Training Log Archive: tinytoes

Had delusions of doing the Medium Hard today as the terrain is very friendly but arrived a little later than would have been convenient and as MessEng took just under an hour I thought I'd better slink back to Short - and it was over 4.4km anyway. Foot a bit ginger but thought it could have been the shoes.
No real problems with Shane's course which I really enjoyed. I liked that he picked a couple of control sites I used last year - he wasn't happy when I told him this but I was pleased that he thought they were worthy. And yes it did help me a bit!!! But not enough for the final visit to the pivot control which I overshot and was quite a bit off line. Thanks to a bit of peripheral vision I saw it about 50m away (even though it was below ground level being in a water course). Rain stayed away until the last 100m or so. Not cold so pretty good conditions.
Really enjoyed the run after the week away but the result is my foot is cactus - so back to a maintenance regime I guess. A bit disappointing and as I'll be out of action after Friday for a while I wanted to be a bit fitter by now.

Hard Short - Splits

Our week on the North Coast is over - seemingly drier than the Hunter and definitely drier than the South Coast.
I thought it would be a good opportunity to give my foot a rest but while I reduced the impact stress it certainly was no rest.
Saturday was mostly driving - checking out a couple of schools on the way to Coffs Harbour for the night. Sunday saw us wind our way to Ballina to our favourite unit and check out some more schools. Checking out schools involved slow walking around playgrounds while rockman did some preliminary mapping and photographing. Monday we devoted to preparing for the North Coast AASC Gala Day by checking out the previously favoured venue and discarding it in favour of Timberjacks fields. rockman delivered a great map and thence to Office for printing our maps and resources.
Tuesday produced a fine day and the kids arrived eager and excited. Three activities were planned : games with me, relays and the Maze with Coffs AASC rep Bruce and Scatter Course with rockman. Scored tv - NBN turned up and filmed. Became a little overcast about 12 so we decided to shorten the last session to finish by 1:15 which was a very good move as it started to drizzle as rockman was bringing in the controls. Off to coffee and a debrief with AASC - seemed very impressed by the day (so they should have been - we worked very hard). Mission 1 completed.
Tuesday night spent in frantic search for lost wallet - unsuccessful so we spent Wednesday morning getting a new licence and some money. Then worked our way south to Wooli visiting more schools for fieldwork. Stayed at Wooli CP in a Beach Hut. Great kitchen where we watched the carnage in Canberra and Brisbane on tv. More schools to visit Thursday and Friday staying at Clog Barn at Coffs. Weather deteriorated and most of the day was damp and made mapping a bit problemmatic and soggy; rockman took a tumble on slippery grass. Foot starting to winge a bit so sheltered wimpishly in the car. Wuss!
Saturday was a 3 hour Upskilling course delivered to 13 staff (6-8 booked in) so it was a great atmosphere. Mission 2 accomplished.
While I was doing that rockman mapped the school and had a stroll around the Botanical Gardens and environs as a reccy for later in the year. So that completed all schools to be visited for mapping - Mission 3 completed.
Then to CHEC for the OWL event - Orienteering without Limits - designed as a Sprint course for wheelchair participants. Good course and while it was a bit short for us it was good to have a hit out at a bit of speed after a week of slow traipse. I scored a lucky draw prize.
Drive home was surprisingly fast, despite the rain but pleased that a few of the roadworks were open.
Home in time to watch the Wallabies just scrape home and get birthday phone calls from senior junior (hot off the plane from LA) and junior.
TdF starts tonight - so the toes will get the attention they deserve.

Forgot compass (still buried in the car) and Felix challenged me to go without. Stupidly I thought that was OK - and probably it was. The scale was the problem for the first control. Over shot it and went straight to #3 (code 48) but as #1 was 46 and I wasn't paying enough attention I punched it, but thought the description was a bit off. The exit direction to #2 was REALLY off but persevered and got to it and punched #47 then tried to go to "#3" and that was REALLY off. At this stage I realised that I had not taken full note of the 1:2500 scale and proceeded to return to the real #1 and redirect my attention to the actual course. All uneventful thereafter and I really enjoyed the course. I was expecting rockman to run through me as I thought he was going to start 2 mins behind, and my stupidity cost me about 3 minutes. But he started later, and I only saw him in passing (he had problems with levels for #13, which i didn't.)
Nice event and a bit of stress release after the week and before the drive home. I expected a bit more of a problem on the way home with glute and foot but all good.