Getting better

After having stopped taking creatine on Thursday, I'm starting to see some improvement in my condition. On Friday I managed 24 minutes before tightening up, Saturday managed the full thirty minutes and on Sunday I shuffled (at >7 minute/k - more about that later) 65 minutes! So it's definitely getting better, but it's too early to tell whether going off creatine will cure my problems completely.

Had the Mt Bullfight Charge 8k ski race on Saturday. Got up there without event, and caught up with my old ski coach from high school, his daughter (nationally classed for her age group) and a friend of mine who was also in the ski club at my school. Wasn't feeling especially great the whole morning. Normally I start to feel invigorated as soon as we see some snow, no matter how little sleep I've gotten, but despite having slept for a good 7 hours the night before (not enough, but not a crazily small amount either), I was struggling to keep my eyes open.

Lined up at the start, I was a bit aghast at the quality of the field. At least half of the national team was there as well as a few gun international skiiers. For what I thought was a low key race, it was a bit of a shock. When the flag went down, all hell was unleashed. It was a frenzy of double poling for the first two hundred metres until we were allowed to skate. I received an angry shout from a woman behind me because I strayed from my line into the tracks next to me:P If anything, it got worse once we started skating. I'd forgotten what it's like to be in a ski race, and was watching unconcernedly as my ski tips came within centimetres of the people in front of me. Didn't make any attempt to get around them, racing it like I was running and greatly overestimating my 'agility' on skis. The pack didn't really thin out for about a km and yet I was still skiing frenziedly, taking short inefficient strokes that soon robbed me of my energy. I could only look on as my ski coach, my friend and even his daughter (though she later stacked in front of me and didn't ever regain her lead) went past me. Not feeling very confident on the icy snow, I went timidly down the downhills and then struggled on the uphills, my legs feeling weak, tight (compartment style) and sore despite the mini-taper. It wasn't until 5k into the race that I felt calm enough to be able to get into a rhythm, but the undulating nature of the course meant it wasn't really possible. Ended up finishing in around 31:30, which was really quite disappointing (especially as my garmin cast major doubts on the accuracy of the course measurement). It wasn't easy either, I was really going for it, gasping for air almost the whole way. Only when we were walking back to the carpark did I realise that my wheezey chest was probably due in part to asthma, so I felt a bit better after that. Still, I should've been much closer to 30:00...

I forgot to mention that a week or so ago, I signed up for the 210k Around the Bay in a Day bike ride (Sorrento direction). It sounds like great fun. I love doing long rides, and I figured if I can do that, I'll have no trouble doing 100k a day around Europe at the end of the year. There is the one slight problem of it being a week after the Melbourne Half Marathon, but I don't think I'll be too destroyed.

So anyway, on Sunday, in an effort to see what kind of riding shape I was in, I set out for a century ride on my new bike. Hadn't ridden over 60k on it before and hadn't ridden over 80k in quite a while, so it was a big call really, especially after having done a ski race the day before. Well meaning ideas of leaving at 7am were abandoned thanks to staying up a bit late on Saturday night to see a play at uni, and I didn't end up leaving til 8.30ish.



I didn't really have a firm idea of where I was going. I was kind of thinking about riding down to Frankston, so rode to the city and consulted my guide book at Birrarung Marr.

Birrarung Marr (18.30km)

After following the instructions to go to the exhibition centre, I employed a bit of zen navigation and followed these two eldery folks who looked like they were going for a decent ride. Turned out they weren't going to Frankston (me in my innocence assumed that anyone on the path my trail guide suggested must be following that trail:P) but they sent me in the right direction and before long I was at Beacon Cove.



Beacon Cove (23.09km)

It was quite overcast and looking like it might rain, but that didn't phase me and I kept going along the bike path towards St Kilda.

St Kilda Pier (28.08km)

It's really nice riding along the coast down there. I even spotted some puffins sitting on a fence! Would've gone closer (they didn't look like they were at all intimidated by all the humans passing by), but a barrier separating the bike path from the pedestrian path thwarted a decent photo.

You can kind of see the Puffins there:P

After a while the bike path peetered out, and on the advice of the trail guide, I hopped onto Beach Rd. I was only meant to stay there for about one kilometre, but it was so great that I just stayed in the bike lane for the rest of the ride! Heaps faster than the bike path and it meant I could set myself target riders to catch up to (didn't really manage it though:P). Eventually got to Mordialloc, where Beach road seemed to end.

Mordialloc proper (51.72km)

Wasn't really sure where to go from here, and my trail guide wasn't very helpful, so I just thought "Stuff it!" and kept on riding down another road that looked promising. Caught up with another cyclist on a road bike, and shamelessly drafted off him:P It's amazing what a difference it makes. On my own, I was cruising at 25kph, but after getting on his wheel, 35kph didn't feel much harder. Once you get off though it's pretty hard to get back on.

He peeled off soon afterwards, and I was on my own again, riding semi-aimlessly. I needn't have worried though, I was going in the right direction. Went through Carrum without stopping and before long I was in Frankston. Again I didn't stop though, because I only had 65km on the cyclometer, and I was feeling good now. So I kept on going down that road, which eventually turned into the Nepean Highway.

