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Training Log Archive: Psuba

In the 30 days ending Jun 30, 2016:

activity # timemileskm+m
  Running14 9:05:34 60.67(9:00) 97.64(5:35) 569
  Orienteering3 2:52:52 10.74(16:06) 17.29(10:00) 48026 /26c100%
  Urban Orienteering4 1:39:57 11.39(8:46) 18.34(5:27) 17085 /85c100%
  Cycling2 1:17:02 6.18(4.8/h) 9.95(7.7/h) 49
  Strength / Conditioning / Drills1 10:00
  Total17 15:05:25 88.99 143.21 1268111 /111c100%
  [1-5]17 14:00:56
averages - sleep:5

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Sunday Jun 26, 2016 #

10 AM

Orienteering race (Relay) 57:00 [3] **** 6.0 km (9:30 / km) +220m 8:02 / km
shoes: Inov8 X-Talon 212

Hungarian Championship Relay, M125.

Slightly better than the day before, but still way too many mistakes.

Saturday Jun 25, 2016 #

11 AM

Running 8:44 intensity: (5 @1) + (11 @2) + (59 @3) + (2:06 @4) + (5:23 @5) 1.29 km (6:46 / km) +98m 4:54 / km
ahr:162 max:174

Orienteering race (Middle) 53:19 intensity: (15 @2) + (1:18 @3) + (12:44 @4) + (39:02 @5) ***** 4.74 km (11:16 / km) +151m 9:43 / km
ahr:169 max:187 shoes: Inov-8 Oroc 280

Hungarian and Slovakian Middle Distance Championship, M40

Lots of mistakes, extremely complicated terrain, physically challenging course as well. Lots of mistakes = poor result.

ALso car broke down 500m from event centre, so mind elsewhere and not quite in the "mood". Nevertheless, hugely enjoyable challenge.

Wednesday Jun 22, 2016 #

7 PM

Running long (Cadence) 1:29:55 intensity: (11 @0) + (6 @1) + (46 @2) + (3:20 @3) + (29:32 @4) + (56:00 @5) 18.71 km (4:48 / km) +22m 4:47 / km
ahr:164 max:178 shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

Still down with the cold, not so much an issue when running but tried to just wait it out to get rid of it completely considering the championships this weekend.

Could not wait longer, so put this steady long run in just to get some miles in the legs. Rather flat, but nice scenery in Bushy Park, lots of deers about.
Managed to stick around for a period together with a Vegan Runner chap in the park who kept on running around with about 4:20 pace, but after a while I pegged it back since target was not to push too hard and HR was nudging into HRZ5, even thought felt I could keep up with just a little more effort.

Getting heavier towards the end, not surprised and in fact held on quite well given recent lack of training.

Sunday Jun 19, 2016 #

12 PM

Running 1:03:20 intensity: (8 @0) + (1:55 @1) + (13:18 @2) + (26:06 @3) + (21:14 @4) + (39 @5) 7.25 km (8:44 / km) +128m 8:02 / km
ahr:139 max:168 shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

Surveying Ramsdown to see if we can map it for the Night League event in October. Tried to get a few hills in the running around to get a bit of that in the training, given recent lack of running.

Still bugged by the cold.

Nice varied area, could be interesting.

Saturday Jun 18, 2016 #

8 AM

Running warm up/down 4:41 intensity: (29 @2) + (53 @3) + (3:19 @4) 0.95 km (4:56 / km) +2m 4:52 / km
ahr:149 max:162 shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

Running tempo (Parkrun) 20:45 intensity: (11 @2) + (4 @3) + (29 @4) + (20:01 @5) 5.03 km (4:08 / km) +12m 4:05 / km
ahr:177 max:185 shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

Bournemouth Parkrun #150

Ran this to find out how my cold is doing and lack of training during the week affected me.
Fantastic conditions for a PB, I am sure many have ran a PB but of course I could not expect one.

