Now I'm really a cyclist

Was just finishing a really awesome ride this morning when I had my first puncture. Of course I had no spare tube/pump/tyre levers on me so I had to start walking (Lesson learnt - kit purchased and first ever tyre changed). My plan was to get to the Chandler sports centre which was about two km away and look for a pay phone, thankfully a guy saw me walking up the road and let me throw the bike in the back of his ute and gave me a lift home. While this was awfully nice of him it was perhaps quite naive on my behalf so I shan't put myself in such a position again!

What would have been about forty km in about 85 mins ended up being a 35km in about one hour fifteen. For those who know Brisbane I rode from Carindale out to Wellington Point and back. There was some light rain and the usually moron drivers but overall it was a good ride.

I had the tour on my mind as a I posted my dream team last night and was concentrating on getting more of a bassoesque cadence...

(As a side note I passed a sign outside a shop that had tape wrapped around it which obviously had the word sale repeated along it. Because of where they'd cut the tape it looked like the were trying to write "le sale"...)

However I also can't stop laughing about this blog: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=31414033 and it was quite motivating to remind myself that "the cycling is the pain!!!!!!!!" as I rode.

Plus, the leg felt really good and I felt like some kind of athlete again... It's all good!

Tagged

4 jobs I have had- Laser lad (the male checkout chick), Baker, Call center operator, Newsagent
4 movies I could watch over and over - Snatch, Casablanca, Sin City, Zoolander
4 places I have lived- St Johns Park, Mountain Creek, Buderim, Brisbane
4 TV shows I love to watch - the OC, the glasshouse, Scrubs, Family Guy
4 places I have been on vacation- the UK, France, New Caledonia, Stradbroke Island
4 websites I visit each day- Cool Running, The Australian, ABC online, University of Qld School of Law,
4 favorite foods - Pasta, Pizza, Muffins, Noodle Box noodles
4 places I would rather be right now - Strasbourg, a yacht in the Greek Islands, Tanzania climbing Mt Kilimanjaro (my three best mates are doing it right now!), Stradz
4 favorite bands - Only four! Ben Folds, Eskimo Joe, Weezer, Jeff Buckley...
4 Bloggers I am tagging - Cirque, Hannah, Jen, Owl

Run yourself ugly

Ive been for two runs since my last post, a 5km on Saturday and an 8km today and while it feels good I truly feel like I'm running ugly at the moment. I've lost any apparent strength endurance from before the warwick pentath and it's really difficult to maintain good technique. Only one of the 13km mentioned above felt really good and I'm pretty sure I walked about 3 of them! But having said that, I know that progress is never entirely linear and that I am getting better, it's just frustrating when I feel like I'm starting from scratch!

Current plan is to just make the gc half a long training run and get it under 2 hrs and maybe focus on breaking 100 mins at the Noosa half...

Cold, wet, tired, sore, lonely - ecstatic - I'm a runner again.

I hadn't done anything for just over a week because of exams and a sore leg, (just above and to the outside of the knee - I think it's ITB - more on that below) so this evening I was sitting in front of the TV when I got that horrible totally bored/restless feeling (so bored I was watching McLeods Daughters!!!). I had written off the day for running because I had work early and it was too dark/wet by the time I got home but I decided to just go and give it a try and see what happened. Lo and behold I ran a slow five km (25 mins) in light rain and pitch dark (it was 8pm) just around the streets where I live and while I certainly wasn't setting any PBs I was well and truly running again!

So, the plan at this stage then is to just to take it easy at Gold Coast 1/2 M and aim for 1:50 and then take a month off running and just cycle and see if I can heal up what I think might be ITB...

I think it's ITB (illiotibial band syndrome) because it's fine when I walk but when I run it hurts quite a bit for the first 3 or 4 minutes and then is just a dull sore pain for the rest of the outing. It hurts more on hills. and subsides pretty quickly when I stop. It responds well to ice and lying down with a tennis ball under the sore area and then putting my weight onto it... I know I should see the physio but I just haven't had the time!

Also, must remember to add cheesy tuna mornay to the list of things that it isn't good to run after eating.

25km ride with technique focus

Just another quick one today before work, the weather was great if a little cold but the roads were practically empty which was awesome. I've been getting really tight between the shoulder blades on longer rides so I made an extra effort to loosen up my arms and keep my elbows bent and it had a really good effect on my upper body. I also made a big effort to try and pedal in circles not squares (I've seen this advice in several tri mags) and it made a real difference, I feel I can really train and improve riding in that style whereas I felt like I was reaching a sort of plateau by just flogging my legs as hard as I could. So all in all good little winter session...

On another note, thanks to all for the lovely welcome I've received! It is a very much appreciated... This whole caper has such a great community behind it!

20km Wet weather ride

I've been battling a knee injury since Warwick so I've been riding a lot more lately. It was raining when I woke up this morning so I thought the day would be a write-off, but when I got home from work there was a gap in the rain so I went out for a quick but hard ride around a couple of suburbs in my area. The main motivation was the idea that someone, somewhere, is training today, and If I take the day off because of rain then they'll have one more training day than me when it comes to race day!

Well, I've decided it's time to get my own blog... and here it is! Get excited folks!