Around Brunner and........the crash....

So yep, my first crash on a road bike. We'll get to that later cos that happened near the end.

Brrr but Greymouth was cold!! It rained on and off all night before the race, I was thinking of not doing it if it was raining at the start, the thought of those huge bunches in the rain wasn't appealing. There was one quick shower after we got up and then it was nice and clear but very very cold!! It was freezing biking down to the start line, I was wearing a base layer top, cycle top, arm warmers, cycle shorts and knee warmers and it was soo cold!!! We sat on the start line for up to about 45mins, I was shivering big time by the time we started. I was pleased to finally get going but it took about half the starting chute before I could get my foot clipped in cos my feet were so cold. Need to take shoe covers there nezt year!

Race plan was pretty simple, real similar to last week, go hard from the start and give it heaps! There are no major hills in this race, it is just long, 130kms. The start was a bit interesting as bunches seemed to just keep flying past but I managed to get into a reasonable sized bunch on the outskirts of Greymouth and rode with some of those folk for pretty much the whole race. The railway bridge seemed to turn up pretty quick, thats an interesting part of the race as the bridge is for cars and trains so you have to avoid the railwasy tracks, the marshalls are good tho and you just have to choose one of 3 lines and stay in it and you will be fine, the surface is pretty rough tho. From there it was nice and undulating to Jacksons and the halfway point. My goal time was 4 hours, I did 4.31 last year so was planning to be a whole lot quicker but figured I could do it after improving so much in Graperide the week before. I got to the halfway point in 2 hours and 2 mins so was pretty much on target for 4 hours or thereabouts. I was a little worried about cramping for the first time ever, my right hamstring was feeling a little crampy at about the 50km mark so I was a little worried cos there was still a long way to go. It felt niggly pretty much the whole way but never seemed to get any worse so that was good. After the halfway point there are some nice long flat stretches of road and we had a few team riders join the bunch so their fresh legs were good for leading us out along the flats. There were a couple of interesting parts in this half, there were some road works going on and one of the smaller climbs was gravelly but had been well swept and wetted down so was ok to ride up, then around Moana there are a couple of bigger climbs. When I say bigger they are probably the biggest climbs in the race but are nothing like the hills around ChCh, they just feel a bit mean cos its 100kms in and you have been on your bike for 3 hours already. By the time we got to Stillwater I realised I wasn't quite going to make 4 hours but was going to come close at around 4.03-4.05. So with about 3-5km to go the worst possible thing happened and we had a huge bunch crash. I'm not 100% sure what happened as I was halfway down the bunch, apparently someone at the front sat up and looked around, the girl behind him clipped his wheel and came off, 2 others crashed really badly as well. The rest of us just tried to avoid them, I was about half-way down the right hand side and swerved out with everyone else and thought I was going to miss it but hadn't swerved enough and caught the wheel of the girl in front (ewww, you can see her tyre marks on my wheel!) and tumbled off. I pretty much hit everything on my right hand side, I think I did a full head over heels tumble but I'm not sure, my helmet took a good thump so I now have a very sore neck, sore shoulder, garcked up elbow, bruised hip and knees.My cycle kit is a bit scratched up but still wearable. My helmet is never going back on my head, I put new cleats on my shoes about 2 weeks ago and one of these snapped with the force that I came off my bike. My bike seems to be fairly ok, I definitely came off worse. She is in at the shop at the moment getting the once over, it appears to be mainly surface damage, scuffed saddle, rear derailleur, pedals, hood covers and stuff like that. Wheels are a little untrue and have one bent spoke but all easily fixable. Gee the things that run thru your head when you fall.....first it was phew I missed that, then when I started to fall it was oh f*ck!!, then oh no my bike!!! followed by, thank god for helmets as my head took a thump, then it was shit what happened. By the time I got off the road everyone was running around helping the hurt folk so I pulled bikes and stuff off the road so the next bunch didn't ride into them. The ambulance was there pretty quickly and another arrived soon after. 3 went to hospital, one was a lady I have known for about 16 years and hadn't seen in ages but she called out to me at Moana and I was looking forward to a catch up when we crossed the finish line. Once everything was under control I checked that my bike was rideable and headed to the finish with a couple of others. It was a pretty quiet solemn ride to the end, I just dawdled along in a real easy gear, my heart wasn't really in it now after what I had just seen. I've seen one of my finishing photos and I look pretty miserable so be gentle if you check out the pics. Total time was 4.16, I was 16th in my category, ride time on my bike computer was 4.07 so I was stopped for maybe 10mins. Afterwards a few people asked me if I knew what had happened so I told them what I knew from what others had told me, I gave a rather unfiltered version of events to one guy before realising he was the one that caused it.

