Training Log Archive: fletch

Not exactly the 2.5hrs the program called for, but the other guideline is 25% of weekly mileage and those two numbers aren't going to meet any time soon.

Started super conservatively and felt a little leg weary, but got going pretty well after halfway. A little hard up Brighton Rd at the 19km mark, but otherwise was feeling really good at the end. Won't be an issue padding it out to 25km, dunno if I'll be doing further. Certainly not very often.

Heel lifts in today. Achilles a bit niggly for the first few hundred metres, then fine. Hopefully will survive tomorrow. City Beach map now finished, so I'm good for the first 5 weeks of lightpole. Have done nothing for the next 6... I sense some venue changes later in the series. Note that 5 +6 does not equal 10, so my 10 week series is flawed from the outset :(

Gonna need to run a lot of maps in the school holidays.

Left or Right option choosing exercise. Put the tapes out, waited for my three takers, ran the full course (about 7km) with Shane, short WU and CD.

Calves a little sore still (pulled up a bit sore after trail race and after intervals yesterday) and one or two left achilles twinges. Might put the heel raises back in for a few days and see how things go.

I have now run as much as I did in 2008. Closing in on 2011.

C • March 2

First session of the 'marathon build-up'. Only left it about 6 weeks too late...
4 x 3km @ T pace (3:40/km) with 2 min (400m) jog recoveries.
2km WU 2km CD

Have done similar sessions to this back in the day, but only ever done 3, so was a bit apprehensive. First 2 were easy, 3rd I started to feel near the end and the 4th was starting to feel like hard work in the second half, but got through fine and don't feel too bad from it. Right calf has tightened up, but otherwise all good.

Bit longer than my usual 'quality' sessions but I guess that's something I'll have to get used to.

Paid the price for not warming up terribly effectively at the start as the first little climb off the start line felt awful. Fortunately, are was a down long enough to get the legs going straight after that, so I was moving alright by the first real climb about 1km in. The leader had bolted off the start line, but from previous races, I knew he would fade and he didn't even last halfway up the climb, by which time I had settled in behind SS and TB. There was another bloke with us that hadn't run the rest of the series, and as we dropped down the other side and settled into a bit of flatter but technical singletrack it was him and TB a good 50-100m in front with me next.

The singletrack was technical enough to slow TB and I caught up to him, but the other bloke had shot clear and the gap kept growing. Saw him for the last time at about 9km in, which was also where TB disappeared in the other direction.

There seemed to be lots of climbs on this course that were just that little bit too steep to run, so I felt like I was walking lots, and using too much of the downhills as recoveries rather than running them properly.

Got into a bit of a rhythm from about 11-14km including one decent climb, then was told by a course marshall I had 2km to go. I thought it was 3 and am a bit wary of trusting course marshalls when it comes to distance, but as I crested the last climb, I knew there was only a little over a km to go and the marshall had been right. The last km was all down, but lots of steps, rocks and turns, so hard to feel good, and nobody close enough either side to go kamikaze on it. As a consequence, finished feeling like I had a fair bit left and annoyed at myself for not pushing harder, but as the day has progressed I've realised just how stuffed I feel, so maybe I was pretty right after all.

GPS trace to follow...

About half before and half after, but the WU was pitifully slow and included a toilet stop, so was largely ineffective. CD mainly because I could aready feel my calves starting to seize.

Slept in, figuring I'd run a little one in the afternoon. But didn't. No good excuse, just never started. So no easy run and no finished lightpole map. Boo.

Lightpole mapping part 2

Time to start some lightpole mapping again if I'm going to have 10 weeks worth of maps to use... 2nd part of City Beach north. Should finish it with a quick trundle tomorrow morning.

1km ish WU and CD
10 x 630m-ish intervals with 2 min recoveries to draw a simplification map on a contour only version of Spice Brook. Pretty different feeling to the last simplification map effort, as no veg, rock detail or fence lines etc to draw, just contour features...

Felt pretty reasonable running faster than cruise pace for the first time in a while.

