Training Log Archive: philm64

O Training - Blakeholme plantation. Oh wow!

Nice weather & amazing terrain / map. Shadowed Ruby Owen. Did Norwegian map memory. Did long legs. Did map drawn in 2 minutes after 2 pints of bitter the night before (this went surprisingly well!)

Very, very tired - jogging, then walking. Another mini-bonk / mini hypo. Worrying - for OMM too if Mark3 is reading - Achilles also a worry / pain. Tried to eat & rest up. Juniors still at it hammer & tongs - HOW??? Woes dispelled by incredible views from Gummer How (?) - over Windermere. Also great trip to Booths where we walked around In muddy O kit & bought comfort food & drink. Happy days.

Died after supper & had to nap. Actually fell asleep on bunk bed and no chance for pub or booze this time. Can I cope?

O training, Greythwaite. Weather OK, not great - cold when sun not out.

Achilles hurting on walk in - using walking stick. Trying to adopt a positive mental attitude about it.
Shadowed Guy Owen. Did long legs, contour, control pick.

Moved to new base. Shadowed young Dylan.

Tried long legs - bonked. Also could not find no 2. Gave up.

Needed a feed & tea & coffee from concerned people as my bonk was quite hypo-ey. Recovered enough to go out & fetch no 1 & 2 - finding it this time!

Staggered out - wet & cold. Recovered later for Drinken Duck pub. With Paul & Matthew. First came here July 1985 post finals. How did I get so old?

Achilles worrying painful to walk on.

Indoor bouldering at Ambleside wall - pretty crap, really.

Afternoon drinking at ODG pub, Langdale - old peculiar - eased my pain :)

Jk relay, 4.3k, ? climb, went off 2nd caught FVO Jon Cross 25secs at no 1, but conscience got the better of me in the urban bit & took my own route round the buildings which led to steps not on map! He was away, never saw him again. Held it 2gether for rest of race, but v tired. Cljve had no chance against Marcus P anyway.... 2nd place; terrific run from geoff ellis on leg 1.

great JK, v happy to get on podium , tired battered, hobbling on my achilles but all good except for friday, a very sad day.

now in Lakes til Sunday....

C • 2nd 4

Jk, long, 9.9km 365m , Kilnsey. Poor run, conditions & area found very testing. Caught greg hull 2 mins at no 5, and we stayed togethr all the way, to my frustartion but to be fair he found some of the controls I missed in the circle. Dropped to 6th overall, clearly others suffered too - I had hail at no 11 which was vile but nothing like as bad as the later utter hoolie!! Clive 2nd & Charlie had a total mare at no 7 & fell back to 7th.

Jk long day. 6.9km 375m climb. Good run. Couple of small errors, eg found 22 before 18. Hesitant in places & terrain a bit tough for my liking. Delighted & surprised to be 4th, not far behind the big hitters.

Event: JK 2016
 

Jk sprint urban, leeds uni. Dreadful, dreadful race. Ok on 16 controls, disastrous on 2. Drawing board job. 21st.....

Very easy run in park, sadly RH Achilles / heel stabbed at me twice, both times when starting up, having paused. Bit of a pattern there.

I think I ran too fast on Monday, but there you go.

Calf a bit niggly, need to do more mobility on hips & hammys, is all.


Now rest.

Travel back - fly from Malaga to Bristol. 24 hours late but......

"Luckily", our "terrorist people" decided to blow the fuck out of Brussels airport today, not Malaga or Bristol.

Pretty sobering. London / the UK next, I am sure.

Flight cancelled so run from easyjet-supplied hotel in Malaga. Flat. Kms 3 & 6 efforts, garmin on. 35.48 but km 3 in 3.40, recovered ok, km 6 in 3.38, didn't (recover ok).

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1095286...

15km hill walk above Alpujarras- Sierra nevada, up to 2100m, 830m climb? Very cold high up, snow on ground. 5.5 hours. Cloudy on big tops eg. Mulhacen 3400m, but can.t complain. Good holiday despite fatigue & slightly sore throat. Need to cut down on booze for a bit.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1095286...

