Training Log Archive: Bomb

Event: WOC 2015 & Scottish 6 days
 

training on craig leach with laurina. longer course this time and did a bit more at race pace. awesome area and much nicer weather, but that meant the bugs were out. picked up about 40 ticks.

C • itchy legs much? 2

training on abrichan. seems like it would have been a nice area except that there was heaps of wind blown pines which made it nearly impossible to move or see the terrain in places. the heather was pretty tough going too. I think I might try and stick to the faster running maps from now on - middle k rates are meant to be just over 6, so no point running in areas that are more like 10. not raining or windy, so the midges came out.

short control picking on Craig leach. much nicer running, but still cold and raining!

training at achtemarack. raining a bit and very cold. took quite a while to warm up and struggled a bit to get into the map.

Sprint training race in Inverness, organised by the GB team. I figured it would be a good training run and just planned on doing it at an easyish pace. quite technical with heaps of controls and lots of short route choices. fun course.

long warm up - trying to get legs, lungs and brain to function. very tired, and hungry and increasingly not keen on actually running the race, but it was worth it once I got going.

Stage 4. another long - similar terrain to stage 3, but set with heaps of long legs and lots of track running... which then launched into bingo controls in the limestone. managed to lose heaps of time on 1 with a control in the bottom of a deep pit, in an area of limestone pavement covered in fallen timber. I wasn't sure enough going into this area and any extra distance to relocate or check where you are costs way too much time. the next section was quite good, and even got a couple of legs of running in the forest instead of tracks, then screwed up big time on a complex track intersection which launched me down the wrong slope and into the wrong forest block. got a decent distance away from where I should have been before things stopped matching, and then took a while to get back to the right area. very stupid. another big time loss here, for about 15mins altogether, and lost the over all by 4. annoying, but it meant that I didn't win the massive coffee machine, which would have been a cool, but inconvenient prize.

made it back from the event to geneva in time to make my flight, although the drive back across the mountains was a bit faster than I'd planned to need to do.

pretty good week, and some good intense navigation, but not as much running orienteering as I would have liked... now for scotland.

C • Jura 2

Stage 3 "middle" on Le Mont Noir. More in the forest and scrappier tougher terrain, with some small areas of really nice running forest. a couple of time losses - wussed out on the most direct route over a hill because all I could see at the start was fallen trees and rubbish, but I should have toughened up and gone through cos round was too far. miss-interpreted some areas around new forestry later on as well. the map seemed very simplified and I found I was very hesitant with planning legs. Bit down on time today - local girl Lea Vercellotti ran 48.

Stage 2 in Mouthe. Hot day and figured I was in for a long race. there was also no water on courses which was going to make it a bit tougher. the distance seemed a bit long for the expected winning time, and it proved to be. the course was set as a very long middle style - there were a lot of tracks, but not too much opportunity to run on them. the forest was tough but really nice and the limestone detail was interesting but a bit inconsistently mapped. I ended up running a fair bit with a few of the M35s who were on my course, but they were really no help. they were a bit faster running, but pretty useless at finding the controls.
I got quite tired at the end, and the heat and dehydration started to hurt in the last part of the course. won the stage though, and the day prize was some local sausage, which sorted dinner.

run to the start, and token warm down. very hot by the time I finished and no shade anywhere.

Event: 4 JOURS DE FRANCE O DOUBS (French 4 Days)
 

French 4 days Stage 1 sprint in a little village - La Riviere Drugeon. Map also included the surrounding fields. nice sprint, with plenty of big route choices as the river through town had limited crossings. clean run - main time loss was on a wall where the control description was incorrect so ran to where the description said the control was rather than the actual control location. 2nd - 30 secs behind.

Sprint course in the neighbouring town - Bouverans, which didn't count towards the overall. fairly boring for the first half - mainly through fields, then got better as we came back through town. this sprint went into quite a few of the winter barns, with cows in. made for some interesting route choices, and plenty of interesting smells! 2 small misses - didn't see a crossing point on a fence which would have shortened a leg by quite a bit, then over-ran an intersection and ran around an extra building.

warm up for the first race, and the run to and from bouverans.

walk with dad on Tennyson down and out to the needles... not that we could see them. total white out and howling gale. pub lunch after was good.

Sea mark loop from my aunt Meike's on the Isle of Wight, with Rosie the wonder dog. nice day out and great clear view over the island. I felt pretty rubbish to begin with but got going eventually.

10*400 on 2min at SMT. Cold for brisbane tonight - even wore a long sleeved running top and didn't over heat. pretty steady set. dry air got a bit harsh on the lungs at the end.
89, 87, 84, 85, 85, 87, 88, 88, 88, 88.

Last set of these for a while... and pretty glad of it. for interval sessions they're good, but I'm a bit sick of them.

C • Summer 2

tagging control sites at Goolman with Mark.

Long(ish) run with Mark, and Clare and Katelyn for the first bit. There was a bit of dueling early on which I paid for at the end. Good to get a faster run in before I head OS.

Good breakfast and coffee at the bean afterwards.

massage from crazy oscar. calves are a mess.

Late blast around anzac park, motivated by the fact that dinner was going to be all gone by the time I got home unless I hurried up.
Fastest time in a while... not doubt helped by missing intervals on Tuesday. Cold(ish) out this evening.

2mins warm up, rest warm down.

hot yoga.

working late. blah.

OQ meeting. somehow ended up with another job for the 2016 carnival, although I think it's one that I would have done most of anyway so this may just make it easier.

camp champs race at woodlands. nice area, but unfortunately a few controls were in the wrong place which killed the race.
I got a harsh reminder about running on compass on 2 - ended up way off. the rest was not too bad. had a good duel with krystal. she passed me on 2 when I made the mistake, but then I got back ahead at 3, which was wrong, and she had me in sight for a while. back together for a conference to decide which direction we should look in for 13 and then tried hard, but couldn't run fast enough to get any real time back by the finish.

nasty grass seeds and lantana.

control collection.

Training exercise at Wivenhoe. mainly focusing on compass. lots of grass seeds.

Training at wivenhoe, this time in one of the rocky areas. 2 control picking intervals.

short course with focus on changing techniques for different legs. got a bit confused in one area and couldn't relocate (not helped by a bunch of extra tapes the area, and an unmarked track), so bailed on those... turns out I missed 4. oh well. getting pretty tired.

sprint relay - leg 2, against Zazi. she had run the course before, but she's damn quick and it took ages to out run her - every time I got a little lead I'd hesitate at a control and she'd catch up. definitely put me under some pressure!

sprint leg 4, this time against Caroline. she started well, but doesn't quite have the speed that zazi does. I found it a bit harder to keep up the intensity without the direct racing. great map!