Training Log Archive: jennycas

Last night I only finished work at the time I was meant to be participating in OA board meeting but today I bailed as soon as was decently possible in order to fit in a run before rogaine-packing. Had been feeling exhausted from all the funeral-arranging but perked up at the thought of 24 hours in the wilderness, Hunger-Games style. Which may be why I was trawling the supermarket to procure the most energy-dense foods I could find! That's hunter-gathering for the modern age, right?

This is too good not to share: I was explaining the concept of rogaining to a couple of nurses on the wards this afternoon. They listened politely, then one, who's twice my size, said through a mouthful of chocolate "You mean it's like the Hunger Games except nobody gets killed?"

C • Thanks for sharing 9

Attack of the Killer Physio
Now I feel both physically and mentally wrung out.

Around Hawthorndene with Fern, chatting and trotting - each of us felt that we were moving a little faster than we would have done on our own :)

Jog around the suburbs before going up to Mt Barker to start sorting out the funeral and empty my grandfather's room at the nursing home. G & I were impressed at the funeral director's patience in interpreting the preferences of my slightly-eccentric extended family.

I took a closer look at the contours around the hash house (Willow Waters Gorge) for next weekend and decided to go run up some hills. Was feeling pretty wrecked - didn't feel as though I had slept at all last night after the news that my grandfather had died - but benefited from the fresh air and time to myself although heel became noticeable on the descent. Am a bit worried that 24 hours on my feet could lead to the sort of tendonopathy which means no running for 6 weeks - but I am really looking forward to rogaining in the Flinders Ranges so am prepared to take that risk.

C • grandfather 9

Grey morning (to match my mood) but it wasn't raining yet so I headed for the park but after a few rest stops (lately I wake up in the mornings feeling like I haven't been to sleep yet) I figured there was no point in plodding up any hills so I headed back to Perry Ave and got soaked through on the way.

Probably shouldn't have inflicted myself on other people.

You can tell it's getting cool when steam rises from the pool.
(trying to work out how to make that into a haiku)

I finished a meeting in the city at 5pm and thought I'd run up Brown Hill on the way home in order to catch the sunset but by the time I got to Mitcham the sun had gone (it has seemed more like June than April since Easter) and so I took a headlamp with me. Slogged my way to the top and found that the Wylie trig point has been removed. Hopefully it will be replaced (Tyson, do you know?) otherwise I'll have to remove it from the 1937 map :(

I did, however, discover a pedestrian gate into the previously out-of-bounds farmland further up the ridgeline so of course I took this, bypassing curious cattle and keeping an eye out for where the Yurrebilla trail comes up from Waite bushland. Good thing that the trail markers are reflective! After dark isn't the best time to be running on singletrack, so I took the descent pretty easily, but did admire the view out over the city lights. I have probably undervalued Waite as a running destination but now that I'm living further from Shepherds Hill I will presumably get to know sections of Yurrebilla rather better. Maybe even all 54km of Yurrebilla one day?

C • Yurrebilla. 4

Big group tonight including Birthday Bridget. Did 12 x 200m with 200m float, plus an extra lap warmup and warmdown. Didn't feel any pain in ankle/foot, just a lack of proprioception. 200s ranged from 44-50 sec with the slower ones being on the dark back stretch and also as I got tireder. Definitely noticed my lack of core exercises lately and took a long time to get back up to a decent pace on the floats. Afterwards went to OSA meeting and was home by 10pm which was a nice surprise.

Between houses via Mitcham. Temperature was brisk but not the pace. Foot disliked the running shoes I wore all weekend, even though I didn't actually get a chance to run in them.

Lots more family stuff and plenty of friend-socialising as well. Had fully intended to run home from Clara's 1st birthday gathering in Belair but instead we took Eleanor (and Susanne) to the nursery and for a chilly walk along the creek. Baby gone home now :(

Probably should have at least gone for a swim but instead had a much-needed sleep in before a day involving lots and lots of family stuff (4 generations in one day) and a well-behaved baby.

Into the park, up out the top, back down through Eden Hills to Perry Ave. Took it easy on the rough tracks because of slippery wet clay (and tired legs). Still not sure what the plan is for Perry Ave - Geoff & I don't necessarily need to sell the house, because it's paid off, but on the other hand it requires a bit of cosmetic work in order to be rented out, and I don't see us getting around to organising this before we go overseas midyear!

C • dilemma 10

Big group on a dark drizzly night. I was very slow to start with but there were lots of regrouping stops (my light wasn't the only dim one) and towards the end I took the creek track by myself. The wet bush smelled lovely and I am definitely looking forward to the rogaine in a couple of weeks' time even though I suspect I am a bit light on for endurance.

