Training Log Archive: Craig

Don't feel like training yet. Might give it another week or two.

Rehab loop in the morning. Wasn't very motivated but thought I'd better do something. Felt quite good actually, no obvious soreness or tiredness apart from my right kneecap catching once. Right achilles is a bit sore when stretching but didn't feel it at all running.

Australian relays. Last leg, starting about 6 minutes behind the bunch so pretty lonely out there but close enough to feel worth making an effort. A bit hesitant on first, last and 3rd last but no real mistakes and felt quite good physically. Felt like my best run of the week but being on my own in pretty easy terrain it doesn't really show in the results. Not quite the result we were hoping for but a lot better than the last few years and it was nice to at least feel like a part of the race.

Australian Long Champs, Hidden Glen. Started ok but lost time on most of the early complex controls between 4 and 9. Ran right past 4 but didn't see it until 50 seconds later after coming back off the creek junction. Made a bit of a mess of 5, went out to the SW to come off the bigger knoll but hesitated thinking I may have overshot then did overshoot to the SE mound after finding the big knoll, lost about 20 seconds. Misread some creeks approaching 8 causing some hesitation then messed it a bit to the left, maybe 30 seconds. Drifted a bit right approaching 11 but recognised I was hitting the steeper slope and corrected ok, can't have lost much time because I had the fastest split. Wasn't feeling great early, I remember checking my watch at 21 minutes to see if I had been running long enough that I should have warmed up because I still felt I was struggling for breath a bit. Caught Darren Ashmore at 11 and was encouraged to find my cruising pace across the flat stuff was pretty similar to his. Both of us drifted a little right across to 12, I corrected, Darren didn't and that was the last I saw of him. Had a look at the rest of the course after the drinks control and didn't think it looked like much so tried to increase the effort a bit. Clean through the next few controls and noticed one took a few seconds to register so thought I must have got past Eric which made me think I might be doing ok. Realised there was very little left and I still felt fresh at 22 so tried to lift the pace again. Got 23 ok but felt a bit rushed through the thicker stuff across to 24 and got something wrong, as it seems many did. Felt completely lost when I hit the main creek and had a moment of panic but correctly deduced where I must be and recovered ok although a little hesitantly, lost about 1 minute. Perhaps a little over cautious on the last after my mistake but finished feeling strong.
When I first finished I felt a little disappointed with my run due to the late error and more so when Rob Walter got me by 24 seconds but as more and more people came in behind me I realised it was really a pretty solid effort and a very satisfying result. 3rd place seems to be my spot this week but I'm not complaining.

Only a token 4 or 5 min of warming up and 1 or 2 cooling down.

Went to the beach in the afternoon and did a bit of wading and swimming and a short run back along the beach to where I started. Rolled my ankle a little when I stepped on something that felt a bit like stepping on a spa jet while wading in knee deep water. Felt quite good running back along the beach.

C • Well done 11

Australian sprint champs at Maryborough Showgrounds. I know I have no chance of a good result in a sprint so I just treated this as a training run for tomorrow and tried to run smoothly at long distance race pace. A few little wobbles but felt quite calm and controlled so quite happy with the run. Wore the heart rate monitor to see just how easy I was taking it. Heart rate very similar to what I usually average in long races but it felt a bit easier than that. Feeling very comfortable at the finish and looking forward to tomorrow.

About 10min warm up and 5min warm down for sprint champs.

Easy run with Rachel before breakfast. Headed East from our house and were fortunate to stumble across the botanic gardens which made a very pleasant venue for the middle half of our run. Very slow early but feeling ok and felt quite good striding out a bit for a while on the way home.

Thought about running today, but didn't.

Warm up for schools champs NOL race. Ran to the start and back several times. A bit hard to get ready for a 12:22 start after arriving early enough for Rachel's 9:46 start but not as hard as I thought it would be. I had thought I would just cruise around today but once I got there I actually felt pretty motivated to race, I think it was the fear of school kids beating me.

