Training Log Archive: Clara

Oceania Day 7. Mass start race. Got a bit of a shock upon turning the map over and seeing the mess of contours, trees and rocks. Was at the back of the mass start where people were making sheep (and sheepdog) noises. Noone took my route to 1, but met up with a couple there. Gradually passed a few people. Decided to run in runners for some reason, and almost executed a control-punch-while-sliding-down-hill-on-bum, which was a lot of fun, and much faster than picking my way down the hills. People seemed to implode at the end so passed a few (girls and M35s).

Event 7 - Course 2 - Splits

Oceania Day 6. Last starter, last finisher. Possibly the worst race I've ever had. Not overly motivated going out at the same time as people were heading home. Even less motivated wasting over 10mins looking for a dodgily mapped number 2. Came the closest I think I ever have to giving up - thinking that as I had to run the next day it would actually be a sensible option. Couldn't make sense of the map. Everything was on the opposite side from where I was expecting, or I turned the wrong way whenever I got to a linear feature. Saw a guy also looking for number 2, but other than that didn't see any other runners until I found people collecting controls right at the end. The sheep and trees weren't very talkative and wouldn't tell me where I was even when I asked nicely.

Event 2 2 - Splits

Oceania Relays - 2nd leg. Legs had nothing on the hills at the start. The rocky hills were pretty cool, and it would have been nice to play some more in them. Rolled my ankle on the way to 10 and scraped my knees in the process - had a bit of a sook then made myself get back into it. Hot slog. Didn't make it back in time and Emily got sent out in the mass start.

Oceania Long/Day 5. Another epic. First few controls were nice. Was really conservative again, and went a fair way out of my way to keep out of the gullies (to 6 and 16 especially). First time in a race I've run through the start AND the finish area during the race. Loved the beech forest at 10 and 11. An ankle brace broke somewhere on the way to 12 and was a bit annoying rubbing my ankle. Hit myself in the head with a branch taking a misplaced route to 14. Big slog.

Long Champs - 2 - Splits

Oceania Sprint/Day 4. Pretty cool to get to run the WC courses, with the added advantage of spectating them running in the morning. Found 2 dead ends on the way to 1, then used my spectator's knowledge to get me through 3-5 (taking Lizzie's route around the school to 5). Slight detour to 6 by missing a path. Read the school pretty well at the end, although I wasn't sure what side/level of the building 15 was on. Was running with Claire Flynn and someone else towards the end which was good to keep my pace up.

Sprint Champs - C2 - Splits