Training Log Archive: Craig

NOL Ultra Long at Nerrina.
Deliberately started out really slowly and made no attempt to stay with anyone as I knew I would struggle later if I went out too hard and I felt I needed to take my time remembering how to navigate in goldmining.

Got 1 cleanly enough just ahead of Simon Rouse and could see Jim not too far ahead. Passed Jim on the way to 2 and didn't see him again. Saw Reuben ahead after 2 and trailed him through 3 and 4 along with a few juniors and Simon Rouse. Simon was moving a little quicker and got ahead a bit but stayed on the track a bit longer on the way to 5 I think and I didn't see him again. I followed the same line as Reuben into 5 and closed up a bit. I could hear someone else behind but didn't know who it was until I looked back leaving 5 and saw it was tRicky.

I was undecided on the route from 6-7 but when Reuben went left I decided to go right and tRicky followed me. Saw an Arrows top leaving 7 as we came in but it was John N and I didn't see Reuben after this. At the time I thought it might have been a split but he must have lost time here. Just tRicky on my tail until 11 where he disappeared as I headed through the steep green gullies on my own. Starting to feel pretty tired by this stage and getting worried about the fact I still had two loops to go.

Took my time through the map change having a gel and a good drink and saw tRicky coming in as I was leaving. Long leg out of the start this time with an easy road option to the left. I decided to stay on the road as long as possible to save the legs for the last loop and was quite relieved to see this loop was shorter as well. Saw tRicky behind as I was leaving the next 3 or 4 controls but didn't see him again after that. Got through this loop quite comfortably and was feeling a lot better about starting the last loop than I expected to when I finished the first.

Came out on a track just behind Brodie in the middle of the first longer leg of the last loop and figured he must be on a later section about 20 minutes ahead of me. I was a little surprised to find he wasn't going any faster up the steep hill than I was but I suspect he picked up pace off the top a lot better than me. Saw Ian a little further back as I was leaving the track, he was looking pretty tired too. Got around the Northern loop reasonably well, but having to walk for quite a while to recover after any steep pinches.

Crossed paths with Tash a couple of times and Wayne once before seeing Bruce coming down the hill as I went up where I had seen Brodie and Ian earlier. Guessed Bruce was about 5 minutes ahead and probably out of reach but caught a glimpse of David Brownridge ahead at the next couple of controls and thought I might be some chance of catching him if he was really suffering. Took the gamble of the straighter option from 77-78? hoping to close the gap but I think it was slower and David went the same way anyway. Didn't see him again after that and I was quite happy to just plug away at my own pace through the last few without feeling under pressure. Turns out David had the short option at the end and nearly caught Bruce anyway.

Finished feeling tired but not totally shattered in 8th place, 25 minutes off the lead and 23 minutes ahead of tRicky in 9th. Quite satisfied with my effort. Don't remember making any real mistakes, happy enough with my route choices and handled the distance about as well as I could have hoped. Really enjoyed the weekend, might even consider doing it again.

Event: Victorian Ultra Long Weekend (NOL Round 4)
 

NOL sprint heat at Damascus College.
Course was mostly in the bush for the first half, then around the buildings in the second half. I didn't really want to run hard so didn't do much warm up and was a bit tentative on the first downhill. Lost a bit of time on 4 with a bad route into the control around the East of the green. Rest was all ok but losing a lot of time on the climbs. Seemed to go better in the second half probably because it was flatter and I had been taking it pretty easy so wasn't tiring. Still felt I ran a bit harder than I really wanted to. Mild regret about not bothering to race Bruce into the finish (started 3min after me) when I found tRicky had beaten me by 3 seconds.

NOL Sprint Final at Ballarat Grammar.
Flat campus map with some more complex route choices. I don't think I made great choices but probably lost more time through hesitations wondering if I had read the gaps correctly. Particularly in and out of 4 I had a lot of little stops to check that I hadn't misread the map. Tried not to push too hard, particularly around corners as it was a bit slippery after some light rain, but again probably went a little harder than I intended. I think I should try to race properly or not enter in future (if I have a future).

C • If you have a future 8

Steady run around the river at fcp.

C • Fcp 2

Easy run in KP.

Steady run around KP with 10x100 on Rosalie at the end. Not feeling too bad.

