Out of the frying pan into the .... valley of the baboons

shotgunmcos · 06-08-2017 11:32am

Annie get your Run wrote: »

I"m completely confused

They are currently 6th. However they have 1 checkpoint (control point 43) to collect on the way to the Finish. Problem now is they are heading the wrong direction to that (Navigational mistake - probably sleeping on the bikes) and there are 2 other team in 7th and 8th hot on their heels.

shotgunmcos · 06-08-2017 11:53am

All Grand they turned back and got CP43 and now flying down the road to the finish in 6th place (provisional as I'm sure there will be time penalties to be counted)

shotgunmcos · 06-08-2017 1:48pm

So Dogleap in 4th place (still on the course) were on schedule to complete the full course (They made cut off #2) but it took a long time to get CP 37 38 and now looks like they will miss the last kayak stage. Missing CP41 would also make them a short course team. Now I don't know whether CP30 (missed by Kates team) or CP 41 is worth more but Dogleap are will finish some 1.5-2 hours behind Kate and crew so there could be a possibility Brick AR could be bumped up to 5th...

career move · 06-08-2017 2:05pm

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Unfortunately decided to skip the loop to get CP30 so are no longer full course. Hope they are having a ball out there!

Ivan designed the Course "to keep as many teams as possible on the full course" hahaha but there were time cut offs in place and if you missed them you were short coursed. Most controls were mandatory but the ones that had a cut off had a time penalty of 2hr30 each. We missed the cut off for stage 4 (the pedal on Brian's bike broke off about 20k into the 110k bike. Robbie spotted an old bike in a house we were passing so we asked if we could have the pedal. But we couldn't get it off. We were about to go on our way when a neighbour called and took the bike to his garage and got it off. Long story short Brian got a makeshift pedal but it cost us about 75 minutes

career move · 06-08-2017 2:09pm

shotgunmcos wrote: »

They are currently 6th. However they have 1 checkpoint (control point 43) to collect on the way to the Finish. Problem now is they are heading the wrong direction to that (Navigational mistake - probably sleeping on the bikes) and there are 2 other team in 7th and 8th hot on their heels.

That was my fault

I was cold after the kayak and I was too far in front on the bike. I went past the road we should have taken and by the time the others had caught up to me it was easier to take the detour

career move · 06-08-2017 2:12pm

shotgunmcos wrote: »

So Dogleap in 4th place (still on the course) were on schedule to complete the full course (They made cut off #2) but it took a long time to get CP 37 38 and now looks like they will miss the last kayak stage. Missing CP41 would also make them a short course team. Now I don't know whether CP30 (missed by Kates team) or CP 41 is worth more but Dogleap are will finish some 1.5-2 hours behind Kate and crew so there could be a possibility Brick AR could be bumped up to 5th...

I doubt we'll move ahead of them cause they only missed one optional control on the paddle and we missed 4 on the stage where we missed the cut off and one up on slieve Snacht that we couldn't find in the dark

career move · 06-08-2017 2:20pm

So ya all finished. It was tough (what more would you expect from Ivan!!!). My team mates were super awesome though. Delighted to have finished. The trek up mount errigal nearly killed me ... I thought it would never end!

shotgunmcos · 06-08-2017 3:27pm

Brill stuff Kate and well done. Sounds eventful, but then what ARs are not eh! Glad to see ye finish well and though it must have been a bummer to miss that stage (You have been there before and motored to a finish). Good training for Exp India?! (Bar the temp and bog...)

The tracker only updated every second CP so we could not tell exactly where the decision to SC or cut off missed was. Still, ye were one of only a couple of teams (ARSE included) to take on Errigal, Kudos!!

career move wrote: »

That was my fault I was cold after the kayak and I was too far in front on the bike. I went past the road we should have taken and by the time the others had caught up to me it was easier to take the detour

Wow this sounds familiar! Remember you were all guns a blazing to get warm after the Ferry in ITERA? Took your instructions from the Nav and motored off leading the boys for 20k or so... You get stronger as the race gets longer and knowing this, if you feel like pegging up the road make sure you know what the next turn is etc.. Easy to say I know but important to take lessons learned out of it :-)

Did you dip below a 7 at any point? LOL How much of it was above a 7? LOL

Drop in for tea and food if you are down my neck of the woods again. Would love to hear blow by blow about Ivan's latest. I'm really disappointed to have missed it but a year out is a year out. I've promised you a paddle so we should do at least one before India. Take it easy now for a week at least..

