Cycled home last night and then headed out for a run. I was adopting my current tactic of keeping my HR below 150 and just cruising along, but my times indicated I was running a bit faster than usual. I’d also noticed that my HR was very low when I hopped on the bike to cycle home, but I just assumed that the strap was a bit loose on my chest and thought no more of it. However, with my run HR being a bit lower, and me making sure the chest strap had a proper connection, I was left wondering what was causing my lower HR… and the only thing I could come up with was all the altitude training I’d done in Canberra last week ;-)

Legs feel pretty good this morning, so I’ll just do a shorter run of around 3km this evening, then do another 6-7km on Wednesday and see how that goes.

That’s rubbish BTW, as Canberra’s only at 600m or so, and there’s no real physioloigcal effect below about 1500m

B: 32km – R: 6.5km

Well Autumn has well and truly arrived. I took advantage of the clocks going forward to get up early, setting my alarm for 6am on the grounds that my body still reckons it’s 7am so it will be easier to get up (and it was). Rode in to work and had to wear the winter bike gear (tights & arm-warmers) for the first time. Felt pretty sluggish going up the hill on Old South Head Road which was probably a combination of a legacy of all the MTBing from last week, the couple of beers I had yesterday and the fact that I was lugging my laptop, attendant cabling and a change of clothes around. Did a couple of laps around Centennial Park as well, though cut it short as the weight of my backpack was starting to annoy my lower back.

Entries to the Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon opened this morning, so when I got in to work, I bit the bullet and actually entered. There’s no going back now!

B: 21.3km

That was another good week in Canberra. Myself and Tom went back up to Majura for another two hour ride on Wednesday night with Paul. I took Thursday off exercise to give my legs a break, and went out to watch V for Vendetta instead. Good movie, very political, really drilled home the “fight for your rights before they’re gone” theme. Followed that up with some Belgian beers in Debacle.

Friday morning saw me out for a 7.5km (45mins) run before checking out of the hotel. John offered to put us up on Friday night, so we headed over to his place after work to drag him out for his first proper MTB ride. Tom had him worried with tales of going over the handlebars, but I explained that that was a skill Tom and Kev were nurturing, whereas myself and Niall preferred not to fall off.

Majura was the logical place to take John for his first outing, both because it was close to home and because it’s bloody good, so off we went around 5pm. John was a bit worried that his bike wouldn’t be up to scratch but we assured him it would be fine, and sure enough, once we got to the trails he had a great time. It was pretty easy to tell, since about half way through the evening’s riding he was talking about getting “a good bike” and giving his current one to Sarah! Time will tell. Made it home around 7.30, then did the take-out and DVD thing.

Our plan for Saturday morning was to get up early and head out to ride the MONT 24hr course at Kowen Forest. We finally got going at 10.30, not really as early as planned, but the weather was a bit iffy anyway. It had all cleared up by the time we got there, to be greeted by a bloody big climb to start the 6km ride to even get to the trail. It was soon apparent that we were almost the only people out there, and also that the course doesn’t get a whole lot of use, since there was very little signposting. We soon regretted our laziness in not printing off a trail map as we couldn’t find it anywhere, and after an hour of riding around (still having fun though) we decided to call it a day.

So, we managed to get around 8hrs of MTBing in over the week which was pretty good. The clocks went forward as we went out of daylight savings this morning, so the next time we’re in Canberra the early sunsets will rob us of decent riding time… unless I shell out $500 for a set of HID lights to turn night into day!

B: 95.2km – R: 18km

I’m down in Canberra again this week, and have had a good start to the week. Got up for a run on Tuesday morning. Canberra’s a bit cooler than Sydney in the mornings, but not so cold that I had to rug up (yet), so it was nice to get out and not be dripping sweat like an evening run. Cruised around for ~5.5km in 33mins.

Last night, myself and Tom headed up to Majura Pines for two hours of quality MTBing, getting home just before dark, then it was up again this morning for another run. Felt a bit more tired today after the MTBing, but took a different route for a total of ~5km in 29mins. More MTBing to come tonight as well. ;-)

B: 24.8km – R: 10.5km

Managed to cycle home last night without any pucture issues. Every time I stopped at lights, I was paying close attention to the back wheel, as I’d used a CO₂ cannister to pump it up, and I’ve heard that the CO₂ slowly leaks out and you should pump it up with air at the earliest opportunity. The roads were still full of crap washed out by the recent rains, but I made it home without another puncture.