I wanted to push though to test how my body reacts, so I am quite pleased with managing the first 2km under a 4m pace. I then slowed down deliberately, but at about 3km I started to struggle, HR at and above 180 despite not running that fast, so this is where my limits were showing thanks to the cold+no running during the week.
Sped up for the last 200m or so just again to see if I could.

All in all not unhappy with the time given circumstances.

Running warm up/down 5:49 intensity: (7 @2) + (30 @3) + (5:12 @4) 1.01 km (5:45 / km)
ahr:153 max:160 shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

Friday Jun 17, 2016 #

6 PM

Running warm up/down 5:01 intensity: (8 @1) + (7 @2) + (48 @3) + (3:58 @4) 1.0 km (5:02 / km) +6m 4:53 / km
ahr:151 max:162

Running 26:59 intensity: (10 @1) + (19 @2) + (52 @3) + (16:51 @4) + (8:47 @5) 5.68 km (4:45 / km) +11m 4:42 / km
ahr:161 max:174

Still down with the cold, though maybe not as severe so this was just a light run to test how my body reacts and see if this helps or hinders recovery.

Did the middle 4k as cadence training also again just so I can compare.
No problems with energy/lungs, but legs did start to struggle towards the second half, all types of muscles tensing up, I guess lactate build up as muscles have even in this few days without training got used to not having the flush them out.
Hope the cold will not get worse so I can increase distance/intensity in the next days so I can get back to shape before next weekends Hungarian Champs!

Tuesday Jun 14, 2016 #

Note
(sick)

Bugger. Got the cold, thanks probably to getting completely wet on Saturday in the downpour.
Was half hoping to go and do the Park series or at least start higher intensity training again but got to get rid of this is the preference.

Or is this just an excuse to watch Hungary vs Austria in the Euros?

Monday Jun 13, 2016 #

Note
(rest day)

Sunday Jun 12, 2016 #

11 AM

Running warm up/down 7:29 intensity: (11 @1) + (36 @2) + (2:02 @3) + (4:40 @4) 1.09 km (6:54 / km) +28m 6:06 / km
ahr:147 max:165 shoes: VJ Supra

Orienteering race 1:02:33 intensity: (23 @1) + (54 @2) + (6:45 @3) + (34:56 @4) + (19:35 @5) **** 6.55 km (9:33 / km) +110m 8:49 / km
ahr:158 max:178 spiked:26/26c shoes: VJ Supra

British Middle Championships, course 3 (M40).

Lots of mistakes, more later.

Running warm up/down 5:37 intensity: (9 @1) + (56 @2) + (4:32 @3) 0.69 km (8:07 / km) +5m 7:51 / km
ahr:133 max:143 shoes: VJ Supra

Saturday Jun 11, 2016 #

11 AM

Running warm up/down 9:56 intensity: (7 @0) + (15 @1) + (40 @2) + (3:24 @3) + (4:47 @4) + (43 @5) 1.77 km (5:36 / km) +11m 5:25 / km
ahr:148 max:169 shoes: Inov8 X-Talon 212

Signage to the Event Centre in the Olympic Park

This weekend was very British. Of course, the British championships were held both in Sprint and Middle, but with the added occassion of Queen's 90th birthday celebration, and the Sprint being held in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, we were entertained by the flypast, as well as quintessentially British weather (meaning: heavy rain).

Urban Orienteering race 16:29 intensity: (13 @2) + (8 @3) + (27 @4) + (15:41 @5) ** 3.31 km (4:59 / km) +12m 4:54 / km
ahr:174 max:183 spiked:22/22c shoes: Inov8 X-Talon 212

British Sprint Championships, Heats - 2.1

From a competition perspective, the Heats (where starts were delayed by 20 minutes) were a bit of a letdown - felt too easy, definitely would have been a runners course. The highlight was control 20, which was the Olympic rings:

Punching at control 20

Whilst navigation was mostly (too) easy, I did make mistakes:

20160611_BritishSprintHeats_qrt


  • Coming out of Control 6, I started to plan ahead which meant I noticed too late that I was past the house corner and could now run towards the control.
  • Out of 14, I was close to going out of bounds: I was just in time warned by someone (luckily) that I was about to enter the OOB area so I corrected and ran along the seating area, but that meant I was distracted so entered the ditch overgrown with vegetation too low. I had to go back out and look for the control further up.
  • There were several places where I had to jog slowly because the logical route was very narrow and I could not pass slower people in front: the pond bank to 12, the bank down and up to/from 18, and to/from 20.

