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Training Log Archive: Mounty

In the 30 days ending Nov 30, 2010:

activity # timemileskm+m
  Running9 38:00:00 118.81 191.2
  Cycling8 10:58:40
  Kayak2 1:21:01 1.86 3.0
  Gym1 30:00
  Total20 50:49:41 120.67 194.2

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Tuesday Nov 30, 2010 #

Running 30:00 [3]

Run to and from Flat Rock. Transport not training.

Monday Nov 29, 2010 #

Cycling 47:00 [3]

Soft-pedal in to town. Left hip flexor feels a bit inhibited from the usual tightness pattern.

Katrin did the 8Hr at Awaba yesterday, organised by the CBD folk. Over the PA at presentation "In 2nd place, and less than half Katrin's age...". Ouch!

Cycling 50:00 [3]

Rode home with instructions from Katrin to collect an ebay score from Cammeray on the way home.

Instructed to have exact change, I stopped at the Cammeray fruit shop to buy a banana and break a $20. I then stored the banana in usual cycling fashion up the nix leg to enjoy on the way home.

Just as I was about to ring the doorbell of ebay seller, it occured to me that lycra shorts with a banana shoved down the front is probably not the ideal attire for presenting yourself at the house of an unknown lady.

Sunday Nov 28, 2010 #

Running 30:00 [3]

Nipped out for a run while the kid's were at a birthday party, but soon realised that my hips were suffering from post-rogaine tightness with some asymmetry appearing. Running like that just leads to injury, so I bailed and went for a walk instead. Fortunately have an appointment with super-Gav this week.

Saturday Nov 27, 2010 #

Kayak 1:05:00 [3]
shoes: Mako 6

Afternoon spin on the ski to Northbridge. Enjoyed a 15 kt tailwind in the same way that you enjoy a new house, ie. with a nagging realisation that the mortgage will soon need to be repaid, with 5k back up-hill. Pleased to get a slight discount on interest rate when the afternoon seabreeze started to fade as the sun dropped.

Finished with 10-odd 30 second efforts. Weak! Paddling like a runner.

Friday Nov 26, 2010 #

Cycling 47:00 [3]

Easy plod to North Sydney - about 5minutes below par. Felt OK, but I think that is because I'd set my expectations so low.

Only real soreness was the big toenail on the gutter jumps.

Spanker of a day.

Wednesday Nov 24, 2010 #

Gym 30:00 [3]

Recovery session in hotel gym in Adelaide. Mostly on windtrainer. Finished with a couple of minutes on running treadmill at 5m/k - ouch.

Tuesday Nov 23, 2010 #

Note

Walked from Flat Rock to work. Feeling rather flat. After a great sleep on sunday, was a bit restless last night. I think the resting HR is still up.

Looks like a couple of toe nails could fall victim to the weekend's hills.

Saturday Nov 20, 2010 #

Running 23:45:00 [3] 110.0 km (12:57 / km)

World Rogaining Champs in Cheviot near Christchurch with Dennis de Monchy.

Starting with the stats...Points: 3115, Place: 13th, Km: ~110 according to my rolly thing, # fences crossed: 162,543.

Map handout at 9am on a sunny Saturday morning was followed by the usual 'which bits do we leave out'. The map (1:40,000) looked like a macro gully-spur orienteering map with a lot of open area dotted with the occasional pine plantation and native bush gully. All the open bits had people thinking of big km, and as usual I suspect most people drew up a route bigger than their legs could swallow (so to speak), once you factored in the hills and ruggedness.

We aimed for a loop thru' the hilly bit to the north east first while the legs were still fresh, loop back thru' the start to the southern coast bit overnight, and then farms and the flat bit for tired legs at the end. Plenty of bailout options if things were taking too long, but it did occur to me that the common route planning theme of "do the hard bit first, and cut bits out of an optimistic route at the end as time runs short" means that you don't cut out enough of the hard bits.

Anyway, race started with a dash out of town and confirmation that most people seemed to be heading in roughly the same direction. Conversation with Damon about the residual value of Multivans was rudely interrupted by the first checkpoint, and then it was off up the first steep pinch of the day - and a nice reminder that the reasonably incongruous looking hill on the map was in fact pretty bloody steep. Slight complication when the group came face to face with a farmer herding a large group of bovine in the opposite direction down the same track. Problem quickly resolved by an impressive display of sheep doggery. Can't think off the top of my head of a creature that looks like they enjoy their job more than a sheep dog.


Up and down some more hills with Phil Whitten & Joel Mackay, and on to amusing incident #1 for the day. Was running down a hill when confronted by a patch of matagouri thorns, that had a nice flat lichen covered slab of granite behind it. With fresh legs, took advantage of the flat landing area and lept over the prickles. At this point, the observant among you would note that NZ doesn't have flat granite slabs. Unfortunately, I wasn't tuned in to NZ mode yet and had in fact launched in to a nice deep lichen covered pond. Doh.

