Training Log Archive: jennycas

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?