Rain all morning. 8km walk pm inland, near Competa, felt tired. Had a diabetes mini hypo at the end. Trend for the future, I guess.....? Oh well.

Climbing in Mijas. 7 routes, really good fun, last one a total sandbag at 5+, took a good pasting! Great day out. Meal al fresco in square in Mijas afterwards.

Pleasant run in Nerja after an easy day chilling in sun. Hilly, scrubby, hot, nice. No aches or pains beyond being a bit "past it".

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1095286...

C • Malaga? 2

C • Jealous 2

Walk up mountain hbehind Frigiliana, 4.5 hours , nice views, legs not used to scrub walking. Both knackered at end! 700m+ ascent.

5 climbs in El chorro. Knackered. Scary!

Event: CompassSport Cup Heat
 

Compass Sport heat, Cannop ponds, short brown, running "up", against the M45s etc, 7.8km / 200m

2nd to Clive, again, close behind, again; very pleased that RH Achilles / ankle was relatively pain free today - had an extra heel wedge in which, I'm hoping, will give me an answer for now.

Course was not the norm - starting with long legs, some 6 minutes, then suddenly changing to a gaffling type finish, with a common control visited 3 times in about 10 minutes - I really enjoyed this! then a tough climb out similar to BOC relay 2015, up to the finish. Nice one Geoff Ellis!

LH calf started knotting & hurting on way to no 2, which worried me a lot, and put me off, then lost a minute to Clive on long leg no 3, (just hesitant/ no plan; rubbish at long legs ; folded map badly) then caught Jeremy Tonge 3 -4 , and ridiculously lost 45 seconds at no 4 due to sloppy compass work & feeling "conspicuous". Idiot! then lost another 30secs at 5 cos I wasn't accurate enough & nor were the mapped vegetation boundaries.

At this point, Clive was in fact a control ahead of me, and I was aware this sort of effort was not remotely good enough. However, being philosophical, I reckoned I was still in with a chance of outperforming the NGOC guys even with these errors (I was right), so plugged away running as hard as I dared. Dropped Jeremy & got on "with my own race"; pretty much clean from there on, a couple of small pauses but nothing major. Enjoyed the gaffling bit and really pushed the boat out here - splendid split on no 16 & I knew it (over 10% faster than anyone else). Running hard up hills and putting myself through internal pain, splits later on show I was closing on the Clivemaster - especially uphills. Too little too late!

Very tired at finish and no real warm down. BOK 1 & 2, and won heat, and sat outside Abi's car for hours just chilling & socialising in glorious sunshine. Better weather by a long way than this field in late April 2012!!!! (BOK Trot blizzard)

Results http://www.bristolorienteering.org.uk/sites/defaul...

https://www.strava.com/activities/516163953

TCA indoor bouldering with the girls.

Quite tired, but all fine.

Run to gym (rucsac on containing various shoes), dump sac in locker, 16 minute run up avon gorge & back (felt very light & fast) , physio session, then run home easily with rucsac on ... almost no achilles twinges until I put my foot on my doorstep after stopping (yep, it really is that comical).

Physio: could find no Achilles damage, he had a good prod . he suspects calcification / bony protuberances catching on the tendon at only certain angles / movements, which is why I get sharp agonizing stabs of pain, but then feel no soreness the next day. So I'm not "injured" - no "injury" to the tendon as yet - but I am "impeded" and need to get x-ray to see how bad is it.

In the meantime, try other shoes, heel wedges, run on midfoot strike etc. Fine (ish).

Can't see a problem with Road running so I guess I stay off the INnov8 style shoes (too flat!), & terrain as much as possible for now.

Yawn. expensive appointment!

Put extra wedge in RH shoe - I always run with a wedge in LH shoe on osteopath's orders, due to minor leg length difference, so this was cancelling out that . 2 wedges in a stability shoe.

42 mins (Victoria park & surrounds), up hills, down hills, steps up & down, flat, jog, stride, cruise, road, grass, slithery, the lot. Some "efforts" .

