Training Log Archive: andyhill

Event: Sydney Metro League #6
 

Day 6 Urban race in Aberystwyth. Started badly again. The first section was in the forest and that's where I lost all my time. Tried to go too fast and lost 30 secs on no.1 then overran no.3 and lost over a minute there. Then lost another minute on no.5 pulling up too short. The rest of the course went pretty well. Finished 11th of 35.

Day 6 M21L - Splits

Day 5 on Llynnoedd Teifi near Abersytwyth on the coast of west Wales. Course was on boggy marshes in the mountains similar to the maps I ran on for the Irish Champs in 2009. I ended up being 15 minutes late for the start but luckily it was a punch start so no time lost. Unfortunately, I didn't settle down and most of my time on no.1 and 2. I was slow getting into the map but the second half was much better - faster and no errors. I rolled my ankle at the 3rd last and hobbled back into the finish losing a couple minutes there too. That's now 3 times in the last week. Twice my ankle was taped.

Day 5 M21L - Splits

Event: Park Race 12: Streatham Common
 

Event: CROATIA OPEN 2012
 

Event: O-Ringen 2012
 

Event: 25th Anniversary Frolic: Cranford Countryside Park
 

Event: Croeso 2012 - 6 days of Welsh orienteering
 

Short o course at Cranford Country Park. Course was mainly trails with some forest legs and quite a lot of controls in a short distance which made it more fun. Took a little while to get going. Only error was turning in too early going to no.9 and having to back track. Lost about 15 secs. Finished in 3rd, 1.03 behind the leader.

Ran a second course with about a 10 minute break. This time it was a 20 min score event on the same map which used the same controls plus another 6. Had no troubles picking a route and didn't lose time on any errors. Had a fall after the 6th control making a huge bruise on my ankle so lost 15 secs there trying to assess the damage. Lost another 30 secs when someone asked me to help him look for his glasses. Finished with top score.

Light Green - Splits

Day 4 at Bretaye. The most physical o course I have ever done. Lost small pieces of time a quite a few controls but overall was slow which a lot of the field were. The course was at about 2000m elevation and very steep. The 500m up to no.9 climbed almost 30 contours / 150m. I had to skip the last loop near the end because I had to make a flight from Geneva. The loop would have taken another 25 min and I would have taken nearly 3 hours total. Shame not to finish as it looks like the majority of the field DNFed. Only 2 guys broke 2 hrs.

C • faark sounds like a great c... 2

Day 3 on La Pile. Felt slightly better but made so many errors. Lost 6 minutes on no.2 and then another 6 min on no.6 trying to fight through the green and ending up way off course. Finished a massive 30 min behind the leaders and 98th out of 116. One day left to resurrect a bad week. Garmin says I ran into France for a bit of the course.

Day 3 HE - Splits

Day 2 on Mont Chaubert in HE. Feeling terrible, was tired and legs had no strength still from Andorra Trail. Took a while to get into the steep, thick map too. Lost time on the track network to no.3. Then more time on no.4, 7 and 14. Really struggled into the finish nearly 40 minutes behind.

Day 2 HE - Splits

Day 1 at Lausanne-Doringy in HE which was the WOC Sprint Qual. Felt slow from the start. Legs were still sore from Andorra Trail. Lost 45 secs on the route choice to no.4 then was on the wrong level at no.12. A few other small hesitations as well. Ended up well down, 6 minutes behind the leader from Sweden. Prong got me by 7 secs.

Day 1 HE - Splits

Event: WOC 2012 - Lausanne SWITZERLAND
 

Started at Coll de la Botella and was straight into the climbs. The first starting at 2,075m climbing to 2,562m in 5km crossing the border into Spain then a downhill descend back into Andorra till 7km into Refugi Coma-Pedrosa where Prong and I came in about 10th place a few minutes behind but he pulled out then. The next climb was brutal. It was 3km to the peak of Coma-Pedrosa at 2,942m. A total climb of 675m at 23% gradient. There wasn’t really a trail to follow, it was more of a rock scramble to the peak with patches of snow to traverse. You could not see the peak because it was up in the clouds but strangely I could hear a band playing from the peak. I was feeling dizzy at times because of the altitude and was getting cold but finally completed the first tough 10km in 1hr39. This was going to be a long race.

The downhill loop consisted of more of a slide taking half the rocky mountainside with me. It was so steep and I got overtaken by 10 or so people dropping back to about 25th. There were a few snow traverses, one of which I slipped and started to slide towards an icey lake. If I went in I have no idea how I would have gotten out. I finally got back to Refugi Coma-Pedrosa at 13km in 2hr10, a 3km downhill section done in 30min.

Prong had waited for me at Refugi Coma-Pedrosa eating salami and fruit as that was the race food provided and he lead me for the next 3km downhill where he was going to get a lift back. That was no 16km in 2hr34 and then a loooong 4km ascend to Pla Estary and Bourdes Prats Nous and then a 3km steep pinch up Clot Cavall Peak at 2,620m. It felt like it took forever and it was really hot. I was getting very dehydrated and stopped a couple times in the creeks for a drink. I had by now used all my 4 gels plus ate and drank at the 3 aid stations. I got to the peak at 23km in 3hrs29 overtaking quite a few people on the way to be about 15th.

Next came the steep downhill. All the way to Llorts at 29km, a 1,300m decent and then flatting out to a slight downhill for the last 6km to Ordino where I finished strongly and picking up a couple more places. A total of 2,500m climb and 3,300m descent. Finished in 13th place.

Next time I do one of these, I'd ideally liked to have trained a whole season which couldn't be helped this year because of my hand injury. I don't think I'll attempt to run another without having a solid base. It's just too much of a struggle. Anyway happy I did it, the views were amazing and another epic race which I've ticked off the list and never likely do again.

C • good work! 5

Event: Andorra Ultra Trail