Trains, Travels

I am officially, officially tapering! Really, honestly, truly. To prove it I’m doing absolutely nothing today. No time in the pool, no sitting on the bike (my arse is relieved about that one) and no putting on the runners. Just rest, even if my attempt at a lie-in was the usual failure.

Of course if you read my blog the other day you might be asking yourself wasn’t he already tapering and resting? Well sort of. I mean Wednesday I really wasn’t going so well and I took Thursday easy. Had a painful great massage and got my legs sorted out. Then Friday I was going pretty well which was good for a ride around Capel (pronounced like cape not cap as I’m often reminded), Donnybrook and Boyanup. Not only was I riding well we managed two coffee stops, admittedly only because stop number one was so disappointing.

Which brings me onto the Magic Slice once more. Sunday saw me duplicating that Wednesday ride and heading back to Margaret River with Steven. Fortunately the legs were willing to play despite a hard time trial effort on Saturday. I have to say it’s amazing the difference that makes to a ride. No counting down the kilometres, not even to the coffee break. Instead I enjoyed the scenery, the company and the sun.

Once in Margaret River I was in no doubt as to which coffee shop we were going to. The place was heaving on a Sunday morning. I heard it was a thirty minute wait for food from the kitchen. Always a good sign if somewhere is popular just a shame it meant you had to queue so long. This gave far too much time to debate whether to have a Magic Slice again, or maybe the cheesecake, the Chocaholic cake looked nice and so did the Carrot Cake.

After five minutes of waiting and debating I was at the front and it was decision time. I went for Carrot Cake. It was delicious with superb texture and flavour plus a decent portion too. Yet it wasn’t quite enough for a ride I’d called the Magic Slice Run. I persuaded Steven to go halves on a piece of Magic Slice thereby doubling my sugar intake for the week! It was as sweet as I remembered and I left the cafe in something of a sugary haze!

Should you find yourself down in South West Australia a trip to Margaret River is worth it. Just make sure you allow time for a stop at Sail Cafe. As you’ve seen I’m a big fan of their cakes! It has to be said the coffee is superb too. Go check Steven’s blog post for a picture of the coffee art. Clearly they train their Baristas well.

A final point on this subject. Often I harp on about the Paleo Diet and avoiding too many carbs. Yet here I am dedicating hundreds of words to a simple slice. The Paleo Diet for athletes advises on the use of carbohydrates during training. I simply choose to get mine from the cake stop halfway through a big ride! Also one and a half cakes is far more than normal! It’s my one treat outside the diet, surely you can allow me that?

Back on the more serious topic of tapering where does that leave mine? Last week ended up pretty much as big as those before it both in volume and training stress. I have said that tapering was an art form to me and I’ve yet to master it. This is a little bit of an experiment. Training is really good at the moment, particularly the cycling. How well will a heavy rest week set me up for race day? A few hours of activity remain between now and the race. Enough to keep the body feeling good, but let it gain some freshness. At least I hope that!

I don’t feel like I’ve wandered blindly off track though. Not entirely anyway. There’s a good blog post by Chuckie V on how he has his athlete’s handle back-to-back Ironmans. Whilst I’ve gained experience on this one over the year there’s plenty of room to learn. Chuckie V suggests no taper for the second Ironman if your fitness isn’t as high as for the first. A good Ironman is reliant on fitness and freshness, but as he stresses fitness is paramount.

Okay, I’ve thrown in a chart for you. Looking at my fitness (CTL – the blue line), fatigue (ATL – the red line) and form (TSB – the yellow line) after Kona and leading to Ironman Western Australia. You’ll note that fitness is lower than it has been and according to the chart my form is reasonably good. I won’t have as high a form as in previous races, but my fitness won’t be as low as it might have been.

Like Chuckie V’s advise I’ve prioritised raising my fitness over a typical taper with more recovery time. The aim is to be in better bike shape (particularly) on race day and reliant on a good period of rest in the next five days to get me just enough freshness to race well. Looking at the CTL line I’ve done a reasonable job of raising it to previous levels. The cost though is I can’t have quite as high a form or as low a fatigue for the race.

