It’s less than one month to I will be standing on the beach at Skippers Canyon at 8am, with 42km of trail between me and the finish line at Moke Lake. While I am slightly intimidated by the Shotover Moonlight Marathon, I am pleased with my training and feel reasonably prepared.

In the past three months I have ticked off several adventure runs. They have been a mix of 6-12 hour “adventures” in the hills, as well as shorter and faster “runs” in the Port Hills. Last weekend I successfully ran 42 km from Lyttelton to Diamond Harbour via the tops, which has proved to myself that I can run that far.

With four weeks to go it’s almost time to taper, but not quite. Richard has agreed with me to cut back the distance, and focus on strength work via some hill sprints in the next fortnight. While I haven’t necessarily changed what I’m doing with the coaching, it’s nice to have someone to talk to and ensure each week has a focus, making sure time and effort is not wasted!

After the Moonlight, my focus will turn to cycling, with Le Race the target. The first group training session last night confirmed that I still have some work to do! It hurt, but in a good way. Apart from treating myself to a 160 km round trip to Akaroa, my cycling has been limited of late, but I am confident it will return quickly. The CP group sessions are a great way of encouraging you to dig deeper than you would by yourself, and I highly recommend them.

Mt Herbert somewhere in the cloud

Well we did head away again so the holiday got longer and I am using that as my excuse as to why it has been a while since my last update.  Haven’t done another hill mission so no cracking of the 1000 🙁

I keep saying that being away training in different terrain was like being on a holiday and it has been great I have really enjoyed my time training in different terrain and I cannot complain about this view while riding.  But with  holidays you also get the first week back at work which is always tough, and I definitely have been finding it tough the last few weeks, with fitting everything in, being tired from probably doing too much, and struggling to get motivated for some rides.  A few of my lessons and reminders I have had the last few weeks;

• Don’t construct/build things on the ground and then climb hills the next day as chances are all the bending over nailing and sawing will mean your hamstrings will be sore!
• Your glasses need cleaning every now and again as when you are riding into the sun it is like your windscreen, if it is dirty you won’t be able to see!
• Do a better job of checking the weather; after a 2 hour slog to Oxford, my planned ride through Ashley Gorge was abandoned due to the gale winds and not having enough food for my now extended ride so I flew home in an hour with some puncture practice on the way. With being blown off the road, an untimely puncture and the ridiculous head winds, I honestly think the ride was trying to break me 🙂  Pleased to say my spirit survived to get on the bike again.

It has not just been about lessons thankfully I did tick something off the to do training list;

I rode the summit ride from Little River to Akaroa.  Scotty had said to me the Summit Road likes to torture you, you think you are at the top, but you go around a corner and BAM another rise!  Well I would have to agree with Scotty, it’s like the ride is saying Sucker every time you round one of those corners!!  Richard told me to take my time and enjoy the ride and the view, but it was a very windy day and a southerly, so COLD.  Needless to say I didn’t do any sightseeing.  It is good to train in these conditions but if anyone wants to join me on a training ride, be prepared for a windy day or s#@t weather as that is what I seem to get weather wise 🙂

Reading back through this is not the most positive sounding of updates but training journeys are often filled with highs and lows so here is to next time and being out of this slump!  Added the pic because it always make me smile and reminds me that riding a bike can be fun.

Apologies for the silence on my part lately. A month ago I wrote that I should expect more difficulties in my path, the mission is a tough one so why should anything else be any different? Since then I’ve been up and down to Dunedin five times for varying lengths of time to be with my Mum in hospital there and Dad at the family home until it was just Dad when Mum passed away on the 29th December.

Now I’m back in ChCh and trying to pick up the training again. I’ve done very little exercise at all, not even yoga could tempt me. So I started out this morning with my favourite training exercise, so much a favourite I don’t really count it as training at all, more like a treat.

Found my way to the Mt Pleasant Bluffs track that sidles along towards Mt Cavendish whilst hanging above Lyttelton. What an amazing route! So many runs of steps I just couldn’t inflict that many photos on you all! Small ones, giant ones, rocky ones, clay ones, scrubby ones, sheer ones… and all to myself. There was a strong southerly wind though and dopey here hadn’t taken a jacket so I grabbed the picnic mat from the back of the car and wore it like a poncho! You wouldn’t want to be on this track in an EQ that’s for sure. The scars of five years ago are still quite obvious. Speaking of which I’ve signed on for the Run to Remember next month, then Le Petit Race in March, and the Graperide Taster in April and somewhere in all that I’ll ride up Coronet Peak in March.

