Lessons Learnt in Radelaide

National Duathlon Championships bike compound set up

I am sitting in the airport waiting to board my flight to Noosa. It is the first time I have had the chance to sit and think and write something down since I raced in Adelaide two weeks ago. I went to ‘Radels for the National Duathlon Championships which was a qualifier for the World Championships to be held back in Adelaide next October. It was an important race for me, and what a race it was… there was a lot I learnt from that race and a lot I want to share.

For about a month prior to Adelaide I had a lump in my skin that I had tried to ignore, but amazingly with that approach it didn’t disappear! So the week before Adelaide I decided to finally get it checked out (cycling made it quite painful so I thought I should try and avoid additional pain during the race). Turned out it is an infection and the doctor thought some antibiotics would get rid of it. So I commenced the round on the Thursday before my Sunday race, but didn’t mention any of this to my coach. Lesson 1!

In the lead up to Adelaide John had been working in Queensland so I was on my own. To be honest, I often like the space and time to myself, but shhh don’t tell him! But I had never spent the week on my own in the week prior to an interstate race. And again, don’t tell John but my appreciation just increased a little more for him! The week involved a big work load, training morning and night, a farewell dinner plus getting race ready such as organizing a bike bag to borrow (which I didn’t collect until Friday morning before work for a flight straight after work, well played Priscilla, well played), taking my bike to the shop for a service and collecting (why don’t bike shops have out of hours services for office workers??!!) and the usual packing and cleaning before going away, plus just living with cooking and washing! It might not sound like much but it was an enormous and stressful week, and I was oblivious to just how taxing it was. Lesson 2!

Bikes checked in, ready to race!

Nonetheless I got to Adelaide in one piece with all of my equipment. Saturday morning we rode the course and did a small section of the run. It was very beneficial getting the chance to do this the day before the race. We shopped and cooked at home that night – I had learnt from my own blog 😉 (read earlier post!). I had an overwhelming amount of support and encouragement from friends and family wishing me luck, but stupidly used their well wishes as pressure on myself to perform well. I had no pressure from anywhere to get a good result except from myself. I have read a lot about the mental part about racing and visualizing the race and telling yourself you can do it etc. but already being strong mentally I think I had taken this too far and psyched myself up too much. Lesson 3!

Finally race day. The race was a 10km run/40km ride/5km run, a distance I had never raced before. Not surprisingly, the lead went out fast. I stuck to my own race and tempo and fell into a nice spot around 6^th place. After about a kilometer the groups were defined and I found myself running with two other woman right on the pace I wanted. It was perfect and I was happy to have others to pace off. Suddenly at 4.5km’s I got bad stomach cramps. They slowed me down and from therein I struggled to get the pace up again, slowly losing sight of the two I was pacing off. I then looked down and saw my heart rate read 230. WOWSERS! I have hit 205 or even 210 before but this was a whole new number. John had mentioned the day before when he realized I was on antibiotics that they increase your heart rate. I thought this must be the reason. I tried to control my pace down to decrease my heart rate. A few girls overtook me and I started to beat myself up mentally. I finally got on the bike, disappointed with my run, and again mentally had it in my head that the antibiotics were playing with my HR and I need to control it. It then sat around 185 for the bike which is high for riding but nothing to be freaked out of, but again I just wasn’t feeling it. I caught only one or two girls but I knew my effort was lower than I wanted. On the bike I started thinking about the final 5km run and setting new pace goals to stick to. When I finally got out for the run I just managed to stick to my new goal times but felt so slow and heavy. I checked my HR and it was back up in the 230’s so again I was worried. Knowing the dangers of a HR that high I was unsure if I should keep going or stop for the potential damage I was doing to myself or risk of falling dead! (No overreaction at all from me!) I just kept going because I figured it’s quicker to run to the end than to walk! I was surprised though that for what felt like such a slow pace I was actually overtaking a few people.

Still very happy to take Silver in my AG at Nationals

In the end I did a much slower time than I had hoped and was disappointed in my own performance, but thought it was related to my HR and antibiotics. I read up about antibiotics and exercise and found the following which really resonated with my race;

1. You have an increased sensitivity to heat/dehydration. Did I mention is was an unusually extremely hot day in Adelaide that Sunday?! How convenient!
2. You run at a slower pace. It was argued this was a mental state and not the antibiotics, however they have tested it on horses (who mentally don’t know they are on antibiotics!) and found their times decrease.
3. You can suffer stomach issues and diarrhea as the bodies balance is compromised.

Effectively they say that when on antibiotics your body is using a lot of its ‘fighting’ power to deal with the antibiotics in your system, which effects you when racing as you need your body to be firing on all cylinders. I didn’t read anywhere about heart rate issues despite searching for it…

A few days later, whilst still on antibiotics, I went for a training run. Again once I started putting the effort in my HR sky rocketed up over 200. I freaked out and walked home, scared by what was going on with my body. I spoke to my coach and he was also concerned for me. We decided I should check my watch before rushing off to the doctor, but I was to do no more exercise until it was sorted as a precautionary measure.

I borrowed a watch and tested it out. And… my HR was fine. Whilst I was so happy that I wasn’t dying I was so embarrassed about my overreaction and annoyed at my race performance. Big Lesson 4!

So what did I learn in Adelaide?

