Training Log Archive: brycec

Storms woke me up last night and didn't get back to sleep - le sigh.

When it did eventually come around to 'getting up' I felt pretty lethargic and was debating not going because I was sure it was just going to get rough and dump rain on me... I ended up going and taking rain jacket with me.

Got going and it was glassoff water for the first 1.5km - was so nice paddling through it. I was slow as I was just warming into it - must admit my right shoulder still sore from mtb crash and was taking a while to loosen to the task at hand.

Stopped briefly in peppi grove to sort out my sitting position as was kinda awkwardly in the seat and just wasnt comfortable. Changing positions though did start the onset of my leg numbness... oh well.

I then went out past FWBYC and encountered my first waves ever - a boat wake - of course I freaked out and stopped paddling just to see how the boat would handle it... boat handled it fine the cross wake which had bounced off the moored boats though almost got the better of me! started paddling again - a bit wet now - wind had picked up and glass of conditions had completely disappeared. as I rounded FWBYC 2 dolphins appeared right next to me. not even a paddle length away. Was nice to see them.

Cross over to the sandbar where I witnessed a few men dragging someone into the water with a lifejacket on and just keep going out deeper and deeper. nfi what they where doing but I didn't have time to investigate - was exceptionally strange though.

Started to rain and the winds picked up as I headed down the spit and across to point Walter jetty.

Traversed the river again here back to dalkeith corner and then followed the shoreline all the way back around to claremont jetty - was calmer in close and as I rounded the last bend went back to glass off.

As I got to the jetty needed 1 more km so did a quick out and back to finish off. Discovered on this leg if I leaned back in my seat and lifted my but up slightly it sorted out my butt and leg numbness YAYS!

Also got a blister on my right hand :( oh wells... maybe gloves required. Either way todays speed was a lot quicker!

Splits:
1) 08:59
2) 08:38
3) 08:51
4) 08:29
5) 09:04
6) 08:34
7) 08:29
8) 08:13

C • Numb bumb 6

Another late starting session - but was a decent hit out - still feeling pretty lazy around the gym not pushing myself as hard as I normally would.

Maybe in the next 4 week cycle I will switch up to something more engaging.

Legs thanking me for not riding yesterday and I will be missing run tonight too - hopefully that will ease off the shins a bit this week,

Woke up feeling sorer than normal and pretty tired - was about to tell myself to man up and ride my bike and rain rolled through... Enough of a sign to turn on the electric blanket and roll over. Will either ditch session entirely (likely) or do tonight - pre marking as rest day.

Bit weak but got to listen to body from time to time. If soreness doesn't subside may ditch the run tomorrow for a swim or paddle.

Apparently the flat gym I climbed 118m woot :P even with the gps off.. would love to know how it figures out its climb haha

Anyway very solid session - decided to keep the upper/lower split for this full four weeks cycle so this week and next week to go.

Went reasonably hard this week and felt it in the arms afterwards. Was going to try get the 200m swim in but ran out of time should have gone to the gym earlier... maybe Thursday

Still not hitting tempo heart rate as I calc it... was pushing reasonably hard. but must admit between 1.5 and 3km mark was in my own head space so probably lost some speed/focus/HR there.

body still feels like it has a lot more to give same ol story of shins being the limiting factor. Toom's glutes program has clearly highlighted the issue and there is going to be a long road before I am going to be good so Ill just need to shutup and deal with it until then.

Had a really nice kick for the last km bringing down average speed 5s/km

Recovery was super quick again - but didnt see the bpm. Now off to eat dinner and ice

C • Dinner 1

Debated doing my ride today tonight as this morning wasn't an option. Think I'll take an unscheduled rest day and let myself recover a bit more

Event: Marginata - Standard Bush Event
 

Ok so I think I have found an area to add to my list of favourites.

Really enjoyed it out there today - sure there where a few dead leg runs in there but it was runnable and after last week at peterdine if made me very happy to have such a good run.

Also excluding whiteman park - this is the fastest I have gone in a foot-o and faster by 1min30+ per km. very happy.

A few niggles shins held up ok, as did ankles even though I tried my best to break both of them on a number of occasions. Staked it once and got cut up for my efforts.

Route:
1) Pulled up way early and found someone elses point - that threw me for a bit but wasnt too bad drifted around the controls a bit but sitll hit my mark.

2) went a bit to far east but wasnt exactly a hard control so picked it up with little fuss.

3) Bang on it

4) Drifted west and went through the green to the west of 4 - silly - got 4 fine once I had got through. Other people caused me to drift this leg too :(

5) semi contoured around even though trace looks pretty straight. lol. Over shot it slightly and came back.

6) Pretty much straight to where I expected it to be and it was there.

7) Planned to hit the road for about a km and then come in quite near 9 and follow the ridge along. About 500-600m along the bush looked way to inviting so went in - figured due north would do. Passed the eastern stoney ground on my left and hit the boulder cluster just east of 7 - a small scout and found 7.

8) Top of a SFG. excellent. I knew what I was looking for but dicked around a bit in here - got it in reasonable time though.

