Training Log Archive: Craig

Ventured off the tracks for the first time since Aus Champs. Hadn't really planned to start my orienteering training this early but a cool damp Sunday morning seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. Just did an easy loop from home out around the farm on the North side of North Ledge staying in terrain most of the time. Reasonably happy with my form apart from my right ankle which was weak as piss. If an orienteer rolls his ankle in the forest and nobody hears him swear, has he really rolled his ankle? Tweaked it a bit at about the 20 minute mark and again a bit worse at about 50 minutes. Got very wet which I think was part of the problem as my shoes had stretched a lot and got very loose. Stopped and tightened the laces at 50 minutes, should have done it earlier. Felt reasonably good all the way and was still feeling fresh at the finish. Carried a map with me but I barely looked at it, don't want to rush things.

Swam a few laps at swan aquatic while Liam and Amy did their swimming lessons. First swim since the Lake Lesch tri in January 2008 and it showed.
Had a vague plan of doing 10x50m on 1min but it didn't quite work out. Did the first couple nice and easy in about 52 and thought "this isn't so bad" but by the 5th I was only just making the minute so it became a time trial from there to finish 5 seconds behind the minute. The strap on my goggles broke when I tried to defog them after I finished so I just did a few laps of kicking on my back as a warm down. Felt a bit sick for the next couple of hours.

Metro Series Stirling. Stuffed up a bit at the start due to the start triangle being in the wrong place and a bit of unmapped construction work. Eventually went to 18 first mostly just because that was where I was heading when I finally found my way out of the school. Never very confident about my route choice but thought I would still be in with a chance because it was obviously going to be way longer than normal which should suit me. Had to do an extra 540m between 23 and 21 where a high fence was not mapped which was about double the extra Ben and Steve would have had to do coming from the other direction. At least it saved me from being involved in a 3 way sprint finish. I think I may have been having a few minor heart issues in the first few minutes but after that settled down I felt reasonably good. I remember thinking near the end that if I had the gps and checked my pace I bet I would be disgusted with it and try to go faster.

C • # 18 8

10 minute warm up around oval and neighbouring park. 5 minute warm down sticking to the flat oval.

Did the 5k loop real easy with a few drills and a few backward hills on Bailey Rd at the end. Felt surprisingly good really, much better than last night.
After yesterday's effort I decided I am too much of a slave to the numbers so I should try running without a gps or even a watch for a while to see if that helps. Time and distance will be approximate until I decide this isn't working either.

Well that was stupid. 25min tempo at 1hour pace around the river. Longish warm up down past Tawarri so I could do the whole tempo section with the wind. Dragging the feet a bit on the warm up, felt as though I was almost dragging my arse along the ground too. Started the effort and quickly settled into a solid rhythm at about 3:58/km which was feeling like pretty hard work. I was supposed to have resolved to take more notice of how I felt in the warm up and early part of hard sessions and back off a bit or just do an easy run if I felt bad but I just don't have it in me to pull out of a session once I start. Even when I ran my first 2k effort in 7.59 a few weeks ago I only managed to stop myself because I knew I could then run the metro series in the afternoon instead. I did briefly consider pulling out but ended up just gradually increasing the effort instead. Definitely feeling as though I had worked harder than in the Matilda Bay 10k when I reached Mounts Bay Rd even though I was going 15 seconds/km slower and running with the wind all the way. Coincidentally crossed paths with Roberto Busi (winner of the 10k) at about that point. Continued to increase the effort and averaged about 3:46/km out to the brewery which is getting close to what the pace should have been all the way but I was now having a hard time convincing myself I could keep that up for an hour.
Then I got even more stupid...
I didn't really like the idea of turning around and running back around the river for my warm down so I decided to back through Kings Park. The only way into the park near there was up the Kokoda track which pushed my heart rate back up to the same as the highest I got to in the tempo and also added at least 10 minutes to the warm down making the whole run over a km longer than my long run on Sunday.

C • When you ...? 10

Easy lap of KP with Ben plus a loop through UWA down to Pelican Point and back past Matilda Bay. Did a few drills near the end. Left heel a bit sore for the last 15 minutes or so apart from the drills.

5x1k in 3.35 with 1min rest on the oval.
Trying to back off a bit on the intensity to make sure I recover properly between sessions so I wanted to run this at what I thought was the right effort rather than watching the pace too much and maybe go a little slower than 3:35 to allow for the grass.
I did have a look at the pace half way through the first effort and it was 3:47/km so I picked it up a little and finished in 3:42. For the other 4 efforts I only looked at the times at the end and tried to just settle into a pace that felt sustainable which turned out to be 3:33, 3:32, 3:32, 3:30.
Did a slightly longer warm up and down than usual. Left heel a little sore but mostly just feeling a bit tight around the back of the ankle.

Easy lap of KP with Ivan plus a few drills at the end. Feeling pretty stiff and tired, particularly early on. Left heel a bit sore but felt better after the drills.