If I Had To Do It Again...

And I would... in a heart beat! But I promised Mat I wouldn't. It's his year!

But if I had to, here's some things I would change:

1. Equipment training. Get the equipment you are going to use on the day and practice in it. Change it if it isn't going to work and feel perfectly comfortable for the event!
2. Location training. Go to those hills and ride them, run them, cycle them. Paddle more, portage more.
3. Build in more recovery and cross training in training cycle. A macro-cycle of one week long slow distance, one week of speed and interval training, one week of maintenance and cross training, repeat cycle and then one week off, so you get a rest week every 6 weeks (adjusted depending on competition schedules). Actually, just thinking maybe that should be flipped around, with cross-training, then speed, then distance, so you rest after a distance week... only one way to find out which will be best! :)
4. Block training. Nail your transitions. Run then kayak. Swim then run then ride. Ride then cycle. Seems obvious, but practice with the gear you are going to use and get your transitions down to a fine art. Know where everything is, what order it needs to come out of the box. Stack it just so. Use it in that order. Be able to do it yourself, just in case you have to!
5. Nutrition. I was pretty happy with my nutrition planning. I had enough to eat and drink and never felt completely depleted. I was struggling a bit due to not being able to eat while on the horse, but I did drink and I wasn't completely destroyed. Practice with the food you use. Find what works for you and be consistent with it. Know that you don't have to use gels or gus or special drinks, that real food works fine too.
6. Preparation. I did good with this (except for missing my crop top, I had everything I needed when I needed it). Unless you have done it a few times and know exactly what you want and need and have packing down to a fine art, take the two days before. Plan everything, write a list, organise and recheck. Cook lots of food! Put everything in boxes for each transition and label the boxes. Let everyone who needs to handle the boxes know what's in them and what you need them to do with the boxes.
7. Recovery. Once again, I think I did well with this. Plan lots of food, plenty of time for sleep and rest, and massage and stretching. I probably didn't need to take two days for recovery, but am grateful for the second day, none-the-less, as it means cleaning up after the event is possible, and more naps and eating is possible, and there won't be any struggling through work.
8. Helpers. It takes an ARMY to support an Iron Person. There were 200ish teams, not quite 1000 competitors, and approximately 2000 support crew! That's a lot of people to help out! You need a team manager, you need to review the what's and where's, and the team members who are helping you need to know your expectations at each changeover, for example, "Meet with with a bottle of water, then I need the towel to dry off, then if you can put sunscreen on my back and shoulders while I change my shoes, I'll be ready to go." Clear expectations means that when you're adrenaline rushed you won't be puffing out instructions that might sound more like barking out orders. Also, trust that they have your back. Just do your thing and know that they are doing everything that needs to get done to make sure you can focus on your race. Trust! :)
9. Also, take good care of  your helpers! Organise food and drinks for them. They need to be strong and healthy to support you. Make sure they have chairs to sit on and hats and sunscreen and jackets too. Maybe some money for ice cream, if they are so lucky to be near an ice cream van. Yum!

Some discipline specific changes I would make are:

Run:

I was pretty happy with my running. But in training I did start to get bored with the long slow distances, and was struggling to get my distance over 12km. So the changes I would make are:

1. Use recovery macro-cycle: build long slow distances; build up speed in 5 and 10k runs with sprints and intervals; do hill climbs, stair runs, plyometrics, lunges, and other running drills to improve form, and keep it interesting.
2. Add off-road running.
3. Practice downhill running.
4. Make sure you are doing it in good shoes.
5. Stretch and do yoga to keep the muscles limber. I would love to have done about double the amount of yoga I did! It is good for a runner to be flexible!

Kayak:
Obviously, this easy point to make here is to actually practice in the equipment you are going to use!

