Training Log Archive: MagicIn the 31 days ending Oct 31, 2013:
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| Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thursday Oct 31, 2013 #
Note
(rest day)
Que Sera, Sera, whatever will be, will be. I'm off to Italy, Que Sera, Sera.
Wednesday Oct 30, 2013 #
7 AM
Run - Road 27:44 [2] 5.57 km (4:59 / km) +30m 4:51 / km
shoes: Asics 2140 (10)
IW. Cold, but sunny. Short route again. Body asleep for most of it. Got bitten by a wee nasty behind the knee. Twice. What nasties are alive at this time of year?
5 PM
Run - Road 52:05 10.89 km (4:47 / km) +41m 4:42 / km
shoes: Asics 2140 (10)
HFW. Started nice, got wet. Happy with the way I was running and not feeling too sore in the legs after the first few days of winter on the road. Tried running a little quicker for a bit, God I'm slow. Bring on the weekend!
Tuesday Oct 29, 2013 #
7 AM
Run - Road 28:17 [2] 5.51 km (5:08 / km) +29m 5:00 / km
shoes: Asics 2140 (10)
IW. Short route again. Wasn't feeling very enthusiastic but it was a glorious morning so the world was a good place to be. Felt good at the normal place of the run, about a km from work, I've assumed that it just took me that long to wake up but this route is a km shorter???
5 PM
Run - Road 47:12 [3] 9.52 km (4:58 / km) +30m 4:53 / km
shoes: Asics 2140 (10)
HFW. Didn't know where I ended up so did that thing when you think that running faster will make you know where you are. Didn't work, but I wasn't all that far from where I thought I was in the end.
Monday Oct 28, 2013 #
7 AM
Run - Road 29:09 [2] 5.52 km (5:17 / km) +30m 5:08 / km
shoes: Asics 2140 (10)
IW / ITW / In to Work / In To Work / You get the idea. Slow, legs still tired, but not too much so. Weather not so nice, but rain rather than the much talked about wind. Too wet to run on the grass.
Sunday Oct 27, 2013 #
Note
(rest day)
Not OMM Day 2 but an easy relaxing day exploring bits of Cardiff with Ciara that didn't involve much in the way of walking! A little stiff myself but otherwise grand.
Saturday Oct 26, 2013 #
Event: OMM
10 AM
Adventure race 6:17:37 [2] 34.2 km (11:02 / km) +1300m 9:17 / km
shoes: La Sportiva Crosslite (2)
OMM, Day 1, Long Score (7 hours), Brecon Beacons. Made a decision right from the off to skip the SE loop as it looked like it would contain several kms of tussocks and would allow us to collect more controls at the end. Unfortunately this plan failed in two ways; firstly we would have run out of controls to collect before our time elapsed, but that never became an issue as we had to retire prior to that anyway.
Started out moving okay but not fast (had the best part of 8kg to carry so I wasn’t complaining about that!), picked some nice lines and had no navigational issues. Time seemed to be going very slowly but the distance still looked quite intimidating, but Ciara’s knee started hurting after about 2.5 hours. Topped up on drugs we trudged through the tussocks in the NW before turning south for some much better running.
Unfortunately this is what finished Ciara’s knee and when we got back into the terrain at OFD she was struggling to keep walking. It quickly became apparent that we would have to cut our plans short for the day and then that there would be no point in going out tomorrow.
After a very slow and painful walk to the finish we were incredibly lucky to be able to get a lift off Steve Willis as he was heading back to the event centre. This allowed us to get dry and changed there, full of food and then in the car to be back in Cardiff for about 8. A very comfortable end to a nice day in the hills, even though it wasn’t the planned one.
Despite our less than optimal route choice, finishing early and not getting all our planned controls we still ended up about 3rd in the Mixed teams (On Day 1). Next year!
Started out moving okay but not fast (had the best part of 8kg to carry so I wasn’t complaining about that!), picked some nice lines and had no navigational issues. Time seemed to be going very slowly but the distance still looked quite intimidating, but Ciara’s knee started hurting after about 2.5 hours. Topped up on drugs we trudged through the tussocks in the NW before turning south for some much better running.
Unfortunately this is what finished Ciara’s knee and when we got back into the terrain at OFD she was struggling to keep walking. It quickly became apparent that we would have to cut our plans short for the day and then that there would be no point in going out tomorrow.