9) Flush onto it.

10) Flush again. A bit of confidence up.

11) Flush take 3 - woohoo

12) Poop - haha went west of it and a small search to find it but longer than required.

13) flush could see it from well away which was nice.

14) Almost came unstuck here - had drifted west towards the track and was well above the point - lucky it was easily visible and people where there and my trace shows my aggressive turn towards it. Distance was about right though so i knew it was close when I spotted it - technical ground might have been an issue though.

15) Long leg, went high and well pretty much straight, came around onto it nicely.

16) um there is some green stuff in between 15/16 and this is where I stacked it! I was too far north coming out of this but luckily another runner had exited it so I scooted around and got the point.

17) Flush

18) Flush

19) Flush

(yes it was a strong finish)

20) some hesitation but flush... also came across a wild photographer - so tried to look like I was moving fast ... then had to work out if I was running the right direction - only about 30 degree out haha.

Fin - couldn't get the legs going for a sprint so put in what I could.

All in all very happy! in the mix on times for a change!

C • Nice one 8

H1 - Splits

Exactly the same course as last week - wanted a rematch!

I won this time - even though it almost got another win after ejecting me a few times on balboa.

That said 12 minutes faster and pretty much non stop. Had 1 guy try hold me on a climb he did pretty well had to work pretty hard to hold him off... He stopped before the main climb though.

Generally not many people out there and course was feeling really nice.

Didnt enjoy using the backpack again but so be it until I get off my ass and get a new saddle bag. Also even though I pumped to 34 the tyres felt very squishy today and got me unstuck a few times.

Anyway was a good session and I expect once I strava there will be PR's a plenty :)

Ok bit the bullet and actually went to one of my planned swimming sessions...

Was a nice day for it. Shared a lane for over half my time out there.

First 20 laps cruised then had a girl in the lane next to me which was the perfect pace setter for me just a little bit faster than me. So I upped my effort.

Once she left was all by myself and dropped time fast sadly. But still managed 60 laps in 63 mins so happy enough given the lack of pool work.

Stupid garmin decided my last lap was 100m not 50 and went from 2950 to 3050... grrr!

Glad I went for the swim... Also noticed my calves on every push off - more stretching required.

C • You can swim. 25

Injuries/soreness

- arm/shoulder/collar bone from mtb crash - almost better but still some soreness, stiffness and some lack of mobility.

- shin splints - manageable at 2-3runs a week - requiring a whole heap of stretching and glute work to resolve. bridge/side raises/clams

- Left ankle - almost there but tweaks and gives some grief from time to time.

otherwise feeling reasonable.

C • Glutes 6

Had a shocker of a sleep so was exceptionally hard to peel myself out of bed this morning.

goal was to do 6 min km or under - gosh ti was cold and had double t-shirt arm warmers and cloves... don't know how craig motivates to run earlier int eh coldest place on earth (kings park) anyway first 3km was good - held back on the pace and just tried to warm into ti 5:45 on my watch as I crossed 3km. The next 2-2.5 kms though things went pari shape - shins started hurting and paced dropped to a shuffle and my pace average dropped to 6:04. this was also the point that I went past the JTC electronic board that said ti was 5C :( . I put in a bit of a surge to try fix in the last km and got it to 6:01 on my watch but in recording ti it dropped to 6:02.

Not too bad I suppose but want it to be faster. cardio wasnt the issue - wasnt feeling taxed at all - legs had nothing though, just no strength - probably because its a day after legs session in gym and a heavy training week.

Sadly no time for icing today rushed to get ready and made my way down to train station - saw someone in a oawa car with there road bike on their roof as I was walking down there. hehe.

C • ti ti 8

C • Herbs 5

Felt like a pretty good session - just took it slow and easy - will need to amp up the gym sessions in future weeks.

Going to try do more for flexibility/stretching and also get the glutes firing to help out these shin splints.

C • glutes firing 5

Working from home today and decided rather than do the scheduled run I would do the more time consuming paddle at lunch giving me more time tomorrow morning and extra shin recovery time before my run.

I was hoping it would be warmer which ti was - however it was rougher... roughest ive been in. I almost went in the drink a few times in the first few minutes and quickly learnt a few truths. This boat is not going to roll over - I will be ejected from the seat well before that happens. so if I just wedge myself in and paddle hard I should stay put.

I had adjusted the foot pedals back - so wedging in wasnt too hard to do - side on to the chop and waves of FWB was a tough ask and I noticed the boat has a natural tendency to turn its nose into them - so worked hard at keeping my line.

Followed the bay around dalkeith around the point and along a bit - had a short break for my left leg which was numb then turned back. I found turning difficult in the open choppiness but got around ok. - wow with wind/wave behind you its easy mode - but again a bit technical because kept being pushed off line.

back down along the shore lien and back along with chop perpendicular. Speed was good for that segment - finished with a 1km out and back tried to keep the pace up and did well.

Noted that left leg didn't go fully numb again and in fact started to recover - I think all the constant adjusting and balancing helped keep my legs good. Right leg never seemed to be an issue. Can tell it worked my glutes/abductors/lower back because I can feel them now haha.

