Trains, Travels

How best to finish a particularly poor week? I lined up a 5K run race for mine. Getting up at 5am this morning I was less enamoured with the whole idea. Having yet again had a restless night I wasn’t feeling all that great when the alarm went off. Out of bed and something isn’t quite right. A quick stretch of the right quad and shit that’s sore. It feels like I’ve got a nice big knot up near the top of the quads. Perfect! Still I’ve paid for 5km of vomit inducing effort may as well get my money’s worth.

So I rode the 15km from home to Runaway Bay for the first in the Sports Super Centre Fun Runs. It’s a monthly series of runs building up to the Gold Coast Airport marathon. There’s a 5K every month and a longer race building up by 5K month on month for those working towards the marathon. Nice idea and the great thing with running races is they’re cheap and the only equipment to worry about is your shoes. Incidentally this was my first chance to properly test out the new Saucony Fastwitch trainers I bought last week.

The series draws a pretty big crowd and there were typical self-seeding issues on the start line. Not that I felt I should be there today – 5Ks aren’t really my thing and there was my knotted up quad too. Still I pushed my way to what I thought was a reasonable position. It helps wen guys in front see a mate and briefly comment on planned times. 20 minutes, yep I should be standing in front of you. At least you can while away the final minutes before the gun goes off speculating on who should or shouldn’t be up front!

When the horn did go it was hard out from the start. My pace didn’t feel great, I lacked rhythm. I just felt I was pushing and breathing hard, but not getting the speed I wanted. The first kilometre marker went by at about 3:40 on my watch. So that’s not PB pace for sure. Guess it means I better push a bit more. Which is pretty much the story of the rest of the race. I slowly moved up keeping a solid pace. One little surge in the middle which was really bloody hard, but this kid who’d dropped pace tried to stick with me when I came past and I wasn’t having that!

I tried to keep up a solid pace all the way, the last kilometre was certainly a struggle. Especially with a grassy sharp incline thrown in just to really put some hurt into the legs. Then a nice bit of mud to take away the new shoe shine! The finish was on the sports centre track I didn’t have enough to take any of the guys in the bunch I was tagged onto, but I did out sprint the woman leading us in the last 100 metres! Well it is a race, whether they call it a fun run or not. My time crossing the line was a disappointing 18:15 highlighting the lack of speedwork in my current regime! I have no idea of my placing, but there were some decent athletes in the field. Brit Stuart Hayes won in a time in the 15 minute range I believe.

So the net result is I’m not any faster than I was last time I raced short. I may have had mitigating circumstances that may have slowed me a little though. That’s a lot of maybes though. I’m not worrying too much as a mate kindly commented I don’t train for 5Ks. The new trainers were great, very happy with them. Fit was spot on and they were comfortable so should be perfect for the marathon come the end of an Ironman.

I’m now largely packed for my trip down to Geelong tomorrow morning. Looking forward to a change of scene and a chance to kick start the final build for Ironman Oz. Hopefully my knotted quad will clear up with a bit of encouragement and I can get properly stuck in to training. Then I can put this mediocre week behind me and look forward to the next race.

I started this blog with the limited intention of using it as a way to let people who know me keep track of what I was up to. Since those early days I’ll admit I’ve got into the whole stats thing, it’s kind of cool. The fact people I’ve never met do on occasion read what I say is weird and addictive. Deep down I am attention seeking! Today though I’m using the blog to get something off my chest. Highlight a rookie error or two in a semi-public environment and force myself to deal with it properly. It’s not as heavy as it sounds.

The past week I have managed my diet like an idiot. No getting around it, it’s been unbelievably dumb and I’ve happily played along till today. There’s something wrong if you find yourself hitting the wall 20 minutes into the ride isn’t there? I’m spinning easy gears to warm-up, heading south along Burleigh beach and suddenly I’m empty. Not good! So I eat a muesli bar there and then. It’s not going to be enough. Fortunately for me there’s a servo just before you climb over the Burleigh Headlands. Only one thing to be done – 20 minutes into a ride and I’m stopping for coke and chocolate.

It was an interesting stop as immediately I was accosted by a very friendly, but also slightly nuts guy just about to leave. He was interested in how much a bike like mine costs these days. I was a little vague as at that point I was concerned this was pre-empting trying to steal it! Then he pointed out his bike an old hybrid with aerobars on in a very comfortable, but not very aero set-up. He commented on a passing cyclists deep rimmed wheels and how he enquired about those Zipps and how much they were. Then things went a little weirder. Somehow he worked out I’m British, must be the accent, so told me how he’d visited England. He wanted to do something with the queen, didn’t really catch what I think he just meant have a chat. Though apparently we should get rid of the monarchy for reasons relating to upcoming wars. As he started to get onto the topic of US military involvement around the world I made my move for the door.

Chocolate and coke did the trick. Incidentally I noticed that a Snickers bar and a 600ml bottle of coke is around 20-25% of the recommended daily calorie intake for men. With 2-for-1 offers on some of these things no wonder people are having weight issues. I figured if they gave me the speed bump to do the ride I’m planning then all is fine. A few minutes down the road and sure enough the sugars and caffeine were kicking in.

