Training Log Archive: immy

Fun weekend! So tired now though. Think I already adapted to Australian time ;) The sprint was a disaster, but putting that behind me, the other two races were not terrible, but left plenty of things to work on! The trip was mainly a learning experience for me, so it definitely served that purpose. Will write a bit about the races later when I have time.

So I got up too early this morning to get a ride with dad (didn't want to cycle home in the rain)... at that stage I didn't feel like I was up for any training. But then later in the day I felt good and wanted to go, so I went on the bike at the gym. Ended up going quite hard for 50 minutes, it was good. Very sweaty.

Core, not too exciting and didn't have time for much.

Brief warm up, didn't warm down as I'd had enough by then.

Long distance race. This was one of the longest courses I've done - 11.6km - so I knew it would be quite epic. I wasn't all that happy with how things went, though I didn't have any major disasters I was just shedding time pretty much everywhere. This was because I felt pretty sluggish and was hesitant and indecisive. Not how you want to be on a course that is long enough already!

Anyway, I feel like analysing this thoroughly, so here we go:
1 - was ok, just took my time getting used to the map and the scale.
2 - bah, frustrating control. Crossed to the far side of the stream, ran alongside it, and was mentally checking off the small side streams as I passed them. However, at the one I thought the control was in I saw no control... continued on until I knew I had gone too far... went back checking all the side streams again quite confused because I knew I was in the right place! After a bit I found the control right at the bottom... control description was uneven ground, but I saw no uneven ground there??? Only looking afterwards did I see a couple of tiny black dots on the map (never saw uneven ground in real life though). Ah well, 2 minutes gone :( Apparently this happened to Lizzie and a couple of others as well, so at least I'm not alone.
3 - followed the compass, confirmed my direction with the formline ditch, just a bit hesitant as the features are so small and everything is vague and hence it's very easy to miss your control.
4 - was stuck in some green just around the control circle which was annoying.
5 - stuck behind a couple of others getting out of the control through the green, grr.
6 - not good. Didn't have a plan apart from run straight and then up, which wasn't good as it made me very hesitant. I kept stopping at every track I crossed confirming where I was... then halfway through the leg I changed my mind and decided I was going to number 9... what?? Then finally pulled myself together, and made a plan for the second half of the leg (went up to the track then around to the right). But I had spent so long dithering and bashing through the bush already that it was kind of too late. At least 5 minutes lost due to indecisiveness.
7 - at least learnt from 6 and made a plan - followed the stream bed, then up the hill at the stream junction... unfortunately was unsure on which side of one of the spurs I was. Went to the right to check - yep, I was in the right place before - so then had to go back. Lost 30s probably.
8 - had a gel and some water at 7 because I knew this was sensible. 8 was fine as I just ran around the track but my split wasn't that great, so maybe a more direct route would have been preferable? then again, I was also having my gel etc.
9 - contouring around the hill through the green - not fun! Bad move. Should have followed the tracks.
10 - saw Rachel leaving 9 just as I arrived - knew she must have passed me. But oh well, just got on with it. Decided to do the same route as her on the long leg since I didn't do the last one so well... this one was much better, we just went straight up to the track and ran along there for ages... it was boring. I ran at the same pace as her and it was fine. Just at the end I decided to bash through some green for the fun of it - fool! So Rachel got ahead of me. Could have saved maybe 30s-1min, but can't see how Aislinn did the leg so fast, she was again another minute ahead.
11 - caught up to Rachel again. Followed the track then bashed through the green making sure I stayed low so I could follow the stream up to the control (in the end the control was quite low too though).
12 - just bashing through green on a bearing and checking off streams.
13 - Rachel went a bit low for this so I got ahead of her again.
14 - for some reason I ran down the stream before the one that 14 was in. So then had to run up and over the big spur, so it wasn't a very direct route.
15 - I decided that I really wanted water at this control, so I stopped and Rachel ran away again. I thought it might be good to follow the stream and then take some tracks in the direction of the control. Got a couple of 100 metres down the stream and was hating it as it was slow going with long grass and spiky trees. So then just took a bearing and ditched the stream, and ran around a track to the right of the control. It wasn't the most direct route, and I lost a lot of time, about 3 minutes! bah.
16 - taped route, though I wasn't sure that the tape went right to the control, and there was a lot of long grass around... hesitated a bit thinking the control might be buried, but luckily it wasn't.
17 - mentally over it - by now had realised tracks were best, and just stuck to them. But couldn't cope with navigating and so just wandered slowly in the direction of the control.
18 - similar to 17, not much actual navigation going on.
19 - was ok because I knew the end was near! Though wasn't enthused at this stage, and so didn't push hard.
Woohoo, the finish!