1. Get good equipment. Try lots of things out, find something you like well before the event, and then practice in it lots. Even if you can't afford a flash kayak, get something you can afford (or borrow something you will be able to use regularly) and get on the water!
2. When you can't get on the water, do paddle at home in your living room. It really does help. Use a much heavier paddle than you will use on the day.
3. Go to the Blackwood River and train on it.
4. Practice getting in and out of the kayak quickly.
5. Practice carrying and dragging your kayak.
6. Cross train with lots of push ups, rows, tricep work (I have strong triceps and they were on fire after the paddle!). Chin ups and other lat work would also be a huge benefit. Wrist and forearm strengthening exercises will be of great benefit too.
7. Do pilates for core strength. Your back and core need to be in tip-top shape for maximum stroke effect. Get your obliques strong!
8. If your kayak has a rudder, pull up the rudder and practice paddling and controlling your craft without the rudder. You hear about this every year: rudder lost, kayaker can't control boat, barely or doesn't finish race.
9. Check your equipment before the race and have a back up plan! :)

Swim:
Fitness and some swimming ability alone will get you through the swim. But, there's always ways to improve!

1. In the case of the Blackwood River, don't wear brown-tinted goggles, as I did. It matches the water colour. And then you really can't see! Clear goggles are the way to go.
2. A wet suit adds buoyancy and warmth, but is not critical to the success of the swim, unless it's a really cold day.
3. Train in open water if possible, if for no other reason but to experience the distance for yourself before the race.
4. Train to swim about 2km in a pool, because without the rests and without pushing off at the end of each lap, you end up experiencing a much more challenging swim, even if you're going faster, because there is absolutely NO PAUSE button.
5. Practice running after your swim. Since you need to get up that bank, and you need to THINK after the swim, you need to develop your stamia beyond the 1km.

Horse:
Some of the things I mention here might be fairly specific to TK, but generally this is a harder and faster ride that is busier and has more people running out of control than is probably ideal. So you need trust and control with your horse.

1. Secure a strapper early. Lock them in. Work with them. Thank them profusely!
2. Expose the horse to lots of different environments. Go to endurance rides, social rides, ride in new places. Go to pony club, take him/her to different events. Let strangers handle your horse, take them to busy places, and away from them.
3. Work on control and TRUST. By trust I mean get the horse to trust that the rider does know what's best and will not steer you wrong, and get the rider to trust that the horse will listen, watch its own feet, and tell you when something is wrong. Do 'spooking' exercises, do group work, do alone work, get a good trainer you can relate to and work with your horse so that you know that when it comes to the day, he's not just fit, but will ride the ride you ask.
4. Build athletic and gymnastic ability as well as just stamina. Use the recovery macros-cycle mentioned earlier. Do long slow distances. Do some speed and heart rate training. Do lots of dressage style work, focusing on flexibility, strength. Do some jumping and in-hand work.
5. If possible, get a heart rate monitor for your horse so you actually know how hard he's working.
6. Always always always follow your cool down routine. Just starting the routine will teach the horse that the end is here and that he can rest and he'll be more likely to cool to requirements quickly. Practice this routine with your strapper.
7. Practice good equine management. Get the teeth done, worm, drench, and feed your horse appropriately. Get feet done regularly and make sure that you really trust your farrier, and that he understands the demands you are placing on your horse.
8. Separate your horse from a group, pull him up and make him do something different than his friends. Teach your horse that you are the herd, and he doesn't need the other horses. And, if you're lucky, you'll also teach him that he doesn't need to be first!
9. Practice riding in whatever you are going to be wearing out of the swim. Get it wet and ride in it. I got terrible saddle sores from my bike shorts under my pants. Wet rubber leg bands rubbing through onto the fender of the saddle made a BIG ouchie. I rode in my bike shorts in training, but not in them wet. What a difference!
10. Make sure your horse loads easily and that anyone can get him on a float. Practice loading with your strapper.

Bike:
I did alright in the bike, but there's heaps of room for improvement.