As I often comment in these posts race day will show the wisdom of this approach. Should it work then perhaps I’ll be adopting it more often.

I’m calling it today. After a shocking start to the long ride this morning rest is long over due. I knew it was coming. The early nights, plenty of sleep and then still feeling tired. The pain and struggle of running. Than pain and struggle of cycling! Yes, even the pain and struggle of swimming! The past few weeks have contained some very solid sessions for all my gripes.

This morning I headed out with Steven on a nice long ride to Margaret River and back. A better route than my one involving less highway and no dirt tracks! My legs were dead from the start. Unwilling to give as much as they have done on previous days. The powermeter doesn’t lie, I was weak all the way to the coffee stop.

I wonder if I’ve been a little too strictly paleo. My hard training has been matched with probably the lowest carb consumption I’ve ever managed! Certainly the highly un-paleo Magic Slice in the coffee shop seemed to pick things up on the return leg. For those wondering a Magic Slice consists of a biscuit base, lots of dried fruit, lots of white and milk chocolate, some jam I think and a lot of condensed milk. It is incredibly sweet especially to those of us who rarely touch sugars. When it kicks in it dulls even the hardest ache in tired legs.

The Taper Plan

I made a plan on Saturday and have changed it daily since. Mostly cutting down the volume in response to all the obvious signs of fatigue. As of today this is its current form. I reserve the right to chop out more workouts!

I’m following a similar logic to that outlined during my Kona reports. You can see my taper plan for that here and here (yep, two parts). So a heavy load till about ten days outs and then a massive drop in volume. Little bursts of intensity during my sessions, but again not too much. There’s a lot of rest going on there.

I’ll take each day as it comes and see how I feel. Steven invited me on some tempting rides the coming weekend, but I’m not sure it’d be wise to go. On the one hand I won’t get an opportunity to do those rides at the very least for a while. On the other I possibly need more rest. Amazing that despite sore, heavy legs the prospect of more riding still appeals!

My running volume is pretty low, but then to be honest it has been since I started training again. In fact I wonder if going from a long period of daily running to a more sporadic routine isn’t partly responsible for this awkward feeling I’m under doing things. It doesn’t feel quite right if you don’t run every day!

The Taper Numbers

Referring back to those Kona taper plans again you’ll know I like to use the numbers coming out from WKO+’s Performance Management Chart to help guide my taper. A challenging aspect in planning this race is the short build time has left me building little fitness or fatigue. The numbers I’m playing with are entirely different to those I’ve seen before.

Both bike and run TSB (form) values are much lower than I’ve previously said I should aim for. To get them higher though I have to sacrifice more CTL (fitness). I’m not really sure of the best balance here. Is it better to have a bigger drop of CTL and higher TSB, or to take a lower TSB and preserve what fitness I’ve built?

After a few hours playing around and thinking it through. Along with going on how my legs and body feel I’ve opted to let my CTL drop more than I initially planned. Training sessions are giving me good signs I can go hard when I need to. I think I’m better off being a bit more rested even if it sacrifices what WKO+ terms fitness a little.

Looking at my Kona analysis I noted that I thought my run TSB was a little too low at 10. Currently I’m not even close to that! I wondered if the lower TSB accounted for feelings of fatigue early in the run. Equally perhaps it came down to pushing on the bike earlier in the day. Very hard to tell. It leaves me questioning whether to pull further run workouts from my schedule and keep that CTL lower still to raise TSB? Tricky!

I’m never going to get the numbers I had for Kona or any of the other races anyway. Perhaps I should view this as a little experiment. If things go well on race day it’s a sign I can have lower TSB values for racing! Either way I’m not letting the numbers from a chart dictate my performance. I’ll arrive at the swim start rested and ready to race hard. Then it’ll hopefully be about nine hours of pushing myself hard!

