Not much to report...

I was feeling a bit tired all day, so when it came time to meet Siri for a run in the afternoon, I decided to catch the CityCat, rather than ride to QUT. I also decided to catch public transport home. Siri called me just as I rocked up at the Gardens. I immediately spotted a woman with
a Fuel Belt and an Ironman hat and introduced myself, guessing it must be Deanna - I was right.

Deanna had already been running for 1:30 as she's training for Ironman Australia (IM OZ). She's also doing Hell of the West this weekend. We ran from the Gardens over the Goodwill Bridge and through Southbank, around to West End. There was a bit of grass to run on, and Deanna (Canadian) and I tried to figure out what all the States were... of the US, that is. I am proud to say I know virtually none of them! I am so dumb!

When we got back to the bridge, I ran straight up to the Mater Busway Station and caught the bus home from there, which was a lot faster than going from the Queen St Mall. So I did about an hour of running, and the legs feel good. I'm still worried about how much I should be doing.

When I got home, I did some grocery shopping, and then I was worried about how much and what I should be eating, before and during the race. Now I'm just waiting for the race-week niggles to come on - you know, the ones that will vanish on race day.

I'm now officially a member of AURA, which is cool. In other ultra news... Siri forwarded me a survey for elite female ultra runners. I don't think I count, but I filled it in anyway.

I was hoping to meet Steven for a coffee this afternoon but he had a change of plans, some meeting came up so he cancelled his other meeting and couldn't get out of the office. I was going to swim this afternoon but I don't think I'll bother seeing as I'm doing a river loop tomorrow
morning.

Beer mile video evidence!

The tragic evidence is online here in video format. In the original results I was male but that has been amended.

Ride Report: Mt Tamborine, Australia Day 2006

As seen on aus.bicycle:

Steven made me get up at 0430h; we were on the bikes by 0500h and he made me go the hilly way to the Team Fresh meeting point (Broadwater/Logan Rds). I had no sports drink, a few gels and a protein bar, and a spare tube but nothing else, because I left my spares bag at home. I did, however, take those stupid tri bars and gel flask holder off my bike. I left the bidon cages behind the seat because I hate being dependent upon the kindess of strangers for water, plus I was worried I'd put the seat back on at the wrong height!

There was only one other girl there, but I got reassured more would be starting from Waterford. The ride out to Tamborine was lovely, and I had plenty of chat time, and most of the time I ended up sitting behind Steven ;) hehehe. At Tambo, they sent us up in groups. I missed the first group because I was sucking down a GU, so they were a couple of hundred metres ahead already. One of the girls was suffering asthma, I passed her very soon. I went up on my own, just sat and spun, and ended up catching two of the other girls before the summit. In hindsight I could've ridden it faster, but it's the first time I've done it, and I didn't want to blow up. One of the girls said later, "Well, for the first 2 km I thought I'd die... then I pulled over and thought I would throw up, but then it was okay!"

Steven started 4 or 5 (I think) minutes later and flew past me by the time I was halfway up, making it look disgustingly easy, and after he won KOTM (yep, King of the Mountain), he came back down to see how I was going, so he could do an extra few km of hill climbing in prep for France in July.

Up the top, everyone stopped at the forest cafe for breakky or drinks. I had a nice big flat white, and then went to get some sports drink from the servo. My bike was "parked in" so I ran down there barefoot, it was only 400m, and everyone thought I was insane. (They didn't know I'd run
35km the day before, either.)

On the way home, we TT'd from Tambo to Waterford... I started with the girls at the bottom of the hill but when the first guys came past they gave me no warning, I was hurting on the front so just gave up but the other girls managed to jump on. It was disgustingly hot and I struggled
on my own on the bumpy rough road. I kept looking behind for the next group but couldn't see them coming. Eventually they passed me without warning, just as a truck was approaching - all I could see/hear when I looked back was the truck, and I didn't get a chance to wind it up as
they came along.

I slowed down further and just kept looking behind me, determined not to miss anyone else. Eventually a guy on his own came through, he actually called out on approach anyway, and I wheelsucked him for a bit. I let him know when some of the really fast guys came along... who also said nothing (it must have been a weenie comp or something) and when I saw there were only two I yelled a desperate "that's last man!" at my free ride and he did a little effort and then there were 4. I got very nervous as this lot were hill climbing at 38-39km/h which is about what I average in a crit on the very flat circuit at Murarrie, so sure enough about 8 minutes later they dropped me up a slightly bigger climb.

A few minutes later I caught one of the girls who had been dropped; she was extremely grateful for the company, and after I took a 30s rest on her wheel, she wheelsucked me back to Waterford, giving me one short rest on the way. I felt good and was holding about 30km/h which I was impressed with, given I had just clocked over 100km.

At Waterford lots of people headed home, Steven promised it'd be slow but wouldn't take to long. As we approached the turnoff to my place he said he'd ride home rather than stop for a swim, and I decided that, having now done about 125km, I might like to keep riding to his place
and make it 140km. We did, and I made him go along Logan Rd which was much less hilly. We had to stop for more water, and at the servo near his place, stop again for iced coffee. Mmmm. Then we rolled the last few hundred metres, put the bikes away, and enjoyed some nice cold beer.

My new bibknicks were awesome, I have less damage than I'd normally get from a 60km ride!

Stats:

Distance: 140 km (tied longest ride ever)
Ride time: 5h 17min
Average speed: 26.5 km/h

Total time: about 7:30, we probably spent over an hour at Tambo, half an hour at Waterford on the way back while Jess bought stuff, and plenty of short stops for water and lights and so on.

I'm a bad blogger...

Once again my days got away from me and nothing happened on my blog, although a lot was happening in my life. I'll break it down...

After the flat tyre incident on Monday morning, I should've gone downstairs to check my bike before riding home, but I didn't do that until I was already dressed in lycra. Sure enough, the tyre was flat. However, the valve seemed to be a little bit open, which is a problem I've had with these valves before - they seem fully closed but they've got another half-turn in them.

