Marathon Preparation & Execution

Marathon Man.

It's been a long and tiresome road, and I'd like to apologise for being offline for a while. Early starts at unfriendly times, running in the rain, wet feet and gel farts (from electrolytes) have been keeping me occupied recently. There was soreness, aches, pains and days of seemingly endless dehydration and thirst. But the journey to prepare for my first marathon was massive. It was a personal endeavour of epic proportions. It was, however, more than I had ever told anybody, and now a few days after completing my first ever marathon, and the legs are back to normal, I'd like to share.

The decision to run a marathon was not something I'd suggest taking lightly. You gotta prepare yourself in every possible way. Yes there's physical conditioning; strength training, stamina training, speed work, hill training, short runs, long runs....pace runs, time trials and well miles and miles of heart. You gotta be aware that its not just the running. It's far more than that. You need to also consider the mental preparation that you need to do - you need to force yourself to run, even when you don't want to. You might not like the heat. You may hate running in the rain.  You may not like early mornings, or hours and hours of time away from loved ones. You might doubt yourself, but whatever it is, you need to prepare yourself, and get over whatever you don't like, or usually avoid to prepare.

For me, running every weekend in the rain, most evening in the dark and spending hours away from my darling wifey, were the hardest. Sure I'm an ex-pom and I'm used to the rain, but it's physically draining, plus you get more friction from your clothes and skin, your at greater risk of trips and falls and injuries - so it's pretty de-motivating some times. It's those times I reminded myself of the reasons I chose to do this seemingly insane venture. It was also most prominent of me to remember those immortal words of Michelle Bridges (who incidentally was the head coach for the Blackmore's Sydney Running Festival) 

"JFDI - Just Freaking Do It".

My Reasons

So, what was it the pushed me through all those hours, kilometres and seriously chaffed legs (and arms)? In truth, I did the 42.2km run to test my resolve, to prove to myself I could do it and most of all I wanted to earn my Bateman running stripes by completing the cycle. Throughout my entire life I've had the pleasure of watching my parents complete every type of running festival except the marathon, and they completed them together. For one reason or another, it was a challenge to great and maybe too risky for them to attempt, and I decided that as their son I would take up the challenge and complete it on my family's behalf. I wanted a Bateman from my family to finish a marathon. It's probably silly to hear, but my parents blessed my marriage to Winnie with a very special gift that has been with them on every run, my mum's wedding ring. I now wear this ring (7 sizes bigger) as my own wedding ring, and so carry the weight of their love. I also carry (closely to my heart) the experiences that have made this ring most precious to me. It needed the marathon and it now has that too. It's up to me to add the next new experiences! 

I was told by a cardiologist that my heart operates like a marathon runner's - not bad for an out of shape fatty, but I couldn't believe that until it had run a marathon....NOW I have a marathon runner's heart, which incidentally beats very slowly, but very powerfully.

In terms of my resolve, I needed to see this through. I needed to know if I could actually do it, and if I could actually do it well.

I'm a distance runner.

I've been trained to keep going even when it's hard.

When it hurts, When it sucks.

When I don't want to

I look past it.

Relentless forward progress to the finish.

Call it what you want:

Stubbornness, Endurance, Determination. Guts.

Deep Down,

I don't know how to give up.

(and its always worth it in the end)

Preparations

Well, if you've been following this blog I've been preparing since the start of this year. I ran when I posted down to Melbourne, I ran at every opportunity and I spent a lot of time getting ready. I invested in proper running shoes and socks. I made sure I had good running clothes. I tested compression technology. I tried "Skins" and "2XU" products and I reviewed them, determining that 2XU are way better than skins. I was forced to learn and adapt myself to understand, and apply basic nutrition for runners and how to 'feed yourself' on the runs. I instigated the assistance of Iron Ray and researched glutard friendly electrolyte gels and  supplements for recovery. I planned my runs, and used tools like Map My Run and Garmin Express to keep up with my progress. It's been hard finding the time to write on tho blog but I've kept notes and now I'll elaborate!

