Monday, April 13, 2009

Easter 2009

Easter's a time of treats, right? Hmmm not so much in our household this year! Easter was a lot of hard work for us this year, not a lot of chocolate and even less hot cross buns!!!

Good Friday started with a bike ride for both of us down to Bibra Lake (about 3okm), then a 16km bike time trial for me. We then biked home again. I was feeling a little off in terms of cycling that day and I never got into a good rhythm for the time trial and didn't really do as well as I would have hoped. I came in7th place for the females behind some good riders but it was a little disappointing for me considering I won the last time trial in record time. I still had a 38kmh average though so I can't really complain.

Good Friday was a real scorcher and it hit 36 degrees in the afternoon. We went to Subiaco oval for the Hurricanes vs Western Force game early evening and it was very, very weird going to the rugby in a singlet and a mini skirt! No scarf, polypro, gloves, down jacket or beanie.

It was also the first game I have been to where I have been the minority in the supporters. The canes were being boo'd all over the field. But we had the last laugh winning the game with 2 tries in the last 4 mins! Yay.

Subiaco Oval left me a little underwhelmed though. The stadium is built for AFL so the rugby field is all in the middle of the park, I almost needed binoculars to see the game. The speakers weren't very good and the big screen was too small... hahaha I guess I am being a bit picky. It was great to see the rugby though and a nice night out.

Saturday started with a bike/run brick for Jason and I. It was another tough day out there. The ride was at 80% of our maximum heart rate (the whole ride on aero bars) and the run was to include 3 * 2.5km intervals. I haven't told you yet but I have been injured lately. I strained my LCL ligament in my knee so I haven't been running for over a week. Saturday's session was my first back and my coach was still ok with me attempting the intervals.

Again Saturday was another hot day out there and we were both pretty tired after the ride, more from the draining heat than the ride itself. The run started well, I did 2.5 good intervals but then my knee started to go again so I stopped the run while the knee was still intact.

Saturday afternoon was spent fighting the hoards at the supermarket (all shops closed Sunday and Monday) before a quiet evening at home.

Sunday was our lightest training day of the weekend with just a 2km swim time trial. Its still really hard though, even though it was only a short session... We were both pleased with out effort and again had an easy afternoon, me recovering for Monday (and what was going to be the hardest day of the whole weekend).

Easter Monday was an 82.4km cycle time trial for me... arghhhh. An 8 lap course out at Wandi. This is the course that I did my record breaking 41.2km time trial in February so I knew the loop well. Unfortunately today was pretty windy (unlike the first time trial) and it was a whole lot harder out there. This tree shows the wind... not windy like Wellington windy, but windy in terms of Perth standards!I started out conservatively with the goal of riding consistently across all 8 laps. I was stoked with how I ended up:

Lap 1: 16 min 45 sec
Lap 2: 16 min 56 sec
Lap 3: 16 min 53 sec
Lap 4: 17 min flat
Lap 5: 16 min 48 sec
Lap 6: 16 min 45 sec
Lap 7: 16 min 53 sec
Lap 8: 16 min 43 sec
Total 2.14.43
















I was really happy with my pacing and was even happier to see that I won the women's race by 2 minutes! SO I am the 2009 80km TT champ!!! Yay.

It was a hard fought day out there though and I really wanted to pull the plug at 40km to be honest. The result bodes well for the Busselton Half Ironman in 18 days time (well the cycling bit of it anyway... not so sure about the run!).

The last pleasure (note heavy sarcasm) of my easter weekend was a recovery ice bath! They are torture, but to be honest it really does help the recovery in the legs... which I will need as I have a 10km run time trial tomorrow.... arghhhh what a hard few days I tell you.

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