Training Log Archive: FernWerm

Recovery run with John, Simon, Tyson & Jenny. We talked about how we thought the weekend went and the feedback we'd received from other people on how the events were run - all positive of course!
My bum muscle (glutenous maximus??) is still sore from yesterday. I think I hurt it climbing an incredibly steep cliff to a control I should have come at from above, rather than 25m directly below... Note to self: when contours are really close together do not plan a route that traverses them. ;o)

I got up at 5.20am this morning to go and help set up at Narrinyeri. After helping put up the tents I helped Simon and Dad put the maps on the posts in the graveyard for the elite races. It all went really smoothly and ended up being a very successful event. Well done to the Uppills and Wallaringa - yay!
After all the elites had gone I trundled out on my course. I was quite happy with most of it (I didn't suff up the first control!) except for number 11 which took me 18:35 instead of what should have been about 3:30 to find. The worst bit is I ran past the rocks several times hunting for the shallow gully the control was in but didn't see the control behind the rocks! I now know that sometimes it's ok to ignore the control description (shallow gully) and instead just look for what's inside the circle (great big, bleeding rocks). Most other controls were ok, except for 21 where I ended up on the wrong side of 3 contours that were very close together and had to scramble up the hillside/cliff to the control on top. I also made a bad route choice that traversed several hundred metres of green that turned out to be low, thick regrowth that you couldn't see through. That reduced me to slower than walking pace for a good part of the longest leg on the course.
We went and got bakery goods after the event before heading home to wash off the charcoal and head off to see Adam Hills at the Thebbie. What a fantastic day!

Event: SILVA National Orienteering League
 

Got up nice and fresh ready for orienteering today. Tyson and I drove to the event, although as we're not that familiar with the northern suburbs we had to follow some Victorians some of the way ;o)
It was a tadd demoralizing jogging down and down to the start, knowing that we'd come from the finish at the top of the hill. But it was a great place to start with the start triangle hidden from view by some strategically placed bushes at the end of the street. Guess what... I messed up the first control (my usual trick!), but once I had that sorted I was pretty happy with the rest of my run. I made one other major error heading for a control around the outside of the school without reading the map properly to see that it was inside an impassable fence. I then compounded the error by running all the way back around the fenced area instead of going just a few more metres to a gate! Oh well. I really like sprints (not that I'm good at sprinting, I just think it's a fun format) and I thought this one was a good way to start the weekend.

This was an interesting start, it was a chasing start with people starting at intervals depending on their finishing times. Therefore, I started second to last with a Tassie girl 10 seconds behind me (she went on to beat me in this race by 11 minutes). It was great watching the guys fly off just seconds apart!
The weather was hot and humid making it tough going, and the bush at Para Wirra is not always the easiest to run in. My main mistake was at the second control where I came to the correct gully, thought I should be looking for a smaller gully, went back and forth looking for a smaller gully before finally realising I'd been in the right place to begin with after 7 minutes of stuffing around. Number 3 also cost me a bit of time but after that I was a bit more in the swing of it. I wasn't exactly running fast though, but I was reasonably happy with my plod.

Ran with Tyson and Troy (we were too late to join the main group) up through the Adventure Playground, up the 'killer' track to Jubillee Drive, up the hill to the big power lines, down and up to the water tank, along the railway tracks, down a nice mountain biking track and along a kangaroo infested gully track to the duck pond. The kangaroos were having a serious twighlight migration tonight, I guess the fresh shoots of grass since the rains are bringing them out in droves. Great night for a run, and great company as always.

Rode to Uni in the morning, then to work in the city and then home again. I really like riding around in the middle of the day when there's less traffic and the sun's shining. Can I ride to work at noon every day? ;o)

Went for an after work run on my own up to Randells Reserve, down to Brown Hill Creek, up to the quarry (25 mins) and up again to the Yurrabilla trail which I followed through Waite Conservation Park to the back of Springfield. Then I ran down through the palacial estates and back along Fullarton Road a little way before turning off to head west home. I got a bit mixed up in the back streets around the Ed that I wasn't familiar with but just kept heading towards the sunset and figured I'd pop out near home sooner or later!
I managed to keep up a good pace the whole way and didn't feel too tired at the end. Felt like I could have kept that pace for another 10-15 minutes if I'd really wanted to. Somehow, dinner seemed like a more appealing prospect!

Rest day - my tummy's still feeling a bit off. I hope it mends itself for the weekend!