Something different

A new race brings with it a new Tuesday morning run session. Since the next race on my schedule is a full Ironman, my running sessions have shifted focus a bit. They are now less about speed and more about miles. I had the first of these longer run sessions this morning.

The session has a similar format to the long interval session I was doing pre-Mandurah. However, the intervals are now of a length that I am not sure they qualify as intervals any more. Pieces might be a better term, or maybe the running bits. Anyway you get the idea, warm up, several longish periods of higher intensity running, warm down. The main difference between what I am doing now and what I was doing before Mandurah is that the pieces are longer and the intensity lower.

The session went pretty well. Today was a bit about figuring out how the new session will work. I still managed all the target times etc, but that was a bit of trial and error regarding where I was going (my usual route past the Fremantle harbour was closed). I have a similar session on Thursday and that will be a bit more focused.

One upside with the new session is that since it is longer, I only have the one run today. Prior to Mandurah I was typically doing two runs on Tuesday, but today I have the afternoon off instead which is always nice. I might take the chance to head across the park across the road and do some running drills.

In other news I booked my flights to Geelong 70.3 yesterday. Booking flights is usually the point where I take the mental step from, 'I am entered and will probably do that race next year' to 'I am doing that race next year'. So I guess this means I am definitely doing Geelong 70.3 next year, baring injury or spontaneous combustion during the Busselton Ironman (which I guess would count as a particularly severe injury).

Changing topic again, I finally found a way to clean my Cervelo P5 on the weekend. My P5 has the current matte paint finish, which looks spiffy, but is a major pain to keep clean. When it gets dirty etc, you can't just wipe it clean, the dirt just kind of smudges. I have tried a number of things, wet cloths, general purpose cleaners, saliva etc. Some stuff kind of moves the dirt and grease, but nothing removes it. But on the weekend I finally found something. Washing up detergent. I guess in hindsight it kind of makes sense that a product that is designed to remove grease from dirty dishes would also remove it from dirty bikes. Certainly when I jumped up yelling Eureka and claiming victory, my wife gave me a look that left me in no doubt that she was doubting my intelligence. Fine call me a slow learner. I don't care, my P5 is shiny clean again. Hooray.