Training Log Archive: Zed

It was blissful to sleep reasonably well last night after the long haul flight.
Lan suggested we walk to a park a couple of kms away where there was a jogging track. This turned out to be a soft surface track, about a 2km loop, and was flat as well so quite good for an injured runner trying to maintain some fitness. It was quite tough in the warm sun but I enjoyed getting a puff up as I haven’t much lately. We then visited an impressive castle nearby and negotiated the tram system back to our apartment.
After lunch and a rest I went for another walk to browse some shops. Quite tired now! My watch recorded I did over 30 000 steps.

Travel night and day. On arrival at Budapest, the lady in customs wished me a happy birthday :)

First a walk with Callum and Roo, then a slow jog with Roo on Evans drive on a brisk day. Mild calf pain throughout and following.

Caught an evening flight to Budapest via Doha on route to Romania. My ‘birthday dinner’ eventuated about 11 pm on the plane!

Evans drive run with Roo. Plus a walk with Callum too. Back of my right leg was sore after.

Ebike ride to Blackwood and back for a tetanus booster and flu vaccine.
Busy day getting stuff done at home, moving chooks ( for Bryn to look after) and packing - held up by clothes taking a while to dry.

Late (8 pm) swim after finally finishing all I needed to for my last day in the office for nearly 4 weeks. Today included a farewell afternoon party for my manager who’s retiring - it’s been months in the making so it’s good to have that successfully executed.

I didn’t feel smooth or strong in the water but it was a good brain reset. Used flippers for ten laps.

Morning run along Evans drive. It was freezing and I jogged in a jumper and kept my gloves on. Quite an effort to run - sore and a bit stiff but nice to get out.

Followed by a farewell lunch for my manager at Stirling then a Rogaine meeting. We had a vigorous discussion about how to make sure people aren’t using gps to navigate. We came up with a plan we were all happy with, amazingly.

Leith seems to be having fun in Bulgaria and says the forests are lovely.

The day got away with me and my ankle felt sore and so sadly I didn’t make the night champs. :(

Flippers for last 600 m. I can attest Marion pool is quite empty on a cold and wintry Friday night.

Belair run - a very wet cold dark run with Fern up to Karka and back sticking to the bitumen. We were wet through and I was very cold by the time I got home for a blissful hot shower.I thought later if I’d been a bit more enthusiastic with my sore ankle it would’ve been interesting to see the waterfalls. The creeks were roaring!

After work swim. Had to make myself get into bathers on a cold wet day, but was worth it after a busy day. 14 laps with fins.

To Pilates and back.

25 m pool. Had flippers on for 16 of 40 laps.

Bridgewater run to Verdun. I walked the hills. Very cold morning!

Belair run/ walk - walked the hills. Before the rain.

Ebike commute. Very dark ride back through Belair with no moon or cloud cover.

Saw Physio today who suggested keeping to flat runs for the next week.

Redwoods run going up and over to Karka but walking up the steepest hill. My leg was very sore driving to Belair but we walked the first 500 m and I massaged it at the stretch stop and with that and the gentle gradient I felt ok.

Dusk run with Roo - Pole road, Coat road, Evans drive. It was lovely to get out and be warm from moving after sitting studying in the cold all day, and it was still and misty, but my right ankle and leg were painful as usual making it hard work. I faithfully keep doing my exercises hoping something will shift.

Run with Roo. I walked up Pole road first before switching my Garmin on so this improved my average pace. Had a few stops due to some leg pain (calf and ITB.)

Cycle in Belair. Made the most of the sunshine before the cloud came over. On my ebike but mostly had it switched off so I was actually working a bit on the hills ( eco mode for Pole road though ).
Callum seems a bit better again today, so hoping he’s turned the corner.

Run to the end of Hilltop drive and back. With Roo. I’m not sure if I can feel the benefit of Fridays dry needling, maybe a little?

Followed by 2 walks, Woorabinda with Bryn and Tarn then Belair with friend V. Most of the days has been spent caring for Callum. He is perkier ( crossing fingers this is a good sign) but still has frequent diarrhoea so the washing and cleaning are endless.

Jog down to Hawthorndene to pick up Roo. Ankle about average for its new normal. Legs feel very weak these days.

Callum is still very sick with peritonitis and needs 4 different meds 3 x a day so I couldn’t go to the Flinders orienteering sadly.
Luckily Tarn is staying ( last minute trip) so that is very nice.

After work swim 25 m pool, short on time.

Had a Physio appointment - Jonathan tried dry needling. Felt I was back on the Rogaine getting prickled but hopefully it will help.

Upper Sturt road to Station Ave, back along railway. Quite a bit of walking.

Short slow jog into Belair.

ebike ride in Belair just to turn the legs over a bit.

