Iron Jack

Or, learning to swim (again) when you ain’t got gills. I don’t think that’s quite what Tom Petty had in mind with that line but it works for me.

So back to the pool yesterday for an emergency coaching session. I had an absolutely rotten swim on Tuesday. Everything hurt and I felt like my stroke had gone completely to pack. I felt like I was going slower than ever, splashing about all over the show, and not able to swim very far at all. It was a disaster.

Resulting text to Lawrence afterwards:

“I’m having a swim crisis, can you fit me tomorrow?”

So at 3:30pm I rocked up and swam a few lengths. Nope, still rubbish. Lawrence arrived to supervise the stroke.

“Not good eh?” I stated the obvious.

“Hmmm, there’s a few things going on,” he replied. Understatement of the year.

After my last coach session with him, it transpired I was swiping to the sides. I’m now over-compensating by pulling my arms completely under my body. Hands still floppy, not “catching” the water. Hands entering the water thumb or palm first, not very efficient orf effective. They need to be little finger first, arms curved like over a barrel, hands following the line underneath me down the middle of the pool.

But worst of all, after spending the last several months “re-learning” my stroke and stopping windmilling. I have gone far too far the other way, and am now playing “catchup” all the time. Basically I’m almost like a rowing skiff in the water, glide, stop, glide between each stroke, as opposed to continuous stroke and glide. No wonder I haven’t got any faster in the past there months.

So now I’m back to a hybrid windmill/glide that attempts to capture the best of both worlds.

Aaaaargh. Who would have thought that swimming, my strength, my sanity, would start becoming my biggest nightmare!

Back to the drawing board again tomorrow morning. We worked out a new swim/drill programme that will see me swimming just over 2km in a session - with hopefully some significant improvements as a result. Fingers crossed.

“It’s actually not that bad,” he said afterwards. “Definiately don’t beat yourself up about it, you could already do the 3.8km if the Ironman was next week and most people can’t say that. We’re just making it even better.”

“Okay.” I said.

An hour later and I was setting my bike up for Lawrence’s spin class with the Tri Club. It rocked. I’m still buzzing.

I had an outstanding 60 minute run in the Whakarewarewa Forest yesterday - a massive improvement on my 60 minute run in Auckland City last week!

It was a gorgeous day, clear blue skies. Absolutely freezing, but warmish in the sun. I hadn’t been running in the forest for a while. I’ve had quite a lot of work on so have been trying to be efficient with my time and just running around the streets of Ngongotaha. 

But what a difference. I felt like I was skipping off into the forest. The air was fresh and my feet felt light. And my ear phones stayed in - also a major improvement on last week.

I find it difficult to run without my MP3 player. I don’t have any problem riding without it - and I feel safer not having anything blocking up my ears while I’m riding on the road. And obviously I don’t wear it in the pool! But I do need my music for running - and the louder and harder rock the better. Much to Mike’s disgust!

Without any fore-planning, the music that came on randomly yesterday couldn’t have been better. A variety of different Live songs (my favourite band), U2, Pink, Daughtry, Stone Temple Pilots, a bit of REM, and then some odd Simon and Garfunkel and Nina Simone for good measure. It seemed that every time I hit a hill, the beat would pick up and I would sail up the hill. And just when I needed some slow relief as I went down a hill, I’d get what I needed. Perfect.

I don’t expect that everyone can run to a mix of hard rock and jazz, but it seems to work for me!

Saturday morning dawned cold, bright, clear and windy - very windy. But having postponed a ride the day before, I knew it was time to literally get on my bike.

I looked spectacular, if I do say so myself. Reebok compression tights, Reebok compression top - both on the bottom layer. Next layer, olive green thermal top, padded bike banks. Next layer, Reebok windbreaker jacket, purple stripey long johns - the sexiest pants you have ever seen. Next layer, fluro yellow cycling top. Boootiful.

