Training Log Archive: Dangerman

Noticed a sore spot on left shin today although it might be a bruise. I hope it is a bruise.
I'm off running for this week i think. I'll walk the nav dash instead, might even get a better time given that i'll have time and ability to read the map this time.

DIdn't feel good at the start but that soon changed. Halfway to chidley point I still had a mako 6 and a v10 within about 15m of me. I felt good enough to do a max effort interval to catch up (maxed HR then) so I could ride their wake. I caught up but couldn't maintain my position in the wake at the effort I was at before.

Once past childey point we got hit by wind. Big wind. Imagine riding in a group straight into the wind and then trying to pass someone after drafting them for the last 20min. I was an effort but gave me a chance to practice technique. I made a game where I had to get the paddle back into the water as quickly as possible (to prevent being blown backwards!).

Once around the bottom marker I went wide and managed to catch some waves back to chidley point. I almost caught up to Dieter here. He was closer to shore with less waves.

Still felt strong in the last 1.5k. Even put in a finishing sprint 100m out.

Felt surprisingly good after the paddle bash so did the course again, this time trying to stay exclusively in the aerobic zone. Did get a touch slower by the halfway mark and stomach started to get sore too (that's good!)

3 x 10 slow and fast shin raises (hopeless, couldn't do more than 4 fast raises)
3 x 10 single leg squat then raise
3 x 10 ankle eversion
3 x 10 ankle inversion
10 x 8s PF tense
90s quick tense and release
3 x 10 back raises
3 x 10 reverse crunches

4 x 30s hip flexor
4 x 30s glutes
4 x 30s hip adductors
4 x 30s hamstrings
4 x 30s calf stretch (the soleus)

5.5km (5630m) - Splits

Iced and massaged leg last night and swelling has decreased. Last night at its worst, I could actually see a raised section of skin where I presume the ?tendon? (that attaches to the shin) was swollen. Pretty tender this morning. Wearing compression sock on upper shin to help.

Massage L & R shin
Massage R upper calf - still v sore and tight
Apply compresion bandage for overnight
4 x 30s stretch hip adductors

Sigh. I think I might try catching the bus in and running home. Will be a nice way to up the running hours, however I don't think my legs can handle it at the moment.

Heaps of fun!
The course was short so I didn't feel so slow. Thought I did pretty well with the nav and accuracy although I did make 1 mistake on each leg. Still, that's alright isn't it?
Held map in right hand today and I could read ahead properly. What a difference.

Post orientshow paddle that I almost talked myself out of. Boltboi brought his boat up and managed to convince me when he said it was only going to be 40 minutes.
Actually was surprised at how stiff I was in the boat. My lats were rather sore (from the karts) pulling the paddle through the water and I didn't really feel like going for more that the 40 that Boltboi had planned (no paddling last week).

Boltboi, can u put your GPS distance up? I can't remember how far we went.

Right upper shin started to get sore today. Massaged the inside of the shin and discovered that my inside calf muscle is ubertight. Tried to massage that but couldn't apply full pressure. Its pretty painful down there.


I think I massaged too hard. It really hurts now!!!

Warm up prior to orientshow

LSD ride today with some reabold hill intervals. Got to Reabold pretty quickly actually, of course, all due to the roadie. It's just so easy to push that thing along. Got up to 40kph on Brockway and kept it there for a few minutes. Pretty surprised about the pace these things can manage.

Reabold reps - I start them from just south of the Oceanic Drive end of Perry Lakes drive, on the driveway to those newish buildings. Total climb is 45m and length is 970m.
3:35 Enjoyed this one!
3:49 Wasn't too bad
4:10 Marshallowed :-(
3:49 Tried pretty hard here and thought it might be the quickest of the day until I checked the figures.....

On the first rep, just as I started up what used to be the old road, I changed down and started pushing. It hurt, but more than usual. So i grabbed another gear. The lever made it's usual click but no gear change. I tried again and eased some tension of the pedals. Zip. Nadda. Nothing. Just as I am about to look down to see what the hell has failed, I realise that its me that has failed. I have no more gears left. I'm in the granny gear already. Damn road bikes.

Needed to see MTBJen about some gear but wasn't sure whether she would be at home so early so stopped by Bold Park pool to get an ice cream. Busted! It seems Tooms running group is there on Tuesdays now.
Didn't stop me from getting an ice cream though.

C • LSD 2

Hip adductors.
These babies really hurt when i'm warming up on the bike, always. Maybe they're tight. Stretching i must do then see i will.

