Training Log Archive: Craig

Aus Relays M35 with Andrew Martin and Graham Braid.
Only 2 other teams, NSW had Jock Davis on first leg and he blitzed it, coming in 15 minutes ahead of Andrew and behind only one of the M20E. They extended the lead on the second leg and I set off in the mass start without much to race for. Still intended to push it hard but I made a mess of the second control to the tune of about 5 minutes and lost any motivation I had left. Second half of the course was more pleasant with a lot less lantana so I was starting to enjoy myself a bit more again by the end. Told Graham about my mistake after finishing and he just kept nodding and saying 'same' so at least I wasn't the only one.

Event: Australian Orienteering Championships 2016
 

Australian sprint champs at Griffith Uni, Gold Coast.
Tricky area, very scrappy early then settled into it a bit better. Tried not to push it too hard but regretted that a bit at the end when I found out I was second just 5 seconds behind Craig F. Caught Graham 4 minutes just before the end and he ended up third. Heel didn't really hurt at all running but started to hurt a little after finishing.

Power Pump with CC. Kept the weights a bit lighter and had some little breaks when the lunges started to hurt. Big class this morning (4).

Afternoon run after working the early shift (6am-3pm) so I could take Liam to the dentist. Quads still sore and still feeling very unfit but at least I managed another run of more than 5km without the heel getting too sore. It was sore all the way but not too sore to keep going. Didn't have to resort to using my hands to carry my big fat gut around either.

HI Functional Circuit. Quads feeling a bit sore/tired today.
Brody told me to have a think about what I want to do after next week as Rosalie is going to be away for a couple of months so it will probably be just me. Seems a pretty good deal, $1 a day for 24/7 gym access and personal training sessions with an exercise physiologist.

C • Price 1

Early afternoon run around KP, mostly on sand tracks, after yet another morning of tennis. Feeling very blubbery today, so much so that I kept finding myself putting my hands under my belly to try to support it.

Rode down to Mosman Park and back after spending the morning at Liam's tennis tournament down the same way. Didn't feel as flat as you would think a ride around the river should feel.

Jog to the gym and back plus 5k on the treadmill after getting the kids to bed rather late. Lights switched on when I entered the gym but the sensor obviously didn't pick me up on the treadmill so they switched off again after about 20 minutes. I didn't want to interrupt my run and there was a bit of light from the LCD screens so I just kept going. Lights switched on again after taking only a couple of steps from the treadmill. Did a bit of faffing around with other stuff just because there was nobody there to laugh at me.

Rachel had an earlier start today so I got to the gym a bit early and did about 15 minutes on the bike before CC's class. Lunges very painful again, which is why I didn't go last week.

Went out for a little run in KP after work. Main motivation setting out was to help Rachel get started to do her interval session that was sabotaged by Amy secretly signing her up to help at a class excursion. Didn't really serve its purpose in that regard as Rachel only made it 500-m before turning around because her foot was too sore. I only had very mild pain in my heel so continued on and went a bit further than I have been of late. Felt reasonably good, but unfit.

HI Functional Circuit.
Found it to be harder than usual this morning. I asked Rosalie if it was just me and she said, "yes, it must be". Rosalie (the only other person who comes to these classes regularly) said she was a member of WOW many years ago, introduced by Brian Austin.

C • Rosalie 2

WA Long Champs at Lover's Lane.

Didn't start well, rolled my ankle just before the start triangle so spent a while hobbling and watching the ground instead of getting my bearings and looking for good lines. Never really felt as though I knew where I was until I spotted the L shaped cliff I was wanting to use as an attack point just off to my left. Ended up being quite a reasonable line and fastest split by over 30 seconds, just didn't feel in control. Once I found it cleanly I actually thought it was looking good for my chances as I thought the course was going to suit me a lot better than yesterday.