Easy morning cruise to try out the new shoes on the limestone paths. Don't think I'll bother again. The Roclites may not be the rogaining shoe that I was after... will have to ponder. There's a little more protection than the x-talons, but I'd probably prefer a little more cushioning.

For the morning trail run, I think the regular runners are a little softer and just as protective.

Finally got out the door for a morning run. I hate getting out of bed in the dark, but I'd better get used to it.
Felt almost normal running today. Hopefully back to form by the weekend.

Intended to get out for 30 minutes today, but slept like rubbish and ignored the alarm. Then all my free time at work got eaten up by unforseen things and it was late by the time I got home. Back is improving. Hopefully it won't be flared up by running.
MUST get out in hte morning.

Not feeling terribly inspired but decided I'd have a run anyway seeing as I felt obligated to be at the AGM afterwards. Shouldn't have bothered. Ran around 3/4 pace trying to focus on getting the technique right. Still stuffed up about 5 controls and felt totally awful afterwards. Felt like the cold jumped about 5 days backwards today.

Sore back from yesterday and rolled my ankle with about 3 controls to go just to lift my spirits.

Not feeling very inspired about running, orienteering, or life in general at the moment. Hopefully the motivation will return when I start feeling healthy again.

C • On the bright side 2

Long - Splits

Stupidly decided to play some social squash after work. Took a lot more out of me than intended and my back has seized up nicely.

Spent most of the day feeling pretty crap.

Approx 1km WU
6 x 400 @5km pace, with 200m -ish recovery jog.
Approx 1km CD.

Ran the 400s very conservatively and only did half the session. Was really just a tester to see what I'm up to as I'm certainly not healthy yet. Felt OK when I didn't try to push it. Might be OK to have a bit of a crack at something on the weekend.

Also nice to try out another pair of new shoes. Surprisingly, they felt a little less cushioned than the x-talons in the forefoot, but a bit more in the heel. Possibly just that the studs aren't as long or soft as the x-talons. Might be a good option for sprint races...

Started coughing lots more on the second half of the plane flight home and still going tonight. Want to feel fresh and energetic again. Motivation feels very low at the moment.

Enough warm-up to know that I wasn't feeling great. Also enough to start feeling a little better, but know that it wasn't going to get as better as I wanted.

Knew it was going to be fairly long, fairly steep, fairly hot and that I was feeling fairly average physically. Decided on running in shorts and singlet and carrying a drink bottle after the first map change. Nearly changed my mind when I saw no one else thinking similarly, but stuck with it anyway and am now fairly scratched to bits as a result.

First loop was the most orienteers I have ever seen running around in a small area, Quite good fun and I actually stuck to plan and ran super conservatively and did my own thing. A couple of very minor wobbles, but generally seemed to be keeping things fairly clean and was still surrounded by people as I finished the first loop in around 15 minutes.

Out onto the second loop and I missed the first one, was slow to the second, then misread the location of the spectator control and stood next to a tree looking confused when I was meant to be finding an earthbank. All those things were still only a coule of minutes down the tube, but it all unravelled shortly after.

Got to the 6th control on the loop, punched, then double-checked the code only to see it didn't match my descriptions. I was a little surprised, but knew there were lots of controls around, so tried to relocate. After relocating off two tennis courts and the road and coming back to the same spot each time, as well as a bit of random running in circles, I ended up frustratingly back in the same spot and looked at the code again. This time, it matched my descriptions. Couldn't figure out whether I had misread the description but carried on in a grump. Got distracted by Craig coming out of 8 and ran a crap line out of the control, then made a bit of a hash of the route choice to 9 also, but still felt like I was running OK.

A bit hesitant into 9, but got it OK. 10 I ignored the contours and relied solely on a track junction. Which would have been finr if I had seen the one under the control number, so ducked into the bush on the wrong side of a gully and took a while to get across. Then ran down onto the breakaway for 11, through a control that wasn't mine, but I knew the location of, and straight onto my control. Only the code didn't match again. This time I was absolutely certain that I was in the right place, so I stood around saying a few things that I probably shouldn't have while about 5 other people ran thru, punched the control and continued. I had another look at my map and finally figured out what I had done, both this time and earlier - I had been looking at the descriptions on the reverse side of my map - the ones for the third loop. Crap. Finished off the last 3 controls of the second map OK but was fairly alarmed when I saw what was left on the other side of the map.

