Just beautiful training weather. Unless you’re an Avon competitor (or a farmer) , its been pretty good winter training weather of late. Friday was the usual cycle to Deepwater Pt at 5.10am and meet with Sarah and Tanya for the 6.6km run. Young Sarah absolutely ‘popping’ with excitement over a house move closer to her school. She asked me what her run time was. Now, we had stopped around 5 or 6 times so it was never going to be a PB. We are going to ramp up these runs now to push a little harder. The aim is to post a 1hr time for the 12kms so it ain’t going to be easy.

Saturday morning, I was determined to show some!! We had around 8 riders but we had Richard, Guy, Nick, Craig, Robbie and Adrian Yurisich all with good fitness. Along Riverside Drive and we had a similar size group pushing us a long a bit. I managed a long turn for around 2/3 of Mts Bay Rd to UWA. A couple of the other group swept by…..then Richard swept by them for good measure.

On the way back Mts Bay Rd, I again thought I’d push the pace along. Feeling very good and I actually pressed the second half a bit quicker just to keep the effort high. We had our usual roll through (thought we passed Jude….giveaway long red locks) on Shelley foreshore. The final sprint was a late one from Richard. I managed to jump with him but he held a 5m gap and I had to concede that I couldn’t bridge it. I don’t often give the effort away but it was much too strong a finish. Coffee at Kelly’s Café afterwards where Adrian Yurisich’s wife Virginia and son Joseph sidled by with their bikes.

Adrian showing the benefit of some hard cycling and just plain old toughening up. A real credit to him and he’s on the rise.

I had said to a few of the guys that I wanted a Sunday hills ride but I slept through the usual 7am start. At 10am I rolled out along Ranford then right at Roe Hwy for a decent effort at the Welshpool Rd hill. I thought I was up it fairly well but a little way off the 19 to 20kph effort that I may have had if other ‘mountain goats’ had been along for the ride. I found out there was some racing at Pickering Brook but I turned left at Canning Rd and cycle a way toward Kalamunda before turning around to head back.

Your forget how hard that little hill is at the Canning Rd end of Welshpool Rd. As I pondered whether or not to try to break my 88kph record downhill, I remembered that I’d glued on my own tyres (yes I was on the tubulars). That bit of uncertainty kept the descent sensible with the brake pads getting a bit of a cook.

I was well-satisfied with the effort and turned left from Welshpool to Roe Hwy. After about a kilometre, I saw two figures zoom past me and the words ‘Jump on, Christo!’. It was Troy Coulthard with the pistons pumping hard and a guy called Jason hanging on for dear life. I made the effort to latch on and my leisurely ride home vanished.

So no running this weekend. Dee knocked off a 15km run and has now worn the new shoes in a bit. It’s a big thumbs up for these Saucony’s so that’s one piece of the C2S marathon jigsaw in place.

I’ll do a few reps of the Mount St hill over these next few days to get my climbing legs sorted out and woken up. My front Conti Comp has a flat now. I’m thinking I’ll buy a Conti Sprinter to replace it. It will just be the Mavic Ksyrium’s for Pinjarra though. Well done to ‘Koops’ on his 108km training effort on Sunday. All part of the long road to IMWA 2010. I had a chat to Clarky about this the other day. He told me that a time of around 10ms 15min would be enough in the 50 to 54yo age group to get a spot to Hawaii. I then worked out that I had to get a 5hr bike for the 180kms, around 70 to 75min swim and a marathon of under 4hrs….and I have 4years left to build up to this as a 46yo currently. But I reckon I’ll only have on real tilt at Kona so a 4year lead-in is definitely do-able.

Some of you may be following the Tour De France. Hard to know it Contador is running a little scared of Schleck. I was hoping for a Dennis Menchov smashing of the field but Sanchez put paid to that. Something about me gets irritated by the fans running so close alongside cyclists during hard hill climbs.

Good luck to all of you doing the 4hr MTB Enduro this Sunday. I know Clarky, Brendan and perhaps Tim are doing it. I know Todd and Clarky did some C grade racing with Peel not long ago. 3 weeks till the Perth Half Mara. The Run for Gold is on this Sunday for those of you looking for a 5 or 10km run. Congrats to Raf Baugh on a 31m12s third place effort in the State 10km road champs. I remember young Ethan Heywood from my son’s cross country days. He’s a year or two younger than Matt but he’s finished second in these 10km champs to ultimate winner, Roberto Busi.

