2007 Training

This year I decided not to be too serious in my training, usually each year I have a goal, the Scott or MONT 24, and I would train for it at some point in the year. This year though, I have no real focus on them, the 100 Mile Highland Fling is more of a focus. Anyway, I've tried to do a little training all year, to keep fit, so here's what I did...

November Race Nov 12th: Bundanoon Highland Fling (109km): Tough race, tried my hardest, hard enough I almost cramped several times toward the end. Finished sore, but happy, and results showed my laptime was 6:11 for 109km and I finished 45th (out of 274, or 16%) in my class (Veterans) and 127th (out of 638, or 19%) overall, am stoked with the result!

Train Had the best intentions to train this month, but I was just really tired for the two weeks after the Fling, had full on sugar cravings too! I just couldn't get up in the morning and it wasn't like me at all. I listened to my body and let it recover (ie: I ate chocolate and slept in every morning and didn't really train at all :)). I did manage to check out a nice loop from Honey Suckle to Ororral but that was about it.

December Train Due to a very busy pre christmas season with work and family, my base riding has been pretty non existant, I aimed for 12 hrs/week but only managed 5 :( Got in one epic to Cottor Hut and a couple of interesting runs to Merbein and Neds Corner and that's basically all I could fit in.

January Train Tried to start riding to work regularly, but man, is that boring or what!?!? :) Plus the hot afternoons are killer (as we found out during an attempt to ride to Flea Creek), and fitting it in with a multi client consultancy career and it's just not working out. Decided to ditch any hard training and just stick with some basic Tuesdays and Sunday fun rides until the weather cools down. Will try and be in decent shape for the Otway, aiming to complete it, not compete it ;)
One interesting development this month was Kylie's awesome Chistmas gift of a Polar Power System, which means I will get to train by power this year. It's been interesting to get to know the system and how it relates to me and I look forward to tracking my progress with it.

February Race Feb 8th: Otway Odyssey (100km), with 3500vm and no real lead up training, the aim was to cruise this one and soak up the views that this beautiful place has to offer, it was stunning indeed, but very very tough. Ended up 308th (out of 638, 48%).

Train Did OK this month, started up a regular Friday ride with Simon on the way to CSIRO, basically get up at 5am, ride to Stromolo, lap it, ride to work, then ride to the kids swimming lessons in the afternoon, which is 4 hours on the bike. With Sundays as a 4 hour Enduro ride and Tuesday muck arounds at Majura for a couple of hours, I am keeping to my 10:00 a week off season plan without impacting my life too much. I'll try and keep it up next month :)

March Race No racing this month due to a lot of commitments away from home.

Train Found that after stepping up my training last month, and work getting very busy, I got real tired and couldn't find the time or motivation to get into training, my body basically forced me to have a fortnight off for the first part of this month, which surprised me, I must be getting old! :) Something I did manage to pull off was cleaning Rob Roy Range, a hill I had been trying to clean for the last 3 years, so that was a highlight this month.

April Race Apr 15th: 8hr Working Week Series at Wingello: Had a tough time at this one, just could not eat anything and eventually bonked badly. Quit the race early, but some how managed to come 24th out of 65 (36%). Am a bit dissapointed by the outcome (but not the result). A shame I couldn't keep it together, I might have done better than in last years 8hr. I was in good form last year, so I guess at least I have held that level of fitness over the summer.
Apr 29th: Tumut 3hr. Pre declared as race against mates, Dan, Adam and I were racing each other from the outset (in fun ofcourse!), Dan and Adam roasted me on the first lap, as did Alan. I tried to keep up and even pushed hard enough up the first hills to get shortness of breath and a bit of a heart murmor! It was futile though, they we gone, so I settled into my own rythm and had a heap of fun. Before long I somehow caught Dan, and a couple of laps later, Alan, and was pushing hard to try and get a hold of Adam when on a steep climb I stood up and put everything I had into the cranks to get up a hill, when *ping*, the chain snapped into two. The repair stop cost me 4:50, and I was pretty angry :| I pushed on after that (being mindful of my chain, I didn't want to break it again) and ended up finishing 23rd out of 66 (34%), one place off Adam and I smashed my placing from last year. Am totally lifted by the result! A wicked race, loads of fun on one of the best courses around and the race against mates was awesome motivation.
Train Poor training continued this month, I had been doing strength work in February, but these last few weeks I have dropped it and also (stupidly) stopped doing any core strength, I am sure I'll pay for that with back pain soon... As for my fitness, the testing shows results you'd expect given how much I have slacked off, my FTP has dropped off 13%. Thankfully my weight is still OK though. I have been so busy at work at home, it's been hard to get enough time on the bike, and when I do, it's not been focused. I am still uncommitted to what I'll do at the Scott, I need to commit to the Scott so I have some training motivation... I do however note I am getting in more training than in any other April for the last few years, but I was just so focused in Februrary and wish I could have kept it up.
I did do a huge 190km ride to the coast, which was nice, not really training, more touring, but good for my endurance base, and had an explore of Ridge Road at Surf Beach and Penrose State Forrest .

