Training Log Archive: Mounty

Late start (good old wifey let me sleep in) so took the sprint for the light across Military Rd - long lead-out, legs started to tire 50m out but held form and sailed through on the orange.

Gym repainted since I was last there. Disturbing similarity in colour taste to Westpac.

Couldnt really use rear brake properly due to yesterday's smashing hand in to a pole incident, so had to be a bit careful on the downhills.

Not going to complain about a sore hand though. Will post a photo of Katrin's chain-ring tattoo from the Mont if someone tells me how to upload a file.

C • upload the photo onto any w... 1

C • chain ring tattoo 4

First ride home without lights. Certainly brought the cyclists out of the woodwork, never seen so many bikes on the bridge.

Reminded why I dont ride down the offramp at northern end of the bridge. Some dude riding down when 2 people started walking up from the bottom without looking. He tried to bail out on to the stairs, which didnt work and he hit the wall. Nothing broken, but good chunk of bark missing.

Lunch recovery jog around the Opera House, then some stretching under the shade of a coolabah tree. Feeling much better at end of jog than beginning until...

was jogging right behind someone through the domain about to ovetake, when they did a big sidestep at the last minute to avoid one of those waist high posts that stand in the middle of the walking paths to stop cars. Wasn't paying close enough attention and ran straight in to it, separating half a thumbnail from my thumb in the process. Went to a meeting after lunch with an ice pack on myhand.

Hawkesbury Classic
Busy day. Katrin was down riding the Mont, so had to work around little athletics and birthday parties while getting organised for a night in the boat. Headed up to my fortuitously located cousin that lives near the start in Richmond, swapped Thomas for her husband (support crew) for a 6pm start. Tom was rather excited to find a house with 3 boys and chickens.
Usual dash off the line to avoid the washing machine, and settled in to a solid pace. Sat on the wash of a couple of supersonics for a while enjoying the evening until I snagged something on my rudder (sounded like a fishing line with sinker rattling against the hull) and had to stop to take it off. Had been a bit worried about rudder catching things - its got a straght front edge, so has installed a bit of a weed deflector the day before.

Paddled solidly with a couple more stops to shake off weed in the next 20km, and got to Sackville (30km) in 2:42 (with tide for much of it), courtesy of a little sprint at the end to beat the ferry. Past experience told me that the weed drops off after sackville, so content to have got through losing only 5-10 minutes. Had paddled a bit harder than I'd dared previously (~ +10bpm HR) so was going to interesting to see how i held up furthter down the road.

Then things got interesting. There had been some rain up there the past few days, so a fair bit of debris - sticks, grass etc were in the river. That's when i discovered my straight edged rudder was perhaps the most efficient debris collection device possible. Spent the next 35km slowly collecting larger and larger volumes of crap, interspersed with stops or back-paddling to shake it off - bit of an interval session with speed varying depending on how much crap i was towing at the time. Figured I had a problem when at Dargle checkpoint I asked someone standing in the water if they could clear my rudder and on sticking hand under the boat exclaimed 'holy sh*t dude'. Ground it out to Wiseman's (68km) then admitted defeat. Didn't see much value in towing trees to Brooklyn and didnt want to end up too wasted to spend sunday with thomas. Pretty disappointed.

Ignoring all that,
- The Sea Vanquish (with the overstern rudder installed) is perhaps the perfect hawkesbury boat. Runs like a K1 but far more comfortable. Need to add an extra layer of foam on the seat though. Butt sore and bruised this morning.
- HR the first 30km probably a tad high. Good to experiment, but suspect I would have paid for it towards the end.

Sidenote: Update on sunday from the Mont was that Katrin had ended up on the bottom of a pileup off the start. Had to be carried off the track as impact to both quad and hammy had locked up her leg, and an impressive chainring cut on back of her leg (you can see all 3 rings). 2hrs later she was riding again - tough chick.

C • Epic Misadventures 5

Down to Northbridge and back in the new boat. Timed to perfection so that tide turned exaclty the same time i did, so uphill all the way. doh.
Really nice paddling in the rain when its warm.

Rode Katrin's roadie home from the shop. My commuter route is better suited to a bike with wider tyres - bit shaken up by the time i got home.

Just before riding home I interviewed a developer whose name was Jackie Chan.

