Training Log Archive: IanW

JK Long, Braunton Burrows. Best classic course physically I think I've done so far - legs felt quite springy on a short warm up beforehand, felt good while going and even though thought I might have pushed too hard early on in the course, just kept on running. Well, until I got cramp at the final control and had to hobble up the run in...

Navigation was a bit variable to say the least, partly because I was running a bit too fast in places. With the obvious flat areas between ridges, and plenty of paths/tracks, the area was less technical than I was expecting. Timmeo started 3 mins ahead, had him in sight at for the first time on the way to #7, and after that made many little errors in attempting to catch him - took until he made a big error at #23. Mainly due to being poor in the circle -- at #4, 8, 10, 18, 19, 20, 26, 29 -- with varying time loss (from 5" to 1'). The detail at 1:15000 was almost impossible to read in certain places, although maps litho printed, the paper used didn't help at all with clarity.

Bigger mistakes were to #5 (90") going onto the wrong ridge, trying to interpret the tracks on the ground rather than go for the more obvious contours. 1' lost to 9, used the crossing point then dragged down towards the main track rather than up the ridge. Read detail badly to 15, going up onto wrong hill (45") then really hesitant to 16, not seeing any obvious features/easy ways to simplify the leg. 18 ran past without seeing, as was higher up than I thought (30"), 19 dragged by the tracks (30"). Good initially after catching Tim, then misread the detail going into 26 and faffed around for a while (1'). Couldn't interpret the vague flatter terrain to line up 29 correctly, missed it north (45"), then a stupid route to the penultimate meant an extra unnecessary hill climb (20")...

Closest I've come to breaking the 2 hour barrier on a classic, with a bit more care in places it was achievable. Have Timmeo to thank for acting as a target/beacon and keeping me going a bit faster than I would have otherwise. Need to be a bit more careful with the navigation, especially near the end of the course - taking a little more time and getting it right is a time-saving strategy.

Day 3 Course 1 - Splits

JK Middle, Cookworthy. Described well as "a swamp, with a forest on top." Not taking it full out with the classic in mind, some bobbles but not as far behind as thought I might be.

Steady most of the way through the course, errors were generally minor and of the slightly wrong direction type. Hesitant into the earthbank/ruins detail at #1, temporarily confused in the veg detail to 8, a bit high/right on 18, too far left on 19 and 20. But none of them more than 15" time loss. The planners did pretty well with the area they had to get a course to keep the concentration going.

Oh, almost forgot to mention - it was a little muddy out there... to the extent I was quite surprised to find a dry-looking patch of forest floor at one point!

GPS distance - 6.0km

Day 2 Course 1 - Splits

Event: JK 2010
 

JK Sprint. Not fast enough for this, orienteering not great either...

Didn't take the chance to read ahead and so missed the stile to 4 and then hesitated trying to cross the fence before noticing the gate further on (10"). Took lower and longer route to 5 (20"), hesitant to 7, missed shorter route to 12 (5"), faffed to 17 (8") and misread map to 20, making route longer (10")

Shoes getting stuck in the gloop on a couple of occasions, had to slow down to get them back on properly.

GPS distance - 4.1km

Should have got a couple of runs in this week, incompetence put paid to that... Hopefully the longer evenings will help the training in the coming weeks.

JK this weekend, looking forward to running on Braunton.

Very lazy day...

C • Superlatively lazy 2

Not feeling too bad considering...