Orienteering season opener @ Ballarat

alternate heading: what did I do to my butt muscles?!

FRIDAY: went for a run at lunchtime around hilly northern Mooroolbark. I haven't run at lunchtime before, but want to do it a couple of times a week once daylight savings ends, to supplement the Street-O runs (which drop back to once a week). 6.1 kms.

Pump class after work. I think this is what killed my glutes, although it didn't feel too bad at the time. New routine - too many pelvic raises? A test clench just now :-) ... yep, still sore!

SATURDAY: out to Creswick for the season opener. Decided to run the equivalent of a B course because the whole day was meant to be a casual affair. Ended up around 5 kms in 1:24. Had a bad couple of controls to start, then found the rest fairly easily... but whenever I tried running directly to a control, Ilse would just walk (bloody fast) around the track and beat me there. Arrgh, the frustration! She beat me by a couple of minutes, although I'm supposed to be faster. :-|

Stayed the night in Ballarat. Dinner with Ilse, Pete and the Dodds.

SUNDAY: Short drive to Nerrina for State Series #1. Put myself down for 35A, and gave Pete a heart attack because that's course 4, and everyone else was running course 5 or higher (higher the number, shorter the course). Blundered around for over 2 hours thinking this is crap, I'm crap, and what the hell was I thinking. No energy. Came last. Did at least 7 kms, although I had trouble remembering exactly where I went when I traced out my route afterwards.

Got home around 5pm and washed the car. Long overdue, and at least I achieved something useful this weekend.

Hot, hot, hot

WEDNESDAY: Street-O run at Nunawading. Too hot. 7.6 kms.
Wore my new CR cap. :-)
Ran like a wombat. :-(
Hope no one was watching.

Thoughts on "training"

The CR forum often has threads on Training - how much, what sort, etc. What training did you do this weekend? I've been thinking about the term "training", and what it means. People who "train" are obviously in training for something... otherwise what's the point. There are training plans, and training diets; speedwork, fartleks, intervals, tempo runs, tapering, etc, all with some future goal in mind. Some reason to get up in the morning and go for a run. Motivation to put a tick beside each task and add up the kilometres for the week.

I don't "train." I go for runs. Sometimes I go faster or further. I might have a future goal in mind (Puffing Billy), but I'm not particularly training for it.

I guess it's a Journey vs Destination kind of thing.

I'm lucky in that my motivation comes, not from a training plan, but from the group of people I run with every week. I don't need to fixate on some race weeks or months into the future - my goal is my run tomorrow. I don't know until I get there whether it will be hilly or fast; 9+ kms or 7 kms; and it doesn't matter, because it will be different from the run before.

All this and maths too

MONDAY: Interesting Street-O run - "Goal" format. Each control has a points value (2,3,4 or 5), and the goal for the C course is to get 36 points (more is okay). So as well as remembering which road to turn into, and figuring which tree or lamppost the control is hidden under, you have to do maths as well!! Fun though, and nice for a change. Had a good run, 6.75 kms in 40 minutes.

Cyclogaine 6-hr

SUNDAY: This is a team event that can either be done on bicycle (cyclogaine) or on foot (metrogaine). It involves an A2 map straight out of the Melways, with 90 controls worth variable points, and 6 hours to get as many as you can. Except the controls weren't controls, they were clues. ie, clue 3C: What is the garden ornament at No 18 M____ Place? A=windmill B=fountain C=gnome D=angel. Clue 5E: What day does Knox veteran Club use the athletics track? etc.

Quite fun! And being on the bikes meant that the kilometers ticked over fairly quickly.

One of my team was feeling the pain of a new bike, so we turned for home after 4 hours, and was back at the Hash House by 5:17, hungry for a feed. All in all, a good day out - my legs held out (phew!), even the bum isn't too sore this morning. 46 kms in 3:22 cycling time.

The verdict

Very very good. I've just got home after an amazing run in the new shoes. They just performed!! So did my legs. :-) I wish I could run that well all the time... (perhaps I will)

9.5 kms.

Couple of funny incidents: I found that I was actually running faster than Eric over the first half-dozen controls before we chose different routes. I would slow to read the map, and he would pull away, and then I'd catch him up. That's never happened before.

Toward the end of the course a few of us got caught at a railway crossing waiting for the train to pass through. When we all started running again, I was at the front. I kept waiting for everyone to burn past me (all blokes, usually much quicker), and I stayed at the front for 600m UPHILL until our course diverged. Cool huh?!

And the winner is...

Saucony Grid Omni 3 CRM Ultimate.

I took the morning off work. First up on the agenda was an hour-long massage by the queen of pain to remove the knots in my shoulders and fire daggers in my calves. So sore... Every time I get a massage, I vow to go more often so that each visit is less painful. It never happens that way though, does it.