A bit light on for sleep too it seems; not sleeping well in the new house - still a bit disoriented, possibly because although the bedroom windows are the same configuration as Perry Ave, the house faces north not east and so doesn't get the morning sun. Also, if I were a believer in feng shui or similar, I would put something 'cleansing' in the corner of the bedroom where the previous owners used to have a TV (if I were a believer in bad energy, I would say that it is leaked by televisions).

C • Positions 2

Pretty tight calves & shins. Funny to watch the ducks which were swimming crossways across the pool trying to get across each of the lane ropes.

Mel & I missed the group by a couple of minutes and we were sure we'd encounter them warming up around the track, but no, they weren't on the track. I eventually did 200, 400, 600, 400, 200 as some faster intervals but they certainly weren't at speed. Encountered Randall Taylor with the SARRC mob; to be precise, a voice coming up fast behind me yelled out "It must be Jenny - I'd know that running style anywhere!". I guess at least he didn't comment on my rear end being recognisable...

C • running styles 1

Attack of the Killer Masseuse
She didn't get stuck into my tight calf/foot as much as I'd hoped but that may have been because so many other parts of me needed work. Not sure why my arms are sore?

Around Hawthorndene with a headlamp, plus B&S, Zara & 2 dogs.

Susanne & Eleanor & I didn't hurry to get to Pewsey Vale and so it was nearly midday before I started my course (good thing I ate a sandwich while I was taping my ankles). The control sites seemed fairly straightforward to me, and the scrub - being so dry at the end of summer - was marginally more runnable than usual. While I tried to minimise climb, much of it was unavoidable, so I mostly went fairly direct and tried not to slack off on hills because I already knew Bridget's time and I hoped to beat it. I thought, when my electric fence phobia manifested and so I took a detour in the paddock towards the end, that I had probably sabotaged this goal, but since I lost less than a minute overall for the rest of the course, I just managed to achieve it. Meanwhile, Eleanor had done her first hard course with some help from mum (rumour has it that E slept in the backpack most of the way and Sus did all the work) which called for celebration at the Organic Market Café on the way home.

Across to Perry Ave to feed the cats, and back again, before a farewell dinner for a colleague which finished about 2 hours later than I had expected it to.

Geoff dropped me at Perry Ave where we fed the cats and then I ran across to Brownhill Creek and behind Carrick Hill & Waite, ending up back at Avenue Rd. These shoes are not kind to my foot/calf.

C • Coincidence 5

Perfect morning for it, not unlike the day when we all went to the pool in Pecs. Afterwards I spent the day unpacking/cleaning the new house before Arrows' spudnight, at which no less than 3 babies were present.

It's a minor cold but I'm pretty wrecked this week.

I think the dog's settling into the new house better than I am.

Blair stayed with us last night and so I took him on a tour of my new suburbs. Across to Brownhill Creek at Mitcham which takes about 20 min (similarly to running from Perry Ave) and then we followed the creek NW through a string of parks all the way to the Orphanage Park and then crossed Goodwood Rd on the train overpass at Millswood which I have never before had the opportunity to do.

Yeah, so it was a bit breezy this morning, and not-exactly warm. Because I didn't race on Sat, I had one of the earlier W21E starts, 2 min after Lauren, who I started catching glimpses of on the way to the second control (she must have lost time on the first), but she was quicker through the ins and outs of the big erosions than me (very glad I was wearing spikes though) and when I was stopped on the way to 5 by an M14 asking me where he was, I lost sight of her, but then she overshot 5 and I snuck past. I'd hoped not to see her again, but I veered too far right on my bearing on the long leg to 7 (went up the wrong creek branch off the main creek but corrected with some hesitation although not too much damage) and as I punched 9 she came down behind me, much to my surprise, and so I didn't pay quite enough attention to where we crossed the next big creek.

Heading south up the hill I figured we were on one of two creeks, and more likely the western one when really we wanted the eastern one. Once I was certain of this, I veered further east, which meant crossing a couple of otherwise-unnecessary spurs and also I overshot the control slightly at the end, but it could have been a lot worse - I suspect Lauren may have bounced off the start! The rest was pretty straightforward and when Simon went past me at the radio control he conveniently led me to the gap under the fence but there was no way I could even keep him in sight on the spectator leg into the headwind across to the quarry. Finished off ok although feel as though I lost the best part of 4 min due to the bad bearings on the 2 long legs. Am surprised that these don't show up as errors on Winsplits but then not even the 2 short legs where I was 23rd because I struggled in and out of erosion gullies count as errors, apparently.

Warmdown was grabbing a baby and using her as a hot-water-bottle (she went to sleep on my chest, which made me feel rather smug, but I didn't dare put her down in case she squawked) and later on collecting controls with Amy. From my perspective, it was a great carnival and went really well, although when I passed the accident site at the southern end of the Burra bypass I hoped against hope that it hadn't involved orienteers - which unfortunately it had, but sounds as though while fairly nasty, it could potentially have been a lot worse in terms of injury.