Training at Malmalling/Yetar Spring with Rachel, Kellie and Wayne.
Remembered we needed to plan some training at about 11:30pm so quickly planned a few courses, printed some maps and got to bed a little after midnight with the alarm set for 6am to get the kids dropped off with Rob and Lois and be out there at 8am.

Did 3 loops of about 4km each, one on Yetar Spring, one Malmalling North and one Malmalling South. Just cruised around very easily without any problems. Feeling the hills a little on the last loop but otherwise pretty comfortable and would have been happy enough to set out on another loop. Had a gel and drink at the end of each loop to practice for next week.

Event: Curtin University - WA Sprint Championships (NavDash)
 

WA Sprint Champs at Curtin Uni.
I thought this would be my best chance of a title this year with Henry being away for Oscar's 21st but I knew I would need a really good run to have any chance of beating Sten and this was far from good.

Initially thought I would go right to 1 but saw it was blocked by OOB and didn't see the option of going North first and then right so went left. Can't blame that for losing 9 seconds to Sten as he went the same way as me. I did get a little thrown by the control taking so long to wake up. Decided 2 was going to be above the wall for some reason so went up the stairs and then had to loop back around the end of the wall.

3 and 4 were fine but not aggressive enough. Got the route choice right to 5 where Sten didn't so I was back within 6 seconds here but then I lost 37 seconds on 6. I was aware of the bridge but for some reason I decided 6 was going to be on the lower level and there would be a passage through underneath the bridge. When I got there and couldn't see a passage I still hesitated for a while wondering if I could get to 6 from the bridge or needed to go right around the building. Eventually went over the bridge and got to it fine but I knew any chance of beating Sten was gone. I had looked at that part of the map on Friday and wondered about the levels but didn't actually take the time to work it out. I think my brain tends to read covered walkways as being at a different level from surrounding areas, not sure why.

Next couple were ok. Leaving 9 I tried to read it as if I was leaving from the E side of the wall E of 9 so was a little confused early, then ran onto the bridge before remembering one of the descriptions was under a bridge.
Next few were ok, then 15 I failed to read the detail and ran around to the right but apparently everyone did the same so didn't lose time, just missed an opportunity to gain. Rest was all fine but Sten was always going a little faster so I never got anywhere near him.

Need to find some way of beating Henry now.

M21A - Splits

Easy run around KP, mostly on sand. Cold rain for the second half. Feeling quite a bit better today.

Slow run in KP in constant drizzle. I was thinking of trying the 5/8 surge course but it was quickly evident that I wasn't ready for that yet so slowed down again, cut it short and did some drills and strides on Rosalie at the end instead. Clearly not recovered from the weekend yet.

Short easy run in KP. Thought I might try to go longer but feeling very tired so late getting out and also very stiff around the ankles.

Short jog in KP plus some drills and strides at Rosalie Park.

Event: Malmalling NE - Standard Bush Event
 

H1 at Malmalling NE. First time back in terrain after smashing my shin so I was a bit nervous about how it would hold up especially as there is a fair amount of undergrowth in the area. Still had steri-strips on from when the stitches came out, added an adhesive dressing over them, compression socks over the dressing and VJ gaiters over the socks. Felt a little tender initially just from the pressure on it but that eased very quickly.

Went to the start with Rachel and chatted to fenry a bit but waited for Liam and Penny to finish before starting because Amy didn't want to be left alone. Warmed up by playing chasey with Amy. Liam supposed to be being very careful with his broken arm so told him to take his time reading the map and only run when sure of where he was going. He had a very clean run for a change and won the E course by 5 minutes so hopefully he learns something from that. Amy was adamant that she didn't want to do a course but when I finished I found that she was winning the VE course too.

I tried to take it pretty easy and dance around the bushes rather than crashing through them. Started out through the saddle and across the clearing above the rock surface then tried to check the compass as I contoured into 1 but couldn't find it. Took me a little while to work out I wasn't just looking at the wrong hand and I didn't actually have a compass. I wasn't too bothered about not having a compass but I was a little distracted for a while wondering what I had done with it and worrying about remembering to make sure I found it before heading home.

First two were pretty easy then a nice long leg over to 3. I tried to contour a bit early and then stay pretty high late. Felt as though I was wandering a bit without the compass and didn't always have great map contact but always felt comfortable about finding it and did so cleanly. A few shot easy legs then long leg back to 7. Went fairly close to retracing my route back past 2 but stayed a bit higher, not really planned just found myself running that way leaving 6 looking for easy running.