Next up was the long drive to Clayton to return the Evolutions. The woman in the shop still didn't believe that the Evolutions was not a good substitute for the Kojis. Never mind, 'tis over now. I got a full refund.

Then up across the city to Runners World in Kew (recommended by an orienteering friend). The young woman who served me is obviously very clued up, because she believed me about the Evolutions. She said that ASICS had changed the whole structure of the shoe. Like, I knew that already. I tried on the Brooks stability shoe, and they behaved much like the Evolutions - pushing my left foot off the shoe. Also, too wide across the forefoot. The Saucony was a lot like the Kojis, and felt good on a quick run up the street.

So, will give them a proper test tonight.

I still need to find a podiatrist though, I think. My orthotics are old, and I'd like to have two pairs of shoes so I can rotate them, and so I won't ever be in the position of not having ANY shoes that I can comfortably wear.

Hot'n'hilly

Street-O run at Ferntree Gully, 6.2 kms.

Confirmed that my running legs are not the same as my cycling legs. No sign of fatigue in them last night, but in the heat I wasn't running very fast.

Cyclic Navigator @ Wombat Forest

This is essentially a rogaine for mountain bikers. Large map, 30 controls with different points values, and 3 hours (or 6) to get as many as you can.

I was going to call this post "Dead legs" because less than 2 minutes into it, I knew I was in trouble. My legs were empty! I'm not sure whether to blame last week's ride (unlikely), Friday's Pump class (maybe), or Saturday's digging in the garden (back and shoulders maybe, but not legs). Dunno. They eventually warmed up after half an hour, but I took a lot of walking breaks on the hilly bits. I finished early, after 2 hrs 45, for 24 kms. I'd hoped to do closer to 30, and I know some of the gun riders will do twice that.

Controls of interest:

#20: if you look closely at the map, you'll see that #20 isn't coloured in, even though there's a pink line going through it. That's because I went screaming down the hill, got to the intersection at the bottom, and wondered where the control'd got to. I'd obviously missed it at the side of the road somewhere, and I was NOT going back up that hill to find it.

#3: water feature. There's two parts to this one. The first "feature" was a large muddy puddle which I decided to ride through fairly fast. The front wheel decided otherwise and I got spat off the bike. By some miracle, both feet unclipped (first time in clip-in shoes), and all that happened was that I landed awkwardly across the bar. All good.

The second "feature" was a few meters further on. A large creek crossing/ford. This is on a forest road, so I figured the surface must be okay, even though I couldn't see it as it was over a foot underwater. Ride through slowly, getting deeper and deeper. Suddenly the front wheel stops, and MY FOOT IS STUCK in the pedal! Oh shit! I fall over, and get completely drenched. Bugger. Map is wet, gloves are wet. Shoes and undies are wet (euuch!).

As I emerge dripping from the creek, I see another rider in the distance by the control. Clever girl had left her bike on the dry side of the first mud puddle, and walked around. "Around"?? Oh bugger - there was a fallen branch and a leafy dam/platform just a few meters upstream. *sigh*




This is the top half of the map only (because that's all I got to). Scale is 1:30,000.

Shoe pain

Damn, damn, damn. Why do ASICS keep changing their shoes??

For about a week, I've had a tight/sore muscle on the outside of my lower left leg, just above the ankle. I don't know what that muscle is called, but I do know what's caused it - the ASICS Evolutions I've been wearing for my long runs. Shorter runs don't seem to cause any problems, because I've had the shoes since November, but have only had this ache for a week or so.

And it seems to be getting worse. My left foot is tilting to the outside, and the whole ball/toe area feels like it's falling off the sole of the shoe. And I overpronate!

So, I don't want to run in the Evolutions, and my old Kojis are a bit too worn to do a long run in. I tried to order another pair of Kojis from stringersports, but they sent me a pair of Evolutions instead. The Kayanos don't suit my foot (well, they didn't in ~1999 when I bought a pair), and the 2000s went crap after the 2040 (whatever year that was). The MCs were good, the Kojis were good, and now what do I buy????

So, I'm not going for a run tomorrow. And I'm going to have to take a couple of hours off work sometime next week to: (a) drive to Clayton to return the mis-delivered ones from stringersports; and (b) check out Active Feet in Prahran for a new pair of shoes. Probably not ASICS, unfortunately - they've done me well for the last 10 years or so.

Dammit.

Lethargy, gluttony and brain failure

TUESDAY: yoga night. Around 5:30 I decide that I just don't have the energy for this (like yoga is an energetic pasttime); so I crawl home via the supermarket and KFC. Several hours later, I'm parked in front of the tele watching "The Biggest Loser", having just eaten my way through a KFC 2-piece feed, a 3-pack of chicken wings, one of those microwave desserts and some ice cream. For a laugh, I jump on the bathroom scales. Whoops! Hope that disappears again fairly soon. :-|

lethargy = 1
guttony = 1

WEDNESDAY: street-O. Felt pretty average before the run - still not my usual bouncy self. Running a B course tonight, 14 controls (this becomes relevant). I write 14 on the card, circle it, and even tell Ray that B is 14 controls. Off we head, and my brain resets itself. For some reason I have 15 stuck in my head. It's quite a long course, I chose a less than optimal route, and I did an extra control which "cost" me maybe 750m. Arrgh! 9.5 kms.

brain failure = 1

I beat Jacqui!

