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Iron mum update – you’re only as good as your last session

May 2nd, 2013 | Posted by Sara in Fitness | Iron Mum Training - (3 Comments)

I’ve often been told that ‘You’re only as good as your last session’. That session might be in training or it might be a race. I think the premise is that you can’t call yourself a ‘winner’ unless each & every session results in a pb or other measurable win.
I strongly strongly disagree with this concept. Yes each & every session counts but there is any measure of things that can impact on your performance during that session.

Did you sleep well last night?

Have you given your body enough nutritious fuel?

Are you drinking enough water?

What about mentally? Are you engaged with the session or just faffing through?

Do you have any injuries? Twinges? Pains? Itches?

Is your workout structured or are you making it up as you go?

All these factors (& many more) contribute to a successful session.

I think by saying that ‘you’re only as god as your last session’ you’re completely negating all the other good work you’ve contributed so far.
I’m the first to admit that I rarely find my sessions easy, I can’t remember the last time I read my training history & thought oh yay a perfect week. In my life they don’t happen. Between the Farmer travelling, me working full time & of course the very active very gorgeous Worm I struggle. (As I type this I am laying on the floor of Worms room next to her cot. She’s struggling herself tonight with a nasty cough, so it looks like this chair cushion & the carpet will be my bed)

I can list any number of excuses why this session didn’t work or why I totally skipped that session. To make it worse the sessions I skip or slack out on are often the hardest & most important. Take my swim sessions for example. Ideally I should be in the water 2-3 times per week so that I can see measurable improvements. In reality I’m lucky to swim once. I know this frustrates my coach, but it is always the first session that gets dropped. Swimming laps isn’t something that I can do whilst solo parenting.
So if I say I’m only as good as my last session the day after a horrible swim, am I saying that I’m not working hard enough? What about the 3 awesome rides or 2 fabulous runs (one of which was a 5km PB) do these sessions count for nothing?

I suppose what I’m trying to say in many many words is that I need to be a littler gentle on myself. Swimming isn’t a strong point, and every session I miss would be hurting that further, but all that means is that I need to really mall my bike & run legs to offset my lack of focus in the swim.

So I’m going to try to be more gentle on myself ok?

Do you believe in the ‘only as good as’ thought?

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Race Report – Mooloolaba Triathlon

March 20th, 2013 | Posted by Sara in Fitness | Iron Mum Training - (Comments Off)

I haven’t given you guys an Iron Mum training update in a while, I’ve been logging my training, but I guess I thought it might be a little boring for most of you! HOWEVER I need to share my amazing experience from the weekend.

I raced in my first Olympic Distance triathlon at Mooloolaba. Olympic distance races are 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km ride, I have never done anything like that back to back before in my life, but it is simply a stepping stone to my first 70.3 Ironman in August.

The Farmer, Worm & I drove to Mooloolaba on Friday, we wanted to get settled into our apartment and have some family time to relax before the race. My family arrived Friday night too, as they were coming to support me.

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Worm waiting for me to finish

Sunday morning & race day came around very fast – my alarm went off at 5am, I bounced up very excited to start the day.  Worm woke at 5.15 & wanted to be fed…. I was still feeding her at 5.40 & I knew that transition closed at 6.15 for set up & my tyres were almost flat from being let down the night before. I started to get stressed, a calm transition set up is integral to my race prep & mind set.
I raced into transition with 10 minutes to spare, pumped the front tyre up no problems, but the back tyre valve was dodgy and I couldn’t get any air in – thankfully a kind neighbour came down to help & got the air in – we don’t know what the problem was, but thankfully we got the air in!  I hurriedly set my shoes & the rest of my gear, and then walked out (they had started to usher people out of transition at this stage so I was a little frazzled)
I went to the start line & then my bottom started playing up, thankfully 2 nervous poop stops later I was ready to race, I made it to the marshalling area as they were calling the 3 minute warning.
This was ok though, I felt ready, the water looked nice and I figured it was time to party!

The swim leg was great fun. I was surprised at how quickly I fell behind the pack, but I didn’t let this stress me, I just kept swimming (a little like Dory from Finding Nemo!) I was able to hang onto the mens wave which started behind me a little & drafted of them. I left the water at 44minutes (6 minutes under my personal goal)

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Leaving the Swim – still smiling!