Got home and George had done an amazing job of moving nearly everything which still remained at Perry Ave to Avenue Rd, including the dog. So now we live on a tautology :)

C • Winsplits 5

Day 3 Course 2 - Splits

Today I got beaten by the new mum...really enjoyed this course but it's clear that I haven't done any long run training lately. Apart from just feeling a bit empty in legs (and tummy - halfway round, I really wanted to eat a steak) yesterday's sore throat had turned into today's cold sores and I wasn't feeling very bouncy. So I treated it as rogaine training, especially since at 1: 15 000 I often couldn't read what was in the centre of the circle. Was a bit disappointed that water had run out at the start, but given that there were no less than 6 drink controls on course, this wasn't a problem. Still not sure whether I took the best route choice up & over the ridgeline to 6, but going around would have taken a while also, and either way it would have been warm in the sun. And from 10-11 I probably should have come back out to the track rather than going around the bottom of the hill - and from 11 definitely should have stuck to the left side of the creek & gone through the saddle, because when I crossed the creek I veered too far right and that resulted in being about 300m too far downhill from where I wanted to be. I enjoyed the flat stuff before & after the spectator control and was very careful with my bearings although a little too far right upon reaching the big creek.

Hung around with SLE afterwards because I had some time to kill before the OA AGM, and learned to burp a baby. After AGM came the OA dinner and a drive back to Burra with no roo sightings. And with all 4 tyres still intact so far this weekend, I think I'm doing ok.

Day 2 Course 2 - Splits

Long day out where I left Burra at 6:30am and got back after 7pm. Was nice watching the sun rise as I drove over the escarpment towards Mulga Valley, and surprisingly cool at Wonna Creek. Had intended to wake up a few units but got fairly involved in start setup and starting the little kids on their courses and came back to the finish about 1130 by which time there wasn't a lot to do there, and very few mispunches to troubleshoot. Simon's courses (middle distance format) were well received and I'm a little surprised that we had the senior elites a touch too long but maybe that was because the terrain is really shaly and dusty at the minute (and I was surprised by the number of women who took the creek route to the second-last control, climbing at the end). Took a carload of McCombs out with me to collect controls and water, bailed from the event at 3pm to get to technical committee meeting, finally escaped from there about 6pm by which time I was meant to be at dinner in Burra, so when I got to La Pecora Nera at 7pm everyone had only pizza crusts left on their plates so I went home & made pasta. At least I didn't have to reprogram all the SI units for the end of daylight saving, which Robin is probably still doing. This carnival simply would not happen without the Uppills!

C • Congratulations 4

Event: 2015 Australian Three Days
 

Yay, an event I had nothing to do with organising! Was a good course from AK, with basically zero climb and as expected I didn't have the legs for running properly fast but I kept a solid pace and it took Lauren quite a while to finally run me down 2 minutes. Didn't take the railway underpass to 9 because I couldn't work out how I would get out of it and on to the platform of the disused station, so went around the right end of the fence - not sure if that was necessary. And picked the first gap between the silos but then didn't take it, so missed the tank I wanted on the other side. But these were small things. Feel that I read the school pretty well - am doing better running without my glasses these days. Really enjoyed it even if I am in fact no faster than a lady who had a baby 3 months ago :)

Enjoyed seeing the baby Eleanor and her parents too!

Elite Prologue Course 2 - Splits

Around Burra on a slightly cool, definitely breezy morning before Simon & I went & put all the flags & units out at Wonna Creek. Heel was a bit uncertain to start with but warmed up ok. After a morning of putting out controls it was quite unhappy but responded to anti-inflammatories at lunchtime and then doing the controls south of the creek was all right. We could drive to most of the water drops and so we had time to set up the start bunting as well. Still, a long day out, spending about 8 hours on site. The landowner has graded the road in, so it's a wee bit dusty. And instead of slashing the paddock we wanted for the parking, he got the grader guy to do random circle work making a whole lot of new tracks. At least they weren't on an important part of the map, as has apparently happened here in the past (according to Yalangans).

I have been excessively diverted (as Jane Austen's heroines were wont to say) by the recent reporting in the daily tabloid of a local defamation case featuring:

a) Harley Vegan and Freelee the Banana Girl (website: www.30bananasaday.com)
vs
b) the author of The Bikini Body Guide

As it's been reported, protagonists (a) would seem to have posted numerous YouTube videos implying, among other things, that protagonist (b)'s diet recommendations lead to eating disorders. Also there have been some nasty catfights on Instagram over something as apparently innocuous as the uploading of a picture of sushi by protagonist (b)...

The truth is of course somewhere in the middle (as I am wont to say), but anyway, protagonists (a) have been ordered to cease and desist. The headline in today's paper: BANANA SPLIT BUT NOW IT"S SMOOTHIE

C • Tabloid headlines 9