Wednesday 22 June 2011

The Great Tim Tam Massacre......

So this week started off fantastically well.........after all, it was a long weekend.

What better way to enjoy a public holiday than to be up at sparrow fart, dress in ridiculously thin lycra and head out into the cold and the wind for the better part of 2 hours????

Fortunately, after braving the frost and the frozen fingers and toes, it was off to do what I do best - breakfast!  Once more it was off to Friars for some awesome coffee, breakfast and sharing of tall tales and talking, well rubbish really. After eventually prying myself out of the warmth and atmosphere of Friars, it was time to mount my bike for the short trip home and the opportunity for the freeze to settle in again.  Thankfully, a nice warm shower awaited.

I had organised to pick up the kids for the day as we we heading around to Hymie & Stace's place to watch the footy.  Sadly, it was only the 'Pies on the box so once more, it was me cheering on the 'Dee's whilst the rest of the snoozers were all cheering on those other filthy worms.  I really do need to look at working on a new circle of friends!!  It appears that the majority of my "friends" are Collingwood supporters and it really it quite, well, depressing really.

I should also add that I don't support the Demons (Go Blues!!!), but simply support whoever it is that is playing against Collingwood - even if that means supporting Port Adelaide!  Shocking, I know, but that's the way it is alright.

Whilst on the footy, and specifically the Queens birthday game, what is it with professional footballers these days who are unable to play on both sides of their body? (Yep, Didak & Davis - I am talking about you two snoozers).  I just can't that professional sportsmen, paid very good money to play the game, are more concerned about showing off rather than playing for the team.  The amount of times I saw the pair of them going for the impossible shot, rather than going off the left, was impossible to count.  Simply kicking with the left, either for goal or to pass to a team mate in a much more favourable position, is no where near as exciting though is it boys? You'd rather show off with the flashy stuff in front of you all-adoring toothless fan club camped behind goals.  Jesus!!  You shit me to tears actually.

Phew - rant over.............but i feel much better.

After managing to calm myself down after the wanky going's on of Eddie's boys, it was sadly back into the routine of work (Why can't every weekend be a long weekend?).  Tuesday morning was an early start down at the track with a crew of 13 others, who all braved the cold with me.  Once again it was cold, cold, cold and I was thankful I had grabbed my gloves.  Even with them, my fingers froze!  I think I must be turning into a pussy, fair dinkum.  i never used to feel the cold like this.  Maybe it's just a sign of my advancing years....

The track session was made up of 20 x 30 second intervals, with 30 seconds recovery, for a total run of 8km.  A quick Macca's takeaway coffee was my reward for getting out and braving the cold once more.

After work, and before a meeting that night it was a chance to get a quick session done at home, consisting of leg strength, stretch cords and core work.  A short, sharp 30 minutes but one that got me going and resulted in plenty of sweat!  My legs were still sore from the interval sessions done on Sunday, followed by the shorter one that morning, and this little session just added a little more soreness on top!

After a quick chat with Ruley, I was advised to have a bit of a rest day on Wednesday rather than doing my scheduled ride, so instead I headed down to the pool for a recovery session in the spas.  Some swapping between the cold and warm spas and then back home for a shower and into compression gear for the day (under my work clothes - wanky, but it works), had me waking up feeling much better on Thursday morning.

This was just as well, as Thursday was scheduled for the normal morning run, of just under 10km to Mooroopna and back.  Felt good on the run and we made it half way as a group of 8.  Shortly after the turn from home, we had 4 drop off slightly and I must admit I was feeling a bit nervous as I thought I might have been burning my bikkies a bit too soon, however I was able to maintain the pace, and actually build on it all the way home, finishing strongly for a a sub 40min (39.30) for the 7.6k loop.  A gentle 2km lap around the lake to cool down and finish.  This is still considerably slower than my PB for this loop, but it is still 5mins 20s quicker than when I did exactly the same run 8 weeks ago.

Thursday night was a bit of a key session for me in the pool and Ruley had deliberately set this session for me as I had NEVER swum a 3km session. I have done quite a few 2.5k and 2.7k's, but the last one was over 2 and a half years ago, so I was a bit anxious going into it to be honest.  Not because I didn't think I could do the distance, but because the main set consisted of 10 x 200's @ 3.50, which was always going to be a stretch for me.

Nonetheless, I got into the pool and did the 500m warm up and then started into the main set.  The first 7 were done on target (or slightly better), however the final 3 saw minor blowouts of between 4 & 10 seconds.  Nothing major I know, but I was disappointed that I didn't hit the goal time for each of the intervals.  The cool down consisted of 300m free followed by 200m kick.  Total (actual) swim time for the 3000m was 1.03 and I'm not overly disappointed with that given there is still plenty of time to the race (and still plenty of work to do, I know).  I would love to get out of the water sub 70mins, so we will have to see how it goes!!

Friday morning was a sleep in - the swimming knackers me like you wouldn't believe!! Got through the day and it was off to pick the kids up for the weekend.  Had heaps planned with them for the weekend, but it didn't look like the weather was gonna play nice.  Once the kids got off to bed, it was onto the wind trainer for a gentle 60 minute rollover of the legs.  Nothing too confronting about that, except for the fact that even with a fan, I struggle with how hot it gets on the bloody thing!

