Training Log Archive: Dangerman

Man, this wind really drains me. Started at City Beach today and the climb on Oceanic Dve into the easterly was really hard, especially without any warm up. Sometimes this wind really makes riding less pleasant than it usually is. Especially when you want an easy cruise in, have to use 1st gear and still have to push hard to actually go anywhere.

C • Get a cheap commuter bike 2

Commute to the car from work. Lots of wind again except at least it wasn't a head wind. Went through the underpass where that crash happened that Jacko posted about. I have to say that that underpass is actually one of the better ones out there. There is an undercut along the bottom of the bridge that allows you to see who's under the bridge for most of it. However, right at the end (as you head out of the city) there is a blind corner bit. Hope those two are ok.

Back to Swan Canoe Club for their weekly paddle bash. I do think it is a bit odd though that they have a race every week so I only head out there now and then to test my pace. And my pace is good. According to my watch I beat my PB by a few seconds but the official timekeeper had me down as smashing my PB by almost 30s, not likely.

Leg 1 - very slight head wind. Latched onto Neil (not O'Leary), lost him, latched on to him again. The lucky band effect in action here.
Leg 2 - choppy and into the breeze. Hard work, stroke rate fell as I fought into the wind. More lucky band effect with Neil but the distance decreased and I started getting a tow.
Leg 3 - Downwind but not strong enough as I was going faster than the waves. Neil gapped me big time on the turn. Oh what luxury to have a boat that turns as well as the V10.
Leg 4 - Calm with some tailwind but minimal. Caught Neil but couldn't pass and cooked it. Had to back off, recover and then put in another burst. Caught him again and was on his tail as we crossed the line.

Nice tussle with Neil. I could have run a better strategic race though. There were a few guys that were just faster than me at the beginning. Maybe following them, despite what I thought was a poor line, would have helped, provided a greater tow and left me with energy during leg 4 to make the pass.

Anyhow, that was probably the last time I use the Mentor. Once I get stable on the Finn, I'll do the same TT and see what the time is. Will be interesting.

Just checked my notes and last PB (251 days ago) was in better conditions. I called them "good" at the time and today's weren't good. Yay! I've improved :-D

C • odd indeed . . . 3

5.5km (5630m) - Splits

That's better, back into training. No ride today, that will come next week.
5 x beach start x 5 x 30s on, 30s off
Fun session. Was able to stay with the mid pack at times. 30s was short enough so I could go very close to flat out. Smaller paddle suit me better too. Instead of stopping dead in the water it flows through it and allows me use my CV system rather than my amazing quantities of brute strength.

I am such a wind whore. The club had announced a downwind paddle for 4pm at the club. The 'Coach' is always on time so I had to be out of Court by 3:35 at the very latest.
There I am in Court, trying to settle a matter while looking at the clock. Tick, tock, the second hand was rushing around frantically. Negotiation isn't going well, we are on the brink of digging our heels in and progressing to trial. Shite. More time. Now a settlement is on the horizon and the sun is closer to it (the horizon that is).
More time hammering out the deal, offer, counter offer and then agreement. Yay! Time is 3:50 Booo! No chance now.
I drive back to work via the coast for no other reason that I can firgure out - maybe to see what I had missed? I see Neil at training the next morning:
Neil - You missed an awesome downwind yesterday.
Me - yeah, I know! Couldn't get out of work in time for it. Finished at 3:50 :-(
Neil - 3:50?! We didn't leave till 10 to 5!
Me - Oh......

Still a bit tired so no training this morning. I'm tossing up between just being lazy and truly being tired from the weekend. Given the big increase, I'm going with the being tired from the weekend for the moment. Downwind paddle announced for tomorrow should help me get back into it.

Laps at Joondalup.
50, 100, 200, 300, 200, 100, 50.

I might actually have some skill when it comes to swimming. Started off on the slow lane but kept catching people and then couldn't actually swim as slow as them without sinking. So I progressed to the medium lane and fit in rather nicely. Had trouble with breathing in the 300 though. After about 150m I had to breathe every two strokes rather than three as I was simply running out of breath.

C • Then slow down 18

Definite rest day today. Come on body, do your rebuilding work!
Woohoo! Got myself a vacuum cleaner today. Well, the woohoo isn't for the vacuum cleaner itself as now I won't have an excuse not to clean. I did however save $50 on what I thought it cost (Woohoo!).
And now I can log speed vacuuming prior to rent inspections.

