Training Log Archive: Bruce

Recovery run through the Botanical Gardens and around the tan.

Victorian Champsionships, Long Distance - Chewton Diggings
A bit lucky to win by 8 seconds from Liggo, with Blair also on the same minute. It was battle of the old guys, and perhaps being under 35 (just) gave me the edge this time.
The course was a Warren Key special, with lots of good route choice legs in very continental terrain. Many of the first 15 legs were quite steep, and I took many wide route choices to find the tracks and avoid the big hills. I had an organising club's early start at 8:04, 4 minutes after Blair, and I was concerned that I hadn't seen him at all on the course. Perhaps my route choices were not good, or perhaps I was still struggling for speed after being injured in August and September? The splits showed that Blair, Bryan and I were all neck and neck for the first 23 controls, and Liggo was ahead by 1 minute.
The decisive leg was a 2km uphill mega route choice from 23-24. It was shared by about half of the courses on the day. I exited right, and ran on tracks for 90% of the leg, slightly up hill all the way, but quite runnable all of the way with no big draining climbs. I haven't heard of anyone else who went this way, but it seemed to be a good route, as I was able to take a over a minute out of the entire field.
From then on, Liggo and I were almost level at each control. After earlier using conservative route choices, I still felt fresh with 2km to go, so I tried to accelerate and luckily I was in front at the end when it counted.
I did have a few nervous moments waiting for Liggo to finish. With about 20 seconds to go, I heard Liggo coming through the forest, but as Per Forsberg would have said "he was too late".

This was my second M21E Victorian Long Distance title to go with the one from Spring Gully in 2007.

Story

Route Gadget

C • course 2

Event: Victorian Championships
 

Victorian Championships - Middle Distance: Butterfly Gully.
1st place, by 7 seconds from Blair. We were level with 300m to go, but I pushed the last 4 controls quite hard and came home a fraction faster.
For a middle distance race, there were several easy legs that just required fast running, such as leg 1, which was virtually 800m down a track. I recognised this early and ran hard, gaining 30 seconds on Blair.
Later I noticed that the last half was all up hill. I took the middle section a bit easier, and then ran the hills quite well towards the end.
The most interesting leg was 13-14. I went left to the track. Jim and Blair went straight. Splits were almost equal.

I think this was my 3rd Victorian Middle Distance Championship in M21E, including 2007 and 2004

Route Gadget

4 x1000m at the tan - 3/4 pace.
I tried to hold back, but I still seemed to be running ok at a strong but relaxed pace. About 3:36 up the hill and 3:24 down the hill.
My training partners went on to do 8 reps, but that was never my intention today.

4 x Cactus loop
Felt fairly strong up the hills compared to recent runs. A little bit sore from yesterday's session.
Easing down for the weekend now.

Long intervals at the tan: ~ 1500 1500 1000 with 3 mins rest
I have been injury free for a few days now, so I decided it was time to push myself a bit harder. The session was basically the tan course in 3 sectors.
The first sector was uphill to the top corner - 5m09s. I certainly noticed the higher tempo than my recent training and suffered a bit on the hill.
2nd sector finished at Government House Drive - 4m51s. Getting into a nice rhytm and leg speed increasing.
3rd sector - Government House Drive to finish - 3m16s. Flowing better as the session went on.
Starting to feel like a runner again, instead of a jogger.