I was feeling pretty bad about this yesterday when I was in a better state of mind and I don't think he had any idea what happened and he was pretty genuine in this and he was feeling bad that he hadn't stopped (it's hard to stop at the front tho without putting others at risk), I saw him later in the crowd and he looked pretty upset so I emailled the organisers this morning and explained what had happened and asked if they could forward on an apology from me which they have done. I was a bit of a mess when I crossed the line, the enormity of the whole thing hit me and I realised how lucky I was to have got off so lightly and I pretty much burst into tears and sat on the ground having a big cry. Huge thanks to Tanya and Nadia for looking after me while Geoff went and got the car so I didn't have to bike home. Tanya even managed to find a doctor to check me over to make sure I was ok while poor Nadia was looking after my bike and all my other stuff. Thanks ladies, you're awesome!! Geoff makes a good first aid person, after I showered he cleaned me up and bandaged my wounds, this made me cry again cos it hurt a lot!! So after prizegiving we headed out for dinner and I did the very mature thing of drinking lots of beer to make me feel better! It worked too, I felt great!! Now what?? Well I will definitely be back next year, its just one of those things that can happen to anyone anytime they get on their bike, thats life and a risk worth taking to do what you enjoy. For now tho I have 3 weeks off training, apparently its called an off-season, so hurting myself came at the right time cos I couldn't train now even if I wanted to!

Graperide

Another race done and dusted with another PB in the bag!! This has been a stunning season of racing so far!!

Well I had a pretty simple race plan for Graperide - go hard from the start and just go for it, ie leave it all out on the road!!

Last year was the first time I did this ride and I wasn't sure how hard it would be, to be fair I had also never ridden 100kms at the time so I took it pretty easy at the start so I would be able to make it.

This year my fitness and ability has improved outta sight so I knew that even if I thrashed myself at the start I would still be able to make it over those hills and to the finish line.

I was at the start line with one of Geoff's friends so that was cool to have someone to chat to at the start, I was planning to try and hang on to Nathan for as long as I could as I knew he was considerably stronger than I am, he had a bad crash a few weeks ago tho so wasn't near as fast as he could have been.

As the bunch turned onto the main road after leaving the vineyard they took off so I had to put in a fair bit of effort straight away so that I could stay with them but figured that a bit of effort now would pay off if I could stay with a decent bunch. The effort was well worth it as the bunch was working really well and communicating well when they slowed up etc so I was feeling pretty safe and happy in there which was good. I was a bit nervous about the bunches as I haven't done a lot of bunch riding lately and it was the first time I had ridden the Wilier in a cycle race. The bunch was huge until we got just past Blenheim and then it split in half and Nathan was in the front half and up the road while I was in the back half of the bunch, still there were lots of big strong guys around who seemed to be more than happy to share the bulk of the work between them. I started eating about now, we were about 30mins into the race and I knew that if I didn't eat then things would go bad esp as we were getting along the road at a really good pace, pace was feeling good tho, not too hard but certainly hard enough that I knew I was working, I checked my HR a couple of times and it was generally in the 150's while we were cycling along the flats. The first hill hits you just before Picton and that certainly seemed to sort a few people out on the way up although the bunch re-grouped after the descent into Picton. Got to Picton in an hour and 6mins which is pretty good as it just on 40kms to Picton. Then you really get into the hills and they were fun!! Really they were!! Last year I wasn't fond of hills and my climbing ability was rather limited in hindsight!! This year, I was literally dancing on my pedals and cruising past heaps of people on the climbs, wow that is an awesome feeling passing people on the climbs!! Yay!! To be fair a number of people caught me again on the descents as I don't descend uber-fast as I would rather get to the bottom of the hill a few seconds slower and get there in one piece!! The challenge was getting in with a good bunch again for the next flat section. One guy had the right idea trying to get everyone working together for short stints at the front. it was just a bugger that when he got to the front he was too strong for the rest of us and the bunch of about 20 became a bunch of about 5 with me desperately clinging on to the back of the 5!! Hmmmm, life got hard at that point as we had a nasty headwind now that stayed with us for the rest of the ride!! Last year we had a tailwind at the same point which was much much nicer!! One last wee hill thru Havelock and then you can just about smell the finish!! The 10km to go sign was a welcome thing, 5kms rocked up pretty quick. At the last wee climb just up from there I took off in my big chain ring and got in front of the bunch and managed to catch a girl up the road and sat in on her until the last km where I dug deep and took off for the finish line. I think I must have dragged everyone with me as a couple of the guys commended me on my ride to the end! Oh well, they helped me out enough during the race so fair's fair!! I did go up and shake one guys hand and thank him as he was regularly a very convenient windbreak when I needed one!

