Training Log Archive: Vaala

Warm up while cheering on Tane and Carsten. Warm down jog afterwards (after a warm down walk with Michael).

Yay! Possibly started a little too fast but it wasn't anything major. It was a bit of a battleground to start with though. Felt like there were more people to wrestle than the last 2 weeks. 2nd km was okay. 3rd was awful but found someone to pace myself against about halfway through after the previous lady dropped off. The last lap wasn't too bad until the 4km mark where my coughing and stuff got worse. I am so sick of coughing all the time. Anyway, somehow I still had lots in my legs though so I picked up the pace a little bit. Michael spurred me on to a sprint in the final 200 metres as well which was awesome. Didn't know I had it in me. Writing down the splits on my arm again was a good idea.

Michael and Tane were jogging round next to me for the first couple of km until Tane dropped off but Michael kept going the whole way cheering me on and taking the odd photo...and barely breaking a sweat. Sigh! But he is an awesome support crew :)

At the Roxx with Michael. So much for a short session as we had planned! Vast improvement from last week! Need to work on my forearm strength, finger grip and confidence for overhangs. Had a bit of a freakout just below an overhang and couldn't continue which was stupid because there were so many good holds awaiting me!

To Halswell Quarry for the orienteering. I could feel all the cycling my legs have been doing lately on the little hills.

The wheel relay at Halswell Quarry with Emily. Very approximate guess at the time since I only timed the whole combined time and not my legs. I was first runner and that first leg wasn't so good as I could feel all the pancakes I had for breakfast trying to escape! Felt better after that though. We seemed to be running quite hard...obviously it was a serious race! Think I lucked out on the legs I had to do though as I ended up with the big leg between 7 and 8 plus having to do the first and last bits. Oh well! It's good for me and it was fun.

C • funny 4

Back home again in the rain and into to a headwind.

Stop the Press: Michael has a mountain bike!!!! Anyway, within about 5 minutes of getting home with the new bike we met Stephanie, Tim and Tane and went off for a ride. Up Rapaki, Mt Vernon track, Traverse track, some stuff down through Vic Park, up to SOK then down Old Dyers and down the road to home. Can't wait to go riding again.

At the Roxx with Michael, Tim and Stephanie. Need to work on my finger strength. I think we need to buy some skyhooks for at home. Fun though.

With Michael up Dyers Pass to SOK and down via Hackthorne Rd. Really really REALLY scary wind on the way down and I, ummm, completely flipped out. Today has been a really horrible day.

C • But it was warm and sunny s... 5

Wednesday night run with lots of people again. Ran from home over to the bottom of Bowenvale to meet everyone and got asked by some police dude if I was okay. It was weird but he told me to have a good run and didn't seem too concerned that I might be about to go into a no entry area. Anyway, we headed up the valley then onto the killer steep track and I was dying the whole time. Then staggered up to the top of Sugar Loaf. I had to walk bits of that. So steep. Then back down through Victoria Park. Jogged back around the road to home again. Feeling like it was really hard work tonight. Also, I didn't feel very comfortable in the valley. It just doesn't feel safe. There are some big boulders still around and lots of places where you can tell rocks have been. I don't think I'm that keen to go there again in a hurry as much as it was awesome to be back on one of the cool tracks.

Warmup before whilst cheering Tane and Carsten then a warmdown with Emily afterwards.

Yay! I got under 23 minutes! Michael worked out the times I needed for each km and we wrote them on my arm which was helpful. I thought I was starting out slower but my lungs felt awful from the coughing so I didn't really know. Got to the 1st km and there was no one reading out splits so I had no idea. So by the time I got to the 2km mark I was all worried I was going too slow (mostly because my legs felt okay). Turns out I'd started ridiculously fast (for me) with it being something like 8:45. I panicked but made a very conscious effort to slow right down. Was really nervous I was going to fall apart but when I got to the 3km mark and realised how much time I had up my sleeve I felt so much better. Coughing was really bad though, catching in my throat and making me dry retch. Did manage a nice, fast last km. Just need to get rid of this cough and I'll be sorted!

Anyway, my cough has got worse since last night which coincides with starting using the inhaler. By worse I mean it feels like it's returned to how it was at the start which is where it shakes my whole chest and is exhausting. No more using the inhaler, at least not today or tomorrow, and we'll see if it improves again.

C • nice 2

Went to the doctor after work (after realising it really had to be done and I couldn't delay it any more). She seemed okay. Anyway, she reckons the cough is post viral and could last a few more weeks which is frustrating. Gave me an inhaler to use to try and calm it down. Getting all my blood test stuff done too. Today has been super stressful.