I got on to ProBikeKit yesterday and ordered myself some commuter tyres. They’re slower and more durable than my current race ones, and they’re supposed to be good in wet weather as well. $110 to buy two tyres and two tubes, and have them shipped from the UK to Australia. The two tyres on their own would probably cost me $160 in a shop here! They should arrive next week while I’m in Canberra, ready to go on the bike the week after that.

B: 41.2km – R: 7.3km

Rode home last night, which was pretty straightforward, then went out for a run. Took things easy again, and just ran for 16min (~3km) to play it safe. All went well again, so I think I’ll stick to the easy stufff for the time being.

Rode in to work this morning and it was wet again. It’s been like this for the last week which is a bit unusual. Managed to get a puncture too, so I think it’s time to buy some new tyres. The ones I have on the bike are lightweight race tyres I bought for the triathlon back in January, so are not really suitable for day-to-day commuting. I’ll need something a little more puncture resistant, and maybe with a little bit of tread, as these are full slicks and have shag all grip in the rain!

B: 30.9km – R: 7.5km

Had a chat about my running woes with Niall at lunch yesterday and he mentioned that he used to have a similar problem and was recommended some foot specific stretches. I gave it a shot when I got home, doing the stretches and generally warming my feet up before heading out for the run.

I also decided to take it easy, running with a HR around 140, rather than the usual 155, and all seemed to go well. I ran for 26mins (~4.5km) and didn’t have any problems with my foot at all. I think I’ll keep doing short, slow runs for a week or two before getting back into the longer stuff, and hopefully that will settle things down. It plays havoc with the half-marathon plans, but my time goal was a luxury anyway – nice to have, but not really necessary for my first attempt – so I won’t miss it.

I rode in to work this morning as well, and it was wet/damp again. It’s starting to get dark in the mornings too, so I’m soon going to need a good set of lights. I can probably postpone any purchase for a couple of weeks once daylight savings kicks in in April.

B: 11km – R: 4.5km

Myself, Niall, Kev and Tom drove out to the base of the Blue Mountains on Sunday morning to do some mountain biking around the Yarramundi Working Week Series (WWS) race track in Yellowmundi Regional Park. It was raining as we left the house, so we were prepared for the worst, but by the time we go to the track it was a lovely sunny day.

We had a couple of issues locating the track, but once on it we had a great time swooping around banked turns, in between trees and bushes and across creeks. The first loop was around 3km, after which there was a bit more searching for the other half of the lap. That turned out to be more technical, with some rocky descents requiring decent bike control. There was also a nice, steep downhill section onto a bridge over a creek which was tough, though myself and Niall backtracked to give it a second go and managed to complete it without having to put a foot down. After a little more rocky stuff we were back to banked turns through tall grass and a last little bit through the trees to finish the lap.

After a bit of a rest we decided to head out on another lap, and since we knew where to go this time, and everyone knew what to expect, we wouldn’t be stopping all the time comparing notes on the various sections. Everything seemed easier this time, particularly the rocky section, though I took three attempts to do the downhill/stream section properly, as I came in on the wrong line the first time, then couldn’t my shoes clipped in soon enough the second time. We still had one or two regroups stops, and managed to see a White-bellied Sea Eagle sitting in a tree watching us go by. I presume it must have have been hunting along the Hawkesbury river.

We were all pretty tired by the end of the second lap, and running out of water in the 30C+ heat, so we called it a day and headed home. It was an enjoyable course, with its own unique character and quite different from Sparrow Hill or Penrose. We now have to organise trips to Newcastle and Lithgow to ride the other two WWS courses. The lads are coming down to Canberra again in two weeks for another MTB extravaganza, so this time I’ll be sure to bring the video camera and get some footage.

