This year it was great to get out to a few stages of the Tour Down Under. The Willunga Hill finish was one of the best cycling stages I've seen. The atmosphere was great! It is fantastic to see cycling growing so much in Adelaide and to see so many people out supporting this amazing event!
Friday, January 30, 2015
Our Veggie Patch
One of the best things about finally owning our own house is being able to start trying to be self sustainable. I love working in the garden and love growing my own veggies, so number one priority after moving in was a veggie patch. Only a few months in and we're getting loads of fresh produce and the garden is running rampant!
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Iron Man Training Cont...
So we're 4 weeks in, and it's going well. We havent missed a session yet and just smashed out our biggest ride run day so far. 160km and 10km respectively. The session felt great and I was just so pumped afterwards.
Kate is killing it and getting through the sessions no worries at all. It is amazing seeing her progress and how all of the training is unfolding and improving our times and endurance. Nex week is the beginning of a very intense 3 weeks, before a rest week, an intense week and then taper time.
We are very excited to say the least!
Kate is killing it and getting through the sessions no worries at all. It is amazing seeing her progress and how all of the training is unfolding and improving our times and endurance. Nex week is the beginning of a very intense 3 weeks, before a rest week, an intense week and then taper time.
We are very excited to say the least!
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Hit by a car....
I've been told that if you ride enough you will one day get hit by a car. I guess my time was up. Last weekend on my Saturday morning training ride, I was about 4hrs (135kms) into my 4.5hr ride. It was almost 40 deg C and I was feeling pretty zoned and just keen to get home. I was riding the Seacliff foreshore road and probably doing about 37km/h when a douche bag just decided to turn into a car park without indicating or checking his blind spot. As I was in the aero bars I couldn't brake quick enough and just rode straight into the side of the car, then swerved to try and avoid anymore contact which took me into the curb and over the handlebars. It must have looked like an epic crash ;-)
I was on my feet straight away and quickly assessed the damage. Yep, I felt fine, nothing broken just some good grazes, but no stitches would be required. Sweet. Time to lay into the driver.
In the end the drive was really apologetic - as he should have been - and hung around to make sure I was OK and exchanged numbers with me incase I needed to contact him to make a claim. Another witness also stopped and passed on his number should I require a witness to the incident. The driver did try to pass blame and avoid responsibility, but he knew he was in the wrong and I'm sure was glad that I seemed fine and my bike was still in one piece.
Anyways, having the tenacity that I do, I wasn't going to let a few grazes finish my ride. I smashed out the final 30mins of the ride, clocking up I think 150kms or there abouts, and then I managed the 15min brick run to top the ride off :-) I just kept reminding myself that the Tour de France riders manage to smash out the whole TDF covered in grazes so I needed to toughen up!
Happy Riding!
I was on my feet straight away and quickly assessed the damage. Yep, I felt fine, nothing broken just some good grazes, but no stitches would be required. Sweet. Time to lay into the driver.
In the end the drive was really apologetic - as he should have been - and hung around to make sure I was OK and exchanged numbers with me incase I needed to contact him to make a claim. Another witness also stopped and passed on his number should I require a witness to the incident. The driver did try to pass blame and avoid responsibility, but he knew he was in the wrong and I'm sure was glad that I seemed fine and my bike was still in one piece.
Anyways, having the tenacity that I do, I wasn't going to let a few grazes finish my ride. I smashed out the final 30mins of the ride, clocking up I think 150kms or there abouts, and then I managed the 15min brick run to top the ride off :-) I just kept reminding myself that the Tour de France riders manage to smash out the whole TDF covered in grazes so I needed to toughen up!
Happy Riding!
Laura an Tommasos Wedding
I was lucky enough to photograph my rad friends getting married! It was an amazing day and they both looked smashing. It was such a fun event to photograph with Tommasos family being over from Italy for the occasion.
Iron Man Training WIP
WOW! 3 weeks into Iron Man training and we have hit all of our sessions. It is going to be a hard 12 weeks with the saturday ride and the Wednesday run proving to be the really tough ones. So yesterday our ride was 5 hours - I did 140km - which was a bit off pace as it was raining and windy as all hell! While out on this training ride I was thinking that is the definition of dedication to the end goal. Up at 4am, riding in the wind, rain and cold because I want to do as best as I can at Iron Man.
At the time the session was miserable, but I kept telling myself a few little things to get through it and to help me mentally deal with the tough session. 1) Sessions like this are the ones that matter. You learn way more and push yourself physically and mentally way more when the conditions are tough. Everyone loves training on a balmy blue sky day with no wind, but what happens on race day when it is blowing a gale and wet as shit? 2) That I am very fortunate to be living in a country where I am free and able to get up on Saturday and choose wether I want to, or don't want to go out and trail for an amazing event that I am about to partake in, so although the conditions may not be desirable, it still sure as hell beats not having the choice or opportunity to do such things. 3) Don't be a whinging pussy and just smash it out!
That little rant aside, training is going amazingly well for both me and Kate and we are lucky enough to be getting a few sessions in per week together which is making it really enjoyable. This journey to the end goal of Iron Man will be a huge accomplishment, but to do it with my wife as well, and to share all the hard weeks of training, the massive food bills, lack of sleep and crazy fatigue will just make it so much more special and it will be something that we hold onto together forever.
Get out there and get stoked. Happy training!.
At the time the session was miserable, but I kept telling myself a few little things to get through it and to help me mentally deal with the tough session. 1) Sessions like this are the ones that matter. You learn way more and push yourself physically and mentally way more when the conditions are tough. Everyone loves training on a balmy blue sky day with no wind, but what happens on race day when it is blowing a gale and wet as shit? 2) That I am very fortunate to be living in a country where I am free and able to get up on Saturday and choose wether I want to, or don't want to go out and trail for an amazing event that I am about to partake in, so although the conditions may not be desirable, it still sure as hell beats not having the choice or opportunity to do such things. 3) Don't be a whinging pussy and just smash it out!
That little rant aside, training is going amazingly well for both me and Kate and we are lucky enough to be getting a few sessions in per week together which is making it really enjoyable. This journey to the end goal of Iron Man will be a huge accomplishment, but to do it with my wife as well, and to share all the hard weeks of training, the massive food bills, lack of sleep and crazy fatigue will just make it so much more special and it will be something that we hold onto together forever.
Get out there and get stoked. Happy training!.
Getting Slower...
I was pondering the other day that as I get more experienced at running....I am actually getting slower :-) I have noticed the enjoyment of running and the desire to run for a long time has made me settle into a steady pace from which I don't really feel the need to get faster. It just lets me enjoy the running more and I figure that I will get faster as I get a lot of Kms on the legs rather than do what I normally do and try to force speed and then end up with an injury.
I have found this is especially the case with trail running. I am finding I go out with about a 5min - 5:30min average pace and it just lets me really enjoy the scenery in which I am running, which after all, is why you go running somewhere beautiful right. Otherwise you may as well run on a treadmill. I find when running at this pace and enjoying myself I get in great training sessions, saving any pace work I may have for the boring road, and manage to pass 20kms without batting an eyelid, no tunes required:-)
Happy Running!
I have found this is especially the case with trail running. I am finding I go out with about a 5min - 5:30min average pace and it just lets me really enjoy the scenery in which I am running, which after all, is why you go running somewhere beautiful right. Otherwise you may as well run on a treadmill. I find when running at this pace and enjoying myself I get in great training sessions, saving any pace work I may have for the boring road, and manage to pass 20kms without batting an eyelid, no tunes required:-)
Happy Running!
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