Once comfortable with the craft I am sure I am going to be able to get some pace up - Max speed according to garmin was 10.8km/hr which I was quite happy with.

Splits where as follows:
1) 10:54 - into and side on to chop/wind
2) 11:36 - into wind/chop
3) 11:26 - into wind - stop for leg - turn around - short bit of return with wind
4) 08:51 - with wind/waves
5) 08:32 - with wind/waves for half then perpendicular to it.
6) 08:58 - Directly out into it turn around and back with it.

edit: oh yes garmin registered 56 climb on a paddle muhahha also had some fogging in my screen but it disappeared - do I need to be worried about this?

C • Fogging 1

A decent sleep last night - last hour was broken but otherwise solid.

Shoulder feeling loads better today - surprising I was expecting after it was sore from running (clearly carrying some tension whilst I run) and giving ti a smash fest in the morning that it would be sore today.

Slow onto the bike as per norm - but once on ti felt pretty good - cadence was higher the whole way and as was the speed - I pushed it a bit but generally was in my comfort zone - had a short period along the freeway when I got some draft in but most of the time the guy was drafting me. Figured it was fair as the wind had swung around on me rudely.

Anyway average cadence 81

Also one of my best average speeds I have done since I have had my Garmin and the two that beat it - only beat it by a small amount 0.2 and 0.5 and the 0.5 had drafting galore... that said I used to beat 30km/hr on my bike clock and I am yet to break 27 so a lot of work to do still.

Another bad nights sleep - but shoulders improving. Eventually pulled myself out to bed and had a bit of a late start. decided not to go onto a program yet and just bounced around and did the main exercises.

Shoulder held generally pretty well - we will see how it goes over night!

Fell like I spanked myself a bit harder than I wanted to meh so be it!

Didnt do any core and really need need to get onto that/glutes/stretching as it seems that is the root cause of a lot of my ailments currently.

So convincing myself to start was watch heart rate sit at 52... thats the lowest I have seen it resting. possibly ever. yay.

Went outside and promptly came straight back in put on a second tshirt, arm warmers and gloves - contemplated the leg warmers.

Felt good on the run - felt I had more to push just need to leg strength but fitness was good. composure was pretty decent but still clipping my feet on legs still so a bit of sloppiness going on.

Was damn cold out there - still wish had pushed a bit harder not really getting to tempo apparently.

Still fastest run on this training program so far and also shins where good for whole run (still iced them though).

Oh and recovery heart rate of 58 bpm WINNING :P now just need to convert fitness into pace and weight loss and I am set.

Ditched ride this morning as another poor nights sleep with my shoulder - see if I feel up for it tonight might just listen to body and have a day off.

Seems I have to do some glute work to sort out my calves and some stretching on my quads to sort out my knees.

Event: Peterdine - Middle Distance (SOL)
 

Had a shocking sleep because of shoulder last night. Was determined to have a better day today!

Got out to area on time with the idea of getting H1 and H2 done.

1) Started at a jog and missed off to the right trace shows I was right direction and then jsut slid the wrong way. Corrected after dicking around on the edge of the hill and came back to the point... not the start I wanted.

2) On route to two rolled my bad ankle and then immediately after my good one. :( Both seemed to recover quickly but both a bit sore. Went low for 2 and it paid off landing on the flag - must admit it wasn't where I expected.

3) Easy down to this one and hit it flush.

4) Started off on right direction and when I got closer I made a stupid error and shot off nearly 180 deg from what I wanted. SIGH. shins where already hurting by now and I hadn't gone that hard.... Havent had the greatest start.

5) Took bearing up the hill and stuck on it Control was way off the left. I thought this was weird. had missed #1 to left too but thought nothing of it. Looked at map and it seemed to eb on the right spot - but looking forward to TBT for this one.

6) Wrong side of a rock and cruised straight past it - lost a load of time in here. shins hurting as where ankles. eventually found it when some others spotted it down the hill from my location... Imma claim mapping wasnt great for this rock.

7) Should have been an easy control. Trace says I got within 5m of it and didnt see it on the first pass... MAYBE THAT'S BECAUSE IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE THERE! when I looped around the bolder where I expected it there was the bamboo stick and flag tape with the number sitting on the perfectly described feature... hunted down and around was frustrating as hell to find the spot and know the control was near.. back tracked and found it. #misplaced. also felt like this control site was again off the the left of my bearing and I had gone on bearing.. started to question the map/my compass/magnetic lines...

8) Pretty much gave up here and decided to walk only to preserve shins and dropping the second course cause I was raging on inside. 8 was easy because I had pretty much been to it.

9) Walked onto it slightly off to the right of it but I had guessed that would be the case.

10) Stayed down in the field did some light jogging but walked most of it. It just popped up where it was meant to be.

11) I took the wide east leg to this. Probably just annoyed and cold as but was getting petty with the fact the circle wasnt centred exactly on the control as control was on the base of the granite slide. (yes I am aware its pretty bloody close)

12) Tried to verify the bearing issue I had to 12. Again drifted massively to the right. got the control but just MEH.