Postscript - Tues 20 July 2010

I had a hard ride in this morning and flicked past several people. I saw some South Perth Rouleur riders just north of Canning Bridge. I did 3 ascents of Mount St for good measure and wondered how the hell I had managed 10 of these in a row during the peak of my IMWA training. Insane! Well done to Rod McGrath, a workmate who did his first Brookton Hwy hill climb. A hard effort. Good prep for Pinjarra.

We have two teams now in Cyclosportif Pinjarra confirmed. One for A distance, One for B distance. Dee knocking off another big run today on her way to her first marathon. Go the blonde!

It’s amazing the difference a dropped chain makes. Can’t wait for Tourmalet! I want Menchov to blast everyone away.

Reservoir

CHRISTO

As the cutoff for registering is this Tuesday 6pm, I would be most grateful if you could let me know if you’re on board. I’m happy to organise but I need to know who’s in. I’ve again included some of you who have yet to do a cyclosportif or who may not have overtly indicated whether you’d like to. Please don’t be intimidated by the event. The 45kms is achievable and satisfying although there is a long hill involved. The 75kms will be a good, hard challenge and this may sit well with your exercise program.

Most of you who’ve done the A distance before know there’s quite a few challenging ‘roller’s on the way out from Dwellingup along Del park Rd. To those of you contemplating the B distance, I can tell you that when we start the first 10kms flat but there may be some crosswind. The next 10kms are incline and then a few flatter kms to get to Dwellingup. We turn around then it’s a fast descent. The final 10kms are usually with a tailwind and I’m sure the stronger riders will lead the train for a very satisfying finish.

I will notify Jennifer Le Quesne from Cyclosportif of our team(s) tomorrow 16/7/10 cob so I need to know by then if you’re on board.

Most of you have visited my www.christoonline.com weblog and noticed the ’stercus accidit’ motto. Well, it certainly does happen (for those of you that know your Latin) and I’ve had no less than 3 punctures in the last 2 days on my fixie. The first two were due to a gaping hole in the side of the Kenda tyre that came with the bike. So that tyre’s in the bin replaced with a new one. Last night, as I headed south past Canning Bridge, I went over a large rock absolutely flush and it immediately deflated my rear tube. In my haste, I put a new tube in, was ready to go, decided to put a little more air in the tube…….and sheared the valve off the tube. So, hopped on the train, got daughter to pick me up from Murdoch station.

I’m going to get a new tyre for the rear and use tyre liners. I wish there was a quicker way. Not keen to use my $30 can of Pitstop to repair a $2.50 tube. I have decided, though, that the 10 x 60mm tubes I bought for $25 from Torpedo7 were rubbish. Back to Continentals, Michelin or even IRCs.

I’m going to do the Deepwater Pt run tomorrow morning with my 11yo niece at 5.50am. Dee has ‘run in’ her Saucony ProGrid Echelons and had a tough 25km run on Tuesday as part of training for her first marathon. She’s finding it hard to keep her heart rate at a controllable level. It sits on around 150 to 160 when it should ideally be a little under 150bpm. 6 weeks to go till the City to Surf now.

Again, assuming we have Nick Cunnington on board (and we usually do) he has a large white van that we will use as our meeting point for Pinjarra Cyclosportif. Don’t forget the marshalling point is the Racecourse this year, not opposite the Premier Hotel as it has been in past years.

You can tell the cyclist in our family. My son has an XR6 worth $12000, my daughter has just bought a Honda City for $25000 and my wife inherits my daughter’s Hyundai Accent worth around $5000. Me…..I have my $600 Daewoo ‘Pickles auction’ special. Yes, its easy to spot the cyclist in our family. My cheapest bike, the Giant Bowery, was a $950 bike. I’m even thinking of putting my $300 personalised ‘Christo’ number plates on it……but that would be overcapitalising, n’est ce pas??

Finally, visit the www.painathlon.com website for an update. You have till 23 July to register.

Aside from a shower or two tomorrow, a week of nice exercise weather coming up. Enjoy

CHRISTO

Jason John is over in France at le Tour (flew out yesterday) so he won’t be on board. But for the A distance, we need you stronger riders to put your hands up for this one (especially if you have any mountain goat qualities!!)

