Training Log Archive: Mark3

EDIT: 10th / 62
http://www.tvoc.org.uk/application/documents/event...
Not as good as I'd have hoped but probably about right. 3.5mins faster would have slotted me into the 4-minute-wide gap between the elites (top 5) and everyone else. Jamie Parkinson in a league of his own at the top, though; winning every single split but three
http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d...

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I remain very pleased with myself for allowing time to fully recover from an injury before trying to do an event #firsttimeforeverything

Think this went pretty well although no results yet. I've run here once before about 5 years and did ludicrously badly (61st ish / 70) so the plan was to be safe wherever possible.

#4 - 30s lost, found the feature but couldn't get to the other side of it (earthbanky thing). Approached from the N which was a bad decision when the control was on the S and there were equidistant paths either way - should've checked description.

#5 - 60s lost, was above what I thought was probably the right bush, but couldn't see the control and wasn't confident enough. Didn't want to lose the height to check it unnecessarily. Eventually navigated back to the same bush from another direction, control was pretty much underneath it. AP not well enough defined, thought was at the lower depression but should have been obvious it was the upper one.

#8 - 120s lost, due to not being able to find where a small path left a large path, carried on for a bit, decided I must have missed it, tried to cut through some horrible stuff, bailed out before it got too horrible, went back up, eventually found the path I'd missed. I'm pleased that I took the time loss rather than continuing to battle through the grot, because I find it very hard to do that and yet I'm always telling myself it's the best course of action. But I should have judged the distance better and realised I'd missed the path sooner.

I think they were my only mistakes; 3.5 mins; not bad I think, and a few issues to take away for the future.

EDIT: after spending a bit of time doing a QuickRoute - I think 13 was in the right place. Sorry planner; I have done you a disservice! Glad I didn't mention it at download now :)

Main takeaway from today - no shin pain at all - hooray!! Was running very tentatively as so terrified it was going to start hurting at any moment, but it was fine. Got out of bed an hour early this morning for an intensive stretching session and went for a much longer warm up than normal, to be on the safe side; maybe that worked.

Maybe the lack of pressure on any kind of performance was a good thing as I had a pretty clean run. Owain overtook on the horrible ride on the E route to 4 which caught me off guard since he'd started before me, but I was quicker through the control and never saw him again (despite the constant fear that he was always just behind me, especially on the path legs).

My only mistake was 7, where there were a few additional trees to the NE of the boundary, and I assumed they were part of the boundary and therefore overshot.should've used the depression as well - lazy.about a minute lost, relocated from ditch to NE.

Bit lucky on 10, didn't aim off and wasn't sure which way to turn - but actually just spiked control. Due North to 11, then think I was one ride too early for the mapped one, but the feature was pretty large so that was ok.

Pretty sure 13 was incorrect (along with about 95% of the people we asked). The planner was in the 5%. Used magnifier on the contours and hit 14 ok; stopped to check a code of a control off to my left on the way which turned out to be 15, so attempted 15 far too fast and struggled to find it again in the bracken.

Lucky on 18 too, no idea where on the path I came out so just went in at a place that felt right, and hit the ditch a bit low.

Basically very good, and happy to be ahead of people who usually beat me (Phil, Pete) and people who it's only a matter of time before they beat me (Owain...).

This was going to be a rest day until I ate 1000 calories (literally) of millionaire cheesecake, lemon Gu and profiteroles.

Then felt guilty.

Was very optimistically hoping for the night race tomorrow, but it's not going to happen :(

These things are a revelation. First thirty seconds were pure terror and would've resulted in a nasty fall had a handy car not been there to land on. Luckily it was both unoccupied and stationary.

Then everything just felt easier and my average speed increased significantly. More significantly, it was a much better aerobic exercise rather than just destroying the legs, so it should keep my cardio fitness in better shape. Hopefully.

C • clipping in 2