Kelly's Canter Running Race

Sunday 18th October 2009 - The Annual "Kelly's Canter" Runnign Race Palmerston
I slung on the running shoes yesterday arvo and ran in Kelly's Canter in Palmerston,the blast upa nd around the monument on top of the hill. Having been up and down that hill more times than i can remember as a kid growing up in Palmy it is always good fun as well as a bit of a lung and leg burner. Last year I had a pretty good result and was back for more. This year the $300 prize for 1st man and !st women attracted a few faster club runners and people from about the place. Anyway had a pretty solid blast up the hill and came in 2nd Open man and 6th overall fro a field of about 50 runners, not quite managing to snap up the $$ - it was a young club runner from town who took the win quite convincingly. Anyway a good solid blast on the legs.

Rail Trail Classic 100 - Sunday 27th September 2009 152km MTB Race

Well on Sunday I went and competed in the Rail Trail Classic – the 152km MTB race from Clyde to Middlemarch. Initially when entering I didn’t think too much about the distance and challenge this could become, after a bit of thought and talk with others I realised the 152km on a MTB on a gravel road had the potential to be a long way. Anyway starting at Clyde at 8am we headed off and my main goal for the day was to get to Middlemarch without wrecking myself in the first 100km and suffering for the last 50 odd km. So making sure I was taking on good amount s of food and fluid along the way was going to be important. With a clear crisp morning it was a good pedal through the first 65km to Oturehua and occasional times where there were a few of us to share the load a little – however it was surprising how quickly everyone spread out and I found myself pedalling alone for a lot of the day. From here on there was a slight head wind picking up and by the time I left Ranfury after some quick food loading it was 60km to go to the finish. The legs were feeling pretty good until I had to slog out from Ranfurly to Hyde (about 35km) on my own into a fierce head wind, pretty demoralising when you are grovelling by yourself into a wind like we had and your barely moving. Anyway a bit of a grind but at Hyde with 25km to go we got a bit of a bunch going and were really able to wind it up to the end in Middlemarch, In our bunch there were 5 of us so I worked it so I was in a good spot to make a break on my own and about 200m to go I gave it all I had and managed to ride off the bunch and finish solidly dropping the rest in the final sprint!
Having eaten well and kept my fluids up through the day I felt ok on finishing.
I finished in 7hrs12min, placing me 36th overall out of 157 starters including teams and was 23rd individual across the line. With only 13 teams in front of me I was pretty happy with this result. IN my class 19-34yrs open men I was 8th – the longest ride I have ever done in one sitting on my bike!!! Some good base miles for other upcoming events! Full results at www.rtc100.co.nz

Dunedin Half Marathon 13th September 2009

Well, I had resorted to the half marathon this year instead of the full marathon due to having not really managed to build up enough miles on the feet since my recovery and knowing that you can't comfortably bluff your way through the full marathon without inflicting some serious pain on yourself!.... To add to this having had a cold/sinus/blocked up head congestion for the last week and a half and been off school for half of last week, i thought my chances of linig up for a run in the Half Marathon yesterday morning were going to be pretty slim.... anyway after contemplating my flu symptoms and dosing up on some de congestants i went for it... I decided to leave my watch at home otherwise i would be trying to keep to probably unachievable times - so with my watch at home i just ran with what felt ok and didn't worry about times going for the surprise sighting of my time at the end - an interesting way to run letting the body tell you what it feels ok with while having no real idea of pace. I got into what felt to be a reasonable pace and tried to clear my nose for the first 5km or so and then used what energy i had left to run on. Energy levels were a little low but going on what the body felt like was better for me yesterday and Overall i was pretty happy with the run coming in in 1hr42min. The next race for me i now in 2 weeks and is the RTC100 - which is the 152km MTB on the rail trail so i guess that will sort the legs out!