For the B distance, there are two main things to remember - practice going up a long hill. Something like the start of Albany Highway at Armadale or Brookton Highway or even Welshpool Rd up to Canning Rd would be excellent practice. You have around 2.5 weeks to get this practice in. The other thing to remember is that you can hit pretty fast speeds coming down from Dwellingup. Now, for a lot of you, 60kph would be fast enough but I vividly recall hitting 88kph coming down this hill last time. So, in anticipation of a fast descent, practice your downhills as well (down the 3 hills I mentioned earlier is ideal)

Going downhill safely means you hold a steady line, you’re aware of other bikes around you. Some of you can adopt a special ’stance’ on the bike to be more streamlined coming down (eg head down, bum up, elbows tucked in). Don’t forget that the hill from Dwellingup back to Pinjarra eventually ends and theres still 10kms of time-trialling to finish you off.

Now that I’ve glamourised this ride, I expect lots of you to be starters. If any of you have a spare road bike for someone around 6ft tall, could you tell me? I expect we will have Team Ultra Force, Team Mega Force and Team Delta Force this time around. Remember our only allegiance is to our team (and I guess to our jersey sponsors). We obviously support all bikeshops close by such as BFSR, Cyclebuzz and AvantiPlus.

One year, I well remember us flying down on the return leg from Dwellingup , only to have the Hotham Valley steam train hold us up in crossing the road. We hit the anchors as all the train passengers were happily waving at us.

Getting to the venue is as simple as heading south on Kwinana Fwy, which becomes Forrest Hwy. Left turn on to Pinjarra Rd. Racecourse on the left when it hits SouthWest Highway.

Well done to our two teams at Swan Valley. Our A team posting 5th fastest in an awesome display. Our B team had all new riders to cyclosportif. It took a lap of sorting out our roll through and we knocked off the other 3 laps like seasoned professionals and quite strong in our finish and for the duration of the 64km ride really.

To give the rest of you a guide, the A team finished at just under 40kph average. The B team finished at around 29kph average. I think we will get enough takers for the B distance to form two teams. I imagine one will hit an average similar to 29kph and the other may be a bit quicker. You have just over a week to ponder your involvement and let me know. I’ll make sure the teams are a good fit, so to speak. I think offering a speed range in between a 29kph average and 40kph average will suit most of you. There will always be stronger riders in every team but rest assured we ride together and finish together, as a team.

I can understand some of you being a little tentative about this but it’s a great team activity and a real test of your mettle.

Don’t forget, the website link is http://www.bwa.org.au/cyclo-sportif/190/. Take time out to have a look at the elevation maps and details of the lunch, etc.

As you know, you’re all most welcome to jump aboard our Saturday morning rides at 7am outside Bikeforce Southern River. We usually return just after 9am and coffee at Kelly’s in Campbell Rd. I daresay Sunday hills rides will also emerge in these next two weeks. Just show up on the Saturday rides - we’re a friendly bunch.

On a separate note, still running with my 11yo niece around Deepwater Pt every Tues and Fri morning. Join us if you want….gotta get there for 5.50am though. Also, Thursdays from 5.30pm doing Jacob’s ladder…just don’t do 80mins in a row hard otherwise, like me, you may experience excruciating soreness in calf muscles and quadriceps. Only just recovering from last Thursday. Buying Dee some Mizuno Pro Grid Echelon shoes from The Running Centre in Hay St West Perth

Reservoir

CHRISTO

My running training is definitely in hiatus but I’m going to have a crack at the Perth Half marathon on 8 August 2010.

I’ll be helping out at Painathlon 2010 as a support vehicle. We had a great team ride in cyclosportif yesterday with a full team of mainly new riders in the 64km B distance. No accidents or mishaps. It was a sensible, safe and fun ride that I’m sure our team enjoyed and will want to do again.

Dee’s well on her way in her Perth City to Surf marathon preparation and has a big 28km run to do tomorrow. I spotted Rod Mejias finishing off a 42km training run for his tilt at the same event.

I’ve put my name down for the Individual Time Trial at Champion Lakes this Sunday although recapturing some of the 40kph form may take some time.

My niece is still running with me every Tues and Fri around Deepwater Pt at 6am as part of her 12km City to Surf preparation. I’ll be running this event with her then have some time to cheer my wife home with her marathon.

I keep reminding Matt of his feat at just 11yo when he did the City to Surf in 51mins to win the Under 12 age group two years in a row. To think he ran 4min20sec/km pace at that age just does my head in.

Jacob’s ladder open now so the stair zombies are back in full force.

Jason John is off to see the Tour de France with a group of around 30 in a bus. It should be a great experience for him and he’s been putting in some serious training for it.

I’ve been riding the fixed wheel Giant Bowery into work lately. Plenty of layers to ward off the cold mornings. Lots of idiots commuting on Fwy path without lights in the dark. Just mindless!