Went past Brycec (8 minutes) near 2, pretty cautiously as I didn't want to do anything really stupid with him watching. On my own for a fair while after that, with Wayne not starting Oliver was the next target 12 minutes ahead. Stuck to conservative routes, staying out of the rocks and green and avoiding climb as much as possible. All went pretty smoothly through to 8. I remember thinking on the way to 7 that I needed to be leading here as the rest of the course would probably be more physical and less technical so would suit tRicky more.

Leaving 8 it was a bit rougher than I expected and this caused me to dither a bit and then change my route choice to swing left out to the yellow. I felt as though I was very inefficient doing this but I think it was a good choice as I ended up with the fastest split by almost 2 minutes and I came into 9 just ahead of Oliver. Next leg to 10 was my worst on the course even though it was a short leg to a drinks control at a major track/creek crossing. Just rushed it a bit I think because of having Oliver behind me and swung left when I should have swung right to go around some green, hit some diggings I wanted to avoid and was a little confused for a few seconds. Only lost about 30 seconds so no real harm done. Had a gel here as well so Oliver caught up and ran ahead up the hill towards 11.

Missed 11 slightly, distracted by Oliver again but he did it a little better than me so helped limit my loss to a few seconds. I dropped off a little again on the next climb and then took a safe approach into 12 up the creek to the right but came into it just ahead. Careful across to 13 over the rock surfaces and then staying on the contour. Slight concern when I couldn't see it at the end but it was just on the other side of a tree. Got a bit of a gap on Oli at 14 when I took a lower route and saw it from the track crossing while he took a higher route and was looking for it a little high as I left. Took the safe route around the fence and track to the right on 15.

Aimed a little left on 16 but wasn't sure how far left I had gone so was stopping to work it out when I saw tRicky run across below me into a likely looking spot. I felt pretty safe at this point as I thought tRicky was the most likely to beat me today but I reminded myself that fletch could still be ahead so tried to keep pushing. Couldn't stay with tRicky up the hill to 17 but got a good line into 18 to get back in front. Oliver caught up again here and stayed with me over the hill and down to 19 and 20. tRicky seemed to drop off here which surprised me a little but I guessed he couldn't see any point in just tagging along.

Saw Cameron ahead at 20 and passed him going over the spur. Coming into 21 fletch was punching just ahead so now I really felt I had it in the bag. I'd already decided I would take the safe option of dropping out to the track as there was nothing to be gained by taking risks at this stage so when Steve went down I followed. I think Oliver came with us while Cameron must have taken the more direct route. Tried to spot 24 on the way through but couldn't see it and I think we led Simon astray here as we ran through while he was heading for 24.

Cameron popped out of the bush onto the track right in front of us at 22 so there was a group of 4 of us through 23 and on towards 24. I noticed I was the odd one out, not wearing a Nomads top as I ran at the back of the group towards 24. I was kind of disappointed that I was going to trail the group in but that was rectified when everyone turned up into the green a little early. I did too, but just for a quick look as I really thought it was going to be in the next bit of green a bit lower. I quickly went on and expected the others to follow but they took their time and allowed me to run in alone.

Ended up a bit over 13 minutes ahead of Oliver for my 16th win from 26 starts in M21A at the long champs. Ricky was another 4 minutes back in 3rd place. I was very happy with my race, no significant pain from my heel and handled the distance much better than I expected to.

Liam was feeling a bit desperate to get some tennis in before the end of the weekend so I eventually gave in and had a bit of a hit with him. A little more successful than usual at trying to avoid running but not entirely.

C1 - Splits

Event: WA Middle/Long Distance Championship
 

WA Middle Champs at Lover's Ridge.
First starter in a pretty easy area so I thought I would have to go hard from the start if I wanted to hold off fletch and tRicky. First control was only a short distance but straight into some big rocks through a bit of green and I felt a bit shaky on this but didn't really lose time. Was pretty careful on the next couple, still in the rocks, then tried to start pushing harder once out into the simpler stuff from 4.