Dilbert75 · 06-08-2017 4:10pm

Thanks for the informed commentary throughout Shotgun - I do be getting confused fierce easily...

Neady83 · 09-08-2017 3:17pm

I'm doing the rounds and catching up on logs ......

Massive congrats on a well raced Beast at the weekend K

I was keeping track on the AR Live feed on FB (little internet in the sthicks). The route sounded epic, Donegal is stunning isn't it? and plenty of ground left to cover next year.

Are you writing up a report? I'd love to read more about it. I'm catching up with some ARSEs in Kerry at the end of the month for a debrief

From a brief chat with J, they really really enjoyed it.

How are you recovering? Did ye get any shut eye during it? Ivan was very clever by starting at 5pm, two nights out there would ensure that ye would have to get some sleep. What was the most enjoyable part? Did you miss M & S?

career move · 09-08-2017 3:48pm

Neady83 wrote: »

I'm doing the rounds and catching up on logs ......

Massive congrats on a well raced Beast at the weekend K I was keeping track on the AR Live feed on FB (little internet in the sthicks). The route sounded epic, Donegal is stunning isn't it? and plenty of ground left to cover next year.

Are you writing up a report? I'd love to read more about it. I'm catching up with some ARSEs in Kerry at the end of the month for a debrief From a brief chat with J, they really really enjoyed it.

How are you recovering? Did ye get any shut eye during it? Ivan was very clever by starting at 5pm, two nights out there would ensure that ye would have to get some sleep. What was the most enjoyable part? Did you miss M & S?

Hey there

Thanks it was a super race. Fair play to Ivan and Eoghan and all the organisers/volunteers. We were blessed with the weather so we got to see Donegal in all its glory. The ARSE's had a great race. We met up at loads of points on the course and I was talking to Frank on Monday and he seemed delighted.
Recovering well thanks. We slept for half an hour on the beach and an hour in the last transition but the race seemed to fly by. There were lots of bits I liked. Hard to pick out one. I think it was one of my favourite races. I didn't miss the lads as much as I did in Africa .... read into that what you will

Race report on its way

career move · 09-08-2017 3:57pm

There’s always a point in an adventure race where I seriously question my sanity and I say to myself “That’s it. I’m not doing anymore of these fooking races”. Usually it’s at the end of a long night. The sleep deprivation is kicking in. I’m hungry but I feel sick. We’re up in the mountains. On the bikes, on foot …. It doesn’t matter. I don’t know where exactly we are and I’m starting to wonder if anyone on my team does either. In particular the guy with the map! My clothes are damp with sweat and the only way to stay warm is to stay moving. So that’s what I do. Keep moving one foot after the other, keep turning the pedals, keep moving the paddles. Constant forward motion. And the feeling passes. The race moves on. We tick off stage after stage and suddenly we’re crossing the finish line. It’s the greatest reward. And I’m filled with an indescribable euphoria. It’s an intense feeling of happiness and contentment and it lasts for weeks and weeks. I forget all the pain and suffering. I even blank it out when I’m running over the race in my head. And then I sign up for my next race. Which explains why, three days after I arrived home from Expedition Africa, I was sending a message to Ivan looking for a team for The Beast. He kindly put me in touch with Brian, Robbie and Cormac and Team BRCK was born ...

career move · 09-08-2017 5:29pm

I was pretty excited about racing in Donegal. The lads and I did a training session there in June but I had never been there before that. It seemed like a kind of a mystical place to me, all the way up there in it’s own little corner and everyone who’d been there said how beautiful it was. And I couldn’t wait to experience it for myself. But before all that there was a lot of organising to be done. 4 different kit bags and we’d only see each at one transition meant I needed to pack smartly so that nothing was left behind or put in the wrong bag. That was probably the most stressful part of the race. I drove up to Donegal after work on Thursday and met up with the lads in the hostel where we were staying on Thursday night. I had a little moment of panic as I was going through my gear when I couldn’t find my dry bag with my head torch, spare batteries and first aid kit but thankfully it had just fallen out of my rucksack on the drive up. I slept well on Thursday, had a good breakfast Friday morning and the day passed quickly attending race briefings, marking up maps and dropping off our kit bags. Our race plan was to race hard right from the start. We hadn't budgeted any sleep time - we actually didn't think there would be time to sleep if we were going to make all the cut offs. Cormac gave us a big team pep talk then we got on our bikes for the 10 min cycle to the park where we were starting ...