I’ve got $676 to go to reach $4000. I can do that.

Busy, busy, busy, Christmas, holidays, birthday, fishing, diving lots to fit in + training of course.

Heading away this week I was not sure how I was going to fit everything in not only was there the children to fit things around but also importantly needed to fit things around tides for fishing and diving; priorities changed a bit this week, my queen of the fish title was up for grabs again.

I think I have felt every emotion since my last post.

Determined to beat my 870 hill metres from last hill mission

Exhausted from being up very early with a child

Pleased, with myself when I still went for my ride, lots of talking myself into it before it actually got done, but still did it

Happy/Smug, still Queen of the fish

Joy/Love, when Miss Emily (my oldest) greeted me on my return from my ride with a very excited and happy “your back”

Disappointed, when I realized that Amberley is not just round the next bend as I hadn’t yet past the Hamner turn off 🙁

Ecstatic, 977 metres on my last hill mission, didn’t think I would have beaten the 870, will break 1000 next time

I feel like it has been a merry go round of a week with the different time constraints to juggle, although I have enjoyed riding on different terrain in a different area it was like a wee holiday in itself within the training. But with the different challenges it brings, I question my sanity as we are now considering heading away again (dependent on a sick child recovering), although different hills for another hill mission…..1000 here I come.

First thoughts upon hearing I had won the TeamCP Le Race competition, were eeek! I never win anything!  Uh oh what have I got myself into!  After laughing at myself for most of the morning I finally said.  “Well I always wanted to do the race, now I have the opportunity to, so let’s get training”.

First things first, I gave my bike a wash in the hope that if I treated it right it would be nice to me 🙂  Competition was probably very good timing as have a niggle in one of my Achilles so changing focus to bike will give my Achilles time to settle down hopefully.  Although back is protesting a bit being back on bike, thought it might be bike set up so got that checked out with Scotty, but nope time to get some core work in.  2 caesareans will do that to you though I guess.

Apart from riding to Motonau (from Glenmark) a couple of times, have not spent a lot of time on any hills, most recent bike rides have been on trainer inside or on the flat (not a lot of hill options in Kaiapoi).  So plan is to try and get to the hills once a week.

Caught up with Richard this week to discuss goals, I had not really thought past finishing 🙂 hence the getting off bike unassisted is part of my goal as I imagine after 100km on the bike my body will have a thing or two to say.

Training wise this week, after thunder, lightning and hail riding up Dyers Pass last week, this week’s hill ride was very calm weather wise.  Rode up Dyers and then around Summit Road to Sumner where my support crew were chasing seagulls on the beach and visiting the café.  I have not been around the Summit Road post earthquake, I felt like I was MTB’ing at one point!  Although I must say it was nice having the road closed and no cars zooming past you.  Sometimes the success of my ride is based on how many cars I have yelled at; well it is usually the first thing I report on when I get home anyway (Geoff just shakes his head at me)

Christmas next week so trying to figure out when I am going to have my rest day, I think I want to fit a ride in somewhere on Christmas day so I don’t feel guilty indulging in all the goodies, but usually ride first thing in morning and get home just as kids are getting up and I don’t want to miss Santa excitement…..I guess not a bad dilemma to have but what to do……

Got to the bottom (sorry, bad pun!) of my right leg weakness, it’s all in my backside! Somehow I’ve twisted my pelvis and the sacro-iliac joint is out of line. I’ve learned how no muscles actually act on this joint but if it has moved then the muscles that attach nearby are trying to act on the hip joint from a slightly different starting position, hence the sudden feeling of near leg collapse and a leg that won’t do what it’s told! Treatment has been (wo)man handling the joint back in line (thanks Grace!) and lots of exercises (homework for me) aimed at keeping it there. It’s only been a couple of weeks but in that time I have already lost muscle strength in that leg even though it’s working properly again.

I’ve never been so happy to be told it’s a ‘mechanical’ problem. Once you’ve had a cancer diagnosis, every single bodily event becomes the worry that the cancer is back, especially when wakeful at 3am. Once dawn arrives so does some sanity thankfully but I understand from fellow members of the C club that this is a pretty common reaction.

So I went out this morning for a wee test on the ‘downs’ and Kennedy’s followed by some repeats on Shalimar. It went pretty well once I’d given myself the HTFU speech, so I rewarded myself with a trip to a bike shop for some new gloves. Cue silly selfie time!

