Keeping it Moving in October

With most of the hard work already done, October was more about finessing than hard training.

Elaine and I tapered into the Duathlon World Champs at Duathlon (see report here). We then had 4 days recovery before heading to Bright for a club training camp. The theory was that we would not need a lot of recovery after a Sprint Duathlon and the training camp in the mountains would give us that extra touch we needed for the Mandurah 70.3

Unfortunately pretty much everybody who raced in Adelaide pulled up very sore. Lets you know that everyone really gave it all they had.  Clint and I were coaches for the camp, Elaine was the only other competitor from Adelaide who was attending the camp.

The first day went well and I scored a PB (by 47 seconds) on the climb up Buffalo. What's more I've never felt so strong over the last 4km of the climb. I'm usually cramping quite badly at this stage and doing the last section with only one leg. But this time that was almost my fastest section.

After skipping Buffalo, Elaine joined the ride on the second day. My knee was feeling terrible, punishment for riding so hard up Buffalo. Each time we stopped I massaged the tendons around the knee and things slowly loosened up. Elaine found herself struggling a little bit and we decided she should turn back after climbing up the Rosewhite hill. It would still be a 100+km ride for her (with a significant hill), but would avoid the harder climb of Tawonga Gap (made harder because it is near the end of the climb). Up Tawonga Gap I achieved another PB, this time by 87 seconds. So I was very happy with my cycling form.

The next day was a climb up Mt Hotham. A brutal climb, but I was very much looking forward to having a go at breaking another PB. Unfortunately when I woke up my knees were completely locked up. Throughout the morning I tried to free them up, but to no avail. Elaine also woke up with a sore back. So we decided to skip Hotham and start the long journey home a bit earlier than previous years.

The training hours were a bit down on previous months, but that is because most of the hard work was already done.

5 Oct - 11 Oct  (11h53m)

  3 swims - 10.2km (longest 3.9)

  3 rides - 179km (longest 96)

  3 runs -  33km (longest 13)

12 Oct - 18 Oct  (5h32m) - Adelaide race week

  2 swims - 5.3km (longest 3.3)

  3 rides -70km  (longest 35)

  3 runs - 21km (longest 10)

19 Oct - 25 Oct  (12h14m) - recovery & Bright Camp

  3 swims - 10.1km (longest 3.5)

  2 rides - 190km (longest 117)

  2 runs - 14km (longest 9)

26 Oct - 1 Nov (8h18m)

  3 swims - 8.8km (longest 3.1)

  2 rides - 90km (longest 56)

  4 runs - 32km (longest 11)