Reservoir

CHRISTO

At York, we, again, had 5 riders (you can have a minimum 4 riders up to a maximum of 9 riders. We were ninth last team to set off as teams are now handicapped from slowest starting first. With only 5 team riders, it means we can’t share the load of doing ‘turns’ at the front of  our team. We did share the load however and kept a tight echelon formation into the first 30kms with a cross/head wind over our right shoulders.

It’s a little hairy taking up a good portion of the lane but its relatively easy to pick traffic approaching from behind. The series of rolling hills were challenging and plenty of team riders split up a little here. A few  punctures sighted and a couple of ‘yaks’!!

Our next event is Swan Valley which, although flat, is usually a windy and wet event.

Adios amoebas. More regular posts I promise

CHRISTO

Brendan put a big 4hr 50min effort in but got pinged for a 5min penalty. Still, a great first up effort. I managed a meagre 3.5min improvement from last year but my swim and run just weren’t up to scratch.

Still, we’ve had a ball. A big BBQ at our digs tonight. Over $40000 worth of bike gear between 3 bikes.

I’ve made this a bit of a watershed on doing long distance endurance events. I won’t be contesting any events until I turn 50 (which is in 4 years time)

I can’t remember carbo loading as much as I did on Friday night. Loads of pasta. I had 96FM play a whole lot of inspirational songs for Busso Half Ironman competitors last Sunday on the classic cafe.

I am the proud owner of a new Giant Bowery ‘fixed wheel’ single speed bike. I sourced a Soma 14tooth from Cycle Bespoke so I have a good mix of gear with a 47 tooth front ring.

We have the Derby and the Carlton/Collingwood match to look forward to this weekend.

Well done to Kate Bevilaqua in the womens’ Busselton Half Ironman on a second place. Luke McKenzie smashed the men’s but apparently had some dramas in the final transition.

Congrats to all the Cyclebuzz folk (heaps of them), the Stadium Tri club competitors and the North Coast Tri Club.

Well done also to Brynt McSwain, Matt Illingworth, Loretta Wesley (we to’ed and fro’ed a bit on the bike leg) and all the WA competitors. We have quite a few mates now entered for IMWA including big Dave Koopu. I still get called Marshmallow Man after pulling out of the IMWA team run last year.

A bit of a newsflash in that IMOZ is full in record time!!!

Adios amoebas!!

CHRISTO

Anyone, I promise more regular blogs.

Saturday was time to ’show some’ in the group ride. Big welcome to this training update to Darryl Salisbury. He lives in Ranford and I see him pretty often on the cycle commute. Those of you that drive down Ranford Rd, he has the Ajilon cycling jersey. I’m sure you’ve seen him. Anyway, he posted a 4hr 50min effort at Busso HIM last year and his cycling form presently is honest and hard. It is always with some relief that we see Richard hasn’t joined in the group ride. Now, kudos to Richard for keeping us all honest but he was resting for the Freeway Bike Hike so we knew that would mean the absence of a few explosive efforts.  We call it respite, Richard!!

I put in a few hard digs but was a little uncertain how much petrol to leave in the tank for Sunday’s 20km time trial at Champion Lakes. I know Nick and Craig were also saving a bit of petrol for their Freeway Bike Hike A group effort. Grant Alexander coming into some form. Both he and Darryl looking like starters for cyclosportif. I would say we’ll have at least 3 teams at this stage. I went to the team managers briefing last Wed.No other training for the day as I had some gardening and dog grooming to do (dogs don’t like having their hair cut with hedge trimmers…..only kidding, what do you think I am?)

On Sunday morning, I had honestly prepared myself mentally for a 41kph effort. I thought I had the speed and fitness for this. I did an arms workout early in the morning. I made my way to Champion Lakes and the State Dragon Boat champs were on. That put the kybosh on our swimming intentions. Brendan and Liz away early for their TT. I had Jessica Allen as my ‘minute man’ in front of me and Claire McLean one minute behind. Jessica got some more time on me but I held off Claire. My result of 30min52sec was just a touch under 39kph. My time in the 40kph club was all too brief.To be fair, it was hard down the Roe Hwy straight with wind gusting up to 35kph. Brendan and I posting almost identical times/efforts. He was the bigger man however and clocked off 2 x 5km laps of running straight afterwards. There were still 23 people in the 40kph+ category. I have to find my ‘mojo’ in these next 6 weeks.Honour roll now. Well done to Richard Kelly on placing 11th in the

