Training Log Archive: Craig

I am an idiot!!

tRicky tried to kill me but I survived.

Mass start hagaby at Belair.
Hit the first couple ok, a bit hesitant on 3, still in touch with the field at 4 but they had all run out of sight by the top of the small climb to 5. Got 6 and 7 ok on my own but made a mess of 8 dropping a couple of minutes. Got within 50m of it and heading straight for it but I hadn't executed my plan at all so I doubted myself and ended up running back to a small termite I had seen earlier to confirm it was the one I thought it was. Silly really. Found a few more stragglers towards the end of the first loop and came through in 19:50 about 7 minutes down in about 40th place.

First 7 controls of the second loop were the alternate options from the first loop which I did ok apart from 7. I think I was a bit casual on this one because I had been to it before but I was a bit off line and didn't recognise anything. A bit slow there but didn't lose too much time.

Found Steve at 8 and took a very bad line out of there looking over my shoulder and waiting for him to catch up to see which way he was going to go on the long leg to 9. We got out to the track together but I went right and Steve went left at the first junction and didn't see each other again for more than 30 minutes so it was more silliness really. Had a good look at the rest of the course on both maps while running along the tracks out to 9 and 10. Tempting to cross the railway line rather than do the final climb over the tunnel but I resisted.

Started to see a few more people through the short legs in the rock before and after the final map change. Not with anyone for long through here but seemed to be moving past people. Saw Steve and Graham at the second last control in the rock but neither came with me to the last. Turns out Steve should have but he had lost track of which control he was up to.

On my own again through 6-10 on the final loop, keeping the pace pretty slow but feeling ok. Saw Brodie and Lachlan running back past 9 on the long leg from 12-13 which made it a little easier for me to commit to going that way too. I had been waiting to see what it was like through 8 and 9 before deciding and it was pretty easy running through there.

Went right on 9-10 and found the little track down the hill ok which was a bit of a relief. Came into 10 just ahead of Jemery Day who looked to be moving a lot faster than me. I then contoured around to 11 and saw him climbing up to it as I left. Saw Blair and Ricky heading out down the road as I came into 12 so I was interested to see if I could close the gap by going around to the right.

First part of the long leg cutting across to the track was a lot slower than I expected due to the steepness of the slope, maybe should have gone up the road a bit first, not really sure. The rest of the route seemed pretty good. I think I would have really struggled with the steep climb at the end going left but the little track winding up the hill going right was a runnable gradient and I still felt quite good at the top so I was able to run the long downhill from there pretty well. Passed a couple of people coming into 13 and then saw Blair just getting to the top of the climb as I started down to go through the tunnel but no sign of Ricky.

Tried to push the pace down to 14 but felt awful after running bent over through the tunnel. Planned to be safe and go the track behind the control and back in but decided to cut across when it looked open. I got it a bit wrong and ended up on the track anyway but I was a bit disoriented and took a while to work it out losing maybe 30-40 seconds. Finally worked it out and found tRicky punching just ahead of me.

I had already planned out safe route choices for the last few controls to get me home safely while tired so I just tried to stick to those and do them efficiently. Stayed just in front of Ricky most of the time and could see Jim and Jemery up ahead on the road past the tennis courts but thought they were too far ahead. Stuck to plan and had a little gap on Ricky at the second last which I thought might be enough but as I headed out to the last I could see Jim running back towards me which made me hesitate for a while and let Ricky close up.

I knew I shouldn't get involved in a sprint finish as I had talked specifically about the risks with my cardiologist only two days earlier and sprinting to hold off a teammate would be especially stupid but I also knew we were probably racing to be the last counting nomad after Henry and Oscar and my stupid ego would not allow me to concede. I tried to tell Ricky not to make me do it as we punched the last control but he wouldn't listen so I was forced to sprint all the way to the finish. I thought I just held him off but we punched within the same second so it finished as a tie. My heart rate got to 168 at the finish (my limit was supposed to be 160) and then got erratic for quite a while after finishing.

Feeling pretty stupid afterwards for giving in to my competitive instincts with so little to gain and so much to lose. At least I know now that I definitely can't be trusted so I will have to avoid mass start races in the future. I probably can't be trusted in any sort of race but I'll give myself another chance at interval starts.

Apart from the stupid finish I was pretty happy with how it went. Coped with the distance and hills better than I expected and really quite enjoyed it. The problem is what I probably enjoyed most was the sprint at the end.

C • Moral victory 13

Course 1 BBB - Splits

Event: Adelaide NOL
 

Sprint qualifier at Flinders Uni.
Did a reasonable warm up for this, mostly with fletch. Heart came good about half way through the warm up after being twitchy all morning but started to misfire again as soon as I stopped and wasn't great during the race. Heart rate was fairly constant but higher than the effort warranted and I always felt a bit short of breath. Pretty solid run technically, just a couple of little wobbles and happy enough with my routes but I was never going to be fast enough with the steep hills and my heart not cooperating fully. Enjoyed the downhill bits.

Sprint final at Waite campus.
Heart was a bit better for this one but I still took it very slowly on the uphill legs to try to keep it under control. Lots of very narrow passages in the early part of the course before it opened out a bit in the second half. I wasn't prepared to take my eye off the map to read any control descriptions until the 11th control so I can easily understand how Rachel got through most of the course before realising anything was wrong when she was given the men's map. She was beating me very consistently and I think was about a minute ahead when she got to 14 and noticed the code didn't match her descriptions.

Enjoyed this course more as the first part of the course was tricky enough that I didn't really mind taking it slowly up the hills and it was mostly downhill through the easier second half. Nice variation with the bit through the arboretum at the end too. Had a couple of slightly sub-optimal legs but nothing too bad.

1A - Splits

Course 1 - Splits

Did the Rosalie run for the first time in a long while. Heart was bad before getting up so I wasn't sure I should bother trying. Walked over to the start and had a bit of a dizzy spell just before starting but it was mostly fine while running. Not sure how but I found myself at the front with Kate and Alyson so I ran with them through to the hills which I had to take very slowly to keep my heart rate (mostly) under 150.
Heart a bit funny during the break at the war memorial and spiked briefly as I set off again but settled down pretty quickly. Ran with Nic for most of the downhill at the end where my heart rate seemed to want to sit on 151 rather than 150 so the alarm was going off a lot.
Heart started playing up again pretty soon after stopping and hit 180 a couple of times while stretching.