Training Log Archive: markg

Long badge event at Rosenthal Ck, site of the final day of Easter 2012. There were barely any grass seeds and it was much more pleasant terrain as a result. Had another good run today but not without errors. Lost 1min at #3, 40s at #6, 20s at #7. I was surprised to see James here and we ran together until #19. Nearly had a big loss on the long #16, running across the vague hillside but managed to regain contact without losing much time. I sprained my ankle again heading in to #17. I had to walk for a bit and the only reason James didn't drop me immediately was that he picked that moment to discard his brain. He was slowly dropping me across to #19 and then I stopped for an SOS whistle, which was very convincing but must have been a bird, and he got away for good. I was pretty steady from there to the finish, losing a little by wandering on the way to #22 and starting to get crampy feelings in my hamstrings in the rough stuff. Hopefully this will toughen me up enough for the 15km in a couple of weeks.

PTE 5.0

Control pick-up. Got to do some 4WDing in Mat's car which was fun. Got a tick behind my ear and I think it was upset by the arm of my glasses and started pumping out poison. We got it out okay with tweezers back at the assembly area but it's still sore two days later.

Middle distance OY at the Cascades. I was keen to have a strong run in this race and surprised myself by pulling it off! My strategy was to slow down to read the map well and make sure I had planned a good route. It felt slow out of controls but technically it worked. I lost about 20s on #1 because I couldn't make sense of the clumps of boulders but the biggest time loss after that was probably when I had an an unnecessary drink at #8. I thought I was going to come undone at #7 across the slab but I stuck to my compass and relocated off a couple of big boulders before the control. There's room to improve with reading the detail in the circle and/or planning to approach from the side where the control will be visible.

PTE 5.0

Developed a sore throat yesterday. Hopefully it won't end up a full-blown cold. Camping and racing on the weekend could be miserable if it does.

A physio appointment got in the way of running today. My exercises got an upgrade, now I have some rubber tubing to work with. Apparently my hip sockets are unusually tight.

A rest day, partly because my left arch was acting all weird and spasmy last night and is feeling tight today. Possibly this is some side-effect of sorting out my other foot problem thanks to Anna's advice. Also skipped training because brain dead and angry.

Inverse pyramid session 3, 2, 1, 1 with half recoveries, aborted because my hamstring was tightening up. Speed okay but should be going faster on the shorter ones - possibly can count running with a backpack as an excuse. Pace: 3:28, 3:29, 3:31, 3:46. The last one was uphill with pedestrian traffic.