The plan for the ride was to ride up over Tomewin and drop down into the Tweed Valley, turning at Murwillumbah and back up through Tweed Heads and the Coast. Tomewin is a decent climb with a couple of tough sections in plus a lot of undulation. It kicks off with almost a kilometre at 14% at least you know you get the worst out of the way at first. I was getting there via Connection Road which is undulating and I figured would give me an idea of things to come. Signs were this wasn’t going to be the greatest ride of all times as when the road turned up things got hard. Whilst I’d figured I’d test my legs before I got to Tomewin I had no contingency plan so just kept going.

Lately I’ve developed a habit of hitting climbs hard and going at them. It’s a combination of riding with Aussies and time in New Zealand. Great for getting over rollers. Tomewin is about 9km from bottom to top, normally I can get away with hitting it hard as it’s not relentless climbing. By the end of the last steep section I was taking my time to consider the wisdom of this strategy when I knew I was stuffed! When the road gets steep it also turns to crap and it was a bit like being back in New Zealand. I was however determined to keep the pace on to the end! The cost was when I rolled over the top I was pretty much done.

So as I descended into the Tweed Valley apart from admiring the views and noting how different it’s starting to look as new crops are growing I had time to consider what had led up to today. Going back to calories and looking back over the past few days I figured I have been running a ridiculous deficit. I’ll save a full on discussion on disordered eating for another time. It’s not an eating disorder I’m just really good at going to extremes to achieve a goal. Having mentioned I wanted to drop some weight I’d gone about it a little too hard. I think I lasted as long as I did simply through having the break after Epic Camp. Freshness compensated for a low energy intake.

The signs have been there for a couple of days. Waking in the early hours feeling really hungry… Breakfast not doing much to solve that and needing more within an hour or two… Really it was obvious when I went for a morning swim and had to go through a pack of Seasame Snaps to last a 3K session! My other litany of mistakes involves allowing a persistent state of poor hydration this week. I woke this morning feeling as close to sick as I have in a while. I spent most of the night sleeping poorly as I was far too hot too. All not good.

Having established a likely cause of my problems and really not getting much out of the ride I decided to stop for coffee at Murwillumbah. There’s a nice cafe there and to be honest I have not had real coffee in 2 weeks! Seriously I have been surviving with one instant coffee every morning that can’t be good for me. The coffee isn’t up to the New Zealand standard and that’s been putting me off, it’s hard to go back. The coffee stop turned into a full on lunch stop with time to read the paper. Not the best training, but much needed I think.

I knew the forecast predicted rain in the afternoon so with darkening skies I figured it was time to turn home. I left things just a little too late with a seriously nasty looking front heading into the valley. My route home to the coast had clear skies in the distance, unfortunately the dark clouds were heading that way too. It wasn’t long before some rain hit and some strong winds. My legs weren’t feeling better despite the meal so I was limited to a fairly easy pace. As it was I remained at the edge of the rain front and never got really soaked. The weather did it’s best to encourage me to speed up with rumbles of thunder as I made the final climb. I didn’t quite beat the storms home. Just 20 minutes out and I finally get a proper soaking! At least it’s still pretty warm so you can manage with just a gilet.

Let’s end this confessional post here. Interestingly the power data from my ride suggests it wasn’t as poor as it felt. Though I suspect mostly it comes down to trying to blow myself up on the climbs. Clearly I have spent this week making some pretty dumb choices regarding food and drink. I’ve been excessive in my limitation of my calorie intake. Still no long term harm done at this point. Just have to correct things and balance it out over the next three weeks. It’s my final build up before Ironman Oz a last chance to work on fitness. No more rookie errors.

I’m in a slight quandary. It’s been a while since I last posted and the thing is I still don’t have anything that interesting to post about! I’m left with 3 options – don’t post at all, post a dull write up of your recent training or post about more exciting things to come. I am going for option 2, but aiming to make it sound more exciting than it actually is. At least I’ll try.

It turns out that yoga really isn’t that bad with a bruised rib. In fact somewhat unfortunately if I had to put something at the top of the list it’s sleeping. I blame my mother for this and have confirmed this on the phone. You see I can only sleep on my stomach and this comes down to having done so since I was a baby. Apparently when I was born the advice was to have babies sleep on their front. Not sure why, reduce the chance of them choking or something. I believe current advice is that whatever you do, don’t let babies sleep on their front. Long story short, from an early age I’ve been trained that when you sleep it’s on your stomach. This happens to work well at compressing and pressing down on the bruised rib. I’ll stop whining about the ribs now. Seriously, they’re pretty minor and definitely on the mend.

I was also a little disappointed to find that 5 days off wasn’t enough to clear up the Epic Camp saddle sores completely. Getting on the bike is still not as comfortable as it has been! I’ve not found that New Zealand honey-based chamois cream to be that effective. In a case of perfect timing the day I got back on the bike I also received some Assos Chamois Cream in the post. I’ll give the Swiss some credit aside from cheeses they make damn fine chamois cream.

