Training Log Archive: Jon XIn the 7 days ending May 18, 2008:
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Sunday May 18, 2008 #
Orienteering race 55:42 [5] **** 6.5 km (8:34 / km)
spiked:10/17c shoes: VJ Falcon
Harvester 2008, A Course, leg one for FVO.
Somehow a discussion on 'let's be in the race from the start' had left me with leg one so felt under a bit of pressure - not that many (27 teams) in the mass start but some speedy types like Neil Northrop, Martin Ward and Clive Hallett - the latter two being my leg one partners-in-blunder from the British Relays.
Managed a bonus hour of sleep before the midnight call-up for 0030 start but my route to #1 would suggest I was half-asleep - went too fast and out of control, got off line pushing through the holly, mis-identified a path, didn't slow down or calm down and ended up bashing through lots more green before I got it sorted out and worked out I was too far left. Got to #1 and found plenty of people already there, not a great start and certainly no sign of Neil or Clive by now - just Martin who had joined me in my meanderings through the holly.
Got my head together and pushed through the next section to overtake quite a few people and make sure I got the right gaffles, got to the front of everyone I could see on the way to #6 where two or three others went too far right and I corrected quickest.
Whereupon my race settled into a pattern of getting 15/20secs ahead, missing or hesitating slightly (or in two places cautious route letting chasers cut the corner to be quicker), pretty much always getting the control first but leading the next two or three people in. In retrospect I was letting them put me off and rushing things - a number of my wobbles were leaving the control too quickly and not getting onto the best route.
Will be interested to see the splits but probably lost 90s/2 min on route to #1 and then lots of small time losses around the rest - nothing more than 1 min max but probably totalling 4 mins or so in total plus time lost at #1.
Finished in 4th place around 6 mins down on Clive and 5 mins down on Neil who was 3rd (Dan Hartmann for Shuoc was with them). Fairly satisfied with outcome but frustrated that I didn't run cleaner and come in a bit closer to the top three.
Good race all night though - great stuff from Gary who got us into the top 3 for a while. SYO ran away with it as expected, and TVOC-Delta got clear in second during the night legs. Good battle between 3rd-6th postions, Roger was pretty unlucky not to finish 4th on the final leg but Marcus sneaked past on the final loop for Shuoc and BOK (with some dodgy blocking tactics on the run-in - not to mention dodgy map exchange shenanigans) finished 1 second ahead so we ended up 6th. Ahead of SYO old men though which was pretty pleasing!
Somehow a discussion on 'let's be in the race from the start' had left me with leg one so felt under a bit of pressure - not that many (27 teams) in the mass start but some speedy types like Neil Northrop, Martin Ward and Clive Hallett - the latter two being my leg one partners-in-blunder from the British Relays.
Managed a bonus hour of sleep before the midnight call-up for 0030 start but my route to #1 would suggest I was half-asleep - went too fast and out of control, got off line pushing through the holly, mis-identified a path, didn't slow down or calm down and ended up bashing through lots more green before I got it sorted out and worked out I was too far left. Got to #1 and found plenty of people already there, not a great start and certainly no sign of Neil or Clive by now - just Martin who had joined me in my meanderings through the holly.
Got my head together and pushed through the next section to overtake quite a few people and make sure I got the right gaffles, got to the front of everyone I could see on the way to #6 where two or three others went too far right and I corrected quickest.
Whereupon my race settled into a pattern of getting 15/20secs ahead, missing or hesitating slightly (or in two places cautious route letting chasers cut the corner to be quicker), pretty much always getting the control first but leading the next two or three people in. In retrospect I was letting them put me off and rushing things - a number of my wobbles were leaving the control too quickly and not getting onto the best route.
Will be interested to see the splits but probably lost 90s/2 min on route to #1 and then lots of small time losses around the rest - nothing more than 1 min max but probably totalling 4 mins or so in total plus time lost at #1.
Finished in 4th place around 6 mins down on Clive and 5 mins down on Neil who was 3rd (Dan Hartmann for Shuoc was with them). Fairly satisfied with outcome but frustrated that I didn't run cleaner and come in a bit closer to the top three.
Good race all night though - great stuff from Gary who got us into the top 3 for a while. SYO ran away with it as expected, and TVOC-Delta got clear in second during the night legs. Good battle between 3rd-6th postions, Roger was pretty unlucky not to finish 4th on the final leg but Marcus sneaked past on the final loop for Shuoc and BOK (with some dodgy blocking tactics on the run-in - not to mention dodgy map exchange shenanigans) finished 1 second ahead so we ended up 6th. Ahead of SYO old men though which was pretty pleasing!
Saturday May 17, 2008 #
Event: JOK Chasing Sprint
Event: Harvester Trophy Weekend
Orienteering race 24:22 [5] *** 3.7 km (6:35 / km) +140m 5:32 / km
spiked:10/12c shoes: VJ Falcon
JOK Chasing Sprint M40+ prologue.
Had an early-ish start and there was a bit of bramble/nettle vegetation, not sure this made much difference time-wise though.
