Training Log Archive: Craney

Bridge-to-bridge loosener. Legs pretty heavy still from yesterday.

At Transit Flat (scene of World Cup race last year), came 1st. Absolute ripper of a long distance course - much much tougher than the World Cup race we got last year by virtue of no real long legs so next to no track running, and a long section through really hilly rocky terrain with lots of fallen trees. Loved it. Tried to set off aggressively, which worked ok. Very lucky on #1 when I found what I thought was my attackpoint on two different occasions. Didn't lose any time but told myself to get it together. A bit off line on #4 and #6, but worked it out quickly. Nice fastish section (in hindsight, relative to the rest of the course - felt tough at the time!) through some mining from #7-#11 - hit them really cleanly but think I took a v. poor route going west of the creek to #11. Then the real fun began - nearly 200m climb on the next two legs. Did them well picking ok routes (but did have a scare when my SI stick came off - fortunately felt it happen, so only spent ~20secs looking for it in the deep ferns). Saw Leon behind me at #13, so knew I was going ok. He caught me at #15 after I got a bit stuck in some grot. Then caught Brodie at #17. #19 and #20 were about as tough as the hills and terrain got - starting to feel quite tired by now, but knew I was doing ok and having the youngsters just behind kept me pushing. I think stopping for a drink broke my rhythm though, as I was off line to #21 (hit path) and ended up losing a fair bit of time on #22 (silly - must've run right next to a huge boulder but didn't see it cos I was looking the wrong way). Ironically, the mistake actually meant I shook Leon and Brodie off, as they took a bit longer to work out where we were (this has happened to me a few times over the years - would be an interesting tactic to employ deliberately in a relay some day). Suddenly alone and in actually quite nice forest, I was able to push quite hard to the finish - although cramping hamstrings did their best to cramp that idea.

Anyway, a proper classic race and a true adventure - if only it were easy to do this kind of thing more often.

A warm-up. Not a day for a warm-down.

Event: NOL Round 4, Race 11, / 12 (WRE), St Helens, Tasmania
 

At Golden Fleece in Tassie, came 3rd ~2mins behind Simon. Cracking middle distance orienteering with lots of short legs through tricky mining terrain all the while having to fight through various types of tough vegetation.

Got off to a decent start hitting the first 3 well (2nd place), but came a cropper on #4 - a tough leg with 4 deep overgrown trenches to cross. By the time I crossed the 4th I'd been on the leg so long I thought I must be way further than I really was. So, despite being in the right spot, I ran off in the wrong direction. Relocated on a massive clearing and bumbled into the control only to be caught 2mins by Simon. That changed things. Rest of the race was quite a rush - Simon leading almost the whole time, with both of us varying in degrees of map contact. The wheels came off on #13 when we drifted to the Tasman Highway. Fortunately it's quite an obvious feature to relocate off so not too much time lost. A few other small wobbles but generally cleanish to the end - Simon taking a deserved win and me a very undeserved 3rd. Would prefer it in these tiny fields if they didn't put all the similar-standard people off within such a short space of time. Still, lots of fun had by all.

Trying to fly to Launceston. Plane to Sydney cancelled, so re-routed via Melbourne - ok that's a quicker route, but I don't get to start til 5 hours after originally planned. Oh well - all checked in now so might as well walk to Ikea for meatballs.

6x2mins at the wetlands - flat out for me, which these days is around 3:10mpks. Pretty worn out at the end

1min recoveries, plus warm-up and warm-down.

HFW via Isaacs - feeling pretty good.

Short night-o control pick on Isaacs on the way home - good fun in the rocky semi-open stuff. Technically it's closed for a roo cull.

6x3mins on Red Hill - 3 uphill, 1 flat and 2 downhill. Felt alright.

1min recoveries and warm-up and warm-down.

Acting my age.

Had a lovely morning out with Gracie and Florence at Cockington Green followed by a big yummy lunch at Poachers Pantry. Got home early afternoon and decided to try and run off what I could of it. Nice loop around Taylor, across to Arawang, bit of an effort up that (they're regrading the path up the SE side a la Red Hill with signs trying to tell me the path was closed - we wouldn't want rocks on the path to step over now would we), and back and up Taylor. Lovely afternoon. Had a nice nap when I got home.

Tuggers parkrun pushing Florence in the pram. Gracie was off doing another rogaine today, so thought Florence and I would do this again as a way of getting in a decent training run. Wasn't especially up for it though after a few drinkies last night and the pain of a fortnight ago. So took the first km fairly gentle. Got into it a bit after that and picked up the pace slightly after 2km. Ended up coming 4th and equalling my pram pb. Reckon sub-18 might be doable now. There was a fitting tribute to the Candys (parkrun royalty) before the start due to their imminent defection.

5x1km in 3:14-3:19 at the wetlands. Tiring but felt ok. Strava graphs suggest I was starting quickly and slowing throughout each rep. Although it might not be best race tactics I wonder if it's such a bad thing in training being that it's a natural output of inputting a constant effort.

1min recoveries plus some warm-up and down. Throat feelings gone... (probably cursed it now)

Saw the police remove a sword from a bin in Telopea Park today.

HFW with Tomas some of the way. Still some subtle signs of a potential sore throat which I'd rather either reveals itself soon or disappears.

