Nowra Olympic Distance Triathlon

Another great weekend away racing. This time it was down at Nowra for the opening of the National Series. I did this race last year and enjoyed it and knew it would be good fun again. I was also keen to have a bit of race before heading overseas for work for 4 weeks. I have been training fairly consistently, but not doing very much running. My plan was to have a strong swim and bike and not worry too much about the run.

The swim is in the Nowra river, and is a straight 750m upstream, turn and 750m back. I concentrated on not slacking, long reach with my arms and good kick. After about 500m I got on the feet of someone. I tried to pass her a few times but it did not happen so I figured it must be a good pace and I stayed there. I came out of the water in 23.XX and I was happy with that ( it was prob a bit short).

The bike course was an out and back, steady gradual climb to 20k, then mostly down again n the way back. I got down on my bars and concentrated on pushing fairly hard. After a few kilometres I hooked up with another woman, no 44. We then played cat-and-mouse for the whole bike. This could have been annoying but it was actually really good as it made me work harder and reminded me that it was a race.

Before the race the TA officials had demonstrated how to pass correctly and emphasised that you must stay in the draft of the bike in front as you approach and only move out to pass when you are just behind them, so you are not blocking. I have never done this before, tending instead to sit out to the right when I pass, so I make sure I don't look as though I am drafting. But this time I followed the rules exactly and realised the benefits of doing this - you get a slingshot effect that is quite awesome.

I got off the bike in about 1.15 and I was pleased with that. I felt that I had pushed fairly hard and done my best. I was "curious" to see how the run would go. No 44 was just ahead of me going out of transition and I reached her as we crossed the bridge over the river a the start of the run. We said hello and she said she was trying to qualify for Vancouver Worlds next year. I passed her fairly easily, but then about 500 m later on the biggest hill on the course, she passed me. I thought "maybe I should try and stay with her", but the truth is, mentally I can be weak sometimes and this was one time when I was. I let myself just keep plodding along. My aim from there was to keep a positive attitude, concentrate on my form and not go too slow. The run course has two loops out and back where can see other runners and so I tried to hold or decrease the gap to other runners. When there are only 2k to go its all downhill, so from there I tried to really pick it up and finish strong. In the end my run split was 48:XX which is not great, but not terrible. But I think the run course might be a little short. (I was not wearing my GPS).

I crossed the line in 2:28:XX and was happy with that. Its a minute slower than my Olympic distance PB, but 4 minutes faster than I did this race last year (although the bike course was different). I was lucky to get 3rd in my new age-group of 30-34. If I had still been in 25-29 I would have been about 9th I think.

It was really great to get the tri season started with a race, and a good idea of where I am up to with my training (still lots of room for improvment). Now I go overseas for 4 weeks so the plan is work on my running and hope that magically I don't lose too much on the bike.

Scott 24hr Mtb race - Stromlo Forest Park

This was my 4th year in the Scott (the race formally known as the Mont). The first 2 years I was in a mixed 6, last year an all-female 4 and this year an all-female 3. The previous years have been held at Kowen forest and this year was the first time at Stromlo using all the new trails built by CORC. I have enjoyed every year but this year surpassed the others by miles, I absolutely loved it. I really enjoyed the new course and 3 was a perfect size team, offering plenty of riding but not enough to be punishing. Plus my 2 team mates were awesome.

The new course is based on a "hourglass" with two separate laps = red lap and blue lap. Each team or solo rider must ride 1 lap of each in order for the 24hrs. Its up to you whether you do single laps, double laps, or any other combination as long as go redblueredblueredblue etc.

The red lap was about 11k and notable for the fact that it climbs basically to the top of Mt Stromlo through a series of switchbacks, then does a really fun, fast and flowing traverse of the mountainside then returns to transition down a moderately steep section. The blue lap was about 14k, is more rolling, with more firetrail and slightly more technical sections.

Red was my favourite but I also enjoyed the blue. But mostly I loved the fact that there was two different laps, it made it much more interesting. Also because each lap was shorter than at Kowen you could go harder, and not worry too much about food, drinks and lights. So the course was fantastic.


I was riding the first lap which is done Le-Mans style - ie. you run to your bike and then jump on. The run was very short this year, only about 300m. I started at the very back, which in hindsight was not ideal because it meant I got stuck behind almost every rider on the course. Next year I would go for closer to the middle of the pack. Anyway, the first lap (red) was very slow and congested until the top of the climb, then spaced out a bit. Although there is very little firetrail, its easy to pass as the singletrack is quite wide. The first lap seemed to be over too quickly as I was having so much fun.

We had decided to ride mostly single laps and each do a double lap at night to give some opportunity for a longer sleep or rest. This worked out perfect for us, being a team of 3 meant each person got to ride alternate red-blue laps each time. The 3 of us were similar in times for each lap, averaging around 50-55 minutes in the day.

