Training Log Archive: Mounty

Havent had a chance to finish run write-up, but how much fun is a champagne fight.

Friday lunchtime - I couldn't help giggling about the fact that instead of being at work as was the plan on Monday, I found myself running up the Sphinx firetrail at Bobbin Head, wearing an FD Jeux cycling 'team' cap with my new friends 'Bull', 'Chorizo' and 'Savaloy' in a team they called 'Quality Meats'.

Glancing at my watch as we ran in to 50km, the conversation went something like:-
Me: Keith [as in Mearns, friend of Andy Fellows], when we spoke on Tuesday, you told me that your best-case time estimate for Trailwalker was about 13 hours - if all went well.
Keith: Yep
Me: You also told me you'd done a training run, and got to halfway in about 6hrs 30min, but that was quite a bit quicker than planned race pace.
Keith: Um, yep
Me: So why the f*#k does my watch read 5hrs 50min, and you guys look all to be in good shape?
Keith: Fair question.

I've always wanted to tick the 'run 100km' box, so was tempted on Tuesday by a note on sleepmonsters looking for a 4th for a '13hr Trailwalker'. The social setting of a team-event like Trailwalker appeals much more than 12 hours of iPod, and the boys sounded very organised - they'd raised $5K for Oxfam, had a support crew lined up and had been training together on the trail. Their problem was that their '2nd' 4th runner had blown an ankle the week before - as had their '1st' 4th runner a while back.

All in all a very tempting 'good to go' setup. Downside was that a glance at my Attackpoint log wasn't showing a whole lot of 'Red' (running) since XPD. But working on the theory that a) they didn't have a lot of options, b) I'd felt pretty good on a Forrest Gump 40k the weekend before and c) it meant a day off work, I signed up and met the boys for a beer on Wednesday.

Up at 4am on Friday (ouch), and a drive up to Brooklyn for a 7am start. Pleased to see that the weather was clearly shaping up for a cracker of a day, and very pleased when I scored a 'team' hat from the boys on the start line. According to 'tubby' (what I call Katrin since Sports Tonight) it makes me look stupid - but there's not much better than a team hat.

Run started with the usual excited runners launching off the startline, but pace quickly ground to a halt by the super steep hill out of Brooklyn....

More to come....



LocalSydneyTeambreaksOxfamTrailwalkerrecord

Well that went better than expected.

C • wow 5

Just agreed to do Trailwalker on friday. That's a 'last minute' record, even for me.

C • well better than being at w... 2

Suprisingly sprightly for a monday morning ride. Probably because I fell asleep on sunday night when I put the kids to bed at 8pm.

Chilly! Magpies should be firing up soon, but it sure doesn't feel like it.

Clontarf - Manly loop. Suprisingly chilly water. Cold water on the legs after yesterday felt quite nice.

Fun to get in amongst the wobble around Tania Park.

Forrest Gump run. Headed south with rough plans to explore some harbour foreshore trail options, and got a bit carried away.

Morning spin with 5 *100m sprints at the end - peaking ~240W.

Katrin on tellie...
http://ten.com.au/video-player.htm?channel=ST+CUTV...

Not sure about her claiming to a national audience that I called her fat.

C • Nice 3

1 * 'Spicks & Specs' on the ergo. No efforts.

Recovery ride to work. Not that I had anything to recover from.

Working on the design of a commutervals session. 5 * ~4min
- Harbour Bridge TT
- Col du Montpelier
- Amherst Dash (Golf course to Miller St)
- Fraggle Rock Dog (Flat Rock pool to Mowbray in the dog)
- Pinch, wriggle, post (Pinch on Deepwater Rd, wriggle thru' C Cove to the post box)
Glad to have the car at Malga. Would have struggled with a 'Crown Dog' (Roseville Bridge to Crown of the Hill in the dog).

Recovery between efforts used to come up with cool interval names.

Slowish run home. Tried route variation #4. Not a great one - got a bit tangled thru' Northbridge.

Downside was that I forgot earphones for tunes. Upside was that I walked past Jennifer Hawkins launching her new underwear line in Martin Place this morning. Can confirm those legs go all the way to the ground.

Apparently Katrin on Sports Tonight Thursday on Ch10. Bizarrely, my sister will be on Bondi Vet beforehand.

Monday morning struggle to work, with a strong cold headwind telling me I should just go home. Feeling really flat. Long run day followed by chair sit day not a good combo.

Rode home. Felt great. Go figure.

Mounty family activities for the day
- Katrin rode a 7hr at Appin
- Thomas did a gymnastics competition at Homebush.
- Annika played softball all day
- I sat in a chair all day (watching softball).

Apparently Katrin will be on Sport's Tonight on Ch10 sometime this week.