I went to the CityCat stop and began to pump up my tyre. I figured that if it was a flat I'd just take the ferry to the city and fix the flat on my way. However I had no trouble pumping the tyre up to 100psi with my new pump, and it held air, so I rode home.

On Tuesday morning, I met Abby at Mitre 10 and we did a Chelmer loop before he headed back into the city. I love riding through Chelmer - it's such a quaint little suburb, with lovely old houses lined up along beautiful tree-lined streets frequented by dog-walkers and cyclists. Somewhere along Milton Rd we saw the group from Peloton Cycles, with Kenny and Gilly there, and I had a chat. All up, I did about 40km that morning.

Steven, on the other hand, ran to work, and planned on running home as well - 8km each way. It's getting scary... He has even been asking me about bags to carry gear in while running.

I did some maths at uni and eventually my head started to hurt. I rode to work but it was very hot and I got confused as I travelled there. I chickened out of the Miskin St/Milton Rd roundabout and ended up riding along Milton road and turning up onto Fernberg Rd. Then I realised I had forgotten my ID card and would have to go through the front gate, making my trip longer and hillier than it needed to be. When I finished at the pass office and put my helmet back on, sweat got wrung out of the padding and ended up in my eyes.

I rode to Steven's place after work and got confused again. This time I missed Gipps St, which goes directly onto the bridge, and had to take a short detour through the tunnel and onto the Story Bridge that way. I felt very ballsy riding over that bridge. It only took me 40:00 to get
there.

On Wednesday, I ran to uni. I ran across the Story Bridge and through the Botanic Gardens, because I thought it would be prettier, and I knew the gardens would be shady. However it wasn't shady getting from the bridge to the gardens and I had to walk for a few minutes to get the body temperature down. Kangaroo Point (and the Goodwill Bridge) would've been a much smarter way to travel and probably a couple of kilometres shorter. Not to worry - I got to uni eventually and I guess it was around 17-18km and it took me 1:45.

I also ran home. I decided to go the same way as this time it would be shadier. As I reached Guyatt Park (St Lucia), my guts felt very untidy, and I ducked back to the toilet for my first bout of explosive diarrhoea. I didn't stop my watch - these things happen in ultras and I just have to get used to them.

I continued on my way and decided at Toowong that I would definitely make it to the city without incident, but by the time I had reached North Quay I had slowed to a walk as all my attention was focussed on clenching my butt cheeks together as hard as I could. I made it to the
Gardens/QUT toilets and stayed there for about ten minutes before emerging into the daylight again.

I hoped that was the last of it, as there wasn't another toilet stop until Hawthorne. Fortunately I had no other concerns until I nearly tripped and stacked it as I ran down Hawthorne Rd. When I reached Bulimba, I bought a coke from the servo, because I desperately needed it, and ran the rest of the way with that. As soon as I got inside, Steven had a beer ready for me. Good service.
Once I'd recovered for a bit, I pigged out on pizza. I count it as fat loading towards Caboolture.

When Thursday morning rolled around, I did not want to get out of bed, but I did. Steven and I rode to the meeting point at Broadwater/Logan Rds and we went the hilly way there, which did not impress me. We rode with the rest of Team Fresh through Waterford, where we picked up more riders, and then up Mt Tamborine, where we stopped for coffee or breakfast as people desired (and I ran down to the servo to get Blue Powerade, mmmh blue...). The descent wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be. I got dropped on the time trial back to Waterford where we had another short break before continuing back to my place. At the turnoff to my place, I decided I'd make it all the way back to Bulimba, so I did 140km, and I'll blog it separately. Wait...

I didn't get much time to recover before heading off to the Beer Mile. After an iced coffee and then a beer, I scoffed some McDonalds (now with 85 grams of fat and unlimited sugar - yep, I had a medium double quarter pounder meal) and then went home to get some shoes, and that was the extent of my preparation.

The rapid purchase of XXXX Bitter cans was not a well-thought out one, and by the third drink I was gagging trying to get it down. I did, however, manage to run the beer mile without vomiting. Certain runners in the Coke mile did not do so well... Adrian won the beer mile convincingly and we were all very impressed as we knew he could run fast but didn't know he could drink like that.

My official time was 25:29, but here are the splits Steven took:
Beer #1: 59.87
Lap #1: 2.01.15
Beer #2: 3.08.28
Lap #2: 2.02.66
Beer #3: 6.09.86
Lap #3: 2.11.27
Beer #4: 6.33.72
Lap #4(409m): 2.17.46
Total: 25.24.27

I think I had pizza again for dinner, but it seems unlikely that I had pizza two nights in a row, so I must have made a mistake somewhere. I must have.

On Friday morning I struggled to get out of bed. I had to get my car, for work, so I rode home - by the time I was heading, it was disgustingly hot and I even had to stop at a servo for some water. I drove to uni and felt a bit better as I consumed more coffee throughout the day.

Work was incredibly boring on Friday night, and when we were introducing everyone at staff induction training, I didn't get mentioned. Apparently I don't have a job. Oh well. I managed to stay awake and enjoyed going home and was looking forward to sleeping. First I had to do a load of washing...

I woke up at 0400h and put the clothes in the dryer and went back to bed. As a result of this, I didn't have to iron my uniform in the morning. Good work, girl.

Saturday was a bit painful as work induction has a tendency to be, but we got through it and I was at Steven's place before 1800h. Charlie was asleep but he had woken up by the time I was dressed and ready to go - we went to have a BBQ dinner at Steven's brother's place. This of
course involved consumption of more beer (woohoo!) and the best vegetables I have ever tasted - they were stuffed with meat!

I had to get up way too early on Sunday for a fitness test, but to my horror, McDonalds wasn't open, so I couldn't have a McMuffin before the fitness test. I even had to drink instant coffee - how horrible is that?! I only did 25 pushups, which is my worst ever, but I ran 2.4km in 10:01 which is my 3rd best time ever and I haven't even been doing any speedwork. Must be those Mizuno Wave Phantoms!

