Training Log Archive: Becks

Shattered today. But I have a lovely apartment and a functioning ID card! Yey! Might pop home via the gym and get it all going. Back to it tomorrow.

C • Apartment! 2

I'm going to get trench foot if this rain continues.

C • Well 2

16 mins aerobic, 10 mins 15 x 15, 9 mins aerobic. Feeling alright again, though right leg a bit stiff in general. Trying to concentrate on good form during the fast bits. The river has properly burst its banks now, had to divert to the road a couple of times.

Stretchy, crunchy, rollery time, trying to loosen up my right bumcheek. Mhairi, I think I need Jane Fonda!

Very soggy run around East Rock Park and the river, then 10 x 10 sec hill sprints on the way back. Very soggy, but fun. Sub threshold felt slightly harder than it should have done but the best run since BUSA.

Stretchy/crunchy time. Too bored without Kat to chat to!

Jog around East Rock. Feeling a bit better today and enjoying being out and about. The turn around starts here! Bye bye those awful extra 5 kilos!

Stretching and then a few abs exercises. Going to try to do those every day until I get my ID card and can hit the gym!

C • Gym 3

I did a run! It didn't feel good though.

Shattered. There are so many people to see and forms to fill in, aswell as an apartment to find. Today I've also been trying to write my paper to draw a line behind Edinburgh stuff. I am going to force myself to get out tomorrow though!

Viva date at last. I can go to CJ's wedding! Whoo hoo!

C • Do you need accomodation ?.... 3

16 mins aerobic, 8 mins of pretty mediocre strides (stomach was minging) and 20 mins of sub threshold on the way to Jen's house to say bye to kitteh. Spent the day doing the rounds of relatives and friends and saying bye. One full day left in the UK. Eep!

C • Welcome 3

C • Cheerio 9

Bleurgh! First hangover in a very long time! Had a wander round Bath then drove back home. The thorn finally came out of my thigh! It just popped out with a load of goo. It was pretty grim.

Soggy run from the Chippenham Leigh Delamere Travelodge. Ran round a wood I wasn't supposed to and around some country lanes. Feeling quite good for 7.30am. Good to get some exercise in before the wedding excesses!

Progression run. Super tough as the first three zones were all steep uphill. Struggled to get to the highest heart rate when I hit the moor and had to run fast into the wind, but in the second half of the final zone I made it. Felt like a really good session, increasing the pace up the hill was tough. Gorgeous day, really warm. Spring is in the air!

Actually a rest day today, spent the whole day throwing out all my stuff. I have thrown out four bags of clothes and still have too many to take with me. Oops. I also found all my diaries from when I was 14. They were awful.

C • diaries 2

Still shattered, and am spending the day trying to condense my 65000 word thesis into a 700 word letter to the Editor! Fun!

I just found my first grey hair. Damn you thesis writing!

Changed my mind and persuaded Dad out for a run - didn't take much persuasion on either of our parts as we were both trying to avoid writing! Lovely jog around Goit Stock to the waterfall and a good natter, glad I got out.

Rest day doing the worst day's work I have ever done. I was supposed to stay the week, but I told them I wasn't coming back at 5. It was awful!

Bit of jogging about before the relay. Stomach feeling much better today.

Great little relay area at Stockhill. Jet had a bit of a mare and I was out by myself. Really enjoyed the run, tired by the end, but pretty strong until the last track.

Start-1: No probs.
1-2: Hesitated a bit on the way across
2-3: For some crazy reason I headed out on totally the wrong path in 45 degrees the wrong direction. Realised after 5 seconds of head scratching and belted off down the right track.
3-4: Bang on.
4-5: Hesitated a bit in the circle.
5-6: Had to stop to go to the loo again. Bah. A bit of hesitation from the attack point too.
6-7: Wobbled in the light green and hit the path earlier than I wanted. Slow in the thicker stuff.
7-8: Fine
8-9: Fine
9-10: Argh! Where were the ditches?! Sure the control was too far away. Bottled it the first time and went back out, then found it the second time. The only place I think I lose out by being alone - a pack would have found this quicker.
10-11: Bang on.
11-12: Bank on, lovely run down the spur, drop into the control.
12-13: Path run.