I met fellow RATs club member Irene in town just after 9am, dropping Oli at a friend’s house on the way in. We saddled up and headed out of town, deciding to ride around Mt Ngongotaha. I hadn’t done this ride before, but had wanted to for a while, I just didn’t want to do it on my own. We live in a suburb just out of town called Ngongotaha and our block looks onto the mountain. Even though I grew up in Auckland, we are so at home here that I claim it as my maunga - or mountain, which is what anchors me.

We took a slightly longer, less busy route to get there. This route ended with a nasty hill taking us onto another very nasty hill that was the beginning of the around mountain ride. Nasty. Irene absolutely kicked my arse. She has been riding a lot longer than me and this was really only my second proper ride, but even so, she cranked up the hills. At some places I felt like I was practically going backwards! But I’d get around the corner and she would always be there waiting for me.

There were about three killer hills on that lefthand stretch of the mountain. Cold, icy, up. Then we whizzed down into Paradise Valley - very carefully given some of the ice patches around.

“That was a bit better,” I breathed as we rounded up at the bottom.

“Yeah, but you know what - now that we’ve come down, we’ve gotta climb out!” she said cheerily.

We both agreed that the way out and up this side was a lot easier going than the initial hill sections. And it was. Stunning actually. Sunny, views out over farms and native bush. Just gorgeous actually. I loved it. There were still some hills, but I was finally brave enough to try and get up on my pedals - what a difference. I can’t go for very long standing up, but it was a bit of a breakthrough. Every hill we can across for the rest of the ride, I stood up. Awesome.

We eventually came out on the main highway and rode back into town - into a head wind. We eventually made it back to the cars two hours and 31 kilometres later. Way too slow for me for the Half Ironman in January, but a good breakthrough ride and definately a confidence booster. Looking forward to the next one.

Who knew that a run around the designer footpaths of Ponsonby would be nearly as dangerous as running in my beloved Whaka* Forest?

Tree roots, rubbish, holes in the footpath, pot smoke in the air, it was more like a commando obstacle course than central city Auckland. I had to keep my eyes on my feet for practically the whole run. But it did keep me amused. In fact, I found all sorts of things very amusing on my run around Auckland city earlier in the week.

I arrived in Auckland on Monday around lunchtime for a meeting with my business coach to help get my life sorted. Its about to be one full-time job, one consultancy job, one family with children and dog, and one Ironman training plan.

Enter Russ the wondercoach stage left.

After an excellent planning session I left his place feeling a lot more confident that I’m going to be able to fit everything in. Of course it is going to require some sensational planning skills (which is what Russ is for), good organisation on the home front (which is what Mike is for) and some early nights for me.

Anyway, I checked into Sky City Hotel, got suited up and headed back out the door.

I was scheduled to do a 60 minute run - my first ever full hour run. I have done “run 7 min and walk 3 min” sessions for an hour, but never running for the full 60 minutes. I had decided to head around Westhaven Marina - mainly to get my plodding, oversized running style away from the busy city footpaths. Of course I had forgotten that I had quite a few streets and people to get through first before I got to the waterfront. So naturally I headed off at a fast pace so I looked like (despite my size) I was meant to be heading out for a run! Fortunately it was mainly downhill.

I got to the waterfront and just about fell over. I had completely over-exerted myself in an effort to make myself look good. Lesson learnt. I absolutely plodded the rest of the way around. But I got there and that is the main thing.

As I was running along Ponsonby Rd**, I couldn’t help but think back on some words from Lee-Anne when she was kicking my butt into gear at one point…

“Do you know what I think when I see people out giving it a try and going for a run?”

“Oh look at that poor old soul, at least she’s out there trying?” I suggested hopefully.

“No! I think bloody good on them. I could never do that.

“And that is what nearly everyone else out there is thinking as well. They’re thinking, I could never do that. But you are, and that’s what’s inspiring everyone around you.”

And when I was running along Ponsonby Rd, past the designer shops, past the beautiful people in their designer black, carrying designer coffees and designer handbags, that’s exactly what I thought.

“Good on me. I am out here doing this. It might not look pretty, but I am bloody doing it.”

