Training Log Archive: Craney

Marty had a solid run on first leg, although Henry (WA) and Nathan (VIC) had blinders giving them a bit of a lead. Fortunately for us Andrew had an absolute stormer on 2nd leg, overhauling all the deficit and sending me out with a clear lead. I didn't know it was a clear lead though, so had to set off pretty hard. Fun and fast terrain with plenty of erosion gullies but a bit less sand than yesterday. Wobbled a bit on #1 but got into a good rhythm after that until I got a bit complacent on #11 and overshot into the wrong gully system. Lost over 1min there which meant I ran nervously again for the next few controls. Heard I had a good lead at the spectator run through though, which was good timing as I was starting to feel pretty worn out by then. The last loop was a struggle and had a lot of very complex steep gullies to negotiate but I got through unscathed to wrap up the win for the ACT. Ended up 2:45mins slower than Henry did on first leg.

At Crooked Straight. Felt relaxed at the start and looking forward to some fun orienteering in an unusual terrain type (sandy river erosiony stuff in the middle of the desert). Ran hard from the off quickly realising it was going to be a pretty flat out race but also quite tricky and very energy sapping with all the sand. It reminded me a bit of the sanddunes near Alicante (but not as intricate). Started well spiking the first 7. Did some small wobbles (wrong side of the feature type things) on #8-#10, which were rubbed in as on punching you could then see the footprints in the sand going straight to the control. In the end though the 15secs behind the fastest on #8 was my biggest time loss - from #11 to the end I spiked all of them and ran hard. Heard I was leading at the spectator so that spurred me on for the even sandier second half. Stoked to have my best run of the year and take the win.

Drove up to Renmark today. After checking into the motel went out for a loosener from Renmark to Paringa, which included some nice trails and crossing the lift bridge over the River Murray. Felt fairly fresh.

WFH today then late arvo flight to Adelaide.

Morning long run into work with a big group. Good company and a decent pace.

6x3mins on Ainslie trails. Felt ok.

Back at work again. Lunch run with Tomas, who has a new job in the CBD. Showed him my standard Monday LBM/ANBG loop. Felt quite good.