Kayak Race - Henly-Taieri Mouth 9th August 2009

Well i headed out to Henly for one of the winter Kayak series races yesterday. It was a 16km paddle to to Taieri Mouth and Back. I have had a few paddles in the boat over the last months and am building back some tummy strength ok, so i thought it would be good to head out and race to see where things are at. A fantastic morning weatherwise and there were about 40 kayakers there at the race which was fantastic to see.
The race was a Handicap start based on Boats pretty much so i was in the 35min+ group and had the 40min group f the K1 surf club guys behind me which was goint ot be a challenge to hold them off to the finish. We took off from Henly bridge to Taieri Mouth and there was a good outgoing tide flow so the trip down the river was pretty quick - i lead our bunch unaware that when i looked over my shoulder at the Taieri Mouth turn around there were a string of 5 boats behind me - including one double! After the turn around i tried to put the hammer down a bit and some of the washriders dropped away to leave me, the Double and one other, we worked hard all the way back and i started to fade with 2-3km to go from the end, but we had passed most of the earlier markers by then, the double put in a solid finish pulling away from me 500m from the end and the other paddler got 40m on me, blasting to the finish it felt like my paddle was being dragged through concrete but i managed to hold off the K1s from the 40min group.
All up a solid paddle and felt really good, so the build back into things is going well. I finished 6th Overall from the Handicap start system, 5th MAn and had the 10th fastest paddle of the day. So all good!!
Winter Kayak Series Race 4 9th August 2009

Peak to Peak 2009.... my first hit out since surgery!

Well the Peak to Peak multisport race is one of my favourites and this year was my 6th time competing in it. It was my first race since major surgery only 5 months/21 weeks ago – I am probably my own worst critic and hardest judge maker on my performance, I felt a little disappointed initially at my result and performance in this years event. I have been building up and slowly regaining lost strength and muscle tone over the last 2 months or so as the body and the healing process has allowed, surgical battle scars are pretty tender and need some ease taking when getting back into things I have found!
However my initial disappointment has been changed with a sense of achievement and a solid benchmark as to what I need to do to regain and build up to where I was before having surgery to fix my tummy troubles. To be able to complete this race only 21 weeks after the operation was a good achievement in itself.
In competing in the peak to peak last year I set a Personal Best time of 2hr45min, and this year I thought I might lose 15minutes on that with where I was at, however parts of the race were more of a challenge than I expected.
So it went a little bit like this….. A beautiful clear day in Queenstown not a cloud in the sky and no wind at all. Barrett was kind enough to sort me a ride up to the top of the Remarkables with my MTB and Skis while Cherie waited at the start of the Kayak to assist with all the transitions from there.
The Ski My skiing skills are pretty basic but sufficient enough to get me down the slopes ok, but usually after a run or two just to get my legs and turns sorted, IN the last few years we have skied pretty easy runs on the mountain. However this year was to be a little different as there was a good amount of snow we skied “Homeward Bound” which is a steep and more advanced run, I had skied this running my first ever Peak to Peak and got a bit bashed up by it. Anyway I skied off down th start of the trail ands then made my way out onto the main face of the slope to be challenged with trying to execute confident and quick turns to get me down the mountain, (the last time I was on skis was the Peak to Peak in 2008!) Needless to say I took a while to get down the slope and didn’t have too many people behind me at the end of this ski.

The MTB This is always a good blast down the hill, I got onto the bike and pedalled my way as quick as I could to Frankton passing a couple of people on the way. Great fun coming down the hill

The Kayak I believe the Kayak is one of my strongest disciplines and I something I really enjoy. I got into the boat and wound It up across a glass like lake and set my eyes on all the other Kayaks I wanted to reel in and pass. Over the course of the Kayak I managed to pass 28 paddlers and felt pretty good about this.

The Run Onto the run and I was starting to feel a little fade in my energy, but settled into a comfortable enough pace knowing that the last cycle up Coronet was going to deal to me! I got through the run and felt a little flat and heavy in the legs by the end of it, not looking forward to the next stage much at all, but the end was getting closer!

The Last Cycle The cycle up Coronet Peak is a tough grind and one I wasn’t looking forward to much with my leg strength currently being a little limited and the effects of the previous stages of the race. I got onto the bike and started to grind my way up the hill, Once on my way I was in the low gear on my road bike wishing I had the gearing of my MTB as the roadie isn’t the lowest of gearing for hills. Anyway, not far into it I had to give myself a mental toughness talk and tried to overcome the pain of some cramp that were starting to eat into my thighs. With about 3km to go from the top of the hill my legs were locking up and I was having to get off and push my leg out of it’s locked straight position and deal with the pains of the cramping – so it was walk a bit to relieve locking and cramping and then try to get back on and bike until the cramp locked me up over and over again – not pretty and all and quite tough on you mentally as you get passed by others looking 10x better than yourself – anyway enough whining on about how tough the last cycle was – I finished and could enjoy an ice cold beer!

The Outcome I finished in 3hrs and 35min which was down on last years time by 50min, however now looking at this result in a positive and reflective manner I feel it was great to get back out there and get started back into some races and will continue to work hard on getting my strength and speed back to where it was as quick as. It was great to be able to push the body and it all held together!

Big Endurance Event!!.....