It feels like I’ve been in Busselton much longer than three weeks. I’ve settled into life here – training, eating, shopping for more to eat, training, eating, sleeping… The usual routine. As my intermittent posts have hinted it’s not always been perfect training, but it’s also not been bad training. I may have turned into a fair weather triathlete thanks to the endless summer!

However a week of excellent conditions is leaving me with no excuses. Well other than the imminent race to prepare for. I have a taper plan in hand, but we’ll save that for another post. Today it’s all about life in Busselton and the pleasures of training in South West Australia.

This is a quieter corner of the country and the pace of life tends to match. Not that I live a high paced life these days anyway. It suits me well. Busselton has a large, active if slightly ad hoc training group. Sessions are regular and you soon learn the pattern. This also means you know when things are going to be tough out there on the road. I’ve mentioned before, the group can be merciless at times. It all ends with a coffee though and everyone is welcome.

Once everyone has headed off to work I’m left with a full day of training ahead. I’ve been fortunate that one of the local guys (another Russ) is on leave and around to train. Plus now Steven and Jo are down this way there’s more of us full timers about! With Steven around it’s also meant riding a little further afield.

The picture at the top is from one of my first long rides down here. I cleverly plotted out a course and downloaded it into my GPS. All the way to Margaret River on backroad, no need to go near a busy highway. Excellent. Well aside from the seven separate Magpie attacks there was the point where I hit this dirt track. Now google maps called that a road, whilst I personally consider it a dirt trail!

I remembered back on the Gold Coast having encountered something similar in the Tweed Valley. They were resurfacing the road and had just not got round to putting the hotmix on top. So I figure it’s probably only a kilometre long then back to real roads. After 1km of cyclocross on a road bike I decide that I’d best head back. I got to Margaret River on the highway that day.

I learnt that these were indeed roads and many cars and trucks use them. The surface is a mix of loose and packed dirt and gravel. Sometimes fine to ride on, sometimes not. The next time I went on a big ride I thought I’d been even smarter. Zooming in on the Satellite view in Google to check the roads!

It worked so well until the final section of my route. The first warning was when the road I’d expected to take didn’t appear to exist. I continued on and found an alternative which soon got me back on track. The road climbed up as I expected heading towards an intersection with Sues Road that would bring me home. Then 2km short, dirt track!

I wasn’t going to retrace my steps so I pushed on. Riding the dirt as best I could and admittedly dismounting once or twice. I didn’t want to go injuring myself on some silly endeavour. There was a tense moment when I passed a dead Emu in the road, this seemed the most inopportune and so most likely moment to take a fall. Fortunately I made it past, but was left wondering why the flies seemed more interested in me than the rotting body! Once I made it to Sues Road it was an easy ride home.

This weekend Steven and I headed out for a long ride. With maps checked along with local knowledge we were at least confident we wouldn’t be encountering dirt tracks. Our route once out of Busselton comprised of about five different roads in total for a loop of over 180km. It’s a different scale to back home for sure!

Heading out at 5:30am on Sunday we took the longer route to Nannup. I felt doing the larger distance first would be better and I think we were both glad of this by the end. Early on we were enjoying the ride back down Sues Road, going beyond the point the locals normally turn at. We were entering unexplored territory!

The enthusiasm continued for quite a while. I commented that I couldn’t understand why the locals didn’t ride further down here often. By the end of Sues Road I was beginning to understand. For over an hour the scenery had changed so little. There were positives. In two hours of riding we’d seen just three cars. Isolation has its advantages I guess, but the ride was also becoming mind numbing.

We turned onto the Brockman Highway heading to Nannup, faced with more of the same. Less than halfway into the ride and I found myself looking at the speedometer and counting down the kilometres. I realised a reason locals don’t come down here that much is it’s not very exciting. The roads look the same out in the middle of nowhere and at least if you do loops close to home you can get help easily.

Now to be fair things picked up about 20km out from Nannup. First we came across the Poison Swamp! Offering boating opportunities too! I think it needs to work on its branding to be honest. Not long after it was a herd(?) of Emus! Wanting to cross the road, but afraid of the cyclists they ran along the side threatening to dive into our path at any moment. I had fears of being taken out of the race by a rampant Emu. At least I’d finally seen live ones. Too many of my wildlife encounters take the form of road kill.

