Training Log Archive: jennycas

Didn't escape without Black Hill quads, and didn't expect to. Although actually it's more ITB/adductors, and at least I don't live in a house with stairs, unlike poor Bridget. Riding to/from Eblens where my car was serviced counted as enough exercise for today.

The course for this has changed - starts at Foxfield Oval (Wadmore Park) and goes up behind the houses to the top of Addison Ave, down into then all the way up Ghost Tree Gully, down towards Gorge Rd but then you turn right up some Besser blocks I didn't know existed and up the Main Ridge track which it was beneficial to walk, down across the saddle and then all the way down Ghost Tree Gully, up to Addison Ave and down behind the houses, finish across the oval (just like the club relays did).

Nice cool morning for it which made a difference, and paced myself okay (didn't hammer the first big downhill) so never struggled too much - never very fast either, but that's something to work on. Always got passed on the ascents and regained something on the descents; had Doug Smart & Rob Reid in my sights but they pulled away from me at the end. I did get past the Asian guy, Andreas, who often runs at about my pace. As I crossed the oval I heard his footsteps bearing down on me and had to do a sudden very short sprint to hold him off! Up the first hill I knew that there were at least half a dozen women in front of me, and I gradually overhauled three of them, so ended up with a $50 cheque for 5th woman, which was a nice surprise (hoping they got it right)!

Simon won outright, Bridget wasn't far behind me, and we handed out lots of Summer Series and Snap Sprint Series flyers afterwards :)

Emily Sorensen, who is only 11, ran the whole way - with her mum who had run the Heysen 105km two weeks ago!

C • Well done! 4

Not-very-quick lap of the park in the evening sunshine. Legs directed themselves around the familiar loop without much input from the head, which was still processing everything from the day's activities. Okay, so Geoff & I didn't get very far with dress-hunting. But we did meet with the nice celebrant lady, so now the second of the scary activities is out of the way, and we did price some cakes and wedding rings, and are still standing, which indicates that the prices weren't completely outrageous...

Oh, and a rather large koala has taken up residence in the smallish Coffin Bay mallee tree in our back garden! The dog can't understand why his new friend won't come down to play with him :)

C • koala's in Daw Park?! 2

The damp morning smell of drying grass along the creek valley reminds me of rogaining in NZ, or maybe camping in Tasmania - things to do in summertime. Campers have already set up illegally, upstream from the caravan park!

C • Occupy Brownhill Creek? 4

Trainline - steps loop with Zara. Had to keep trying not to step on Callum. Fern, Tyson and John (runningjohn!) were with us for a bit. Think I should treat myself to new running shoes this weekend. Maybe as a reward for surviving weddingdressshopping (if I survive. Couldn't believe that Zara & Fern were voluntarily & spontaneously offering to come too!).

C • Have fun! 6

Three Hills loop, stuck in the one gear for most of it. Nice & cool but needle grass getting in socks is a pain lately. Also so was hamstring/neuroma towards the end, predictable in these shoes. Dwarfs along for the ride today were: Sleepy, Sneezy and Dopey :)

The weekend's efforts caught up with me and everything seemed a bit of an effort...struggling to muster enthusiasm for the challenges of Black Hill on Sunday, I must admit. (Taking grandfather to the Callington Show would be the less strenuous option.)

Swimming is not the smartest thing to attempt with a cold but it was too nice a morning not to and I splodded* along sedately. Feeling extra clean now :)

*conglomeration of splashed and plodded!

The redshirts set forth from Tyson's, around the rim of Shepherds Hill in the direction of Gloucester Ave, and were joined halfway there by a blueshirt. For no obvious reason the hills seemed more manageable tonight.

My streets, my town, my valley, my...dam? Noted from the proliferation of banners by the proposed flood control dam wall site, that the community meeting is this Wed night, and later, when the guy driving his little red bomb along the creek road, handing out NO DAM flyers to people, offered me one, I said I was thinking of going along anyway.

