Training Log Archive: Lizzie

knee was being a nuisance on the warm up so I knew it was going to be an uncomfortable race. Hoped that I wouldn't notice it so much once I got going.

limp of a warmdown with kate after.

Very happy with how this race went. Navigation wise went really well, with only a couple of small blips. Noticeably when my concentration dipped or i doubted myself.
Good clean start through to 4. Then headed out to the marsh, intending to go leftish/straight to 5. But saw a nice clean running route to the right, so switched across. In the end my split was similar to the other girls, but I feel I had a safe approach to the control. Would have def been the right route choice i feel, if i'd taken it straight from the control. Lack of reading ahead let me down there, 30s dropped.
5-6 I got caught in the rocks and concentration dipped as I caught susanne, got dragged high and lost another 45s or so on T-dawg.

Then got into the swing of things and felt really good through to 13, where again concentration started to dip as I knew I was having a good race (should never happen!).
Had picked the track route to 10, knowing it was reliably fast running and decent entry to the control. The open strip to the right was tempting, but you're never sure just how runnable it will really be. Unfortunately couldnt stretch out to full speed on the leg, with my knee feeling like a rusty gate the whole way :s Realised why there was a crossing on the fence 10-11, as I got caught in about 8 places by the barbed wire on the way through. cockies top still intact though. phew.

scratchy 13-15, just not being clean through the circle. Then out into the open until 18(?), kept the directions accurate and hit the controls fine, again just couldnt get the speed I wanted with my knee. Back into the forest for the last little loop. Mis read things heading into the circle at 19 and ended up doing a little loop. then slow to 20.

Then lost my nerve, knowing I'd had a decent run and that this was the final control to navigate on :s Went really slowly and unsurely, despite deep down knowing I was doing the right thing. Rounded the rocky hill before the control...then no control?! Stopped dead and tried to calm myself down, then heard someone behind me, turned around and there was no.21!
No Idea how i'd overshot it though, i'd only just come around the hill and it should have been 100m further than the hill...in my mind anyway. So lost a minute there, but atleast it wasnt a big blow out. Still. Confidence!

Pleased with the result, 1min behind Jo on Badja isn't bad at all.
Knee seized up afterwards and I must have looked like a cripple limping around! Weird thing, sometimes I'd get up from sitting and it would be fine, but others it just wouldn't work at all!

Event: Oceania Sprint, Aust Long & Oceania Relays
 

decent warm up. few tweaks from the knee but no biggy. can't remember the warm down but I know it happened.

Awesome forest sprint. can't remember the last time I did a non-urban sprint!
1:5000 map was insane, by the time you'd read the leg you were already 3/4 of the way there. Also very easy to make mistakes if your bearing was a little bit out due to the very short legs (as i learnt the hard way)
Also also, was very hard to keep a high intensity and speed with all of the rubbish on the ground

But despite or maybe because of all that was super fun. Unfortunately my mind didnt really engage. First few controls were good, got brought to a standstill by a branch that just wouldnt give on the way to 4, which lead to a few comical moments running on the spot against the branch til it let me through :)
lost 35s on 5, got my direction wrong and ended up in the thicker green on the wrong cliff. Should have realised sooner :(
Hesitant on 6 after that.
Then lost another 30s on 10. Decided to stay out of green but went right rather than the sensible and obvious left option. Punched a wrong control, despite reading the number and knowing it was wrong! Then headed the wrong way to correct. Then realised I was being stupid as I'd already been past 10 on my way to 6! garr!

So all up really enjoyed the race, but you can't make over a minute of mistakes and still expect to win a sprint, whether it's in a forest or not. Deserved victory to Grace. Goodbye Oceania Sprint Title, it was nice knowing you, hope to see you again in a couple of years :)

Did some mean massaging of the ITB last night. Pain. Chowing down the anti-inflams and some nice muscle rub stuff. Plus Icing.
Knee is a lot better this morning, but still painful going down stairs or after too much movement. Maybe I'll stay in bed til Friday and hopefully it's good to go?

managed to get down 4 flights of stairs with minimal pain. First two were sweet as, then realised I'd left my icepack in the common room fridge, so had to go back up. Second time round the knee starting aching a bit. But got home much more comfortably than last night! (didn't have to drag one leg behind me, comic styles :)

Also managed 20mins cycling to Braddon and back for a dinner party no problem.

Not sure about running though?

easy as run wit bun on little blackie. In retrospect really not a great idea, knee was pretty much agony all afternoon afterwards. had to hop down stairs :(
Took me forever to walk home in the evening, lucky it wasnt raining!

But the run was nice :)

Threw a frisbee around with bianca afterwards as I've joined an ultimate team for the spring league. Reckon I'm gonna get a pretty sore forearm! Looks like I'll be the one in the team who does all the running...

C • :O 2

C • Saw you ... 1

C • Forearm 2

Knee painful going down stairs. Went for a spin on the bike, just into town, around and home. Such a beaut day, why couldnt it have been like that over the weekend?!

Knee stiff on the bike but not too bad.

Had the starters packing up the start behind me as I went through, and then as I headed to the start triangle, heard the starter give a whoop of joy at being finished for the day! Bit rough!

Let myself get into the map on 1 and spiked it fine. Apparently I wasn't really into the map though as I then went and lost a minute on 2 (stupid clearing AGAIN!), Should have gone wide on 3 and 4 but went straight and made mistakes at the end. Especially on 4 where I did a very circuitous route into the circle.
Picked it up from there though, just started having more confidence in the terrain. Took the track route on 6, then slowed down and made sure I got the right gully. Very hesitant on 7 and stopped one gully short, but reading the tracks set me right.
Again careful on 8, then realised it was a huge rock you couldnt miss! Silly miss on 9, but small. 10 fine, 11 not sure mine was fast route. Came through the spectator to absolute silence, had to yell at people to get out of the way as they ignored me and kept walking across the run through!
bit low to 13 but ok, picked up Tessa here who said she'd had a horror no.13 (she really had, when she explained it later! :)
sweet through to 16. But then went up the wrong gully at 17, despite knowing it was the wrong one, had the old 'it might just be round the corner' thought. So lost 30s there, bit low on 18 but spiked 19 and had a massive sprint up the finish cheered on by all the kiwis :) thought it must have been a real tight finish cos they were screaming at me to sprint hard, so i poured my guts into the sprint!)

So not a clean race by any means, but managed to hold it together and not have any large blow outs. Would have been happier with a better first few controls, but stoked that I've got it right in a middle for the first time since last Oceania champs :D

Once again direction and confidence are key. I'm getting there :)

C • Yeah... 2

warmup on the model map. Then realised i didnt have my gps on. So went and retrieved it from my bag, only to find the organisers hadnt locked it and it had turned itself off! So had to figure out how to turn it back on or if it was dead.
Managed to get the concentration back after that though.
Knee was horrible warming and ibuprofen didnt seem to help, but once i was reading a map I forgot about it.
Bad again afterwards though :s No warm down cos it was pouring with rain again and i didnt fancy getting soaked prior to a 4hr drive home