After a very slow and painful walk to the finish we were incredibly lucky to be able to get a lift off Steve Willis as he was heading back to the event centre. This allowed us to get dry and changed there, full of food and then in the car to be back in Cardiff for about 8. A very comfortable end to a nice day in the hills, even though it wasn’t the planned one.
Despite our less than optimal route choice, finishing early and not getting all our planned controls we still ended up about 3rd in the Mixed teams (On Day 1). Next year!
C • OMM 7
Friday Oct 25, 2013 #
Note
(rest day)
Buying lots of food.
Thursday Oct 24, 2013 #
7 PM
Climbing 30:00 [1]
Introductory session at Bounders with the Social Club at work, really good fun but my arms (especially my fingers) won't be thanking me tomorrow. Would be nice to do it a bit more often.
Wednesday Oct 23, 2013 #
5 PM
Run - Trail 32:00 [2] 6.3 km (5:05 / km) +18m 5:01 / km
shoes: Asics 2140 (10)
Home From Work. Legs absolutely battered from all the sand last night, surprisingly so, had no option but to take it nice and easy on my last sunlit evening run of the year. Taff was well full of water which mean it must be wet up in them hills for the weekend..
Tuesday Oct 22, 2013 #
6 PM
Run - Trail 1:01:39 9.33 km (6:36 / km) +206m 5:57 / km
shoes: La Sportiva Crosslite (2)
Last MDC Tuesday evening run of the season, which is sad as I will have to find other things to do on a Tuesday evening now. Round the dunes of Merthyr Mawr in the dark, including an ascent and decent of the big dipper and a trip to the beach. Enjoyable as ever and a great food in the pub afterwards.
Saw the FRA nav leg map, truly awful - "you must use crossing point to cross walls/fences", yet there were several legs where there was a boundary and no crossing point...
Saw the FRA nav leg map, truly awful - "you must use crossing point to cross walls/fences", yet there were several legs where there was a boundary and no crossing point...
Monday Oct 21, 2013 #
7 AM
Run - Road 33:34 [3] 6.48 km (5:11 / km) +40m 5:01 / km
shoes: Asics 2140 (10)
IW. Very wet and I was very slow, felt the world better for it though. HRM strap battery appears to have died half way round yesterdays run.
5 PM
Run - Road 58:53 12.03 km (4:54 / km) +8m 4:53 / km
shoes: Asics 2140 (10)
HFW. Making the most of my penultimate opportunity to run in the evening light for the next five months :-( Went to explore Grangetown as I always get disoriented here in the dark. Git disorientated in the light as well! Sort of get it now though (lots of straight roads but no right-angles). Bit further than I was planning but it was slow so I think I just about held together.
Sunday Oct 20, 2013 #
12 PM
Run - Trail 16:32 2.03 km (8:10 / km) +17m 7:50 / km
ahr:136 max:167 shoes: VJ Falcons 11
1 PM
Run - Orienteering race 1:05:56 11.91 km (5:32 / km) +287m 4:56 / km
ahr:128 max:175 shoes: VJ Falcons 11
CompassSport Trophy Final, Moseley Green, Brown, 10.3km, 380m. Great runs from everyone in FVO saw us retain the Trophy - whoop! Thought we many struggle this year with only 18 runners at the event, but everyone stood up to the challenge and performed brilliantly. Think that's now 6 in a row (and 9 out 10?). Getting embarrassing really...
Personally I didn't enjoy the run much, there was far too much track running for my liking and the only real time I lost was taking the direct route to #2, I saw the road option but couldn't face 2km on a hard surface in O shoes (lost a minute or so). Otherwise the map was out-of-date and there were lots of little errors in it which made it irritating more than anything else. Still didn't have any pace in my legs but was happy enough with my progress and my result considering where I feel I am at the moment. 10.01 down on Doug (could find the .01, the 10 minutes less so!).
Map
Personally I didn't enjoy the run much, there was far too much track running for my liking and the only real time I lost was taking the direct route to #2, I saw the road option but couldn't face 2km on a hard surface in O shoes (lost a minute or so). Otherwise the map was out-of-date and there were lots of little errors in it which made it irritating more than anything else. Still didn't have any pace in my legs but was happy enough with my progress and my result considering where I feel I am at the moment. 10.01 down on Doug (could find the .01, the 10 minutes less so!).