Wow, this seemed tough for something so easy. I was a bit feverish, feeling about as flat as the proverbial pancake/tack and for much of it struggled to catch my breath or keep up with Zara. A warmish, slightly humid afternoon and I hadn't drunk enough because you can't with a sore throat. But we won, so it was all worth it :)

Hash House was at Hazelwood Park and the map, for 3 hours, not much smaller than the 6-hour metrogaine a few years ago; it even included Mt Lofty Summit, which I knew was about 70 min running to get there by even the most direct route, so we ruled that out straight away. The course setting, by the scouts, had a few impractical route choices, dead-end legs, and gaps where controls could have been strategically placed. Also it gave me an opportunity to complain about how I hate Q&A controls (ironically, the one plate control with an actual punch, was the one which they forgot to credit us with the points for when calculating the results).

Anyway, we worked out that sticking to the flat entirely was about 20km, and that it wasn't worth going up into the hills, apart from a 50 and 60 above Beaumont (hard slog up, but running down was twice as fast) and that we needed a little extra to fill our 3 hours so added a 70 in a creek bottom in Horsnell Gully, for which we dropped our small packs and ran in-and-out. I really struggled around the 100 minute mark slogging gently up Glen Osmond Rd, when I realised that I probably hadn't run for longer than this since the March twilightgaine, but thankfully my last-minute adrenaline kicked in at the top of Beaumont as I had hoped and we got back to the Hash House with 6 min to spare - considered going for 20pts along Waterfall Gully Rd but may then have been more than 2 min late. Teams which went all the way to Mt Lofty were much later than that :(

We had 790pts, just over half the available points. Impressive on 690 were the 15-year old junior boys, Aiden Sullivan & Will Kennedy, who came second overall!

Emergent sore throat and impending exhaustion, in advance of tomorrow's 3-hour minigaine. So I spent my time picking Geoff's birthday flowers from the garden and making his birthday pizza for when he got home from an overnight trip to Mt Gambier (on his actual birthday).

At Belair, in the rain. To Long Gully (which is closed off for all the Womad Earth Station infrastructure) & back. Tried to stick to gravel tracks, which meant a few hills.

With Fern, Tyson, Simon, Zara/Callum, Steve, in the lovely rain (which makes me feel better about having accidentally emptied the small rainwater tank the other day by turning the tap on to fill the dog's pond, and not actually ever turning it off again...). Up past the lake, railway line, lower waterfall - we admired the lookout/boardwalk/stonework, approached from immediately behind the sign which stated "no access beyond this point" - upper waterfall, and back down Jubilee Drive. Everything smelled so nice and wet and organic.

Did anyone else get woken by the mini-earthquake at some ungodly hour? Was kind of interesting, also slightly unnerving, the way the wave of sound preceded its arrival. I thought it was going from west to east, but presumably not, since the epicentre was 17km under Upper Sturt.

Hmmm...not so sprightly this morning. A combination of being hot, tired, hungry, thirsty. But I wasn't grumpy! In fact, if I could have sat around afterwards and spent about 2 hours over breakfast, then had a nap on the floor with the papers, I would have been quite happy. Roll on summer sundays where orienteering doesn't take up the whole day.

Haven't done this for a while...up to Deep View (Fern went past like I was standing still, but at least I felt strong on the climb) and then around to the bottom of the Besser blocks, junction below 3rd falls, back past 2nd. Tried to keep pace steady, though I probably spent more time watching my feet than the view. Morialta is pretty nice, but :)

Not sure that 3 hours in OSA meeting afterwards, and chocolate cake for tea, constitute ideal recovery conditions, but oh well. At least I am now looking forward to summer training. Not sure if I am looking forward to the newly revamped Black Hill Challenge with twice the hills for the same price.

Down into Eden Hills, gradually up Magpie Gully with about 8 creek crossings, back via Coro station with Bridget/Simon, Fern/Tyson, Troy. Nice night for it but still had orienteering deadlegs and also I am mentally a bit stuffed. (It appears that wedding-planning will do this to you. Although, I had a funny conversation with mum where she said "I can't think beyond Jan 28th" and I said "Oh goodness, I certainly can - that's only one day out of all the things I am planning on doing in the next year!")