I did crack myself up a number of times as I came across the absolute stereotypical Aucklander (there is no place like home), but mainly I just enjoyed the fact that I was out there doing it - and getting myself closer back to the hotel with every step.

I cruised into Franklin Rd and here’s where the obstacle course comes in. Franklin Rd is one of the nicest streets in Auckland. Its very steep (I was going down) and is filled with beautiful old villas and lined with lovely old trees. At Christmas time all the houses have Christmas lights and you have to queue to get down there to have a look.

I had purposely chosen my route to end going down Franklin Rd because I thought it would be a nice finish. Wrong! Steep downhill is not easy, its actually very hard - and the footpath was an absolute mess! The trees are very nice to look at, but the roots are completely cracking up the footpath and I had to tread extremely carefully to ensure I didn’t end up expecting them in front of my nose. It felt like an age to get down that street. Again, very amusing.

I got back to the hotel and was asked by the concierge if I’d had a good run…

“Actually, not too bad,” I replied.

*(for international readers, Wh is pronounced (faka) - and yes, when pronounced properly it really does sound like that!)

**posh shopping/cafe area in Auckland

Well it was a hard week last week getting back into training after a week off with a cold.

I started off okay on Monday with a hard 60 minute walk that I managed to fit in with Toby at home with tonscillitis, and a great run on Tuesday.

But it all went downhill from there.

I felt like my cold was coming back on Wednesday so didn’t risk going out in the cold and wet that night for spin class - and I wasn’t confident I could actually do it!

Thursday felt much the same, but finally managed to coax myself back onto the bike for a solid wind training session at home in front of a DVD on Friday. I did an hour which I was pretty pleased with - and I certainly felt it that night!

Saturday I had planned to swim some lengths while Mike and the boys mucked around at the pool on Saturday. I was really feeling the need to have water around me. We got to the pool only to find the pool closed!!!

Arrrgh, the elements, my body and the powers that be at the pool were all against me last week. A fresh start this week. I’m off to Auckland in the morning for a few days of meetings, so have scheduled a run tomorrow afternoon at Cornwall Park, my old stomping ground, and a swim at the Tepid Pools in  town on Tuesday morning before meetings. Wednesday will be spin - and then I should be on a roll for the rest of the week. Bring it on!

By popular request, here’s a quick, short post on my AMAZING run today.

I spent the morning working with Irene from RATs (tri club) putting together the awards and photos for our annual awards dinner this Saturday night. Remarkably we managed to get the job done, despite my 18 month old running around and literally trashing the joint - sick, yeah right!

Anyway, after two days at home with Toby, Mike arrived home at lunchtime to relieve me so I could head out for today’s 5km run. I had last week off training under strict orders from Lee-Anne, and have been itching to get back into it this week. I re-jigged this week’s programme to use my 60 minute brisk walk yesterday with Toby in the buggy, but I couldn’t afford to muck around with it anymore this week.

So I literally booted Irene out the door (sorry Irene), frantically got dressed into my running gear, threw my ear pieces into my ears, grabbed the dog and headed out the driveway. Quite fast.

“This is interesting,” I thought. “I wonder how long I can keep this pace up.”

For over five kilometres it turns out!

It was definately hard going, and I was really feeling it, but I still had enough left to really put the pace on for the last 500 metres - I was actually dragging the dog, which is completely unheard of!

5.5 kilometres in 42 minutes. An absolute record for me and a good one to have under my belt. It’s nice to know I can push it a little bit and still get around the course. I couldn’t have gone much further, but I got there today.

I am completely shattered now though. I hurt everywhere and have to push myself out of my chair. But it’s a good tired and a good hurt.

Bring on spinning class tomorrow!

PS: update on yesterday’s blog post, the Reeboks rock! First decent run under their soles, and they are awesome. Very very pleased.

This is a post I’ve been trying to write for a few weeks. I’ve been planning it out in my head for a while, but it’s been difficult to put pen to paper - or fingers to keyboard as it were.

