I had a really great week last week:) Every single run went well, and although I don't have the exact figures at my fingertips (at work), it was pretty damn fast (for me anyway) too! I think it would've been roughly 50km at 4:30/k. My plan of doing 45 minutes every day went well, and my achilles is feeling pretty good. Ended up doing 180km for the week in about 18:00.
The weekend:
On Saturday I rode to the tan to do a time trial. Was planning on doing 8k, but after 4k I had to stop because my calves were feeling the strain. Went verry fast at the start, hitting 3:15/k before I glanced down and realised what I was doing haha. As soon as I hit the Anderson St hill though, all that speed completely vanished. I slowed right down to 5:30/k and just couldn't get my legs to get any faster. I don't think that's a sign that I'm weak on hills, because after all the week before I managed to hold 3:42/k all the way up. Probably just an indication that I had a few fast kms in the legs. Ended up doing 4k in 15:29, so not very fast overall, but it had quite a few good bits in the 3:30s in between the hills. Had a bit of a walk to allow my legs some time to recover and then did another lap, averaging 4:40/k and speeding up towards the end. I had this old guy on my heels with 1km to go, when I was cruising at 3:44/k and it annoyed me so much that I put on a bit of a sprint to drop him and went down to 3:07/k for the last 500m:D Fun!
Sunday was a really epic day. I'd stayed up til 12am the previous night, waxing my skis for the first time (I feel very proud although I think I may have scratched the base a little:P) and then got up at 5:45 to give myself time for a quick turn on the exercise bike before we left. The plan was to leave at 7, but as usual one of us slept in, and this time it was dad:P About 30 minutes before Marysville, we suddenly spotted snow in the rainforest! It was incredible, neither of us had ever seen it that low before. On the way up to the mountain itself, I yelled 'Spotto!' (as you do when you see snow;)) almost straight away. It was really magical:) For the first time in a couple of years, we had to put chains on the car, which was a bit of a struggle because both of us had forgotten how to do it:P
After begging for a trail pass from the ticket office (dad had forgotten his credit card, and between us we were $5 short), I set off up Royston road. It's not actually one of the trails you're really meant to ski on, but it's a great workout. At the end of the day, after you're knackered from skiing up hills all day, you get to enjoy a 2km long downhill down Royston road back to the car park. So I got to do it twice that day, however, strangely, the first time wasn't really as enjoyable as the second. Must've been all that huffing and puffing;)
Once up the top I was just amazed at the snow. There was 60cm on Triangle Junction! I've definitely never seen that much before. Having that much snow usually leaves me feeling a bit ambivalent: on the one hand, it's fantastic that there's so much snow, because it means it'll still be there next weekend. But on the other hand, when it's just snowed a lot (and it was still snowing while I was skiing), the snow is really soft and hard to ski on. Ordinarily I lean towards the latter feeling, but this time, I really didn't mind and just had a fantastic time out there. Having waxed my skis really helped too. I was able to glide so much further that it made up for the rather rubbish condition of some of the trails:)
Caught up with dad at 11:30 after having done about 10k on my own, and we set off on Jubilee - the hardest trail on the mountain. He was finding it really tough, and had a number of excuses to explain why, but I didn't believe any of them:P It took us ages to do the loop compared with last week, but again, I really enjoyed it, zooming down the downhills and occasionally whooping for joy:P Because he was finding it so hard, I double poled most of it and only skated up the hills, but even so, he kept falling further and further behind. By the time we got back to the camp, he was completely knackered and just wanted to get back to the car park as quickly as possible.
Going down Echo Flat for the last time, I couldn't help feeling elated at the breath-taking scenery around us. It was like being in a snow dome, completely isolated from the rest of the world. The horizon seemed to be only a few hundred metres away, and absolutely everything was covered in a lovely layer of whiteness. At times like these, I forget everything going on back home, and just live for the moment, wishing it would last forever.
