant time. Mount Majura is just outside Canberra (10min ride) and has a pine plantation on one side. This plantation, Majura Pines, is littered with singletrack and you can quite easily spend hours in there riding around in and out of trees, up & down dips and even a couple of jumps (which we didn’t do ;-)

This is definitely the way forward – so much more fun than just cruising along a fire trail. So much so, that myself and Tommy were even thinking we might come down to Canberra on a non-work trip at some stage. Something like leave Sydney Saturday morning, drive to Kangaroo Valley and do a run there, then continue on to Can-burr-I-A. Stay in a hotel, visit to debacle for some gourmet pizza/belgian beer, then up the next morning and spend a few hours riding around Mt. Majura with maybe a side trip over to Mt. Stomlo (need to find out more about that area). Then drive back to Sydney that night.

All in all, a great way to spend a few hours!

B: 40km – R: 7.5km

Another run on the treadmill last night. Again it was nice and easy so things are progressing nicely. I’ll try and get another run on tomorrow morning before work and that will give me my three runs for this week.

B: 20km – R: 7.5km

Went out for a mountain bike here in Canberra last night with the guys from work. We rented bikes as we could get our bikes down in the car, but wouldn’t be able to get them back to Sydney as John was using the car to move out of his place. It was an easy ride, with two short rocky hills providing the only effort. Saw loads of kangaroos and a couple of rabbits as well. Looks like we’re going again on Thursday as well.

B: 20km – R: 3.75km

Right! Last week was a bit of a waste, so training has recommenced once again. I’m in Canberra again, so it will still be a relatively quiet week, though we have a couple of MTB rides planned. Hit the gym last night for a treadmill run and a distance increase. After two weeks without any issues doing 3 * 5R/1W I’ve upped it to 4 repetitions for a total distance per run of 3.75km. After two weeks of this, I’ll increase again.

5min warm up
4 * {
    5min @ 10kmh
    1min @ 6kmh }
5min cool down

R: 3.75km

It’s been a pretty lazy last few days. I think I did a bit too much last week and I think my body is encouraging my mind to make excuses to skip sessions this week. I’m not that tired, it’s just that I have no interest. Well, no interest at 7am which is when I make the decision to cycle into work or not. About 9, when I’m fully awake, then I regret taking the easy way out. Oh well. Will power never was my strong suit. Tried to go for a run last night, but just as I was about to leave the apartment, a massive lightning storm kicked off, so I took the hint.

Hopped into the pool for an easy session this afternoon.

3 * {
    200 Hypoxic 4/6, 10s rest
    25 K/25 FS, 10s rest
    25 4L4R/ 25 FS}
3 * {
    200 Bands on 3:40 (3:05)
    150 Build on 2:40 (2:05)
    100 IM on 2:00 (1:30)
    50 Easy (39) } 1min rest
100 easy
Total: 2500m

S: 5300m – R: 2.8km

Looks like my plan of doing another big week of training is rapidly going out the window. I have to stay at home tomorrow as the plumber is coming around to do some repairs, so that means missing my lunch-time swim session. It’s Dave’s birthday on Friday, so that’s drinks after work, scuppering my run and also the big ride on Saturday morning, then Micky is having his engagement party on Saturday afternoon meaning I can’t do the ocean swim race I had planned.

Got the usual run in last night, this time with the HR working perfectly. Got run into by a growling dog, though I think it was only protecting its elderly lady owner as once I stopped it became very friendly and docile. She was teaching it to fetch a ball and was very apologetic. It was some sort of sheepdog-type breed, so it was fairly obvious that it wasn’t dangerous. Other than that the run was uneventful and fairly easy.

S: 2800m – R: 2.8km

200 FS
3 * {
    50 Drag/ 50FS,
    75 Fist/ 25 FS,
    100 4/6 Hypoxic } on 1:50
6 * 25 FS K Sprint on 60
3 * {
    200 FS Effort on 3:45 (2:36)
    300 Paddles (4:01) }
50 FS
Total: 2800m

S: 2800m

Now I’m officially exhausted. Just got back from the Blue Mountains after going mountain biking with Kevin, Tom & Niall. We did the Narrowneck Ride near Katoomba. It’s 27km out and back fire trail, with the best scenery of any ride we’ve done so far. There’s a pretty steep hill straight after the start of the ride which myself and Tom got off and walked up. He got a bit dizzy, which he thought might have been altitude sickness, since we were over 1000m above sea level. This was the first MTB ride we’d done in about 6 months and was easily the highest – the other ones in the Blue Mountains were in the lower ranges – and with the hard hill sending all the blood rushing to the legs, dizziness is not that surprising. We took things a bit easy for a while, which suited me down to the ground after yesterday’s ride.

At the end of the ithmus were the most amazing views: 270 degrees of wilderness with the Warragamba Dam (Sydney’s main water supply) off in the distance. A real feeling of being in the middle of nowhere, spoilt slightly by the high-voltage power lines running through the valley! We sat around for a little while, soaking up the “at one with nature” feeling ;-) before getting back on the bikes for the homeward leg.

There are a couple of REALLY steep hills on this ride, so I ended up walking a few times though I’m not sure that made it any easier! Still, for every uphill there’s a downhill and we made the most of those. One long final climb back to the car park and we were done, then it was off to Leura for some lunch and a pit stop in the best sweet shop in Australia (as far as I’m concerned anyway). I definitely want to do that ride again and the next time I’m bringing my video camera as the views are too big to capture properly in a still frame. Tom got a few shots, so I’ll get a few from him and stick them up here.

Tom’s bike computer read 26.99km at the end of the ride, so I managed to just top 200km of riding for the week. I also managed my goal of 200+ aerobic points so I’m pretty pleased with that. Early to bed tonight as I have (want) to do a similar amount of work next week too.

S: 8300m – B: 200.5km – R: 8.4km

Crawled out of bed at 5:45 on Saturday morning to go on the Cheeky Monkey ride to Kurnell and back. Made it down to the shop at about 6:25, just before they left. The pacee was quite a bit quicker than the beginners’ ride I’d been doing, which was hardl surprising as two of the girls had just got back from Hawaii Ironman and a couple of others had been doing the half-Ironman at Forster last weekend. I’d left my HR monitor strap at home and for some reason that meant the watch wouldn’t show speed, but it would show cadence? Not sure why that is, but I reckon we were averaging 35kmh or so.

The ride itself wasn’t too hard, but I was looking forward to the stop at Kurnell so I could stretch a bit. Ate a few jellies too, which is apparently a great way of getting some fast energy on the bike, before hitting the road for the return journey. It seemed to go a lot quicker on teh way back, probably because I knew what was coming up next. I did my turn at the front and didn’t slow anyone down, which was a bit of a relief, then finished up at the shop for a total of 76km. Add 12.3 to that for getting to/from home and some messing about in Centennial Park and it was a grand total of 88.3km. I was pretty exhausted when I got home!

S: 8300m – B: 173.5km – R: 8.4km