Training Log Archive: Jon X

Good weekend in the Lakes but drowning in things to do now

Really hot day again, luckily I found myself on holiday in the Lakes.

Parked up in Glenridding at the steamer pier and walked round the south side of Ullswater to Howtown (maybe seven miles) and then got the boat back. Coffee shop beforehand, ice cream on starting, cold drinks on the pier afterward, tea and cake in pretty gardens straight afterwards.

Less luckily the holiday ended after that and I had to go home ready for work on Tuesday.

After a lengthy team brunch MC and I headed off and did a very pleasant walk up and over Cat Bells and then back along the edge of Derwent Water.

Legs not too bad on climbs or descents although a little tired after two hours (we were probably out for nearer three in total), they did enjoy the paddle in Derwent Water though.

C • Did you go to the t-shop at the boat house 3

Last two legs of Pat's Bob Graham Round, from Wasdale to Honister to Keswick.

All went pretty smoothly despite a total soaking coming down to Black Sail from Pillar, with Pat if anything starting to run more strongly as we headed from Gable to Honister. Gradually picked up time against schedule the whole way, giving a nice time cushion to take it extra carefully down the rocky bits coming off Robinson as darkness fell, and to allow steady progress along the road to Keswick without any need for painful pushing of the pace!

Really enjoyed it and delighted for Pat that he made it - not convinced that half a glass of champagne before a well earned sleep is enough of a celebration for him so there may need to be further festivities......

Still resting - Pat Bartlett BGR attempt to support tomorrow - fingers crossed!

C • Did Pat make it then? I got... 4

Evening jaunt round Leckie loop, stunning evening again.

Gentle pace but last night's hills definitely in my legs.....

Gorgeous and sweltering day in Stirling, unanimously agreed to be far too hot for intervals so we headed up Dumyat.

Roger set the tone by pushing the pace on the early climbs and then easing off on the flat and little descents, I was actually feeling pretty strong so was happy to play too - ended up like a bit of a tempo hill session anyway so no guilt for skipping loch intervals!

A nice long rest on the top trying to name all the distant summits - an amazingly non-hazy day, in all the many many times I have been up there I don't think I have ever been able to see the Forth Bridge and the Pentlands so clearly from the top.

Then back down for the main business of the evening - some Harvester celebrations!

C • Wish I'd come out now! 1

Easy recovery jog round Watson House and Ladies Walk.

Event: Harvester Trophy Weakend
 

Harvester Relay 2009.
Merthyr Common, South Wales.
Scary difficult terrain.
Well worth a club newsletter item so I may as well draft one out here...

Team FVO quite fancy their chances but know they need to keep an eye out for BOK, SYO and SHUOC in particular....

9pm
Tent and sleeping bag time for all except leg one and two runners. We have flown all the way down to race, we owe it to one another to try and get some sleep so we can run our best. And luckily we braved the brawl-tastic badlands of Tredegar earlier to get some beer to help with the sleeping.....

11pm start, leg one
Mainly steady stuff from Fraser, he and Ed Nicholas are back together in second and third. They have seen no-one ahead and think they are the leaders but far from it, Charlie Adams has run off the front for SYO and pulled out a 13 minute lead....

Leg two
Technical master Steve B has little time loss and pulls right away from the rest of the teams, gets SYO in sight ahead near the end, the gap is down to just over a minute at the changeover.....

Leg three
Marcus rises from his sickbed, sets off chasing Dave Peel and promptly bins four mins at #1, SYO lead is back to five mins. After that he rediscovers his own technical mastery and runs pretty clean, catches Dave at the far end of the area (Dave coming back ON to the map) and then puts two mins into him round the last part of the course. A two horse race by now with the third team more than 40 mins back already.

Leg four
Jason takes it steady and careful, and behind him Ricky Baxter for SYO is doing the same. A small miss by Jase is minimised by careful relocation but the gap is closed......it reopens but then Jason's torch dims and dims further.......a minute to swap to the spare battery and the gap is closed again before the spectator control.
Meanwhile I have woken from patchy sleep at 3am and made my way up the changeover. Periodically lights come into sight on their way to the spectator - when a bright one and a dim yellow one come into sight together I just know the second of them is the notorious Inman headtorch - and so it is. A short final loop and FVO still have the lead at changeover but only just!
FVO lead = 5 seconds

Leg five
Roger is our dawn expert but he finds himself going out in the dark - not what we had anticipated. And with another team still with us after the night legs - also not as anticipated. Early confusion sees Roger forget there is a 200m taped route to the start kite and instead try to navigate to #1 from the changeover.
Good news he is he doesn't kill himself at the edge of the quarry, bad news is that he is perplexed for quite a while and the SYO lead is back up to five minutes again. Luckily I have gone off to get ready, I am glad I didn't have to watch that!
Out in the darkness Martin Ward has missed at #4 and Roger is past, however before long they are back together - then separate - then together again before the spectator as it starts to get light.

