Training Log Archive: Oxoman

Saturday Series Orienteering - Quarries Park.
60 minute Score event.
Started a couple of minutes late. Felt like I was running well and managed to get all 20 controls in 57 minutes. Was fortunate that I made a respectable route choice, except for the rail crossing where I had to wait a minute and a half. Such is life! Should have taken the alternative route and back-tracked through the station underpass.
8.6 km in 57 minutes is faster than I historically have run in a street competition.

Altona Mound circuits.
Felt slow tonight. Still made it around well under 36 minutes which is an indication of increased speed.
Lap 1. 1.00 km 5:49 western loop.
Lap 2. 1.01 km 6:02 northern loop.
Lap 3. 0.91 km 5:31 western loop.
Lap 4. 1.01 km 6:10 northern loop
Flat run. 2.08 km 12:07 run from Mound out to Green turn-off and back.

Altona Mound to Skeleton Creek and return.
Headwind for the 3km out. Managed a negative split for the 3km return.
18m07s out, 17m49s return.

Altona Mound circuits.
Focus on posture tonight. Kept the shoulders back and could feel the extra air going into the lungs. Knocked a minute off my previous best.
Lap 1. 1.00 km 5:44 western loop.
Lap 2. 1.01 km 5:37 northern loop.
Lap 3. 0.91 km 5:11 western loop.
Lap 4. 1.01 km 5:50 northern loop
Flat run. 2.08 km 11:24 run from Mound out to Green turn-off and back.

Cross country skiing at Lake Mountain.
Out for over 3 hours although the logged time included some rest breaks too.
As well as skiing the Lake Mountain trails I skiied around some of the ungroomed slopes to practice different turns. Found a wombat out in the the middle of a snow plain. I've always felt empathy for the poor little buggers with their short legs in the snow. Once it realised I was there trying to shoot it (photographic), it took off, leaping across the snow rather than using their normal scuttle.
The snow was pretty slow, making it easy for this rusty creaky skiier to handle the turns. Add the characteristics of my skis which are intended for pack carrying (children) and I had to double pole and kick down the Royston Trail more than I prefer. Even so, I built up some nice speed on the one "steep" icy section.

State Series #7 at Kookaburra Rises.
A pretty easy navigational standard and with the absence of undergrowth there were no real challenges finding controls. Surprising amount of climb - the Garmin registered 318m, and I counted it manuallly at 350m. Main problem today was I was covering the terrain much faster than I am accustomed.
Hit all controls cleanly - no problems in the control circles today. Was a bit tentative in the circle on some of the controls and lost time by not running straight to the apparent feature. This is probably a hangover from last week's Ironman where there were controls close together and it was easy to overlook a control.
However drifted off course disastrously without realising it between 3 & 4. Took a more southerly direction and hit the Glenlyon Rd about 400m south of where I intended. Interesting how the mind rationalises what you see with what you want to see. I even passed a rock mapped as a cliff which I interpreted as a boulder on my intended path.
Continued south on the road, blissfully ignorant and then cross country onto the ridge where I sighted a fence which became a paddock boundary and realised my error.
http://donald.fell.googlepages.com/KookaburraRises...

C • Gadget Up 3