May Race May 6th: Canberra 6hr Cyclgaine: This event was just awesome fun. Adam and I teamed up and it was a great combination, he ran the maps and pushed us along for the first half, then I was pushing us along for the 2nd half and running off for the checkpoints. We were pretty stoked to come 14th out of 66 (21%) overall and we came 9th in our class! My first ever top 10 finish in anything in my whole life! It was a real buzz and the 6 hours just flew by, much more fun than just hammering it around and around in circles like an MTB multi lap race :)

Race May 12th: Sparrow Hill 3hr: The last endurance race of the season, an opportinuty to finish on a high. It wasn't meant to be though... on the first hill I pushed my front derailuer shifter only to hear the *ping* of the cable snap in two. Determined not to let that get me down, I raced the next two hours with only back gears, and damn, did I have the race of my life. I held huge heart rates and pace like never before. I was flying past people calling track left, track right, I was on fire and having a ball. After two hours I had caught and passed all my mateys and was feeling great, the race leaders caught me and I was so far ahead of my usual self, I decided to pull off the track and let these guys go with a smile, bidding them a great race, the reply I got was the *pssss* of my front tyre going down, I guess when pulled over I rolled onto something sharp. It took forever to change the tube, my pump wouldn't work and I was just sooo angry. The change cost me 9 minutes, but I got back on and decided to see what I could make back up in the final hour. Adam and Al had gone by me while I was fixing my tyre, a lap later I caught Adam back up (he was struggling with back pain by now, the course was pretty rough) and pushed on, I was back on my decent lap times and hammering for the finish, when I must have hit one of the many rocks on the course funny, I pinch flatted the front tyre, this was the final blow for me. Devastated I just sat on the side of the course and looked at my bike as it lay there, broken. When Adam caught up to me and offered help, I just told him to keep going, I just wanted to be left alone. It's the big problem with "racing" and wanting to do well, is that when you are, and it's taken from you (3 times ;)), it's a bit shattering really. I eventually patched the tube and pedalled slowly to the finish, the last to come in. CORC didn't even record my final lap time, DNF'ing me (to add insult to injury!). I came 27th out of 83 (33%).

Train May training was abysmal, worst month so far. I had "the snip" which kept me off the bike for a week, then I came down with a nasty cold. So I was off the bike for a few weeks :(

June Train Back into training this month, starting with a bit of build before commencing my formal training program on June 25th (16 weeks out from the 24 hr races). Have found some really keen mates that are getting right into the training up and long riding thing with me, which is awesome, in previous years I've done all this alone, so it will be nice to have some company! We've been riding three times a week, a one hour cross country ride on Wednesdays and Fridays and an epic on Sundays. It's been really nice. We did The Corn Trail and Two Sticks this month.