Learning to chow down on energy providing foods, slow release carbohydrates, fast release proteins, energy and electrolyte drinks, gels, chews and the methods of carbo-loading building up to the big runs and eventually race day was one of the toughest elements. Get it wrong and you get cramps, indigestion and dehydration. Get it right and you run well, but still have to go through the ringer to train for all the other potential risks!

I found on the long runs two things that took a lot of planning that really contribute to my marathon:

Coconut Water and Electrolyte Chomps! The Coco-water was great, but I needed to run with it and the chomps needed to be timed and not just munched on for fun. I developed a routine of one chew every 15 minutes after the 60 minute mark. I then added the extra carton of coco-water at the 25km mark..my only issues were how I was carrying all this and trying not to spill the sticky-coco-water as I sipped it on the move...I was pretty tired of sticky hand syndrome (plus I felt like I was wasting precious electrolyte) so I developed a novel tool to assist me.... a straw! I pierced a straw and sipped it down like a boss! It did however take me up until race day to work this out!

Also, learning the benefits of compression tights, I realised that keeping them on post long-runs was a must for at least 30-45minutes to ease the soreness, and it worked very well for me.

In the course of 9 months or so (give or take a few weeks) I managed to clock up 413.89km of running training, thats 41:12:07 of running time and that doesn't include the time spend training in the gym, pool or on the bike. All my training has been for my three goals, but each one was building for this: 100km cycle (leg and core strength, cardio endurance and fitness), City2Surf (legs, breathing an nutrition planning) and then the marathon!

Race Day

How I put it to my friends and family: "I'm gonna finish, but I wanna be under 4:30 hrs"......

How I thought it: "I hope I finish it, If I do I wanna be back under 4:00 hrs"....

How it went: "crap I'm running too fast, JFDI, hang on I just passed 30km...crap look at that - Pyrmont Bridge....gulp....my legs are not gonna like that...." 

How I pushed through: "I'm gonna sprint finish...what's the worst that can happen...crap there's people who know me, run faster, faster keep pushing don't give up...."

Cue the Rocky soundtrack....

Finished. Jump up and down...hang on, legs can't jump. 

Here's the stats...

Distance: 42.2km

Time: 03:55:55

Average Pace: 05:35min/km

Calories Burnt: 3004 Calories

Average Speed: 10.7km/h

Max Speed: 61.1km/h

Average Heart Rate: 158bpm (85% of Max)

Max Heart Rate: 181bpm (98% of Max)

Link to a couple videos: Click Here :) and enter my Bib Number 13762 or Garry Bateman 

and watch the three short videos of my run! Im the beardie dude in turquoise singlet and 2XU Tights! 

Day 56 - The Week 9 Intensification Process!

Not Long Now...

Yo! How ya going? What an amazing Monday. I thought it would be a great idea to give week 9 an injection of energy, focus and well, something a little more intensive. Plus, I'm highly motivated by the simple fact that I am going home to my wonderful wifey this weekend... 4 More Sleeps :)

How exciting....

Intensification

So, in an effort to up the stakes on this my 56th day, after such a big weekend of achievements I decided to do a morning workout that meant very little breaks and a whole other level of work.

Last week's back workout, although tough, seemed a little like it needed more. So, I decided to couple it with abdominals. How's that any different? Well, instead of back, back, back then abs...I decided to go back, abs, back, abs...no breaks. So after each set of back, I threw in a set of abs. Just because.....

I did a little research on back exercise routines last night, and decided to revamp the whole routine. I started with four sets of axle dead lifts to warm up, I managed to get to 55kg on the bar (75kg total)... After I got stuck into the new plan, with reverse grip bent over rows (with the barbell), with roller abs using the same barbell between sets. I did 4 sets of 8 reps of each, increasing the weight each time to a maximum of 30kg (until I get my technique perfect) - this is actually much harder than it reads....

I set the barbell up using the floor plate (landmine), then conducted sets of T-bar rows, with Landmine 180's between sets. I needed to drop the weight each time for the land mines, but got to 45kg with the rows, and was working up a sweat on the land mines on 30kg! 4 Sets of each later...I was feeling the burn!

