Training Log Archive: fletch

Couldn't face map memory tonight, so warmed up, did a bunch of running drills followed by 4 x 350m with 2 min recoveries, then a decent cooldown.

Slightly better headspace by the end.

Morning run with Ollie, Josh and a kid from school. Keeping Josh company for the second half as he slowed down and the other two disappeared off the front.

Still a bit sore on top of my left foot and I still have a couple of sizeable lumps where my ankle braces squeezed above the lateral malleoli, but I should probably be running by now. Didn't plan on running today as I expected to be setting up for an athletics carnival, but that got cancelled yesterday afternoon.

Instead, spent the evening filling in a job application and then headed into school for the training session that I forgot to cancel.

Played some touch rugby at school today and survived, so I'd better start training again.

How do you spell oedema? That's apparently why you can push your thumb into my shin, make a big indent, then watch it very slowly fill itself in again. Apart from that affecting my calves downwards, I felt OK today. Found a pair of shoes that didn't irritate my blisters and could happily jog around a bit at work. Feel still feeling slightly abused, but not really sore as such.

Feet pretty tender today. Feeling a lit better by the end of the day, but any time I sit for too long, or have to stand still, things start to feel pretty bad again.

Event: Foot-O Jorgensen
 

The second 'half'
No more write-up though :)

Event: WARA 24hr Spring Rogaine (State Champs)
 

Hmmm... Lots to write, so I'll start with the important part first, to remind myself if I ever come back and read this later. I do not get any great enjoyment out of rogaining through an entire night. Even when things are going well. I have no desire to do that again (I'm already having trouble typing this by Monday night though...)

This was always going to be a bit of a trip into the unknown. A couple of months ago, leading up the the marathon, training had been going well and I was very confident in my physical capability to take on a challenge like this. The last two months have not been so good and I have only done 1 run over 90 minutes. I have also had some niggles from both my achilles and hip flexors. I hadn't done a 24hr rogaine for 2 years, and that one only lasted 10.
Craig hadn't done a serious 24 for 11 years, so things had vast potential to go pear shaped.

We weren't really sure what was going to be an achievable distance for the event. The bush looked pretty open on the way in, but we were pretty suss that the south west corner was going to be nasty and the setters' comments about random patches of nasty stuff throughout added to the thoughts that there was probably lots of other thick stuff out there too. Given our uncertainty, we had vaguely mentioned the thought of about 100km being achievable, and set about trying to do what every rogainer starts with (I think ;) ) of trying to make the shortest loop possible that clears the course. First effort at this came in at 112km, and with a bit of playing we got it down to 111km. Given that when Craig mentioned one 10km length of his string against the scale on the map and it came in at 9.5ish, we thought that maybe (if the string was uniform) it might be closer to 105km, but we never bothered to check with a ruler or anything sensible like that.

A quick mental check says 6km/h in daylight and 4km/h and we can cover 120km. Sounds overly optimistic given the conditions we were expecting, but decided (again, as I'm sure everyone else does) that we should go for it anyway. In any case, we had some good cut-off options at the end that cout cut the loop by between 3 and 10km without losing any really big points, so there wasn't much else to do for the last 2 hours of planning time other than go and bother Wil and Andre, pretend to take a photo of their map etc Figured I'd better have a little fun before things started, as I figured there wouldn't be much after midday. In hindsight, it may have been an advantage to bee-line it for the SW corner to get through it in the daylight, but that would have meant a more catastrophic ending if things didn't go to plan, and we really weren't confident of finishing the lot, so thought we'd just have to deal with being slow and accurate through that part of the course.

We started pretty well and had a fair bit of open terrain early. The pace felt comfortable. Much more so that I am used to, but I figured this was probably a good thing, given my propensity to self destruct in less than 12 hours. We made it to the second water drop (the first one that we actually stopped at) at pretty much spot on 5pm and 33km in and hit our 40km mark, just heading into the thick crap at 40km, just as it got dark. Over the next 25km, we made several mistakes. Nothing big, and Craig did a great job of figuring things out before we did anything too costly in the dark. One particularly annoying one was when we must have been very close to a control and hit a weird magnetic anomaly that had us walking in a circle before getting re-orientated and heading back to where we started, from where we could pretty much see the control. We were right to be worried about how thick the steep corner of the map would be, as one 500m section took us 15 minutes to hack through.

In terms of navigation, we had a few other errors in really flat non-existent creek systems, but kept moving steadily through the rest of the night. We passed a few of our earliest decision points (Through our 60km point just after #22 at midnight) and still thought we were in with a chance to finish it off, so kept plugging away. I had a couple of worrying aches from my hip flexors when I stumbled on branches and things, but they were well behaved, and by 15 or 16 hours in, was pretty sure I was going to be able to finish things off OK. Blisters had started to develop too, due to the huge amount of crap that was accumulating in my shoes (Didn't realise quite how much until after I finished) and, as expected, wearing the ankle braces was starting to become pretty unpleasant.

