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19/01/12

Since my previous update, a lot has been happening. After my result at the 12he road championship everything seemed to be on track, that was until a little accident at work. I was with some students prepairing for some athletics training, when a high jump pole fell and sliced into finger. For some reason this pole didn't have the end blocks on to giving it a nice Sharp edge. The result of the cut was it sliced through both nerves and tendons along with one of the arteries that supplies my left index finger. It's been 5 weeks since the injury and I get my cast off on Monday. Then it'll be another 2 months of physical therapy. I'll be back running next week followed by some wind trainer work in the coming weeks. I'll give you an update of my goals for the year once I have sat down and got some base fitness back.

WARNING – view the photos on an empty stomach!

15/11/11

Since the time I wrote about my progress, things were looking up. I was getting fitter and stronger and looking forward to the challenges at hand. In September, I was in the US for a friends wedding. I took the opportunity to run as much as I could in the Mid West heat. It was go rather well. When I was at the National Coast Guard Academy for my fiancées dads reunion, there was a Home Coming Fun Run. It was a lap around the Academy. It was only a couple of miles long, but it had a few hills in it to mix it up a little. Knowing that my running was coming along and not too far from me be at my fittest, I set out at the start, running at a solid pace. I found myself in the lead group, running off the shoulder of one of the taller guys in the bunch. We managed to gap the rest of the group on one of the descents, and managed to build a good gap. While we were running along, I tried some chit chat with my American competitor, but he didn’t seem to want to talk. Not too sure why? As the end nearer, we began the final ascent to the finish. I was feeling strong and was pulling away on the hill. Throughout the run though, I was contemplating what I might do if it came down to this? I decided to simply back it off up the hill and run off his shoulder to the finish giving him the win. After all, it was his Home Coming and to add to that, he got to brag to family and friends later on about how he beat this Aussie.

Since returning from this trip, or holiday, training began to slow down a little as I geared up for XTERRA. Before the trip for XTERRA was to happen though, I entered in the SCOTT 24hr MTB race in a team of as way of having a last hooray and hone in on the technical bike skills that I missed out on due to 3 weeks absence in the Mid West. This was being treated as a way for me to hopefully go through the motions, not exert myself too hard, but just try a few different things while on descents, cornering and even some of the climbs. Each lap, I tried something new. With my lap times being consistent, I was happy and felt that I now had a few tricks up my sleeve for XTERRA. As a result, we didn’t fair in the results, but it was a great weekend to be riding around with mates.

The week following the 24hr, was a bit of a shocker. While I was out for a light ride one morning , a P plate driver decided it would be a great idea to see how close they could get to me as they passed. Too close!!! As a result, I wound up in the gutter, with a dislocated shoulder and a cloud of dust left behind as they sped off. Not knowing what had happened or who they were, I managed to get back on the bike, ride home and seek out a bit of help. As a result of this, I didn’t go over to Hawaii because of the inability to rotate my arm without significant pain. I obviously wasn’t happy with this, however it was a bit of good luck really. I know couldn’t swim or run without pain, so I all I did was ride my bike.

The NSW 12hr Road Championships was on not too long after my little mishap. So I began to focus my thoughts toward this. After having a shocker last year and melting down only 6 hours into the event, I approached this one with a little more caution. I had a plan that I would ride roughly 100km of the 5km circuit, pull off take the time to refuel and eat, then head back out and do it all again. At first I was a little worried as I was the only solo rider of the lead pack who was doing this and I was a little worried that I hadn’t really used my best judgement. And then the 7 hour mark hit, like last year there were solo riders dropping off everywhere. The sun was out, it was over 30 degrees in the shade and we had shade of the course. My plan began to take shape as I had taken the time to refuel in transition rather than have a feeder come out supply me with drinks. It also allowed my to head out for a lap at my own pace, spin my legs out and then get onto the back of the main group. As the night wore on, the kilometres ticked by quickly. At the end of the day, I had completed over 400km for the day and managed to come across the line in 5th place. A result that was ecstatic about due to my previous let downs and my shoulder didn’t give me too much grief over the coarse of the day which was fantastic.

I now don’t have any races planned as XTERRA was going to be my major event of the year, but with the 12hr race, I think that I might try to stay on the bike for a little longer and concentrate on that as my shoulder mends. Hopefully this will be a new chapter for me and that the P plate driver stays a long way away.

22/08/11
After such a long time of training and work I was able to finally do a diary entry.

With everything so flat out, winter, and dark mornings, my training has been pressing well. Until recently, I have been concentrating a lot on my running. At first, I was averaging low kms just to keep the legs rolling around and not loose too much in regard to my form. Then, as the weather turned a little sour, and the effort involved with riding on the wind trainer, I opted to know that I was going to get wet, and get out and run in the rain. At first, this was a little difficult, how ever, that soon wore off and it became more of a novelty.

With my running not being of as a high quality as previous years, I managed to put in a few good weeks of running clocking up over 40kms a week and keeping my times sub 4min pace regularly and over hilly ground. As the weather has begun to shine a little of late, I have managed to get back on the bike and doing enough for the lead up to October.

Not having competed in an endurance MTB event in a while, I put my name down for the Central Coast 6hr event. With my lack of riding long distances being of concern, I had the thought of trying to stay on the bike for the entirety of the event. Staring the race on a nice winter morning, the trusty steed and I were ready to tackle the coarse. Not having ridden the coarse in over 4 years, I had a vague memory of what was ahead. As I started, I was trying to keep reserves in the tank and not get too carried away with what was happening up front. As I progressed through the first lap, I found that I was struggling to find clean lines and was breaking unnecessarily. Toward the end of the lap I was coming 7th and was building confidence with every pedal stroke. I managed to pull back 1 place on the lap putting me into 6th and I found that I was becoming a little more graceful through corners and began to find smoother lines. I was sitting in 6th for a few more laps as I was too worried about what was happening up front. I had the plan of being smooth and consistent through the down hills and flats, and recover on the long climb mid way through the lap. I found this was my saviour. As on the 5th lap (about 4.5hours into the race), when I was thinking that at the end I would stop and have a rest and a stretch for 10minutes, I passed 2 competitors. Now coming fifth and feeling rejuvenated knowing that I was reeling people in. As the 6th lap came around, I managed to pick up another place. Now with the legs feeling a little muddy, I was beginning to feel that maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew. The maths that I was doing in my head soon added up and a smile returned to my face, knowing that I only had 2 laps left, that was at least some elation that I could bring to thoughts. In the next 2 laps, I managed to peg back two more people resulting in me coming 2nd overall and 1st in Elite Men. I was ecstatic with my result, as I hadn't ridden over 2 hours for a long
time.

During the event, I was wearing my LineBreak long sleeve compression top. It definately helped as my arms didn't tire, I was able to keep going with out the issue of overheating, and the sheer comfort of it, was something else that I didnt have to worry about.

I am now going full noise, trying to get ready for October. Everything is tracking well and I hope to use some of the form shown during the 6hr toward some more racing and training sessions that lie ahead.