13) Craig floated past me in the open ground to 13 and guided me onto the point.

14/15) just used the features and walked directly onto both

16) Back to the first control up the big ass hill, deliberately came up early which mean walking back down onto it.

17) Flush but slow

18) Went faster down the hill and swung back around onto it.

19) I ignored my bearing because that hadnt worked all day and drifted around the hill and landed right onto the point. Feel as if compass was broken or mag lines where wrong.

20) Ok last frustration for the day - easy enough to get to but the map has the watercourse south of the granite - its in line with it and the control was on the eastern end of it not the western end of it. Close enough sure - but I was pretty annoyed by now so I was picking on shit like this.

Trudged to finish. Got results - left. didnt want to do another didnt want to stay and chat was over it today - just felt sore tired and annoyed.

===
On the detour had a car scream around a blind corner at 90 almost clean out both of us, car shook it was that close to me.

Had a car not far after send a rock into my windscreen left a small chip/scratch drivers side - big enough to make me jump as I saw it coming last second and it would have been direct into my face without the screen. Will have to monitor the chip to make sure it doesnt crack.

Got home to find my shark had got caught in one of the fish tank ornaments and died.. looked like he struggled too :( heart broken. Got him over 2.5yrs ago :( sad sad..

Crappy day - I just feel defeated.

Dropping swimming because my shoulder is owning me also sore to the touch on the far side of the collar bone (ie above sternum - really did a number on the bike) Plenty of bruising coming up.

C • Drifting 13

Done 2 out of the 9 swims... SIGH all other training is within reason. Just hate going to the pool.

Also have to rest shins now - they are getting quite bad

Hard 1 - Splits

WTF is going on today!

On drive to camel farm had agro guy behind me on GEHB so let him pass then continue on my merry way. He gets caught at every light and I am pretty much right behind him all the way to Kalamunda shops where he does a quick veer off into the carpark and shoots through as I continue on and turn left onto mead street to go to CF. There he is at the exit flipping me the bird as I drive passed... like his cool enough for em to follow!

Driving home had an old lady trying to turn right across the road on a blind corner as I came around I had to go foot path not to take her out... Then moments later at the roundabout before the descent from kalamunda I have to e-brake my car as someone decided indicating left means I am going straight. Is it international drive like a retard day or something?!

Anyway down to business.
Wanted a decent hit out at the CF but didn't get it :( - first leg stuck behind a pack of newbs - they all moved over but took ages to get passed them thankfully I got passed them before the long downhill. 15s off a PB there and hadn't been really trying for it so pretty happy with that.

Went over to lancaster (black run) had only done this once before and wanted to have a crack at it in the daylight. Got a PB on it... sadly also had a massive stack taking an A line when I should have taken a B line. If you dont hit A line at speed your front wheel is always going to drop well off it and your pretty much screwed... and thats precisely what happened I braked hard lost all speed the drop off the end was too big and I just went straight over the handle bars... Probably my second worst crash ever - no mistake this hurt a bit. Got out lucky only grazes and muscular - silly mistake by me... Shoulder/colar bone are really sore sitll now :(

Anyway collected up my bits which went flying - bottle/tailight/me. and continued onwards - a bit slower and more hesitant. Went up highway, down metasoma and across to brand new second hand. Haven't been this combo before - was kinda nice - but a lot of climb for not much downhill. PBs galore on strava for the climbs. and I felt like I was going slow... particularly when I got stuck behind some newbs on the climb up drago.

Wanted more distance so went down mecury st. a few hairy moments but generally pretty good (PB there) then back up gungin via Balboa. Almost halfway up balboa heard a weird noise but couldn't work out what it was. At the top of balboa I found out my saddle bag had broken and was rubbing on my tyres and hanging on by a thread :( lucky though as my car keys where in it!

Strapped it around the main frame but it got in my way for peddling so stopped before the big downhill section and loaded it all into my jacket pockets! lucky I actually brought my jacket today saved me damage in the fall and then carried my crap - it didn't even really rain!. Anyway guess need a new bag or backpack usage from now on :(

Started downhill was weird with all the crap bouncing against my legs in my pockets. Backed off the pace just wanted to get home. Green line home from black stump - PB's there too... couldn't resist haha.

All in all pretty good session just tonnes of drama not required.

C • Strava 5

Had a 3km swim scheduled but given I have fresh grazes and my right shoulder was feeling F@#$ed I opted to pickup my 6km run from Thursday.

First real brick session... lets see no/minimal dinner last night, 4 weetbix for breakfast, a mtb crash, physio needling my legs in sub 24hr... time to run... wasn't expecting a stella performance...

but wasn't expecting as bad as I got. I plodded along at a comfortable pace but it was slow. the 'new' 3km loop course - was only about 2.8km so I had to improvise on the 2nd lap and also it really was just long slow uphill grinding and shard decent... who was the cruel bastard who made this thing! - oh wait. darn.

