Christmas came early for Ironmaiden

Look what I got for Christmas!  From my mortgage!  Thanks ASB.


I won't bore you with the specifications, well, no actually I will (because I seem to be morphing into a gear head - who'da thought?) :  full carbon, 105 componentry (plus a sneaky ultegra front derailleur), not to mention the fact that it is now fitted with customised aeros (this involved a hacksaw and bar tape).  It is so nice to ride!  No more numb hands and feet.  It certainly makes transition easier.  I know this because I just did a Trisports Taupo short triathlon.  I had fun but I did not win.  In fact there is a distinct possibility that I was a bit last.   But the experience was definitely optimised by the latest addition to my cycling stable.  My garage is starting to fill up with bikes.  I'll either need to cull some or relegate the Mazda to sleeping on the lawn.  Not going to happen, so the cull is on the cards...I'm looking at you Mr Specialised-Piece-of-Crap Mountain Bike.  It could be garden shed for you!

So just for this week at least, it really is about the bike.

love
Ironmaiden

Aluminium Matron?

Well I knocked off a half-ironman.  No problem!  Well, a bit of sunburn but otherwise it was a fun day!  I can see why people get addicted.  It was fun out there.

So aluminium has half the atomic weight of iron (thanks Steve) hence I can surrender my Aluminiummaiden status for the more wordly "matron" status.  Hopefully in a few months time I'll be doing the same with a much heavier element.  I am so glad my friends are geeks like me.  Who use words like "hence".  And "thus".  And worry about whether it should be atomic mass or atomic weight and so ask google and get confused and then wonder if it matters and...hang on, I lost my train of thought.

It was dark and drizzling when I got up on Saturday (the little hand somewhere near the 4 by the way), but the lake was flat and warm, there was an unusual tail wind coming back from Reporoa, and the run was a cheerful wheezy shuffle up and down the lake front.  I enjoyed myself and was evidentally grinning like an idiot because random strangers were coming up to me afterwards commenting on my smile (possibly they were confused by my orc-grimace combined with my sunburn?).

It was a good day all round, one of those days when everything just went according to plan.  The swim was fairly argybargy, but I seemed to stay calm, even when one guy swam acrosson top of me heading to Turangi.  I checked my navigation, I was on course, he had the problem, so I just let him go.   Blokes never are too keen to stop and ask directions.

My time was 7:24:50.  You may be surprised to hear that Sam Warriner won, rather than me.  Her time was a slightly smaller number.

Just how well can a dead cow swim?

This is what I felt like swimming tonight.  My legs are a bit sore after the weekend - I had "tri camp".  Now it turns out tri camp does not involve toasting marshmellows or telling ghost stories, or pretty much any kind of campfire activities.   It involves swimming, and cycling, and running. 

And the lake is cold and it rains a lot at tri camp. 

And then we did lunges.  LUNGES.  Ever done lunges?  I am not sure my poor legs and poor bum will ever be the same again.  Will they recover in time to push me around a half ironman race this weekend?  I don't have much else in the way of muscle mass to compensate with (unless I can drag myself along with my lips?) so I certainly hope so!

So if you are around Taupo on Saturday and feel like giving me some moral support as I wheezy shuffle my way around a half marathon (after a 90k bike ride and a 2km swim), it would be great to see you!

Till next week, go easy on the lunges,

love
Ironmaiden