Back at the changeover I am waiting nervously, hoping Rog is going to give me the lead I had banked on having for my leg. I am against Peter Gorvett who may be an M60 but I reckon he may be able to run and navigate as fast as me on this stuff....and I would rather not put it to the test!
But instead Rog and Martin arrive at the spectator together, now I am really nervous. Rog beasts it up the hill from the spectator and pulls out a small gap over the final short loop.
FVO lead = 22 seconds.

Leg six
Leg six is me. Adrenaline is pumping as I run out to the start kite and thoughts are rushing through my head....
"Need to keep it calm and controlled in this terrain"
"Rog has pushed hard for the gap, push hard and get out of sight"
"This is our chance to get the decisive break"
"Mess this up and it will be awful"

Luckily #1 is a short leg and forces concentration, I can already feel I am running strongly and that gives me confidence but doesn't stop me running too fast enroute to #2 and losing touch, pace counting saves me as I stop and work it out almost immediately.

Then into a good rhythm as I spike 3,4,5,6 and 7, my legs feel good and I feel in control, a couple of looks behind and I cannot see SYO, even the navigation doesn't seem that hard after all.
Over the hill to #8 and all seems fine, past the cairn and the stony ground, down and across the marsh and - and - and it doesn't look quite how I expected. It sort of fits (never a good phrase) and so I head to the pile of stones that must be the feature - thank goodness, there is a flag hiding behind them - but it is not mine! Manage to keep my head and relocate quickly, 100m off to the right and there is mine, not too long lost and still no SYO.
Back going well through 9,10,11,12, nearly home now. One more longish leg to #13, then it looks straightforward. Set off to #13 thinking "get this one clean and we'll have a gap, just need to keep control".
Leave the vague hill to my right and over the spur, can see the big re-entrant ahead running down to my right, I need a pond in a big hole on the far side of it. Keep my head up and I can see a big hole ahead on the far side, that should be it.
Down and up I go, can't see the hole now of course but I am on line, here's a hole but no flag, dammit, must have been one I didn't see in front of it, on I go. Another hole but still no flag.

And now I don't know exactly where I am.

Try to work the holes out but can't, try to relocate from position relative to re-entrant and holes in the bottom, find some pits but still no flag, starting to run hopefully from pit to pit, starting to panic.

Head up the hill a bit but it is all vague and I can't get a fix on anything, panicking more, time is ticking by so quickly.

But I need to do something rather than hopeful searching and decide on drastic action, dash up almost to the next control until at last I know exactly where I am and drop back down towards flag. In my haste I almost lose touch again, and even though I don't,I am still panicking as this seems to be exactly the area I was looking in before. As I drop down I spy Pete Gorvett heading up the hill towards #14, disaster.

But this time I do find it - it is not really in a hole at all despite what the map says but plenty of time to be upset by that later, right now damage limitation is all that is on my mind. Back up the hill where Pete looks like he is missing #14 to the right but at the last minute he veers back left into it just as I approach.

Push as hard as I can round the last bit to try and get Ross at least some sort of lead but can only pull out 27 seconds. At #12 I was five minutes up and by the time I punched #13 I was a minute down, what a waste. Furious with myself, just thought I had it under control and relaxed at the crucial moment, if we don't win now it will be a tough one to swallow.
FVO lead = 27 seconds

Leg seven
So it all comes down to the final leg. 13km.
Ross McLennan vs Andy Preston.
The only M21 in the FVO team vs the only M21 in the SYO team
.
And Ross misses early and SYO get away. So glad we didn't know that.
Then Andy returns the favour and is caught and passed by FVO.
My own nemesis control is trouble for Andy too and he loses four minutes there, and Ross has a potentially decisive gap.

As both sets of team-mates wait anxiously for the first visit to the spectator control (after two thirds of the course), a figure appears on the skyline....which one is it? The right arm flicking out to one side gives it away - it's Ross!

The gap is 3mins45secs at the first spectator but no-one is calling the result yet, we have been trading five minute leads all race....
.....and sure enough twenty minutes later Ross and Andy are heading down to the second spectator virtually side by side, nothing in it with only five minutes left to race!

Ross looks so strong up the hill from the spectator and is pulling away but Andy looks to be running a slightly different line as they head out of sight, planner Charlie Daniel says it is not gaffled - who is right??