Anyway have tried to adjust it for future laps hopefully the new 3km loop will actually be 3km. As for the run today - not much shin pain - but wasn't pushing it (still iced) not much in the tank - but thats a nutrition issue easily resolved. Happy enough just to have done it - just wish it was sub 6min km... this pace is disgraceful.

Oh well - more brick sessions required!Really need to do todays swim tomorrow - been really slack on my swimming

Plan hug the coast around claremont, peppigrove cross to the point of dalkeith, hug coast back to claremont jetty.

What actually happened:
had moved the pedals 1 slot back - felt like a more natural bend in my knees and more comfortable but I felt looser in the boat and less stable - less pushing onto the pedals.

Went around claremont yacht club and was getting pushed around a little in the breeze. As I went around the western side of it and the moored boats I turned towards the south and started heading towards peppigrove. This was short lived and I almost went straight into the drink. With my seat now wet I worked for a short while with the wind and small chop to my perpendicular before deciding to nose into the wind and go on a triangle course to peppi grove.

I turned into the wind and was ok but harder work as I started I quickly dropped the idea of peppigrove and thought I would just go for a straight traverse. The wind changed slightly on its direction and was again off to my left, I adjusted again and realised well I am pretty much heading back to the jetty now lets just get to the shallow smooth protected water faster.

Back in the shallows and smooth water I focused on increasing speed.

My feet/legs had gone numb for the first time here and I had a quick break with them over the side. I then proceeded along the dalkeith coast. After 1km another break for my legs where they had gone numb again.

I Got down the the point of dalkieth and turned around just shy of 4km which is where I wanted to be. I started going back - a bit of head wind but nothing like before. Legs where number but didn't really have time now so ignored them and tried different things to get them to an acceptable level.

Things started going bad about the 5km mark - with my legs numb through steering was becoming more difficult and I found myself almost in the drink another 3 times in quick succession. This was most annoying! Made it back though and didnt go for a swim so was happy enough.

Was slower getting out of boat and that certainly helped.

Paces / km
1) 10:23
2) 11:47
3) 09:28
4) 09:26
5) 09:15
6) 09:16

I need to get that pace down to like 8 mins and then I need to be able to maintain that in chow/cross swell/wind and waves... I have a lot of work to do!

Really need to sort out this leg numbness too. feel like I had more power off the pedals when they where closer so might move them back.

Also question on boat care - should I hose it down after every use?

C • Leg numbness 6

Well i was going to do last nights run tonight, but physio needled me again... was going to request she didn't but she didn't ask for a change she just did. oh well - will leave it for recovery now - shame I didn't want to miss this run. Might do it tomorrow as a brick session.

Not the toughest session I must admit - wanted to take ti easy given running tonight.

Legs took the challenge of weight on reasonably well so next time will have to go a bit harder.

Core is weak weak weak. lots to do there!

Had some bike rider going to other direction yell some shit at me early in my ride I think ti was something about my light. but whatever he said it pissed me off his language was not required.

other than that settled into a pleasant ride - wind was strong out and had dropped off a little on the way back so my slightly faster moving average shows I was working hard. Leg certainly felt heavy at start and had to put in to maintain training pace.

A few weird and wonderful detours for path works and trying to not wait at lights - almost had the lights dream run but the last set caught me for a minute or more sadly.

HR recovery certainly getting more impressive - I stop and the graph dives. yay for getting fitness back.

Average cadence 78. still missing the elusive 80. PS. I am sure if I just had the freeway section on it would be 90 because on the Mt henry > Narrows I was rarely below 90. Mostly 95.

So back to they gym to build up some strength outside of cardio.

Took it easy and also didn't go full body just upper - will reserve full body sessions until next week.

Even when going light can tell I am going to know about it... geez way off on form!

everything 3x10 - 60s rest

piss weak attempt at core at the end. I shall fix that next time.


They have refit challenge/HBF stadium - equipment is all new and nice . The rowers however are weird. the foot piece moves and the seat basically sits still - it felt really really weird and simply put - felt weird/wrong - guess I will be on the cross trainer for warmup now because the rower was juts naff.

Also saw physio last night she had a look at shoulders/neck again and she felt they where pretty much right so only did a little to them. Right quad still majorly tight and she had fun needling me and watching me squirm. got to my left ankle and felt the joint was stiff and did something down there which has really made it feel a tonne better instantly.

I am hoping 1 more session should have the ankle nearly back to norm and quads loose... If I am brave might let her at the shins too.

Lets be honest all would be ok if I simply stretched.. tisk tisk.

Tempo session - well apparently - I thought I had worked pretty hard but my heart rate says otherwise. I knew I wasnt supposed to go full tilt so I held back a little. Supposed to be average 85% of max I believe which (depending how you calc max) mean i should be average 152-163 - I believe in the upper bound more so 163 would have been target. Guess I will work harder next time!

At least it was the fastest average pace I have done (by 6s/km) so I am doing something right.

Shins not too bad still gave them an icing though.

Will ponder how to go hard in next tempo session. guess I will have to try do this as my cruising pace on Thursday #shudder.

