Training Log Archive: jennycas

Event: #Eurovision Melbourne Sprint Weekend
 

Uni campus with some open areas between buildings and the second control was on a boulder in the forest, which I completely overran. Through the building network (and through the car park) I was fine but lost half a minute on 14 which was a really short leg but I simply couldn't see the "wall" next to which the control should be. Turned out it was a metal screen descending from the building's verandah and which blended into the background facade beautifully, and through which the control couldn't be seen. Liv caught up to me (1 min) here and then both of us misread the way to 16 around the out of bounds where there was nothing inside it; I went far too wide to the right but at least this meant I'd seen where 17 was (inside corner of tennis courts) and that there was a dead-ended construction zone nearby (which caught out a number of people). I did dumb things on 20 (garden bed in car park) and on the last control where I again didn't see the small "building" because it was camouflaged against the big one, and turned back to the men's control on a sculpture instead. Guess I should have watched the finish chute to see what people were punching at the end of it - before I went out!

Afterwards a lady who I'd seen walking around a course with her 6 year old came up & said hello to me and it was Carolyn who I'd been in the SA schools' team with in 1989 and who is now a vet in Melbourne.

I rather like older university campuses (campii?) because of their intricacy, but unlike most other people I hadn't been studying the map beforehand, because I feel that doing so rather spoils the surprise. Which came in the form of the control at the bottom of a wall where I was standing at the top; I'd read the control description which did indeed say "southern paved area, northern part" as northern paved area, southern part, which I somehow think A LOT of other women did too, judging by the number of people who came to the top and peered over while I was punching the control at the bottom (and avoiding the spontaneously-opening door), having run around & down the steps to get to it. Not a lot of time wasted but if I'd realised I'd have done better to go right out to Swanston St and around. 7-8 was the other leg I didn't do wonderfully because of having to go down some steps to get up other steps to reach the fountain at the end. And what I've noticed on an area like this is that I am not very fluent at going up & down steps and around corners, and I actually lose more time relative to other people, just on pace, than I do on a sprint which has more open running. That surprised me! Of course, shooting out of an underpass and not turning immediately right to 12, but being carried by my own momentum around a garden bed with an uncrossable hedge, was rather my own fault, as was trying to go straight from 16-17 despite an unmovable building being in the way. Still, even if I took away what amounted to perhaps a minute's worth of errors (less than the morning anyway) I'd only have gained a couple of places at most; was 14-16th in senior women and behind 6-8 junior women in all 4 of the races across this weekend.

The nice thing about this event was that Peter Taylor who works in the maths department (between controls 3 & 4) came out with his family and after they'd been for a bit of a map-walk, we all had dinner together on Lygon St.

2 - Splits

I fear I may be one of those dickhead drivers who cyclists hate. Pulled out of a side street in front of a bike which was coming faster than I anticipated and closer than I realised in the darkness, causing the rider to swerve and yell angrily. I don't want to become part of a rant on someone's blog somewhere, but I had no way of saying sorry. Maybe I should stop driving at night?

Around Colonel Light Gardens before parents came for dinner. Had intended to do fartlek but legs weren't up to it; even this felt tough :(

Got up before 6am with the intention of doing a long run as rogaine training but there wasn't enough light to see off-road until nearly 7am, by which time I had reached Shepherds Hill but I was completely stuffed (too tired to make/eat proper dinner the last couple of nights) and sat down on a park bench for 10 min, enjoying the silence (apart from the kookaburras laughing at me) and then tackled one ascent of the hill and came home again. Did run alternating blocks fast & slow through the suburbs though, and could feel the 'tugging' sensation in my hips/groin which tightness may explain why I can't run fast enough to get properly out of breath. Finished off at my favourite coffee shop and walked home from there with a large latte in hand - caffeine aids muscle recovery, right?

Not sleeping wonderfully this week - either it's being on call (although the work phone has been suspiciously quiet) or the fact that J.K.Rowling's works are too action-packed to read immediately before bedtime. Not sure that I ever got through the entire H.P. series the first time around because some of the latter works are a little too dark for me. But, having just worked my way through Jasper Fforde lately and finished off the Thursday Next series, which again, I originally considered too weird to complete, I figure I should tackle some more books which require suspending disbelief. And it is impressive how imaginative the authors have managed to be. Imagination is something I lack!

C • Maybe... 1

Trotted over to Mortlock Park and alternated sides fast & slow for about 3 laps on a warm & sweaty morning. Not as soggy as Darwin though or as dog & I became yesterday when the bottom dropped out of the sky about 5 min after we headed out for a walk.

Attack of the Killer Masseuse
Apparently my calves needed needles.

Event: SA Sprint Championships - Waite
 

Steve Cooper set some good courses at Waite/CSIRO where we haven't run for a few years, and I really enjoyed this despite lactic quads due to the last uphill when riding to the uni (yeah, I'm very out of practice). Some good potential traps, especially to the first control. And some can-I-or-can't-I cross it garden beds meaning you had to be very careful in the control circle. Overshot 4 because I expected the hedge which the control was on to be bigger than a rose bush, and this accounted for the 10 sec which Liv was ahead of me but I presume she must have lost time elsewhere. We finished off through the Waite arboretum (which would have been closed, requiring course reconfiguration, if today was a total fire ban) where there are lots of visually distinctive trees but only the bottle trees are mapped.

Went a roundabout way, taking approx. half an hour to get to the event, then on the way back stopped to have coffee and a nice chat with Zara at Mitcham shops (told her how I got claustrophobically stuck inside a sports bra when trying it on yesterday) and it was almost 1pm, so rather warm, by the time I came home.

A bit annoyed to note that starts for the first sprint next Saturday are from nearly 11am, not 9am as was in the initial event bulletin, and in fact there's no need for those of us who are flying from Adelaide to be doing so on the Friday night after all.

C • Bra 4

C • 11am 3