Training Log Archive: markg

From home to QUT/Botanic Gardens and back. Lost my way a little near South Bank on the way out.

Cyclones sprint at QUT/Botanic Gardens. Didn't really prepare myself mentally for a full-on race and consequently wasn't quite as sharp or smooth as I should have been. Started slowly with a little trouble locating the start on the map, then at the 2nd control I couldn't find the dinky little board they use for flags up here and lost about 35s, a mistake I repeated twice more for about 1:45 lost. Otherwise ran okay but probably could have pushed a little harder in last 1/3 of the race. Would have run a similar time to Olly without the flag errors but we were all flogged by Simon.

An evening jog around Yeronga. Legs felt really heavy to begin but warmed up okay and even felt reasonable on the hills later on. Good to get a run in two days in a row, however lame that sounds!

A bit of commuting with Ewan in tow, basically just cruising but pushing hard up the hills.

Night-O at Pegg's Lookout. Decent run with a few uncertain moments where I lost time, maybe 2 min all up - it's hard to estimate for night-o - ended up 1.30 behind Olly. Felt good but really only running at tempo pace except for up the hills but I felt quite strong there. I didn't seem to be bothered by the cold I just had.

Almost over the cold now. Hopefully, I'll be right for a run tomorrow.

More foam roller - calves feel more pliable and I'm hoping that will help my achilles.

Sore throat and sniffles today.

More tennis ball & foam roller massage and the achilles work but ran out of time to stretch properly.

Trotted Ewan over to childcare in the chariot for another familiarisation session. He's settling in great, he even lay quietly to be changed by the childcare staff, something he almost never does at home. Legs feeling a bit weak but otherwise really good after my massage and stretching session last night; achilles quite good too.

Street/Night-O close-by in Yeronga so jogged over. A decent run I suppose but I wasn't terribly focussed and made a couple of little errors and then a couple of controls were misplaced, one I didn't bother hunting for, the other I found. 3 min behind Olly in the end. Felt great physically, legs felt nice and loose after yesterday's stretching and running form felt great for the first time in a long time - legs turning over nice and easy.

Some funny behaviour from my achilles tonight. My left achilles was okay this morning and running to the event but when I got there it was sore. I did 2 x 5 eccentric calf raises (which were fairly painful) and some kenyan 1/2 squats hoping that would help and sure enough 5 minutes after those the achilles was pain free and didn't hurt at all through the run or standing around after ... how is that possible?

To and from the orienteering.

Got stuck in to some eccentric calf raises now it has recovered a bit from Sat's long run and also spent some time on a tennis ball and my foam roller. Oh my god my ITBs were shocking! I had a good stretch too. I'm using PNF techniques for pretty much every stretch now and I'm getting better results. Tried a great seated quadratus lumborum stretch which my back heartily approves of.

With our bikes and the new chariot just arrived from Calgary, I bought Ewan a helmet, hitched it all up, and the rode into UQ to meet Megan after work. I was pretty nervous at first, the chariot rattles a lot, and I was worried about all the off-camber roads but everything went smoothly. Except for Ewan ... he complained most of the time ...

The Sat long from Clare's house in Chapel Hill but my alarm, aka Ewan, woke up late so I missed the start. Not having any idea where they planned to run, I picked a likely loop and set off. Followed Bellbird, Quail, Highwood Rd, Highwood Rd Trail where I ran into Ian, Richie, Clare and Anna coming down. The first three went home the quick way but Anna and I did another loop out to the west. Good training, lots of hills, some of which seem practically vertical, but I didn't get as tired as last week. Achilles is sore afterwards.

Shipment of stuff turned up from Calgary today, including MTBs, a chariot, and my foam roller. ITBs have singing out for a good rolling lately so gave them a quick one ... ouch! After a roll and a stretch though my legs felt better than in weeks.

First orienteering in Brissy - a little park/street event after dark in Coopers Plains. Felt decent and went round at a decent trot without mishap except for 3 unusual events ...

First, I had no idea what the thick stuff in the park would be like, so come to leg 4, I decide to follow a little corridor of open and then through about 50m of light green ... oops. The clearing ran out early and the green turned out to be head-high grass with a smattering of blackberry and god-knows what else. Stomped through it complaining for a couple of minutes and then followed my tracks back out, to take one of the wide track options. Coincidentally, this is vary similar to my first run in Calgary, where I wore 3/4 tights into Bowmont Park and got my legs shredded.

Second, incident occurred about 3/4 of the way round. I zipped out of path onto a road and past a woman walking a little yippy dog ... which of course was unleashed. The dog takes off and doesn't look like it's coming back, so the woman grumbles and asks me to stop while she catches it. Well I did but the dog kept going and after 20-30s of dithering not wanting to irritate the woman more, I found a detour and took it.

The third incident was the finish - I ran into it ... literally. Oddly, the organisers had put a control stand up for the finish with no flag but under a lamp so it could be seen if you looked really carefully. So I came running in hard, didn't see it, and clocked the damn thing with upper outer edge of my left knee. The subsequent swearing wasn't a good first impression with the Brisbane orienteering crowd, I'm sure. It bled a bit and swelled up into a good egg by the time I got home.

Joined a good bunch of Brisbane of orienteers for a long run over Mt Coot-tha. Felt okay in the beginning and kept pace at the front with Macca but I cracked after about 20min and he ran away. Was pretty close to the top by that stage but just didn't have enough motivation to push on. The stairs on the trail seemed to be super hard on my legs.

Took the long route back with Macca, Ian, Bomb and Amy and struggled a bit as Ian set a cracking pace. Hills were getting tough and right psoas was tightening and getting sore as was lower left calf, so just stuck in the middle and plodded. Good way to kick-off training in Brissie.

Did a quick practise. Trying to get hams, glutes and other hip muscles under control to help back and hopefully achilles.

Calf drops and some hammy and hips stretches.

1st run in Yeronga, instigated by a the need to recover a lost size 4 shoe. Found the shoe about where I expected it to be and then made a little loop down to the river and back to our place through the streets. Didn't feel too bad in the heat actually. Achilles a bit sore after; really need to have this sorted.