Training Log Archive: JoshuaDudley

Relay training, many elites from local club joined for a mass start on previous 10mila area, men and woman courses.

https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/GBG-Tekniktraning/B...

Goals:
- stop and take a solid bearing at each control site (worked well, did not need to apply on every control, as out route was obvious in some cases, but when it wasnt, having this simple goal helped)
- run low threshold pace (i tried to maintain a nice flow pace throughout, not pushing and not being lazy, felt really nice, flowed up hills effortlessly)

Quite a long warmup before hand, but felt good, springy and light, leg felt good. on the edge of chilly. Had a bit of mental game going on, from Thursdays horror hoping i would come back better today. I was now better rested, relaxed and fewer goals to think about.

1 - long leg to start, slowly got moving and spotted there wasnt much room to go wrong here expect the marsh in the middle, so started immediately up the hill on right, a bit up and down, but soon found myself cruising on the south side of the marsh hills, took a nice line aiming for the big hill before control. knew to stay high, aimed to use corner of hill as AP then guide in more carefully to cliff. honestly was hard to judge exatly where I was along the hill side but bearing was good, passed another gaffel, slowed checked contours was right above it, boom! already better than thursday.
2 - set the bearing and go, had eyed thisup already, aiming for the cliffs then marsh and into control. Open hill was very noticable. boom
3 - got taken a little right ot of control to skirt the contour then straightened up in a slight S shape over the spur and into control. textbook
4 - spotted the nice line right, and marsh looked ugly so stayed dry and though the gap, over marsh and could then see control
5 - had eyed up start of this leg already and aimed up the rentrant between the crags, round to end of hill top, from there plan was to control pick to the round hill next to marsh, just by control. little confusing to keep exact track in these spots, so need to ensure a good line and target. which i had.
6 - short leg, imporatnt to get the right line out, which i did. then felt ok to drift left onto the natural cut line in terrain. saw the big crag above control, then nicely into control.
7 perhaps my weakest leg, main reason I didnt properly judge wehre control was, staying high round left was best, but I immediately came down into the trap and then had to come round from left side. stuttering a bit. good planning
8 - interesting leg, could have planned a bit better, but came out and aimed directly into the valley, kept it simple on the path, thought maybe could cut through crags, slowing to check map, but was not posisble so cruised round which was fine, but I could have perhaps been more decisive from the start, or cut up left early. into ontrol was good, the big rentrant was clear.
9 - tactic hear worked really well, immediately broke leg into two, imagining a second control mid leg on the path under clliff, therefore I could ignore the second part for now. It was then much clearer to bounce between the hills, and crags, keep tabs of my line to not run up the wrong marsh. felt super strong physically and caught some folk here (just cruising). nearing last section, made sure to stay high of little marsh, and careful here not to loose track of myself. Spotted the open hill and boom.
10 - immediately wanted to stay left here, nice line thorugh rentrant up and in.
11 - gaffle here caught some people out, but i kept my line, wish i kept more right tho to avoid the marsh, at hill climb didnt know exatly where I was, but reminded my self i didnt need to. could use the high point, marsh and spur on right as guidance. boom.
12 - tricky leg, no clear AP, so good bearing out. after first climb was scanning alot to get an indiaction where i was, checking line, hit the tower, ok im on line. then used my position well, following a nice line into control from left. baby steps
13 - down hill now, thought about trying to pick up the pace, but felt wary of making a mistake at the same time, testing my limits of knowing when to push vs nav. control was ok to start aim for hill then after high point follow edge of flat into contl. reentrant wasnt as big as I expected but it was there.
14 - good bearing out. go. counting the crossing points, 1,2,3, deliberatly came right a little, spotted the boulder to my right i knew where to go.
15 - good bearing out, and aim straight, slight up hill, then throught the gap. tried to grasp the finish, so boulder, with open ridge before, big rentrant befroe that, dropped in and kept momentum up, over spur, quick check down to control boom
16 stop check, out to path, and finish


- have fewer goals then you are more liekly to accomplish one
- in diffuse terrain (or flat) good line! good line! and a target!
- good bearings needed on those short legs.
- take 3 secs to read short legs if you havnt planned them (7)
- remember those times you dont know ehere you are, ask if you realy need to know, or more what is the next step to look for?
- careful and be aware of picking up speed and where its safe to do it

Easy leg mover. Went to the gym but it was closed :(

Invludes warmup.
Spin session with 3dscreen with work colleagues. Was a cool setting a bit like Mario kart but also weird as my head was slightly tilted the whole time and got a bit tedious towards the end.

https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/GOF-Nattcup-Etapp-7...

Goals before session.
- perfect bearings
- just in time apply, know the next step when reach each AP

Feelings before race, honestly very tired. Two nights before I’d had 4hours sleep, then 7.5 hrs sleep, which I know for me isn’t enough. Plus a hard couple days at work, was asking for trouble.
Physically glad to say felt great. Warmup was solid and felt strong throughout no pain in the leg. Was not pushing and just cruising.

