Monthly Archives: January 2016

Sunday Funday

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Branxton around 7am

My morning started around 5.15am with my alarm going off. I snoozed for a few minutes thinking its to earlyyyy.

Done the usual brush my teeth and plait my hair before getting into my bike bib. I always have to do nervous wee’s before a ride so I leave my jersey to put on last.

Sheeva (my bike) and I headed out the door a couple of minutes past 6 due to my nervous wee’s. With two rear flashing lights and my front light I felt like i was lit up like a truck. Off we went.

The first few kms were a dream. Sheeva and I cruised along and got up the first few inclines ok. The weather was clear with a bit of fog.  Around the  15km mark is the Lovedale exit- the incline goes for well over 2km- maybe even 3km.. It just goes up and up and up but we slowly made it! image.jpeg

I was pretty excited to make it to Branxton at around 24kms-this would be my longest out and back ride with just Sheeva and I. I had a short stretch at Branxton before Sheeva and I set off for our trip back- it’s always quicker on the way back home going down the hills. Around the 30k mark I started getting uncomfortable and bored. All i could think of at this point was the song my sex is on fire.

I counted down the Kms to the Heddon Greta exit knowing that from there was only 2km home. I was disappointed I wouldn’t make it to the 50kms I thought I would although my brick ride was planned to be 1:45 and I was slightly over so headed home.

Oscar was pretty excited to see me get home but was disappointed to see me leave once I got changed and headed out for my run. (I got weird looks last time I ran in my bike kit- I’m working my way up to long rides in my Tri kit)

My run was supposed to be in zone 2 but considering that would literally mean me crawling on the ground I went by feel. I managed to do 5km in just over 30 mins so happy with that effort off the bike!

Todays training made me realise that a lot of training is purely mental- I know I can ride 50kms easily but pushing the mental barrier and sucking it up when I wanted to give up is what will get me thru race day. I’m certainly glad I was so far away from home so I couldn’t give up!

Heres to more lessons in mental toughness! 👊🏼

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Friday…

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I started the day by being dropped off at the pool with my bike. I done my swim set although it felt like I was fighting the water the entire session and more like controlled drowning.

The ride home was nice and I am finding my average speed is slowly increasing! Yessss!

Today I am tired. I’m usually OK with an early morning workout so I’ll just blame my UC for now.

Tomorrows planned workout is a 2.5 hour brick although I’m working 8am-5pm so I’m going to shorten to an hour. I could do it after work but I have another brick scheduled Sunday morning and that just wouldn’t work.. So up early again tomorrow! Can’t wait!! (Notice the sarcasm?!)

No pics of me training today so here’s one of me waiting on my next client.

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Peace! x

Cross Country 

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 So after my little tantrum yesterday about excuses I decided I would still go to cross country but walk the short course.
The start line,the heat of the moment and the day got to me and i ended up doing the 4km medium course. I took my GoPro so it was mostly running with some walking and photography. My legs felt fine and they are today too so I’m glad I gave them a little stretch out on the hills!

I’ve already done my training for the day- an interval trainer session. I thought I may vomit at one point but I pushed thru that knowing that my training now will pay off on race day. (Come on, I can’t get slower!)

Happy Days!  

How do you combat the excuses you give yourself? Leave a comment and let me know!

Ange x

Excuses

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On Monday I done my longest trail run in months. (11km) I thought I would be ok. At least 5km of that was downhill on a pretty rutted out fire trail. I also had my new Saucony Peregrine 6’s on. I felt fine running at the time but Yesterday my glutes were screaming. Today they are yelling- not as loud as yesterday.

So I skipped my brick thismorning- last time I trained thru pain, I ended up injured with a psoas strain for around three months. I’d rather prevent it happening again because that sucked so bad.

So two days off and I’m feeling like this is the end of the world. Like I’m not going to be able to reach my next goal which is the Coffs BCU Tri. I know I’m being ridiculous but I can’t help it.

I know I should swim. But I hate swimming. This is such a stupid cycle! If the pool were open 24 hours it would be so much better!  Now in just making stupid excuses…. 😦

Fingers crossed tomorrow I’m feeling betterand I can belt out a trainer session before work.

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Forced Rest Days Suck

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imageSo I think the above meme describes my day today.

Yesterday marked my 15th day in a row training (my program has me swimming on rest days). I also thought it was a good idea to do a 11km trail run- the longest trail I’ve done in months with at least 5 of it being downhill. My glutes are killing to the point I can barely walk 😦

So due to not being able to move my legs and both my arms being sore from two vaccinations yesterday I decided to be a sloth.

I slept in, had some breakfast, had a nap, had a look on Insta and had another nap before Grant and i went on an adventure out to the Vineyards.

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I feel like I’ve been so lazy. Tomorrow is a bike/run brick and fitting a swim in between work and cross country. Fingers crossed by glutes are happy again tomorrow! 😀

The Turtle Triathlete in a Nutshell

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Starting this blog is probably one of the scariest things I’ve done aside from my first Tri but I’ll give you a brief of who theturtletriathlete is…

  • Angela. 31. Lives in the Hunter Valley NSW, Australia.
  • The most genetically unathletic person you will ever meet.
  • Blonde. Very Blonde.
  • Mother of Oscar (the most beautiful pug in the world) image
  • Someone who was born with no navigational skills whatsoever
  • Diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis &IBS in 2013

I have never liked sport. At all. I done my best to get out of PE at school and for sport i would choose the easiest option- most of the time it was ‘walk aerobics’ which involved walking probably 4-5km in a pair of Doc Martins. I refused to participate in sports and swimming carnivals too.

As an adult I have joined several gyms with the intentions of getting fit. My longest consistent attandance at the gym would have been around 6 months- I’m not sure why i fell off that wagon! I also tried running a few times, only to get 200m up the road with shin splints and have an asthma attack. Sometimes I would try again the next day but mostly I would decide that I just wasn’t a runner.

 My parter Grant had done Ironman Zell 70.3 and was training for Sunny Coast 70.3. I had also watched him do Maitland local club race and I was in awe at how fit and inspiring everyone was!

So around July/August 2013 i decided I was going to train to do Maitlands short club race.  I had purchased a second hand TT from eBay and started the C25K running program (this is available as an app on both android and apple). I was also swimming at the local YMCA- managing to do a whole 25m in freestyle was a breakthrough for me! On top of being completely unfit I was also just learning to cope with my recent diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis in April that frequently likes to flare without reason.

Ulcerative Colitis is an Inflammatory Bowel Disease that is triggered by an immune response. At this stage there is no cure for IBD (crohns is also an IBD) but it can be managed with medications. I could tell you all my symptoms but it might be oversharing for the time being. If your feeling curious feel free to google it.

To look back now and say I was unfit then was an understatement as I still say I’m unfit!

Race day come around in September 2013 and I completed my first short course Tri at Maitland Park with Maitland Tri Club (250/11/2). I’m pretty sure I cried on the way to the finish line. I didn’t think I would ever have the fitness or mental strength to do something so epic. I’m sure my time was probably one of the slowest on record- but I finished something I set out to do.

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So fast forward to now- I’m currently training for the BCU Coffs Tri which is an Olympic distance, UTA pace 22 and Challenge forster later in the year.

I read a quote on Instagram not long ago- “doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will”. I now have this as my phone screensaver- I am constantly doubting myself and need to remember if i train right and set my mind to it, I can achieve my dreams.

Follow my journey on Instagram

Happy Running 🐢

xox