Training Log Archive: jennycas

Apparently the fact that it was still 22 in Auckland once I got out of the airport at nearly 6pm meant that it was quite a warm day. Lovely weather, just like springtime in Sydney...I guess it's a similar latitude?

C • More like Melbourne 1

When in Auckland...of course I went for a run around the Domain - from our backpackers' in Parnell, while waiting for John N & Andrew M to arrive. It's a spectacular city, with random volcanoes everywhere. Afterwards we had massive quantities of really good Indian to celebrate Andrew's birthday :) Now I feel like I am on holiday but trying to finish everything at work yesterday wasn't so much fun.

Last swim of the year. Rather grumpy and not only because there were numerous unappealing middle aged men in 'my' lane. Also I didn't sleep well because of thinking about packing for NZ. Don't really feel like I have earned this holiday, both in terms of fitness and time at work since my last trips.

I talked Zara & Andrew K into coming to the SARRC trail run which started 7am at Scott Creek CP. Pretty much followed the outer rim of the park for a 12km loop then there was the option of an extra 4.5km up hill to the west. AK left us in his dust up the first big hill but Zara stuck to me at chatting pace and it was quite pleasant, being a cool morning and my legs not too fatigued. Ankle tape caused a few blisters and by 12 km back at the cars I thought about stopping but after a drink we went up the hill and then anticlockwise around that loop until we met the frontrunners, then headed back.

Had lovely breakfast afterwards swapping Christmas holiday stories with Zara and John but I am completely stuffed now because when George got home at 3am (he left Sydney yesterday morning) he went straight to sleep, but I didn't!

Yeah, finally did some proper O training. Of course, I know the course from 2004 like the back of my hand, this now being at least the 5th time I've been to some of the control sites, but this is one of my favourite forests and I'm still surprised at how we managed to get 3 distinct loops out of 1 sq km of pine trees. Had anti-inflammatories for dinner last night so knee was pretty good this morning, and the invisible cows had grazed anything which might entangle my feet, so it was a fairly smooth run. Loops: 21, 23, 25, but I think they got longer rather than me getting slower, although unco-ness did increase towards the end.

Followed by 8 hours of cleaning my grandfather's house with my parents, to get it ready for sale.

Legs were too hammered to run today so I rode instead. This was tough - into the easterly gully breeze and I hadn't pumped my tyres. Adductors really felt it!

Event: 2012 Christmas 5 Days
 

Dunno about this going to work business. I was deeply unproductive today, mainly because getting in at 10pm last night when Qantas doesn't give you dinner, only a 'muesli cookie', hadn't left me with much energy. I thought about not running but then I thought how it's a pleasant day here, unlike how it is in Perth, so maybe I should do a run on behalf of someone who lives in Perth. And in the end I went to Belair, even though nobody else was going to be there, because once having driven somewhere I was more likely to actually go for a run. It worked, although the first 20 min were incredibly sluggish and all the way up past the waterfalls I kept thinking "was this really necessary?" and even looking at my feet didn't stop me from tweaking an ankle. Went up to the tap at the top of the park and came back on the tracks alongside Saddle Hill Rd then the creek. Saw a beautiful full moon rising over Brown Hill as I drove back down. And rewarded myself with takeaway Thai, for which the dog begged (he likes chilli).

Here's what I won't be doing on the June long weekend: http://www.manlysoftsand.com/
42km up and down the same beach, urgh!

At Freshwater, north of Manly. The coastline is spectacular there (as it is anywhere in Sydney) with steep headlands interspersed by beaches, so I didn't exactly expect the course to be flat. Summer series has gone upmarket now and uses SI so you don't have to carry a pencil, although the controls are still flowerpots. And the weird thing is that you get the map when you register, so for a 45-minute score, there are people who spend nearly as long as this studying the map and planning their route in advance.

Not sure that pre-planning would have helped me as I didn't know my expected pace. Turned out I actually felt a lot better running than I'd anticipated, and was able to go sort of faster than I've done lately, which was nice. Although when it came to soft sand on the beaches I was almost running on the spot! Anyway, headed south up and over a hill, down past a lagoon to the north end of Manly Beach, north past some ocean baths, up and over a headland, down to the next beach, past some ocean baths, up and over a headland, by which time I was about level with the start and had about 15 min left but not having checked how far I got in the first 15 min couldn't really anticipate my remaining potential distance. So at about this time I actually started looking at what points the controls were worth. Foolishly got an extra 10 points on the beach when I should have turned inland, as I then didn't have time for 30 points in a school which I had to run straight past anyway (access was a bit complicated with gates locked for the holidays, and I never even thought about how if I had got that control I would still have been much less than 3 min late) and sprinted home with 11 seconds to spare.

410 points is pretty average, would have been happier with 430, could possibly have got around the northern controls quicker as that end of the map was less steep - but also less scenic. Was interested to hear people saying that running north up the beach was much more efficient than running south into the southerly!

Knees felt okay to my surprise so I thought I'd do a bit of a warmdown while waiting for Tracy to arrive, and went to some of the controls I'd left out earlier because they would be a steep climb from the beach. This time I actually sought out the steps and went both up and down them and legs didn't complain (so, now I have 5 days to train properly for NZ?).