1. You need to talk to your coach. If they are setting you sessions they need to know what is going on with your body, even if you don’t think it is important.
2. Prepare for the week before a race so you are not over tired leading into the event just from getting there!
3. Nervous energy is good, but psyching yourself up so much to perform well, when there is no reason to or external pressure, is not good and deteriorates your performance. (reminder: I am an Age Grouper and do this for fun, I am not a professional who does this for a living).
4. Lesson 4, what can I say about lesson 4?! Perhaps, listen to your body and don’t rely on technology. Or, listen to your body and prepare better (I was over tired from the week, on antibiotics, and it was extremely hot which I hadn’t prepared for. Everyone was struggling in the heat, that is why I was overtaking people in the last 5km’s). I wonder had I not seen how high my HR was, would I have been able to push through, did the fear of the high reading freak me out and slow me down? Or am I using it as an excuse? Or would I have struggled just as much because of the other elements (antibiotics, heat, tiredness). This is something I will never know the exact answer to but definitely something to learn from as I experience more in other races.

Now let’s bring on Noosa!

Racing away from home…

This is why I love country racing. Beautiful scenery.

On the weekend we had a beautiful country escape, off the beaten track to the hidden delights of the Traralgon caravan park. John wasn’t just spoiling me in this country getaway, but we were participating in the Inaugural Hazelwood 100. Racing “away from home”, be it 100km’s down the freeway or the other side of the world, has its challenges. And from previous experience not preparing well or having the ideal lead in to an intra or inter-state race can have its implications (*flashback* smashed face and hospital visit the day before John completed the Geelong 70.3. To no surprise he didn’t perform his best).

From the countless races we have now completed there is a number of things I have learnt. The main focus is being prepared with food; triathletes eat a lot and if food isn’t well planned there’s every chance you’ll be seeing a state of Hangry and risk performing well.

Here is my list on how to prepare for a race away from home.

1. Accept it will not all go to plan.

Like anything in racing and just generally in life, accept ahead of time that things won’t go to plan. So when they don’t you don’t get frazzled and let small things stress you more than they should.

With the Geelong race last year, having a bike accident the day before was the last thing we imagined would have happened. The events heavily shook John who had to look after me in a very ugly state (literally). Naturally, he didn’t race his best, however the repercussions could have been minimized if we were as organized as we were on the weekend just been. John didn’t eat well the night before or morning of the race because we weren’t organized. This has been a huge lesson learnt.

Even small things don’t go to plan, like last Friday we had intended to leave Melbourne at 3.30pm but in the end left at 5pm due to unexpected work hold ups and we then got stuck in heavy traffic. Thankfully because we were so organized this time it hardly impacted us. By accepting things don’t go to plan, we didn’t stress over the unexpected change in arrival time.

2. Pack your race bag at home

I am sure most of us are the same and pack our race bag the day before a local race. When racing away from home it should be exactly the same; you just have to do it a day or two earlier than usual. The key is to pack a separate race bag from the bag you are taking away with you with your clothes and toiletries etc. This means you have packed your bag in a clear and calm state so everything will be there, you know you won’t have left anything at home, and by having it in a separate bag you don’t need to open it whilst away so there is no risk of things falling out or being forgotten race morning. Plus if you end up being rushed it is ready to go and you can be confident it has everything you need.

3. Shop before you leave

This is the biggest lesson learnt. When travelling intrastate, do a full shop a couple of days prior and pack everything into a large esky. Plan every meal; breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, recovery food – anything you can think of. And everything that is required with those meals, such as butter for your sandwiches or toast, which is something basic which is too easy to forget. Of course this is much easier when travelling by car. If you’re travelling interstate or overseas the same concept applies. Write a complete shopping list before going away. Research where the local shop is so you aren’t flustered trying to find one once you are there. Do a big shop so you don’t have to keep going each day to get more. And make sure you factor in the time prior to the event, don’t arrive the night before a race with no food plans in a foreign town, it’s a recipe for domestic fighting (yes. Been there, done that thanks Tasmania National Championships).

Pre race shopping includes post race beverages

4. Book an apartment

With all the gear you need for a triathlon alone you need an apartment for the extra space (over a hotel room), but more importantly you need a kitchen. A kitchen ensures you can cook properly, therefore eat properly. It just makes sense, and for the small extra you pay you will save by eating in.

Traralgon Caravan Park – great place to stay for fully equipped kitchen.

5. Pre-prepare meals

Pre preparing food is the best way to save time and stress. As mentioned we arrived in Traralgon about 2 hours later than planned, but it wasn’t stressful because I had already roasted potatoes for dinner, so it took about 15minutes to prepare dinner. Had I not been organized, dinner would have been very late and I would have been grumpy and stressed!

I had also bought a store pre-made lasagna as a backup meal, which was lucky as it was required. You can never over prepare.

If you can’t prepare a meal or know you won’t be able to cook the night before, plan and book a restaurant in advance. Do not try and go out at dinner time the night before a race trying to find somewhere to eat, generally everywhere will be booked out or there will be long wait times on food, which leads to pre race stress (another lesson learnt the hard way).

6. Overestimate your food quantity

It’s better to have more food than to run out and have to go to the shops. Ending up having to go to the shops, even if only for a few items, almost defeats being super organized. The goal is to have everything with you (if driving) or everything bought in the one shop, to save time and stress of having to go back out to the shops. List out every meal in detail to work out quantities, it is easy to under estimate food, such as buying bread for toast and then needing it for sandwiches. For the little bit of extra money you might spend, over quantify your food requirements.