B: 62.1km – R: 5.7km

I picked my bike up from Kevin’s place on Monday night and started commuting by bike again on Wednesday and Thursday. No laps of the park, just straight in and out of work. I’m also going to take the aerobars off tomorrow, and revert to normal roadie positioning, as I don’t have any races for the forseeable future.

Got home last night and went out for what was supposed to be a 6km run only to have the same shit flare up from Monday. I stopped a couple of times to try out different lacing patterns in an attempt to alleviate the discomfort but none worked, so I abandoned after about 2km. I’m not going to run for the rest of the week and just rest and stretch and start again on Monday. Hopefully that will be enough to solve the problem. If it’s not, then the whole half marathon plan could be out the window ;-(

B: 45km – R: 5.3km

Headed off for a 5km run this evening but had to cut it short because my right foot was hurting. I’m not sure what was causing it, but any time I’ve had it before it was just my laces being too tight, but that was certainly not the case this time. Decided it was better to be safe than sorry, so will do a lot of stretching before my next scheduled run on Wednesday.

R: 3.2km

I got a good long run in on Friday. We were going to Macmasters Beach for the weekend with Jacqui’s family, so I decided to move my long run forward from Saturday to make sure I got it done.

Ran from the top of my road, down to the golf course, then did almost two laps of that, for a total running time of 55mins. The plan called for a 9.6km run, and I’d done 50mins last week, so I figured 55mins should be sufficient. My HR was pretty high at the end of it (around 170) but I think that was mainly because I was pretty dehydrated by then. I’ll have to start bringing some water with me on the long runs.

When I got home I fired up Google Earth and measured the run at 9.7km. It’s 2km from my house to the golf course, then each lap is 4.25km, and the I stopped 800m short of completing the the second lap.

I spent the weekend recovering as my quads and achilles were both reasonably tight. Lots of stretching and taking it easy.

R: 15km

I got a couple of runs in last week while in Canberra, culminating in a 50min run on Friday which went pretty well. My lower legs were pretty sore after it, and by the time I’d finished all the MTBing over the weekend my quads were pretty sore too, so I skipped my Monday run.

I ventured out last night and decided to take it easy for 30mins. The plan I’m following called for a 5km run, but I decided to keep my average HR around 150 and to see how far I could go inside the half hour. It turned out to be 5.3km this week, but the intention is to use this as kind of a test session as the weeks progress.

R: 5.3km

When we all started going mountain biking together about two years ago, we used to head up to the Blue Mountains and ride the fire trails. It was good fun in a ‘great to be outdoors away from the city’ way, but it was fairly straightforward. After all, the trails are built so fire control vehicles can access forest fires, so other than being rough ground, they’re not exactly challenging on a bike.

Then myself and Tom started bringing our bikes down to Canberra on the weeks we were working there, we discovered singletrack and we haven’t looked back. Canberra is full of great singletrack through almost every forest in the region, built and maintained by the good folks at Canberra Off-Road Cyclists (CORC).

For those who’ve no idea what I’m on about, singletrack is like a one person wide path, weaving in and out amongst the trees, over logs & rocks, into and out of gullies, uphill, downhill, under branches and over jumps. In short, it’s great fun, requires constant attention and, depending on how fast you ride it, can be as difficult as you want to make it. It’s what MTBing is all about.

Myself and Tom have been going on about it to Kevin and Niall for months and months, telling them that they had to organise a weekend in Canberra. Well, last weekend it finally happened, and they joined myself and Tom for an MTB weekend in the capital. They arrived on Saturday morning, checked in to the hotel, got the bikes ready, then we all headed off to meet Paul for a ride around Majura Pines. We arrived back at the hotel 4.5 hours later exhilarated, thoroughly exhausted and with a couple of cuts and bruises spread throughout the group. After a shower and a short rest it was off to Debacle for some good food and quality Belgian beers. We were in bed shortly after 10 ;-)

Sunday morning saw us up early and off to Sparrow Hill, a 23km loop of twisting singletrack just outside Queanbeyan. We only managed to get half the loop done as we had to get back to the hotel in time to check out, but it certainly grabbed our attention and we’ll be heading back there asap to give the full lap a go.