Well I have managed to complete the biggest test of my endurance and strength to date over the last 2 months, 2months being the length of this "Endurance Event".

My Surgery that i had on the 18th of Feb was pretty major and knocked me a bit but was very successful and i think that in time it will make me even a bit quicker in races as i am feeling so much better with the work of the surgeon complete, however it has been one mission over the last two months, both mentally (having to watch and follow results and hear of the races i was supposed to be racing in has been pretty tough) and the physical side of the operation recovery.

The "Endurance Event" went a bit like this......

After pre surgery admission clinic meeting with my anathesist and Surgeon i was admitted to hospital where things all began.

Stage 1: Surgery - 4hours 30min, The Surgery took 4hours and 30min for the surgeon to complete where a whopping 50cm of my large bowel was removed and the remaining ends rejoined, via Laproscopically assisted surgery - leaving 5 incisions over my abdomen and multiple layers of stitching of my abdominal muscles back together.

Stage 2: Hospital Recovery 5days,5 days in hospital was tough, after waking from the surgery i was on a diet of jelly and juice for alomst 4 days before eating semi normal food again and the pain of the operation was prett intense, only managing to get out of bed and sit up for about 5 minutes at a time, and this was a mission, i became a common site walking around the ward at Mercy Hospital every few hours - really painful, but the electric tilting bed and nursing staff helped me wiht this along with some pretty good pain medication, after 5 days they sent me home.

Stage 3: Home Rest 4 weeks After getting home i spent the best part of 4 weeks lying down and doing not much moire than short walks to the end of the driv eand around the block - really sore and slow going with lots of bruising and swelling, anyway made the brave step back to work after the 4 weeks at home and that was a mission in iotself getting back into the classroom. Itching to do some exercise but limited to walking was tough...

All go again now.. Final consult with surgeon last week and he has given me the ok to start getting back into things which is great, Having 2 months of feeling sore and unable to do much more than just exist has been tough, but short term pain for long term gain!! I am now feeling pretty dam good and the sore tummys i used to get are really just a thing of the past we hope, so back into some light running and spinnign on the bike, might be another month or two before abs are ready for the Kayak though.

So after missing out on the main summer races i had planned and entered for i will just have to re plan this last season all again for next season.

I hope to make the Peak to Peak in July my first big hit back into things and then work on getting things all back to speed for spring and summer races that i began to race this year and the ones i missed!!

Otago Peninsula Challenge 1st February 2009 - MTB Race

A great race, i was hoping to place around the same as last year (8th) but this year found myself down a bit (30th) but wiht a time only 1min slower than last year - there was a huge depth of fast riders there and having the SI cup riders start in a bunch 2min ahead of us made it difficult to chase them and stick with them when they are out of sight. Anyway a good race,now just going to work on maintinaing good health and fitness as i have my big surgery on 18th Feb so will be lying low and recovering for a few weeks and maybe a few weeks more? www.otagopeninsulachallenge.co.nz

Lake Dunstan Triathlon 2nd January 2009

Link to results http://www.cromwell.org.nz/raceresults.asp

Well I drove up to Cromwell for the Lake Dunstan Triathlon to be held on Friday 2nd January. As we drove into central the wind seemed to get stronger and stronger, by the time we got to Cromwell there was a really strong Westerly wind blowing – the race had a Kayak Cycle Run, Swim Bike Run or Duathlon option. I was all geared up for a fun time in the Kayak Cycle Run race only to be told tat there was to be no Kayak Cycle Run race as the lake was too rough – I always enjoy the rough as it sorts out the paddlers from the highway paddlers. Anyway the option was to do the duathlon or the swim triathlon. I had thrown my wetsuit and goggles in the car for some reason so decided to do the swim tri (about 100m into the swim I remembered why I prefer multisport races and Kayaking!) Anyway the swim was pretty short 300m or so, I took off at a good pace only to get a good gulp of water in the mouth about 100m into it which had me having a small coughing/gulping/spluttering fit! Anyway got the swim out of the way – not at great speed really, but onto the bike and time to hammer it a bit. The cycle stage was an out and back 22km so I gave it heaps here and was passing cyclists all the way – one advantage of the slow swim – playing chase all the way and then onto the run which was about 5km around the lake side – gave it heaps here and continued to reel in lots of people, Finished the raced in 1hr10min – a pretty short quick race compared to the usual races I am used to., Quite enjoyable having a crack at trhe swim tri as it has been a while since I have been foe a swim let alone done a swim tri! Finished 9th Open Man.