career move · 09-08-2017 5:51pm

We cycled about 10 min from the Radisson to the park where we racked our bikes and lined up at the start. Then the horn blew and off we went racing downhill, then up a steep climb to the CP and back down again to the bikes. The uphill run meant I was out of breath pretty quickly. I definitely need to work on my vo2 max and do more running. Now that I’ve got my hip sorted there’s no excuse not to. It took me a couple of minutes to find my bike when I got back even though I knew exactly where I’d left it, I couldn’t recognise it. The teams were still closely grouped as we set off on the 23k bike ride to TA1 at Lough Fern. I discovered that 520m of ascent over 23k means you spend a good bit of time going uphill but I can’t remember too much else about it. I think I felt pretty comfortable. We arrived into TA1, threw down our bikes on the grass then straight over to find our kit bags and get the pfd’s on. I also put on my new cag. I bought it a couple of weeks ago because I’m fed up of being cold on the kayak legs. We didn’t bother with wetsuits and I think we were pretty quick into our boats and onto the water.

career move · 09-08-2017 6:19pm

I started off in the back of the boat with Cormac in front of me and Robbie in front of Brian in the other boat. The lake was like glass. So nice to paddle on.
We got the first control point ok but Cormac and I were trailing the other boat so when we got to the next CP we decided to switch places for the return journey to see would it make us faster. I’m not sure if the wind was behind us on the way back or if it’s actually better to have the heavier person in the back but we found the return paddle a lot easier. We hopped out of the boats and quickly changed out of our wet clothes for the long night bike and got our head torches ready.I was feeling like I wasn’t drinking enough so I had a recovery shake. I don’t remember eating anything but I’d had a big lunch earlier on in the day and I hadn’t planned to eat anything at TA1

annapr · 09-08-2017 8:54pm

Looking forward to the next instalments... and yes, Donegal is a mystical place

career move · 10-08-2017 9:48am

I remember getting on my bike, cycling up the hill out of transition and turning left and then it’s a bit hazy. So I think this is the order of events. We were motoring along for the first couple of hours. Brian was like a man possessed at the front and we had ticked off a couple of CP’s. At about 10pm, we were cycling up a hill. Brian was towing me. I have to concentrate really hard when I have a hold of the tow line to keep my wheel where it should be and to stay balanced. I also have to pedal a lot harder so I was in my own little world when there was a loud snapping noise, something shiny flew across the road and Brian skidded to a halt. His pedal had sheared off and all that remained was a bar that was roughly 5 cm in length. We had no spare pedal with us and only some basic tools. I had some cable ties that Cormac used to try and reattach the pedal but it wasn't looking like it was going to be too successful because there was nothing to stabilise the pedal and it wasn’t able to rotate. Sure enough, as soon as Brian put any weight on it the cable ties broke. This was a disaster! We were in the middle of nowhere, less than a third of the way through this big bike stage on the first night and Brian for all intents and purposes was bikeless. My first thought was “well, that’s our race finished!” We got back on the bikes. Brian was using the little bar as a pedal but I think we all suspected that this wasn’t going to be sustainable. It was going to be slower and really uncomfortable for him and possibly would damage his foot for the trekking legs.

We carried on anyway, for at least another hour. I was in front with Robbie, possibly on the tow line, I can’t remember clearly. We were passing a house and Robbie shouted out something that I couldn’t hear. We all came to a stop. It appeared that Robbie had spotted an old bike by a shed and he thought we might be able to use the pedal off it. It was late in the evening but there were lights on in the house so Robbie and Brian knocked on the door. The bike was being guarded by a massive alsatian on a chain and he wasn’t too pleased about the disturbance. I was at the end of the driveway so I wasn’t really sure what was going on. There didn’t seem to be anyone at home. The dog was going mad. Then I heard voices and a door opening. More muffled conversation. Then a car arrived with an older woman in it. More conversation. I saw the lads gesturing towards the bike then Robbie and the older woman walking up towards the bike. There was a few minutes when nothing happened then the bike was brought down to the yard. More waiting. I later learned that they couldn’t get the pedal off the bike as we had no tools. A van drew up. It was the neighbour who had come to help. He bundled the old bike into the van then gestured for us to follow him up the road on our bikes to his house. It was about 500m up the road and the neighbour had a massive garage. He had the pedal off and swopped over to Brian’s bike in about two minutes. Success. The neighbour then wanted us to come in for tea and when we explained we were in the middle of a race he tried his best to help us out with directions, which weren’t very helpful as he couldn’t read the map!

