Training Log Archive: Bruce

Mona fartlek with the milers, but only at 3/4 pace.
Legs felt ok after a gentle warm up, and the session felt very easy.
I won't be doing anything too hard this week.

I saw the unusual sight of a turtle on the tan track. It was between the Botantical Gardens lake and the Yarra. It was trying to figure out how to cross the track with 20 runners coming towards it!

The other amazing sight was Chris Osborne doing a lap of the tan today. He was hit by a car last September while crossing a road in the city, and spent a few weeks in a coma, and 3 months in intensive care. I can't believe that he is running again!

Easter Day 3 - Relay Distance
High Plains South (Sappa Bulga - Dubbo)

Chasing Start - 3 seconds behind Grant, 1 minute behind Robbie and 1 minute ahead of Matt Parton.
5 seconds after Grant started, the start official still had his arm out in front of me! I had to push it aside (as he didn't seem to be concentrating on his job). Grant took the obvious route choice to the right. Robbie didn't and we caught him by #1. The pace increased and I had to dig deep to keep up. Approach 2 from above, Robbie went left and Grant went right. I hesitated to see what was going on and then we all converged on the control together. To 3, I just did my best to stay in touch up the rocky hill, but by the exit of 3 they were just too strong for me and were gone.
Matt Parton caught me near 4 as I mis-interpreted my attack point and lost 30 seconds. I got him back at 5. Matt looked a bit confused.
I thought that Matt would pass me again on the easy 6th control, but he must have took a wrong turn and I never saw him again.
From then on I was on my own. I took a good route choice to 7 to the left of the mountain. I found the going a bit tough in the green at the end, but I was able to spike the controls and hold my position.
Shep pulled out injured, so I finished in 5th place overall. My best Easter elite result in 12 attempts. (I did finish 5th in 2000, but I benefited here from national team runners being part of the World Cup events).

Going in to the weekend, I would have been happy with 10th, so my result exceeded my expectations.

I really enjoyed the terrain and had great fun. It was a fantastic area for orienteering. Irrespective of the Day 1 drama, I thought that the organisers did a great job.

I spent the weekend without the rest of my family. Perhaps this explains my good results??? It certainly made preparing for races and recovery much easier. You learn to appreciate these things much more when you get the opportunity.

OTrack race simulation

C • great easter 5

Morning jog and stretch. Legs still ok in the morning, although there were fatigued towards the end of the race going through the green forest.
Warm up and short warm down.

Long drive back to Melbourne in the afternoon and evening with Reuben. My legs were a bit stiff after that!

Easter Day 2 - Long Distance - High Plains North (Sappa Bulga - Dubbo)
Easter Sunday is always the decisive day at Easter, so I was keen to do well. I was a little nervous after I failed to finish strongly at the Eureka Challenge. However I was confident in my summer fitness, and I was injury free this time.
I started nervously and was confused immediately after the start triangle. It didn't look as I expected - I wanted to see a shallow gully in the light green, but it looked too flat. I slowed right down and was relieved to punch the first control with minimal time loss.
After that I got into a good rythm. I picked up 8 minutes on Jimbo by control 9. My route to 11 was bit faster and I took the lead. I climbed out of 12 so thought that I had to drop a little to 13. When I got to the circle I was confused by numerous boulders, although there was only 1 on the map. Jim found this first minimising my loss to around 30 seconds.
I took the track to 15 and got the fastest split.
On the way to 17 I ran almost the same route as to 11 - probably step for step for 500m.
I ran 19 very well and again was fastest. I took a great route around the left of the hill, over a saddle and using my "catching features" skills, I had already simplified the approach and ran to the flag with no delay.
I missed 20 by 15 seconds and Jim got ahead again.
I took a final drink at 22 and set myself for the last stage of the course. I pulled in Jim by 23 and finished strongly, again getting a fastest split to 26.
A good stong run with less than a minute of time loss.

OTrack Race Simulation

Still feeling good. No sore legs or sore spots.
Stetching
Warm up and Warm down
Pool recovery session and cold shower.
Lots of carbs in the afternoon.

Easter Day 1 - Hillview (Sappa Bulga - Dubbo)
A good middle distance course on an intense granite area.
I started well, but chose a poor route choice approaching 3 from the right of the knoll along a rocky ledge, losing 90 seconds. The rest of the course was solid. I lost 30 seconds at 14, stopping on rocks on the NE edge of the circle.
On the way to 15 (135) I saw a control in the circle near where I thought my control should be. The code was 134 - but that was my code for 16! However it was in a gully (not a rock), and I hadn't gone far enough to be 200m past my control, so I carried on another 20-30m to my control. I probably lost 20-30 seconds but it was no real problem to me. The code was wrong and it wasn't my control. The flag was down and there was no SI box, so I assumed that it was for the next day.
A couple of people protested and as a result the courses were cancelled for the day. This was a bit disappointing as it was a World Ranking Event.

OTrack Race Simulation

Morning jog and stretch
Warm up and warm down
Pool session in the afternoon.

Event: Australian Easter Three Days and Prologue
 

Easter Prologue
Western Plains Zoo

5th place in a field of around 75 (including M20E). A smooth run with no errors. A fast start, holding on well through the middle technical section, and then pushing hard to the end. I caught FatRat 1 minute at the spectator control (which proved to be the most difficult control on the course).
A good start to Easter.

OTrack Race Simulation

Morning jog to loosen up.
Wade in pool for my legs.
Good warm up before the race and run throughs.
Good warm down.
Pool recovery session afterwards.
I remembered to eat well soon after the race with carbs.

travel day today

Tapering. Easy run to watch the Corporate Cup.
I jogged a lap and half with a couple of surges, and felt ok.