Training Archive: ToomsIn the 30 days ending 2007-09-30:
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| S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sunday Sep 30 | ||
| Paddling (Beach) 1:04:00 [3] 10.2 km (6:16 / km) | |
| shoes: Ski, Mako 6 | ||
| I paid homage to Hughie this morning by humbling gifting my sunglasses to the ocean as I made my offering for the upcoming summer season. It was a calmish day with about 50m of almost flat water before the occasional wave in the break zone. I unhurridly got on the ski and paddled out to see in a calm patch only to have a wave rear up once I'd got to the point of no return. The nose of the ski went into the base of the face and I was expecting a sure flipping but the ski (and I) went through the wave and somehow emerged upright on the other side but sans sunnies and cap. Then I paddled up to Trigg and back, 9kph up, 10.5kph back. After week of hot weather in Coffs Harbour it was a bit bleak back here in Perth as it attempted to rain for most of the paddle. | ||
Friday Sep 28 | ||
| MTB 2:00:00 [2] 32 km (3:45 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Merida | ||
| Rode from Emerald Beach to Coramba with Jen and included a few kilometres on a single track loop on the way. Some decent long climbs heading inland and it took over an hour before I began to feel any ability to get up them with any purpose. Saw a couple of large black fat lizard things on the tracks and a black snake or two. | ||
Thursday Sep 27 | ||
| Hiking 2:00:00 [1] 7 km (17:09 / km) | |
| shoes: Asics Trabuco | ||
| A walk in the rainforest up in the big hills inland from Coffs. Very different forest - all big trees, mossy undergrowth, stinging trees, bush turkeys and one unconcerned red bellied black snake that blocked the path for a while. | ||
Wednesday Sep 26 | ||
| Running 1:30:00 [1] | |
| shoes: Asics Trabuco | ||
| Slow jog/walk from Emerald Beach southwards towards Coffs and back along the coast tracks and the beach. | ||
Monday Sep 24 | ||
| Running 35:00 [1] | |
| shoes: Pearl Izumi meshy ones | ||
| Two very easy jogs split with some stretching on a beach south of Port Macquarie. Perfect warm sunny morning, nice swell running. I don't feel too bad, just a stiff low back and tender hammies. Sunburnt too from yesterday. | ||
| Core Stability/Stretching 10:00 [0] | |
Sunday Sep 23 | ||
| Multisport race (Anaconda Forster) 5:28:00 [4] 64 km (5:08 / km) | |
| Day two dawned early and darkish again - but the weather was perfect. I felt good, just a bit sore in the bum from the unfamiliar ski yesterday. I'd seen the results from Day 1 and noticed I swam ok so I decided to hammer the swim today for the hell of it. I was 9th around the flag on the beach at the 1/3 point and lead the second pack out of the water probably 100m or so behind the first pack. Transition took a while into running gear and then out over the timing pad and onto the run. The legs took very little time to remind me they had exercised a bit excessively the day before and I soon had a veritable stream of athletes pass me on the first beach section - I saw numbers 2 and 6 go by so I figured I must have swum ok. 10-15mins later another few individuals ran by and I was in a world of sore hammies again, to the point where I stopped and stretched twice to no avail. The lead females passed me about the halfway point of the run which was mainly flat on leaf-litter and bark strips. Then there were two sandhills, the second extremely steep and soft. i found my legs didn't hurt going up these so I ran them with a very small stride and passed a few people. At the top I soon found my hammies were now co-operating and I set about catching about half a dozen people who had recently passed me. The last bit of the 17k run was a long climb but I felt strong. Into transition and while there Jen's team runner came in and I headed out behind her and Robbie P, neither of whom I saw again.
The 29km ride was great - flowing track with some hills and rocks to start with and lots of mud and puddles. At one point I sunk my front wheel into a rut, it disappeared under the murky grey water and a nanosecond later I too sisappeared face-first into it with my bike landing on top of me. Extricating myself from the narrow deep pool of cold water wasn't all that easy and I was filthy and quite cold after here. Legs had packed-up too so the last 10k or so of the ride was tough - I had not seen a rider since about the 10k point so others were obviously suffering too. 1hr 52 - timing system missed me. Outridden by Jen both days... This paddle was long, very shallow and tedious. It was also baking hot with a slight tailwind. I was passed by one ski at the 10min mark and I passed someone at the 70min mark. Otherwise on my lonesome. Ski took 1hr 22mins, timing system missed me for some reason. Ended up playing mind games of 20 strokes easy, 60-100 hard to keep some sort of impetus up! Finally the 3k run to finish - and after 300m or so of getting the legs moving again I felt good and for the first time for the weekend was able to actually run with decent speed. Too little too late but a positive finish. All in all I enjoyed the two races but was frustrated by being a runner who cannot run. Maybe it was the cold, but day two should've been fine. Maybe it was the shorter than usual ski, either way, if I can find a solution I'll take a good 40s or so a km off my run times. Really looking forward to WA event now, it'll seem a walk in the park after a two day event and I won't be scared to push hard in the swim and paddle now that I know I can actually maintain a good effort level. | ||
| C • Glad it was you 2 | ||
Saturday Sep 22 | ||
| Event: Anaconda Forster | ||
| Multisport (Forster) 4:57:07 [4] 53 km (5:36 / km) | |
| With a 7am kick-off it meant up at 445am to drop gear off at transitions. The race started with a 3km run to the swim start - and almost everyone wore their wetsuits. I carried mine and put it on when I got to the beach which meant for a slower run but at least I didn't sweat buckets. I can imagine the guys who ran 9mins something in full long leg and long arm wetties would've been pretty hot! I cruised the run, and the swim, as I was expecting a long long day. Next up was the paddle and I was on a borrowed XT which is pretty much a standard surf-ski - very stable. Unfortunately it was a bit short for my leg length so a little uncomfortable. The paddle was 17km into the wind, shades of Sorrento Challenge here! The swell was big, wind not so bad, but the rebounding waves off the cliffs made for a messy day for a lot of paddlers. I felt quite good for the first hour or so and didn't have all that many people come past - several that did, including the lead female chose to cut inside one of the marker buoys. When I questioned her on the water she said "everyone else did it". That's the spirit eh? Coming into the beach I semi-caught a couple of waves but then one caught up with me and I found that paddling a boat with no wave deflector means the nose heads for the sandy bottom quite quickly! No harm done, and some funny photos on the website.
