Wellington Trip - Xmas, New Years, and Roger & Anna's Wedding

Just to let you know that I've added a new album to my Web Album for our trip down to Wellington last month. Beware though, there are some scary people in some of those pics.

Don

http://picasaweb.google.com/sampossenniskie/WgtnXmasNYsRogerAnnaSWedding

Tawharanui Regional Park

I already mentioned that Tawharanui and how we stopped off there on the way back from the weekend up at Mangawhai. Though we didn't have time to explore the park, the Anchor Bay beach there was brilliant and we will certainly be going back again, being not much more than an hour away. The waves were good, perfect for some body surfing - though there were plenty of surfers as well.

I'll just let the pictures tell the story on this one....

Week minus 5: Testing

A big training week this one, with over 18 hours of training. The result...I'm bloody knackered!!

All made harder over the past couple of weeks by the number of distractions that have been about. Along with Brad & Sharon being up this way, James & Petra (from South America travelling companion fame) also arrived on these shores and stayed with us for the week.

Of course the 'distractions' are always self-inflicted. With Stu also up on Wednesday, we showed James & Petra the best pub in New Zealand (aka Galbraiths), but the six pints I decided to consume that night would, I'm sure, be missing from most IM training schedules. Needless to say, Thursday morning I was not quite up to heading out for my long run and this had to be pushed back to the evening.

But considering all the distractions (which are welcome of course), I still managed to put in a good week. The length of all the long training sessions have gone up - with a 3.5km swim, a 6-hour bike, and a 2.45 run. I also did make some sacrifices. While everybody headed up to Mangawhai on Saturday morning, I stayed behind to head out for my S/B/R combo training session. This was a 1 hour swim, a 2.30 bike, and a 1 hour run. That is my longest sea swim ever, and if I thought staring down at a black line for an hour was boring, staring down at a green nothing is even more so - and after an hour, damn those goggles really start to hurt. And because of the lateness of the high tide this weekend, by the time I headed out on the run it was in the heat of the day - so was a pretty tough session, but a successful one.

With everybody having fun up north on Saturday night, I contented myself with eating half a lasagne before getting up early (6am) on Sunday morning and heading out for my 6-hour ride (the longest time I have ever been on a bike). Another beautiful day, though it took a while for the legs to loosen up after the tough session the day before. Even though I felt pretty good, towards the end of the ride the body starts feeling pretty sore. It isn't easy making myself drop back down on to the aerobars when my back and neck ache and I'm starting to get a headache from being in the aero position. But it is one of those things you have to do as it does save a considerable amount of energy and/or time. It is also pretty hard to maintain concentration, and after riding 165kms and only 10 minutes from home, I only just managed to avoid some idiot going through a red light (and the previous night's lasagne ending up in the back of my pants)!

Eventually making it home safely, I then drove the measly 110kms up to Mangawhai to join the others for a bit of R&R - though a tip if any of you do find yourself in training for an Ironman, camping is not very restful! Nevertheless, with having the next day off - both in terms of work and training, it was Auckland Anniversary - it was good to be able to have a few drinks and catch up with Brad & Sharon, and James & Petra, who I haven't been able to see as much as I would have liked to. On the way back down to Auckland the next day we also stopped off at an awesome beach at Tawharanui Regional Park for some great body surfing.

The training schedule is pretty much the same again this week, so no rest for the wicked. I keep getting asked if I am target - but, to be honest, I've got no idea. I'm probably (I am!) well behind most, but hopefully I will be getting to some sort of peak fitness in 5 weeks time without my body wont be feeling too tired. It's hard imagining running a marathon after being on the bike for six hours, it is all a bit of an unknown. But that is what the training is suppose to do, so I try to just focus on the week ahead.

The Bumblebee

Well, here it is, the new member of the Possenniskie family....
It handles really well, is great for finding parks others can't get into, and is really economical - we got from Wellington to Auckland on one tank.

We've had it for a few weeks now and Anna really loves it (I've been permitted to drive it a couple of times). It is small, but you'd be surprised what we have been able to fit in it. Even my bike is an inch perfect squeeze into the back with the seats down. And having a 5-foot 2-inch munchkin in the drivers seats helps to fit those long-legged of you in the back. And in desperate times, there is even room for another munchkin in the boot....

Week minus 6: A milestone

Yesterday was a small milestone in my race to get ready for the Ironman (in less than 6 weeks now) - when I competed in a Standard Triathlon around Mission Bay. I was little concerned a couple days earlier when the remnants of a tropical cyclone was due to hit Auckland the same day, but it held off long enough so that it was perfect conditions for the race. Also, with plenty of visitors for the weekend, I am guessing that I would have been one of few competitors that had gone out on Friday night and doubled that up with a late BBQ the night before.