So far my cycling has consisted of short, but fairly solid efforts on the bike. It’s a combination of 5 days of pure recovery and a little bit of a boost from camp. Definitely putting a little bit more into it when I’m out there, just got to get back up to normal volume now. The first day back on the bike felt pretty weird I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. The only thing I can com up with is that after a few weeks in New Zealand the smooth roads of the coast felt luxurious!

Whilst the sealed chip roads along the beach fronts are much appreciated I’ve already been reminded of a couple of the downsides. Monday’s ride was interrupted midway by a nice chunk of glass. Luckily it all happened 2 minutes from Mike’s Bikes. I have finally succumbed and replaced the damaged tyre with an Ultra Gatorskin. I hate those thick, heavy puncture resistant tyres for all their bad handling. On the other hand I’m sick of puncturing on a weekly basis.

Aside from drunks disposing of their empties on the roads I’ve had two near misses with cars. Both cases of drivers rapidly pulling out without properly looking at the road. Both times I was fortunate that I’d placed myself a fairway out from the kerb and had time and room to manoeuvre. Still I didn’t really need the sudden shots of adrenaline to the system. I can’t avoid the built up roads unfortunately, there’s good quiet riding to be had round here, but it takes at least half hour to get there.

Getting back to the pool has been a shock to the system. The first day was tough! At that point the rib pain was still noticeable though strangely this may have had a positive input. I noticed the pain was worse if I was twisting my spine rather than keeping my body rotating as a unit. By controlling my swim more and applying better technique I could minimise the pain. There’s nothing like a bit of pain to encourage improvements! It’s similar to when I started using paddles, I was getting quite sore in the rotator cuff on my right shoulder. Over time I’ve improved to engage the lats more and not over-work the shoulder muscles. Gotta spin a positive out of these things somehow!

I can now quite safely say I have run. Twice in fact. Not as much as I intended and I’ll not make any excuses here. I have been very lazy since the camp. Still today’s long run has left me feeling a bit better and I think I can get things back on track. I am slightly concerned that I’m not working on my running enough though. Whilst I’m confident that the biking is improving and the swim has a looooong way to go still I just don’t know with running. There’s a 10K race coming up this Sunday and I’m tempted to enter it for fun. The kind of fun that a minute before the gun goes off I know I’ll wonder what I was thinking. 10Ks hurt a lot, but would be a quality session and give me some running feedback.

Other than training I do have to wonder about my eating habits right now. I’ve become very lazy! Admittedly I partly want to drop a little bit of weight, but lunch today was a large bowl of porridge with honey and blueberries (same as brekkie). I felt that needed some protein so ate a tin of sardines, then a couple of tomatoes and some dried fruit. Meal of champions! I did get a pretty solid long run off the back of that at least. Tomorrow I cook some real food for sure.

And that is why it was pretty hard to make an exciting post. A few more days getting myself back into normal training and then I fly down to Geelong to train with Toby. Which from the perspective of those who are following my blog might make things more interesting!

I will try and keep this one short as I have embarrassingly little to say! Somehow an intended 3 days off has stretched to 5. Don’t ask me exactly how I did plan to do some training the last day or two, but kept switching things round. On the other hand the fridge is fully stocked and I have new race shoes for the season. It’s not been entirely unproductive even if I haven’t done any swim, bike or run.

Partly I can blame some travel and partly I can blame a little pain in my side. As the days go on though the pain feels more like an excuse. It’s there, but aside from sleeping it’s not that bad. I’m not sure why it’s worse when I’m trying to sleep, but it is. Once I wake in the early hours of the morning I can look forward to the discomfort disturbing me pretty much hourly. Of course worse is when you’re having a strange lucid dream of bike riding and you find yourself moving in your sleep. That just sets it off even more!

This morning I added a cramp in my left calf to the mix. Not had that in a while, but post Epic I occasionally wake to muscle spasms too. I really need my masseur to get over his gastro and get to work on my legs. I think I’ll also hit some electrolyte drink over the next few days. I don’t typically cramp much and last time I was having this problem I found a good dose of electrolytes over a few days fixed things up.

Other than spending my nights twitching in pain I’ve certainly felt pretty tired. Sleeping heavily when I do, catching a nap in the middle of the day. I think those 60 hours of training hit me pretty hard in the end! Who’d have thought? I can’t feel bad about 5 days off as I think my body needed it, but there’s a little guilt there as it’s so lazy. I’m reminded of Bevan’s question in the podcast about how I found off days as a full time athlete. I’ll reiterate on that one – very boring!

