Training Log Archive: Craney

If Carlsberg made public holidays...

A very exciting relay as it turned out - great fun to be part of such a good, close battle between the ACT and NZ (reminded me of battles of old between ShUOC and EUOC). Simon blitzed round 1st leg in no time, but it was great to see Lachy run really strongly also to come back with a couple of minutes on NZ. Shep then had a great run on 2nd leg and managed to come back with Nick who'd had a storming run. So Matt Ogden and I set off together on last leg to fight it out...

I'd chatted to Lachy and Simon before and it sounded like straight was going to be best on the long first leg, so that's what I did. However Matt went flying off to the right to go all the way round. Race on! 9 minutes later I round the edge of the rock, just about to punch and there's Matt in a chirpy voice saying 'Ooh so your route was better!' I said ' hello again!'. We ran together quite cleanly until #5, it gradually dawning on me that we were on exactly the same gaffle. Long leg back to #6 was interesting. I stayed high, just right of the hill tops and Matt disappeared off down the slope. As I dropped down the rocks to the spectator control, in he comes from the right to punch. It took me another 30secs to get there, so he'd got quite a gap on me. Across to #7 I felt quite demoralised fighting through the sticks but as I rounded the hill, there he was scratching his head. We stumbled into it together. Race on again! I led across the paddock to #8, climbed into some rocks, no control! Look at the map, look around. No Matt either! Shit - game over. Anyway, nothing was fitting, so went back a bit to relocate, and there's Matt scratching his head too! He asked me which control I was looking for - 166 I said. Found it after a bit but he didn't punch straight away thinking it wasn't his. Then he rechecked and realised it was his. We dropped a good 2.30mins on that one (map did seem a little peculiar in there). Anyway, race back on again! Going up the hill to #9 I got a few metres on him and found the control ok but was suddenly aware of an eerie silence, so put the boot in to #10. Glance over my shoulder - no-one there. Nice. Ran hard to #11 and no-one in sight behind still, so able to enjoy the last few controls just making sure not to do anything stupid. Very pleased to see Lachy and Shep (and Roy) there to cross the line with - and Jo just behind the line having just taken an exciting win for the female Cockies!

So, a slightly ordinary run for me in terms of mistakes, but most of those were made at the same time as Matt - I'm sure we'd have both run better on our own! Great relay racing though, and a fitting end to a really good fun carnival.

Fairly minimal warm-up, but collected a few controls after the prize giving - it's a beautiful area and the flatter bit to the east was really pleasant to run through (but no cool rocks).

RELAY M21E - Splits

Event: Australian Middle Distance/Relay Championships
 

Gibraltar Hill near Bungendore. Had been getting quite excited about this race for a while having been able to see some big granite outcrops from the Kings Highway as we drove past a number of times in recent months. I knew Rob would have a devilish course in store for us too, so my plan was definitely to take it carefully and read as much detail as possible. In hindsight it feels like maybe I took this philosophy a bit too far at times but anyway it paid off. Hit #1 cleanly but got quite confused at #2 - the gullies around there seemed quite big but hard to pick up on the map, so I dropped down the wrong one and lost 40secs. Another 20secs or so dropped at #5 going diagonally downhill to a small rock. Still, I could tell it was very intricate and others would be making mistakes too, so I wasn't too disheartened. Did most of the intense control pick to #18 without too many problems, but quite slowly (very small hesitations on #13 and #15, and rounded the wrong big boulder a #17). Then a long leg to #19 with a straight hilly option and left or right round options. I went for the straight, being that it looked more runnable and would be the last climb on the course. So really attacked it. Drifted a bit to the left mid-leg which cost a few seconds, but caught Robbie at the top of the hill and dropped into the control cleanly. Turned out that was the decisive leg which got me the win. Ran with Robbie over the last few to finish reasonably pleased with my run but aware that others would run well and have a good chance. Having an early start, it was a long wait to see how it stacked up. I got quite nervous stood in the coffee queue listening to Jase's commentary getting higher pitched by the second with excitement as Simon descended the hill. Turned out he'd run a great race but missed quite a lot on #5, so came in only 7secs down. So a little bit fluky for me (but perhaps making up for the sprint), but it was great to join Gracie (who'd had a blinder) for a family double. A great middle distance race - course, terrain, map and competition all top notch.

Oz Middle Course 1 - Splits

Nice cruise in golden evening sunshine around Davo and Redders.

Acutely aware that I do still have a marathon coming up, I thought I'd better do a bit more running at that pace. Felt like a bit of a struggle but managed to do it ok - multiplying this session by 5.5 might be a bit testing.

Sprintervals on Bob's great Parliamentary Triangle map with a strong showing of youngsters (Nick, Brodie, Olle, Kas, Ian and Marketa). Some really fun sections but also a good chance to stretch the legs. Not feeling especially sharp.

Various jogging to, from and in between sprintervals.

Went for a jaunt around Campbell Park, Hackett Hill and Mt Ainslie with Nick Hann, Ian Lawford and Marketa just before it got dark. Nice to have some company for a change, with the additional novelty of some other non-Australians (although I did feel a bit old). Felt like I was reasonably recovered from Sunday.