Ran the longest of Fern's excellent courses, in daylight, and since I had put out over half the controls yesterday much of it was on map memory so I maximised the opportunity to enjoy running through lovely soft forest and admire the rocks of all shapes and sizes (I think it was Blair who last year described this area as magical). "Twas a great spot for camping too; more popular in the school holidays than I have seen it before but there was still enough space for everyone and I reckon this has been the best-attended night champs for many years - in fact less people turned up in daylight for the Sunday event.

Event: SA Night Champs Rocky Paddock
 

This was less of a struggle than earlier in the week but knees are still pretty tight and although I thought I had stretched enough afterwards, the couple of hours spent putting out night champs controls up at Rocky Paddock later in the day were slightly painful. Tight hamstrings too. May be that I should get new shoes before the summer long runs start.

Decided not to take the ring for a swim. (Did sleep with it on, though, which was a slightly unusual sensation.) Was so warm out - 21 degrees - that getting in the pool actually felt cold!

C • Not Warm 5

Came into possession of a very special piece of jewellery this evening :)

C • Oooh 8

To the redwoods, up the single track through the forget-me-nots, and back down the nose of Saddle Hill to Long Gully, with Zara/Callum, Fern, Tyson, Simon. I started out very stiff & sluggish after standing and lecturing all afternoon (last session for this year) but who can feel bad when running through arum lilies and periwinkle along the creek on a warm spring afternoon? Cherry blossom didn't quite live up to expectations though.

Slow, stiff, preoccupied plod. Had to climb over padlocked gates at either end of the archery area - odd. Exhausted when I got back, but glad I didn't just sit on couch and eat crap as per first inclination. Noted that it won't quite be dark for first start of night champs at 8pm on Sat!

Attack of the Killer Physio

Adductors were reeeallly bad. Something to do with having run in orienteering spikes all week, where there's not enough support, I can't fit my orthotics, and even taping arches isn't fully successful. (Had resorted to anti-inflammatory gel on painful knees by the weekend.)

143% stuffed. Got back to Melbourne at 11pm Sun and crashed out, then had to leave at 6am for the airport. Road trip over the mountains was worth it though. (I know some people complained about the carnival being spread out and all the driving but I reckon this was better than being stuck in the one place for a week.)

Can't say that I distinguished myself with glory at any time during the week (or the entire O-season) but I do love orienteering; even when I'm in the middle of making a mistake I am enjoying the map and the forest. Unfortunately though, my ability to switch off from other preoccupations while orienteering is getting worse, hence the mistakes.

Finally, a good run! I can't say how much happier this made me feel...

With Vanessa seconded to the Australian team for the A-NZ challenge, Susanne had recruited Clare Paynter (W20 from Darwin, at uni in Canberra) who was running her first-ever relay, into the Arrows team. Sus ran first and came back in just under 36 (nice one), Clare ran second and I expected that this might mean me, running 3rd, starting in the mass start, but wasn't too fussed by this. Ended up in good company because the mass start was only 90 min after the first start and so lots of 3rd leg runners went out at that time.

Felt way better running than I did yesterday (quiet evening with a bunch of Queenslanders watching the rain from a farmhouse at Nimmitabel must have been good for me) and was able to concentrate on being cautious, more so than Aislinn, who vanished over the hill ahead of me on the way to 4 and was never seen again, well not until she finished some minutes after me. Passed Phoebe here also, ran the rest on my own reasonably strongly, even enjoyed the rain as I crossed the open paddocks, and was pleasantly surprised to find I'd done 39.

Worked out in conversation with Bridget, that Susanne & I ran our first Easter, on Badja, a few weeks before she was born! It seems to have greened up somewhat since then (or maybe W13 courses didn't really get into the bracken and fallen logs). My one goal for today was not to stuff up; I knew I wouldn't be competetive running through the forest but I really wanted to redeem myself after navigating fairly poorly this week.