Nevertheless, I pulled myself out of bed 5.30am Sunday morning (I know - early!) and biked my way round to Mission Bay to register, giving Anna a few more minutes sleep before she came down with the rest of my gear. Squeezing into my wet suit for a quick warm up - and I mean warm, the sea was like tepid bath water - I readied myself for the start.

It has been a long time since my last triathlon, and the start was like a washing machine, with everybody jostling for position up to the first mark. I left most of them to it, as I wasn't really racing but using it as training for the Ironman. The swim course is three loops around a 500m triangle course, and it wasn't really until the second lap that you could have some comfortable space. I finally settled into a steady pace where I didn't need to push myself, but I was continually frustrated by the direction of my swimming. I was noticeably pulling myself right, adding considerable distance to the swim (that's my swimming line in the black). I estimate that I probably added another 100-to-200m to the 1500m swim. This is something I will have to work on for the Ironman, as the 3.8km swim will be more than enough already.

So not only did this mean that the swim took a fair bit longer than it really should have, it also meant that I exited the water towards the back of the field. Coupled with the fact that I wasn't racing through transition, by the time I got onto the bike course I had missed all the good bike groups. So I found myself riding most of the course by myself, or with some vultures hanging off the back of me. But this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as in the Ironman you are not allowed draft and will be biking by yourself anyway (as opposed to these events where you can). And I still managed to go around the 40km course in pretty good time, all to the calls of support from Anna and Angela from their table at a Mission Bay cafe

Having probably pushed myself a little too hard on the bike, and still annoyed by my swim, I charged out on the 10km run course and still felt pretty good. I managed to keep an OK pace but would have liked to have run a bit quicker and slowed a little on the second 5kms. At the finish I still felt pretty good, which is encouraging for the Ironman. My time of 2hr24min was slower than my other time on this same course of 2hr18min (and I ran that time with quite bad blisters), giving you some idea of my current state of fitness. But this was all about treating it as a training session, and it certainly had some value in that. For the record, my split times were:

Swim (1500m): 28min

T1: 2min

Bike (40km): 1.05

T2: 1min

Run (10km): 47min

The rest of the my training in the week went well - though because of the triathlon it was a lighter week than normal (as I didn't go out on my Sunday long ride). Encouragingly though, my long run (2hr30min) on Thursday went much better than the week before. I went out in the morning this week and it made quite a bit of difference, not being as hot and not feeling as tired at the end of the day.

Back to normal for this week, though with some more distractions (though, I wouldn't have it any other way). Hopefully this storm doesn't hang around for too long and we get back to the perfect weather.

Tiritiri Matangi

With Brad and Sharon up for the weekend, we wanted to showcase them some of what Auckland's got to offer. So on a sunny and hot (it got to 29 degrees) Rae, Tom, Anna and I took them out to the island of Tiritiri Matangi out on the Hauraki Gulf. 'Tiri' has been turned into a bird sanctuary, home to some of New Zealand's most endangered species - such as the Little Spotted Kiwi, the Kokako, North Island Saddlebacks, and the very endangered Takehe - along with other natives.









The small island is just a short boat ride from Gulf Harbour and we set out there on Saturday morning with picnic in tow. We decided to let the crowds disperse themselves around the island and settled down at a brilliant beach not far from the wharf. It was here that we were joined by Greg. Greg is one of 11 Takehes that reside at Tiri and he was a very noisy bloke. So much so, that though there are less than 300 in New Zealand, there was nearly one less, as Greg wouldn't leave us alone to eat our lunch.







After a cooling off swim, we ventured into the island for a bit of a walk. Walking over and through the other side of the island, we pretty much had the place to ourselves - besides the numerous tui's, saddlebacks, fantails, robins, and others. The sounds of the birds in the native bush - especially that of the tui's - was awesome, as were the views around the Hauraki Gulf. We returned to the beach for a much needed dip before one last walk where we saw the two-month old Takahe chick that recently hatched on the island. The only shame about the day was that we had to return on the 3.30pm boat, as we could have easily stayed longer.

Auckland, the best city...


...on this blog. Thus begins a new series looking at everything Dorkland has to offer and why it is this blog's favourite city in New Zealand. Against Dunedin's cold, I give Auckland's warmth; against Christchurch's homogeneity, I pitch Auckland's multiculturalism; against Wellington's centricity, I herald Auckland's diversity; and against Hamilton's....OK, we don't need to worry about Hamilton.


Tongue in cheek, yes; but also a showcase for why I prefer to make this city my home. Read at your peril....

The South America Albums

I've finally been able to go through all our photos (around 3500 of them!) and update the web albums for the trip. I've had a hell of a time, as one of the DVDs we had written got scratched and we seem to have lost 50 photos and 1 video - which doesn't sound too bad, but it is the one video I didn't want to lose, of the Blue Whale.

