Training Log Archive: markg

Back at work but still have an airways rending cough.

Worse today, stayed home from work.

Cold came on last night and going pretty strong today. Still went to work but less likely for tomorrow.

Long run from home straight up to the summit via Frosties, down Slaughter Falls, up Simson Falls to Channel 9, down Jacksonia to the car park, back to Chapel Hill and then up to the water tank, down Honeyeater and home. Didn't feel brilliant but got around okay; perhaps a bit stronger on the hills generally.

I feel bad for scaring a middle-aged woman while scooting down Jacksonia - I called out as a came along and her husband moved over but she just didn't appear to give me much room so I just squeezed past. Her shriek made it clear that she had no idea I was there ...

A late run home from work. Felt good at the start but got tired and running form seemed to disappear. Got plagued by a stitch in the last 15min and had to walk a fair bit.

To work. Left calf still tight and a bit sore, not that it was a problem for cycling.

OY event out at Kholo Hills. My previous impression of Kholo Hills was that it was pretty unpleasant but I enjoyed today's race, the terrain was quite enjoyable and the Su Yan's course was good. Today's goal was to practice traffic light orienteering - make sure I start slow, make a plan and then execute it aggressively. In the end I didn't focus on the traffic light technique as much as I'd planned to but I had pretty good flow and planning and I ran pretty aggressively all the way through so I was happy with the run. I suspect I lost about 2min with mistakes at #7, #8 and #11; maybe a few seconds on #1. I left not long after Olly had started and before Mikko finished - I suspect one or both will be faster.

Surprisingly I didn't feel too bad after yesterday's long run, however my calves were pretty tight and the left is going to need some work before I run hard on it again.

C • suspect 2

Long run with Rachel, Anna and Mat from the Gap out to Gold Ck Reservoir and back. Hadn't planned such a long run but Rachel was keen and we all fell into line. My legs were feeling pretty tired from the beginning but I managed to hang in there. I certainly couldn't match Rachel on the hills though, she's just eating them up at the moment.

Run from work down to Enoggera Ck plus some dynamic stretching.

1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1 with equal floats. Felt okay, strong but physically clunky, which I think is just tightness from last weekend. Started to get some soreness in right ankle/foot arch when turning corners, probably related to Anna's Ankle Curse.

Run from work to street-o

Street-o at Ashgrove. Was a bit unprepared went the gun went off but took off and managed to pull together a reasonable route. It turned out to be the same route as Mikko but he was smarter and did 20 first instead of last. Gmap reckons mine was 7km. Lost a little time on a couple of road crossings and one control at an intersection where I had trouble working out which pole it was on.

NOL and WOC trial long distance race. Not a terrible run technically but fairly slow and then the whole thing fell apart when I bonked in the final loop, lost all ability to navigate and had to pull out. I started okay running pretty steadily through to #5, with just a little hesitation on #4. Took a while to look at the map for #6 and eventually decided on straight, attacking from the track north of the control. This went swimmingly until I made the same error as at the Easter long race and started navigating to a different control! In this case it was #12 and on the way to #6 so it wasn't a complete failure but I reckon it was worth a couple of minutes. Got to #6 at the same time as Brian and Matt Parton. We all took slightly different routes but got to #7 (1st gel) about the same time and then they took off and I dropped off behind them. Unfortunately, I then mucked up #8 (2min) and #9 (1min) and robw caught up. He proceeded to drop me up the next hill, then we were together again at #11, and then he dropped me for good. I dropped a little time on #13 (2nd gel) and #14 but I was pretty steady from here through to the spectator. Physically I was feeling good except that my hamstrings had been threatening to cramp and this was slowing me down a lot in thicker forest. Unfortunately, shortly after the spectator things went south. I started to get light headed and hungry, and my comprehension of the map and terrain started to fade. I lost 1min on #25 and never found #26. In the end it was a nutrition plan failure that got me and right at the end which was frustrating. More gels and few more kms in training and I would have done okay.

Event: NOL Round 3 / WOC Selection Trial - 'Coalfields Classic'
 

NOL Sprint at Uni of Newcastle. Finished in 7th which I'm pretty sure is my best NOL result (previous best is perhaps 8th on day 1 of Easter 2010), and only 3s of 5th place too. Really pleased with my race , I felt like I was nice and smooth through the technical stuff and never let it get away from me. There were a few little errors but I was happy that I didn't lose my focus after them and finished strongly.