Short fast run last night at Mulgrave - 6 km. Beat Jacqui to the finish control by a fingernail. Wahoo! sorry Jacqui :-) but, WAHOO! That doesn't happen too often.

I run, therefore I am

and with a slip of the tongue, there I am.

I was just in a cycle shop, buying a bike carrier for the car. We got chatting - as you do with guys who are passionate about their sport - and one of the salesmen commented that it was unusual for me to have a camelbak when I'd only just got started in MTB. "Oh", I said, "I run."

c'est la vie.

MTB-O: Losing my virginity

I have been baptised into the sport of mountain biking. Today the bike and I went off-road (as opposed to park trails) in the first MTB-O event of the year.

Yes, I know this is a Running log, but I'm going to tell you about it anyway. :-)

Discovered that the bike does actually fit in my small car, once you take the front wheel off. Quick release wheel worked fine, but I couldn't figure how to "quick release" the brake, so had to deflate the tyre to get the wheel off. Must buy bike carrier of some sort. Oh, and I figured out the brake release once I got back home again.

Rock up to event. Small group. Pay money, get map, and hire a map board. These bolt to the handlebar, and have a flat board mounted on a swivel so you can turn it around.

The map is 1:20,000 scale (same as a Melways or UBD), and all controls are on tracks. And you must stay on the marked tracks. Wahoo, easy navigation! Handrails all the way...

Right. Until I misjudged the scale, overshot a turnoff, and completely screwed up control #3. Twice. Arrgh! Relocating is harder because there is less detail on the map. But that was the only control I messed up. Everything else was easy peasy!

Except for those contour things. I managed to ride up all the hills on my course, but wimped out of one downhill when I couldn't stop both wheels from locking up under brakes. Even *walking* down with both brakes on had the bike bouncing around all over the place.

Lots of mud and water on the tracks down the bottom of the map. Don't fall off!

Oh, oh, and I saw a koala. A real live wild one, not in a zoo, and not a hundred meters up a tree. Control #8, I was approaching the intersection when I saw it at the base of a tree. It had just climbed down, and had its hind feet on the ground, with its arms still hugging the tree. I stopped to talk to it :-) and it ambled across the track in front of me, less than 2 metres away, and off into the grass on the other side. Awesome! Completely unafraid, and very cute.

I'm hooked. :-D When's the next event!?


Map. 16 kms

No energy

I've been feeling really tired the last few days. I was intending to go to the gym yesterday and do a Pump class, but by the time 6pm rolled around, I had no energy left. All I wanted to do was go home and sleep.

So I skipped class, went home, ate leftover pizza, and crawled into bed early.

Went for a long run this morning, Warburton Trail again for 16.6 kms. Cold and overcast: perfect running weather.

Then did nothing for the rest of the day; even fell asleep on the deckchair. I wonder if I'm feeling the effects of my cold wet run on Wednesday. Hope not, but I've dosed up on vitamins and healthy food, and will hope for the best for tomorrow (MTB-O event).

Click, and it's done

Well, I just submitted my entry for the Great Ocean Road Half Marathon. 23kms. 15 May. Three months away. Another one of those scary things that you do when you're not quite sure whether you can do it or not. If I keep up with the long runs of 16-17 kms every Saturday, I *should* be able to do it in a little over 2 hours. Still a long way...

Oh, and while we're setting goals - Puffing Billy in under 75 minutes.

I've added a "Coming Events" section in the sidebar for the major stuff coming up. To inspire and scare. :-)

Puddle jumping

I love running in the rain. No, seriously! I really enjoy it. You kinda slip into this altered reality, and all your trivial aches and hangups just disappear. Like when you're in a race/funrun and you get swept along by everyone else. I also reckon those long runs are having an effect. So soon? Dunno, but I feel a lot stronger in the run.

Running along Burwood Hwy, and this car drives through a puddle sending a cascade of water in my direction; running through Wattle Park down a track already 2" underwater. Completely and utterly saturated! 9.1 kms.

Cold though. I started shivering on the 40 minute drive home, and didn't stop until about 5 minutes into a hot shower. Couldn't get the gas heater started, and the electric one takes ages to heat the room. Gotta love those summer storms - at least the garden gets watered.

Street-O @ Rowville Lakes

45 minute score event, started 2 minutes late, got back 2 minutes early, 6.8 kms in just under 41 minutes. Pretty good run, apart from following the "wrong" fenceline to an early control. :-