Training Log Archive: Brodie Nank

Rest day before my last hard week before aus champs, hopefully I can incoperate at least one speed session on terrrain, maybe wednesday afternoon, but might be a little tricky with a pretty full on week. Will do the stregnth session I missed last week tommorrow to make up for it and start the hard week.

Long ride, to school in the morning and then out to fish shop and back after school (45km) and then ride home, was good fun, cleats are wicked!!!!!

Tried a variation of a session Kas gave me but was feeling not very good today and strugled, due to a lack of food (foolish idea of eating lunch after not before swimming) and the start of a cold. Did a block of around 10 minutes of pool running in the middle. Wasn't to bad though and felt really good when I finished and got some food into me.

Good session.

Hard session as my legs were feeling like death but pushed through. 6*1min with 1 min rest and a very large warm up/down.

Can't really remember what I did but was good.

Cruisy recovery ride with the monday running group, quads still quite sore.

Quite a tough session, tried to make up for the weekend.

Big night out, uni open day and no means of aquiring a bike in hobart meant a rest day, but I had planned for this. Pussed out of the stregnth session, will have to make it up sometime.

Solid hit out at pittwater. First time running in a while and a miracle occured, no calf tightness (minimal anyway). Very happy about this and nav was pretty much perfect except for some hestitations as there were no controls out. Won't run again till next weekend as I am having an easy week but after then will hopefully be able to do a few more sessions.

Was meant to be doing a stregnth session but playe fifa instead, telling myself I would do it tommorrow.

Pool is starting to annoy me, not the swimming just the really short pool meaning I have to turn every 15m and I can't so I lose my rhythm. Oh well did a 600m wu/wd plus 2*150 hard and over 5 minutes of hard pool running. Was alright.

Short spin after school, headed out to haddo and then back. Going down to hobart tonight so I can head out to pittwater tommorrow with hopefully no problems.

Quite a long ride, started in the morning (20min) and then finished it after school with 3 of my mates. Was an interesting group; 2 roadies, 1 fixie and a mountain bike. Good fun and quite tiring with a strong wind for a lot of the ride.

Did a build on distance plus some pool running.

Went to see a sports physicist in Hobart today about my calf. Helpful and have to have some blood tests done but he thinks that the problem is biomachanical (and not usual). He thinks the problem is coming from a not veyy flexible forefoot and having the overcompensate for it, more than likely will have to get orthotics but have to get all clear from the blood tests first. Looks like I won't be back to proper training before aus champs but should be able to do a little more running, but only on soft surfaces.

C • Physicist 5

Swim at lunch time again, quads very fatigued today after the last couple of days but a rest tommorrow should fix that up. Just did 600m warm up and down with some very short intervals (i.e. one lap=15m) in between.

Hard session.

Ride to school in morning, then back up the westbury road climb for the 3rd day in a row and then some MTB in Kate reed with the running group. Quads were quite sore in the morning and knew the climb was going to be a struggle, legs were on fire.

Swim at school at lunch. Didin't have much time so challenged myslef to swim the entire time, this is the longest i have ever swam without a break, pretty happy. Bad thing was that I had to do 68 laps for this distance...

Hard ride to finish the weekend after a big night out last night. Felt suprisingly good, rode to watch half a game of soccer and then home, via some tough hills that I did efforts up.

Long ride, including rising to orienteering training, teaching the juniors and then riding home.

Shadowed some juniors for some of the training, calves didn't wreak havoc but I was taking it easy.

Just did mostly laps, not sure on pool length but think its only about 15m so 500m is more than 32 laps.

Tough session.

Long ride after I had finished school, pretty much into a very strong wind and pouring rain for at least half the ride. Made it pretty tough but was good fun. Calves felt a little better today but still very sore.

Tempo ride to school in the morning, pushed hard at a constant tempo. Rained a little but was nice and fresh (I.e. bloody cold).

But of swimming and pool running. Pool is starting to annoy me as it is so short!!

Tough again.

Rest day as legs (not just calves) are feeling quite fatigued.

Not sure on distance as I don't know the length of our pool, but did round about 200m warm up, 200m of intervals (1 length of pool x 8), some pool running for 5 mins and then 200m warm down.

Easy cruise while ash and Luke ran :) did extra bits here and there, super muddy In Kate Reed so going easy meant going really slow!!

Still having calf troubles and probably won't run for another 2 weeks but had to get the navigation in and was happy with how I did, a little rusty but no errors over 1 min. Lost time on the 1st 2 due to dodgy compass bearings, must have been something in the ground (lost 1 min 30 sec). Another time loss on 4 due to wierd mapping and again at 7 (another 1 min and 30 sec). Lost time to 9 only error that was really my fault because I pulled up to early (couldn't see the rocks as they were under knee "white vegetation"). Rest was good but calves held me back speed wise.

