Training Log Archive: jennycas

Home --> West Tce --> Bonython Park --> along the river to Botanic Park. Seemed to get all the red lights, especially around Port Rd/nRAH intersection :(

So, for some reason we've never had a sprint map of the botanic gardens, presumably because we thought it would be too expensive to hire them for an actual event. But Adrian's recently mapped the gardens in great detail, and the training today was so much fun!

First we did the 1.3km "read everything" and I obeyed Evalin's instructions quite well. (9.33)

Then we did the 2km "raise vision" which was about looking ahead, and I totally failed at planning the end of the leg, or even sometimes the middle of it, because I was somehow distracted by everyone else running around me, and I took completely the wrong path in the wetlands and managed to do a 90-degree error. It was lots of fun though - but maybe I do need glasses. Or blinkers? (18:48)

Finally, a one-person relay, starting in the middle of the gardens. Each short loop took me about 6 min; unsurprisingly the boys had finished all 3 before I'd even started on my 3rd leg. (18:10)

Decided to skip the after-lunch CBD training as I was already getting sunburned. Took the back way behind Adelaide High and through the cemetery, which avoided traffic lights but was more meandering.

Legs a bit tired, but then I guess so were everybody's, and this area is completely flat, and at least it wasn't 40 degrees, unlike the last time I ran here: https://www.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_4922/... But it's still...Housing Trust. And some of the dogs barking from behind robust fences are a bit disconcerting. Amazed that the top guys are running 12 min for these courses!

Event: Adelaide Sprint Camp
 

Angus' new map (with a little bit of Stefano-magic) of which he was justifiably proud, around Stirling CBD, starting from the oval because of a Fringe function at the Library. It was a great little course, even if it involved a bit too much pedestrian-and-car dodging to be truly safe. Made a couple of suboptimal routes and had one small parallel feature brain-fade, but think I was running a little faster than previous weeks so maybe I will enter NOL for MSW after all. I enjoyed the control which required running up/down the supermarket travelator :) Really good turnout too, and my parents made it around the short course, which pleased me greatly because last week mum didn't even get out of the car.

Casual conversational jog with Fern & Lexie (who both held their weddings there) to Karka & back. Afterwards I decided to do a bit more since it was a nice cool evening, so just went around our usual short loop in reverse and in no hurry. This made up for having been stuck writing talks until 10pm on Tuesday, although knees weren't very happy by the end.

Mass start course with splitting/forking, around the showgrounds, marred slightly by the fact that some of the gates were locked and some of us had to go a looong way around the outside. When we were about to do the second course, security came past and told us that they were shutting the rest of the gates (apparently official closing time is 5pm) and so we just ran the section amongst the office buildings with underground carparks on Greenhill Rd.

To/from showgrounds. Had intended to run there, but ran out of time. Probably would have been too much pavement for my legs anyway.

Feeling flat & mopey today at work (I am getting soooo sick of the pervasive thoughts which tell me I'm a horrible person) but after dinner I decided to expend some non-renewable fossil fuels/raise the earth's temperature a bit more by driving up to the national park so that I could ride to the far end of Long Gully and spend 40 min in a blackberry thicket picking about 3 litres of berries. I bailed when the emus' drumming started to come closer, because I'm aware that they think of that thicket as 'their' patch...some enormous emoopoos nearby.

Riding through the almost-deserted park as it got dark was great fun until I realised that kangaroos like to play chicken - I slammed on the brakes as s/he accelerated & sprinted across the road in front of me and all was good :)

C • Driving 5

Really wanted to do some proper orienteering this weekend but the Bendigo ToDay wasn't going ahead and nobody local seemed keen on getting out into the forest, so I dug out the club relays courses I'd set in 2012 and went for a run around Rocky Paddock - twice. The Arrows' standard use of a pivot control meant that the courses were in fact totally different apart from the control on the 'spectator' rockface. I decided to do the longer one with steeper finish, first.
3.9km, 160m climb, 37:30
3.6km, 140m climb, 34:57
Not often I can break 10 min/km, these days :(
Conveniently, it was possible to have a drink and a banana and a 5-minute break between the 2 courses.

Driving to/from, I passed/detoured through areas which were burned out on Dec 20th in the Cudlee Creek fire - it's sobering to see how quickly the fire moved, and somewhat random as to which houses survived and which didn't. Nothing short of a miracle that the towns of Lobethal and Woodside were themselves saved by the CFS - the burned area (already greening up since last month's rain) goes right to the outskirts of the towns, yet in the main streets you'd not know that such a disaster had occurred.

Certainly puts into perspective the disappointing decimation of our apple crop by possums...