Training Log Archive: jennycas

This one's for Blair, 'cos he wondered if anyone ever uses the bike track between Rylstone and Kandos - so I decided to. After getting back from the controllers' workshop (which went well I think, but it was a long day; I'm not the only one who likes to talk!) to the motel in Kandos which George & I have called home for the past 5 days, I turned around and headed for Rylstone in the last of the daylight.

After 20 minutes I was at the "welcome to Rylstone" sign, although it is a fair way out of the actual town, and had scared the crap out of a girl who was walking along the bike path (so at least 2 people were using it tonight). I said hello as I came up behind but she had her iPod in and didn't hear me, then as I drew alongside she startled and screamed so loudly my ears are still ringing! The return trip to Kandos was uneventful although I was glad of my headlamp.

C • The Rylstone path 1

Such a cool (slightly chilly) arena overlooking the cherry farm which we walked through to get from the parking. I'd seen people running along the main road as we drove in, so was prepared to consider it as a valid route choice even before starting. Sure enough, the first leg was nearly 1.5km long and could be made longer, but simpler, by belting straight east to the road then north up the creek until reaching the correct side gully. My mistake was in following the spur rather than the gully to the road but I still think it was a good choice, and I felt better running than on the other days this weekend.

I'd heard rumours of a ladder up a cliff somewhere on course but was sure that this would affect the men only, so was slightly horrified to turn around after punching 1 and see the ladder in front of me and even more horrified to realise that above it was a rope with knots in to pull oneself up by! I must have verbalised my horror because I heard Clare Baker making encouraging noises behind me (which is how I knew she had caught me 2 minutes). We were both a little high on 2, after bashing through the scrub, then I deliberately stayed above the cliff line on 3 which I am not sure was the best option. Going over the spur to 4 was not the best option but I saw WATash and a NSW girl doing it so I followed suit; Clare was smarter and went round the bottom, then we were both running down the broad flat gully and tripped over a Hong Kong girl - well, not quite. She tripped and bashed her shin on a rock and looked to be in pain so we both stopped but she insisted she was okay.

I lost a bit of momentum there but wouldn't have been able to keep up with Clare along the track, and was seeing her gradually edging ahead when we went through the butterflies. Reeled in a few other people through this section and was similarly overhauled by Marina although I think she was one butterfly earlier than me. Each scramble up the hillside to a big rock got tougher and tougher but it was magical terrain and I was rather sorry when it ended and I was faced with another 1.5km leg, because my legs decided to die at this point. Consequently I took rather too wide a route choice to avoid the climb. Running through the cherry orchard somehow reminded me of orienteering in Europe, but the final climb over the last hill was through classically Australian stringybarks. I got stuck getting through the fence on the way to the last control; that's where I lost the 5 seconds that Clare Brownridge beat me by :(

Scrambled up some more rocks in the late afternoon as Blair & George & I went out to Dunn's Swamp, which is one of my favourite places and the views over the Cudgegong River from the top of the sandstone pagodas are truly impressive.

Day 3 2 Hard (1) - Splits

I forgot the golden rule today, and ballsed up the first control by 4 minutes because I wasn't sure of my bearing down the spur and across the creek, then followed various men upstream to their termite mound rather than downstream to mine. Then when I did head in the correct direction I stopped short, misreading the vegetation, even though I saw Zoe (2 min) heading in the right direction, it didn't look right to me and so I went back to the control I'd just been at! Bit slow on the uptake, am I...

Also a bit slow in the legs; it wasn't a good hamstring day and so I couldn't seem to lift my legs over anything, and kept tripping on the tussocky grass. Very slow through the first few rocky controls (also it took me about a week to unfold my 1: 10 000 map to punch manually at the first of the 'failed' units) and decided to go fairly straight on the long leg through the middle, and down the correct spur, which wasn't a given. Shannon came through me just before the control and she poured me a drink there, which was very kind. I think we were both glad of each other's presence when we saw the weird stuffed shirts hanging in the trees!

Very slow across the up-and-down hillsides to 8, but really this course didn't have much climb and once I'd done the long leg to 9 the rest just required very careful bearings. Not sure about the positioning of the termite mound at 10, but at least I saw other people heading for it. And the tail of the course was fine, plus mostly downhill.

Day 2 Course 2 - Splits

It's quite a while since I've run in Sydney sandstone and I was expecting to struggle with interpreting the detail, but had remembered the golden rule of being careful with your bearings particularly across bland hilltops. Set off to 1 slightly too far left but at least I knew I was, down the spur to 2, a couple of ridiculously short & easy legs to 3 & 4, back across the spur to 5, turn and run up the hill to a termite mound with the flag on its approach side, across the spur to 7 which a few people had trouble with but I dropped into the little gully okay, across the spur to 8 which boulder I spotted easily, a ridiculously short easy leg to 9, across the spur to 10 which I was one tiny gully too low for (I think I used some unmapped bare rock as my attack point) and then the fun was over.

A long leg north straight down the spur hardly needing to navigate until crossing the river, a few control-picking legs to the spectator control, a few moderate-standard legs to the finish. So basically the second half of the course really wasn't WRE-standard navigation. The men and the older age groups got into the rock a bit more and I can see more than one control which could easily have been used to make the women's course more interesting. Presumably we'll get more rock tomorrow; I should be careful what I wish for!

Course 2 day1 - Splits

Event: Easter 2014
 

Bush sprint on Rylstone Common. Off to a slow start and hesitated halfway on the first until I was sure which of the rocks I was seeing were where, so Laurina came through me at 3, but I kept seeing her for a while because both of us had a bearing too far right on 4 (went past 6). The only other real time loss was on 14 where I was too wide and saw a control on a boulder, which I took to be my #16, NE of 14, when actually it was another rock SW of 14. Although that probably wasn't even a minute lost it felt like more - I would have liked to get in under 20. And to have been a bit higher up than the equivalent of outside the top 10 in junior girls!

C • lauren 2

Frantic scramble to leave work in time to catch a 6:45pm plane and I felt like I left so much unfinished...it's just that everything seems to be taking longer now in EPAS-land.

Have been trying to remember to use the core muscles on that side, but I can really tell that my left arm does nothing in particular. Nice morning for a splash :)

C • Easter 2

Attack of the Killer Masseuse.
Just back; no time for legs. Over the last few weeks I'm getting a horrible crunching feeling in my tailbone when I sit for too long which isn't cool.
Apparently my undies were on inside out - whoops!

C • Can't recommend 2