I continued with Lat Pull downs - wide grip and narrow, before moving onto the cage farmers walks - today my farmer's walks reached 110kg (new PB). To finish my workout, and since time was getting sparse, I knocked out back hyperextensions, coupled with leg raises and knee crunches. I then punched out 4 chin ups, before moving into the hanging knee crunches and retractors to finish... all 4 sets of 8 reps each... Boom, another 75minute burnout! 

Not to be out done by this morning's effort, I wanted this evening's workout (predominantly cardio based) to challenge me. Subsequently I opted to do a 30 minute leg workout. I incorporated Smith Squats, Leg Press, Hack Squats, and Calf Raises.. I felt a little twinge in my calf so moved to the cardio part.... Incidentally, I PB'd on leg press tonight (180kg), which is another indication that my endurance and strength are really improving....yay for me!

Bricks

So, as you know, one of the new training tools to help me train for triathlons, is the brick session. So, I decided to do an out of sequence Bike then Swim. Since my pride and joy is packed for her trip home, I opted for a 30 minute spin, followed by an attempt at a speedy swim...

So, after a little leg stretching I jumped on the spin bike. 30 minutes later, feeling very comfortable I pulled up having travelled 15km. Nice. I quickly got changed and jumped in the pool. Now, I wanted to work my speed so I thought, hmm a snappy 500m to finish? I was aiming to finish in 15 minutes or less.... However, with my arms burning, and perhaps a little additional blood flowing in my legs I worked particularly hard to complete the swim. When I touched the poolside and stopped the clock, it read 09:52, my fastest lap was 01:06, and 01:58 per lap average. How funny, my best ever!

Days 46-48 Rest, Reload & Ride

Lots of Rest....

After my fairly intensive Thursday, I found myself using my rest day to its fullest, sleeping and enjoying a day off on Friday. I ate some yummy squares of chocolate, and rewarded my big week of training.

Just a couple of squares....

Saturday, wasn't a good weather day, so no good for long runs or rides thanks to the addition of wind gusts. So, I used my additional rest day to buy some groceries, relax at a little French Cafe, and chill out. After all, it is just as important to rest your mind as well as you body.... Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! I also took the opportunity to load up with some healthy carbohydrates, in the hope that I might get to burn them off at some point over the weekend....

Biggest Ride Yet

After a slow start, and a later than normal wake up, I decided (since the sun was shining) to take a ride. Since my first road cycling milestone is to ride from Crib Point to Frankston, I decided to give it a stab. I really wanted to use my new quick disconnecting Garmin bike mount, and see how easy it was. Full visibility of the displays, ease of connect / disconnection on the mount and just the level of cool this lifted me to, made this so worthwhile!

I headed out from Crib, toward Hastings, turned off the highway just prior to Tyabb and cut across the peninsular toward Mornington. As I approached Mornington, I turned onto the highway in the direction of Frankston. I shortly after turned off the highway again, and in my infinite wisdom, took the turning for Mount Eliza.

Not knowing the elevation of Mount Eliza, I continued ahead (in hope of a good view of the peninsular).... In the few kilometres that were between me and Frankston, I started to feel the burn.... Incline getting steeper I was up out of the saddle, in the small chainring on the largest sprocket of my gears...basically as loose as I could get it....on and off the saddle I went, moving very slowly. The long, winding climb, never seemed to end.... Eventually, after what felt like forever (in reality around 15 minutes of riding), and as I saw my heart rate reach the highest I've ever seen it rise, 175bpm (95% Max HR), I saw a black BMW pass me and almost instantly disappear in front of me...

"WOW!, that must be some freaking awesome decline I'm about to riiiiiiiiiide! Yeeeee-ha!" 

As I sped down hill, in the drop bars, I saw my speedo on my Garmin 910XT reach 63kph! Oh yea! So speedy! That was a pretty awesome reward for the hard climb. As I continued to speed past Frankston, I had a thought....I'll just turn around at Seaford.... As I passed Seaford, I thought I'll be okay until Edithvale....then at Mordialloc I thought about pushing onto Black Rock. So as I reached Black Rock, and 60km travelled I pulled a u-turn and headed back toward Mordialloc. I stopped at the "Tour de Cafe" for a little rest. This place was awesome. There were purpose built racks to 'hang' your bike by its saddle, and it felt safe enough to just leave it there! 

