Training Archive: ToomsIn the 7 days ending 2008-03-02:
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| M | T | W | H | F | S | S | |||||||||||
Sunday Mar 2 | ||
| MTB race (Stage 1) 1:58:00 [5] 39 km (3:02 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Merida | ||
| Stage 1 of the brand-new course for 2008 and it weighed in at a mighty 39 undulating kilometres through towering karri, scrubby marri and ti-tree and lots and lots of pea gravel, although with the overnight showers the dust was not too bad. The organisers gave us the option of a 715am start or a 9am start but with stage 3 starting at the same time for everybody. Wil, Boltboi, Rhys and I opted for the 9am start rather than get up early. As it turned out 3/4 of the field went at 715am leaving 55 of us for the pacy 9am start. (Saz and MTBjen went at 715am).
First 8km was non-racing 23kph rollout along bitumen and then once we were on gravel the lead car sounded the horn, accelerated away and the pace immediately got uncomfortable. I managed to hang on the back of the main group till the track narrowed and the group elongated. Coming down a sandy slope to a creek I was really pleased with my negotiation of the 1 foot bank onto the granite stream bed past all the dismounted roadie-types but then one bike length later the front wheel dropped into the Mines of Moria and over the handlebars I went, full length into the water and landing hard on the granite. Sore left elbow and shoulder and right knee from then on, but no effect on my riding. This stage was quite good fun, much tougher than last year's stage but the track was in much better condition. About an hour in on a long climb I saw 10 riders up ahead but only ever managed to catch two of them. The stage incorporated Booroora single-track loop and that was pretty cool as the field was spread out by now. Lost my sunnies in there somewhere. Very glad to see the finish across a paddock just after catching and passing some of the punters from the 715am start. 6th open male on this stage, but lots of veterans (35yrs plus would you believe?) in front. And Steph. Got Rhys by 4mins and neither of us ever saw the other. | ||
| MTB race 1:10:00 [2] 18 km (3:53 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Merida | ||
| Didn't wait all that long to get going on the cruise stage and was shortly joined by Rhys once he'd had his front derailleur fixed. In retrospect it was this bit where I should have had a longer break and eaten more, but I was keen to get a good break at the lunch stop. Began feeling tired on this cruise stage but when I wanted to speed up a bit the legs felt good so I was looking forward to the next timed stage still. Met up with the others at lunch stop, Wil was happy, MTBjen was in 3rd and only 30s or so down on 2nd and as usual, obscenely upbeat. Boltboi looked hot and bothered when he came in and Saz, who'd flatted as the starting horn had gone knew the entire field by name. | ||
| MTB race (Stage 3) 1:50:00 [3] 32 km (3:26 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Merida | ||
| A mass start of the remaining riders here with a very very dusty descent after about 1km, couldn't see a thing other than the bike or two infront! After 4km I started getting passed by riders and on a hill around the 6km mark I was barely able to ride up it, legs were empty and I began noticing my tight low back a lot more. At 8km I dropped to cruise pace and decided to try and just finish the stage and get a decent rest before the last two stages. By about 20km I was planning to bail and get a lift home from the end of the stage. Was amazed that more people hadn't passed me as I was small chainringing about 90% of the ride. The stage finished with about 4km of single track through a dry paperbark swamp and I eased past about 8 people who were struggling with the concept of steering their bikes. Seems that 95% of the field were similarly shattered. Popped out into the finishing paddock about 100m infront of a group containing the 4th girl and a couple of skinny fit types and estimated that their finishing sprint would come up just short. It did, by about 5m. Lay on the grass trying to trigger point my back and fight thoughts of abandoning. Saz piked here after a bad stage so I resolved to do another stage. This stage would've been great to do fresh, lots of long gradual climbs to power over. Next year... | ||
| C • Leaps forward 2 | ||
| MTB race (Stage 4 (cruise)) 1:10:00 [1] 18 km (3:53 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Merida | ||
| Struggled here. MTBjen kept me company but I had to stop and stretch my back a couple of times and concentrated on just trying to keep moving forward. Small chain the whole way. Not enjoying myself. Got to the finish paddock (full of double-g thorns) and MTBjen went straight into the final 10km stage. I said I'd meet her back their after just rolling home on the bitumen. | ||
| MTB race (Stage 5) 32:00 [5] 9 km (3:33 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Merida | ||
| This stage started in groups of 10 separated by 60s or so. A great improvement on previous years mass starts as the stage is mostly single track.
