Training Log Archive: fletch

Almost trained, but like lots of recent Mondays, didn't quite get around to it. AM was the only feasible option, and I had to fit it in before a 7:30am staff meeting, followed by a 9am meeting to discuss job opportunities for next year, so thought as much sleep as possible and a clear head was the best option.

Event: Killamunda Challenge 2010
 

I was much better organised this year. Went with the one pair of shoes and toe clips to try to make trajnsitions smooth and stress free. Had a pencil and punchcards and Carboshotz sorted in the waist of the pack. The only thing in the pack was the compulsory gear, so that was easy to get out for gear checks, and a separate little bag for the orienteering legs. Compass and whistle round my neck. No little glitches like last year :)
The First little exercise was alarmingly similar to last year, with the key being knowing Australia's first round opponents in the World Cup. 5 controls and 200 points later I charged downhill to transition to get out on the bike. (Not one short this time :) )
Despite not really needing to do anything other than put on a helmet, somehow Andre got out ahead of me, and seemed to be riding the same pace as me. Not surprisingly, some athletic bloke came stonking past early, but stopped a few times to check where he was, then on the way to the second control he missed the critical turn and I never saw him again.
Andre, Tricky (who had caught up on the bike as well) and I were together through MTB control 2, but Andre disappeared somewhere just before control 3, where I caught back up to tRicky coz he can't read. Also caught ameko and partner here. It was a bit strange knowing I was out near the front, but having just been riding through a bunch of pairs, who were set off 15 minutes earlier. Pretty smooth through the first 3 controls and into transition. Got a good laught out of the 3 or 4 pairs who overshot the fist control, dumped their bikes at hte bottom of the hill and were runnig back up as we came zooming past the other way.
Next run leg was a geographical challenge - find the 6 of 8 checkpoints that have country names for the countries that the equator passes thorugh. I headed off downhill, decided not to do the short in and out to Indonesia as I was confident that was one I would be dropping. Turned the other way and strung together 4 correct in a row. Took a wrong path at one point and had to bush bash back to the right place, which cost a few minutes, but nothing drastic. At least I was awake enough to pick my mistake. Then into Peru, full of confidence, only to find out that the equator didn't pass through there. Bugger. Took a look at what was left. Uganda, Sri Lanka, Indonesia. Double bugger. Pretty sure Sri Lanka was too far south. Went and got it anyway, more out of hope, but only confirmed that I had to go all the way back down to Indonesia to get it after all. So I got all 8 controls, and in a really roundabout way. Not good and tRicky got the lead back here, but only by a couple of minutes.

Noticed the MTB controls also on the Geography map, so used that for the next 3 and got through them cleanly. Also saved a climb up Mt Gungin and gave me a good long blast along Lockwood Rd. Would have been nigh on impossible using the 1:25000 map we got at the start. Saw a few bikes lying on the ground a few hundred metres from No.5. Never saw the people that owned them, despite going in and out hte same way. Bikes still there.
Made a little error at 7 as I had misjudged where we joined the South Ledge orienteering map, but worked it out in a couple of minutes and headed into 7 and 8 OK.
The Crumpler challenge was a bit of a brain stress that late in the race, but after finding the first little picture on the tree (and being thankful to have packed the 'optionaal' writing implement) I picked it up pretty quickly. Soon realised the first word was Crumpler, and from there it was pretty quick, helped along by my vague recollections from looking at their website a year or two ago. Bags developed to carry a slab of beer on a bike. Priceless.
Blasted out of there just as tRicky was arriving, so knew I had a bit of time up my sleeve. Probably a good thing. Control 9 was 20m W of log, and when I stopped at hte first log across the track and didn't find the control I briefy considererd a ride back to transition to tell them the control was missing. Then I contemplated what a goose I'd look like if I was in the wrong spot, so rode on, and sure enough, not much further along was a second log....
Clean through 10, although somewhere along here one of my toe clips separated from the pedal. Will teach me to attach them only finger tightening the nuts :) That scraped on the bitumen every pedal stroke. Went the long way around to the final transition as I remembered something about the entry, and I didn't want to cop a time penalty for coming in on a "no Entry' signed road. Figured as long as I got to transition first, the race was still in my control. Unfortunately, also got my first cramp coming up Mundaring Weir road, so was a little apprehensive about the orienteering to finish.
Had managed to keep all my maps in the map board for the duration of the race, so no issues there, had a good drink and a massive does of Carboshotz and off I went. Felt a little like cramping early, but eased a little, so focused on just running steadily and making sure there were no large errors.
The first control was a little surprise. Ran straight to where I thought it was, there was a control - wrong code. Read the rest of the description - path bend. I was on a knoll next to the path. Checked the path. Nope. Hadn't missed the control there. Had a quick hunt around to make sure there wasn't anything else hiding within 50m. Thee wasn't. BAck to the original control. Code was definitely wrong. Then checked the SI box. Code on that was right, so I punched and off I went. The rest of the course was fairly slow, but also pretty clean and I knew nobody had come steaming past, so barring any penalties for things I hadn't noticed, I had the win.

