Training Log Archive: MTBjen

Event: Anaconda Adventure Race
 

After all my stressing it was a perfect paddling day- no swell, lovely and sunny and only a very slight head wind. Jess swam well and i headed off in the first 1/3 of the field. Ran the boat over the huge wide sandbank and through the weeds, then around the buoy and it was easy after that. Got passed by a few fast fast people and passed a stack of people on plastics. Pretty average paddle, probably due to doing no training at all :)
I tried to pass as many girls as i could, since we were a girls' team.
But mostly just enjoyed the view.
It was pretty impressive at the paddle start, with a 500m stretch of beach covered in skis! A long way for some of the swimmers to run though.
It was warm, and i hadn't taken anything to drink with me (which would have been fine if i had drunk anything at all in the 4h before race start!). Felt all funny after i'd waved off Jess. But had a couple of hours to recharge.
I think about 24th girl (but they keep changing the results)

Awesome fun bike course, especially this year without having done the run first! I was in transition for ages - wanted to see John come through but Jess and I were a long way behind him. John looked amazingly fresh and cheerful, and only a few min behind ben and bish, which was good to see. He was well up in the field and looked like he would ride well. Tricky wasn't far behind, and now i can understand why he keeps racing - it is the pure unadulterated joy that he gets out of it. Haha. I was scared off by his grumpiness and hid in the bushes for a while, but then came out again when Jess arrived.
Pretty frustrating riding in parts - i definitely wasn't at my best, just crampy and a bit dehydrated. But was riding ok- the farmland bits are hard work but i was passing people most of the time. In the single track i wasn't able to push much because it takes 1-200m to pass each person, and even longer for the rude ones. Had a few good runs though where i could ride hard. Passed people through the whole course and had a strong finish but a slow transition trying confusedly to find Jess again (not her fault! I was looking wrong).
Finished 3rd girl, after Jo Bennett and Christie Sym (not too unhappy about that - they are both far stronger than me, and even without my hold-ups in the single track i wouldn't have gained 4min on Christie)

Jess and I were both hoping to cruise the team run but when we came out of transition the team 100m ahead were all girls! So we had to push to catch them, then stayed in front. It felt sooo much further than 1.8km! But there were heaps of people cheering and it was over pretty fast.

We finished in 5h17, 5th (maybe 4th? they keep changing) girl team out of 27 but the 1st four teams were all teams of 4. We are very satisfied especially given lack of swim/paddle training that we can do much better next time!

John did soooo well, after all his down-playing of his talents. Finished 7th in the open men (out of about 23,000) and beat all of his triathlete "no we're really adventure racers" friends, haha. I am very proud :)
Wil finished well too, although he looked a bit more vague and a bit less happy than John afterwards. Tricky ran and rode really well, and later even smiled a bit. All the work teams finished, with varying success. Big smiles all round.

Wandered around Dunsborough and did the last bit of the Anaconda course through Meelup. Good fun. Finally looking forward to the race a bit after a good sleep-in. Still tired and achy and grotty though. I think a few weeks of just biking and then a rest after the 12h will be nice.

Long day - left home at 5.15 to drive to Bunbury, worked til 3 then waited til 7 for John to pick me up. Bunbury is not the most exciting place to wander around for 4 hours.

Today I planned a pleasant, gentle potter into work on a nice sunny day. Saw a few roadies and smiled at them. Smiled at the confused pedestrians, and the angry car drivers, and even john's rooster who was hiding in some reeds near the horse place. Then, my peaceful day was shattered by.... wait for it... commuters. Awful, tartan jacket-wearing, zigzagging middle-aged men. Over-lycrad fairweather roadie wannabes. Arrogant, girl-hating courier bag-toting idiots. One patch of sunlight and they suddenly all crawl out of whatever rock they hide under from the rain. All i wanted was to be left alone to pootle along, but they were everywhere. They fanged past on the left, cut me off on the corners, shouted at me, anything they could to get past, before slowing down so much that even without pedalling i was gaining on them. So eventually when they were wheezing so much i thought it was over, i would try to inch past and they would block me, almost knocking me off my bike, then give one more dying surge to stay in front. When i eventually got angry and rode away hard, they caught me at the lights, then got ahead by riding across the traffic, forcing cars to STOP for them. Then one of them TOLD ME OFF! When i passed him because i was going so slow i was about to topple over in front of an oncoming car. Then...

Oh man now i know how Tricky feels ALL THE TIME.

I'm going to start an anti-bike riding campaign. NOONE should be allowed to except me. And perhaps a few hand-picked roadies or it would be boring.

C • Psycle paths 7

Another uneventful commute home, except tRicky ignored me again but that's hardly an event any more

Planned to ride the long way but it turns out that if you put your phone on silent, the alarm doesn't make a noise. I feel sooo much better after a sleep in though.

Around the mulberry bush and eventually home

UWA/river loop with Vera. She has done nothing but swim for about a month, which is why i had so much trouble keeping up.
Legs heavy and stiff today, can't figure out why, after a pretty restful week. Well, training week anyway. The rest of the week has been stressful which has perhaps oozed into my legs.

To meet Vera, to work 1 then work 2. Wish i brought a raincoat...

Not much fun with tired legs and a stonking head wind

Shortish one luckily, being just before anaconda.
Warmup/cooldown from the City Beach shops to Floreat Beach and back.
Feeling sore and sorry and shattered so it wasn't any faster than my 800m pace really.

3x400m: 2.17 2.20 2.18
3x200m: 1.12 1.06 1.06
4x100m: 28 26 27 19

The second 100m was into the wind and hence faster. The 4th one was short but also my fastest anyway.

Fastish trot with the dog to the beach to meet john and wil after their paddle.