We checked out of the hotel, grabbed some lunch and then headed back to Sydney, but not before Kev had locked his keys in the car! While waiting for the NRMA to rescue the keys, we checked out some bike porn at Mal Adjusted before finally getting on the road. Our last stop of the trip was Penrose State Forest just north of Marulan, about half-way between Canberra and Sydney. I’d seen the forest many a time on the way to Canberra and had wondered about riding around in it, but I thought it was just fire trails. It was only when Tom picked up a copy of Australian Mountain Bike mag which contained a trail map for the forest that we realised there was a lot more to it than met the eye.

It turns out that the forest hosts a round of the Working Week Series (five 8hr MTB races = 40hr week – geddit?), as does Sparrow Hill, so we decided to ride the competition trail. It was brilliant, and took us 1h15m, including a couple of regrouping stops and one or two detours where the trail was a bit ambiguous. By this time everyone’s legs were tired after almost 8 hours of MTBing spread over the two days, so it was time to call a halt to proceedings and head back to Sydney.

Needless to say, Kev & Niall are now total converts and there’ll be many more MTB trips in the future. Now all I need to do is convince them to enter an MTB enduro race as a team…

B: 114.7km – R: 19.5km

Well after the holidays in NZ, and kicking back and relaxing after the triathlon in January, training started again this week. Myself, Niall and possibly Kevin are going to do the SMH Half Marathon in May, so I downloaded one of Hal Higdon’s training programs and started it this week.

Monday and Wednesday saw me running around the streets of Canberra for a little over 5km each time, and I’ve another 5km this evening followed by approx. 8km tomorrow morning. Since myself and Tom are in Canberra for work this week, I’m also getting quite a bit of mountain biking in around Mount Majura and with Kev & Niall coming down tomorrow morning to experience MTBing Canberra style, it’s going to be a pretty hectic weekend.

R: 11.2km – B: 57km

When I first noticed the sport of triathlon and decided it was something I wanted to do, an Olympic Distance (1.5/40/10) was my goal. After doing my first tri at Kurnell in December (.75/20/5) I got straight on the net and entered the Canberra OD with Kev. The race was yesterday…

I hadn’t done a whole lot of training between Kurnell and New Year, but had got three decent weeks in since then, so I was fairly confident. I’d also bought my first set of aerobars, but my longest ride actually on the bars was only 15km, though I could tell they were fast. I’d got my weekly long run up to 9km too, so I was reasonably confident the run would be OK.

Drove down on Saturday and saw quite a few cars heading down with bikes inside or on top. Stopped at the servo in Marulan and noticed quite a few cars with the Watch For Cyclists stickers attached too. We were staying in John’s place so rocked up there, watched Kev do some last minute drivetrain clean & lube, went down and registered and then drove a lap of the bike course to see what we were in for. Looked nice and fast. No hills, but a couple of undulations around the back. That set our mind at ease a bit.

Up the next morning and plenty of butterflies. Both of us were novices at the distance so had no idea of what to expect, but we decided to set very rough goals anyway:

Me: 2h 25 – 22 swim, 1:13 bike, 50 run.

Kev: 2h 40 – 30 swim, 1:25 bike, 45 run.

The lake was 27C, so it was no wetsuit which I was delighted about, as I don’t own a wettie and can swim well anyway. Once I had pumped my tyres, got my gear organised and had visited the jacks, the nerves disappeared and it was all calm before the start. I decided to cruise the swim and use it as my warm-up, so once the gun went off I got myself in a bit of clear space and settled in to it. Pretty uneventful, but came out of the water in 24:52 with an AvHR of 159! Too slow and too high a HR, what’s up? Ran up to transition and my hamstrings were close to cramping too which worried me a little. Through transition in 3:19 which is bloody slow, but I can’t do that shoes on the bike thing yet so had to fart around a bit putting them on.

Out on the bike, onto the bars and off we go. It took a few kms to shake of the ‘impending cramp’ feeling and after that all was well. I settled in to a nice rhythm on the first lap with a HR hovering around 160 which was roughly what I had intended. Had a gel around Parliament House after the undulations and went through 20km in 34:30 which I was very happy with as it felt pretty easy. Decided to pick up the pace a little on the second lap, since I now knew what to expect, so held 40km/h+ all along Parkes Way and the Tuggeranong Freeway to the Cotter Rd turnoff (apart from the couple of undulations that is). I got out of the saddle to stretch my legs & back on some of the climbs around the back of the course, had another gel, then finished the lap strongly for a 33min split and an on-the-bike time of 1:07:30 (35.5kmh) which is smoking for me. Aerobars rock!

