Training Log Archive: Craig

WA Long Champs at Lover's Lane.

Didn't start well, rolled my ankle just before the start triangle so spent a while hobbling and watching the ground instead of getting my bearings and looking for good lines. Never really felt as though I knew where I was until I spotted the L shaped cliff I was wanting to use as an attack point just off to my left. Ended up being quite a reasonable line and fastest split by over 30 seconds, just didn't feel in control. Once I found it cleanly I actually thought it was looking good for my chances as I thought the course was going to suit me a lot better than yesterday.

Went past Brycec (8 minutes) near 2, pretty cautiously as I didn't want to do anything really stupid with him watching. On my own for a fair while after that, with Wayne not starting Oliver was the next target 12 minutes ahead. Stuck to conservative routes, staying out of the rocks and green and avoiding climb as much as possible. All went pretty smoothly through to 8. I remember thinking on the way to 7 that I needed to be leading here as the rest of the course would probably be more physical and less technical so would suit tRicky more.

Leaving 8 it was a bit rougher than I expected and this caused me to dither a bit and then change my route choice to swing left out to the yellow. I felt as though I was very inefficient doing this but I think it was a good choice as I ended up with the fastest split by almost 2 minutes and I came into 9 just ahead of Oliver. Next leg to 10 was my worst on the course even though it was a short leg to a drinks control at a major track/creek crossing. Just rushed it a bit I think because of having Oliver behind me and swung left when I should have swung right to go around some green, hit some diggings I wanted to avoid and was a little confused for a few seconds. Only lost about 30 seconds so no real harm done. Had a gel here as well so Oliver caught up and ran ahead up the hill towards 11.

Missed 11 slightly, distracted by Oliver again but he did it a little better than me so helped limit my loss to a few seconds. I dropped off a little again on the next climb and then took a safe approach into 12 up the creek to the right but came into it just ahead. Careful across to 13 over the rock surfaces and then staying on the contour. Slight concern when I couldn't see it at the end but it was just on the other side of a tree. Got a bit of a gap on Oli at 14 when I took a lower route and saw it from the track crossing while he took a higher route and was looking for it a little high as I left. Took the safe route around the fence and track to the right on 15.

Aimed a little left on 16 but wasn't sure how far left I had gone so was stopping to work it out when I saw tRicky run across below me into a likely looking spot. I felt pretty safe at this point as I thought tRicky was the most likely to beat me today but I reminded myself that fletch could still be ahead so tried to keep pushing. Couldn't stay with tRicky up the hill to 17 but got a good line into 18 to get back in front. Oliver caught up again here and stayed with me over the hill and down to 19 and 20. tRicky seemed to drop off here which surprised me a little but I guessed he couldn't see any point in just tagging along.

Saw Cameron ahead at 20 and passed him going over the spur. Coming into 21 fletch was punching just ahead so now I really felt I had it in the bag. I'd already decided I would take the safe option of dropping out to the track as there was nothing to be gained by taking risks at this stage so when Steve went down I followed. I think Oliver came with us while Cameron must have taken the more direct route. Tried to spot 24 on the way through but couldn't see it and I think we led Simon astray here as we ran through while he was heading for 24.

Cameron popped out of the bush onto the track right in front of us at 22 so there was a group of 4 of us through 23 and on towards 24. I noticed I was the odd one out, not wearing a Nomads top as I ran at the back of the group towards 24. I was kind of disappointed that I was going to trail the group in but that was rectified when everyone turned up into the green a little early. I did too, but just for a quick look as I really thought it was going to be in the next bit of green a bit lower. I quickly went on and expected the others to follow but they took their time and allowed me to run in alone.

Ended up a bit over 13 minutes ahead of Oliver for my 16th win from 26 starts in M21A at the long champs. Ricky was another 4 minutes back in 3rd place. I was very happy with my race, no significant pain from my heel and handled the distance much better than I expected to.

Liam was feeling a bit desperate to get some tennis in before the end of the weekend so I eventually gave in and had a bit of a hit with him. A little more successful than usual at trying to avoid running but not entirely.

C1 - Splits

Event: WA Middle/Long Distance Championship
 

WA Middle Champs at Lover's Ridge.
First starter in a pretty easy area so I thought I would have to go hard from the start if I wanted to hold off fletch and tRicky. First control was only a short distance but straight into some big rocks through a bit of green and I felt a bit shaky on this but didn't really lose time. Was pretty careful on the next couple, still in the rocks, then tried to start pushing harder once out into the simpler stuff from 4.

Pretty clean through the rest of the course, maybe lost a little time dropping too much into the gullies, which were deeper than I expected, from 11-12 and a few seconds on 16. Any other time I lost was just down to my lack of fitness at the moment. I crossed paths with fletch between 10 and 11 as he went 7-8. He started 4 minutes after me and I wasn't sure if I had gained or lost but figured he was within reach so I couldn't slack off.

The last few controls were all uphill and I knew this was where I could lose the race so I tried hard to keep pushing to the limit. I lost a middle champs out here by a few seconds before and I kept thinking I didn't want to lose by a few seconds and feel I could have pushed harder. I was struggling up the track to the last control but at least finished feeling satisfied that I had done all I could.

Waited around at the finish to see fletch come in 6 minutes later, so 2 minutes behind me and he was pretty satisfied with his run so I felt I was in with a good chance. tRicky made a couple of mistakes so ended up winning by 2 minutes from fletch with Cameron another 3 minutes back in third.

Took an ibuprofen this morning and was pretty much pain free for the race but it was a little sore soon after finishing so I didn't do any warm down. Feeling better walking around a bit later but I'm not sure the barefoot basketball with the kids was a good idea.

C1 - Splits

Struggling for motivation this morning. Eventually got up and walked/jogged to the gym, did some cycling, a little strength stuff, some stretching and some rowing then walked/jogged home again.

Jogged to the gym and did 5min cycling, 5min rowing, stretching, squats, a few other things and 3min more cycling in an attempt to warm my heel up enough to do a bit more running.

To the gym and home with a couple of laps around Rosalie Park. Heel feeling a bit stiff but not very sore.

HI Functional Circuit at Charlies. Heel still pretty sore so walked most of the way there, jogged more on the way home as it was feeling a bit better then. Feeling better again jogging to the post office later.