Training Log Archive: markg

NOL sprint final at Kelvin Grove. Finished 7th, 1:54 down on Simon. This was a forgettable race - I orienteered like a lunatic out of the start and screwed up the first three controls losing 70s and was coming last in the A final at this point. Thankfully I managed to pull it together a bit and made my way up the field a couple of places, helped no doubt by others' mistakes caused by some of the oddities with the course and map. I was also keeping my pace in check through the middle part of the course because my hammy was sore in the warmup.

A little disappointed to the finish the weekend this way but there were definitely some good signs:
- my pace is definitely getting competitive and
- I demonstrated some good technique, particularly in the 1st relay leg and the qualifier
I just need to stop having these occasional blowouts!

Time to fix my hamstring and start building some terrain fitness now.

Event: NOL Round 1
 

Long, very slowly progressing warm up being nice to my hammy. Jogged around a bit between relay legs but didn't really do a warm down.

First leg of the sprint relay at the Roma St Parklands. I got an easy first control and was into it comfortably, sitting just behind Henry McNulty and Ashley Nankervis. This fitted will with my plan for getting my hammy through this race: try not to kill myself and work hard on good fast flow through controls using faster runners ahead to help.

We stuck together for the first five controls. On #6 the other two missed the underpass and I overtook Ashley and was right on Henry's tail but then took the bridge route on the next one and dropped back a fraction. We kept going like that until #13 where I saw the better route and jumped slightly ahead. It was to no avail though as I promptly got confused heading up the stairs and had to back out of the OOB area, losing 15s and my advantage and finishing 4s behind Henry in about 10th place. This was almost 1.5min behind the leaders but as this was the longest of the four courses the gap didn't mean much. More importantly, I was only 28s behind Simon's time for this leg. I was pleased with this run, just two little mistakes and good speed without it feeling super hard work.

PTE 4.1

James had a good run and I went out in 7th place. This time I had a more difficult route choice to begin and although I decided on a route quickly - and it turned out to be a decent route - I executed with poor micro-route choices and a big hesitation mid-leg. This threw me off a bit and I didn't navigate all that well for the remainder. I missed the good route on #3, got confused by assembly area OOB signs on #11 and couldn't pick a route on #12. Pretty shabby and finished 1:06 down on Simon's time for the leg but I did manage to hold our place overall. Unfortunately, James' second leg didn't go so well and we dropped a couple of places.

Good fun event - many thanks to Wendy and her crew for making it happen. For me it was just a pity about my hammy and that I couldn't run a little harder, oh, that and the bloody massive parking fine - thanks BCC.

Another long warm up and also a good cool down. Hammy feeling a bit sore on the warm down.

NOL sprint qualifier at Griffith Uni. Finished in equal 3rd with Matt Parton about 40s down on Simon. I was really happy with this run, mainly how I handled all the technical urban part: reading descriptions when I needed to and avoiding get caught on the wrong side of features, reading ahead well, good flow, and picking good routes.

I lost time on the first bush leg, running to the right - I knew it was happening but I didn't back to the left quickly enough and just overshot the control, I lost 20-30s here. I also lost 5-10s at #8 when the control and feature wasn't visible behind a wall and in a garden that wasn't mapped as a garden - I had a temporary failure of comprehension. I lost 10s at #18, still not sure why, perhaps just took my foot off the gas.

Thankfully I didn't get caught in either of the places were the upper level wasn't mapped. I did notice the part between 2 and 3 but realised the the right-hand walkway didn't look right and that I needed to stick left.

This was probably the most enjoyable sprint race I've done. I really enjoyed the intensity of the course and the variety of legs (short and technical, longer route choice, bush). I barely noticed how long it was.

PTE 4.3

A short run to see how the hammy is going. The verdict is okay but I didn't stretch to faster paces to test it there. The tear seems to have numerous other muscles to tighten up, including other parts of my hammy, and I could feel it tight near the head so I didn't push it. I hit the tennis ball, stretching and ice again afterwards. It definitely seems to be responding better to the first two which is good. I've still got hopes for tomorrow!

Went down to the STM for a gentle jog while a few of the others did an interval session and to consult with Su Yan about my hammy. The verdict is a micro tear near the mid-upper part of the biceps femoris. I've just to got massage, ice, and stretch it during the rest of the week, and then see how it goes during a long warm up on Sat.

2 x (3 x 600/200)/200. A session that demonstrated I need more than two days to recover from a weekend like the one just gone. The session was supposed to be for specific endurance, with a target pace of 3:00-3:05/km, but I struggled to make 3:15/km. My legs were heavy; I think it was just fatigue from the weekend. I possibly should have delayed the session till tomorrow but at least I've got plenty of days now to recover before the NOLs and I guess it counts as a lactate utilisation session. Times were 1:59, 1:58, 1:56 (slightly short), 1:42 (a lot short!), 2:01, 2:05. Paces were 3:14-3:22.

My right hamstring is a bit tight from the weekend. I was cautious about it going into this session but it didn't really bother me during, and I think it'll loosen up with some release and stretching, maybe a heat-pack too.

PTE 3.6

Two days of sprints have made me somewhat glad I didn't have the opportunity to destroy myself at the sprint camp in Canberra!