Attackpoint - performance and training tools for orienteering athletes

Training Log Archive: Mark3

In the 31 days ending Aug 31, 2016:

activity	#	time	miles		km		+m
Running - Trail	5	9:39:10	51.6	(11:13)	83.04	(6:58)	3784
S+C	18	9:00:00
Cycling	5	8:56:57	109.59	(12.2/h)	176.37	(19.7/h)	1040
Crosstraining	11	5:30:00
Running - Road/Track	5	3:12:01	24.1	(7:58)	38.78	(4:57)	195
Orienteering - Forest	2	2:55:34	13.09	(13:25)	21.06	(8:20)	366
Orienteering - Urban	2	1:13:11	10.0	(7:19)	16.1	(4:33)
Frisbee	1	1:00:00
Total	30	41:26:53	208.38		335.35		5385

3:35

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Tuesday Aug 30, 2016 #

Running - Trail long (Brecon Beacons) 3:35:14 [4] 31.3 km (6:53 / km) +1256m 5:44 / km
shoes: X-Talon 212 (Sep16)

https://www.strava.com/activities/694351723

Good use of a day off - Talybont to Corn Du via Carn Pica, Fan y Big, Cribyn and Pen y Fan. Pretty pleased with that bit.

Then vaguely planned to come back via the Brecon Beacons fell race route up Pant y Creigiau but I wasn't carry enough water for the weather (hot) and couldn't cope with any extra hills. However - coming back on the Taff Trail 10k was ludicrously dull and I wish I'd done the hills.

My other mooted route back was back to Fan y Big from Neuadd and then back the way I came; decided against that as wanted to explore some new stuff - but actually should probably have done that as it would definitely have been nicer.

However - great views from Pen y Fan etc, and managed to keep running the whole way around (apart from the very top of Carn Pica which had a bit of a false summit I wasn't prepared for).

All body parts functioning correctly - struggling to keep eyes open now, though!

C • Taff Trail 1

Monday Aug 29, 2016 #

Orienteering - Urban race (Grove urban) 44:16 [5] 10.1 km (4:23 / km)
shoes: Nike Pegasus 32

4th/25
http://www.tvoc.org.uk/application/documents/event...

Happy with this; no shame in being beaten by Dane and Matt Elkington - although I wouldn't normally lose to BKO's answer to Mark Saunders. And, with a clean run I guess, wouldn't have done.

Despite having a long time to think about it, lost time on #4 not going the straightest route. Then pretty good on the rest, tiring at the end, apart from on 17-18 got confused mid-folding and started navigating to 8 and therefore planning 9 rather than 19 - took 30s stationary-time working out what on earth had happened.

Good use of an uninspiring area; glad it wasn't any longer. Would work well for sprints to keep you in the interesting bit.

Sunday Aug 28, 2016 #

Orienteering - Forest race (White Rose Long) 1:42:26 [5] 12.1 km (8:28 / km) +273m 7:36 / km
shoes: X-Talon 212 (Jan16)

Seriously grim.

The map was very good, though; it accurately captured how grim it was going to be (ie, it's 95% green).

They hadn't dealt with the mountain bike tracks very well though - just putting crosses over them every so often made it very hard to see which paths were permissible and which not. BOK's Leigh Woods map, which puts mountain bike tracks entirely in red just using the path symbol, is actually much better although I was skeptical at the time.

There were several controls which were right next to MB tracks and nothing else - I think these control sites shouldn't have been used. I'm sure people will have been tempted to run along the tracks for a bit. I definitely did in a couple of places - the forest was so impassible there was literally no choice!

Countless mistakes; about 20 mins. RG should be a laugh.
4 - overshot depression and had to come back
6 - terrible round-the-paths route choice; round-the-paths-in-the-other-direction was much shorter
9 - choice and AP were good but despite aiming off, turned in a wrong direction?!
14 - misread MB track junction
23 - started looking too late and mistook ditch for gully (how are they different anyway?!)
25 - disastrous route choice, tried to go downhill through green, but stopped by headhigh-bracken and felling combo, had to contour through this for ages and then came out somewhere basically worse than I started

Fun? Errrrm... I was definitely getting fed up by the end. But given I haven't done any proper orienteering for ages, glad I came to this. Definitely reminded me what a 'tough' race is like.

http://www.ebor.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#112&cou...

