Training Log Archive: Nathan

Solo.

Jukola Leg 3 (Long Night).

Argh so pissed with house this turned out. In hindsight, maybe should have moved to a shorter leg but was feeling good in the week so gave it a go. In reality, I'd been plodding and this time and distance at this intensity was a massive shock to my body and one I was not prepared for.

Matt and Olly had ran well to get me in a good position and I knew I had to stick at it. Began really well, smashing it through the green with a Jarla and Goteborg team to the path then made sure of my gaffle on the boulder and went off the path later than them to get it fine. Realised on this leg the ridiculous amount of elephant tracks there'd be so made a mental note to stick to my own race. 2 and 3 went well, caught up by a couple of other teams to be leading a fair pack through this partly gaffled section. I then stupidly decided I could drop 10 scandis in their own terrain by cutting the marsh and hitting a ride but it wasn't happening, then saw people coming out of another gaffle thinking it was my train so ran to that despite it not being mine and then had to smash it along the low hill to my knoll. Stupid mistake to make, despite navigating well on my own route (would have actually been quicker), got distracted by another pack coming from another direction, which is exactly what I didn't want to do. Moved well over to 5 however and then chucked myself off the hill to 6 and tried to get back moving.
Then had my main issue of the race. Took the path route to 7 and chest started becoming tied and constrained as I've mentioned before on here during night/cold runs. Hit me that I hadn't taken my inhaler before but had it before I went to bed instead so either this was the genuine reason or it got in my head and made it feel worse than it was. Anyway, ran away from some on the track but had no real drive and saw my pack cut in about 50m ahead of me, would have been there in plenty of time but the push had just gone. Struggled along but pace had dipped significantly through 8 and 9. Saw Tam go through me at this point, running well it has to be said, tucked in on his train for a control but it was wasn't happening and I'd like to thik I could at least stick with him for pace. It's not like I was slacking during this time, I really was trying to flog myself to 10 but I just couldn't move, felt very frustrated and worried that it might impact my race. Had a gel and began thinking more clearly and tried to push on. So clean through 8/9/10 but no speed. It's annoying looking back that this issue hit me on this section of the course at it was purely about speed and running so whilst I was technically clean, I felt very spuddy and unfit because of my lungs. Pathed to 12 was fine then cut across the hill to 13. Then got ahead of my pack of around 20 and must have made up a hell of a lot of places on 14 and 15 leading a small pack of 4 along the crags instead of the green and hitting the path.
From this point it became a bit lighter and also, crucially, warmer so I think it must be the cold that really hits my lungs because I began to move more freely and actually get some air in me. Pushed across 15/16/17 around the Lake, easy controls but lost time on 17 going to the wrong gaffle again so had to work hard to recatch my group before the run through. Clean through the scrappy section of 20/21, where a lot seemed to be dropping time then lost my bearing a bit on 22 and dropped too low so had to grind up a hill. Liked the last section around the open hill but lost a little time on a re entrant. Then just tried to empty myself on the last run through to give Willy as much of a chance as I can.

Finished actually feeling really empty and that I'd let the guys down a lot. M/O had good runs and I lost too many places to do them justice. However after a sauna and a beer and good sleep I began to analyse properly and in reality it could have been so much worse. From what I could tell (not looking at splits), I don't think I lost more than maybe 5/6mins on mistakes which for my first Jukola LN I'm pretty happy with. Physically, I knew that going in to this race I didn't have any sort of preparation for it and my lack of running was evident today, with just the one week in the last 11 or so of real training, only so much that bulking up can do for you in the forest. I led a lot of trains and was simply dropped for pace which I don't currently have and there's nothing I can do about that. So, had I been able to breathe I think I could have chugged away at the pace and the technical side of my performance was good. Looking forward to coming back in future and really showing what I can do, I know there's a lot more to come at these sorts of races.

Event: Jukola 2016
 

Easy day travelling up to Jukola. Crap weather so got some sleep instead.

Went and did some long legs on Tervalampi. Ignored the paths and simplified. Went very well.

Great little session down the road, technically very clean and flowing well. Still feeling fit.

Good night O with Olly, Paddy and Matt. Few misses in the circles.

Group training but massively ballsed up 2 so ended up running the whole thing backwards solo. Very clean after that, taking it all easy and navigating a bit too much maybe.

Trot to the start.

OK77 elite training. Good to be mixing with these guys on the longer course and enjoyed pushing. Nice results following my own navigation and largely ignoring others, went well.

Night-O with Matt and Olly, exciting times.

Shitey run at the local 77 event. Started steady but still ballsed it all up. Oh well, much to learn. Sacked training this morning to be on the safe side with injuries.