Training Log Archive: brycec

Event: Foot-O Jumbuck / Bells Rapids
 

Decided to cycle to Jumbuck Footo - wanted to get started at 7am... however was running late and ended up getting on the way 30 minutes late... late because I had to clear off cobb webbs, inflate tyres, and find some kit that the elastic hadnt died...

It was cold out there but had good coverage so wasnt too bad. This was my first outing on the road bike in over a year and a half and I soon was reminded about muscles in my lower back which hadnt been used in a while.

Guildford road - west swan road - great northern pretty straight forward getting there. Had to stop once on west swan road to sort out my back and also to allow so more blood flow into the shoes as my toes where numbing - however generally pretty good.

Had a giggle at the person on guildford road who decided that turning off the car at the traffic lights saves fuel... Also on GNH, almost got blown off my bike when and oversized load (truck with house on it) came past at 100km/hr with the house hanging into the cycle lane. quite a whoosh with that and since I didnt know it was coming and was out of my saddle at the time stretching my back did give me a change undies moment.

Other than that pretty decent ride - slow and steady. right knee was abit sore - my left calve and hamstring also where letting me know about the distance.

Given I knew I was cycling home and also since I was already sore - I opted to only walk.

Hills galore out there on the H1. Found 1 and 2 no problem. Number 3 was nice view from the opposite hill and could spotto the control from about 300+m away. Was kinda amusing as I walked slowly across watching people running all of the place trying to see the point I could see clearly.

4,5,6,7, all completely fine - was just plodding along. I was not paying much attention to proper compass bearings and the landscape wasnt as telling as the map would have you believe - that said it would have been fast going for some areas for those who wanted to run.

I did also on the way to 4 stop to take a photo and post up how crappy the weather is in perth in winter...

7-8 took the road which was nice no thinking. 9, 10 not a problem again used the road. 11 right onto it - almost at 12 spotted 3 girls looking confused got 12 and called out to see if its what they had been looking for it wasnt. I moved on and found there point on the way to 13. Called to the closest one and told her - she was a good 100 m away her other 2 people where about 100 m spread each further down the hill... anyway trudged on and this is when I went well wrong.

RG will show the classicness of the mistake as I wandered around like a headless chook for ages - - even went back relocated and got lost again... Eventually found the point - frustrated as hell. I moved onto 14. I wandered way off bearing tried to help another person - at this point I realised I didnt know exactly my location which put me into a dark spot. I eventually found the point quicker than 13.

15 pretty much hit ti straight on and found someones scarf - then trudged home. My feet / toes had taken a beating and I was certainly feeling abit sore now. My legs also felt pretty tired.

I also need to point out here - I didnt have breakfast, it was 1pm and I didnt have lunch and... I was hungover. one would ask why the hell i would flog myself and this is a very valid question!

C • Well done 11

Homeward bound - started at a decent pace and held it half way along west swan (I am guessing average around 27km - bearing in mind no food, out of fluid and 5 hrs of exercise done).

by the time I got to guildford I had to stop as my feet had gone completely numb. took about 5 minutes to let the blood return. Then got back too it - took the bike path next to the train line all the way home - was smooth and nice - however I was knackered and started going down hill fast just before city - cramping had set in, back was owning me and pace dropped off significantly.

Wanted to stop quite a few times but just pushed on. Really felt like was running out of water probably because I was - and not much puff left. Eventually got home - right knee was now feeling like a nail was being hammered through the knee cap - was pretty comfortable!

Ate three meals in 1 basically - hot bath and got back on the fluids - not feeling great still... legs been cramping something fierce tonight - need to stretch yet but cant bring myself too it yet because of the effort required.

Oh well - dont know if I will be busting out 90km on the bike again any time soon.

Expert 1 - Splits

Oh good god - this felt AMAZING - was joyous - everything was so tight and felt so good just loosening it all off. No really problems stopping me from kicking on with the day which I thought there might have been - clearly didn't go hard enough LOL

Just a quickie to help with working out the niggles

C • hehehehheh 19

Event: WARA 24hr Winter Rogaine
 

Emma had decided that the words winter and the number 24 was not her cup of tea – as a result I hooked up with Ian Spencer to do the rogaine. This was my first 24hr and given the forecast had rain predicted was concerned before the day.