Missed #2 to the right and then exited it too far right and ran down wrong track, probably cost 1 min between them.
Ran fairly okay apart from that but not very smooth, was pretty much making it up as I went along rather than planning ahead, so not quite the best routes and a few hesitations.
Had volunteered to do commentary on the chase but thought I would run it if I was in contention - finished 5th in the prologue but was 3mins down on Martin W and Charlie A so settled for commentary - which gave the bonus of being able to visit Wilfs much earlier than if running the chase!
Had an early-ish start and there was a bit of bramble/nettle vegetation, not sure this made much difference time-wise though.
Missed #2 to the right and then exited it too far right and ran down wrong track, probably cost 1 min between them.
Ran fairly okay apart from that but not very smooth, was pretty much making it up as I went along rather than planning ahead, so not quite the best routes and a few hesitations.
Had volunteered to do commentary on the chase but thought I would run it if I was in contention - finished 5th in the prologue but was 3mins down on Martin W and Charlie A so settled for commentary - which gave the bonus of being able to visit Wilfs much earlier than if running the chase!
Running warm up/down 15:00 [3]
shoes: VJ Falcon
To the start etc
Friday May 16, 2008 #
Note
(rest day)
Straight from work to join the others in the Longhurstmobile, transformed into the Team Car for the weekend of racing and banter.
Thursday May 15, 2008 #
Orienteering 51:00 [2] *** 5.0 km (10:12 / km)
shoes: Inov8
FVO training tonight was kindly staged by Clyde at their Mugdock evening event - Gary and Tori went off to do a pairs exercise, Rosco did some compass work and Elle set off to run without a compass with me shadowing her (despite trying to sneak her compass out there at the lastr minute!)
Mugdock nice as ever and a pleasant evening for it, good to get out and shake off some post-10km stiffness from the legs.
Not quite such a successful evening for Tori. who trashed her ankle on the way to #12 and had to be carried out to the road by Gary. Not so cunning although it scores her a couple more days of home comforts in Dunblane rather than returning to student flat and the library....
After being directed to a closed Italian restaurant by some dodgy locals, we found a nice Chinese restaurant instead - when we left, Tori tried to leave them a mobile phone as a tip but they kindly dashed outside to return it before she hopped it back to the car....
Mugdock nice as ever and a pleasant evening for it, good to get out and shake off some post-10km stiffness from the legs.
Not quite such a successful evening for Tori. who trashed her ankle on the way to #12 and had to be carried out to the road by Gary. Not so cunning although it scores her a couple more days of home comforts in Dunblane rather than returning to student flat and the library....
After being directed to a closed Italian restaurant by some dodgy locals, we found a nice Chinese restaurant instead - when we left, Tori tried to leave them a mobile phone as a tip but they kindly dashed outside to return it before she hopped it back to the car....
Wednesday May 14, 2008 #
Running race 39:07 [5] 10.0 km (3:55 / km) +120m 3:41 / km
shoes: Brooks Adrenaline Jan 2008
Kilmarnock 10km. The idea was to run a 10km race and see what sort of time I could do......however still feeling tired quads/calf muscles a bit, plus more significantly hadn't banked on the first 4km all being uphill into a fairly strong wind! Wasn't quite as well warmed up as I should have been which didn't help - although better warmed up than Lard who was still pinning on his number when the race started....
Was struggling by the top of the hill but gradually got into it after that as the course dropped a bit with just a few tiny uphills from 4km-8km. Then it became clear we had dropped slightly more than we had gained, so there was another bigger climb in the 9th km to rejoin our original route for the downhill to the finish. Spent virtually the whole race running on my own in about 20th or so - after the first two or three kilometres no-one overtook me and i only passed one person. Probably didn't help my time not to be racing head-t-head with anyone in the second half.
As a result not really sure what to make of my time - with the wind and the climb, it didn't feel like a fast course and I would hope I could perhaps run at least a minute quicker on a flat fast course with no wind and some rest beforehand (and vdot says the climb costs two minutes....). Having said that then it didn't seem to slow Rosco down too much as he ran 33:42 for 4th place (including a 3km pb in the middle section!). And on the bright side this was my fastest time since the dim and distant days of 1990, so that will do for today, plenty of time to improve further later!
Kilometre splits were
3:56
3:59
4:10
4:13
4:02
(20:20 at half way)
7:17 for next two (ave 3:38)
3:54
7:36 for final two (ave 3:48)
(18:47 for second half)
So not too bad but can do better - need to find another 10km midweek race now!
Was struggling by the top of the hill but gradually got into it after that as the course dropped a bit with just a few tiny uphills from 4km-8km. Then it became clear we had dropped slightly more than we had gained, so there was another bigger climb in the 9th km to rejoin our original route for the downhill to the finish. Spent virtually the whole race running on my own in about 20th or so - after the first two or three kilometres no-one overtook me and i only passed one person. Probably didn't help my time not to be racing head-t-head with anyone in the second half.