Went out slow with the the intention of spinning the legs a bit and just recovering after the two heavyish hit outs on the weekend. It was bloody cold out there and once I hit the freeway decided to work a bit harder.

Wasn't until passed the half way - (still feeling quite cold) that I got into the harder work load. Someone passed me and I wasn't so happy about it. so chased him down - took me half way back to narrows before I caught him. thought about drafting but he had really backed off, so went passed, assuming he would jump on for a tow... kept work hard until nearly at narrows when looked behind and no one to be seen... woot - sat up and dropped back a few km per hr. Then a moment later Just before carpark woosh, 3 people come past at like 40km and there he is sitting on the back of that... grrr. well played sir.

Other than that ride was good. Lights where kind only had 1 minute of wait time for the entire ride which is pretty good considering the Abadare/Thomas street lights normally have me waiting 3 minutes just themselves.

Must admit really felt the difference between the bikes today to.. road bike is so nimble.

Average Cadence - 78 - a small drop but I am happy enough with it
Speed dropped 0.5km/hr but given the first half I was just cruising and I added an extra 5km I am happy enough with that average.

PS it was cold out there this morning I was fully rugged up and still felt it a bit.

So a calamity of issues today.

The cold and sun took its toll at the start, - cold air fogged my glasses and the sun glared them out. Had I had a top with a pocket they would have been straight off - but I didnt so I had to endure about 30-45 minutes of crap visibility.

Also instead of starting my gopro recording I changed its mode - no video from today - which sucks because the single trail decent was good.

1) Wish I went onto the main road the way Paul went - I certainly considered it but opted for the internal route - I can say without any hesitation... my legs where tired from yesterday and the cold didnt help. Made it to 1 eventually but had Dalto right on me when I got there.

2) raced him to 2 - he went south I went north on the road. We where neck and neck come The turn off to two - I took the first one and he took the second and we arrived at the control pretty much at the same tiem again.

3) Dalto disappeared before I even got off the control. Also the pinch descent before 3 was enough to get me off my bike! - got 3 easily.

4) Opted to go to the road rather than bash through - wish I just bashed through! Passed Dalto coming back out of 4 on his climb. wasnt too far ahead of me

5) Debated long and hard about route choice - and fear I made a bad one. I walked up the epic single trail which was long and hard and not nice. Think southern route would have been better. Got it easy.

6) < ??? really this number comes next. when i looked at my map I went to 7... SIGH MP

7) Easy leg to 7. Down the middle of the map.

8) Passed Dalto coming from god knows where (#6) I assumed he had got lost - really it was I that had fucked up! 8 was easy as it was one I saw yesterday.

9) I belted along to 9 feeling good and again knowing where it was.

10) Main road then power line road. The decent to 10 was hairy and I almost became majorly unstuck as I got forced into the dibbet. My bike did not appreciate it. I got off the bike early into the bush and hunt for ages on something clearly not the track. Went down to junction then paced back up. When I got to the mark Dalto had just come down the road and spotted the trail with me.

11) I raced around to 11 and almost rode past it tucked in on the log there! rude! Dalto not far behind me. Thinking I had to get 2 minutes on him I powered back down to 12.

12) Flush and opened up a tiny bit of ground on Dalto.

Finish) At this point I thought to beat Dalto I would have to get a bout a minute and a half on him to the finish. Broke myself getting there and the splits show just over a minute on him. and us finishing on the exact same cumulative... PITY I MISSED PUNCHED LIKE AN IDIOT. So in realism he had a good 10-12 mins on me. (the time it would have taken extra to get 6 I figure.


After dropping Richard home I left my bike rack bits on my roof... Drove home. Drove to Leightons and after bib and tuck notice the unlocked spoke and keys sitting through rack.. OH NO, THE LOCKING NUT WAS ON THE ROOF :( moment of oh shit crept into my heart until I got to car to find locking nut still sitting on roof WOOT < my one win for the day.

Also sad I would have beaten Juffy had I not MP'ed I got more controls and finished - so I am claiming did better than him... but meh still just no!

Edit:
Also realised I have only ever mispunched twice! Both have been at long distance champs! and both have been on a control with a 6. footo long champs control 16. mtbo long champs control 6... better not make a habit of this!

C • Plenty of time 3

M21A - Splits

Event: WA Middle/Long Distance MTBO State Championships - Turner Hill
 

After coming with an hour to spare almost missed my start time!

1) Had a good leg to 1 and hit it flush

2) Gave Jen a bit of stick as I overtook her on an uphill to 2 - was fully expecting her to motor away from me when I had seen her on my exit to 1. (almost stacked it behind her in the pea gravel - recovered nicely though)

Proceeded to miss my turn off and go some extra ground - might have been worth it - took the green link - I think?! and then single trail - once getting past someone I booted it most of the way to 2. however decided to stop for a while when almost there just to make sure... wasteful!

3) might have made a new track by accident - it looked like a track/open ground to me. anyway quickly down the west path - and back again - not full tilt but reasonably fast.

4) really enjoyed the single trail to 4 - could have gone harder/faster on it but held back a bit as brakes where being a bit dodgy and back will was slipping around corners.

