SpoonBoy

Training wise, next week is supposed to be a rest week for me. This is probably good thing as due to some serious muppet action this morning, I’m now sporting a nicely bruised hip. Certainly if following my mate on his 6″ semi dood bike around Oxford falls while on my 4″ XC bike wasn’t my first mistake of the day, actually choosing to buy a McCafe “eXpresso” Flat white on my way to the ride probably was.

I’m 3 weeks into a plan I kind of plotted out and I’m not really sure how it’s all going or in fact even if I’m doing the right thing. I’ve tried to make sure I ease into things enough to not blow up within the first two weeks(sorry Jase) but leaves me with these thoughts of whether I’m on target, or not training enough.

By the end of tonight, I would have put away about 14-15hours of bike & Gym time which will leave my legs pretty tired, but not completely smashed. Given my target this week was origionally 11 hours, I revised that to 13 last week after I seemed to be recovering really well and I’m actually approaching 15hours this week, I’m left with this element of wonder. Of course I could just pay for a coach who’d probably know more about what’s going on but figuring it our for yourself is more fun!

At any rate, I’m going to stick to the plan and have a rest week next week which will still probably mean 8 or so hours of bike and gym time which should let me launch back into 14 or 15hours the week after. Work I think will be full on for the next couple of months so we’ll have to see and if it all goes belly up, then there’s probably no harm in throwing it all out the window and starting again…

…Like I should have done with that coffee! :)

Happy Trails!

Cheers
Craig

well not quite, but it gives me an excuse to post something before January. It’s been a pretty full on year and while I haven’t had the best results this year, I’ve come away with a lot of valuable lessons.

The plan for 2009 is already starting to come together. While I had previously sketched something out, it’s seeming like that plan is pretty much going to disappear out the window. At the moment, I’m 2 weeks into a 16+2 week plan to get me to the Easter 24hr Nationals. In between then and now I have the BMC Mountains to Beach. Other than that I have nothing else planned. I was thinking I’d like to do the Mega Epic up in QLD in August (but they’ve changed the format next year :/) and maybe even the CORC 24hr in October but we’ll have to see what other races appear on radar :)

Anyway, have a fantastic new year! Stay safe, have fun and take it easy!

Happy Trails

Cheers
Craig

The last three weeks have been interesting. On a good day I feel a bit spongy, lethargic but still able to get about. On a bad day like today, my glands in my neck swell up and hurt, I barely have the energy to do much for 20mins before needing to have a rest again. I thought I might have been getting better and even rode to work twice this week but clearly today shows that is not the case…

Being realistic, if it’s lasted 3 weeks, it’s probably going to last a lot longer

I had a bunch of blood taken earlier in the week and should know the results tomorrow. Unfortunately my GP isn’t in today so It’s just going to be another day of lieing on the couch and hoping it all goes away. I’m over it, over feeling so run down and crap, over having my neck swell up and hurt, over not being able to get out and about or plan things on the premise that well, I might just not be up to it.

blah…

on a side note… Good Luck Jason E this weekend down in Forrest! hope you have fun ;)

Happy Trails
Craig

I’m at home today deciding not to head into work. I’m at home because I’m feeling pretty crappy, I get up, do something for 15-20mins, then go lie down again completely spent! And so dear readers, between this post and my last one you can probably figure out my Highland Fling didn’t go so well, in fact it went pretty horribly…

I wasn’t exactly feeling brilliant to start with but I wasn’t feeling crook really either, not like I was on friday at any rate. My back and shoulder were still playing up but I figure and hour or two and they’d loosen up a bit. Started fine, joined the bunch as planned for the run to roller coaster and well, realised quickly I didn’t have the legs I was expecting. Arrived at the first transition on target give or take but not feeling too great, I suffered a little heading through the 2nd stage just trying to keep heart rates in check. About 7mins over target into the 2nd transition, I was starting to think then whether heading out for a 2nd lap was a good idea. Turns out it wasn’t and rapidly starting to feel worse and worse I bailed out about 1/3rd around the 2nd loop to head back to Wingello. By the time I arrived back I was completely wasted, and with thanks to the Tyno Sag wagon, I spent the rest of the afternoon curled up on Fi & Joe’s couch.

In hindsight, I should have perhaps not even started, or as soon as I realised I wasn’t havn’t a great day, back off and dawdle around for a lazy 100k but oh well…

Pat did amazingly well though, looking super strong through the forest and apparantly, a mere 10secs of podium. Liam equally as well coming back after a bit of a hiatus to come in just under the time limit (on a single speed no less!)

anyway, that’s all for now while I go lie down… again

Happy Trails

Cheers
Craig

I was just sucking a few files off of my polar before this weekends race and had a look at the graph for a road crit I did last saturday:

Now I see why that race hurt a little; some 70% of my time above 180bpm (90%) maxing out at 196 for a sustained period! Mind you I was pretty silly, sitting on the front for long periods and driving the pace, attacking and chasing breaks the whole day. It was certainly a lot of fun but counter productive to actually winning the thing ;) I raced B because I’m still not sure about this whole road thing and what grade I actually sit in, but probably could have raced A without any trouble, just not sitting on the front for so long.

Highland fling this weekend and I’m pretty stoked to be going. It seems I’m a marked man with comments on forums, emails and other chatter going on. Kind of makes sense given I finished 3rd last year, have been riding well and am more realistically beatable compared to Jase and the Van Terminator ;) Helps fuel the ego a little too! All is not rosy in camp spoon though. A back & shoulder issue is plaguing me still, and I woke up yesterday lethargic and tired with all my glands swollen up. While that has somewhat abated today I imagine whatever is lurking about in my system isn’t going to go away overnight so we’ll have to see. A light spin once I get to Bundanoon today and an early night will be order of the day me thinks.

Anyway, if you’re heading down this weekend, be sure to grab me and say hello. And if you are racing, good luck and have a lot of fun! The parts of the wingello stage we road last week were fantastic (if but a little skatey) so should be a great race.

Happy trails!

Cheers
Craig