I also wanted to postpone the inevitable - Clare Hawthorne overtaking me after catching 2 min - as long as possible. Possibly I was a bit too focused on this, as I put a lot of effort into running over all the crap in the tough section, and when I saw her behind me at 7 I redoubled my efforts, and nearly had a complete brain fade on the long leg to 10, first veering to the left when cutting off the triangle between tracks and nearly being unable to pick up the track again, then veering to the right and down a west-facing gully instead of the southerly one which actually contained 10. Somehow I hauled my exhausted brain back into line (really shouldn't have stayed up until 1am Wed night doing those controllers' workshop slides) and while confused at times during subsequent legs (the readability of the map really didn't help; it wasn't the right map for a digital 1:15 000 print) I found all the controls okay, except for the second-last where I ended up crossing one clearing too many and therefore on the wrong rocky knoll.

I finished the race feeling more completely wiped than at any other time this year, but 81min sounded like a respectable time, until as I watched my name crawling lower down the results board I became quite despondent and decided not to look at its final resting place (also seriously contemplated retiring from elites; I mean, how much harder can I try?).

Event: Oceania Sprint, Aust Long & Oceania Relays
 

Oh whoops, I had a shocker! Running significantly faster than I was thinking, not always in the right direction, and paying far too much attention to the people around me, some of whom were similarly headless-chickening. So I was an absolute waste of space for the Arrows and took over 50% longer than the placegetters. Bridget's 6th, however, was very impressive!

In the analysis...

Never knew quite where I was after crossing the big clearing on the long leg to 3. Was too high and then when I crossed the clearing immediately before the control, misread its corner and went too high, found Asta and Emily also going uphill, took me a while to realise that the control was below us. Left 3 at slightly the wrong angle and ended up one clump of rocks too far W on 4. Left 5 at slightly the wrong angle, went twice as far as I needed to, stopped when I could see the really big clearing (yes, the one between 2 & 3), took a while to realise that the control uphill from me was 7, which I then passed on the way further up to 6 (and I equalled Grace's split belting back down to 7). From 8 I could see Asta & Emily running across to 12, I congratulated myself on not doing this as I ran straight past 9 (don't know how I missed seeing it) and went right up to 5 before recognising that the number seemed familiar!

Somewhere around here Anna went through the pack of wombles and I gathered what remained of my wits in enough time to jump on the train and, I'm ashamed to say, let her do the thinking for me over the last few controls.

OA Level 3 controllers' workshop which Robin & I chaired with assistance from Adrian & Andy Hogg. About 20 attendees, which was really good, but the more people there are, the more questions that are asked, and it was a very full schedule even without the midmorning fire alarm.

A very fun morning watching the schools' team kids in the relay, even if the fumes from red/yellow/blue hairspray were a bit overwhelming. Particularly impressed by the fact that the South Aussie girls were wearing Superman undies over their tights. No other state has the opportunity to do that!

Yeah, so the Aust relays were held later on the same map. I won't go into how this came to be midweek-and-poorly-attended, while the Oceania relays were a NOL race where states couldn't easily make full elite teams, but anyway, I didn't have a team. Until Anna pointed out that Mat McGuire and Emily Cantwell were also orphans, so we made a team which was unofficial on about 3 levels, and unless I'm mistaken, all enjoyed ourselves. I felt better running than I had on any other day so far this week, and was clean on all but one of the controls - the exception being 4, a downhill leg where I left the track as it bent around the spur. Passed a boulder, rounded a clump of rocks, dropped into the gully on the right along with Kate Morrison: no control. Found this hard to believe, as did she, I went a fair way down into the green making absolutely certain that there was no control, and just as I had the "oh crap" moment of realisation that we were one gully too far east, Anna appeared over the spur from the correct gully (although, to quote herself, she hadn't always been in it). So I'd guess I lost about 3 min there. Kate went on to do strange things on the next control and didn't catch up to me again until the top of the uphill slog after the spectator control.

Yes, another afternoon start. Went out to the event early because my taxi-service was responsible for commentary, and I really enjoyed the morning watching the schools' team kids and hearing how the South Aussies went. Particularly pleased with Olivia's 3rd and Mel's 6th in senior girls. They've come a long way in 2 years!