The transition involved a 600m run from the river, this run felt good, I had no pain & my time was 5minutes until I set out on the bike leg.

The bike was AWESOME! I initially struggled up the first big hill on the way out of town, but a lady on the sideline said keep going, lowest gear, sit & spin – which was perfect encouragement as I had just started to play with my gears intending to stand & drive.

I started overtaking people early on (including some who left the water before me) I had a chain slip around the 15km mark (just after I had a gel) so I quickly stopped & checked this was ok (it felt like it had fallen off, but I think the gears just slipped – which is concerning – time to get my bike serviced I think)  Thankfully by the time the event volunteer got to me I was back on my way again – I probably stopped for about 2 minutes  then. I was able to get down into my aero bars for most of the rest of this lap, and then at the turn around sat back up, due to my rushed bike set up my profile water bottle wasn’t quite right, and I couldn’t drink whilst aero.
I stayed upright for most of the return leg, as I had people around me often & I am not comfortable enough aero to deal with that. My overall bike leg was 1hr 29 mins (approx 27kph average)

Smiling on the cycle. I HAD fun!

The cycle/run transition was about 2mins20seconds I think – I thought it wasn’t too slow, I had to get through a whole bunch of bikes to get to my rack, I was very pleased at how calm I was, and although I worked quickly I kept my heart rate down.
The run started off very average – it just felt wrong, my knees were knock kneed & my left hip was aching. I’ve raced triathlon before, and I thought I was used to the funky legs that happen after a strong bike leg, but these legs were ridiculously fatigued.

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Running..... I think I saw the photographer so I'm even smiling

I had to stop about 600m in & stretch the hip out, and then I walked/jogged the race. I honestly think I lost a little heart, I was walking relatively fast, but couldn’t get into a good rhythm running, I took a gel around km 4. On a positive note my foot didn’t hurt too much – I could certainly ‘feel it’ but it wasn’t unbearable.
I finally started to feel good around km 7 and finished the run in about 78 minutes. This was about 10minutes outside my goal

My total time was 3hrs 40 mins. I am VERY happy with my swim & ride, and I think with a little more running training I will get my legs happy running again. I had a personal goal of 4hours in mind, so to come in 20minutes under that and feeling great was awesome.

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Finisher! Worm loved her Triathlon watermelon

So my next race will be Hervey Bay. It’s a smaller event, but is also likely to be a wetsuit swim so I will be able to practice getting out of my suit (I think Yeppoon is also likely to be a wetsuit swim so practice is good).

Overall I’m feeling very confident that my training is paying off. Obviously the indoor trainer stuff has improved my bike leg, as it felt awesome, and apart from that first hill I was able to power up the others relatively easily.
Next time I want to be a little better with my nutrition, I think I should have had another gel as I got off the bike, to get me started on the run a little better.

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Relaxing in the apartment pool with a tired snugly girl

I’m pleased that I stuck to my race plan and didn’t let myself get stressed. I need to re-build my heart, I took the run too easy, and should have pushed myself harder rather than enjoying the scenery.

 

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IronMum Update – Race Report

February 13th, 2013 | Posted by Sara in 12WBT | Fitness | Iron Mum Training - (2 Comments)

Well I rarely give race reports on here, I rarely give them anywhere really, but this race is special. I learnt a LOT during the 1hr 58 minutes I was swimming, cycling & running. I learnt how my mind set can really improve or hinder my race. I learnt how forgetting nutrition, or having it a little late can impact my race. I learnt how much it hurts when salt water & sand rubs into a fresh wound and I learnt that it doesn’t matter if you can’t see where you are swimming, just keep swimming. I suppose that although this was my first Sprint distance triathlon, it has given me much hope for the 70.3 Ironman in August.

I was happy with my swim time of 20.26- it was very rough, and you couldn’t see your own bubbles let alone your hands – the course is a triangle & I had to do 2 laps, which I well and truly swam as a square, so I have to work on sighting & not getting pushed around by the waves so much. Despite that I felt that I swam well, I didn’t panic even though I got a couple of jelly fish stings, and there was loads of sticks & weed. Looking back – my first tri of the season in October last year I swam 350m in 17mins so obviously 750m in 20mins is an improvement there!


