Training Log Archive: Dangerman

Event: Nav Dash - ECU Joondalup
 

I felt good last night so decided to stick to the plan and go with the B group today. Interestingly, so did the A group riders citing a race tomorrow and saying something about "saving our legs". The initial pace was manageable and, as usual, I was comfortable on the hills.

The pace picked up as we turned onto Pinjar road and I had a bad feeling that I would be getting a turn up the front. We were two abreast and the first two would do a turn and then peel off - nowhere to hide for poor old Danger!

And it came. I told the guy next to me (stupidly as I later found out) that I was new to the ride and could he set the pace. I'd match him if I could. Turned out I could as it was 2km/h slower than the previous leader. Don't get me wrong, I still had to work hard, but I could see he couldn't go any faster.

He peels off with great timing as my legs are starting to fry. As I peel of I sense a smirk from the two leaders and see them surge past. The pace has just been turned up 3 notches. The group elongates and I start up on the pedals to try to get some speed so that I can tag on the back.

No dice. I get unceremoniously spat out the back of the group, although in the good company of 5 others. This with 40km to go too. We form a decent working group that was mildly organised and manage to salvage a decent speed for the remainder of the ride.

I'll be a bit more attentive next time I think. I'll also be a bit quieter as well, certainly not mentioning that I'm fresh meat for the group!

Heavy legs :-( but of course, no surprise.
Silver lining is that my heart was more than capable of keeping pace with my running. Weird feeling not being puffed when running.

Wow, 12 months ago, I could barely run a Golf Course TT at under 6min/km!

Really enjoyed this event. I think it was a combination of great course setting, friendly rivalry and maybe even some familiarity with the area.

I was luck at 1, seeing some people punch it which obviated the need to search on the upper story and try to figure it all out.

Wrong side of the wall to 2 but I had noticed it, just got the approach wrong. Minor map orientation error while almost on top of 3 cost some more time. Almost a flat out sprint to 4 as I knew exactly where it was from the map.

Went to 5 via 6 and back again. Spot on with 7, 8, 9 & 10. Sighted Dolf on the way out of 10 and had a big grin, happy that I managed to hold him out until almost half way. Then I proceeded to miss-orientate the map, running to 9 and 5. Noticed my error before 5 but that stage it was too late so I went through the car park, down the road and back on track to 11.

Shouldn't known it was behind the wall, Juffy! I spiked the location but didn't read the description. No sign of the Dolf train here so obviously my error out of 10 caused me to miss the train.

A little vague to 12, map miss-orientated again to 13, spot on to 14, 15, 16. Straight to 17 but vague on exact location. Legs were feeling the warm up and the warm 2.0 by this stage. However, this was intentional as I wanted to get in a longer run today - I think it's time to slowly increase volume from the 10km mark.

18 through to finish were clean and I ran into the finish a little surprised to see 25minutes on the clock. Oh well, other than the time, I was really happy with my run. I kept contact with the map a lot more and thought ahead when I had the chance. On occasions I even looked at the finer detail so I knew which tree to look under :-)

Long Course - Splits

Weirdest experience at the doctors today.
I'm in the waiting room and I see a mother with her child walk out of the doctor's room and start talking with reception. Yep, that's pretty standard behaviour I hear you say and I would agree.

There was something about her voice that got my heart racing and increased my stress level by several notches though. After a few more words, I figured it out. The ex! Enter mild panic attack :-( I thought that after .... 6 years I think, I wouldn't react like this.

Just as she left, it was my turn to see the doctor to have my blood pressure and RHR taken. I warned him it might still be up by a bit but amazingly it was measured at 43. 43! I guess my reaction was superficial and without foundation? Much like the relationship.

p.s. another rest day today. I'm still undecided whether to do the group ride tomorrow.

C • Family reunion 4

Figured out a way to get my piping hot lunch containers to my desk without burning my hands today. It goes like this:
1. arrive 30 seconds prior
2. take gel pack from freezer and hold it, firmly, in both hands
3. wait
4. ...beep beep beep...
5. replace gel pack into freezer.
6. pick up lunch container and walk calmly to your desk.

Presto!

C • forgot one 10

Weak!
The snoozed button seduced me this morning and the Mr Motivation made a quick exit on the commute to work. What happened to my plans for a group ride this morning?

This must be a sign of over training - low energy levels, low motivation. Oh well, I guess the rest week can start early.

p.s. funnily enough, my training load graph is telling me I'm at a fatigue level just a few points below my maximum level - around Karri Cup time. I'm beginning to get some confidence from this particular tool. It seems to predict things reasonably accurately.

C • weak? 6

amazingly I found my mojo on The way back home. without Raising a sweAt, i powered home. It felt magic, almost effortless and very green. i even maNaged to hold a conversation with several people.

In other words, I took the train home.

I am so stuffed after yesterday's big day. Shoulders, back and legs are all aching a bit although it the nice ache of adaptation :-)
No training for me today!
Plan now is to do another hard group ride tomorrow, short intervals on Friday and another hard group ride Saturday or Sunday. Then - rest, ahhhhhhh.