Pretty clean through the rest of the course, maybe lost a little time dropping too much into the gullies, which were deeper than I expected, from 11-12 and a few seconds on 16. Any other time I lost was just down to my lack of fitness at the moment. I crossed paths with fletch between 10 and 11 as he went 7-8. He started 4 minutes after me and I wasn't sure if I had gained or lost but figured he was within reach so I couldn't slack off.

The last few controls were all uphill and I knew this was where I could lose the race so I tried hard to keep pushing to the limit. I lost a middle champs out here by a few seconds before and I kept thinking I didn't want to lose by a few seconds and feel I could have pushed harder. I was struggling up the track to the last control but at least finished feeling satisfied that I had done all I could.

Waited around at the finish to see fletch come in 6 minutes later, so 2 minutes behind me and he was pretty satisfied with his run so I felt I was in with a good chance. tRicky made a couple of mistakes so ended up winning by 2 minutes from fletch with Cameron another 3 minutes back in third.

Took an ibuprofen this morning and was pretty much pain free for the race but it was a little sore soon after finishing so I didn't do any warm down. Feeling better walking around a bit later but I'm not sure the barefoot basketball with the kids was a good idea.

C1 - Splits

Struggling for motivation this morning. Eventually got up and walked/jogged to the gym, did some cycling, a little strength stuff, some stretching and some rowing then walked/jogged home again.

Jogged to the gym and did 5min cycling, 5min rowing, stretching, squats, a few other things and 3min more cycling in an attempt to warm my heel up enough to do a bit more running.

To the gym and home with a couple of laps around Rosalie Park. Heel feeling a bit stiff but not very sore.

HI Functional Circuit at Charlies. Heel still pretty sore so walked most of the way there, jogged more on the way home as it was feeling a bit better then. Feeling better again jogging to the post office later.

Event: Foot O - Mt Billy
 

Penny pointed out that there was a Dufty on every one of the 7 courses today, me on the H1, Mike on the H2, Phil on the H3, Penny on the H4, Pat on the M, Liam on the E and Amy on the VE. Only 3 of us managed to get the win this time, something to work on.

C • Like 2

H1 at Mt Billy.
Having entered M21A for both the middle and long champs next week I thought I'd better try the H1 since I'm going to be in a lot of trouble next week if I can't manage a relatively flat 8k course this week. No fine navigation required really, pretty much just making sure to stay straight enough to not miss it at the end and I managed that ok.
I was getting pretty tired by 9 so I was lazy and just followed Juffy into that. Lazy (bored?) with the map reading again at 10 after trying to run away from Juffy and left 10 lower than I should have. Being straight enough didn't really help on 15 where the control was in the wrong place. How 3 people managed to visit it to tape, check the tape and hang the control without realising is a bit of a mystery. I figured it would be on another creek nearby so didn't take too long to find it. Thought about moving it but decided I shouldn't. A bit off line on the next one as I left in the direction I should have if 15 had been in the right place. I realised what I was doing and corrected before I went too far but not very efficient.
Lazy with the map reading again on the last few where I tried to make use of the trail bike tracks which I knew went right past the control. Got a little caught out by some unexpected junctions but it is hard to go too far wrong when you have run past the controls several times earlier in the course so only hesitated for a second.
Reasonably happy with the way I kept running through to the end of the course after feeling pretty tired at 9, 24 minutes in. I'm sure the hills at Lover's Lane next week will provide a much sterner test though.

Tried to have a hit with Amy but she was not in the best of moods (not enough sleep) so ended up swapping with Rachel and had a bit of a hit with Liam instead. I was trying to avoid hurting my heel so tried to avoid running around much to start with but it didn't take long before it got a bit too competitive for that. Good fun but now (next day) my heel is so sore I can barely walk.

H1 Course - Splits

Fairly solid paced ride out and back along the river and finishing around KP.

Jogged to the gym and back plus 3x5min on the bike, 2x5min rowing, 1x5min treadmill and a bit of other stuff while I was there. Did 1k on the rower fairly hard (3:58), the rest was pretty easy.

CC's hour of pain at Charlies. Lunges again.