After making our way back to the car, we began to make a very slow descent back down the mountain. The road was very icy and we got warned a few times to be careful. The numerous overturned vehicles on the side of the road made us take this advice very carefully indeed.. Considering we were going about 30km/h, I knew it was going to take quite a while to get down the mountain, but I didn't anticipate it taking 2.5 hrs! At the road to Warburton, the traffic suddenly came to a standstill, with cars banked up for at least a km or two. No-one really seemed to know what was going on and there were scarcely any vehicles coming from the opposite direction. Dad and I speculated about what had happened. The top bets were that there had been a landslide, and we were going to be stuck up there for the night, or that there had been a fatal car accident further down the road.
So we were sitting in the car, listening to the radio, when I suggested that he switch off the engine. With about 1/4 of the tank remaining and no money to fill up on the way back, we were slightly doubtful as to whether we'd actually be able to get back home and just hoped we wouldn't run out up on the mountain or halfway up an incline on the black spur. Unfortunately, dad forgot to turn off the lights, and when the traffic finally started moving again (but not really because 1 minute later it stopped again), the ignition didn't work! So we were stranded on the mountain, with a flat battery! We weren't in any real kind of difficulty though considering that about half the cars on the mountain are generally 4WDs with jumper leads in the back. While Dad sat there muttering 'I hate this! I hate this!', I cheerfully got out and flashed my pearly whites at the ute behind us. They pulled up and rummaged through their things before realising they'd left the jumper leads back at base, but the next car I tried did have them:) The guy very capabably and very quickly got us started again, and told us to leave the lights off for a while:P
It was probably another hour after that before we finally got moving properly. We never found out what the reason for the delay was, but I saw a few police cars on the way, so perhaps our second guess was accurate. I managed to stay awake til Healesville and then dozed off, half of me hoping that we'd run out of petrol, so that the adventure would continue:P In the end though, we made it home, and my dad, who normally despises the little Holden Civic (my mum had taken his car) was singing its praises:P
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This week so far hasn't been so fantastic. The plan is to do 65 minutes each day. I managed it yesterday, even managing to run the whole way without having to stop after 15 minutes, like has normally been the case for the last month or so. My legs were feeling pretty sore, and my achilles was a bit tender at the start, so it was a fairly slow run: 12.68km at 5:09/k. I was very pleased to be able to kick out at 3:30/k towards the end with only a slight effort. I couldn't hold it for very long (legs had nothing), but it wasn't too long ago, that on my really good days - the days where I felt absolutely on fire! - I'd be giving it everything I had and still only just be breaking the 4:00/k mark lol.
Today I went out in the rain and managed 2.5k before packing it in. I was going faster than Monday, but my calves were really sore and I decided not to push through the sharpish pain. I'll try going for a run later tonight, but am not too confident.
Still, at least I did go for a run. I think I am getting back into a zone where I will be able to start doing some longer runs within a few weeks. It's kind of annoying being in tip-top aerobic shape, but just being let down by my legs. It's not even really an injury anymore, it just feels like a strength imbalance problem.
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Up to week two of the Hundred Pushups program. I'm quite enjoying it, especially as it's very easy to follow and yet quite satisfying:)
Once up the top I was just amazed at the snow. There was 60cm on Triangle Junction! I've definitely never seen that much before. Having that much snow usually leaves me feeling a bit ambivalent: on the one hand, it's fantastic that there's so much snow, because it means it'll still be there next weekend. But on the other hand, when it's just snowed a lot (and it was still snowing while I was skiing), the snow is really soft and hard to ski on. Ordinarily I lean towards the latter feeling, but this time, I really didn't mind and just had a fantastic time out there. Having waxed my skis really helped too. I was able to glide so much further that it made up for the rather rubbish condition of some of the trails:)
Caught up with dad at 11:30 after having done about 10k on my own, and we set off on Jubilee - the hardest trail on the mountain. He was finding it really tough, and had a number of excuses to explain why, but I didn't believe any of them:P It took us ages to do the loop compared with last week, but again, I really enjoyed it, zooming down the downhills and occasionally whooping for joy:P Because he was finding it so hard, I double poled most of it and only skated up the hills, but even so, he kept falling further and further behind. By the time we got back to the camp, he was completely knackered and just wanted to get back to the car park as quickly as possible.