I have felt very sore and stiff today - a home day catching up on washing and cleaning, and attending (remotely) 3 meetings related to study.

Lunch swim. Last .5 km in flippers. Water felt good on my hot swollen feet.

Loop 2 Witchitie. The campsite was awoken at 6 am by a very close very intense thunderstorm. I was very glad to be in my sleeping bag in the tent and not on course in the heavy rain, although did wonder if I should make a dash for the car when the lightning was close. When I eventually got up I felt rested but stiff. After coffee and fruit toast we set off with me feeling very stiff (drawing several comments.) Poor Steve had to be very patient with me moving so slowly. I could not keep up at all for the first half hour or so. We did a 12 km loop of 8 controls, about half our original plan. We ran the downhills and along a rare section of road. I was much better when I didn't have to lift my feet on uneven ground. I was really feeling the rocks in my comfy but soft soled road running shoes ( I have never found trail shoes I feel comfortable in on a rogaine.)

I was glad to finish and enjoy lunch at the HH and listen to the results and compare notes with others. We were very surprised to come 3rd, 1st mixed, well behind 2 mens teams. This result was due to Steve's good navigating. I marveled he could read the map on the move over the rough terrain. I was really just a passenger who said ouch a lot. One thing I think I am getting better at bearings with my base plate and cutting across features on the bearing, which is something. I am hoping this translates to better bearings in the Flinders Ikara this weekend.

We also had a nice little opening ceremony for the new SARA trailer designed by Peter and Rob (based on Rogaining NTs trailer) and christened 'Peter's dream".

Note - Callum has become sick over the weekend. Bryn brought him up for me to take over care.

Witchitie 15 hour rogaine north of Carrieton with Steve C.

This event was all on the one property and a new site for a rogaine. We had been warned of the prickles and need for adequate protection but I ran out of time to get ankle gaiters so just wore my o gaiters. I regretted the lack of protection within the first few minutes as the prickles were intense and this, with my achilles and calf issues made for a very painful rogaine for me. This was not unpredictable but I somehow thought I would be able to feel as I normally do in a rogaine!
The weather was unseasonably warm in the mid 20s. We were a bit enthusiastic with our distance estimation planning a 46 km first loop at clockwise north loop ( at Oladdie we had done 38 km but I had forgotten to check this prior to the event.) We were on track mid afternoon but after 4 pm we seemed to gradually get behind schedule as I found the hilly ground really hard with a dodgy ankle and was slow. I spent a lot of the rogaine watching my feet and only occasionally looking up at the scenery and at the map. I also spent a lot of time getting prickles out of my skin and held us up at the first water stop W2 at 2.30 for at least 10 minutes. Steve said all I said for the 12 hours was ouch ouch ouch! I was not an ideal rogaine partner. We saw quite a bit of Barry Mc Bride and Jonathan Schubert during the afternoon (the latter my physio I currently see weekly and to whom I have been answering lots of questions about rogaine route planning. They would eventually go on to win the event. They were moving well and navigating well too.) We did slightly different routes in the late afternoon and evening but I noticed their times in the evening were shorter between controls when we had the same controls. We dropped a 73 in the south as we realised we had fallen behind and had a long way to go. We finally reached our 31 km mark, W1, at 8 pm. Here we found just 2 x 20 l drums both empty with a note in the log that the water had run out at 6.40 pm! I heard later it was out in the afternoon when Meredith and Josie had visited, altering their route, then also when Steve G and Kath arrived at 6pm. They waited there and 20 l delivered at 6.15 which had run out by 6.40! I was really shocked and couldn't work out how this had happened with only 2 water drops on the whole course and 200 people, of course their needed to be more water here. As we stood their 2 - 3 more teams of young guys turned up looking very thirsty and mostly completely out of water. This meant they changed their plans one team doing a 7 km direct route back, possibly costing a win (they came second.) Committee policy is to run through the event plan the meeting before the event which unusually I had not attended and someone else had chaired, so I did feel a bit responsible. I had some water left so I shared some with S and tried to share with the young guys. As S was out of water we dropped 3 more controls from our plan and made a more direct route back to the HH still not arriving until 11.52 as I was slow in the rough hilly ground. My ankle just does not currently have enough range to climb up hills well. This probably stands among my top few most painful rogaines. Not that I should be surprised given I went in injured. It was a relief and a surprise to find hot food still available when we arrived back thanks to Pat looking after admin and the HH overnight. We even had a few other teams for company around the fire to eat. Bliss. I was very relieved to crawl into my sleeping bag and fall asleep on my comfy mattress. An advantage of taking so long was that we didn't need to start until nearly 9 am! Woohoo.

Redwoods run with F and S/L. I was assisted by Roo.