This is going to be HUGE blog post. So to avoid boring you all, here is the executive summary-
- 7 days at a triathlon camp in Bright, Victoria with TA
- 4 rides, 3 swims + 1 run
- 3 mountains (Falls Creek, Buffalo & Hotham), 286km on the bike and over 4,880m elevation gain - my biggest week on the bike ever (I'm adopting the 85% rule rather than the 10% rule)
The extended version
I should have posted this on a daily basis but I didn't. So if anyone is tempted to even scan read what follows, make sure you have a comfy chair & your hydration and nutrition organised...
Now as I mentioned in my last post, I spent last week in (the appropriately named) Mt Beauty, Victoria at a triathlon camp being run by TA's coach
Mon: spent Boxing Day with the Mango clan in Canberra eating and drinking far too much. R & I left home about 8am on Monday morning in order to meet TA at Yass at 9am for the drive down to Mt Beauty, Victoria for camp. The drive from Wodonga into Mt Beauty was very daunting as the 'hills' around Falls Creek & Mt Bogong grew bigger & bigger the closer we got to Mt B. The prospect of having to ride up some of those hills this week left me with a knot in my stomach; TA & I joked about looking at the cows rather than looking at the size of the 'hills' in an effort to distract ourselves.
We arrived in Mt Beauty, our home away from home, just after 2pm and, after a very crazed period of unpacking the car, getting changed & pumping up tyres, we were on our bikes by 2.55pm and riding to the Mt B pool to meet everyone else for our first ride of camp; an 'easy' ride on a relatively 'flat route' to wake the legs up after the long ride. I think Dan, the coach, would be the first to admit that the ride wasn't as flat as he recalled. Throw in a nasty headwind on the return journey and it provided to be challenging. At times on the outward journey, I looked down & saw 34k/h on the speedo which should have been the first indication that things weren't quite right.
Once we turned around after 40mins, the reason for our speed on the outbound journey became evident - a nasty cross headwind slowed our progress so much so that the return journey took us 60mins! Stats: 1:56. 42.21km. Av. 21.7k/h.
Feeling very daunted and quite frankly, out of my depth at the moment. Looking at the mountains rise high above Mt Beauty & looking at the course profiles for the potential rides over the coming days, I have the feeling that perhaps I have bitten off more than I can chew for the Alpine Classic ride next month. But trying very hard to stay positive & not to psych myself out mentally...
Tue: Feeling calmer this morning & more confident mentally.
After a sleep-in, it was off to the local pool here in Mt Beauty for a swim session. After a warm up, we were first videoed swimming both from above & underwater which will be analysed during the course of the week by the coaches. Then I did a stroke correction session whilst TA did a swim fitness set. Approx. 2km in total
After lunch (steak sandwiches) it was back to our lodge for a couple of hours of R&R before a run at 4pm. The rest of the group had an organised run technique session followed by laps of the lake here in Mt B. However I decided not to join in in case I upset my hip. So I did a 30mins walk/shuffle from our apartment. So. Very. Hot. Our apartment is lovely and cool so I don't think any of us realised just how hot it was outside. 30mins was more than enough for me; I felt sorry for the others who were out in the hot sun for 90mins.
A chat during dinner left me feeling reasonably comfortable with our ride up Falls Creek tomorrow. It sounds fairly similar, albeit m-u-c-h longer, to the climb up from Berowa Waters. Mind you, the climb up Berowa is 4km long. Tomorrow the ride is 30km :-O At least I will be fully carb loaded after not one but two servings of bread & butter pudding at dinner :-O
Weird atmosphere in the house tonight. It feels like tomorrow is race day. Everyone, myself included, is running around organising their gear as though tomorrow is the more important race of the season. I guess everyone is a bit nervous about the first big ride of camp.
Wed: bad bad bad nights sleep. Tossed & turned so many times, wanting always to check the time but being unable to do so (I am sleeping on the top bunk for the first time in possibly decades!) By 5am I was out of bed & getting ready to leave by 6am for our ride up Falls Creek. A cool morning with a beautiful clear sky but thankfully not too cold. By 6am, we rolled out of our apartment & rode down to the Mt B pool to meet the rest of the group who are staying at another lodge on the other side of town. The climb started almost immediately. TA & I started, and stayed, at the back the whole way keeping our usual steady pace.
We knew it was 30kms from Mt B to Falls Creek so I kept looking for the kilometre markers. The first 5kms were uphill. From about the 7km to the 12kms mark, there were some downhills which were difficult to deal with mentally. It was not just the idea of losing all the altitude we had worked hard to ride up. But the idea of having to climb back up those hills on the return journey on tired legs was hard to think about. The rest of the climb was up, up, up with a few short downhill or flat sections to give our legs, and minds, a break.
There isn't much to say about this ride other than TA & I stayed together & kept climbing, climbing, climbing. The higher we got, the slower we got and the colder it got.