Next onto a shortish MTB leg, grassy to start with, then some steep undulations and a longish hill climb. I got a flat pretty early and lost 6 or 8 places while fixing that then rode a bit conservatively on the downhills just in case. My distal 2 joints of my fingers stayed numb for about half the ride - it was cold on the ocean. On one hill there was a fallen rider with 2 or 3 people helping him. Turned out he went over the handlebars and perforated his femoral artery - not good. He's out of surgery and ok come Sunday though. Off the ride and onto the final run, definitely getting tired now and the weather took a turn for the worse. For some reason my legs were really sore, mainly the hammies and I was reduced to a slow jog only. Then there was the board paddle across the lake - that was nice and I bent my knees at 90 degrees to keep my feet in the air and dryish. Once I got running again the hammy pain had reduced hugely and I ran the last 2/3 of the run at a more solid pace, but still not puffing unfortunately. Just scraped under the 5hr mark but did manage to beat Jen's all girl team and the NSW Stingers! In fairness to them, I think the paddler had a wee bit of trouble with the rough conditions... All in all I was pretty happy with the day and other than the run and the flat on the bike was surprised with feeling good in the long (cold) swim and paddle. Immediately noticeable as different from WA was the complete lack of "punters" at the event. The individuals were very fit and took it (and themselves) very seriously - very little banter out on the course. Also, there were only two plastic skis in evidence - all the others were generally ocean racing skis with a few spec. skis in the mix and a couple of sea-kayaks. Certainly not the 50%+ plastic from WA last year. Shows the paddling scene / clubby scene is much bigger over east. Conversely, the MTB abilities and type of bikes seemed worse than in WA. I think we have more people who give MTB a crack, particulalry over winter than over east. Lots and lots of Giant MTBs, but not many good brands. | ||
| C • boat choice 1 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| Drove south to Forster. Pacific Highway is very busy. | ||
Wednesday Sep 19 | ||
| MTB 1:30:00 [2] | |
| shoes: Bike, Merida | ||
| A very tired and slow ride, had to walk a lot of hills, no co-ordination on th single track either. Some nice forest particulary the rainforesty stuff but missing a night's sleep completely rooted me. | ||
Tuesday Sep 18 | ||
| Road Bike (Floreat Group) 1:48:00 [3] 51 km (2:07 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Kestrel | ||
| It wasn't raining, but it was windy. No rain for Eoin along Cottesloe, but there was a big rainbow a bit off to the west! Boltboi came along and lead the group for the first 20mins or so. Eoin and I tried to stay with the chase group from Freo but with the monster tailwind our little hearts couldn't beat fast enough. Rode alone but solidly through to the re-group and Eoin did his own lead-out and 'sprint' win today. Home via Kings Park. | ||
| Running intervals (Blackboy Loop) 17:45 [5] 4.68 km (3:48 / km) | |
| ahr:153 max:164 weight:74.2kg shoes: Brooks Beast | ||
| On the warm up my legs felt awful - it's been about 5 weeks since I've done a Tuesday morning ride! 14 people along tonight, so it was fun - had to park on the rough as the car-park was full!
5 x blackboy trail loops, each loop 934m, several small but steep hills, no flat ground. 2mins rest. 3.33 151/160 3.35 152/160 3.35 153/161 3.29 156/164 3.33 154/163 Every rep was a hard effort, on rep 4 Ben (clubby) caught me at the top corner but I was able to get away from him on the downhills, barely (hence the higher HR). A really rewarding session given I was not expecting a good run and ended up being able to pretty much go flat out, something I am not used to. Even better, no groin pain even with the downhill running. Now off to the airport to miss a night's sleep and stiffen-up like a board. note: packing for a multisport race on the other side of the country is a pain in the backside! | ||
| C • Foster 1 | ||
| Running warm up/down 18:00 [1] 3 km (6:00 / km) | |
| shoes: Brooks Beast | ||
| 2k warm up, 1k warm down, cruisy. | ||
Monday Sep 17 | ||
| Swimming 24:00 [4] 1.4 km (17:09 / km) | |
| Was very annoyed with a staffmember who didn't show-up this morning, missed squad training but got in the pool after they finished and after a 200m swim and stretch tried to do a 1km hard swim, 200 cooldown before heading to pre-arranged 8am paddle. Swam 15:36 which I think is ok, particularly as I swam the first 400 in 6.12 meaning I pretty much held that pace. | ||
| Paddling (River) 1:05:00 [1] 9 km (7:13 / km) | |
| shoes: Ski, Mako 6 | ||
| A gentle loosener sort of paddle upriver with Jen from Sophie's power station. Certainly found lots of tight muscles from the weekend! As we were finishing I heard a loud splash and Jen said "Look!" and over really close to the shore was a dolphin leaping out of the water. Unusually instead of going straight back in it was going fast and high, at least a metre clear of the water, turning sideways in the air and slapping down on its side like a breaching whale! Amazing. We turned around and I headed upriver to intercept them and two of the three changed course and headed out to me, ending up one on each side of my ski and about 2m behind. Then one went underneath and did three massive leaps in the air in front of my ski as I hammered along trying to keep up!