Good stregnth session, will try to increase the amount I these I do in the next few weeks.

Big night of Olympics last night and basically got up and rode nearly all day. Rode to uni from brothers house and then rode around trevallyn and then home via Tasmanian Zoo (long way round). Rode with Tom on a road bike so by the end I was dead, good day out though.

Sprint at the uni of tas, Which is where orienteering was. Good course but wasn't really suited for a bike but was fun.

Episode 5 - "The Relay"

Legs were quite sore at the start of today but knew I only had not far to go. The bad thing was that I couldn;t get the speed I wanted and today was the day for speed.

Slow to the 1st control but nailed the nav, started with an austrian and american just in front of me, with a few frustrated sweedes trailing behind(Sweden 1 and 2 both started behind me). Had the shortest split so next one was long for me but again had no troubles with nav. 3 was the 1st error, didn;t have a definite attackpoint and wasn't sure where I crossed the minor track below control (should have used junction). Was distracted by the swedes flying past and overshot my control hitting the ditch above and coming back into control (lost about 35 secs). Next control had the route choice and i chose to go straight but got pushed around at the start of the leg by the vegetation (not keeping a good bearing) and when I hit the track I was to the north of the red line (25 secs). Rest of nav towards the control was good but when I got close I couldn't tell which rock was which to use as my attackpoint. Bounced off a few unmapped small depressions and then tried to find clearing behind control but it wasn;t very distinct. Found the control but lost a good 45 secs. 5 was good and route to 6 was good but missed track bend (was indistinct) and overshot control when I didn't notice jumping ditch (was smaller than I thought). Lost around 25 secs. Lost time in the cicle at next control as I thought control was on first watercourse, and then shoe came off leaving control and took me ages to get it back on, lost 45 secs all up (20 for shoes). 8 was good and 9 was also good navigationally but lost a lot of time on running, got caught in a fallen tree for a long time and caught up in other places (lost 20 secs). 10 was also good and route to 11 was really good but buggered up in the circle, losing concentration due to others and hitting 2 other splits before mine, lost the little pack i had for 10 and 11. (lost over 1 min). Was determined to finish well and was clean to 12 and fairly decent to 13(only losing 15 when i pulled up early). Fastest split to spectator and seemed to have too much left in the tank so tried to smash the last loop. No errors and happy with how I finished but was fairly sore at the finish.

Funny thing was that I didn't feel extremly buggered at the end which was actually quite annoying. It was pretty obvious that my calves has held me back becasue they were on fire compared to the rest of my body. Happy with my result though and without mistakes could have taken 4:45 off my time, just through stupid little errors and this would have given me a time of 32:40, around 6th place (although lots of big names made errors) much more repectable considering my legs were a bit of a limiting factor.

Main point for the competition for me though was that JWOC this year was a huge learning curve, I learnt so much and had so much fun, was a wicked experience!!

http://www.jwoc2012.sk/files/relay/M20.pdf

Went to physio today to try and sort out the calf saga.. Not too helpful but have now been told to try to see a sports physicist as no amount of rest, massage, icing or stretching seems to have helped my calves and this means that there is either a problem with my running style or my shoes not being suited to my feet.

Guess on distance as I lost my garmin data. Rode from home, through Kate Reed and then out to Churchill to watch ash play soccer and then after ride to my brothers house.

Episode 4 - "Middle Distance Final"

Was feeling good mentally today but again hadn't done my mental race prep like I was doing at easter. Really not happy with this, forgot to mention it previously but it was the same through the whole competition. Really was thrown by the competition and don;t think I was ready for each race, hadn;t set goals for the race and wasn't pumped up and ready to go, mostly I was just worried about my stiff claves.