My latest challenge is the news that my Mum has myeloma and there is little more anyone can do apart from palliative care. My wish is that we can get her home from hospital for Christmas Day and see what happens from there. My training programme has to adapt again, Mum and Dad are not in Christchurch, so I’ll be shifting bases for a bit. This is where I realise that training is so much more for me than the physical aspects. I need my training for my mental health, for friendship, for adventure, for the sheer joy of being outdoors; to make the very most of this wonderful gift called life.

It’s nearly Christmas, take care everyone, it can be a silly season at times. Rest, recover, reflect.  Above all I wish everyone peace.

And I hope that Santa has found my name on his ‘nice’ list 🙂

I had a great time in Queenstown in mid November, living the life of a professional athlete with nothing to do but eat, sleep, train and recover. You may have seen my wee videos that Richard convinced me to do. The week concluded with me taking part in the 10km part of the Queenstown Marathon. I had only planned to walk it but I got so carried away with the great training behind me and the atmosphere on the day that I was even seen running some of it!

The only snag in the plan was the professional, bit; I couldn’t find anyone to pay me to keep this up!

Since then things have gone a little pear shaped. I’ve had a couple of day surgeries which have gone well in and of themselves but I didn’t need the thyroid scare that has been biopsied and found to be benign to my great relief. Now I’ve done something to my back that has resulted in a sudden loss of power in my right leg. I nearly fell off in the carpark last Wednesday night group ride as my leg nearly collapsed under me when taking off! So frustrating because I was so keen to show off the results of my hard work on the bike in the hills. The local hills look very short after trying some of Coronet Peak.

So I am trying to stay calm and not fret about losing my momentum in my mission. Daily yoga is such a help in this. I am still completely focused on riding up Coronet Peak in March. The ride itself will not be easy so I should expect the lead up to have its difficulties too.

Running a marathon is hard.

That may be an obvious statement, but it is really hard and I think that there are few experiences in adult life that require such a sustained force of will. How do I know this…..

Saturday 21 November saw me lining up with 2000+ runners for the Queenstown marathon. I had been nervous all week in the lead up to the run but felt surprisingly calm and abuzz with nervous excitement as I thought about my plan and what lay ahead.  The run went well, a bit slower than I would have liked but I achieved my goal of starting the race uninjured, and better still, completed the race with no major injuries.  The worse I have to show for running 42.2km is two matching black toenails.

I enjoyed most of the run, and was surprised at how my body coped with that distance.  There were aid stations every 4-5km which mentally made the job easier.  I thought about the next distance to the aid station, rather than about how far it was to the finish.  The most enjoyable parts for me was the track around Lake Hayes and the last 10km along Frankton track.  There were a few little hills along the way which made it more interesting – although marathon hill at 30km had the potential to make one doubt what the heck they were doing…..  Needless to say I was glad I had incorporated hill training into my training programme.  Overall it was a great run to do and I enjoyed the challenge of the marathon distance.  Was such a buzz to have completed it and I cant wait to do it again.

So what happened on the day….

The first 25km went by quite quickly; partly due to running with someone I knew which led to chatting and just enjoying the scenery and the run.  Weariness and some achy niggles settled in around the 26 km mark and it was between the 26 and 32km mark where I had a few struggles mentally as it was awhile since I had set off, and I knew, it would be awhile until I saw the finish line. Psychologically though I knew if I could make it to the 32km mark (which I had done in training) I could walk the rest of the way.  My mind started to have its own way for a while though and the little naggy voice kept telling me, but you only did 32km in training….  The other part of me was like yeah well I did Mission Mt Somers and that was four hours on my feet so you will be FINE!  Mental bargaining started to play a factor as I ran through the km’s.

After a while I started to notice the parts of my body that hurt.

— “What the… what is that going on with my knee?  Haven’t had that before. I hope my knee holds together until the end”

— “OMG I just want to sit down, my feet are so tired!”

— “Why is my arm sore?”

— “Ugh my laces are too tight but I don’t have the energy to bend down”

At the 35-40km there is now absolutely no talking – just the odd check in with my run partner that she is still there, breathing and moving. I felt completely focussed at this point on keeping up my pace and trying to have some semblance of form.  From some of the photos I have seen, the form bit wasn’t actually going so well but it gave me something to think about and concentrate on.  Being fatigued, mentally and physically, there are a myriad of thoughts that go through your mind and running long distances for me, becomes an argument between my body and my mind.

— “Stop, slow down.”

— “No.”

— “Stop.”

— “No.”

— “Slow down!”

— “No.”

—Your legs hurt don’t they? Go on just walk for a bit”

— “No.”

