Training Log Archive: Craig

Aus Sprint Champs, Curtin Uni.

A couple of laps of the oval with Tomas to warm up plus a jog to the start and I was wondering why I entered this. I really wasn't looking forward to it at all.
Once I got out there it actually wasn't so bad, almost enjoyable even. Not too difficult to find a reasonable route on every leg and always busy enough to not have time to think about how slowly I was running or how much better some other route might have been. No really significant problems, just a small unnecessary double back after 12 to make sure I avoided some out of bounds (5s) and a dud route from 15-16 where I had to double back a bit to get onto the right level (15s).

Feeling a lot happier at the finish than I was at the start but still glad that I decided to switch to M40 for the sprint in Tasmania.

C • 15-16 6

M21E - Splits

Aus middle champs, Lover's Ridge.

Didn't do much of a warm up but felt much better than I expected to running up and down the gentle slope on the track near the start a few times. Continued to feel pretty good through the first half of the course which was mostly downhill and pretty open. First 8 controls of very fast simple spur gully was easy but good fun. Saw NSW guy who started 2 min in front on the way to 3 but didn't catch him until 8. Saw Joanna Maynard sitting down crying just above 7 so I asked if she was ok but didn't really believe her when she said yes so checked again that she could get herself back. I was thinking more about her than where I was going leaving 7 and lost contact with the map for a while but ended up going pretty much where I intended to I think.

Next section from 9-15 was completely different with a bunch of short legs in small rock on a gentle slope. I was really enjoying this bit. I got past NSW guy when he went in too high and hit 10 before 9 and was feeling good about my execution up to 12 but started to lose it a bit at 13. Hit the boulder on the S edge of the circle as most did I think. I recovered reasonably quickly but started to struggle physically from there and never really got the concentration back.

Across to 16 I thought the best approach would be to climb early and come in left of 20 above the steep rocky slope but I couldn't convince my legs and I left 15 well right of the straight line. I found a reasonably route up through the rocks but I was struggling to maintain concentration. I kept thinking 16 was on the boulder cluster and kept looking at 17 on the map instead of 16. I got to the circle ok and ran around the boulder cluster before stopping to read the map and description carefully enough to see the boulder. 17 and 18 were ok but I was losing efficiency. Had to jump down the cliff at 18 instead of running left of it. Hesitated at the boulder field on the edge of the circle at 19 then made my biggest mistake of the day on 20. Looked easy to run below all the rock until out in the clear but I climbed a bit early to avoid a tree with low branches and then wasted time looking on the boulder cluster just W of the control as the right boulders were just out of sight around a little spur. A result of a general fatigue induced loss of concentration I think.

Spent the long grind up to the spectator control trying to regathering the concentration for the final loop making sure I had a clear plan for every control. Happy with 24 and 25 but got a bit distracted heading to 26 with a lot of other people around and lower visibility. Didn't really execute my plan but found it ok and then it was just the trudge up to the finish. I thought I did a reasonable job of pushing myself on the final sprint to the finish but I still took almost double the fastest time (42 vs 23). Nothing left in the tank.

Really enjoyable course. Not super technical but each group of controls tested you in a different way which kept things interesting. Pretty happy to get another M40 win beating Bruce by a minute. Tomas got me by a minute despite losing a couple on 26 and fletch might have got me if he hadn't lost 5 minutes on the same control.

Aust MDC, Course M21E - Splits

Event: Karrak Karnival
 

Warm up jog to the start, back up the hill and back to the start again. Feeling quite good.

WA Long Champs at Spice Brook.
Felt pretty good from the start, definitely better than I have felt at any recent events. Had a pretty clean run, just drifted off my intended route a bit a couple of times, particularly 8-9-10. Planned to go out to the track on 15 but made a last second decision to straight line it, not sure if it was a good one, felt fresher at the start of the leg than I did at the end. Took a few seconds to spot the boulder at the end and was also a little shaky coming into 16 but didn't lose much. Lost a few more seconds on 18 running to the higher boulder field which I hadn't really seen on the contour on the edge of the circle.
Overall pretty happy with the run and my position relative to others.

WA Long Champs, Course M21A - Splits

Bumped into Ian Finnie on the street at lunchtime. Turns out he works at the other end of the same block as me. Had a good chat and offered to lead him around a course some time. I suggested he should talk to people in advance before deciding to follow them around as a learning exercise as it seems to bother some people.

Easy run in KP. Felt reasonably good striding out a bit a couple of times on some gentle downhills on the way back. Anterior tibs still not feeling the best, expecting them to cause me some problems at Spice Brook.

