Training Log Archive: Zed

After work walk with Callum and Roo. Upper Sturt road, past Karka and up Kaloola track.

More isotonic work today and I got quite hot.

Warm up up Pole road then up and back along Hilltop drive 5 times, Roo assisted. 2 minutes hard then about a minute recovery. Pause watch accidentally for 1 lap of road so possibly this should 2.5 km longer?
VERY tired now!

Ebike commute. Stayed back at work until 8.30 pm so it was a cold, damp and dark cycle home, but not much traffic was a plus.

Run with Bear and Roo but walked a bit as I was on the phone. A steep up and down run - Pole road, Coat road, Evans drive and back.

Middle distance champs at Pymton. Course was 3.7 km. My distance reflects I overshot 2, ended up at 3 but didn’t realise it was my 3, didn’t even think to check the number. This was a shame as I couldn’t work out what to relocate off. Thus a 1-2 min leg became a 9 minutes leg. Rest was ok although I kept drifting left and having to adjust. A bit disappointed in myself for losing the plot a bit. It was a fun course. If I can do this in open fields what might I do in the complex terrain of the nationals??
Sandra did a good job on her bearings and held it together to come first in our class ( W 45).

Saddle hill run with Roo. Creeks are running well and the blossoms are out. :)

Cycle / ebike commute.

Lunch time swim.

Nth Adelaide intervals. Session was 1000 (4:20), 800, 600, 400, 2x 200 with 200 m recovery in between, plus warm up and cool down. Legs nicely tired after.

Ebike commute. Worked late and it was dark, wet and cold as I rode home.

Course 4 W45 Kuitpo actual distance 7.7 km. I was so tired from taking Bryn to the airport early - getting up at 4 am - did get a couple of hours sleep after - that I felt dizzy if I moved my head suddenly. I got confused by what seemed an unexpected track on the way to 1, standing still scratching my head unnecessarily, then at the end of the leg to 2 I misread the yellow sailing straight past my control to wander around vague yellow/ white boundaries. Finally saw 2 on way back to relocate! Wasted about 6 minutes on those two. After that I was fine, and the running woke me up. Happy to get the vague creek line control ok, despite all the extra unmapped green.

Afterwards Leith and I took all 3 dogs on a nice walk, then there was a quick changeover to get to the Rogaine meeting.

Belair Ballast pit loop with Roo. Bush was sparkly and beautiful and water was plentiful. It’s a lovely time of year. Then it was off to a Rogaining bucket cooking session where we collectively cooked 30 buckets. I roasted about 40 kg of sweet potato, among other things!
Just enough daylight left after to walk Callum in the golden dusk.

Ebike commute. Called into 99 bikes on way home for a bright new tail light, a cheap bright rain jacket and to stock up on gel cubes. The high point of my ride tonight along upper Sturt road was nicely misty.

Belair training with a big group. With Roo pulling mightily I picked road options to stay upright. Nice to have a crowd out.

Lunch swim.
Working hard but can’t seem to get back to one lap per minute - due to ??? not getting to Pilates /not doing push ups or not enough gardening for arm strength ?

A new low distance by my gps recording just 650 m today.

Nth Adelaide intervals. Vanessa had us doing hill reps. Good to be doing intervals again after a break.

Run with Roo south up Pole road and back down after work.

Trezona to Parachilna gorge. Only a little light rain today but still quite cold early on. Another day of pleasant easy walking with gentle gradient. We lunched on a hilltop overlooking the Aroona valley apparently favoured by Hans Heysen for painting. The vegetation in the Aroona valley away from the former pastural hub sheep station (= overrun with weeds and limited trees) was lovely - lots of diversity. I particularly liked the native daisy under gums combination.

Saw several middle age woman on the track some solo - a retirement project perhaps?

Wilpena to Trezona campsite. Set off in cold conditions with fine misty rain which continued all morning. With the Misty rain, rolling hills and callitris pine we felt we walking through scenery reminiscent of English countryside not the arid Flinders. The rain Stopped briefly when we crossed the ABC range ( seeing more rock wallabies on route) then became heavier after lunch. Despite my raincoat and puffer vest I was quite cold. Steve and Cath kept us entertained with stories of cycle touring in Iceland of which their dominant memory was being constantly cold!

Black gap to Wilpena climbing Dicks Nob ( yes there were many jokes around that ) and the next peak to the north. Saw a yellow footed rock wallaby. Very exciting. Lots of wallaby poo high up too.

Joined Jo P, Steve Grey and Cath D for Heysen trail hike, Mt Little to Black gap. They’d already done around 120 + km on the preceding 4 days, so they were tired and Jo’s knee was giving her trouble. Pleasant meandering trail mostly along creek lines with gentle gradient. Very sheltered and scenic. Lovely to be outside all day.

Hilltop drive run before driving up to the Flinders for 4 days hiking. Lovely sunny winter day.

Redwood loop with Callum.

L and I had entered the Sturt Gorge trail run 20 km, 8 am start. I spent ages the night before packing for this an O straight after, helping L fix his watch etc etc . I had a terrible nights sleep dreaming I missed the start, couldn’t find the start, couldn’t find a toilet before the start etc etc. Then at 6.30 am L woke with a bit of a cough and thought, wisely, he wasn’t up for 20 km. I wasn’t keen enough to go on my own so went back to bed but unfortunately I didn’t fall back to sleep. Still did the second part of the plan the short sprint:
Immanuel College OY course 3 W 45 2.1 km straight line. I had heard before I started this was a ‘runners course’ so I tried to push myself a bit, but had to slow to read detail. The southern section full off uncrossable fences was out of bounds this year which I didn’t mind as there were lots of traps in there! As I was coming out of 4 Jill Congedi tripped in front of me so I stopped to check she was ok but she said to go on. Then I forgot what number I was up to and had to stop and check where I had just been. Got going again and worked hard at trying to keep moving while I was reading the map. Thought came out of 11 and thought I’m nearly there, must’ve dropped my guard and went straight to13!! 12 needed a sharp right turn whereas 13 was a tree tantalisingly in the open in a nice line from 11. Fell right into that trap!! Pushed hard for the last few which I enjoyed, of course at that point not realising my error. Bummer to mp, and on an OY. Silly to let my focus drop, it didn’t require all that much to count order!

Got back to the car to see Roo had somehow opened my lunch box and eaten a fingerbun, a scone, a bread roll, most of the paper bags and an energy gel !!

Leith dropped me and well fed Roo at Mitcham and we ran home via Pony ridge through the Belair following the railway line ( and braving the steps). Lovely sunny day and the creeks wer all looking good! Tired after and my feet were sore.

Ebike commute. It was raining and dark on the way home, and despite wearing a raincoat and down vest, and peddling fairly hard, I was cold all the way home.

Western loop with Leith (yay) fresh from the plane, and young lads, plus Fern and Bridget. Rain hit us for the last 10 minutes. It’s been pretty heavy for a lot of the evening since then, and a cold night, but a nice fire and welcome home pizza helped.

Lunch swim 50 m pool.
Today my gps recorded my distance as 1150 m, whereas last week it recorded 800m, amazing how much it varies.

At home. Felt good after this.

Run and some walking with loops from home - first loop with Callum and Roo, second loop with Roo - legs were tired by then so it wasn’t much faster. Plenty of climb.

After work run with Roo in Western Belair.