Last weekend we rode down the coast on Beach Road. We were suppose to do 6.5 hours but thought it would be "fun" (as blessed by our coach) to do the whole ride down to the tip of Phillip bay:
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Yes folks, that is what 112 miles looks like (round trip). We almost made it to the end (Sorrento) but I pulled the plug at 66 miles for the turnaround. We did some pretty hefty short hills in there, something my legs are not quite use to after riding flat at sea level for over 5 weeks. The views, however were absolutely stunning on the narrow road up and down along the Coast. I was afraid to look too much at the scenery as I thought keeping my eyes on the road was more important at the time. Launching off a cliff with my bike was not in my riding plan that day! I was quite proud of Team Wess that day. We enjoyed much food after the epic bike adventure. For the last 2 weekends, I have been trying to perfect the art of taking proper calories and electrolytes during the bike where in IM, most of my calories will be consumed. Once on the run, well history shows it is impossible for me to eat solid food, only gels. I am working on getting the right amount of gels down to make up the over 200 calories an hour I should be ingesting in order to keep my energy up. This doesn't sound so hard, but in my hazy racing mind, I forget to eat, especially since I do not feel hungry most of the race. Once my tank runs dry, I can no longer play catch up on calories during the race. This will reflect on how I feel/perform. It is hard to force down all those calories and fluids, even in training rides so I am glad I am practicing!
This past Saturday was our last "long ride". We met the Team in Williamstown, probably our last trip in a "maxi taxi" at dark o'clock to the other side of the bay to meet our young, energetic teammates. We took off in lovely weather, no wind per say (hey-there is always some wind on the coast), the temps cool but not cold with a cloudy sky. A perfect day for a long ride! We kept up with the big kids for an hour or so, then as instructed by coaches set out to do loops of "strong effort" sets by ourselves. After a couple of those, we were at somewhat of loss where to go from there when one of our Team mates, whom we met several weeks ago found us. A sight for sore eyes! Tim escorted us into Geelong, then pointed us back in the direction of Melbourne. On the way into Port Melbourne,we got lost, yet again trying to find our way back. Google maps suck! by the way (I left my real map at home to conserve crap in my pockets) when it comes to bike directions. We landed on many a busy street, some without bike lanes before we started to recognize a familiar area. After trying to flag down a few "maxi Taxis" to no avail, we managed to make our way to a dock-and the "Punt" a small boat which takes people and bikes across the bay back to port Melbourne. We opted for this as we just didn't have the energy to fight with traffic any longer. I yelled at more than one driver, got yelled at because of my judgement errors at turns, it was enough for me to cry Uncle! Then we finally for the first time found a bike trail which took us along the Port (we have been trying to find this trail for weeks now) and at last we were home!
Other news, we passed our first "Melbourne Asia Pacific Championships" sign on what of our easier short rides this week:
On the swim front, I think I mentioned I ripped my wetsuit a couple of weeks ago so after trying on a couple of suits, decided on buying the same model (Blue Seventy helix), only different newer model. The sizing seems different and my racing weight lower this time around-must be the sea level/ocean air/healthy Aussie food...I don't complain, know it will all come back after I am not training all hours of the day. But this put me in a wetsuit dilemma; should I buy the medium wetsuit, which may fill with water in places during Ironman swim? Or the size small, which is like stuffing a sausage to get on but more comfortable in the water? I know I wouldn't fit into the small if I was my normal weight...decisions, decisions! The Aqua Shop folks have been really nice in letting me try out the 2 wetsuits in the ocean, I took the small out for a real test run over the weekend. I decided to keep the size small, although difficult to put on, I think it will be a better option for the race in 2 weeks. I will keep my older, bigger wetsuit and get it repaired so I can wear when not at my "fighting weight". This means these last 2 weeks, I have to eat healthy or new wetsuit will not fit and I will be screwed!
I read about the poor people who lost their lives on the Malaysian jet that most likely went down in the ocean yesterday. How horrifying for the families of these people. In many cases more than one member of a family was affected, including a few children. It makes me sad and fearful. The Boeing 777-200 ER is not far off from the Boeing 777-300 ER we are flying home in a few weeks. I know this is not rational to worry, probably safety standard checks will be up now that a plane has gone down. I even had looked at Malaysia Air as a possibility for our flight to Australia. We opted for Virgin Australia, although they use similar jets as to the one that went down. Malaysia Airlines was ranked one of the top 5 best airlines in the world last year. It greatly saddens me that so many people were probably lost yesterday..I wonder what happened? Did those poor souls suffer before the crash? Lots of questions that no one apparently can answer yet.