We hit the water drop at #53 (about 77km in) where I re-filled my bladder for the last time (I finished with over a litre left, so probably didn't drink enough for the remainder of the race, but it was cool, and I didn't feel dehydrated at any point.) I'm a bit hazy on timings by here, but I cretainly remember the extreme pain of hacking up the hill after the water drop through dead, scratchy rubbish. Really regretting wearing cut-off O pants and long socks, as dragging my knees through this stuff was really unpleasant.

I think it got light (about 0620) around #55, by which time were were well past 80km and committed to seeing our plan through until at least 95km.

Started to feel more confident about finishing things off here, as long as there weren't more of the nasty surprises we hit periodically during the night. We knew there was no way we could pick up the pace to what we had done on the first afternoon, but were confident that we could at least be faster than at night. Daylight naviagtion was clean through to our second last control, where we had the last of several scale fails, reverting to looking for orienteering sized features far too close to our attackpoint, but it didn't matter by then, as we had gradually been pulling further in front of where we needed to be to finish.

Never felt totally physically exhausted while out there, but the last 4 hours or so, my feet were getting pretty tender and I was really struggling to jog due to straining something on top of my foot tripping over a log. My failure to find my car after we finished, my slow hobbling and unintentional nap during presentations suggest I was pretty much spent by the end, so I guess the pacing was pretty good.

Was it perfect? No - but it was pretty good. Yes, we made some mistakes, but we recovered from them well, and Craig nutted out a few where I had vagued out a little and really couldn't be much help at all. And given our lack of experience and rogaine race-hardness I was really happy. One of the main reasons for doing this was that I really wanted to get through a 24hr rogaine, going all night and feeling like I'd gotten things pretty much right, both physically and navigationally. I reckon I can tick that one off now. Whether we won or lost was pretty inconsequential in that regard, but I reckon it was a good enough effort to have won many other rogaines.

Wil and Andre deserve the win. They certainly have the finer points of planning these things down to a fine art and have the experience to know what they are capable of, which probably helps a little with the planning, but they've also got the physical side covered and I'm amazed that they can consistently power through these events, even when they're only a few weeks apart. To top it off, Wil looked half dead before they started and was coughing up gunk all over the place, which makes it even more impressive.

Now, to disregard what I said at the top... What did I learn, in case there is a next time:
- Less carboshotz, more food. Shotz aren't free any more, and stock standard choc-chip muesli bars go down a treat. So do jelly snakes. Jam sandwiches were OK but perhaps unnecessary. Chips are good for the emergency salt hit, but very bulky.
- Drinks-wise I find it much more pleasant drinking Powerade mix that Shotz stuff too. I had some of each, and suspect that I need to be drinking the Shotz tabs for some of the race to keep the cramps at bay (none for the whole race) but the flavour leaves a bit to be desired.
- Don't start too hard. And it's OK not to push so hard uphill if you still want to be going at the end.
- It's nice to have a partner whose navigation is so reliable. I allowed myself a few mental breaks during the night where I just fell in behind, ate and plodded and it was a good break.
- A 6hr Ayup that has a low power mode can last the whole night.

And what could I change so that there might be some way to actually enjoy these things and do a few more?
- Long training runs??
- Softer shoes (the OROCs were pretty good, but I felt it on the track runs)
- Long O pants. Absolute must.
- Debris gaiters or full gaiters. Gotta keep the crap out of shoes to avoid blisters. Not so much of an issue in farmland, but when there is heaps of thick bush, I'm surprised my feet still fit in the shoes by the end of the race. Apart from that, there would have been no blister issues at all with these shoes.
- but most importantly, and possibly most difficult, I need to find an alternative to wearing ankle braces. Would tape be comfortable enough for that long? If I put heaps on, would it provide enough support for my ankles to survive? Not sure, but the amount of pain they cause over the second half of the race, or even the second half of a 12 hour, not to mention how bruised and puffy my ankles are now is one of the main contributors to me not particularly enjoying the overall experience - that and the 12+ hours of darkness, but that one ain't gonna change any time soon.

Will stick route on routegadget soon, but it won't be a GPS trace. EDIT: No I won't. Craig beat me to it.

C • Well done. 20

Didn't end up running yesterday because I pulled up with a sore groin after playing touch rugby with kids at school. Fortunately, this mornings jog was enough to convince me that it is more tight and a bit sore rather than strained, so should be right for the weekend.

Time to retire these shoes too.

