Training Log Archive: Clara

Hit the wall at about 7pm in Salzburg tonight. Legs didn't want to go any further. Never actually seen the Sound of Music so not really sure what I'm doing here.

Caught the train from Lake Bled to Bohinjska Bistrica then rode from there to Lake Bohinjsko (possibly on recommendation from the carnival organiser of Cerkno, he mentioned a different lake near Bled which I forgot the name of about 2 seconds later).

Stopped for lunch and a swim.

Times are approximate. Nice easy ride to Jereka, where I discovered the Slovenian for 'detour'.

Unfortunately the detour went up a rather steep hill. There was a sign that mentioned '12%' gradient. Had to stop every couple of hundred meters. Bloody hell it was hard. Never going to ride in the TdF. Arrived VERY hot and sweaty at some gostilna/someone's house in Goreljek and filled my water bottle from their cow trough tap and got peer pressured into some 53% alc blueberry schnapps.

Going down was much more fun, either due to the lack of pedalling or the schnapps. Riding along singing the 'orienteering you and me...' song the Israelis had been playing all weekend. This time the gradient was allegedly '18%'. Respect to the people going up. Kmart bike felt like it was getting speed wobbles though.

Cruise into Bled to drop the bike off.

That was the most insanely steep terrain I have ever run in. Unbelievable. So glad I hadn't ditched my spikes somewhere along my travels because they take up too much room and smell. Started at a ski chalet with a magnificent view. I think I have to say it was better than Oringen. Lost heaps of time on 4, found the veg mapped a bit dodge, then more on 7 where nothing on the map made sense to me. After that section and the leg with control circles touching but 8 contours in between it got easier. Across the ski slopes laughing at how good the view was, past the cows with cow bells, over the top of Crni Vrh (1291m) to the finish.

Awesome event. Arrived with no transport/other Aussies/anything else really and had such a great time. The event organiser was so nice and helpful too. Went to Piran one arvo with the Israelis, then to Ljubljana the next day. Now they're expecting to see me at the Israel champs in Feb.

Definately recommend Cerkno Cup 2010 to everyone :)

Better run today, no major mistakes. I take the supposedly bad option of running into the depressions, but it's such slow running anyway. Beautiful terrain, took a few pics but they don't really do it justice. Got given a 1/24 limited edition can of Sprite with the Israeli o website address on it. Definately a keeper.

Event: Cerkno Cup
 

How depressing... ;) Was going ok until 4, had to relocate off the track to the start. Can't understand why orienteering is so difficult, surely you just have to read the map. Had a better patch until 8, then ok until 14 (longer leg). Changed my route choice twice, once because I was lost, once because there were bulls in the paddock. Compass was shoddy, and I think I may have had my map upside down at one stage. Really beautiful forest though, nice and green with lots of mossy rocks. Will try and take some pics of it tomorrow. Not many people at the event, and I've adopted myself out to team Israel.

C • Dan Chissick 1

Found the gym in my luxury accommodation and rolled the legs over on a bike for 5 mins. Legs pretty tired from the walk yesterday and walking about 4km with my pack to the luxury accommodation. Thought I would be sleeping on the hard floor in hardfloor accomm, but turns out to be a yoga room, so guess who's got 4 yoga mats...

C • Enjoy the Cup 1

Walked from Celje (241m) to Grmada (718m). Took 1.5hr to get up there, and 2 to get down. Not sure how that works...
Pretty awesome view of the castle/town/mountains.

Up for about the first 25-30mins. Then down. Had a massive long sit at the top of a hill after 16mins. Beautiful view. Celje is soooo pretty. I came here because the accomm was cheaper than Maribor or Ljubljana but it was a good choice. Going to walk up a bigger hill tomorrow.

Event: Bendigo Orientshow
 

Spent the day on a train or 3. Not sure how a train goes from being 20mins late when I got on to about 90 late on what was meant to be a 3 hr trip. In Bratislava now, what I've seen from the trolley bus in the dark looks cool, maybe some hill intervals at some stage :)

Around Wroclaw. Really really nice :) Was out for about an hour but stopped to take lots of pics.

C • Bendigo Orientshow 1

Upper legs sore from yesterday, I'm blaming carrying the pack, not the running :)

Ran around Poznan. Thought I'd found a nice place to go on the map, turned out to be a cemetary. Had a map for a little bit of the city, but crossed the river to Cathedral Island, lost all sense of direction after that, crossed the river again, found the Old Town and got back on the map. Just waiting to see if the water here is drinkable. But any illness could also be related to the 1kg of grapes I've eaten today, or the prickly pear juice or the chocolate flavoured twistie looking things. Probably the chocolate things actually. Or the $2 spag bol for dinner. You couldn't buy the ingredients for that (actually the supermarket I went to didn't have tomatoes/much else fruit or veg related, so you would definately struggle...)

Hmmm...just looking at accommodation for Swiss champs, expensive and full already. I think I need a tent.

Got the bus from Copenhagen to Bremen last night/this morning. Got to go on a ferry too 2 for the price of 1 :) But considering it was 2:35am couldn't really appreciate the nice ocean view...

Had to get a bike while I was in Copenhagen. Went from the station to Christiania, around Christianhavn, to Amalienborg then to the middle of nowhere where the cruise liners get in - I forgot a map and a guy from the hostel was navigating - then back to Vesterbro. Note to self...only travel with orienteers/people who can read a map!

Through Carlsberg brewery, Fredriksberg Palace and then stopped for an icecream and walked home. Not bad scenery. Legs felt crap.

C • run 1