Training Log Archive: Billenicus

Aus Relay Champs. M45. 5.8Km 190m

2nd leg after Al had had a bit of a disaster; was expecting a reasonable lead, but was actually in 2nd. Didn't change things much though. Another good area and good course - trickier than yesterday with some awkward controls (very well hidden at times). Ran without glasses this time with rain threatening, which was a good call.

Fairly solid run. Only one serious mistake - 30sec at 12 where the mapping of bare rock / crags was confusing from the direction I came from (above).

Physically felt pretty good, but struggled with the rock underfoot at times. Long grass covering rock which couldn't be seen until stepped on. Think the rock is where I'm losing time compared with the Aussies, though glad to be ahead of Lizzie and Laura who were on the same course. Fortunately got enough of a lead to allow Martin to finish the job off.

Aus Champs Long M45 8.4Km 305m

Really nice area with variable terrain and runnability and plenty of rock detail. Good course.

One really awful 2.5 min mistake on 5 where I changed my plan during the leg and then didn't identify the rock properly - was looking to go in between 2 bits of rockiness, but saw them as just one bit and ran below the lot. Also lost 30sec at 4 through losing confidence going up the hill when on exactly the right line. Minor misses at 6, 8, 12, and poor lines on 9 and 14, but generally pretty good apart from 5.

Physically started really well and felt good. Probably a bit too fast though, as was getting a bit tired towards the end. Still, first Australian Champs win, though the only real competition was from NZ, but ACW didn't have a great day. For some reason, M45 is much weaker than 40 or 50 over here.

"Scatter" event on adjacent area to yesterday. Really nice terrain. Less physical, both in terms of hills and grass. But similar technically. Had to get all 22 controls, but in any order. My route was 6.4Km 160m

Going at training rather than race pace, and felt comfortable all the way. Very good technically apart from about 30 sec on 9 due to seeing another control - silly as was on exactly the right line. Route not optimal, but mostly good, and could only really have been improved by doing something a bit different right at the start.

Back has been pain free for the past 2 days.

Low key race following Aus Schools Champs. 8.1Km 335m

Nice high visibility terrain, but long grass most of the way so a lot tougher than expected - always a lot slower when not following elephant tracks. Much hotter today (28C ?). Quite tricky, due to vagueness and copious rock.

Despite not taking it too seriously, had a pretty good run. Very small time losses at 8 and 10, but probably <10s each. Unlucky with vegetation to 7, but otherwise very solid. Reading the rock much better (though still not perfectly).

Ran a bit harder than intended as caught Jock Davis up at 5, and was still with him at 14 (not that I recognised him). Found the heat a real struggle - felt difficult to breathe at times - and walked up a lot of the hills later in the course. Very tired afterwards. Still 9 mins plus behind Tim, but surprisingly ahead of all the schools runners.

Biking with the family on Rottnest Island. Don't think I can justify putting any numbers in here, though raced Oli up Oliver Hill. Just because.

Legs quite tired - glad of the rest.

C • No recorded training 2

Australian Sprint Champs. M21E

Reasonable run, but haven't run a proper Sprint race for ages and wasn't quite as sharp as I could have been. Only really lost time on 18 when I was trying to navigate 16-17 (15 sec).

Physically moderate. Back was OK, but generally a bit sore and tired. Also had very bad runs overnight. Fortunately didn't affect me too much, but rather distracted by the possibilities and started a bit more gently than sometimes.

M21E - Splits

Australian Middle Distance Champs. H21E. 6.2Km 295m

Pretty awful run. Reasonable for the first half of the course, but then a very bad few controls, and rather lost motivation after that. Kept misinterpreting bits of rock; crag v boulder v boulderfield.

Back was fairly sore overnight, and was worried about it right up until starting (which probably didn't help mentally). But actually OK once I got going.

Good for first few controls (but easy). Hesitant into 9, a few seconds lost at 11. 15 seconds lost at 12 and 13 (not quite accurate enough in rock). Then 45 seconds at 16, 1 min at 17 (both misinterpreting rock detail). Then 2 mins at 19 - just ran past the control without seeing it, and was still suffering the aftereffects of 16 and 17. 15 seconds at 24, again misinterpreting rock. The rest was OK, but not motivated to try to run up the hil at the end.

Aust MDC, Course M21E - Splits

Event: Karrak Karnival
 

WA Champs. M45 6.8Km 270m

Big change from anything I've done recently. Only 12 controls, so lots of running across vague stuff on the compass. Terrain reasonably fast, but quite a lot of bushy stuff to get through.

Lost time at 1, 2, 7, 10, maybe 15-30s each. Small misses, and under control - just not accurate enough on the compass.

Back reasonably good. Only minor soreness while running, but seems quite a bit sorer this afternoon.

Weather awful - not what we came here for. Had to give up on the glasses after 3 controls.

C • Good win Bill. I didn't see... 4

WA Long Champs, Course M45A - Splits