Training Log Archive: jennycas

Stayed up rather too late talking to Hania last night and then didn't really feel awake enough for breakfast (it's really pointless to have pre-race nerves when you're not actually capable of racing), but made myself eat plenty 'cos I figured I'd be out for about 3 hours. Didn't get around to warming up because it took me so long to tape my ankles, but figured it didn't matter.

Already in last place out of the women's mass start and we all followed the decommissioned no-longer mapped singletrack south without really thinking about how far along it we were, which led to some interesting overshoots. Also interesting was the course configuration, as it turned out; you could have either 300m, 500m or 800m for the first leg, but everyone ended up at the same 'pivot' control about 1.2km in. Which meant, in the end, that I ran the same singletrack 3 times, as did probably everyone but Blair, by which time it was no longer looking decommissioned!

The courses all then went downhill through some thick stuff into a nice open fairly flat bit before heading west (or on the last loop, east) and I took the track, which I could run on okay, but going uphill I just had no power in my legs and was reduced to walking even the slightest incline. Oh well, at least my knee didn't twinge much. And I made a good save at the end of a shocking bearing by figuring out fairly quickly that I was actually 200m east of where I needed to be on 17. By halfway through the second loop I was absolutely starving - hadn't realized it was going to be the longest loop or I would have had my muesli bar before, not after that loop - but it was a nice surprise to hear Toph say at the map changeover that the last loop was only 3.5km (a bit different for the men!).

Still, a tough last loop with a big hill up which I staggered trying not to crush the little helmet orchids, after the control on the sinkhole in the rock, which was probably my favourite of today's sites. I took 53 min for this loop compared with 50 for the first, so maybe it wasn't that much worse at the end. Don't know how I can improve my ability to lift my legs over stuff; much of the time I just felt like I was treading water. But I did have fun, and the time passed quickly...didn't feel like nearly 3 hours out on course!

C • decommissioned track 1

Event: Victorian Middle/Long Distance Championships - Mt Kooyoora
 

Who doesn't love Kooyoora? Plenty of people, probably, but I'm not one of them. Anyway, this course started up the top carpark and made its way northwest then around the west side of the caves hill to the bottom picnic area. For the first half I felt like I was running pretty well and certainly everything was popping up cleanly as it should but then my brain started to overheat in the sun and when Krystal & Lizzie went past me I got a bit confused on my bearing to 10 and veered left, thinking perhaps I was too far right. On 14 I stood there foolishly looking at the wrong side of the wrong high point knoll (am really bad with my lefts & rights on control descriptions) and on 15 I was too low, as was Belinda, but then I stopped short, then went way too low, which possibly accounted for a couple of minutes. Definitely a bit of brain-fade towards the end. I ought to be able to run a lot faster than this too.

So, last night I veged out and consumed chocolate and a trashy novel. Good for the soul if not for the intellect or waistline. This morning I felt chirpy enough to attempt something faster, so after half an hour of core exercises (disappointing the dog because he didn't get a walk) I trotted across to Mortlock Park and alternated fast & slow sides, trying to keep my pelvis straight. Managed 5x 200 and 2 x 400 and rolling the other ankle. Just seem to have no stability at the minute.

Hmph. Just when I had thought things were starting to come good, my back stiffened up in the night and still wasn't brilliant during the day, so I galumphed along behind Bridget & Zara and then when my hip/knee sort of gave way, managed to roll my ankle, so had a minor tanty. This week's source of stress and initiator of muscle tension is primarily the fact that the bank appears to have structured our loan application in almost precisely the opposite way to that which I thought they had agreed to do for me!

Too nice a morning not to run and admire the flowering plum trees, said my brain, but legs & back just wouldn't come to the party. Even before I got to the end of the street I knew that this wasn't going to be a day where I'd finally loosen up after 20-30 minutes; it simply wasn't going to happen. So from the bottom of Randells Reserve I decided that there was no point in making myself stagger up to Belair and I went across through the cemetery to Brownhill Creek. In the springtime sunshine I was almost feeling too warm (as per Bun's comments earlier in the week) and then I hit the temperature inversion in the creek valley - impressive contrast. About 15 min from the end I stopped to stretch and I really wished I had a magic carpet to carry my tired body home, but alas, none passed by at that moment.

Escaped work with enough time to get to the park before sunset, and out of the park before it was too dark to see where I was putting my feet. Starting to feel a bit stronger but the worst part of going up hill was how tight my arches were - and have been since getting my orthotics adjusted.