Travelling for races is such a great way to see new places and make excuses to go on holidays. It’s all too easy to let the stress of the race take away from that experience, or make it a very expensive trip, so the more you can preplan and prepare the more relaxed you will be leading in to the race.

Love country racing.

Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring!

Last day of winter at Portsea

And suddenly like that, winter is gone! With two back-to-back weekends of amazing sunshine it is already hard to remember the grueling Melbourne winter we have all just endured. Thankfully for me, for the most part of the tough winter I was crippled and didn’t have to face the cold dark mornings. But with the close of winter and the onset of spring it has got me thinking of the month that has been. As always I have had a number of things I have wanted to write about but just not made time for, so today I am writing a summary that is – The Month of August.

–          August saw me commence back “on program” with my coach. It’s such a tri thing to say “on” or “off” program, like we are rehabilitating from an addictive drug that we fall in and out of program. OK maybe I just answered my own queries about why triathletes say it… But the beginning of August saw me back training the full load.

–          At first my body loved it and appeared fresh from the months of rest. Then around week three of four I was exhausted. I lacked energy and motivation to start a session, and if I forced myself to start a session I struggled to finish it at full effort. I ended up needing a couple of days off at the coaches order to let my body catch up. This was my body “adapting” and I haven’t quite gone through this phase as clearly as I did this month as I have consistently exercised for so long now my body doesn’t notice the training load variances as much as it did from near nothing to full load. Thankfully I have now adapted and am back feeling energized. This has made me realize what it must be like for people who try to get into exercise – they have a great first few weeks, then the adaptation phase hits them and they give up. I am pleased to say I kept going and told myself to just finish the session even if it’s not done as well as I would like, because it is better than doing nothing.

–          August saw me back racing! First race was a local TT in Seymour with 10 NRG Lab athletes. This was the perfect way to get back into it, racing in an environment where results don’t matter (to the extent I think they were all wrong anyway!) and a TT is an individual effort. It was tough but fun. I also did a Duathlon, again another great step getting back into racing as it is a much smaller and quieter race compared to the summer tri’s. Although doing the race before all the serious triathletes headed off to race World’s was a bit intimidating as they all had their Aussie kits on and were in super form. Nonetheless I was super happy with my performance and as always just happy to be out there racing!

First duathlon race back

–          Then later in August as just mentioned, the Worlds were on. This was the race in Canada I had my heart set on. I hadn’t been too upset about it after breaking my collarbone, but as it got to the week before I was suddenly really sad to be missing out. Such is life they say and I can use it as fuel to the fire for training moving forwards. It has been bittersweet seeing the results over the weekend, I am so happy the Aussie team has had some great results, but so jealous I wasn’t there to be a part of it!

–          No Junk August… yep, that thing… so I wrote about this about a third of the way into August, and John and I had a couple of “fails”… well… things didn’t get much better! It naturally became a case of weekends were ‘breaks’ and we were ‘pretty good’ for the rest of the time… What was clear was that the rules were too tough and unrealistic (for us at least!). I said this at the start but John was adamant he is an “all or nothing” guy. We’ve heard it before and I’ve now proven to myself yet again that this method does not work (extreme dieting). That said though, I have been pretty good during the week that I have found I don’t actually want to eat junk when I have the opportunity and have significantly cut down on the absent minded treat eating.

–          Since the start of August saw me back on program and on the horrendous ‘no junk’ ban, I got myself a new cool folder with tabs for different sections and started to keep track of things. I have kept track of all the sessions I have done. This has become a positive habit and most likely one I will stick to as I have done it for 30 days. So I think I will add another positive habit for this month, such as more stretching and rolling.

–          So since I have been recording my sessions I can report that in the month of August I have completed 44 sessions, totaling 48hrs 41mins or 629.3km’s worth of swimming, riding, running and strength. That is exercise time and doesn’t account for all the time it takes to get to/from training and changed etc. Add on top of this the fact I ride to/from work each day, that is approximately an additional 160km’s and 13hrs of “consequential” riding… I only just did the maths, and wow! Whilst I don’t believe in counting kilometers as a means of tracking training (I am all for quality not quantity), it is definitely a little bit of fun to see how many hours you’ve put in!

Prehabilitation sessions with First Wave Fitness have significantly progressed over August.

So fair to say August has been a great month! I am back training, racing and have developed some positive habits. Best of all it has seen the end of winter and I can start to really focus on some bigger races coming up later this year.

Happy training all!

Good Bye Winter!
Happy Training!

No Junk August

My boyfriend John sent me this picture Thursday week ago with the words “we’re doing this”. It is a No Junk Food challenge for all of August. This came from the boy who puts cream on ice cream. Sugar on corn flakes. Chocolate topping on chocolate ice cream. I think you get the point, John loves his sweets so for him to initiate such corporal punishment for a month I will happily support!

The next day around lunch time I remembered the ‘challenge’. Then realized it was already the first of August so technically it had started. Being the OCD pedantic triathlete I am, I couldn’t quite commit to the challenge without understanding every minute detail and rules and scenario. I sent john a list of questions:

1. Are hot chocolates allowed?
2. Are milkshakes allowed?
3. Can we drink alcohol?
4. Can I cook treats?
5. Biscuits and dip?

He wrote back; no, no, yes, nothing with sugar or chocolate, and no but veggies and dip yes.