1. Get a decent bike with good gearing. I saw a few people doing this on mountain bikes, and they were working hard. Yes, they passed me, but that's not the point! :) Or is it? They had good gearing and knew their bikes. I also saw young Ryan on a very old bike that he wasn't very familiar with and didn't have good gearing and he struggled. He could have done the bike ride way faster if he had a better bike to practice on before the race.
2. Go to Bridgetown and ride those hills. Over and over again. In fact, ride it in reverse, too. I think it'd be even harder that way.
3. Use the recovery macro-cycle for training. Get some distance rides in, some hills, do some time trials, and a little weight training to develop leg strength.

So, now, in theory, you should be able to go out and do the Blackwood Marathon! Maybe see you there next year! :)

The day before

What a great day!

I woke up at 4:30am, and stayed in bed thinking and daydreaming until about 5:30am when I felt ready to get moving on some of the jobs I had to do today.

I made a list, I checked it twice... oh dear, I started singing a Christmas Carol! :)

And I turned my house a little upside down!



Gear Boxes

I have organised all my equipment for each transition. Food and drinks that don't need to be refigerated are in there. Changes of clothes and shoes, towels, face cloths, sun screen, gloves and helmets.

I marked my helmet with 418 in nice yellow electricians tape.  And did the same to the kayak.



I swear, it suddenly looks faster! :)

 
I also filled up 8 buckets of water for the horse. That's 160 litres. We hopefully won't need all 160, but I want to be sure we have enough. Steve & Jan are completely on rain water, and any way I can save them water the better. It has been a VERY dry year.

And kept baking and cooking and filling up my fridge.
It's just a little fridge, but wow, how am I supposed to fit all that into an Eskie? There is food on top of the fridge, on the freezer beside it, and in the oven on the other side! Sheesh!



Oh my goodness! That's stuffed!

 In the meantime, Mat went to pick up hay and do a few jobs to get the ute and float ready for travel. I made TKs feeds for the weekend, and then found time to do a load of laundry, wash the dishes and the floors and make a loaf of bread! I also packed all the weekend's food into the eskies. Yes, I did manage to make it fit. I suppose I wasn't taking everything in the fridge with us!

With that done, I took a few of the more perishable food items to T&Es for safe keeping in their fridge and dropped the dog off for babysitting over the weekend.

When I got back, Mat was home with the hay load.

All this, and so far only 11:30am, so we shouldn't be away too long after 12 afterall! Maybe a nap before we go!

I am feeling really good about this! Being organised takes so much of the sting out of the nerves. Now it's really only down to the physical act.

Time to test my limits!

Here I am at Thursday...

Thursday evening. Ready for bed. Quick post only.

I shopped, baked and cooked all day. And I have filled my little fridge to overflowing. Should be nearly enough food for us for the weekend. A little more to organise, but some can't be done too early, or the food will be soggy and yucky.

Picked up the kayak.

Em and her boyfriend came by to learn about taking care of the cat and horse that will be left behind for the weekend.

T&E came over for dinner and I think everyone is feeling pretty good about Saturday.

Still need to pack my transition crates with all the gear I need at each change over, and I have to put the horse's stuff together, which won't take too long. Last thing to do will be to pack the eskies and take some food to T&Es to put in their caravan fridge. I hope to be ready to go by 12 noon tomorrow, though Mat doesn't expect to be ready that soon. That's alright, I think I will remain most calm if I am ready when Mat is, and not have to run around finishing stuff up when he says he's ready to leave.

I set a target finish time for Saturday: I am aiming to be complete by 4:30pm. They end road closures at 5:00pm, so I assume they generally expect everyone to be in by 5ish, but it doesn't seem like there's any cut off time.

I won't have internet access until we get back Sunday night, but rest assured there will be an immediate update on my successes and failures of the weekend as soon as I have unloaded the ute, and possibly after a nap. :)

See you in three days!! :)

And in other news...