Really tired today. Also a little apprehensive about this afternoon's impending performance review but it turned out okay (i.e. about 400% better than last year's). Anyway, a quick run around Hawthorndene with Tyson, Troy & Biddy was better than expected, after which I went to Wallaringa meeting, at which I seemed to do most of the talking (sometimes with my mouth full of supper).

Fun day out in the sun at the club relays @Moon Rocks. Long day too because G&I left home at 6:30am to collect the trailer and put signs out and got back just on dark after visiting my grandfather on the way home. I had no particular responsibility but seemed to be always busy doing something small and hopefully useful :) The event ran smoothly, thanks in particular to Mr T; it's a little disappointing that every year we seem to get a couple less teams entering, but those who do come really seem to enjoy themselves. Simon did an excellent job of commentating; he must have had x-ray vision to see who was running around the far hillside.

Wasn't sure about this one when I started out towards Shepherds Hill and up through Eden Hills, but it gradually got better, although I was thirsty by the time I got to Blackwood. After stretching at the tap my mobility improved and through the ups & downs to Belair I gradually convinced myself that from Belair Triangle I should turn right along Sheoak Rd rather than going left and downhill. Down the Pony Ridge switchbacks I had to give way to a group of mountain bikers; I admired their ability to get downhill way faster than I could. Knees were tightening up a bit by the bottom but surprisingly, along the creek I seemed to be getting a little spring in my step (and in the air) and with the aid of half a dozen jellybeans which kept making their way from my pocket to my mouth, I finished off okay.

So I'm feeling somewhat more optimistic about next weekend although that doesn't explain the dream I had last night where I got to the start of the Ultralong and found my compass broken. Not something you can really do without at Kooyoora!

Attack of the Killer Masseuse

Calves & adductors particularly painful. I wasn't sure how driving out to Moon Rocks afterwards would go, but actually, putting out controls for the relays was good recovery.

Did quite a good job of carbo-loading in advance of a long run when we went out to dinner: garlic bread, chorizo & olive pasta, and most excellent banana fritters with chocolate sauce :)

Quick run by myself in the park before relays-organising-extravaganza (to quote AK). The Arrows are a well-oiled machine but my hips weren't after sitting on the floor numbering maps! In general though my back is better in the evenings than the mornings.

Legs & back not feeling so flexible this morning. Just getting to Shepherds Hill was a struggle and staggering up the hill a bit like treading water. I contemplated heading back from the park as time was a bit tight (need to factor in being 10% slower than previously, plus the equivalent time again for stopping to stretch) but forced myself to go up through Eden Hills and down through Bellevue Heights and the uni. This didn't always hurt, but when it did, sometimes the pulling-feeling was on my inside knee, which is new and unwelcome.

Over to Mitcham and back before OSA council meeting. Both the run and the meeting were better than expected. My hips & back actually felt loose enough to flex, which was a pleasant surprise (although spending the best part of 3 hours in the aforementioned meeting seems to have reversed this, alas).

We escaped Penrith, after a day doing family stuff, with enough time to drop in to Glebe so that George could buy books. I've suggested that if we need to curtail spending with a new house, we could not buy books for a while, and re-read the thousands we already have, but this seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Admittedly one reason for buying this house was so that we'd have more space for our books! Anyway, I set a virtuously good example and did not cross the threshold of a bookstore, but instead went for a run. It was good to get some fresh air and I saw some impressive mansions, but geez, this was painfully slow. Can't believe how stuffed I am!

Nearly didn't make it to this one. After back was unpleasant in the night, presumably due to the hotel bed, I managed to sleep through until 8am - at which time it was still raining - and thought very hard about not going orienteering given my 9:38am start. A look at the radar and the rain appeared to be clearing so I had no real excuse, except that even a quick hotel breakfast takes time and so we didn't leave until 8:45, with me navigating for George while taping my ankles in the car. We pulled up at the event; I hopped out of the car and ran the 500m to the start casting longing glances at the toilet queue as I bypassed it, and arrived with just enough time to sign the indemnity (is this really necessary if we've already clicked the waiver button when entering?) before I was called up!

Yeah, so I've definitely never cut it this fine before :) Good thing I'm not someone who finds it difficult to settle in and focus on the map - in fact, one of the reasons I like orienteering is because it forces me to switch off all the other things which are on my mind (there seem to have been a lot of these lately).

Anyway, the bush was good and soggy, with tiny watercourses branching off a main one and a network of tiny tracks, in an area less than 1.5 sq km. The print resolution/colour was a wee bit funny and so I struggled to read ditches and watercourses when they were overlaid with solid or hatched green, but my bearings were pretty direct and I toddled along ok, if very slowly and feeling rather like I had been carved out of a solid block of wood. About halfway through we came out into the 'open' with tall grass nearly my height in places and a slalom of motorbike tracks which went in random directions. I really found it hard to lift my legs through this bit, which we came back through towards the end, but I liked the forested parts which reminded me, strangely enough, of the NOL races at Newcastle a couple of years ago.