When we finally got back on the road I’d say we’d lost at least 90 minutes which would cost us later. CP 13 was our next control. It was on a gate opposite a two storey house. We dibbed in sometime after midnight. There was a light on in the house and Robbie saw a face looking out the window. Cormac and I had no water so Cormac decided to knock on the door and see if he could get some. There was a very bemused couple inside and an older man. The lady filled up our water bottles while the older man began questioning us intently. “What are ye doin? where are ye goin? What are ye doin that for? Will ye take money? What are ye doin it for so? Ye’ll take some money!!”

Onto PC1 where we dropped the bikes and started out on the 3.5k trek on Mudderhole beach. There were 3 checkpoints here (15, 16 and 17). The first one was on a little island of rock jutting out into the sea. There was a bit of rock climbing involved then up onto the two nearby peaks for the next controls. The day was breaking and we had an amazing view at the top. I think it was going up to CP 17 that I noticed that I was breathing faster than I should be and my throat was a bit sore. The same thing happened in Africa and I was fine so I decided at the next transition that I’d take a few painkillers. There was a bit of a climb up to these CP’s but I don’t remember having any difficulty finding them.

mudderhole beach cp15.jpg

CP 15 Photo : MR photography FB

Then it was back onto the bike to pick up CP 19 There were a couple of spills on the bikes as we travelled towards Creeslough. The first time, I was on the tow rope behind Robbie and I accidently dropped it. It didn’t recoil and when he went to pick it up it got caught in the back wheel and Robbie’s bike did a somersault over his head. Luckily Robbie wasn’t hurt and his new bike escaped injury too! The same thing happened a second time but worse and the tow rope broke so that was the end of that. Brian had to take over tow duties then!! We cycled into Ards forest park and TA 3 just after 7am. The shop was open and we were delighted to revive ourselves with coffee before we started out on the next trekking leg.

career move · 10-08-2017 3:34pm

We didn’t waste too much time in TA and we were soon heading out on the trek. The brief was to follow the marked path through Ards forest park to CP20 where we’d get further instructions and the orienteering map. We jogged most of this. CP 20, we discovered was located on the beach and the marshals there, told us we would be changing into wetsuits and going for a swim. First however we got to have a sleep for half an hour. When the lead team had arrived at CP20 it was half an hour before dawn and too dark to swim so they were timed out for 30 minutes. This meant all the other teams got a 30 minute time out too. Yay free sleep!!

the beach at daybreak (2).jpg

And very refreshing it was too. The marshal woke us up after the time out and we got into our wetsuits. There were 4 far out bouys designated dcba that had numbers on them and two bouys 1 and 2, further in with letters on them. One team member had to swim to bouy d, one to c and 1, one to b and 2 and one to a and we had to remember the numbers/letters that we found on the bouys. When we got back these were to be used to unlock a 4 digit lock

1 2

D C B A

I swam to d and back in with my number 6. The water was fabulous. It was a perfect time of day for a swim especially after the nap. As the others came back we wrote our numbers and letters on the sand. I think it ended up being something like 6248 for the numbers and bdac for the letters so dcba was 6248 and bdac was 4682 so that was our code to unlock the box which contained sweets and our orienteering maps. I thought that was a pretty fun task. Wetsuits off asap and onto the orienteering.

There were 5 controls to find but first we had to orientate ourselves on the map and find out where we were. We got sorted and jogged across the beach and up into the trees. We went quite a bit back and then back down onto the shoreline. From here it took about 15 min to find the first control. These could be collected in any order but it was nice to get the first one quickly because we could orientate ourselves easier on the map. I think the boys did a great job on this section. We jogged most of it and there was only one control that gave us a bit of difficulty. Then back to TA for some where we grabbed some food, I threw on my bike shorts and back onto the bikes for the next stage

career move · 10-08-2017 4:06pm

I don’t remember much about this stage. Brian was towing me up most of the hills. I think I was in a happy place

IMG_1474.JPG

We missed the turn that would have taken us up to the transition area and got a bit lost and added a couple of km on for ourselves but we got to TA3 at 14:30 where the marshals told us we had missed the cut off by an hour and would be biking straight to TA4. I don’t think any of us had realised that we were so far behind time and the news that we were being short coursed was a bit of a hammer blow to us. The marshals were excellent and the feed we got of baked potatoes, cheese and baked beans helped greatly to lift our spirits. We resolved to get back on track and not to waste anymore time and as soon as we had eaten we got back on the bikes and headed on our way to TA4,a visitors centre at the foot of the Derryveagh mountains

