Training Log Archive: jennycas

Event: AOC2018
 

Probably wasn't the best preparation, standing in the sun for a couple of hours directing cars into parking spaces, I mean gaps in the saltbush/mallee (somehow they all fit!) and on course it seemed surprisingly warm in the sun on the cliffs above the river. Amazing views so I focused on the map as much as possible and on not making mistakes, 'cos there were some tricky short little legs. Oh, and lots of sand. Nobody told me it would be sandy! A bit disappointed in how slowly I was running uphill, and I didn't do a great job of rocky downhills either, although I really enjoyed the navigational challenge. Would have been happier with 3-4 min faster, but at least my friend Ham held up ok rather than stringing me along.

Pretty lactic at first, but it got better. Still haven't finished packing for driving to Renmark tonight with parents.

Last headlamp run of the winter, and first Oliver run of the summer. We promised him native Australian wildlife, but nature took a while to cooperate. Don't know what he thought of me & Zara & Bridget sharing our respective childhood reminiscences of the adventure playground, but politely agreed it could make a fun micro-sprint.

Found the map from Stefano's mass start night O a couple of summers ago, and went for a sunset run around a course which was rougher underfoot than I expected, especially on the old dump, where the grass ranged from knee-to-head high so I had to walk much of it. Hamstring hadn't been great after sitting on my donkey all day at work, and then I tripped on nothing in particular and properly tweaked it :( So yeah, this wasn't nearly as much fun as running around like a headless chicken with 20 other people's headlamps going in all directions, but at least it was approx. 10 min faster.

In other news, who knew that reusable toaster bags are a thing? www.planitproducts.co.uk/toastabags

Had been tired & headachy all day (something to do with giving an 8 am presentation, and preparing for it last night) so was glad that the Nth Adl loop was at fairly social pace. Technically I did do the intervals but, in deference to my hamstring, wasn't even running them fast enough to get out of breath.

Dug out my old faithful 3-loop course from 2004 and went for a run around my favourite bit of pine forest. Took a while to warm up so first loop was slow, and by the final one I was stuffed, but middle loop felt good. Each was about a minute slower than when I last did all 3 before Oceania 2013, though. Also I found a random control in the forest - just like being in Sweden :) Presuming it was left over from TT's midweek training, I texted John N who turned up & collected it from me 10 min later on his way to the Aust schools' relays map! (Pity we couldn't have used Lucky Hit for the relays but it would have needed a remap and lost half the control features in the process...)