July Race Jul 27th: CSIRO Black Mountain Cup. What a funny trip out. Got there early and thought I would do a warm up ride, found I had forgotten my shoes! Drove home and got them and got back just as they were lining up for the start, so much for a warm up! I went off in the first group and lead from the start... I've never (ever) done that before, it was bizarre, and I shouldn't have lead, cause I had no one to follow... missed the first turn, had to stop, turn around get back on, that left me in 3rd place after the first corner! Caught them up and took the lead again, and put on 10 hard minutes, pulled a heap of lead on them and all was going great, I even started to have illusions of ganduer, could it be I might actually win a race?!? Was out in the open and couldn't see anyone, sadly, I soon realised that was because I had taken a completely wrong turn, I could see the other guys in the distance going the other way *expletive deleted :)*. Chased them down and passed them again. Had a laugh about my amazing navigational skills with Damian who was leading as I passed him. Coming to the 2nd last turn I did it again! Missed another turn, Damian called out from behind and and I stopped, turned around and came back, with 100m to go I wasn't gonna catch him again though. Crossed the line on his back tyre. Ended up 3rd place... wow, my first podium, haha :D (It's worth noting that is a CSIRO staff race, not a "real" MTB race ;)). Good laughs were had afterwards and a top spread of food was on, CSIRO are a great crowd of people.

Train Strength: Been doing a Spinervals Big Gear Strength DVD on the stationary trainer twice a week, and cruising Black Mountain on a Friday, in an attempt to build some strength. It's been really good to get back into a formal training regime again, loving it so far. Testing after the first phase shows PB power levels for me which is a great reward for the effort, FTP is up from a previous PB of 250 to 265W and my 30sec power is PB'd at 491W. Another phase of strength to go, so looking forward to seeing if I can improve again...
Trying to get in some long rides on Sundays too, building them up bigger each time. Bad weather got in the way of several big rides though. Only managed to get out to Flea Creek and Bobyon Rd.

August Race Aug 5th: 8hr Working Week Series - Canberra: A top race, my personal best for sure. Pulled up in 13th place after really pushing myself the whole time and sticking to a preset race plan of sub 40min laps. Hit a trouble spot with pain in the middle of the race, but solved it with Ibuprophin. It was just amazing to see the plan come off, no mechanicals and Al and I had a great time challenging each other to go on, here is a full write up.

Train Strength: Bought a road bike this month and have started training on it. It will take some load off my worn out MTB and the bigger gearing and constant pedalling on the roadie should help me improve my power and endurance. I've done two weeks of strength reps at Point Hut. I have been pushing some huge gears at high power levels and low cadence, and the strength improvements are really showing. Sadly though, I am now feeling "funny" in both knees, not pain, but that something is "not right". It's a warning I am sure; So I'll heed it and have backed off on strength training and do some easy high cadence recovery rides and monitor my knees closly. I hope they come good and I don't have to stop training all together... (that would be my worst nightmare at this point).

September Race Sep 2nd: The Angry Doctor Marathon. Was a great race, Al put on a cracking pace and I gave chase, I forgot to drink in the first 50km, cramped at the 60km mark, but Endura brought me back and I gave it all I had (PB pace, which was great!) until the 80km mark when two flats left me walking out, pushed my bike over the line, happy with how hard I had pushed myself, but I the walk meant I had missed my target pace of 6hrs (and Al had beat me thoroughly ;)).

Sep 9th: Bermagui 3hr. Crack-a-lackin! Went hard for this race and stayed at thresh hold for the full 3 hours (avgHR 82%). Staved off cramps, but they were hinting at an imminent arrival. Thankfully Endura got me through and I pulled up 19th out of 45. Stoked with the the result, PB 3hr placing and I just felt I really went out and hard and I felt strong, it was a great race!

Train Started some training for pairing at the Scott this month, but really, this is the first block of two (one before the Scott, one after) of thresh hold work for the Fling, which I am focused on far more than the upcoming 24's. I am still not in good enough form to make the 160kms in the 9 hour cut off, so the next few weeks is all in an effort to get some speed up for that event. On a side training note, on the road bike the other day I pulled a PB 700W @ 190rpm, I had never pedalled that fast before, let alone in top gear. The wheel speed was 99km/h, this is on a trainer, and probably no big deal to a roadie, but for me, this was just freaky to pedal that fast! It's a sign things are on the improve at the short end of my power curve I think and I eagerly await the next round of testing to see where I am at for the Scott 24hr...

October Race Oct 13th: Scott 24hr - Stromolo: Entered as pairs with Ash Turner.

Oct 27th: MONT 24hr - Majura: Entered in a casual cheese eating and wine drinking team of 6, should be a hoot! ;)

Train Build for the Fling, with the 24's in the middle.

