Rogaining race (Rogaine - Autumn 12hr) 11:53:47 [4] 61.85 km (11:32 / km) +1188m 10:32 / km
shoes: Salomon XA Pro 3d M+
Well I was nervous going out this this event – had had a rough two weeks of injury and sickness, really wasn’t sure I would make it through – Emma was already smsing me before I arrived questioning what the point was as the storm front hit Perth.
Planning in Owens tent – which sprung a few leaks (the tent not our planning). Planned about 53 straight line. With a plan to not run in first hour to allow my leg to fully warm and then pick up the pace for 5km/hr until 6hr mark then back to 4km/hr thereafter.
HH-99 – in some spitting rain started at a walk and let the gun ho teams accelerate away.
99-79 – Straightforward and the spitting had stopped – we thought maybe the worst weather had passed during plan.
79-69 – a few niggles in my legs was concerned that was feeling stuff this early. Also a bit of left drift that I noticed on Owens nav due to his new compass – but we got that sorted early.
69-54 – did some light jogging on the downhill and felt pretty reasonable. Had started with waterproof on and was glad it was still on because the wind was strong and chilly in the open grassland. Should have taken the fence line path rather than the direct route – but meh.
54-48 – Nailed the nav through to the 90deg bend in the track and quickly up to 48. – Was having interesting pains in my right foot, glute and hamstring – these only got worse from here on out.
48-76 – drifted a tad left but generally good – still a lot of teams around.
76-53 – then it started raining and it didn’t quit for ages, we went through every kind of rain, little bitty stinging rain… big ol’ fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways and sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath… shoot it even rains at night :P - but in seriousness 90 degree pelting rain which your running downhill into the wind direction… control was easy – mmm most where this race
53-26 – Eased to a dribble and stopped on this leg – was just cold now.
26-87 – Wind picked up again and was happy to hit the bush – and the last fence for a long time!
87-63 – Perfectly onto junction and attacked from there – easy leg
63-37 – joined track just east of bend on purpose then followed through to the rocky patch
37-88 – Originally planned to take the road to the saddle the navigate across but after jogging down past the watercourse we figured bush looked of so we cut the corner.
88-98 – We had been chasing teams down for a while now and knew that there as 6 within striking distance. We spotted 5 on this leg and caught 3 of them. Inc Arielle’s team. We had spotted Tooms/Jen who we figured where the competition but they were moving quickly still.
98-108 – chasing those two teams – passed the first one reasonably quickly but tooms and jen kept jogging and eventually after the track we did to. Tooms and Jen went to the right slightly and I knew it was on the left tops of the gully and cut the corner – hit the flag same time as them. They however opted for 52 and we went to 47.
108-47 – we figured anyone who was going to beat us who had gone this direction would have been to this control and when we got there, there were 4 teams and only 2 a short while ahead of us. We were sceptical about those two teams but knew the top 2 would be Ricky/Shane and Dave/Will. Also sun came out on this leg WTF!? Too hot now.
47-35 – Caught those other two teams after a quickish leg. I was hurting a little bit now and certainly dropping my pace abit. However we were up on time and on track for our map. So I made a crazy suggestion. Hey we are up on time – how about we drop a control. Owen laughed – I said no seriously lets drop 58 (later in day) and pick up SE. Owen went quite for a while and when we got to 35 he said. Alright might be doable.
35-52 – Cant remember this leg but knew it was straightforward straight liner – back was causing me grief along with most other things.
52-39 – Confirmed we would drop 58 as we powered along the road.
DROP 58
39-27 I eased a little in this leg knowing how much buffer we had – probably shouldn’t because realistically we were going to cover more than planned now.
27-75 – Really started to notice my pace unintentionally sliping further – or owen picking the pace up – either way was working hard. Weather had turned to sitting rain since 52 the sunshine was short lived.
75-59 – Along western track – first major refill and loaded up – sandi, panadol, carbo shot, the works. Was nice to be off feet for 3 mins or so. Was really feeling the pinch in multiple areas.
59-68 went at a jog to rewarm selves… only to be hit by hail and strong winds…. No such thing as bad weather just inadequate clothing – at this point I had #inadequateclothing – was cold as! But sure enough that front passed and we got nice weather back. Also met Ricky/Shane at 68 who were going strongly.
68-109 – wasn’t looking forward to climb – wasn’t bad as I thought it would be – thankfully because of open ground, when we hit top I swore it was to the left but Owen swore it was right – I felt we had a slight right drift so I was sceptical – followed him right for 50m then called him back as we had descended from knoll – we went back left and we had been pretty close to bang on just 20m off and obstructed by bush it seems. Probably lost about 5 minutes there and that was our worst error of the day.
109-89 – Straight at it and hit it nicely.
89-49 – Was a bit of a dog of a road to find but when we did we powered along to 49.
49-77 – Was going to take track all the way to top and then go in but ended up taking it 75% of the way then cutting in.
77-28 – both of us concerned with this leg as was going to be a hard hit. I watched Owen carefully watching his variations of bearing and holding the aggregate point. Whilst he held pace up. Close to 6 km/hr pace down here which was impressive. Most impressively we were only 40m right of control and spotted it as we were about the pass it.
