PSOF Championships 2013 - Challenge Henley

Nice to meet up with SoupDragon today and we recce'd some of the course   took a wrong turn on the first 'leg' and ended up going towards Greys rather than henley (we should have turned off before that corner Soupy   ) , but other than that it was ok. weather was horrible, cold snowy and neither of us could feel our feet after 20 mins or so. Soup made it back up Howe Hill  and I had to get off and push after about a third of the way as my legs were dead. Also have not got over my cold as much as I thought and struggled a bit; poor Soup, I had to stop every 20 mins or so to empty my sinuses ; have been coughing loads and yacking up phlegm since I got home and I feel exhausted. A few easy days ahead for me I think. zzzzzzz

Well we did it. But I've only just thawed my feet out, man it was cold. Anyway here's my verdict.  I like it!  It was a long drag up to Northend but nothing too troubling, just slow and I know I can train to get my speed up a bit. Going down to Greys Court was fast and fun, and although a bit of a drag back up nothing difficult at all. Missed out the other Northend loop and headed directly for the BIG one.  The road sign puts it a 10% and I'm pleased to report that I got up it. I was only going 3mph though and wobbling a bit and it seemed to go on and on, but I did it. The descent back into Henley was fast and even a downhill wuss like me got 30mph. 

There is nothing on the course that isn't manageable although I suspect the 2nd lap will feel tough and the third one, well, I'm not even thinking of that yet. 

Cross post Fraggle. So we did go wrong afterall - oops. 

Good to see you today and I'm sure you will get up the hill once your lurgy has gone. Well done. 

Badger, how can a 37 mile ride be classed as "long"? Surely they need to be knocking on the door of 100 miles to be long? The furthest I've ever done is 70 miles, so it's not even in the frame. Truly, I do need to get out on the bike more.

For me, it was 48 miles on Saturday morning, with the gang. Got a puncture halfway round and took FOREVER to fix it. I got some ridicule for that, especially as we were doing an unofficial time trial at that point. I context this was only my second one in 12 months.

I am glad to hear that the Whore's Hill is manageable. I am seriously envisaging walking up it by the time lap 3 arrives. I can believe that my contact points would benefit from a massage by then anyway.

BTW, has anyone else noticed the elevation profile for the swim section?

Bagder - Nice ride to end not such a great week., nice stats. Hope you have/had a good birthday.

Soup - Glad to hear you think it is doable, hope you can feel your feet again now. I need to get over and recce so I know what to train for.

Fraggle - Take it easy and get over the cold and I'm sure that hill will be yours for the taking.

2nd week of fink, 9 sessions, 3 of each if the count 20mins run brick of the long ride. Total of 8:30 but long ride was only 2:00/30miles.

Going to have to mix up the training schedule next weeks as I'm doing Roding Valley Half Marathon on Sunday.

Blisters - X-posted, nice ride for you today.

GPS and map site elevations are often well out, the accuracy is just not there for vertical calculations (satellite separation and geometry work against them). If a horizontal distance was out be 30ft over a mile we wouldn't notice or care but with elevation we do. If in reality the difference between the start and turning point is more than 5-10ft I'd be very surprised and it is the current that will be of more of a concern than change in elevation any way.

Blisters wrote (see)

Badger, how can a 37 mile ride be classed as "long"? Surely they need to be knocking on the door of 100 miles to be long? The furthest I've ever done is 70 miles, so it's not even in the frame. Truly, I do need to get out on the bike more.

Well it's the longest of the week, in accordance with the Fink intermediate plan (actually, I was only supposed to do 90mins.) Not sure I've ever read a definition of a long bike needing to be 100 miles long. Remember, there's a hell of a long way to go yet! Hurdle 1: Reaching the start line in one piece. 

p.s. Cheers Scuba for the birthday wishes! Have had a very large pub Sunday lunch in celebration.

Nice. Welcome aboard. Seems there's a fair number of us now!

Hi drainman. Welcome to the gang.

lol at long ride. My longest so far is 25 miles and that was today.  I'm up to 7 miles on a run and 1000m on swimming. I've got some training to do but there's plenty of time yet and I'm still on target with Fink, apart from the swim perhaps. Each to their own, and all depends on targets I suppose. 

Badger, sorry if I sounded a bit sour, I realised after pressing the send button that I could be mis-understood. Personally speaking, I'm crapping myself at the prospect of having to bike 180km as a "commute" between the longest swim I've never contemplated and a proper run.

thedrainman - Welcome aboard.

Soup - sounds like we are in similar places, my longest ride ever was Saturday at 30miles. I think I'm up to about 1750m in the pool but i can never keep count well enough to be more accurate than that. Running isn't an issue, I'm doing 10miles regularly and could do more but saving my energy for the more problematic swim and bike. As you say its nice to be ahead of the fink plans at this stage.

Blisters - Your doing a spring marathon right? Which one and what time you targeting?

Badger - There does seem to be quite a few signed up now, there have been a few comments on other threads that it wouldn't be that full of pirates, I wonder how many there are.

No worries Blisters. I think it's fair to say we've all got work to do!

Scuba - there was a list I think nearer the beginning of this thread. I noticed the comments in a few of the other threads too. I will dig up the list and we can get it updated  I think we may be pleasantly surprised!

Good point badger. Latest list I could find:

CH - entered
Barley
Blisters
ChallengeCheggers
Fraggle
Gladys
Iron SwissBobby
Iron Dreamer
M.eface
Rafiki
Scuba Trooper
Soupy
Ultimate Badger
Ultra Cougie

CH Half- arsed
Bedders
Hope

This thread keeps reminding me that I must start swimming again...  

I think Hope is out of the half-arsed btw. Lazy mare!

yes i think she has to be somewhere else that day....

Scuba, I did have Gloucester marathon as a January target, but it got cancelled. Now I'm looking ahead to April and Shakespeare - Stratford. Always a good forum turn out for that, it's Mick n Phil's home town. The Glos people might even get around to offering a discount entry to something else on the basis that they haven't returned so much of a brass bean from the entry fee of £30.

CH - entered 
Barley 
Blisters 
ChallengeCheggers 
Fraggle 
Gladys 
Iron SwissBobby 
Iron Dreamer 
M.eface 
Rafiki 
Scuba Trooper 
Soupy 
Ultimate Badger 
Ultra Cougie

CH Half- arsed 
Bedders 
Hope
Dubai Dave
AA 

Good day today 45 min Z2 run (fasted) at 06:30am and a 1 hour swim this evening done as 6x400m (alternating straight/pull) with a generous rest interval. I'm gonna smash this week as it's recovery week next week. Happy training all. 

Well done Badger. My recovery week is this week. It should really be next week too, but life got in the way the last couple of days. Got a 5 mile run planned tomorrow though.