Steven picked me up on Sunday afternoon and then cooked us a risotto for dinner. We went out for Baskin Robbins ice cream but I fell asleep as soon as we got home and didn't even manage to get up early for a ride this morning.

I rode to uni in the rain, and stopped for coffee with Mark on the way in. Right now my shoulders and ribs are aching from the pushups and I'm wondering if the run and ride tonight are a good idea. I might just do a short run. Or leave my bike here. Or take the CityCat to the city, and ride home after the run. I tend to forget sometimes that by the time I add a ride into my day it's an extra hour of exercise which, while it may not stress my body much, it's still there.

Consider yourself back in the loop.

Danger: incompatibility

Beware of attaching a Fuel Belt pouch to a Camelbak. All may seem good at first, but eventually the Camelbak will identify the Fuel Belt as inferior, and throw it on the ground. (Yes, I dropped my phone/wallet pouch today, during my run.)

Later: I called it a phone/wallet pouch, but it's actually just a gel flask pouch. I put a pin in the bottom and stash everything in it.

My run...

I ran from Steven's place to uni this morning, but I should've gone through Kangaroo Point!

I went the reverse of the way we walked home from the Gabba - through the side streets and Mowbray Park. When I got to KP, I thought "Hey, it will be shady through KP, I should go that way, I won't get sunburnt" but the Story Bridge looked so big that I just had to run over it. (Besides, I figured the Botanic Gardens would be lovely and shady too.) I had to go via the
inbound side of the bridge as the other side was closed. I caught a few people too, and even kept pace with a hybrid cyclist!

I took the stairs and then road down to the riverside. This was when I realised the error of my ways - there was a lot of sun before I reached the gardens. So much, in fact, that I walked for a few minutes in the gardens to cool down.

Out near the QUT ferry terminal, I got a stitch, and decided to test my theory that it's caused by an emptying gut and too much fluid. I ate a huge bite of Wildberry PowerBar (thanks, Siri!) and sure enough the stitch went away.

I took another short break out near Hale St to fill my water bottles an continued out to uni, where I walked the last bit of concrete before a big finish on the gravel track, for a final time of 1:45. I think that's incredibly slow, because I think it's only about 16km, which should only take me 1:20... or maybe I did take the long way. I think the way I went might be longer than going through KP... but KP will be sunnier this afternoon, so I will have to decide...

Speedblogging...

I haven't blogged for days, so here is what I've been up to...

On Saturday, I hung out with Steven and Charlie. We went for a swim, which was when Steven discovered that Charlie can actually swim laps. He drinks a lot of the water though. Later we all went to the park. I got to play on the swings! Despite being scared of heights, I really like swings, because they are kind of like a trapeze. Also, I played on the monkey bars, but didn't trust the amount of flex in them, so didn't spend much time upside down.

By the time Sunday rolled around, I was exhausted from spending so much time with a three-year-old, so I didn't manage to get out of bed for the Binna Burra run (see also Wikipedia or this site). I slept in instead, and went with Steven to drop Charlie off at home, which involved meeting Beth, which was a bit weird but generally okay. Then we headed down to Binna Burra to run on our own.

As we headed up the mountain, we saw Adrian driving down. I knew Mark had already left, as he had texted the previous night to let me know he had sprained his ankle badly. We saw some people riding bikes up to Binna Burra and got the great idea to go for a ride up there sometime.
Gee, I can't wait for that pain.

After a quick loo-visit, we packed our bags and started running. Actually, we packed my bag. I carried the food, the water, the snake-bite bandage, etc. Boys are so soft. Steven was a little worried he wouldn't cope well with the distance, but I knew he would be fine - he can easily run 10km very fast, and he does very long bike rides.

As it turned out he is also very agile on the trail and therefore kicked my arse in the run, but he waited for me (until I sent him off for a fast finish when I desperately wanted a walk break, suddenly realising that stepping up from a 20km week to a 70km week might not be such a
good idea). I ran out the finish as well, passing a group of bushwalkers who thought a race was on!

We saw some amazingly blue crayfish and did numerous water crossings, getting our feet very wet. I gave up on trying to stay on stones (my new shoes were awesome on the wet leaves and mud, but not so good on slimy rocks) and just traipsed straight through the water. At one point
I got stung in the face by a bug that flew at me - excitement plus!

Steven was forced to admit that, not only did he run 17.4km (the Coomera Circuit, along the Border Track first), he actually enjoyed it. That made me very happy!

Back at the entrance, I chatted to a few bushwalkers, one of who recognised me. It turned out I knew him from work... but I didn't recognise him until I demanded to know his surname. We had coffee and scones at the cafe, with the last of our change, and then headed back to Brisbane. On the way, we stopped at Yatala for some pies. Mmmm, pies.

At Steven's place, I showed him how to fill shoes with newspaper to help them dry, and then introduced him to the ultra runner's recovery food... actually it was just beer, but he was surprised I wanted it after a run, and amazed at how good it was after a run! I called home to see if Mum and Dad had yet had dinner but they weren't there, so I cooked dinner for Steven - instant noodles.

On Monday, I rode to uni through Sherwood, which was lovely... until the railroad crossing on Boundary Rd, where I stopped for trains, lights, ute drivers that tried to ram me into potholes on the train tracks, etc. Then drivers failing to give way, and finally a courier cutting me off at the roundabout at uni... yes, overtaking and then turning left.

Mid-afternoon I got the urge to swim, so I did half an hour of swimming, and half an hour of water running, and felt really good for it. On my way home, I had two incidents of other cyclists riding into my back wheel. I check behind regularly, but these guys must have been either pulling out of side streets or working really hard to catch up. Neither of them said g'day, and with the big headwind, I couldn't hear any bike noise. Both times I stopped to give way, indicating and slowing gradually, but both times they rode straight into me! Of course, the rest of the ride home was headwinds and hills. What a beautiful afternoon. Oooh, forgot the humidity and heat.