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The cycle really let me down yesterday. I was helping a girl who was doing her first race for the first lap – she was sitting around the 20kph mark, so after about 3km I said that I had to keep moving, I was able to increase my speed to 25kph ish and sat around there for the 3 laps. The course as you know is quite flat, the winds were nasty, but that’s normal Yeppoon. On the 3rd lap I was all by myself and to be honest was a little bored, I stopped focusing and it felt like a Sunday morning ride not a race situation, so I need to really focus on keeping my head in the game next time. Also my bike computer displays aren’t set up right, the stupid thing was telling me calories burned & not cadence – not overly useful information really! I will look at this tonight & get it set up properly. I find that I focus better when I can see the cadence in front of me.

My run was great. 32 mins for 5km is just under 3 mins outside my PB so considering I had been going for 80 mins by then I am happy! I took a gel around km2 – I should have probably had this in the cycle leg but I forgot. I had a nasty head set when I set out on the run, I kept on saying to myself ‘you’re allowed to stop if your foot hurts, don’t worry about it just stop’ but after I had my gel I felt better and was able to run most of the rest of the distance, my mind set changed to ‘if you stop you’re going to be disappointed’ and ‘your foot isn’t hurting, no-one will know that, but you will know if you stop’ It actually wasn’t hurting at all – the only pain I had whilst running was in my right arch, where I had stepped on a stick on Friday morning, and then the sea & sand had irritated the sore.

So there it is …. my first ever race report for my first ever sprint distance triathlon.

What did you do this weekend? Please let me know via twitter, Facebook or the comments section


 

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IronMum Training Update – Week 6 & 7

December 23rd, 2012 | Posted by Sara in Fitness | Iron Mum Training - (3 Comments)


The past 2 weeks have been a blur… my husband has been away travelling quite a bit, I have been working full time & solo parenting when he is away.

My training has certainly taken a back seat. I have had a couple of decent indoors sessions on the wind trainer & treadmill, however I am craving the out doors and the special endorphins that are created with that kind of exercise.

My training sessions inside have been fun though – I’ve been using the sufferfest DVD’s and then pushing through onto the treadmill for brick sessions after the hour ride. This kind of training is certainly building my leg strength and I have noticed a change in the leg shape recently.

The weather here is heating up more, and of an evening it is certainly steamy which only adds to my discomfort as the sweat drips down into my eyes. I now train with a towel next to me and the bike “thong’ does its thing.

 

 

I have had some trouble with my gearing on the hybrid bike. I had it serviced a few weeks ago and when it came back the chain was rubbing on the front derailleur slightly, so rather than taking the bike back to the store the Farmer & I tried some DIY home repairs. I do not recommend this in future as somehow we have changed the derailleur so that now it doesn’t access the smallest cog, and struggles to change gears – which makes for interesting training sessions.

Anyway its Christmas this week, so I’ll be travelling to Sydney for some much anticipated family time. I hope to get a couple of runs with my mum in, as well as a swim or bike session.

Stay safe & train well everyone. Big Love.

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IronMum Training Update Week 5

December 21st, 2012 | Posted by Sara in Fitness | Iron Mum Training - (Comments Off)

Week 5

 

Oh my – I thought I had posted this one already! Sorry for the delay!

 

3rd December 2012

The Farmer left every early this morning for a week away of work. I now have the juggling act of working full time, parenting, and training. Thankfully before he left we spent a fair bit of time tidying up the spare room & setting up my “home torture chamber”.

My tready, turbo trainer & weights are now all set up ready to go, the room has a TV, fan & airconditioner so there is no excuses, as soon as Worm is asleep I can escape into my kind of bliss. The only thing missing is the cadence kit for the bike. I purchased it a month ago, however it has been lost in the move, so I need to continue looking for it.

 

I was quite excited this evening to give it a work out. My turbo trainer came with a “Race Day” DVD so my plan was to jump on the bike first, do 20 minutes on the bike and then to jump straight onto the tready. I’m not sure how many km’s I did on the bike, (due to having no cadence computer yet) but I did 3km on the tready. I felt amazing and had a few moments of looking down thinking “I’m running HOW fast?” as I was able to boost the speed up from 10kph, to 12kph to finally finishing at 14kph. Sweat was literally dripping off me. The total workout was 40 minutes, and I felt fabulous!