Map
Saturday Oct 19, 2013 #
Event: Castell Coch
12 PM
Run - Orienteering 1:24:51 10.91 km (7:47 / km) +279m 6:54 / km
ahr:140 max:170 shoes: VJ Falcons 11
SWOC local event at Castell Coch, Blue, 5.2km, 220m. Course took 42.02 but time includes warm up and collecting controls. Really enjoyed this and good to eventually explore the woods a bit here, the map (particularly the contours) was dodgy but there were some lovely bits of woods and mark2 planned a great course that kept us in the best bits.
Headed out with the intention of a run rather than a race and as a result had no real focus, which resulted in an embarrassingly elementary mistake a t#3 (looking the wrong side of a path - haven't done this in a while) and then taking the wrong path to #6. No other problems though and did mange to keep the pace steady and easy.
Collected about half the controls and left Mark2 to collect the last few just when the weather turned from lovely to biblical - don't remember the last time I saw such heavy rain, had hail and lightening thrown in as well. Nice watching from within the car!
Map
Headed out with the intention of a run rather than a race and as a result had no real focus, which resulted in an embarrassingly elementary mistake a t#3 (looking the wrong side of a path - haven't done this in a while) and then taking the wrong path to #6. No other problems though and did mange to keep the pace steady and easy.
Collected about half the controls and left Mark2 to collect the last few just when the weather turned from lovely to biblical - don't remember the last time I saw such heavy rain, had hail and lightening thrown in as well. Nice watching from within the car!
Map
Friday Oct 18, 2013 #
12 PM
Run - Trail 1:33:37 14.72 km (6:22 / km) +330m 5:43 / km
ahr:135 max:156 shoes: La Sportiva Crosslite (2)
Medium length run round The Garth exploring some new paths; some nice, some not, some overgrown, some nonexistent and some populated by various sorts of beasties (horses/ponies/cows/bulls/sheep/llamas). Legs were knackered from the off so it was very slow, despite that I managed to avoid the rain.
Thursday Oct 17, 2013 #
Note
Maps from last weekend in Newborough for the JOK Chasing Sprint and Welsh Championships are now uploaded here (bottom of page). Interested to note that #6 in the Prologue doesn't line up with my GPS - may explain why #7 didn't fit for me.
Wednesday Oct 16, 2013 #
6 PM
Run - Trail warm up/down 7:48 1.38 km (5:39 / km) +44m 4:53 / km
ahr:140 max:163 shoes: Asics 1150 (2012)
Wee trot with Chris to loosen out.
7 PM
Run - Orienteering 57:18 11.81 km (4:51 / km) +134m 4:36 / km
ahr:163 max:178 shoes: Asics 1150 (2012)
SWOC Street O, Radyr and Morganstown, 60 minute score. Not made it to one of these before but must make sure that I do so again as it was nice running around an unfamiliar bit of the city with the added bonus that you get a fartlek session thrown in as well (controls required finding and writing down numbers off street furniture). Just managed to clear the course and wasn't feeling all that tired from last night either. A good night all in.
Map
Map
Tuesday Oct 15, 2013 #
6 PM
Run - Trail 56:44 7.5 km (7:34 / km) +531m 5:35 / km
ahr:148 max:178 shoes: La Sportiva Crosslite (2)
Pen-y-Fan in the dusk with the MDC gang, though not all that many out tonight. They missed out though as it was a great evening to be in the hills with little wind and long views in the moonlight. Absolutely battered myself trying to keep running on the climb, I sort of made it but not sure that it could exactly be described as a run when I summited. With no mad Cumbrians around the decent was nice and easy (though Mark2 stacked it, nicely skinning his hand). First big hill for a while, will pay for this tomorrow I fear!
Monday Oct 14, 2013 #
7 AM
Run - Trail 32:06 6.36 km (5:03 / km) +22m 4:58 / km
ahr:148 max:161 shoes: Asics 1150 (2012)
IW, haven't done this in ages and was dreading it, which was very silly of me as it turned out to be grand. Now to get into the habit of doing it more often - which I'm going to have to do as from the end of the month I'm up to four days a week and will be permanent.
