The Art of Spinning!

So I am finally through the other side of the hardest week in my current 4 week block and into the easy week! At first glance on paper the week didn't look too bad but by Thursday I was more than happy to retract that statement!

There were certainly a few sessions in there that I had underestimated - namely Tuesday night interval bike class and my long swim which had a few descending efforts splitting up the longer sets.......mental note to self....never underestimate your ability to 'descend' your send off times during a 5km swim session! Towards the end it starts to become a little pathetic!!

The vital statistics for the week are 316km of cycling, 16.5km of swimming and 56km spent running! I had a rather 'bumpy' long run this week managing to catapult myself down 14 wooden stairs whilst out on the tracks of the Waitakere Ranges! Miraculously I 'bounced' down all 14 and landed in a massive mud slip - the only war wounds I had to show for my escapade were two small bruises and a scratch! I did however resemble a Mississippi mud pie for the remainder of the run and gave the residents of Titirangi something to stare at as I ran past the packed cafes with a face and body caked in mud!

On the cycling front I had a PT with coach Tony to review my bike handling skills and my cycling efficiency! It would appear that I am neither proficient nor efficient! Currently I am stuck in a mindset of pushing the biggest gear I can to achieve speed - irrespective of whether I'm faced with a flat or an uphill climb - I am well aware that this is not an energy efficient way to cycle and that my legs are often rather hammered by the time I'm dismounting my bike to run in a race situation but it has always been the more natural path for me to take! I am therefore attempting to cycle like a 'strength' athlete which from my build it is clear that in the long term this isn't going to cut the mustard!

My stronger system is my cardiovascular one so I need to start to make the transition away from smashing my legs to pieces and towards selecting an easier gear and turning my legs over faster drawing on my cardiovascular strength! Easier said than done! Consequently Friday morning was spent doing a few 'semi-torturous' exercises along the waterfront and up a few hills......I discovered a few 'new' gears on my bike that made different muscles hurt and my lungs work a little harder .......and Tony got the 'pleasure' of riding behind me and survived to tell the tale! At the end of the session I have to admit to feeling a little despondent - cycling with spinning legs made me feel like an alien had taken over riding my bike and it was a little overwhelming to think that this change was critical to upping my cycling performance! So a little reality check was required to shake off the feelings of despondency! I hopped onto the Ironman New Zealand website to look up my bike split from this year - cycling the course in my favoured big gears had produced the 11th fastest bike split of the day for females (pros inclusive) - first note to self - I don't totally suck at cycling - second note to self - if I can nail the spinning I can hopefully produce a faster bike split and run better off the bike - third note to self - it's time to suck it up, put my head down and work HARD on nailing art of spinning!

And so with that in mind it's time to hit the easy week, recover and recharge the batteries! The Capricorn Half Ironman is now just 6 weeks away and Kona just over 12! I've got the Run Auckland Series Half Marathon at the end of this week so it will be nice to line up for something a little more in my ball park for distance :)