Small group today. I took it pretty easy running with Mirella most of the way. A little bit faster for a while running with Simon at the end. I had been alone in front when he ran up next to me and asked me if I was running with a map because I seemed to be running with my right hand held steady in front of me.

Sand tracks with Helen and Priscilla. A bit sluggish to begin with but felt quite good once I got moving. Skipped the last loop and pushed the pace a bit to get home by 6:45am. Nice rainbow in front of us heading to the top of the hill the last time but of course that meant I was running towards the rain which hit around Saw Ave and it was freezing. Painfully cold running across Rosalie Park at the end.

Event: FootO - Marginata
 

H1 at Marginata. Thought about doing a shorter course but I saw a young foreign looking guy heading off when I arrived so I thought I better give him some competition.
A bit disappointing that the course didn't make very good use of what can be a great area but it was still a pleasant enough run. Lost about a minute on number 2 where I was a bit left early, corrected ok and was heading straight for it but didn't go far enough before swinging left again and relocating on a rock surface 100m E of the control. A bit shaky going into 10 which was the only difficult control on the course but got it ok and the rest of the course was fine. Had 3 controls on single triangle boulder fields which was a bit odd but found them all fine. Never felt as though I was working very hard aerobically because the legs were a bit heavy and didn't have the strength to push very hard. Beat the Danish import by about 4 minutes.
Was a little worried about the new shoes as they felt a little snug trying them on but they were really comfortable.

H1 - Splits

Steady 10k by the river trying not to let the heart rate go much over 140. Feeling pretty average, not awful but lacking any bounce.

Easy short lap of KP on sand tracks. Didn't feel too bad.

Pushed hard racing Daniel up the hills to the war memorial. Solid steady pace down the hill with Nic.

Sand tracks with Priscilla, Helen and Dean. Felt very stiff and tired up the first little hill getting over to Kings Park but I was fine by the time we started up the sand track. Felt reasonably good by the end, certainly better than I expected. Perfect morning for it.

Went down to training a bit late and there were 4 people there already playing doubles so I just practiced my serve until they finished and then played one set of singles with Brad which I won 6-4 after several deuces at 4-4.

Event: FootO - Ngangaguringguring
 

H1 at Ngangaguringguring, 10.9km 375m climb.
Wanted to treat this like a real long race and try to stay as relaxed and efficient as possible. Didn't really feel relaxed as my lower legs got really stiff (anterior compartment syndrome?) on the way to the first control and it didn't ease off until about half way around the course. Didn't cope well with distractions either. Inefficient into 2 when I was distracted by Oliver Martin who came into 1 after me and caught up to me on the way to 2. Screwed up 5 when I was a bit distracted by Kellie taking a lower route to my left and was put off by the changed tracks near the powerline. Decided I must have been drawn left by Kellie to where the track bends South so swung right across Juffy's line and then had to swing back to come into the control behind both Juffy and Kellie. Not sure what they did leaving 5 because I never saw them again.

Rest of the course wasn't too bad. Legs started to feel better after 9 and I was navigating with more confidence. Came into 11 very confidently and was a bit shocked not to find a control. Didn't take too long to find it but I'm sure I took longer than my split of 1:04 suggests so I think the clock must have been out of synch there somewhere too. Lost a little time at the last running about 20m north of it and not seeing it behind a line of blackboys and then made a mess of the finish by just running towards the cars and hoping I would see it instead of navigating.

Not feeling too tired at the end but I need to do something about this anterior compartment pressure problem. Doing a bit of a warm up should help and I might have had my laces done up a bit too tightly as well.

H1 - Splits

Easy long run around KP. Started very slowly doing the first 5km in 36 minutes before I bumped into Helen's little group and turned around to run with them. Had to speed up quite a lot to stay with them and then kept going at the slightly more respectable pace for the second half. Stuck to hard surfaces most of the time to avoid the wet grass. Still very sore from my 20 minute effort at the gym on Thursday.

Got home a bit later than planned so didn't get started until 6:25pm. I expected Rachel to get home with dinner pretty soon so I just did a short loop around Rosalie and then back past home. Planned to do laps around the block until they got home and the way I was feeling I was pretty glad to see them half way through my first lap.

Rode to the gym at lunchtime. It's been a while and I've been tossing up trying to start again or cancelling the membership. Went there intending to try to start again but after 20 minutes I'd had enough so I filled in the membership cancellation form on the way out. I tell myself I'll try to do something at home instead but I doubt it will happen.

