Training Log Archive: jennycas

It's been a while...this was a fine morning and I thought riding might be easier on my knees than running. Now, by lunchtime, I'm not so sure about that, but it was fun at the time.

To Fern's for what may be the last group run from Grange Rd, then up the creek to the bridge at the end of the caravan park (very nearly too dark to see our feet on the singletrack) with Fern, Tyson,Simon, Bridget, Lauren, Troy. Then back to Fern's, and home again after hearing how Tyson got stuck inside a roll of cable...

It was a fine day for a run around the hillsides looking for rocks and my legs didn't feel too bad so I did the long course. Steve Cooper started 2 min before me and I know he runs faster than I do but since the map is so open I figured I'd keep him in my sights for as long as possible. As it turned out, at the end of the long leg he went to 8 not 6, gifting me that minor victory (we'll ignore the fact that Simon took 20 min out of me on this course). I was at the event from 10am to 2pm, and since my course only took me an hour, that means I spent at least 2 hours discussing fundamental nationals-related questions with various people.

Today's trail run for those who are training to run Yurrebilla in 5 weeks' time was 22km from Norton Summit to Athelstone through Morialta and Black Hill, with a fair bit of up & down and a couple of creek crossings. The hard-core were running back as well for 44km, and some of them had done the Adelaide marathon only 2 weeks ago! I figured no way could I manage that, I haven't done any long runs for ages, so I parked my car at the bottom of Morialta and ran up to Norton Summit via Pretty Corner (5km, 36min, 320m climb). A couple of carloads of suspicious-looking hoons offered me a lift when I was halfway up, but the cars seemed to be rather full of gangly running types with their knees around each others' ears, so I declined.

Next section, 22km approx, maybe 800m climb, took 2:15ish but that doesn't include all the stops to answer phone calls and chat to people I passed (or vice versa). It's nice to see people I know at these runs but none of them run at the same pace as me so conversation is limited. I did get to ask Nicole Butterfield about running the Ayers Rock marathon, which is on desert tracks and took her 3:19, before she took off into the distance.

From Norton Summit it's down into the park and past the bottom of third falls, flowing impressively - there are only stepping stones at the creek crossings just below here, and last year they had a rope across on the day of the event (which was when we were getting soaked in a similar creek at Castlemaine) so I stopped to help a couple of people across. Yurrebilla trail goes past the top of second then first falls, which I would have loved to take a closer look at, then up to Deep View, and up/around the ridgeline to Moores Rd. I struggled most here but improved after stopping for a hamstring stretch and a drink. Down to Foxes Dam and then Montacute Rd was nice, but I had to stop to answer calls about nationals business (sigh) and a lot of people got past me here, who I eventually overtook again at the top of Black Hill, so then I was on my own going down the last singletrack into Ambers Gully. Feeling a bit sorry for myself because knees were quite unhappy with the descent then I saw someone struggling even to walk downhill (it was Nusha Lavender, who did 3:18 for the recent marathon but now her ITB is playing up) and I thought that I should be grateful to my physio!

After a bit of a stretch and chatting to a couple of people at the finish I headed back to my car via Gorge/Maryvale/Montacute/Stradbroke roads, 6km in 34min so I wasn't completely crawling. I think Sea to Summit in 2 weeks' time will seem easier; it would be nice to run it without a pack. I handled today better than I anticipated but can definitely tell that I'm not one of those types who can go out and do a 30 or 50km race without any long-run training.

12x225m on the rough grass at Mortlock Oval. Good and squelchy. Satisfied with my consistency but guessing I should aim to do faster recoveries.
49, 50, 49, 48, 49, 49, 49, 48, 48, 48, 49, 49

