Training Log Archive: NSW Stinger

recovery run. Legs were pretty beaten up with bruises and a big corky on my right quad, but not too tired which was good.

I had big expectations for this race, and it was cool to be excited about a race which doesn't happen so much these days. The first 4 controls were pretty good. Wasn't sure which side of the hill to go to 5 and ended up kinda going over to the right. It was a bit rough and harder hitting the control than I expected. The climb to up to 6 seemed tougher than it should have been, and that probably contributed to making a parallel error on 7 to the right and losing 40secs.
I had Dave Brownridge for company for the next few. Wasn't really that happy with my route to 10, was it quicker going around the hill to the right? I took a heavy fally coming down the hill which seemed way greener than mapped and lost concentration for a moment and when I saw a boulder on a spur I thought we were there. Turned back, but needed to keep going so lost another minute.
Again the hill up to 12 seemed really hard and I wasn't very confident with about 400m to go so had to slow down. I had my first gel after 12 because I couldn't wait til 16 for the drinks. Could see Muz out of 13 and caught and passed him at 14. Then passed Ecmo to 15. Had a 2nd gel at 16 before taking a poor bearing out of the control and heading too far right. I felt a bit hesitant for a few controls after that, nothing really seemed to flow.
The long leg to 20 seemed hard work but I was pretty happy with the line I kept. Not sure if it was quicker going right into the yellow strip. Caught Fatrat here but never passed him. I really started to struggle big time and was just trying to hang on all the way to the finish. Up the big hill to 24 I felt like I was going to have a whole body cramp. Just managed to keep going with Steveo and Fredick now in the pack. Craney came through with a few controls to go and put about 30secs into me on the last 2mins of racing. I was surprised to hear I'd only been out for 95mins as it felt much longer.
Anyway I would have liked to have had a better day physically but couldn't do much about it. The whole day seemed like a big mental battle too. Tried to remain positive and hoped I'd come good through the race but really didn't have my head concentrating on the right things. I thought the map was a pretty good challenge.
6th place and 3rd Aussie wasn't so bad.

C • Nice! 1

LONG Course 1 - Splits

Event: Australian Sprint/Long Distance Championships
 

M21E - Splits

Course 1 - Splits

Had a massage after work, boy did I need it. Then went for a short jog when I got home. Was relieved the house and boats hadn't blown away in the wind today.

Tuesday night intervals with John, Kathryn, Darrel, Liz and Nicole. In two weeks I went from being in front of Darrel to behind. I guess that's the extra 29km of racing in my legs. And hopefully yesterday's long run. Still hoping the legs can freshen up by the weekend.

Another course reccy for Duncan's Run Hundred from Balook. Did a loop down to Tarra Valley and back which is the start of both the 50 and 30km loops. Stunning terrain, even better than the other parts. But there is some very tough parts, not really a track rather just following tapes through the forest. I didn't quite have enough energy and time to do the full loop I planned so cut back onto the Grand Ridge and back to Balook.

arvo run with Kathryn. Legs feeling a bit better. Nice sunny arvo too.

warm up and cool down

Aths Victoria Tan Relay
Ran 3rd leg in Traralgon Harriers 3rd Div team. Legs didn't feel too bad but obviously still a bit tired as I ended a bit slower than the other guys. I think it was the same time as two years ago. Great day for running and good to see so many athletes, and so many public getting some exercise.

warm up

Harriers run. Legs still sore and a bit tired, but still not a bad effort.

Cool down

Afternoon jog with Kathryn. Couldn't claim to have much energy, but at least there wasn't much body soreness. L patella was a bit achy afterwards though.

yoga. The body got a great workout this week as it is still pretty tight and sore from Sunday.