28-38 – Spotted from about 400m off.
38-57 – My map fold got rid of this control – I thought we were going waterdrop and after seeing the patrol car and getting cake/fruit Owen said well we should go in here ish… I was confused – refolded map and then realised – glad he was paying attention.
57-56 – A quick jogging track leg down to the water stop – I was in some serious pain when we got here – this was our night kit stop and a complete top up on panadol, food etc. Too many problems to list – surprisingly though calf wasn’t on the list.
56-85 – Feel like this took longer than it should have and as a messy nav leg – look forward to seeing a trace of this one! We got it ok and probably didn’t lose too much time in doing so – saw Will and Dave and had the briefest of words – they were going for course clear – didn’t know how they would get 36 (turns out that’s the one they didn’t manage and would have been a crap leg at the end).
85-65 – Watched Dave and Will disappear very quickly into the darkness, no help to us finding the next control – however they did seem to be hunting a while on the hill. A poor dead baby lamb on the field with its family around it Anyway this control was a prick to find, I don’t know if it was placed quite right – we found it after wasting a few mins searching the areas with another team but wasn’t ideal. We Almost aborted the SE corner at this point we didn’t think we would make it but then we said if we can get back to 106 by 1930 it may be possible – keeping in mind we said 1930 at 86 was where we wanted to be and I was already interval jogging to keep up with Owens walking pace.
65-74 – Flush and quick happy days
74-25 – onto the track and went hard at it.
25-106 – Saw will and Dave on our exit. Original plan was to climb to saddle then cut in but partway up decided to go in on an angle – felt like we trekked for ages before we hit it just following contours was rough nav at best but got us there. … 1925…
106-86 – we knew we had to lift and had to be clean through our nav. I thought we hit this on line but seems we were too the south – hunted a bit then headed north – we spotted the open rock surface and then quickly located the point from there.
86-46 – What was going to be a lot of track work added too much distance we had to cut the corner. A fair bit of jogging for me to keep up in this section but we were on pace.
46-55 – a big slog of a leg, lots of jogging I could barely hold the faster pace and watched owen a number of time put ground on me but even with this effort 107 was looking in doubt.
55-107 – To use the track or cut across – thought it would be similar time wise but hoped bush would be good so we cut across turns out the team at 55 with us had gone the track and got to the point we exited the bush the same time as us – so little difference. They jogged on up towards junction and owen said lets jog – I firmly said no, thinking – they will show us where junction is and we will be able to cut, and that’s what happened. Bit of a climb to 107 and seriously looking at watch with a fair bit of concern. Went in a bit early into horrible bush – oh no this could cost us. – but punched through to find the control and Dave and Will again.
107-67 – The familiar feeling of watching a dust could appear as Dave and Will speed off into the night. Ps it was drizzling so it was more squelching than dust cloud. Say Ricky and Shane looking pretty down going up to 107. Figured they had legs in them to catch us pretty quick. On route to 67 constantly checking time vs pace – we thought it could be 1 or 2 mins in it and that spurred us into more jogging.
67-29 – Still tight on time at the start of this leg but maybe a tiny bit of buffer – but we did a lot more jogging in this leg and when we hit the control we knew we were safe 15 mins for 750m.
29-HH – Still a brutal pace in – I am sure Owen was comfortable but I had NOTHING more to give. I was stuffed.
We dropped 80 points worth (58 and 36) but picked up 250 so net gain of 170. first time I have added to a course and completed more than planned. very happy with that!
Post Event=
Hash has was appallingly shit in what food they had available – really disappointed and effectively had no dinner post race which certainly wouldn’t have helped with recovery today – they really need to make sure there is 1 pot of meaty goodness reserved for after the siren – when the people who really need the food get to it!
I couldn’t really tell you what happened during scores because I was a space cadet I know we ended 3rd overall so good times. – in looking at score card after today – Tooms/Jen only 90 off us – now whilst there wasn’t great scoring opportunities out there – they reckon they didn’t go hard and came home 1 hour early. Something tells me they had us covered!
Drive home post results - had to stop at Forsyth’s mill as I felt I was getting into a dangerous zone. 30 minutes sleep – kinda wish I did 1 hr 30 took the edge off but the second part of the drive started to get a bit sketchy towards the tail end of it.
Post Mortem=
Soreness/injuries
- Legs quick/very sore (general usage soreness)
- Ankles are screwed I feel like that don’t have tendons
- Big toenails – what are they!?
- Sunburn?! WTF seriously – apparently yes
No issues on Calf!! Good :P
Really good session out there with Owen – weather was the weather so be it, enjoyed the rogaine – a few controls I think where slightly out of place but close enough to be completely acceptable so reasonably good setting – nav component seemed reasonably basic – was nice to have a near perfectly clean nav day and a fastish course in the bush. Distance on 920xt 61.85km on 910xt 62.37km – reasonably close!
As always feel like there is more to say but blah that’s all I can think of now.