So in summary, I really should have pushed harder running-wise, and made better plans for long legs in particular (to 6 and to 15 were the main problems). I didn't feel as tired as I should have afterwards, and just couldn't make myself really race this course somehow. Also, I don't think the green was as bad as it was in my head - I needed to just get on with it and run as strongly as I could (rather than taking it as an excuse to slow down).

At least now I have learnt how to approach this sort of terrain, because it's quite different from anything we have here.

Map

Long NOL 2 - Splits

Event: NOL Round 3 / WOC Selection Trial - 'Coalfields Classic'
 

Really easy warm up jog for the sprint around the carpark then some nervous waiting...

Sprint at the University of Newcastle. Amazing map, but an ABSOLUTE DISASTER of a run by me. My start was ok - I tried to mentally prepare myself and managed to concentrate quite well for the earlier controls. 1-6 were ok - not quite full speed, but pretty accurate. A bit of a mistake at 7 - took the wrong track and had to correct later adding distance. 8-9 were ok but ran to the dead end trying to get to 9 losing a few seconds.

Then the really disastrous part... I can hardly explain what I was doing, everything went wrong. Somehow I got my direction totally wrong exiting control 9 - wasn't concentrating on the job at hand and trying to plan ahead (but not doing a good job of that either). Ended up 90 degrees wrong, realised and then had to correct, but was running around like a fool near 10 without properly stopping to read my map and get the control. Found it after a while, and by then was really frustrated with myself. So ran off like a fool, way overshot 11 and punched a control which I thought was 11 but was actually 13...

Yeah, not good.

Not surprisingly nothing made sense after that, but I convinced myself I had done something weird exiting control "11", managed to relocate and find 12, then went to get 13... hang on, I've already been here. Very confused, brain didn't want to admit what I knew was true, that I had mispunched... Eventually I did admit it to myself, but I knew it was over after that, so motivation was pretty low.

Rest of the course was very average as a result... even did another mispunch because I just went to another random control. It's really appalling how badly I messed this up.

So, what to learn from this? Don't get frustrated by your mistakes, if you make a mistake then allow yourself a few seconds to relocate properly and calm down... don't rush around like a headless chicken.

Yep, it's all stuff I should know by now, but somehow I get lazy or unfocused when I orienteer and then all the basics go out the window :(

Need to fix this as I have not had much success with sprint races lately!!

Easy cool down, trying not to dwell on the debacle that was the sprint. Still had a middle race to focus on!

Really easy warm up for the middle. Weather was so nice :) was afraid it might be a bit too hot, but it was actually perfect.

Middle at Pelaw Main Colliery, an old mining area. I managed to put the morning's efforts behind me and just started afresh. First control was really easy, so that made me feel good :) The next couple I was nervous because the terrain was just so flat and featureless that it would be easy to wander around not seeing your feature - number 3 being a classic example of this. Made a mistake at number 5 though because I expected to see a hill (duh, it was actually a depression) and ran past the control - realised and had to run back. Goodbye, 1 minute of being stupid.

Next few controls were fairly ok - not as direct as I could have been, but I got there. Number 9 scared me as I was worried I wouldn't know which track I arrived at. Should have aimed off to the right but actually went fairly straight then came around the darker green patch to approach the control from the left. 1 minute lost there too. A bit of a funny direction out of 9 and then lots of hesitation on the way to 10 because I was so worried I would have nothing to guide me to the control! There weren't a lot of features to use. But I saw the big tower thing near the control so that helped.