As a result not really sure what to make of my time - with the wind and the climb, it didn't feel like a fast course and I would hope I could perhaps run at least a minute quicker on a flat fast course with no wind and some rest beforehand (and vdot says the climb costs two minutes....). Having said that then it didn't seem to slow Rosco down too much as he ran 33:42 for 4th place (including a 3km pb in the middle section!). And on the bright side this was my fastest time since the dim and distant days of 1990, so that will do for today, plenty of time to improve further later!
Kilometre splits were
3:56
3:59
4:10
4:13
4:02
(20:20 at half way)
7:17 for next two (ave 3:38)
3:54
7:36 for final two (ave 3:48)
(18:47 for second half)
So not too bad but can do better - need to find another 10km midweek race now!
Running warm up/down 25:00 [2]
shoes: Brooks Adrenaline Jan 2008
could have done with a bit more beforehand....
Note
Doh - results are on the web and it seems that I gave my race number to Lard and ran with his one instead. Which also means I look like the one beaten by the first lady!!
Tuesday May 13, 2008 #
Running 59:00 [2]
shoes: Brooks Adrenaline Jan 2008
Nice easy FVO soup run from Rosco's, spent much of it touring round the sprint course from Saturday with the occasional dash round different route choice options.
Felt tired so not sure how the Kilmarnock 10km will go tonight, vdot from the 3km time trial says I should be aiming to break 38mins (just) but not sure that is very likely!
Felt tired so not sure how the Kilmarnock 10km will go tonight, vdot from the 3km time trial says I should be aiming to break 38mins (just) but not sure that is very likely!
Monday May 12, 2008 #
Running 15:00 [3]
shoes: Inov8
Nice gentle morning jog through yesterdays assembly field and back through the lower bit of woodland - needed to close the gates that we had forgotten to close when we left the event.
Was just starting to loosen up nicely and enjoy it, but of course hadn't left myself enough time to run for any longer before going to work....
Was just starting to loosen up nicely and enjoy it, but of course hadn't left myself enough time to run for any longer before going to work....
Note
Got to work to find the Blood Donation bus in the car park. I always seem to miss this but as I had managed to eat breakfast and wasn't planning on running later on, this seemed like an ideal opportunity.
It may have been but it turned out they didn't want my blood - when they did the iron/haemoglobin check, my haemoglobin was 134g/l and their minimum threshold is 135g/l.
Hardly a major concernI as the threshold is at a cautious level (and was recently raised from 130g/l to bring UK into line with the EU). Frustrating as I think it is important to give blood if you can, and for various reasons (meetings, cold, etc) everytime the bus has showed up at work in the past couple of years then I have been unable to donate.
Some multi-vitamin/iron tablets over the next few weeks might be a good plan though - sounds like they would do no harm in any case - will give it a try.
It may have been but it turned out they didn't want my blood - when they did the iron/haemoglobin check, my haemoglobin was 134g/l and their minimum threshold is 135g/l.
Hardly a major concernI as the threshold is at a cautious level (and was recently raised from 130g/l to bring UK into line with the EU). Frustrating as I think it is important to give blood if you can, and for various reasons (meetings, cold, etc) everytime the bus has showed up at work in the past couple of years then I have been unable to donate.
Some multi-vitamin/iron tablets over the next few weeks might be a good plan though - sounds like they would do no harm in any case - will give it a try.
Running 1:03:00 [3]
shoes: Inov8
Lovely clear-but-hazy sunny day all day with the mountains beckoning.
5.45pm Jon phones Rosco: "look at the weather, have to get out, how about going for a run up Ben Ledi?"
Rosco: "sounds steep, tough weekend, don't want to be knackered for the 10km race on Wednesday"
Jon: "good point, how about Cort-ma-Law - that is pretty flat"
Rosco: "sounds grand"
7.30pm set off, 250m climb in the first 1km, oops!
It did level off after that and treated us to a succession of false summits, good to get out and have a look before the race next month. Even in good conditions it is pretty boggy up there - as I found with an unplanned sinking/falling/splashing incident!
Didn't know the race route with the extra climb back to Cort-ma-Law ridge near the end, so had a fun downhill/flat/downhill run all the way from the top of Lecket Hill. Sounds like the race route is a bit tougher!
5.45pm Jon phones Rosco: "look at the weather, have to get out, how about going for a run up Ben Ledi?"
Rosco: "sounds steep, tough weekend, don't want to be knackered for the 10km race on Wednesday"
Jon: "good point, how about Cort-ma-Law - that is pretty flat"
Rosco: "sounds grand"
7.30pm set off, 250m climb in the first 1km, oops!
It did level off after that and treated us to a succession of false summits, good to get out and have a look before the race next month. Even in good conditions it is pretty boggy up there - as I found with an unplanned sinking/falling/splashing incident!
Didn't know the race route with the extra climb back to Cort-ma-Law ridge near the end, so had a fun downhill/flat/downhill run all the way from the top of Lecket Hill. Sounds like the race route is a bit tougher!