Nannup was a welcome break. Coffee and brekkie. I’ll confess to being non-Paleo and indulging in some cake, but when those sugars kicked in they helped get me home! After the repetitiveness of the last four hours riding we lacked enthusiasm for the trip home. Still we had to do it and we’d been told the Vasse Highway was a nice road.

Frankly it wasn’t that much better than any of the previous ones we’d been on. I found myself settle into a sugar fuelled consistent pace just clicking off the kilometres until we were close to home. That was pretty much it for the ride, pushing along tree lined, quiet roads until we were back to familiar territory. A combination of those sugars and a desire to get things over with helped me keep a good pace right to my door!

I’d say the riding here is good, but you almost need a different frame of mind. Often you’re alone out there on the roads and miles from civilisation. Packing spare food and plenty of fluids is a must. You can’t entirely rely on mobile phone reception so I’m not sure I’d fancy riding some of those routes alone. The toughest aspect can be the mental one, simply dealing with the seemingly endless roads with little to distinguish them. On the other hand at times it’s a simple motivator to get the job done and get yourself home!

I’ve left no time to mention the swimming or running. Another post perhaps. With the weather like it is at the moment the ocean is spectacular. Swimming in it or running along the beach front is a real pleasure. I even got to see more live wildlife on my run the other day in the form of a snake. Poisonous too I believe!

Having got my act in order and picked up some momentum last time I’ve started to wonder how my fitness now compares with last year. Truth be told my running is still lacking much impetus, but the rest goes well. Another truth is this is a data analysis post, so expect charts to follow.

I will write something about life in Busselton soon, but if that’s what you want, check Steven’s blog. Steven and Jo arrived in town earlier in the week. Despite our travels we often end up in the same places outside the UK. I’ll also take the opportunity to promote my new blog on Triathlete Europe! Quite excited to be writing for their website, will hopefully get something in most weeks and can promise no number crunching there.

As a race builds up subtle insecurities sneak into the back of your mind. Have I done enough? Have I done too much? Am I too tired? Why am I so unfit? Am I light enough? The list could go on, but I’ll spare you. When this happens I start to look for reassuring signs. Whether this takes the form of a great training session or more likely fiddling with all my training data till I find something good.

In my opinion I’ve had some good sessions the past week or two. Despite that I spent a Saturday afternoon watching Neighbours and working in WKO+ and Excel! The inspiration came during today’s group ride. As I desperately tried to hang on the bunch whilst the guy on the front ramped up the pace. I know the past few weeks I’ve been working harder on the bike, but I wondered how it compared with last year’s race build up.

What was key was the fact that I had good data for the final weeks of build before the race in 2008 and of course this year too. A couple of things to note in this comparison though. I’m comparing from five weeks to two weeks before the race. Obviously I don’t have data for the next two weeks and last year I’ve no power data for the final two weeks. Both of which are good reasons not to compare them! You can consider the following two weeks to be roughly a taper.

Which comes to the second point last year I tapered for three weeks, this year I’ll be tapering for roughly ten days. So the final week of the three week block I’m comparing had different purposes. It might skew the data a little. As a positive the fact this year’s taper is shorter should be read as a sign I’m fitter!

Performance Management Comparison

Some very broad figures to look at. With the unorthodox build period for this race I thought I’d consider how my fitness compares. So the first things to compare is the CTL (fitness), ATL (fatigue) and TSB (form). Here’s the usual reminder to read this WKO+ guide for those unfamiliar with the terms.

I’m actually surprised to find that the CTL values are that close at the end of the week three. The difference being in 2008 I was dropping rapidly to that value from a first week of taper whilst this year I’m still building up. Based on that the result should be that this year I will be fitter come race day. The main concern will be ensuring my form is good and there’s not too much fatigue either.

A big taper in 2008 left me very rested and the race went very well. Had I good data for the taper I suspect the CTL/ATL/TSB values wouldn’t correspond with what I’d associate with good racing. I wonder if with what I know now I could have been better prepared on race day last year?

