Like a big game of Tetris

I decided a few months ago that I'd like to give triathlons a shot, so started investigating triathlon squads. Rowan, the coach that ran our corporate triathlon training session (read about it here) runs a triathlon club out of Dunlop Park Pool at Corinda, called the Vipers. After kindly but emphatically saying 'no' when Rowan offered for me to come down and join the squad some mornings, I ended up joining his Beginner Squad, a 10 week course designed for absolute novice triathletes (those who aren't very experienced in any of the legs) through to those a bit more experienced in one or two but not experienced in triathlons. I fall more into the latter category - I used to be a swimmer at school, I had recently bought a bike and was getting into cycling, and I already did some form of running (albeit more short sprints than long distances).

I decided the 10 week course was the way to go, to make sure it was something I was really keen on doing. Not to mention the fact that triathlons and ironman events are very technical when you get down to the nitty gritty, and I had no idea about that stuff! The mere thought of getting onto my bike with my cleats already clipped in and the shoes flailing about on the pedals, riding with my feet on my shoes, then reaching down and putting the shoes on while riding had me freaking out. I mean come on! You've got to be kidding!

But, you know what they say - gotta start somewhere right?

So I joined. It's now about halfway through week 3, and I am absolutely loving it! There are 9 sessions a week I can choose to attend that cover all 3 disciplines, as well as upcoming transition training, nutrition talks, bike maintenance sessions, etc.

Most sessions start at between 5am and 5:30am, which hurts (not gonna lie). I am definitely not a morning person, but I'd been getting up at 4am to go to the gym for most of the last year, so I'd kind of trained myself into a groove. Go to bed as early as possible (which on netball nights is hard), and get up at sparrow's fart (to quote my lovely father).

At the moment I'm playing netball 3 nights a week, as well as a yoga session, recovery walk and long ride on the weekends. I'm currently training for the Brisbane to Gold Coast 100km bike ride, which is this Sunday (gulp!), so have been concentrating on longer rides (70-80km), but once that's over I'll cut back to shorter distances and focus more on going faster!

Add in my full-time job, and suddenly the title of this post makes sense: like a big game of Tetris. I've put together a little timetable of my current training program below, because it's easier to talk about when it looks pretty!

A bit more detail about my current training:

Vipers Tri Squad:

• Swim Sessions: 1hr 15min sessions with the main squad, but in our own 'beginners' lane. Includes warm up, technique training, isolated training (i.e. swimming with arms only and a pull buoy between legs to increase arm strength), distance swimming and sprint training. Generally focuses on continuous timed laps, interspersed with effort laps. Up to about 2-3km a session.
• Run Session: 1hr session with the main squad. Includes 2.5km warm up, then continuous running. Generally a 400m or so circuit that is 1 lap effort, then 50m recovery jog, another lap effort, recovery jog and so on. Up to about 5-6km a session.
• Group Ride: 1hr 30min ride with the main squad. Can be either a group ride of about 25-30km around Westlake/Darra area (i.e. hilly!), or a ride out to Darra and several efforts along a long loop with a few hills. Up to about 25-30km a session.
• Ride Skills Session: 1hr 30min. This is a session for just the beginners that focuses more on the finer skills of cycling: riding very slowly, balance, cornering, correct use of gears, mounting and dismounting, controlling the bike, etc.

My training/sport:

• Monday night netball/handball: Currently I play in both social mixed netball and mixed European handball teams at an indoor centre on a Monday night. So a minimum of 2 games, but I often fill in for other teams for either sport, so can be up to 4.
• Tuesday night netball: Social ladies netball at an indoor centre. Once again, I'm only in one team but will often fill in for other teams, up to 3 or 4 games a night.
• Wednesday night netball: This is my 'hard' game of netball a week. Outdoor/traditional ladies netball played at the State Netball Centre. Although this is also social, our team is in Division 1, and it's always a tough, hard-fought game. Love it.
• Chiro: I visit my absolutely awesome Chiropractor once a week. I started seeing her when I got a concussion playing netball (yep, I'm that talented!), and she has not only worked wonders on my hips and neck, but has also helped with my shoulder, ankles, feet, knees and everything in between. She is more of a holistic chiropractor who focuses on the nervous system as a whole, which affects everything in the body, not just the spine. Seriously, check her out! Shameless plug: Megan at Windsor Chiropractic.
• Run (solo): I try to go for a run on a Friday night whenever I can, but if I'm sore or tired I'm ashamed to say this is the first session I drop!
• Ride (solo or with friends): As I said earlier, for the past few months this has been a longer ride (70-80km) in preparation for my 100km ride, but from next week it will be shorter distances with more focus on speed.
• Yoga: On Sunday mornings my sister Steph and I do free yoga at Lululemon at Indooroopilly. Brilliant for me to try and stretch out after a week of training, but also improve core strength, balance, and have a bit of a relax at the end!
• Recovery walk / pushups & abs: Sunday is my 'rest' day, so I'll do a roughly 5km recovery walk at a reasonably casual pace (not a power walk but not a stroll either). I'll stop every km or so and do a bunch of pushups or ab work to get some upper body and abs strength training in.

See what I mean? Tetris. Anyway, I'm currently looking at dropping Monday night sport to save a bit of money, and also so I can fit in some strength training sessions. I'm going to try and fit in 2 HIIT sessions a week, where I use kettlebells, hand weights and body weight to do a bunch of exercises (squat jumps, box jumps, kettlebell swings, pushups, etc). Just gotta figure out where to fit those in!

Although most of the Vipers sessions are with the main squad, Rowan tailors the work to the beginner squads' levels. For the swim sessions for example, I have graduated from the beginner lane to the slower lane of the main squad, but in the run sessions (my weakest leg) I do fewer laps than the main squad because I'm slower. It's the same for each of the beginners, which is great because I'm a competitive person (no, really?) so like trying to keep up with the main squad.

So that's my current training schedule. Nothing like trying to pack as much in to each day as you can right?? Hoping it will all pay off in the end :)