Training Log Archive: Craig

Event: Boomer at Umuna!
 

Boomer at Umuna. Small field so had a pretty fair idea what would happen from the start, only tRicky and Sten likely to go with me at all and Sten probably not going to last very long. I didn't want a boring run on my own so thought I would just start out as normal and then see what I could do to keep tRicky in the race without letting him beat me.

Felt as though I had a huge pack following me for the first leg but I got to the control only tRicky and Sten were with me, I guess Sten is pretty big. Kept it steady to 3 then thought skipping 4 looked a good option but I didn't want to skip early so I suggested it to tRicky instead but figured he would be intent on sticking with me. Thought about going around the hill to 4 but then thought if tRicky is going to follow me I might as well make him hurt so went straight over. Sten was gone by 4 and I thought maybe he had skipped it but saw him when I looked back from near 5a so knew he was gone for good.

Stuffed up 6 a bit but tRicky wasn't going to leave me so didn't really matter and I saw Cath leaving it so didn't lose much anyway. Passed Cath when she was off to the right on 7 then got a bit misplaced mid leg on 8 but didn't lose any time. Tried going hard up the hill out of 8 and then across a rocky slope to see how tRicky was going but he hung on pretty well so I gave it up and jogged across to the drink station on the powerline. Made another half hearted effort on the downhill into 9 after jumping the fence but couldn't see the flag hidden behind a rock so got nowhere. Approaching 10 I was looking for the rock 14 was on to confirm my position and made a spur of the moment decision to try punching 14 instead of 10 to see if tRicky would notice. He didn't seem to notice so I thought maybe he would try to skip another control and hence mispunch but I suspected he would stick with me anyway unless I could get out of sight. Cruised around to 15 having a good look at the last few controls then tried to go really hard out of 15 using the green to get a small gap and hoping to get across the ridge and drop out of sight leaving tRicky wondering if I was skipping 16 but I didn't quite get enough of a gap. Kept going hard and hit 16 very cleanly but the downhill was a bit too steep and dangerous for a cautious old man like me and then I tripped over the same fallen branch 3 times climbing between the cliffs so he was still right with me heading over to 17. Still wasn't too concerned as I was pretty sure tRicky was not going to punch 17 ahead of me no matter what I did and I knew 18 was simple so was pretty confident I could hold him off to the finish which I did.

I was a bit disappointed when I saw the start list for this race but tRicky did a good enough job of hanging on to keep it interesting and fun for me right to the end. Thanks tRicky and thanks simmo. It would be nice to run another one of these with a stronger field, I reckon it could work for a nav dash.

C • Master Class 11

Warm up

Evening run up to O'Connor Rd then down the railway trail to the oval (because it was getting dark) where I did about 4 laps sprinting one side and jogging the rest plus a couple of sprints on the way down there and back.
Feeling quite good.

Rehab loop at 7am. Course record I think, planned to go easy but once out in the cold I just wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. Getting the all clear from the cardiologist yesterday may have had something to do with it as well. I have been feeling a little frustrated at having to hold back at times.

Morning run through John Forrest. Did the same loop I have done as a tempo run a few times but just running easy-moderate. Tried to run strongly but not fast up the hills but I wasn't feeling very strong on the hills. Felt reasonable considering the longish run last night. Pretty cold (still 6 degrees an hour after I finished) but only really felt it on my hands in the first half.

Had an echocardiogram and saw the cardiologist again today. Echocardiogram was normal so the cardiologist was pretty confident my weird ecg was just due to "athlete's heart" and nothing to worry about.
He said my problem is not life threatening, just a nuisance and there are things that can be done to resolve it (medication or radio frequency ablation) if it becomes enough of a nuisance. So far it has only happened in a couple of sprint races which I don't care much about anyway so I'm just going to ignore it for the moment and hope it doesn't get any worse.
So I have the all clear to play whatever games I like with the chasing pack at Umuna (if there is one).

C • Hooray! 1

C • Chasing the pack 13

From work down to Pelican Pt, back to UWA underpass, lap of KP section of c2s marathon course with Ben then down to Tawarri and back on my own. Felt crap for the first 4k loop by myself (stiff knees), good for the lap of KP and through UWA then just tiring a little towards the end.

Rehab loop with Rachel then up to Strettle Reserve for 3 solid laps of the 1.05k loop (4:20, 4:12, 4:05) and another half lap plus single track to the railway trail (5:12) and jog home. Feeling quite good, rest day seems to have helped. Motivation seems to be back too.

Did too much last week, lost all motivation now. Even started thinking about cycling to work.