So we are now solidly into 2012 and some goals are always good. Basically everything needs to be about being kind to myself because otherwise everything deteriorates. But more specific goals are:
1. Improve my downhill running on technical terrain (plenty of hills around here to work on that...I am pretty sure it is confidence in the fact I am not as unco as I believe I am).
2. Be able to ride most of Flying Nun. Cornering, especially to the right, is the big thing here as well as confidence cornering on steep downhills. Sigh. It would be great to be able to ride the whole thing in one go but that seems like an awful lot of pressure so we'll go with most of it! Aiming to mtb at least once a week (exceptions like endless rain, snow and all that allowed!).
3. Stop comparing myself to everyone I run/ride with. It gives me an unrealistic view of myself (that I'm super slow, horribly useless and quite unfit, none of which is true).

Killer. Start of the routine which will hopefully continue and not die by midway through next week!

From home along to and up Farm Track to the top of Mt Vernon and then down Huntsbury and Major Aiken to home. Started out super sunny and ended up super wet. Michael appeared in the car near the end with a jacket in case I was still further up the hill...he is awesome. Still feeling sick (the cough won't seem to go away but I'm sick of remembering to log that I'm sick) but I have more strength. Felt tired on the way up but was pretty good by the top. Legs super sore on the way down...I can feel all the muscles I pushed so hard yesterday.

With Michael. We cruised up to SOK (via Hackthorne to the cup then up Dyers) then decided to go down to Governers Bay and back up again. All of both hill climbs in my middle chain ring...I am the master! Riding really well :-)

C • What! 2

In typical fashion I had a headwind into work then a headwind home again. How is that fair?!

C • it's not 6

With Michael at The Roxx. We need to get back into the climbing routine as it was SO hard! Seemed okay technically but physically I was dying all over the place! Some interesting new climbs I can't wait to try out. Getting pretty awesome at the slab climbs though. I have to do some crazy moves that Michael can avoid because he's tall enough to reach so a 17 suddenly has a ridiculous much harder move in it for me. Fun though once I worked it out.

Round Bottle Lake with Michael. Was supposed to be going for a ride up to SOK with David but hadn't heard from him and it was super windy so mtbing on the flat sounded like a better idea than being blown off the hill!

Wednesday night run with a big group tonight. Up Rapaki to the top of Mt Vernon and then back down Farm Track. Ran up the hill with Georgia keeping me going. My legs felt exhuasted from this running thing. Haven't done much of it lately and they were wondering what I was trying to make them do! Still got this awful cough. Why can't it go away? Anyway, it was beautiful at the top where we sat around for a while. Perfect night for a run.

Warm up and warm down round the park. Feeling like crap!

Man I'm slow! My lungs feel crap with coughs wanting to explode out. It's really hard to cough properly while you're running though. Headed out too fast at the start but my last 3 splits were fairly even. Nice to have Michael cheering me on at various points around the course.

Still feeling crap and my cough is still hanging around. Was going to go for a walk but writing about how awesome I am is really really time consuming and took much longer than I had hoped. Admittedly I did ride to work and go for a walk at lunchtime (as per usual) but I still felt lazy.

C • lazy 5

I got to eat cake and it was glorious. So glad to be home :)

Snow Farm North - MBTO Relay Leg 2.
Long, slow and cold. I was really feeling exhausted, sick and over it by the time I started. No problems with navigation apart from wondering how on earth the map worked at the start. Just riding like a snail and doing too much pushing. Loved the last section in the wiggly maze of tracks below the start/finish. That was super cool.

Snow Farm South - MTBO Relay Leg 4.
I think this was my time but the Sport Ident didn't like me as I started in the mass start. It seemed to think I didn't go to the first 4 controls...but I definitely did!!! Anyway, this course was easier than the other one riding wise and navigationally but I was so tired and really struggling so it felt like it took forever. So glad to finish and so thankful to the guys who were at the finish cheering me on. You guys rock.

Sticky-Hikuwai - Wanaka MTBO Middle.
By the time I got out on the course it was a mud bath which was really upsetting because it would have been fabulous riding and I reckon I could have ridden SO much better. Anyway, got horribly confused on #1 but everything after that was fine. Just really tired and really hating the huge ruts and general destroyed nature of the tracks. Cold and tired by the finish. I did enjoy the downhill between #11 and #12 though especially as you could go anywhere you liked. That was cool.

Cruisey ride from camp along some track above the Clutha with Georgia and Bruce. I was so exhausted I had to stop and sit down every now and then and just generally struggled with my riding but the riding part got better in the second half. Georgia was good to ride with.