11 x approx 90 sec (87-96) jog recoveries

warmup 12:08, warmdown 11:20

The usual entrance to the golf course carpark was closed and so cars had to detour via the caravan park. As we waited for others to arive we saw first the brightness of Ayups then heard the squealing as Tyson, Troy & Fern got their feet thoroughly wet (and smelly) in Minno Creek flowing across the entrance road. We followed the creek - flowing more strongly and noisily than I've ever seen it - along Long Gully to the redwoods then Simon, Bridget, Zara/Callum & I went UP the Besser blocks to the tap at the top of the park, down past the Upper Waterfall (impressive by its own standards) past the bottom of Echo Tunnel which you would still be able to go through without getting your feet wet, and across the lake spillway which doesn't flow that often, but it is doing so currently. And then we got our feet wet(ter) crossing the creek at the very end. Now my shoes smell :( Driving home I stopped to stickybeak the creek in lots of places such as where Sturt Creek comes out of the hills (Fern says her parents have had 2 inches at Blackwood since yesterday) but it isn't flowing across the ford at Winns Rd - yet.

As Fern said, the morning's weather was too feral for exercise (apart from dog-walking, and even he wasn't impressed). Also my legs were really hammered/tight and I am getting sick of this. Seems as though my current Asics, which should be exactly the same as previous versions of the same model, are causing my feet to roll inwards despite orthotics, and therefore pulling on my knees/ITB. Not sure what's tightening the hamstrings so much but it's affecting my uphill running.

Evening was spent sifting through my slowly accumulating pile of stuff for the start book. Most of the documents I've been sent are at the "almost-final" version so can't actually be collated just yet.

Trying to decide just how much of a spoof this thread is: http://www.coolrunning.com.au/forums/index.php?s=c...

For the first part of this I felt the same as when I'm in the wrong gear on my bike and so my legs weren't turning over at the rate my brain thought they should be. Got some decent speed up towards the end, at which point my core muscles went "can we go home now?"

warmup 8:06 (needs to be longer)
warmdown 16:21
Have been more diligent with stretching (even when I get up in the night) but less so with sleeping. When I came home from Secret Controllers' Business at Vincent's (the dogs don't even bark at me now, I've been round there so often) at 10:30 last night, I somehow faffed around until it was after 12 before I went to bed. My brain just wasn't willing to switch off yet (a common problem after meetings etc).

Lots of people tonight, including Lauren, Simon and Tyson, who I hadn't seen for 8, 6, & 4 weeks respectively, plus Eric who had already run home from work, and me/Fern/Bridget, of course. Felt at least 30% better than yesterday but people went past me up the big hill like I was standing still.

I had to check yet another couple of control sites at Tanunda Creek which have undergone some tweaking (for the better) by Vincent. Quite a lot of water in the creek - I'm glad that the littlest kids' courses won't need to cross it.

Since I was up that way I went for a run in Kaiserstuhl Conservation Park. I wore nothing that could possibly be construed as O gear, and I stuck faithfully to the tracks, but it's possible that I may have been in possession of a copy of the 1986 Aust champs map (yes kiddies, before you were born) which I was prepared to tuck into my underwear if I encountered any particularly fanatical Friends of the park. Anyway, you can't do the loop track any more because part of it has been closed, so I went up to the ridgeline which borders the Tanunda Creek map, and back the same way with a detour to the lookout. It was a perfect day for a run even though I had nothing in my legs, and I had even less on the hills (not sure what's wrong with me but hopefully nothing that stretching and sleep won't fix) and at one point along the ridgeline I could have sworn I was running on Kooyoora. According to the park notes I was passing through a patch of Wallowa wattle (Acacia calamifolia); does anyone know if this grows at Kooyoora?

Here's a good thing: it has been arranged with Transition Zone that the late fee won't now be applied until Monday 23rd, and they will refund any late fees already charged for online entries. Hard copy entries can be postmarked up until Monday and they won't attract a late fee either.

(If I am already slightly stressed about the Aust champs carnival, what am I going to be like in 5 weeks' time? Probably would help if I had received more than 60% of the contributions I need for the start book by now...)

