Training Log Archive: Bomb

Hot power yoga class. very tough class tonight with some new sequences that were really hard. I was reminded frequently of my sore calves from Saturday and sore hammy from Sunday, but they both eased out a fair bit during the class.
I got stuck next to the token fat hopeless guy in the class, which was really annoying. Its generally a pretty hard class and he had no hope of doing 3/4 of it and kept falling over and getting in the way of everyone around him.

Aus long champs. Jerangle.
Definitely a run in 2 parts. The first part of the course - to control 7, was a disaster. I managed to go completely the wrong direction out of the start and end up on the wrong hillside. somehow only a minute there, but a stupid mistake on an easy control. The next few were ok but slow, then I managed another enormous veer off to the right on the way to 6, resulting in extra time from the extra distance, and a big slowdown with 'am I really there?' and 'can I have really been that dumb?' playing over and over (3mins lost).
Decided to have my gel here as I clearly didn't have enough sugar getting to my brain. I then should have sat at this control until the gel worked instead of going off on a tour of the hill (another 4 mins gone).
When I finally figured out what I was doing and got back to 7, Rachel was on her way through. We mostly ran together from then on - with various other people in the group from time to time. I gradually got some confidence back and started to navigated well and enjoy the race... until early on in the long leg when I encountered a very large tiger snake. After that I saw about 1000 snake-sticks!
The last part of the course was good - also running with Jas and Tracy. It was great to run in a pack and feel like I could race instead of just struggle to keep up. I was a bit pissed off by the second last control - the SI unit had the wrong (and large) number on it, so at first I thought it was the wrong one. I probably only lost 15 secs, but I know other people lost more.
Completely stuffed by the end, and although the 8min time loss early on meant that I was out of it results wise I got a lot out of the rest of the run. It was a great confidence boost to know that I can still run well in a pack and race, rather than just survive (although it would have been a different story if Rachel had run in terrain recently).

Also a good reminder to eat properly before a race, and to do that - make sure I have enough/any food. stupid mistake.

LONG Course 2 - Splits

Event: Australian Sprint/Long Distance Championships
 

Aus sprint champs at Canberra Grammar. Great little map, and a tricky course that used the area well and avoided dead running. I was quite pleased with this run - I was able to plan ahead well and kept up with the navigation. had two little moments of confusion with a decoy control before the map change, and getting back into the map after the map change, but a clean run other than that. Faded a little towards the end of the course on the longer legs.
Great to be back the top 10 - particularly in a sprint!

I had a couple of issues with the map and course drawing - 1. the bent line between 7 and 8 was really annoying as the line then pushes you off course. I hate it when course setters do this - to me its just a lazy option with the course layout. 2. poor circle breaking made it hard to see gates and gaps between buildings - the men's control 15? was a particularly bad example, and 3. the use of black crosses on the maps was clunky and illegible. we had one control on a pole of a canopy - surely you could map the canopy without the pole (and still have the control in the same place).

W21E - Splits

Course 2 - Splits

possibly the slowest run in Anzac park ever. decided I needed to sneak in some training, although after a big weekend of painting and cleaning I was completely stuffed. still surprised at how rotten I felt. oh well. hopefully not getting sick.
stopped off at the chin up bar - managed 2 sets of 5, then some flailing about while attempting a third.

10*400m intervals at SMT with Mark and Mat. Ran the 400s off 2 min, with an extra 1 min recovery half way.
Generally struggled a bit more with the session than last week (had the very odd feeling of not being able to coordinate foot strike properly), so backed off a little in the second half and made it to the end. Cool to do this session in very bright moonlight and not need torches.

warm up, warm down and recoveries

hot yoga. less intense class.

OY at Rosenthal Creek. Good courses set by Lilian - some good long legs and a different approach to the area than most of the courses I've run here, so it was like running on a new area.
A pretty average run overall. Had been busy setting up before the start and wasn't really ready to race. also still feeling quite flat which slowed me down a lot in the early part of the course which climbed for ages. had a few time loses through faffing about going around green and generally not being aggressive enough.
Went through an area at the end where I was obviously the first runner - disturbed a big goanna and a few small snakes. was running pretty nervously from there on!

collecting controls

Middle distance OY at the Cascades. The aim was to keep good race intensity and use this as preparation for the aus champs races in granite.
Got halfway to achieve this, but still had some small issues - either with not interpreting the circle well and just running back in to see the flag, or not considering the green enough with route choice and losing time stuck in the tea tree.
had a big time loss on the second last as I rolled my ankle coming out of the control before and tried to run it out, and didn't bother looking at the map. stupid.
still feeling a bit flat after being sick this week. not so much of a problem at the cascades, but tomorrow will be much faster and it would be good to have some legs!

Intervals on the SMT oval - 10 x400m on 2min, with an extra minute half way, and an extra 30secs before the last one as we were all so stuffed we could barely stand. times were ok for 2/3, then blew out at the end.
83, 85, 85, 85, 85 (extra 60sec break) 83, 87, 90, 94, (extra 30sec break) 87.
calves getting quite tight by the end.

warm up and warm down.

hot yoga. more stretching, less strength tonight.

long run from mine. started with lance, Wendy and Richie, then found Mark around the corner - he'd already done an hour.
ran up past coottha and toilet block with Wendy throwing in some sneaky surges. from the summit we split up and Mark and I took the track towards chapel hill. Mark turned around before Blackwood st and I went home through Anzac park.
saw that the others were already at the cafe and Clare was ordering so stopped there and Clare shouted me breakfast. thanks Clare!

6x400m on 2min. did these on the oval at SMT. did a shorter session to not completely smash myself.
83, 83, 84, 87, 89, 89.

first run in new merryll barefoot shoes. fast!

late morning run and starting to get quite warm. ran into mat who was finishing his run at slaughter falls. took the chapel hill track and home via Anzac park. added an extra loop through Anzac park to try to get to 90mins but was still a bit short.
feeling a bit flat after yesterday and left hammy a bit tight but generally felt better towards the end than recent longer runs.

rest of day painting. got 2 coats done on walls and part of ceiling. walls will need another coat :-( now hurting all over. at least the brown walls are gone (from the main room at least).