Training Log Archive: MTBjen

Overall, I think we did very well considering our less-than-ideal race prep.
I think we need to be more organised before the race - we had too much food and no real idea what was where. We should have all that stuff ready and packed before the briefing (ie it should have been packed before we arrived on Friday night). We could have coordinated filling camelbaks etc rather than one person refilling at each transition.
We could improve our coordination in the stupid boats, but no reason to since GSAR is in singles.
We could definitely make better use of the bike towing system, which will be more relevant in GSAR where we will a) actually be riding and b) be trying to ride hard. We need to fix the towing system so it doesn't hit the wheel.
I need to do more running. John needs to fix his foot.
I should never be allowed near a map again during a race.
Oh, and once we have been confused by a poorly mapped network of tracks, and managed to find the control completely by chance, we should not plan the next leg going back through the same track network.
Before the race, I think everyone should look over the course, because it is always hurried and it is easy for the first person to miss route choices on a first look.
We need to stay away from animals during the race.
I need to eat more while moving rather than having to make up for it in transition. And I really need to drink more.

C • Wild Party Girl 1

Event: Espresso 24hr Adventure Race
 

I feel a bit redundant writing a race report, there are already so many! I really enjoyed the race this year. It was a lot of fun and somehow felt really short- I think because there were only 6 legs, and by the time I had warmed up from the paddle (ie, at the end of the first run) we were 1/3 of the way through.

1. Paddle 14 (haha) km: they bussed us to the start in two groups. I worked pretty hard on forcing the boys onto bus one, probably really annoyingly, but it turned out to be lucky since half the boats had holes in them. tRicky and I had a rare whole boat, but we couldnt' steer it or make it go forwards very well. Our team was well matched once the right-hand side of JT+fletch's boat sank. Pretty uneventful paddle - a few logs and stuff. We managed to middle a few of them and had a bit of a swim. Wacko helped us over one log and Dolly had a really good try at helping us go backwards (I might have been a touch grumpy with him... sorry...)
I opened the box at transition only to find an odd number of shoes! Uh-oh. tRicky had a single shoe and I felt a bit responsible, since I had packed the boxes. Had a brief panic and then realised tRicky actually had three shoes! Phew. Freezing in transition, ate a lot to make up for nothing yet, got some dry stuff on and headed off back into the river, yuck.

2. Trek: yes, well. I don't have much memory of this because all I was doing was keeping up. Never saw a map. It took 40min before i could feel my feet but after that it was all ok. Fletch did a Shanley on the last hill when I was tied to him and John - ran up the hill, pulling john backwards through the carabiner until we were both strung on the end of the string like fish. After that we attached both ends to Fletch for the rest of the race.
Transition was a bit disappointing- we arrived to see Woop Woop still there but found out they had a 13min time bonus because they had waited for hteir bikes. We were pretty smooth - didn't need to stock up much since I had forgotten to eat or drink for the first two legs. I had another quick panic when I opened the crate to find no map! But it turned out we didn't need one yet.

3. Hike-a-bike 1: Wheee. It was GREAT to be riding a bike. They let me nav the first bit, which went ok until the tracks became disconnected with the map and it all turned to crap. Then they all rode away and eventually I ccaught up and gave the map to John. There was a LOT of pushing bikes in this leg. Especially towards the end. We gained a bit on Woop Woop then lost the time again. Eventually made it to the rogaine transition, still only 15min behind.

4. Rogaine: we had a plan for the rogaine which worked reasonably - just to get enough points to be ahead of ourselves. The controls were spaced far enough apart that there was no margin of error at all. Lucky we found them all, except one which had been liberated by an enthusiastic farmer. At one point the boys tried to leave me alone in a field full of glowing-eyed vampire cows, but I was not fooled and followed them over the fence.

5. Maze: bah. How silly.

6. Hike-a-bike 2: more of the same. Walking within 5 min and it never changed. This bike leg was muddier, more overgrown, dodgier tracks and more frustrating since we lost 20min to at least two other teams by avoiding the dieback area. We saw a small family of emus, and got barked at by a horrid dog, and at one point even pedalled for a while. Fletch was an absolute machine and continued to push my bike up all the hills. I had one big stack and now have a large purple bottom (even more so than usual).
Transition was slower this time. I changed into dry sock and shirt, which was great but probably unnecessary.

7. Trek (15km of bib track): I just hooked onto the back of Fletch again, and woke up on the finish line, really. Trotted along, only throwing the occasional tantrum when he tried to make me run up steep hills ("what about this one?" he would say "it isn't THAT steep!") and towed me off the top of a big log. John was getting a bit sore anyway so we pootled into town. Kept up a pretty good pace considering, although in retrospect I think I could have done better.

Slept horribly, with alternating nightmares about killing people during an adventure race and getting lost at work. Or something. Maybe it was the other way around.
Haggles and I played a game where i tied him to a rope and he pretended to be tRicky for the first 5min, then I pretended to be tRicky for the other 15min, after his burst of energy ran out.
The dog was very naughty this morning, he has obviously been spending too much time with John and is learning bad habits.

I planned a run this morning, and then with barely minutes to spare remembered I had to be somewhere all day. Bugger. This is happening too often, I need to get Tooms to teach me how to be super-organised.

I didn't plan to have a rest day. Shame.

Warmup, cooldown
set of 2x long hills
2.12 2.09
set of 2x short hills
1.17 1.18
2x single short hills at 75%ish effort
1.20 1.23

I didn't push particularly hard or even do the whole sets but it was good to be running again.

Feeling much more normal today. I'm going to do nothing this week though, just to make sure.

C • Nice taper 6