The Solitary Athlete

New Start?

thesolitaryathlete — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:37:48 +0000

Wow, its been long. I didn’t realise that it had been this long.
Perhaps time to wipe the dust away and start anew?

Back In Action.

thesolitaryathlete — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:48:18 +0000

Work has been overwhelming since we got back from NZ. Went to squad swimming this morning (as well as last Saturday) and immediately noticed that autumn is in the air. The air is starting to get chillier in the mornings and day light is getting shorter. Not too long ago, the sun had already risen in the sky when I awoke at 0430 to go swimming. Yet in the past week or so, I’ve noticed that its now still quite dark (and will get darker and colder as winter approaches) around that time in the morning.

Many people from the squad have come up and congratulated me on my race and coach was happy with my swim time. Really great bunch of people and I’m thankful to have them around. As I was thrashing around in the pool, I wondered to myself halfway thru the session if the slow lane is getting faster or is it just me getting slower in my swim?

I remember last winter when I promised myself that there would be no winter training this year and I would hibernate instead. But it looks like that is not to be and I will continue with my training through winter again. Out of curiosity, I’ve decided that I’ll run the Gold Coast marathon again in July this year, after not having done a pure running event since August 2007.

Next goal: Yeppoon Half Ironman in August.

Rest & Recover.

thesolitaryathlete — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:46:02 +0000

First week home and finiding it hard to get back to work. Work sucks, but then again, whats new? Still working on the race report for IMNZ but have uploaded some pics.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who sent their well-wishes for the race. Thanks so much for all your support!

Finally went for a small run around the block this evening after work even though I’m not back to squad swimming yet. Don’t feel quite ready to start waking up at 0430hrs to go swimming. Had the long-awaited massage session and it hurts so good.

More recovery time to go.

Angel – Sarah McLachlan.

thesolitaryathlete — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 12:30:01 +0000

Spend all your time waiting
For that second chance
For a break that would make it ok
Theres always one reason
To feel not good enough
And its hard at the end of the day

I need some distraction
Oh beautiful release
Memory seeps from my veins
Let me be empty
Oh and weightless and maybe
I’ll find some peace tonight

*In the arms of the angel
Fly away from here
From this dark, cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
You’re in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here

So tired of the straight line
And everywhere you turn
Theres vultures and thieves at your back
And the storms keep on twisting
You keep on building the lies
That you make up for all that you lack

It don’t make no difference
Escaping one last time
Its easier to believe
In this sweet madness
Oh this glorious sadness
That brings me to my knees

Healing.

thesolitaryathlete — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 12:27:12 +0000

Come to think of it, of all the things that could have happened to me, a sprained ankle is really not so bad at all. The ankle is healing up nicely and even managed to survive a three-hour ride this morning. So all is looking up.

Tomorrow will try for a 90 minutes run and see if it holds up too. Have started to put bits and pieces aside to be packed for the trip. Hope everything that is needed gets packed away.

Ouch!

thesolitaryathlete — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:48:11 +0000

Of all the things that could have happened to me, I had to roll my right ankle yesterday. Don’t want to recount what actually happened; suffice to say it was a freak accident. Iced it immediately and today, its feeling quite bruised and has swelled up abit.

No use crying over spilt milk, so I’m just gonna deal with it.

Had to skip the fartlek session after work yesterday to rest the ankle. It felt like the right thing to do and honestly, don’t think I could have gone through with it even if I tried as I was in abit of agony from the pain.

This afternoon, think I’ll try to go on the bike and see what hurts and what doesn’t.

Feeling Yucky.

thesolitaryathlete — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 08:46:39 +0000

Just got back home from the annual work conference in Melbourne last Saturday. It was pretty full-on as compared to that of the last two years. A colleague (from Melbourne) and I were asked to conduct three “information sessions” on the second day.

Other than that, I also discovered that I was crappy at clay-shooting. Hahahaa. Anyway, now that the conference is out of the way for the year, its back to business this Monday morning.

First day back at the pool this morning and felt like hell. Coach said I looked like I was struggling and I sure felt it too. I just felt so tired when I woke up this morning and knew the lack of pool-time in the past two weeks would finally get to me. And so it did.

This is the last training week before tapering and heading off to NZ. Will I be up to it?

IMNZ Race Simulation.

thesolitaryathlete — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 08:45:08 +0000

The race simulation is finally over. It was a 2km swim, 64km ride and 16km run conducted in the UQ compound. The swim was in the UQ pool, luckily it was a 50 metres pool. The bike was four loops of 16km while the run was eight laps of 2km. We all had our weights recorded before the start of the simulation.

We had the privilege of using our wetsuit for the swim. I was in lane two with two others but it turned out quite well. Lost count in the middle of the swim and could not remember if I had finished or if there was 100m to go. Stopped to ask but no one seemed to be sure so I thought I’d go an extra 100m for good measure.

Came out of the swim, got out of the wetsuit and toweled-off before I was weigh-in and had my blood sample taken for testing. Off to transition, put on the bike gear and wheeled the bike out. Quickly discovered that I shouldn’t have put so much trust on the bike mechanic who had just serviced my bike afew days ago – the gears were not working well. Oh well, too late now but lesson learned and just had to deal with it.

One water bottle decided to catapult off the back of my bike on the second loop. Luckily it was clear and I was able to stop, made a u-turn and picked it up. Phew. The bike course was undulating and my legs really felt it by the last loop. I was not having a good time on the bike for some reason.

Completed the last lap on the bike, got off and then another weigh-in and another blood sample taken. Got changed into run gear and off I went on the run. Funny that I felt strong on the run considering I was not having such a good time on the bike. Four laps into the run was another weigh-in followed by another blood sample taken.

With two laps left to go on the run, I was starting to feel quite hot and my energy levels running low. I tried to concentrate on my running form and finish off the last two laps as strongly as possible. After the final lap, it was the final weigh-in and blood sample before officially concluding the simulation.

Wow, it was quite an experience and now I await the debrief in a week’s time.

Simulation Preparation.

thesolitaryathlete — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 08:42:34 +0000

Had a day of total rest. Initially, I’d planned to go squad swimming in the morning but it was raining when I awoke and it was dark outside, felt cool and cosy, so I decided to sleep-in instead. Ended up waking up sometime after 0800hrs – wow, I haven’t had a sleep-in like this for awhile now. Its a big deal coming from a lifelong non-morning person. Heh.

As I was participating in the race simulation the following morning, I spent the rest of the day between preparing all the gear required for the simulation and driving the course. I went through my triathlon checklist afew times to make sure I had packed everything needed.

As part of the race simulation, I also spent some time documenting everything that I had consumed in the two days prior to the simulation. Its been raining quite hard throughout the day. Fingers crossed that we have better weather than this tomorrow.

Oh, Happy Valentine’s Day to one & all !!!

Four Weeks to D-Day.

thesolitaryathlete — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:19:20 +0000

Four weeks to go. I haven’t been feeling good in the last few days…somewhat off the mark. I actually chose to sleep-in this morning instead of going to swim training. And for the record, I didn’t even feel guilty at all for making that decision.

This afternoon, I put my bike in for service as part of the preparation towards the race and also in the hope that I could test it out during this Sunday’s simulation. Not much has been said about how the simulation would be conducted and I continue to ponder.