Training Log Archive: jennycas

Event: Adelaide NOL
 

Put out all the SI units, starting before 7am after what seemed like a very short night (with lots of orienteering nightmares, thankfully none of which came to pass - although unfortunately Adrian wasn't so lucky with his event). I had to hurry to keep ahead of Robin who was checking them! Best bit was crossing the gorge footbridge right on dawn with the pink sky in the east and views of the ocean in the west.

If I do say so myself, this event went really well. It was worth waiting so long to hold a NOL race on Flinders Uni. And Susanne won her qualifying heat :)

C • Thanks for the great event 3

Quick-and-interesting trot around Waite with some good route choices, fairly clean run although I overshot a couple of controls (it's been a while since I was able to run faster than I'm navigating). Had lent my compass to Emily S right before the start and think I actually thumbed the map more closely without it. Felt like I was planning ahead more than I normally do. Was satisfied to break 20 min although would like to be able to be closer in time to the M45 Steve triad.

Course 2 - Splits

A swim, after which I didn't go to work, but spent the day on going with Susanne & parents to see grandfather for his birthday lunch, and then spent 3 hours in the evening putting controls out at Flinders Uni, by which time it was quite dark and I was still hot, as was the evening.

Long Gully to the far end, abandoning Tyson & Bridget at Karka, then up & over the hill, leaving Fern & Blair to run back from the redwoods while Zara/Callum & I went up the singletrack & down Saddle Hill. Felt okay on hills but knee didn't like coming down off the end of Saddle spur. After collecting controls/units etc from the Uppills', got home starving at 10pm.

3:09 (this was a surprise because it didn't feel like too much effort)
3:19 (same amount of effort but 10 sec slower)
3:10 (this was lots more effort and at the top I had to sit down untill my heart rate normalised)

I was a bit stuffed because it took me until midnight to get all the maps and control descriptions sorted (by start time in blocks of 3), but the creek valley was nice & cool.

10 x 225s, rough grass at Mortlock Park. I used to disapprove of anything over 50 sec and now these are taking 53-55, which is 10% slower. But whatever. The point is that I did them at full effort.

A sweaty bit warm out already.

Knee better than yesterday. It's going to be a busy week, methinks.

Down to Frank Smith Park and back up through the pine forest with Fern, Tyson, Troy. Felt all right, actually, and even got through 3+ hours at the Uppills' doing start draw/info/map stuff okay afterwards, although I did have to nip out in pursuit of Fancy Burger :)

Hmm...somewhat better than yesterday (possibly because when George & I rejected the one pub in Clunes as being rather *too* rural, we went into Ballarat and found both Blair and a good Italian place - so I ate lots of pasta) but still very slow going. I mean: I can't run up hills, down hills, or along the side of hills, at least not in O shoes because they are too unstable. I just have no terrain legs, which makes a mockery of any pretensions I may have to being able to run elites. Actually starting to wonder whether I can manage 4 days in a row at Easter. The irony is that I have actually been doing a reasonable amount of something which passes for training, and yet the boys were going past me like I was standing still and they weren't even noticing all the junk on the ground. As far as I recall, I navigated pretty cleanly though. And the views were great.

Knee was very stiff after the short flight home (possibly because I hopped straight in the car after finishing in order to get to our friends' for lunch back in Melbourne) and so I thought a ride might loosen it. It did, but even riding was very slow.