After work on Tuesday, I took my aunt and uncle through TKs dressing, undressing and cooling procedures. They'll be fine. He'll be fine. He's not a complicated horse, and he's not a real fighter. As long as they stay calm with him, he'll stay calm too.

I have invited T&E over for dinner on Thursday night to go through details of who will be doing what and where and when so that everyone (especially me) can feel secure in knowing what's happening on the big day. Knowing that the logistics are sorted will be a big relief.

I have secured the use of a leisure kayak, and can pick it up any time.

Now I am just waiting on my delivery of my hydration belt and bike box. I hope they come soon! This is a bit frustrating! I was expecting them last week.

I called Alison last night. What a cool lady! She's doing the full Blackwood for her 50th birthday. She figured if she waited any longer she'll be too old! She has done the swim leg many times in the past, and has done the horse leg on a few occasions, and she lives right at the start of the nasty bike ride. Perfect training grounds. Right on the doorstep of everything!

She did the run in 1 hour 20 minutes, and she did the bike ride this weekend in 52 minutes on a borrowed bike she's only ridden the once. (Though she has been training on a mountain bike, so switching to a racer should make it super-easy by comparison.) She is doing her horse ride on a 22 year old horse (which isn't ancient, but certainly not a youngster) but he's well trained and seasoned. She is expecting to do the run, kayak and swim in about the same time as me.

She will have 60 people at her house over the weekend. All competitors and their friends and families. She said it started with just a few people, and has snowballed into this major event, not just for town, but for her household as well! And she invited me over Friday night to visit and meet a few people.

What a busy, cool, neat lady! A real inspiration! And I laughed and said that I was really happy that I'll have some company out there at the tail end of the event, but said that since I'm quite a few years younger than her, I might have to try to beat her by at least one second! She laughed and said that would be fine as long as we both finish! In fact, I don't know that I will beat her. She does have a local advantage that will make her training far more effective than mine.

It's Wednesday morning and I was originally going to do a swim, bike, run, but I think I should take TK out for a ride first. He hasn't had much work this last fortnight. Of course, neither have I! I better get at it then!

Three days, and I'm DEFINITELY counting now!

Easy Run with 10 days to go

Tomorrow will be single digits till the big day. Yikes!

This morning I couldn't sleep so got out of bed at 6:30 and did stuff. Like complete my entry form and pay my entry fee, as mentioned earlier. I had butterflies all morning.

By 9am I was finally ready to get out and do something. I decided to do my regular 5km run. Just a maintenance run, nothing long or complicated. I headed out with those butterflies. What's interesting is that the nerves I was feeling from submitting my entry were pretty much the same as the feeling I get before a race. Some strange combination of anticpation and dread, all forms of excitement bundled up into a nervous energy ball in the belly.

And it made me run faster than usual. I'm sure of it.

I was feeling pretty good and was cruising right along until BAM! 3km in, I have the stitch from hell! It finally forced me to walk, not once, but FOUR times! It sapped my strength and just ruined my wicked pace. At the 3k mark I was at 17 minutes, a full minute faster than my usual pace. That set me on track for what I was hoping would be a personal best 5k run, and was looking to pick up the pace, but the stitch was going to be a problem. I walked out the stitch and headed off again, but it wasn't long before it dragged me down, again and again. I shortcutted home, only saving a few hundred metres, but needing it. :( Still a good pace (10.4kph), even with all the walking, but not a great feeling end to that run, unfortunately.

Lesson learned: I didn't hydrate sufficiently prior to the run. I was not prepared for the heat and wind. Even at 9am it was quite hot (already 25 degrees), and I only drank about 250mL of water, which is far less than I typically drink before any session (usually work on 500-750mL to pre-hydrate). Of course, I figured it was going to be a short easy run, so wasn't paying enough attention to all the conditions around me. So let it be noted that hydration is imperative, no matter what the circumstances, but particularly in the heat!