11 was ok but 12 I think I should have just gone straight, instead of bailing to the track (I just wanted that feeling of security in where I was after the vague vague areas the previous controls were in). Spectators and 15 were fine. 16 felt far away from the ponds, but wasn't too bad I guess. Bad direction to 17 which was really silly - added unnecessary distance.

At 18 Lizzie caught me, which I kind of expected after the mistakes I had made, so I stuck behind her for the next few controls which were good. Chose a different route to 21 though, which worked ok, but I was a bit hesitant. Didn't want to bash straight through the green though. I was lazy at the end and didn't push to stay with Lizzie, just did my own thing, and then messed up the last control as I wasn't concentrating and went through a green patch :( Finish sprint felt slow and neverending.

Anyway, this turned out to probably be my best race of the weekend. A good challenge for me as I don't always do well with using my compass and sticking to bearings. Still lots to work on!

Map

Bit of a warm down.

Middle NOL 2 - Splits

Rest day :) Got up early to catch the flight, which wasn't the best, but then got to spend the day in Sydney! Went to explore the city centre then went to the beach - it was fantastic :)

The heart rate data from my run is royally screwed-up. I'm starting to worry that I have a cardiac arrythmia...! Haha. It said my HR was 94 when running at close to maximum effort uphill... Does anyone have some advice as to why this might be happening??

Seems to be a problem only when running - when I do the Minutes of Pain it works fine.

C • HRM 4

Slow cycle to the gym. Very foggy this morning, but not cold.

Didn't arrive quite early enough to meet Graham and Alice, but I was planning on long hills, so I wouldn't have run with them in any case. Still, it's good to plan to meet people as then you have a deadline which forces you out the door :) I ran down to the bottom of Ayr St and along Shore Rd a bit to warm up, then did 2.5 x long hills. The hills were up Bassett Rd, along Remuera Rd to Mt Hobson, and then up the windy path on the Remuera Rd side of the mountain. Times were 10:56 and 10:47. I looked up my previous times for this and they were around 11:20-11:40, so I'm faster now! Boom. The third one I only ran up Bassett Rd and it took 7:10. I think there is still a lot of room for improvement with these as I really struggle on Mt Hobson - feels like I'm barely moving. It would be good to feel stronger at this point.

Aqua jogged with Graham and Alice. My legs felt like lead! So heavy and slow. I guess the hills were harder than I thought.

Tons of lab work out of the way, now off to Australia, woohoo!!

Cycle with dad, weee tailwind :)

So it was an incredibly busy day in the lab today! Hence I couldn't go and do plyometrics with Kate :( :( but hopefully I will do this one day soon. I was juggling 3 experiments and meanwhile dashing off to attend Wednesday lectures... didn't finish until 7pm-ish. But I did get a lot done so feeling pretty satisfied actually.

Anyway today is meant to be an easy day so cycling will do for now :) Big weekend of races coming up too.

Very windy this morning, and legs still tired. Glad I didn't go running!

So I had lots of options for training today... considered going out to Woodhill for night-o with Gene, but decided to do that another day... then was planning to do O'Hagan's 5k this evening. But the weather was really bad - raining and windy - so I wimped out :( I felt really guilty and then was in a bad mood because I hadn't gone... so just went for a hilly run around Remuera/Parnell. It was still very rainy, so I was soaking wet and cold, but surprisingly felt otherwise good on this run. And my mood was a lot better for having done it :) The O'Hagan's probably wouldn't have been a proper assessment of my fitness anyway in these conditions.

Still feel a bit bad for not doing it nevertheless... will definitely try to do one in the upcoming weeks!

Happy with today's run - pace was surprisingly good for the number of hills and how comfortable it felt.

Also very happy to be picked up by my parents so I didn't have to cycle home. Parents are good like that :)