Paddle for Ocean Reef marina to the Reef Marker, about 3.5km out form shore. Jacko joined my but .. and Dolf were unfortunately absent. Shame, the conditions were very agreeable to a first time downwind paddle.

It looked very flat when we arrived, however the wind picked up significantly while we were getting ready. With the wind in mind, I thought it best to go up wind initially and then downwind. As we rounded the marina walls, the swell direction was perfectly lined up with the marker. So, instead of heading along the shore with bouncing waves and side chop, we headed out to the maker.

It proved to be a good decision. As we rounded the marker, the waves we reasonably clean with no bounce back that we would later face closer in to shore. And they were of a good pace too. Jacko took to it like a duck to water which was great to see.

I'm rather glad that he did, and that he enjoyed himself, as now he might understand why I go on about downwind paddle so much! The Spirit's rudder, even in these mild conditions, was just barely touching the water at times.

Hillarys to Ocean Reef today with the IOP group. This is only the 2nd time I have done this particular run and the first time with a tailwind, all 25-32 knots of it.

I had a fantastic time and was glad that I held back on my last 2 paddles and didn't go flat out. That allowed me to give it the absolute beans today. And boy, did I ever! The moment I turned downwind, after a short cross wind leg, I was on a skate clenching my buttcheeks and rocketing down a wave. I had not experienced conditions like this before. At times felt as if I was sliding down the roof of a 2 story building!

The skates were practically lining up to be caught today. There were times where I didn't bother paddling. I just caught the wave, looked around for another skate forming, turned towards it, caught that, looked again and so on. Awesome big smiles all round good clean wholesome fun!

Check out these km times:
8:21 - out of the marina and cross wind
4:55
4:49
5:09
4:49
5:04
4:55
5:31 - stopped and turned around near marina
10:11 ditto.

I love it. I tried to sleep in, and if fact I did. I woke up once, and then dozed off thinking more rest after running would be a good idea. I finally woke up and what time was it? 7am! Awesome.

I hopped on the bike for a few laps of the lake. This is my distance training for the Karri Cup and last weeks 107km was probably a bit too much to begin with - I guess old habits die hard.

I had to do a bit of exploring first as the path wasn't as continuous as I had hoped for. There were also road works on Waneroo rd which had bulldozed the path making it just that little bit more difficult to find where it goes. After riding up some dead ends I found a route and got on with it.

Lap 1 was hard, stopping and starting, looking for the path and generally feeling sore. Laps 2 & 3 were great. Really got into my stride here and was averaging between 28-29kmh. Lap 4 was also good but since I knew I was finishing this lap, I ended up pushing too hard and consequently died a few kms from home.

Food strategy was ok, not great. Every 30min I had something and that worked well for about 2 hours. Coughed up some banana then so maybe that was too much or it could have been the big gulps of water I had with it.

Great ride. Need to get more in tune with my pacing. Looked through my log for last years Karri and realised that I blew up 20 minutes into stage 3. Don't want to do that again.

This paddle wasn't exactly what I would call fun but it was very well worth it nonetheless. The distance was going to be another record for me since the Avon. The lack of strong winds was also going to make it harder work than it could have been and having ridden for 3hrs in the morning, it was going to test my nutrition strategy and pacing skills.

Straight after the ride, I filled up on the right amount of food my stomach could handle before I was due out on the water. I also incorporated some caffeine into the plan as I knew I needed all the help I could get to survive the paddle.

The ocean was ok, with a few runs here and there but the winds weren't quite strong enough for yehaa inspiring skates to form. I had to think long and hard about selecting a pace and to determine when to try to catch the skates and when to let them pass. I'm surprised by my HR figures as I thought I was going a bit easier than that.

At each stop I grabbed a gel and took big gulps of water mixed with those shotz electrolyte tabs. I could feel the wall approaching but managed to keep it at bay for ages, until kilometre 21 actually.

Overall, a perfect training session for the Doctor. It was long and required some restraint to get to the end. It's good to get this distance done. The Doctor is only 3ks more so without riding for 3hrs previous, I should be able to make it, even at this early stage.