Training Log Archive: fletch

Contemplated an early morning ride, but dodgy front light seemed like a good excuse and settled for an evening eindtrainer session...
Then we went for a picnic at John Forrest, and I didn't get started on my exam marking till about 3:30pm. By the time I finished (11pm) it didn't seem worthwhile setting up the bike, so I went to bed.
No real damage done, but will make the rest of the week a bit harder physically.

Event: Gunapin Ridge Badge Event
 

A slightly too short warm-up. About 2km strolling around in the bush after the event to check control 24. Was definitely wrong. GPS traces will tell the tale.

Not too bad a day out. Nice area. Course probably didn't make the most use of the technical areas on the map. Generally got around OK, but it was the sort of course/area that wasn't good for establishing good habits, but rewarded running straight and hard out of controls and figuring out where you were going later. A couple of times, this led to me being lazy and not bothering to go right to my attack point, and of course I missed time as a result.

13.2km straight line, 175 climb? First 2 were just a matter of staying straight, and using the obvious attack points. 3 I got lazy after passing the top of the watercourse and bounced around a little before relocating properly. 4 was OK - used the massive clearing next to the control. 5-9 was a lot of running and not much navigation. Controls all on or right next to massive features.
9-10 I got a bit off line and had to zig zag a bit. Used the massive rock surface just short of the control to attack it from. Careless with direction leaving 10 and missed the short 11th to the left and had to backtrack up the slope. Annoying. Then zig zagged down to the map change and made my biggest mistake of the day - not taking the control descriptions for the second half of the course. Lost a lot of rhythm having to keep unfolding the map etc to try to check descriptions and worse was to come...

Left he map change in totally the wrong direction, then spent a while wondering where control 12 was. It didn't exist. I assume it was the map change, but there was nothing there to punch. 13 could have been a good leg, but wasn't, because the control was right on the edge of a big bit of detail again. I was a bit slow, as I got sucked up the hill a bit and into some rock that I shouldn't have run through. 14 and 15 were just long running legs having to stay straight. 16 and 17 were short little direction changes and I spent so long trying to get to by descriptions for 17 that I lost track of where I was and got it a bit wrong. Also ripped off the numbers for controls 20 onwards somewhere around here. Oops.
18 took us straight back past 13 and up the hill. Hit it cleanly, but starting to feel a bit fatigued here. The main point of 19 seemed to be to get us over the fence. 20 I again attacked from the big rock surface just before it, but was careless with direction leaving it and ran down the wrong gully, then turned the wrong way, before having a proper look at the map and heading over to the control. Used the same bit of clearing for the third time to get to 21, 22 and 23 again used massive clearings to attack the flags. Did likewise staying high on 24, but was again sloppy keeping track of where I left the big clearing to attack. Dropped down the hill to a rock just above the clearing one across from where I thought I was, saw a flag, didn't have the numbers to check, so punched and carried on. Was the wrong control, but the right one was almost as far away from where it was supposed to be as I was (but in the other direction), so not all that upset to have missed out on a bit of a pot-luck hunt.
25 again was a case of attacking from the giant clearing, and pretty straight forward down the hill through 26 to the finish.
Will be good to see the splits. I finished about 5 minutes down on Blair, with some pretty significant errors in there. Unfortunately Craig's heart played up again, so no standard comparison point available. Hope the op goes well this week.
Glad I got around feeling reasonable, but think I would have struggled pretty bad with any significant hills or thick bush. Time to get the long runs happening :)

Course 1 - Splits

Yes, a rest day. A planned one at that.

Stock standard 5:2 x 7 to get back into the swing of windtrainer sessions regularly. Legs felt pretty shattered, so probably not my best effort. Never mind. Toughed it out. Glad to be doing pretty much nothing tomorrow.

Had thought about trying to squeeze a quick ocean paddle in after school, but the sun disappeared before then and the wind picked up a little, and in the end I didn't even get as far as driving to the beach to check conditions. Regretted it for most of the early part of the evening, as a windy paddle in the dark didn't really seem like a much better option. This is where having the training plan written down for the first time in ages helped. Knew I had to paddle either tonight or tomorrow morning, and knew it was gonna be easier to just get it done. Also had the benefit of only aiming for 70 minutes, whereas I probably would have been stupid enough to do the standard Garrett Rd bridge loop if I was just paddling aimlessly.

First half was pretty slow and tough, with a headwind for the majority. THankfully it was much easier on the way back. Have quite a lot of paddling fitness to regain by October... Out in about 3730, back in about 32.

12 x (2 min hard, 90 sec easy) plus WU and CD.

Probably went a bit easy in the first half, but was feeling it by the end, so maybe not.
Felt like a bit of an AR pansy running in tights and armwarmers, but the temp was about right for a chilly morning. Also ran in the O shoes to prevent my feet going totally numb on the cold sand. Strangely, developed a blister under the big toe of my right foot. Will need to be careful of it on the weekend.

Uneventful ride in, ecept for trying to go the wrong way where the Hepburn Ave detour has been extended. Legs felt pretty empty for the first half in particular. Started to feel better later, but feeling the effects of last night on anything resembling an uphill.

Now 2 days into my training program and haven't missed a session yet :)

Hmmm. The concept of using a day with 60km of cycling in it as a recovery day isn't going to work unless I actually take it easy on the bike. Worked pretty hard coming home, coz I was a fair bit later leaving work than intended and E has been sick again. Turns out it's tonsilitis this time. Frustrating, but not as messy as gastro. Legs feel totally shattered now. Fartlek tomorrow am will be a challenge, but I don't want to start skipping sessions on day 3...

Will get the totals right later.

Ampitheatre hills. Yuck.
4 long, recover down.
3 min extra break
4 short, recover down + 30 sec
2:14, 2:20, 2:21, 2:20 (recoveries about 1:15)
55, 55, 55, 57 (recoveries just over 2 min)

Serious case of the cee-bees before. Tried to go out conservatively, but still totally knackered by the end. Felt a bit wobbly at the start of the cooldown.