Need to set up boat for saturday tonight. Bit nervous about paddling 111km in a boat Ive had for 2 days.

C • harden up! I did the hawkes... 2

Boat set-up paddle. Paddled around above Roseville bridge in the new (2nd hand) Sea Vanquish to get the setup right. Amazing how much difference moving the seat an inch can make to boat speed.

Most happy with my new toy.

Pre-Chaser trot.

Caught up on some of the sleep deficit last night - man, what a difference. Then tried out the new garmin on the way in. Either it interferes with trip bike trip computers or i was doing 50km/h up the hill from roseville bridge.

Rode home. Unusual amount of traffic about. Then drove out to airport to pick up a boat. I now have a huge mound of bubblewrap in the garage. Kids are going to be stoked in the morning.

C • Sea Vanquish ... 2

Pipeline return. Cruisy paddle. Another cracker morning.

Fulfilled my duties as Katrin's bike bitch, and took her ride in to Clarence St. Bike needs some serious lovin', all felt a bit sloppy.

Ridiculously hot already.

Morning Killarney loop after the rugby. I'm a bit of a rugy purist - dont mind a good tight game, but that was sh*t.

Felt like I needed a rest day, so left it at that.

Pre paddle Killarney loop jog with Rob. Very humid.

Dusted off the Mark2 for the first time in ages and paddled Roseville to Clifton Gardens with Rob. Felt a bit out of synch for the first half hour, but steadily improved. Some fun water around Middle Head. Big improvement on last summer. Nice evening finishing on dusk.

A few intervals down at Roseville. Sunny & glassy - love spring. Tide very low though. 20min cruise then 4 of the usual intervals. 4:31 (downstream), 4:38 (u), 4:30 (d), 4:31 (u). Last one felt quick - more to do with technique than effort. Wish i knew what it was that i was doing right. Sore butt after an hour - that seat is hard.
Then did some puzzles at preschool.

Late Opera House loop to avoid the crowds. Hit 3 weddings - the string quartet at one creating a very nice vibe.
Legs felt shyte. Need to start stretching regularly again.

Annika is sick, so stayed home while Katrin knocked out a West Head loop then rode in to work late. Met homeless guy from under Roseville bridge heading out for the day and had a chat (he more grunted really).

I bet the ABC complaints line was running hot last night after the Chaser's 'even wankers turn in to good blokes when they're dead' song.

Rode home late. Long day, tired. Headwind was not what i needed riding across the bridge at 8:30pm. Felt like Luna Park was laughing at me.
Tried a different route choice around Nth Sudney that didnt work, hence slightly longer ride than usual.

6am start, Thomas still asleep. Was tempted to go and wake him up just for revenge. Westerly of yesterday replaced by a southerly, so windy again but in the opposite direction and colder. Discovered that the high combing on the viper cockpit is rather good for keeping the chilly wind off.
Easy paddle, with 3km at 70% in the middle.

Feeling a bit flat, but National ride to work day so couldnt really take the bus. Met Tracy at North Sydney who was scoffing some free brekkie, and chatted across the bridge.

C • scoffing! 2

Rode home a bit late so roads nice and quiet. Felt much fresher than this morning for reasons i dont fully understand. Rode hard up hill from Roseville Bridge.

Went for a paddle at 6am (25 degrees), having been up for an hour already.
Thomas: Daddy, is it 7 o clock?
Me: No Thomas, it's 5:06.

Popular topic of conversation among school age parents is how many days left until daylight savings begins.

Did a couple of efforts on the ski - 4:50, 5:10, 4:52 (windy). Estimate the ski is probably a tad under 20sec / km slower than the K1 for me (which aligns pretty well with the Rapid Ascent boat tests) - no need for tennis balls.

C • I need a Thomas alarm clock! 5

20min warmup on the windtrainer while reading "Web Services - RPC or Document literal encoding" - not sure which was more boring, then weights. Have decided i need to get stronger to justify a trip to C2C.

Got up at 5 to watch the rugby, but gave up on the Argies after half an and went for a paddle instead. England, South Efrican final urgh - not sure who to cheer against.

Headed out in the new boat, with the footrest in the right spot this time. Changed my thinking about how it compares to the old boat - reckon it actually has more initial stability, but less secondary. i.e. feels nice and solid when paddling but more likely to fall out if you screw up. Tracks like its on rails.