The Gold Coast is currently more like the Grey Coast unfortunately. It’s been a little cold today and very wet. It didn’t help encourage me to go for an easy spin. Instead I popped up to Brisbane to sort out some new race shoes. It proved to be a much quicker experience than I expected. I went to a specialist running shop with the intention of trying a few racing flats. A young, unenthusiastic assistant killed that one off. After a brief discussion I tried some Adidas shoes and the Saucony FastTwitch 3. I’ve been using Saucony for a while and the latter were perfect for me. So with little input from the assistant I opted to go for them. In the end I know Saucony works for me and that’s the most important thing. Also they come in a brilliant orange colour and I got some matching elastic laces! Still a disappointing reminder of the quality of some running shop staff.

What’s more disappointing is that’s the highlight of my week so far! It’s no wonder I feel it’s time to get back into it again. The next week or so is about getting back into training, then I’m off down to Geelong for some proper training. That leaves only a couple more weeks before I’ll be tapering. So one four week block of solid training to go and a final chance to build a little more fitness before the next Ironman. There’s going to be a big push on the swimming front. Plenty more of the biking with a bit more intensity worked in. Lots of running and again a bit more intensity thrown in along with some proper long runs.

I promise to try and have done something for the next post. Even if it’s proved Yoga is a dumb idea with a sore rib!

I’m back in the warmth of the Gold Coast, though can’t claim it to be sunny right now. Looks like high humidity, heat and rain are on the cards for the next few days. The pain in my side has changed which I’m hoping in terms of recovery is a good thing because at the moment it’s become a little more intense! At least I have a reason to be taking it easy this week!

All that aside I guess it’s time to reflect on the Epic Camp experience. If you haven’t you should check out the blogs of the other campers over on the Epic Camp site. You should also go download the interviews at IM Talk, mine’s in number 5.

Totals from 8 days of camp -

Swim 19.5km
Bike 1250km
Run 118km
Hours 60

A pretty hefty week, more than I’ve managed before. A little light on the swimming, I missed out on doing any 6km swim sets. With a bit more focus I think I could have sneaked in both a little more running and biking. Targets for next time then!

Being healthier and fitter made this camp much more enjoyable and really put things in my hands. How much I got out came down to how much I want to work. I put in a lot more volume than last time and a fair bit more intensity. I can’t claim to have performed well in the races unfortunately. Constantly hammering away in training left me with little in the tank for events. Something else to target for next time, can I do the volume and get good race performances?

Nothing has pushed me in training like Epic Camp. It’s the environment. There’s the support crew working hard so we barely have to do anything, but train. Then there’s the other athletes all trying to push themselves that little bit more. When you’re in a pace line, hurting and hoping you don’t get dropped you know you’re not alone! Then there’s the points game which just draws you in to doing a little bit more. Certainly worked for me this time!

What I’m taking away from this camp is a lot of confidence that my time training has improved my fitness. There’s also a fair amount of room for improvement. I obviously can still work on how much volume and intensity I can sustain. I think the most direct input I’ll take into my training is that I can and should do a bit more intensity in my training. There was much more intensity here than in my normal training and I still managed a 60 hour week, so with 30 hours it should be no problem. Swimming is the thing I really need to work on. A short break definitely impacted my swim, but even then I need to be spending more time in the pool. So over the next few months I’ll be uping the hours and work I do in the pool.

That’s it for Epic for now. I don’t think I’ll be making Epic France unfortunately, but I definitely want to be back for the length of the New Zealand camp next year.

Epic Camp is done and dusted. I’m on route back to the Gold Coast for a bit of recovery and then back into the training again. It was a great camp and I’m glad to have done it again. I completed my initial goals – all the minimums plus some extra.

Day 7

By this point of the camp everyone is a little tired and jaded. I don’t think I was alone in just wanting to get the day done and have all the training out the way. Day 8 was racing by this point that seemed like an easy option.

Today’s ride was 80-90km out to a lake at a place called St Arnaud. The profile was discouragingly uphill all the way with 3 little peaks to really make you work. With the mood in the camp we pushed along at a moderate pace remaining as a group. We weren’t making bad pace though nobody seemed keen to surge or attack like on previous days. All was well until we hit a small incline about halfway through the ride…

Bevan jumps out of the saddle to power up the climb and his wheel slips back. My wheel starts heading to the right to avoid it, but at the same time my mind says “LEFT!” The result is I touch his wheel and suddenly it’s that free fall moment where you get just enough time to wonder how much it’ll hurt. The answer was not so much really. It was slow paced and uphill, from the van it just looked like I toppled over. Dave riding behind me pulls an impressive wheelie finishing with his bike vertical. Even more impressively his back wheel manages to remove Tara’s watch without knocking her off the bike!

So not much damage done (I’ve got to sort out my aerobars before I use them again though) I get back on and ride with adrenaline in my system. The climbs split us up with me going to the back, I discover that now it’s painful in my side when I try to climb out of the saddle. Another 20Km and we’re past the big spikes and onto Kiwi Rollers. My pace and mood picks up and I push a bit harder to get to the lake.