Tuesday was my return to work, so I loaded the car up and headed in to uni, in traffic that wasn't too bad but is definitely getting worse. Around 1030h I went for a run in my Nike Free. I only did a fast 5km, but they certainly don't do the work for you - my legs were very trashed
afterwards, and it was stinking hot. I did some figure eights around the lakes, which was nice (except for the smell).

Being back at work was very different, especially with all the new faces this year, but it's good. I forgot to sign on and have to remember to do that tomorrow. I finished late and Steven did his best to convince me to stay at his place but I am too strong-willed for that... however I did take a detour on my way home and visit him for about half an hour.

On Wednesday, my plan was to drop my car off and then ride to uni, but I ended up with so much crap in my car for the rest of the week that I just drove to uni - very lazy of me. Not to worry - at least my muscles would be relaxed for my massage. At the end of the day, I picked Steven up from work, and I think that's the night we had curry, using our "2nd main for $3" voucher. Mmmm, curry. After pakoras, samosas, naan, Ceylon lamb and butter chicken with rice, I was so full I could barely walk... however we managed to fit in some beer before sleeping.

My attempt to get out of bed early on Thursday failed miserably, and Steven missed his bunch ride, so he was very kind and rode with me. I rode over the Story Bridge for the first time... not over the walkway but actually in a lane, and we went via his work. While he dropped his bag off in the office (I was organised and had left all my gear at uni... although I would have liked to have deposited my bike lock somewhere!) I continued along Roma St, Milton Rd, Cribb St and Coro Dr, getting every damn red light.

Fortunately he got every red light too, so he didn't catch me until I was near the soccer fields at UQ. A pretty good effort on my part, I say. We headed out to Chelmer and everyone does a slightly different loop out there, but his seemed sensible and didn't involve any illegal road manoeuvres. We did two loops and then headed back to uni so I could make him a coffee. For once, I wasn't appallingly slow - just a little bit slow - and I really wonder if I'm just faster on my
Learsport... I wonder if the shorter cranks just suit me better.

The latest issue of Run For Your Life magazine was in my PO Box and my picture was in there for the Kurrawa race. Unfortunately I didn't get a mention in the main article, only in the results column. Oh well! Nanda got his name in it also.

In the afternoon (still Thursday) I met up with Siri to go for a run. It was raining, and as I rode to the city, I got drenched. We rode along the riverside to her place, and I had to wonder at the stupidity of the designer who selected wooden boardwalks. I warned Siri to take the corners easily, but a few seconds later she slipped sideways and landed quite heavily on her left elbow. I felt so guilty about it, and I was so worried, but she's a tough one. We walked our bikes for a bit and then rode again; then when we got to the hill, she thought her arm wouldn't take it so we pushed again. I was glad to stop, as I'd just ridden over a manhole cover and almost lost it myself.

We ran all over the place, heading out along the riverside to New Farm, and then over to Herston and Victoria Park, then up onto Kelvin Grove Rd and Musgrave Rd and through Roma St Parklands, then through the city to her place. For the first half of the run, I almost felt like I was stalking Rob, visiting all his running haunts! We had a great time, chatting, ranting and enjoying her sports drink.

After the run, we went for a swim/walk in her pool. Her elbow was a bit sore and I'm glad she didn't try to swim. We stayed in, gossiping about people we know, until it got too cold. Then I called Steven to pick me up because I was lazy and all my clothes were wet.

We had pizza for dinner, because it was quick, and I was sure I would freeze as we waited, because it was drizzling and I was still wet. After dinner we cleaned the grit out of my chain and soon went to bed. I drove to uni in the morning as I needed my car (and all my gear) for
Friday night. I went for a quick swim in the afternoon and actually did some 100m reps and a lap of butterfly, as well as some longer reps.

Friday night at work was quite boring, and it was good to get onto the bus and head up the coast... and sleep on the way. We had a few discussions and introductory games that night, and didn't get to bed until midnight. I was on breakfast shift, so I was up at 0435h for that. After breakfast it was straight into the weekend activities.

First up, we took a Leap of Faith - we climed a ladder up onto a 7m pole, climbed up onto the platform on top of it (in a harness), then jumped out to hit a hanging buoy. It was a big leap and of course I was freaking out, but I did it without too much fuss. One of the women really struggled, and in the end she did it, and I thought she rocked.

After that we went kayaking. Once again I went through the trauma of popping out under water, and bow rescues, and deep water recoveries. Only this time I kept it together much more, and as it turns out, I am quite good at deep water recovery, and had no worries climbing back into my boat in about 10 seconds. I am also much better at travelling in a straight line now (we are in whitewater kayaks).

After lunch, we headed for Ngungun. The instructors deemed it too wet to climb, so after a walk to the top, a few photos, and a walk back down (I was very proud to not put my hands down - I will soon regain my Quadzilla title!), we went on with abseiling. I went down once normally,
and twice face-first, and didn't freak out. The woman in my group who had freaked out at the Leap of Faith was freaking out again, but she worked through it and did really, really well. I was so impressed!

We had a debrief and then got ourselves ready for a formal informal dinner. We dressed up, but it was a relaxed environment. Pat made us the best dinner ever, with chicken soup, then a Thai beef salad, then either chicken stuffed with mango in pastry, or steak, with garlic prawns. Then for dessert we had pastries with custard, cream and berries. Everyone had brought a bottle of wine so there was plenty, and the port flowed freely afterwards for the stupid games.

I petted one of the possums, which was very weird, and then chatted to the guys for ages, and then talked shit with Jason until almost 0130h when I decided bed was a great idea. Fortunately I wasn't on breakfast duty again, but Bec woke me at 0620h to see if I wanted to swim (maybe later) and then Emma got up and decided to pack right there and then... very noisy!

Sunday breakfast was full of salt and fat and iced coffee, exactly what I needed to speed up my recovery. The morning was spent in syndicate discussions and presentations, and then we packed up and headed back to Brisbane. After unloading everything, we just had a few short meetings before going home.

