Long Course Training Camp!

Head Coach Ollie said as part of the team briefing on Friday night - "This weekend, I want you all to step outside of your comfort zone". Training camps are about increasing volume as well as pushing your body beyond what it does ordinarily. Well, I am proud to say that I definitely stepped outside of my comfort zone once again and did something which I never thought would be possible (for someone of my sporting ability).

I decided early on that I would take the Friday off work so I could calmly pack and head down to Apollo Bay in time for the run session. I arrived at the accommodation with 10min to spare and barely made it down to the run start at 4pm but it didn't deter me from doing my run. The run was from Noel St (where the head coaches were staying) along the Great Ocean Rd towards Laver's Hill and return which was a 5km loop. The other guys ran 8-12km but with the lack of nutrition (no lunch due to the drive), a 6km was all I could muster up that afternoon.

After the run, I took a quick shower and headed to the shops and bought some essentials for the weekend. I stayed in a house with Lidia, Dave Nealon and Alistair. Both Lidia and I are doing Shepparton as our first long course race. Alistair is racing Busso and Melbourne and Dave has done a few halfs before and racing Geelong and Melbourne in 2013. It was an interesting mix of athletes with our own abilities and race plans.

We headed to the main house for the briefing and this is when we found out from Ollie what distance we were doing for Saturday. I was expecting to ride 90km and run 8km for the weekend (as per the itenery for the lower group) but when Ollie told me I was to ride 110km (Apollo Bay - Lorne + Benwerrin Climb and then back to Apollo Bay) with a 14km run, my jaw dropped! I knew I could ride the distance as I had done it during 2011 and 2012 Lorne Camp but I had never done the hill climb in the middle of the ride - it was always done at the end and to run a 14km run when I only just made the 12km interval run 2 nights ago - Crazy?!

Even with Greg's Sunday run sessions, the runs have reached 17km (max as we often got lost) but there had always included breaks in between so a 14km endurance run was definitely out of my comfort zone (especially after a 110km hilly ride) outside of an actual sporting event.

So Friday night was all about psyching myself ready for a big day ahead and preparing my bike and nutrition  ready for the next day's ride.

We had to be at the main house by 6:30am for the 6:45am roll out. After Sarah's briefing (about safety and routes), we were off. I have never been a fan of riding in a pack along the Great Ocean Rd as I am not great at descents and I pedal up inclines slowly (in my large chain ring). I was happy to ride towards Lorne at my own pace and ready to ride up the hill at my own time.

Lessons learnt from my previous rides - I carried a vest to put on when I reached the top of the hill and took it off once I reached Lorne - once again the plan worked! As the weather was kinder to us, I could descend down Dean Marsh road more comfortably and only applied on the brakes a dozen times or so. The ride back to Apollo Bay appeared to be a piece of cake compared to riding up the hill so I felt more comfortable. I had to slow my pace down a few times just so the train of cars could drive past. Compared to 2 months ago, we saw more cars and tourist buses on the Great Ocean Rd compared to Queens Bday weekend.

I completed the 110km around 20min quicker than Lorne 2012 (2 months ago) and I also felt more comfortable/relaxed during the entire ride. The ride was also done in perfect weather conditions (little head wind on the way back) which made the descents much easier to do. When we arrived back to Apollo Bay, it was the mandatory 10min soak in the bay which helped recovery. I quick lunch, a 15min nap later, it was off to see Emma and Ryan for our debrief before we headed out for our runs.

The 14km run was done with legs made out of lead. It took about 2km for me to become one with my run legs. Although my pace was slower than everyone elses, I still did my 14km (only stopped  a couple of times to turn around and/or take a quick breath) in about 90min. Having done this 14km run, I am pretty confident that I would be able to complete the Sydney City2Surf this weekend.

On Saturday night, we went to the pub for dinner and caught the start of the Womens Triathlon at the Olympics in London. We then headed off to the main house to watch the end as we had another briefing about the next day's distances. The women's triathlon race was a close one with Erin Densham claiming 3rd.

During the night, I had bad stomach issues (not sure if it was the food from the pub or just an increase in the amount of processed foods (and sugars) during the day). With a restless night, bad stomach aches, the I need to vomit feeling and a slight bleeding from toilet visits, I decided to pull the pin on the ride up to Laver's Hill. I was so disappointed as some of the guys who rode up there felt a great sense of accomplishment. I was shattered that I could not tick off that box for the weekend. Instead of feeling sorry for myself all of Sunday, I regrouped my thoughts and decided that a run would be better than nothing. At least with a run, if I felt worse, I was not far from home/facilities. I ran 4km away from Apollo Bay and turned around on top of the first hill out of town and decided to turn around as the black clouds started to appear along the horizon. 2km from home, the hail storm hit me like a firing range of bullets. I felt like I was going to die from the force of the hail storm that I hid behind a tree for about 2 minutes before I started to freeze. It was an option of hiding behind the tree to avoid the beating from the hail but to freeze or to suck it up and run as fast as I could back to the house. I chose the 2nd option as I could not think of anything worse than that feeling I had when I nearly froze to death during the middle of the Kinglake 2011 Ride.

That was pretty much the end of training for Apollo Bay Long Course Training Camp. Althought I didn't ride up to Laver's Hill, I felt that I stepped outside of my comfort zone. I am more confident about racing Shepparton 70.3 (in 105 days).

Stats from the weekend:

Total Ride Distance = 110km

Total Run Distance = 28km

Total time spent in the bay for recovery = 40min

We have another training camp coming up in about 6 weeks time. It is the pre-season Apollo Bay training camp which will be similiar to the weekend just passed. Hopefully, I will ride up Laver's Hill and step out of my comfort zone once again.

The Sydney City2Surf will be this weekend (12th Aug). I want to do well in this race so fingers crossed that my little legs hold up throughout the run. I would like to finish this run in under 1:25. Need to keep my pace well under 6min/km. That would be my goal.

Eat.Train.Laugh.