Boltboi rocked-up into the paddock just after MTBjen had left, poured scorn on my decision to bail and then suggested I rest in the paddock with him for while. I agreed to that and ate a banana, some sandwiches and about 5 carboshotz and two litres of water. After about 40mins (or so) and some trigger pointing of my spasmed lower back I decided that I'd have a crack at the last stage and if my legs were up to it good, if not I'd see it through. As it turned out my legs were up to it and I was able to push. The course was 4ks of good single track and 4ks of gradually uphill vehicle tracks to the finish. Starting near the rear of the field I was passing lots of people but the minor delays were no problem as I was happy to be able to actually push again. Oddly enough I ended up 8th open male (24th overall) even with the addition of my personal stage 3 'cruise' but I was 6th on both stages 1 and 5. Rhys ended up 7th, MTBjen 3rd girl and podium only 10 places behind me. | ||
Saturday Mar 1 | ||
| Event: Great Karri Ride | ||
| Running (dog jog) 20:00 [1] 3 km (6:40 / km) | |
| slept:8.0 (rest day) shoes: Barefoot | ||
| Going away for Karri ride this morning so took doggles for a run since he'll be cooped-up till Monday arvo. Cooler today but still very humid. | ||
| MTB race 5:00 [1] | |
| shoes: Bike, Merida | ||
| 10min prologue plus two laps. From previous year's experience, even when I ride flat out I get lapped (it's a 700m lap) and you get the time of the last unlapped person plus 2mins. So this year, as for last year, I barely turn the pedals over and get lapped ASAP. Rhys, Wil and I teamed up to try and go as slow as possible, and only some clown who managed to crash just before we got pulled over finished behind us. Boltboi, seeking his victory over us for the weekend rode hard and did an extra lap before he was directed to leave the arena. We were quite a contrast to MTBjen who somehow contrived to have her opponent pushed off her bike at the start and then lead the first 3 laps of the women's prologue before crusing in for 2nd behind 'Wildside' Steph. | ||
Friday Feb 29 | ||
| Running warm up/down 12:00 [2] | |
| (rest day) shoes: Barefoot | ||
| Core Stability/Stretching 15:00 [1] | |
| shoes: Barefoot | ||
| Assumed the role of creche attendant while Mummy Jessica and Mummy Sophie completed their versions of the beach session. Son Jasper is 3 and loud, piercing even. Son Hunter is 1 and cries a lot, although less than last week. I managed my hammy stretches, quads and some other useful stuff in the process finding out I am still stiff from Tuesdays attempts to keep Fletch in sight. I really ought to get back into the pool once more. | ||
Thursday Feb 28 | ||
| Road Bike (Commute) 27:00 [4] 11 km (2:27 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Kestrel | ||
| was going to ride the 'long' way today, altered that to middle as I ran out of time mid-morning then finally opted for 'short' - then left late anyway as I went to give the goldfish some flakes and noticed that instead of 4 goldfish and a muntedfish and 2 koi there were an additional 3 mini muntedfish and 1 miniminimunted fish. One of them must've been pregnant when I got them! Felt sorry for the teeny babies as the Koi looked hungry - hopefully they'll still be there when I get home! I'll feed the little ones specially so they grow big enough to not be swallowed qucikly...