Speaking of travel, I booked our tickets home from LAX-ABQ this week. We were hesitating, thinking that extending our trip may be a possibility as we can't even imagine leaving this awesome place. Alas though, we do miss the kids, grand kids, friends and home. I think I am getting use to apartment living in our rather dated abode now, although lack of a "real bath" is still bugging me. The first thing I do on April 1st is take a bath in our large lovely bathtub!! I suppose I will be ready to come home once the race is over and we are settled down here to rest for 9 days before our return. We have met so many nice people/friends since we came to Melbourne. We met another man this week that we had been in contact with on Facebook before our trip. He had given us many tips on apartments, areas to stay while we are here. His name is Tristan. Oh and he just happened to have run 52 marathons in 52 weeks in 2010, including the Running with the Bulls and even wrote a book Run Like Crazy, about his adventure. We went for coffee with him one afternoon this week. He is an amazing guy, as fascinating and friendly as we imagined. He has offered to lend us his extra car for weeks now, who does that? I am not sure I would trust 2 "older" Americans with my car over here! It was so generous of him though, I know he is sincere in the offer. I think H and I are just too nervous about the traffic here. The whole riding on the left side of the road in a large city freaks us out a bit. We may take him up on it at some point, who knows? We will have dinner with he and his wife next weeks hopefully. What a nice guy!
After deciding I'd like to venture out of our 5 mile square comfort zone, I took my first field trip on public transportation this week. What an adventure! It was a trip to Kmart..yes that's right...Kmart..I managed to use my "Miki" card to get on the wrong Tram, going to the wrong location. After departing the bus, walking around like a confused American, I finally got back on the tram and figured out where I really needed to go. As the tram pulled up to the Kmart (and Ikea I must add-not just any old Kmart mall), the driver announced anyone who wants to get off, push the button..huh. What button? The guy next to me at the door and I pushed every conceivable button we could see, only it was apparently the wrong button. The tram continued on..After some words with the Tram driver, who should've seen a stupid American a mile away (ha!), I got off at the next stop and took the tram going the other way! This time I had help from a tram worker. Had to push the red button...really hard! 90 minutes into my adventure, I arrived at the Kmart mall. It was actually quite nice and I got some good steals at K-town of "knock around" warmer clothing, as it has been cooler than I thought at times here. Oh, however yesterday it was in the 90s during our training run..of course!
Saturday I started to have a sore throat..oh crap no! is the battle cry for anyone 2 weeks out from an Ironman. People tend to get sick or injured during this training time period, probably as a result of letting our bodies start to slow down. I liken it to getting sick when someone goes on vacation from work. Everything just lets go, I suppose. This past week I "caught a Tram track" on my bike (much like a railroad track which I know to ride perpendicular across). I went down, my bike chain got stuck behind the gears and I had to walk my bike to the shop, 1.5 miles away. This is the 3rd time (the bike chain thing) it's happened. I was NOT a happy camper! Hopefully this is the final "fix". I obtained a couple of scrapes, a bruised ego but hey, I got the injury part of tapering done now!
It started turning into a full on head cold sometime during my last long run yesterday. I shuffled along, not pushing it at all. With the high temps and said cold, I finished the run feeling pretty crappy. That's ok, get all that crappiness over before race day!
Before the run yesterday, we did a 30 minute morning swim in the ocean and I managed to brush up against a creature with my hand. It stung a little, not even worth mentioning really but I did very clearly see what looked like something that had a "pink round head" attached to it. I really didn't hang around to get a better look at it. I did scream under water and got H's attention..this is the last thing I expected in the smooth, glassy ocean conditions. Good thing I didn't see the whole thing or I think I would have panicked and sprinted back to shore.. I knew there were jelly fish in the bay, just didn't know there were extra terrestrial ones!:
I spoke to my coach last night and we talked about keeping training despite the head cold (taper mode now). It is important to keep my body focused on I am still training here mode so on race day, I am not totally in "la-la-la, it's my vacation now"-land. So today will take it easy if I have to, go for a brief spin on the bike,take it day by day. This AM I feel the head cold, nothing too much to handle. I am hoping it does not go into "Stites cough" mode. Anyone who has known me or the two daughters, knows the "Stites cough" is this deep, barking cough that apparently is passed on with genes. I have had this potential since childhood...the Cough sounds kind of like a crazy seal barking. So I am warding off this by taking Airborne, using Neti Pot (best invention ever) and lots of rest. And staying away from my Ironman friends cause H is starting to get the bug too..Arggghhh!
Let the taper begin!!
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