Training Log Archive: fletch

Event: WA Long Distance Championships - Marginata
 

Tried a short jog warm-up down the road, and my leg was sore enough that I only got about 50m before I gave up and walked to the start.
Started fairly conservatively (but probably not enough, given my lack of fitness) and found the terrain far more runnable. Happily, my leg improved slightly once I got warmed up and miraculously didn't get as bad as yesterday through the entire run.

Relatively clean through the first 8 controls. A tiny bit low on 3 and a little wobble coming into 7, but pretty smooth and feeling OK. Only 3 minutes down on Craig at this point, but that is about where my fitness and brains ran out (funny how that often happens simultaneously).

8-9 was a monster leg, with two obvious choices. I was immediately drawn to running wide left to stay out of the rock detail for almost the whole leg and in terrain I knew was runnable, but a (stupid) little voice in my head said 'you know that going straight up the spur will be faster if you get it right, and you're doing pretty well so far' and, for the second day in a row, I changed my mind and stuffed it up.

For some reason I had a little trouble holding a straight line early in the leg and so was never confident with my position on the spur. I seemed to fall off both sides of it at various times and totally lost track of where I was. I wish I had split my watch at 8, because in the end I got so confused athat I stopped WAAAAY short of where I needed to be and started searching randomly for anything that made sense. I eventually gave up and headed to the top of the hill and slighty over the other side, where Craig came through. He apprently helpfully pointed where I should be going, but I was too braindead to notice and by the time I figured it out, he was long gone. Even more so when I came down near the control, mid-identified a large boulder cluster and launched a search about 100m from where the control actually was. 15 minutes binned on the leg. Game over. The GPS trace for that leg is going to be special.

10 was super slo and creful, but I was obviously still fried given my spectacular misreading of the map on my convoluted journey up (and down and up again) to #11.

Got my head back in the game a bit after this. 12-14 was OK, just super slow. #15 I was really happy with how I read the detail in the first half of the leg, but then I vagued out again and went for a bit of a wander , before failing to see the control when I was standing right next to it.

#16 was going fine until I tripped over a stick and got a massive calf cramp. Once I managed to get that sorted after a little lie on the ground and a stretch, I lost track of how many creeks I had crossed, and went one too far before bouncing back to the control. Clean and in control from there to the end, but walking most of the uphills and not running very quickly between htem.

Still really enjoyed it today - glad to get through it without my leg falling apart. Nice to have that feeling of approaching control sites confidently expecting to see the flag exactly where I was going, rather than just ducking arounf to the back of arandom rock and hoping. Might just get the hang if this game if I do it more than once or twice per year!

1 - Splits

Event: WA Middle Distance Championships - Jumbuck Hill
 

Well - no hamstring tear meant I just had to come down and have a crack at the weekend. A 4hr drive to get to the MDC probably wasn't ideal.
Didn't bother warming up after the long, uphill walk to the start. Was hoping that this would force me to ease into things and figure out how to read a map.

Alas, rookie error number 1 at the first control - take a loooooong look at the map, decide to run a ridiculously long way to the first control by staying on the track almost the whole way, to allow myself to test out my leg and get my eye in, then change my mind when I see how open a little bit of the bush looks. Of course, I failed to climb enough heading into the control, misread a bunch of stuff that I was trying to make fit where I wanted to be (a theme for the day), wandered around vaguely for quite a while rather than just bailing straight for the catching feature, before finally heading to the road to reolcate and walking back into the control. Significant time loss, probably longer than the splits suggest, coz I don't think anyone did the leg well.

Extrememly careful through 2 and 3 (and very slow) before leaving 3 with my map upside down and running / walking a significant distance in the wrong direction before realising. Not careful enough on the way back in the right direction, so had to bounce off the track again to get 4.

Slow and steady on 5, took the 'safe' route on 6, but didn't run far enough up the hill on the track, mis-identified some rock detail and bashed into the bush in the wrong spot, punched a wrong control, realised, wandered even further from the right spot, relocating on a knoll a significant distance from where I wanted to be.

Also did 7 quite badly, and was slow to 8, despite getting it more or less right. 9 and 10 were OK, but my leg was getting progressively worse and lifting my foot over deadfall was getting harder. 11 was only about 150m, but I still managed to stuff it up. Pretty sure I went to the right group of rocks first (will need to check on GPS) but not to the correct side of the correct rock, before wandering off in frustration, only to return a few minutes later.

Essentially clean through the last 4, with no more rock detail to worry about, but leg was so sore that it was only a slow jog in any case.

Grave fears for Sunday's run at this point.

This was a really tough area to come to with no nav or terrain running practice. Visibility was often limited, there was rock and deadfall all over the ground, so I wa stumbling everywhere and looking at the ground too much and not my surroundings, but my head was never really in the right space either.

Great to see Rhys back, and also good to see Sten stay clean enough to get the win. HR data says I wasn't working that hard, but I was well and truly cooked before my leg gave up.

1 - Splits

Had a hard time not swearing in class today. Heading for the try line in a game of touch rugby and pretty sure I've destroyed my hamstring. Poo.

State Champs looking exceedingly unlikely.

Might be about time to begin my taper for the State Champs :)