Male - Splits

5 x 10s back raises
4 x 30s hamstring stretches
4 x 30s itb stretches
4 x 10 crunches
4 x 30s hip adductor stretch

For the life of my I can't find an ITB stretch that actually stretches my ITB. Most of the ones I find I can do without feeling anything. I've found one where you kinda lay sideways on your leg and I feel a stretch but it's a mission to hold it.

Also started the back raises & crunches to guard against lower back pain as the bike hours increase.

C • Good ITB stretch 10

C • Don't bother with crunches. 3

Social MTB ride with MTBJen's swag of friends and my single companion. I guess MTBJen must be better at attracting people to the bush than me.
I'm glad it was a social ride as I don't think I have fully recovered from the Karri Cup. Legs were still a bit stiff and they became sore pretty quick on the hills. Also, my HR was up a bit more than it should have been for such a ride.

I also got to try out MTBJen's old bike. We got off to a shaky start at the Dell. Going over a hump I tried to launch the bike and it ended up launching me. The tail came up way too high and I almost kissed the dirt. A quick lunge backward fixed the problem but I was put off moment, my confidence not really recovering until the end.

The bike was good to ride after I got used to it. Certainly a lot easier on the body when climbing. No need to get up all the time and position the bike super accurately. Brakes were great too, finally my wrist issues might be fixed as I could brake sufficiently with one finger. Gears drove me up the wall though as both front and rear clusters couldn't decide which gears to stay in.

Towards the end of the ride, back from mt gungin there were a few jumps. Having sighted them before I said to myself, lets do this. So i did, but only after pysching myself up for about 20min prior. And I did them! :-)
Got some pace before hand, cocked my elbows up, steadied and gave the bars a little tug as the front wheel cleared the lip. Was all loose and floopy on the landing so didn't even bottom out the suspension. Did that two more times without incident. :-)

I also discovered another MTB fan in my workmate. She loved the day and has the right attitude for this stuff. Although I did find her gun ho must keep going attitude disturbing when she rolled up to me on my spare bike and asked what to do with the puncture and flat tyre she now had.....

Event: NavDash 1 - University of Western Australia
 

Yeeha!
I achieved my cycling goal for the year already :-)
Goal was to finish in the top 50% of a proper race and I got 32nd out of 101 in my class in the Karri Cup. And only 20min behind the likes of Wally and single speeder Greig.
My first stage cost me about 10min on most people around me. Need to sort out that warm up or going out too hard issue. Stage 4 cost too, but that is just more endurance training and maybe eating a bit more during the race.
Yay!

Also, went go karting last night. Wore the HRM just to see what went on with my heart. Have a look at this:
z1 60-65% 7:16
z2 66-75% 12:52
z3 76-80% 10:58
z4 81-90% 15:54 !!
Avg 120 Max 167 (89%)
Oh yeah, I won too despite not having that fastest cart in a straight line!

C • Congrats 7

Somehow ended up riding with the advanced subi group (which I was warned of) while intending to ride with the novice group to learn the ropes. The ride was manageable at first. Needed to get out of the seat a few times up hills and on occasions when I lost the draft to the guy in front of me.

We got to port beach road in what seemed like no time and then they went. My hang on effort was valiant alas it was insufficient. I caught them by doing the shortcut through the industrial estate and hung on until the first hill after Stirling bridge.

Then on my own into another howling easterly I set my own pace up preston point road and back to canning highway then kwinana freeway cycle path. Saw them there and thought that they must have gone the long way staying close to the river. Busted a gut to catch them, although it didn't strike me as odd at that time that I could catch them. Got to the group and realised it wasn't them.

Decided it didn't really matter, had a chat, went for some coffee and rode back to subi.

Where do I start?!
Rather than a blow by blow account (see splits for that), the lesson learnt today was keep your eyes open and trust yourself. My nav was pretty good for all but 2 errors (1 major and 1 minor) but so many times I was in the right place and couldn't see the control.

I find it really hard to read the map while running. It's not that I can't concentrate, it is that I can't actually see the map! It moves around too quickly for my eyes to get a lock on it. Therefore I often don't read or miss read the control descriptions.....

UNTIL NOW! for the last two controls I held the map on my right hand and it all became really clear. I could read the map! Yay!

On the run side, my legs fell better than they did after my 10min jog the other day. Any ideas anyone? I did read on the interweb that when coming back from injury, there is some evidence that jogging is actually riskier than running?!? Weird.

C • Is for me 4

Do not use - Splits