Right, so by Friday afternoon the rules had been set. It then dawned on me that it was day one and I had actually failed twice. I had a hot chocolate with breakfast, and in the afternoon a muesli bar that was covered in chocolate. Oops. Oh well I can be stricter from now on…

Sunday afternoon I went to my sisters late morning and ate a left over croissant she had from breakfast. Chatting away, she handed me a fresh out of the oven croissant and I mindlessly ate it. It honestly wasn’t until later that day, not even in the morning after I ate it, that it occurred to me I had ‘broken’ the challenge again. Oops again…

Monday 4^th August. Four days in and so far 3 red crosses to my name. After work when I was leaving the office I walked past the front reception desk and grabbed a couple of minties. I ate one and as I started unwrapping the second one it occurred to me that a mintie is a lollie. Damnit I broke the challenge again! I was starting to realize I ate more ‘junk’ than I thought, particularly mindless eating.

Tuesday was a successful day of sticking to the challenge. Wednesday was then my birthday and we had said at the start that I was allowed a day off for my birthday. But finally my body was adjusting to the challenge and I didn’t feel like any sweets! But there was no way in hell I’d waste a day off so I forced down a Bueno chocolate in the afternoon and had Italian donuts and ice cream for dessert. Delicious at the time but my body didn’t love me for it.

Then not unsurprisingly the next day after lunch I was back to my usual craving sweets. This is very typical for me, where I always crave a sugar hit after lunch, even just a hot chocolate is enough (I say it like it’s not really eating anything bad but no doubt if I checked the ingredients there wouldn’t be a single good thing in it). Nonetheless, I survived two days of being good.

Come Saturday and John was clearly cracking, we were on the 9^th day and he hadn’t failed yet (but then I hadn’t told him about all my mishaps so I strongly question that!). apparently when the rules were set he had said my birthday weekend was off, not just my actual birthday. He was quickly making rules and before I knew it he had drunk a sugar-free V (apparently because it’s sugar free it’s acceptable – ermm NO!), energy lollies for riding (the judge can decide on those ones), a can of coke after the ride, and a handful of Allan’s lollies. I had a sip of the coke and V. this was all before we went to the pub for a birthday dinner and a ate a whole sticky date pudding with ice cream, and John had a whole crumble with ice cream and cream (and the crumble to fruit ratio was about 90:10). It was a shocking day for the challenge to say the least!

Come Sunday, I’m not feeling good and my apetite is low. Nonetheless I ate a late breakfast at the cottage we had rented for the weekend, of Nutrigrain cereal and white toast with jam (fail, fail, fail!). We stopped at a bakery on the way home for lunch and before our healthy-ish wrap arrived shared a sausage roll (fail). On the way out we grabbed a Big M (fail). Finally home that night we had a nice home cooked dinner, then it was suggested we should finish off that ice cream in the freezer that we hadn’t been able to eat because of the No Junk Challenge. Since we were having a ‘weekend off’ it made perfect sense. Another fail.

This challenge has made me realize a few key things:

1. I eat more ‘junk’ mindlessly than I first thought (hot chocolates, minties, croissants etc.)
2. I am easily influenced by those around me (or should I say, John!). you definitely need the support of your partner when doing a challenge like this.
3. Once I’ve ‘failed’ for the day, I am easily convinced that the whole day is a write off so I might as well take advantage and eat more junk!

It’s only 11 days in, I have another 20 to go so it will be interesting to see how we go for the next three weeks! So far it has been worthwhile in just making me more aware of what I eat.

Rules of Engagement

I started writing this post a number of months ago. I was actually prompted to write it after a trip to Sydney to visit a friend. We did a session at the gym and she commented I had no bum. A lot of girls would take this as a compliment, but I was horrified! Considering your glutes is one of the largest and strongest muscles in your body, plus brings a lot of power to running and cycling, I want and need a big one! With an inactive glutes I risk injuring myself, over using other muscles, plus potentially not running or cycling to my full ability. Her comment has been in my mind since and has made me more acutely aware if I am engaging my muscles adequately.

The past few months I have been through quite a bit in regards to training. In April I was the fittest and fastest I had ever been in my life, culminating in the series win of the Gatorade Series, to breaking my collarbone and taking months off training and cancelling all races I had planned. This year has seen me go from sky high to dirt low. But it has given me a great chance to stop, assess and re-tune things in my training I probably wouldn’t have done otherwise.

So the question is; are you engaging your muscles? You would assume so. If you’re like me, you’re sore after a big session. You can physically feel your muscles are more defined and larger from the months or years of training. You’re setting new PB’s so your muscles must be engaging. Right?

Girls being girls at the Riley St Gym, Sydney

When I was in Sydney Alex my girlfriend took me through a full body workout at her local gym, Riley St Gym. [It was previously Russell Crowe’s gym, and I was honestly in gym heaven. Although I haven’t spent much time in gyms, I know a good thing when I see one! With only 98 members and about 1000m2 big, the place is amazing. I highly recommend to anyone in Sydney to try and get in for a session!] With little strength training experience I really enjoyed Alex’s session and the new and varied exercises. The most interesting and important part of the session was learning where my strengths and weaknesses lied. I discovered three key things:

1. My glutes was inactive;
2. My back strength is imbalanced. Alex took me through a set of chin ups where we started with our hands close in, then progressed further out. Close in I struggled, further out I flew through.
3. My left arm is significantly weaker.

These things were so apparent, and this was discovered by just doing a few things with a friend. This was back in April. Since then I spent two weeks in Thailand at the Thanyapura training resort where I met Michael Gilliam (aka MG). MG is Chris McCormack’s right hand man (if you have read Here to Win you will know all about him). And you can see why, his knowledge is mind blowing. MG told me to squat all the way down (i.e. bum on ground practically), but ensuring my feet remain shoulder width apart and straight forward. I couldn’t do it.