All we can do is wait - Ross is on last leg for his ability to run away at the end and we have faith that he can do it, club jackets on ready to join him down the run-in when he appears. And there he is! He has a gap at the final control!
He flies down the run-in and we cross the line and savour the moment, fantastic, jubilation!

Ross is almost too relieved to be jubilant, after "the most stressful race of my life".

And then it gets more stressful.......much much more stressful.... download is a punch in the solar plexus with the words "you've missed one, you don't have control 142".

Celebrations stop abruptly.

Horror - it can't be true - not now - not fair - not us.

Panic - quick get Andy P to download - maybe unit has stopped working - he has it okay - oh no.

Stunned - Ross is sure he has been there, he remembers it, how can we prove it?

The Wrong One - download official says it is not the unit at fault, it is that Ross has punched a different one, 145 not 142

Wait A Minute - look at Ross's map, 145 is what he should have punched!

Redemption - his gaffle is programmed incorrectly into the computer!

Relief - and delight and jubilation - FVO's first ever Harvester win!

FVO lead at finish = who cares!

C • Great report! 2

C • Excellently put. 6

Really good warm up. Needed a decent jog on my own afterwards as well to sort myself out after my time loss late on.

Pre-Harvester middle distance race at Clydach Terrace, interesting complex contours with 28 controls in 5.4km.

Felt a bit sluggish early on and with trademark FVO sore left achilles, trying to take it steady but found the terrain fairly physical so working a bit harder than planned. Found everything looking different from how I expected - much bigger features and deeper re-entrants. Eventually realised that it was because map was 1:7500 but contours were 5m not 2.5m.

Reeled in by Roger who passed me 3mins at halfway - helped by me wobbling at 11 and 12 once I saw him close behind. Tried to do my own thing afterwards but it was quite distracting on such a visible area where route was mostly straight. Managed to spot when he wobbled at #18 (map strange) but then missed myself to the other side, caught him again with different route at #21 but then missed slightly at the end of my different route at #22.

Kept going pretty efficiently through to the end, really enjoyed course and event. An ideal warm up for the main event tonight and even with showers plus tea and hot dogs all laid on at the car park!

Wanted a jog but didn't have time

Soup run from Inman Towers, timed my arrival to make sure we did not have to set out in the rain.

Jase took us on an enjoyable route which mostly stayed out of the nettles and even took us through a Magic Purple Glade.

And fab soup and home made bread and bargain muffins afterwards, despite the shameful lack of provisions offered by the visitors.....

Decided not to go to Ben Sheann hill race and instead to take the day off completely, seemed like a pretty good move as outside volleys of rain were cascading down from the murky gloom above.

Wavered a little in the evening as the intimidating clouds melted away leaving azure skies and lightly swaying trees glistening in the gentle evening sunlight.

But I resisted their blandishments and stayed in watching TV instead.

Not too well fuelled or rested over the past couple of days so not that up for intervals, sure enough when we got into it then my legs felt pretty tired and heavy.

We did two sets of 6 x 1min on/1 min off, 3mins between sets. Never really pushed pulse that high until the final three when suddenly I started to feel much better, pushed pretty hard on the final one.

distances with max pulse and lowest it dropped to in recovery minute
292m (135, 112); 287m (140, 115); 296m (142, 119)
291m (142, 120); 290m (144, 121); 297m (147)
(down to 100 in the three mins, surprised not lower)
289m (140, 121); 297m (145, 126); 294m (144, 126)
312m (152, 133); 309m (157, 137); 337m (162)

Got out slightly earlier than last night but not much - had to watch the last rites of England's participation in the World T20 first. Almost started to believe they might sneak through to the semi but should have known better!


Did a lap round Leckie again, pushed a bit harder on the road section at the end this time.

Twilight jaunt round Leckie loop to stretch out a bit after long train journey home.

Run with Dave from chez Peel, up Porter Brook and over to Fox House to meet up again with MC and Jen and Oscar. Then well deserved ale and chips for us whilst the girls ran round Burbage.

Sleeper to London, then train to Nottingham for ECSG in evening, no time for a run.

Gentle FVO old crocks run from Roger and Dawn's place, through lots of lovely and varied terrain as usual. Plenty of red kites but no osprey this evening.

Then back for a veritable feast afterwards. Would have been a perfect evening if we hadn't turned the cricket on......

C • I agree... 1

FVO evening event at Laighills. 4.3km straight line but what with some urban stuff and some wobbling in the terrain section then I actually ran 5.8km.