Freeway Bike Hike. With a time of 1hr16min and an average speed over 45kph (topping out at 63.7kph) that was an effort to be very proud of. Also, kudos to Ryan Fynn for doing his first TT and finishing with around 41.7kph average. If you don’t mind, he also paired up with a friend to ‘win’ the inaugural 5 Dams 230km ride a week earlier with a time of around 7hrs 20mins. The Flying Fynn is back with a vengeance. I meant to congratulate Steve Dunn on completing the Kilimanjaro Marathon a few weeks ago. His 108th marathon now and one of his toughest, by all accounts. Jambo. Karibu, Hakuna Matata….and all those other African greeting words Steve. Continuing the same theme and Liz McSweeney pushing out a 16km run on Friday, a 100km cycling effort on Sat and a tough TT on Sunday at Champion Lakes….a bit of a leg injury but that hasn’t stopped her. It was this time a year ago that Shannon Arnott had a terrible injury in the Freeway Bike Hike. That made her TT on Sunday all the more remarkable going lose to 37kph. And Paul Prottey putting in a 30min16sectime- nice job from both of them.

Chris Roberts put in a 60km hike from Kalamunda to Mt Dale on Saturday…..just thought I’d mention it. Not a bad effort.

Shaun Lonergan rolled out with around 70 other Stadium tri club folk for a hard hills ride on the weekend. And his latest run effort at 4min7sec/km pace for over an hour. Nice job mate. Most of you will recall Shaun’s account of his first Avon Descent last year. A great story!

I’ll do running most lunchtimes this week and swimming on Tues, Thursday and on weekend. Dee, Mel, Matt and I are off to One Tree Bridge for the Easter long weekend, around 20kms East of Manjimup. These chalets (only two of them) made out of huge rainwater tanks. Like something out of an Enid Blyton novel. Right alongside the Donnelly River. Booked into Karri Valley Resort restaurant for my birthday dinner.

Life’s pretty good at the moment. I hope you are all fit, bracing yourselves for some honest training efforts, eating and sleeping well.I’m preparing myself for another season of ‘rubbishing’ as a Carlton supporter with Fevola gone. But Arsenal are going great guns (pity Man Utd won last night)

Belated congratulations to Peter and Caroline Clark on their Singapore Half Ironman efforts of 5hr 19m and 6hr01m respectively in that oppressive heat and humidity. Also to ‘muscles’ Steve Hammond and the other Steve on both finishing Ironman New Zealand recently.

What a storm we had yesterday in Perth. Up to $150 million insurance bill. I cycled home in between batterings and I’ve never seen the Freeway bike path strewn with so much rubbish.

Reservoir

CHRISTO

 I had a 25 lap swim effort Thursday evening. I met a bloke called Rob who is a mate of Rick Twine’s. Rob is doing Busso HIM and knew me via my ‘war and peace’ diary on TriWA some time ago. I have had bike commutes most days of the week with a total of 60kms each day.

Friday was a rather unusual evening with free tickets to a Queen Tribute band at the Charles hotel. Dinner at Da Vinci’s beforehand and it was a ‘different’ evening for Dee and I.

Saturday morning, as I picked my cage trailer up from Kennards, I was committed to clearing rubbish out of my daughter’s apartment for the morning. I saw our bike group finishing up at the Nicholson Rd/Garden St roundabout.

Apparently , Luke Hardy has joined the first third of the ride before turning off on Canning Hwy. He’s a solid rider, placing 5th in last years Freeway Bike Hike. I think Darryl Salisbury has also joined our Sat AM ride so the group is getting larger again. Bit of a hiatus from myself, Richard Kelly, Peter Clark (Singapore HIM presently) and a few others.

I’ve joined up with Rod Mejias and Guy Pritchard on the commute ride a few times. On Sunday, I was so tempted to sleep in after staying out till around 1am at a nephew’s 21st in Araluen. Dee ended up being the voice of my conscience and got me up and to the Coogee Jetty to Jetty Swim on time. I posted just over 29mins for the 1500m but had quite a lot left in the tank . I started the swim at the very back and I must say I swam to the pace of whoever was in front of me. I had some woman give me a fair whack in the face but just accidental. I didn’t notice the half way marker so the last few hundred metres of the swim crept up on me by surprise. I took a line in fairly close to shore and it just felt great - a beautiful morning for a swim.

I couldn’t be bothered passing people but I felt very strong for this swim, in spite of a painfully sore throat. Rod put in a 28min effort and Fiona around 30mins so it was a good confidence builder for us all. Fiona cycled there from Hillarys with her North Coast Tri folk.