My hydration belt was shipped this morning, so I hope to have it by Friday. That means I can do another run or two with the belt on and see how drinking on the run works for me. I think it'll be really important and will give me the boost up the hills on the Blackwood day!

I also did my first run in my new visor! It's awesome, because the sun is off my face, and it's absorbing lots of sweat, but my head gets to breathe. I simply feel too hot in a regular cap. This was excellent! Very pleased with this purchase.

Now I'm off to try my gloves and paddle in the lounge room for awhile.

Mat and I will be going to REAL water this weekend and really paddling. Was noting on the Blackwood event page that they have four portages this year, as the water is quite low, so that will be quite the challenge.

Also, hopefully have a strapper! Updates to follow when I get a yay or nay!

Wednesday - 13th October - 17 days to go

Nothing much to report. Went for bike ride with Helen, Carl and Graeme this morning at 6. Just a quick zip down Police Pools and I was really pleased with the ride. I was working at about 27kph. Now, there aren't any hills and there wasn't any wind so the conditions probably couldn't have been any better, but it was still a great ride! Fastest for the year!

Bought a few things. A visor to keep the sun out of my eyes, gloves to paddle in, and they will be great for cycling, too. I also ordered a bike box, for some food on the last leg of the journey and a water bottle holder to wear when I run and ride.

Taught Balance tonight. It was nice.

Have been on the Endurance Riding Forum to ask some advice about TK and getting him in tip top shape. Got some great advice! If you're interested in the discussion, click here! Looks like I have a lot more work to do! Will reply tomorrow. It's 9:30pm and it's time for bed.

Tuesday - 12th October - 18 days to go

Not done the day yet, but probably not doing a whole lot more with my day.

I was meant to bike ride after work today, but will go with Helen at 6am tomorrow instead. I am tired and I am tapering, afterall. I need to focus on feeling 'fresh' for these next two weeks.

I look at that 13km run on Monday as my last big run. Yes, I do have a 10km run coming up, but will be sticking to 5s and 7s for maintenance over the next two weeks. I know I have the run in me, and have been thinking of training for a half-marathon! So there I go, looking out for a new big crazy goal again! But I am enjoying running so much. I think because I had to work so much harder at this than anything else. I fought with my body, coaxed it, and eventually we came to this agreement. And I feel so very proud that I can run now! It has taken so long. Mostly I am proud that I stuck it out and I got here! Wow!

I am also feeling really confident with my swimming, considering that I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to do it at all a few weeks ago. As I suspected when working out my plan, I felt that I would be fit enough to handle the swim, and would just need to do a few sessions to ensure I had the breathing right. Freestyle would have been far more challenging, and I probably wouldn't have knocked off 1200m in my second swim, but freestyle's never been my forte anyway! :) At any rate, I am glad I was able to predict and interpret my body's reaction to the work! YAY!

Will try to keep TK intersted and happy going out these next few weeks, but as with me, all we can hope for now is maintenance, there really isn't any room for improvement left. Hopefully I can squeeze in a few more social rides with people from town to keep TK more enthused about riding out. He was so happy to see another horse when we finally met up with Mel on Chloe. We went from a snails pace to a big trot, with his expression saying "Oh thank goodness I'm not alone out here!!" Both horses were stoked to have another horse out there, though interestingly enough, neither seems to have any affinity for the other. TK can easily walk away from Chloe, but is much harder to separate from Sparky or Dee, for example. I also find he doesn't feed off her energy levels. Dee was calm and relaxed and that translated to a calm TK, but Chloe was virtually asleep on our ride, and TK was silly half the way. Interesting, eh?

One thing I do want to work on with TK in the long term is balancing his training output with his event output. And the other thing I want to work on is my confidence in my ability to ride him when his energy is high. I want him to go faster, but for us both to feel relaxed and in control. Most often when he's finally going at a speed that is where I want him to be, he feels frantic or overexcited, and he's working his mouth and neck in that weird racehorse way. He's still in my control, but he's just hovering there at the very edge of it, and it's an uneasy place for me. I either have to grasp that feeling with both hands and just go with it, or I am going to have to figure out how to keep him further from the edge.