This was all miles upriver from the ocean, up past Claisebrook near Mercy Hospital - an exhilerating way to start the day again. Later as we were putting the skis back on the vehicles another big dolphin swam by in really shallow water, impersonating a shark for quite a while! And lots of walkers and cyclists glanced over for a bit, then carried on their way, obviously seen it all before. | ||
| Swimming (Squad) 1:00:00 [4] 3.2 km (18:45 / km) | |
| Evening swim - no probs with my back in the evening... good!
Main set a 1600m straight swim building in 400s. I was lapped at 1400 by the lead 2 but was able to stay on their feet for 150m. Then 8x50 on 50s, all between 40s and 42s. Felt strong. | ||
Sunday Sep 16 | ||
| Road Bike warm up/down 5:15 [2] 2 km (2:38 / km) | |
| ahr:112 max:139 shoes: Bike, Kestrel | ||
| 1k roll down the hill to Empire Ave, 1k climb back up the hill afterwards. | ||
| Road Bike 1:01:18 [3] 29.5 km (2:05 / km) | |
| ahr:115 max:143 shoes: Bike, Kestrel | ||
| Had a nothing sort of day with a big 10hr sleep last night, an early morning wedding and associated breakfast to attend in the morning, a midday nap for an hour or so and then a couple of hours of pottering - cleaned and packed MTB, washed clothes, etc. Felt a bit flat so figured an easy ride would wake me up but not make me sore, and I haven't ridden in days it feels.
Rode 6 laps of the golf course. 4.92km a lap according to the GPS. First two small chainring, next 3 big chain, 53x17, last lap small ring. Felt good from laps 4-6. Never tried to go fast, but made the aim to stay seated on the two main hills and get some specific "strength" training done at low cadence. 11.20 11.12 10.09 9.50 9.38 10.13 Traffic was minimal but there were lots of L-platers out (I counted 7) which made for some very wide passing manoeuvres by the drivers - a pity it doesn't stay like that once they get their P plates! It's a nice safe loop as there is only one road on the left, and that is the entrance way to the golf course. | ||
Saturday Sep 15 | ||
| Event: Sorrento Challenge | ||
| Multisport race (Sorrento Challenge) 2:00:00 [5] 16.5 km (7:16 / km) | |
| I'm not in a huge mood to work this arvo, so I'll add a monologue about the race this morning. What an *interesting* day! Congrats to the poor marshals and 20,000 volunteers who braved the wintery blast and helped the race run smoothly in such, dare I say it 'adventurous' weather. Beefy Beaumont is more beefy than he used to be back in technicolour barracuda days but it stood him in good stead in his own endurance event of getting through the 50,000 spot prizes - most from Ranger Outdoors. It's been many many years since I can recall so many spot prizes. Beats out-of-code power bars from last September's Anaconda race!
I'd been watching Seabreeze.com.au most of the week hoping the predicting 25knot NWesters and 3.5m swell wouldn't eventuate - Buckleys! I woke up as my personal odometer clicked over into another year and realised that my birthday wish for nice weather had been not only ignored, but flung back into my face by a bleak, cold and ever-strengthening wind (on top of losing my car key at training on the beach the night before and being locked out of my house for a few hours!). I borrowed my housemate's plastic fantastic ski and took that up to Sorrento along with my Mako6 figuring that if the shorebreak was massive I'd use the plastic. As it was though I saw a few other ocean racing skis on the beach and that coupled with a windy but not large break I thought I'd give it a shot. Walking the ski down to the beach was a challenge in itself as it acted like a fibreglass spinnaker! The 1200m swim course was changed to two laps with a 300m run in between to keep the swim in the lee of the marina, with a beach start and some nice shallow water it soon spread out and I was swimming alone-ish well behind all the clubbies but in front of a goodly portion of the field it transpired. As I exited the first lap the lead lanky female Aleisha Marriott (off 60s behind us) lithely got off the same wave and proceeded to out-run me up the beach. She wasn't wearing a wetsuit either, but I was wishing mine was thicker, tighter and a lot newer as the water was c-c-cold. Into the water for lap two and I caught up to her porpoising out (thanks Coach Ross for Friday's cool-down!) to swimmable depth - that was a couple of dives further for me than her. Once we were both swimming she was off and I was alone again and quite enjoyed the second lap. Lumbering up to transition I could hear Beaumont saying "and Sean O'Neil is seated and paddling" and I wondered which of us would spend more time swimming in the 7km ski leg! As I dragged my ski to the water with some trepidation there was a girl infront on my right and a bloke on my left. As soon as they were seated the drift took them left and gave me some clear water. I got on, got through two bits of whitewater and then was free of the break - almost! A green lump reared-up and I had to pick up the rating to get over it, splashdown, brace, and I was still upright! Off south now dealing with the mega nor-wester coming over the right shoulder, lumpy westerly wind-waves, and occasional south-westerly swell. This made for