I’ll never know of course. For this year’s final weeks I’m taking the model that worked for Kona and reapplying it. This should get the fitness a little bit higher and then allow me to reduce the fatigue and build more form. We shall see of course. I’ll be looking at the taper later in the week when I’ll be doing some proper planning.

Training Stress Comparison

Keeping it simple I’m comparing the overall training stress for the three week blocks. Both the overall and the values split for bike and run.

I think it’s pretty obvious the overall stress has been slightly higher this year, mostly coming from the bike. Whilst I’ve complained this race prep hasn’t gone well it clearly involved a bit more work. What’s also clear is I’m not getting back on track with my running yet. I can only hold my hands up and admit to that!

One of the things that has changed from a year of training is I’m able to sustain higher training stresses than last year. I’m pretty sure I was pushing myself hard just before my taper last year. I know I’m pushing hard again this year, though not quite with the intensity I had for Kona.

To be honest all this chart really achieves is reassuring me that I’m not slacking off too much. I may think I’m not doing enough, but the reality is I’m working well. Okay, except perhaps with the running. I have had some good run sessions though so I’ll draw my positive from that.

Power Distribution Comparison

I hope you’re impressed by the 3D graph! I also hope it doesn’t make the data unreadable! As with the previous chart green is 2008 and red 2009. Again I’m considering the three weeks together. Looking at the amount of time spent at different wattages.

This is actually the comparison I first thought to look at. I wanted more reassurance that I was riding harder this year than last. All that despite a few weeks lazing about after Kona and a relatively short time coming back into fitness. I’m pleased that it achieved my aim!

You can clearly see that this year I’m riding more at higher power levels. Perhaps a product of the way I’m focussing my training now compared to last year. Also though I suspect an indication that my ability as a rider has changed. It’s interesting that whilst fitness according to WKO+ is lower than it was at this point last year my riding is better. Of course the reasoning behind this can come from the fact that training stress is relative to my threshold. As I become a stronger cyclist I have to work harder to stress myself the same amount.

So that’s my simplistic little comparison to reassure me that things are coming together. I’m increasingly optimistic that I can come to race day in good shape. I think my bike is stronger this year and so is my run. If I worry about anything it’s the swim!

Given I started writing first thing this morning and only got as far as a title perhaps it’s not the best choice? It balances out the last post though. I’ve gone from a sluggish struggle to get myself going to settling into a routine. Routine is key after all. Once in place it’s much easier to stick to the training plan. Not that it’s perfect, but it’s doing the job and I feel I’m back on track for a good race.

Signs are there! Some very solid rides in the past week. Not just the odd one, but backed up with more of the same the following day. I’ve managed to do some very focussed work which I’m very pleased with. Race pace up and down Tuart Drive is good for confidence and once warmed up it felt pretty good. Even with short sprint bursts to get past the bloody Magpie on Tuart Drive roundabout!

All those concerns about tight ITBs are vanishing as my run comes back together. Not quite there and I backed off a little with the hammering I’m taking on the bike. Session like today’s endurance run finished with over half an hour at above race pace though. Not only that it felt good to work that hard! Ok up until I stopped! Felt pretty shattered after that, but nothing a couple of hours napping on the sofa couldn’t fix.

I’m even pretty happy in the water. I may not be at my fastest yet, but for a change I have direction and know what to do. A couple of trips a week up to the 50m pool in Bunbury gives me an opportunity to do proper threshold work. Really this has been missing from my training. There’d be a small amount each week, but nowhere near enough. Not anymore, hard sets are becoming a frequent feature of my swims. Thanks to the Wetronome I’m even able to motivate myself despite swimming alone.

Here’s the interesting thing with all these positives. I still feel a bit like I’m slacking off and taking things too easy! When I look at my WKO+ files though the reality is this week and last week were actually largely on track. Partly it’s a habit of inflating the quality of historical training. Convinced previous build ups have gone much better and this time it’s going wrong. Ambitious goals come with increased nerves and it takes a little more to keep confidence up.