November Race Nov 11th: Bundanoon Highland Fling (100mile/160km): I must be mad, but I've entered in the 100miler this year

Train Peak for the Fling.

November	Race	Nov 12th: Bundanoon Highland Fling (109km): Tough race, tried my hardest, hard enough I almost cramped several times toward the end. Finished sore, but happy, and results showed my laptime was 6:11 for 109km and I finished 45th (out of 274, or 16%) in my class (Veterans) and 127th (out of 638, or 19%) overall, am stoked with the result!
November	Train	Had the best intentions to train this month, but I was just really tired for the two weeks after the Fling, had full on sugar cravings too! I just couldn't get up in the morning and it wasn't like me at all. I listened to my body and let it recover (ie: I ate chocolate and slept in every morning and didn't really train at all :)). I did manage to check out a nice loop from Honey Suckle to Ororral but that was about it.
December	Train	Due to a very busy pre christmas season with work and family, my base riding has been pretty non existant, I aimed for 12 hrs/week but only managed 5 :( Got in one epic to Cottor Hut and a couple of interesting runs to Merbein and Neds Corner and that's basically all I could fit in.
January	Train	Tried to start riding to work regularly, but man, is that boring or what!?!? :) Plus the hot afternoons are killer (as we found out during an attempt to ride to Flea Creek), and fitting it in with a multi client consultancy career and it's just not working out. Decided to ditch any hard training and just stick with some basic Tuesdays and Sunday fun rides until the weather cools down. Will try and be in decent shape for the Otway, aiming to complete it, not compete it ;) One interesting development this month was Kylie's awesome Chistmas gift of a Polar Power System, which means I will get to train by power this year. It's been interesting to get to know the system and how it relates to me and I look forward to tracking my progress with it.
February	Race	Feb 8th: Otway Odyssey (100km), with 3500vm and no real lead up training, the aim was to cruise this one and soak up the views that this beautiful place has to offer, it was stunning indeed, but very very tough. Ended up 308th (out of 638, 48%).
February	Train	Did OK this month, started up a regular Friday ride with Simon on the way to CSIRO, basically get up at 5am, ride to Stromolo, lap it, ride to work, then ride to the kids swimming lessons in the afternoon, which is 4 hours on the bike. With Sundays as a 4 hour Enduro ride and Tuesday muck arounds at Majura for a couple of hours, I am keeping to my 10:00 a week off season plan without impacting my life too much. I'll try and keep it up next month :)
March	Race	No racing this month due to a lot of commitments away from home.
March	Train	Found that after stepping up my training last month, and work getting very busy, I got real tired and couldn't find the time or motivation to get into training, my body basically forced me to have a fortnight off for the first part of this month, which surprised me, I must be getting old! :) Something I did manage to pull off was cleaning Rob Roy Range, a hill I had been trying to clean for the last 3 years, so that was a highlight this month.
April	Race	Apr 15th: 8hr Working Week Series at Wingello: Had a tough time at this one, just could not eat anything and eventually bonked badly. Quit the race early, but some how managed to come 24th out of 65 (36%). Am a bit dissapointed by the outcome (but not the result). A shame I couldn't keep it together, I might have done better than in last years 8hr. I was in good form last year, so I guess at least I have held that level of fitness over the summer.
	Race	Apr 29th: Tumut 3hr. Pre declared as race against mates, Dan, Adam and I were racing each other from the outset (in fun ofcourse!), Dan and Adam roasted me on the first lap, as did Alan. I tried to keep up and even pushed hard enough up the first hills to get shortness of breath and a bit of a heart murmor! It was futile though, they we gone, so I settled into my own rythm and had a heap of fun. Before long I somehow caught Dan, and a couple of laps later, Alan, and was pushing hard to try and get a hold of Adam when on a steep climb I stood up and put everything I had into the cranks to get up a hill, when ping, the chain snapped into two. The repair stop cost me 4:50, and I was pretty angry :\| I pushed on after that (being mindful of my chain, I didn't want to break it again) and ended up finishing 23rd out of 66 (34%), one place off Adam and I smashed my placing from last year. Am totally lifted by the result! A wicked race, loads of fun on one of the best courses around and the race against mates was awesome motivation.
