Training Log Archive: jennycas

Since it had rained during the week I took Blair for a run to show him the falls at Morialta, which has been on my to-do list (not necessarily on his) for some time. Three falls loop was pretty scenic, with wildflowers coming out, and not as strenuous as I had feared it might be. Knees held up okay so I pushed my luck by going in to the bottom of each falls and then added in a gratuitious climb up past the Giant's Cave. And then really pushed the friendship with them by having dinner in the pub at Norton Summit for a couple of hours instead of going home and stretching. So far, so good. But I may not be able to walk in the morning.

(Also rode my bike to meet Sheridan at The Pantry, which was almost a bad idea because tendon in knee got nasty after only about 5 minutes, by which time I was halfawy there so it was simpler to go on than back. Not sure if such a ride really accounted for the decadent French toast which I consumed there...)

TGIF

Had time for the full length of the valley. Looks like I've missed the best of the blooming of the magnolia tree at the far end (but I got to see some nice ones in Sydney). Twangling in knee manifested after I had turned around, which was a bit disconcerting, as was the first magpie of the season.

C • Magnolias 8

With Zara/Callum & Simon, up by the lake to the train line and back past Old Government House. I only wanted a short one; new orthotics, socks and shoes conspired to make slight blisters under my arches. But I'm almost certain that knees are on the improve.

Knees weren't good again this afternoon so I dutifully took anti-inflammatories, as instructed. And rode my bike, also as instructed by Kath. It was very windy and getting dark! I felt fine, but towards the end something twanged in my knee. I suspect there should have been pain but it was masked by the anti-inflammatories. Which is another reason why I don't trust them.

Across to Mitcham as a loosener before stretching while dog-walking. I think knees are getting about 5% better each day. So I should be okay (fingers & toes crossed) by nationals, just with a complete lack of fitness...sorry Arrows :(

3 laps of the uni loop while the juniors did intervals. Got bored so did 6x200 a bit faster. Not saying there weren't any knee twinges but these were the kind it's safe to ignore. Half an hour was about my limit, though.

Attack of the Killer Physio
It's not often you ring to ask if there are any cancellations and are told "Come in half an hour". Boy, was I glad to see Kath! There were needles, of course, and now my knees are covered in kinesio tape and I can't shower for a week (I made that last bit up, sort of) and she said I should take anti-inflammatories. We debated their semi-evilness but I can see the point of breaking the pain cycle, if such a thing is possible.

Darks Common is at Lapstone, first train stop up the mountains from Penrith. So it was a convenient venue on a perfect mountains morning. A network of tracks, some of which confused me so that I managed to make a parallel error then compounded by - when I redirected - crossing over the track which I wanted without realising it and overshooting the control by a couple of hundred metres and losing about 3 min on that leg! Was going pretty slowly anyway; should have taken O shoes, or trail shoes at least, so had no traction in the terrain and was pretty tentative on any sort of downhills. But at least I loosened up enough to be able to stretch properly before the next race.

A true chasing start based on the first race's results. Which meant I started about 6 min behind Tracy, in the middle of the group of W40+, and not far ahead of Terry Bluett - and darned if I could get any further ahead of him! We had the same sequence on the butterfly loops and although I could creep a little ahead on the tracks he was moving faster than me through the terrain and got me in the end. I had circumvented most of the twinges by consumption of anti-inflammatories but still not confident of putting my weight on either knee going downhill. Was fun though, and nice to catch up with Cath, among others.

Sprint 1 - Splits

Sprint 2 - A - Splits