Ran the senior girls' schools' champs course in the public race (would theoretically have been 2nd to Heather Muir) and couldn't help thinking about my last senior girls' race in 1992, when the Warbys were rather wet underfoot. This terrain was fairly similar; rocky hilltops and subtle saddles, and I had a steady run with only a couple of slight misses in the control circle. Didn't even mind the slog up the hill at the end too much, but definitely had to walk (crawl) it.

Took the Beechworth O map - and Blair - through town, around the gorge loop road and back to Lake Sambell caravan park. Was really beautiful going down past all the native pines and mossy rock slabs (although my shins felt the effects of the descent afterwards) and not too bad coming back up the hill on a fresh morning. Afterwards my ambitions of visiting the bakery and Woolshed falls were fulfilled, so I felt like a proper tourist, and Mt Buffalo (where we encountered the extended Arthur clan) was deemed to be en route to Wagga.

Rowdy Flat
Despite the pre-event hype, this turned out to be fairly similar to other intricate goldmining areas, and therefore equally enjoyable - although the branched erosions/watercourses were in a more complex network than usual. 'Twasn't a good day for cramps, however, and I struggled/was distracted accordingly.

My bearing to the first control suddenly found me on top of a breadknife - quick scramble down the other side :) Ran too far downhill on 3 and looked in the wrong side gully, Jo went through me here. Hesitant to 5, track route to 6, okay plod through the spectator loop and to 14 which some people had trouble with, then across to 15 got confused about how many ridges-with-MTB-tracks I had crossed and, when I caught a glimpse of Susanne running along one of them to the fence (so I think she had caught me 6 min by then), decided to do the same. Overshot 17 on the downhill although I had crossed the creek very near to it, came back a couple min later. Wombled a bit on 18 and then unmapped rocks in the creek at the control confused me (I am easily confused) and finished in time to see a bit of the GPS tracking on the big screen and before the bottom dropped out of the sky.

15th turned out to be the best I achieved all week, which is not saying much, but was very excited for Sus with her second place!

Event: Oceania Long & Middle Distance Champs
 

Starting 3rd-last in a long race in the Warbys at 1pm on a rainy afternoon more suited to June than October wasn't really my idea of a good time as it would be a long time until lunch, and although WMOC had taught me plenty about waiting around when the entire day is taken up with orienteering and the getting to/from thereof, wearing a GPS unit was an entirely new experience and one which made me rather jittery.

Started out slowly and sensibly but that only lasted about 2 controls and then I remembered about my 'extra bra' and got distracted just long enough to veer in the wrong direction crossing the track to 3. Corrected okay and went cautiously down the rock slabs to the correct little gully but thought I was above the control when I was actually less than 5m below (didn't spot it because of foggy glasses), and came back to punch a minute later. Long leg to 7 was okay, very slow up the hill through the rubble, then really cautious in to the circle. Overshot 8 (on a bearing and a prayer) but when things didn't seem right I slowed down, looked behind me across the clearing and saw the control - good save. Basically, every time I couldn't see to read the map, I made a mistake - the next was on 10 where coming down the hill I couldn't make the little gullies fit and the bare rock to the south seemed closer than it was.

Still, was feeling okay (if slow) running-wise but could feel an attack of the vague-and-hungries coming on. Disaster struck in the same place it did two years ago, coming over the ridge above the spectator/radio control. I crossed the minor track right by twin/split boulders* and a tree with a blue blaze on it, headed NW across the saddle and ended up in completely the wrong spot, unable to make anything fit. Somewhere between 6 & 8 min later I decided that the blur of the commentary was definitely coming at me from too far south, so I headed south in search of the control.

Final loop was okay, took a poor down/up route across the hill/valley, Tash caught me here - first person I'd run with all day - but got away from me towards the end, by which time I was very glad to see the finish. Really, it was a great course and a good physical challenge but I made close to 12 min of mistakes, which is definitely not cool. Probably the hardest I've had to concentrate all year, plus my brain was otherwise preoccupied.

*In hindsight, I think that these rocks aren't mapped at all but that in both 2009 and 2011 I have mistaken them for a pair of boulders marked near, but not on, the track - about 150m south of where I actually was.

Course 3 - Splits