Almost no pain in Achilles; no "stabs" like when I'm at O - one "twinge" when I was running over some grass moguls. I think the issue here is uneven ground - ie. O events / muddy X-C fests. Most Achilles injuries are down to hard surfaces. This isn't . 100% fine on roads. Hmm.

Wedges will stay in for a bit I think. Sunday will be interesting. Soft ground tho will be a worry.

C • Achilles 2

Climbing on ropes with Liz - redpoint wall.

Fine, tho annoying that forearm "injury" sustained in mid December is still giving me jip.
Routes from 5 to 6a+.
One rest. No falls.

Felt relaxed - but not been on a rope since 20th Decmeber so a bit of a shock finding myself high up.

walked there & back from home.
no Achilles pain today. Again. Hmmm. there needs to be a "Niggle" box to go with the "Ill", Injured" & "Rest day" tickboxes on here .

No Achilles pain today apart from feeling "frail". (which is possibly in my mind)

Physio booked for Thursday afternoon.

Not sure about staying up north post-JK now. As that will aggravate it, based on current happenings...

... or maybe I just fell -walk & scramble for the week and then try the Lakes orienteering? ....? (is Mark2 reading....?) (or Scrappy Doo.....)

"Injury" box ticked now, as I consider yelping out loud in pain in the forest at the last three races as "injury".

C • Lakes 2

Event: Welsh Championships
 

Welsh Champs, Sugar Loaf, "long" - Short brown, 6.7km / 285m 23 controls. 1:7500 scale, as yesterday - worrying, getting "used" to 1:7500 now? Not a good idea....
45:06, 2nd.

Warmed up fine, decided against changing to Brown (wise move)
No pain in Achilles warming up.

Steady/ sufficient start, finding controls well, not running flat out, and Achilles starting stabbing quite quickly. Ignored it. Flying from 3 - 4 - 5 - 6- -7 -8 . Little error at 9 - trying to outrun Lucy Tonge and charged to the wrong control. 15 seconds.

Achilles starting stabbing as I climbed towards 10 - oh no. Fine on hills on toes; not fine when landing on heel / middle of foot in soft flat / undulating forest. Starting having to hobble - to avoid the marmite pain (no grey area - it's either utterly horrible stabs, or no pain at all).

10 - OK; 12 - most excellent (faster than Clive etc on this one), stupid miss at 13 (how? was going well) - 30 seconds; pain to 14 now really seriously spoiling my enjoyment of my sport.

Last few controls, running with a sideways hobble, and making small misses as my focus had shifted.. Nothing major tho & many others lost much more time on the final downhill slope. Fun little tussle with Abi Kerr. Started sprinting towards, not the finish, but the clothing reclaim tent - oops! Abi didn't quite re-pass me :)

No achilles pain on warm down jog with Actuary, or when prodded in steam room / sauna on way home.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1075253...

2nd again, to some1 I do not know. (Ranked 187 places higher than me)
Results: http://swoc.org.uk/Results/Results2016/Sugar_Loaf_...
Note to follow re. the event.

C • Jamie Parkinson 5

Welsh Champs Day 2. Comment.

1) The map seemed excellent - many thanks to Ben Mitchell for this - I know he put in a huge amount of work & I now have two maps at both scales - & fully intend to come back & run on the bits I missed!

2) Courses: My short brown was, again, a course that was perfect for me - not too long, varied enough to keep it continuously interesting, physical but not too physical, and crossing the area twice without feeling I was repeating anything. So thanks to Richard Cronin for this . From what I saw of the Brown/Black, they were very good courses too.

3) Welsh cakes at Download. Yes please. More of this.

4). Maps at start.
Right.
An early starter, Patrick Wooddisse, from NGOC, had reported back that he'd completed the 1st half of Short brown, and turned his map over to find - no 2nd half. End of. He came back to the download and they gave him a Black map (poor man) - he then went out on Black (back up the hill, to the far start... 10.5km.... 500m climb.....). Christ.

Pete Ward - NGOC - told us about this. So, at the start, I carefully checked both sides of my map, "losing" about 2 seconds in the process. Both sides had courses halves on. Off I went. "Must have been a freak map".

