OH MY GOD!

I've just looked at the Elite people racing this weekend at Portugal at the ETU Champs (did I mention that already?!).... I kid you not both the world elite men and ladies #1's are racing in Lisbon.....!! Talk about fantastic! Can you tell I'm getting a bit excited!! It's going to be such a wonderful experience, watching the Elite's on Saturday is going to be mind-blowing... I mean most of these peeps will be competing at the Olympics... WOW!

Here's a link to the GB Elite team in case you were wondering who was racing from Blighty.

As for myself... Hummm.. yes.. what a laugh!! "TriGirl" no I didn't do an event to qualify for this little racey (luckily there was none or I'd have never been going!! LOL)... Qualification was through entry and experience "CV" which in my case was not a lot.. I've done 1 (yes just the one!) Olympic event thus far... so the aim of the weekend is obviously to finish!! LOL.... I'm am considerably slower then the last person in my age-group from last year, but, well, the experience is what it IS all about, and someone has to come last. Just wearing the flag will be amazing- you know what I mean!?! ;o)

As for other minor talk....

Today I cleared out the "cupboard under the stairs" aka the tardis.... I now have 6 pairs of old trainers for the charity bin... I kid you not.. 6 pairs... including my faithfull "Asics Laudreth's" from last season who saw me through my first half Mary... oh the memories ;o)

I also made a trip to the tip today... enough said about that!! ;o)

Get the impression that today was a bit of a spring clean?! ... Well if it's a bank holiday what better to do??? Ok maybe I could've done a bit of training but there were chores to be done... Including mopping the floor - which has freaked the cats out a bit.... so much so they seem to have already dirtied it with their muddy paws... Hummmm!!!

Ok - a short sharp blog - a bit like my run in the morning.. 30mins 10 easy 5*1'/1' intervals then 10min warmdown - can't wait ;o)

Oh but wait - did I tell you how much it cost me to fill my car with diesel last week....

£70.09

WTF!

Time to consider as many alternate travel options as possible. Running a car in this country is getting TOO expensive by far

Rolling Hills on a BEAUTIFUL day

Saturday - and finally (FINALLY) we had a glorious day. Sunshine and blue skies and NO showers!! I can't remember the last time I had such a nice day for a ride!!

Had arranged to go over to Leanne and Dan's where we were going to set about tackling some of the long distance route from the sportive, roads (ok lanes) close to them which we pretty much hadn't travelled before.

IT WAS GREAT!

Route was something like this;



It's quite hilly around there given it's the edge of the Chiltern hills and the Ridgeway
Still hills are good as my 70.3 is very hilly. Not quite what the coach had planned for me today (I won't tell him if you don't). But I figured the hills are kind of like intervals?! Believe me the second bike hill was an absolute killer!

I've managed to grab some images from the web of the kind of countryside we were in....

Lots of rape seed fields in full bloom;

In fact lots of fields!!

And we went past some amazing bluebells woods also in full bloom - just wonderful!

Did I mention the fields and rolling countryside;

Also saw the odd bird;This is a Red Kite - lots of those around the Chilterns!!

Just for good measure after we parked the bikes I ran out for a quick brick. 5mins PDQ (1k in 4:44!!!) then back slow/ warmdown

OBN: 64k 2hrs4min
ORN: 2.02k 11mins

This stage - where am I again?

Gosh....