With all of this I wasn't fully happy and quite sure I left at least a minute in the course, so was very surprised to learn that I won my heat! I am sure the organisers had a nightmare with the park authorities and do not envy the planner - nevertheless I have to say even in hindsight not all the OOB area is clear on the map. For example, near No. 14, the OOB marking is bound by a "vegetation boundary" dotted line, not a solid line. Whilst strictly speaking it isn't an ISSOM requirement, I think it hinders legibility because the OOB colour is very similar to "rough open", and on the ground these areas did actually look like the rough open you'd find in marshes, for example - and also looked (at least to me and at sprint speed) like the vegetation in the marshes near 11-12-13 which was a crossable area.

Result for the Heat

I also do not understand the planning of the placement for No. 17: it was at the end of a short "dead end" into an OOB area, but all those OOB marked areas on top of the bridge were similar vegetation areas (like flower beds), so I had to run around the flower bed and double back again. As the strip of the vegetation was very narrow (maybe 1m), it was very inviting to just jump across the OOB flowerbeds, which was of course forbidden, but as the control was clearly visible from the other side, I can not see any other reason for placing the control in there than to tempt people to jump across. There was no added navigation difficulty, nor route choice options, and only added about 10m extra running (if that). I would argue there would be nothing lost if the control was placed on the outer tip of the vegetation.

It is then not surprising that many were disqualified from the heats. Including one of the favourites in our class, Roger G.
2 PM

Running warm up/down 3:52 intensity: (1 @1) + (13 @2) + (1:07 @3) + (2:31 @4) 0.63 km (6:09 / km)
ahr:147 max:163 shoes: Inov8 X-Talon 212

Urban Orienteering race 18:05 intensity: (2 @1) + (14 @2) + (7 @3) + (29 @4) + (17:13 @5) *** 3.6 km (5:01 / km) +9m 4:58 / km
ahr:174 max:183 spiked:21/21c shoes: Inov8 X-Talon 212

British Sprint Championships, Finals 2A.

All the protests around disqualification etc then pushed the start of the finals out, in the end by more than an hour. This was enough for the very British weather to arrive, with a massive downpour! Whilst I ended up starting in a bit of lull in the rain (it did get going again in the middle of the run), I had to fish out the map from under standing water in the map box.

2016_BrSprint_Final

An appropriate signage next to the start!

The finals were very different from the Heats. We were in the Olympic Park proper and many more navigational challenges were finally introduced:

20160611_BritishSprintFinal_route

 

  • I had started slow to make sure I got the planning right, and concluded that I should stay high on the way to No. 2 to avoid the long steps down and up. Now, once I got to No. 1 I noticed that the map wasn't completely accurate, as the steps weren't going all the way - in fact it was a lot more runnable with 3 steps and about 10m level pavement alternating. However, part of the plan was to stick to my decisions as a principle as avoiding hesitations is key in sprint.
  • No. 3 - I expected the control to be visible from below in the parking lot, but it wasn't - I then followed an elephant track in the high grass up the bank to the monument even though I suspected it will be too high for the control. Once there, I looked around and could not see the control, I had to jog down and be right next to it before I noticed. A further 15-20s lost, and by this time I was over half a minute down and only 3 controls in the course. This duly caused me to be just a bit off my concentration and for a couple of controls I just lost my flow, and was therefore too hesitant and just too slow.
  • I picked it up from No. 11, where exiting the control I saw Geoff chasing me down for 2 minutes as I was running back up the path. This somehow caused me to get myself together, and although knowing his speed I fully expected him to run past before No. 12, I was surprised to see him more behind as I was going back up the bank out of 12 (as he later explained he made a mistake and took a longer route to 12 than I did). I managed to keep him behind me until the underpass between 16-17.
  • From here, I tried to keep up with Geoff but was very keen to keep on top of my navigation at the same time. This meant that I was slowly losing touch (he is just too fast for me), last saw him across the bridge on the way to 21.

