Training Log Archive: Bomb

Paddle from campsite 13 to Elanda point. We were all quite tired starting out, and Lance, Wendy and I decided that the best way to get back was to work together (Tamsin and Richie were way quicker than us in their double mirage).
"working together" turned out to mean that I paced Lance and Wendy all the way back and they sat in my wake. Fair enough I guess as my boat was much better than the ones they had. It worked well and we kept up a pretty good pace. Unfortunately we had a head wind nearly all the way which made things harder than it could have been.

We were getting a bit worried about crossing the lake into the headwind, but luckily it swung around to the east while we had lunch, so we did the lake with a strong crosswind (with about 0.5m swell). The three of us decided to battle up slightly into the wind and then have a downwind run into the landing point. worked great and the mirage surfed the waves beautifully.

Noosa river trip with Wendy, Lance, Tamsin and Richie. Started from Elanda point and stayed at campsite 13, with an afternoon trip up to the end of the river. I borrowed Dad's mirage for the trip and it was fantastic. Beautiful and fast to paddle, which was really good for my poor non-paddling arms. It was still a long way and I was pretty cooked at the end.

The river was really beautiful, particularly in the late afternoon when we went up to the top of the river. lots of cormorants and other water birds.

I had a weird thing with my arms in the evening. the muscles got really sore and then when I was trying to get to sleep it turned into a really horrible burning pain and I couldn't move or sleep for about 2 hours. Even going through my bag to find neurofen took about 20mins cos the muscles were so sore and just wouldn't work. Eventually it eased up and I fell asleep, but I was really worried that my arms would be totally useless for the paddle back. They turned out to be only the normal level of tired which was lucky. all very strange.

long run from my place, with Wendy, Mark, Clare, Mat and Helen. It seemed like everyone was having a tough day out, but I was still at the back. Mt Coottha via toilet block and down frosties.

Pancakes and fruit salad for breakfast and coffee at bean.

Anzac park run. Felt pretty ordinary to start with but got going eventually. very nice running at the with the nearly full moon enough to light the forest.
stopped at the chinup bar and also did some pushups and ab stuff when I got home.

Cemetery hill intervals (1500m, +50m) x3. with Mark, Mat and Helen.
Times were 7.11, 7.03 and 6.57, so a fair bit quicker than previous attempts.
It was interesting to do these after doing the shorter intervals. I didn't get anywhere near the lactic soup feeling that I usually get trying to run fast, and even felt like I had the option to run a bit harder. upped the effort on each one, and I think the pacing was about right on the last one.

warm up, warm down and jog recoveries.

hot yoga class. New instructor and tough class. had a couple of wobbly moments with the heat.

easy run with Wendy from her place. through Bardon to Simpson's falls, up an old track to telstra, down the zigzag track and the new track to the falls then back out over the hill. struggled for the first 20mins but then warmed up and had a cruisey run from then on.

Coottha run from my place with Mark. Was supposed to be an easy run, but my dead legs and Marks fresh ones meant that wasn't to be. Still, the pace was only hard enough to interrupt the trash talking on a couple of occasions.
I had expected to struggle on the uphills, but was a bit miffed to find that I had to work hard to keep up down hill as well. The run was made a little longer as the owner of the vacant lot at the end of blackstone st has blocked it off. Bastards.

slow run in Anzac Park. ran into Helen and Frances in the park, so ran with them through to Stanley Tce and showed them a few tracks that they hadn't been on before. Stopped at the chin up bar - managed sets of 10 and 5. Probably only the first half of each set were proper pull ups, but its progress to not fall off the bar after a couple.

We've had plenty of runs in warm weather so far, but this definitely felt like the start of summer training - warm day, cool breeze with heavy perfume of jacaranda and jasmine.

Aus relays, running 3rd for the cyclones. Our expectations were a little lower than last year, and without Rachel we were definitely lacking fire-power, but we figured that Bridget, Krystal and I could get a decent result, and that 4th was achievable if we all ran well.
Bridget and Krystal got us off to a solid start, but it was looking like most of the elite women were going to end up in the mass start. fortunately for us they delayed it and I went out in 5th, a minute behind WA and 30m ahead of Tracy running for NSW.
Having spoken to a few people about the course, and having run with Tracy at the end of the long last weekend, I figured that if I ended up running with Tracy I'd never get away, but on my own I'd be quicker, and that the only decisive point on the course was the first leg. So I took the first leg straight and ran as fast as I could and didn't see her again. I didn't see the WA runner either, and ended up running the whole leg by myself. A good run in the end - not feeling as quick as yesterday, but every control was exactly where I expected it to be. Certainly a nice change to get the navigation right! probably could have picked a better route choice on the long leg back to 6 - running lower along the fence line may have been much quicker.
Pleased to finish a comfortable 4th, and looking forward to having Rachel back so we can really get back in the mix.

Ended up with infected blisters after Saturday (and last weekend), which required treatment so that I could sleep then run. Total first aid kit was nil, but scrounged a pocket knife and hand sanitiser from Mat.
Sliced open the blister and filled it with alcohol hand sanitiser. It stung a bit, but it did the job and got me through the race.

Warm up. didn't bother with a warm down.

Ankle stuffed again. not sure what I did (didn't notice anything major during the run), but my dodgy ankle has turned into a balloon after the relay. also very stiff and hurts to walk. I hope its just a bit angry after running on really rough terrain and it settles down again quickly.

RELAY W21E - Splits

Event: Australian Middle Distance/Relay Championships
 

Aus middle champs on 'the gib'. Great area, but had a terrible race. Some small mistakes, some bigger ones and a whopper for a total of 8 1/2 mins lost. I found that I just couldn't concentrate and kept miss-interpreting big features. very frustrating as 2/3 of the controls were perfect, then I would randomly lose the plot.
I'm getting really sick of screwing up races that should suit me, and today was about as good as it's going to get. Definitely something I need to sort out, otherwise just turning up is a complete waste of time.

Physically felt quite good despite the rough terrain. at least there were some lessons for the relay.

Oz Middle Course 2 - Splits

plod in anzac park, with a few surges towards the end to try and convince my legs to get going. left glute/hammy is still sore and restricting my stride. I suspect the problem is really my lack of range in my left ankle.
lots of stretching afterwards.

before the run I'd been talking to Dan and Dad about strange people/things in the forest at night... then I ran into James and Kate out for a walk.

plod in Anzac park. legs not too bad generally but left glute and hammy still not good.