Saturday Aug 27, 2016 #

Running - Trail race (Dalby Forest Parkrun) 18:52 [5] 5.0 km (3:46 / km) +70m 3:32 / km
shoes: Nike Pegasus 32

Unexpected - glad I kept a copy of my barcode in my pocket! Didn't realise until the night before that there was a parkrun at the same venue as the event - it would have been rude to miss out.

Nice course - slightly undulating but mainly flat, really. All off-road but mainly sort of gravelly/dry muddy stuff. Not significantly more difficult than road.

Pretty pleased with the time - it's maybe 30s slower than a road course anyway, so I'm probably 30s off the pace I was 6 weeks ago. I will take that, as I expected much worse.

Orienteering - Forest race (White Rose Middle) 54:56 [5] 6.23 km (8:49 / km) +58m 8:26 / km
shoes: X-Talon 190 (blue)

Tough forest - brashings everywhere; mostly about knee-height. The course was well planned to stop you just going round the paths (and it had to be, because if the path route was twice as far, it was still faster).

A few mistakes:
3 - looking too close to green for pit (at one point, in it) despite it being marked a reasonable distance away
6 - couldn't find AP (pit in the middle of thick undergrowth; the only benefit being that it was slightly closer than the equivalent control-pit) and had to relocate (from a similar pit)

That probably accounts for 5 mins or so; the other 10 mins behind the lead is explained by my difficulty getting stuck in the forest - I didn't think that I was too bad at brashings, but clearly can't compete with the elites in that area.

http://www.ebor.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#111&cou...

Orienteering - Forest race (White Rose Sprint) 18:12 [5] 2.73 km (6:40 / km) +35m 6:16 / km
shoes: X-Talon 190 (blue)

This was a bit of a gem. I still haven't seen any results; but lost too much time for a good one. Still, it was great fun and a massive contrast from the middle.

It was properly intense, point-compass-and-go orienteering with very little undergrowth. Very fast. The forest was drenched from earlier rain, so it was a bit damp.

Lost time on 2 controls (6 and 16), 90s total, both due to compass bearings being slightly off and not realising for too long due to the 1:5k scale. Probably wouldn't have made either mistake if it wasn't for trying to go as fast as possible, but hey, it was a sprint.

We (collectively) should do more of these.

Friday Aug 26, 2016 #

Running - Road/Track (Run with mum) 41:11 [1] 6.72 km (6:08 / km) +54m 5:54 / km
shoes: Nike Pegasus 32

Wednesday Aug 24, 2016 #

Running - Trail race (Crook Peak Cake Race) 22:05 [5] 4.86 km (4:33 / km) +206m 3:45 / km
shoes: X-Talon 212 (Jan16)

EDIT: 7s behind Clare Prosser's new female course record; 12s behind Clive...

6s behind 2014 but amazingly 30s faster than 2015.
I expected to be well down after doing nothing for so long; maybe the cycling and crosstraining has maintained the cardio better than expected...
I can definitely do this faster, though.
Went down the wall from the trig - shorter and straighter but rockier. Don't think there's a lot in it but I think I preferred this way.
Took the slightly more direct route up to crook peak as well - which is shorter and steeper - that was definitely worse though.

Hung around for the cake this year; nothing more than passable really. I've had better. But better than no cake, obvs.

S+C 30:00 [3]

Tuesday Aug 23, 2016 #

S+C 30:00 [3]

Crosstraining 30:00 [3]

Monday Aug 22, 2016 #

Running - Road/Track (Recovery jog) 27:52 [3] 5.92 km (4:42 / km) +38m 4:34 / km
ahr:139 max:159 shoes: Nike Pegasus 32

Jog round to loosen the DOMS which has been quite bad today (6 weeks off then 2000m of climb will do that).
Couldn't resist an attempt at taking the downhill segment off Daryl...