In summary, this was a final that I ran without any major mistakes, but very hesitant and in a lot of places just not concentrated enough and too slow. I considered it an OK run but not a great performance. So to me great surprise I managed to be placed 2nd and so a silver medalist!

Results for the final

Friday Jun 10, 2016 #

8 AM

Strength / Conditioning / Drills 10:00 [3]

Thursday Jun 9, 2016 #

8 PM

Running warm up/down 13:56 [3] 1.61 km (8:38 / km)
shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

Running warm up/down 18:54 [3] 2.97 km (6:22 / km) +15m 6:13 / km
shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

Running intervals (Moov) 20:21 [5] 3.3 km (6:10 / km)
shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

5x Sprint Intervals, level 16 (passed). On the Thames footpath.

Level 16 = target cadence 180+, range of motion 100+. Managed cadence of 183 and range of motion 116. (may be taking level 17 next time). Not quite sure how Moov came up with these averages as the interval cadence numbers were 188,187,188,197,190 respectively...

Only did 5 due to 1.) time pressure 2.) sprint & middle British Champs at the weekend and not wanting to destroy my legs for those.

Interval pace ended up being 3:28, 25, 24, 27, 27

Wednesday Jun 8, 2016 #

Note
(rest day)

Wanted to have a gym session but slept instead. Probably last weeks lack of sleep catching up with me.

Tuesday Jun 7, 2016 #

6 PM

Running warm up/down 4:15 intensity: (18 @1) + (21 @2) + (1:52 @3) + (1:44 @4) 0.84 km (5:04 / km)
ahr:140 max:155 shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

Urban Orienteering race 26:44 intensity: (4 @1) + (7 @2) + (8 @3) + (9:24 @4) + (17:01 @5) *** 4.66 km (5:44 / km) +91m 5:14 / km
ahr:166 max:176 spiked:22/22c shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

London Park series race.

Took this on about 80% physical effort, given the expected long run afterwards. Tried to concentrate more on the navigation aspect.
14 out of 80 odd, which is OK considering that I wasn't able to properly warm up/stretch, and I did not have a compass with me.

Still, there were a few errors.
- Should have taken a much better route from 3-4, there was no issues finding the control in the circle but suboptimal getting there. Same for 4-5.
- Went back out to the concrete road 6-7, could have just ran on the grass, not sure which one was faster in the end but probably backtracking at the beginning did not help.
Mostly OK navigationally after this, except for 13 where I am not sure the map was 100% or the control was on the wrong bush (I suspect the former). I had to look for this in the circle for about 20s.
Route to 15 was suboptimal, and ran very cautiously on the cobbles next to the stream as they were slippery.

Running long (Cadence) 1:38:09 intensity: (48 @2) + (9:40 @3) + (1:25:33 @4) + (2:08 @5) 18.72 km (5:15 / km) +108m 5:06 / km
ahr:156 max:170 shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

Back to Twickenham.
Getting very dark towards the end, just managed twilight through Richmond Park, some deers about.
Phone died 85% in the run so cadence training ended there, and I kinda died together with it. Struggled through the last bit but lack of recent long runs was a clear show. The fact that I lost one of my gels somewhere earlier and couldn't use it when I wanted to about an hour into the run did not help.

Monday Jun 6, 2016 #

8 PM

Running 40:03 intensity: (6 @0) + (20 @1) + (1:38 @2) + (8:48 @3) + (29:11 @4) 7.7 km (5:12 / km) +17m 5:09 / km
ahr:150 max:165 shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

Went to the local Gym for a fitness check (my health care provider provides cashback for various healthy things when registered so this will go back to them).

First time I ever used a Boditrax machine, which did various readings and concluded that my "Meatbolic age" is 26! That looks good, I just need to hide it so they don't force me to run in M21E as a result and be placed in the back of the field all the time as a result!