Saturday was a busy day running around with the kids for their sport (Netball on Saturday's) and then off to the skate park before it bucketed down.  Ruley had scheduled a wind trainer session for today as well, however this was the first time it was a set session (ie - not just a rollover of the legs) and consisted of a 15min warm up, followed by20 x 60 sec interval in biggest gear available, followed by 60sec recovery.  60  minute session in total.

On paper, it didn't sound too bad.  However, as alluded to previously, even with a fan working overtime, I struggle with how hot it gets on the wind trainer.  Add to that the fact that Ruley is some kind of sadistic prick that is incapable of emotion, and shortly into the session I was cursing him for all I was worth.  Until this session I never realised that 60 seconds can actually be an eternity.........especially when your legs feel like they are made of jelly and are swimming in lactic acid, you have all manner of sweat, spit, dribble and various bodily fluids spraying within a 15 metre radius, and you sound like a Sea Lion on heat.

I swear Ruley has set up a hidden camera somewhere in my place and flicks it on to amuse himself when he has nothing better to do.  I can just imagine him sitting on the couch, surrounded by a pile of food, giggling his little tits off whilst he is watching me on the verge of spewing all over myself.  Sadistic........little........prick!!!

So, once finished and flopping onto the floor where I was unable to move for a short eternity, I got to thinking that I had just finished another key session that I'd not done before (similar to the 3k swim above), in that I had never done a proper interval session on the wind trainer.  I knew that I had not skimped on anything - EVERY interval was done for the full 60 seconds, every recovery was done for the allotted time, every interval was done at 100%. I couldn't have gone any harder if I tried, so that's another one chalked up.

Sunday was full of good intentions, with an early start with the kids as we headed down for the Shepp Tri Club Cross country run that had been organised.  Even though I had dressed to run, and my legs were somewhat sore (and that was the excuse I used) I wasn't sure the kids would would be able to amuse themselves whilst we were doing laps of the 2.5k loop, so I opted not to run.  A good turnout saw 19 people do the run, so we were happy with that.

We scooted off to Auskick and had just got started when the rain came down and it was promptly called off.  The kids decided that it was time for morning tea and decided that Macca's was the best venue given the cakes on offer, with the added bonus of the playground.  Coffee for me, so it was all good.

Given I had not done the cross country run, a 10km treadmill session was the fallback option............unfortunately, the best of intentions were not enough to see that through!  It all started to go downhill when the kids didn't finish their muffin and cake for morning tea and, well, it seemed such a waste to just throw them out.  Really.......it did.

Heading home we stopped and got some new paints and bits and pieces as the rain was still hanging around so we needed to find something to amuse ourselves for the afternoon.  Whilst a little bit of painting was done, the main source of amusement for the kids was food.  Firstly, a huge bowl of popcorn was produced and was promptly knocked off by the 3 of us.  Various bits and pieces were dragged out of the pantry at various stages before Jorja struck the mother lode...........a fresh, un-opened packet of Tim Tams.

Damn, I didn't realise they were even in the cupboard and now here they were sitting in front of me..........wafting up with their delicious chocolaty smell.  Surely, one can't hurt can it?

Reaching into the pack it was easy to justify given I had pushed myself to the point of regurgitation the previous night.  Very quickly however, a glance at the packet I realised that one had turned into four.................and the great Tim Tam Massacre of Sunday was complete.  There was only one reason why the massacre had stopped at four - simply, the kids had polished off the rest!!

My first indiscretion in over a month.........but an indiscretion nonetheless.

So, the training for the week was:

Monday           Bike 60km, 1 hr 57mins, 30.6k avg
Tuesday           Run 8km Inc 20 x 30sec intervals, 30 sec recovery).  Total 54 mins
                       Leg strength, Stretch cords, Core session - 30 mins
Wednesday     Spa recovery
Thursday         Run 9.5km (in 7.6k @ 39.30), Total 53mins
                       Swim 3000m (inc 10 x 200's at 3.50/4.00), Total 1.03
Friday             Bike (W/Trainer) 60mins, approx 30km
Saturday         Bike (W/Trainer) approx 30km, inc 20 x 60sec intervals, 60 sec recover, total 60 mins
Sunday           Chomp, Chomp, Chomp

So, apart from my indiscretions of Sunday I felt that I had had a pretty good week, particularly with the couple of key sessions that I felt I had done pretty well.  Overall, the diet had been pretty good as well (alright, EXCEPT for Sunday........I got it), so I was pretty disappointed to see 104.8kg flashing back at me on Monday morning, a loss of only 0.3kg for the week.  Having said that, it is still over 15kg in 14 weeks.  Still a solid result so far.  More importantly, I can not only see the changes with my clothes, I FEEL fitter and I'm definitely running faster.  All good signs so far, and the legs are starting to toughen up as the weeks go by as well.

Hopefully, there are no more Tim Tams to lead me astray.........

Train safe
Ayto

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