Top day out. Good fun. Good course. Much better maps and control placements that just about any other AR I've been involved with. Big thanks to Paddy Pallin for the sponsorship (and giving me a shiny new race pack) and Caitlin and Sal for taking lots of photos and making it feel like we were in a real race. Can't wait for the next one. I'd better enter!
Thanks Tooms and Boltboi for your masterly race direction.

C • MB#1 7

Scheduled day off this time.

A 7:30 race start sounded so reasonable. How did that end up equating to me getting out of bed at 5am? At least there won't be much traffic out :)

Didn't want to risk staying tired and sick, so opted out of the early wake up and commute. Instead convinced myself of my reasonable health with a 45 minute kivk of the footy after school.
Evening rolled around, and i wasn't feeling particularly inspired, but I know how much I need it at the moment, so headed out later again for a paddle. Pretty cruisy effort. Probably need to start trying a bit harder now that I know I can last the 90 minutes again. Or better still, head somewhere where U might have to work on stability.
Same old, stop at the paddle club to have a drink. There were a couple of blokes just packing up from a paddle there. Only people I saw all trip. Couldn't see what they were paddling, but wondered if they were serious athlete types or muppets. Wondering became unnecessary when I heard the words "I'm thinking about trying that lemon detox diet" come out of one of their mouths. Muppet.

Bugger. Got home yesterday from parent teacher interviews. Shortly after, stared feeling pretty crook in the guts. Assumed I had eaten something dodgy and it would soon clear up, but had a poor nights sleep and main aim for the day at work was to survive without puking. Mission accomplished. Started to feel marginally better about 2:30pm. Still not great by dinner time, but I'm eating and things seem headed in the right direction. Will probably skip the commute tomorrow, and hope to feel good enough to paddle in the evening.

Most of a session. Little bit time poor this morning. Really would have preferred to commute today, but work got in the way again

10 min WU
3 x (10:3)
CD

Pretty knackered by the end of the third one anyway. Maybe last night was a little harder than I gave it credit for.

Amazingly, this is about the only Tooms regular session that I have NEVER done before, always managed to miss it in the past, so was a bit weird trying to get the pacing right.

Reps of about 750m up the bike path from corner of Oceanic and WC Hwy, heading east.

First 2 reps build up (using the slope variations as indicators to change pace), jog back +30 sec
2 reps at threshold, jog back + 30 sec
1 rep hard
Then a long break regrouping before 1 rep from the same start, past the finishing tree, 250m further along to the bottom of Reabold West Drive and up to the top.

2:59, 2:56
2:54, 2:48
2:34
4:56 (1.37km)

Recoveries were long. Over 3 minutes jog back, plus the extra 30 sec. Probably started the build ones a little hard, and rep 4 was probably above threshold.
Last rep legs just felt a bit weird. A bit too long standing around before starting it. Didn't feel like I got hte pacing right. A bit too conservative to the bottom of the driveway, as I had plenty in the tank to smash it all the way up from there to the top.
Good fun. Don't feel as shattered as I have after a couple of other recent Tuesday sessions.
Should look for my HR strap so I can't bludge my way through sessions that I don't know the pacings for...