Tolerated the giggles of my colleagues for a bit and then down a steep descent to a checkpoint on the coast near "Shag Rock" (that's what it says on the map). The next checkpoint was 1,5km north along the coast. The race instructions had said that travel along the coast was "impossible", which meant the only way round was a 200m climb up and down again.

Perhaps from doing too many Jacoby races, we looked north and decided the 'impossible' thing was unduly pessimistic, and couldn't resist the thought of avoiding a 200m climb. Dennis mentioned there might be a coupel of seals, then off we went. Sure enough there turned out to be a couple of hundred seals lazing between ocean and steep hill. Once again my aussie definition of seal (the cute little black things you see swimming off Narrabeen) didn't quite match the NZ reality (big, smelly, hairy things where the males were about twice my size). Got around working on the theory of staying on the land side of seals - a gesture they seemed to appreciate, but made things a bit slower going.

To be continued...

Got to checkpoint #56, and chopped off the first 'optional' loop for the day - the closeness of the contours and generally rugged hills hinted at slow going. Bailed back up the hill just in time for the weather to close in - a chully mist putting an end to any advantage of visibility across the open hills. Next lesson for the day was that the fences and green areas on the map in some places were 'based on a true story' rather than there for literal interpretation. Had to be a bit careful.

Meandered on a loop across the highway, and made our way back thru' the finish at about 8pm. Lucky timing 'cause the Linebreak shorts were starting to chafe, and memories of Ezy in Gosford had me very glad I could switch back to the old faithful shorts just in time. Didn't go to the Hash House - just changed socks, put on lights & helly, grabbed some supplies and trotted out down the road eating cold chili con carne in a ziplock. Yum.

In to the night, and out to the coast still moving pretty well until a couple of screw ups in a row put paid to what had been a decent run until now. Missed a good route choice around the green gully in to #77 (10min), overshot #86 in the dark and took a while to relocate (30min - the 'big' mistake of the day), and then drifted in to a wrong gully to miss #35 (10min & 30points - wasnt worth going back). ie almost an hour and 30 points down the tube all in about 3k. Grrr.

On the plus side, didn't lose rythm and headed back across the Highway for some more hills and dawn. Worthy of mention in the wee hours was the river crossing near #24. Weighing up quite a nice shortcut v.s uncertainty as to river depth, shone the light on the river to see that it was a) shallow but b) rich with eels. Kim would have been proud as I headed in to the water (Bull of Africa reference).

Dawn in the hills, and I was starting to get tired but Dennis did a good job of keeping us moving. Stopped for 5 minutes to get some food in, which in hindsight was a good investment for me as the tank was a bit low.

Rest of the morning was a big constant time-on-distance calculation as we tried to link up the hugher scoring flags on the flatlands. A classic battle between eeking out remaining points vs. "cbf'd" on tired legs. Gave ourselves a bit of work with a no turning back final loop thru 100 & 87, making it home with 15min up our sleeve. On the downside, we forgot to dip the dipper at the road crossing, which cost 15 points and 2 places I think. Grr.

Finished - straight across to the Milk Bar for a triple ice-cream and milkshake, then went to sleep for a couple of hours mindful that the real world with kids & work lay waiting juts round the corner.

Good fun. Thanks Dennis - good to run with someone that makes you work. Be nice to do one of these things once with a bit more preparation reading maps and stuff beforehand, but the kids are far more impressed by seal stories than a few extra points so Ill call it even.

Wednesday Nov 17, 2010 #

Running 1:10:00 [3]

New variation. Short jog from Flat Rock to North Sydney in the mornning (just transport really), then a longer loop back to the car in the evening through Balls Head.

Was most suprised to run in to the middle of a Summer Series event. Stopped for a chat with Trace and Stix who were walking around a course with a buttload of kids.

Finished with half a dozen 1min efforts.

Tuesday Nov 16, 2010 #

Cycling 40:00 [3]

Easy spin to shake out some adductor stiffness.

Cycling 40:00 [3]

Zippier ride home, then a pint of Bernard's Czech dark beer for dinner. A crackingly good drop. Unfortunately turns out there was only 1 bottle of the dark in the case Katrin won, so I think I just used a brownie point.

Sunday Nov 14, 2010 #

Note

Went to check out the rumoured baseball batting cage at the Terrey Hills golf driving range with Tom. Sure enough, it exists and is way more substantial than I'd imagined.

Half an hour of clubbing balls fired out of the wall every 7 seconds. Disturbingly good fun.

Saturday Nov 13, 2010 #

Running 2:10:00 [3] 21.2 km (6:08 / km)

With the mercury topping 30 degrees and humidity close to 100, would have been tempting not to go out but for the fact that my Oxfam buddies were running the GNW 100 mile run today. Ouch.