a messy awkward paddle with pyramids of water appearing as waves met. Fortunately downwind was nice to my ski that was acting like a disk-wheel in a cross-breeze, and I caught a few skates and was only passed by 4 spec skis. Coming back north was tough, I displayed none of the grace, finesse, speed nor brute strength that sends the clubbie's skis skimming across the surface. I felt like my paddle blades were anchored to the sea-bed and I was heaving inch-by-inch forward as the ocean rushed by. Several swells actually broke and whitewater flooded the deck a couple of times, all this about 300m offshore. Thankfully this was predictable and with a bit of a lean easily negotiated. Up ahead I could see the mighty lats and bulging delts of Sean O'Neil, but into the wind I wasn't making any ground, or water. I was at this point struggling with the concept of a second lap, but was motivated to see if I could at least catch Sean on the way downwind. With the help of Sean swimming a couple of times we rounded the turn together, had a chat, shared some whitewater and blundered north again. Into the beach was fine, but paddling sends my left leg into a semi-numb state and I made it up to transition at the surfclub like some skinny giraffe with a ruptured hamstring! With the left leg still displaying parasthesia I had to sit down to put my shoes on and after what felt like ages was now off for a 3-lap 8km run. I headed straight for the hard sand, waves or not I was staying on the hard stuff! Sean whistled by and set about working his way into the top 10 as we headed along the marina wall straight into the wind. I ran solidly and kept an eye out for some of the clubbies who run with my group on Tuesday who were, as it turns out, about half a lap ahead. I couldn't quite catch them in the end, but was happy with my race. I felt like I could keep going, but not go any faster - that I guess is the way of things at the start of the season! Tomorrow I just know my abs, back and upper arms will be a bit stiff and sore from the paddle. No idea what the results were - the whizbang tri-timing system once again failed to produce results on-the-spot and fortunately the organisers manual results allowed preso's to proceed. Best performed (former) triathletes were Ben Hewitt (3rd) and Greg Mickle. I suspect Sean was 6thish??, I was probably 12thish??. Thanks Meg, for the loan of the pink goggles! Next up Anaconda Forster, Moore River, Collie, MTBO Champs, 12hr Rogaine, Anaconda Geographe Bay. | ||
Friday Sep 14 | ||
| Swimming (Squad) 48:00 [4] 2.4 km (20:00 / km) | |
| Got there late, but no big deal as I was planning to just go through the motions rather than swim hard today,what with racing tomorrow. But then the main set was 4x500m with 60s rest and I warmed to that. Did it with a pull-buoy to keep the HR down and felt strong. | ||
| C • Race 3 | ||
| Core Stability/Stretching (Beach) 40:00 [2] 3.4 km (11:46 / km) | |
| shoes: Barefoot | ||
| Four of us tonight, I just did a half-arsed first half of the session then did drills, run-throughs as I didn't want the usual Sat morning muscle stiffness from the beach session. The swell at the beach is lumpy and big. It's not looking good for tomorrow's race - I suspect that being organised by clubbies they won't cancel it and it will be a mix of DNSs from the triathletes and flat-water paddlers, DNFs from the people who try and paddle and get smashed, and finishers from the Uncle Toby's Ironmen a Women-types!
For some strange reason tonight I didn't leave my keys as I normally do with the pile of gear on the beach. Instead I tied it to my shorts like a long run or paddle. Part way through the cool-down my shorts fell down over my Linebreak tights. Not good. We retraced my steps back to the groyne, no sign of the key. Lots of seaweed that looked like a key though. Then lots of shadow that got deeper. Then it was dark. I got a lift home in Ian's new Subaru outback. Went and found the spare house key... problem, no house key. Bugger. Housemate not home. Neighbours not home to borrow phone. My phone locked in my car. My housekeys locked in my car. My car parked at the beach all alone waiting to be broken into. Fortunately, and the only silver lining to the evening, all of Perth's riff-raff were watching the footy instead of breaking into cars. I walk-jogged a few km over to my folk's place - cold, barefoot, and wearing a t-shirt while the wind howled and it threatened to rain. Tried to get hold of housemate - no luck. On call, phone was off. Scoffed some food from the cupboard and warmed-up before getting a lift home again. Managed to break-in uncomfortably - my point of entry involves falling headfirst from 6 foot up onto the floor. Found my spare car-key and a window key so I could get out of the house. Got a lift to my car, all in one piece. Home to cook a late dinner. So much for an early night and some stretches before the race tomorrow morning. Headed down to the beach with the hound and the headlamp to search again but to no avail - 600m of beach and a million small bits of seaweed, buckleys and none. The hound was very good at sniffing the key out... but it was always cuttlefish shaped, or dead-fish shaped, or junk food wrapper shaped... | ||