I am steeling myself for the fact that we are probably going to have a hell of a start at Blackwood, but know that he'll run it out, calm down and we'll finish fine. The hill's'll knock some sense into him anyway! He was sure feeling them after the Manji ride, but handled them alright.

Bad news, though. Strapper number two is also unavaialable for the Blackwood weekend. And in fact, it's looking very much like Mat and I and T&E are going to be the main attendees. I hate to put any pressure on T&E, especially with T's back so crook, but they want to help, so I am going to accept it! I am just hoping to have a strapper that is a bit (dare I say it?) younger. T&E are in their 70s, and though they can accomplish some amazing things, I would hate to be the person that had a crazy horse wrench an arm or a heavy saddle do a back.

I hope to get out and paddle on Saturday afternoon. I work Saturday morning till 1, and I have my pool lifeguard requalification all day Sunday. The following weekend is the show and the fun run. Then the Blackwood. If I can't go tomorrow morning (and I haven't got a kayak yet, though I have been told to just call to say when I am coming to pick it up) then Saturday afternoon will be my last opportunity.

And then there is the cycle. Why couldn't the horse ride have been last? Seriously! Anyway, I will just keep going, just keep spinning (like Dory from Finding Nemo) and I will make it in the end.

Check out my last two posts which are links to the Map My Run maps for the courses. The distances aren't a perfect match, but the 'Climbs' speaks volumes. Time to move to somewhere with HILLS, TREES, and WATER!

Monday - 11th October - 19 days to go

Oh geez, I'm in the teens!

But I had a good Monday. Monday's are usually a good workout day. It's the start of my week and I approach it with much vigour. Today was no exception.

I started with a 13km run, which I did I a good time. My fastest outdoor run of that distance so far, especially if I were to knock of the four minutes of farting around I did in the middle of the run.

It was a two loop trek of just over 6.5k, and so when I came in to the start/finish the first time at 39 minutes, I decided to give myself a full minute to rehydrate, and restart my run at 40 minutes, since that was my target time. And then I thought I better text G and tell him that I am going to be a little later to the pool, since I started my run a bit later than expected. Then I took off, and he replied, so I checked that, and then I saw my horses both laying down having a little nap, and they were SO CUTE I simply had to stop and take a photo. Of course, it's a new phone, and I was having a little trouble with it all... so at 43 minutes I actually started to run again!

80 minutes was my total target time for the 13km run, and I checked my watch at one point in the second lap and thought that from that point in the first lap I took 15 minutes to get to the start/stop point, so I better hurry, because I've only got 12 minutes!!  And so I started to push it! And push it hard! I was cruising! I betcha I was actually doing the otherwise unachievable 12km/hr at that point. And I ran like that for 9 minutes (!!) before I had to slow up a bit, but by that time, I was really on the home stretch and I came in in 78 minutes! Yes, that's right, you heard me correctly! I kicked ASS!  Now, granted, a 4 minute rest certainly helped, but maybe I should take a little lesson from that:

rests and breaks are your friend!

Then I zipped down to the pool on my bike and had a great little swim. The water was a balmy 22 degrees, just right for laps and I was doing 100 metres in about 2.5minutes pretty consistently. I did 1200m in about 30 minutes and was pretty pleased with that! The only complaint I really had was that my calves cramped up in the last few hundred metres. Ouchies!

I rode my bike to the pool and had intended to do PP Road and head home, but guess what!? I forgot to put on my helmet! Are you serious? How stupid is that?! So I rode home to get my helmet and then kinda just stayed there and had a REALLY long hot shower. I was SO cold! The wind was nasty once again. Will have to consider how to get and keep warm if it's a cool day on the BIG DAY!

