Most elevation covered, most hours, most intensity – many PB’s this week! Some bad weather and travelling meant a few improvised sessions, but the big killer was the weekend training camp in Kangaroo Valley.
It was nicknamed “Dr Evil Camp” by our coach with the motto “what goes up, keeps going up”. And for good reason! I was only able to make it for the Saturday and it lived up to the reputation. Even though it wasn’t my longest distance, the hills made it very tough. Coupled with lots of rain to make the conditions extra challenging of course. They say the climb is worth the view, and whilst it was very beautiful, the rain, clouds and fog limited the amount we could appreciate. On the flip side, the coffee stops in Berry were fantastic!
Most of our elevation was covered off across two massive hills, which seemed to go on FOREVER. At one point, I thought I couldn’t pedal any longer, but the thought of stopping and having to re-start was even worse. It also reinforced the benefits of training with a group. By this point there was a sub group of 3 of us climbing together and I don’t know how I would have gone if I didn’t have them there as a constant motivation. Just when you want to stop, you look over and there’s someone to spur you on that little bit. That little bit makes a huge difference.
After the ride, it was straight into a 6km run off the bike. I’ve been building these up and this was the longest “run off the bike” I’d done for a while. It was actually better than I thought too. The first few km’s are pretty awful, but after that everything starts to feel better again. I stopped still in that stage, so I am sure another few km in and I wouldn’t be saying that anymore. I’m still really not sure how managing the 21.1km distance is going to go. Getting 15km into the run and hitting the wall is probably my biggest concern at this stage.
I’m starting to get to grips with swimming and the plan is to keep consistent with this over the next few weeks, with a minimum of 3 sessions / week. Unfortunately, I don’t think there is any better improvement strategy than time in the water. Unless there is a quick fix, in which case, please let me know!
Overall, I was pretty satisfied to clock up over 14 hours in total, although it did come at the expense of not much quality on the Sunday.
Next thing on the to do list is to start practicing race nutrition. There is so much content about this subject out there, but I still have no idea what works for me best or what I prefer. During the long sessions over the next few weeks I’m planning on trying out some different options and shall report back. If you have a particular go-to, or any experience you’d like to share, I’d love to hear your thoughts too.
And now for the weekly breakdown:
