Training Log Archive: PrueD

Australian relay championships. It was in magnificent terrain with really interesting erosion gullies. I was first runner in a team comprising Margie and Philippa. I went well for the first half but stuffed up somewhat badly when l got confused around the spectator control and went straight from 6 to 10 (which took me a while to find). I then mistook an earth wall on the map for a gully and hunted a while for 7. I then decided to run around the ends of the gullies, but that failed and l ended up running through them. I then hit the power line, which seemed to be mapped at 90degrees to the way it was running on the ground! I then looked for something complicated for the last control, in the deep gullies, when it was right beside the finish. Oh dear - dismal failure! I can only attribute this to a poor night's sleep.

Australian middle distance championships W60A 10/26.
I loved the sand, the rocky outcrops and the flowering bushes. Great courses. But l had several fails. One was arriving at the start an hour early because l had set my watch to SA time, but not my Garmin - so had two climbs to the start. The second was not wanting to climb the obligatory barbed wire fence in case l ripped my newish O top and then had trluble finding a crossing point. I made a couple of small errors and they added up. Overall a great course and great day.

Blackburn lake and creeklands. I felt better than yesterday but my knee was still sore. Glorious sunny day and it was nice to see rainbow lorikeets nesting in the hollows of old trees. For about 20 m l was accompanied by a running magpie, which was able to keep up with me - proving it is not the length of your legs but rather the cadence that counts.

C • Only in Blackburn 2

Run around Blackburn creeklands and lake area. My head was into it (visions of Tove) and one leg was into it, but sadly the other knee was sore - l don't think it likes rogaining. I could also have done without my winter coat.
Re the rogaine - a couple of funny things. There was a village of about 80 little tents, and a couple of vans. Ironically, the largest house was the van advertising Tiny Homes.
Also, one landholder took the opportunity to treat the event as a party and established himself with chairs and cups of tea close to one control, bailing up anyone who was silly enough to go close.

C • One Leg 4

Control collection - much easier with a map you can read and with lots of the small tracks marked. So easy that l got lazy and used map memory for one control ( from vetting several weeks ago) with then couldn't initially find it!
Anyway the rogaine went well - the scenery was spectacular, the weather glorious, and everyone came back unscathed. One team (Serge and a girl with dreadlocks) cleared the 24 hour course with 20 mins to spare, and everyone else came back with the same story - 'it was beautiful but tough'! There were 400 competitors, with lots of young newcomers, including about 300 people in the 6 hour. Despite this there was mountains of food left over. No serious complaints about the course.
Alls well that ends well, and l'm glad that's over!

C • Well done! 5

Resting my knee today. I thought l would delay my paid work further on such a beautiful day, by doing some gardening.
Is it a problem when you find a spider web in your boots, tip them out and discover a redback nesting therein?

C • That would be a... 2

Last minute control checking for this weekend's rogaine
Gorgeous day, gorgeous scenery, but tough hills. My knee is still sore from last Sunday, so l am glad l'm not doing the event. Had to move a couple of controls into the right place (hadn't been to these ones before).

C • move a couple of controls into the right place 15

Run around Benalla lake - no gardens, as l was in a hurry to get back in order to travel to Bright.

Regarding the current sewing needle saga - my sewing needle story goes back a few years. I was sewing regularly and also running regularly. My heel was very sore and I was trying to work out why. After some time I found what I thought was a thorn in it. When I pulled it out - to my surprise an entire sewing needle came out - it had been stuck vertically in my heel. It had hurt a bit, but not as much as you would expect!

C • Similar 4

Run around Benalla lake and garden trails. Gorgeous day, and lots of people out. I struggled because l felt heavy (fat) and satopped short of my intended distance.

Victorian long distance championships course 6 W55A 2nd. I didn't get to sleep until 3am and then overslept my alarm, but made it in time. I felt pretty good and was going well until l over ran the leg 6-7, heard someone crash and yell nearby, then tripped over some wire myself, falling fairly heavily on my knees (which l didn't need). I was a bit less enthusiastic after that. Lots of M60s and M65s went by but l couldn't hang on.

Street O training run at Blind Creek in between showers.

Run around Blackburn lake and creeklands on a beautiful morning. I am working on getting my training routine back, although a little late for SA.

C • Peaking for ASMG? 2

Walk around Blackburn. I have a bit of a headache and didn't feel like running.

Street O at Nunawading. A nice night for it. I was in disgrace, being late back (l don't normally go on Mondays and the map said the event finished at 8:05, but it really finished at 8:00). My knee is a bit sore so l just walked.

AWOC MTBO event at Eldorado. A nice course that made use of the river trails and dredged area. A bit of shame there were so many motorbikes wanting to use the same area, though. Peter, his friend Brian and Brian's wife came too, had fun and signed up to AWOC.

Run around the lovely walking tracks alongside the river at Euroa, on another glorious sunny morning, after visiting Violet Town market.

C • You should have come up to ... 2

Run around Benalla lake and gardens. Both back and knee have settled down, but l seem to have lost a lot of fitness and put on a bit of weight over winter (never really got it back after being ill). Glorious sunny day.

More rogaine checking in the Bogies. This time in private bush and a landlocked reserve. I had to first visit the farmer (who was in need of a wife) and then followed a ridgeline, which was badly in need of a burn. I had to tackle one control from 3 directions before deciding to move it. For some reason my back was incredibly sore all day, and even walking wasn't comfortable.

C • Farming 5

Boundary Creek course 3. I drove over from Benalla. I had a reasonable day on a great course. My body let me down with speed in the bush - watery eyes and sore knee tend to make me tentative in oder not to trip. However, I caught up to Janine, who started 2 mins before me, at #4. I also caught Sarah, who started a minute after me and caught me on #1, but l caught up to her on #8. No one caught Carolyn, whose bright orange shoes disappeared from sight in a matter of seconds as she passed..

Jog around Wang to loosen up.