5) had a major mistake on this leg - cost me a decent amount of time - around 5 minutes. I just wasn't confident when the track started to descend and went back then rode on white area clearly not the track then back to main junction, looking at map I was certain but trying to convince myself - Ricky came sailing past. Well that confirms it and I chased after him up to the flag. I must have been very close to the track when I turned around the first time!

6) what a painful uphill - still made a reasonable crack at it.

7) Went reasonably hard at this a few hesitations but generally a strong leg to the control and rewarded with a 2nd fastest split :P

8) The tapping didn't help massively - came off the track a number of times - horrible little leg up the hill - but once through was pretty quick around to 8.

9) - opted against the road #SILLY - got to corner didn't see track - climbed the full hill to the corner and back down again - what a waste. would have been heaps faster on the road - nav mistake cost me at least 2 minutes

10) I was cautious going into it but didn't loose too much time

11) on route passed Paul - he was either going for home or still chasing me. Increased my effort - Almost made a wrong turn but got to 11 nicely.

12) Went hard on the down hill - slammed on brakes on corner and went along to 12 - probably could have gone faster post the corner.

13) Reasonably fast but very clean leg.

14) Clean. - Almost gave Richard a jump shot... if only I had known.

All in all felt really good out there today - a few mistakes cost me some time and no doubt positions - but its the first time I have been firmly in the mix in the field. only 2:20 down on Paul and 5 min down on Dave. And got Dalto's scalp! woo there is a first :P

Closing the gap between Paul and I with the ice cream challenge at the next MTBO... feeling like it might be game on!

Tomorrow should be fun I will be chasing everyone rather than being chased.

Also Richard's nav in the car on the way there saved me from another Google maps rant :P

C • Richard's nav 1

M21A - Splits

Was tempted to not go at all this morning but pulled myself out of bed.

Feet where numb from he cold wet ground getting my boat onto the car, and worse after getting it off at claremont jetty.

I headed out and didn't feel too unstable and though a little tippy to start felt reasonably good.

First km was pretty cruisey just feeling it out. Breeze was behind me and heading towards peppigrove

On the 2nd km a coach roach popped up next to my left foot but I thought it was a bee when I first saw it and scared me momentarily - putting my left leg overboard in reaction... yes that got some water into the seat area and made it wet and cooler. oh well - after having a laugh and getting rid of the roach I continued but interestingly my left leg now started going numb badly! had to stop at least one time and put both legs over to get feeling back. Also the leg where I crossed freshwater bay from pep grove side to midway to Dalkeith against the breeze so was a bit slower.

3rd KM completed the leg across the bay to Dalkeith and got into the smoother/protected water where paddling was quicker and certainly was getting more speed and into a rhyme. Again and to stop because of leg/foot numbness.

4th km/ home Dalkeith to claremont jetty - mainly in calm/protected water - certainly got better stroke rate up and started getting purchase. Left leg went completely numb but as it was spitting rain and I was running late I refused to stop to get the blood back. Ended with a better split because of this - however struggled to get out of kayak and almost fell out as I couldn't lift or move my left leg... far from ideal! took several minutes for ti to become useful again and I did feel like I was going to pull/rip a muscle getting out of craft. was a long time before ti felt fully right.

I think I am going to have to move pedals further away still to reduce the strain - I found also I was banging my knees with the paddle - probably bad paddling technique more than knees to high - but maybe if legs slightly straighter less straight, less numbness, less knee bashing = more speed :P who knows. looking forward to next paddle though quite enjoyed it.

1km splits:
1) 10:03
2) 11:51
3) 10:57
4) 9:33

Timing was bad and made me quite late - ended up full tilt run for the train and as a result my shins have been sore all day :(

Went to physio to sort out my shoulder/neck. They where surprised at how tight I was and dry needles the hell out of me. Was twitching hardcore!

Mentioned my knee pain so she had a quick look at my quad. "You have the tightest quads I've seen this week - infact the tightest in a while... That's not a good thing" sigh. More needling. Mind u feeling a heap better post it. But definitely need some more sessions.

C • Coincidence? 1

Fresh from a physio needling I got back into the training plan.

Was a bit of a mental battle to convince myself to go as it was cold but it was an easyish session aimed at seeing a fitness improvement.

Almost 1km intervals with recovery the goal is 1 easy km rest until near full recovery one decent paced 1km then rest until near full recover then 1 full tilt km.

I changed it slightly to a low medium and hard. with 2 min breaks in-between.

I felt like my hard to full tilt certainly had a bit in it but not a huge amount.

Low 1km - 6:14 - HR ave 138 HR max153
Medium 1km - 5:20 - HR ave 155 HR max 164
Hard 1km - 4:31 - HR ave 166 HR max 176

Rained on the hard attempt which wasn't that nice. also quad a tad sore from the physio. Shins where sore at end and did ice.

Certainly an improvement from my first test where I did go full tilt out of the blocks and got 4:49 - 4:31 and felt I could have probably shaved off at least another 5s had I just put in a bit more.

