Race report

Interesting two days to say the least! First thing worth mentioning was that the had to change the course for safety reasons. Over here, especially around the S Alps, the weather can turn on its head in a trice. Well, it did and they had to cancel the planned river stage due to gale winds and heavy rain. The rain didn't make too much difference to the river but the gorge section which is rather remote for about 30km would have been a nightmare with strong winds funneled into a 20 metre gap.

So, our race comprised of a 3km run off beach, 55km cycle, 31km mtn run on first day as planned then 145km cycle, 20km paddle, 10km ride.

Well, day one came and I was there with gun. With the excitement and all I started a bit fast and completed the 3km run in about 12mins. Was fairly comfortable at this pace though. What I did forget was that if I got there in that time I'd have to cycle with the big boys. I couldn't. Spent first 20km either cycling flat out trying to get on back of group or cycling by myself waiting for the next. Luckily, after about 25km my training partner's group caught me with him in it and we cycled together until the run transition. Unfortunately, I was cramping by the time I got off the bike due to my stupidity of cycling far too hard for first 25km. The run involves a lot fo river crossings (about 25 I think) and for the first 8 or 9 my quads and hamstrings were cramping. Managed to settle and enjoyed the first couple of hours. It really is a beautiful place to run- clear water, steep gorge, not too steep. It's a very difficult run though with very little good surface (lots of running on large stones and boulders) and took me an age to get to the top (about 3:25). I dawdled to the top in a training session in about 2:55 so not sure why I was so slow. The descent is quite technical and steep in places. Reached the end in 5:25 about 45mins slower than I hoped.

Weather on that first day was brilliant, a bit warm but still no wind. We had an announcement on the evening that the weather was to change and the paddle was to be cancelled. The problem with that was that it was to be replaced by a 135km cycle ride (I measured it at 145km). Having only trained for 70km ride this was to be a bit daunting.

We started the ride in lashing down rain and strong tail winds dressed for winter riding (we were told that it could be near freezing on the tops of the hills next to the start of the ski resorts). Started fairly slowly and apart from some rather hairy descents with side winds everything was ok. Didn't do anything silly this time and even caught up with my training partner again and we rode whole way together. Worked with a few groups and hit the 2/3rds transition still feeling ok. After that we had the 55km ride into Christchurch. Formed a group of about 6-8 people and I took control of the group as was sick of poor organisation and rogue riders in other groups. Luckily, everyone played the game and we rode at about 32kmh (21mph) all the way back.

The paddle was on a very tame and flat 20km of river Avon in Christchurch then the final rather windy push back down to the beach on east coast. Total time about 15:45.

Pretty tired at end as really hadn't got training right (especially run training) but pleased that managed a much longer ride than I had done for years (perhaps ever) and completed it well. The cancellation of the large kayak section is still disappointing but means that I have to go back next year!

I'm useless with training diaries

Well it's official. I can't keep a training diary going in any medium.

I have been training since my last post here in November. My training hasn't been the best although have continued to train most of the time at about 4 days a week with some sessions backtoback e.g. bike>run. I lost a bit of interest around the Nov/Dec time. Mainly just a lack of motivation. December/early Jan itself wasn't great as this is the time lots of people do time on the course but this year it was flooded a lot of the time and so we had to do other sessions which were inevitably shorter.

Did a couple of pretty good sessions worth mentioning though. One was with my mate Marty when we did a 30km bike ride followed by a 20km run (which had about 800m of climbing in it). Was knackered at end of that one!

Had a full river trip on the course (about 70km) which was knackering to say the least. far too far for me! Still, the water was quite high, the rapids bigger than normal and the sun shone so quite a lot of fun.

Had a run over the mtn course. This is a very tiring 31km run! Lots of river crossings (about 25 I reckon), lots of areas where you couldn't run even if you tried to and a hard descent IMO. Even the top guys only manage 6min km pace and that's flying down the descents (literally leaping in sections). we were slow that day ( about 10min km pace i.e. about 4:45) but hope to get below about 4:35 on the day (there is a 3km flat section to add on that we didn't do in training as it's on private land).

Had a session which had us doing 13km kayak on the course followed by the 67km cycle to the finish line (I skipped last 3km as I past our house!). I was slow on kayak but managed about 31-32kph average on eth bike (about 20mph) working with Marty. Pretty happy with that pace as cycling is not a forte of mine. The lads in front set off at 40kph which was a bit hot for me!

