So, it has finally happened.
I can no longer claim to be competing in my first full Iron Man race next year...
Welcome to 2013!
Last year was pretty awesome for me and with the fireworks and party poppers all now spent, I am now faced with the realization that the goal I set myself in my second year of triathlon is that little bit closer. Perhaps the crossing of the annual date line is not a significant advance, but it now means I have a calendar that includes that goal's realisation. Before this point, it was always something I was doing next year; "Iron Man Melbourne is next year"; "yeah, training will ramp up next year"; "this is going to get real next year."
Guess what, it just got real.
As a triathlete, at least I'm easy to buy for...
For Christmas and birthday presents I was given a wetsuit (that I bought) and an entry to the Warnnambool "Sufferfest" (which I purchased) and I'm pretty sure when I order my Aero Jacket and sticker kit, that too will be a present from the wife and kids
- Hell Week - pronoun; The final week of the year where each day includes 3 training sessions, an early ride, a run off the bike and an afternoon swim.
My program called for completing a choice of 2 of the sessions on offer per day.
With the school holidays and the wife working full time (and with no annual leave yet accrued) getting out to training sessions was a little difficult. In order to get the required kms AND actually see the family I found myself greeting the mornings at approximately stupid-o-clock to visit the garage for a bike ride.
Most mornings were 70km and two movies followed by a six km run. This meant I was finished by 8 am and the rest of the day was free (except for the time inevitably time spent napping) Christmas day is a day off, and, barring one Friday, I was able to meet the challenge. By the end, I had clocked up 280km on the bike, 35km running and 500m swimming.
OK, so that third discipline's numbers are pretty low, but I can explain!
One morning I completed my ride, then later in the afternoon, timed my run to the beach at Elwood perfectly to just miss the crew. I was in time to meet an annoyed wife who had arrived to give me a lift home. As consolation, instead of doing the laps of the poles required to hit the scheduled 1.5km swim, I did one (hence the 500m indicated above).
Another day I planned to join in on the swim at Sandringham beach. From my doorstep it is about 6km to Sandy so I was going to run there. I packed my goggles and phone in the pouch I have on my race belt and headed out the door. I wasn't two km into my run before my phone was ringing.Apparently the swim session had to be cancelled due to adverse conditions. Slightly disappointed, I completed my run as a loop and returned home. More annoyingly, neither of the the cafes on the way home were open so there was no consolation latte either.
The final swim I tried to attend was the Friday where I had the brilliant plan of treating the kids to a movie outing. I was scheduled for my regular blood donation in town and, after reviewing the options and screening times I settled upon a 2:15 screening. This would give me plenty of time to get the kids and I to the city, finish my donation and then to get to the cinema at Melbourne Central to pick up the tickets and obligatory popcorn. After the movie, we'd catch the train along the Sandringham line where I could easily get to the beach and the offspring could make the short journey in the opposite direction to my brother's place. It was the perfect plan! (except the wife wasn't keen on that last part). I contacted my brother to ensure things were cool and headed off to the city with every angle covered.
Ok, since I prefaced this little dialogue with "tried to attend", you're probably aware there was at least one point I missed. Whilst sitting in the cinema, watching the initial advertisements I realised that, given I had to be somewhere later, I probably should not have chosen THE LONGEST FILM EVER* to buy tickets to...
Most mornings were 70km and two movies followed by a six km run. This meant I was finished by 8 am and the rest of the day was free (except for the time inevitably time spent napping) Christmas day is a day off, and, barring one Friday, I was able to meet the challenge. By the end, I had clocked up 280km on the bike, 35km running and 500m swimming.
OK, so that third discipline's numbers are pretty low, but I can explain!
One morning I completed my ride, then later in the afternoon, timed my run to the beach at Elwood perfectly to just miss the crew. I was in time to meet an annoyed wife who had arrived to give me a lift home. As consolation, instead of doing the laps of the poles required to hit the scheduled 1.5km swim, I did one (hence the 500m indicated above).
Another day I planned to join in on the swim at Sandringham beach. From my doorstep it is about 6km to Sandy so I was going to run there. I packed my goggles and phone in the pouch I have on my race belt and headed out the door. I wasn't two km into my run before my phone was ringing.Apparently the swim session had to be cancelled due to adverse conditions. Slightly disappointed, I completed my run as a loop and returned home. More annoyingly, neither of the the cafes on the way home were open so there was no consolation latte either.
The final swim I tried to attend was the Friday where I had the brilliant plan of treating the kids to a movie outing. I was scheduled for my regular blood donation in town and, after reviewing the options and screening times I settled upon a 2:15 screening. This would give me plenty of time to get the kids and I to the city, finish my donation and then to get to the cinema at Melbourne Central to pick up the tickets and obligatory popcorn. After the movie, we'd catch the train along the Sandringham line where I could easily get to the beach and the offspring could make the short journey in the opposite direction to my brother's place. It was the perfect plan! (except the wife wasn't keen on that last part). I contacted my brother to ensure things were cool and headed off to the city with every angle covered.
Ok, since I prefaced this little dialogue with "tried to attend", you're probably aware there was at least one point I missed. Whilst sitting in the cinema, watching the initial advertisements I realised that, given I had to be somewhere later, I probably should not have chosen THE LONGEST FILM EVER* to buy tickets to...
With a running time just shy of 3 hours, we would not be seeing the credits roll until well after I would have needed to be on a train if there was to be any chance of me arriving at the beach in time to just miss the swim that day.
Oh well, the kids did really enjoy The Hobbit so I guess that was all right.
As I stated earlier, last year for me was great, I seemed to be winning everything. Here is a list of the prizes I can remember.
- an entry to Iron Man Melbourne,
- a number of t-shirts,
- a wetsuit,
- $100 voucher for a bike store,
- a tv and home theatre pack,
- Pro For a Day (another wetsuit, Garmin watch, running shoes),
- a dvd is a competition I don't remember entering,
- Christmas Spirit award (Christmas cake) and
- the role of Tri Alliance ambassador.
So far, 2013 has brought only mild gastric upset (which is why my New Year's day run was punctuated with bathroom breaks and also why I wasn't swimming tonight team...) Did I survive the Mayan apocalypse for this!?
Oh well, whilst I was out with The Boy this afternoon I finally did get that lotto ticket every one has been encouraging me to buy.
Oh well, whilst I was out with The Boy this afternoon I finally did get that lotto ticket every one has been encouraging me to buy.
Here's to a successful new year every one, stay safe, train hard and be well.
As The Boy says; "Sharing is caring"
Here are the number from 2 of the lines from my Saturday lotto ticket, will 2013 see my luck continue, or is 2012 the one to stick with...?
Game 12: 09 20 29 39 40 42
Game 13: 25 28 29 30 32 39
*Note, though The Hobbit is a long film and is not the longest film in history, and neither is Kevin Costner's "JFK" (even though it seemed to drag on for days, at least it didn't suck as hard as Waterworld)
The record for the longest cinematic release belongs to a film called "The Cure for Insomnia" which shows a poet reciting his works, spliced with imagery from X-rated film and music videos with a running time of 5220 minutes
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