Tour de Cafe

The other awesome thing about this place was that they not only sold coffee, food, but cycling fuel - bananas, electrolyte and carbohydrate gels, energy drinks and lots of other cool stuff like that. It was a haven for all those cyclist coming from Melbourne, or like me, from the south. With a lovely marina view, and the sun in my face, I enjoyed a cappuccino and a banana for $5. The Dextrose gel (cola flavour) which I got for $5 as I left, perked me up on the way home.

As I sat there, contemplating my return to Frankston, and the potential for butt-soreness if I went any further than that, I munched on one of my GU Chomps (which I brought in a ziplock) and downed a swig of coffee....BUZZ! Game on! After a few minutes of polite chit-chat with an older fellow rider, I jumped back on my trusty Cannondale and head on my way. I return the 20 odd kilometres to Frankston and pulled up at the train station, just in time for the next train to Crib. Perfect. After such a great day out on my bike, I feel like I've worked my body from head to toe! - especially my hip flexors and thighs! So, my first time beyond 80km and I feel good - 83.94km in 03:22:52...plus I was riding all by myself. I'm very happy with that result :) Even if I am writing this post a little after midnight - I called my Mum back in the UK to wish her a happy Aussie Mumma's Day! Did you call you mum tod?

 

Well Look at that - Max Speed 63kph, Max Heart Rate 175bpm, Max Cadence 123rpm!

 

Balls

After dinner, and a little more work on my engineering service paper, I decided to watch some movies and make some Protein Balls. This week I plan to use them to prevent me snacking on bad snacks, and to hold-off hunger. My 'balls' are simple, they're made up of almond meal, chopped dates, shredded coconut, Mayvers peanut & cacao spread, coconut water, ground cacao nibs and a generous scoop of Casein protein powder. All mixed, rolled and squished together, by my fair hand to produce an epic tummy filler of healthy goodness!

I'm pleased with the outcome, 7 days worth (2balls per bag) plus some spare to give to friends! 

Sharing is, indeed, caring!

Day 45 - Resistance & Run

Thursday was another early start, racing down to the gym to get stuck into another workout. 

I smashed my pre-workout drinks and sent myself with renewed vigour.

Absolutely Arms & Abs

Continuing with the weeks' theme of compound exercises first, followed by selection of tweaking isolation exercises, I got stuck into arms. Starting with Biceps, I pushed myself through some dumbbell work, then grabbed the biceps bar, chucked on some green disks (10kg) to either side of the bar and got involved! I maxed out with 4 reps of 17.5kg on each side (total 35kg), which was around 5 sets (the previous sets were 10 reps, then 8,8,6) then moved into a second blast of 3 sets with 10kg on each side, doing the barbel slide - from hip to chest to finish my biceps off.

After a quick set of triceps with the dumbbells and set of tricep dips (off of the bench), I moved to the cable crossover. I like using the cables for triceps; I can do over head, and pull downs - plus I can interchange from straight bar, to ropes to really work the entire muscle. Love arms day! 

After burning through my arms session, I gave myself a good going over in the abdominal department - with hanging knee crunches, leg and knee raises, farmers walks, overhead holds.

Not bad for a workout that lasted 60 minutes!

Resistance (is futile) Circuit

After the arm workout I was totally warmed up and ready for RAN PT! Which, as it happened by lucky coincidence, turned out to be a resistance circuit. So, more of the same...well, not quite. Partnered with Mr Peds, the objective was a partner 100 club. The following exercises were to be worked through: Bicep Curls, Squats, Lunges, Overhead Tricip Dips, then high knee sprints, star jumps and burpees. Peds and I shared the load evenly and worked together to get as far through the workout as possible during the hour. We were mid-way through the 100 reps for burpees as the session drew to a close. Not bad, and another well worked team effort with Mr Peds!

Night Run

After a full day of work, and prior to commencing some crash study for Friday's exam, I decided to head out for an early evening run. Another longish day, causing some minor procrastination, held up the start of my run for a while. I set of on the long run, headed for Somers - and I nearly made it there too....except sunset and the lack of street lights put an unexpected turn-around point in my trip....Running the remaining 50% of my run, in the dark employing my red arm light and my iPhone for direction was an interesting experience; one I'd prefer not to repeat, for safety's sake!