HFW the usual way. Feeling a bit creaky today. Cold and windy.

Night jog around (and up) Mt Taylor. Ran under moonlight for a little bit before stumbling and conceding that the headtorch was more effective.

Lunch run got canned when it turned out Florence was sick, so I had to leave early to pick her up from daycare. But it did mean I got out in the evening and had a go at the street o in Isaacs. Nice suburb to run through and being dark made it fairly enjoyable. Felt quite good too, although I am trying to not acknowledge the first signs at the back of my throat that I might be catching Florence's bug.

Short warm-up and slightly longer warm-down up to the pines and back.

Cracking exploratory run from Kambah Pool. Headed north along the lesser-used section of the Murrumbidgee corridor, which is actually a great single track for trail running - lots of ups and downs. Saw three wombats. After about 40mins thought I'd chance my arm fording the river. Only went up to my knees - probably due to lack of rain in the last couple of months. Very steep bush bash up onto the Bullen Range. Then an uber-undulating fire trail for a while before dropping back towards the gorge. Popped out in a beautiful grazed area that no-one would hardly ever visit and found a decent animal path down to the nude bathing area (wrong side). Fortunately there were plenty of rocks to make crossing the river fine (I was winging it, but prepared to swim if necessary), and also no nudists on the other side.

C • Nice one 2

Planned myself a bit of a control pick on Isaacs - great fun! Some really nice bits of forest and some very satisfying features to find. Reasonably hilly course and felt quite good. Couldn't find one feature and overshot another - other than that my nav was quite good so I was satisfied.

Steady lunchtime run with Tomas up Davo and back. Nice day for it and felt pretty good.

This week's Wednesday lunchtime nostalgia event was quite close to work (Lotus Bay) so decided to pop along at the last minute to spice up an otherwise regular steady run. Running with a control card brought back some warm fond memories - much needed on a cold windy day. Course was actually relatively pleasant remaining in the bush for much of it. Unfortunately #14 wasn't there, so I spent a bit of time hunting for it and, having found it far up the slope, I then stopped to move it to the right spot. Then #18 wasn't there at all, so wasted a fair bit of time hunting for that one. As it was quite close to the finish, I went back and hung it out after finishing. $10 well spent.

C • great fun 4

From work to Lotus Bay and back.

6x1km round the East Basin. Felt like hard work today - heavy legs not helped by the wind, which was particularly outrageous coming under Kings Bridge. Still, did it.

1min recoveries and a bit of running before and after.

Red Hill at lunch - pretty greasy out there after all the rain, which made for a nice novelty. Ended up with quite a lot of Red Hill stuck to my legs. A bit weary in the legs after the last couple of exertions, neither of which included a warm up or down.

Came 1st out of 4 :) Magical terrain down at the end of the ACT - lots of granite, beautiful wild woodland, and lots of open frost hollows and marshes that almost reminded me of the Peak District in places. The weather very much reminded me of the Peak District - 9 degrees and drizzle.

The course planning style was very 'Australian' - 15 controls in 10km. It's an interesting blessing that we're avoiding the control-per-km creep that's occurring in the UK. However, this course could've done with a few more - lots of dead running on long legs along obvious lines to obvious features while longingly looking into areas of big boulders on either side.

Anyway, as I say, enjoyed the terrain very much and pushed pretty hard. A few silly wobbles - 1min on #2 being too far left and hitting the track (although being right would've meant being off the map) and a silly mistake at the end of an easy leg at #5. #8 was in the wrong spot but luckily found it quite quickly. Had to agree to disagree with Hoggster at the end whether or not #13 was in the right place. Turned out we were both right as Rohan snuck out and moved it between us getting there. Felt quite good physically today, although a bit unco getting over all the fallen logs.

C • we're in a heat wave - I go... 4

Tuggers Parkrun pushing Florence. We smashed last week's time by 40secs, mainly cos I pushed hard in the first km to avoid getting boxed in. Once in 3rd place we weren't going to get overtaken. Final 4km were a good even pace all 3:40-3:42. Florence loved it again - especially seeing Mummy just after the turnaround. I felt alright but quite worn out at the end.

C • Tuggers parkrun 2

Various jogging about at the cockies training I set on Mt Taylor. Made them all race up the hill to the start then watched them all get lost in the tricky rocky green stuff. Mwahahaha.

HFW via Mugga - checked out a new MTB path that brought me around the front/Hindmarsh side for a change. Was nice and felt pretty good.

Evening run between work and an industry dinner. Thought it'd be rude not to nip around Parlo house and check out the pre-budget buzz. I think an actual bee buzzing drowned it out.

6x2.5mins on Red Hill - first four uphill. Felt pretty good. Bumped into Prong on one of the recoveries, so stopped for a quick hello until his Garmin told him it was time to vamoose.

Other bits of the above run.

Nice morning run on Taylor putting out reflectors for Thursday's cockies training. Felt a bit more stable running across the stones this time. Finished up with a lap around the back.

Turns out I forgot to put out one of the reflectors, so headed back up the mountain in the afternoon. Nice to get out again, and I took the chance to explore some of the steep western (rocky and scrubby) slope that I hadn't been on before. Some great rock features in there but a bit hard to push through some of the young trees.