 

The only complaint is that I struggled to hear the TV over the noise of the tready or trainer, so I’m going to try to set up a wireless headphone system so I can hear better whilst working out.

4th December 2012

The heat is starting to build here in Central Queenland, today we hit 37 degrees and I was looking forward to my pool session all day. I’ve mentioned before that my swim training seams to be the first thing dropped when my life gets hectic, so I was determined to splash in the pool this evening.

 

My waterproof headphones weren’t working properly – I think the batteries were dead so this was another session without them (I don’t think I’ve yet had the opportunity to train with them yet!) Also today I used my new goggles. I had previously been using some brilliant pink Vorgee goggles, however despite all my efforts couldn’t resolve the issue of them leaking – I’m not impressed considering I paid $45 for them.

These new Speedo ones are much better, although I did have them way too tight, and they left bruises around my eyes.

 

I did a 1km session with no breaks. My garmin continued to stuff up which is frustrating, it said I completed 1300m, so I still have to count my laps.

I had a moment where I nearly ran up the back of someone doing breast stroke, we were near the end of the pool, so I did some breaststroke too. Also another time (passing the same lady) she fairly whacked me in the head – I know that I have a tendency to hug my lane ropes, so to be whacked by someone clearly going over the black line is frustrating. Thankfully I was nearly finished my set so I could escape.

 

Swimming is my weakness, so I was quite happy with this session, it was the longest session I have managed so far, and I felt very good for it. I probably could have pushed some more laps out, however I did have to pick up Worm before the day care shut down.

 

5th December 2012

Tonight I set up my cadence computer on the turbo trainer bike & also got the little adapter that I needed to make my wireless headphones work with the TV in the gym. By the time I had that sorted it was time for me to skype with a girlfriend from Manchester – so I declared the day a rest day & enjoyed a lovely hours chat with her.

 

6th December 2012

Tonight it was time I handed in my Australian passport and became a citizen of Sufferlandria. Sufferlandria is the official country of The Sufferfest. The Sufferfest is a series of stationery cycling DVD’s that give you ‘point of view’ footage – so whilst I was stuck in my gym pounding on my bike, my view was of beautiful ‘Tour de France’ scenery & Melbourne’s criterion courses. Of course they don’t call it The Sufferfest for nothing.  The workouts are CHALLENGING & the sweat was literally dripping off me – I discovered that I need to place a towel nearby, as sweat dripping into my eyes seriously stings.

I did the first part of the “Downward Spiral” DVD – this is a series of intensive ladders, ie hard for 2 mins, rest for 2 mins, hard for 1.45, rest for 1.45 all the way down to 15seconds of hard core intensity.

This was BRILLIANT, HORRIBLE, EXHAUSTING, PAINFUL, VOMIT WORTHY stuff – and I loved EVERY minute of it!

The computer froze at the middle interval & I couldn’t get it to restart, I think I will have to re-download the file in case that’s where my problem is. Anyway I decided that 30 minutes was enough for my first effort with this program.

 

7th December 2012

Fridays are traditionally a rest day for me, tonight was no different. The Farmer came home from his week away so I was pleased to have a glass of wine & enjoy some time with him.

 

8th December 2012

The regular Saturday crew ride was around the ‘Gracemere Angle’ today. I was expecting a relatively easy 25km, and although I struggled to get myself out of bed I hoped that this would improve once I got going – no such luck here! The whole ride was hard work, my quads started screaming at me from the very first kilometre and it was one of those rides where I couldn’t get comfortable on the bike. My butt hurt, my shoulder hurt, my back hurt and my quads screamed the whole time. Oh and the easy 25km became 45km as I read the map wrong!

Again the crew were wonderful, and a couple of them stuck by me when I started to fall back, I can steadily ride at 25kph, so I was so grateful that they let me draft up the hills, and didn’t let me fall too far behind.

The ride was completed by a lovely breakfast to celebrate Christmas. The Farmer brought Worm down to meet everyone and my mixed berry pancakes were delicious!

9th December 2012

REST DAY!

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