Another factor is the higher quality of many of my sessions. Duration is lower, but the work done has been significant. It wasn’t entirely deliberate, but it’s a very positive change. Some of this came from riding with the local group. They don’t ride too far, but they like to hurt each other out there! My sessions with them throw in much higher intensity efforts. Then I’ve thrown in more interval work on my own. Trying to be more focussed on developing the power I race at.

I think I may have mentioned the Justin Daerr articles on Xtri before? I’m not going to check, far too lazy for that! They’re worth a read as an insight in the transformation from a typical age grouper to a Pro Ironman. I consider myself to be roughly on the second stage of his transformation. His example bike training is very relevant for me. I don’t lack in endurance and I have a good ability to ride hard at low heart rates. I want to take it up a level though and that means a lot more work on the bike. Plenty of riding still, but more focus in my sessions.

A week of increased quality work has seen slightly lower hours than I typically do. Surprisingly not by all that much though. It’s also seen a lot more fatigue and tiredness. Not helped much by an erratic approach to sleep at the moment. Need to get that sorted especially when you tend to start so early here. Fortunately the sofa here is pretty good for napping on.

That drop off in overall hours leads to my perception that I’m not doing enough. I don’t feel as busy as back in the UK. If I look at the TSS (Training Stress Score) for the week in WKO+ it’s actually right up there with a typical week. So a slight change in training approach has skewed my perception, but the reality is I’m working well. Nothing to worry about for race day!

Looking forward to the next race (and I already am). I know with a lot more time to prepare for the build up to Ironman New Zealand I can work at this approach. It’s a balance of volume and intensity. Increasing my ability to tolerate hard work within a large training week. Then working at increasing how hard that work is. Slowly uping the game. Just as I worked to tolerate increased training volumes now I’m working to tolerate harder work in that volume.

Well this ended up far more focussed on training than planned! I’ll post again soon about when roads aren’t roads, the I spy of road kill, odd signs and vicious local wildlife. Momentum is building. As are the positive feelings about the race. This could go well.

“This tendency for motion (or for rest) to maintain itself steadily unless made to do otherwise by some interfering force can be viewed as a kind of ‘laziness’, a kind of unwillingness to make a change.” — Isaac Asimov

It’s a beautiful day outside. Clear blue skies, the sun is shining and the winds aren’t that strong. Yet I’m indoors writing up a blog post. If only I could claim it was out of a sense of loyalty to those who read this. It’s not even guilt over failing to post for a few days.

Instead I’ve come to the end of an odd week. A week that’s hard to analyse on the one hand I’ve had one or two great training sessions. On the other I’ve fallen far short of my training goals, struggling to get back into a routine. What was supposed to be week one of my Ironman Western Australia build felt more like a transition week. With less than four weeks to race day I’m starting to get nervous about fitness.

Take today as an example. Like I said it’s beautiful out there, just the kind of day I came all the way to Oz for. Perfect for training. So with half of it already gone I’ve done nothing.

In fact I had a lie in, got up and ate a bowl of berries, nuts and yoghurt. A light breakfast before I headed out on my run. Then just felt tired and went back to bed for an hour. I got up again and cooked myself an omelette, my main breakfast planned for after the run. I still felt tired and after a while went back to bed for an hour! Now I’m up again and thinking I’ll have some lunch shortly and do that run this afternoon.

Had I stuck to my plan I would have gone on that run. Then after brekkie I’d have headed to the gym for a weights session. The day would have finished off with an easy ride out on the race course. All in perfect weather and none of it too hard either.

What makes this particularly frustrating is it’s a pattern that seems to have repeated all week. I’ve dropped more workouts than in the final week of a taper! I can’t even give a good reason why. The motivation hasn’t been entirely there. Perhaps it’s settling in to a new location and routine. Or maybe residual fatigue, certainly I’ve felt more tired than usual at this point. Or maybe there’s been too much intensity in my first week back?

