Training Log Archive: jennycas

Not much more lively today. We did go to see South Pacific with Julie and followed it up with dinner at Red Ochre on the Torrens weir (while we're all dressed up, we may as well dine somewhere fancy) which was all good fun. Methinks I don't laugh often enough.

Pretty wrecked at the end of a disappointing week. Mind you, the dismal Two Bays result and the fact that I now won't be able to go to Beechworth NOL races because of work, pale into insignificance beside the incineration of Wirrabara Forest inclusive of the area intended for 2 days of Easter 2015. At least it hadn't been mapped yet.

Pleasant redwoods return run with Bridget & Simon, Zara/Callum, followed by a dip in Z's pool. Tired legs but it seemed quite a bit cooler in the hills than on the plains.

Funny how quickly it's possible to reset one's benchmarks - by this week's standard, it was a cool cloudy morning. And it was nice going into Shepherds Hill reserve, especially along the creek bottom, although I was really slow this morning and still a little tender. ITBs tight through hip flexors and quads but actual knees seem ok.

The sky was really black in the NE when I was driving across to Morialta and as we started there was a modicum of lightning and thunder - as Zoe said, perfect Darwin weather. I guess she must have brought the rain - it was actually quite steady (if brief) as Simon & Zoe & I trotted in leisurely fashion up to Deep View then into 3rd falls, although had ceased by the time we came back down again. We were met at the bottom by a Swiss milkmaid bearing lemonade and ice cubes :)

I dare say I could have run if chased by a bear, but I wasn't so I didn't. Particularly painful right hip upon which I landed when I fell :(

Not sure what to say about this one...
*proceeds to write essay anyway*

Okay, so I'm much less fit than I was a couple of years ago. But it's not as though I've been doing no training, so I really hadn't expected to end up 20 minutes slower than in 2012 (on official time, but personally I'm choosing not to count approx 3 min spent in a standstill queue at the Phytophthora shoe-cleaning station about 11km in).

It's not as though I've done no hills either, but I just couldn't make my legs lift from the very beginning (feeling rather washed out from yesterday's cramps) and so lots and lots of people were passing me going up the road, all of whom then proceeded to walk the stairs up to Arthur's Seat, which was very frustrating. I mean, the 3rd km took 10 minutes! Foolishly, I attempted to pull out and overtake (dunno why I bothered when there were 100 other people walking in front) and promptly tripped myself up and bit the dust! They do say pride goes before a fall.

Picked myself up, muttered to myself about how this run is getting way too crowded, and resigned myself to watching the footfalls of those about 2 feet in front of me on the lovely contouring singletrack which I couldn't stride out on. Throughout the race I was around people who would slow down for no obvious reason and I'd pass them, but then at some point later they'd come through me, or who were walking faster than I could stagger up hills (I don't know what was wrong with me on even slight inclines) but then I'd catch up to a whole bunch who were tentative on the singletrack. Even though I had already decided to just treat this as a long run it was kind of spoiled for me because there were about 800 more people than I'd have liked, yet I was envious of the people who had friends to chat with while running. It would have been lovely to have Zara alongside (or better still, Callum towing me).

Anyway, I did my best to admire the bushland scenery and was very glad that the sun never came out. Also, since I never could run fast enough to hammer myself, and the ground was fairly soft (also rather dusty, as though a herd of buffaloes had run through) my knees held up okay although when I fell earlier I'd landed on my bad knee and so was a bit anxious about it). In the last 5km after Boneo Rd I was getting passed by women I'd overtaken earlier but also I was passing some guys who were struggling. I ended up halfway through the field which is sort of humiliating; difficult to know how much of this was due to getting caught in bottlenecks vs how much was due to my being awfully slow these days. I'd have been happy with 2:45 and not terribly dissatisfied with 2:50 given how flat I was feeling on the day.

'Twas a nice weekend all up, although we could have done without our flight back being delayed and arriving home 10pm.

C • Well done anyway, good effort 3