Life after Lance

"My name's Athletic Powerhouse and I'm an ex-Lance fan."

I'm one of those people who name their bikes and my last road bike was called Lance. A group of us traveled to Adelaide for the Tour Down Under in 2009 to witness his comeback and I did his Twitter ride last year. And yes, I own a Livestrong cycling jersey.

I haven't worn it for a while though. And probably not likely to ever again. At the risk of sounding like a lover scorned, in light of the USADA charges, I want Lance to get what he deserves, so that all of us can have a life after Lance.

A life less floppy

I am taking a hiatus from running to build up some core strength so I'm 'less floppy' when I run.

Not my words. My masseuse Sam at Inclusive Therapy described me that way.

And he's never even see me run.

Junk miles

With my road bike out order and with a need mostly to keep up base fitness, I've started doing a weekly or so bike commute to work.

My first ever cycling coach called rides like these "junk miles". They're not specific enough to give you good training results, and can leave you tired, so less receptive to proper training sessions.

I've done a bit of thinking about this and I've come to the conclusion that "junk miles", right now, are not junk.

Three Peaks Challenge Part 2: Coot-tha (again) and Gravatt

I know, running Mt Coot-tha dressed as Wonder Woman is so yesterday... but I made a commitment to do it again today, remember.

I also made a commitment to climb Mt Gravatt with the rest of the Truth or Dare Mountain support crew.

My legs were a bit tired from yesterday's lap, but I got through it all fairly uneventfully... and even keen to go back for more.

Three Peaks Challenge Part 1: Wonder Woman solo on Coot-tha

My friends at Truth or Dare Mountain are completing the Three Peaks Challenge this weekend.

In a sign of solidarity for the sisterhood, I ran Mt Coot-tha this morning dressed as Wonder Woman. (Yes, by myself. In costume.)

I'm going back tomorrow for my second lap and you can join us if you like. But more on that later. Let's cover off the reasons I put myself out there this morning first.

A bedtime alarm

I've just set a bedtime alarm.

My old Ironman watch that sits down on the computer desk in the lounge room will go off at 9.30pm every night.

To remind me to go to bed if I haven't already.

Post Ironman blues and pick me ups

It's been around a month since Challenge Roth, during which time I cycled up a few cols while on holidays, then came home and sat around watching the Olympics.

I had jetlag (maybe) and the post-Ironman blues (probably).

No-one tells you about the post-Ironman blues before you get them. Well, actually, I'm lucky. My good friend Andy did tell me. But that's a whole other story, the short version is, if you ever do an iron-distance race (or a marathon, ultra marathon, or some other race that you dedicate your life to for the better part of a year), make sure you've got something to look forward to afterwards, because it can be quite a come down.