C • Start times 5

3 Hills Loop, with detour via polling booth which was reached after precisely 3 1/2 minutes (I then found the back way out of Pasadena High, which isn't interesting enough to make into a map). Very tired today even after so-called rest day yesterday, but I enjoyed investigating the waterfalls on the side creek in the park. There are 4 little cascades, none of them nearly as speccy as Morialta or anything in Litchfield, but they are my falls, in my park, where I have been running since 1997, and this is at least as good as I've seen them previously. Hamstrings were very tight, especially on hills, because of having spent the afternoon in the garden (my goal is to have it presentable enough so that I can have people round for a BBQ the first weekend of the Aust champs carnival, since that's the only part of that week I'll actually be at home).

C • Did you vote in mid-run? 2

If anyone is trying to enter the Aust champs online today (and entries close today; you did know that, right?) you'll find that Transition Zone is already applying the late fee which isn't meant to apply until midnight tonight - so I suggest that you download, fill out, and post off a hard copy entry form...

Attack of the Killer Physio
According to Kath, my hamstrings are very well-developed. I'll take her word for this since I've never seen them.

With Fern, Bridget, Zara/Callum. Managed to fit this in between a couple of icy rain showers. We ended up on roads in the suburbs because tracks in the park were so squelchy!

Across to (and from) Vincent's to pick up a set of what is hopefully the final version of the Aust champs maps. There was enough daylight for a bit of a Brownhill Creek detour, where I got overtaken by a guy on a MTB using the track while I was on the road. I am starting to see why people on bikes spontaneously race each other, 'cos I suddenly evolved an inclination to chase him!

The 3-minute hill again. Didn't improve on last time's times because I turned out to be even tireder. But I'm sure that running hard up hills when you are buggered at the end of an orienteering race is a very important skill to develop.
2:59
3:03
3:05
3:08
3:07

Across to Shepherds Hill 20:45, run home again 18:17 (different routes) downhill recoveries on singletrack 10min. Knees pretty tight afterwards.

With Bridget from the Uppills' through Hawthorndene to Blackwood forest, and back up the creek. She showed me the house where she used to live, and that the semi-derelict cottage in the corner of the forest has been turned into a gallery space. We peered through the windows by torchlight and observed that the medium which has been used for the current artworks on display is apples (peeled, dried, and made into patterns)!

Last Darwin run (for some time). With Sus from home across to Mindil Beach and then basically a waterfront lap of the CBD including the lagoon with the artificial wave pool (yes, seriously) and back through Stuart Park. Knees have been getting more troublesome from running in the same shoes all week, and they didn't enjoy the stairs, but I enjoyed the company :)

From Sus & Lachlan's across to the botanic gardens, with a map, but the course on it didn't require much navigation. It went through the gardens, Mindil Beach, past Vesteys Lake and past 3 wedding parties, so I'm sorry if a sweaty runner appears in the background of any photos! When the sweaty runner got back she jumped in S&L's pool, pronounced it cold, tested out the pool noodle which Sus op-shopped for $1 this morning, and broke it (oops). Sus then jumped in and we did an impromptu aqua class with half a noodle each...it was fun(ny).

From Sus & Lachlan's in Stuart Park out to East Point and back. Bike path was a bit hard on my shins so I stuck to grass where possible & meandered on tracks through the monsoon forest. Felt kind of slow & wasn't sorry that half the mangrove boardwalk was under water and so I couldn't get to the end - in any case, I was slightly uneasy about toothy things (do they like mangroves?).

C • They like ankles! 1

I ran a course which started from the uni at Casuarina and also went through the suburbs and to the Dripstone Cliffs. Control 4 appeared to be straightforward, on a track through some green, but green meant mangroves, the tide was in, and the track was submerged. Went around to the other end of the track - same problem. So I never found that control! When I got to the control in a cave at the foot of the cliffs, the beach was still partly underwater but by this time my ankles were so itchy (from mozzie bites while camping) that I was happy to take off shoes & socks to wade.

After dropping Kate Radford to her 7am work bus (which was dependent on tide times for the trip to Arnhem Land), Susanne & I did 10 x 1-minute hills on the edge of Charles Darwin national park. Times were between 1.03 & 1.06 and at first I didn't notice the hill, but from the 6th onwards I did.

Warmup 9 min, warmdown 7 min. Plus downhill recoveries.