Thursday Sep 13 | ||
| MTB (Gungin) 2:50:00 [3] 38 km (4:28 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Merida | ||
| The weather cleared-up a bit today, enough that it was mostly sunny while riding, although the scrub was wet and the track had puddles and this weird damp slippery sort of soil... Rode clockwise around blue tag trail to link trail, up Gungin on the down track (and made it all the way) then dropped onto Munda Biddi through to Pickering Brook. Then home via the really big uphill (made that too, barely) across Gungin and down the single track to the Dell. A pleasant pace, and a great day for riding. Jen even taught me how to ride over drop-offs properly - - it made the last downhill so much smoother and less ker-plunky. Watch out Boltboi. | ||
| Paddling (Hillarys) 55:00 [2] 8 km (6:52 / km) | |
| shoes: Ski, Mako 6 | ||
| Plan was to check out the shore break at Sorrento Beach to see whether I race on teh Mako6 Saturday or whether I borrow a plastic ski, because I can only get on my 6 in knee deep water - I can't do the jump-starts that were so easy on my old spec ski. ie. if there's a shore break of any significance I'm stuffed. However, the rebound swells off the marina wall were a bit too lumpy for Jen and we headed north instead. I stayed on my ski ok so am happy that if I can get on my boat I'll be okay. Headed north to a bit before Mullaloo SLSC and then turned for home. Ocean lumpy, no real swell lines from any particular direction. Felt good. As we drove home we parked at Sorrento and looked at the beach - it doesn't look promising. Especially with Seabreeze forecasting 25km/hr westerlies. | ||
Wednesday Sep 12 | ||
| Running 1:00:33 [3] 11.05 km (5:29 / km) | |
| shoes: Brooks Beast | ||
| Only 3 of us tonight, Team WA from the TEVA race, Evo, Saz and I. Only 60mins tonight as I felt like having an easy week before my first race in ages! Haggles came along and his enthusiasm was palpable. Dumped him at home and ran last 25mins towards beach and back to the pool. Weather was awful today but amazingly it didn't rain for more than 5mins although the wind gusting at 40knots was interesting with my lack of bodyweight and large sail area! | ||
| C • touch down imminent 1 | ||
Tuesday Sep 11 | ||
| Running tempo 32:39 [2] 5.13 km (6:22 / km) | |
| shoes: Pearl Izumi meshy ones | ||
| Longer warm-up as the weather was foul - constant rain and puddles everywhere. Ran a lap of Blackboy Walk to see what it's like for the next few weeks of intervals. GPS managed to lose signal partway through so didn't get an accurate measure. Got dark prior to the end of the session tonight due to the thick cloud. On the good side, there were no mosquitoes tonight! | ||
| Running intervals (Grass Farm) 27:00 [5] 6.67 km (4:03 / km) | |
| shoes: Pearl Izumi meshy ones | ||
| Was fired-up to run hard tonight, partly because I was annoyed at (a) missing the ride this morning and (b) having to go into work early as a staff member didn't show. Both meant I missed a sunny clear morning. Even with the bad weather tonight there was a good turnout of 12 punters. One thing with clubbies, they rock-up whatever the weather, it's quite refreshing to find a group of people who are not fair weather fairies.
I ran my first rep hard, pushed really well and was a bit disappointed to see my time was 8:40 - I felt better than that. In the 2.30 recovery jog though I could feel my calves were tight from the weekend. Second rep I was noticeably weaker on the little hills, definitely some carryover from the weekend even though the weekend was all easy. 9.09. Third rep I realised it was going to be too dark to contemplate a 4th so I aimed to run it max. i pretty much was happy with my effort and ability to push it all the way thorugh and only lost 2s to be 9.11. Very happy with effort, not quite as pleased with the times, but I'm sure the legs were flat from weekend. Again, a good feeling to be able to push hard without worrying too much about hammy / groin / abs hurting. Bring on Summer racing!!! | ||
| C • pumped up 3 | ||
| Core Stability/Stretching 20:00 [0] | |
| Watched the end of the Australia v Argentina soccer game on Mum and Dad's h-u-g-e TV while proper stretching. | ||
Monday Sep 10 | ||
| Core Stability/Stretching 15:00 [0] | |
| Was pretty stiff through my low back this morning from the weekend's rough ground on Saturday and the long time on and off the bike Sunday. It wasn't comfortable stretching but, oddly enough, I felt looser afterwards! | ||
| Road Bike (Commute) 27:30 [3] 12 km (2:18 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Kestrel | ||
| Went to grab the old MTB with the slick tyres, but one was flat as a pancake so had to grab Kezza. Decided to ride hard to work as the weekend scared me. I need to get a lot stronger to be able to do the course justice - else I'll be struggling along at 'complete' pace rather than pushing along enjoy9ing the race. | ||
| Swimming (Squad) 1:00:00 [4] 3 km (20:00 / km) | |
| An evening swim for a change, very different group of people. I was well and truly the slowest but not the least fit as a couple of others faded significantly. 10 x 150 was the main set, 20s rest, HHMMEEMMHH which meant HHHHMMMMHH for me.