Little loosener. Had conremplated running further but had a few tight spots so settled for a lap of Lake Gwelup and a good stretch when I got home.

Event: John XXIII College, WA Sprint Orienteering Championships
 

Actually did a proper warm up and cooldown. Now if only I had a stretch aftetwards.

Had a proper warm up and felt relatively switched on before the start. Only thing i forgot to do was look at the map on the caravan to figure out where the start was but found it quickly after flipping the map so no biggie. Fely slow and overcautious for the first two but was at least clean. Got an early sight of Shotrat, but it took till after 9 to get past.

Had my one wobble for the day when I turned one too early at 4 and ran past 5 and the long way round the building to get there, but at least realised as I was doing it so probably only lost 15 seconds.

Spent the rest of the course trying to stay in control and ignore the voices telling me how much faster Henry and Tomas would be once we were out on the ovals. Had a tiny hesitation into 18 but otherwise nailed everything.

In control enough to check the descriptions at the last to spot that I was heading to the top of the stairs. Blasted home which was the only 19 seconds of the course that I felt like I was moving well.

Happy with efforts today. Confident that I might sneak a 3rd. Very surprised to pip Henry for the win by 1 second.

C • Congrats 14

M21A - Splits

Bit apprehensive about this session, as my eyes are still a tiny bit puffy from Tuesday night and I wasn't sure I would be up to running intervals. As it turned put, only Ken and Carol had arrived by 5:45 and the shower that went from about 5:40 till then convinced them they didn't mind not running the intervals, so they went off on a jog and picked up a late Cameron, while I headed up onto the trails and ran a gentle loop myself. felt better the longer I went, so adding to the great lack of speed sessions I have done, but good to know that running feels OK again, so Saturday should be OK.

Totally knackered today. Feel like I've run a marathon (without the sore legs)

Too lazy to get out of bed this morning and too busy after school, so I went for a run after dinner.

It didn't feel very good.

At first I put it down to being a bit flat.

Then I decided that it was just my stomach complaining a bit about food being bounced around.

Then, just as I got as far from home as I could get on this particular loop, I noticed that my hands were getting itchy.
Then my face.
Then the rest of my arms, armpits, chest.
Then I could feel my lips and eyelids starting to puff up.

All while I tried to jog the 6km home.

This reminded me of how stupid it was to have bought a waist pack that had room for my epipen but not my phone. Thought about cutting through the back streets to get home faster, but decided it would be safer to stick to main roads.

I made it home. Puffy eyes, whole body covered in little lumps. Very itchy. There was cream on my chicken tonight apparently. I didn't think I reacted like this unless I pushed a fair bit harder. Turns out I was wrong.

Currently feel pretty crap, but almost stopped itching, so may try getting some sleep. Might be a little more careful with rogaine nutrition than I had been planning...

C • Be very careful 10

Slept like rubbish. Didn't get out of bed. Equally uninspired after dinner. Planned permanent course changes at Jorgenson and cried about the rain in Manchester instead.

Event: Foot-O Gunapin
 

Couldn't convince the family that it was worth the drive out to Gunapin, but pretty keen to keep getting a regular look at a map, particularly with Sprint Champs next week, so headed up to ECU Joondalup.

Started at Neil Hawkins park for a bit of a warm-up onto the map. First course went pretty well. A couple of little hesitations, the worst one being when I was 3/4 of the way between 14 and 15 and stopped, thinking I had stuffed up my route to 10. There endeth the experiment of 'thumbing' both where I am and my destination.

Had a little walk around to a second start point and headed off on a second course. Not so flash this time. Significant error at #3 - changed my mind on route choice, then ended up getting really disorientated when I mis-interpreted levels. Was still on a legitimate route, but fumbled around figuring out what I had done. Followed it up with an error at #5, not seeing a fence and missing the one little gap into the control. Then decided to skip the controls in the student village and also stopped to help a soccer mum find the pitch for her son's match. Got going OK again after that.

Cool down back to the car and headed home. Nice way to get a run in. Calves a little stiff to start, but no achilles soreness.

Treadmill jog followed by a little loop chasing schools team members around Mindarie.

Good turnout for the session - Mum and Dad, Ken and Carol, tRicky and Tash, Andre, Sten, Mike, Brian A, Wayne, Michelle, Andrew, Ollie, Josh, Cameron and Heike. Pity the session didn't really work out. Apparently the blank map option for testing direction and distance skills is a bit too hard in the dark, especially on a map that appears to be wrong or distorted in parts.

I didn't get much out of it personally after managing to leave both my light and compass at home, making it pretty much impossible once it got dark, even though I had put out the tapes. Pretty hard to collect them all when I couldn't see the map or the features on the ground.

Hanging tapes for O training