	Train	Poor training continued this month, I had been doing strength work in February, but these last few weeks I have dropped it and also (stupidly) stopped doing any core strength, I am sure I'll pay for that with back pain soon... As for my fitness, the testing shows results you'd expect given how much I have slacked off, my FTP has dropped off 13%. Thankfully my weight is still OK though. I have been so busy at work at home, it's been hard to get enough time on the bike, and when I do, it's not been focused. I am still uncommitted to what I'll do at the Scott, I need to commit to the Scott so I have some training motivation... I do however note I am getting in more training than in any other April for the last few years, but I was just so focused in Februrary and wish I could have kept it up. I did do a huge 190km ride to the coast, which was nice, not really training, more touring, but good for my endurance base, and had an explore of Ridge Road at Surf Beach and Penrose State Forrest .
May	Race	May 6th: Canberra 6hr Cyclgaine: This event was just awesome fun. Adam and I teamed up and it was a great combination, he ran the maps and pushed us along for the first half, then I was pushing us along for the 2nd half and running off for the checkpoints. We were pretty stoked to come 14th out of 66 (21%) overall and we came 9th in our class! My first ever top 10 finish in anything in my whole life! It was a real buzz and the 6 hours just flew by, much more fun than just hammering it around and around in circles like an MTB multi lap race :)
	Race	May 12th: Sparrow Hill 3hr: The last endurance race of the season, an opportinuty to finish on a high. It wasn't meant to be though... on the first hill I pushed my front derailuer shifter only to hear the ping of the cable snap in two. Determined not to let that get me down, I raced the next two hours with only back gears, and damn, did I have the race of my life. I held huge heart rates and pace like never before. I was flying past people calling track left, track right, I was on fire and having a ball. After two hours I had caught and passed all my mateys and was feeling great, the race leaders caught me and I was so far ahead of my usual self, I decided to pull off the track and let these guys go with a smile, bidding them a great race, the reply I got was the pssss of my front tyre going down, I guess when pulled over I rolled onto something sharp. It took forever to change the tube, my pump wouldn't work and I was just sooo angry. The change cost me 9 minutes, but I got back on and decided to see what I could make back up in the final hour. Adam and Al had gone by me while I was fixing my tyre, a lap later I caught Adam back up (he was struggling with back pain by now, the course was pretty rough) and pushed on, I was back on my decent lap times and hammering for the finish, when I must have hit one of the many rocks on the course funny, I pinch flatted the front tyre, this was the final blow for me. Devastated I just sat on the side of the course and looked at my bike as it lay there, broken. When Adam caught up to me and offered help, I just told him to keep going, I just wanted to be left alone. It's the big problem with "racing" and wanting to do well, is that when you are, and it's taken from you (3 times ;)), it's a bit shattering really. I eventually patched the tube and pedalled slowly to the finish, the last to come in. CORC didn't even record my final lap time, DNF'ing me (to add insult to injury!). I came 27th out of 83 (33%).
	Train	May training was abysmal, worst month so far. I had "the snip" which kept me off the bike for a week, then I came down with a nasty cold. So I was off the bike for a few weeks :(
June	Train	Back into training this month, starting with a bit of build before commencing my formal training program on June 25th (16 weeks out from the 24 hr races). Have found some really keen mates that are getting right into the training up and long riding thing with me, which is awesome, in previous years I've done all this alone, so it will be nice to have some company! We've been riding three times a week, a one hour cross country ride on Wednesdays and Fridays and an epic on Sundays. It's been really nice. We did The Corn Trail and Two Sticks this month.
July	Race	Jul 27th: CSIRO Black Mountain Cup. What a funny trip out. Got there early and thought I would do a warm up ride, found I had forgotten my shoes! Drove home and got them and got back just as they were lining up for the start, so much for a warm up! I went off in the first group and lead from the start... I've never (ever) done that before, it was bizarre, and I shouldn't have lead, cause I had no one to follow... missed the first turn, had to stop, turn around get back on, that left me in 3rd place after the first corner! Caught them up and took the lead again, and put on 10 hard minutes, pulled a heap of lead on them and all was going great, I even started to have illusions of ganduer, could it be I might actually win