Training Log Archive: Brooner

Event: The Goanna
 

Lake Macquarie 12 hour rogaine with Nicole



Had originally planned to get the lot, as we thought it doable, and opted for the slightly longer route back along the road, but had to switch up plans on the run after a few early mistakes and time losses dropped us over an hour in the first half.

Too far south west on 21 getting into the map, had a brain melt and left 41 in the wrong direction which changed plans a little going to 42 before 31 but that worked ok. Fine for the next couple with fastest splits, but 53 was in the wrong spot which lost us a decent amount of time (15 mins) trying to second guess where we'd possibly gone wrong but then stumbling upon it from the opposite direction.

Still not sure of optimum route round this first section, but it worked ok - 2 hours for the first 5.2km hardly setting the world on fire though! Good fun with a camera at the drinks control



Next bit was ok, thankfully changed the plan and went 51-80-60-52-91 rather than 51-52-60-80-91, bush proved to be super thick around 52 and 60. Tried taking an unmarked track up the ridge from 52 but it didn't go, so lost a few mins there, but found a reasonable route up the spur to 91. After this it, or rather I, went to shit. Should have just followed the tracks & ridge to 100 but decided to go straight and bush bash, first got caught out by unmarked tracks then went up the wrong hillside 90 degrees out, and ended up battering through some of the worst thick spikey bush I've ever encountered.



Lost a good 25 minutes in the process and was in a seriously foul mood with myself after that. When we finally got to the track after a 28 minute/km had to reset with a break & some proper food (salty cheesy potatoes). 100 was fine but the descent after it was also through steep, thick scrub, and 74 was generally slow going. Stuffed 63 missing the track, and should have continued round as the approach from the south was much clearer forest - and in hindsight from 74 we should have descended and climbed up, especially given control was further down the hill than marked. This was where the headtorches came out, and we must have lost another 10 mins or so here. This was where we had a good think about how we were going to approach the rest of the course, and how to fit in the drinks point at 81 as we were both low - decided 101 as an out and back and skipping 64. Got into a decent rhythm round the tracks here and some more good splits, even with a decent break at the drinks point for pizza, oranges and sweets.



Southern section of the map thankfully was much more open and straightforward nav as long as you were aware of the bonus tracks, in hindsight we should have definitely got 54 and maybe 44 as well, but we just weren't sure what the bush would be like and had a decent number of controls still to get. I really switched on with the nav through here before tea & damper, only losing a few minutes on 93 going down a spur too early when I was too busy eating and not paying enough attention to the map, and trying to let Nicole lead through 103 & 56 (I wasn't very good at taking a back seat).

After T&D looked like we'd be home with an hour to spare, but in my haste I blew up big time on 83 (25 mins) descending too far from 71 before crossing the track in the wrong place/direction and taking quite a while to figure it out, then another 12 mins on 102 being too high (and it being too low). Back along the road proved to be an even better decision knocking out some 6-7min/kms, although for the final couple of hours my left shin was hurting.

So overall 5th place, 3rd mixed, and with very similar splits to the 2nd place (mens) team who cleared the course in the same direction but didn't come back along the road - so I reckon we could have managed it too witout the blow-ups, so am happy with our overall route and plan, plus some really good bits of nav amongst the blunders. A generally fun day out, even if thorns are still being pulled out 6 days later...

C • Nice! 1

NRG winter hills, solo after the first few, and added an inadvertent extra hill in which actually worked out quite well in not finishing waaay ahead of everyone else.

4:32 for Ben Boyd.

Long warm down with Nicole & Tony with some extra hills.

Jogging, drills, steps and slopes

NRG fartlek, 3/1 x 2 laps, 5/1 x 1. (Paces: 3:54, 3:48, 3:32, watch also reckoned there was a 3:20km in there)