Training Log Archive: Ollie

A couple of silly blunders near the end marred an otherwise very good HH District race at Northaw Great Wood, near Cuffley. I ran the Brown course, as it had just stopped raining. The forest was still damp, but this was actually rather nice as it kept me cool.

Legs 1-3 were long but straightforward. I took a bit of a lazy route choice to 4, and drifted off for 5. One characteristic of this race were lovely long, downhill legs. 7-8 was one of these, and was very nice. I had another poor route choice on a very short leg (11-12), mainly to avoid some nasty undergrowth - but on the whole, the area was suprisingly free of undergrowth, and very nice to run in. 15-16 was another lovely long (1km+) leg downhill. I ran fast, but got clogged up in some unmarked light green, so started to make mistakes. I exited 16 very badly, but the worst mistakes of the race were made after I stopped paying attention to my compass and was generally very tired. They were 18-19 (too far to the right and too high) and 19-20 (too far to the left and too low.)

If I hadn't made these final mistakes I would have finished 3rd - a best ever result on Brown - still, my time was fast and I am very pleased with the result - finishing 8th out of 38 runners, and just 5.5 mins down on the winner.

This was possibly my latest ever start - I didn't get out of bed until 1015 - a real luxury lie in! And yet I was running by 1230.

I was trying out my new birthday present today - a top-of-the-range fast setting thumb compass. It certainly was fast setting, but I need to get used to the way thumb compasses work (everything's kind of backwards.) After trying to use it properly for the first couple of legs, I ended up using it as a simple compass for the remainder. It requires diligence to rotate the map correctly - not something I normally do.

Felt a bit bad on uphill sections in the early part of the race, but was fine later - and didn't experience the "power surge" feeling after the race, as I warmed down properly. Pretty knackered now though!

Looking forward to the British Middle Distance champs next Saturday.

C • compass 6

Estimated time/distance - biking to/from home to KX, and to/from Cuffley station to the event today. Last section loaded with shopping. Biking is a useful warm-up/warm-down for races, as long as the distance isn't too far and the pace wasn't too fast. Today was just fine.

Bought a new chain for my bike - but unfortunately the old chain had stretched, and the cogs had worn with the chain, so the new one kept slipping. So used the "magic connectors" with the old chain - after a bit of elbow grease, they fitted, and it now works fine.

Went on a longish bike ride through North London, as it was very pleasant and warm outside, and I was happy about the bike being fixed.

Route was: Islington - Highbury Corner - Highbury - Finsbury Park (one lap of the park) - dismantled railway to Highgate - Highgate Hill (to the very top!) - Hampstead Heath via Parliament Hill - Gospel Oak - Kentish Town (a bit lost) - Holloway Prison (!) - Highbury Corner - back to Islington. Route.

There's an extra permitted section through Hampstead Heath I'll do next time - Hampstead Heath really is the highlight of this route, although Highgate is very pretty too.

Felt queasy/ill for a few minutes after the end of the trip - probably by not warming down properly. I must start to warm down properly to avoid this.

Note to self (1) Probably not a great idea to cycle through Highbury immediately after an Arsenal game (esp when they don't win.) Lots of drunks, cops and smashed glass on the road.

Note to self (2) The Finsbury Park circular road looks like a very promising circuit for jogging around, or a few timed laps by bike.

C • Highbury 2

Meh - my stupid bike fell apart again on the way home this evening. Specifically, the chain snapped again - but it's now too short to be relinked. I'm tempted to bin it and get a nice bike, especially as it's heavy and old and I'm planning on biking a lot this summer (need to get that cross-England trip finished.)

JK Summary - overall, I really enjoyed this year's JK. I had low expectations of the areas and my own fitness - but I was pleasantly surprised on both counts and glad I went.

The sprint race was superb and I'm definitely keen to do more. Day 1 was a true classic and Day 2 was also an enjoyable, well-planned challenge. The contrast of the areas was dramatic, the first day requiring Nordic-style constant contact with the map and good bearings, and the second day offering continental-style route choice. The relay area was a bit grotty and muddy, but was flat and fast and fine for a relay race. The weather was in general good, except for a cloudburst just before the relays. And I got around the courses much more successfully than I thought I would.

Only downers were that the accommodation was functional rather than comfortable, and the distance between Day 1 and Day 2 was awfully far.

Overall a great four days of orienteering in Yorkshire.

JK 2006 Relays, Bramham Park.

Having decided to not push my luck and so take a rest day, I changed my mind at the last minute and was able to get a run with a team in SLOW (my official main club although I was spent most of the JK with JOK.) I got the first leg - a mass start - in the Ad-Hoc race. The pouring rain conveniently stopped and the sun came out just in time for my race. Despite the race not being gaffled, there was not much bunching - I ran with a group of 3 until I lost them trying to go a too-clever route.

Two silly mistakes cost me 30s each, + a 30s poor route choice, but pleased to have finished 10th out of 126 finishers for my course. The other runners in my team did well too and we finished 19th out of 75 teams that finished. Might have a go in a JK Trophy team next year, now that the race lengths have been shortened.

C • relay! 3