S+C 30:00 [3]

Sunday Aug 21, 2016 #

Running - Trail long ('Recovery' run) 2:56:39 [4] 22.23 km (7:57 / km) +1112m 6:21 / km
shoes: X-Talon 212 (Jan16)

Run in the Brecons with Owain Jones, Mark Edwards and Robbie Stewart.

Their "don't worry it's just a Sunday jog" pace turns out to be my race pace.

Much better weather than yesterday; still foggy but much less windy and no rain. We got a bit lost once due to chatting, but otherwise navigationally ok.

Doubt I'll be able to walk tomorrow, though.

Saturday Aug 20, 2016 #

Running - Trail race (Four Fans Fell Race) 2:26:20 [5] 19.65 km (7:27 / km) +1140m 5:46 / km
shoes: X-Talon 190 (blue)

About 10th? /30. 6:41 slower than last year, but split analysis shows some surprises:

CP1 CP2 CP3 CP4 F

2015: 26:45, 1:11:14, 1:36:23, 2:10:59, 2:19:39
2016: 26:44, 1:16:59, 1:41:31, 2:19:03, 2:26:20

Cum: -1s, +5:45, +5:08, +8:04, +6:41
Split: -1s, +5:46, -38s, +2:56, -1:23

CP1: running worse, but cut the corner this time
CP2: surprised this is so different. It was very windy though. Also last time I just followed Gary, whereas I had to navigate this time.
CP3: running worse, but went directly to summit rather than waaay over to the right like last time
CP4: surprised to be slower here because last time included getting washed downstream in my nearest-to-death experience. However this time despite hitting the previous summit there was no marshall so I wasn't that confident, and decided to carry on along the ridge in case I'd come too far right like last time. It became clear that I hadn't...and actually the route down from where I got to was pretty good. But I couldn't cross the river at the first place I tried, after it got waist-deep and I realised I was being pushed slowly but surely along the riverbed, I decided to get out and find a better place - which I did eventually, that was still waist-deep but wider and so less swiftly flowing. Then not a bad route to the top; bit misty so just went all the way to the edge and turned left.
F: last time was pretty circuitous so not surprised I made some time back here.

Although slower, it was definitely worse conditions (gloves, cap, tights, coat on all the way around, and I regretted none of those things) and I haven't ran up a hill for over a month, so I think this was positive. No hip pain other than (I suspect) phantom pain.

Had 2 shot blocks up to CP2, cereal bar to CP3 and another 2 shot blocks to CP4. Alternating real food with energy food seems to work well for me. Still not entirely sold on the shot blocks but they have much less mess-potential than gels.

Friday Aug 19, 2016 #

Crosstraining 30:00 [3]

S+C 30:00 [3]

Thursday Aug 18, 2016 #

Running - Road/Track (NBRG) 49:52 [4] 10.4 km (4:48 / km) +53m 4:41 / km
ahr:138 max:166 shoes: Nike Pegasus 32

Pushing pretty hard by the end. Garmin felt I'm so unfit it came up with a popup saying it needed to update my HR ranges...

Wednesday Aug 17, 2016 #

Crosstraining 30:00 [3]

S+C 30:00 [3]

Tuesday Aug 16, 2016 #

Running - Road/Track (Slightly longer) 42:50 [4] 8.91 km (4:48 / km) +50m 4:41 / km
ahr:140 max:158 shoes: Nike Pegasus 32

A 5min/k jog is now a threshold HR run with 36(!) hours recovery, according to Garmin...
My fitness is destroyed.

The good news is after 9k, no issues, so will stop ticking injury. Physio seemed optimistic and said to keep doing the single leg squats on non running days, keep stretching hip flexors all the time,dont run on consecutive days for a bit and build it up gradually.

I intend to take exactly half of that advice.

C • Advice 2

Monday Aug 15, 2016 #

Crosstraining 30:00 [3]
(injured)

Cycling (To/from cinema) 24:00 [3] 8.45 km (21.1 kph) +78m
(injured) shoes: Specialized Sirrus Sport [bike

Bourne film not great.