On the gear front I have had a success!! I found an old K-Mart/Wal-Mart special in a bag that I probably have never worn before. You can tell it's cheap because there's a label inside with bright red writing:

DO NOT WEAR NEAR FIRE

Wow, no marshmallow roasts for me!

But on the up-side, it doesn't chafe! It's not the most supportive little thing in the world, but luckily (I guess) I wasn't built with much bounce, if you know what I mean, so I was still comfortable on the run, and it was fine in the swim. I also ran and swam in my bike shorts, and although there's nothing attractive about wearing a full chamois bottom pair of shorts, I was comfortable enough.

So, still a few things to get taken care of, a few purchases to make, but getting there!

Balance was a welcome treat. I really needed Balance. The stretching and relaxation were just what my body needed.

Also, booked my recovery massage for the Monday following the Blackwood. That'll be nice! Something great to look forward to! :)

Saturday - 9th October - 21 days to go

Up at 4am.

Feed horses, make feeds, cook for humans, pack ute, hook up float, load horse....

Try again... load horse....

Erg! Arg! Call for calm!

Load horse...

We meant to be on the road by 5:00. 5:45am we hit the road.

We got about 60km away, started to do the maths and realised we were not going to make it in time. Briefing is at 7:45am, ride starts at 8:30am. I need to vet him in at some point before 8:30 and he needs time to settle after a 2.5 hour drive.

Guess what time we're going to show up?

8:30am

hmm... I know that if you don't leave the start area by 8:45 you are disqualified from the ride. I don't know if you're allowed to ride the trail if you've been disqualified. We decide that it's an awfully long drive for an incredibly uncertain result, so we turn around.

I will ride down Police Pools with Mel and a few other tomorrow, so will still get some distance in.

The horses spent the majority of the day grazing in the back yard - there's nothing alive in the paddocks anymore, and it's not even summer yet. It is promising to be a VERY hard summer. We will buy a large square bale to let them have free access to roughage, and keep the back lawn alive and let the horses graze as regularly as we feel the lawn can handle.

When we got home Mat had a nap. He really needed the day off anyway, so I guess it's a good result for him. I took the opportunity to do things like wash my car and do ... I don't know, completely random stuff.

Later, we drove out to Lake Ewlyamartup to see if it will be a suitable training area for the kayak. I suppose if I don't mind paddling on water that smells like dead animals, yeah, it'd do. Iew! And it's only about half a metre deep at the middle. We agreed that a trip to Dumbleyung, though further, might be a better location. Dumbleyung is deeper, so even though it's also very low this year, we are hoping it won't smell quite so bad.

And then I had a nap. And Mat had another nap.

It was really hot and there was a viscious dry wind today. Although we spent most of the morning outside, after lunch when that wind picked up and the heat got over 30 we hid inside.

I guess I have another challenge with the weather now. As it is warming up, and far more quickly than typical, I will have to adjust to doing all this good stuff in the heat. That means more hydration challenges. I've bought a few different hydration mixes to experiment with over the next few days. I noticed on Thursday night that I felt really 'sloshy' and uncomfortable when I rehydrated after the run and during Attack. I've got a mix that says it has a 'buffering system to prevent cramping'. Guess we'll see.

And I'm having trouble with the clothing issue! My crop tri top chafes like a bugger. I went to SportsPower, our only sporting goods store, and they only have the exact same crop top like I already have. Even going up to a size 14 it still fit wrong. The cut is just too close under the armpit. My best fitting shirt that I could also swim in is way too hot to wear in this weather. Though it's wicking, it's a full torso top and it's far too thermal! Don't know what I'm going to do there. Trip to Albany? Yeah, but when!?
 
Both Mat and I can't wait until the Blackwood is over. I may be training for an IronWoman event, but this is certainly not an individual effort. Without the support of Mat, especially, and my friends, family and co-workers, I would not be where I am or as close as I am. I owe so much to Mat... I am so grateful for his support.