Training Log Archive: Craig

Event: WA Sprint Orienteering Championships (NavDash 6)
 

Warm up run in the streets with a couple of minutes harder and a few drills and strides at the end. Got to the start a little later than I intended, maybe 30 seconds before being called up.

WA Sprint Champs at Gosnells.
Missed the start by a few seconds as I was expecting a start punch and was asking Graham where it was when I should have been going. Wasn't too bothered by that and had a decent run to the triangle to settle anyway.
Route choices all seemed pretty straight forward so it was mostly just a case of going with the first option I saw and trying to keep contact with the map.
Got slightly flustered by the repositioned control at 12. I had no problem finding it but because it was so close to the path I automatically went back to the path and then lost track of where I was up to because my original plan had been to exit through the bush the other way. Can't have lost any time there anyway as I had a rare equal fastest split on that leg.
Started to really struggle physically after the long uphill run to the vandalised control at 17. I was a bit hesitant going through the depression from 20 to 21 remembering Graham's earlier suggestion to "bring your wellies" and wondering if it referred to this leg but it was actually fine. I did lose quite a bit to fletch who went right through the yellow here but he was well clear and everyone else was close.
I was really suffering by this stage and struggled to maintain a jog on the final longer leg to 22. I lost 13 seconds of my 18 second lead over Sten on this leg but recovered enough on the next downhill to just hold him off by 3 seconds and finish second a minute down on fletch.

Looking at the splits it was very tight early on with 6 seconds covering the top 5 at number 7 before fletch started to pull clear. Not sure I really deserved to beat Sten since he lost about 30 seconds on number 12 which wasn't really his fault but I did lose a bit from being first starter and having to switch on most of the controls so I'm still pretty happy to have at least been in contention for a place. I didn't think I was without a chance but I really thought 4th was the most likely position for me with fletch, Sten and tRicky all having a bit more speed than me at the moment. Maybe I can change that by next year.

C • Splits 10

Warm down jog with the girls (Rachel, Kellie and Lauren). Lauren had a bit of trouble going slow enough for us when we hit the headwind and then had to do a bit extra at the end as well.

Course 1 - Splits

Little jog with a sprint map (trying to learn from fletch, the defending champ).

Steady lap of KP. Feeling a bit stiff and tired from tennis last night. Improved a bit by the end and did a couple of little surges but never really felt good.

Pennants training, all doubles. After struggling to win a point on serve last week I managed to hold serve most of the time tonight and even hit 4 or 5 aces.

Struggled to get out of bed again this morning and this time I really wish I hadn't bothered. I had thought I might try for a faster run today but it was such a struggle to get moving that I had already abandoned those plans by the time I got to Kings Park. Kept trying to slow down hoping I would start to feel better but I just got slower without ever feeling any better. I think I just managed to beat TrishTash's marathon pace.

C • Not the only one 13

Sand tracks with Helen and Dean. Tried to switch my alarm off and skip this but I was too late pressing a button on my watch so the snooze alarm went 5 minutes later and I couldn't ignore it twice so had to go. Really stiff and tired jogging over to the school but felt surprisingly good once I'd warmed up a bit.

Event: Perth City to Surf
 

Easy run in KP trying to stick to the sand as much as possible without doing loops. Eerily quiet in the aftermath of City to Surf but starting to return to normalcy by the time I finished. Achilles was completely fine today but I was feeling pretty tired. Felt like a long way.