Nevertheless, as you will see there are still plenty of other photos....
http://picasaweb.google.com/sampossenniskie

Week minus 7: 'A beginning'

My first week of 'real' training has been a bit of a shock to the system. Which was a little surprisingly, as I effectively had a 3 day rest - with Roger & Anna’s wedding and then driving back up to Auckland? But my legs have been decidedly heavy and tired at the start of the week, but encouragingly got better later in the week – bizarrely, as my training sessions got harder.

To give you an idea of my training plan, this was my week….

Monday: The ‘short’ swim, involving descending sets - 3 x 200m, 6 x 100m, 12 x 50m - swum at increasingly quicker rates. Stupidly, I got my target split times wrong and ended up swimming a lot harder than I meant to - which might explain some of the tiredness in my legs.

Tuesday: The ‘short’ run, intervals again whereby I run three 8 minute spurts at a hard pace with (much welcome) 2 minute jogs in between.

Wednesday: The ‘long’ swim, which was 3 x 1000m sets. Also my ‘short’ bike, which is a 50km circuit I use that includes some climbs (impossible to avoid around Auckland) around the hills and One Tree Hill and Mt Eden (nice to have some views to take my mind off it all).

Thursday: This was my nadir for the week, the ‘long’ run. It was only for 2hr15min, but it was a struggle the whole way. The legs felt like they were filled with lead the whole way and I couldn’t get any rhythm. I am running my long runs quite slowly, as I read that this is better training for an Ironman. There is the obvious reason - that after a 3.8km swim and a 180km bike, you won’t be running very fast anyway! But, also, by running slowly you actually take more strides than you would if you ran a quicker pace. This increase in strides does more for hardening the body for what it will undergo on race day – and I think this is important for Ironman training, the purpose being more to prepare the body for the physical hammering it will take, than to work on fitness. But running slowly is very difficult and I was certainly feeling it in my legs (though I since calculated that I was still running at around 4 hour marathon pace). It also didn’t help that it was an absolutely stunning evening, and I was very jealous of all the people picnicking and swimming around the Eastern Bays.

Friday: Day off – yay!

Saturday: My first combo session – swim, bike, run. Anna drives me, the wetsuit and the bike down to the Eastern Bays where she gets a coffee and reads a magazine as I go for a sea swim – this week for 40 minutes. It’s always nice to get out of the lanes and not have to flip every 50 metres, and the water is very warm at the moment. Coming out of the water, I jump onto the bike and go for a 1hr30min ride. When I reach home, I then chuck on the running shoes and head out for a 50 minute run. Being the first time I had done this for some time, it felt very weird – like I was running on some else’s legs (and I probably wish I was). It took about 5 to 10 minutes before running felt anywhere normal. It also wasn’t helped by the fact that was damn hot. But at the end of it, though I felt tired, I also felt like it was a good overall session.

Sunday: Is my ‘long’ bike day, where I biked 135km. I took my favourite loop out east around Clevedon and Maraetai – past the now ‘infamous’ Caribbean/Thai coast. It was another stunningly hot day, which made it thirsty work on the bike, but a very enjoyable ride – apart from where I couldn’t find a tap to refill my water bottles. The riding feels pretty comfortable, so it is all about trying to get the body used to riding in the aero-bar position as much possible.

And so it starts again. This week is a bit different though, as I am competing in a standard triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run) on Sunday around Mission Bay. A good opportunity to go through the disciplines in race conditions, though I won’t be worried about my times, especially in transition. I’ll let you know how it went next week.

8 weeks and counting....

The countdown to the Ironman has really started, being less than 8 weeks away now. Spending the previous two weeks down in Wellington probably wasn't great in terms of preparation - far far too much drinking and eating (and hangovers) - though I did get the chance to concentrate on my running and am now up to comfortably managing two-and-a-half hour runs (as well as 100km+ rides and 3km+ swims).

To remind you of the challenge/stupity that is ahead of me for the 1st of March....
> Swim 3.8km
> Bike 180km
> Run 42km (marathon)

But now the training plan starts for real.

I like to go for a 'minimalist' training plan, so the weekly target is for a short and a long training session in each of the 3 disciplines, with an additional session combining all three. I will also be competing in a couple of events - a Standard Triathlon at Mission Bay on Jan 20, and a 3.5km Ocean Swim Feb 10.

I will post an update here each week to let you know how I am going.

P.S. For those of you who might be interested in coming up to watch a man ruin himself over the course of 12 hours+, there is room at our accommodation. At the moment, there are beds for two more people and I think there will be room for some blow-up mattresses in the lounge as well. So if you do think you could be interested, let me know (especially if you want the bed!). Obviously I wont be much fun before the event, and the start is pretty early on the Saturday anyway (7am), but I will be on the course for plenty of time during the day (and evening probably) to appreciate any support and will be looking to celebrate (I hope) on Saturday night - albeit from the comfort of a chair.