Training Log Archive: Lizzie

Otago long champs with a course that was suspiciously similar in shape to nationals long champs 2010...
Maybe lost 45s on five otherwise clean through to 22 where i fluffed 20s or so in the circle, despite being wary following the lung buster climb.
Closest ive been to beating the whole m20e field i think. Just cameron ahead by 30s...satisfied to be so close...but aaaah shoulf have had it! ;)

Map: http://ogang.org/doma/show_map.php?user=lizziei&ma...

Jog round fields and control collecting.

4min interval doing the first and most interesting part of the sprint course, through the school.

Rest day. Have been adopted as R5 for a couple of days. Went for a family walk out at lake sylvan. Couple of hours relaxing walk in what would be some amazing orienteering terrain if we could get access from DOC. Tim and I kept sprinting off trail on little excursions to run through the beautiful terrain.

Middle prologue on hawea river bank. A maze of kanuka bushes which required controlled speed. Not as dense as the model map but race speed balanced out any difference.
Had a clean run for the most part, losing a few seconds here and there, but maintaining control. Caught lara at about no.10 and worked in tandem from there. Didnt help on 19 though. Got a bit relaxed toward the finish and sighted the wrong bush system. Lost 45s there but took the win and placed mid field in the jnr and snr men...
Map:
http://ogang.org/doma/show_map.php?user=lizziei&ma...

...which put me right in the middle of the men for the chasing start.
Had an absolute shocker. Went out with the aim of ignoring the guys around me, knowing theyd be runing too fast both for me and for the terrain. Far out, i had no idea just how much!! Was like i was playing sone conputer game on ultra hard, trying to navigate theough a maze while having decoy runners sprinting in and out of the bushes around me at all angles! The worst part was having matt g and tommy in identical black and pink check shirts appearing from all directions all the time. One would sprint past one way, and then the other would appear from 180 the other way moments later! Really screwed with my brain. It was equally funny as it was frustrating.
Of course i should have been ignoring all that and navigating my own speed, but no. Gut sucked into big mistakes on no. 2 9 and 13. La caught her 2 mins on me here. I got ahead til 15 but then tight chest and lighthead returned. So i pulled the pin and walked the last few. Georgia, La and Immy sprinted past on the penultimate control.
Disappointing but not unexpected after last night and feeling fairly crap all day. Too tired for two races in a day. Will se if/how i recover before deciding about running on friday.

Map:
http://ogang.org/doma/show_map.php?user=lizziei&ma...

Middle on sticky bush, wanaka. A very green map full of mtb tracks. A lot of fun trying to decide when to cut corners and when to stay on track. Felt strong and clean. Missed one track junction but figured it out and corrected thanks to running straight into a fence.

map: http://ogang.org/doma/show_map.php?user=lizziei&ma...

Sprint on wanaka schools. Started fine although made the cardinal sin of changing my rc post-decision on no.3.
Tight chest and light head started at the end of the long leg to 7. Stopped and walked by 10, found a water fountain, then walked and jogged the rest. Except my oxygen deprived brain completely skipped 17, so i was mp anyhow.
Not cool on either count.

Middle distance on Matukituki West. Awesome little area, open beech forest, semi-open areas, open river fan detail and nice gully systems. Felt much like Switzerland or Austria.
Had a steady run but for a big mistake on number 4. This was the first leg really dealing with what height bushes and rocks were and were not mapped. I got sucked off my line to a couple of bushes that must have been just below the mapping threshold. From there I was just confused as heck and didn't do a good job of refocusing and correcting.
Following this though, I did a much better job of fucusing on contours and not worrying about the vegetation, especially the semi-open around #5 and #6, which was full of large dense bushes.
map: http://ogang.org/doma/show_map.php?user=lizziei&ma...

Wu along the river and wd redoing part of the line course

In wanaka for the southern 6 days starting tomorrow. Camping, so no detailed updates til next week.

Hit up the model map with tane and georgia. 1:4000 (but prob not printed to scale...) map of a manuka bush maze. Amazing map detail proves fraser has too much time.
Line course, control pick and route choice. All 12-14mins.

From raspberry flat in mt aspiring np, up to rob roy glacier. Awesome run, awesome place, awesome views.