With less than 2 hours between each lap, my routine was to finish a lap, eat and drink something, change into normal clothes, get my bike ready for the next lap, each and drink some more, relax and chat to everyone in camp for about an hour, get changed back into bike gear and go down to transition for the next lap.

My first night lap was a disaster. Well, it was going great for the first 10k but then my batteries failed and I had no lights. This has always been my worst fear in this race but its never happened before. (I think my batteries are just getting old and crapped-out, and I had not realised that they no longer last more than half an hour because that is the longest I usually ride in the dark when I am commuting.) Anyway, I limped home, trying to follow other riders and generally just being lucky that I didn't stack. I was very glad to make it back into camp.


My second night lap was scheduled to be the double and go from about 11 pm-1 am. Unfortunately it became apparent that none of my batteries, including all the spares I had borrowed from a friend, were up to the task, so I had to rely on a headtorch for most of the time and save my highbeam helmet light for the tricky sections when I really needed it. I had a few small falls and my confidence was not great, but I managed to get through red and most of the blue, but then I got a flat tyre. To cut a very long story short it took me more than 30 minutes to change - cold, tired, dark and my brand new spare had not one but two holes in it that had to be repaired. This time I was really really glad to get back to transition.

After that the other two girls did their double laps so I had enough time to have a faaaantastic hot shower, get into my sleeping bag and sleep for about 1 hour. And by the time I had to ride again it was light!! I have never appreciated the simple fact of being able to see quite as much as I did on that lap.

By time 11am rolled around, we had done 24 laps total, 8 laps (4 red and 4 blue) each. After carefully checking in the results tent that we had a large margin on the only other team in our category, I decided not to go out again for a final lap - the symmetry was too perfect to disturb and yes, I was tired.

We got some really good prizes, a plaque, 2 jerseys, shorts, a light and sport drink mix. All in all it surpassed my expectations of a wonderful weekend. I love mountain biking, its so much fun. One day I hope I get a bit better at it. This year my fitness is definitely better, but my skills are still lacking, especially on the descents. Next year I think a team of 3 again, it was perfect for me. And I have to get much much better lights.




PS. The amazing photos are from sportograf. I can't get over how good how they. Their business model is one flat fee for digital copies of all the photos of you. For this event the cost was $35 and there were over 20 pictures of me. This is SOOO much better value than stupid Triathlon Photos who charge $30 for 1 photo print and won't give you digital versions unless you pay more than $150. I love sportograf!!!!!

Race Report - The Angry Doctor 100k mountain bike

[This post has taken me ages because I have been trying to get on top of the technology to put in lovely graphs and maps and photos ... I am learning]

I had been planning to do this event for months, but I didn't manage to do much specific training for it. I was not too worried as I knew I could do it, but I was not sure how to pace myself or how much exactly it would hurt.

The race was part of a lovely weekend down at the South Coast. I rented a house at Broulee on the headland and it was so nice. Tom and I stayed there on Friday night and Bronwyn, Lina and John joined us on Saturday. We had a fantastic feast for dinner and after packing ridiculous amounts of food and fiddling with our bikes we had a pretty early night.

The start was at 7AM in Mogo and we 4 started together right at the back of the bunch. It was a cold morning and I had on arm warmers and full leggings over my knicks. The first 5 or so k were on bitumen and it was really fun whizzing along on the road in a big peloton of mtbs. Soon we got to the dirt and the comical sight of people walking on the first hill! I had some "mechanical" problems to start with, which turned out to be just the noise of my very solid home-made powerbars rattling against my bike in my bento box. Once I figured out this mystery problem I had been separated from the others and settled in to ride my own steady pace for the day.

I felt really good in the first 30 kilometres. The hills were easy and my newly fitted disc brakes felt great. There was some really lovely singletrack and fun bits. At about 35k I met up with Libby and we rode together chatting which was nice. Libby was putting in a good pace on the fire-trail and could go much faster than me especially on the descents, and then I took the lead on the single track. We reached the 50k half way point back in Mogo in about 3hours 10 mins and I was pleased with that. We both stopped and had a quick toilet and food break. I had not drunk much of the water in my CamelBak which I had should have worried about and I also did not bother to fill it up - stupid!

As we rode away I said to Libby that it was really nice to ride together but she should not wait for me, and so that was the last I saw of her. Shortly after that I stopped to make a phone call and also to SMS Tom. This either amused or concerned those around me.

At about 60k one of the marshalls said: "You are the 7th girl." For a moment I wished she had not said that because I felt pressure to keep up my pace. But then I figured that was stupid - for all I knew there were only 7 girls in the race and I was last, so it hardly mattered.

Shortly after passing the 75k aid station and not stopping I ran out of water (stupid!) and started feeling pretty flat. I told myself I would be okay with the half bidon of sports drink I had left, but that was delusional - I would have been cactus. Very fortunately I remembered there was another aid station at 8ok. I got there at 1pm (6 hours riding) and I filled up my CamelBak and guzzled a Lucosade, fruitbread and some lollies. After that I felt heaps better and sent Tom another SMS saying I was feeling good and would probably be another 1.5 hours to the finish.