I ended up running 18km all up, nearly the half marathon I'd been aiming for....

Not a bad Thursday.

Day 33 - Mega Session!

Saturday - Train Hard....

...You know the rest. Just be the best (you can be)...

So, after the long and exhaustive (and slightly alcohol fuelled) day of ANZAC 2014, I got up a little slower than normal. Still made it in time to get the first train outta Crib, bound for Melbourne.

My plan - Train Legs at Fitness First's new platinum gym on Flinders Street, collect my bike from Cycles Galleria and come back to base. I stuck to my plan and gained more than sore legs...

LEGS DAY!

Arrival at the gym at 1000h was nicely done. I had jumped off the train walked around the block (Swanston, Collins, Elizabeth, Flinders Streets) and smashed down my pre-work out drink - it was good warm up walk which was followed by some quick dynamic stretched as I changed into my gym gear. I have to say, the new gym on Flinders is wicked - great facilities, great people - check ito ut even as a guest its worth it.

I went up to the "big boys" area of the gym since it was quiet, and did some free-squats to get my legs in shape, then headed over to the new leg press machines. I was feeling really focused and very strong in the leg dept today. My confidence with legs has never been great, especially since recovering from my torn hamstring during NEOC last year!  After a quick 20kg warm up set of 15 reps I did 5 sets (12 reps, 10 reps, 8 reps, 10 reps, 12 reps). I reached a pretty good weight in set 3 (for a novice) - 140kg, and felt comfortable, then on the 4th and 5th sets I removed 20kg each set.

I returned to the squat rack, set up a 20kg barbell with 15kg on each end in preparation to do squats. At that moment a massive dude came in and jumped onto the rack next to me, my image in the mirror was lost to his huge size, so he offered to alternate his sets to allow me to use the mirror so I could work on my technique - he was called Ryan, a cool guy. The dude he was training with (well there were four dudes and pretty cool chick actually), Kieran, offered to coach me through a legs session and so I joined in with the group - learning heaps! Kieran continued to assist me with my lifting tech and showed me some new moves, which I'll be sure to include (since they really gave me a great workout today).

After squats, reaching around 90kg on the bar (45kg each side of the barbell), I moved to calves and really let rip! I wasn't going heavy, but I was really enjoying the larger pyramid sets. I returned to the barbell on the squat rack. I loaded up my barbell, and after some guidance from Ryan and Kieran, I did two types of dead lift. The first set of dead lifts was a glute strengthening dead lift devised by an American trainer from Winnepeg! Ainsley McSorley has an entire Glute exercise regimen, but I incorporated just a few of her routines today, to test the water. This dead lift was a barbell Romanian dead lift. The smaller movements in this exercise really tweaked the hamstring and really worked my core. I only lifted around 50kg all up, but I could really feel it work my legs. The second, given by Ryan, was a full dead lift - amazingly he was lifting 230kg, whilst I was lifting around 70kg! Still, I'm new to legs so I was enjoying the coaching and technique development!

After a quick set of Ainsley's Squats using a fit-ball against a wall, performed slowly in 3x15 rep sets (which burned so much in my quads), I grabbed a 25kg bar and performed a set of my own 'crazy lunge pyramid walks'... lol. 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1 reps on each leg, stepping forwards on each set. After travelling around 20-30m and covering 43 reps per leg, I stopped, turned and returned to the start point. I did three sets of these, each time with about a minute or so rest between each. Kieran guided me on my posture during the lunges, and really assisted in pushing me through what ended up being a really intense leg burnout! I concluded my legs workout with  hamstring curls. I performed these on a machine, doing 8 reps each set. I started at 30kg, then 60, 90, 120, 150, 170kg. My legs were actually shaking as I stretched and hydrated!

