Training Log Archive: heyU

am: WA championships. Mt Dale, Day 2.

Feel like I've been through the "Rumble in the Jungle" with Muhammad Ali. Physically I was fine until no. 5, but after that I started to struggle. It was the 15 contour climb up to the control through the unmapped green that really killed me. I haven't run through such a thick, steep, scratchy, scrubby, crappy area for a long time. South Ledge is nirvana compared to this!
The main problem is that a lot of the supposedly runnable forest should be shown with various shades of green. Cap that off with some cute control placements (where you got the impression that an effort was made to ensure that the control wasn't too visible to anyone more than a few metres away), incorrect descriptions for 2 controls, and one control on a feature that was in the wrong place compared to the obvious attack point then you have a recipe for a fun day out. Started swearing a lot after No. 7, which I found on about the 3rd pass. I went within metres of it each time but was looking for a control at the head of a shallow gully and wasn't expecting it to be tucked down in a watercourse fork below the gully head! Was just aiming to get to the finish after that.
Still ... was able to keep going to the end. First time I've raced on consecutive days for 2 years. Finished well behind Craig (~18mins) though. If only I was that unfit.

am: Short warm up before race. Repeated the dose after the race.

am: WA championships. Mt Dale. Day 1.
First orienteering 'race' for quite a long time. I couldn't have run much harder in this area. Scrubby and rough under foot with lots of fallen timber and broken laterite. Hard for anyone using granny glasses. Too much time just watching that I didn't fall and break a leg.
Was careful in the early stages and hit the first 4 controls OK. Wasn't careful enough at 5 though (3m boulder). Went past the boulder on the eastern side - just didn't see it in the scrub. I recovered quickly after I spotted a group of rocks beyond the control to the SE, and it would have only been a small miss if I'd sorted it out straight away. Unfortunately, I then went to the boulder on the SW side of the control and still didn't see the boulder the control was on even though I was only 10-15m away! (one of the least imposing 3m boulders I've come across). Stood there like a goose until Rhys appeared, having caught 2 mins on me. We played cat and mouse for the rest of the course, often taking different route choices but ending up together at many of the controls.
I went straight on 7 whereas he went out to the left via the yellow and bare rock and gained about 30 sec. On 8, he went up the track and cut across to the road. I stayed closer to the straight line and lost more time. He might have been nearly 1 min ahead by now, but I caught him coming out of 8 by virtue of an easier approach to the control across some bare rock and open ground and avoiding some of the awful garbage he went through after leaving the control. I got 9 just in front of him and kept up with him on the early part of the long leg to 10. Was thinking at this point I didn't really want to run quite this hard. I dropped behind a bit at 10 after going a little too far to the left of the line and getting caught in some shit. He was starting to get out of sight on the way to 11 so I put in a surge to make sure I could see him take the control. Then got a glimpse of orange and white from about 100m away and went for it. Did 12 fairly smoothly and I was right behind him again. He bashed his knee at 12 so was a bit slow coming out of the control. We went different ways to 13 and I got a break on him by going to the right of the line and making maximum use of the bare rock and clearings approaching the control. 14 and 15 were just basically a case of running as hard as I could and trying not to stuff up. Managed to stay in front to the finish (not by much though!).
Was very pleased that I could run as hard as this in a physically demanding area. The real test though, will be how I pull up after Day 2

Rest day from running in the vain hope that I might actually feel good tomorrow :-) (rather than just simply tightening up like I seem to do after just about every other rest day)

C • rest 1

pm: Usual core and postural

am: Easy stroll in Kings Pk. All the aches and pains are starting to surface now. Probably because I'm anticipating problems after the weekend !

pm: Usual gym minus the bike. One bike was kaput and the other was being hogged and I couldn't be bothered waiting.

am: Loop through Shenton Pk and around Kings Pk. Threw in a bonus 500m effort on Hale.
Still sore in the right butt :-(

pm: All the usual stuff.

Bonus work out with tennis ball and foam roller afterwards...followed by some stretching. Tightness in right glutes/ITB still a bit of a worry considering there's 2 days of racing this weekend.

am: Easy run in Kings Pk. Need to start freshening up. Spotted a couple of familiar dudes on bikes taking it pretty easy.

C • Very Easy 3

pm: Upper body, core and quads. Same as Sat.

am: 'easy' run in Kings Pk. General soreness in the right butt, but it warmed up after a few k so that's OK

pm: Usual core and postural stuff.