Ian had me sold on the need for extra layers because of how cold it would be – I thought it was a bit ott but did end up packing a lot more.

Got to event about 9:45 after meeting up in Armadale and proceed to bust out the new pin board kit. Such an easy way to plan! We plotted out something that would require us flogging ourselves for 24hrs with a near perfect run however it had a lot of good options to cut it short at point which we both knew was likely.

Geared up and good to go. I think a lot of teams went for 102 first and was a nice start – however Ian was weezing up the first hill – was concerned at that but he just said its just his asthma and hell settle in soon – which he did.

We hit 47 and 93 flush and then aimed off for 103… we found 67 – there seemed to be a steady string of teams doing the same. Funny thing on my gps trace however was on the way to 103 I though we should be pretty much there now and said to Ian – I feel like your bearing right to me and dragging me a bit whats your bearing – it had been off. So we correct due north for a short while. Had we realised how long this had been or corrected for longer we would have landed flush on the point but we didn’t hence got sucked into 67 when we saw people coming in on a different angle…

Went back grabbed the 100 pointer then proceeded to 81, 94, 77 all nice and exactly where expected. This was farm land area and even though I had used the cycling gloves tip for bared wire… still managed to spike (scratch) my finger – bugger.

Some point here in the early stages Ian let me know his back was getting sore from his pack and this is when I realised he didn’t have the waist belt on or if it was it was very loose – fixed that problem and he was much happier.

66, 84, 104, 36, 48 all pretty much on the money – a trend was developing though that we were slightly right of the point and our pace counting was always about 100m short.

On point 48 we found 2 kids thought school champs who had got lost but no just some teenagers having at the 24hr. they must have almost been off the map from the position they came from so helped them out there.

48- 65 we took a long break on the way to get into night kit was about 530 with light dying fast. I think also Ian was feeling fatigued. I was however feeling really good. Pace had been on the money (between 4-3km/hr) up until this point maybe slowing a little over the last few points.

65 hit it and headed off towards 85 – water was running very low (empty) and wasn’t a drop for ages… oh no. 85 -55 – “hey Ian hows you water situation” – “don’t know will have a look at 55”. At 55 – Ian had about 1/2L and I was bone dry. Changed our course to drop 30 points and go via a water stop a lot sooner.

Picked up 101 then hit the road straight to the water drop at 60. Pretty sure at this point I realised the water problem for me was the leaking nozzle on my camelpac – might have to replace this because I ran dry later in rogaine and I have never run dry on any previous event and we weren’t exactly pushing it so I wasn’t sucking down the water! Also sure at this point I had very bad chaffing going on in one of the only places I didn’t think to put vaso… I have learnt!

Point 60 god send – 3L of water, powerade satchels in – had a sandi, neurofen, vaso, carboshot… basically reset for a good start again here. Happy for dropping 20,71,40 for this. And also the road walking was lovely on the body and reasonably quick. Hit 49 and got it with ease then back to the road to attack on 52.

We had veered right again and corrected left – I felt we were short and Ian thought we were not far enough left… After some passive aggressive moments between us and some flaky reasoning we swooped far left then came back right on a forward angle with our maximum allowed spread to cover as much ground as possible. Hit the point in front of us – however in fairness the swing left and hitting the incline on the left probably helped us find the point in front of us.

Pace was very slow now – Ian was struggling with the cold air in his lungs and particularly on the uphill I was happy enough because at 25-30min per km my only issue was cooling down too much. Had a break at most points and on most uphills a few breaks - but we where hitting points in the dark and it wasn’t so much an issue. 51, 90, 30 all good. Along road before to bend and stopped before attacking 105. 105, 86,72 all reasonable over shot 72 a bit but was more of a check if there was another gully for 72 there wasn’t so only a few minutes lost.