Time was pretty woeful but logic tells me that there must be some possibility of improvement in the terrain between now and nationals. I dare say I could sharpen up my navigation a little also; will get a new compass before Kooyoora. Anyway, it was still a rewarding weekend of races and I talked George into detouring to Brooklyn, on the water by the Mooney Mooney bridge, on our way back to Penrith and we found a quaint little café/gallery for lunch, so that was nice.

C • clarification 2

C • Lake Mac Games 6

SL13 HARD 2 - Splits

Event: 2014 State League #12/#13 - Newcastle
 

So, we flew into Sydney last night and after a quick breakfast in Glebe headed up the freeway towards Newcastle. The event was at a high school on the shores of Lake Macquarie and I had a great view of yachts and rowers while taping my ankles. The race was good - a well set course with plenty of changes of direction and some long legs with the multiple gates about which we had been warned to carefully check whether or not they had been mapped as open. My ability to race was suboptimal, being pretty tentative on my knee and also apparently unable to lift my legs up any sort of an incline. I hesitated a bit choosing a route choice to 5 (there was only one viable option but it took me a while to convince myself of this), and misread where I thought an open gate would be on the way to 6 so doubled back when I could just have gone a bit further to another gate. And I can now see at least 3 better routes to 12 than the one I took. But oh well, it was definitely fun, although I'm slightly startled that some of the guys took 13 min for this course.

This afternoon's course had more climb and trickier split levels with ramps and stairs, being on a hillside. I didn't go the best way to 1 so approached it from the top of the stairs, which I then ran straight back up because I started navigating to 3 not 2. Correcting this effort involved a few otherwise unnecessary flights of stairs, then it seemed like I dropped quite a bit of height on the long leg to 4 and had to climb through an excessive number of courtyards, but I think everybody had to. Uphill's when I just seem to have no pushoff whatsoever, and so I was quite a bit slower on this course, except when running away from the swooping plover. Good fun though, and an area I'd like to run on again.

We headed into Newcastle afterwards and used the last of the daylight to drive around the foreshore admiring the view through the rain, before correctly identifying the restaurant strip. Within 200m there are 3 Thai and 3 Vietnamese restaurants, plus enough other options to make you think you're on Lygon St.

W21A - Race 2 - Splits

W21A Race1 - Splits

I don't think Kath can be completely right, because I am not getting any sort of sciatica, and the twinging knee is pretty similar to when I had tendonopathy on the other side. I will concede though that my back has been very tight ever since we started lugging laptops around with us at work. I don't have to go to work this Monday, and that makes me very happy!

Attack of the Killer Physio

Kath's convinced it's all coming from my back - L5/S1, she reckons. I don't care as long as it can be fixed so I don't have to wince when I get in & out of the car.

Every night I wake up some time pre-dawn, cannot get back to sleep for what seems like an hour or two (brain kicks in to work mode?), then generally manage to sleep through the alarm. This has got to stop; first step was to make myself go running this morning. But seriously, I think I should have stayed in bed. Legs just couldn't go up hills; I kept stopping to stretch but was beset by a complete lack of energy & flexibility. Maybe Kath can fix some of this tomorrow. Anyway, it was worth it for the view out over the ocean of the rising sun shining on the high-rise* buildings at Glenelg.

*hardly Gold-Coast-level elevation or density, though, which is a good thing.

C • Attackpoint 5

Had grand (ok, small & petty) plans of making it to run with the others @North Adelaide - when will I ever learn that 5:15 is not a valid work-departure-time goal? Anyway, a couple of hours later I headed over to Mitcham by myself. A bit suspicious that my hip & knee may not have approved of this idea, but I tried to run a bit harder, and didn't trip over any cracks in the pavement in the dark.

Around Hawthorndene with Simon & Tyson on a chilly night following a chilly day. Tyson said he felt slow but I was struggling to keep up with him. Some small knee twinges - possibly sitting in Easter meeting afterwards wasn't the ideal warmdown.

Managed to get to the event too late to help WA set up, so went for a run comparatively early before it started raining. Legs had almost complete inability to move up hills, especially at the beginning - it's all coming from my back, but hip/knee/ITB was a lot better today. Anyway, the pine forest was nice & soft underfoot, apart from lots of brashings which necessitated clambering over them because they couldn't really be jumped. Had trouble with no. 4 in an area of young pines with rows of old logs, one of which I suspect may have been obscuring the boulder that the control should have been on. Caught a glimpse of AK here who had started about 3 min before me, but had probably lost 3 min on this control; then I proceeded to lose 3 min on it myself. Took the track option to 5 and caught a glimpse of AK again, who'd foolishly gone cross country, which suboptimal option I then proceeded to take to 6, while he caught me there by going around the road.