Legs felt good too, or at least I thought they did. Threw my trainers on and was about to take off on the run when I got that ‘almost cramp’ thing again, so stopped for a quick stretch. Another 2:30 in transition, so probably some free time improvements to be had there. Once out on the run I was suffering! Felt really shit, legs were like lead and stomach was on the verge of cramping. The race map had indicated only two drinks stations on the run, and both were marked as very close to the start so I was quite worried as to whether I’d survive. I walked the aid stations and knocked back water & sports drink then started trundling away again. At that stage I was wondering whether I was going to finish or not. The sun beating down didn’t help either.

Around about the 3km mark I had a lightbulb moment, the fog cleared and the benefits of reading Transitions came to the fore. I remembered that the first bit of the run was supposed to feel like shit, with crap legs etc. etc., so once I knew that then things improved. Well, when I say ‘improved’ I don’t mean that I got any faster, or that I started feeling great or anything that dramatic, I just realised that this was how things were supposed to be.

I was just plodding along and seemed to be running around 6min/km, so I was looking at an hour run split which I wasn’t happy about. The run was a plain out-and-back course, so I was hanging for the turnaround point so at least I’d no longer be running away from the finish and I could tell myself it would all be over soon. Finally I rounded a corner, I could see it 400m away and I got to it in 26:15 (AvHR: 171) which was a bit better than I’d expected. I now had 5km spread out before me and I knew where the aid stations were (there were actually more than two) so it became a matter of running to the next station, stopping, drinking, throwing water over myself, and setting off for the next one. I had long ago adopted a 2/2 breathing pattern (breathe in for 2 footfalls, out for 2), trying to suck in as much oxygen as possible and now I added a little mantra of “Light, Relaxed” to try and take my mind off things. “Light” as in ‘run light on your feet’ which was a bit of a joke as I was in serious plod mode, and “Relaxed” as in ‘run relaxed’ which I had at least some hope of achieving, especially since by this stage I just wanted the damn thing over with and didn’t give a toss about anything else. Anyway, this is getting very long winded, so a summary of the last 3km involved cramps, stretching and more plodding. I crossed the line in 2:32:15 by my watch, with the second half of the run taking 27:45 (AvHR: 176) giving me a run split of 54mins.

Myself and Tom did a First Aid Course back in December and it came in handy now. I was getting dizzy, so I knew that was a sign that I was dehydrated, a bit overheated, had stopped running too quickly and that I’d faint if I didn’t do something about it. The quickest way to cool someone down is to ice the groin and neck as there’s major blood vessels near the surface, so I threw some ice down my shorts, lay down, raised my legs and leaned them against a tree to make it easier to get blood to my head. John had come down to watch the finish, so he plied me with drinks and a few minutes later I was fine and could stretch my rapidly seizing legs. The two of us walked back to wait for Kev come in. I could see him in the distance and knew it was getting close to 3 hours, so I shouted at him to hurry up. “What’s the hurry?” came the reply, but he got moving once I told him the time. He crossed the line in 2:59:15 or so.

So, the end result was that neither of us got close to our predicted times. Kev split 40 for the swim, 1:27 for the bike and transitions and 52 for the run. I managed 24, 1:13 and 54. It was a lot harder than either of us expected. Kev has decided to concentrate on swimming and I need to do a lot more running. Training for the half marathon should sort that out!

HR Data Graph

Update: Official Results

Me: 188th – 2:32:16 – 24:53 / 1:13:23 / 53:59

Kev: 331st – 2:59:18 – 40:10 / 1:27:05 / 52:02

S: 4000m – B: 62.1km – R: 10km

Well this week is fairly relaxed. Went for a swim yesterday which went well. Decent pace without too much hassle. As usual, got out after 2.5km.