Had a slight miss on the first control, despite having been there before, OK through the next two, then read the map as if I was running 4-5 instead of 3-4. The angles seemed wrong and none of the rock fitted, so I was pretty flummoxed. Was just bailing out to the top of the breakaway to try and figure it out when Craig and Graham came through and dropped straight onto a control, which I dutifully followed them into, found the code matched one on my map and ran out towards number 6. Only I had to run downhill into a large and distinct gully that I already should have been in the bottom of. With no rock around to addle my brain, there was no way I could make this fit. So I stopped! (Hooray for me) had a think, and figured that the only way I could have managed was to have come out from a different spot than what I expected. Re-checking the codes on my map it finally clicked that I had indeed just punched 4, not 5, which explained a lot about my earlier confusion. Ran back to get 5, then back out to 6 again. Got 6 well, a little offline on 7, but corrected well, 8 and 9 were easy, picked the critical path through the crap to get to 10, then didn't manage to hold a straight linr to 11 and wasted another good 5+ minutes first dropping to the bottom of the hill, then climbing to the top, before finally dropping back onto the control halfway down. I was caught by a pack of 3 runners here for about the 5th time and was getting pretty annoyed at myself. Next came the long route-choice leg. Apparently I picked a decent route choice, but not for me, as I was running out of legs by this time and couldn't cope with the hills. Finished the leg off fine, but then didn't go wide enough leaving the control and got stuck in blackberries before climbing back out and finding the right way down to the path through the tunnel. Cautious but clean enough through the last 5 controls to finish a very frustrating day.
Still pulled up better than I have after many other long races, despite not being 100% when I started, so maybe I am a little fitter than previously. Just need to remember how to navigate properly. Really need to spend that little bit longer to make sure I get everything I need from the map, then spend more time during the leg with my head up seeing more of what is around me. Hopefully point 2 will improve naturally as I get back into more regular running in terrain.

Overall, a disappointing weekend, but still a useful learning experience and first step towards 2014 nationals.

Was also 3rd WA finisher on this one, so counted for NOL points. We might even have beaten a couple of other states...

**Time and distance approx**

Course 1 ABB - Splits

Event: Adelaide NOL
 

Good warm-up and pretty token cool down.

Legs felt pretty good on the warm-up which was a happy surprise.

Poo.

Really took my time out of the start to have a good look at the first leg. Executed it well, but took a poor option, despite having a good look. Clean through the next two, then tried to get the legs moving on the way to 4, as I went wide left and over the bridge rather than run the down and up on the straight line. Felt like it was really hard work to move not very fast, and surmised that my cold was having some effect when the intensity went above an easy jog after all :( Pretty alarmed to have my minute man (Brodie) run through me here (but in hindsight, a chunk of the time loss was on the poor route choice and he did comfortably win the heat, so I actually wasn't moving that bad...)
Had a little hesitation misreading the detail near 7, but ran hard to stay in tough through 8 and 9. Also clean, but not so fast through 10 and 11, but botched the route to 12. Ran through the spectator control feeling physically flat, like I was running particularly slowly, and thinking that my pre-race thoughts of being able to be a little conservative and still make the final had gone out the window.
14-18 were all pretty much OK - just one detour round an extra garden bed where I thought a stair case was as dead-end.

Coming into 19, I had a little look to check the control site from the top of the wall and didn't see it. Had a minor panic, rechecked the map and got confused for a few seconds before having another look over the wall and seeing the control.

Only two controls to go, and, as it turned out, I had a full 2 minutes up my sleeve over the last eventual qualifier from my heat. I wish I knew what I ended up doing. I guess I had a little panic after my hesitation on the way in and blasted out in completely the wrong direction. I thought I had sorted it and could correct what was going to be a sizeable error, but I misidentified what I had done and just compounded the problem. If I had just stopped when I first realised it was wrong, run straight back to the control and tried again, I still probably would have snuck into the final. As it was, I spent 10 minutes on a 1 minute leg and I had absolutely no idea where I was for most of the time. None at all. Still can't work it out. Once I had it sorted, I jogged through the last couple to the end.