I then jogged to a local Indian to get takeout, jogged along the Thames while they prepared it then back to the hotel.

Sunday Jun 5, 2016 #

3 PM

Cycling 1:02:22 intensity: (55:00 @0) + (7:22 @1) 6.45 km (6.2 kph) +17m
ahr:78 max:106

rolling down to the beach

Running (Recovery) 50:18 intensity: (10 @0) + (12 @1) + (49 @2) + (25:03 @3) + (23:05 @4) + (59 @5) 9.19 km (5:28 / km) +44m 5:21 / km
ahr:147 max:171

Recovery jog with R.

Was planning to do a long run but got late and so that plan went down the drain.
7 PM

Cycling 14:40 intensity: (8:43 @0) + (2:24 @1) + (3:33 @2) 3.5 km (14.3 kph) +32m
ahr:97 max:124

Rolling back up

Saturday Jun 4, 2016 #

11 AM

Running warm up/down 2:07 intensity: (4 @0) + (7 @1) + (13 @2) + (49 @3) + (54 @4) 0.43 km (4:54 / km) +7m 4:31 / km
ahr:139 max:157 slept:5.0 shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

Urban Orienteering race 38:39 intensity: (15 @1) + (5 @2) + (30 @3) + (12:19 @4) + (25:30 @5) ** 6.77 km (5:43 / km) +58m 5:29 / km
ahr:167 max:179 spiked:20/20c shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

POTOC Tunstall and Burslem Parks, "Long Hard" course.

2nd / 19
http://www.potoc.dandasparks.org.uk/png/2016-06-04...

Very far from top form and took it more as an exercise to break up the long drive back from the Blackpool Dance Festival. I knew I won't be making it to Poole Town race in time so this was mostly on the way as a replacement (kinda) to at least get my brain moving.

With the limited sleep in the last days, and legs very rusty, this was a poor race performance, but glad I did it anyway. Just overall running too slow and also a couple of mistakes, some of it I can blame on the map but some fully mine to own.

#1 - took a safe route but probably would have been faster straight, wasn't sure if I could cut across a strip of green as map had faint colours.
#6 - fairly convinced was slightly misplaced, was looking for it in the veg boundary bend but it was further along, so about 30s lost
#8 - 90deg error after getting into the rough area, noticed way too late, so lost more than 1 min probably
#9 - hesitation in the rough area that was slightly under mapped for its complexity, but I was looking for the wrong feature for a while anyway that did not help matters. About 20s lost
#10 - suboptimal route, want up the bank in what looked on the map like less vegetation but it was uneccessary to curve around. 10-20s
#12 - was working out by this time that elephant tracks were forming so went into green early in what looked like one. This turned out to be a mislead and should have just gone around the green like I had to in the end. 20s
#14 - slight hesitation looking for control earlier.
#17 - Again hesitant in the control circle when control was straight in front.
#18 - was misplaced (apparently the organiser did not fancy going into the undergrowth where it should have been)
#20 to finish - wasn't clear if I could go across the garden area as the red lines covered some important aspects, chose the safe approach to backtrack onto main footpath instead. Judging from the splits it was possible to cut across and so could have shaved about 20s

In all, should have been easily possible for me to win this event on a "normal" form, but I am not disappointed as this wasn't the objective at all.

Key learnings: make sure to sleep enough before a technical race...?

Thursday Jun 2, 2016 #

9 AM

Running intervals (Moov) 45:23 intensity: (22 @1) + (8:55 @2) + (12:32 @3) + (14:41 @4) + (8:53 @5) 7.78 km (5:50 / km) +55m 5:38 / km
ahr:146 max:179 shoes: Saucony Excursion TR8

Moov Speed Interval session level 16, passed (yaay). Target was 185 cadence and 110deg leg movement for 1:15, this roughly translated to a 3:18 pace.

Tried to get moving, and just about met the interval targets by running 8 (and passing the mark in 3). It was quite difficult to get motivated and felt sluggish so good to have the feedback of meeting the target (just about).

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