Training Log Archive: Craney

Bridge-to-bridge loosener. Legs pretty heavy still from yesterday.

At Transit Flat (scene of World Cup race last year), came 1st. Absolute ripper of a long distance course - much much tougher than the World Cup race we got last year by virtue of no real long legs so next to no track running, and a long section through really hilly rocky terrain with lots of fallen trees. Loved it. Tried to set off aggressively, which worked ok. Very lucky on #1 when I found what I thought was my attackpoint on two different occasions. Didn't lose any time but told myself to get it together. A bit off line on #4 and #6, but worked it out quickly. Nice fastish section (in hindsight, relative to the rest of the course - felt tough at the time!) through some mining from #7-#11 - hit them really cleanly but think I took a v. poor route going west of the creek to #11. Then the real fun began - nearly 200m climb on the next two legs. Did them well picking ok routes (but did have a scare when my SI stick came off - fortunately felt it happen, so only spent ~20secs looking for it in the deep ferns). Saw Leon behind me at #13, so knew I was going ok. He caught me at #15 after I got a bit stuck in some grot. Then caught Brodie at #17. #19 and #20 were about as tough as the hills and terrain got - starting to feel quite tired by now, but knew I was doing ok and having the youngsters just behind kept me pushing. I think stopping for a drink broke my rhythm though, as I was off line to #21 (hit path) and ended up losing a fair bit of time on #22 (silly - must've run right next to a huge boulder but didn't see it cos I was looking the wrong way). Ironically, the mistake actually meant I shook Leon and Brodie off, as they took a bit longer to work out where we were (this has happened to me a few times over the years - would be an interesting tactic to employ deliberately in a relay some day). Suddenly alone and in actually quite nice forest, I was able to push quite hard to the finish - although cramping hamstrings did their best to cramp that idea.

Anyway, a proper classic race and a true adventure - if only it were easy to do this kind of thing more often.

A warm-up. Not a day for a warm-down.

Event: NOL Round 4, Race 11, / 12 (WRE), St Helens, Tasmania
 

At Golden Fleece in Tassie, came 3rd ~2mins behind Simon. Cracking middle distance orienteering with lots of short legs through tricky mining terrain all the while having to fight through various types of tough vegetation.

Got off to a decent start hitting the first 3 well (2nd place), but came a cropper on #4 - a tough leg with 4 deep overgrown trenches to cross. By the time I crossed the 4th I'd been on the leg so long I thought I must be way further than I really was. So, despite being in the right spot, I ran off in the wrong direction. Relocated on a massive clearing and bumbled into the control only to be caught 2mins by Simon. That changed things. Rest of the race was quite a rush - Simon leading almost the whole time, with both of us varying in degrees of map contact. The wheels came off on #13 when we drifted to the Tasman Highway. Fortunately it's quite an obvious feature to relocate off so not too much time lost. A few other small wobbles but generally cleanish to the end - Simon taking a deserved win and me a very undeserved 3rd. Would prefer it in these tiny fields if they didn't put all the similar-standard people off within such a short space of time. Still, lots of fun had by all.

Trying to fly to Launceston. Plane to Sydney cancelled, so re-routed via Melbourne - ok that's a quicker route, but I don't get to start til 5 hours after originally planned. Oh well - all checked in now so might as well walk to Ikea for meatballs.

6x2mins at the wetlands - flat out for me, which these days is around 3:10mpks. Pretty worn out at the end

1min recoveries, plus warm-up and warm-down.

HFW via Isaacs - feeling pretty good.

Short night-o control pick on Isaacs on the way home - good fun in the rocky semi-open stuff. Technically it's closed for a roo cull.

6x3mins on Red Hill - 3 uphill, 1 flat and 2 downhill. Felt alright.

1min recoveries and warm-up and warm-down.