Drove to Forestville, then plodded up the river to the Cascades. Stopped counting water dragons when I got to about a million. Feeling pretty crappo for the first hour, but started to perk up a bit on the climb up to Acron. Bit of breeze at the top made things a bit nicer, and starte to enjoy the run around to Belrose. Downhill effort on the Quarry hill, then fast-forward on the roads thru Belrose as I was running late. Ran quite solidly to address the boredom of running on bitumen.

Katrin & Annika away for the evening, so took the opportunity to introduce young Thomas to Top Gun. Still the best boy movie going around. Add large pizza = top evening all round.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/56481471

Friday Nov 12, 2010 #

Cycling 45:00 [3]

Rode with Tom to school, then continued on to work. Hopefully the mum's outside school were impressed with my wearing Tom's backpack on top of my own.

Legs felt quite good.

Cycling 36:40 [3]

Commute at race pace* to make up for missing Stingervals yestie.

* If you happen to do races with a laptop in your backpack, that is.

Thursday Nov 11, 2010 #

Running 30:00 [3]

Jog from Flat Rock to the office after Uncle's funeral, then ran back. 1km wu then 2k effort.

Session with Gav this morning. Interestingly the left spiral line was tight, normally its the right. I still find it amusing that releasing a muscle in my right armpit reduced the pronation of my left foot.

Wednesday Nov 10, 2010 #

Cycling 1:30:00 [3]

I think I rode to and from work.

Tuesday Nov 9, 2010 #

Kayak 16:01 [3] 3.0 km (5:20 / km)
shoes: Kayakpro Ergo

Working till 1am the day after long run = knackered.

Sunday Nov 7, 2010 #

Running 6:30:00 [3] 60.0 km (6:30 / km)

Lindfield-Manly mission run with Ezy, Fat Rat and Prong, and then run back to the car solo.

The catch of doing a 30k run with the boys, then kicking on for more is that you run the first half at 30k pace instead of 60k pace, which makes the second half interesting.

Bewdiful day finally as the sun cracked thru' and the sandy sydney soil did its drainage thing. Still enough puddles for Ben to jump in and splash us, and enough mud for a few dodgy corners, but all in all a decent track.

Nipped down the Nosh Track at a respectable tempo, round Killarney, natural bridge thru' to Seaforth. Down the rather scary when wet metal stairs to the Spit, and then foreshore track to Manly.

Pace gradually crept up along here, with the last couple of k from North Harbour getting down under 4m/k's at times. Figured I would pay for this later, but 'twas fun.

Stopped for coffee at the Bavarian Beer cafe, then left the beer to the boys and headed north. Ran in to Hugh Stods riding with fam in Queenscliff, and chatted for a couple of k's.

Started to get a bit tired around 45k, but got thru' to the pipeline at Belrose OK, before things got a bit pfaffy. In an effort to minimise road running, took a few 'cunning plan' deviations on unmarked tracks - some of which worked and others less so. Climbed a hill, and got stuck behind backyards, and unexpected lap of a retirement village etc. Almost stepped on a dead black cat lying in the middle of a track - which probably is not good luck-wise.

Emerged eventually back at the car, and drove home for a 1.5l milkshake which tasted like nectar from the gods.

Saturday Nov 6, 2010 #

Running 1:30:00 [3]

Saturday afternoon leg loosner over to the Dam. Oh so wet.

Thursday Nov 4, 2010 #

Running 1:25:00 [3]

Run to work pfaffathon. Don't quite know how it took so long. Feeling tired for the first hour, and found excuses to stop. Bit of a stretch, take jacket off, shoelace * 3. Then vagued out in Cammeray, and added a detour. At least felt a bit better by the end.

Wednesday Nov 3, 2010 #

Cycling 41:00 [3]

Tempo commute, despite the best efforts of the traffic light gods to disrupt. Legs felt quite good. Need to stop using Katrin's commuter backpack - lots of useful pockets, but doesn't support on the lower back - can feel the lower back getting sore after a few days of use. Wonder if that's why she blew her back earlier in the year?

Tom's turn to amuse on the way out the door this morning - "Dad, can I test my reverse jump kick on you?". Umm, no.

Cycling 45:00 [3]

Goldilocks commute with a standing big dog roseville bridge climb for variety.

Tuesday Nov 2, 2010 #

Cycling 45:00 [3]

Easy ride to spin out the hammie DOMS.

Cycling 42:00 [3]

End-end time check
Left desk: 0 min
Left change-room: 6 min (not bad)
On bike: 10 min
In door: 52min
Dinner done: 67min
Beer opened: 67.1min

Monday Nov 1, 2010 #

Cycling 45:00 [3]

Apparently sarcasm begins to develop at about 10 years of age.
Annika: "Have a good day at work dad. Don't stuff anything up".

Hammies a bit tired from pretending to run fast yesterday.

Cycling 45:00 [3]

Wet & windy ride home, with the impending start of Mythbusters the only thing to kept the tempo up.

The dangerous section of path at Roseville bridge, which had been messed up by dodgy electrical contractors, has been relaid. Woohoo.

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