Training Log Archive: Magic

Taking it easy in the hope that I've survive Saturday. Had a nice walk in the rain but not much more.

Loop around Abbey Craig to see if I have any life in my legs yet. I didn't.

FVO WEE in Abbey Craig. Legs were completely dead so didn't try and run hard (couldn't). Vegetation has gone wild in last few weeks so took it easy in lots of places as you couldn't see your feet, also got nicely nettled. Was going so slow that I even got beaten by the Grump! Hope I feel a whole lot more lively than this by Saturday.

Loop around Doune and Thornhill with Bradc. He cheated. I couldn't keep up at all. But to be fair he id have a slight advantage in the form of an electric motor - he just sailed away up the hills at 35kph! Harder work (for me!) than I was expecting, but great to be out.

Mapping a school in the middle of middle-England in the middle of Conservative-shire. Kids were much more polite than city Sheffield but looked down on surveying as a career... Too hot fort eh long drive back up north.

My weekly run... Roasting out again today and surprised that I survived, not that it was comfortable. Did a loop around some racecourse called Epson, appears to be some sort of horse race on there next weekend.

Finished. Only needed a bit more than a half day as well (4.30hours). Just in time as well, another week and the vegetation would be jungle - you can virtually hear and see it growing in this weather. Over 20km2 covered in 17 days, so not back going. Have had enough of these woods for a while though. Now for some fun!

C • congratulations 2

Yesterday turned into a bit of an epic with the drawing, not finishing until 00.30, so wasn't in a particularly positive mood heading out this morning as I thought I'd be here until at least Monday.

Today turned out good though (7.30 hours), lots of empty forest - great for mapping! Got loads done, may even finish tomorrow. Plus yesterdays alterations are spot on.

Played pine-cone roulette all afternoon, and won. Don't see it lasting though.

C • How's it going? 2

Hot day, slow day, nice terrain day, frustrating evening, 7 hours. Old map appears to be very eschew, hope to have fixed it but need to check it all tomorrow. Will need an extra day now so it looks like the weekend is booked up. Again. Saw an owl and a fox though.

New area, no rhodos but plenty of clearings and semi-open (6.15 hours). Saw my first ever slow worm. It was slow, in fact it hardly moved. Too hot to be in the open today..

C • epic 6

You should be careful what you wish for in case you get it...was roasting today and I spent the day looking for shade and ran out of water! Finished Holmbury today so only Blackheath to go now (7 hours). Looks like I may get a few days rest before the Scottish and to teach my legs to run again.

Hat and coat out again for most of the day, when does summer start? Dry at least I guess. Lots more rhodo clearing, interspersed with the usual deer, cuckoo's, jay's and a woodpecker today. No snakes (which is a good thing) (7.15 hours).

C • 20 degrees in Dunblane 2

As a special treat I only did a half days mapping (plus, I needed the rest). Going to treat myself with my first run this week!

Rhodo's were the problem this morning; an attempt has been made to clear them, but all they've done is flatten the bushes leaving a fat flat thicket behind, which you can't really see and isn't big enough to mark as undergrowth (and is also starting to grow again). How to mark them???

That went pretty much as expected; started feeling good but my body soon remembered that it was tired and as novel as it was to be running, it wasn't actually all that keen to be doing it. Nice place to run though with plenty of inviting trails leading off my route.

Event: Twin Peak 2012
 

A new day and a new map, at Holmbury today (6.45 hours) and for the first time since coming south I've been able to map without a coat and hat!
More lost and depressed DoE groups out today (why do it if you're not going to enjoy it?).
Someone in forest management somewhere seems to think that the forest will benefit from having less trees in it so great gaps have appeared all over the place.

Body was knackered today and my mind gave up right after lunch when it became all misty (the weather that is, not my mind - that's been there for a long time). Finished Winterfold though so now onto Holmbury (5 hours)

Why can't mountain bikers build straighter paths? Why do forestry contractors have to decimate everywhere they go near?? Why can't I see my feet when I look down any more???
Tired today (6.45hours). Progress awkward. Need some rest. But not yet. Need a run as well.

Less damp but not a whole lot more warmth, Cuckoos happy again though (7 hours). Wore the GPS for the whole day today, smashed out a sub 20mpk just before lunch but couldn't better that the rest of the day, despite getting in the 20's a few times...

Afternoon in the woods as it was heavily damp in the morning (5 hours). Got very cold, had to put my gloves on. Should it not be warm by now?

Morning mapping (3 hours). Only a morning as the afternoon was phiss. One bit was minging (to be avoided). One bit was super (to be used). Appear to have a sore calf this evening, how can you hurt it mapping? Cuckoos everywhere.

Prefer to be out orienteering on a sunny Sunday like today but when needs must...back on the BOC map for another long day (8.15 hours). Lots of (lost) DoE groups out today, also lots of clearings and lots of rhodos.

Lots of hills, mountain bike tracks and (unfortunately) brambles today, another sunny one though so not a chore to be out (6.5 hours). Wore my GPS for half the day to give me some idea of how much I move about, answer is not a lot, seemed to be doing about 35mpk!

8 hours in the (slightly cold) sunshine, a lot nice than yesterday and progress to match. Most changes are either mountain bike tracks (loads) or forest opening up. Saw a lizard, two jays and heard two cookoo's, so not a bad day to be out in the woods, though the other human users aren't very interactive.