3 efforts - 4:38, ?(rowers got in way), 4:37.

Easy ride in to spin out legs from yesterday, expect for an uncomfortable sprint to catch the lights across Military Rd.
I think the commuter needs a service. I was pedalling down the gentle hill off the bridge and was passed by someone freewheeling.

Rode back. Had to keep mouth closed walking down Martin place to avoid having moths for dinner.
Also discovered i hadnt put the wheel on straight this morning, hence major brake rub. Will upgrade morning session to a resistance session.

Turkey Trot, annual Sydney street-O showdown. 20km point to point mass-start.

1. Mounty
2. Andy
3. Robbie

Nothing more to add.

Just like a surfing movie, a phone call came on friday afternoon - 'it's gonna blow tomorrow dude, the downwind run is on'.

Early morning car shuffle, then headed out with Simon, Christie & Rob/Prong in their double from Fisherman's heading north. The rollers werent as big as seabreeze.com.au promised, but the wind got up towards 20kt for a nice big clean wind chop.

Lost sight of the others after about 15 minutes but figured they were ahead so headed offshore looking for more swell & settled in to my own patch of water for some most enjoyable paddling.

Got in to Palmie a tad behind the others and waited while Rob convinced Prong to get back in to the boat for the grind in to the wind up to Bayview.
(Made the mistake of picking up Christie's carbon ski while waiting - a very not smart thing to do). The boys punished me in to the wind, so had to work all the way to the car.

Demo paddle of a 2nd hand K1 (Viper) that Big Dave spotted on the web for me, and coincidentally belongs to someone I know.

Took it down to Roseville Bridge just in time for some torrential rain and wind - good boat testing conditions in the scheme of things.

Cruised up towards the pipeline, then did a couple of intervals in the standard spot (4:30, 4:40), then a couple of easy ones from boatramp to starboard nav marker (5:00, 4:38). Runs a bit nicer than current boat (tiger-x) on the glass, handles small chop much better.

Viper is arguably one size too big for me, but felt OK and at a price hard to ignore.

C • Too big ... 6

Commando day! First commute for a little while and the lack of organisation showed.
Began by reclaiming various parts of the commuter bike that had found their way on to other bikes, then rode in to find I hadn't packed underwear. Luckily had packed the quality woollen trousers and not jeans.

Hammies sore from yesterday's summer series debut, so tried to avoid some of the hills on the way home. Cunning detour through Crows Nest didnt really work out, so ended up being a bit longer than normal.

Had a chuckle with building security guards on the way out who were on the chaser last night (the ones that took delivery of a 'human corpse' from a courier). They're enjoying their stardom.

Sydney Summer Series - Luna Park
49:30, 480pts.

Last minute decision to run SS. Had only planned to go for a lunch jog, but the temptation of o'ing so close to work was too great and legs seemed to have recovered OK from weekend so buggered off early and jogged over the bridge to have a run.

Through Luna Park for starters, then up the hill past North Sydney station and down again to the water at Kirribilli and some unsensible bus dodging in peak hour traffic. Met up with Andy and ran together for a couple of km before heading separate ways - Andy coming very close to getting cleaned up by a barina at one point.
Back past Johnnie Howard's place and through the expensive part of the world to the finish for the same score as Andy I think. Nice afternoon out - felt quite strong. Havent got the HR that high for a while.

Jogged from work to ss.

The recovery session I should have done on sunday or yesterday but cbf.

Martial arts guy was at the gym as usual - but with 2 black eyes and a whole heap of bruises. I think he lost.

The Chaser hit the building in which i am working yesterday. Expect some Westpac tormenting tomorrow night.

Upper Murray Challenge, Khancoban.
Ride 1:53, 4th off the bike
First genuine multisport race I've done. Was rather nervous about having to go hard for 6 hours without the benefit of little adventure race style rest stops along the way looking for checkpoints in the wrong spot or pfaffing around with big blow up boats. Figured base endurance would be OK after XPD but was a tad worried about a distinct lack of intensity in the training bank, albeit with a couple of decent cramming sessions in the previous fortnight.

Arrived at the start and met my organiser supplied support crew for the day, Dave the local state forest manager. Took one look at Dave's guns and considered asking him to do the paddle for me. He had no idea what the event was about but certainly wasn't going to need any help to get the boat on the car.