So think I'm going to blog some pictures today;

Firstly a picture of me enjoying a nice cup of tea after last weekends sportive... please note I'm wearing "Atlanta Cycling" outfit, obviously purchased in Atlanta on my recent trip.... Obviously a case of all the gear and no idea...LOL

You can't really tell how dirty I was afterwards - my legs look a bit brown but this is dirt from all the splash back from my front wheel or Leanne's rear wheel...(did I mention the rain on the ride!)... Humm... I think Leanne got off a bit worse though as I really "got" her when I cycled through a stream coming down a country lane (she was riding right behind and got a shower from my back wheel!!):

Now, as my hairdresser will atest I'm not terribly good at pre-booking and planning my trips to the hairdressers. Typically I'll wait until my hair suddenly becomes wild/ out of control (or the roots are showing too much..lol)... Anyhow, I've been growing my hair a bit these last couple of years which means my trips to the hairdressers gets longer between visits. But this week I just had to go - my roots were not hinting through but were inches long - so thought I'd better had before people start getting my age wrong ...lol.... So last night I made a visit;

Don't worry - I didn't leave the hair dressers with the foils in!!! But I am considering this hairstyle... although I don't think it'll help the aerodynamics on the bike?? Hummmmm

Now what other excitement has happened recently... OH YES... THIS has arrived;
What a blinking laugh!! So the ETU Champs is next weekend... I am so going to come last in my age group but I don't care.. Us Lisbonkers (Jules, Angel and I) are there for the experience, it's going to be a blast! Not convinced that doing an Oly as your first tri of the season is a good thing, but too late to worry about that now!!!

OK as for training this week... Swim Monday (mainly drills as I was pooped and there was a lot of testosterone in the fast and medium lanes and I wasn't in the mood for a fight!!...lol...). Tuesday I took off as I was too pooped for words and I was supposed to do an hour 40 run... so I did that Wednesday instead in the pouring rain.. which was great actually and pretty much all off road (which was interesting given I wasn't wearing my offroaders.. ops). Great run until I got back to work to find the showers were cold - not that I knew that until the moment I plopped my head in!! BRRRRRrrrrrrrr!

Yesterday I should have swam or body balance but the hair appointment took over the evening and when I got in I just had to eat and then sleep!!!

As for the lasy 4 weeks - This was "pre-comp 2" and was a little patchy in places. Was supposed to have the race which got snowed off, had some good training in Hotlanta, but had too many bagel days (no training) once more.

In summary; 4 weeks 31 March - 27 April
Swim: 19.2k in 9hrs 52mins (avg pace 30:50/k)
Bike: 199.53k in 10hrs 53mins (avg pace 2:58/k)
Run: 58.97k in 6hrs51mins (avg pace 6:58/k)
Other: 30mins (oh dear!)

Paces are slower but think that's because I've gone longer on the long/ easy rides and runs. I've also uped considerably the run and swim which is great but at the expense of a bit of time on the bike.

May is going to be a tough month training wise. I've got the Lisbonkers event next weekend, flying out Thursday evening and back the following Monday evening. Then as soon as I'm back I'm almost off again - the very next weekend I've got a work trip out to San Francisco! We're flying out Saturday and expected to host customers Sat/ Sun before we have events Monday/ Tuesday. I'm really not sure how much training I'm going to get in - the work colleague I'm going with isn't terribly supportive of the whole triathlon thing and seems to have an expectation that customer hosting equates to time by the bar getting drunk. Now don't get me wrong I don't mind the customer hosting thing, I understand that - but please give me a choice over whether I get decide to get intoxicated or not... and why does she insist on this being a necessity? Really... If I choose not to drink then don't give me a hard time. GRRRRrrrrrr.... Anyhow, I think I'm more likely to be able to squash in some 30mins intervals sessions there then anything else and I may not be able to do that..... Would be ace for the hotel to have a pool in it, even if it's small I can do drills... hummmm.

Anyhow I'm out in the US for a week, although the last Thurs-Sunday I should be able to train a bit as the main body flies back on the Wednesday.

That'll take me to 26th May before I know it!! So I think this coming month the aim will be;
Keep up the swimming - as much as can given travel
Bike - Splattering of long ride when I can otherwise short rides/ intervals and bricks
Run - Splattering of long run when I can otherwise short run/ intervals and bricks
It'll be a challenging month!

I'll leave you with this;
One of the many cheesecakes from the cheesecake factory! Guaranteed a slice of this puppy will be more then the 600 calories!!!