TA decided to stop once we reached the gates to Falls Creek as she was suffering from back pain while I pushed on for the last 3-4 kms to the chalets. A wise decision for her to make; the last 3-4kms were probably the toughest. I was often out of my seat which rarely happens. The gradient increased slightly & despite the cool conditions, I was working so hard I had to roll down my arm warmers for the final push. Arrived 2:32 after leaving Mt B - yes, we basically rode uphill for 2 & 1/2 hours!
Cold weather at the top meant my stop was only brief. Checking the weather observations now, it appears that the temp was only 8.7 degrees. Not the best place to stop for a rest. So I quickly put on several layers of clothing for the (cold) descent & had a vegemite sandwich - the BEST mid-ride food on the planet - and then set off back down the hill. When I first started downhill, my bike felt like it was slipping on the road. I first thought that maybe it was the road surface or perhaps something was on my wheel. But I soon realised that it was probably the wind. It turns out the wind speed was about 35k/h and gusts of up to 46k/h at the time I was at Falls Creek. Thankfully I dropped down into a much more protected area out of the wind quickly. But by this stage, I had already got cold; too cold. My fingers were numb; at one stage I actually couldn't feel my brakes nor my gear levers. Stopped at the gates where I had left TA & we set off down the mountains again. She quickly dropped me; that woman goes downhill like she is (to use a line from Pretty Woman) "on rails".
The weather warmed up quickly as I dropped in altitude so I stopped to peel off a few layers, finally arriving back in town 1hr 5mins after leaving the top. Felt tired but pleased with my effort. Stats: 4:01. 65.22km. Av. 16.2k/h. AvHR 139
A quick stretch & shower & it was off to the other lodge for lunch (homemade hamburgers) before returning to our lodge for a few hours of R&R.
No rest for the wicked as they say so at 4.30pm we headed off to the oval for a core & stretch session; the stretching was particularly needed by my poor tired legs :-(
Thu: slept like the proverbial log last night; perhaps my best sleep in weeks!
Up early again. Feeling more confident but somewhat flat this morning. I had a lot emotionally invested in climbing Falls Creek as it is part of the course for the Alpine Classic ride. I *had* to get to the summit of Falls Creek yesterday; I figured that if I couldn't summit it during this camp I would have no chance of summiting during the Alpine Classic. But today's climb, I am taking the view that it doesn't really matter whether I make it or not. I don't really have anything invested in this one so I can't say that I am feeling particularly enthusiastic about it.
This time we left Mt B at 6am for the drive across Tawonga Gap to Bright for our next ride; to the summit of Mt Buffalo. It was about 6.40am by the time we left the cars for the 35mins reasonably flat ride to the base of Buffalo. From there, it was up, up, up. Unlike Falls Creek which has a few brief flats or short downhill sections to break up the climbing, Buffalo doesn't. It just literally goes up. Looking at the elevation profile (see below), the first brief downhill section came after 2 hours of non-stop climbing.
I rode with TA for about the first 1.5hrs before she stopped due to back pain & I continued on for the rest of the ride on my own. I ended up passing 2 people, and catching another 2 at the top, all of whom were stronger on Falls Creek than I was which was quietly pleasing. I felt stronger as the ride went on though I don't know to what extent it was a physical thing or it was the mental boost that came from catching & passing people. Either way, this ride left me feeling confident about my climbing; I have a lot of work to do to pick up the pace but I know I can at least get up the hills (albeit slowly). I certainly felt great by the time I reached the summit after 3:05 of climbing. Brief stop at the summit to fill water bottles, have a chat to the others & put on a few layers of clothes & it was time to set off for the descent. Unlike Falls Creek it was warm and windy at the top of Buffalo. While I descend like a nana - ie, slowly - I am getting a lot of practice this week.
Despite the difficulty of this ride - and it was much tougher than Falls Creek - it turned out (much to my surprise) to be a great, and very beautiful, ride. It started off in the typical bushland setting, then quickly became beautiful lush green rainforest, before changing back to bushland before the classic high alpine vegetation of low grass, large rocks piled up in inexplicable ways, large blue lakes & trees twisted and deformed by the wind. Did I mention I really enjoyed this ride? Stats: 4:40. 80.35km. Av 17.2k/h. AvHR 138
The view from one of the lookouts that I stopped at briefly on the way back down the hill -
After lunch (sausage & steak sandwiches) and a bit of R&R, it was into the car for the hour drive to Lake Buffalo for an open water swim. While most donned their wetsuits, the water was (surprisingly) beautifully warm so I went without. Swam about 1km purely to try out some of the things Dan had mentioned in our previous swim session as well as flush the cr*p out of my legs after the climb up Buffalo in the morning.
Fri: finally a much deserved sleep-in! We didn't need to be at the pool for our swim session until 8.50am - yippee! Another stroke correction session for me. Plenty of water up my nose to demonstrate that I have plenty to work on. Only about 1.5km in total.
