In Full Swing in July

Training was now generally following the plan below (other than recovery every 4th week).

Monday
  PM - 60 min WattBike in Altitude Chamber @ Bodyology
Tuesday
  AM - 75 min Swim Squad
  Noon - 60 min Easy Pace Run
Wednesday
  AM - 2 hour hard ride
  PM - 75 min Swim Squad
Thursday
  AM - 60 min Treadmill in Altitude Chamber @ Bodyology
  PM - 45 min Run Technique Session
Friday
  AM - 75 min Swim Squad
Saturday
  AM - 4 to 5 hour long run
Sunday
  PM - 90 min to 2 hour long run

Nothing ever goes completely to plan. But in general I was following the program pretty close.

Originally Tuesday's run was supposed to contain threshold intervals, but I found the double run on Thursday, long run on Sunday and hard bike on Mon & Wed was too much to combine with a hard run on Tuesday. So Tuesday just became an easy run - often 2 laps of the Tan so at least it contained a steep hill twice.

In general this is the most intensity I can ever remember doing. Getting back from overseas on 23rd April (after a 3 month break from training) with the 70.3 Worlds on 4th September was simply too short to do a full length program with a big base. Instead I designed a much shorter program that is a little light on distance and duration, but heavier than usual on intensity. Over 12 years of training (more or less non-stop) should account for a fair bit of base.

Hoka One One Trail Run - Plenty Gorge

This series was previously called the Salomon Trail Runs, but Hoka One One have obviously taken over the naming rights. Otherwise everything else is still the same, still being run by the folks from Rapid Ascent. Although I did notice that the numbers were down a little, especially in the Long Distance. In previous years the Long Distance race sold out at every event, now it looked like it had the least numbers of any event.

This was the 4th year Elaine and I were doing the Trail Series. First year we raced Short Course, second year Medium Course and last year the Long Course. I found it took too long to recover from the Long Course races and Elaine is not really training this year (taking a season off from Triathlon), so the Medium Course looked the wiser option.

Plenty is Elaine's favourite course, mainly because of the river crossings. Medium Course only have 2 crossings (Long Course has 4). Days before the race we learnt that the Medium Course now only has one river crossing (Elaine was devastated). Part of the course is on a Mountain Bike track and apparently the mountain bikers had got together and placed a long plank across the river (ie. a bridge). Not only was there now only one river crossing, but the makeshift bridge was across the deeper part of the river (again Elaine's favourite). The good aspect of this bridge was that it removed the bottleneck that always occurred at this crossing, meaning I didn't have to push the pace in the first few kilometres to beat the crowd to the river.

We had a good turnout at the race - Steph M, Shaune & Tania racing the Short Course, Renee, Steph G, Sarah, Elaine and myself doing the Medium and Sonia and Lee racing the Long. It was Steph M's first trail run and she was wearing normal runners. After a lot of encouragement we finally convinced her to make use of the free trial Hoka One One runners. Plenty is a course where proper trail runners make a big difference.

Under 10 degrees celsius, it was still much warmer than the below zero temperatures of last year. I wore shorts and a t-shirt (no gloves), but soon wished I had selected a singlet instead.

A combination of the slightly smaller field and the knowledge that the first river crossing had a bridge meant the pace at the start was not quite as ridiculously as previous years. There were still plenty of people who went out too fast, but the I didn't feel too crowded and generally had plenty of space to pick my own lines. Among the other competitors I noticed a young girl (about 16yo). Sarah had pointed her out pre-race as she had been first female in the last race. Within the first kilometre she was almost out of sight ahead.

After a sensibly paced start, I started to pick off other competitors (who didn't pace so well) about the 2 to 3km mark. A small pack formed, including the young girl and we started to distance ourselves from the rest of the field (with the leaders now well and truly out of sight).

The Plenty course has a bit of everything - single track, rocky sections, winding bits, open fields, technical descents, long open downhills, very steep climbs, long sustained climbs and of course river crossings. As always happens, different terrains and gradients suit different people. Sometimes I thought I had successfully broken away from a competitor only to find they passed me when the course changed. Just over half way and our small group of 4 had come back together as we entered the section of single track. The pace felt a little slow, but I decided I would sit behind the others, get a little bit of recovery and then really push the pace with about 2km to go. Great plan, but while I was daydreaming about my great finish, the leading two runners were starting to gap me. Initially it was just a few metres after a twisty section or short technical descent, but before I knew it they were 50 metres ahead and barely within sight. Not really sure how that happened when the pace seemed to so easy.

Now it was just the young girl and myself. She obviously was not in my age category so she was no concern to my overall result. I asked if she wanted to pass, but she preferred to sit behind and let me to the pacing and navigation.

About 3km to go, another very fast looking competitor raced passed. Confused how he ended up behind us, as he passed I asked if he missed the start, but he replied that he went off course. The front end of the field tends to thin out pretty quickly and it is not unusual to end up alone with nobody in sight ahead or behind. There are course markings, but they are certainly not abundant. If walking, they would be very easy to see, but running with the heart rate approaching red line and sweat dripping into your eyes it can be easy to miss a turn. His spurt of speed must have been fuelled by anger from getting lost, because he only gained about 50 metres on us and then stayed within sight for the rest of the race.

Despite lots of puffing and giving every indication she was struggling, the young girl managed to stay with me for the rest of the race. The last kilometre contains an extremely steep climb straight up the side of the hill which is then followed by a long climb up a 4 wheel drive track to the finish line. As you get nearer to the finish line the crowd of spectators gets bigger and of course they all cheered on the young girl. Nobody wants to see a middle aged man out sprint a young girl to the finish, at least this is the excuse I used when I decided to let her win. The fact that I was really tired and the finish was uphill had nothing to do with it. Unfortunately she finished in 10th overall which meant I missed out on my pre-race target of a top 10. I also missed the age group podium, as the two runners who pulled away from me with 5km to go were both in my age group.

Sonia and Lee did the Long Course. Sonia could not believe how the obstacles just kept on coming, she described it as like the amazing race where you never knew what was coming next. Unfortunately Lee went off course which cost him an age group him, so he was not in the best of moods after the race.

Steph G was also not happy. I suspect this was the 2nd longest race she has ever done (after the Olympic Distance Triathlon in Jan) and by far the longest run (time wise). The continual hills were definitely not to her liking and she was mumbling and grumbling for the next 15 mins after the race. Luckily time heals all and she was able to recognise the great achievement she had accomplished and her opinion of the course slowly improved.

Steph M did really well in her trial runners and was happy with her race, as was Shaune, Tanya, Renee and Sarah (who scored a podium in her age group).