Training Log Archive: Craney

Lazy day around the Whangaparaoa peninsula we're staying on just north of Auckland. Nice sunny day. Did a short walk on the Shakespear Regional Park at the end, which was very nice. At nap time I headed out for a little jog around the roads. Feeling very stiff but moving ok otherwise. Can tell I'm going to get G&F's cold soon though...

At The Rockery, came 6th (3rd Aussie), +3:12 to Nick. Really needed a solid clean run today after the last few performances and with very tired legs it made complete sense to just completely focus on the map and smoothness. Open terrain which could easily have been the Lake District except for the large karst holes and rocks which would have had to have been imported from Slovenia. Felt alright once I got going but it was quickly apparent that I was going to struggle for lack of grip in the mud - should have worn studded shoes/mudclaws. Over the hill to #5 might have cost 20-30secs. Still, got off to a good start and was in 3rd place entering the forested enclosure at #9 and #10. Fell over in here though and got mud stuck to my map right over the section to #16. It was still mainly legible, but I had to keep slowing to wipe it and simplify where the detail was obscured. Prefer map bags to waterproof maps. Small mistakes at #11 and #13 of ~20secs each, and possibly lost a bit of time on the route choice to #16. Map was ok from #17 onwards and I had caught Felix which helped spur me on, and I only made one other small wobble at #22. So all up a decent run and I felt ok physically. Would've been tough to make the top 3 even with the right shoes and no mud on the map.

C • https://www.youtube.com/wat... 2

Simon and Ian did a good job setting me off in 2nd in a bit of an island: 6mins back on NZ1 but 3mins ahead of NZ2. My heavy legs warming up seemed ok once I got going and I settled into a nice groove over the first half of the course which was through some very pleasant sand dune pines. I saw Chris Forne chasing me a couple of times on crossovers but didn't think too much of it. However, at #12 I banana-ed out to a track and for some reason started to get all negative that he was going to catch me. Sure enough further mistakes at #13, #15 and #16 meant he was onto me by #20. Don't know why I panicked like that - it was in the bag. So ensued 8 controls of hanging onto Chris, which I was able to do ok, but no chance of getting past. He strided out to the last control and that was that: 3rd behind two NZ teams. Not a very proud Aussie relay debut.

At Woodhill, came 5th (2nd Aussie), +14:41mins to Gene. Not a very good day at the office, but a super-cool extra tough long distance. I liked the New Zealanders' take on sand-dunes: very hilly and overgrown. Got off to a bad start losing 4mins on #2. Relocated several times only to confirm I was in roughly the right spot. No explanation for that. Leon caught me and we were quite fast but scrappy for ~25mins to #10. He missed and I got away and had a decent enough ~30mins to #19. At that point the course/terrain changed and got very tough. Through tiredness I made mistakes on #20, #22, #26 and #28 and got fairly grumpy. Then just a case of crawling in to the finish. Turns out most people had long days out there, so the position was much better than I deserved.

Long - Course Course 1 - Splits

Event: Oceania Championships 2017
 

At Unitec, Auckland. Came 8th (3rd Aussie), +1:09mins to Ross. Fun course on a very well drawn map with lots of variety. Pretty happy with my run - just a few minor hesitations. Felt like I was planning ahead fairly nicely. The last few controls were in a very tricky bit of temporary buildings, which was fun. Didn't feel great running and was a bit disappointed to be as far off the pace as I was. Still, certainly not a bad run/result and a good warm up for the proper races.

Sprint - Course - 1 - Splits

Looong travel day.

Lunch run up Davo. Pretty manic final few days before a couple of weeks of leave, but fortunately managed to squeeze in this run. Felt quite good.