I decided that a long hard bike ride was called for so when I got home I knocked off 85kms of pretty hard riding from around 11am to 1.30pm from Canning Vale to City and then our normal anticlockwise river/ coast ride. Another 11km run for today at lunchtime across Windan Bridge, in front of Burswood golf course to Causeway then back in front of Trinity, Gloucester Park and through East Perth. I’ll also fit in an evening swim. I am feeling pretty bullet-proof at the moment and surpised myself with the Coogee swim.

Congrats to Guy Pritchard on a great 38.9 kph average for the 47km Neerabup time trial with a 2min PB. Congrats also to Amanda and Felicity Smith on doing this time trial. It’s not an easy one around the golf course with a few challenging ‘rises’ but a fast sweep at the end.

The BRW Corporate triathlon was on Sunday but all I saw of it was people departing when I was on my long ride. I was in this event last year - not sure of results just yet.

I reckon the Pt Walter OD triathlon will be excellent practice for Busso HIM. The bike leg along Burke Drive is very familiar and I’ve done this event once before.

Train hard in this hot weather.Enjoy it while it lasts. Nice cool nights. Perth’s a great place to train.

Go hard, be determined. Honest training efforts called for in these next several weeks. Only you know if you’re pushing yourself

Had another good start to the day today (16/3/10), having my usual Deepwater Pt lap with my young niece Sarah. She just chats the whole way around and makes the run seem pretty effortless. I saw Hannah Lawton with her cycling training group and Raf Baugh on his bike. People always catch me out when they say gidday. This is just to prove that I knew who you both were!!

What a weekend of sport!! Honestly, if you had told me that 50 people in Perth could time trial 40kms in better than 40kph, I would have called you crazy. And, better still, for Emma Pooley to knock it off in 42.9kph is phenomenal. What an amazing ride….and young Jess Allen coming in second female. Brad Hall and Mike Verheyen battled our first and second male with third place still managing better than 45kph. Lizzie McSweeney posting a solid 34.2kph average( mind you, Liz, that means you didn’t do Darlington!! I’ll need a note from your parents!!) Also noted solid efforts from Doug Brightwell and Paul Speyers, a couple of ‘cyclebuzzers’!!

Paul Covich and I had a lend of the North Coast Tri Club trailer and organised a fun run for my employer (ATO)’s national sports carnival being held here in Perth. We had our first and second runners do the 6kms on grass in just a touch over 21mins so they were flying. Mike Aviet going just a tad over 4min/km pace to finish in 4th. Well done Mike! (plug for Mike as a newly qualified personal trainer/ martial arts cross trainer)

Haven’t heard how the 5 Dams and 3 Dams rides went (230kms and 150kms in the hills respectively) on Sunday. Well done to Ash who gave her Felt S22 its first hitout at the Champion Lakes Triathlon. A great venue for a triathlon in my opinion. Fiona posted a half mara time at Darlington in the 1hr40m to 1hr 50m range so well done Fiona, consolidating fitness after a bout of injury.

So many events I wished I had have participated in. But, that’s the way the mop flops. I’m on the trusty Colnago today. Aside from commute home, a hard 40lap swim at Riverton awaits tonight. May see young Tim Cant from Bikeforce Success. I assume your training is going well mate, along with all the others at your store there.

Best not to mention the Western Farce or the Dorkers. Wildcats we can mention! Any cats for that matter….even the musical!!

I’m doing 10 to 15min strength sessions every morning now. Highly recommended. I’m sure it’s doing me good. Weight now is 78.5kgs.

Great training weather persisting. It’s all good. Mentally feeling great, physically even better.

I’m a long, long way off my 4min/km running goal….but moving towards it slowly but surely. With my cycling goal at 40kph achieved and a decent 29min swim at Coogee for the 1500m, I’ll use that ‘bullet proof’ expression again. No substitute for feeling this way.

By the way, I missed my Saturday morning ride as had to search out migraine medication for daughter in early hours of Sat AM. I set off at 7.25am but never quite caught the group. Couldn’t see them at Kelly’s Café so they either went via Freo or went to the Dome instead. Either way, I’ll be there this Sat AM ready to fire on all cyclinders. And let’s get stuck in for the Thursday ride at 5.15pm at Narrows again. I led a group of cyclists from Causeway all the way to UWA on Sat AM. Someone from the group said ‘nice turn’ as I turned left at UWA. That’s all the acknowledgement I need.

