Training Log Archive: Craney

Twilight orienteering at Little Black Mountain. Refreshingly tough course with some quite interesting legs. Lost small bits here and there, mainly around bits where the map was dubious/out of date. No speed in my legs today but kept going ok with no soreness.

Lunch run up Little Black Mountain. Quite warm and humid but I felt refreshingly fresh.

Did a 'focus' yoga session - a first for me. Quite enjoyed it - would be more beneficial if I could focus on the breathing etc rather than what I was meant to be doing.

Much needed. Watched all of the cricket. Hmm.

Free weekend so could not pass up the opportunity to explore somewhere cool. Rob and I decided Jagungal would be the perfect candidate. Sore legs from Triple Tri the only major headwind.

Nice drive down there via Boboyan (and Lanyon maccas), set off into lovely sunny but cool conditions. Seemingly a good time of year to be up in the Snowies - lots of vivid yellow, purple and white flowers and no march flies/mozzies to speak of. We did a big anti-clockwise route: Round Mountain Trail on the way out (four wheel drive, fairly firm, bit of a slog) and Farm Ridge Trail on the way back (grassy, picturesque but a bit undulating), and of course a jaunt up Jagungal in between.

Out section was fun - high spirits, chatting away, time flying. Both a bit sore but 'maintainable'. Checked out Derschkos Hut (later, it turned out, to be accommodation for a couple of Cuthberts). Not long after left the trail for hands-on-knees walking up to the summit. Views from the top were just amazing - some distant moody thunderstorms adding to it. Could see Bimberi (ACT), Kosci and Bogong (VIC) - with patches of snow on the latter two.

After snaps, headed back to the track with an obligatory stop at the one patch of snow (strangely north facing). I slid down on my map bag and got a bit of speed up. We remarked on the lengths one has to go to for such thrills in this part of the world. Had a chat with a bloke cylcing to Melbourne at O'Keefes Hut, then turned onto Farm Ridge.

Not exactly epic run territory at about 25km in, but nevertheless I was starting to hit the wall. Rob seemed ok but politely made reassuring noises about being similarly tired. Although quite undulating, fortunately Farm Ridge Trail was beautiful through grassy plains with lots more nice colours. I wasn't making much conversation by this point, but was pretty happy in my little world listening to Rob's watch occassionally beep another kilometer done.

We'd been hearing distant rumbles of thunder get gradually less distant for the past hour or so, but after crossing Tumut River it was clear we were about to get soaked. And of course the final 4km back to the car was straight up hill and I was rooted. So, lambs to the slaughter, we started walking. Sure enough it started to hail so we nipped into Round Mountain Hut to put jackets on. The storm hitting the tin roof was deafening. No sign of the rain abating so we just accepted a drenching for the final 20mins.

Felt a touch queasy in the car after so was craving a burger or something to put me right. Cabramurra Bistro hadn't opened, Adaminaby pub was heaving after the races, and Adaminaby takeaway had just turned off its grill. So we got a few chips and carried on back to Canberra listening in to the first test gradually ebbing away from England, which Rob was politely philosphical about.

C • Tough climb.. 1

Although did play some indoor cricket for Shep's team and was bowled out by a girl. No shame in that - I played on so was a touch unlucky.

Lunch run on a fairly warm and humid day up Little Black Mountain. Feeling alright tiredness wise, but extremely creaky. Felt every bit a 36 year old out of shape.

Twilight Series at Majura Pines. Hats off to my legs - achyness wasn't all that bad and there was just enough energy to get round about 10secs quicker than Marty. Fun course on a new (for me) combo of maps taking us into Ainslie North for a bit, where there wasn't too much path running. Lost ~45secs at #13 by following the runnable strip in the pines rather than my compass (which was at home).

Went to Campbell Park after orienteering to see if I couldn't find the Crimson Chat. I couldn't. But I did find a Mistletoe Bird, which was some consolation.

2nd day in Adelaide. Then went to the Womens' Ashes T20 at Manuka Oval in the evening, which went quite well.

Long day in Adelaide with work.

I was pretty clear to Davo - this year I'm only running 2 legs and one of you can run the third. But James (swimmer) was injured for running in his World Champs triathlon prep, and Davo (MTB) had a dodgy calf, and tactically going straight from 3 bikes into a run wasn't going to work. So it had to be me doing all 3 runs. Given my (lack of) training over the last few months since WOC this was a major gulp for me.

First leg is the nice one in terms of the route. So I cruised it as best I could - still my longest run since WOC I think, but I felt alright at the end. A few minutes slower than in previous years but not too bad.

This went surprisingly ok. Mounting Mount Taylor was never going to be an issue as I know it like the back of my hand. Then I put my tunes on for the tedious 6km on bike paths into Tuggers. Not tired at the end, but no zip and definitely feeling legs seizing up somewhat...

Ah ha, the wall was resoundingly smashed into about half way into this. Bumbled along Red Hill ridgeline reasonably ok. Tried to zone out into the tunes on the bike paths after but got to the point where running was just too hard. Had to walk several sections along the final bike path. Davo could tell I was in trouble and literally drove round to every road crossing to clap me along! Got fairly well thumped by Ella Cuthbert and others on this leg - something that is only going to get more common :)

C • Takes me back 1

Will make up for it tomorrow...

Bit of indoor cricket in the evening. Haven't quite found my bowling action.

HFW

Quite a few (I forget how many) 30sec hill sprints on the way up Little Black Mt - felt alright.

Night run up Mt Taylor. Took my phone this time hoping to get a photo of the wombat but he proved too elusive this time.

Arvo hit out on Farrer. Did 6x2mins hard-ish - one of which was up to the top of the hill.

Mt Taylor at night. Very surprised to see a wombat at the conduit on the Torrens side!

Another o race at Mt Taylor, another apparently well-planned course avoiding the big rough hill. Tried to not get in a boo by that and attack knowing Marty would be doing similar. Unfortunately ran full-pelt into a fence on the way to #1. It flipped me right over! Hobbled a bit and was a bit shaken but seemed relatively unscathed so picked the pace back up after a few minutes. Reasonable run in the end but had opened up enough of a door for Marty to beat me by 2secs.

First crack at this - plenty of room for improvement but not too bad.

To the start (just in time) and back from the finish with Marty and Ads.

Night loop of Taylor. Did 6x2mins to mix things up a bit, but again a bit of a fully tummy. Back filling this so couldn't be bothered separating the session up.

Remember remember the 5th of November. Probably not this year though.

10x5mins, 4x1min, 1x2min eventually ending up at the top of Taylor. Bit of a full tummy from dinner but got there in the end.

Steady lunch run - yadnoM.

Campbell Park orienteering race. Always enjoy running here, especially when we don't have to go up the big hill. Tomas planned a fun course which, fortunately for me, had a control pick at the end making it harder for Marty to get into top gear. Went to a few bits I hadn't been to before. Felt quite good and no mistakes to speak of.