Training Log Archive: Lizzie

After a very long, frustrating day in the lab (had to fix the new, expensive, magnetometer, because the manufacturer's couldn't design the simplest bit right - which makes you worry about the complicated bits!!). Finally got out well after 8. Made the questionable decision not to rush it over to the OACT agm...i probably should have, but instead joined the second half of training to burn off some steam. Plus our first Fed Cup game is this Sunday and I still don't know half the teams' names... (so long as they know who I am...right? ;)

WU and Down from uni to black mtn peninsula. Knee tweaks occasionally when contouring or uphill. So flat runs it is!

Twilight orienteering. Flat and fast at BM peninsula. Concentrated on my breathing which was good. A couple of small losses, mainly with direction, contouring on the lake side ones, and that flipping little cliff at the far NE end, which I've messed up every time i've been on the map, no matter which one the control's on!
Nice to have a decent hit out for the first time since World Cups. Pleased to have the fastest time on the day, but that's just cos the big boys weren't there :)

Went to see what I could get up to with my knee. It's not too bad really, extra strengthening and an easier couple of weeks will hopefully see it through. Looks like a few weeks of long days in the lab coming up so I may not have much choice anyway!

Good old SRA managed to turn off the lights at 10 to 9, so earlier finish.

turns out the knee hurts more on the bike than it does running :/

...so run to work now?!
Nah, luckily(?) I'll be working up at the lab for foreseeable future. Which is a good excuse to take the car. And makes getting out for training during the day much much easier and more tempting :)

Cockies long run.
Decided to take it as it came with the knee. Was a little stiff around Ainslie to begin with, and struggled up to the summit. But on the flat and downhill it was fine. Twinging over HH, which made me hesitant of even trying majura - but then it was alright heading up there?!
I dunno. rest for the rest of the day, ice, exercises. See where it's at in a couple of days.

Good to be back running with the crew. Really appreciated over summer just how much good the higher pace long runs have done me in terms of running speed and strength.

WU including a corridor exercise, and jogging between the two exercises.

Contouring exercise on Campbell Park. Such an average day! Stomach was not happy about lunch for some reason, wasn't in the right head space, and then 1/3 of the way in, my left knee seized up for no apparent reason! Was fine one moment, then withing a couple of steps I could barely put weight on it! Eased off after standing still for 20s or so, but kept twinging for the rest of the session. :/

So, what focus I had for the session was on contouring, but there wasn't much of it.

Control picking on N Ainslie on the way back to the car. Knee was ok here. Not perfect. But ok.

A/W kick around. Avoided Simone after I asked if he'd been sent off recently in his weds night league - the answer "No. But I managed to KO a guy at boxing last night..."

As a sidepoint, the sickness I noted about a week ago (but has been building up for about a month) turned out to be shingles. Really not pleasant - everyone tells you when you get chicken pox that you can only get it once. What they don't mention is that the same virus lies dormant in you and can come back as something worse! I must be more run down/stressed than I realised for it to decide to rear it's ugly head.

So yep, got a weeks worth of large anti-viral tablets for it, which i've finished now. Still a bit itchy, but the burning nerve pain is gone, as are the occasional acute stabbing pains. A pleasant side effect of both Shingles and the medication is a mean flu type thing, which I've just about worked through now too. Was good fun to have out on the fieldwork though!

So. On with life. Should try and relax a bit more apparently.

C • chicken pox is a bitch... 4

aced the lights all the way to uni. got stuck at every one on the way back home.

back in the burra. Took the opportunity for a morning run as my body is on NZ time anyway.
Just over to Ainslie, around and back. Felt boring as hell compared to running on Wellington single tracks for the last couple of months!

(As a side point, where we ran on monday was engulfed in a massive fire last night, thought that only happened in Aus?!)

First preseason training back = having to learn all the new girls' names...
Good to get back into it.

Final run with the gang for the summer. Up the infamous tip track down in Happy Valley - ~3km with 400m ascent. My first time up it despite over 20years living in Wellington.

Was feeling dead out of the car at the start but quickly got into a rhythm, left Magnus and Laura behind, but Greg put in a push and kept me company.
magnus set a new pb to the top (not that I can remember it now, 26mins maybe?)

then over the hills and down down down to red rocks, with a couple of k along the coast at the end. Followed by amazing f+c.

Pretty mint end to an awesome summer in NZ. Going to miss the company, but looking forward to seeing the Canberra crew again too :)

A slow paced slog out from Maungahuehu hut to the Ohakune road. Pack was heavy as hell with rock samples and sampling/orienting gear.

2nd day out.
Hiked a couple of hours along the round the mtn track until the massive Waihianoa glacial Valley. Then cross country up the ridge to our 3rd site. 2 samples here, then another big climb up to 2000m to site 4. 1 sample here, and lunch. Navigated out way back down and across to our final 2 sites, and a big drop back to the hut, via the same stream as last night.
Chris and Jase left us at the final site to walk out to the car, so they could go target another side of the mtn tomorrow!