A few weeks later (after breaking my collarbone) I noticed the muscle wastage of my right trap. Of course this makes sense as I hadn’t used my right arm plus wasn’t swimming, but to see such a significant change in such a short time was eye opening. If for example you cycle 150km’s a week but are imbalanced, say your right hamstring is taking the load and not your left, imagine the result after months of training.

Finally, the past six weeks have seen me attend a weekly PT session with Amber from First Wave Fitness (refer earlier post). I thought I was going to see a PT to push big weights and get powerful, but Amber has quickly shown me that I need to get balanced and engage all my muscles. Most of the exercises I do with Amber can be done at home just with an elastic band – no need for expensive gym memberships or equipment! Within three weeks I could squat like MG showed me. I can feel my glutes and hamstrings engaging when I cycle. And my left hip has had less issues (refer earlier post).

The past few months have further enhanced the realization of how important strength training is. I had previously posted about prehabilitation, focusing more on stretching and flexibility. Part of this is also strength training. Strength training is not about pushing big weights but about the rules of engagement. First Wave Fitness sums up my new found motivation perfectly, and something all athletes should be focusing on. That is gym training is required to apply the principles of functional strength training to help you move more efficiently and effectively, by identifying and retraining imbalances in the body’s movement patterns.

 

Gym selfie!!

Test yourself at home:

1. Visually compare your body; are your traps similar, hamstrings, glutes, triceps, biceps etc.
2. Squat bum to ground by keeping your feet straight and shoulder width apart. If you can’t your legs are imbalanced; your inside muscles are stronger than your outside muscles.
3. Sit in a chair and keeping your hips straight and forward, rotate to one side. Compare this to the other side.
4. Lie flat on a bench and do a barbell chest press. Does one side feel easier?
5. Go down on all fours on the floor. Curl back one leg, keeping the 90 degree bend in the knee, until your thigh is straight with your core. Do this to both sides. Can you feel your glute engage to lift your leg? Do you wobbly or are you unsteady on one side compared to the other?

This is Why I Ride

Getting ready to hit the road… everyone wears pink slippers to training right?

Having not ridden on the road in nine weeks, I had mixed emotions about hitting the tarmac yesterday. Whilst I was excited to get back out there, I was extremely nervous. I headed out on Beach Road early on Sunday morning, at the time between the sun rising and people venturing out on their Sunday drive when it is safe. It was a brilliant time to ride; having only ridden Beach Road on a Saturday it was like I had discovered a new place to ride in Melbourne, not the same road as 24hrs earlier. It was peaceful, calm and strangely quiet despite there still being possibly hundreds of riders on the road. They were Sunday Riders. The ones who are there to enjoy the pleasure of a ride, to get outside and feel the wind in their hair, and on any sort of bike that has two wheels and propels them forward. It was a stark contrast to the Saturday Rider, who are aggressive, loud and dangerous. Who show their flashy club lycra on their uber expensive bike and wheels that cost more than a pack of Sunday riders bikes combined.
Tip: anyone wanting to get into cycling, head out on a Sunday not a Saturday

Rolling out from the Brighton Sea Baths I was shocked to feel every movement through the bike immediately. The bike felt unstable and uncomfortable. I was nervous and jittery and travelling along in my small chain ring at about 20km/hr. Within about 5 minutes I no longer felt every movement and bump. I stepped up into the big chain ring. I started to pick up the speed a little. I overtook a Sunday Rider. It felt good, so I pushed on. By the end of the 20km ride my confidence was back and I was excited to be there. Albeit I was exhausted and my legs were sore, having not ridden for so long, but I was like a pig in mud.

With renewed confidence I decided I would commute to work Monday morning. Having caught the tram to and from work every day for 7 weeks I was very much exhausted of the public transport system. One way takes about 45minutes on the tram and over $3.50. Riding takes less than 20 minutes and is free. Over a week if I commute on my bike I save $35 and over four hours in time! (or $1,700 and 200 hours if I did it 5 days a week for 48 weeks!!!) I was very nervous about commuting, riding Beach Rd on a quiet Sunday morning isn’t very comparable to going through the city in peak hour.

I rugged up, clipped a tonne of flashing lights on me and wrapped around a fluro high vis yellow jacket. I rolled down Clarendon St straight into the MCG and had a dream run with the lights. I scooted around the G and saw people walking their dogs, jogging, doing boot camp and also riding. All things that inspire me. I went up and over the bridge from the G to Fed Square and joined the queue of cyclists riding safely along the bike path away from cars. I turned left at Fed Square and again rode along the dedicated bike path all along St Kilda Road. I went at my own pace and enjoyed the freedom I had missed for 9 weeks. It was a typically cold Melbourne morning, but dry at least. I love the feeling of breathing in such cold air; it feels so fresh and clean. I kept my heart rate down enough to avoid sweating (I was already dressed in my work clothes and done my hair and make-up) but enough to get the blood flowing through my body to wake me up for the day. I had forgotten just how much I loved riding.

