Training Log Archive: jennycas

3 laps of the pine forest trying to lift my legs over as much stuff as possible, but also trying to break in the new(ish - last weekend Cath was looking around for someone who would buy Aiofe's outgrown size 4.5s) X-Talons, which sadly don't have as wide/stable a footing as the originals and so I was worried about my ankles rolling - although they do have more than 6mm heel drop so should be better for my calves. The window in between finally having warmed up and being completely stuffed wasn't very large but I enjoyed the bit where I felt good. Also the bit where I stopped to talk to Loreen and throw a ball for Shiloh.

C • hand me downs 2

Glorious afternoon for it. Not sure what else I achieved today apart from taking the dog to see the nice vet lady and buying a new road atlas of NZ, just in case any roads have changed since the 2004 edition...

3:19 chasing Bridget
3:26 recovering from chasing Bridget
3:17 being chased by Bridget
3:29 recovering from being chased

Yay, I convinced the others to come with me tonight! But they didn't seem to realise that an integral part of the warmup is bouncing on the seaweed and running all the way to/from the Largs North breakwater...

After I'd completely trashed my legs trying to keep up with Biddy (although actually they were already a bit hammered from last night's long descent of QJD) I warmed down to/from the Largs Bay Jetty and it was dark by the time I finished. Only took 34 min to drive home from there to the pizza shop near us, though :)

Wasn't feeling desperate for exercise, but after getting stuck at work last night when it was raining I thought I'd better get a decent run in while there's still daylight in the evenings. It seemed that others were thinking the same thing :) so we went to the redwoods & up the singletrack to the top of the park then down Queen Jubilee Drive. I thought I was trying to keep up with Greg on the descent, but he reckoned he was trying to keep up with me!

Legs & lungs were a bit tired today and I'm not sure that I would have done this on my own but it worked okay going up to Deep View, contouring around to the top of First Falls, up to the link track and then down the hill, with John & Simon & Abigail - even if Simon's casual-jog is my "trying to keep up" pace.

Lovely setting-sun run with Zara from Marino to Hallett Cove & back, via the 700+ stairs both ways and with a loop of the Sugarloaf/Amphitheatre in the conservation park at the far end to check out a few of the recent rogaine's control sites. Had been a bit worried after attempting to jump the ditch on the way to the last control yesterday resulted in a hamstring twinge, but actually my legs behaved better than expected on the stairs :)

We raced here on the Saturday of Easter 2016, 12 months ago to the day, so I was under no illusions about my capabilities vs the rocky terrain, given that my ability to run through this sort of stuff has been getting steadily worse since 2011. I was surprised though at just how 'drunk' I felt at times, trying to keep my footing balancing on the rubble. A bit annoyed to lose a minute on the first control because I was trying to make sure I stayed to the north of the faint gully with the watercourse marked in it but in fact there were other faint gullies not drawn, there and on other parts of the hillside.

In a few places I ended up a little too high or low, so maybe frittered away 2-3 min all up on time, but easily lost more than that through not being able to do the steep downhill legs with any fluency. A bit disappointed to take so much longer than an hour but I didn't really mind because it was nice forest and good bearing practice. Not going to come back in August and run the Ultralong on the Gib though, because I am not a mountain goat.

Course 2 - Splits