Back to 31 – I wasn’t in a good place mentally because of the chaffing now. And I think Ian had shutdown while ago with fatigue and the cold air was smashing him. Hit the granite on the way alright – wasn’t sure which part of the granite we came in on or exited. I wasn’t pace counting this bit but Ian had and I felt like we were close but short of the point when he said I think its around here. Sadly I had also had a feeling like oh it could have been the peak I just came over. We scouted around a bit quickly – but had come off our bearing and I was completely disoriented in the dark. Looks like a blip on my gps so we didn’t scout as much as I thought and it now appears I basically walked over my original course not to the left/ right of it – bugger. However felt it was further so we trudged on. We got to the point which I thought we would have been on it but the hill felt too big for what was on the map. In hindsight I think the point was on this hill but we didn’t scout it right. We looped around the hill as we thought it was the hill after point 31 and decided to go to road. Both of us in pretty bad places. On our route out we both saw a group of bushes in a gully but it was on out left we both thought and said it could be that but had sold in our minds it was the wrong hill and both agreed not worth looking at. Pretty sure now (waiting for RG to confirm this) that the point was on the other side of those trees.

Getting to the road took FOREVER don’t know why but it was BAD BAD BAD. I was really hurting on the chaffing factor, I had again run out of water, communication wasn't great because we were both in bad head space after missing 31 and worse yet we both felt lost because we were supposed to have hit the road about 15 minutes before we did!

Road oh how I love you – Day break here and got out of night kit. Pace had slowed so badly over the night period and I was hurting reasonably bad. Could also see Ian was exhausted. Our plan had been to hit 61(water) and go back north – but we knew that wasn't going to work so we hit 61 had a break for a while then we road back towards hash house to clear out the points closer.

Opted to not get 21 and rather just go along to 33 grab that 64,76 and 83. Went in early on 33 and Ian almost took out his leg on a branch – he was now in a bit of pain so back to the road and slowly along to 33 which was actually further up the road. 64 – we hit fine but by this point we had started to go a little silly.

We got pulled by another team slightly off bearing for 76 and ended up feeling lost again and getting frustrated with each other – we thought we were closer a lot sooner than was reality which lead to a lot of issues – had it been night time no chance of finding this point. For the last point 83 proper concentration mode on. Again where well short – probably because step sizes where tiny now – need a way to compensate for that over time – but alas found the point in reasonable time and then went home.

21hrs and 23 mins iphone trace died on way to 76 pretty much on first hill out of 64. It died at 57.24km and climb of 996m So I have taken the liberty of rounding it up to 60km and 1025m which felt a reasonable assumption. Also didn't wear HRM because it chaffed me last time - probably could of but didn't see value this time round.

Overall pretty happy with the rogaine as was Ian and even more so when we realised we came 9th. Now in before Ricky points out that’s really about 12th because the proper teams aren't there. Too bad I am still claiming top 10 .

Problems wise –
Chaffing #1 – but I know how to combat that and will make sure im fully lubed next time!
Blisters – even with compeed, injinjis and salomons still got blisters –but really not complaining about them because the big toe ones are expected and will go in a day or so – in fact 1 is gone the day after. Left foot has had a spot which has been getting smashed at every Orienteer event and it came up – but its gone over night. Finally both heals had 1 on each side the worst being the site of the massive blister from the 12hr which was still recovering. That one spot is the only one giving me grief today and I think will be down tomorrow – so very much satisfied with that result. However – had we been moving faster might have been worse.
Nails – Winner winner chicken dinner - no issues. So sorry to those looking forward to me ripping off the big toe nail today – it aint happening not yet anyway.
Muscles – nothing which I didn't expect – I am sure running out of water didn't help but generally better than I was expecting. Again speed probably played a factor here.

Had a 1.5 hr sleep after a super quick HH feed but before results then went home this is when it started to rain – was very happy that rain held off! Good feed when I got home well 2 of them – a hot bath and into bed by about 8 for an 11hr solid sleep. Today – good to go.