Sunday Oct 13, 2013 #
Event: Welsh Championships
11 AM
Run - Trail warm up/down 15:06 1.59 km (9:29 / km) +29m 8:42 / km
ahr:127 max:159 shoes: Jalas 2010
Run - Orienteering race 1:13:20 11.32 km (6:29 / km) +82m 6:15 / km
ahr:162 max:172 shoes: Jalas 2010
Newborough (Welsh Championships), Black, 9.7km. After yesterdays brambles I didn’t know what to expect from today, thankfully it was good news and the majority of the dues are as nice as I remember them. Lots of short legs in the detailed stuff (which was impossible to read on the 1:10k map so just navigated to an attack point and then hoped for the best!) which went well but I then came unstuck looking for a depression in a flat area of brambles, dropped about a minute here and lost my flow over the next two controls as well, probably losing another 90 seconds. Otherwise the navigation was good but the running was very slow, no problems just a lack of fitness, though I was running well for the last km (and managed to stack it nicely on the run-in). A very enjoyable course but again a long way down on Sander (64 mintes).
Map
Map
1 PM
Run - Trail warm up/down 10:07 [2] 1.31 km (7:42 / km) +20m 7:10 / km
shoes: Jalas 2010
Saturday Oct 12, 2013 #
Event: JOK Chasing Sprint
12 PM
Run - Trail warm up/down 17:05 2.43 km (7:02 / km) +35m 6:34 / km
ahr:149 max:166 shoes: La Sportiva Crosslite
Long drive = a lot sitting = stiff legs
Run - Orienteering race 23:05 3.44 km (6:42 / km) +12m 6:35 / km
ahr:169 max:177 shoes: La Sportiva Crosslite
JOK Chasing Sprint; prologue, Newborough, 3.0km. Body not up for this (plus I’m well out of any race condition) but an early start was a huge penalty with so many brambles; you only needed 2-3 people to make a very useful path so this is what I spent most of the course doing. Wore my trail shoes which was a mistake as the brambles had no problem penetrating them, was a wally once or twice but no significant problems, but ended up in 10th, some 3.5 minutes behind Dane. A bit disappointing really.
Map
Map
3 PM
Run - Trail warm up/down 15:31 1.97 km (7:52 / km) +9m 7:41 / km
ahr:129 max:158 shoes: Jalas 2010
Run - Orienteering race 23:59 3.93 km (6:06 / km) +33m 5:52 / km
ahr:178 max:183 shoes: Jalas 2010
JOK Chasing Sprint; chase, Newborough, 3.5km, 150m. Started out right behind Daniel S and about 30 seconds down on Clive. Thought Daniel was well able to run away from me but really didn’t want someone older beating me so set out to catch Clive! Put off at the first one where Daniel disappeared in the opposite direction so slow and unsure to #2, however once there Clive appeared... A another group at #3 which was odd but kept running trying to keep up with Clive and Sam (I think?) and on our own again, odd. All became clear when we turned over the map to realise that #1 was a split, with the course meeting up again at #4 (a clam). Through these in the same little train that I was just able to hold on to.
Then came the green, entered slowly and went the wrong side of my hill, but no one else around, then at the next control I saw Ben and two others looking for the previous flag; entered the green about 10th, exited in 5th! On my own from there until the finish and managed to just about keep the navigation together (really hard to keep up with codes on the 1:5k map).
Much better bit of forest; a lot fewer brambles and more technical, which seemed to suit me as I didn’t feel like I was running any better than the morning but ran the 3rd fastest leg time – still a long way behind Sander though.
Map Part 1 and Part 2
Then came the green, entered slowly and went the wrong side of my hill, but no one else around, then at the next control I saw Ben and two others looking for the previous flag; entered the green about 10th, exited in 5th! On my own from there until the finish and managed to just about keep the navigation together (really hard to keep up with codes on the 1:5k map).
Much better bit of forest; a lot fewer brambles and more technical, which seemed to suit me as I didn’t feel like I was running any better than the morning but ran the 3rd fastest leg time – still a long way behind Sander though.
Map Part 1 and Part 2
4 PM
Run - Trail warm up/down 37:16 5.94 km (6:17 / km) +19m 6:11 / km
ahr:143 max:155 shoes: Jalas 2010
Along the beach and out to the end of the island with Sander. Lovely evening and lovely views both out to sea and back to Snowdonia.
Thursday Oct 10, 2013 #
7 PM
Run - Trail 26:22 5.3 km (4:59 / km) +18m 4:54 / km
ahr:146 max:172 shoes: Saucony Excursion TR5
HFW. Didn't want to do it but my legs surprised me and enjoyed it more than my head did. Chest still not all happy though. These shoes always hurt my heal, just too high, but I hate not to use an otherwise very good pair of shoes.
