Training Log Archive: PrueD

After a dewy night and a few freight trains through the tent (or that is what they sounded like), I went to the event at Saint Georges Lake. This area was much hillier than yesterday and I wasn't really up to course 3. I rolled down the hills with my brakes on and had to walk up lots of hills. On one, top junior Angus yelled at me to 'get on my bike and pedal' (not very respectful) and Carolyn asked me if I had a puncture. No. A tough event, but I finished. I am going for the MTBO W50 series award, so have to do course 3. It was very humid.

Coffee at a café on both days after the event was good. Totally stuffed now. We'll see how the knee pulls up this week.

I decided to have a big weekend of MTBO. It took my knee a week to recover from last weekend's foot-O, which was a shame, so I thought MTBO might be a bit less stressful on it.

Saturday's event was at Muckleford Diggings, a fairly flat area a bit like the Killawarras in the NE. I did course 3, which was correct for my age group. All went well until the 2nd last control where I tried to find a sneaky route to outsmart the opposition. I knew it wasn't going well when I went through spider webs. It was a bad route choice and probably cost me at least 10 mins. Still, it was fun and I had a good time. Ross from Benalla came for a go. He usually does motorbike rallying, so this was a change. Turned out he knew about 4 people there already.

I camped at the caravan park at Creswick, which was very nice, with the exception of a domestic dispute inside a nearby tent to which the police were called! 26 of us went to an MTBO dinner at the pub, which was very social.

Street O at Blackburn North.

Swim.

SS 3 at Kangaroo Crossing, Eldorado. I like this map, but it took me a while to get into it today. Our course had a long first leg and I stuffed this up by going over the ridge, rather than round the bottom on the runnable area. The stuffing up manifest itself when I went down the wrong spur and took a long time to relocate. The rest was fine, but it was too late. I was also slow and unfit up the hills. But really I was really just happy to be back having a go. Knee a bit tired tonight but OK.

I brought 2 novices today, with varying success.

1. My friend Ross from Benalla came again. He mastered orienteering (under my coaching, of course) at Rowdy Flat yesterday, so today was a breeze. For someone who is nearly 60, a novice and who has never done any running, he was amazingly accurate and very light on his feet (despite completely worn flat runners). He came 13th of 37 starters in M3 today - with 16% difference from the winner, beating an awful lot of experienced orienteers. Really I should give up competing myself and just stick to coaching!

2. My friend Peter from Benalla also came for the first time. He refused to follow the string so I sent him off on course 7, with the under 10s and the disabled.. He was a bit grumpy about how easy it was and will have to do course 5 or 6 next time.

C • weekend outing 6

SS 2 - Rowdy Flat, Yackandandah. There are two map versions of this map - the AWOC one and the Alex Tarr version, which I can read. We got the AWOC version and the contours just did not make sense to me AT ALL. I messed up at least 5 controls and took ages to relocate on each occasion. Physically the course was tough too. I had to be really careful of my knee climbing up and sliding down the erosion gullies. And I felt sick - I took voltarin before the event and I think it made me sick, so had to sit down 3 times during the event or I would have fainted. Not wishing to make excuses, but I had a really hard day. Nevertheless, I stuck it out to the end, getting one of the worst results for the day - with the longest km rate ever! At least I got my money's worth.

However the highlight of the day was bringing my friend Ross from Benalla. He has been orienteering once before - in 2004! He had a bit of trouble, but not much, coming 30th of 40 starters in 3M - not bad for an 'almost' first timer! And beating quite a number of regulars, including me, by a large margin.

Street O at Maroondah Triangle. I cut my course short as my knee is a bit tender from the rogaine, even though it was OK at the time. I really only went for the nice scout BBQ afterwards (courtesy of VOA) and to collect the title deed of the sheep station, awarded after knocking off all the other old ladies (who were actually very competitive) in the Vic champs street walking, which was duly awarded by a jetlagged OA president.

Very tired. Very hungry.

Wyndham Waters 6 hour rogaine with Anne Robinson. This was a really good event for me to make a comeback to rogaining as it was a flat course. It was also a surprisingly nice area with lots of bike tracks and grassy wetlands. The Shire has done a great job with landscaping. We came 3rd in open women and won the vet women's, so l was happy. Knee held up well. Life is returning!

C • Congratulations 1

Street O training at Cathies Corner. Just went gently due to rogaine tomorrow.
Where is that plane? Being a James Bond fan, l think it is parked in an underground hangar on an island in the Indian Ocean (or Pakistan or similar) with the 20 space scientists on board taken hostage to develop a private space program.

C • Bond 7

Street O at Canterbury l walked quite fast with Ian , but my time doesn't reflect this.

Ride around the Wangaratta area. It was quite a hot day. It's great to have a holiday but l wish it could last s little longer.

Jog around the bush tracks near Rocky Ned in the Strathbogies. I jogged the flats, downhills and gentle uphills but had to walk the steep uphills, of which there wete several. It was quite warm. Despite the holiday weekend and masses of tourists in the area, particularly near Mansfield, there was virtually no one in the Strathbogies, which is what makes it such great area for activities.

Swim in the Benalla pool, including 200m backstroke. When l got home, the neighbour's beautiful labrador dog was in the backyard and had no intention of leaving. What with the rabbit a few weeks ago, l think l have the makings of a serial pet napper.

C • Getting bigger. 7

Street O at Heyington Heights and run by the Scotch College boys. They set a reasonably challenging course. I walked aound with Ian, who went on the wrong side of a railway fence and ended up climbing it and cutting his hand. He dripped blood for the remainder of the course. The highlight was, of course, the GRASS on the oval, which apparently had been laid by a famous English grass layer. It was like a bowling green and beautiful to run on.

Walk around Blackburn, interspersed with some stength work at various park benches.

I felt tired today and my knees ached (not pain, just ached) so l just walked aound Blackburn, admiring the gardens. If a new year starts from your birthday, then this year is looking good so far.

C • Y*Y 1

Street O training at Bellbird Dell. It was quite hilly but l managed to jog the whole way.

MTBO at Eltham North. The map was very ordinary and it was the luck of the draw whether you got the large scale version or the small scale version (both marked 1:17, 500)! They looked at me as though l was silly when l asked which one had the right scale. Why would l want to know that?I rode OK. Knee is starting to feel OK too.