So total time was: 03:14:23 and I am stoked with that as last year I did: 03:34:28. A 20min improvement on what everyone reckons was a much harder ride than last year with that wind is pretty blimmin fantastic in my book! Woohoo, on to Brunner this weekend now!!

My eatfit story...

Well most of you know that I have dropped a few kilos and have a kinda skinny ass now which is all pretty cool. I have been going to the nutritionist since about October last year and have had some stunning results, yep I still go but less frequently now. I still need good eating advice :)

Anyway the team at eatfit publish a monthly newsletter and this month they have published my eatfit story which is pretty exciting! So, for more about eatfit go to: www.eatfit.co.nz

And here is my tale from their newsletter:

"eat fit showed me that if I was lighter my fitness would improve and I would move faster. The biggest change that eatfit helped me with was eating a proper breakfast. I used to eat two pieces of toast for breakfast but I would feel hungry again when I got to work. Now I eat a fantastic breakfast that fills me up for the day." "I used to think that if I trained hard I could eat anything and it wouldn't affect my weight and performance. Now my eatfit routine helps maximize my performance and reduces the likelihood of overeating at dinner time from the post work out hunger. I have more energy and I am able to recover for my next training session." "I can now fit into size 10 clothes. I have more energy, can wear nice clothes and it is definitely great to get regular compliments about the results I have achieved." "Life these days is pretty good, I look better and feel better and my performance has improved infinitely. IT IS a lot easier to run when you are 10 kilos lighter!" "I have recommended eatfit to several of my friends as they have been impressed with the lifestyle changes that I have made and they are also enjoying the long term results."

Time for Graperide!!

Woohoo nearly time to head off to wine country (Blenheim) for the Graperide! The weather is looking good, the car is all packed and ready to go, just waiting for Geoff to finish work so we can off!!! Its been a weird training week with cycling only in the training plan, it's been a little odd not going for those early morning swims thats for sure! All good tho as I feel nice and rested and ready for tomorrow. Hopefully I can go a heap quicker than last years 3 and a half hours. Hmmmm apparently my 'story' that I had to write for the nutritionist is going in their next newsletter. Thats a little scary....

Ok am trying to be good and update my blog more frequently!!

Am feeling a bit nervous about the fact that my training program has a cycling only focus for the next two weeks and then nothing at all for the 3 weeks after that!! The cycling only part is fair enough, I have Graperide this weekend followed by Around Brunner the weekend after so that is all cool, don't wanna go race with legs that are sore from running. But eek 3 weeks off!! Apparently thats an off-season, I get all jittery everytime I think about it! I was good tho and when I was at the nutritionist today I talked to her about eating and nutrition while not exercising so much so have some good ideas now of what to do and not do while I am less active. So if anyone wants to go fishing....golf....anything that doesn't involve a swim/bike or run then just let me know, I will be at a loose end from 20th April for 3 weeks!!!

Have managed to get some good training sessions under my belt this week tho so am feeling quite good about that. Had to do a 5km run TT the other night, it wasn't quite as sharp as my last couple but its still heaps quicker than what I was doing a year ago so can't be too unhappy about things! Swam at Centennial on Wed am, that is one busy little pool in the morning! Phew, its quite a mish finding enough lane space for yourself, decided to flag the drills I was supposed to do and just did some long sets as it seemed a lot safer. Went for a nice ride on Thurs evening in that nasty nasty wind that we had going on here in ChCh, I don't think Pete enjoyed riding with us somehow, he was very chatty at the start and was pretty quiet by the time we got home......

Saturday was a good running day, all overcast and ick! Started at the top of Evans for a change, I think I am almost a little bit over the Capt. Thomas now. Headed along the Scarbrough Bluffs to Taylors Mistake and along Godley Head, its real gorgeous over there. Underestimated how long it would take to get back tho as running that way there is more uphill on the return trip. I was a little silly and decided I would try and run all of those 193 steps, hmmmmm thats not a smart idea, they hurt a lot! Never mind, I have something to strive for there now.

Sunday was quite a huge day, a 4 hour ride followed up with a 20min run. I made sure I loaded up with some decent nutrition for this one, 4 hours is no walk in the park and I chose a challenging course for myself. I headed up Dyers to the Kiwi, went right at the Kiwi along the Summit to Gebbies, along the bays to Lyttleton up Evans, along the Summit back to the Kiwi and home. Was chatting to some dude when I was climbing Evans and managed to keep up with him and climbed Evans a minute faster than I ever have before........hmmm I must have been slacking, best I give it a really good nudge next time I am heading up there which I guess will be after that enforced rest thing! Had a good run afterwards which was nice, just did the usual wee loop thru the Horseshoe Lake reserve.

Right.....time to bring on Graperide!!!