I got into cycling because of triathlons. I wanted to try out the sport so borrowed a bike and did some training. As my triathlon obsession took over I then became a commuter. I had thought I loved riding because I love competing and training and seeing results. I have now realized I actually love riding because of the freedom it gives you. To be able to ride is a gift not a right. Not everyone can ride and the fact that I am now healthy and strong enough to ride and commute makes me feel forever grateful. It has made me want to encourage everyone who can to get out and ride and discover how enjoyable and free it is. It’s the Sunday Riders who are the ones who inspire me and who I hope to encourage more family and friends to be like. People are afraid of commuting because of cars and the dangers, but plan ahead, pick a safe route and you will discover just how great it is to start your day with a ride. I can’t wait to get back out on the road again and make cycling a daily activity once again.

The Road to Recovery and my Inspiration

I am an obsessive planner. I deny it as much as possible, but truth be told, I like to plan everything. Just like recovering from an accident. I planned out how I was going to recover (refer earlier post!), how long it would take, and what my plan was once I could start exercising again. Simple! Plan sorted, now let’s action it. However, hold the press – apparently you can’t just plan your recovery and it happens. With a few set backs along my road to recovery, I have been amazed at how inspiring my friends are, which makes me all the more eager to get back out there with them.

Following my accident, after the shock, highs and lows, I had come to terms with what I had done. In Thailand I had been told it would take 3-6 weeks. In my optimistic (possibly drug induced) state I took this as three weeks. A long three weeks rolled by and I ingeniously decided I was ‘cured’ and went the day without my sling. I had forgotten I had taken Voltarin the night before to help me sleep and must have still been feeling the benefits of it when I made this decision. The next day after going sling-less I was in a lot of pain, and for a number of days after that. I got really down that I wasn’t back out running as per my three week plan, and if anything I was doing worse. Towards the end of the fourth week I was starting to feel better and had changed my plan to a six week recovery.

At the beginning of this week (the fifth week) I saw the physio again and she was impressed with the amount of movement my arm had. She told me to get an X-ray for whilst things appeared positive on the outside you never know what lies beneath. She set up for me to get the x-ray at the end of the week, ready to meet the doctor this Monday (beginning of week six), so everything going well I would be back riding my bike next weekend, exactly six weeks after the accident and on track with Plan B. Last week I had been feeling good, transitioning myself off the sling so I was hardly wearing it during the day at work anymore, and practicing my movement exercises, which were going well. I was excited to go through what appeared a mere tick-process and get back out on the bike next weekend.

Yesterday afternoon I had the x-rays taken. The lovely radiologist enquired about why I was having x-rays taken. We were chatting and I explained what I had done whilst she loaded the film onto the computer. And she exclaimed ‘ah yes you broke it right on the AC joint’. Ermm… how do you know??? According to the plan, getting this x-ray was to show the doctor that it was all healed… which would mean you can’t see anything. ‘See!’ she exclaimed again pointing at the computer. And there it was, my break still evident, and the collarbone has separated further from my shoulder. I was gutted. This wasn’t the plan!!! I called Pat my coach on the way home and told him what I saw. I had spoken to him only two days earlier telling him how things were going really well and my optimism of being back on the bike in two weekends. He was excited for me and already sent through ideas on different races I could get ready for. Telling Pat last night he was genuinely disappointed for me, and I needed that compassion. Albeit, this is my take on the x-ray, I don’t know a thing about the skeletal system, but I am at least now prepared for what may be bad news on Monday with the doctor.

 

And so here I am again, on a Saturday at home, having not exercised now for 5 whole weeks except for a few attempts on the stationary bike. Yet again I have a lot of time to think and adjust to the situation. I have been reading Anna Meares story during this time to draw on inspiration. Anna broke her back 7 months before the 2008 Olympic games, and fought back to win a silver medal! It is a remarkable story and I had believed I was going to have a mini Anna story of my own, of course on my own scale!

But Anna Meares isn’t the only person I have been drawing inspiration from. The more I think about it, the more I realize every single person I know who loves their exercise is inspiring me. My friend and training buddy Anna fractured her pelvis in November and went on to finish fourth at the Busselton 70.3 last month, just 6 months after her break. Nadelle, Pat’s wife, fell extremely ill the weeks before her come back ironman after a number of years off having a child. She completed the race in the toughest conditions on record with a PB. And friend Jo Carman came back from injury to win her AG at the recent Cairns IM and secure a ticket to Kona. Then there is the other side of inspiring, of my friends who are just out there achieving their own goals and being so elated by the experience. Amber finished her first Ironman this year with the world’s biggest smile. Dina completed her second IM and took a whopping 40minutes off her time in just 3 months. Ryan gets involved in any race just for the fun and experience of it, and is genuinely elated afterwards that it is contagious. Michelle at work has started running and completed her first 5km fun run last month, and has now signed up for a 10km run and hopes to do a half marathon this year. She couldn’t run 2km’s at the start of the year.

I was provoked to write about this after reading today about a friend who is a professional triathlete, whom another triathlete put down in her blog. A female triathlete putting down another female triathlete. It boggles me. This is not what the sport, or any sport is about. In my experiences everyone is so supportive and encouraging of one another, and particularly their goals. Part of her response to the post said “What is your goal? If you do it for the right reasons you will never give up, but most importantly you will have fun doing it!”

This couldn’t ring more true. Whilst in Thailand I wrote about re-setting my goals and enjoying taking time out. You have moments of optimism and positivity, but you can’t stay on Cloud 9 forever. Naturally, emotions run up and down, and whilst I wrote about my acceptance of taking my time, re-building, enjoying a lazier life for now, I am still battling to maintain this mind frame at all times. I miss training. I miss the freedom I feel on the bike. I miss the feeling of running fast. I miss the satisfaction of setting PB’s. I miss being out there with friends and the social life that comes with training. Whilst deep down I understand the important of taking my time, not rushing recovery, and enjoying this off time while I can, I can’t wait to get back out there and write a new plan. I can’t wait to do my first race back, not for a result, but for the enjoyment like my inspiring friends. And I can only hope that getting out there and racing for the fun of it, and not for the results like I was, will inspire my friends too.