Couldn't find #1 as it was hidden in a bush, took a poor route to #3 and then went to wrong re-entrant at #5, probably #1 and #5 together cost me 2mins. Managed to keep trying after that and finished 3mins down on the lead trio of Ben, O Mapper and Lard.

Enjoyed it and delighted to find a good supply of burgers on the bbq afterwards!

C • Sorry 2

Not my most clear-headed day it seems - I have been to FVO intervals a fair few times now but still managed to think it was at 6.30pm not 6pm. Then came to get changed and found had put in my very very old tattered trainers by mistake.

Went for a warm up round the loch and was clear-headed enough to notice that the others were skiving. Wasn't clear-headed enough to do that myself.

Did usual session
3mins - 802m - max 153
2mins - 550m - max 153
1 min - 284m - max 151
30sec - 134m - max 146 (never really got going properly on this one)
lap of loch - max 163 - time 9:07

Pushed hard on the lap but around ten secs down on last two times. Was feeling pretty tired but not sure if it was that or just not having others to chase and Jase to hold off - reckon Jase would have had me this week though!

C • What time did you do on the Loch lap? 2

laps of loch

Gillingham urban race on 1:5000 ISSOM map. Good fun and pushed hard, lost time in a couple of places plus a few hesitations where flags were very tucked away for security.

Main time loss was when I somehow ran past a footbridge without seeing it, tried a few trods through the nettles to my left before I realised (-45s), plus one where there were four entrances on the ground but three weren't mapped but just shown as olive green, all four courtyards approx the same shape. Got the right one at third time of asking (-1min 15s).

Actual distance 8.43km, think I was 2nd 38secs down.

Warm up including drills trying to get legs moving, felt I had tried hard enough that needed warm down too.

WSX event at Culpepper's Dish, mainly a relay event and longest course was green. Surprisingly tough although my legs felt a bit better than the past few days, so instead I threw in a few noddy mistakes to make sure I took far longer than I should have.

Went for a little jog round the paths close to the last loop after finishing, somehow managed not to see either of my parents even though they were both on that loop at the time.

Managed to use over 50 mins of running to justify a large cream tea afterwards, could get used to this Dorset lifestyle....

Lunchtime run with Brian, by my special request the flattest route possible, via Cambusbarron and Kings Park. Quads slightly easier by the end - and doubtless a few more hours sat at my desk this afternoon will really help too......

Ouch - bad DOMS today particularly by the afternoon, going downstairs not fun.

Yet somehow after postponement of the FVO run from Roger and Dawn's, I found myself out for a run anyway. With the speedy Rosco. Although not so speedy tonight with me slowing him down.

It was actually not too bad, through Riverside and Cambuskenneth then up into Abbey Craig and back via Uni and Causewayhead. Glad to have made the effort.

Then I stopped to vote on my way home. 790 voters in my village. 70 have postal votes. At 8.30pm I was visitor number 208 to the polling station. Hmmm.

C • DOMS 1

Really could have done without getting up early to go to London today!

However I was at least back in time to jog round the evening event and get the flags in (well, jog most of it anyway!). Great course from Hugh, almost wished I was racing it. Almost.

Fingers crossed my quads are no more sore tomorrow!!

Joined Pat for his latest Bob Graham Round training day. Early breakfast in the B&B but still didn't leave car at Stonethwaite until 8.45am, already a glorious cloudless day by then. Luckily I had kids factor 30 with me although Pat trumped me with his ultra cautious factor 50 baby block!

Steady up the valley and up onto High Raise to meet the BGR route, then aimed to hit Pat's planned schedule thereafter.

Amazing day out and lots of Lakes peaks I had never been up before. Wasn't sure of BGR route before today but now I know! High Raise across to Langdale Pikes, round to Rosset Pike, Bowfell and Esk Pike, then Scafell Pike and the tops before it. All on schedule to there but then my hopeless skills on rock slowed us down on the descent to Lords Rake and climb up it to Scafell. Came off Scafell too far left and didn't get the best route to Wasdale, glad to get down there for the scheduled 15 min lunch break mmm pork pies.

Then off again up Yewbarrow, Red Pike, Pillar, Steeple, Kirk Fell and up to the pass by Great Gable. Bit concerned by how late we would get back to Edinburgh so saved half an hour by skirting Great/Green Gable and going straight to Brandreth, then on to Grey Knotts and down to Honister. Hit schedule for this section apart from the shortcut! Then 4km back down the road to the car, managed to raise a jog...

Back to the car at 9.15pm pretty pleased with our days work. Survived the heat too without chronic sunburn and must have drunk 6 litres of water en route, amazing the time impact of every little stop.

Great day - may give Callendar Crags hill race a miss on Wed though!

not planned