Feeling a bit tired on and after the climbs through 8-9-10-11 but felt as though I kept moving ok. Had a bit of a lapse in concentration on 14. I had looked at the rest of the course on the track run to 8 and recognised 14 as a dangerous control but I just rushed out of 13 without a clear plan and found myself running through head high vegetation and across vague contours without a compass. Panicked a bit and ran off a bit randomly instead of continuing where I thought it should be. Relocated on some rocky ground to the South where I could see the clearing to the SW and got it ok from there but lost a fair bit of time (at least 30 seconds, maybe a minute).

Just a bit of a grind to get home from there, tried to minimise climb from 15-16 by swinging a bit right. Noticed the shin for the first time somewhere here I think when I pushed it against a small bush. Really surprised (and pleased) not to notice it any more than that. Found the knolls approaching 16 a bit confusing but kept going through to the clearing NW of the control and could see it from there despite the green having grown a bit. Nice downhill run to the finish which I took pretty slowly and carefully.

Feeling pretty tired but satisfied at the end. Enjoyed the run and feeling a lot more confident about surviving the ultralong now. fenry smashed me by 12 minutes which was about what I expected.

H1 - Splits

Feeling as though this weekend is probably the best chance to get in a long run before the ultralong and I don't think my shin is ready for a lot of bush bashing yet so I thought the best option was to do a long run today and some orienteering while tired tomorrow.

Set out the usual way but didn't feel like doing laps of KP so I cut across to the river with a vague plan of making a big loop around to Reabold. I knew I would end up pushing the pace a bit if I went that way so spent a bit of time trying to think of reasons why it was a good idea. Right achilles was a bit tender early so I also had a period thinking it was probably a really bad idea that I would regret when I was injured and unable to run next week. Very aware of the fact that I was thinking it was a bad idea that I would regret later and yet I had no intention of changing my mind.

Average pace was about 5:30/km when I hit the river but I was starting to get moving ok so I set a goal of getting it under 5min/km by the time I left the river and then keeping it under 5 through the rolling hills over the rest of the run. Started to feel a bit tired by the time I was running through Mt Claremont at around the hour mark and kind of felt like hard work the rest of the way but never really dropped the pace. Felt quite good up the little steep hills in Reabold but the longer grinds were making me grimace a bit.

Kept going for an extra couple of minutes at the end to make it up to a half marathon.

Easy run around KP. Feeling the effects of yesterday's effort a bit, lots of tight spots.

Easy loop with Rachel then a longer loop by myself going a bit harder. Did parts of the 5/8 surge course with a little bit of gentle surging and went hard "Up the guts" at the end. Got 2nd fastest overall, 8 seconds faster than my previous best but still 6 seconds off the course record. Might have gone harder if I realised the course record was that close, I thought it was a lot faster.
Hip was fine today, I kind of remember walking into the kitchen bench on Monday night now. Shin was a little sore on the steeper downhills but fine going hard.

Set the alarm for 5:00 instead of 5:40 this morning so Rachel could get out for a short run before work. I stopped at Rosalie Park to do a few drills and strides at the end while Rachel went straight home to get ready for work.
Right hip a bit sore. Seems like a bruise but I have no idea how I got it.

Easy run in KP in the dark. Feeling a bit tired by the end, maybe time for a shorter day.

Event: Gunapin Ridge (West) - Long Distance (SOL)
 

Easy run in KP with Rachel. Still pretty chilly despite the late start so tried to stay in the sunshine as much as possible early on.

Easy run in KP in the rain with Rachel. Felt much more comfortable right from the start today so I kept going with Rachel rather than cutting it short to stick to the 5 minute increments.

First time venturing across the road into KP and first time making the effort to get up and out the door before sunrise. Almost felt like I was training.

Amy actually put in a pretty good effort at school cross country today.
Fifth overall and third of the girls that started together. Sienna and Asha were credited with 2nd and 3rd despite starting with the boys about 2 minutes before the other girls.

Added an extra lap around the bottom ovals to push it over 20 minutes. Had one painful step when I tried to relax and run more naturally.

First little tester jog. Walked over to Rosalie Park, jogged a couple of big laps of the grass and then home. Shin felt kind of hot and itchy but not really sore.

Event: Wildflower Tavern - John Forrest National Park - NavDash