Training Log Archive: Mounty

Same ride as yesterday, but in the evening and a bit quicker. Had planned a road ride in the morning, but traded in that slot for a sleep-in - still tired from last week. Squeezed this ride in when the kids headed off for some kind of softball do at the Brookvale Hotel.

Slow toddle on the MTB on the Pipeline/Acron loop. Pedal fell apart at the top of Acron. Fortunately, phone call to Bruno the support crew van saw a replacement pedal arrive within half an hour. Continued toddle home.

Leg 1 - Overland Track to Lake St Clair, 63km
Didn't arrive at Cradle Mountain until 10pm on Friday night as Damon's ferry had been delayed. Entertainment for the evening was to try and sort gear in the back of the van with the assistance of the local possums, who are fat and completely unafraid of humans courtesy of fooling backpackers with their cuteness. Finally got to bed, still laughing at the sight of a possum sitting in the passengars seat of the van having a tug of war with Damon over a loaf of bread.

Slept through the alarm, making for a rush down to the shores of Dove Lake for the 6am start. Grumpy to start - having travelled all the way from Sydney to one of the best views in Australia, we had to run past it in the dark. Stupid. Sat with Damon behind a couple of locals around the lake, only for them to take a wrong turn and add an extra km to the run. Whoops. Ran through the backhalf of the field somewhere near Marion's lookout and on to the track proper for the jaunt south. Very dry compared to last year - most of the creeks were empty, so made a note to be a bit more thoughtful about where to pick up water.

Somewhere in all of this I tweaked my right ankle (unsurprising i guess running on rocky trails in the dark). Not sure exactly where, but noticed as I settled on to the first boardwalk that it hurt, and I was running a bit stilted as a result. Caught up to Damon at exaclty the same place as last year - on the hill down to waterfall valley, where he was taking it slowly due to hint of a cramp. This time though, he took off as we hit the flats and I realised I was going to struggle a bit with the foot. Got thru' to Lake Windemere when I rolled it again - as you always do when you're not using it properly. Swore, and walked for a while to shake it out. A look at the map told me that short of a helicopter, no escape options than to get through to the Lake so turned up the music and just got on with it. Figured I would die of boredom if I walked the whole way, so gradually worked back in to running. A plus in all of this is that I acutally had time to take in the views a bit better this time - it's pretty out there.

Uneventful run for the rest of it. Worked through the usual landmarks solo - team races are so much more sociable, and arrived at Narcissus in about 7.5 hours, which was about an hour slower than last year.

Leg 2 - Lake St Clair Kayak, 15km
Always joked in the Cradle run how good it would be to paddle the lake instead of running the hobbit trail around the side. Can now confirm it is indeed way more fun. Cruised down the lake with a 5kt tailwind in Damon's rocket enjoying the views and lack of leg pounding. Got to the end, and stood waist deep in the water for a while to cool the legs a la AFL recovery session style.

Day 2, Leg 3 - Cycle 117km
Road ride from Lake St Clair down to the Derwent. Nice morning, and a very enticing first 50km if you're a roadie as it is slightly downhill for a lot of it. I was riding like sh*t, as the hip flexor was sore from carrying a dodgy ankle over the track the day before. Pulled the plug at the halfway refuel stop and switched to support crew for Damon mode - don't want to be carrying injuries in to XPD.


Leg 4 - Derwent River kayak, 49km,
When we got to the kayak start and got Damon going, the organiser asked if I wanted to do the paddle. Seemed like a good idea, so I jumped in and got headed downstream. Glad I did 'cause the paddle was awesome.

Began by meeting a platypus. He popped up right next to me and lay on the surface watching what was going on. Took a bit of processing to work out what I was looking at - on first attempt my brain came with the suggestion 'err, that's a furry crocodile's head' before closer inspection revealed the duck bill and flat tail. Definitely a contender for the 'coolest things Ive encountered during events' list.

Lots of water flowing in the river, as they had opened the dam somewhat for the occassion. Course notes reported half a dozen grade 2 rapids with the first at 13km, so I spent the first 13km shitting darkies, and thinking that I was paddling thru' plenty of white water and standing waves already. Confidence grew as I survived the first rapid, albeit with a mighty rock smack, and really started to enjoy myself. Great boat - had borrowed from Dean a nylon Lancer K1 from South Africa that was a) fast, b) bullet proof and c) not too tippy for me.

Survived the rest of the rapids with a) a narrow miss on a willow tree, b) paddling off a 2 foot high drop-off and c) getting through the last quite tricky rapid without falling out in front of the audience that had gathered hoping for carnage and cruised to the finish on the outskirts of Hobart. Paddling form has improved nicely over the summer - happy with the time including 2 stops to empty some water from the boat and running aground once.

Day 3, Leg 5 - Kayak 16.5km
Did the paddle to start the last day, but skipped the ensuing ride and run. Damon & another guy were 1 minute apart and chasing overall honours, so they took off early with Damon trying to ensure the other guy couldnt get on his wash. I settled in just behind to watch the fun. At about halfway I caught up to the 2nd guy, but realised a slight dilemma - if I went past I'd be giving him a wash drag up to Damon, so made sure only to sit alongside. Noticed that when we started to chat the GPS slowed a bit, so I made sure to keep the conversation going and we rolled in a couple of minutes behind.

Damon well set up, and looking good for a result until he took a wrong turn on the ride and put in a bonus 15km. Oops. I jumped in the van and enjoyed getting to the top of Mt Wellington the easy way.

C • sounds like a cool race. Wi... 1

Report to come.