First bit of work on next years BOC maps (3.5 hours), had rained all night so forest was soggy, but not as soggy as it got when it started phissing down after lunch. Not surveyed at 1:7500 for ages so took a while to get into it, as did not having to re-survey everything (basically checking paths and vegetation), quite a bit quicker than a full survey (but I guess that's because the old map was pretty good).

Lovely run in a country park in the wee hills near Quorn. Headed out with Toni through the woods so she could show me the way to get back. Lots of chat. Nice loop of the hills and upon my return to the woods I discovered that I'd been chatting too much to pay attention to the route. Took a short-cut and ended up being out longer...
Legs still a little tired, so quite glad that I'm not doing Dumyat this evening, good luck to those who are though.

Note: Maps for the IOC now Quickrouted.

Run with Andy in Quorn, both feeling the effects of a long weekend so it was nice and steady. Bumped into Toni after 40 minutes and she persuaded me to join her for the end of her run. Longer than planned but was a nice run.

Not a very energetic warm up, was feeling a little tired from the past two days and knew that CNOC had a 5 minute plus lead and there was no one behind us. What could possibly happen...

C • The Colm Factor 2

IOC Relays, Castlegregory, 5.8km, Mens Open. Third leg with Dooby and Brian C.

A last minute entry from the boys from the Kildare badlands created some interest in the race as a competition, though the young pretenders had quite an energy advantage (none of them had run yesterday and only one on Saturday).

Dooby started very well coming back just behind Shea, but young Kevin was far to fast for old Brian and pulled out over 5 minutes (impressive running from him).

6 minutes is too much to catch over 6km of 5mpk running, however, orienteering isn't all about running, so I set out with the only plan I could; run clean and as fast as I could and see what happens.

Quite possibly a world first for a relay was the timed-out road crossing (twice) which allowed you a minute to do a 20 seconds jog, so over the three legs that meant a 'quick' team could be up to four minutes faster than a 'slow' one...

One had to play this game, and though I knew that Dooby had raced with Shea on the first leg, I was quite sure that Brian had taken it easy and I didn't think that Colm would allow himself to be seen on the last leg by hanging around too long either at the crossings. So I took my road crossings slowly knowing that in the unlikely event of a sprint finish (which I can't do), that I would probably be okay (yes, a mad option to have for a relay, but that's what happens when you don't have a controller...) .

Half way round and who turns up? A wee man in a CNOC suit... Let him get ahead at the crossing but then have a far longer gaffle so am quite a bit down by the spectator, however Colm misses his next control and I don't see him after that (he has a far longer gaffle for his penultimate control), giving me an easy run to the finish. Thankfully (for the sake of the competition), the road crossings aren't the deciding factor.

I certainly didn't win this race, it was CNOC's to take, but that's orienteering and having two days in the dunes meant hat I was confident of not making any mistakes (in fact, I was very happy with my orienteering all weekend; one 10 seconds wobble in middle was the only notable mistake).

Despite the apprehension surrounding the weekend it turned out to be very enjoyable, the weather was excellent, the courses fair and the controls in the right place. It's just a shame that the exorbitant entry fees (80 Euro for the three races) - understandably - put so many off attending.

Map

C • Magic 3

C • Relay gaffles and road crossings 6

Warm up along the beach at Inch. Feeling OK.

IOC Classic, Inch, 10.6km, M21E. Whoop, win number 7! Must be time to retire soon but am now going to have to try and defend next year.

Really enjoyed this, sure the map was completely over-mapped but it was accurate and at 1:7500 it was readable too (never had a classic on a larger scale than a middle before!). Took a safe route to #1 as I realised as soon as I climbed the first sand dune that it was going to take some getting in to, slow to #2 and #3 but was then confident in my map interpretation and set about trying to run as hard as I could. Didn't do so well on that front, short sharp hills and good underfoot conditions are not what I've been training on and my speed was lacking. Lost virtually no time throughout the course so knew that it would take a good run from the others to demote me, and fortunately (for me at least) that didn't happen.

Good to see Dooby improving on his last year's IOC performance and managing to stay on the map this time (!), which made it considerably easier for him to finish second, also great to see old-man Feehan taking third.

Map - part 1
Map - part 2

C • Old men 2

Event: Irish Orienteering Championships 2012
 

Event: BOC 2012
 

IOC MIddle, Castlegregory. 6.3km, 150m. This was easy and very fast, I ran as hard as I could and was as clean as possible (lost a total of about 20 seconds) but it wasn't enough to get anywhere near Dooby, he who has been ill and "on drugs" all week - more the latter I think.... Great run from him though, just as shame there weren't more people for him to beat, though it does now mean that I can consider retiring from elite now that I'm beaten! Still intend to turn the table tomorrow though!
Map

C • long 1

Wasn't going to happen today either. Got a quick walk around Cork though which was nice as it's been some time.

No time.

Around Malton with Aishy, neither of us much felt like doing much so it was good to get out. Felt like I hadn't been running in an age. I haven't. Lots of gently rolling hills and arable fields, very England. Calf doesn't seem to like this kind of running.

Last bit of Tulliallan; the police college (5 hours). Never had my name taken while mapping before but one of the dozens of new recruits who were patrolling the campus in pairs took my details (nervously, under the supervision of his instructor). Makes you feel guilty all the time though, having people in yellow jackets observing everything that you're doing!

C • yellow jackets 2