6-7 was a 1.7km leg where I went comparatively low to the right and Andrew took a more direct track higher up, I think. Anyway, I could see him about 200m ahead of me going into each of the next three controls but I was well behind by the time it came to the steep climb out of 9, although as I caught my breath at the top I did spot a flash of blue along the ridge track, nearly to 10 already. Hope that he wouldn't beat me by *too* much kept me from being wussy through the next few controls including a horrible leg through brashings, then as I headed up the track towards the second-last control I saw the blue streak pop out of the forest from an unexpected direction (I think we were both slow learners when it came to realising that cross-country was not the best route choice) so I got a bit excited and promptly punched the kiddies' control instead of my own (also my own) and we belted down the hill together, nearly taking out Robin in my beeline to the finish.

Yeah, so still reeeally slow but running a lot better than I have at any time in the last month. Warmdown was control collecting, which got a bit awkward when it turned out that the course planner (who's a local) had never obtained a key to any of the forestry gates during the planning and permissions process - and just told us "oh, you can drive around this one". Which George & I duly did, a little uneasily, and subsequently we endountered the forest ranger, presumably out looking for people who had just done what we'd done. I explained that we were control collecting and he asked which gate we'd come through. I told him, and he seemed satisfied, and thankfully he didn't ask whether we actually had a key to it...

After Attack of the Killer Masseuse (ow ow ow) and getting a podiatrist to build up the flat spots under the arches of my orthotics, I undertook a leisurely conversational run in the park with Zara (& Callum, of course). Long Gully to the redwoods, up the MTB singletrail (some forget-me-nots out already) over to the Upper Waterfall (shuddering at the thought of riding over the edge) and along the clifftop track then back down QJD. A really nice day for it and the golden wattle was flowering. I couldn't make myself go faster - even down hills - though.

Oh boy, this was even slower than Sunday :(

Legs just wouldn't move, possibly because hip flexors wouldn't flex (perhaps that should be wooden't?) and it was as though I was made of concrete. Only one really nasty hip twinge; as I stopped & stretched it out I said hello to a rogainer walking his two beautiful black dogs. It was a pleasant morning although my hands got colder than I realised and I struggled to make them function when I got home. Nice views out over the ocean as I staggered painfully down Gloucester. (Last night from Brown Hill I could even see lights on Yorke Peninsula!)

Not so cold this evening as it has been for the past week, and I've got rid of the on call phone (yay) so headed across to Brownhill Creek, behind the caravan park, then up Brown Hill itself (from the Carrick HIll carpark 13 min up, 7 min down), admired the view of the city lights, circumnavigated the trig, listened to the mopoke owl calling, and descended back into suburbia. The moon was bright tonight and it made me think that maybe I would like to go rogaining in a month's time.

Messy run and not just because I had to drop into work and check the alarms. Right leg didn't want to play at all even though I kept stopping to stretch. Brain felt like a run but legs were a bit buggered. I think I manifest stress through muscle tension...

Should have gone running, because legs felt good, but brain was just a bit exhausted from the last couple of days!

Didn't go running, because we were buying a house: http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-sa-cla...

C • wow 8

Struggled up through Randell's Reserve to Belair, trotted back down Gloucester Ave fairly sedately. My hands were pretty cold at first but the sun was lovely, as were the greenness of the bushland and the views out over the ocean. I must confess that Adelaide suits me better than Darwin, even though it's a great place to visit in the depths of a southern winter.

Spent the morning at work (woot) and although very tired this afternoon, thought I'd better make the most of the sunshine (although truly making the most of it would probably mean gardening) so trotted into Shepherds Hill, having to detour around the Saturday afternoon archery. Had to stretch knee/hip a few times to start with and it was hard to get my legs to lift. I can tell I've lost muscle tone around the bad knee, but I tried to put equal weight on both, and didn't elicit too many twinges, so went up through Eden Hills and down through Bellevue Heights and the uni. Saw a blonde ponytail heading in the opposite direction as I was going up Cashel St; it belonged to Meredith.

C • bahahahahahahahaha 1

Finished work late every night this week, which I'm a bit over; tonight it was 7pm and the running window had gone again because I had a dinner date, also at 7pm, and for which I was late (what's new?). Late-finishing Fridays are:
a) commonplace
b) going to clash badly with the numerous Friday night flights I have scheduled over the next few months.