On the way home, I stopped off to see Steven and Charlie. They then followed to my place for a swim. While Steven dropped Charlie off, I got my washing done, and finished unpacking, and then went back to Steven's place for more pizza. I need to eat better, I suspect, if I want to do well at this ultra running business! It didn't take long for me to get incredibly sleepy, so bed was nice and early.

I slept in this morning, and then rode to uni. What an experience! I've already blogged that... poor form, being not in the right order, but I'll fix it when I get online.

Thanks Ben!

What a morning! I only got to uni at 1000h, two hours after leaving Steven's place. Seriously. I spent the last 10 minutes in the bike room, putting on my new bidon cages, and mounting my new pump.

I bought a new pump because my old pump was broken. I found out the old pump was broken because I got a puncture on Stanley St. I checked, and there was a small piece of glass wedged in a small crack in the tyre. I dug it out, and a pinprick of daylight came through, but I didn't want to waste $5 in my tyre, so I just put some old tube in there.

When I went to pump up the new tube, I couldn't get it much past about 20psi. So I walked back to Planet Cycle at Woolloongabba, hoping to use their pump, and instead discovered that while opening at 0830h on weekdays, they don't open at all on Monday.

Back to the handpump. I took the tube out again just to make sure there were no holes hiding anywhere, but it seemed okay, so I tried again to pump it up - without success. Just when I thought I would never make it to uni, a handsome knight in shining armour rolled up on his shiny steed, and asked if I needed a hand. I asked if he had a decent pump... and then noticed he was in Planet Cycle kit, and he offered me use of the shop pump. Saved!

I believe Ben was there to meet a Very Important Cyclist(TM) who had Seat Clamp Problems(TM) with his very nice Bianchi, but he saved my day anyway, and I promised to go back and buy something sometime

Utility cycling links!

Why am I posting a list of links? Because my update from the last week isn't ready yet! But here are some cool links that cfsmtb posted on aus.bicycle:

http://www.bikesatwork.com/
http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/beijingbikes/
http://www.worldviewmagazine.com/issues/article.cfm?id=15&issue=6
http://www.bobtrailers.com/
http://www.cyclofiend.com/working/

A site I should have blogged ages ago...

This website is a great one for articles on training, racing, nutrition, shoe reviews... everything in general: http://www.runningtimes.com/

Hello Steven!

(Guess who found my blog?)

I am a rock star!

A more accurate description might be "a model for the Nike Run Yourself Ugly campaign." I was all decked out in Nike gear (except for the Mizunos on my feet) and in serious pain when Steven rode past us making Mt Coot-tha look like a speedbump - how embarrasing!

I guess 20km of hills and trails is a big ask, after running further than 30km on Wednesday. In light of that, my poor performance doesn't seem too shabby after all: the extra half minute to the top of the hill, the extra few minutes on the loop, the fact that I was back to walking up most of the hills. At least the weather was good to us - far less hot and humid than it has been recently.

When the alarm went off at 0445, it was very tempting to call Siri and reschedule for this evening. But I figured I would be too tired then anyway, so I got out of bed and went to pick her up. I couldn't figure out where I was meant to pull up at her building (which she apologised for - like it was her fault), so I went to the Woollies next door and made her come to me! We got to Mt Coot-tha on time anyway.

Halfway up the first climb (the main hill), I began to think I should just turn around and wait for Siri at the car. But I was expecting to feel flat from my previous runs, and it's my last chance to smash myself before preparing for Caboolture, so I kept going. She was flying up and I was dying, and then Steven rode past and busted my dying in the bum, so I thought I better 'fess up. Hehehe.

But I got to the top of the hill and it wasn't such a bad time. Siri had chased down a few cyclists just to show that she could, which was pretty funny. Normally I'd be up for that but I figured I would be struggling to just finish.

As we passed the first trail leading down to the Gap Creek car park, I considered heading that way to cut a few miles (of road running, not trail) out of the loop... but decided to keep going, as this is probably the loop Siri would do if she was running on her own. (Yep, I'm only a few kilometres into this run story, and I've already told the quit-monster to bugger off three times!)

Siri gave me half her apple and cinnamon flavour PowerBar. Oh my God, people, this thing is amazing! As she said, "it tastes like breakfast." And it's true, who wants chocolate first thing in the morning? But apple and cinnamon is a breakfast flavour and it went down REALLY well (as did my muesli bar).

Running with Siri is a lot like running with (a faster version of) me - she takes a lot of pleasure in just being out there, enjoying the beautiful scenery we are blessed with having in our backyard, and saying hello to all the other people out there having fun. We saw one older guy, bushwalking with a pack, on three different occasions!

There were also a lot of Asian people out walking. (When I say Asian, I mean of Asian descent.) Asian cultures seem to really value taking care of the body and the spirit by getting out and relaxing and doing light exercise every morning in the beautiful environment. When I lived at St Lucia, I frequently saw young Asian mothers out playing soccer with their kids in the mornings, and I thought that was brilliant. I wish this would transfer across to the standard Australian culture (if that exists) so we could have a chance at preventing/ reducing/ curing an obesity epidemic.

As we headed down to Gap Creek, I managed to keep with Siri okay... she seems to have similar trail problems to me, those being cornering and descending. Hey, they're my mountain biking problems, too! And, like me, she doesn't pick her feet up very high. We'll get better at this... I'm already noticing improvements now, even when I'm tired.

Siri was happy to walk up some of the nastier hills, for which I was very grateful, because otherwise I really would've died. I wasn't carrying any supplies for this outcome. I did, however, have a snakebite bandage. I think hearing that made Siri a little nervous, but I reassured her I had never seen a snake in the wild despite years of trail running, riding, walking and of course field exercises!

I would say that Siri doesn't seem too excited about the fact that unless you can run Gap Creek easily, Six Foot Track Marathon is a joke... except it's not true, because Siri is always excited, and let's face it, that's the sort of challenge she's going to absolutely smash!

