Training Log Archive: fletch

Event: Foot-O Jumbuck / Bells Rapids
 

Distance is very approximate.

Felt like crap today. Pretty phegmy in the morning and legs felt empty from the start. Might be a new cold or might just be general post-marathon emptiness. Probably not helped by only eating 2 small meals yesterday either.

Slow but clean through the first 2. Got within 20m of 3 aiming straight at the correct feature before looking at the map one last time, deciding it looked wrong and running away up the hill before coming back to the right spot. Frustrating.

4 was OK, read the clearing boundary on the way in well.

5 I changed my mind 2/3 of the way through as I was cinfident I had read the clearings again but somehow got it woefully wrong and each random circle I ran in got me further and further from the control before finally relocating the best part of 400m away for a 15 minute leg. Was also feeling sore in the right hip flexor by here, as well as generally flat and out of energy.

Had a plan for 6 which I thought I was doing well, but got dreadfully confused approaching the control. Fortunately hit it dead on in the end. 7 was a simply up and over in the saddle.

Low on confidence, I took the track for as far as feasible to 8, then proceeded to run down the side of the wrong spur and ended up abput 100-150m past the control.

Also had a little miss on 9, despite knowing my exact location 100m out.

10-13 I finally strung a few controls together. Slow and cautious, but accurate at least.

Got half way across the hill to 14 in control, but totally lost it in the second half and difted well low, before going lower and relocating off the private property boundary about 250m away.

Finished off my day with a faceplant on the way to the last, putting a nice hole in the palm of my hand before jogging down the hill to the finish.

So... not my finest outing, and 26 minutes behind Craig isn't terribly encouraging. Also beaten by Wayne and Simon Windsor.

Next time I get out in the bush will hopefully be a bit shorter gap than the time since Malmalling where Craig shadowed me (last bush race).
Plan for that run is to get out a highlighter before the start and turn the entire race into a control picking / follow the line exercise.

Expert 1 - Splits

Event: Nav Dash ECU Mt Lawley (Sprint)
 

Tried very hard to take this conservatively, and was trying to see whether I was up to racing without asthma medication yet. Not quite, Got pretty wheezy at times.
Made a hash of one early control (3), stopping one corner too soon, Stopped early heading to 6 and punched a wrong control, got turned around by the dodgy multi-level carpark on the way to 14, sloppy around the demountables at 17, then had a total baslls-up leaving the 3rd last 90 degrees out and dumping 45 seconds and all remaining motivation.

So, no repeat of a fortnight ago. In fact, nowhere near it. Pretty poor effort for the speed I was running.

Not enough before, even less after.

Long - Splits

I was asked to look after some rugby kids while they worked out after only 4 of them pitched up for training, making standard rugby drills a waste of time.

Wanted to get a short easy run in anyway to see how the legs were really going, so had a little play on the treadmill.

Unfortunately, forgot the heel raises, which I want to phase out again anyway, but probably not the best idea for first run post-marathon. Calves got pretty sore, so stopped and stretched after 15 minutes, then got going again. Marginally better in the first half. Encouragingly, after struggling to get going in the first 10 minutes, I kept trying to run off the front of the treadmill in the second half.

C • heel raises 6