You can plan all you want, but you have to be prepared to change and adapt your plan as things are thrown at you. I am managing this as best I can, and I am forever grateful for the amazing people I have surrounded myself with. You all know who you are – so thank you so much!

Your right collarbone is a useful thing, whoever knew such a thing!

Your right collarbone is a useful thing, whoever knew such a thing!

After a big old ding to my little right wing, my arm is now tied in a silly sling.

And alas from the ping, things just don’t seem, to be as easy as they had once been.

 

There’s that itch on your arm, or be it your back, I can just no longer get it with the right little whack.

My hair is a hay stack, wild and hack, well how do you tie it when your bone has a crack?

 

That spot on my nose grows by the day, but it’s impossible to squeeze with one hand at bay.

My underarm hair has gone another way, a frightening sight if I may say.

 

Bathroom done it’s time to dress, oh here we go another mess!

Put on a top is always a test, a dress with less seems to be best.

Then there’s shoes and laces, just another quest

I think ‘I did this yest, oh not again, not yes!’

 

Oh if I only knew, the wonders of my collarbone before it blew.

So between me and you, be careful, be a prude

For a bone askew causes more issues than a few

Treasure your bones, they are far and few. This my friends, is only so true.

I get knocked down. But I get up again.

Wednesday saw me cooped up in my room crying for a solid 5 minutes, if not longer. A proper cry on my own until my eyes stung and were undoubtedly red and puffy. I needed a solid cry on my own since I broke my collarbone 3 days earlier. An emotional three earlier. Just three days earlier when I was completing my third training session in just over 24hours after arriving at the amazing Thanyapura training resort, where Jurgen Zack, the IM legend, had just complemented my bike skills and dubbed me Queen of Thanyapura after a fun swim race; where I had just chicked the CEO in a 5km sprint to the coffee stop; where I’d just met Ben the coach who was all lined up to dramatically improve my swimming skills over the next two weeks; and where I was going to live a fantasy of living like a pro for just two weeks to set me up for World’s in August. One moment life couldn’t be better, then next moment I am picking myself and my bike off the ground before a car ran me over.

IM legend Jurgen Zack has been very supportive during the week

We were 90km’s into a 110km ride when some light rain made the road slippery. I clipped a wheel and came down, breaking the end of my right collar bone. I remained calm during the accident as I gathered myself and my bike off the road, I remained calm when I got in the back of a Thai strangers ute to take me further down the road, I remained calm when the paramedics strapped me to a spinal board and rolled me into the ambulance, I remained calm during the 50minute drive to hospital on my own staring at the white ceiling listening to the wha-wha of the siren, and I even remained calm after the x-rays when the doctor announced my collarbone was broken. It was as soon as John arrived and I said out loud “I have broken my collarbone” that the tears came. All my dreams and goals for the year were over. Gone in a split second. Usually you say to people they are lucky it wasn’t worse, but for once I felt like the worse happened. Why couldn’t it just be severe grazing. Or even a dislocation I’d take. Not a break.

But a break it is, and I’m not the first cyclist and I sure as hell won’t be the last. I’m no different, no more special, and my goals are worth no more than others who have injured themselves. Triathlon is a mental sport as well, which you can never train nearly enough, but I am putting myself through the paces now.

It has been a rollercoaster ride the past week. Initially I wanted to go home straight away. I am here to train, John is working all day, and so without training it appeared there is literally nothing for me to do. We are not near the beach or town, and the resort only has one restaurant that we eat all 3 meals at.  I was lonely, and dare I say it, bored. John has told me before that only boring people get bored. I understand and agree with that, but when literally the only thing you can do is read or watch TV, I hope it’s more of a positive than a negative that I was getting bored. So I considered going home, but there are two issues. Firstly, physically travelling. I can only hold so much with my left hand, and any weight in my left is counteracted by my right, affecting my collarbone. I would need to arrange helpers both here and in Australia to get home. And then the second issue, once I got home I would need a helping hand to dress, undress, shower, cook and do pretty much everything for me while John is still working in Thailand. I am a complete dependent and stuck either way I go. For a very independent person this is a new, frightening and ultimately sad feeling. I was lost and confused and to be perfectly honest, didn’t know what to do.

Whilst I needed to make a decision about the immediate future, I also need to sit down and make a plan for the long term future in regards to my triathlon goals. I have officially cancelled my position for the World’s in Canada. I will be in a brace for 3-6 weeks and will not gain complete strength and flexibility back for 6 months. This puts me mid November before I can be back to where I was, which accepting this reality was difficult.

However, the last two days have seen a huge improvement in both my physical and mental recovery. I now see mid-November as the perfect timing for another great summer of racing. It takes the pressure off training during the difficult winter months. It gives me a chance to focus on strength and rehabilitation as planned. Whilst I wanted to spend a solid winter improving my swim, it will just have to wait a little longer than hoped.