A few silly errors at the start, not convinced there's much I could have done to avoid the major time loss at number 10. Not too bad speed wise looking at the splits.

I think I've got the bug again. Just in time to leave!

C • the ditch 3

Warm up jog to the start of BUSA. Some half hearted strides too but stomach really not happy at all.

Wow. How amazing is the depth in the BUCS field from today? This has to be one of the most promising signs for Women's orienteering in the UK in a long time - so many girls racing well and so close - 4 of us in my minute alone, and many in front!

I set off with a bad tummy and wasn't really with it, then Hollie caught me stupidly early on and it was like she reminded me how to race. We took some different routes and I beat her to 12, and we were racing well. But by the climb to the spectator my legs were complaining and I just couldn't keep up, was a bit slower round the last loop and didn't like the gratituitous drop to number 19. It was really, really cool to feel like I was racing again for a bit, and seeing Hollie in the forest was amazing - it's a long time since I've since a British girl run that fast. Really inspiring.

In more detail:

Start -1: planned to make it as easy as possible at the start, get as close as I could to the point feature and come in on an accurate bearing. Did this, then magnificently missed the control and spent over a minute wandering about. Not a good start.
1-2: Much better, wasn't bashing aggressively enough through the green though.
2-3: Good execution but lost confidence at the end and faltered.
3-4: Fine.
4-5: Fine
5-6: Navigation fine, aimed off, but had to stop to go to the loo! After that stomach stopped bothering me and could run faster too.
6-7: Not bad, dropped too low and had to climb further than I wanted at the end. Saw Hollie and was a bit surprised!
7-8: Nailed it.
8-9: Think I got the best route, don't think it was worth staying low. A little slow up the steepest bit of the hill but pushing hard along the path.
9-10: Wasn't at all convinced by the mapping of the depression related to the platform. Didn't matter as three people dropped into it as I was on my way up the hill.
10-11: Fine
11-12: Bang! Perfect! Had planned this beforehand having messed up round here last time. Don't be tempted to drop low, stay high, hit the spurs then drop straight down the hill. Totally nailed it. A real buzz!
12-13: Buzz rapidly fading up to the hill. Wrong route choice, should have cut through the "fight" and not gone round the corner on the path.
13-14: Tired. Wobbling all over the place.
14-15: Bleurgh.
15-16: Lovely bit of forest. Nice.
16-17: Mmm.
17-18: Starting to lose control a bit. Stopped in the unmarked depression (is that the re-entrant on the map) just before. Ran to the right one thinking, "if it's not here, I'm screwed." Luckily, it was there.
18-19: Pansy down the hill.
19-20: Misread the rides and thought the lower one took me up the hill. It didn't, and had to climb up by the fence instead. Meh.
20-21: Please let it end!

All in all...not too bad! But plenty of room for improvement, both physically and mentally.

Managed 5 mins but stomach protesting so walked it off.

16 minutes aerobic, 10 mins 15 x 15, 9 minutes aerobic. Still feeling it in the legs from the plyos but not too much of a barrier to the speedier bits.

Mmmm...mountain cafe breakfast then more cross country skiing. It was a lot warmer today so the snow was very soft, hard going in places. We found some fantastic open areas (which I think are normally bog) and had a big explore, including a big steep hill that we both finally made it down without falling. I still can't quite believe we were in the UK. Fantastic, a perfect day.

Also, the new motel at High Range is really nice and relatively good value for money compared to the other Aviemore B & B type stuff. Recommend!

C • Quality! 1

Went along to the Wednesday morning plyos session and it was good fun! Did the starter set along with Jess and it's amazing how rubbish I am. but even within the session the jumps etc were improving. I like the monster walk things, and they're good for the adductors I don't have. It's a shame I'm leaving as this stuff is all getting really good!

