Training Log Archive: jennycas

With Geoff's invaluable assistance (and that of the ute) all the controls and water went out at Narrinyeri - glad that unlike yesterday, it wasn't 35 degrees there - with enough time for me to go for a sunset ride although I nearly got sucked into the vortex of orienteering emails. Noticed that the signage is out for the Five Peaks trail ultra tomorrow, which I can't help but think of as the Backwards Bastardised Yurrebilla!

Not often it's 26 degrees at 7am in April. Glad that it will cool down before Sunday's event though.

Zara didn't need much convincing to join me for a few controls from the 2013 NOL Hagaby which Simon set. As I suspected, she actually runs faster than me although I got a bit better once still-tight calves (from running on roads in spikes on the weekend) finally loosened up. We made it all the way up to the rock controls in between the waterfalls and kept enough of an eye on the sunset to shortcut back down the hill before dark.

Finally gave up on tweaking Narrinyeri course files and getting them ready to print, at about 1am Thurs! Not sure why whenever I shifted circles or numbers in Purple Pen it didn't want to save the changes... Probably would have finished sooner if I hadn't kept checking Eventor to see how many people had entered for this Sunday - now up to 87 entries :)

Perfect evening for the last Morialta run of the summer, so I decided to go up to Deep View then around to 3rd Falls, even though they would be completely dry. As I neared the creek I heard a funny sound, and eventually identified it as flowing water; in fact there was even a trickle over the falls (so there must have been some rain on the weekend?) which made the effort of getting there totally worthwhile. Headed up to Norton Summit Rd and down from Pretty Corner in the purpleorange glow of the last rays of the setting sun, but after that it got really hard to see where I was putting my feet and just as I was thinking "home free" I took my eyes off the ground for 2.4 seconds and rolled the opposite ankle to last week :(

Secret IOF Event Adviser's business - I've obtained copies of the elite course maps for this month's Aust Sprint & Middle champs in Narrogin, and they look good...just a pity that I can't be at the events!

It was great not to have to drive 90 min from Bathurst this morning, and I'd slept ok once I had doubled up the solo blanket and put tomorrow's orienteering socks on (toes nearly froze when I had to take socks off again to tape ankles at the event). Leisurely breakfast in the hotel dining room was punctuated by seeing competitors run past the window; so, not only is the arena less than 1km away again, the courses go through the town! And indeed, later on in the long course my chosen route took me right past the Royal Hotel...

There were some decent route choice legs although the control sites themselves were mostly straightforward, which was a good thing because at 1:15 000 I often had to go by the control description, being completely unable to read the feature on the map. Didn't help that I twice got a bush in my eye and vision was distinctly blurry (is that an oxymoron?). I was right about not seeing any other W21s out there; it's difficult to push as hard when you're on your own :( Didn't slack off too much though - most of my time losses relate to getting in & out of steep erosion gullies, which is definitely not my forte and I was grateful for Friday night's rain making them less shaly.

Sure, I'd like to have been 5-10 min faster, but am reasonably happy with this weekend's runs given that my hamstring took from September to February to properly come good. And I was finding it hard to justify the expense of flying to Sydney when it didn't involve visiting in-laws, but can see now that I really benefited from having the weekend as a mental circuit-breaker without worrying about either work or family.

C • 90 mins 1

NOL/SL2 day 2 Hard 3 - Splits