Rode 6 x 1min hard on the way into work in a vain attempt to arrive on time. Almost did. Funny how a 60s effort changes my ride pace from 27ish (normal commute pace) to 35ish - without being markedly onerous. Looking forward to the cooler weather tonight! | ||
| C • Racial tolerance 1 | ||
| Road Bike (Commute) 35:00 [3] 16.5 km (2:07 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Kestrel | ||
| Left work at 830pm and it was still damn hot outside, around 32 I think and even hotter when stopped at traffic lights with the heat coming off the hot bitumen. It was a real relief to reach the river at East Perth where, although dead calm, the air was cooler. | ||
Wednesday Feb 27 | ||
| Orienteering 25:00 [3] 4 km (6:15 / km) | |
| shoes: Pearl Izumi meshy ones | ||
| Pretty boring run around North Freo. Nice to run in a different area but the b/w map doesn't do it for me, and combined with sore legs from Tues intervals I just couldn't be arsed heading out on the "scatter" part of the event so I stopped back at the start. | ||
| Running 25:00 [2] 4 km (6:15 / km) | |
| shoes: Barefoot | ||
| Headed home from pseudO event and took dog for a run on the beach which was much more fun. Right at the end saw a 16week old version of haggles. Priceless to see the expression on the new owners' faces when they saw the lolloping slobbering giant of a dog their kitten-like toy is going to grow into! | ||
Tuesday Feb 26 | ||
| Road Bike warm up/down 20:00 [3] 8 km (2:30 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Kestrel | ||
| Road Bike intervals 17:10 [5] 10 km (1:43 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Kestrel | ||
| 5 x flat out-n-back 2km down at Floreat beach. It's been 6 years since I've done any attempt at speed work on the bike so it was a bit of a learning curve.
3.41 3.32 3.28 3.21 3.16 Full recovery - which turned out randomly to be between 2mins 10 and 2mins 30 recovery each time, much quicker to recover on the bike than running! Gave the GT 20s headstart for the first 3, then 10s on last two and only caught her on the last rep where I well and truly smashed the first 1km. (I think I gained most of the time by doing a tighter turn within the confines of the narrow road whereas she used the narrow road, the join to WC Hwy and I think at least one lane of WC Hwy to do a counter clockwise (!?!) turn. i think her tactic was to head-on me as I did the normal keep left thing. Maybe it's because she's left-handed? Or maybe just dazed from riding so hard? I'm sure I'll get a dodgey explanation sometime). A fun session, will try and do more of this sort of painful stuff! | ||
| C • dodgy explanation... 1 | ||
| Running warm up/down 18:00 [2] 2.5 km (7:12 / km) | |
| shoes: Pearl Izumi meshy ones | ||
| Bumped into Richie Baron-Hay... haven't seen him in years. | ||
| Running intervals 27:30 [5] 8 km (3:26 / km) | |
| shoes: Pearl Izumi meshy ones | ||
| 8 x 1km with 3mins 50 rest (left with Fletch so a bit early).
Perfect evening for a run, light sea-breeze, only around 32ish degrees, no footy players blocking the 1k track. 3.35 3.33 3.30 3.27 3.25 3.30 3.29 3.26 Happy to turn those times, the 6th hurt but I felt strong enough to keep an honest effort up in 7 and 8. I feel that there's still capacity to go to around 3.20s in say 8 weeks time as long as things keep progressing as they are. Fletch was mighty, ran strong and dropped time all the way through, very impressive. | ||
Monday Feb 25 | ||
| Road Bike (Commute) 32:00 [2] 11 km (2:55 / km) | |
| slept:10.0 shoes: Bike, Gary Fisher mtb | ||
| Road Bike (Commute) 55:00 [2] 18 km (3:03 / km) | |
| shoes: Bike, Gary Fisher mtb | ||
| Left later than I thought but it was a nice but somewhat warm evening. After 10mins of going the 'medium' way home I got disinterested in riding but was committed. Then I had to avoid two drunken aboriginees who were blocking the east perth overpass so that made it a bit longer. At Selby st I helped two women push their powerless car out of the intersection - only to see them roll to a stop still in the road at the bottom of the slope. What was so hard about bumping it up onto the low kerb? Women. Waffled home observing the insides of people's houses with the warm weather, lack of any wind (therefore curtains open) and internal lighting displaying peoples furnishings, computers and tvs clearly. | ||