Group split in two early and I stayed in the back group of short course runners while the other group got about a minute ahead. I had been thinking I wanted to run fairly hard today so I thought it would be good to start out easy and then try to chase down the lead group later. When we split and I started trying to chase my legs just felt empty and I immediately started rethinking my plans to maybe try just surging the hills instead. First hill up into KP felt awful with the legs burning and not much power so I started thinking easy run and try another day. I backed off for a while but ended up surging up the next hill as I caught James and then the next one to catch Ben and other James. Thought I might as well keep it going now so I pushed up the steep hill and by then I could see Jeff so I tried to close on him up the last hill as well. Heart wasn't working that well at the end but only about every 5th beat was an odd one and it settled after a couple of minutes.

Legs still feeling heavy after the restart. I surged up the hill after Hale oval to catch up to the leaders and then sat behind Simon and Stewie down the other side. At the bend onto the flat section I felt an urge to go so passed Stewie and went hard along the flat and then kept it rolling down to Saw Ave. Eased off and cruised down to Aberdare then one final little surge when I went past Betsy.

Maybe needed one more day to be ready for a hard run but I don't expect to feel good tomorrow morning if I play tennis tonight so probably good to have done something a bit harder today.

Pennants training. All doubles.

Easy run around KP. Cut it a bit short because I was a bit late starting and I'm still feeling a bit knackered from the weekend. Hoping this is peak soreness from Sunday's effort.

Lonely sand track loops without Helen or Dean or Priscilla. Didn't feel too bad, just a bit tight everywhere. Maybe getting a bit close to overdoing it.

Through KP then around the river past Tawarri and back through UWA. Had a reasonable rhythm from the start today so I tried to get rolling at a decent pace around the river. Feeling a bit tired by the time I left the river but felt ok pushing it a bit at the end anyway.

Event: WA Sprint Orienteering Championships (NavDash 6)
 

Warm up run in the streets with a couple of minutes harder and a few drills and strides at the end. Got to the start a little later than I intended, maybe 30 seconds before being called up.

WA Sprint Champs at Gosnells.
Missed the start by a few seconds as I was expecting a start punch and was asking Graham where it was when I should have been going. Wasn't too bothered by that and had a decent run to the triangle to settle anyway.
Route choices all seemed pretty straight forward so it was mostly just a case of going with the first option I saw and trying to keep contact with the map.
Got slightly flustered by the repositioned control at 12. I had no problem finding it but because it was so close to the path I automatically went back to the path and then lost track of where I was up to because my original plan had been to exit through the bush the other way. Can't have lost any time there anyway as I had a rare equal fastest split on that leg.
Started to really struggle physically after the long uphill run to the vandalised control at 17. I was a bit hesitant going through the depression from 20 to 21 remembering Graham's earlier suggestion to "bring your wellies" and wondering if it referred to this leg but it was actually fine. I did lose quite a bit to fletch who went right through the yellow here but he was well clear and everyone else was close.
I was really suffering by this stage and struggled to maintain a jog on the final longer leg to 22. I lost 13 seconds of my 18 second lead over Sten on this leg but recovered enough on the next downhill to just hold him off by 3 seconds and finish second a minute down on fletch.

Looking at the splits it was very tight early on with 6 seconds covering the top 5 at number 7 before fletch started to pull clear. Not sure I really deserved to beat Sten since he lost about 30 seconds on number 12 which wasn't really his fault but I did lose a bit from being first starter and having to switch on most of the controls so I'm still pretty happy to have at least been in contention for a place. I didn't think I was without a chance but I really thought 4th was the most likely position for me with fletch, Sten and tRicky all having a bit more speed than me at the moment. Maybe I can change that by next year.

C • Splits 10

Warm down jog with the girls (Rachel, Kellie and Lauren). Lauren had a bit of trouble going slow enough for us when we hit the headwind and then had to do a bit extra at the end as well.

Course 1 - Splits

Little jog with a sprint map (trying to learn from fletch, the defending champ).

Steady lap of KP. Feeling a bit stiff and tired from tennis last night. Improved a bit by the end and did a couple of little surges but never really felt good.

Pennants training, all doubles. After struggling to win a point on serve last week I managed to hold serve most of the time tonight and even hit 4 or 5 aces.

Struggled to get out of bed again this morning and this time I really wish I hadn't bothered. I had thought I might try for a faster run today but it was such a struggle to get moving that I had already abandoned those plans by the time I got to Kings Park. Kept trying to slow down hoping I would start to feel better but I just got slower without ever feeling any better. I think I just managed to beat TrishTash's marathon pace.

C • Not the only one 13

Sand tracks with Helen and Dean. Tried to switch my alarm off and skip this but I was too late pressing a button on my watch so the snooze alarm went 5 minutes later and I couldn't ignore it twice so had to go. Really stiff and tired jogging over to the school but felt surprisingly good once I'd warmed up a bit.