It’s about a pair of shoes. But it’s also about more than a pair of shoes.

It will probably come as no surprise to many of my friends that I’m writing about a pair of shoes. I’ve been eating, drinking, sleeping and dreaming about shoes for most of my life. Usually red ones. With a lovely heel. And straps.

But I digress.

These shoes are not heels. They are not red leather. They do not match my work suit. They are running shoes. My new Reebok Women’s Premier Road Plus KFS VI Running Shoes in sky and silver to be exact. They were ordered specially for me by the lovely Michael at Reebok. Or “that cool dude Michael” if you are my four year old son. Anyway, they are very cool. They fit great and they feel great, but they also look great. They even manage to make my very large feet look almost petite and refined.

I’ve been testdriving them for the past few weeks - well test-walking actually. They’ve probably got a good 50 kilometres under their soles by now. And they are great. I actually like them better than another brand that I bought earlier this year - under significant testing and podiatrist recommendation - before Ironjack was born. The Reeboks are seriously comfortable and my new orthotics fit into them perfectly. Better than the aforementioned shoes actually - I can now run and walk without squeaking my way down the road! They also have this fantastic, almost stretchy webbing across the shoe, kind of along the hinge that your toes make during the walking/running motion. The theory is that they stretch as you foot changes shape as you run - and also as your foot swells during running. Regardless of the theory, they actually work, I think that’s what makes them so comfortable. In fact they are so comfortable, I’m wearing them all the time! They don’t quite match my best client suit, but I’m sure I can find a way.

Anyway, you’re probably wondering why that was so hard to write. That part wasn’t. It’s the next bit I’m worried about.

One of the best things about these shoes is not the fit, the colour or the look. It’s the fact that these shoes help raise awareness of breast cancer. And that’s important to me right now.

A very close friend of ours was diagnosed with breast cancer around mid-April.

She’s around the same age as me, fit, healthy, generous, kind and gorgeous. She had some of her breast removed in May. The operation went very well and the surgeon is confident he got it. Originally, our friend was just going to have some basic radiotherapy and theoretically that was going to be the end of her cancer tale. However, further testing revealed that the cancer was a very aggressive form and was going to require a much more aggressive treatment. She has now started a six month course of chemo, which is taking a toll. She has already been hospitalised with a severe throat infection as the chemo has completely destroyed her immune system. The chemo will be followed by radiotherapy. So she literally has the next nine months mapped out in terms of spending days and nights in hospital. She also runs her own business and has a beautiful daughter, two fantastic step-children and an amazing husband.

This shouldn’t be happening to her. But it is.

I was devastated when her husband rang to tell me she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I had a number of big deadlines and lots of work to do, but I was a write-off. I couldn’t focus. I was so angry that this should be happening to them.

I drove to the pool, jumped into the 50 metre pool and swam two kilometres. The first time I had ever swum two kilometres freestyle. A week later I swam the King of the Bays, 2.8 kilometres in appalling conditions. I fought a lot of demons on those swims, but mainly I just focused on my friend.

My breast cancer story gets even more personal. My Nana found a lump in her breast just before Easter probably nearly 20 years ago. She had both her breasts removed within a few days. She’s still going strong. But it transpired that her mother died of beast cancer. Until then we had never known.

I have them all with me every day or every training run. Nothing I’m going through can even begin to match what my friend is living through every day. If she can fight this - and she is and she will - I can bloody well do Ironman.

That’s the story of the shoes. They’re going for their first run tomorrow.

Well life on the Ironjack quest just got a whole lot more interesting.

Firstly, I entered the Tauranga Half Ironman this morning. Gulp.

I was lucky to get in actually - it sold out in just 66 minutes! A new record for any event in New Zealand. There are 1200 competitors so that’s a massive effort! Congratulations to Sport BOP actually - the website didn’t event crash. So I’m feeling pretty lucky right now to be entered in this event. I’m also petrified.

My brother’n'law Ben also got in so it’s going to be a true family affair.

