Almost ready for Port Macquarie

Having a little annoying cough and some extra gu in my throat and nose that I could do without. Trying to kill it with sleep, vitamins and more sleep.

Missed out on the 6 am swim this morning but will go on a short spin with the bike to test out the new (smaller) chain ring we switched over from Nico's bike. To be able to do this we had to switch the whole crank. Nico is not completely thrilled by this and I'm guessing my old cranks won't stay on his BMC for long ...

If I feel up for it I might go for a short run.

And then it's just to pack the box of gels in the bag and be ready to leave tomorrow afternoon.

The forecast looks good and please feel free to join in a little anti rain dance to make sure it stays so!

Got some shots of Team Quon last Friday morning.

Trying the half distance

Guess I never mentioned it here but I am doing a Half Ironman this weekend, in Port Macquarie.

Trying to get my chainrings exchanged with Nico's smaller ones right now in order to be able to handle the infamous hills in a better fashion.

Had a run through about nutrition with the coach yesterday. Think seven gels, sports drink and possibly some Vegemite should do it.

I am trying to see this race just as training. The little butterfly in my stomach is telling me I'm not entirely convincing.

Hopefully I'll be back in Canberra on Tuesday feeling more confident about racing in Busselton. Or I'll be in a world of pain thinking how the hell will I be able to do the double?!

I'll let you know.

My training is coming along well I think. Legs and shoulders are aching a little today but I guess that is in order.

Did a 4.30h ride Saturday, a 2h run on Sunday, a tough hill climb session and an almost 4 km swim (1.5 h out of my comfort zone!) yesterday. This morning I did some interval running, 6 x 1200m, plus warm up and cool down.

Bought some muscle relaxing foam bath along with the ordinary bunch of bananas, milk and bread today.

Why a helmet is such a good thing to wear

It happens so fast. All off a sudden the air in front of me was full of people and bikes.

As in slow motion I followed the flight of the guy in front of me, his front wheel hitting the bike of the guy already scraping along the asphalt in front of him, propelling him up in the air. The take off might have been rough but the landing reminded me of how the last Concorde set down just outside Paris in 2000. I can only describe it as a full asphalt face plant, as gravity reminded him of it's sometimes devastating powers.

It was a large bunch riding this morning and one (quite large) bump in the road managed to take out six of us. Only two had to wait for the ambulance though.

I completely missed what I was later told was a quite spectacular flight performed by my friend Pete. He somehow managed to fly clear across the small concrete wall on the side of the road (bike and all!) landing somewhat softer on the grass on the other side, with just a scratch large as a dollar coin on the arm and a small tear in the nicks to show for it.

The guy landing on his face on the road is hopefully ok. He didn't seem to have any broken bones but after he asked me the fifth time what happened and he was wasn't able to answer the question "where do you live?", he stopped repeating that he was alright ... I gave his helmet to the paramedics. I think he needs to get a new one, this one deserves retirement.

And surely, sitting in the ambulance, the guy was more concerned about who would take his bike (after we assured him the bike was ok) than how much time he might have to spend at the dentists office (or the fact that his brain had quite a bounce around).

Lesson learned? Try to keep your eyes on what's going on in front of you, hang on to your handle bar even if the road tries to jerk you around and keep that helmet strapped on tight.

Busselton is off

For Nicolas. Probably. Making a top performance definitely is. 4-6 weeks of physiotherapy won't leave much time for training.

But the good news is NO SURGERY. The problem seems to be damaged ligaments (but not completely torn) and with some rest and physiotherapy both knees should be runnable again next year.

The doctor pointed out some rather large grey and white areas on the x-ray images that shouldn't be there. Fluid, swelling, tearing and bruising. An injection of cortisone should take care of some of the pain and the swelling. The rest will take more work and time.

Next stop is the Physiotherapist (who evidently is a triathlete himself). Hopefully he will have some good advice and will put Nico on a program that will keep his fitness as well as his motivation up.

It is not a happy day but it is not an catastrophic one either.

Accroche toi!

French for bite-down-and-bury-your-head-in-your-handle-bar-and-ignore-the-pain-in-your-legs.

With a cheerful "cheri" at the end it really is the best motivation.

The temperature in Canberra is finally reaching levels that is recognisable as summer dito and I was sweating - a lot - climbing up Red Hill this afternoon.

Alternating Red Hill/ Mugga Drive is quiet effective. For you non Canberrans I can describe it as really steep/ long-not so steep hills.

During the last repetition up Mugga I really tried to stay on Nico's wheel (suce la roue - suck the wheel as it so charmingly is called in French) and I did pretty well. Never mind the fact that his chain was considerable further to the right than mine ...

Nico has finally uploaded the software to his supermegahightech Garmin watch. There is just no end to how much fun (and how useful) this gadget ... ehrm ... I mean training tool, is.

"A suggestion of an oblique tear towards the posterior aspect of the body of the medial meniscus."

The doctor will hopefully bring some more light to that on Tuesday.

I feel good

50 min run and 2.6 km swim Saturday

1.30 h run Sunday

78 km ride (5 peaks +) Monday

1.15 h run Tuesday

57 km ride Wednesday

1.15 h swim (with the Bilbys squad - usually around 3 km) 97 km ride Thursday

After the best nap for months I feel great. You know the feeling of waking up with warm (not sweaty!) feet that feel like they will be really soft to stand up on, soft skin and an unusually low and steady heart rate. The skin part I can't explain, guessing it has something to do with the perfectly regulated body temperature.

This weekend I will be getting some of that much needed long training in (100+ ride and 1.40+ run), which should leave me right on schedule for the beginning of next week!

Five Peaks

Black Mountain, Mt Stromlo, Red Hill, Mt Pleasure and Mt Ainslie.

My small chain ring isn't very small and Mt Ainslie is steep enough for the department of road security (or whatever they might be called) to put up warning signs. Descending in the rain is also interesting.

My plan for a long flat ride was replaced by a moderate length (78 km) hilly as it gets ride. For one simple reason - I wanted company and the peleton was going this way ...

After coming back from swimming in the lane and chlorine free pool, aka the ocean and running on unknown windy island roads I am now back to turning every 50 m and running around the all but crystal clear Lake Burley Griffith. I am also off the pizza and tiramisu diet. Eight weeks to go. With less hours in the office and no travels booked in it will be easier to stick to the program, making sure that the performance on dec 6th will be one I can be proud of.

Nicolas is currently driving from Alice Springs to Darwin with his parents. And his bike. The ride from Kata Tjuta to Uluru was a nice one. The run around the Rock however was a disaster. His knees are far from ok. A new doctors appointment and a scan is awaiting when he returns next week. If there is anyone out there saying prayers, please include Nico's knees and the hope that whatever is wrong will be fixable.