Finally, on Sunday, after I’d organised the fun run in the morning, I decided that a hard 18km run was called for. I set off at around 11am and along Ranford Rd. Noticed lots of cars heading west with bikes on board so they must have just finished the Champion Lakes, It was so humid and at one point felt like wilting and walking. But hung tough, got to Willeri via Roe Hwy path , had my powerade. It ranks up there with one of my harder runs. It was nothing better than 45mins for 9kms but I maintained it on the way back as well. I’m sure traffic on my way back thought I was dying but I imagined those last few kms to be in the Busso HIM. Hard to explain the effort……and then I thought about Peter Clark heading off today to do the Singapore Half Ironman (70.3) in that oppressive heat. And all his training runs in the heat…..with a jumper on. That Brian Kempson is one tough trainer!!

Good luck Clarky. Pete’s looking super fit, strong and mentally ready to give a 4hr 30min half ironman effort. The humidity at Singapore may temper this somewhat. But he’ll back up with the Busso HIM.

Actually, well done to everyone. You all seem to be getting out there and doing it. Honest, hard efforts now for the next 4 to 5 weeks. Come one- toughen up, look after your nutrition, your sleep, stretch well…..and then smash it!!

CHRISTO

Busselton Ironman, Half Ironman, Painathlon, Rotto Marathon, Rottnest Channel Swim, Half Marathons, Cyclosportif, ATTA events (time trials), etc etc.

Then there’s the times you head off on a training run….it can be 8pm and you’re off on a run or 5am in the morning and you’re heading off for a 100m hills bike ride, up the hills at just over 20kph and downhill at up to 80kph, hoping nothing goes wrong. You follow the insipid black line at your local swimming pool, cursing the apple-bobbers in the wrong lane, the inconsiderate folk in adjacent lanes throwing up little tsunamis. Cramp often sets in with these swimming sets.

This weekend, I go down to Coogee for a 1.5km swim, the Jetty to Jetty. I know I have lots of running and cycling to do as well. I have to clear my daughter’s apartment so that’s hours of work lugging stuff to the tip. A 21st party for a nephew Sat night, a Queen tribute concert tonight (Fri night).  The housework becomes almost an afterthought. The dogs barely recognise us.

We had a great night celebrating my son’s 19th at the Greyhounds where we collectively won over $800. Lucky bets - an unbelievable run of bets from my wife where she just kept winning on long shots. The funniest moment was where a greyhound that tailed off the back in the one of the latter races, turned around, went the other way around the track then realised he could catch the lure, and he did, and ripped the stuffing out of it. Now the poor greyhound has no purpose in life. That’s the pinnacle of his achievement right there. Now I’m not saying that achieving so many endurance events is akin to catching the lure (much like finding the Holy Grail) but sometimes it can feel like that.

You’ve proven to yourself you can do these things, that even as an average swimmer, you can swim long distances, you can keep getting faster on the bike in time trials (next aim is to hit 40kph on the 40km time trial, by the way), and occasionally you can get quicker as a runner. Mind you, that goal was going sub 4min/kms and I’m a long way off that!

You suddenly realise that smelling roses is not the same as smelling an Ironman medal or a marathon medal or Jetty swim medal. Sometimes achieving something (like Painathlon for example) is just plain hard work across a very long, hard day. Other motivators may be fundraising or beating your peers.

As I progress along these cross training efforts, it becomes more and more about the camaraderie, about seeing other people achieve their first-time goals, going outside the comfort boundaries.

Striking the balance with a healthy social life, family life, training schedule and work commitments is incredibly hard but ultimately pretty satisfying.  Having done my first Half Ironman in 2006, the next aim is to go under 5hrs. Achievable but everything just has to go right (and as my stercus accidit motto indicates, it doesn’t always)

With 8 weeks to go now, I have a really hard block of training ahead of me these next 6 to 7 weeks. Lots of times when I won’t want to go swimming or cycle up hills or long distances into a strong headwind or run when I just feel plain fatigued.

I’m at 78kgs now so this is a fair bit lighter than I’ve been for a while. I look at the top 15 place getters in my age group for Busso HIM and I think ‘right, I need a sub 31min swim, a 2hr 25min bike and around 1hr 45min run. And don’t muck around in transition - its valuable time. I am in the lucky position of having good TT wheels and a new TT frame so I begin to build a time trial bike that I can use in Busso. No more simply affixing TT bars on to my road frame. But there’ll be competitors with steel framed bikes for Busso doing it hard (as I did on my Eddy Merckx in 2006). Heck, I had two years of cyclosportif with the same frame going up the Darling Scarp from Pinjarra to Dwellingup just struggling. To compound it, I drive really big gears and rarely use the small ring at the front.