C • Give Pacing the Flick 12

So done sfa for a good week now because I'm slack and more importantly wanted the dull ache in my shins to subside which it has - should have been stretching but meh. Will stretch this week - probably wont do any training pre rogaine - time poorish (worst excuse ever)

Killing some time this morning - decided a stretch is in order

Dear god my hambstrings, glutes and calves need some attention lol.

also because I haven't mentioned it in a while - lol at my big toe - still looks like I have used purple nail varnish on just the one toe - find it amusing now. I am sure after the rogaine there may be some concern towards it!

C • Just rip it out 9

Event: Foot-O Lovers Lane
 

To start - what a beautiful day for it and what an awesome course - enjoyed today the most out of all the maps so far this season.

Average and max heart rate are down so I must be getting fitter (or didn't work as hard). and somehow I managed to do it in 351 climb I am sure the board said it would be 440... awesome avoided climb - very happy.

Before I get into the debrief - shakes fist at simmo... your 4 second block at end cost me fastest finish split haha :P next time I am not going to tell you I am coming up like a freight train and just stream straight past :)


So - Emma and Polly came out today - Emma was opting just to sit at camp and read a book and enjoy the cake. Polly and I tackling the H1 - Polly was keen to do by herself but was still unsure on locating and worried about getting lost. so we signed up as solos but she came with me so I figured I would try teach myself whilst teaching her and slow down abit and think about it.

was actually quite good and I got a bit of learning from it!

Polly and I naved well all day generally pretty confident in location on map. Often stopped though to show Polly our exact location and what I was looking at which typically I wouldn't have done myself before. was interesting because she was doing what I normally do which was head down and run on a bearing and then guess if far enough or not. Today I really sat behind her and enjoyed looking at the features knowing I knew exactly where I was and let her get a feel for what was what - which she did pretty quickly with a few tips.

Missed #3 a bit north just about 10 -15 m - Ian was chasing us all day and gave this one away for us. We lost Ian on way to #5 - we however almost managed to hit 6 instead of 5 so made it quickly back to 5 and on way back was first time spotted ricky for the day. got 5 and returned at speed to 6 - surprised didn't pick up a faster time for it because I was motoring.

Also on way to #5 found a few lost kids looking on their active map for point 2 - pointed them down the river and progressed onwards. On the way from 6-7 found the same kids lost again trying to get from their 2-3 removed their geographical embarrassment for the second time and thought god help them after this because they need it. have a feeling someone would have gone to retrieve them later!

#10 had us looking for a bit but we found ti alright - it was also at this point my fitness and the last 2 nights drinking was starting to factor in on my athletic performance :P That's okay a reasonable pace was maintained.

Bit of a race to #11 with Polly for shits and giggles and lost my map on the sprint approach. a nice lady grabbed it and turned to Polly and said how much is it worth for me to keep it from him... Half saw comedy half saw red - she didn't make me wait too long though which was nice of her.

Coming out of #12 a fence attempted to take me down - it failed but valiant attempt.

Overshoot 13 on the road but quickly realised and went back and grabbed it.

Looped around the start route for 14 which made it easy and reasonably quick by my standard. 15-18 was all pretty straightforward and on the money.

19... what a pain - didn't go around the corner far enough to see it - ended up hunting for a while... once we had it 20 was quick called sprint finish and caught Polly unaware.. steam rolled down toward camp trying to pass simmo - let him know I was coming and he picked up pace then body blocked me while he punched then kept me off it a bit hehe - cheeky. was amusing though (until I saw the splits).

Oh well main thing - beat Polly by 5s ahah.

Poor Tash went out all game as well - had to pull out :( I promised I would go out with you too - maybe next time well go together - Lovers Lane would have made for a good one though. (oh an I expect none of this silly running stuff Polly loves to do thanks).\

What else to not - Ian came in at 3hrs - ouch., a few new blisters - yay. but shoes are certainly a lot more comfortable now. Shins have been good until pretty much tonight. oh and Little C was amazing!

Good job to Craig and Rach on the set - really enjoyed it!