Wednesday Oct 9, 2013 #
Note
(rest day)
Rest day, not wanting to get carried away doing too much when I'm still a bit chesty.
Tuesday Oct 8, 2013 #
6 PM
Run - Trail 1:06:49 9.59 km (6:58 / km) +245m 6:11 / km
shoes: La Sportiva Crosslite (2)
A somewhat non-traditional MDC in the woods at Llantrisant and then up onto the ridge to find a ruined church. Slightly misty which made it eery in the woods and reflected the headlight back in the open. The fells runners did nothing to help their image of being brain-dead-runners by failing to appreciate the cool moss hanging from the trees in the woods!
Monday Oct 7, 2013 #
7 PM
Run - Trail 1:23:41 13.96 km (6:00 / km) +375m 5:17 / km
ahr:135 max:161 shoes: La Sportiva Crosslite (2)
Very pleasant Monday night run with the BOK boys, slow, but I needed it that way, legs way out of condition for hills. Hopefully a couple more days will see them right - though I'm not liking the way that my nose is currently starting to drip.
Sunday Oct 6, 2013 #
9 AM
Run - Trail warm up/down 10:44 1.59 km (6:44 / km) +5m 6:38 / km
ahr:125 max:155 shoes: Jalas 2012
Run - Orienteering race 56:48 8.93 km (6:22 / km) +193m 5:45 / km
ahr:171 max:184 shoes: Jalas 2012
VHI individual, Sheringham, 7.8km, 320m, 20 controls. A surprisingly enjoyable area with most of the time being spent in the terrain. Found out quite early that my quads weren't on for running hard but I managed to maintain a decent, if far from spectacular, pace throughout. Only one wobble which was pure stupid on my behalf, losing about 90 seconds (completely switched off and just ran; idiot). Didn't affect the result though as Nic beat me by 2 minutes and there wasn't really anywhere else that I was concerned about losing time.
Some good runs throughout the classes from Ireland and we managed a respectable total, the problem was that we couldn't get anywhere near Wales as they had other ambitions and well and truly beat Scotland (For the first time?)!
Map Part 1 and Part 2
Some good runs throughout the classes from Ireland and we managed a respectable total, the problem was that we couldn't get anywhere near Wales as they had other ambitions and well and truly beat Scotland (For the first time?)!
Map Part 1 and Part 2
11 AM
Run - Trail warm up/down 9:35 1.22 km (7:52 / km) +2m 7:48 / km
ahr:125 max:131 shoes: Jalas 2012
Saturday Oct 5, 2013 #
3 PM
Run - Trail warm up/down 13:39 2.01 km (6:47 / km) +2m 6:45 / km
ahr:148 max:171 shoes: La Sportiva Crosslite
Run - Orienteering race 31:00 5.9 km (5:15 / km) +36m 5:06 / km
ahr:177 max:189 shoes: La Sportiva Crosslite (2)
VHI Relays, Kelling Heath, 5.0km, 70m. 3rd leg with Wilbert and Mary O'C, not the most exciting of areas but also a bit more interesting than I was expecting. Didn't have anyone to chase so tried to run steadily without pushing hard, came off line once losing maybe 20 seconds but otherwise clean. Despite trying to take it easy my legs still struggled.
Map
Map
Friday Oct 4, 2013 #
Note
Was wanting to squeeze a quick trot in but just ran out of time.
Thursday Oct 3, 2013 #
Note
(rest day)
Still sore from Tuesday but otherwise just avoiding the rather mingng weather outside.
Wednesday Oct 2, 2013 #
5 PM
Run - Trail 32:29 6.43 km (5:03 / km) +17m 4:59 / km
ahr:149 max:173 shoes: Asics 2140 (10)
HFW, was so, so sore after yesterday, even after an easy walk IW this morning. How can a body lose so much conditioning after just one week of not running?
Tuesday Oct 1, 2013 #
6 PM
Run - Trail 56:21 8.31 km (6:47 / km) +372m 5:32 / km
ahr:147 max:182 shoes: La Sportiva Crosslite (2)
MDC evening run from somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Drive to the car park excepted, it turned out to be a very enjoyable run, stating with a lovely long decent in the woods before a climb in the increasing gloom back up the ridge where it was dark just in time to be able to see the train of headlights running along the ridge of spoil tip (with it's fun decent off the end). Quality. (However my food after failed to live up to these standards and was possibly the worst meal that I have ever bought!)