Race start was in middle of Khancoban's main street (love the vibe of these country town hosted events) with a short bitumen downhill, and then straight to business with a steep 200m of ascent up a fire trail out of town. Felt like I was going to puke pretty much straight away so took note of
the 'about to puke heart rate' and settled in just below it.

Once up the big hill, its a ripping descent back down to the bottom and then a long flat section across paddocks to another hill where you do it again. Started to feel good on the flat and passed a few people. Thought it was strange that my tyres were flicking up so much mud in to my face on a dry day until I glanced at the bovine spectators and realised it wasn't mud.

Finished the ride in decent shape in 4th behind Jarad, Anthony Evans and Sam Maffet & just ahead of the Millie boys Matt Acheson and Jay. It was here that Dave the forest manager's natural flair for support crewing became evident. He'd managed to round up a pit-crew - there was someone standing in the river holding my boat, someone to grab my cycling gear and another to throw my pfd on. Was around the first corner before the Millie boys got in their boats.

C • Congrats 1

Paddle 1:52, 5th off the water
Paddled the first 5km with Jay who was in a nice shiny K1 (Viper) and must have been looking nervously at the rocks below him as the river was lower than previous years.

Started to blob a bit after he got away and wasn't doing a particularly good job of making the most of putting my boat in the current but was enjoying the little rapids. Caught Anthony Evans who then promptly took a swim, and plodded along into the headwind until John Jacoby caught me with Matt Acheson on his wash.

Matt took a swim as he overtook me - Im not sure if he realises the reason he went in is because his paddle caught on the bow of my boat as we entered a rapid. Feeling slightly guilty, I upped the tempo to try and stay behind John for long enough to see how you're supposed to paddle a river properly.

Run 2:23, 6th home
In to transition and Dave the forest manager was a support crewing machine by now. Sat in a chair while he dried my feet and put my shoes on, and the pit crew retrieved boat and paddle from the river. Made a tactical error here by trying to eat a little apricot square on the way out. Stomach didn't want to know about it and triggered a rather impressive hurl. Not sure what the locals thought of the staminade fountain. On the plus side, I grabbed the ipod shuffle which was to prover useful later.

Flat 8km of firetrail to start with along which Anthony Evans (who finished 2nd) caught up. Sat behind and got dragged up to John J who had the look of someone who's been too busy organising events recently.

Then on to the big climb, almost 600m straight up. Similar feel to the Crackenback climb at thredbo but on a track. Starting to feel a bit knackered by now as Anthony disappeared. Fortunately Plastique Bertrand showed up on the ipod at just the right time to keep things moving.

Over the mountain and down the other side to the hardest part of the race. 6km on straight bitumen with a 100m pinch just before the finish, and a nice headwind thrown in for good measure. Ground it out along the road and got quite close to jay who I'd been watching up ahead, until i cracked on the final pinch 2km from home.

Rib cage muscles started to cramp, which meant dragging in breaths became difficult and rather painful. Stopped for a minute to try and stretch them out. That didn't work, so was stuck with plan b of cranking up the ipod to non-sensible levels and taking a big dose of harden-up medicine for one of the toughest 2km i've done for a while. Got passed by someone 400m from the finish line who finished 1:37 before I did.

Apart from the ouchy bit at the end, was a great event.

The westerlies have died off but left the warm weather behind and an all round stunning morning for a paddle. The air-conditioning had died in the building where i work the previous day, so after a suffering a 30 degree sauna all day it felt rather nice to get out on the water.

Paddled down to Tunks Park in Damon's Rocket with Big Dave up from Melbourne on my Fenn at (my) yakking pace. Some useful technique tips from the big fella at the end. Suggestion is to try lengthening the paddle a bit amongst other things.

Interesting driving with the 21' safety orange torpedo on top of a comparatively very short little subaru. It was a brave young lady in the Barina that enforced her right of way at the Cook St roundabout.

Snake free session today.

Easy ride, or as easy as can be in the middle of the day with a spring westerly still blowing. Riding out to St Ives a bit of a grind, but coming back with the wind on the fresh hotmix section I felt like superman. Went down to do McCarrs hill, but not full akuna.

Braved the traffic at Forestway/Warringah Rd corner so as to avoid the bloodthirsty devil bird of Belrose in the back streets.