C • silly running 7

H1 - Splits

Ok to keep me entertained on my semi drunken walk home typing how bloody useless the public transport system is at 230 am.... Ok sure I could take a taxi costing me a weeks wage or I could walk an hour because there is not a train or bus going my way. Normally would take a taxi and may still. But knowing I have stuff to do tomorrow and need more prep for 24hr rogaine I realised the night 7km isn't that bad even though its quite cold but i know it really won't take that long.... Anyway typing and walking is a pain and I want to go faster so I can sleep sooner! In short fu transperth give me a 3am train!

Ps I am sure that this is not doing the shins any good.., oh well

Felt like started really well pace wise - except for my trademark unco near stack straight after the first hill swear to god I could face plant on flat ground (which was practically the case tonight) - stupidity.

But went well 14 controls - a bit of indecision but not many mistake s- just generally fitness (same complaint as always) letting me down. Moved fairly well the whole way though. Made me smile when I found Tash at #3 saying "I hate decision making" Other than that though pretty much didn't see anyone on my route.

Stuck around a bit afterwards - had a chat to the usual suspects - but also had my first proper chat to Tash - nice to finally do so.

Complaint log
1) F!@#ing blisters - shoe pinching inner left big toe and it sucks balls and its the same spot each time - need to give it a rest so it can heal and i can stop bitching about it.

2) OH NO SHIN SPLITS - HELLO ITS BEEN A WHILE - should have been stretching so many times in last few weeks and have ignored it - this is part of the justice for doing so - in before I don't log a proper stretching tonight... Guess I will do lovers this weekend then off the running/walking until rogaine :( might have to pull out the road bike finally or hit the pool.

C • decisions 31

oh my - feels so good. I was/still am stupidly tight through my calves and glutes but feel so much better for the 30 minutes I just dedicated to that.

Nightly would be worthwhile - but going drinking tomorrow and Saturday so unlikely LOL.

Was insanely tight and knees sore so had a brief stretch ... Omg... Really need to do this often again!

Emma, Polly, Barney and I came out for day 2.

I went out with Emma today (took me out of toberlone contention :(... )

Started super slowly wasn't expecting it to be quite so hilly and i knew Emma would have that and the rockiness... Had some difficulty finding 1 but not too bad 2,3,4 was fin - Polly and Barney right behind us.

Tracked nicely across to number 5 almost got took out by some stray sheep on the way across though! lots of Roo's out there too - was it just me or did others think that they seemed redder than normal today? anyhow #5 was a bit tricky to find in fact there was quite a few people searching when I found the tiny gully it was near. heads spun as the all telling beep went off...

6,7,8 all went pretty well then came 9... Emma and I had lost Polly and Barney on 8 but on #9 we overshot to the south and hit the granite plain... when we back tracked we punch #9 and there was Polly and Barney right behind us again...

10,11,12 we nailed and moved well however Polly and Barney dropped us on way to 11 and we didn't see them from then for a while.

after picking up 12 Emma was over it. So dropped her on the road on the way to 13 just south of the camp - much to her relief!. I then opted to pick up the pace to try catch up to Polly and Barney. Nav was near perfect for 13,14,15 (despite being a tad low).

I spotted Polly and Barney on 15 and told them to follow me to 16 as I had spotted it on way to 15. 17 was a bit cheeky as we had rounded the rocks on the other side so didn't see the control wedged in the gap.

Polly and Barney went off 17 on a very different direction to me much more towards 20. made me unsure but then I hit the granite face and was stoked... then a fox dashed across in front of me which was awesome. hit 18 dead on and on way to 19 noticed Polly and Barney on 18.

Started going to 20 comfortable that I was in front of them - however I soon saw them moving really fast higher than me and thought those buggers know where point is... and just as i spotted it they came darting onto it. Damn - behind them again.

Race to finish ended in sprint... don't care if it was Polly's bday - she wasn't going to get there first. and she didn't :) i offered it though (chivalry) but she let me punch... doesn't matter really they started 4 mins after us so where faster anyway :) if it was another 25+ m though I think she would have had me - didn't have the legs to keep going!

Last bit of cake in the stall - brilliant - got it for Polly as her bday cake.

Relaxed a bit listened to the result then came home via Bilbys for lunch.