Headed out of the start very slowly and unsuccessfully read my map running to the start triangle which was annoying. Got a route soon after start traingle after slowing to a walk and nailed the control but lost around 20 secs on the fastest runners (probs 10 sec loss). Easy route to 2 but lost time (10 secs) hesitating at the top of slope before descent into control. Uphill leg to 3, and was running to right spot but for some reason couldn't see control and lost time hesitating and then starting up hill, at which point I saw control (15 secs). Alright on 4 but lost time stopping half way due to hesitation and confusion when I got to the circle when I was unsure what the control was on (10 secs). Not the best route to 5, could have gone through green, but was safe and I was happy. Lost contact to 6 but had a good bearing and only lost time due to pulling up early (10 secs). 7 was good, nailed the nav until I hit the circle and drifted left over the top of the hill losing 10 secs. 8 was tricky but not sure I had the best route at the start of the leg, heading up to the track and then crossing the steepbanked watercourse (10 sec). Saw the root stocks but they were the last thing I picked up as I compassed to control. Found it quite easily but think i simplified terrain too much. 9 was simple and I nailed it. 10 tried to run to quick for my nav on the trickiest control on the course (in my opinion). Lost contact and wasn't totally sure where I entered detail although I no remember being close to the knoll to the left of the line. Saw control but thought it wasn't mine and continued in wrong direction, realised too late and backtracked to control losing around 45 secs. 11 I knew was going to be hard but couldn't pick an attackpoint so tried to compass. Drifted to the right of the line and lost around 20 secs.Looking back, best attackpoint looks like small knoll on edge of circle but I don't think I saw this as it is partially covered by circle. 12 was good but lost 10 secs dropping to low. 13 also good but again lost time stopping early (10 secs). Next controls were good, nailing 14, 15 and 16 (out of spectator). Next contol was horrid, absolutely lost it, close to the finish, lost control and didn't have a strong attackpoint. Still came close to control but failed to register exactly what the feature was on and just couldn't hit it (got within 20 metres). Saw a guy I was runnign with, head to next control and got confused following for a while and then turning and heading back, bouncing off 2 other controls unitl I stopped and relocated off track, nailing the control. Lost about 3 mins and 15 secs. Out of frustration smashed the last controls and nailed nav, not losing anymore time.

Would have been quite happy with my race without the mistake at 17, as it was such a stupid error. Without this big error would have got 31:15 and around 17th place (a lot more respectable). Also without other erros could have ran 28:35 which would have been really good. Reflecting on this I can see that I have made lots of little errors due to not focusing on executing good process. Again plenty to work on but was an awesome day when Matt won GOLD!!!!

http://www.jwoc2012.sk/files/middle-f/Middle_Final...

Was planning to due an interval session as calf was feeling better but soon confirmed that was not the case. Calf really really hurting not far into run, must have hurt it more badly than I thought hald way through the race on sunday and just ran the rest off adrenaline. Off to the physio tommorrow.

Episode 3 - "Middle Qual"

The day started and I was feeling confident, legs were feeling pretty good and I was in a good mental state. Approaching the race, I wanted to go at a steady pace but make no mistakes. Looking back, I think I would have run better and navigated better if I had gone 100% from the start.

Control 1, slow and steady but nailed navigation but got caught in green halfway to control and ended up having to drop into control. Control 2, had a good plan bu lost time due to hesitation half way (wrong route?) and at the control (20 sec). Buggered up 3 as I drifted to the left, losing at least 30 secs when I didn't get a bearing off my attackpoint, again all about lack of process. Good to 4 but was high coming into 5 (20 secs) and wasn't really in control coming into 6, using gully as attackpoint but stopped early and hit depression (other split) from there ran straight past my control and got confused when I hit watercourse. Went left and then right and then turned and saw control, losing around 1 min. Good into 7 but caught some others heading to 8 and started to lose concentration I had left (trying to make up for error at 6). Wrong side of hill on 8 (due to loss of contact and distraction) and too high and overshot on 9 losing 1 min over these controls. Very poor route to 10 due to distraction of 3 other runners around and got caught up running with them, also made mistake coming into control as I wasn't exactly sure where I was. Lost at least 1 min 15 sec here, not happy. Due to annoyance at my mistake tried to concentrate on my own race but frustration made me lose contact again and just run, coming way to into 11, losing at least 45 secs. Again headed out of 11 in frustration and chose opposite route choice just to get away from others, although stuffed up early on, drifted wide but the rest of the longish leg was good, pushing hard to drop into control into the middle of the group I had tried to lose (my route was slightly longer). Lost probably 25 secs in early stages of this control but no more significant losses on the course, pushing hard at the front of my pack through the easy "compass controls".

Overall I was happy when I got back but this was probably due to no huge errors (over 2 mins) but looking back adding up all these stupid errors due to poor compassing, planning and being distracted from my race plan. Worked out I lost 5 min on just mistakes and more on speed. This would have put me into the final and about 10th in the heat. I have learnt a lot about this race in particular for future years and have certain things that I need to work on before next year including maintaining control under pressure, maybe pusher harder physically when i can and have very very good process if I want to make final.

http://www.jwoc2012.sk/files/middle-q/MiddleQfinal...