Going down Echo Flat for the last time, I couldn't help feeling elated at the breath-taking scenery around us. It was like being in a snow dome, completely isolated from the rest of the world. The horizon seemed to be only a few hundred metres away, and absolutely everything was covered in a lovely layer of whiteness. At times like these, I forget everything going on back home, and just live for the moment, wishing it would last forever.
After making our way back to the car, we began to make a very slow descent back down the mountain. The road was very icy and we got warned a few times to be careful. The numerous overturned vehicles on the side of the road made us take this advice very carefully indeed.. Considering we were going about 30km/h, I knew it was going to take quite a while to get down the mountain, but I didn't anticipate it taking 2.5 hrs! At the road to Warburton, the traffic suddenly came to a standstill, with cars banked up for at least a km or two. No-one really seemed to know what was going on and there were scarcely any vehicles coming from the opposite direction. Dad and I speculated about what had happened. The top bets were that there had been a landslide, and we were going to be stuck up there for the night, or that there had been a fatal car accident further down the road.
So we were sitting in the car, listening to the radio, when I suggested that he switch off the engine. With about 1/4 of the tank remaining and no money to fill up on the way back, we were slightly doubtful as to whether we'd actually be able to get back home and just hoped we wouldn't run out up on the mountain or halfway up an incline on the black spur. Unfortunately, dad forgot to turn off the lights, and when the traffic finally started moving again (but not really because 1 minute later it stopped again), the ignition didn't work! So we were stranded on the mountain, with a flat battery! We weren't in any real kind of difficulty though considering that about half the cars on the mountain are generally 4WDs with jumper leads in the back. While Dad sat there muttering 'I hate this! I hate this!', I cheerfully got out and flashed my pearly whites at the ute behind us. They pulled up and rummaged through their things before realising they'd left the jumper leads back at base, but the next car I tried did have them:) The guy very capabably and very quickly got us started again, and told us to leave the lights off for a while:P
It was probably another hour after that before we finally got moving properly. We never found out what the reason for the delay was, but I saw a few police cars on the way, so perhaps our second guess was accurate. I managed to stay awake til Healesville and then dozed off, half of me hoping that we'd run out of petrol, so that the adventure would continue:P In the end though, we made it home, and my dad, who normally despises the little Holden Civic (my mum had taken his car) was singing its praises:P
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This week so far hasn't been so fantastic. The plan is to do 65 minutes each day. I managed it yesterday, even managing to run the whole way without having to stop after 15 minutes, like has normally been the case for the last month or so. My legs were feeling pretty sore, and my achilles was a bit tender at the start, so it was a fairly slow run: 12.68km at 5:09/k. I was very pleased to be able to kick out at 3:30/k towards the end with only a slight effort. I couldn't hold it for very long (legs had nothing), but it wasn't too long ago, that on my really good days - the days where I felt absolutely on fire! - I'd be giving it everything I had and still only just be breaking the 4:00/k mark lol.
Today I went out in the rain and managed 2.5k before packing it in. I was going faster than Monday, but my calves were really sore and I decided not to push through the sharpish pain. I'll try going for a run later tonight, but am not too confident.
Still, at least I did go for a run. I think I am getting back into a zone where I will be able to start doing some longer runs within a few weeks. It's kind of annoying being in tip-top aerobic shape, but just being let down by my legs. It's not even really an injury anymore, it just feels like a strength imbalance problem.
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Up to week two of the Hundred Pushups program. I'm quite enjoying it, especially as it's very easy to follow and yet quite satisfying:)
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