Having so much time on my hands has enabled me to stop, take a step back, and breathe. Triathlon is a sport. A hobby. Something I do for pleasure. It is not my job, my life, my income. It does not define who I am. Not being at the level I was does not make me any less Priscilla Barrington. My personality hasn’t changed, my morals, goals and ambitions remain the same. It is a minor injury that will be overcome before I know it. We, as triathletes, get too caught up with how good we can be or want to be, that we forget why we started this sport. Every race doesn’t have to be a PB. No one will judge you if you don’t perform as well as you potentially could have, had you sacrificed more time from the little that remained for training, had you not had that injury, had you bought that more expensive equipment. I love triathlon because I love training for 3 sports. It keeps training interesting and challenging. I love the people I have met. I love the feeling of self achievement and reward from racing. I love the endorphins I get from exercising each morning. There will be nothing more rewarding getting back out there racing after recovering from this minor hiccup.

So now I am excited. After allowing myself to get all my tears out, it has now enabled me to see clearly. The silver lining of this accident is I can let myself relax. I can take the pressure off training hard all through the cold winter for a race that had started to also cause financial pressure. I am excited to do fun and social training during winter with friends, instead of isolated speed sets on my own. I am excited to catch up with my coach and set new goals, perhaps get the 7 peaks passport signed off, compete in fun runs, or do some road racing. Anything is possible now for the year ahead and I am truly excited. An accident can knock me down, but I’ll just get straight back up and charge right back at it with new and refreshed passion.

This mornings sunrise. We have found a way I can finally get in and out of the pool which has made me a lot happier

Sticks and stones may break my bones…

Or asphalt to be more correct. Twice. I was a lucky kid who had never been to hospital before, no broken bones, illnesses or complications. Thanks to the wonderful world of cycling I have now been rushed to emergency twice in the past 15months from an unexpected greeting with asphalt. The first trip saw a number of teeth lost and a broken jaw (top bone thankfully). The latest trip was in Phuket where a slippery road got the better of my collarbone.

Getting stretchered into an ambulance in Phuket

From the two experiences I have learnt how to recognize a broken bone; I first enter a state of shock where I feel no pain, think everything is ok and logically and calmly pick myself up and get ready to go on my way again. I then get very nauseas and dizzy, where I need to lie down immediately and elevate my legs before I faint. Look out for these signs if you crash, as it is all too easy to think you’re fine and keep riding, as I was about to (but my bike couldn’t be ridden). You need about 5 minutes for the shock to pass to make a true assessment, otherwise you risk causing further damage. I am so pleased I didn’t get back on my bike, I am sure the break would be much bigger.

So I am now in Thanyapura, one of the greatest sports resorts in the world where the likes of Chris ‘Macca’ McCormack, Caroline Steffan, Dave Dellow, the Australian swim squad train, just to name a few, and I can’t do a thing! Not being able to train and be surrounded by these facilities hurts more than the accident! But it is giving me plenty of time to relax, eat and research.

One of the beautiful Thanyapura pool’s I can only look at for 2 weeks.

So sensibly, the first thing that I have started reading up on is how to aid the healing of broken bones. This appears to be a well researched and documented topic. So from my reading and discussions with coaches and athletes at Thanyapura, here is how I will be attempting to aid my recovery:

1. Say no to anti-inflams.

I am not taking anti-inflammatory tablets against doctor orders. The hospital sent me home with a pack of anti-inflams and the doctor told me to be strict on them. However, it appears inflammation is the first step to recovery. With inflammation comes cells that aid the growth of new bone tissue and new cartilage. There is a reason our bodies inflame immediately after trauma to the body, so why would I take something to act against my body’s natural instinct. It appears anti-inflams are more for pain relief, so thankfully my pain is ok without taking them.

2. Pig out.

Bones require a lot of energy to repair, and energy comes from food. This is actually harder than it sounds as my appetite has decreased significantly as I am not exercising (plus it is hot), but making sure I am aware of how much I am eating and ensuring it is enough during the day will help. I also need to ensure I am getting plenty of vitamins and minerals from my food as these all aid the bone growth and repair.

3. Load up on protein.

About half of bone is made up of protein, so it makes complete sense to ensure I am consuming enough protein. Numerous studies document the acceleration of fracture healing with even a modest 10‐ to 20‐gram increase in protein intake. Luckily being at a sports retreat I can have a protein shake whenever I feel.

4. Rest and stay still.

This is the hardest part for me! Just like I need to eat food so my body has the energy to repair, I need to rest to ensure I am not wasting energy. The hospital has given me a mobility brace which is helping keep my collarbone aligned. I need to be strict in keeping this on for 3-6 weeks to ensure it heals in the correct position. Despite the discomfort, back pain, itching and rashes, if I know what’s good for me I won’t be taking the brace off! I also need to avoid over using my left arm, such as carrying heaving bags, as any stress placed on the left side is counter balanced by the right (if it wasn’t, we’d fall over when we pick up a bag).

5. Light therapy.

This is something very new to me, and again I am lucky that I am at Thanyapura and have easy access to such treatments. Light therapy works by the body absorbing the energy from the light waves, which increases blood circulation and carries cells that accept nutrients and expels waste products. It also stimulates white blood cells which repair damaged tissue. This explains why professional athletes heal much quicker, as they have daily access to treatments such as this.

 

As soon as I arrive back in Australia I will be getting another X-Ray taken and further advice from an Australian doctor. I hope that they will be able to see the growth that will have occurred in the two weeks, so I can provide an update if my plan as outlined above works. I would love to hear from others on how they have recovered from their injuries, so please leave a comment!

Meeting and receiving some sympathy from Macca also helped the recovery process!