Training Log Archive: T - runner

Easy bike, usual route, nice and sunny.

OY 7 - Score at Maraetotara. Got all but two controls, and could have got them if I hadn't made my one mistake (where I was within 20m of the control, but everything suddenly looked weird - mainly due to the lack of a cliff that should not have been on the map), and my confusion at a few controls where they were on fence corners (no fences on the map), or on no discernible feature on either map or ground... Thought the 4am bedtime would not be good for orienteering, but somehow that didn't turn out so badly.

Kayaking on Pandora Pond, with Helen, Diana, and co.

Returning from Tauranga, no concert:( Then preparing for the Ash Cash Bash.

Driving to Tauranga, for Meatloaf concert.

Warm up/down - out to just before Clearview, then from the start of Elephant Hill back a little way past home.

22x 30s flat sprints with 30s recoveries. Clearview to the surf beach and back to the Elephant Hill fence. Pushing hard, especially on the last 4.

C • Did it feel good to be doin... 2

Pandora Pond with Helen - nice to feel fitter than someone for a change..:) Nice slow run.

Auckland Champs Middle - Kohekohe. Striaght into the forest, made ~30s errors on each of the first 5 controls through not being string enough on my direction. Lost time on 6 as well, standing about 2m from the control but unable to see it. Kate caught me going to 11 and I spent the rest of the course struggling to keep up, just hanging on until we got back to the forest at 20. Long grass pretty hard to run through. Went way right to 22, which felt like it lost time, but I think others must have done that too. Cool little forest block.

Warm up/down.

Auckland Champs Long - Sunset Views. Pretty steep rough course! Came across Kate at 1, spent about 4 mins there at least trying to find it (map pretty dodgy there I think - extra re entrant not on map?), then just as we did, Laura turned up. Sturggled to get to 2, even though we could see it, with the steep cliffs. 3 okay, 4 lost a lot of time trying to go low, getting barked at by all the dogs, then going high and catching Laura and Kate when they couldn't find it, assumed that they had looked where I was going to go (turns out they hadn't). Grunt to 5 trying to keep up with them, although we all went different ways, fairly slow through 6, 7, 8, couldn't hold on up to 9, then went through the stream to 10, which was a big mistake. Couldn't see that the T intersection of the streams was at a different orientation to what I thought (1:15000 and a north line didn't help), then got all confused and lost 4 mins I think. Slowed down heaps after this and ended up losing 12 mins to Kate over the second half of the course - made mistakes on 11 and 12 losing 1.30 and 4mins, and 17, coming into the wrong re entrant in the gully. Not my best run... Amusingly, Dad's cousin owns the farm next door and when we were there afterwards we saw some very (ie kilometres off) lost people on their farm...

Warm up/down.

Course 2 - Splits

Combined warm up/down time at Wesley College.

Auckland Champs Sprint - Wesley College. Cool buildings, not such a fan of the long legs across field. No major mistakes, just too slow running. 9th, 1 second behind Maja.

Course 1 - Splits

20x 30s flat sprints with 30s jogging recoveries. Dragged Simon along, which was pretty funny. From Clearview out to the surf beach and then back along the beach.

10 mins warm up to Clearview, 5mins warm down (got further back along the beach than the track).

Bike - same as Monday. Wrist a bit sore afterwards, so iced it.

Was supposed to be a sub-threshold run but when I tried to get going my legs were still so smashed from Australia that they just wouldn't do it. That 30 mins was still harder though, as it was the climb up the goat track to the peak. Seemed to take much longer than usual. Whole route was Tauroa Rd end toe the big redwoods, goat track, down the short way. With Simon.

C • smashed 2

Bike to Clifton Bay/caravan park and back, to the end of Collison Tce and back. Wrist mostly okay but iced it afterwards anyway just in case. Felt pretty good after having really sore legs from a long day in theatre (lunch at 3.45pm, never fun...).

C • lunch is always fun! 5

6.6km, Smedley. Tired and slow. Rita owned me, purely on running speed. Navigation pretty easy really.

C • you didn't get chris out to it? 2

Tired. Run from home to the surf beach (nice break) and back. Stopped to watch the surfers for a minute - the break was going at an angle so that they could surf along and all the way in to shore, then jump off, walk back up the beach and jump in, and do it all over again...

Still shattered.

Shattered.

To Wellington for Janet's funeral, then back to Hawkes Bay. Long day.

Work then driving to Palmerston North.

Flying back to NZ. Fun week, very tired. Many lessons learnt.

