Training Log Archive: bradc

50 x 25m lengths of front crawl-by-name, crawl-by-nature. I only ever swim when I'm injured so I can hardly expect to ever be any good at it, but I ground it out, moving at glacial pace but still moving. Cue panda eyes and streaming nose for the rest of the day. Hurry up and heal already, ankle!

More pootering around, at the last RTC event at Forvie. Arrived too late to put out radio controls (as expected). R ankle was up to jogging around the white course after Jamie, Matthew, Katie and Lucy; but I am glad that I resisted the temptation to try to do any more on it, despite the disappointment of missing out on both areas this weekend.
RTC was a great event, well done to everyone involved.

No running at Balmoral for me :-(. I was, however, putting out radio controls - and the far one failed to work, so I had to replace it - so in the end I walked about 8km. R ankle very weak in the terrain, and was nicely swollen for most of the day.

Event: JOK Chasing Sprint
 

JOK Chasing Sprint Prologue - ran early as was helping. Flustered, set off too fast and blundered #1. Went over on left ankle when trying to make up for the error on the leg to #2; sat down for a bit then started hobbling until the endorphins kicked in. Missed #3 and #5, then went over on my right ankle en route to #6. More serious this time, hobbled from there to finish. Except that the final control unit was being slow and didn't register my card, so I was mp anyway. Not my day. Looks like the weekend is out, too - cr*p.
TRIMP 65.1.

A soggy day on Deeside, so the family opted to go swimming at Craigendarroch hotel. I prefer to get wet with my running kit on, so headed out for a run from there. Headed up the hills to the north, but my OS map proved to be well out of date, and in the dreich weather I couldn't find the trail junction on Creagan Riabhach that I was looking for. Never mind, I found another route off the hill, crossed the Pass of Ballater and bashed my way through the terrain up on to the summit of Craigendarroch. Slippery coming down by the direct route (these Salomons are the best fell shoes I've ever had, but still aren't as good as Walshes on wet rock).
Deliberately slow, even ignoring the frequent nav stops: my left foot is still tingly / slightly numb, so I was trying to be ultra-cautious. I really must lay off impact activities after this weekend to relieve the pressure on that dodgy left sciatic nerve. I don't want to end up with a permant limp. Crock. TRIMP 101.3.

C • Snap 3

MTB up Gleann an-t-Slugain. Minor faff at a junction just off the map (flipping OS maps!). A reminder of just how rubbish I am on a mountain bike. TRIMP 36.0.

M273 and M274: Beinn a' Bhuird and Ben Avon. 10 to go! After negotiations with Beccy, today become my nominated "play day". So that'll be some serious bagging duty, then :-).

Decent day for getting high: grey, but very high cloud so good views all round. Somewhat cool in shorts at times but old habits die hard. Perhaps a bit rude to call this a "run" - "jog" would be more accurate, today was more about getting around than about setting a good pace - but I shuffled the flats, downs and about half of the ups. That's good enough at present.

Really smashing hills, both enormous with great crags and tors, and lovely high running over sandy, bouldery terrain. Ben Avon definitely demands a return trip to do it properly, as a traverse. Descent route over Carn Eas heathery but definitely not easy going with big boulders hidden beneath the veg.

Great hills and a great day, slightly tired by the end. Decided that hauling my now very creaky bones to the Deeside Runners session in the evening would only make folks laugh so much that they would be unable to train properly. As it was, my tight calves demanded an empty wine bottle in order to roll out the knots. Shame. Hic.
TRIMP 260.4. Some photies up on fb.

Whizz back down the glen. So much easier than going up. Felt like a god. Just before I face planted in some heather. What goes up...
TRIMP 24.

Legs OK today but tell-tale tingly left foot and R hamstring sciatica, all LBP-related, just too much hard surface for my long-suffering vertebrae over the last couple of days. Might have to give it some time settle down.

RTC Stirling urban race, Brown/M40: 6.5km +240m. Another early start to help, tired before I started, and got well and truly spanked in the mental start in the castle, which was fantastic for orienteering. Well done FVO for getting us access!

Made a total horlicks of #4-105 (ca 100s loss) and stopped for 45s on the way out of the castle (8-9) to help out two rather tearful girls. 90s man PaulC had therefore pretty much caught me already, and was with me by #11. I took a cunning route to #12 though, and despite a 30s fluff en route to #13 was 30s ahead of him coming out of that, and stayed that way on the dead running through Riverside. Picked the STEP route out of Riverside rather than the railway bridge, though, and looking at the splits that was 40-50s slower.

Steady enough thereafter, but really feeling the distance and lack of training; crawled up the hill from Kings Knott but scrambling up the bank pulled out another 40s on Dr Caban and I kept it that way to the finish.
Great fun, but man, I was pooped! TRIMP 148.6.

Event: Race the Castles
 

RTC Edinburgh urban race, Brown/M40: 5.3km +155m. Enjoyed this. Stuffed up number 4 (ca 30s) along with half the people on the course, but picked the best route to #12. Lost another 30s at #16 (just got in a fuddle), which was when Roger T got past me. We were close from then, despite taking different routes to #18, and caught up my 2 minute man by #21. I then followed him without thinking through an unmarked gate en route to #21, which probably gained me 30s; which caused a moment of realisation at download when Roger came in behind us. D'oh. Declared myself to the planner and download team, but my two-min man didn't and I know that many others did the same (the gate was actually open for some of the junior courses! Strange). I'm still in the results so maybe it was decided that too many folks had done it and not declared to be fair whatever they did. Anyway. It was fun and I am very happy that I was able to run the race without back issue. I was totally mono-paced, of course, and had absolutely no top gear; entirely to be expected since I don't do the training for it. I know what I need to do to get it, maybe the old bones will hold together long enough for me to try to see if I can get it!
Knackered - a very long day after a very early start and 6 hours of helping before my run.
TRIMP 129.6.