Just past the 85k marker I suddenly got a painful cramp along the inside of my right thigh. A few seconds later my left leg cramped up too. Uh-oh. Riding with cramping legs was pretty tricky. Specifically pedalling was a problem. At one point I fell off my bike and could not get up and another time I went to throw my leg over and it seized up and I kicked a tree. Fortunately at 89k there was a really sweet single track section that flowed downhill so I did not have to pedal and it put a big smile on my face. It was so fun I was almost tempted to ride it again.

Once I was inside of 10k to go I didn't worry too much about the pain and just rode as fast as I could without cramping, which was extremely slow. It was a good feeling to return to the Mogo oval and cruise across the finish line. I finished in 7 hours 20 mins. The Garmin said it was 96k which was slightly disappointing, but close enough. I was 7th women out of about 20. The fastest guy finished in 4 hours 20 mins - just amazing.

Bronwyn and Lina finished with big smiles - yay! And Libby got 2nd in the Open women category and 4th overall - nice. I scored a lucky prize of a new Netti jersey which I earned by having worn no less than 5 separate items of Netti gear on the day (knicks, longs, jersey, armwarmers and headband) - not on purpose either. Afterwards Bronwyn drove me back to Canberra and I was so tired and hungry I got takeaway for dinner and just crashed into bed. I was pretty tired and sore for most of the week after.

I really enjoyed this event and can't wait to do another 100k mtb. I think next time I could go faster. My main limiter is my skills rather than fitness. I am embarrassingly slow on the descents. I was also STUPID about my hydration and probably did not have enough salt either, hence the cramping. I am not sure why I thought I did not really have to worry about it, as its a long event. Next time I will pay more attention to that.

Good ol tired legs

It never ceases to amaze me how the body adapts and changes. I feel quite buggered after this week, which has been bigger than my usual of late, but not much compared to an IM training week. I have ridden the mtb to work each day, which is 10k each way, total of 100k. The plan to "go hard" started out well on Monday but then slowly petered out and by today I was definitely cruising. Ah well. I also did 45k road rides on Tues and Thurs, both enjoyable, and ran 11k on Wed and 14k today, both easy. This was supposed to be my week to get back in the pool but I got a nasty ear infection in Darwin, and have been on antibiotics, so that'll wait till next week.

My sis and bro-out-law are coming up tonight for the C2S on Sunday. I have a red bib that I got on the strength of my SHM Half time, but I am not sure how I'll go. I have been running abit, but my right leg has been sore for a few weeks now. I don't think its anything serious, but it does hurt and I just "feel" like I have no speed at the moment. But it should be a fun day anyway. I will wear my CR cap and hopefully get some cheers and meet new people. Tom will do a good time I think, his running is going great guns at the moment. :)

Now I am starting to really look forward to the Angry Doctor and a weekend at the coast. 3 weeks to go now. Next weekend I am heading down to Canberra to do some more last minute mtb training.

Mtb bootcamp

So, many months ago I signed up for the AROC Angry Doctor 100km Mtb Endurance ride at Mogo. Now suddenly its 4 weeks away and I have done very very very little training. Eeek. So I have enrolled myself in my own personal bootcamp. This just involves doing as much mtb on the weekends as I can, getting in plenty of ks on the road bike during the week, trying to also keep up my fitness with running, and riding my mtb to work each day with have a rule that I have to go as hard as I can (safely) on the hills there and back.

I kicked things off on the weekend. On Saturday I did two laps of the single track at Manly Dam. Its great riding there and I really enjoyed bumping and rolling around by myself. This was only 20k, but has some decent technical sections, some of which I rode! ;) On Sunday I drove to Sutherland then rode from there to Waterfall via Lady Carrington Drive and back. This was only about 30k but it had two decent climbs, albeit on the road. But the important thing is that I was out there riding, rather staying home whinging that its too hard to mtb in Sydney, I have no-one to ride with and I am never going to be ready in time.

Bay City Roller

This seems like a good name for my long run today which involved a lap of the Bay and then in to the city and back, with some hills along the way. After a few weeks of disappointing runs and feeling like I am getting nowhere, today I felt great and REALLY enjoyed my run. :) I completed 27k in 2:34 and my average speed was 5:41. I felt like I kept a good comfortable steady pace the whole way. Although I enjoy running with Tom, it was nice to run alone and go completely at my own pace, no pressure and no one to feel grumpy towards when its hurting.
I am still undecided about doing the Sydney marathon or half marathon, but am thinking I would really like to do Mt Wilson to Mt Bilpin. We are off tomorrow for 2 weeks holiday in Darwin (yippee), so the plan is to see how everything is going when we get back. We will try to run up there, but between the weather and some overnight hikes we may not manage many ks.

Woodford to Glenbrook 25K 8 July 2007

1512 Mr Thomas Roberts 30-39 2:10:41 33
1380 Ms Zoe Cameron 30-39 2:22:17 9