Linger and Die - Alexandra MTBO Long.
Most epic race/ride ever and definitely the hottest. Apparently while I was out there the low was 28 and the high was something like 41. It felt like it too. Felt like death on the epic ride up the hill to #1 and was fairly confident I wouldn't be finishing the race. It sucked big time and I was already pushing my bike before I'd even got to the control. Took something like 32 minutes. #2 wasn't too bad as there was some downhill...but the single track was very hard. I realised I was just going to have to man up though. #3 - should have been able to ride more of the uphill than I did but I feeling even sicker than yesterday so there was more pushing. I hated the course and life and mtbing with a passion at this stage and was pretty angry!

Thankfully everything changed after this (by everything I don't actually mean everything because it was still hot enough to kill you, the hills didn't magically get flatter (one guy near the end pretty much summed up the climb by telling me he reckoned they'd left the 1 off the front of the climb) and the tracks didn't get any easier). Firstly there was a beautiful single track down to the road and then I found myself flying down the 4wd track despite the rocks and general chaos and actually enjoying myself. So #4 was good. #5 was similar. Stuffed up my route a bit to #6 and was grumpy as I let a few people get past (it was quite a social occasion out there for me chatting away to other people suffering!).

Once I got to #7 I unfolded the rest of the map and had a good look at what was left and that was the moment I realised I could really finish this course (and really wanted to). Can't tell you how excited that made me. Took it carefully but acurately and caught Sally again at #10 (after I stopped to take some photos in the quarry). More epic bike pushing up to #11 and then onwards to #12 where I passed her. Never saw her again. Yay! Struggled a bit on the downhill from #12 and then took a stupid route choice which saw me nearly tumble back down the hill I was trying to push up. So dead by the time I had to lift the bike over the fence.

The last few were easy but I was pushing my bike up tiny hills by this point. A few other riders caught me but I somehow hung on in the front (apart from a speedy guy who got ahead...but I hung onto his wheel the whole way to the finish). I've never been so thrilled and proud to finish a race in my life. Turns out I bet 3 people in Womens Open and wasn't far behind Erin so I was even more thrilled!

Pretty much drunk and ate everything I took (nearly 2 litres of water, 1 bottle of strong replace and 1 mini OSM). Seemed to stay mostly hydrated but was trying to make sure it lasted the whole time I was out. Didn't drink or eat enough afterwards though because I felt so ill and tired. My cough deteriorated massively too. Sigh.

Riding to and from the event (and then having a glorious swim in the pond afterwards).

Roxburgh MTBO Sprint.
Stood at the start triangle for, quite literally, 2 minutes while I tried to work out what the hell was happening. Finally found a track that seemed like it might work and made it to the road to get going. Navigationally was fine after that although too much hesitation. Physically feeling so exhausted and sick and was struggling with anything technical until I passed one of the other girls on my course on some single track on the way to #8 which really boosted my confidence. I pretty much hooned after that! Starting 2 hours after everyone else I was with sucks though (story of the whole competition).

Bringing in controls with Michael

Event: Otago MTBO Carnival
 

Along the river the long way then back the short way. Running without my glasses or contacts so felt quite dizzy with everything terribly like big blurry blobs. Felt pretty weak and uncomfortable but ran better than I expected considering. Just so extremely tired afterwards again.

Okay fine, it was on the road but I was riding my mountain bike. Along Centaurus Rd and over the Murray Ansley then back again via a few random side streets. Practising standing up going downhill using my other legs (hehe, sounds like I have more than 2 legs!). Went way better than expected. Now just to actually try it in reality for sharp corners while riding downhill. Died going up any slight hill but sort of okay on the flat. Afterwards I collapsed on the couch. That was quite enough to destroy me today. Sigh. Thank god the warmup events are on flat maps this weekend!

C • EXTREME Kayaking 2

We walked along the river when Michael came home from work. He's sick now too so we both had to sit down and rest before we turned around and came back! Oh dear! But I did manage to eat a lot more food today so yay!!

We walked to the park...it was exhausting!

Day 5. The fever must have turned in the night as I woke up drenched in sweat but feeling on the correct side of human. Weak as anything though. The day was calm and quite beautiful and the others wanted to paddle all the way back out. Chris offered to solo me out so I thought I might as well suffer through that. Did a little bit of paddling but every time I tried I just ended up feeling wiped out. Panadol at lunchtime helped though. So disappointing that I couldn't enjoy the best weather of the whole trip. I have to say though, it's incredibly exhausting sitting in the front of a kayak and not paddling (well, when you're sick anyway).