Long run with Damon. Started at Seaforth Oval, then
- Manly/Spit track
- Across to Shelley Beach and out for a loop on North Head, (with a failed detour down a dead-end track that took us to a rather spectacular but incredibly stupid place to go rock fishing).
- Back up Manly beach, then nailed a sneaky/grassy route along Manly Lagoon back to Manly Dam (courtesy of some learnings from Summer Series event last year).
- Up the tracks back to the car.

Very enjoyable run. Sport is about taking opportunities, so when Damon made a toilet stop heading up Manly beach & I remembered I had 10 bucks in my pocket, was in and out of a Milk Bar for a Gold Magnum in no time flat.

Considering how I felt in July, quite pleased to get through a long run feeling comfy the whole way.

Set up the iMac next to the ergo and did 1 * Red Dwarf and 1 * Goodies. Only downside of a kayak ergo, is that you get a paddle shaft crossing in front of the screen while watching tellie. With the ABC making pretty much all their stuff available online tehse days, struggling to see a need to watch live TV again.

Set of 100m 'sprints' to finish.

PS: Red Dwarf still funny. Goodies (unfortunately) not funny.

Quick spin with 1k w.u then 500m on/off.

Was it a slow fast-ride or a fast slow-ride?

Went the hilly way for the first time in a while.

Deliberately didn't run today to avoid developing a case of streak syndrome.

C • touch and go ... 1

Tried a route variation through North Sydney. Bit shorter than the 'usual' but more bitumeny. 6 runs in a row. This is getting silly.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43934506

TIme got away during the day, but nipped out for a jog after dinner purely so I would have run 5 days in a row for the first time since December '08. Advantage of AR is that running straight after dinner is not a problem (not sure about the wine though).

Was forwarded an interesting post off the event website from Katrin's 12Hr MTB on the weekend. Brownie points to wifey.

"Let me give you some more then, my fourth Rocky trail race but my first 12 hour and my first solo. Loved the whole event, track was good the venue magic, racing was full of good vibe but two things stood out... #1 Super pedal girl who was dominating womens solo (no clue what her name is) not only stopped to make sure a fellow rider was ok but simply took the opportunity to encourage punters like me... love that humble caring side of cycling and Rocky trail. Thanks again #57 Mick HeinkeSee"

1km easy, then 4*250m efforts with even rec.

Dropped Annika off at softball training and headed south with a firm 2 hour deadline to work with. Cruised down the beaches, then explored a bit the tracks around North Head. 5 minute stop for a bit of a stretch after I turned my knee a bit in a hole.

Got out to the lookout at the end for the first time ever - (wow what a view), but had left myself some work to do to get back in time. Uppe'd the tempo for a bitumen run back, and was most pleased to feel some 'flow' for the first time in yonks - ticking along a tad over 4m/k's but nice and relaxed. Back in business - looking forward to some more regular runs with the boys.

C • Happy Snaps 1

Ran home from Tom's rugby in Manly, thru' Manly Dam. 10*3min efforts on 1.5min recovery.

First go at getting the heart rate and leg speed up for yonks. Ouch.

Attackpoint tells me that this is the first time in 43 weeks that I have run 3 days in a row (excluding XPD).

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43437002

Plan was for a morning trot, but hamish and Andy kept playing frank Stallone grabs, so went with the flow and fired up. Feeling quite good.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43437000

Ran home pretty much via the bike commuter route - didn't have a light to go the bush way. Worked on a variation after the bridge to bypass North Sydney, but also avoid the climb up the Col du Montpelier. Pulled it off nicely thanks to a strategic set of stairs.

Nice run.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43221628

Nice day, but hella cold pocket of air at Roseville Bridge. Felt liking riding in to Canberra.

Rode home solid. In the dog and out of saddle up Roseville Bridge hill. Feeling heaps better than on the weekend.

First lunch run since about April. Felt quite good rolling along, but reckon I was about 45sec slower for the same perceived effort compared to last time. Im also about 2.5kg heavier than last time. Coincidence? Unfortunately, I suspect not. Be nice if I could book some of that 2.5kg against Kayak ergo produced buffness. Unfortunately again I suspect not.

Squeezed in a spin before dinner - bitchin' good laksa. Standard of food at home has gone up a notch since Katrin stopped working. That probably explains why Im a bit heavier.

Pipeline. Technique has benefited heaps from the ergo - technique felt very good for not having been on the water for yonks. Not feeling strong though.

http://connect.garmin.com/splits/42814179

4 Gorges with Prong & Ezy. Great to get out with the boys - starting to feel like Im finally getting over the post-flu weakness.

Didn't try to fight the obvious lack of form. Plodded up the hills while the boys disappeared ahead.

Ride highlight was seeing a brush turkey chase a cat across the front-lawn as I got home.