The last downhill section was great fun and a great way to finish, on the trail. Back at the car, she gave me some recovery drink to make me feel like a rock star, and I gave her some frozen Gatorade (you just HAVE to try it, mmmh, like ice block). I drove her to Toowong, near the bikeway, so it was only a few kilometres for her to ride back to the city. I felt a bit mean kicking her out, but I really didn't want to drive into the city and then back to uni during peak hour traffic. Of course, we forgot about the maps I was going to give her, so they're still in my car.

As soon as we started running, I was really glad we cancelled on the boys. Yes, yesterday I had agreed to let some male friends come along, but after chatting to Siri, we decided to get rid of them and do our own thing, so we could girlchat about hair and stuff. (Yes, I was actually involved in a discussion about hair straightening, and another discussion about dresses. Scary, isn't it?) It's so great to find out that the sport that I love is full of awesome women!

Speaking of awesome women... Neither Min nor Tesso are available to run at Binna Burra on Sunday so I might have to get a lift with Mark or vice versa. I want company and don't want to get lost... but also don't want to get carsick. Siri and I are hoping that we'll get a regular ultra-chicks run happening, and Min seems keen as well, so we'll have to get our schedules organised.

Siri ran in some awesome trail shoes which I am going to have to check out sometime... and now that I have thought of trail shoes, that brings me back to last night...

I caught the bus to Garden City and had to avoid the head of the guy next to me, which for some reason kept plunging towards my shoulder as he fell asleep repeatedly. I decided to see if it was quicker to get off at the depot, which it would have been, if I hadn't gone the wrong way from there and had to do several u-turns before getting to Rebel Sport.

I intended to try on some Mizunos and Merrells to place an order through some people I know. Unfortunately, the Garden City store doesn't stock as many varieties of either brand as the one in the CBD, so I may have to try again later.

I did, however, find a pair of New Balance 781 offroad shoes, which are an incredibly sexy shade of red. I tried them on and found that they fit well and have an excellent support structure for my feet. Also, they are red and will therefore make me go faster. The lining in the heel and on the tongue is so softly sueded that they become more comfortable without socks on. I bought them as they were down from $139 to $119 with a further 10% off... making them $107.10.

I then went for a walk around store and found that there was a special on Nike Free shoes as well. In case you're not familiar with them, they're designed to mimic being barefoot. (Obviously it is cheaper to be barefoot... unless you step on a syringe and end up with AIDS or something.) Unlike the previous ones I had seen, these were a lovely storm blue/grey colour with candy pink highlights. They were $179 down to $139 with 10% off making them $125.10. If they are still in one piece, and I am strong enough, I may wear them for the City 2 Surf, where they will go well with my princess outfit.

So instead of just trying on shoes to order elsewhere, I spent $232.20 on shoes. But I do love them so! I didn't test out the trail shoes today as I think the aggressive tread is excessive for Gap Creek, and I am better off testing them out at Binna Burra where (1) I will not run so far and may even walk a lot and (2) I will not be trying to keep up with Siri!

As a bit of an experiment, I used my Body Shop Hemp Foot Protector before bed. This is a moisturising lotion. A lot of runners refuse to moisturise their feet because it softens their calluses. However, dry calluses tend to peel off, whereas protected ones don't, in my experience. I applied BodyGlide as well this morning, and I have no blisters, and haven't damaged my calluses. I'd say that's a good thing.

I got my temporary cycling race licence yesterday, but I'm not sure if I will race tomorrow, as my legs are pretty tired right now. My weekly mileage doubled this week. I'm pretty sure it's only meant to go up by 10% or something ;)

A nice morning for it...

Lotte took off home yesterday without telling me, so I didn't have someone to ride with. I figured my best solution was to ride to Steven's place instead, because I heard rumours that he would later eat pizza. Mmmm, Dominos garlic pizza bread...

After much deliberation, I decided my best course of action was to go home, but leave my bike at Steven's place and collect it today. So he drove me home, which was very nice of him. He had better not run over my bike!

This morning I got up just before 0400h, packed my Camelbak full of all sorts of stuff, and headed out. I ate my forest fruits muesli bar before Broadwater Rd! It went down really well. I took it out slower than I have recently, but that may be because I was feeling the heat. At my usual toilet stop, the El Scorcho pizza (from last night) played evil games with me. Ew.

When I reached Juliette St, I thought I should call Siri, but then I thought about the traffic lights between Stones Corner and Southbank and decided I'd wait until I hit Stones Corner proper - she wanted half an hour notice. As it turned out, it only took 18 minutes to get from Stones Corner to the Gardens, so I got to rest while I waited. I am such a loser that I also did some drills and finished my Snickers Marathon bar (which was good, but a bit too crunchy and chocolatey - it was the Multi-Grain Crunch variety).

She was there soon enough and gave me a hug, despite how feral and sweaty was. I was interested to note that she ran with a hand-held bottle of sports drink rather than a fuel belt or camelbak. She seemed a bit worried that I didn't have sports drink, only water, and I explained that I had eaten a muesli bar in my first half hour, and then an energy bar in the next hour.

We gossiped and ran out to UQ. Near Hale St, we passed Tesso and Clairie running the opposite way, and took a few shorter steps to say g'day. Some cyclists started yelling at us and I couldn't help but wonder why, if he was so fast, he wasn't riding on the road.

We walked for a bit through Toowong so I could gulp down a Strawberry/Kiwi Accel Gel, which tasted okay, but a bit weird. It's probably just that I'm not used to it. Kurt uses them all the time, whereas I usually use GU.

When we reached UQ, we went up to my office to refill her bottle with some of my Gatorade (which, of course, I have stashed in my bookshelf). I felt good so I ditched a few things out of my Camelbak and offered to do a lap of uni with her, then back to the riverside. However she had
to get home or to work or something so we instead headed straight back for Toowong, still via the bike route.

