Training Log Archive: Mounty

8Hr MTB, Nowra
Keen Race big training session #2. A very rare occurrence this one - I rode the 8Hr solo instead of Katrin with aim of improving MTB skills for Keen Race. Turns out I picked a good one to do. The course at Nowra is a cracker - 90% flowing singletrack and pretty flat.
Late to bed on saturday night - didnt get away until almost 10pm on saturday after a party for Thomas. Then got delayed for 20 min in Nowra at midnight due to the guy ahead of me at a Random Breath Test getting arrested. Grr.
Strategy for the day was to follow the advice Katrin gave me over dinner the night before. This meant taking it easy the first couple of laps, which is a rather pleasant way to do it. Pleased to find myself feeling healthy again and started to push a bit more after a few laps (flip-side: highlighted how weak i was feeling last weekend. Lesson for future reference - it takes a week to regain strength after you stop feeling sick from a gastro virus. Pretty obvious when you write it down - but I'm better at giving advice than heeding it).
Big suprise of the day was that the bike cornering tip I got the night before made a massive difference to ride thru corners. Couldn't quite believe how much it helped (make sure that weight/force pushing the bike down on to the ground for traction goes thru arms and legs, not just legs. I havent been weighting the front wheel properly). With new-found confidence that I was more likely to stay on the track rather than visit the trees started to really enjoy the day and rode around working on keeping lap times consistent.
Finished with 18 laps feeling good - negative split for the last lap - in 11th with 4 dudes within 10 minutes. Leader bit over a lap and a half ahead.

Happy with consistency of lap times
3 @ 25 min
9 @ 26 min
5 @ 27 min
1 @ 28 min
Total stoppage time was 6 minutes, including a 5 minute mechanical to fix buggered derailleur after 2hrs - so total transition stoppages 1 minute.

The number of bikes in the Maccas Nowra carpark on sunday evening was hilarious.

Most fun I've had on an MTB for a while. Thanks to wifey for her insights.

Pre-paddle jog up the river and back.

Headed downstream but heroically turned around in the face a of a decent headwind and headed upstream instead. Even pace paddle with a few surges to stop getting bored.

Morning river loop at ~4:30m/k pace with easy 5 minutes at each end. Feeling pretty good. Brownie points from Thomas when I returned home with a cricket ball id found in the creek (the creek is a good source of balls, particularly of the tennis variety, after rain).

Suprised to weigh myself at 62.8kg this morning - havent been anywhere near that since about 1992. Particularly suprised considering the amount of lasagne, beer and desert Ive put away this week. Combination of the gastro virus and then a week back in to full training I guess. Wonder if the tummy has taken a litle bit of time to get back to firing on full cylinders after being knocked out for a week. Would explain feeling lethargic the past couple of weeks.

Question of the day: 'Daddy, why did God make scary movies?'. Not quite sure what to answer to that.

Rode home. Felt sleepy and not up to it walking down martin place, but perked up once on the bike.

PB traffic light stand in kirribilli - getting better at it.

Hip/quad stability drills in the gym seem to be very good for promoting good posture & riding form. Will do more.

Felt strange to be riding in dry conditions. Legs feeling OK after a decent day yesterday.

Good session. Feeling fresher than i have been the past couple of weeks.

Struggled to get out of bed. Slow start after a quick brekafast, but started to get going by the end. Shoes still soaked from last night.

Rode to Summer Series, then rode home. Dark and wet. Had an interesting moment riding down a set of stairs that I hadnt seen near Star City. Need to dig out the good light again.

Summer Series Glebe. Great inner city course nipping in and out of little streets. Creative way to lose a minute when crossing Glebe Point Rd - some cops were standing on the other side at the crossing giving me the 'dont even think about it' look. Lost another couple at a dead-end that Id read on the map as going through.

Got hammered by a thunderstorm again after 30 min, which made it rather dark and wet for the last bit.

Felt not too bad, running solid but not flat out for 560. Highest 590.

Feeling much better than last night. Solid session of handball at school then commutervals in to town. 15 min warm up then 20 * 30s on/off roughly - needed to juggle recovery a bit depending on where i was.

Lunch at the gym.

C • Lucky 4

Got absolutely hammered by a Sydney summer downpour. My god the rain was heavy.

As I rode under roseville bridge (it was getting pretty dark by now) the homeless guys called me a nutter. A bit put out that I was called a nutter by someone that lives under a bridge.

Stressful ride in, having forgotten to take back the toolkit I stole from the commuter bike on the weekend. Would have been screwed if I got a flat.

Official beginning of Keen Race training program.

Tired recovery ride home. Cruising along the flats OK, but nothing when it pointed up.