Training Log Archive: Becks

Weights session - feeling a lot more like I'm making the right shapes now. I love how quickly you progress with this stuff!

Back squats 30kg WU, 3 x 10 40kg
OH Press 15kg WU, 3 x 10 17.5kg
Romanian Deadlifts 30kg WU, 32.5kg
Lat pull downs 25kg WU, 3 x 10 35kg
Roll outs 3 x 6

C • FVO'er 3

23 minutes from the gym to the Western - what a joke! Red lights springing up everywhere, all useful roads/cut throughs blocked. Why does George Street need traffic lights instead of roundabouts? That's nearly ten minutes longer than my old Grassmarket route - travesty! Maybe sticking with that but then schooching round Charlotte Sqaure is the way to go...

C • roundabouts are evil 1

Cycling from work to Haymarket and then back from Haymarket. Majorly hard work coming back in the wind with sore legs and veeeery hungry. Worth the trip though!

Ha ha! My first foray into Night O for a long time! Although I am assured by relatively reliable sources that local knowledge and not actual navigation was the key here, I put on a pretty poor show including a couple of aiming off disasters, some double backs in thick green that wasn't mapped as uber thick, and some good thicket circling. In fact, my only successful technique was the newly discovered "follow Abi Longhurst" technique, which worked incredibly well. Abi was on fire, running really well, and I struggled to keep up in places. But it was a lot more fun than sitting at home with a book, and also a more fun way of getting back to fitness than a billion and one intervals.

C • I think you'll find Abi was... 1

Oh no! Meal at the Witchery was lovely, we had a great time, but woke up at 1am both feeling pretty ill, and this has continued today - not major food poisoning but certainly not right either. So no intervals today - if I feel okay by the evening will go swimming, FVO tomo, intervals Thurs then a tough weekend - City Race will be harder than tempo run and there are plenty of hills/terrain on Sunday.

Feeling worse and worse as the day goes on - poor! Going home once my Western is finished :(

In the end, going to Sainsburys was hard enough work, so I skipped a swim and went for super early bed instead. Seemed to do the trick.

Just a cycle to work and back. Need all my training time today to try and make myself look like someone that should be let through the doors of the Witchery!

Very quick jog to the start - wasn't expecting to be able to run quickly so didn't do any more.

Green course at Inchmarron. Beautiful area, great course, thought I was running a little better in the green but the results would suggest otherwise! Struggled majorly in the white where it was spongy/brackeny/uphill. Took some good lines, hesitated more than I should have, rushed into number 1 and nothing really made much sense there. Rob has bought me a scanner so will get down to some proper anal-lysing later. It was fun today, but I am depressed at how far back all this nonsense has set me. Need to remember I haven't really run consistently in terrain since last April, so actually it's not that surprising, and it wasn't actually THAT bad. Just quite bad.

Line course at Sluie to warm up for the full day ahead. Went very well, only dropped off once and corrected very quickly. Physically feeling pretty awful - not ill awful but sluggish and an absolute lack of anything vaguely resembling spring.

Bah. Control Pick on Sluie with two sections of line course in the middle. I felt out of shape, which was irritating because it's a beautifully open forest so I could see where I wanted to go but not get there anywhere near fast enough! Then I was surrounded by M16s and Simong, and I kept waiting so they would get away but they kept screwing up by sprinting then standing scratching their heads for 2 minutes so I would catch them again. The entire concept of slowing down to train at a pace you can orienteer at was lost on them. I got very angry and made lots of mistakes, although totally nailed the first line section which I was pleased with. I then got angry, completely failed to focus for about 7 controls, and it was only when I really properly screwed up one on a hill top (where interestingly, I also screwed up the last time I was at Sluie) and lost everyone that my orienteering came back. By the end I was alone and back in the groove, but I can't say I enjoyed the session much. Obviously I need to work quite majorly on focus - though I think the main problem is being too slow that I have time to think about other stuff.

Contour only map on Dess. This was much better, as the worst M16 latched onto a compadre and was last seen walking at right angles to the line he should have been on. Orienteered much better, visualising well, a couple of small slips but nothing major. It's difficult to try and be absolutely precise when you're moving about as fast as a snail. A bit depressing really. Racing feels a very, very long way away.

Weights session that had occasional beasting moments. Helen was down and we did:

Shrugs 5 x 25kg WU, then sets of 5: 30, 30, 30, 45, 45, 65 because Steve decided I was using my arms too much. It hurt. Need to engage hips/bum more.

Back squats 30kg WU, 3 x 10 35kg
Bench presses 20kg WU, 3 x 10 25kg
DB Row 8kg WU, 3 x 10 12.5kg
Hanging Leg raise 3 x 5 (I am now officially rubbish at these).

Ridiculous cycle to work - every day there's new roadworks to get in my way. Annoying.

Cycle home after a pretty horrible day full of microscope assisted brain dissection. Not pleasant, or easy, or at all fun.

Into work from Rob's and back.

Easy running before and after tempo. From home up to the col between the Seat and Whinney Hill, then back off Whinney Hill. Had to totally pansy it down the stars without dobs as fell on my arse twice. Stylish.

Terrain tempo - first up the steep bit of track around the big bowl, then down onto Whinny Hill and a small loop. Distance is very approximate. I am officially totally shite on hills these days. Something to be worked on!

Stretchy stretchy - feel quite good afterwards. I expect this to stop about two minutes into tomorrow's weights. Bath time!