I was surprised to find out that Siri is not a huge hill fan. She's tough though, and she's going to run Mt Coot-tha/Gap Creek with me on Friday. We walked up one of the hills, but ran up the rest - I was okay with the short walk as by that stage I had been running for quite a while. When we got to the Regatta, she gave me another hug (we were both Ew! Sweaty! this time) and we made sort-of plans for trail running on Friday.

Siri is an amazing runner and I am going to learn a lot from her. She has taken excellent care of her body and is smart enough to not want to do ultras for too many years. I think she rocks!

I ran all the way back to uni, except for the last bit of one hill, and recovered with a cold/hot/cold shower, Gatorade, baked beans on toast, and later an Up'n'Go and then a coffee. What a fantastic day!

It's all about the trails...

The trails near my house are awesome, ever changing. Wednesday
afternoon, I rode in Karawatha. I rode the same trail Thursday
afternoon, and there was a new log obstacle. It threw me off (in the
head sense) so I bailed, then I tried it, took a bad line and had to do
a big weight shift manoeuvre to get over it, then had to brake
immediately before hitting a tree. I tried it again, and this time made
the first corner, made the log, made the nasty corner immediately after,
without hitting the rut. Success! I saw another rider who may have been
responsible for the obstacle. I passed him just after a really big
incline, so hopefully he was impressed. I also practised seeing how far
I could lean my bike while maintaining balance - it was a fun,
experimental session.

On Friday morning I ran for 2 hours. Over this time the temperature
raised from 26 to 30 degrees Celsius, but the humidity dropped from
about 91% to 65%, thankfully. I checked the humidex (are you familiar -
it gives an "equivalent temperature" taking into account wind chill or
humidity effects) and that was 36-40 degrees throughout my run. Lovely
day for it, eh? I went around Mt Coot-tha and then through the Gap Creek
trails and decided to hurt myself more by walking on the flat just
before the hills
I couldn't run up last time, and then forcing myself to run/jog/shuffle
up the hills until I fell over. I was just proud because I ate an
entire Power Bar and drank almost 2L of water during the run, as well as
eating two slices of toast just before it.

I also discovered that we have our very own Kokoda track, right up there
at Mt Coot-tha!

On Friday night, I went to Paul's going away party, which kind of
doubled as Tim's welcome home! I rested on Saturday and didn't do much
of anything. On Sunday I took my cornrows out, which resulted in an
impressive afro which didn't really suit me, so I washed it out. I feel
naked now. *checks* I'm not naked though, I have an "Inala Dreaming"
shirt on. Locals may find this amusing.

I went ice skating with Shannon on Sunday. We aimed to play for 4 hours
but were so cold after 3 hours that we gave up. I played Red Rover for a
change, but stayed the hell away from Limbo. I'm itching to ride the
trails again - Lotte and I will go tomorrow!

New rule for mountain biking...

People gave me all sorts of tips when I started riding off-road and a lot of them didn't make sense to me. I got told not to fight the steering but when I just went with it, I fell off. I finally figured this one out yesterday: don't fight it, coax it.

Lady Jove is at it again!

She's made a comeback to running, and her blog, feeling refreshed and motivated. This post was brilliant, so please take the time to read it - you never know, it might even make a difference.

An unusual invitation...

I received a letter yesterday, from Leeanne Grantham, General Manager of Australian Major Events (South Australian Tourism Commission). It reads:

...I'd like to take this opportunity to personally encourage you on behalf of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under and Australian Major Events to enter the Series and join Australia's elite women cyclists in Adelaide in January 2006. Please find enclosed an entry form and details of each race in the event.

With the closing date for entry to The Advertiser Women's Criterium Series rapidly pproaching (9 January 2005) we urge you to secure your place!

...We look forward to a favorable response and seeing you in January 2006.

Of course, it made me laugh quite heartily - they must be seriously short of numbers, and have just sent out an emergency last minute callout to all female members (and former members) of Cycling Australia!

In other news, I took off early yesterday and headed out to Karawatha on my own. It's pretty boring but nice and safe. Except for some downed trees. Actually the storms have made it a bit more exciting out there. I had to move some downed trees a few times, because I could see where other (lazy, environmentally-selfish) riders had started cutting a new track around them.

I freaked out and bailed on a few sections but made myself go back and do them again, including a staircase with a big curve in it and lots of loose gravel. I also rode up a downhill track (oops, wrong way, go back!) which was very untidy and eventually I fell off, but didn't hurt myself.

I'm back...

First, I'd like to apologise to everyone for vanishing pretty much without a trace, having never written a report on my birthday party. I took my cornrows and headed off into the sunrise!

Yes, the sunrise - I headed east rather than west and enjoyed Christmas on the Gold Coast, where I ran, rode, surfed and consumed copious amounts of alcohol, all the while experiencing frequent flashback to that glorious day of the Kurrawa to Duranbah race!

So what have I been up to?

Well I will never remember all the details of my birthday party, back on the 17th of December, so let's just say it was an awesome time, with lots of beer and a barbeque. Grey Gum picnic area at Mt Coot-tha is on the eastern side, so it was shady in the afternoon, and having carefully claimed the largest shelter very early on, there was plenty of dry seating even after a massive storm blew through. (Thankfully, the storm cleared out prior to the guests arriving.) The kids were well behaved and enjoyed the bubbles, noise makers and party poppers that I bought; they especially liked the Channel 7 helicopter which took off and landed several times that afternoon. The kids also got to select a secret Santa present for their respective mums, which I suppose is a weird thing to do - people don't generally go to a no-presents birthday party, and then take a present home, but it was lots of fun!

I spent a few days Christmas shopping (it cost me $28 to send a shirt, an inflatable Aussie-flag print kangaroo, a book called How Animals Have Sex and Bert and Ernie beanie babies to Ashley in Hong Kong!), with frequent beer-consumption breaks to calm the nerves. I hate shopping centres and especially at Christmas time.