Here is my report for the Harriers newsletter.
Walhalla 50km

I've been keen to run Walhalla 50km again since I did it two years ago. I really like the course, terrain and history of the area. But with only two weeks til the Aus Sprint and Long Distance O Champs I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to run the full course. Anyway I couldn't resist and so it was an early, windy drive to Walhalla. Its a beautiful sunny morning, unlike 2011 which was wet and cold.
I lined up with 38 others (not a big event but there is also a 21 and 10km race) and headed out of town. No one took off too quick so I found myself leading, but trying hard not to get into racing mode. The first 9km is a gentle downhill sloping old tram line with tree ferns, some nice views. At the first drink stop one of the guys (Chris Bunney) behind took the lead and quickly build a 100m gap. But after crossing the Old Steel Bridge there are a few fallen trees and landslips and it didn't take long to catch back up. We were together at the Railway station but he pulled away again up the hill, then descent to Coopers Creek. The climb out of Coopers creek is pretty steep for 3km up to the Walhalla/Tyers Rd, and I was surprised how warm it felt.
After crossing the main road (20km) there are a few undulating k's on a slippery fire road but quick interesting so it didn't feel like long before I was popping out to the Cowwarr Rd (23.6km). Here I scrolled through my Garmin and found the virtual partner screen and realised I was 5mins in front of my 2011 time. This was a huge confidence boost as I thought I'd been pretty conservative.
The next section to the Old Coach Rd turn off (33km) is probably the easiest, wide dirt road and quite flat. I was planning to run 4.50min/km along here but was pleasantly surprised to GPS showed 4.35min/km and still felt quite comfortable. I also put in the ipod to keep me entertained for the final two hours.
Before long I was chatting to Margaret at the 33km CP and slamming down another cola drink and a massive handful of jelly beans. Margaret said I was probably 3 mins behind which didn't sound too bad. The decent down the old coach road to Brunton's Bridge is one probably my favourite parts of the course (though its even more fun on a mtb). Nice views and good fast gradient.
I crossed the bridge, had another Shotz gel, filled my water bottle and put some electrolyte in. The long climb to Happy Go Lucky was the section that destroyed me in 2011, and my focus had been to try and run this section strongly. I hit the climb hard and thought if I was going to finish 2nd I'd at least go down swinging. After a few km's I still hadn't seen the leader Chris. So I was then very surprised to come around a corner and see him have a quick break watering the folage on the edge of the road. I quickly continued pushing to the limit hoping he wouldn't recover and hang on. I had my last gel at the 41km drinkstop and was wondering now if I could now break 4hrs, something I didn't believe I could achieve. But the legs still felt awesome and by the time I reached Happy Go Lucky I realised if I just kept a good pace down the last 5km to the finish I could break the previous record of 3hrs54mins. I saw Bruce at the last drink stop but didn't stop to chat, just a bit of water over the head and then enjoyed the last winding descent to Walhalla.
Crossing the finish was a great experience as there were lots of spectators from the shorter races and there seemed to be plenty of visitors in town too. I managed to take 17mins off my 2011 time, and finished in 3hrs52mins18secs. It was one of those days where all the training seemed to pay dividends, and the race plan just fell into place. I would rarely train faster than 4.38mins/km, besides one intervals session and a Harriers race, but somehow kept that up for 50km off road. Perhaps all the coaching advise from Father Ian is finally sinking in! Now I really need a good recovery before Kathryn and I head to Canberra in two weeks time for the Orienteering national champs.
Thanks to Bruce and the Salisbury/Bailey family for their huge workload putting this event on. It was great to see big numbers this year and I'm sure we can continue to build the event over coming years. And also thanks to Star Hotel for their very generous prizes.

C • Well done! 7

paddle with Damon at Inverloch. Good chance to catch up and debrief his (short) XPD experience last week in Flinders Ranges. One of the calmest days I've paddled at Inverloch and timed the tide nicely too. We caught a cracker wave back through the bar. Looked all good til Damon went swimming. I continued before turning around and then having to dodge Damon's boat which had broken the leash and left Damon. Managed to hang onto both boats which wasn't easy until he swam in. Wish I wore the go-pro to record it!

evening run with Kathryn to struggleville and back. Not really sure why I was so tired but almost stopped to walk home.

commute home into a cracker headwind, and bit of rain.

morning commute with a cracker tail wind.

morning commute with a cracker tail wind.

yoga

evening session around Traralgon with K, Crossy and Liz. Nice weather when I finished work but by the time we ran it was freezing and windy. Don't really feel like I'm improving which is annoying. It would have been good to get back to the track again but its now shut to be resurfaced.

Long run in the Jeeralangs along some of Duncan's Run Hundred course. Great day, actually quite warm and I was sucking down the Shotz drink quickly. Scoped out a few nice tracks that I want to have added to the run course. Legs felt pretty strong but the hills are big out here.

Event: Victorian Middle Distance Championships
 

warm up and cool down

Victorian Middle Distance Championships at Deep Creek near Newstead. Very fast but undulating spur gully terrain with a scattering of rocks.
Couldn't really fault my race, but still lacking some strength and confidence on the downhills. And definitely not Keely-speed in the open spur gully. Impressed with Leon's win today.

training session at Mt Alexander. Bloody tough area for the second session of the day. Since I missed Day 2 Easter it was good to get out and see what it was like. Pretty tired but nav was ok though not as confident as gold mining spur gully.

late night at the footy and a sore R calve from Harriers on Thursday meant I did nothing on sat morning, chosing to drink coffee in the sunshine instead. Finally went for a run around Macedon in the evening and calve felt ok (better than walking).

A ridiculously warm morning ride to work.

cool down

Harriers run

Long run after work. Legs a bit tired.

Tuesday night speed session in Traralgon. I had a massage before and didn't want to push too hard but felt quite good. 90sec, 2x60sec, 2x45sec, 2x30sec. drink stop, 2x45sec, 2x60sec, 90sec.

first spring ride to work. first swoop my a very persistant magpie.

warm arvo ride home. Legs felt like they were working pretty hard.

Event: Victorian Championships, Long Distance
 

warm up and cool down

Victorian Long Distance Champs at Chewton Diggings. Course set by Glenn Meyer made the most of the map. Its been a long time since a long orienteering race, the woc trials in may to be exact. I was happy with my start, hitting the controls like I'd been orienteering everyday of winter, I missed 30secs on 7, but only because there was a small extra gully impossible to see under the circle.
I should have had a drink at #9 as I didn't plan the long leg to #10. But it was quite an easy leg to run relatively straight anyway. I made my only mistake at #13 which I was a bit off line and distracted by another runner and overran it. I was 2mins behind Bryan, 1min behind Leon at this stage. Ran the last hour pretty well and didn't tire which was a good sign. Managed to get the win a min in front of Bryan and 3 in front of Leon. Good start to the spring season.
Splits http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d...
Map Doma http://doma.orienteering.asn.au/map_images/607.thu...

C • Nice! 3