Training Log Archive: Psuba

Wilverley, Wimborne Winter Warmer, Brown course.

7th/25 - very close as most people seemed to be in around the same time. Really should have been 3rd with only making some of the mistakes - one itself dropped me from 3rd to 7th at one point.

Running wise it was hard work from the beginning, most of the forest was full of brashings so felt a lot more physical than the climb would suggest. It is no wonder that the strongest man posted so much better time (Paul P won with posting a time of around 70 min - which just looking at the map should have been easily possible). The terrain can be deceiving just looking at the map. I would contest a lot of the vegetation mapping, not the shapes but mainly the greenness. I suspect some other smaller mapping mistakes were present as well, which interfered with my route. That said, the majority of the mistakes that did count were fully mine, including the 2 min + mistake I have made on 26 effectively running past the control and into the green below (how could I have misread the maps so badly... other than my tiredness I can't explain), and several times messing up the enclosures on the hillside where 27 was. I reckon 25 wasn't where it was mapped but further E, I was running on a compass bearing only for a short distance and ended up as far from the control as I have ran from the trail, also I strongly suspect 24 was on the knoll NNW to the one it was mapped on.

I have made mistakes elsewhere too though, including #3 which was a total mess on my part, first veering off to the right, then doing a long curve back ending up was too W on the road adjacent to the control, losing almost a minute this early on.

Anyway not under control for enough of the course to be competitive, having lost about 5-6 minutes just on these.

On top of this though, physically just wasn't in the right place to be competitive, I guess the 30k training Friday afternoon wasn't really conducive for my muscles to be in a racing mood today. Nevertheless it is a race I had to run (together with the Blue) to get the distances and get ready.

Ran the Blue course to get the distance in, non-competitive as well after the Brown.

8th/67 but this really does not mean anything, because on the one hand I already knew where a good chunk of the controls were, but also was only jogging around so never pushed (as visible from the HR), but wanted to at least maintain a running tempo.

I was really cold initially and almost gave up on my stupid idea after a few controls, but then just kept on going and in the end I glad that I did, as I could finish the course, ending up with another half marathon distance in my legs (plus the toughness of the terrain).

Speaking of which, as I got tired in the second half I did manage to kick rootstocks and brashings with both feet in quick succession, which did not help my toes and in fact I did say a farewell with my big toenail finally that I injured back on the last day of last year.

To parkrun to volunteer

Getting bread from the bakery. Not dressed for cycling so not pushing but got sweaty on the few uphills in the end.

Great weather for going out though.

A long run with 4x5k 4:20 km pace efforts and rest kms in between.

Also trying out the refreshment strategy, slightly adjusted from the last long effort - got a gel down after the 1st 5km and another after the 3rd, whilst having about 1dl water with small amount of salt in it after each 5k effort.

Somewhat better than last time (especially considering the faster tempo), but still look like a 10k gap between gels is just a bit longer than my body would want, as I grew weaker after about 26k, although not that visible on the pace but I clearly suffered a lot more.

My muscles started to spasm as I started a 5th effort as well so slowed straight back down and noted that I need a bit more salt intake I think.

Mind you, a decent weather for most of the run turned into a quite cold feeling by about 20km in as the sun set, and I think I was underdressed as my legs felt the wind etc, so that could also have contributed to the muscle pain.

Wessex Night League Upton Park.

Disappointed as I got the strategy wrong (again), and that is exactly what the win (both this event and the overall League) was lost on.

25 seconds faster would have given me the league title. Well, such is life - my run really did not deserve the win anyway. Messed up the second control as I wasn't yet used to the 5000 scale and overran the control, dropping down into the undergrowth and marsh too late - that was enough to lose the league but not yet to win back this race (2:30 lost here). But then I was doing a figure 8 for the switchover across the marsh/stream, and I could have spared 2 crossings if I went the other way. That was the event. I lost altogether about 6-7 minutes, Dale won by 3.

On the plus side, finally there was no rain (relief) even though it was very muddy and wet underfoot, and Jon planned a very entertaining course with lots of options both for the order of controls and route choices between logically sequential controls. It could have been very easy in this area where we had a few events recently, but it did not feel repetitious at all.

Commute run to the Uni for Wsx training

Wessex short hills training

Commute from to the Uni for Wsx training