Surprisingly my back hadn't locked-up by the end of the session and I was able to get out ok and negotiate the few steps up to my bag without looking like I'd just slipped a disk. Not sure why it was so free this evening, could be that I'm more supple in teh evening, dunno. Sigh, now to ride home once I finish-up some work. | ||
| Road Bike (Commute) 35:00 [2] 11 km (3:11 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Kestrel | ||
| Brrr, chilly. Quite nice riding on almost empty roads, late though got home around 930pm. | ||
Sunday Sep 9 | ||
| MTB 1:20:00 [2] 20 km (4:00 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Merida | ||
| Anaconda familiariser - 100people rocked-up for this which was a HUGE group with an amazing range of bikes and abilities! The course is good, some paddock riding, 4 or so creek crossings (prob. dry in November though), undulating without ever being steep, several kilometres of gravel road riding in a property and a few kilometres of new single track that will be in better nick come race day. The last 5k apparently is through Meelup Reserve and is good quality single track. We couldn't ride that on the weeked as access was denied to such an "organised group" but I will need to ride it beforehand it seems. | ||
| MTB 1:41:48 [3] 15 km (6:47 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Merida | ||
| Stopped at Pile Rd on the way home to ride some single track with the GPS on, particularly some of the track from the MTBO map which Rhys said was wrong. He was right, there are significant discrepancies with the map in a particular area, plus a new freshly-cut single track along the side of the steep slope in the north. We ran out of daylight to ride it all, but I'll send Duncan the .gpx file sometime. | ||
| Running warm up/down 24:28 [3] 3.6 km (6:48 / km) | |
| shoes: Asics Trabuco | ||
| Ran from car-park at Sugarloaf rock along the Cape to Cape trail to the hill on the run course. Jogged up first time, walked the steep bit the second time then jogged the rest, ran the last one solid. The hill is 900m of upslope,with the first 400m very steep. Reckon I'll walk the steep bit in the race as (a) I'll be shattered by then (b) it'll keep HR down and (c) allow me to get running strongly again after that. Aren't plans great? | ||
| Running hills (Sugar Loaf) 23:34 [4] 2.8 km (8:25 / km) +435m 4:44 / km | |
| ahr:144 max:159 shoes: Asics Trabuco | ||
| 920m long, 145m climb
7.29 - steady jog. 144 / 153 9.08 - walk first 400m, jog rest. 132 / 148 6.57 - solid run. 152 / 159 | ||
Saturday Sep 8 | ||
| Running 1:45:00 [2] 15 km (7:00 / km) | |
| shoes: Asics Trabuco | ||
| A very slow trek/jog along the run course for the Anaconda race at Geogrpahe bay. A much more varied course than last year with plenty more on the Cape-Cape trail, about 50% of the first 7km off-trail on limestone and granite or scrub. SugarLoaf rock is just over halfway (7.5km) and after that there is 900m long hill climb on leaf-litter on a firebreak. First 400m very steep, next 500 runnable. After that it is predominantly downhill for 3km or so through paddocks to the last transition to the bike. An enjoyable run, will be tough on the day, and I think it will be where the final results sort themselves out as it is the 3rd leg with only a shortish MTB after it. The swim/paddler clubbie types will struggle on the run and it will screw them over for the ride too as there were a few undulations on teh ride, whcih on race day will become hills I'm sure! | ||
Friday Sep 7 | ||
| Swimming (Squad) 1:05:00 [3] 3.1 km (20:58 / km) | |
| slept:7.5 | ||
| Met Evo at the pool today to watch his graceful, smooth, technique. I went through the motions today - I felt flat without feeling tired, weak without feeling sore. More sleep must be the answer, or more hamburgers, it's been a while since I've had the burger with the lot from the kiosk here at work... | ||
| Note | |
| It takes a significant amount of seriously bad weather to cancel the beach session - today the gale force winds, cold rain and hail were garnished with occasional hail. This I decided would make the beach a little more unpleasant than normal. Instead of doing a decent windtrainer session or some stretching I completed a couple of long-winded legal documents and went to Mum and Dad's for dinner. Then I watched the Eagles gradually fall to bits, almost literally, as Cousins tore his hammy, Judd became a spectator and Cox remained as a large man standing.
A rest day effectively for me, on top of what feels like a rest week since Wednesday lunchtime - the weekend will be spent down at the Anaconda multisport familiariser so a cruisy weekend too. A good way to undo some of the flatness I'm feeling. | ||
Thursday Sep 6 | ||
| Core Stability/Stretching 30:00 [1] | |
| slept:11.0 | ||
| Yay, amazingly no hamstring pain/severe stiffness this morning after the sprint last night. You know when you're doing something and you just *know* you're going to pay for it later? Well, I've got away with it for once. It's weird to be almost optimistic about running for this summer.
Seriously needed sleep catch-up and although it was a perfect morning for a ride I just kept sleeping and did some stretching. Soft I know, but I think almost everyone I come into contact with has had a cold recently, and some a serious flu, so I figure even if I can still train a bit, it's better than not at all for a week or so. | ||
| C • Vacuuming? 2 | ||
| Paddling (Floreat) 46:00 [3] 6.5 km (7:05 / km) | |
| shoes: Ski, Mako 6 | ||
| Medium westerly in today so the sea was a bit choppy on top of a small swell. The break was still a bit off shore so no troubles there, 3 whitewaters and then over. Paddled with Jen between the drain and groyne and then several out and backs before it began to get cold and darkish. Wasn't feeling all that flash tonight. | ||
| Running 10:00 [2] 1.2 km (8:20 / km) | |
| shoes: Barefoot | ||
| A jog and then some drills on teh beach to try and warm-up before carrying the skis back up the hill to the cars! | ||
Wednesday Sep 5 | ||
| Swimming (Squad) 50:00 [3] 2.6 km (19:14 / km) | |
| slept:5.0 | ||
| 400m TT 5.47. Swan really hard, time isn't too bad. Would like to get it down to 5.30 in 6-weeks or so. I think, in fact I know, my first 200 was much much faster than the 2nd. I took it out flat out, as if it was a 100m rep, so I suspect my first 200 was about 2.47 and the second 3.00. I was good for about 235m then it hurt but speed wasn't too bad until 275 where it got real tough, gutsed it out till 350 and was being gradually caught up again by the girl behind me, but I was able to hold my stroke together for the last 50 and end up 2s quicker than her. Arms sore for the whole next set so i got out at the end of the session rather than doing more.