Getting ready for the swim I notice my side really hurts. It’s actually uncomfortable to put on my wetsuit! Still need those minimum points and it’s not that bad. We were warned the lake would be very cold and we couldn’t swim too long. Initial steps into it seemed to support this, but once you were swimming it was perfect. I’m not complaining though, at this point I was glad to have a shorter swim for the day!

Swim over and it’s time for the run before we can have lunch. Scott announces that due to the high number of injuries on the camp the run won’t be a race. I’ll admit right now I was pretty relieved. There was no way I was going to be running fast the way I was feeling. The trails we ran on were fantastic, beautiful and peaceful. They also had plenty of roots and I suspect with a bunch of fatigued athletes racing through them there may have been carnage! Going up or down tended to disagree with my ribs again so I found myself opting to walk one or two sections. In true Epic Camp fashion having got back to the vans after only 43 minutes I jogged round the car park a few times with others to get in the 50 minimum.

Following yet another excellent lunch all I had to do was ride home again. Mostly downhill and if the wind hadn’t changed it’d be behind us all. Of course this being New Zealand the wind had changed. Still aside from some short climbing over those spikes there was plenty of downhill to enjoy. There must have been at least 5km where I didn’t bother to pedal! I tried to stick with the last bunch but found I couldn’t put the effort in anymore, again when I tried to really put some power in my ribs hurt. One thing that’s changed on Epic Camp is I’ve ended up riding with an iPod a few times. Something about 1250km of riding in a week means if I end up on my own I need something to distract me. I was glad for it as I spent the next couple of hours crusing home alone with the aid of the downhills.

Despite needing only an extra 15km for an extra point I just didn’t feel up to it. So back at our motel I got off and relaxed. The pain in my ribs was more of a bother than an extra point. Not exactly the Epic spirit though! Tara suggested I’ve probably bruised a rib. Never having done that before I can only guess that’s what’s happened. It does make certain movements, laughing, sneezing and coughing painful at times! Much as it wasn’t too comfortable I now just needed to complete the final day and I’d get the camp bonus points!

Day 8

Over the past couple of days I have wondered how much the poor performance post crash was psychological and how much physical. I can’t give a definitive answer to that, probably some of both. However the performance on day 8 was pretty poor by the standards I started the camp with! On the psychological side having had a rough night bothered by not being able to sleep comfortably I woke with thoughts about bailing on the final day. The walk to breakfast not being anywhere near as bad as I was imagining cleared those from my mind.

The final day started with the swim competitions. Essentially it’s an opportunity for Epic Campers to make fools of themselves by pretending they’re swimmers. Of course a few, like Heath, have a swimming background, but for the rest of us the 400 IM, 200m kick and 50m sprint are a case of survival! I haven’t swum much other than front crawl since I’ve been in Oz so I wasn’t going into the events with much optimism. I’ll say I did survive and complete them all. I also confirmed that I still can’t kick much!

The swim events out the way there was just a final triathlon to complete. We rode out to a place called Rabbit Island, taking a wrong turn on route and sending Steven up the road after some random cyclists. Still got us a good warm up of 20km before the race began. I just sat in and didn’t do much on the bike, happy to keep to an easy pace.

Rabbit Island has yet another beautiful beach for us to swim at. John had marked out a swm course with a couple of bouys. A typical Kiwi 1500m apparently measured by van. It certainly felt a lot longer than that once we were in there, especially with the chop. It’s a swim that will only grow in length with retelling. My left ribs ached a little with each left arm stroke but I kept on going till my 3 laps were done.

Getting to transition I wasn’t surprised to see most bikes were gone. I took a fairly casual transition talking to Heath who had punctured again. The guy has seriously had the most mechanicals I’ve ever seen in a single week. Out on the road and it was immeadiately a struggle to get into a rhythm. Ken commented that when he passed me he could tell it wasn’t a good day as I never moved from the hoods.

The entire ride was done at only a slightly higher power than some of the previous days riding. It really seemed like I had nothing in the tank. How much was fatigue, how much the bruised rib and how much mental I can’t say. The rib did hurt, but it wasn’t that painful, I’ve certainly felt worse. It was a peristant ache, but still I felt I should really be able to cope with that. At the end of the day after the swim and bike I was set for my slowest olympic tri ever!

The race finished with a four lap run course from our hotel. As I expected running really didn’t go well with the bruising. Still after 2 laps I managed to get into my rhythm and actually felt like I was running a solid place. In the end I was able to reclaim a couple of places, taking Dave in the last 1km. He was suffering with his knee especially after the previous days acrobatics. My favourite part of the run had to be having planes land just above me. It explained why there was a height restriction on the road.

That was it, camp done! Time to relax, chill out and chat with people. The only other hassle was to quickly pack the bike. I have to admit I was glad camp was done I’d worked myself hard that week more so than in Italy. I was a little dissappointed to end on a bit of a low, but it was all done now. All in I was just short of 60 hours training in 8 days with a lot more intensity than my usual week too!

