Training Log Archive: Craney

Enjoyed this a lot. Lots of granite, contours, scrub and hardly any paths - nothing like this in the UK, maybe a few Spanish areas come close. It had overgrown a bit since the map was made, and the first few controls were like a real adventure crashing through thick scrub hoping to find a massive rock or two. I did badly here, dropping 5mins by #6 (3mins behind Gracie on a very similar course!). #1 was weird - I went in from my AP but nothing fitted, so I went back out to check I was right, and I was, so I went back in in the same place and it all fitted this time. 2mins dropped. #3 I lost contact and tried to wing it - fail. Another 2mins dropped. #5 and #6 were hesitant (and a bit lucky). Anyway, not in a boo as it wasn't a big race and I was just loving the adventurey feel of it. It actually got a lot more open from this point too, it turned out, so I was able to get into a bit more of a rhythm and hardly dropped any more time over the course. There was a really long leg with 4 totally different but equally valid route choices. Mine was ok, but Olle was a bit quicker on his. Pleased how I felt physically in general and my orienteering felt like it was starting to come back to me as the course went on - defo been suffering from the lack of practice. Great day out though, can see myself continuing to enjoy orienteering for a while longer yet.

C • O' in another country 2

Quite a long uphill jog to the start.

Event: ACT Middle and Long Champs
 

Really fast open pine forest - reminded me a lot of those ones near Belfast in South Africa. Scope for wobbling due to vagueness on slopes. Mainly hit things fine - a few misses/hesitations that could've been punished in a fast race like this. Felt reasonably comfortable running but not breathing great and not feeling fast - certainly couldn't have gone any faster today. Took the win from Olle and Shep about 1min down - they'll both rape me on the handicap though.

East basin loop at night - the moon was so bright, could easily have off-roaded if I'd wanted to.

Headtorch run up Davo and Red Hill. Lovely clear (but really cold!) night, felt pretty good.

5x5mins wiggling round roads in Griffith, Narrabundah and Red Hill. Street lighting is shocking here - have to run on the roads as the pavements are too dark and bumpy, I guess it's because there's nowhere for anyone in the suburbs to walk to in the evenings. Anyway, the run was good, felt like my legs were going ok.

Cruise round the lake. Pretty wintery cold air on my chest run.

C • intervals group 2

Met with Olle at Blundell's Cottage and did 4x5mins on the lit path between the bridges. Was good to do some intervals for the first time in a while - very grateful to Olle for dragging me out! The first 2 felt tough to me - Olle said we were going to do 3.30mpk pace, but since I didn't have a watch I sat on his shoulder and thought it was feeling quite tough. Turned out it was 3.17-3.20. Then felt pretty good on the 3rd and 4th so pushed on a bit quicker than that. Nice session - need more like these.

Various jogging from work to Blundell's cottage, a bit of a warm-up with Olle, back to work after the sesh, then home.