100 FS
200 Catch
100 FS
200 8FS/8BC
100 FS
100 Single Arm
2 * {
    400 FS (last 25 scull) on 6:30 (6:00)
    2 * 50 Pull on 1:00 (43)
    2 * 50 FS on 55 (43)
    100 IM on 2:10 (1.32) }
100 Swim Down
Total: 2500m

I skipped my scheduled run last night as I was going grocery shopping after work, and skipped today’s bike ride due to high winds. I would have done both on a normal week, but I’ll run tomorrow and do a ride on Friday which will be all I’ll need this week.

Couldn’t get to sleep last night though, probably because I had skipped the run and wasn’t exhausted ;-)

S: 2500m

Tuesday was supposed to be a bike day, but it got rained off. I jumped on the indoor trainer with the intention of getting a half hour done before work, but Jacqui was leaving early so it got reduced to 10mins.

Got a good run in last night. It was quite cool which helped. Similar course to last week: home, lap of golf course, back down Newcastle St., up Dover St. and back to the garage. 8.7km all up, in 46:25 with an average HR of 151. Felt good the whole way and could have run a fe more km, but there’s no need to rush these things. I’ve decided that I’m going to train for the Sydney Half Marathon in May so I’ve got plenty of time.

Cycled in to work via Centennial this morning. Uneventful.

S: 2600m – B: 26.3km – R: 8.7km

Got my lunchtime swim in today to start of another week. Felt really good and just cruised through the sets. A decent session too, with some good 400s.

2 * {
    100 FS
    100 Catch
    100 8FS/8BC
    100 as 25FS/25BC }
3 * {
    400 FS on 6:30 (5:53)
    200 Pull on 3:30 (2:58) }
Total: 2600m

I was supposed to go for a run this evening, but I’m just back from the dentist with half my mouth swollen up, so I’m going to skip it. I thought the appointment was for tomorrow, but a phone call after lunch wondering where I was disabused me of that notion.

S: 2600m

I finished my week’s training with a 4.5km run after work yeaterday, followed by a long bike ride this morning. I’d intended riding to La Perouse and back, with a few laps of the park on the way, but when I got to the park it was starting to drizzle, so I figured I’d be more sensible to stay off the roads and just do laps of the park. It also meant I could stay on the aerobars for longer and have the added bonus of not having to worry about avoiding potholes while on them, which might be an issue since I’ve only ridden on them once before.

I decided to do one hot lap on the bars, then one easy lap, then repeat, managing 9.5 laps in total before heading home. The hot laps were pretty good, with my fastest one being 6:16.5 (3.8km), which is an average of 36.5km/h, or about 4km/h faster than my previous best. The great thing about it was that I wasn’t killing myself, so it all augurs well for a faster bike split at the next Kurnell.

S: 5200m – B: 120.3km – R: 17.5km

Yesterday was finally almost a proper bike day, free of interruptions. I had cycled in to work although early rain meant I hadn’t done the laps of Centennial that I had planned to do. I cycled home last night and made up for it, incorporating 4 laps of the park into my commute.

This was the first time I got to use my new Profile Design Carbon Stryke aerobars, which I’d had fitted just before Christmas. The general idea is that you get rest your elbows on them, and get your overall bike position changed around to allow this. You end up with more of your weight over the front wheel, which takes a little bit of time to get used to, and far more aerodynamic, meaning you can go faster for the same amount of effort. In my case, I was 3km/h faster around a lap of the park with no extra effort which is a pretty good investment as far as I’m concerned. Time will tell.

Today’s lunchtime swim was pretty good. Lots of 200s which was a nice change from the usual fare of 100s. Felt pretty good and relaxed. The swim sessions are recovery sessions as far as I’m concerned, and are far less important than run or bike sessions, so I just use them to loosen out and stretch a bit.

800 as: 
    200 FS
    2 * {100 Catch/100 BC}
    200 FS
3 * {
    25K / 175 FS on 3:30 (2:55)
    200 Pull on 3:30 (3:00)}
2 * {
    100IM on 2:00 (1:30)
    100BC on 2:00 (1:40)
    100 8FS/8BC on 2:00 (1:42) }
Total: 2600m

S: 5200m – B: 67.3km – R: 12.5km