Schools champs NOL race at Graveyard Creek. Felt I was running a bit more positively than on the weekend. Hit the first couple ok, just a little hesitation on 1 and slightly off line on 2. A more significant hesitation on 3 where I stayed a little too far from the creek for too long and lost contact a bit. Didn't read the map very well coming into 5 and stayed below the line of rock near the creek far too long. A little left on 8. Way left on 10, I aimed left but couldn't understand the contours crossing the spur and hesitated for quite a while. Indecisive about route choice on 11 so was very slow leaving 10, I ended up going a bit right of straight which was ok but a bit slow in places and I missed it a little to the right but not much. 12 seemed very high, not sure if it was just me going too low or the control was too high. Encouragement from the WA spectators at 13 gave me a bit of a boost and I did the next 3 well but totally lost confidence crossing the flat spur into 17 and swung left into the next gully. Minor panic for a couple of seconds but I did actually look at my map and make a sensible decision for a change so only lost a few seconds. Felt stronger than I expected to up the final hill and picked up my second 3rd place in a row.

C • Great Results 1

Spent most of the morning at the beach with the family. I did have a run on my training plan but the thought of going for a run never even crossed my mind.

Warm up for Qld Long Champs. Run to start plus a couple of run throughs. Feeling tired. Only about 4 hours sleep last night partly because I was looking at my computer clock which was still set on Perth time so didn't go to bed until midnight.

Queensland Long Champs. Felt more relaxed as soon as I picked up the map and saw a long leg to number 1 but was a bit too relaxed about it. I recognised that the control site was exactly like the ones I had stuffed up yesterday and thought that I need to be conservative and aim off but I jsut didn't do it, stuffed it up exactly the same way and lost about 1:30. Pretty annoyed with myself and not in a very positive frame of mind now. Caught David Brownridge at 2 but he was leaving me behind running to 3 which didn't help my frame of mind. Came into 5 together and I don't think either of us could really understand the map there but I worked it out faster and got clear which immediately got me running a bit more positively. Hit 6, 7, 8 cleanly although my route into 7 wasn't the best. Had a bit of trouble with 9 but didn't lose much time and was disappointed to find no water left. Brief hesitation on the unmapped gully north of 10, otherwise good through to 14. Route choice to 15 was determined by my legs refusing to go up the hill out of 14 but it worked out well as it was actually quite good running through the green around the end of the first 3 spurs but I lost about 30-40 seconds missing to the left at the end. Not feeling very strong but still moving ok through to the finish. Aimed to hit the track near the junction on the last leg but misread some gullies and actually hit it South of the straight line but it probably only cost about 10 seconds. Finished 3rd which is my equal best NOL result and is pretty encouraging for what felt like a solid but unspectacular run. I know I'm still capable of better, just hope I can produce it next Saturday.

C • Congrats 2

Event: 2008 Australian Championships
 

Warm up for middle distance champs. Run to start plus a couple of hills and run throughs. Feeling reasonably good.

Australian middle distance champs. Not the best run, in fact probably the worst, I've had this year. Lost about 45s on 1, 1.45 on 3, 30s or so on 13 and 15 and a bit less on 5 and 8 so about 4 minutes all up. Annoyed with myself for being distracted by others at 3 and 13, both times I missed slightly, turned the right way and then turned around when someone ran towards me. Felt terrible on the hills from very early in the course and was about ready to quit by number 8. Finding it hard to imagine running well in the long race on Sunday as I struggled over the spur leaving 16 but had a little good patch from 17 to the finish. Ended up 7th which was much better than I expected but there was a gap of over 2 minutes to 6th (equal 5th actually).

Easy jog around and through Police Paddock Conservation area in Maryborough with Rachel after no sleep on the midnight flight from Perth and drive up from Brisbane. Felt somewhat better at the end than at the start. Went from thinking racing tomorrow would be completely impossible to vaguely possible.