Training Log Archive: jennycas

Nice morning for a ride since I had time before heading into the city for a workshop. Breeze was blowing from all directions which may be why the CPM only made one half-hearted pass at me; the conditions weren't right for helmet-surfing.

C • Cute Pesky Magpie? 2

Almost the entire schools' team came out tonight! Happy to get through all the 30-sec intervals on the Nth Adl circuit although didn't go full pelt, in deference to my hamstring which hasn't been 100% happy for a couple of weeks now.

Struggled along the valley because my legs have disenfranchised me post-rogaine and I can go neither up nor down.

I was a bit disappointed when I found out the 6hr was going to be around Cleland (Waterfall Gully to Mt Lofty), because I'm no good on hills these days, particularly going down. And with my neck & shoulders having been so ridiculously tight the past few days that the pain was waking me up in the night, the last thing I felt like doing today was running around up & down hills for 6 hours. But actually this was ok; perfect weather for it and the heath was flowering in all shades of pink & white. I did lag a long way behind Zara on both ascents & descents though.

We headed up to Mt Lofty first, over the back & down into the Botanic Gardens (having a bit of trouble with an unmapped high fence) and grabbed water - despite the Do Not Drink sign - before leaving the gardens because there would be no other place on course where we could do so. A couple of steep out-&-backs (there were a number of these on offer, and they proved decisive in the results) on the way to Crafers and then we headed down alongside the old freeway & Old Bullock Track as far as Mt Osmond, seeing teams going the opposite way but nobody in our direction.

Took a wrong unmapped track on the descent to Waterfall Gully Rd and had to bush-bash,* then did an unfun up&back 100m climb for 50 points, which was at exactly 3 hours - at varying times during this event we thought we might run out of time to do our planned route but then we finished up with time to spare at the end and had to do some inefficiencies, but we weren't the only team in that situation. The north part of the map involved some zigzags until we were paralleling Greenhill Rd, then we went over behind Mt Bonython and overran a control on Sprigg Rd because we miscounted bends, but were still back near Cleland and the HH with over 40 min left so decided to get the controls on the wildlife park perimeter loop (slight navigation fail because the fence around the park wasn't mapped) and had time for a couple of out-&-back 1km legs to controls on flat spurs before finishing with about 6 min to spare even though I was rather dragging the chain by this time.

Surprised/happy to end up 2nd; we just pipped Randall & Emily (although they had run out of controls to get near the HH and came in early) and the winning men's team had been to 3 more 30-point controls than us (but our best case scenario could have only managed 2 of them). So it was a grand day out, thanks Zara!

Also a long day because by the time I'd dropped my parents home, I'd been out for 12 hours - but it's nice that they enjoyed themselves too.

*which was strictly forbidden in the national park but I'm pretty sure we were outside it then.

C • I'm so impressed 2

Headed to Seacliff after work and ran up to Marino lighthouse (circa 1962, so not a patch on Danish lighthouses) on leaden legs. Convenient that there is now useable daylight until about 6:30pm.

Redwoods run with Biddy & Z & Happycallum before a few more hours' secret controller's business at Vincent's and coming home for dinner @10:30pm.

Similar to a couple of weeks ago except that there was no sunset because it was trying to rain, which was pleasantly refreshing, but I am still pretty stuffed.