Chest Builder

I was working hard, feeling really charged up. I enjoyed the workout and was going good guns. I decided to push my chest sets a little harder and longer. I started with the inclined chest press bench. I continued with pyramid sets. I lifted 50kg x 10 reps, then 70kg x8 reps (for 2 sets). I started feeling the struggle of lifting without a spotter, and (low and behold) Kieran appears to give me the encouragement I needed....I then reduced to 60kg for a fourth set of 10 reps. I finished with 50kg for a final 12 reps! As I moved from inclined to flat bench, with awesome energy and motivation, I repeated the same sets and weights - my chest was really surging and I felt like I had started to build on my normal chest workout. I concluded my bench workout with a slow, arduous declined chest press. I started with 50kg, then upped it to 60kg. I then added 2.5kg per set, until I was at 70kg, each set being 8 reps long. This really made me feel the burn!

I left the "big boys" area and headed to the cables and dumbbells for conclusion of chest. I did my normal pectoral flyes and added a set of dumbbell inclined flyes to finish. My chest was done for!

Final Burnout

I went down to the open area to do abdominals and my new burnout. I started with the burn. I picked up the 10kg tubie thing with handles, and did the arm burnout I mentioned on my recent arm workout blog.I did two sets of around 3 minutes, feeling stronger. I obtained two 32kg kettle bells to tweak my obliques before heading on a short walk (farmer's walks to strengthen my abs). After two laps of the gym, I remembered there was an actual device to do farmer walks using free weights. Utilising this, I walked 25kg per arm back and fourth in the astro turf area. On completion of the farmer walks I finished with some lower abdominal lifts and left for a needed shower. I left the gym at 1320h... lol :)

After replenishment of aminos and protein drinks, I headed to collect my bike. Shortly after I was eating a yummy steak and fries with a well earned coffee for lunch.

Another big, educational day with lots of energy spent. Time to sleep!

Day 6 - What Goes Down...

What a fantabulous day I've had!

I hope your Saturday has been equally fulfilling, satisfactory. I got up this morning, made a few edits to yesterday's post and added some cool photos from last night's mess dinner and got on with my day. I have been totally motivated all day.

Day 6 - Something a little different

I decided to don my cycling gear and go for a nice long bike ride, I haven't explored much of the Mornington Peninsular since my arrival in January and this is the best way I've found! I jumped on my bike, which by the way is my new super-cool Cannondale Caad 8 and headed off-base….

My Bike

Being the chary sort of Naval officer that I am, I felt a compelling urge to take my self to the namesake town of my old NEOC 49 Division, Flinders. Incidentally, NEOC 49 was that last time Flinders will be used to be a Divisional name. 

 

Flinders is approximately 25km South-West of HMAS Cerberus, fairly easy to get to if you follow the Frankston-Flinders Road. Now, I'd never been to Flinders, and thought I could make an adventure of it,  to ride and explore, whilst doing a nice gentle cardio workout. I left my cabin with bike, dressed for action - my Garmin 910XT and HR monitor, my iPhone strapped to my arm ready to record to Map My Ride - I like a double source of data, for greater accuracy!

I jumped on my bike and set off….

What Goes Down.

Now, when I left this morning I was expecting to see some wonderful sunshine, the open road ahead of me and some breathtaking ocean views in a 360 degree panorama around me. I was not to be disappointed, but initially was concerned about what I might see. As I cycled out of the main gate to the outside world, I realised I was rather chilly due to the fog that surrounded me. It was 9am and still foggy? Oh well, I just ploughed on...

After reaching the Frankston-Flinders Road, in pretty good time, I was cruising downhill using a fairly efficient spin technique and enjoying warming, from the exercise and noticed that the sun was burning up the fog and now the views were starting to open up to me - Oh Yea! I could see a long gradual downhill section of road that seemed to go down as far as the eye could see…. Clearly, I was wrong. The road to Flinders was not all downhill, or even flat in places. My 'gentle ride' in the countryside was looking epic from the saddle I was sitting in.

Initial Countryside Vistas

The hills were initially small and not too taxing, but frequent. I was travelling fairly well - a good speed and not too stiff a gear. I knew to glide and pull my feet, utilising the cleats to their max on the uphill sections.  I also remained seated - I had read that sitting down meant a more efficient ride up hills… They didn't mention that it takes a lot of effort to sustain on long hills!