Stage 6: 16k trek

Skipped

career move · 10-08-2017 4:28pm

This was a very cool bike along the old railway at Muckish. The weather had been dry all day and it was mostly in great condition. We had been told that we had to stay on the railway track between CP 27 and 28. It was a nice bike although I was having to work harder than I would have liked to keep up. I didn’t seem to have much power in my legs. I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t have bike shoes on or if I just haven’t done enough biking since Africa. Anyway it flew by and we were soon rocking up to TA4. We dropped our bikes behind a locked gate then headed in for some food and a gear change before we headed for the hills.

career move · 10-08-2017 5:47pm

We trotted off down the road for a couple of kilometres and then we veered off into the bushes and started to climb so that we were following the line of the trees up.The ground was marshy and every footstep was an effort - lift out of the bog, over the reeds and back into the bog. I kept thinking,I bet this is what The Dead Marshes were like in Mordor, in The Lord of The Rings

”Dreary and wearisome. Dead grasses and rotting reeds looming up in the mists like ragged shadows of long forgotten summers”

Just keep putting one foot in front of the other

As we got higher it was rockier and easier to move. We picked up a couple of CPs as we made our way over to CP 36 which was the abseil off the Poisoned Glen. It was about 8pm when we got there and met the marshal who was waiting for us. He had bad news. The abseil had been cancelled because the lead team got there before the rope guy had arrived so they couldn’t do it and because they didn’t do it nobody. So while we were thanking them for our sleep on the beach at CP 20 we were now cursing them for spoiling our abseil!! It also meant a slightly longer trek because we were going to have to contour around the mountain to get to the next CP.

It was a bit of a trek but we got the next CP and then there was just CP 37 left before we descended and made our way up Mount Errigal. The daylight was fading for this one which made it a lot more difficult. We still had quite a long way to go and I’d imagine it was around 10:30 pm by the time we got to the place we thought the CP should be. We spent a while looking for it but we were getting tired and the weather was worsening. We started to get cold because we weren’t moving fast enough. We brought out the shelter and took a little break and then Brian went to try and get a compass bearing. I think we were quite close to the CP and if we had just trekked down a little we would have found it but we kind of panicked a little and just decided to abandon it and get off the mountain. It’s so discouraging to do all that work for a CP and come away empty handed and I was not looking forward to the trek up Mount Errigal. I said to the lads I didn’t want to do it but Robbie was mad keen for more hardship and oh completely by accident when we had finished descending, we managed to find ourselves right at the base of Mount Errigal.

IMG_1479.JPG

Photo: The Beast FB

If the Derryveagh mountains were The Dead Marshes, Mount Errigal was Mount Doom. I may as well have had a magic ring around my neck weighing me down because the further I went up, the slower I went. I started counting steps. Count to 100 then you can have a rest. Count to 200 and you’ll be up over that ridge. But there were a lot of ridges and everytime I thought I was at the top I realised it was just another false peak rising up out of the mist. I was really short of breath. I should have been thinking, maybe this is what altitude feels like, good training for India but I had a really bad attitude about it and all I could think was this is a complete waste of my time. I’m going to to go all the way up here and then I’m going to turn around and have to go all the way back down again. And we’ve just reached another false peak. Yippee!

When I finally reached the summit at 01:48 a.m., Robbie revived me with a can of coke so that I was in a much better mood walking back down. The downhill was quite tricky as there was lots of loose scree and then we had to cut across through the bog to get back to the road near the TA. After a couple of kilometres walk down the road, we got into TA around 5am. We planned to sleep for half an hour until dawn, then onto the bikes and hot foot it to the kayaks.There were nice benches for us to stretch out on in the visitors centre. I changed my clothes, don’t remember eating or drinking anything and stretched out on the bench wiht Brian’s jacket over me. When I lay down my breathing sounded terrible. Like I was a Pug with a squashed up nose and then I started coughing up flem. I was trying to be quiet because everyone was sleeping and I was starting to panic that I was getting a chest infection and how was I going to be recovered in time for India. And then I fell asleep and the next thing I knew, Cormac was whispering to me to get up and get fed and get ready to go.

career move · 10-08-2017 6:08pm

This bike took us back around Glenveagh national park to Gartan lough. When we had done our training session in Donegal in June we’d come out this road so I kind of recognised bits of it. Brian was towing me up all the hills but I still found it long. It was also cold and wet so when we did finally rock in the gates of gartan activity centre it was a nice feeling. We left the bikes resting against picnic tables and made our way in out of the rain

c b17.jpg

Photo: The Beast FB

While we were changing Robbie got us all coffee to warm us up. I didn’t bother taking off any gear except for my coat. I put my wetsuit on over my bike shorts and the kayak cag on top and then it was out to the kayaks.

career move · 10-08-2017 6:34pm

We transitioned quickly. I think that was a feature of our race. Getting in and out of transition as quickly as possible.