NOL Middle. Not a good run for various reasons. I ended up well down the field and even had I eliminated my big mistakes I would have had a poor time. I tried to start steadily but couldn't make sense of the terrain in the circle. It turned out I was practically standing on top of it. Similar story on the second but also wasn't reading the map well so had a few hesitations. Ditto for #3. #4-8 were good legs and started to get some rhythm but I was surprisingly slow compared to the rest of the field. I made a couple of stupid directional errors on 9 and 10 dropping at least 1min and then had a bit of trouble on 11. Caught sight of Simon behind me at 12 and he was on me by 14. I stuck with him until 19, we'd caught Oliver Crosato but I got bit confused and dropped off the back. Ran just behind Oliver for a few controls but wasn't orienteering well, executing 22 really badly and then making a real mess of 24, dropping about 3min for no good reason. I definitely found the early terrain a challenge, I need to practise stop-light orienteering, starting a leg slower to read the map and plan better, execute fast, then slow down into the control for reading the control circle detail. I'm also lacking some confidence and not attacking controls with aggression. Oh and fitness is lacking somewhat too.

NOL 1 - Splits

Middle NOL 1 - Splits

This was meant to be a moderate session with a bit of threshold and a few quick bits but had a resurgence of Anna's Ankle Curse (not to the extent of making me cry like a baby, thankfully) and ended up plodding around. Some combination of massage, stretching and slowing down seemed to make it happier and I got around. I hope it goes away before the weekend ...

Recovery jog around KG. Calves pretty tight but I think my achilles is ok.

Either a 5k race requires more specific preparation then I would have guessed or I've come down with something. I'm sore practically all over including a ripper headache and just want to go back to bed.

Nice long easy warmup out to the national park and back to the race start. Ran into Geoff Stacey who'd just run the half.

Noosa News 5k at the Noosa Winter Festival. I'd never run a 5k before so was pretty sure it was going to be a PB - as long as I finished, which I've had problems with lately ;) My hope was to do around 18min. Sub-18 was the dream but more realistically I was thinking of 18.

I arrived at the start 10min early and discovered that wasn't nearly early enough to get a good start position! I managed to jump the fence and get about 5m from the front along with a bunch of 10 year olds, mums and dads so the start was understandably chaotic! I nearly cleaned up a woman when the gap I was running through turned into a small child. I started to clear the pack after 300m — I was well off the lead already — and started reeling people in. I went through the first k in 3:25 which was on target and then 2km in 3:33 and still feeling pretty good and had been steadily gaining places. I passed Megan and Ewan just before 2km which gave me a little boost and then again (it was an uninspiring out and back course) just after 3km. It's nice to have a cheer squad :)

Started to struggle after this and was just trying to hold on but I was in a small pack with people surging and then dropping off again. As we neared 500m to go, the group had thinned and I was a few metres behind a guy with facial hair and a teenage kid and didn't feel like I had anything left to challenge them. After cresting the final bridge, with about 150m to go, I was closing in a little and enthused by this managed to lift my pace a little more. I reeled in both of them but facial hair guy got a second wind and came back over me in the last few metres.

I was really happy with nearly cracking 18min and started wondering where I'd come in my age group. I had no idea how many had finished in front or how old they were but figured a place was possible. Pat Caroll was doing the presentations and when he didn't say my name for 2nd or 3rd I figured I was further back but to my surprise I'd won! Nice to win something even if it feels a bit silly to 'win' a 5k in 18min :) I got a swish medal that Ewan wore proudly and a $100 shoe voucher from Mizuno and Allez Sport in Mooloolaba. Turned out I was 5th overall and I actually beat facial hair guy on net time. Great day all up :)

C • nice win 3

Slow jog back to our accommodation.

I thought short run would be good to stretch out a little, so ran from Nautilus up to Hastings St and the far end of the beach. Did some dynamic stretches under a pretty sunset then ran home with a few short efforts to spin the legs. Feeling pretty good.

I had planned to do some intervals but was feeling crap and wasn't sure of achilles today. Eventually got going and did short session of 10 x 30s/30s, 4 x 15s.

Easy lunchtime jog to loosen things up. Did a bunch of dynamic stretches. I've been feeling really tight and sore, including a bit of a complaint from my achilles lower down closer to the insertion, which is not the same place it has been problematic recently ...