Training Log Archive: Zed

First ride since getting my bike serviced last week. It was the first service in many years ( from Bernie Jones cycles + new seat and a new tyre) and I felt like my bike had a little motor put in - it ran so well and so smoothly! Much more enjoyable to ride.

Run up Saddle hill with Callum back via QJD and firetracks . Legs felt a bit heavy from the weekend.

After work swim.

Rest day. Felt thirsty all day, and hungrier than usual.

Gum creek roving 15 hour, loop 2 with Stephen Grey. Lovely open countryside invited plenty of jogging. Spectacular lightning and dark clouds on the horizon became a steady rain in the last hour. Quite delightful as the ground was so dry. The station owners were ecstatic at the rain. Fun morning out to finish our carefully planned route adding some additional controls. Poor Mark rested back at the HH.

C • Poor Mark! Great effort anyway. 7

Gum creek roving 15 hour Rogaine Carrieton loop 1 with Mark Corbett and Stephen Grey. All going well until 9 pm when poor Mark became violently ill and we had to abandon the last 4 controls and limp back via the road.

Up boundary back via valley with Callum and Jenny

Started packing for Rogaine and starting to feel excited

Before work run in western Belair with Callum

Legs a bit tired from swimming I think

Lunch time swim

Bit tired from swimming

Pyramid intervals up the valley with Callum just for the fun of pushing a bit, (after a day watching the schools orienteering which is always a nice day out.)
Legs felt good.

Ten km
Up QJD and fire tracks back down via Redwoods with Callum
Felt quite good

Run in sparkling clean and damp Belair with Callum up to Upper Sturt entrance back down via Melville house track and the valley. Saw Randall Taylor on his way home to FIndon after clocking 100 km so far on his bike.

My legs muscles are still feeling a bit sore from Sunday!

At lunch too lazy to do more on a very wet Friday

Exploring run with Jenny and Callum up to Redwoods single track and small track to queen jd then Rogaine style bush bash exploring which was quite fun

Not ready to run so dogs just had a walk today which they enjoyed

Sixteen and half kms
Mitcham to north Adelaide return for training for work
Such bad doms today had to descend stairs sideways
Nb ph just working but touchscreen only partly functional

Packed class tonight with Lyndall
My stiff and sore body was definitely better for it
Being older definitely effects recovery time imo

Mitcham to town and back for training
Legs are getting more sore as the day goes on

Mt Misery Trail Run 23.7 km.

As usual before these runs I slept really badly, worried about missing my alarm, which I then did. Slept through my 6 am alarm and woke with a start at 6.37 am! WIth a rushed effort somehow made my my car pooling rendezvous and got to the start in good time. It was cold and windy at the start as I lined up with Craig C and Rory Mc Comb and with an old neighbour Corrie on my other side. There was quite a reasonable crowd at the start but luckily the track was broad so there was space. The nett direction was down on the first 5 kms and as the slope steepened I passed 3 women by the time we reached the low valley. The last one was a very fit looking young woman, who not unexpectedly passed me some 500m or so later as we worked a steep climb. I never saw her again and worked out later she was eventual first female, taking 2: 26. Eventually the other 2 woman passed me again ( while I fumbled with bottles at a drink station ) and then one more at around 18 km, all stronger up hills.

The course was, predictably, up and down, and hard to get into a rhythm , which I didn't really mind as there was a lot of variety. I enjoyed the rougher decent into a creek and up to the top of Mt Misery - this was not as bad as I thought it might be, and the views were fabulous and the air fresh. My favourite part was shortly after, down a side track over fallen trees and then terrain running down a steep slope to a drink station. Then there was much more up than down and I was counting the km to go and just hanging in there - about 10 km to go at that point, going on grit rather than good training, as I haven't run much over 13 km for a while. Still the km kept slipping by. There was a nice downhill stretch around 19 km. I had company of another woman for much of this who seemed pleased I could tell her what we had left to go and we encourage each other to keep moving. There was a final drink station at the bottom where she stopped and I didn't need to and she seemed to struggle a bit from there. There was then a steep climb where I learned my fast walk was faster than my Cliff Young shuffle I had been mostly adopting. I kept moving, knowing it was all uphill to the finish and just had to be got though. I enjoyed seeing the distance on my watch continue to increase, bringing me closer to the finish. About 1 km to go I saw Rory in the distance and I tried to reduce the gap ( he told me later he was just hanging in there at that point, having gone out fast.) I finally saw the parked cars and tried to rustle up a more respectable run. Some spectators called out ' you can catch him! ' but I couldn't and was just happy to pick up the pace a bit to round a corner and suddenly reach the finish! That was a good feeling, and probably countered all the earlier pain.

A fellow rogainer told me shortly after I had place 5th woman and 1st in my category which was actually a pleasant surprise to me. Thought there would've been more woman ahead. First overall came in under 2 hours, wow! First woman 2.26 then 4 of us within 4 minutes. Craig C and Anton S took around 3 hours. Faster than C had predicted for himself so he was pleased. He had to nurse dodgy ex basketball knees down the hills. ( I am grateful in some ways my ball skills were never great.)

Managed to maim or maybe kill ( time will tell) my phone which travelled with me in my running vest and suffered from my sweaty back. Why did I not use a plastic bag??!! I am surprised by how lost I am without it.

Very happy after to have a good soak in the tub followed by a nap! Quite a memorable mothers day.

Now I am contemplating more pain in Sturt Gorge trail run next month.

C • Good work! 2

Turners Ave, Olave hill road, park boundary, golf course boundary ( terrain) back via Main entrance. The uphills were steep and the downhills were slippery so not a fast run but enjoyable and fun to embrace the suddenly wintry weather. With Jenny and Callum.

Run with B and C up the boundary single track down to Redwoods up to QJD then 3 km terrain in the late afternoon light, back via golf course. Very pleasant!

Very envious of B going off for an hour massage after!

Lunch time swim.

With Lyndall. Thought I was getting better at triceps push ups, felt much easier tonight, but then I realized we had our knees down, so that explains it. Need to do some in between classes.

Home to work to repat to home.

Course 1 Heathfield. I liked the map flip going from urban bush tracks through pretty Woorabinda to sprint map with a scale change for Heathfield High school. I tried to run quite hard particularly on the simpler track section. I enjoyed this.

C • congrats.. 2

Terrain running in bush on north side of QJD, mostly up and I was quite slow. It was lovely being out in the quiet bush on this still morning. Then down to Redwoods and up and over to Melville house track and back along valley.

Worked then helped Bridget with local Schools o training at Belair.

Belair run western loop with Jenny and Callum in the freshly washed bush.

Little loop of the golf course with Callum this morning plus a run with B and C this afternoon up the boundary track and back via Redwoods.

Night o on Belair golf course thanks to Adrian. Lots of fun and bonus walking distance from home. Leith started behind me but passed me on way to 7. Kept him in sight until I made a 2 minute error on 18 which was on a creek ( very small channel). I was on a very small channel and couldn't find a control but hadn't noticed that there was a blue creek on the deep green to the east of the circle which was where I was wrongly located. Luckily Bridget came along and told me we were in the green. I partly repaid the favour by providing light at the next control when her torch failed. L beat me by 3 minutes and decided he likes night o.

I'm guessing 15 + minutes of this was waiting at lights.

C • South Rd? 4