That one frantic rep reminded me what the training was like a few years back when I was doing 5 to 6 sessions a week of between 4.5k and 6k per session. Crazy! | ||
| Running long 1:32:11 [3] 16.23 km (5:41 / km) | |
| ahr:134 max:169 shoes: Brooks | ||
| John, Brian, Jen, Evo and I rocked-up tonight. I started out the twisty-turny way through the single tracks for the first 20mins, then around the golf-course. I felt quite good from the waist up, but my legs were a bit heavy from yesterday, and at the 45min mark they started getting achey - quads, hams and hip-flexors. We did the hilly grass strips in City Beach then from Peasholm St to the drain on the soft sand, then back up Boulevard. The pace was steadier than last week, thankfully, but near the end I quietly mentioned to Evo "Better get ready to match Brian in case he sprints..." a millisecond later I spotted Brian's shadow closing in from behind and I cut right to block him and bolted. For the first time in a couple of years I genuinely sprinted with no restriction and a long stride and held him off, reaching the pool driveway clear ahead, and then Evo caught up, and try as I might I couldn't keep up, Evo by 20m. GPS says I reached 26.4kph!!! (which makes for a very steep gradient on the speed graph, and not so coincidentally, the HR graph too!).
Dunnages, Nil; Rest of the Group, 4 | ||
Tuesday Sep 4 | ||
| Core Stability/Stretching 20:00 [1] | |
| slept:9.0 shoes: Barefoot | ||
| It was dark and raining when I woke up ready to ride so I couldn't be bothered getting cold and wet and riding in someone's wheel spray so I went back to bed. An hour later the sky was clear - typical. I did some proper stretching so the morning wasn't a complete loss and vacuumed the floor - wow, there's carpet under the sand and leaves! | ||
| C • Vacuuming 2 | ||
| Running warm up/down 24:30 [2] 3.4 km (7:12 / km) | |
| shoes: Pearl Izumi meshy ones | ||
| Wasrm-up on bridle trail, 3 x 210m recovery jogs and a half-hearted cool-down. Big group tonight, 11 of us running and 7 were girls - Saz, Meg, Bea, Liz, Cara, Lynda, Dawn, John, Ricky, John, Brian. | ||
| Running intervals (Grass Farm) 26:25 [5] 6.66 km (3:58 / km) | |
| shoes: Pearl Izumi meshy ones | ||
| I'm beginning to really like these shoes. They are still as comfortable in the uppers as the day I bought them over 16 months ago. They have no seams at alll which is probablymost of the reason. They've done one AR but have a drawback in that they can't be used off-track as the mesh lets in prickles pretty easily, otherwise they are great for a narrow shoe.
Tonight I felt good from the first rep and ran all 3 quicker than last week and took 30s less rest. 3 x 2.2 undulating reps on the trails at Reabold Hill. Lots of walkers out tonight looking at us weirdly. 8.35 8.40 8.50 I felt a bit tireder on the last one, but not badly so, which augers well. More importantly no hammy issues so maybe continued stretching will hold it at bay. I looked back at 8 years' worth of this session and noticed that only three sessions haven't been in the band of 8-9mins, one session was under, and two have been over, so today's run is finally an improvement! | ||
| C • More like it 4 | ||
Monday Sep 3 | ||
| Paddling (River) 57:37 [1] 7.11 km (8:06 / km) | |
| ahr:85 max:97 slept:11.0 (rest day) shoes: Ski, Mako 6 | ||
| I'm beginning to enjoy paddling a hell of lot more now that my bum seems to have sorted itself out for durations of up to an hour! Tonight was a balmy 25 degrees with a westerly blowing meaning pretty flat at Matilda Bay. Paddled at conversational pace out around Pelican Point and then downriver for a bit. Cruised back and then I did a couple of efforts at the end.
Feeling a lot more recovered this evening, but apparently I still look tired. I think Boltboi once said to me it takes a few weeks to get used to training again... | ||
| Paddling intervals (River) 5:44 [5] 1.14 km (5:03 / km) | |
| ahr:130 max:151 shoes: Ski, Mako 6 | ||
| A longer sprint and two shorter sprint efforts of a bit under 600m and a bit under 300m. Average speeds were: 11.5kph, 12.1kph and 12.1kph. max speed of 13.8 in the first rep.