— “Feel that ache in your hips, what about that pain in your calves? Stop.”

— “No.”

And so on.

Then suddenly this thing, the end, that I could only imagine many hours earlier, was suddenly in reach.

So how does it feel at the finish – amazing! It was a surge of emotions crossing the finish line – relief, fatigue, exhausting exhilaration.

My immediate thoughts, after hugs and congratulations from my husband and friends, were to find a drink that wasn’t water, and a patch of grass to lie down on and take my shoes off.  They say it’s the small things in life that matter – on marathon day it was heaven to remove my shoes and ecstasy to have something other than warm water and sticky super sweet gels. It took a few days for the reality to set in that I had completed my BHAG – while still on the ‘high’ I compiled a list of want to do runs for 2016.  We will see how many are still on the list once training resumes!

The biggest thing I have gained from this adventure is self-belief – my longest distance in training was only 32km, and there’s only so much that you think you can do. But when you go past that barrier and keep going, you’ve entered the world of the impossible.

Well, since the last report, I’ve managed to clock up a fair few miles on the bike and got in a few nights away from home, so all the gear is getting a good test.

Milage wise, I did both the Mcleans Island 6hrs – day one as a team and night one as a solo, then did The Navigator Mini-Brevet with a couple of friends, (we shortened the course a bit, pre-planned) but still got in my first 200km day on a fully loaded Brevet Bike and 440km over the 3 days. Two weeks ago I did the 10hr solo at Timaru 10hr MTB, clocking up 156km and followed that up last weekend with a trip on Alps 2 Ocean trail from Oamaru. Made it up to Twizel before returning – 2 nights camping and 386km for the 3 days.

Gear wise, I am fairly settled on clothing, food and misc gear. I have just changed my rear carrying rack from a seat post mounted rack, to a Thule Pack n Pedal tour rack. I had my seat post clamp break and think the extra stress of the seat post mounted rack was probably the clause.

Tyre selection is the current “hot” topic. I’m currently running Specialized fast track on the rear and a Maxxis Icon on the front. I’m fairly happy with the rear Fast Track, but found the Fast Track on the front “wandered” on loose gravel descents. The Icon improved that but doesn’t roll as fast. I think the next one to try is a Vittoria Saguro on the front, probably in UST form. Whilst I would love to have tyres as light as possible, the piece of mind of a “durable” tyre is more important in the long term.

So, what have I learned over the last month?

• Check your mtb shoes have the inner soles in them before you leave home, so you don’t have to do 3 days without them!
• Pack to a list, so you don’t leave your wind jacket at home!
• Riding for most of a day and a half uphill into a head wind plays havoc with your state of mind – take a break, spend an hour and a half in a cafe at lunchtime….but don’t give up – keep riding ( I turned a “nearly got a ride home after 50km” day into a 160km day by just keeping on going)
• My recovery from the long rides is pretty good, mainly a result of keeping heartrate down

What can I do better?

• Need to get more consistancy of riding during the week. Currently tending to have long rides at weekend and very little else
• Need to get back swimming, partly as something different to biking, but also good for arm strength, which is quite important on long days on the bike
• Need to get a 4 day trip done
  

  My room for the night, Qualburn historic woolshed. It was cheap, but room service was rubbish!

  

  A2O trail, near Duntroon

After taking masses and masses of baby steps (and masses of pictures of steps!) I feel I have taken a giant leap. I’ve walked 21km for the Pink Star walk, practiced yoga every single day for weeks now and cycled (after a fashion) up Kennedys Bush and Westmorland. Now I am sampling the life of a professional athlete having a 10 day stretch of having nothing more to do than train, practice yoga and rest. I am absolutely loving it!

Next up is the Queenstown Marathon, a goal all by itself for many CP athletes. I’m walking the 10km and feeling a bit of cheat frankly so I hope to make up for it by cheering on the real athletes!

My real reason for being in QT is to suss out the Coronet Peak road. Richard convinced me to do some videos along the way and they are turning up on the CP Facebook page I hope. I am not really a computer type and have been a bit lost on links and such but I think it’s working!

The miracles of modern communications means Fleur and I can tweak my training as the weather and body dictates. I can also send jealousy inducing photos of the glorious landscape. Just being able to get out and about in this beautiful country of ours is such a privilege. This time last year I was toxed to my eyeballs with chemo and not having a good time of it. If nothing else ever goes according to plan I’ll have this experience of being in the hills, breathing the clear air and feeling strong again to look back on. I am deeply grateful.

No post is complete without a picture of steps, these are nearly a ladder they are so steep!