Training Log Archive: Shep

actually only warm up - no warm down. started showing symptoms of the usual post woc depression (following shithouse performances) quite early.

Ah shit another crap race. I thought i was feeling ok when i was warming up, but a few minutes into the race (2nd leg) i just felt flat again. had an ok race technically, one small mistake at the 5th control running along the edge of some green instead of straight into it. maybe ran a couple of bad routes again and missed some time following the wrong track which ran out and i had to finish off crawling through some fucken green shit (young pines). another disappointing woc for me, at least the girls done good.

Well another disappointing WOC. I just didn't have it physically again today. I struggled from the start, being sick the last month and especially this last week has taken its toll. Pretty often i feel crap warming up but once the clock starts i dont notice it any more, but today my legs were heavy and slow the whole way. I ran ok, i definitely wasnt super clean, just some small imperfections (not quite misses) in the circle - mostly from not climbing up and over and trying to sneak in to controls without climbing. I lost time on the 2 long legs, not sure if i ran the wrong way, i think they were more physical legs and i didnt have another gear to get in and really push. I think technically it was probably my best WOC middle distance, i seem to be improving each year while my results are getting worse. i really feel like i need some time without injury and illness to get on top of the physical side again (since woc 2004 i havent managed to put 2 months of decent training together). maybe no world champs next year...

C • maybe no world champs next year... 6

Easy running on trails in Risskov with some AP clowns (TdH, Robw, Ecmo, Kez, Brett, Will & Boris). Did some short intervals in the middle to sharpen up for tomorrows middle final. TdH was flying... a monkey with wings.

4 x 30 secs ints with 2 mins jog recovery on flat gravel trails.

Easy running on Ry Kol WOC training map on a course set by Ecmo (thanks chief). Feeling a bit tired and tight in the old hamstrings.

Heat B, 1.25 after Hubmann. I think I am finally getting over my cold, felt reasonable physically this morning. I started the race ok, lacking a bit of confidence maybe but hit the controls well. At halfway i was only 26 seconds down, but then some troubles started... Early on i actually accidentally ran into an out-of-bounds area (dont know why it was out-of-bounds, it was just a taped-off section of the veledrome), but when i realised i turned back and went out the way i came in, only lost a couple of seconds. We had heaps of controls in an amusements park, there were controls everywhere and people running in every direction. I thought i'd better start checking control codes so i did, but i read the wrong one and so ran past a control i thought was mine but had the wrong code... realised pretty quick but again lost some seconds. i also ran maybe 10meters towards what i thought was a way out of the amusement park, but realised i couldnt get through and had to turn and run back past the control - more seconds. At the 3rd last i relaxed a bit and just planned to zig-zag my way through some hedges out to the field where the 2nd last stood under a tree, but i managed to run into some maze type garden of hedges and lost some more seconds getting out the other side. I'm also not sure of some of my route choices, maybe not ideal. will see when i get the splits. i still thought i'd qualify reasonably comfortably so i wasnt pushing 100%, lucky i didnt take it any easier or the jew 1.2 seconds behind me would have taken my place in the final... would have been nice to be 1.2 seconds quicker and take out bj.

the team got a scare when tdh punched a wrong control early on in the course (like i said, there were controls everywhere and real close!) - luckily he got reinstated cause technically the controls were too close together.

What went wrong!? a very disappointing result, especially considering how well the sprint test race in Arhus 2 weeks ago went... i thought i was running fast but i was way too slow. i made one mistake in the whole course - nearly 30 seconds on the 2nd last, but i was so far down the results that the times had spread out a lot so 30 seconds meant only a place or two. i think the orienteering flowed smoothly, but maybe i was a bit messy - i'm not super experienced in sprints and i may havge been slow to see the routes and pick the exit direction from each control. something to work on, can only help the rest of my orienteering.

On sprint model map Botanisk Have. Easy warm up with Kez and Robw checking out the mapping etc then ran 4 x 1min with 2 mins jog around the model course. Feeling ok, maybe starting to get over this cold, although theres still plenty of shit coming out my nose...

I'd just like to reiterate (see Robw's log) what a good coffee that was we had in Arhus afterwards.

C • sprint 4

Easy run on trails in Storskov just south of woc sprint with Troysee and Brett. Fired up Troy with some oa politics then watched him power off on some monagetti intervals. Sprint looks like its gonna be a lot more forest than any of the training/model maps have suggested...

Feeling habsolutely terrible this morning. Before i could warm up i had to have a powergel, 2 sudafeds and a red bull i smuggled in from sweden.

Heat A, was about 3 mins behind Mattias Mertz in 14th place. Would have liked to be a bit closer... I think the orienteering went quite well, no real mistakes (besides a small miss in the 2nd) but i just couldnt get any speed today. This cold is affecting me pretty badly unfortunately. I think i lost some time on some route choices which makes me realise i probably didnt lose as much time physically as i first thought which is good. Just have to get healthy for the final and make sure i get the route choices right.

The orienteering here isnt too difficult, just simple spur gully really. The running can be quite tough - the beginning this morning was in open heather with bracken which i really struggled in, and the rest of the forest was pretty often covered with blueberries. I dont think the final will have much of the heather, but looks to be more difficult technically, looking forward to it...

Event: WOC 2006
 

Run at the WOC middle model event. Ran some intervals in the middle, 4 x 30 secs with 2 mins jog recovery + some strides at the end. Feeling crap still, heavy legs and like someone has put a rasp in my lung regions.

Had an espresso at the Event Centre with the rest of the male side of the Aussie Team. Cost a good $5, thats about $166 per litre. Lucky Kez was paying.

Running intervals on trails in Sonderskov in Silkeborg with Jo and Kez. 4 x 2 mins with 3 mins recovery. Ave hr (max); 138 (173), 146 (177), 164 (177), 171 (181). Sick but woc is so close i just gotta go for it anyway. Felt shithouse, lungs were burning.

Watched a cool crit in Silkeborg before going running. Got a high 5 from Sastre, O'Grady was too cool but. Floydshep was mysteriously absent, kinda like how you never see Troy de Haas and James Devonshire in the same place at the same time...

C • Troysie 4