Any way, the race is this Fri/Sat. Haven't trained (apart from a couple of sessions) for about 2.5 weeks as just felt really low and knackered. Hopefully rested now and even if I am not in great form (I'm not!) I am at least in teh Vets section and all my training buddies are in the open class as they are 10+yrs younger. I'll play the age card!

Weather doesn't look great for the event (rain and cold winds at times), the river is very low (slow and broken boat potential) but the gun goes off at 7:00a.m and I'll be there!!

Training - Sunday 1st Nov - Sat 7th Nov 09

Sunday - Nothing. Very tired from yesterday so had family day

Monday - Kayak. 14km on Avon. Lengthened paddle to 208cm to create a bit more resistance. Paddled against the tide for 7km and against quite strong wind in places. Total time was 1:28. The 10km (to 4th Bridge and back, broken up by the extra 4km to estuary bridge and back) was in about 59:30 which at about 75% effort was very pleased with.  

Tuesday - Nothing. Felt quite tired today although it was my legs more than torso. Must be using leg push properly in kayak

Wednesday - Cycling. Mostly short bays but carried on the climb up Summit Rd towards Gebbies for 1-2km. Pretty steady mostly. NW blowing so no fast stuff on flat

Ran fairly quickly for 20mins on road (flat) which was probably about 4.5km to pick car up from garage. Legs not responding to speed which is no surprise as have not been on road since June in UK.

Thursday -

Friday - 

Saturday - 

Training - Sunday 25th Oct - Sat 31st Oct 09

Rather poor week again

Sunday - Family day

Monday - Kayaked on river 14km from Woodstock to Gorge Bridge. I was slow and still rather unsteady in boat. God to be on river again though

Tuesday - Nothing

Wednesday - Cycled 1:25 steady on turbo trainer then immediately ran for 50 mins (twice round cave route) which included about 300m of climbing. Pretty slow running but felt quite good

Thursday - Nothing . Rather lazy really but had a lot to do before Saturday's paddle

Friday - Day with Maggie

Saturday - Waimak trip from Mt White bridge to Woodstock. About 53km (??). This was our grade 2 assessment and from paddling point of view went quite well altthough I was very tired for the last couple of hours and really have to work on endurance from now until Feb. 

Just realised ...

.... since I wrote the Commitments and Expectations post my training has gone to pot! Shouldn't tempt fate should I?!!

Training - Sunday 3rd Oct - Sat 24th Oct 09

A really broken 3 weeks due to a number of things that have meant I had to stay around the house. I'll try and catch up better when I have more time but a quick resume of what I've done that I can remember(!). Running improving, technique in kayaking improving but not really increased fitness, cycling going backwards as took too much time off (weather been poor but have had opportunities but haven't taken them)

Running: 

- 1 x 2:30 run in hills around Godley Head with Marty. Foul weather but good run.

- 1 x 1:25 run in hills around Crater rim and dropped into Lyttleton. Foul weather again. Ran slowly

- 2 x speed sessions. The first running 5 x 400m (est) on beach. The second was following a hilly 20 min run and did a 400m, 400m, 800m, 400m session in park. Ran the 400s off about 1:30 and the 800 off about 3:03. 

- 1 x 20km race in Port Hills. Very hilly. Came 3rd in Masters age group with time of 1:56 

Kayaking: 

- Session in WW boats on Hurunui. Great fun!

- 45 paddle on estuary practising balance and smooth paddling in mid sized chop and winds. Very pleased with this session

- 3 or 4 sessions on the Avon including one 20km paddle which I found hard. Paddled first 10km couple of mins too fast (62mins). Suffered on the 3rd 5km especially as still against the current

Cycling: Very little. on 24th did Long Bays with John Mc and couple of other guys. Had terrib;e ride. Felt tired in legs (breathing ok) way before I even got to Gebbies Pass so the 25ishkm home over the hills was rather slow and painful! Other than that I can only remember 1 ride round short bays. Did this in 2nd best time I've done but very tired.

Training - Sunday 28th Sept - Sat 3rd Oct 09

Very average week. Should be doing a lot more by this stage

Sunday - Mags on call so nothing

Monday - ?

Tuesday - Short run on beach with 5*400m at 90% intervals

Wednesday - Faster 10km kayak (32mins out and 32mins back - Fitzgerald bridge). Felt ok and not really pushing pace

Thursday - Steady 10km kayak on Avon with Simon

Friday - Paddled for hour on estuary. Flat as pancake for half an hour then NW wind picked up incredibly fast and the paddle back was in quite big chop and gusts. Balance getting better. Not sure I could have handled the chop if I'd had to cross it a rt angles though!

Saturday - Family day so nothing