Training Log Archive: jennycas

6am flight to Sydney then I got Geoff to drop me at Coogee and I ran north to Bondi, following the coastal trail and looking at the sculptures and trying to dodge the humans. Lots of people out walking their dogs, and lots of weird objects to look at, but I reckon I liked the natural scenery even better...coffee afterwards wasn't bad either, at a tiny hole-in-the-wall cafe. Wouldn't want to be driving across town Bondi to Penrith too often though.

Staggered painfully across to Mitcham and back at the end of another exhausting working week. Thought about just slumping on the couch, but all the pre-rogaine carbo-loading which I then of course didn't work off, seems to have caught up with me...

15 of us turned up for the sprintervals which Stefano had set and so he divided us into 3 groups: boys, girls and 'parents'. I promptly traded my way out of the latter group, and even though this meant I was then last among the 'girls' (am I more than 3 x the age of the twins?), had great fun. There were some tricky route choices and control sites - I tried to plan one leg ahead to determine exit direction, but often didn't do a very good job of reading backwards from the end of the leg to find a good approach. And we all ballsed up the very first control by being confused about which start triangle we'd started from! Each sprinterval took me about 5 min then there was a tiny bonus one - around the building where Susanne used to work :)

Felt absolutely wooden in the warmup, not too bad when running (must have been the thrill of the chase) except up hills and then did an extended slog of a warmdown before going and sitting in 2018 nationals meeting for a couple of hours.

Probably should have done this yesterday, but I am having trouble getting myself to wake up in the mornings lately. Also was having trouble with my neck post-rogaine, so never got around to ponding last week either. And the week before, the mornings were too cold...

With Zara (& Callum of course) past the lake and up beyond the waterfalls to the top of the park where we admired the beautiful wildflowers, then down into the redwoods and back along Long Gully. I was very stiff & slow & the run was never not-painful but the company was good and Z didn't seem to mind too much not getting to do the time trial with the kiddies. Not saying I won't try it one day but I'd need at least a 20-minute warmup first.

Legs still a bit hammered from AOTKM yesterday. Also there's more than a hint of impending plantar fasciitis, which is disconcerting so early in the 'summer'.

I found it! The waterfall in Sturt Gorge, that is :)

Parked at Eden Hills CFS and ran down the length of Magpie Gully - the trail gets a bit rough at the bottom end although stairs have been cut into the hillside at some stage - and found the waterfall which Tyson meant, which is currently an algal trickle but that's still on Magpie Creek. There's something magical about the way the valley then opens out at the junction with the Sturt River (apparently the flat rocks here provide evidence of glaciation) but then it goes into a gorge downstream and the track goes up above it. When the track returns to the river, at the place I reached a couple of weeks ago, it's necessary to wade across (currently knee deep and flowing fast) then turn upstream 200m and the waterfall appears - a series of short drops through a narrow gap, with a pool below.

It's absolutely beautiful and engenders a sense of peacefulness despite the noise of the rushing water. That feeling doesn't last long upon ascending to the real world, of course...

C • Waterfall 5

With B&S, Zara/Callum, Steve, Stefano, Nick, Liv: up the Heysen Trail, down Nation Ridge Rd (great views to the east over the Onkaparinga River valley), down Aldgate Valley Rd to Mylor for a drink at the school then back via the lovely little Bandicoot trail. Despite the fact that a significant part of the outward route was downhill, the return trip didn't really feel as though it climbed that much, but it obviously does otherwise we wouldn't have finished off with the 2km descent into Bridgewater.

Decided to avoid housework - and the caravan park magpie - and rode my favourite MTB towards the beach instead, following the old tram route on the way out and the current tramline (including the "hill" over South Road) on the way back. In between, rode the scenic coastal path as far north as the Torrens outlet and on the way back did a lap of the Patawalonga estuary. Thinking that a goal for summer could involve catching the train to/from either Seacliff or Semaphore and riding the coastline in between the two. Next time I'll take money for ice cream!