On Friday 23 December, I went running at Mt Coot-tha with some guys from my running club. We ran up the road anti-clockwise and most of the way around before cutting onto the trail down to Chapel Hill past the reservoirs. We re-entered the park a few streets away and headed off to the Gap Creek car park before following a long and hilly path back to the Channel 9 tower and then down the trail to the car park. The guys were mountain goats but kind enough to wait for me. They're a bit old school and found it funny that I ate so much while running - I'm trying to make it a habit.

On Christmas Eve, I got up early to go mountain biking with Lotte, and we both had a really good ride. I seemed to get over a lot more things and bail less often, and I even lifted my wheel instead of just riding into logs and hoping for the best. I headed down the Gold Coast later that day, after packing my road bike, surfboard, and swimsuits into the car. Oh, and my cross-stitch, can't forget that!

It's a bit of a non-event moving on Christmas Eve... the presents are only out for a few hours before you get to open them. Either way, it was nice waking up to see the beach on Christmas Day, and after opening a few presents, I got in the water as soon as possible. There were no waves so I didn't go surfing. Mum made a great Christmas lunch although there was a noted lack of seafood this year. Steven texted me to say that his Christmas wasn't turning out to be much fun, which is really no surprise, given that he spent it with his son, his ex-wife, her new partner and her parents. So he came down and hung out at the beach a bit for the afternoon, and drank a beer and ate some chips.

On Monday morning, I got up early and went for a bike ride, from Tugun south to Kingscliffe. Normally I would continue to Cabarita but there's a wooden bridge with longitudinal planks with big gaps and it's a bit scary. I went looking for coffee afterwards but, being a public holiday, I had to go right to Currumbin before finding a shop that was open. It was worth it, though!

On Monday afternoon, Mark came down to visit, so we drank beer and then went to the pub to drink more beer and wine. When we were done drinking beer and wine, we went to the Crazy Bull mexican restaurant where I ate fantastic taquitos and enchiladas and Mark ate delicious stuffed jalapenos and nachos (made from real tortilla) and we drank a 1L carafe of Sangria. We then bought some bubbly and sat in the spa, drinking and talking rubbish until it all got too difficult and we crashed out.

Tuesday was another early one. Andy was in town so he came for a run with Mark and me, around Currumbin. It was probably only 10km but it felt like much more to poor Andy who hasn't run for a month except for a very hard week of beach running. After the run, Mark headed back to Brisbane and I went for breakfast with Andy at the same cafe at Currumbin. Their food was excellent. Andy is in the Army and he told me he is going overseas soon, so I wished him the best.

After Andy had gone back to see his Dad, I went to Harbour Town to buy some dri-fit gear from the Nike factory shop. Steven called to let me know that he and Charlie were at the coast, so I met up with them and we hung out in the indoor pool/spa area and then at the beach, and then he conned me into going for ice-cream which turned into a further venture for Charlie's dinner. Charlie was very well behaved and has excellent manners for a 3-year-old so it was a pleasant day. However by Tuesday night I was positively exhausted and went to bed very early!

On Wednesday I managed to get up early again, this time riding out to the Currumbin Rock Pool. Once I got through Currumbin, the road was virtually dead flat (although very rough) with no traffic lights and only sensible drivers, so it made for a fantastic ride - plus it was shady. Any other cyclists I saw out there were grinning. It's an amazing place to ride. I thought I might go there again on Friday, this time with a swimsuit in my jersey pocket... but that never eventuated.

On Thursday, I ran to Kirra and back, barefoot in the sand. It was really hard work, and I noticed that people who take big strides seem to run faster. I am such a shuffler, and I will need to improve that before my next Glasshouse race. Shuffling is fine for road ultras and on fire trails, but it won't help me on the tree roots. On Thursday night I came back to Brisbane for some socialising, and I was meant to be back down the coast early on Friday morning, but instead I ended up going for coffee, a jam donut, and a beef and beer pie at Harbour Town on the way.

On Friday afternoon, Mark joined me for some beer again. Then some wine. This time we went for fish and chips from Captain Hook's, and it was delicious. Afterwards, we sat on the beach, and I pointed out other people on the beach that he couldn't see until they started moving. I also identified that some woman out there was wearing Calvin Klein Obsession. He found my ability to do this a bit disturbing, I guess.

When Mark left on Saturday morning, I intended to ride to the rock pool again, but instead went for a surf. It took me a long time to find somewhere suitable - Duranbah was too big and everwhere else was too small or too close to the shore... until I found Rainbow Bay. Perfect! Well it was perfect for about half an hour. Then a helicopter circled overhead and the rescue boats came from nowhere... the lifesavers started whistling and then the shark alarm sounded and we all had to go back to shore. There are never any waves when you're trying to get away from a shark and you will always have to paddle the entire way.

I got a few short rides, but mostly I am an appallingly bad surfer. The trip back to Brisbane was disgustingly hot and I repeatedly dumped the contents of my water bottles over my head. I really need to fix my air conditioning.

Saturday was New Year's Eve, and what better way to spend it than mountain biking with Lotte, Paulie and Kurt? I didn't even get myself into too much trouble... anyone would think I am improving! Lotte and Paulie put on a great New Year Shindig as well :) so thanks!

I spent New Year's day all over the place, including a trip to Southbank with Steven and Charlie. By Sunday I was exhausted and enjoyed bed... but by Monday I was back into it! Lotte and I were meant to go mountain biking but she had hurt her leg, so I let Steven con me into a road ride, which ended up with me dying in a big way before we even got close to Mt Cotton. Mt Cotton itself was quite an experience - there is a stretch of road that's steeper than anything I've seen before! Fortunately Steven wasn't feeling as fast as normal either so he wasn't too distressed when I blew up like that. I ended up driving him home from my place, because once he stopped for some cold beverages, and then a swim, he was too soft to ride.

Monday night was nothing but drunken shenanigans. I can't remember the last time I was that drunk, but I did not feel very well. However I was fine on Tuesday morning and headed off to uni to get some work done. Welcome to 2006: I wore a dress to see in the new year, I wore a dress the following day, and I'm wearing a skirt today... this year must go down in the history books!