Yay! All the furniture is now in place and assembled.
My place actually looks like a normal home now. Ahhhh, normal, that's nice.

Group ride with the Floreat group. This might work well with my schedule. I drove to Floreat this morning with my ski on the car ready for this afternoon. Means a shorter ride before ski training so hopefully more energy.

Energy is something I didn't have much of today. This group rides significantly faster than what I am used to and I had to use a fair bit of gas just to stay with the group. Got dropped once at Leighton right near the lights. The cross wind was robbing me of protection and I cracked.

Managed well up the climbs as expected and didn't manage well on the straights. Physics means that losing weight isn't of any help on the flat.

Kinda got dropped again near UWA when I waited for a car. Couldn't catch the group back up until the lights. Just no staying power in the legs.

I hope that this feeling is just hard training rather than over-training. This is supposed to be my hardest week from 3 so it makes sense that I should be hurting a bit. I will try to maintain the effort until Sunday. Then an easy rest week will hopefully fix everything and we start again!

Ouch!
Hammy cramping at work. I've never stood up and straightened my leg so quickly.

15!x(1min@50%+2min@80%)

I really liked this session. It took a few reps to figure out a pace but once I did, I kept to it and kept pushing, on occassions leading the B group and sometimes managing to stay on the wash of the A's. I did feel some fatigue approaching on 14 and 15 but managed to deal with it.

Great night for paddling with the marina water being so calm it was glassy in places. This, for some reason, reminded me to keep an eye on technique. I concentrated on twisting the torse and using my abs. I did keep forgetting about leg drive though. probably more to do with the boat that anything as I have trouble driving with the legs without pressing the pedals.

I also tried a new sitting position, with my arse more forward in the seat closer to the bottom of the seat itself rather than on the back of the seat (the sloping bit). It felt ok and I had enough strength in my back to keep myself upright. I used the further back position to help me keep an arch in my back but I can now do that myself, I think the new more forward position is the better option. Time will tell.

Today someone asked me whether I am doing the twenty something stairs to MD or for MS or something. Basically, climbing a lot of stairs. I said "no". When asked why, I responded with:

"Because it sounds hard and very boring."

What do you know? I may have some sensibility lurking inside of me still.

C • Central Park Stair Climb maybe? 8

Event: MTB Orienteering - Kangaroo Gully
 

Great maintenance session with Boltboi. Thanks for the help Ian!
Very tired on the way home, struggling to stay awake. Got home, ate and then had a full 9 hours sleep. Ahhhhh, that's better.

A lack of sleep affects me so much that I need to pay it a bit more respect. My mood goes down & I don't recover properly - surely these things are important enough for me to bed down a bit earlier each night.

The night before this event, I sat up watching old TdF footage eating pizza. Not the ideal prep but at least I was nourishing the mind with motivational footage. I also managed to get my gear ready before I went to bed so the morning routine was as simple as 1)wake up, 2) put on clothes, 3)pick up crate, 4)open door & 5) walk through door (there's no 6 as the door is self closing).

Unfortunately, my prep didn't include looking at a previous MTBO map. This would have been good as the only one I had was in my map board and I would have seen that the map had magically transferred itself to the map-board plastic cover@#$! Oh well, my ordinary map reading would be further challenged today.

Started well and took it easy, not feeling any lactic at any time. This was a good pace for my nav because I managed to plan ahead 1 leg, pick exit routes (or directions) and try to follow the land as I rode.

This got boring, however, so I ramped up the pace when I was on sleeper legs - ones where I thought I didn't need to think. Bad choice. On the straight before the creek crossing after 4 I pushed a bit harder and promptly took the wrong track from the junction over the creek. Lost 5 minutes easy there but at least I realised my mistake from the contours rather than seeing a road in the wrong place.

Saw Tooms on the way back from 5. I actually didn't realise there was a track the other way or that solid lines meant fast riding (I thought they meant wider track than dashed!) however it didn't seem to make a difference on that leg.

Of course, having seen Tooms, my structured take it easy plans (which were already falling apart) were completely forgotten and I started to push harder, making more mistakes. I completely forgot/ ignored the lessons from the bush orienteering a few weeks back :-(

Tooms passed me when I let him go at 9 I think. I wanted him in front so I could chase and not have to think. For some reason, after a good stretegy decision I chose to not follow him! I

Given the sketchy mapping of the tracks, I wasn't going to risk the wide and fast certainty of Dale road over a track on the other side of the creek. My mistake as, despite hammering it, the extra 600m meant I was still behind him at the next control.

11 was no problem as I took the S shaped route there. Thought it was the safest way with less contours. 12, having been there before was almost no problem, lost 15s trying to interpret the junction prior to the control.

The finish was fun as it was slightly down hill and I only had my small chainring working. Spin spin spin (insert childish scream here). Pleasantly surprised by the time and distance. Despite my legs hurting when I pushed, I felt pretty good at the end for 2 hours riding. Was also happy with my placing considering my last result was a DNF and the one before that was DFL! :-)

Carinyah - Splits