Something I've never done before, but we got back from Litchfield in enough time for me & Sus to go to pool running class at Parap. Pool noodles were involved (btw, they chafe) and an instructor called Cheryl, and a number of older ladies who wanted to know where Lachlan was. They were impressed that he was home cooking dinner :) Everyone kept saying how cold the water was, but I thought it was just right.

C • Cold Darwin water 2

Decided to restore my dignity by doing proper swimming. My (probably incorrect) theory that the pool is slightly longer than 50m has evolved from the fact that every lap took me 2 strokes more than usual...

With Susanne, from Litchfield Safari Camp, towards the Cascades, but the walking trail took us up on to the plateau and there was no sign of a waterfall yet so we turned around. Found lots of water later in the day - first the beautiful rockholes on Walker Creek (nice campsites) and then the huge pool at Wangi Falls, which was full of humans and no crocodiles, in direct contrast to last week!

Fairly straightforward course where I was happy with my bearings, less so with my scree slope running ability. Eating bbq afterwards at 10am completed the Top End orienteering experience. After collecting a few controls (Susanne let me ride her MTB but the track wasn't really a track - oops) we went to Litchfield and sat in a waterhole at Buley :)

Susanne set a course on a contour map, with no north lines, and only the direction of the start triangle to indicate which was the first control. Oh, and the map was circular!

Turned the map over and there was another similar course! Great exercise by Sus - did I mention that compasses were forbidden? Afterwards we watched all sorts of planes take off & land from the old WW2 airstrip and Lachlan took a ride in a gyrocopter.

C • Gyrocopter 2

If I'm going to aggravate my knee any more I may as well do it somewhere 3000km north of here where it's warm and sunny. (Now someone is going to point out to me that would actually be in the ocean, right?)

Two days in a row the daily tabloid has told me something I agreed with: Wednesday's was that the best quality (family) time you can spend is walking the dog; Thursday it was that sisters are good for your health and wellbeing :)

C • Agreed! 3

Along the creek to the redwoods and back with John, Fern, Bridget, Zara/Callum. Glad that nobody wanted to be fast tonight.
knee = bad
company = good
ITB stretch = excruciating (but I think it's helping)

I had wanted to do hills, but my knee surely didn't, and anyway it was too muddy & slippery in the park. So I did the shortest loop, early enough to get through the park before it was too dark to see where I was putting my feet. This meant I could get a good look at the creek, which was flowing more strongly than I've seen it for a few winters (and which could be a problem if it's this wet at schools' champs time next year). The stepping stones were under water so I had to take a giant leap for Jenny-kind. Don't know why I tried so hard to keep my feet dry, 'cos the track was flowing water anyway.

Better than Friday but still seemed like hard work. I managed to keep my hands warm but not my toes.

The short run I didn't do last night - on 24-hour time delay. Shins a bit tight but knees were quiescent; subsequently they exacted their revenge for being made to sit in Aust Champs meeting for the rest of the evening, by seizing up so badly overnight that I could hardly walk the dog in the morning. Left ITB particularly horrible :(

Weary and my knees were tight; I don't think I stretched enough on the weekend. So instead of running I finished an overdue report and attended Wallaringa meeting.

Only 4 days until we go to Darwin! I am going to do my absolute best not to complain at any time that it is "too hot". We'll see how long that lasts...

I parked at the entrance to the Blue Mountains National Park in Glenbrook and ran down to the causeway on Glenbrook Creek then along Campfire Creek to Red Hands Cave (underwhelming collection of aboriginal handprints which you can hardly see through the smeared perspex) and back via the grinding stones in the creekbed, which I reckon are more interesting. It's a pretty rough track with steps and stones and a few fallen logs to clamber over, and I didn't hurry, because I like Sydney sandstone when I am not trying not to fall off the edge of it. The creek was flowing through the ferns, I heard a whip bird, and it was turning out to be a glorious mountains morning. Coming back up from the Causeway is always a slog, but I reckon I had it easier than the guys on mountain bikes ( the park was popular today, and probably always is).