Overall very disappointed in my performance, nothing seemed to work. Judgment seemed skewed, planning barely existed in some cases, bearings were awful, and the forest felt very green.

1 set off down the path, seemed straightforward along past the house, up to hill top then in. Already thought the wall was a path so got a little jumped. Came up just left of control.
2 set the compass ok spot renetrant. To path. Aim was to cut straight past renetrant, right of crags, then through the gap in the hills. I think I came slight left under crags, then drifted right just before control. Was close but not confident.
3- what a mess. Came out cobtrol with no plan, someone else distracted me. I see what I did now. I had mistaken where I crossed the ride for lower down so every time I attacked the control I was in the wro nu place. Problem - no plan from start and shit map reading. Had I kept it simple it would have been better.
4 again not completely sure what happened here got the path for the first half then cut off to contour the hillside, cane post marsh. Relocated on path. Think I was too high still. Next time would break down leg more
5 complete loss of judgment and started looking for the control at the early hill. Duhhh
6 - an ok leg but came a little right and in off the flat.
7 started well had a plan up the renetrant then head for hill top. Mid climb saw a veg boundary to my right so thought I had come too far left, but also knew I hadn’t so I came way right for no reason.
8 bingo good leg, veg boundary hill with marsh path to hill top boom
9- tricky leg, but aimed straight , trick for this leg was spotting the large renetrant next to the cobntrol as the whole hillside had small crags it was poorly mapped, I dropped in just left the contoured in. Note about paths!
10 came out and along the wrong path damn. Could have spent some secs to think a bit more. Aimed for hill top and in.
11not a big fan of these controls as really depends on how the mapper interprets a gap in the rock, luckily I found it but based on previous mapping was dubious.
12 felt a bit more relaxed and in stride now. Through left gap and straight headup, past first boulder then boom.
13- straight o path and took right line. Under houses was a bit shit but just kept going, tried to avoid climb and stay right then cross directly marsh to crags. Wet! But came under crags and popped into renetrant from below worked well.
14- this leg went well, though keeping tabs of features and good bearings. Could keep steep to my right then curve in near th e cobtrol.
15 aimed right of hills to hit path then cross to other path. Knew tricky control so was careful of entry, used hill corner and marsh to guide in boom!
16 straight out on the bearing hit the path then keep going. Was thinking a cliff, but passed renetrant up to cobtrol then surprised to see a boulder.
17- set compass up spur, hug the marsh then boom. Wrong boulder one more.
18 careful bearing short leg. At boulder cut off and spotted open hill continue past boom.
19 troop along the path when started climbing kept alert, then cane left, just past renetrant then where was it??? Head up 10m away! Boom
20 came off just right of control and used the contour to guide in.
21 almost there
Finish. Wow what a time

- don’t be distracted by others
- remember to adjust plan if you change initial plan
- short legs, bearing and plan dummy
- have confidence on your bearing don’t be tempted by little mishaps
- areas like this with small paths, use them or don’t, and none of this in between stuff as this keeps catching you out.
- paths seem to get under my skin

C • 1

C • A race too far? 2

Felt good somehow. Had a late arrival from frnace precious night wi th lack of sleep but had a nap beforehand and felt very alert. After a small warmup I was good to go. Aims were run easy with no pain, stay inside the lines, and keep a flow.

In summary: there was minor pain notecable at the end - good, I didn’t manage to stay completely in the line - came out badly 3 times, and had to have 2 stops to check where I was.

Started out feeling great, almost floating, all that skiing and sleep pays off. Was clear of my aps flowing well, occasional check with magnifier, then away and looking ahead. Textbook. The packing giving me confidence in my line.

Then when I took the shorter route I was alone, it’ started well. Locate ap, compass, head up, repeat, first issue occurred when climbing a hill and I came off the rounded top at a slight wrong angle into the wrong marsh. Bearing problem. Quickley noticed it didn’t match and came left.

Next poor point was crossing a large flat marsh, again I was right of corridor, and onto the wrong hill. It felt like I had gone slightly too far but my bearing from start needs to be better. This initial mishap then kept me a slight right of the line for some 100m after

On the cobtrol pick I was ok but really not smooth. The terrain was green, and detailed I found myself a little bit lagging in the process, maybe tired or not focused enough. Need to maintain the strategy and pin chi myself sometimes

Points
Bearing needs better checking, verify!
Bearing again, slow down and take a good one
Slipping of focus between controls
Bearing off path need a better off point

Second time xc skiing ever. Tried classic. Was hard but got the hang of it. thinnk i need to practice my techniqu

Got an easy run in before breaky which felt good. Only small residual pain in the bum cheek which I think is a bit of scar tissue. Been doing a lot of recovery exercises this week in morning and evening to strengthen the h and surrounding muscles. The ski mo I believe has been quite beneficial to get blood flow, movement without the impact.