Wulong 2018 Team PURE Sport Nutrition Day 4
https://instagram.com/p/Bn9Jj-RDQLk
Day 4
Mass start on the bikes with rolling road terrain, the plan is to hold the wheel of some teams to get of free watts and avoid bottlenecks in single tracks.
Fast wtart as expected and we start to loose Kathryn as she is struggling to keep the wheel ( not physically buy mentally - she is just not used to riding in a bunch). After yesterdays debrief and the call out for me to step up rather than being frustrated I race more aggressively, at least so I was honest to myself. I tried towing Kathryn but she would not stay on tow when going down, then I have to wait for her on the climbs and give her a push on the way up (and then use her as a draft to recover). This is not the most efficient way to do it and man did I burn some matches early in the day. Kathryn was also not happy with my aggressive style but that was a necessary evil st this stage. We almost miss a sharp right turn being distracted in our "hold a wheel game". Then single track starts and we just need to keep spinning the wheels as some Chinese teams will walk this bit. But the hike a bike starts with the mud , stuck wheels and the usual joys. We help Kathryn as much as we can and it gets better riding single track for some time.
At one of the hike-a-bike sections Kathryn shouted very loud - a moment involving Dan a wood stick and unfortunate spank was involved.
Still it is going to be along 47 km ahead of us of total 1200 m of climbing. Back on the road - caught up with team #10 Far East (we stay on the their trans Siberian train for a while) then they had a puncture. They will get us later on one of the climbs ...
I stay close with Kathryn and give her a tow or a push if it is rolling terrain.
With 10km to go we start to loose Matt which is a bad sign... I get him on a tow and we slowly climb...finally last downhill and transition to run..
33% - bike different from top teams.
I did burn some matches on the bike and was feeling pretty tired for the run but could push it. But then Matt has his hip pain from the fall the other day. We get a tow with Dan leading the way as he was feeling the best - wasn't hot as yesterday, much better heat management today. Nice trail overall with a bit of muddy/rocky section.
Run is 46% slower than top teams. Matt and Kathryn couldn't go fast on downhill/technical/slippery stuff and that costed us.
Kayak was a relief a bit sketchy with some sharp turns and blind corners with other teams coming fr the blind spot.
We were 12% slower off the top teams in the boat but it was a only 1hour paddle so couldn't gain much to our advantage.
Last pull and the run to the flying fox and finish. I let Dan do the fox as he is feeling better after all my efforts on the bike.
We are again 36% slower on the second run just because it is technical and I walk Kathryn down most of the rocks. Once we are on flat she is ready to run, I hook Matt in and off we go. Last 200m climbing up the stairs in a beautiful gorge where Transformer were filmed! I'm happy to see Kathryn smiling at the end of the day as she was a grumpy girl in the morning!
https://instagram.com/p/Bn_xeBxiSum
Dan does the monster effort to get through flying fox where wasn't much of flying but a lot o pushing yourself up all the way!
300% slower than top teams and slowest time of the day.
On the bright side we looked good in transitions and supported each other best as we could!
A lot of learning about the importance of leveling team mates abilities. It is unfortunate that being good on the kayak doesn't really decides the race as the most is run and bike where we were trailing 35-40% behind top teams. Key take away is the importance to train in the hills , going down fast as well going up and downhill running technique improvement! I believe in this race we didn't loose much time going up, but lost time on flat (not holding the wheel) and down (confidence on bike handling skills) and running downhills. Some rope confidence should be build as well!
One big kudos to all my team mates, event organizers, volunteers and other fellow athletes! It is such a bliss to be among this bunch who shares the same values being active in the nature, exposed to the elements, love-hate relationship with suffering and still enjoying it!
We see you out there! (c)
Day 4
Mass start on the bikes with rolling road terrain, the plan is to hold the wheel of some teams to get of free watts and avoid bottlenecks in single tracks.
Fast wtart as expected and we start to loose Kathryn as she is struggling to keep the wheel ( not physically buy mentally - she is just not used to riding in a bunch). After yesterdays debrief and the call out for me to step up rather than being frustrated I race more aggressively, at least so I was honest to myself. I tried towing Kathryn but she would not stay on tow when going down, then I have to wait for her on the climbs and give her a push on the way up (and then use her as a draft to recover). This is not the most efficient way to do it and man did I burn some matches early in the day. Kathryn was also not happy with my aggressive style but that was a necessary evil st this stage. We almost miss a sharp right turn being distracted in our "hold a wheel game". Then single track starts and we just need to keep spinning the wheels as some Chinese teams will walk this bit. But the hike a bike starts with the mud , stuck wheels and the usual joys. We help Kathryn as much as we can and it gets better riding single track for some time.
At one of the hike-a-bike sections Kathryn shouted very loud - a moment involving Dan a wood stick and unfortunate spank was involved.
Still it is going to be along 47 km ahead of us of total 1200 m of climbing. Back on the road - caught up with team #10 Far East (we stay on the their trans Siberian train for a while) then they had a puncture. They will get us later on one of the climbs ...
I stay close with Kathryn and give her a tow or a push if it is rolling terrain.
With 10km to go we start to loose Matt which is a bad sign... I get him on a tow and we slowly climb...finally last downhill and transition to run..
33% - bike different from top teams.
I did burn some matches on the bike and was feeling pretty tired for the run but could push it. But then Matt has his hip pain from the fall the other day. We get a tow with Dan leading the way as he was feeling the best - wasn't hot as yesterday, much better heat management today. Nice trail overall with a bit of muddy/rocky section.
Run is 46% slower than top teams. Matt and Kathryn couldn't go fast on downhill/technical/slippery stuff and that costed us.
Kayak was a relief a bit sketchy with some sharp turns and blind corners with other teams coming fr the blind spot.
We were 12% slower off the top teams in the boat but it was a only 1hour paddle so couldn't gain much to our advantage.
Last pull and the run to the flying fox and finish. I let Dan do the fox as he is feeling better after all my efforts on the bike.
We are again 36% slower on the second run just because it is technical and I walk Kathryn down most of the rocks. Once we are on flat she is ready to run, I hook Matt in and off we go. Last 200m climbing up the stairs in a beautiful gorge where Transformer were filmed! I'm happy to see Kathryn smiling at the end of the day as she was a grumpy girl in the morning!
https://instagram.com/p/Bn_xeBxiSum
Dan does the monster effort to get through flying fox where wasn't much of flying but a lot o pushing yourself up all the way!
300% slower than top teams and slowest time of the day.
On the bright side we looked good in transitions and supported each other best as we could!
A lot of learning about the importance of leveling team mates abilities. It is unfortunate that being good on the kayak doesn't really decides the race as the most is run and bike where we were trailing 35-40% behind top teams. Key take away is the importance to train in the hills , going down fast as well going up and downhill running technique improvement! I believe in this race we didn't loose much time going up, but lost time on flat (not holding the wheel) and down (confidence on bike handling skills) and running downhills. Some rope confidence should be build as well!
One big kudos to all my team mates, event organizers, volunteers and other fellow athletes! It is such a bliss to be among this bunch who shares the same values being active in the nature, exposed to the elements, love-hate relationship with suffering and still enjoying it!
We see you out there! (c)