Blisters ok - bit sore in the same spots but generally pretty good, and god damn- have so many holes on my feet from the removal of the old ones - kinda funny!

Oh and managed to get boiling water on my hand this afternoon - so this is all typed one handed whilst I cool my right hand :(

Think Polly and Emma coming out to lovers lane next week - think Emma will do a easier course though - or just hit up the cake stall! Well see if Barney returns - he looked like he enjoyed himself though.

Distance and climb was reasonable... I did however have much higher heart rate from when i drop Emma off - makes sense though as was more running involved!

Expert 1 - Splits

Event: Foot-O - Two Day Classic
 

So decided to go down to both days after all. Managed to miss 3 turnoffs on the way there today - blah terrible start what kinda nav is that! - on entry into the event wasn't expecting the bumps past the 2nd gate - almost took out my front bumper - hahah whoops - lucky I have a 4wd of sorts - otherwise would've been in trouble. still managed to get it to kiss the dirt though.

Took a new friend along (Polly) who was a first timer and new to WA too.

Jumped straight onto the Expert 1 as a team of two.

However before even getting on the way managed to meet Tooms and Jen who most conveniently parked right next to my car. After a 2 minute chat we set off. See - thought he would be a good bloke and he was (Jen your word can be trusted)

1:5000 gosh its not hard to overshoot - luckily enough we didn't and quickly adjusted - Polly's last map was the romaine training so I think it was a bit of a readjustment for her but she was right on it once she realised on point 1.

Started nicely and the course was great - plenty of rocks to roll your ankle (did try a few times but survived) on but not much annoying stuff - could have gone sans the gaitors certainly. (in before someone points out I should master english before using french in my posts).

Realised on the way to 4 (I think) that I didn't start - GPS and HRM so got them going - so I have added about 200m above and 5 in climb (close enough).

Progressed really well from this point- Polly's Nav was quite good and using almost no compass both of us agreed and moved pretty quickly point to point.

8 to 9 we way overshot and had to back track about but fixed up the mistake within a suitable (by my standards) time frame. Was right behind Andre (I think) then. and watch him contour around to 10 as we straight lined it he was obviously putting some ground on us but as we watched we saw him shoot over 11 towards 16 (whoops andre). we grabbed the lead back from him but only for a moment as he steam rolled back past us.

13 to 14 we went south of the boulders after contouring most of the way there (bet my routegadget will show otherwise) - bad choice - should have gone up the hill like we first thought. Ended up searching around and those for a while then going down towards the fence line before correcting back up to the point.

From this point onwards nav was spot on hit pretty much every point with ease and jogged most of the way around the whole course.

Went way east of 23 whoops and then proceeded to run across the rock outcrop at a reasonable pace - here is where I managed to catch my right foot in what was a slow motion visit to the ground for the first 3 or so steps was a thought of maybe I could recover this - that quickly became a no chance in hell situation - I started to extend both arms to brace for impact but realised if I face plant on this my wrists are gone and so is a lot of other possible areas. Initiate a Parkour roll over right shoulder - swear I almost came back to my feet but was back up within seconds anyway. Got away lucky that time a graze on the shoulder but the backpack took the grunt - well the camelpac did and I soon felt water gushing down my legs :( oh no - but wasn't that bad the orange holder had come off thats all - so reasonable result.

Back on a trot and finished nicely - wanted to do another but regos had closed and as it was 14:30 on the dot didn't want us to start and E2 - oh well - went back to car - had another chat to Tooms - who had cruised past us on his was to 21. Then off homeward bound.

Bit of road kill as some parrots decided to stay on the road :( hate that so much. but car was fine.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Toenail was all good today - a few little blisters forming on my big toe side of foot so may need to tape for romaine - also decided to surgically remove 1 old blister when I got home - but as i cut it i found out that it had refilled ... oh well :(

All in all a very good day - Polly was a keen marine so we may have another BO member in western suburbs soon. I think Emma is going to come out tomorrow with Polly and I and maybe 1 extra so could be up to a team of 4 of us. Looking forward to it.

C • Let Polly decide. 5

Expert 1 - Splits