It seems that if I ever get enough strength to maintain a fast clip I can actually elevate my heart-rate paddling - unfortunately I can hold a fast pace for about 70s before I fade to a maintainable hurt! Feels good to blast along on flat water though. | ||
Sunday Sep 2 | ||
| MTB Orienteering race (Wellington Mill) 27:00 [4] 6 km (4:30 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Merida | ||
| This day wasn't really meant to be it seems in retrospect. Had a good night's sleep but woke up weary. Drove the 2hrs down to Bunbury with Jen and her Dad. Got out of the car stiff so made sure I did a bit of a warm-up on some single track. At the start I left late as I had a bit of trouble folding a relevant bit of map into the mapboard. On the way to 2 I never saw a track on the left that I would need later to get to 3. I came back from 2 measuring and still missed it, u-turned then found it, overgrown and indistinct junction. That made me wonder about whether any field-checking had been done as it was one of only 2 route choices for that leg... a few more omissions as I continued down this track confirmed my suspicions so I determined to be more cautious. Found 3 then headed off to 4. Snapped my chain riding up a hill - fortunately I had a chain-breaker and spare link/pins with me so got a new pin in eventually. Couldn't make sense of where I was so headed back the 300m to 3 to start again and then as I headed out of 3 my derailleur decided to part company with the bike. Then I trudged home.
In a way I am glad it happened there only a few km from home rather than later in the course, or in a proper race in a few weeks time. 10hours from leaving home to arriving back home and I was even more tired when I got home, really light-headed and physically exhausted. Had a big roast dinner at Mum & Dad's and now going to be very early. Will burn the credit card in a day or two to fix the bike as I need it virtually every weekend in Spring. Sigh. | ||
| C • Ironic 2 | ||
| C • Feet 3 | ||
| MTB warm up/down 9:00 [2] | |
| shoes: Bike, Merida | ||
Saturday Sep 1 | ||
| Road Bike (Riders' Choice) 2:33:58 [4] 81.43 km (1:53 / km) | |
| ahr:130 max:161 slept:7.5 shoes: Bike, Kestrel | ||
| I had a good night's sleep and when I woke it was calm and not too cold so I really didn't have much excuse to stay in bed. It was almost light too with the latish start to this group - 630am. When I got to the bike shed my back tyre was flat. Fixed it, realised I was now late and headed straight to Salvado Rd to intercept the group. They must have left a bit late as I got the whole way along the railway before I found them, a biggish group of 40+ today with Evo lurking at the back. Then Eoin appeared so I had two people I knew there! Later coach Ross appeared "taking it easy" as he has some bike races next weekend. It seemed slower than usual until we reached Port Beach Rd, or whatever it is called now it has been realigned. Along there I assumed my customary role in group bike rides of maintaining a ridiculously high speed but still watching the group ride away from me while lithe, whippet-like lycra creatures zip past me, bridge the gap and taunt me with their sheltered position.
Heading through Claremont a small delivery van/ute gave the group plenty of room as he passed, almost pushing a car coming the other way off the road. Eoin and I commented on it. Moments later said van applied the brakes and swung left in-front of the group of 40-odd cyclists and into a car-park. Another of those drivers afflicted by the malaise of poor decision-making when bikes are nearby. Must be some sort of interfering mental energy or something from the combined group mind. I was holding on ok along the south side of the river through the posh enclaves, there are always fortunately a few heavier cyclists who let me past on the hills but then allow me a bit of a draft as they come back to the reforming group. But then the section along Canning River loomed, the section where last time I did this ride some months ago I was ridden away from and left alone. I hung on today, stayed on Ross's wheel while 90% of the group rolled-through and shared the load. It was pretty fast along here too, mid-40s. Coming home was all good till Riverside Drive where one or two people were feeling the pinch and dropping off. This means the others accelerate swiftly and go round them. But my engine lacks a turbo, bit like my old 1982 Subaru, and it takes a lot longer to get up some speed and tag back on like a blowfly returning to sheep's arse. All good (but hurting) till Barrack St, ok till the Narrows where 4 or 5 people peeled-off to head home. This left me and two others 20m behind with the group ahead really cranking. The gap got to 50m before there were two of us left, then I had a go, held the gap at 50 for bit but then the legs gave way. The guy behind realised it was all over and gave up. I thought that was a bit soft so tried to work hard all along to UWA. Fortunately the group was stopped wayy ahead at the lights and as I got near the lights went green and I was able to catch back on, cough for a bit, then say my farewells. Heading home was s-l-o-w. Stupid legs were rooted. Breakfast and then 2hrs sleep! | ||
| Paddling (Beach) 1:10:00 [3] 9 km (7:47 / km) | |
| slept:2.0 shoes: Ski, Mako 6 | ||
| Forgot GPS so guessed distance. Was a bit scared by the break, but once sitting on the ski it accelerates so fast that you get past the drop zone very quickly. Paddled to halfway between Trigg and Scarborough Beach and back in an hour, then did a few efforts. There were a couple of other paddlers who launched at Scarboro as I turned and I chased them the whole way back - they were on spec skis but were not going much slower than I was and it was a solid chase, never caught them. Beautiful afternoon. | ||
| Running (Kings Park) 1:03:00 [2] 10.97 km (5:45 / km) | |
| shoes: Brooks Beast | ||
| I started out good for 10mins of this pleasant run with Jen. Then my body gradually decided that the tank was empty and it became physically very very hard just to keep running. Everything ached in a tired way and I started using up all my excuses to stop - did the stop and stretch one first. Then the stop and walk the new treetop walk thingy - twice as they closed one end while we were 5/6 of the way across. Then stopped for a pee. Then walked about 3 strides up one of the roller-coaster hills. Not auguring well for strong ride tomorrow. | ||