Mark has been finding it tough to get in training hours lately. Work is very busy, he's had a foot injury since August and just recently his road bike fell apart. Not ideal when you are preparing for the 'Around the Bay in a Day' event (210km bike ride). However he somehow managed to get through the ride without any problems. It was a long day, battling strong headwinds for the last 40km. Mark not only finished the ride but has also pulled up well. Obviously still holding some residual conditioning from Ironman in March.
Mark now has his focus set on Challenge Melbourne (Half Ironman) and seems to have regained his training mojo. On Monday he did his first run since injuring his foot in August and also completed a swim session with very promising times for his 100m repeats. Followed by a ride into work on Tuesday. If he manages to keep this up, we could be looking at a Half Ironman PB in February.
Merryn completed her first Olympic Distance triathlon up at Yarrawonga. Not only did she complete the distance without any problems, but posted a great time and placed 4th in her age group. Her training over the last 3 months has been fantastic, borne out by the great result.
Elaine loved the break after London and took a little while to get back into training. Her first few runs were a struggle, so I decided she should run every day and her fitness soon came back. I have often found that run fitness tends to flow over into other sports and Elaine's swimming and cycling seemed to improve at the same time.
The weekend just gone, we spent 3 days up at Bright at the Bayside Triathlon Club Training Camp. At last year's camp Elaine rode half way up Mt Buffalo on the Friday and climbed Tawonga Gap on the Sunday. This year she climbed to the summit of Mt Buffalo posting an 8 minute PB. Had Saturday's ride cut short with a puncture, but climbed 20km up Mt Hotham to the Ticket Box, including the dreaded section known as 'The Meg'.
Merryn also attended the Bright Training camp. Up til now Merryn has avoided the ride sessions in the hills, but there was no escaping it at Bright. Riding up Mt Buffalo with Sarah, Merryn moaned and groaned the whole way up the 20km climb, but they both looked to be going great when I passed them about 5km from the summit and still looked good when I saw them at the top.
Then on the Saturday Merryn completed her longest ever ride - 110km including climbs over RoseWhite and Tawonga Gap. Even though the tough ascent up Tawonga Gap didn't start until the 80km mark, Merryn was still able to power to the top. Very satisfied, but also exhausted with her efforts, she decided to give the Mt Hotham climb the next day a miss and ran 10km instead.
Jen, who is training for Ironman Melbourne, was at the camp as well. Jen is very quiet, but like most quiet achievers she greatly impressed over the 3 days. Not only with her excellent climbing ability up Mt Buffalo, RoseWhite, Tawonga Gap and the whole 30km up Mt Hotham, but she also descended all the mountains like a pro as well. She rode the same distances as me for the weekend, but unlike yours truly, she also snuck in a 5km run on Saturday afternoon.
Back in Melbourne, Stef finished off her best ever week of training by riding up the '1 in 20' in the Dandenongs. Stef has set her sights on doing the Kinglake Ride. The 'Will Walker' hill in this ride is very similar to the '1 in 20', so she should have no problems completing this event.
Stef's work life has been ridiculously busy lately and training sessions have been haphazard at best. However a few weeks ago we sat down over a coffee and discussed her plans for the season. With a focus on ride events such as Kinglake and the Great Otway Classic, enthusiasm is back and she is training like a champion. Even her swimming is improving.
A new member Mick has also signed on. His official program will not start until a week after the Shepparton Half Ironman (he is training for Ironman Melbourne). However I have got him updating his training feedback now, and he has been training the house down.
The previously mentioned Bright Camp was awesome. But it wasn't all hard work as evidenced by the photo below of us enjoying some of the local produce.
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