Training Log Archive: Billenicus

Sprint the Bay 5 - The Slip

Mass start, so very mindless. Very good for most of it, shaving a few seconds off here and there to allow me to keep up with the pack. Brain fade at the end though, when I thought I'd punched a wrong control and stopped to check. Probably cost 30 seconds, partly because I was really dying at that stage. Very slow up the last hill.

Why did we need a mass start??

Sprint the Bay 6 - Havelock North Village.

Really didn't feel like running this and felt like I was running out of energy after the first few minutes. Kept at it though, partly because it was a pretty good course with some interesting route choices. Probably got one or two of the routes wrong, but no other real mistakes. Feel like I'm back into the groove of sprint racing.

Obviously fairly tired afterwards.

Sprint the Bay 3 - Kaiwaka

Really fun area on riverbed for first two thirds of the course. Last third fairly boring farmland.

Much better today. Getting a decent flow and in control pretty much all the time. One minor mistake (10s) at 4 but otherwise good.

Knee seems better today.

Sprint the Bay 4 - Napier Central

Fairly easy flat town centre, so eyeballs out and try to get the best routes round the buildings. Getting into the swing of it now, though felt fairly tired before starting. Only the odd second lost here or there and no major problems with routes.

Event: Sprint the Bay 2013
 

Sprint the Bay 1 - Woodford

First proper sprint in 16 months, and it showed. Just couldn't get into it and everything seemed to be taking longer than it should. No rhythm and lots of small hesitations and mistakes due to not spotting impassable routes. Also trying to protect knee a bit as it's the first time I've raced hard on a hard surface for a while. Too many fences for my liking.

Would have been a big advantage to have seen the map beforehand, and particularly to have run on the area.

Sprint the Bay 2 - Splash Planet

Knee feeling a bit dodgy before starting, but mostly fine once I got going. Forced me to hold back a bit though.

Really fun area. Was doing reasonably (even if nowhere near fluent enough) until an appalling route choice coupled with failure to execute it cost me about 75 sec on 21-22. The only point on the course where I didn't have some idea what to do next on arriving at a control.

Oceania day 7 - The Slump - 3.6K 265m

Mass start, which was fairly ridiculous. Felt like I spent most of the race helping people find controls.

Going OK for first few controls, but struggled physically when we got to the really rough section - completely out of practice at terrain running. Also brutally hot.

Technically no problems at all, except for starting to read 8-9 while running 7-8 which caused me to go down a big hill that I shouldn't have gone down, eventually losing 2.5 mins on the leg. After that had lost the pack, so no motivation whatsoever, so jogged / walked to the finish.

Event 7 - Course 3 - Splits

Oceania day 6 - Smedley - 6.0K 280m

Nearly all the course in the gullies, which was a relief as it was very hot (temperature gauge in the car red 35 at one point on the drive back). So quite tricky in places.

Generally good run. Just lost time on
3 (45 sec) confused by unmapped fence),
18 (2.5mins). Nearly everyone struggled here. Dodgy.
19 (45 sec). Shellshocked after 18.

Didn't put much effort in, partly because of heat and partly just not particularly motivated.

Event 2 3 - Splits