Bubbles Big Day out (with friends)

This ride had been planned for some time and was basically to be my toughest ride for the week (after having done a 100 yesterday). Anyway the plan was to start at 0530 from The Gap and ride out through Samford-Dayboro and then on to Mount Mee (yes an appropriate name). The texts started early with various reasons for not riding.

As it was we ended up with 4 riders who braved the heat (according to my watch it was 39 degrees when I finished) and bad roads. Singer (so known due to her legs looking like needles going up and down on a sewing machine smashed everyone up the climb of Mount Mee much to TR's disgust. There was another group of riders at the top who informed Singer that she had bragging rights and from what I'm told she fairly fed it to TR when he finally got to the top. I wouldn't know as I was even further behind.

Once the main part of the climb to Mount Mee is completed there is a road off to the side which is marked as having a 20% gradient. I believe Rhino was the first to ride it but since it has been like a pilgrimage each time initiating the first timers by forcing them to ride it. This time Oxkarter took the challenge and succeeded. Below are the videos of him.












By the time I got home it was just over 100k with some good climbing to boot. A similar ride is planned for friday week but perhaps continuing down in to Woodford on to Landsborough and catching the train home for something different.

Long Sunday Run

As any distance runner will tell you Sunday is the traditional day for the longest run of the week. For me building up to marathons the longest Sunday run was up to a maximum of 34 k. To me as a slower runner this equates to around 3 hours of running. This would usually be at the end of a fairly big week of training for me (of between 50-70k running).

Today I ran the first 5k with my wife who has decided she will do an Olympic Distance Tri (1.5/40/10) later this year and needs to get more running k's in her legs. It was quite an overcast rainy morning but there were still quite a few runners out.

After I had run the first 5k with Belinda I went on to run another 15k and really enjoyed it. Sunday I typically run along the Brisbane River, however, when I have been interstate/overseas I have also managed to run in some amazing places like the Victorian Countryside, Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao although finding somewhere to run was at times challenging.

I have found the Sunday run very interesting in terms of how your mind can really dictate how fast I run and how for 10 minutes I may feel bad but 10 minutes later I am feeling good and ready to push. It really sets up the ability to run the marathon.

Back by popular demand

I had originally started this blog as a way of posting up my thoughts, experiences and enjoyment from preparing for a marathon. Anyway I've dropped the ball somewhat and not posted for quite some time. In that time I have managed to run 2 marathons (Brisbane and Gold Coast) and finish some other races including Geoquest (48 hour adventure race) among others.

The year was great as I learnt a lot about myself and what my body is capable of and how my mind is the limiting factor more than my body. I've learnt that with structure and commitment it is possible to actually enjoy running long distances. I've also learnt that I enjoy the experience of really pushing myself hard during shorter running speed sessions. The few days before I am usually dreading the session but after I finish I am absolutely buzzing the whole day with how great I feel. Strange I know.

Anyway I will try to post some more during the next few days. I am off to the Tour Down Under in January and have entered to ride a stage the morning before the pros do so now I'm knocking up some big road rides in preparation. This so far has involved a long ride to Dayboro and return where at the Dayboro bakery they serve a bacon and eggs breakfast wrapped in pasrty....


Current event planning looks to have quite a few tri's, TRE-X (off road triathlon), 50k run and perhaps 2 marathons for next year. Will post up more as I work out what I am doing.

Running and more running

Sunday just gone saw another early morning run with my sometimes training partner Peyton. She has just recently done the Melbourne Marathon and is a very strong runner of about my pace so it's always a good quick run. We are both aiming for Marathons next year (Probably the Brisbane Marathon in April and Gold Coast in July)so it's good to have someone to run with. We are also running a 50k relay in 2 weeks time on the Gold Coast which I am really looking forward to.

So for the run we had two domestiques (Lionel - Peytons dad) and Belinda my fiance riding their bikes to provide us water/food as needed.

A nice relaxing run of 20k as we were reaching our turn around point Lionel starting talking to another walker/runner who started to run with us and it turned out she had run the London Marathon before and was over here from England on holidays. Amazing the people you meet when you are out running. So the run was fair pace with Peyton pushing hard most of the way ended up around the 1hr 40 mark for 20k which we were both pretty happy about.

Always good to have someone to train with makes me get out of bed early to go run.

Been a while

Yes its been a while since I posted something but I have lots of excuses honest !

Anyway last weekend saw us at Noosa for the Noosa triathlon, I was in a team doing the ride with a mate doing the run and swim. Spent Saturday having a look around the expo there and buying some new gear which is always on sale there. Also enjoyed watching the elite womens and criterium around the circuit. A little disappointed there was less attacking than normal in both races but then I guess that is racing.

Sunday was race day an I had been feeling really flat the days before so was concerned about how I would go. My mate did an amazing swim and we were top twenty after his effort. On to the bike for me and I figured I best go as hard as I can and worry later about blowing up. Like everyone I guess I let my mind tell my body how hard it can go so my mind limits me sometimes. I had a great ride 1hr 7 mins rack to rack. By this stage it was thirty degrees and the humidity was massive. When I came back in to transition we were still top 20.

My runner set out and we ended up 37th overall in our category which we were stoked about. Now the goals are to do better at Mooloolaba and I will have to get myself some tri bars before then as 40k riding in the drops was not great fun.

Pounding the pavement

Today was long run day with a bit over 20 k on the cards. Off nice and early too start but it was already humid. I did the running whilst Belinda rode her bike and provided me with water and sustenance as needed. Belinda is just learning to ride and she would give me water etc then ride off on her own and come flying back past me with the biggest smile on her face. Awesome to watch someone having so much fun getting back in to riding as an adult.

So on to the ride it was as humid as it's been for sometime and my singlet was soaked in sweat in no time, but I felt good and maintained a good pace. For the men out there I had taped my nipples with band aids before starting but the sweat obviously caused them to come away so I finished the last have of the run with some fairly good bleeding.

As for the run it ended up being around the 22k mark in 1hr 45 minutes which I am very happy about as I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard. Have pulled a little sore this evening but that's to be expected. See how I fare in the morning.

So this week I have a run of about 1 hour and then a speed session Thursday which seems to have made a world of difference to the speed I do my long runs at. I aim to do these sessions on a grassed area to help the recovery and so that I'm not constantly running on bitumen.

Enjoying the goat track

The texts started early both Singer (aka Black Death) the hard nut training partner and Adam (Old Skool) asking if we were still riding with the rain pelting down. A quick check of the BOM website (gotta love that internet thingy) and hey lets ride. Early morning departure through Samford and just prior to the start of the ascent comes the first flat of the day for me. Quick tube change (not)actually needed to use a five dollar note to stop the cut from busting another tube and we are back underway (thanks for the tube Singer).

Old Skool was a virgin at climbing the GT and was spared actually seeing where we were going due to the low cloud around the summit. A quick snack at the bottom and we are away. For those that haven't ridden GT it is unsealed road with a 10% gradient and with the rain last night made for an interesting climb. Old Skool only has his hard man 53/39 whilst BD and I run compacts. So the climb was interesting to say the least for him. But he seemed to manage all the same. Yes he was dropped on the climb but he made it.

The descent back to the Gap via Mount Nebo was sweet with Old Skool pretending he was attacking ala Il Pirato (Marco Pantani) in the drops and in the dog (i.e. the big ring) over any little climbs the whole way back. Awesome ride even made the coffee at the Gap Coffee Club seem bearable.

Highlights included the number of cars using the goat track in the morning. What is doing there an ungraded road carrying so much traffic ? At least they were all courteous and left us enough road to get past.