Secondly, I’ve got a real job. That is a real five days a week (and probably plus some actually), eight hours a day (and again, probably some more) job. For the past year I have run my own PR consultancy here in Rotorua. Business has been really good actually - considering we’re meant to be in a recession. But this very exciting job opportunity came up, and for a whole raft of different reasons, we decided to go for it. I will still do some of my consultancy work on the side, mainly just the writing side of things.

So suddenly I find myself with two jobs, two kids and an Ironman to train for. And a Half Ironman which is only exactly 185 days away.

Right, on my bike.

http://www.halfironman.co.nz/main.cfm

What a mission to drag myself out of bed, out of my PJs and out of the house this morning.

The kids are finally starting to sleep in a bit longer - I hate to jinx myself but number 2 seems to have reached a turning point in the whole sleeping thing. As a result, we are getting more sleep, and a slightly longer sleep-in in the morning, but we still want more!

Today was the second round in the RATs winter duathlon series. I had been really looking forward to the first one. I had done quite a bit of mountain bike training, and even though I knew the MTB section was straight up, I hadn’t done an event for ages and so I was looking forward to getting stuck in and leveraging the motivation that comes from doing an event.

Not this time! Rather than looking forward to the challenge of the uphill, I was absolutely dreading it.

But, deep down I knew that there was actually no way in hell that I wasn’t going to do it. That would be letting me down, and letting everyone else down as well.

So after a quick tweet (where I got my arse absolutely kicked out the door) I got myself sorted and on the road pronto.

Some serious motivation was required. A quick search through the CD wallet at the traffic lights revealed a crisis situation. My Live CD was missing! This was serious. I settled for The Killers instead and absolutely blasted my way to the mountain bike park.

I ran (yes ran) to registration - talk about just in the nick of time - ran back to the car (yes ran), got my bike and gear off the car and ran back to transition to get set up. No problem. I even had time for another quick run to warm up (yes ran again!).

The briefing was pretty basic - “its very wet and slippery up there guys, take care”. Great.

I knew it wouldn’t be a great run - I’ve been fighting a cold all week - but I did want to try and go a bit faster. Unfortunately the first stretch is an uphill - and it was very wet and slippery, and also quite rocky as the recent rain had washed away a lot of the sand and gravel, leaving behind a much rockier terrain. I headed out a bit fast, still a long way behind the pack, and immediately regretted it. I managed to get to my four minute “hump” mark and then settled into a better pace for me. The first lap was pretty hard going, but the second lap was much easier. And, I wasn’t last out of the run - I finally managed to pass someone - a sensational feeling!

I ran through the transition, collected my bike and out over the bridge.

“Ooooo, she’s good to sit down,” I said to Mike as I cycled past.

I got passed up the first uphill, but I knew she wouldn’t be in front of me for long. I haven’t been doing any mountain biking, but I have been doing spin classes with the triathlon club (RATs) and I was feeling significantly more comfortable - and confident - on the bike. And it immediately showed. I cruised past my target and reached The Wash very comfortably. I was hardly in my easiest gear, and it was just a great ride.

The long rocky road up was still long and hard going, and the long forestry section up was still wet, slippery and challenging, but I reached the top in a much better condition than the last time and the ride down was literally a breeze. I loved it! I knew more people doing the long course today and still had enough in me to whoop and cheer them on - and receive their words of encouragement in return.

I ran the bike through transition and headed out for the last running lap. Oh my god. Legs dead. It was a long upwards stretch but I still ran the whole way. Once I moved into the second stretch I had run out a lot of the soreness and actually enjoyed the last two thirds.

And I sprinted to the finish! First time I have done that in any event I’ve done this year. Fantastic.

Big thanks to Mike who managed to get both of the boys into the car and out to Waipa. And big thanks to Jane (mum-in-law) who took a wide detour from Tokoroa to cheer me on before heading back to Auckland.

Next on the agenda is Mike’s half-marathon in Auckland next weekend - me and my sister are doing the 10km.

Hopefully it won’t be so hard to get out of bed for the next one.