a race?!? Was out in the open and couldn't see anyone, sadly, I soon realised that was because I had taken a completely wrong turn, I could see the other guys in the distance going the other way expletive deleted :). Chased them down and passed them again. Had a laugh about my amazing navigational skills with Damian who was leading as I passed him. Coming to the 2nd last turn I did it again! Missed another turn, Damian called out from behind and and I stopped, turned around and came back, with 100m to go I wasn't gonna catch him again though. Crossed the line on his back tyre. Ended up 3rd place... wow, my first podium, haha :D (It's worth noting that is a CSIRO staff race, not a "real" MTB race ;)). Good laughs were had afterwards and a top spread of food was on, CSIRO are a great crowd of people.
July	Train	Strength: Been doing a Spinervals Big Gear Strength DVD on the stationary trainer twice a week, and cruising Black Mountain on a Friday, in an attempt to build some strength. It's been really good to get back into a formal training regime again, loving it so far. Testing after the first phase shows PB power levels for me which is a great reward for the effort, FTP is up from a previous PB of 250 to 265W and my 30sec power is PB'd at 491W. Another phase of strength to go, so looking forward to seeing if I can improve again... Trying to get in some long rides on Sundays too, building them up bigger each time. Bad weather got in the way of several big rides though. Only managed to get out to Flea Creek and Bobyon Rd.
August	Race	Aug 5th: 8hr Working Week Series - Canberra: A top race, my personal best for sure. Pulled up in 13th place after really pushing myself the whole time and sticking to a preset race plan of sub 40min laps. Hit a trouble spot with pain in the middle of the race, but solved it with Ibuprophin. It was just amazing to see the plan come off, no mechanicals and Al and I had a great time challenging each other to go on, here is a full write up.
August	Train	Strength: Bought a road bike this month and have started training on it. It will take some load off my worn out MTB and the bigger gearing and constant pedalling on the roadie should help me improve my power and endurance. I've done two weeks of strength reps at Point Hut. I have been pushing some huge gears at high power levels and low cadence, and the strength improvements are really showing. Sadly though, I am now feeling "funny" in both knees, not pain, but that something is "not right". It's a warning I am sure; So I'll heed it and have backed off on strength training and do some easy high cadence recovery rides and monitor my knees closly. I hope they come good and I don't have to stop training all together... (that would be my worst nightmare at this point).
September	Race	Sep 2nd: The Angry Doctor Marathon. Was a great race, Al put on a cracking pace and I gave chase, I forgot to drink in the first 50km, cramped at the 60km mark, but Endura brought me back and I gave it all I had (PB pace, which was great!) until the 80km mark when two flats left me walking out, pushed my bike over the line, happy with how hard I had pushed myself, but I the walk meant I had missed my target pace of 6hrs (and Al had beat me thoroughly ;)).
	Race	Sep 9th: Bermagui 3hr. Crack-a-lackin! Went hard for this race and stayed at thresh hold for the full 3 hours (avgHR 82%). Staved off cramps, but they were hinting at an imminent arrival. Thankfully Endura got me through and I pulled up 19th out of 45. Stoked with the the result, PB 3hr placing and I just felt I really went out and hard and I felt strong, it was a great race!
	Train	Started some training for pairing at the Scott this month, but really, this is the first block of two (one before the Scott, one after) of thresh hold work for the Fling, which I am focused on far more than the upcoming 24's. I am still not in good enough form to make the 160kms in the 9 hour cut off, so the next few weeks is all in an effort to get some speed up for that event. On a side training note, on the road bike the other day I pulled a PB 700W @ 190rpm, I had never pedalled that fast before, let alone in top gear. The wheel speed was 99km/h, this is on a trainer, and probably no big deal to a roadie, but for me, this was just freaky to pedal that fast! It's a sign things are on the improve at the short end of my power curve I think and I eagerly await the next round of testing to see where I am at for the Scott 24hr...
October	Race	Oct 13th: Scott 24hr - Stromolo: Entered as pairs with Ash Turner.
	Race	Oct 27th: MONT 24hr - Majura: Entered in a casual cheese eating and wine drinking team of 6, should be a hoot! ;)
	Train	Build for the Fling, with the 24's in the middle.
November	Race	Nov 11th: Bundanoon Highland Fling (100mile/160km): I must be mad, but I've entered in the 100miler this year
November	Train	Peak for the Fling.