Either way I’ve twenty-eight days to my race and that gives me roughly eighteen good training days to go. It’s time to get on top of this and start things properly moving. No more excuse, no more fatigue. Attitude and behaviour need adjusting to get myself ready to race. I’m not looking to build fitness, just get myself back into race shape and ready to go. I should be able to get back to that Kona shape.

Two big weeks of training to follow. All set in a fantastic venue with some good people to train with. It’s not exactly a tough life is it? I shouldn’t be sitting here wondering what to do. I should be out there training to my plan!

Apologies for the brief, whiney post. I wanted something up on the site even if it was this! Next week I’ll report back with some positives and progress I promise. I still have that 9:00 mark in my sights. In fact I chatted to a guy at Bunbury Pool who did a 9:47 in Kona followed by a 8:59 in Busselton a couple of years back. Certainly can be done.

If there’s one thing to say about Busselton the locals know how to make you welcome. From picking me up from the coach stop and having my house all ready for me through to absolutely hammering me on the morning group ride! It’s good to be back.

For the most part the place hasn’t changed. Where it has it really stands out though. Most noticeably for any visitor is the current state of the Jetty. It seems the much needed repair work I’ve heard about on previous trips is finally going ahead. There’s not so much jetty to see right now. Most of it is in pieces as they replace it bit by bit. I doubt it’ll be finished in time for the Ironman either. A little disappointing for the visitors to the race.

As a consequence ocean swims have changed. Now swimming parallel to the shore rather than around the jetty. Not quite the same really, perhaps better for those of a nervous disposition when it comes to sharks. Having just come back from a swim myself the water temperature is perfect. Little bit of a current to work against heading west, but five minutes faster on the way back.

I promised once I got here I’d get stuck in to training. Dutifully with only minor protest I headed out for an easy run last night. Nice and relaxed down to the beach front path to take in the views. At least it was supposed to be nice and relaxed, but my left calf had other plans. I’ve not felt it tighten up like that in a long time. Not good at all. I got myself home and decided a massage was a priority.

Luckily the physio had an immediate opening this morning. It’s Melbourne Cup day, the Aussie equivalent to the Grand National. It’s an excuse to party and brings the nation to a virtual standstill that brings the nation to a standstill. Which luckily for me means I get to have treatment on my leg almost immediately.

The ensuing half hour of pain should make me question my luck! Then there’s learning my left leg is in a worse state than I hoped. Nothing serious, but it seems I’ve got to hold back on running. An exceptional tight ITB and knots in the calf to clear. I’ve booked a repeat appointment for more pain later this week. I want to get on top of this quickly.

Jumping back to the start of today. I mean properly the start. I was up before 5! Squad rides start at 5:30 from the Goose Cafe Car Park. I wanted to be on time for my first one. It was a shock to the system despite a reasonably early night. It was also surprisingly chilly first thing and going outside didn’t seem that appealing. A reminder that the climate here isn’t that full on consistant warmth like the Gold Coast.

So with toe warmers, arm warmers and a gilet on I headed out for the ride. I was warned it would only be an easy ride though a few of the guys would be tacking on a little extra to the easy loop. After three weeks essentially off training (near enough!) easy sounded good. There’s something about group rides though…

I kept myself near the front and went for that little tack on. At least weeks off left me fresh, I needed it. The ride was one of the harder efforts I’ve done in a while, including the race in Perth. Real solid power output, lots of surging in with it and no real let up. I questioned whether I should be holding myself back more. It was irresistible though!

Besides it all finishes with a coffee at the Samovar in town. A chance to catch up with people after a year and see what’s going on. Already it looks like I may have got myself into a team for the Geo Bay Swim. I’d heard about it and it looked fun if you’re in a team, solo would be madness. As usual it doesn’t take much to persuade me!

So I’m settled in. I’ve got my bearings and have my (adjusted) training plans for the coming weeks. The group sessions should help work me hard if today is anything to go by. Perfect as it’s wat I feel I need right now. Perhaps a little less concern on volume and a bit more on intensity. Hopefully I can get myself running well shortly too.