As the hills started to get harder, I could feel I was getting a solid workout - nice. My heart rate was steady, averaging 135 bpm, but climbing with the hills. After a while I got into the rhythm of the hills.  I was powering down the hills and screaming to the top (although it felt like a crawl up). I noticed early on that I was changing to an overly easy gearing too soon into the hill and subsequently lost some power. I soon stopped that! I knew I was getting closer, and the country vistas were changing to dramatic views of cliffs and ocean views that were truly stunning. With around 15km under my belt, I was gifted a ridiculously steep, long downhill section that allowed me to really get my 'speed on'! I notched up my fasted downhill speed today - 72kph! However, what goes down…. must eventually come up.

Rolling Steep Hills

The hill up was equally steep and long, and I found myself in the easiest gear struggling and really working. My heart rate was pushing 150 bpm (which is pretty good for me) and as I reached the crest of the hill I could see the road far ahead of me…. (cue dramatic horror music) and the view ahead showed me something I didn't really wanna see…. about 5-6 more big hills just like this one! Two things immediately came to my mind - do I (a) turn around now, or (b) down this sucker and finish my ride to Flinders! I chose option B (as you might expect from me) and felt the literal burn in my legs, for the remain 5km or so…. It felt like 25km!

Before Descending to the Pier

As I spun my way into Flinders, I felt an awesome sensation to ride down to the pier and take a look, plus I would look awesome on my ride maps if it showed me riding down the pier, seemingly into the ocean! I didn't realise I'd be faced with 3 very steep declining roads to the pier! I went down anyway and rode my bike out onto the pier.

Stopping to take it all in...

Eventually….Flinders

After a short stop, and a comfort break I was back on my trusty machine, powering up those steep inclines and thinking only of one thing.

"Man, I need a coffee"

So, I stopped and ordered a short-mac, a milkshake and a slice of Gluten Free Orange Cake. I walked outside and joined a group senior citizens and their older looking dogs. As, I sat chatting to the gentleman closest to me, I found myself very intently listening to him, enjoying talking to someone new who could spin a story and was happy to while away a lazy hour. I enjoyed my coffee, the cake and my milkshake - loading up for the inevitable ride home. My legs were starting to get a little stiff, and the gentleman and his friends were just starting to leave - I promptly made to excuse myself from their company, so I could collect my bike, and go around the corner for a good stretch!

And Back!

After relaxing and listening to some local Flinders folk, I finished up and headed home. I found myself psyching myself up for each hill, then really getting into the aggression of powering back to base on a new found energy - even though my legs and my butt were getting sore!

Almost forgot, here's a few stats :- 

1. Round Trip Distance = 58km. 
2. Max Speed = 72kph
3. Average Speed = 21kph
4. Max HR = 168 bpm
5. Average HR = 135 bpm  

I returned to base around 1330h and gave my bike a quick clean, and then showered up and realised I had not only skipped breakie, but missed lunch too - so glad for my emergency supply of fruits and quinoa!

The rest of today has been spent relaxing, watching Dr Who (Season 5, if you're interested) and doing a little pre-reading for next weeks classes - Fluids Management!

What did I learn today….Well, if you want something go get it. If you are faced with a challenge you can either rise up and take it on, or not. I think just get the hell on with it and think a little less - you know you'll love it and you know you'll regret it if you turn back, so crack on!

I also realised, that I particularly enjoy listening to new people (old and young) tell their stories and share their experiences. That was a particular highlight. 

Time for bed, see you later!

Day 5 - TFI Friday!

Today is a little milestone, on what appears to be a long journey for me. Today marks 5 days of solid training and the highs and lows that accompany it.

This week I've pushed harder, sweated more and felt more driven. I've fallen off my wagon and got back onto it again. I've learned a few life lessons along the road, but mostly I've enjoyed it.

Early Morning Activity

Well, my take on Early Morning Activity (EMA) of any kind is that it gets your blood pumping, forces you outta bed and makes you focus before you head to work, or wherever you need to be later. EMA is as much about discipline as it is about forging a pattern, a way of being and getting fit. I also would like to think it stops me being lazy; and when that alarm buzzer goes off it should pull you from your cosy, warm slumber! You then have two choices:

1. Stay put and let your brain start to procrastinate (bad move)
2. Just get the heck out of bed and move yourself before your brain takes over and starts to try and reason with you!

