Training Log Archive: Craig

Headed North from Glenbourne towards Gracetown for 5km then turned around and came back the same way. Pretty much all uphill going out and downhill coming back. Legs really tired starting out so I had to turn it into a build run.

Sprint the SW Cowaramup.
Didn't really do any warm up and didn't feel at all like sprinting on the way to the first control so I just cruised around at a comfortable pace. Wasn't sure if you were allowed to go through the green so was looking at left/right options to go around it on 11. Eventually decided it was ok to go through but was only considering left/right at that stage and forgot to even look at the straight option so just cut through a little to go around to the right.

Sprint the SW Amazen Margaret River.
Felt more motivated this time so did a bit more warm up but it didn't really help. Don't think my route on 1-2 was great but I got all the early controls ok. Almost caught Juffy by 5 but didn't see him after that (probably because he decided to do the maze early). Enjoyed the garden section from 6-10 and then it was into the maze.

I found the maze a little too hard for my liking. The required routes were a bit too long so I always wondered if there was a better option and I had trouble remembering the planned route and keeping track of where I was up to at the same time. Lots of near collisions with other runners also made it much harder to maintain contact. Didn't ever get lost but didn't feel I was doing it very efficiently either.

Still good fun but I really preferred the gardens to the maze. Impressive run from Bruce.

Cowaramup Long - Splits

Ameze'n Long - Splits

Event: Sprint the South West
 

Australian Relays, Moondyne Road.
Third overall well behind Denmark and about a minute behind Victoria.
Oscar came in with the lead group and I set out with Bruce on second leg. Stayed with Bruce on the first loop thanks partly to a shorter split on the first control but once we started going uphill Bruce steadily pulled away. Saw the Danish runner a few times as he kept making mistakes but he was running a lot faster than me and got well clear in the last third of the course.

I had a pretty solid run. In hindsight I could have done a few legs a bit better but didn't make any real mistakes, just need to get fitter.
I was a little disappointed to let Bruce get so far ahead (4 minutes) but there wasn't really much I could do about it. Tomas pulled back a bit of time on David Brownridge on the final leg but couldn't quite catch him.

It was nice have a competitive team for a change and maybe we can do it again when Henry returns from Sweden. I'll need to get a lot fitter if Iwant to contribute again but Tomas is considering sticking with the Nomads and Cameron was only a couple of minutes slower than me today so maybe they won't need me.

C • We still need you 7

Australian Long Champs, Warranine Brook.

Had real problems adjusting to the 1:15 scale at the start. First control looked easy but I just couldn't make anything fit leaving the start so I was really hesitant and checked the compass heaps. No problem finding 1 in the end but I was still really shaky leaving 1 and didn't really have any map contact until I passed Wayne running across the paddock most of the way to 2.

Felt a lot more comfortable into 2 and across to 3 where I found fletch coming back into it as I left. 4,5,6 was ok without being super smooth. Steve started to pull away up the hill to 7 but was missing the controls so I was ahead into 8,9,10. He passed me again climbing up to 11 and got a bit of a gap but we were back together at the control.

Leaving 11 I planned to drop down the hill to the left early but I was drawn a bit right by more open running and kept trying to read the map as if I was leaving 17 instead of 11 so got caught up a bit in the green S of 17 before swinging a bit left. Steve ran past me climbing the hill to 12 but missed it once again so I had a bit of a gap heading to 13. I thought Steve was right behind me again at 13 so I was surprised when he wasn't there leaving 14 but it turns out he didn't see me punch 13 and lost a bit of time there. That was the last I saw of him and I was alone the rest of the way.

I ran pretty straight to 15 and 16 and got them fine but I was getting very tired climbing up to 17. I had a gel here but it was maybe a bit late as I was having real problems thinking clearly on the way to 18. I was stumbling through pretty straight and having real trouble making the map fit and unable to maintain focus. Eventually realised I could just bail out W to the fence and come in down the creek so I did that. Not a major mistake but definitely slow.

Kind of switched into survival mode at this point. Didn't drop the pace too much but more concerned with just getting home without a blowout rather than trying to be really efficient. Decided to straight line 19 as the light green was mostly pretty fast. Went a bit wider left than intended on 22 as I just couldn't get up the hill but from there I felt pretty comfortable and in control to the finish.

Happy with the run and the result. Feel I could have gained a lot of time with better fitness, especially up the hills. Might try to do some proper training for a while and see if the speed starts to come back.