First day of a 3 day trip on the Southern flank of Mt Ruapehu, targeting 6 ~40000year old lava flows to sample for my phd.

Guided by Chris, with summer student Jase along to carry the sledge hammer. Started off from the Massey uni hut on Ohakune road, just below Turoa ski field. Sidled around the mountain cross country for about 1.5hours before hitting the first site.
Took 2 hand samples there. orienting the sample was hard (we need to know the in-situ orientation so that we can determine the direction of the earth's magnetic field at the time of the lava cooling), given the compass was severely affected by the magnetism of the rock. Couldn't use a suncompass either as we were in the cloud.
Then up to 2000m to our second targeted outcrop, luckily in the sun this time!
And dropped down to the bushline and followed a stream down to Maungahuehu hut for the night.

Up to ketetahi road end, and up the crossing track to the first possible outcrop

Got a permit to get in to the Ketetahi end of the Tongariro crossing to try and establish some sampling sites of a 500yr old lava flow below Te Maari craters (the ones which erupted late last year and are still fuming away).

Around Silicate stream track once we got back to Whakapapa village. Cheated and got a lift up the Bruce road to the start of the track.

A/W event from Marsden. A pretty decent course that made the most of the area, not too much in the impenetrable bush, and not too much dead road running. So a good mix.

Bit slow with the flu like stuff, and busting for the toilet most of the way around which didn't help!

And now I'm sick...
Have felt it coming since thurs and prob overdid it yday. Need to try and shake it by later this week before heading on field work!

Easy run with magnus and judith up Makara peak on the bike trails. Endless zigzags on the way up, followed by endless zig zags on the way down! Good run and good conversation again though. More wellington like weather today with wind and cloud coming in, rather than this sunny stuff we've been having lately!

reacquainting myself to wellington town belt orienteering... suddenly i'm not surprised I've got faster since leaving Wellington! Good fun, but very much jungle, and the map needed some very liberal interpretation ;)

When i realised that Jamie was going to smash me on the orange course, I headed out on the yellow, just so I could feel like a winner...;)
Nah, looked like a cool course so thought I'd get some higher tempo running in. A fair few hill reps in there!

racing lisa and snow at collecting controls.

As an aside, we had to wonder at the area with the sign saying "kaka chicks spotted near here, keep your dog on a leash". Then 30m from the sign there's a whole heap of felling?!

Met Judith and Gabriel at the ferry terminal and took them to Magnus and Lisa's for a run and bbq. (slash, hijacked them and stole them off bryn and Piret after a bit of lack of communication! ;)

was meant to just be 60mins, but Judith and I got carried away. Or I did. Up otari, down and over to top of Johnston's hill. Down into wilton's bush through the pines, then sidled back up to the saddle. Down to the flax clearing (had to show off my fav. track :) and back to the house.

Followed by yum bbq and plenty of talk. Interesting to find that the same jokes are made by the swiss regarding having babies being the way to getting faster, and the 'swedish cold' (flying to the other side of the world but not running due to a slight sore throat)

Wedding all day :)

Although, the bride managed a run at 6am. I opted for the hours extra sleep...(plus I didn't want to get my hair all sweaty!)

rehearsal and helping set up for tomorrow :)

I should be pleased that what used to be a ~35min run barely took me 30. But instead I'm a little sad - running up kaukau isn't really a full run anymore. I guess it's a good hard hill session though?

Pretty sure that's a family record. Now to break the 30mins. Plenty of points I could have gone harder today though so shouldn't be too hard.

Bit busy with Rita's Hen's Party.

Got a bit of exercise in, running to the car and back in record time to get Rita's clothes for Pole class. And then an hours pole dancing lesson, which was a good ab work out - half from laughing so much and half from the actual moves!

favourite loop with my favourite track. :)

Blew off some steam.

I could have, I should have, I would have, but I didn't.

Kind of gutted in the end though, declined mum's offer of a short jog. Then she got caught in the heaviest torrential downpour wellington's had in decades. Would have been brilliant fun!

Out to Pencarrow and around the tracks there with Mags, Lisa, Sarah and Ben.
Borrowed Laura's bike, and didn't exactly get along with it. Which made for a frustrating 2 hours. Tried to keep my complaints in my head (with limited success), these included:
- hell as sore knee on flats and uphills
- gears that refused to change and would leave me stranded on uphills
- rear suspension which sucked all my effort to nothing
- hills too steep to bike anyway
- downhills too steep to bike safely with sweaty hands and no gloves.

Yeah. I think I'm a runner.

Enjoyed the company though :)

Ran from catchpool to the dairy. And then from the dairy to the pizza shop.

Via a couple of mountains.

Today and Yesterday I have done next to nothing physically. It's been amazing.