So onto part two of my Epic Camp report. The fact I’m posting two reports during the camp is a step up from last year! Then again the whole Camp has been a step up for me this time round, bigger volume, extra points and not feeling quite so tired from this. I’m roughly where I was in the points game as before, though the next couple of days will decide final standings. Either way I’m still on target for my goal of all the minimums plus some extra points.

Day 4

I started the fourth day with an early run with Steven and Jo. Jo had been suffering with some pain in her legs the previous day which unfortunately cut the bike short for her. Today she was determined to keep going and pushed through it on the run. We finished at the pool with a plan for a 6K swim set for some bonus points. Unfortunately the pool attendants didn’t plan on arriving on time so with a 30 minute late start I bailed on the idea not wanting to have a rushed breakfast! Even so checking email and packing meant I missed out on the bacon going!

The previous night the weather forecast looked promising. However by the morning it had all turned a bit too British summer for my tastes. I layered myself up to keep my Queensland acclimatised body warm. I also reminded myself how much worse the conditions were back home. The chain gang headed out and worked effectively to get the first drizzly 50Km done. Then we reached the aid station at the bottom of the days climb. This time both a KOM and a race.

Perhaps I should have been concerned that my legs felt ok on the ride in. When we started off I missed the first group and my attempt to bridge to it failed miserably too. I was asking my legs to do what they’d done the past two days, but the answer was a resounding no. I shot to the back and started to slog up the climb proper. I encouraged myself with two thoughts firstly I would probably warm up into this and secondly a few people would surely blow at that pace. The former definitely proved true and whilst I never reached the level I had the previous days I did pick a few places back. As Scott pointed out to me at the end of the day I put my placing in risk performing so poorly there!

I descended cautiously in the rain and caught back up with Ken and Tara. It proved to be a lucky break as Tara took to the front and pulled us along to lunch. I was hungry and this was the quickest way to get there! After about 20km she pulled off the front, Ken did a couple before flicking me through and I did probably all of 500m! Another big lunch and we rode as a group the final section to Collingwood. This was over what was described as ‘Kiwi rollers’ we know them as sharp hills. Similarly ’sea breezes’ means strong headwinds.

I finished the day by sneaking in a second run accompanying Ken out on some of the local roads. It was a bit of a trudge and we avoided anything looking remotely like a hill. By the end of this all I was feeling pretty wasted. The next day was the easy day of the camp.

Day 5

Epic Camp easy days aren’t like the easy days I usually know. The rules generally are a minimum of a run, 60Km bike and a swim. This time round the swim was a roughly 3K open water race and the run was over 2 hours on a trail. I was facing this still feeling pretty rough.

The sea swim was setup along the local beach. In initial claims that a lap was 900m were fortunately corrected to 1400m before we started. I’ll be honest whatever the distance I had a pretty poor swim. I failed to get on any feet early on so swam solo and my sighting had me zigzagging the course. At points it was so shallow the race turned into a bit of an aqua-jog. That’s a killer in the middle of the swim too, really getting the heart rate up. The other end of the course had a current running against you, great one way, not so much the other. Frankly I was mostly just glad to be done with it!

After breakfast we drove to a nearby trail for the run. A straightforward out and back uphill on the way out so down back. The first 15 minutes were horrible, but then I started to feel good and pick up the pace. Despite the fact I was doing a long run for my easy day I was quite enjoying it and felt like I could have run much longer. I did manage to trip and lose a small amount of skin on the way back as did a few others. Minor really in comparison with Tara who has done some kind of damage to here hamstring with a fall.

For once a leisurely lunch which I even allowed to fully digest before I contemplated my ride. The sun was out and it was a beautiful afternoon. I headed out after 3 with a vague idea of doing a little bit more for points. Most of us opted for a nice flat out and back trip leaving you with about 15km to go to hit the 60K. I went out there riding with my ipod for the first time. Great until the battery died 15 minutes in! The next 30km were solo and I was starting to contemplate only doing the 60. Coming the other way I saw Tara so turned around and joined her.

Despite the leg injury she’d decided to get in an easy 60K and at least be moving. It’d keep her in the points game too if she manages to recover enough to keep doing the minimums. Not many women come on Epic Camp, but those that do are strong and can certainly show most of us guys up! We rode along at a pretty easy pace to reduce the risk of making her injury worst. Let’s be honest I was glad to keep the pace low I didn’t want to work my legs too hard! It was a big help in getting me beyond the 60K mark and by the point we separated I only have 15K to go.

Perfectly timed Jo came flying along the other way. I flicked round again and had to work hard to get up onto her wheel especially with a few one lane bridges and cars in between us. I eventually did and discovered she was aiming for 150 and could only do it by holding a certain pace for the next hour. I passed her a couple of gels as she’d run low on food and stuck with her for a few more kilometres. Not wanting to do anymore than necessary and not having the time I turned to get back to the motel at 90Ks. Jo powered on clearly determined to get some bike points in now she was able.

And that was my ‘easy’ day!