Good session, was hard as I hadn't done it for a while.

Rest day for reflection, it takes a long time!!

C • Rest day 2

Calf still sore so did my speed session on the bikes, chose a hilly section of road and did and out an back. Did a fartlek session of 4x 30 on, 90 off, 30 on 60 off, 30 on, 30 off, 30 on, 15 off, 30 on. Pushed hard but on the way back was into a headwind which was really tough. Happy with how I went.

JWOC long distance

Calves were still tight/sore in the morning but an improvement had made me more confident. Good warm up and reminding myself that today was going to be a longer slower race which would suit my legs put me in a good mental state. Started well, nailing the nav but a fair way off the fastest splits due to easing into race. Walked up hill to 2 to plan long leg well but looking back probably didn't need to do this and lost at least 1 min. Executed plan to 4 well, making minor adjustments but lost contact on entry and lost another 1 min 30. Lost another 30 sec bashing my way into open to 6 and then was including in a train until 8 where I split from the other 2 guys. Ran well through loops but made several minor errors at 9 (was to high), 11 and 12(drifted left), 14 (in circle but couldn't see control) and 13 (when I lost time tripping and twisting my arm) which was about 2.5-3 mins all up. To 18 couldn't pick the rough open and drifted wide to the north, going a long way off the red line and losing at least 1:30min. Felt good running from here and think I left to much energy in the tank. Little errors in the circle at 20 (30 sec hesitation and poor entry) and 21 (saw girls control and ran to it before looking at map = 30 sec). Finally chose the easy longer route to 22 that ended up having more climb (lost 30 sec).

So happy with how I ran and the calves didn't affect me very much but without my errors I could have broken 80 mins and cracked the top 15 (although I'm sure a few could say that). So this run put me in a good mood and if I can practice consistently precise navigation and work on my endurance/strength I could make my result even better next year :)

http://www.jwoc2012.sk/files/long/Long_final.M20-2...

Easy ride with ash and Luke running, calves a little sore after yesterday.

JWOC reflection - episode 1 "The Sprint"

Training week had finished on a good note technically but a sour note physically. Calves were tight and the worrying began, tried to focus on race but thinking I was not 100% was always at the back of my mind. Warm up was as planned but not as ready to go as usual, I hit the start line. Didn't start well, in the thick of the adrenaline I lined up my compass with 2 and took off, the wrong way. Half way to 2 realized my oroblem and was eager to correct. To eager as I slipped down the dead end alley with control on other side of black fence. Lost around 40 sec. Good from there until 18, although lost time on route choice and a lot on running speed, didn't feel as I normally did. 18 I lost time due to losing contact and running down first main road, losing 15 sec and I was only half way to control. On the way to 18 checked the alley I would have to run up to 19 (the first alley). However, the wall in front of olive green alley was open and didn't see tape on ground. Consequently in way to 19 lost another 15 sec going to wrong alley. Finished strongly but struggling.

Post race I felt that I was at the end of a comp week, calves were killing me. Reflected on prep, I wasn't in right mental state, had been thrown by the competition and wasn't doing my normal preparation in the week before and night before. Tried to put it behind me going into tommorrow and Ian doing well cheered me up but the thought of my calves was on my mind overnight.

http://www.jwoc2012.sk/files/sprint/JWOC_sprint_Fi...

Good run in some pretty shocking conditions. Wasn't sure how to set out but some random guy I had never seen set off at a cracking pace. Hitting the 3km at 10 mins and 40 seconds in front of me. After the 5km, at which point I was on track for a 3630 10km. Was a tough race on a dirt road with majority of the race into the wind and pouring rain. Last 4km had most of the climb and last 2km was offroad, through muddy paddocks that considerably slowed the pace. Happy with the time, as it was a tough race and I didn't have anyone to run with into the wind. Came 2nd, beaten by the random.

Nice little session up at trevallyn but wasn't feeling the best in the stomach, had thrown up in the morning due to a large amount of fatty food yesterday. Was happy with nav, even though it was easy, just a few drifts in the first int when my concentration wasn't amazing. Training was 2 intervals, around 2.5km each and two laps each running against an opponent (Shaun). Was really fun and similar to a relay race which was pretty cool. Hopefully I will feel alright in the race tommorrow, not expecting great things after 3 weeks off but will enjoy a good cross country race.

Will do a reflection of a race each day, starting tommorrow with the sprint distance.

Easy run after my maths specialised exam to clear my head. Complex numbers and matrices parts were epic!! My head was hurting it as so bloody hard. Nice run though, enjoying the clear Tasmanian air.