Easter

Easter was a mission training weekend, beware what you ask for as you may get it!! Hahaha, I suggested that I have a huge training weekend over Easter as I wasn't going away or doing anything in particular so that is exactly what I got. It looked a little like this: Friday - 60min swim and a 3 hour ride, Saturday - 2 hour hill run, Sunday - 60min swim, Monday - 3 hour ride plus an hour run off the bike. So lots of hard work but heaps of fun!

On the Friday I decided that rather than doing drills etc I would have a go at doing a 3.8km swim so I knew that I could do the distance as I had never swum that far before. Let's just say that 152 lengths of a 25m pool is not the most inspiring swim one could do! I was a little worried about losing count so decided to split it into quarters counting 4 lots of 38 laps. I wore Geoff's HRM so I could download all the data and hit the split timer every quarter so I would have an idea how consistent I was over the distance. The good news is that my HR was very consistent throughout and the splits were all relatively similar, nothing more than a minute difference in each of them which is good. I took it pretty easy as I had never swum that far before and obviously had a big weekend ahead of me.

Headed home after the swim and managed to catch Ironman NZ on SKY before heading out on my ride. Went for a slightly different ride to normal, headed out to do short bays, have decided that I am only going up Dyers Pass Rd from now on (I really hope that decision doesn't bite me in the bum at a later date!). Headed down into Governer's Bay as normal, then headed along the bays, up Evans and turned left to go along the Summit Rd to the Kiwi, it is such a pretty ride going along there but blimey it just keeps going up and up and up!! Descended from the Kiwi down Hackthorne and headed home.

Had some nice damp weather for my run on the Saturday which is actually quite nice for running. I started off at the old Capt. Thomas walkway yet again, (I need to start experimenting on diff runs) on Rapanui I took the turn-off to the Scarborough Bluffs and managed to get myself all the way to Taylors Mistake, this involved running thru a paddock full of sheep so was quite amusing! Heading into Taylor's the path took me down a track that led into an awful lot of steps, so I figured, hmmm will count those on the way back it seems like quite a few steps, imagine my horror when I headed back to see that the sign on the track is simply '193 Step track'..........and they are narrow steep things too! It certainly raised the heart rate getting back up those!! I'll be back to do them again tho :)

Sunday was pretty casual with just a swim on the cards, did a technique session with some speedwork thrown in for good measure, Murphy's Law the pool was 50m today! They couldn't have organised that when I did that 3.8km could they!! I even managed to get out and rake the leaves in the drive and generally get some jobs down around home although I did have reasonably sore legs from the day before. I need some compression tights methinks!

Monday the biggest mission of them all!! Off to try another new bike ride, I have decided that standard long bays is just a huge mission! Its a long way out to Motukarara, so I decided to do long bays the other way so headed on up to the Kiwi, turned right there and headed along Summit Rd to Coopers and descended down Gebbies. I have never gone along Summit Rd that way before and it is absolutely stunning along there!! Gorgeous views that whole way!! I'm definitely riding along there more in the future. Managed to comfortably get myself over the 'Bitches' using my '21' rather than my '25' for climbing so that was pretty cool!! Headed along the bays and up over Evans, through Sumner to home. A quick change of shoes and top and off for that run. I had worked out that a lap around the river plus a loop thru the reserve would take about an hour, the good news is that it didn't!! The bad news is I had to quickly figure out a good place to add on a detour that wouldn't take me too far away! I ended up running just under an hour but the super-cool part is that I did run the whole time! That's huge for me as I am the proverbial run/walker, its so much fun to be able to run and run now!

So rather a mission but thats what long weekends are for eh :)

Phew busy busy!!

Went for a lactate test a few weeks ago which was pretty interesting, I was keen to see how much I had improved since the last one way back in October. Well I can tell you that I am now a helluva lot fitter than I was back then which is pretty damn exciting!! I managed to go up another couple of levels on the wattage threshold before my HR went thru the roof, jeepers it was hard on those top levels!! Lots of pain, but fun as well....issues? Yes!! :)

Managed to break my HRM recently so now have an uber-flash new Polar RS200 which is a wicked toy! I can download my workouts to the web so that is pretty cool and I managed to figure out how to set the zones to my HR thresholds in my program so that is cool. And it can countdown to Ironman as well, thats a bit real when you see the countdown on your watch each day, not sure how long that will last before I get over that! Its been a bit weird not racing over the past few weeks, it has been nice to get out for some long runs and rides tho, its a bit challenging to get those in when you race most weekends. The wetsuit has been washed, rinsed, dried and hung up for the winter. Next time it sees the light of day will be when it goes on Trade Me so I can buy myself a new one as my current one is too big now! So if anyone is after a 2XU Elite Womens wetsuit I have one that needs a new home.