Day 6

I started the day early by going for a catch-up swim at 6:30. I’d have loved to have a lie in, but not on the cards here. This swim made up for missing the swim on Day 3 and wouldn’t count for the days totals. At least this ensures I’m still on track for camp minimums. I’m finding the first workout of the day is always a struggle, but things generally improve. The few of us who went for a swim splashed about for 50 minutes picking bouys at random and swimming back and forth. Apparently a few stingrays were out there, though my goggles were mostly fogged so I missed out on the wildlife.

Breakfast was fairly leisurely which at this point in the week I’m appreciating. Then it was out on the road and back over Takaka hill from Day 4. We weren’t long on the road before John moved to the front and picked the pace up. The next 40km were a matter of hanging on to the back of the pack. I was actually looking forward to the hill so I could let the bunch go and climb at my own pace. I did hope that perhaps my legs would be up to a decent climb, but once again they weren’t delivering.

At least this time we had the sun out for the climb. I struggled up at an effort that I might count as normal, but here on Camp wasn’t good enough! Then it was down the other side and to Kaiteri for an Aquathlon. There were a few sharp little hills on the road to Kaiteri just to work the legs over a little bit more. I was a little bit sick of Kiwi Rollers by then!

The beaches at Kaiteri are amazing. Really stunning scenery. I decided to join Bevan and Scott and race this one old school. This meant Speedos for the whole event. Despite the strong sun it was a wetsuit swim with a couple of loops in the sheltered bay. Once again my open water swimming let me down a little and I came out somewhere towards the back of the group. Following Douglas also brought me out one ladder short making a longer run on gravel to the transition. Then it was out onto the streets of Kaiteri for the run.

Once again Kiwi Rollers were the order of the day. The far turn around point having a particulalry nasty little climb to the top. I ran as hard as I could for the distance, admitedly this wasn’t that impressive. I just didn’t seem to have my top gear and couldn’t bridge up to anyone ahead of me. Still I ran strongly and am informed that the Speedo option did get a few comments in town! Not that I’m attention seeking or anything!

Unusually I couldn’t stomach lunch and had to graze on whatever seems least likely to make me nauseous. Once we rolled out for the journey home John moved to the front and put the pace down. The next 30K were another case of hanging on to the back of the bunch. Fortunately 30K down the road most of the group stopped off at a winery. A few of us opted to go on and get to the motel earlier. The pace actually remained pretty high and my legs started to feel good. I could have used that a few hours back the other side of Takaka Hill.

I did a tiny bit of tack on to 150Km on the bike to get one extra point, but when it’s only 8K extra it’s a no brainer. Since then I’ve been trying to make up for missing lunch. Also trying to get a bit more fluid in as I was definitely a bit dehydrated most of today.

Two more days to go and I’m now pretty confident I’ll get the minimums in. As long as nothing goes wrong I’m on target for the goal of all the minimums plus a few extras. Mostly been a good camp for me though the first 3 days were definitely my strongest and it’s now more a case of survival mode. Looks like another early start tomorrow and another run race.

Forget sleep, time to actually update my blog and let people know how we’re going. Three days in and I can’t quite believe how much I’m hammering myself this time! Steven commented to me on arrival day how he was amused that on the one hand I’ve commented on how I’d been warned the second camp was when you go over the top, but was planning to go over the top. Well so far I have, but somehow I’m hanging in there.

Day 1

Just like in Italy the camp started with a run. The QEII centre being conveniently about 10K away so ideal for the first points run of the camp. Pace was actually pretty high I stuck with a small group up with John Newsom which got there in 44 minutes. I was glad to get the first session out of the way, it cleared the pre-camp nerves.

Next up was the 3K swim with a 2K time trial in there for fun. I’d not done particularly well at this last camp and having not swum much the past couple of weeks wasn’t entirely optimistic. On the other hand I did hope that the work I’d put in the past few months might help. It wasn’t to be though, I never felt entirely comfortable and posted an average time. To make up for this I ran back with Steven, Jo, Tara and Douglass for my first extra point of camp.

After a big breakfast it was off to ride the gorges. Once the neutral zone passed and the side winds hit it was every man (and woman) for themselves. I stuck to a small group somewhere in the middle. Put in a bit of effort at the King of the Mountain climb and then all the craziness over felt a lot better! The lunch stop offered plenty to eat, too much in my case as I over indulged. When Douglas persuaded me we should go on Steven and Jo’s planned tack on I discovered cycling and digestion didn’t go entirely hand in hand.

Having caught up with Steven and Jo who’d set off earlier I turned to find Douglas had dropped off the back and left me alone. Too late to turn around I stuck with the plan to visit Porter’s Pass. It was a tough slog on the way there with plenty of New Zealand wind in our faces and then a decent climb to finish off. When we turned to head home unfortunately the wind did too so we were faced with a headwind for the 70km trip back. Somewhere on the climb to Porter’s Pass the large lunch had gone from slightly uncomfortable to nauseating. Trying hard not to spew I stuck on Steven or Jo’s wheel for pretty much all that 70km home. I have to admit I was seriously impressed by Steven’s ability to hold pace into that headwind.