Oceania Relay, Gaerloch. 5km/165m. 2nd leg for the new dream team - Lizzie, Kate, me. Lost about 1.5mins right at the start when I couldn't find my map, ended up with the wrong one, and had to run back and find it... Slowed down again to not make mistakes, which essentially worked, other than on 8, where I was a bit left of my bearing and relocated off 3 (probably lost about 2 mins). Last loop in the farmland was a bit of a killer. Happy in the end with 3rd, Given Kate feeling sick, Lizzie's knee, and my preparation for these races. Driving almost non-stop for 5 hours to Sydney not the ideal warm down!

Australian Long, Marginata. 8.6km/330m. Slightly slow but still pretty surprised to see Grace passing me on the way to 3! Then Jo on the way to 5... I then proceeded to stuff up 5 (4mins) and 8 (5mins), then slow to 9, bad route choice to 10 (5mins by going down the stream to the left, even though I got the control cleanly). Various mistakes over the last loop, biggest probably being 2 mins on number 15, where I stopped a rock too early and got all confused. Pretty tired today though, so a bit generally slow as well. Another less than ideal day...

Oceania Sprint, Wombat Hill. 1.8km/60m. Forest sprint! Slow round the track to 1, but I think most people were, then fairly good to 2, through the clearings to 3, then went too far right to 4 and lost 50s, then round the clearings to 5 and lost 30s going almost via 7 to 6. Lost at least 50s on 9, when I got almost to the control then for some reason turned right and went striaght to 12 and back, thinking I had gone too far right to begin with. Alright through the rest, mostly just annoyed at the mistake at 9. Fun though - cool area for a sprint like this.

Driving to Cooma. Somehow took all day, and we only stopped once.

Australian Relay Champs, Burngoogee. 6.1km/195m. Running 3rd leg for the dream team - Kate, Jean Cory-Wright, and me:) Slowed down so as not too screw up like the previous few days and had a much better run, despite being generally slower (a lesson there I think). Slow to 1, weird angle coming out of 3 meant I went essentially stright to 4 on the long leg instead of using the tracks. Mucked up 5 by going too low, then 6 ended up at the track and had to cut back in. SLow down through the stream to 7, should have taken the track, then okay round the last loop - happy with the low route choice to 10 - way faster. Champions!

Public Race/Senior Girls Burngoogee. 5.8km/205m. Lost about 2 mins on 2 and 3.5mins on 3, came off the track way too early and didn't correct when I should have, losing about 4 mins on 5, then messed around at 8, too high and lost at least 4 mins. Rest not too bad, just a bit slow... Not a brilliant run, a bit surprised that I would have placed 2nd in SG?

Run in Wagga Wagga with Brent, Matt, and Duncan. From Easts Riverview Holiday Park to Willans Hill Reserve, various cross country bits, then up some other hill closer to the camping ground, cut through a paddock, across a stream, and through an industrial area where I got chased by a dog and would have been mauled if Brent hadn't saved me. Apparently being big and male is much more threatening than being me. Who would have thought?

Oceania Middle, Rowdy Flat. 4.1km. Blew it all on number 13, just after the spectator, where I lost 11 minutes... Made early mistakes as well - really slow to 1, cautious to 2 and overshot it a bit. Caught by Anna at 5 when I was a bit far South, then stayed approximately together until I made the mistake of trying to get away after the spectator:( Lizzie caught me just as I eventually found 13 and I really just tried to hang on to her and Aislinn until the end. Pretty disappointed that I didn't manage to keep it together on 13 - should have listened to myself more and figured out what I was doing when I first realised I was making a mistake.

Oceania Long, Northern Spurs. 8.2km/350m. Early mistakes lead to a fairly average run - got my angle wrong coming off the creek to 1 and lost about 5mins which got me in the wrong zone, then I followed it up with a stupid mistake at 3, where I started navigating from 3-4 when I was leaving 2, which you can see nicely on the GPS tracking, then when I realised and doubled back I still mucked up the actual control, losing another 4mins. After those two mistakes, slow through the next few, then took an overly conservative route to 7 after seeing Kate, but lost a lot of time getting out to the track through the green - another 5mins down. Aislinn and Tracy Marsh caught me going 8-9 and I hung on to the back of them to 10, but had trouble getting down the hill from 10 when I tried to use my left arm lowering myself off a little cliff - bad move. A bit unsure on the saddle to 12 then just a bit slow over the hill to 15. Caught Kate up again here and we messed up 16 a little bit, but relatively clean (at least compared to the rest of my run) through the rest. Apparently Lizzie saw us by 18, but was too cool to say hi and then lost about 4 mins on it :P Not my best run...

Course 3 - Splits