Pete Ward himself, starting after than me, and being the messenger.....didn't check - just folded his map & started (beating me to no 1, too). And guess what? You got it. No second half of course, his challenge was over (for the record, yes he was ahead of me at 8/9, 30 seconds or so, but he did make a massive mistake to 10 - 6 minutes? - so I claim likely victory even had he had a complete map!).

When maps etc come back from the printers, they should be right, but also, they should be checked. No one at the start checked. When I ran the start at BUCS, I checked EVERY map I pulled out of the box. One competitor claimed he'd "been given the wrong map" - nonsense.

So yes, the printers were crap, frankly, but also, I think you have to double check as well, as otherwise, people like Patrick & Pete have their competitive runs ruined by this.

The final irony is that, at my event , Goblin Combe, I didn't check carefully enough, either - and it was Pete Ward who noticed that the Light Green descriptions were wrong! I then had to scribble the changes onto as many as possible- using a biro. In this tech-dependent world., we are distracted from physical things by the very technology that is letting us down silently, and sometimes, this can be bad. Did anyone tell the start people that this was happening? And if not, why not, ? and if they did , why weren't the start team checking the Short Brown maps?

A good day and some great runs from especially, Clive & Ben Mitchell, who did 10.5km / 550m climb in 60minutes & 4 seconds. WHAT?????

Thank you SWOC for a good weekend.

C • I think the error is with t... 3

Event: Wales Middle Championships and 2016 Welsh League Event / Welsh Championship
 

Welsh champs middle, Brown, Pwll Du,
4.2km 145m 16 controls.
New shoes - Inov-8 Mudclaw 265, in Blue - nice! First outing.

Achilles hurting from no 1 -2 , oh god. PROBLEM. Ignored it....

Settled down a bit thereafter - but not all the time :(

Bang on most controls, flying in fact, moving like a Clive.

Very quick 9-10-11, then huge cock up at 12 - was on wrong path then everything was wrong - disatrcted by a control that wasn't mine; went too high - ended up on the road at top & not sure where on it I was - 1min 30 - 1:45 lost. And with it, the M50 race :(

Super fast from there to the end.

PLeased overall, 2nd M50 to Clive , and 6th on course ahead of many.

Notable that I can now cock up and still do well - I was 11 seconds behind Clive before my mistake, which is acceptable, & I was faster over later controls, but who knows? http://swoc.org.uk/Results/Results2016/Pwll_Du_Cla...

Result: http://swoc.org.uk/Results/Results2016/Pwll_Du_by_...

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1073912...

Indoor bouldering - TCA with Liz & Nellie.

Fine. Mainly easy jug pulling; a few black problems up to UK 5c.

left lower back a bit "spasmy".

Achilles fine for first hour, a few twinges thereafter, but nothing major.

Wales w/e next. Looking fwd to it :)

Gym (resting Achilles & calf this week)

cycle there
20 mins x-trainer - 5km
15 mins on exercise bike - 7km

15 mins S& C upstairs (not cardio)

10 mins x-trainer (2.66km)

5 mins on running machine, to see if hurty bits hurt (they didnt' really)

Steam room self-pummel & stretch.

Cycle home,

Bad run. Bad.

With Paul from club, at conversation pace, should have been a winner every way. Pace nice, chatting, felt skinny, lean & fit as "per usual" at the mo.

RH Achilles twinged badly twice - proper stabbing pain - but was subsequently "OK". This is NOT ok anymore.

BUT worse was LH calf (the one that "used" to knot) - had to stop & walk & send Paul off alone with a mile to go - knotting, not badly, but just relentlessly. Walked in.

Note: Was preceded by only my 2nd ever diabetes "hypo" - where blood sugar drops - mine was down to "normal" levels, which I'm not used to - and felt shaky & weak. Had sugar before running & it was fine but..... could have contributed to this mini cock up

No more running til Saturday. And lots of rehab. Have done NO stretching since Sunday's big O race ("rewarding" myself with a break from the grind) - probably a result of this.

Oh well. Swimming pool here I come? :)