We were calculating the speed we needed to hit 200km before the 6pm training cut off and things were tight. Steven put in a sterling effort on the front, but with 30 minutes to go we decided it wasn’t going to happen. However as we got to the last few minutes it became apparent that perhaps the target could be hit and steven and Jo shot off at a pace I wasn’t in a condition to match. I struggled on and at 6pm was just a little over 199km. Fortunately Scott and John gave us the 200km bonus for being that close!

Day done, almost 10 hours of training in the bag! I stuffed myself with dinner leaving me feeling sick again!

Day 2

Another trip to QE2 this time by van. We joined the local club swimmers for a swim set. Things got a bit confused between campers and club members and it wasn’t entirely clear what was going on at times. There was time for a 6km swim for more bonus points if you wanted, but after the previous day I wanted the longer breakfast!

The ride for the day was a tough one, around 190km with the last 70km being done as a time trial. Not that the first 120 was easy by any means. Whilst the neutralised section proceeded along pretty smoothly with one or two exceptions once we were past the first aid station and there was a whiff of the KOM in the air things started to get tough. I spent a lot of time battling to stick to wheels until bang, a surge went to get the KOM. I had nothing to follow it and soon most people had past me. Fortunately the surge was fairly early so I got to pull in a few people before we finally reached the point.

After that I actually felt good and whilst we were once again fighting a bit of a headwind I put in some work to pull together a few of us in the back group so we could work together. It sort of worked though there seemed to be a tendency for some people to attack the group rather than working to get us to lunch. Given the TT was ahead it seemed pretty foolish, I already feared I’d done too much.

I tried hard to be more moderate at lunch, but still it didn’t quite work! Once it was over it was time to start the TT. My tack on with Steven and Jo had me in third place on General Classification leaving me 3rd last to leave. With Steven and Tara behind me I was seriously concerned I’d be off the back! I really didn’t feel in great shape for a TT. Steven reeled me in shockingly quickly confirming my fears. A little bit later Tara came past and there I was at the back! Slowly, but surely I started to come good though. As I saw others ahead I worked to pick them off and move through the field. Watching the powermeter when I hit the hilly section I wondered if I was wise attacking the hills so hard, but just kept pushing. The final 15km were on the flat with a fair head wind to challenge you. Mentally this was the toughest bit and keeping going was hard work! Not only that, once again I wanted to spew! Finally I was done and had somehow pulled a 2:04 for a windy and hilly 70Km TT out the bag. It was good enough for 6th place!

The day finished with a slow, sore run where yet again most effort went into not throwing up!

Day 3

An early start after a quick breakfast for a long, long ride. 250km and after the past 2 days I wasn’t sure what would happen. Happily everyone was very well behaved for the first 60km working as a group. It was the next 60km with rolling hills when things got tough. A few surges on the hills and I was up with the front group and doing my hardest to stick there! Once again I found myself looking at the powermeter and wondering if the effort was going to prove fatal over the day. On the other hand I wanted to be up there and was going to fight to stay there!

Regrouping at the second aid station and with a nasty headwind facing us on route to lunch we bunched up again. We operated a very neat, if at times painful (when you were moving up to the front!) chain gang. Sore as my legs felt at times it helped get us through a very tough section which would have been mentally and physically draining on my own.

Without much plan I somehow ate just the right amount at lunch and for once nausea wasn’t a theme for the day. We rolled out after lunch heading towards the KOM for the day. Again things were beahved at first, but the surges started to come. Out of fear of being blown off the back I’d kept myself up near the front. When the moves came I went with them and somehow I was up there again! Come KOM I knew I didn’t stand much chance, but I thought I’d give it a go. I was hoping to take down John Newsom having shocked myself doing so on the TT the day before I figured I’d give it a second shot! When I moved past him he stuck to my wheel and flew off it the second the summit came in sight. I had nothing left to respond with and had to settle for a place behind him.

The final climb of the day was spoilt by a puncture for me which spearated me from the lead group and left me right at the back. Once I’d sorted that out I fought hard to get myself back up to the second pack, reaching them just before the aid station. With only 10K to go and a town to navigate I was happy to have others to guide me to the motel anyway.

All this done there was still a run to do (the pool was closed so we’re allowed to catch up the swim later). I headed out with my current room mate Dave and hooked up with a couple of other Epic Vets, Ken and Lou. It helped me slog out a 50 minute run over 4 laps of the local sports park. Run done and a second day close to 10 hours!

So that’s the training so far, I’m actually feeling surprisingly good and think I can hit my goals of doing all the minimums plus some bonus points. Not sure of my General Classification standing right now, it was 6th on day 2, but it’s way better than I expected. It’s been a big confidence boost for me so far and I go into each day feeling I can at least give it a good try and go for broke. I actually enjoyed riding for 250km especially when I was up there in groups with the likes of Chris MacDonald and Tara Norton (hey and Steven Lord!) Compare to Epic Camp Italy this is feeling pretty good so far. I only hope I can say the same in 5 days time!