There were some amazing views of the bay, which almost made up for the absolute shocker of a hill that killed my legs. It went on for about 5km! By the time I got to the top and the road started going downhill again I was feeling pretty buggered. I had nearly reached the halfway point though, and after seeing a sign for Mt Eliza, I turned off down a not-too-well-maintained road and parked my bike in front of a travel agent.

Mt Eliza (75.80km)

Wasn't really feeling hungry, but I figured I'd start needing some carbs pretty soon and I may as well get them inexpensively from a supermarket, so went into Safeway and grabbed some cornchips, vegan tim-tams and a banana. Cornchips weren't salty enough, and the tim-tams would cause problems later, but still, it was what I needed!

Refuelling (not shown here: tim tams)

Rested for 20 minutes or so, and then got back on the bike to try and get to the 50 mile point and turn around. I went down some backstreets, including 'Marathon Drive', which I thought was very appropriate:P Eventually ran out of road and finished up at this terrific lookout spot high over the bay.

Turn around point on the coast at Mt Eliza (79.33km)

It was tough getting back to the highway. My legs were starting to feel a bit stuffed, and I'd ridden down a lot of hills to get to my turnaround point. At least I had a long downhill to look forward to though! I think I hit about 55kph going down the monster hill that had cost me 8kph going up:P Very soon later I was back on the flat road again, and could only watch passively as I gradually began to slow. By the time I got to Beaumauris, I was struggling to do 16kph, and decided I'd be better off on the bike path.

Metric century was reached (turned off into a side street so as to get the cyclometer exactly on 100.0km:P)

100km mark

After struggling for a while, I suddenly got a second wind when a guy on a road bike passed me going up a hill. For some reason, I didn't want this to happen and so got up on the pedals and passed him right back..and stayed in front. Suddenly the energy from my refuelling session seemed to kick in, and I was effortlessly going 30kph down Beach Rd. I even managed to hold off the guy for about 10km before a series of annoying red lights allowed him to catch up:P He must've just started to get going at that point, because from my position behind his wheel, things started getting tricky at 35kph. It wasn't long before he dropped me and I was on my own again (got on another cyclist's wheel though and went past him at a traffic light where I guess he must've turned off).

By the time I got to Beacon Cove, it was 4:30, and I knew I didn't have much further to go, so put in a bit more effort.

Beacon Cove again (134.90km)

Got to Yarra Boulevard, and realised that because my turning point was at 79.33km, I was going to have to do a bit of a dogleg to make up the final distance. Did 3km down the Capital city trail and then stopped for a photo at the cycle bridge.

Yarra trail (148.67km)

There were only 12km to go now, but I was definitely starting to flag, and had to dig deep to pass back this old guy on a crappy mountain bike (I wouldn't have minded if he had been on a $5000 road bike, but a department store clunker was too much of an ego hit:P). I wasn't really feeling tired aerobically though, it was just my legs, which were obviously unused to that amount of riding. Spun home the last few kms, running into a friend out on a jog, which made it easier to justify going 12kph:P

And finally, I was back:) My second century ride ever, and it was a lot faster (average: 21.4kph) and more enjoyable than the first.

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I mentioned that I had a plodding 10k on Sunday night and you can probably guess why. Legs were utterly destroyed and I was probably a bit glycogen depleted, so it wasn't really a surprise that I was finding 7:00/k a challenge. Still I got the run in and managed 65 minutes without stopping, so big smiles all round:)

Monday was a bit of a misadventure. I have a bit of a soy intolerance (terrible for a vegan), and get reallly bad stomach cramps, vomiting, etc. when I have even a bit of it, and I was getting those kind of symptoms that night. Tried to go for a run at the gym at work, but lasted 2k before having to stop. Felt really shocking and annoyed that I hadn't been able to do my run, but at least I did 10 minutes, so that's enough to keep my streak going:P

Had a really good run on Tuesday. Had done a lap around the uni ovals when I saw a guy running strongly on the footpath down below. Being a bit optimistic about the distances involved, I decided to run with him, and had to put on a prolonged sprint to catch up:P Ended up catching him though, and had a good chat with him, so barely noticed the time going by. Said goodbye at the CSIRO base and did another 15 minutes by myself to make up 45 minutes. Felt like I could've gone further too, but my left shin was a bit sore from bashing it against my pedal on Sunday, so decided not to risk it.

Ended up running a double that night though. Wasn't planning on it, but my dad was keen on doing 30 minutes, and I thought why not? Was feeling absolutely fine, legs felt great.

Had intended on getting up early this morning to go for a 'hilly training ride' with the uni team, but somehow managed to turn off the alarm without any memory of it, and woke up 10 minutes before I was supposed to be there:( Was looking forward to it too, even though I would've got my arse kicked! Oh well, I guess I'll start putting in some more rides after I've got the Hoppet out of the way.

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In more good news, my friend has finally agreed to come to Europe with me for my 3 month winter fitness junket:D I'm going to buy the tickets tomorrow:) Getting really excited about it, spent 2 hrs reading cycle touring websites when I should've been studying:P