I used to take option 1, now I make a really huge effort to take option 2. I hear the alarm go off, I turn on a light, check my phone, and roll out of bed. I then scupper around making my warm lemon water and get dressed for the gym. I walk out of the door knowing I'm on track.

Discipline

Thats nice I hear you say… He gets up early - whoopdie-doo! Well, this brings me to a point that is important to me - Discipline. It is vital. We wanna get ourselves feeling a little regimented first thing. We really like not having to think first thing in the morning, just do what is necessary before getting stuck into any work or activity.

Living a more disciplined lifestyle has afforded me so many things. Be being more consistent with what time I roll out of bed, I have so much more useful/productive time each day. Being strict with my diet, cutting out gluten for example, I find that I need to be disciplined and this ties in nicely with self-control! 

So, I'm trying to be more disciplined with this new routine of mine. Its helping me to create some new habits and its helping me to steer clear of the bad habits!

Focus

So, I find that these early gym sessions get me going. They help me stay focused for the rest of the day. Which is why, when I woke up this morning, I forced myself to break from my habit of revision, cram, revision (prior to my usual Friday morning exam) and I got up at 0500h and went to the gym. I did a shorter than normal workout - the purpose of my workout was to "keep the routine" and reinforce the new habit. It worked. I trained Back for 40 minutes and promptly returned to my cabin to shower and study. I felt more focused and this meant I could really direct my revision. Subsequently, I think I did pretty well in my exam and will be sure to do some form of EMA next Friday!

Legs!

After doing some housekeeping in my cabin - ironing my uniform and preparation for tonight's Wardroom Mess Dinner, I decided to take Mr P's (p for protein) offer of joining him for "legs day", and went back to the gym for a 90 minute leg workout - my first. I went through all the exercises with him, and worked within my body's limits, I listened to my body and gave it my best! I kind of enjoyed legs, so I'll be sure to maintain a day for legs each week! We did a whole manner of squats, curls, lunges and raises - and I knew I'd be sore tomorrow if I didn't loosen it all up a bit…so I went for a quick 500m swim. 14 minutes later I was stretching again! One thing I have to tell you, is I'm a self-developed freestyle swimmer and I only transitioned from Breast stroke a year or so ago… and today was the FIRST time I'd ever attempted (or even pulled off) my first Tumble Turn! I'll be sure to start adding that into my swims from now on!

Navy Tradition

Now, this post is being published late, so I felt it necessary to say why. Last night I was obligated to attend a Naval Tradition. Officers occasionally get the 'opportunity' to socialise in a formal setting known as a Mess Dinner. We all get dressed up in our 'Mess Undress' uniforms and attend a formal sit down (silver service) dinner with pre drinks, flowing wines and speeches. There's traditional things that go on during a Mess Dinner, and some of them date back to the times of Sir Lord Admiral Nelson, some new modifications to those traditions are also present. We had a formal "parading of the meat" (the stewards carried out the meat flaming on a platter), there was a lovely band playing, fantastic conversation with new colleagues and friends. There was a guest speaker, who had some very interesting stories about his career in the RAN, and some excellent advice from him to all of us! There was plenty of Port and that was awesome! I took a few pics (although I foolishly didn't get a snap of dessert).

I think its important to remember that being part of an organisation such as the Royal Australian Navy, and being a commissioned Officer within its hierarchy, that life and work are disciplined, but we have a lot of fun too (where appropriate). This was a fun occasion and its a major separator between civilian life and service. Thanks to XO for the event, and for sharing the fun of HMAS Cerberus' 100 years since commissioning with us.

HMAS Cerberus Commissioning Mess Dinner

Me in my Uniform

My Place Setting

Looking toward the top table

A View of the Vice-President

Shameless 'Selfie'

GF Tomato Soup

Sneaky Shot of Mr P

Beautiful Lamb Rack

This was and is the principle reason why I am posting this a few hours late! The function went on quite late, and then after sharing this experience with my parents (via FaceTime) in the UK, I was too tired to complete the post…. That does mean you'll get to read my Saturday (Day 6) post very soon too!