I’m not sure when this all became so addictive but, on balance, I love doing it and I’m looking forward to Busso now that I know exactly what effort is needed to achieve my goals.

I don’t liken myself to the ’stair zombies’ at Jacob’s ladder that just seem to continually go up and down that damn ladder to prove they can. I know what it takes to go up and down that thing 20 and even 30 times at speed. And unless its part of my normal routine, an effort like that can cripple me for days afterwards.

I will likely still do things like Painathlon, Rotto, Ironman, marathon/half marathon, Jetty swim, cycling time trials and team riding. Mainly because I can and that makes me lucky.

So, so many events on in the next month or two. Darlington Half Mara, Freeway Bike Hike, BRW Triathlon, Pt Walter OD triathlon, Coogee triathlon (twice), Cyclosportif at Lancelin, Time trials at Neerabup and Wandi over various distances, Coogee Jetty to Jetty swim, etc, etc.

So many training options, Thursday 70km hard rides, Monday to Fri morning walks/runs of 1hr, Tuesday morning runs around Deepwater Pt, 2 or 3 swims at Riverton Leisureplex in the evening per week, Sat AM group bike ride, Sunday hills ride (usually solo), Wed brick session run after cycling home, and conditioning sessions (2 x 10min) every morning which involves around 6 separate activities that are done until collapse.

All great fun!!

Anyway, today’s rant now over. Enjoy all your various training. I am currently amped to do a post 40kph time trial for my next 40km ride, I’d love my next half mara to be able to go under 1hr 37min (my current PB) and I’d love to knock off the 1.5km swim in 25mins on Sunday. Optimistic perhaps.

Reservoir

CHRISTO

This year, the aim has been to crack 5 hrs. I remember years ago the magical barrier was called the ‘440′ club- which pretty much meant finishing in 4hrs 40mins. Very tough goal. My mini goals are to go close to a 30min swim, a bike of under 2hrs 30mins and a run better than 1hr 50min. If I do all this I should go under 5hrs, allowing for my notoriously slow transition.

Its never an easy path though and I find I am on track with my cycling/time trialling but a bit behind with running and swimming. My swim efforts now have to be at least 40laps and the runs now have to switch up from 12kms to something approaching 15 and 18kms.

It’s been very hot weather and efforts are mostly pretty tough. Here is my typical training week at present. It ain’t going to look like any standard plan you’ve seen. On Monday, I cycle 30kms in to work, I have a lunchtime 11km run and I cycle 30kms home at day end. On Monday evening I will do 40mins of swimming at Riverton. Tuesdays, I go to Deepwater Pt and take my young niece on a 6.66km effort around Mt Henry and Canning Bridges. I then commute to work from there and commute back to Canning Vale at day’s end. Another swimming effort awaits from around 6.30pm at Riverton Leisureplex.

Wednesday, I do my bike commute to and from work and I add in a 12km brick run with a friend , Rod Mejias, who lives nearby. He goes around 4min15s/km pace at his peak but we are doing these efforts at around 5min/km pace thus far for around 12kms.

Thursdays is the commute in to work on the good bike and I save my petrol for the Thursday afternoon ride from Narrows. We go hard, there are no excuses or allowances made. You get on otherwise you a quickly dropped off. For some of the guys, they ride in to city from Anketell and Kwinana before out training ride actually begins so they are posting up to 120kms in total.  I took some of the harder turns last Thursday which felt good.

Fridays are my rest day but I still commute in on the old Colnago. I love it when other cyclists try to race me on this old girl. There are an unbelievable amount of events on in the next several weeks - Coogee Swim, Neerabup 47km time trial, Freo Corporate Teams triathlon, Darlington Half Marathon, Cyclosportif at Lancelin in mid April (two teams to organise for Team Force), and some more time trials at Wandi in early April (80kms) and mid April (160kms). I am just about to pick up my Giant Bowery from Runner’s world and I have a new Pro-lite Capuccino time trial frame to build up in time for Busso. I need lots of ‘light bits’ on it including carbon groupset/cranks, handlebars, TT bars, etc, etc, etc.

I should have joined Central TAFE gym by now but I plan to next week and still have time to get some strength work in.

I slept in this morning after staying up till the wee hours for my son’s 19th birthday party.

Very hot day today and warm again tomorrow. Long weekend in Perth with 1 March being a public holiday (Labour Day)

Regards

CHRISTO