Ran after plyos. 27 mins sub threshold, 10 x 10 secs hill "sprints" up the back of the Seat (one for trade descriptions that), 7 mins aerobic back to base. Legs are tired but still turning over at a semi decent rate.

Into the gym carrying Rob's bouncy rucksac.

Cross country skiing in Aviemore! OJ was right, the tracks were pretty bad, rutty and ruined by walkers, but off the road was fantastic! Soft snow meant we actually had a chance of controlling our skis, and it was brilliant fun. Glenmore looked stunning under a foot of snow and I only fell over a little bit. Awesome.

I am flying out to the USA on the 24th March! Whoo hoo!

Totally shattered today, but I think I have earned a rest!

Brown course at Gullane. Legs were heavy the whole way, but kept turning over none the less. Totally misread number 1 and went over the ridge which was a bit silly. Then went past three and had to battle through eons of shit in a very unconfident fashion to get to it. Nailed 4 in front of Pip which was good, then had a good run, although could generally see Pip and Helen dropping into controls. Screwed up the end of number 20 by not following my plan, then dropped too low on the path to number 24 and missed it. Not confident at all with 25. Good route to 27. Ended up less far down on the girls than I thought I would, but it's hard not to get depressed when they rush past. It weird, I know that I haven't done the training and can't expect to be there. I know I can get there when I do do solid training. But it still makes me feel a little bit rubbish. Silly girl! Nonetheless, today was fun, although I do have a serious thorn that is embedded very painfully in my left thigh.

C • ooh painful, i got one in t... 4

C • ooh painful, i got one in t... 1

Warm up jog before the Scottish sprints.

Scottish Sprints at KB. Ran physically well, at first I forgot a few of the key points about sprint navigation but they improved with the race. Overall, not so bad at all. All over the place to number one, felt a bit on edge, dithered round the container at number 4, number 13 was looking for down stairs and they were up, that was the biggest time loss. Enjoyed the race, good to see KB mapped properly at last! Legs hurting afterwards though, long time since my heart rate has been that high!

Nice warm down jog with the ladies, some good gossip.

Warm up jog to the start of the British Nights. Not feeling good! It was a very long kilometre up there!

I enjoyed this evening, but it was a pretty rubbish performance! I was a whacking 13 minutes down on Pip. Fitness accounts for at least 5 of that, probably more. It was snowy, slippy, hilly and tough. But on looking over the map, it was sloppy too. No massive errors, no big wanderings, but I was very unconfident and dithery in the circle. Faffed all over the place at 1, especially crossing the stream in the gorse. Stood above number 2 for ages before seeing it. Went high on 3 which was a good route but then faffed again in the circle. Faffed down the hill to 4 then ended up popping out well too low. Nailed 5. Was way too high for 6, Bilbo thought it was a bit low though. Nailed 7. Way too high for 8, think I attacked from the wrong feature. Very slow to number 9 and totally missed the best route. Fine with 10, unconfident but fine with 11, nailed 12, a bit dithery finding attack point at 13, fine with 14 & 15. When put like that, my result isn't as disappointing as it seemed last night at all.

Yey, today I had some energy and I actually wanted to go for a run. So after finishing crappy job I did 14 mins aero along the canal, 7 mins of drills, 20 mins of sub threshold back along the more fun undulating and muddy other side, then a bit more aero because I wasn't back yet. Ace. Lovely evening.

I have had a rubbish week, felt run down the whole time. I've been walking a few miles each day though so all is not lost, and by the end of today was feeling far more with it. Another long night's slight is hopefully just the ticket. Looking forward to Edinburgh this weekend. Anyone got a spare headlamp that's even just a notch better than a 3 LED petzl? I'm non comp anyways so it's no biggie if I have to do it old school!

No training again today, because the new online visa application form crashed 6 times and took a whole 2 hours to fill in, cannily filling up both my training time and my have something nice to eat for tea in Leeds time. Arse.

C • Shoddy American websites 1