Enjoyed a relaxing afternoon off, resting, catching up on the news, eating, stretching & psyching myself up for tomorrow's big ride up Mt Hotham. At dinner lots of the experienced, and strongest, riders were talking about how tough Hotham was which left me nervous & wanting to escape in an attempt to keep myself in a good head space.
Sat: another bad bad bad nights sleep feeling very nervous about the ride up Mt Hotham. Awake before the alarm at 4.45am to get ready to the drive to Bright. Left the cars at about 6.30am for the 20km ride to Harriotville which is a gorgeous town at the base of Hotham. The road is basically a false flat for 20km so the ride felt much harder than it appeared. On arrival at Harriotville, we stopped for a toilet break and refilled the water bottles in anticipation of a very hot and hard ride up the mountain.
Within the first 3mins of leaving Harriotville, the road kicked up steeply and continued that way for basically 10kms. This section included a hairpin bend with its own name - "The Meg". You know a corner is bad when it has it's own name! You basically come around a tight left hand hairpin with a sharp rise and then the road continues to climb relatively steeply for about another 100-200m. Everyone had talked about how bad it was. But thankfully once we got to the corner, Dan was standing on the opposite side of the road & told us that there was no oncoming traffic so that we could use the whole road to get around the corner - thankfully. I'm not sure I would have made it up the hairpin itself had I needed to take the inside line due to traffic.
After about 10kms of solid climbing, the road started to plateau out. Still climbing but more a false flat as the road followed the side of the mountain with gorgeous views out towards a mountain I know now to be Hotham (so glad I didn't realise that at the time).
Speaking to people the night before, they had said the two most difficult parts of the climb were "The Meg" but also the 8km from the Rangers Hut to the summit. Some of the strongest women in the group who had previously attended the camp had never made it beyond the Rangers Hut to the village of Hotham. For that reason, the night before I had set myself the goal of riding to the Rangers Hut and saving the push to the summit until camp next year. But I arrived at the Rangers Hut feeling pretty good and with two other girls who were pushing onto the summit so I decided to go with them... :-O
Not sure what I am say about the next 8kms other than they were the most physically demanding thing I have ever done. Much harder than any climbing or mountaineering I have previously done because when you get tired doing those things you can stop, take time to recover before moving again. Much harder to do when riding a bike up a steep slope when stopping is likely to involve toppling over sideways & losing skin off your knee.
The last 8kms were basically (steep) rolling hills - see the elevation graph below - along the side of, or in some cases along the ridge line, on Mt Hotham with very strong crosswinds which were . Somewhere along here TA, who had previously turned around due to illness, drove past me in the car. It was a wonderful surprise and a nice boost to have her there. But I felt rude; I didn't acknowledge her or her encouragement enough because I was working so hard. I just had to keep my head down, focus on turning the pedals over & not look up. During this section, I also set a new record for me - slowest recorded pace whilst going uphill. I looked down at one point & saw 5.4k/h. It would have been faster to walk - which I often contemplated doing.
Finally, we got to the top & got to enjoy the roll down into Mt Hotham while trying to get the o2 back into my body arriving to find most of the group standing around cheering us in as we arrived. TA was also waiting for me and my sweaty hug (sorry TA!). We all decided to head to the cafe for a celebratory coffee. The crosswinds (around 50k/h with gusts around 70k/h!) and some gravel on the road in key downhill spots made most of us uncomfortable with the idea of riding down from the summit of Hotham. So I piled into the car with TA and she drove back down to the Rangers Hut. Dan arrived & he offered to drive TA's car back to Bright so she could ride back too. That was the last I saw of her for about half an hour; she dropped me (again) on the decent! TA was waiting in Harriotville and we enjoyed the ride back to Bright together. Stats: 99.19km. 5:25:25. Av. 18.3k/h. Av.HR 145
And no, I didn't jump off a cliff. The straight drop in elevation is the drive from the summit back down to the Rangers Hut.
In all a hot & difficult day. I still find myself completely surprised that I managed to make it to the summit. But I did :-)
Back at the car, it was by now about 2pm and 37 degrees in Bright. Feeling hot & tired, a can of cake and hot chips with chicken salt went down almost without touching the sides. Then it was time to drive back to Mt B for a long shower, stretching and a lazy afternoon enjoying a few local wines and cheese before our final dinner with the group
Sun: rest (if you can call travelling from Victoria up to Port Stephens by car, restful) & already looking forward to camp at the end of this year!
Dec:
Swim: 9.45km
Bike: 500.6km
So for the 2010 totals -
Swim: 185.75km
Bike: 4,148.7km
In comparison, 2009 stats are -
Swim: 94.7km (!)
Bike: 1,553.1km
Of course, 2010 has been an amazing year. New races, new friends, new achievements & new goals as well as my first wedding anniversary :-)) May 2011 bring many more of each :-)
2 comments:
Awesome report Jen. Congratulations.
You need a holiday after that! Stop posting scary mountain profiles. I'm hopeless on hills. Anyway, happy 2011 Jen - keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up.
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