Effort to prepare properly for the second sprint race of the day, but my heart wasn't in it, and legs were feeling far from fresh.

First control went well (it was easy, then I ran into what I thought was a dead-end on the way to 2 and didn't see either of the quick ways to correct, so backed out and went the ultra-long way around. That pretty much killed the little enthusiasm I had for this race. Happy through 3-4-5, then over-committed to a route to 6 before realising it was on the top level and bailing out as I again didn't see the alternative the way I was going (stairs a bit past the control). Solid through 7-8-9, executed my route to 10 well apart from a little hesitation in the middle, but it wasn't a great route apparently. Had a brain failure heading into 11, OK through 12 and 13, missed a path into 14, then totally fell apart on both 15 and 16, dropping about 1.5 minutes over those 2 controls as I wandered around in confused circles. That gave me enough of a rest to run hard through to the finish without screwing up again.

No cool down afterwards. Couldn't find the motivation. At least my problems were all my own fault though. Rachel had the misfortune of running the final with the wrong map.

1C - Splits

Course 1 - Splits

25 min WU. Felt really good after the first few hundred metres. Got into a good rhythm and felt smooth and easy.

Followed up with a bunch of drills and 5 x approx 200m with a walk recovery between and a short cooldown.

Then met the Thursday running group and ran back down to Kapinara, demo'ed a few drills again and jogged back to the car afterwards.

Feel pretty coldy in general and work was a bit of a struggle, but felt pretty good running, so there is still hope for the weekend. Will stock up on the cold and flu medications just in case...

Pffft. Intended to do a short, wasy run today, but it never happened. I had eventually decided on running after dinner, but I
a) ran out of time
b) had a cold by then anyway

so it didn't happen

10 min WU
Drills
5 x 400m in 77 point something, 400m recoveries in 1:59-2:04
approx 1km cooldown

Felt pretty reasonable after the first 500m of WU. 400's felt a bit hard at that pace, but the recoveries were massive, so didn't get any harder as I went.

C • 15 2

Warm-up, 3 downhill courses and walking uphill between the courses.

I was woeful. Got gradually better in parts, but overall bombed all three courses. Felt like I was making good plans, but dismally failing to execute. Real trouble actually seeing what was around me and matching it back to what was on the map.

In hindsight, I think I can put a lot of it down to not feeling comfortable moving through the terrain and spending a lot of time looking at my feet instead of my surroundings. Hopefully be better for the run and bush with less undergrowth may be less of an issue next weekend. If not, I will need to run more conservatively and make a real effort to hold straighter lines, as I was all over the shop today when essentially meant to be on a bearing.

Warm up was OK, then lost focus between the end of the WU and starting, not helped by trying to start without clear-and-checking, leading to a bit of a scramble before I picked up the map.

Not happy with this one at all. Was feeling pretty good before the start, then turned over the map and felt visually assaulted by the colours. One the way to the first control I changed my route because I couldn't make out whether there was a track under a north line or not. Started to run from 1 to 8, then from 3 to 7. Realised my mistake each time when I realised the lines didn't actually come out of the control I had just left. I didn't actually find a number on the map till I was nearly at #4. Took a crap option on the way to 12, then finished the job by running down a dead end path, before totally not seeing #16 and skipping it totally.

Pity that the printing was a bit weird and more importantly that I was totally crap and really let it get to me, as it was a really interesting course.

Was a bit more measured in my approach and a combination of this and having been to 2/3 of the controls previously meant this was pretty clean. A little miss in the circle on 3 and a hesitation heading into 10, but probably 10 seconds or so all up.

Didn't feel pressured by people chasing me down and managed to largely ignore the people in front, except for nearly colliding with Graham on an in -and-out at 4 or 5. Probably helped by knowing tRicky was just jogging and I had 90 seconds up my sleeve to fenry.

Long - Splits

From work, down to the beach and along to Jindalee and return. Felt a little weary early on, but better in the second half, other than the final climb.