Rest day 3 - starting to feel slack ahah.

Back in Perth now so restart tomorrow. burn off some of the junk I ate last few days.

Tempted to go to physio this afternoon to talk about my neck/knee/ankle . one session might not cover ti haha.

As per schedule.

And thank god, knackered!

and thank god - left ankle 2nd dayitis - wow!

Low week - cause it says so... and cause the last 2 low weeks weren't supposed to be haha.

Melbourne with a work training course. Junk food galore :P

Event: Malmalling SW - Standard Bush Event
 

So left ankle was still sore going into this event and - sure enough I gave it a few rolls and a few bangs along the way - but it held its own which is the good news.

I went reasonably well and for the most part pretty clean:

1) hit it cleanly given the distance I was worried about an early nav error especially considering I wasnt being very on bearing today was just gliding up and down slopes to try do it a bit more by feel. So happy when I hit ti reasonably cleanly.

2) Went down towards the river then hooked back up to use the open areas Paul encountered me here telling me I was going the wrong direction - which i was fully aware of! as I was correcting back tot he direction I wanted as he said that. Used the knolls effectively to guide me pretty much right onto the control with little issue.

3) yaya a short leg this will be easy... Pulled up short hunted around the wrong rocks, went back then went back on bearing and found ti eventually - at least 2 minutes dropped here but happy with the correction.

--- it was also about this point that I thought could they possibly pack more blackboys into a square km, I dont think so. Also the point when I decided that boulders under 2m high surrounded by blackboys >2m high was the new SFG. SFG 2.0 if you wish.

4) Went straight at 4 and used the granite cliffs along the way to align me. I came in just south of 4 but knew it was up there and head up and grabbed it easy.

5) Super clean

6) just went straight at it again and came in south of it and had to move up the spur slightly to get it but was pretty happy with it as I had been nervous on the approach.

7) Clean and bang on it

8) Clean with my plan, a bit high but pretty much flush

9) Having seen this coming from 1 I knew I could see it from the gully/watercourse so used the yellow to get me close then snuck through and found it pretty easy.

Was feeling pretty good now - had been pretty clean the whole way.

10) NOT CLEAN! Didnt go far enough up and was off to the right. I went right to make matters worse, luckily saw the granite and relocated reasonably quickly and hit the control from there but feel like I lost a few minutes in there too.

11) Didnt have strong features (to my mind when i started this leg, but used the 2 granite patches, the knoll and the gully to the right to swing straight into it. Assisted slightly by someone stepping on a plastic cup 3 blackboys to my left - not that it would have helped much as I was pretty much on it. This leg also was the leg the left ankle took the biggest beating!

12) DEAR GOD! Approach straight at it. Through the gully, up to the rocky knoll, slightly to the east of it, over the fence in flat ground, east of the enxt knoll over rocky ground, into the gully, hey this green stuff looks crap - west to the granite and back around to spur, back on bearing over some more rocky ground, 200m to go, spur to my right hit the bounders 50m to go... slide east without realising it and hit the double boulders with the clearing. slide 40m east of the control. Then thoroughly confused. back tracked and used ridge line and went majorly east.. no this next spur does not feel right, bakc I went to where I was pretty much... mmm maybe I head west towards 13 and it will make more sense. 40m later oh here is my rocky spur. lets take a quick bearing turn to bearing - oh hey look there is an orienteering control there SIGH #15-20 mins loss. Up until this point I was thinking sub 2 hours was possible.

13) with a crushed soul I now trudged onwards. 13 was easy

14) Went high on 14 used the garnite to locate and then slid down straight onto 14 flush.

15) long leg, roughly on bearing. Actually hit the pine plantations directly on the drawn line, happy days - mad my way to the road folk on the other side and the granite cliffs, scooted up there and then down the the control (as craig glided past me).

16) I thought I was a good 10s behind craig on the punch and figured maybe I will drop into the yellow a bit more even ground and open the taps a little. Apparently the tank was reasonably empty as I didnt mow down the mother daughter combo infront of me let along Craig who opened 18s on me. Too slippery I say!

All in all pretty reasonable, felt good out there, SFG2.0... SIGH

H1 - Splits

Generally a pretty uneventful ride - a lot of newbs out there. I added to that impression with a few stupid things - including a shoulder charge into a tree. But that aside got a lot of PR's under the belt today so generally pretty happy with the progression.

Scheduled, didnt really need it after slack week but whatever took it anyway

Opting out of tonight's run to give ankles and toes particularly the left ankle more recovery time.

Average cadence 79, 80 is trolling me.

Saw bike dr out there so stopped in to see what they thought. confirmed probably what I knew - after not replacing the chain in like 8 yrs, its desperately in need a of a new chain. the rear cassette surprisingly was still in just passable condition. They lubed my chain and wiped down my rims and off I went again...

I think the chain can hang in there a bit longer -- felt pretty good with the lube on it too.

Otherwise ride was good - felt strong, my right knee went sore early then eased into it - tightness not being my friend I would suggest! Otherwise no issue with my ankles and generally felt good.

Nice morning for it!