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As soon as we were out on the lake we put the tow line on Robbie and Brian’s boat and made our way to the CP at the river junction. Then it was up the lake for a couple of km until we reached the river. We found the entrance pretty quickly and we were soon paddling our way down the river towards the next CP. The tow line was a godsend. It made life so much easier. And the river was so much fun. Our next CP was on the bridge and we had to park the kayaks and climb up over barbed wire to get to the dibber. Then it was back into the boats and up the river. This was one of my most enjoyable kayaks. I usually dread them! We got back to the lake and made our way across to the last CP, then up the lake we went to TA and the put in

kayak b17.JPG

career move · 10-08-2017 6:45pm

I was really cold when I got back on my bike. I had left the kayak cag on because it was still raining and I thought it would be warmer than my coat. I went too far in front of the lads and we missed our turn to the last CP. When they caught up with me I was met with some frosty glares. Sorry lads. I should know better. Luckily we were able to get back on track without too much delay and it was a fairly uneventful bike back to Letterkenny. It was a nice feeling rolling down the hill towards the Radisson and the finish line and an even nicer feeling when we crossed the line and tucked into beer and pizza!!

finish b17.jpg

Thanks so much to Ivan and his team of organisers and volunteers. This was one of my favourite adventure races. Maybe because it didn’t rain the whole time!

And thanks again to my awesome teammates. I had a ball!

Baby75 · 10-08-2017 10:36pm

Wow that was some epic adventure well done for completing it brilliant

I'm a huge fan of Lord of the rings.
Great report ðŸ˜Š

Annie get your Run · 11-08-2017 2:40pm

I can't even really comprehend everything that was involved in that race, it sounds bloody hard, but it also sounds extremely rewarding thing to do

Well done again to you and the team, it's one hell of an achievement to cover so much difficult ground, in so many ways in such a short time

. Can't wait to hear how India goes!!!!!!!!!!

career move · 11-08-2017 5:44pm

Baby75 wrote: »

Wow that was some epic adventure well done for completing it brilliant I'm a huge fan of Lord of the rings.
Great report &#55357;&#56842;

Thanks. Ya I love TLoTR. I got the BBC audio books when I was a kid and I used to listen to them on repeat!!

career move · 11-08-2017 5:51pm

Annie get your Run wrote: »

I can't even really comprehend everything that was involved in that race, it sounds bloody hard, but it also sounds extremely rewarding thing to do Well done again to you and the team, it's one hell of an achievement to cover so much difficult ground, in so many ways in such a short time . Can't wait to hear how India goes!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks. Ya that kind of epitomises AR 'bloody hard but extremely rewarding'!! I think I'll have to get you to ghost write my race reports in future

career move · 13-08-2017 7:41pm

Aug 7th - 13th
4 weeks to ExpIndia

Mon - Fri:
Rest

Sat:

Walk: 6k in 63min

Sun:

Bike: 7k in 47min
MTB to the shops to get food for breakfast

Bike turbo: Intervals
15min w/u
2 x (5 x 1 min standing sprint, 1 min rec) 2 min between sets
10min c/d

Stretching:
20 min

I wore the HRM for the turbo (av 101, max 149). The last time I did a similar session (10x 1min on/off) my recovery HR was mid nineties. Today it was staying well above 100 in the recovery zone so I decided to take 2 min between the sets. I feel like I'm recovering pretty well from The Beast though. RHR was 62 on Monday but it was between 42 and 44 for the rest of the week. I'm not overly tired and I haven't been sleeping excessively (8 - 10 hrs). I have been eating a lot of chocolate and biscuits. My aim for the next 4 weeks is to cut all that out :eek:

Neady83 · 13-08-2017 8:27pm

Great racing K, and a great write up to boot. It sounded epic and magical in every way

Delighted to hear recovery is going well ... no sign of that chest infection making itself known? You always seem to suffer a lot from the cold after coming off the kayak (I know how cold it is though). Any thoughts on trying to prevent it? Extra thermal layer in the bag for the section after the kayak, one that's easy to whip off?

Do you feel your endurance is improving with each event? When do you leave for India?

Out of the frying pan into the .... valley of the baboons

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