Training Log Archive: Jon X

Walked back to Liz's from the station after work, along the Thames Path, through Port Meadow and the Nature Reserve. Beautifully sunny. Many people out and about enjoying the river and the green wide open spaces. Strangely I was the only person doing so wearing a suit...

Event: British Middle Championships (UKOL)
 

Warmed up pretty well, nice sunshine for drills and stretches on the cricket outfield in front of Bradenham Manor en route to the start, very civilised!

British Middle Champs, Naphill and Bradenham
M45, disqualified (forgot to punch final control)
Winner Bill Edwards 32:28
Would have been 9th (or 11th including Dave Peel (no road crossing punch) and Kev Fielding (also no last control).

28 controls in 5km so it was always going to be quite intense in amongst all the thickets and patchy vegetations and vague paths and pits and all that Chilterns stuff.

#2 - a little off line leaving #1, almost confused by the vague paths, found the flag but would never have noticed the tiny boulder if my brain wasn't saying "isn't it supposed to be on a boulder?" (-15s)
#4 - didn't lose any time but it seemed very close to #3 (leg took me 16secs), I almost jumped over the control without seeing it!
#6 - disaster, lost control but ran on assuming I would sort it out on the way. Wrong. And stayed wrong even when I tried to relocate. And even when I went right out to track to relocate. (-3mins 15s)
#8 - off line a little out of #7, used the track but then it seemed way right of where I thought it should be (-45s)
#22 - seemed odd but got to the circle, it was supposed to be in the only thicket. Checked out the biggest thicket. It was behind the smaller one. (-30s)
#24 - short leg, just run out and it is second thicket on the left. Except there are only thickets well above and well below. Couldn't see it on the one below so climbed to the one above. Wrong. Back down and it was behind a fallen tree (-1min)
#25 - hmm seemed odd. Stayed high, could see what looked like the rough open below me, ran down to the green beyond it. No flag anywhere, path beyond as it should be. Couldn't believe how far back up to the control (-1.5mins)

And then, having checked out both the final two controls which were visible from the finish field, I punched the first and then straight past the second (outside the gate to the finish field), must have been almost close enough for the touch-free to save me and register it anyway!

Apart from all that I ran quite well.....

Event: British Sprint Championships (UKOL)
 

Warmup, drills, to the start.

British Sprints Qualifier, M45 heat C.
4th place (6 to qualify)

This really did not go too well - squeaked into the A final thanks to three people who beat me getting disqualified (one missed control, one wrong control, one running through OOB).
Not too bad for the first half but then punched a wrong control and had to go back, then ran into a dead end, then made a 180degree error leaving the map turnover, then had multiple troubles with gaps between buildings being blocked off by artificial fences.

Puzzled afterwards as in the start lanes I checked carefully on the blank map to see where gaps between the buildings had small fences blocking them......I learned the next day that they were not shown on the blank maps but were present on the competition maps!
FFS - you don't have to have blank maps but if you do they should be the same as the map being used for the race......

Nonetheless, can't blame it all on that by any means. Far from it.

So, into the A final but very very lucky to be there.

British Sprint Champs
M45 A Final, 14th
Winner James Logue 13:34

Another bad performance. Similar story as in the qualifier, not fit enough and so pushing too hard and a bit out of control - good planning meant the longer tricker legs with more route choice were past half way once well into oxygen debt, and that was that!

6th place at #11 after 8mins of racing, 40s down.
16th place by #13 after a terrible route to 12 cost 25-30s and then lack of control mid-leg going to #13 saw me spend quite a while heading to #9 instead (-1min).
Couple of 10s wobbles after that and also caught a minute by Paul Murgatroyd near the end.

Good course although the spectator loop near the end was a bit contrived (with limited spectator value) and also had another one of the artificial fences - except the planner forgot to put it out originally! It was out for our final (and caught me out) but the M16s who ran their final on the same course earlier all seem to have suspiciously fast splits for that leg....

No issues personally with the emit touch-free and a lot of disqualifications seem to have been to do with the volume of controls rather than the technology. Definitely some glitches though and also it let the commentators down by failing to give them up to date information - probably needed some more testing or more familiarity by all the organising team (or both) before using for a big event.

C • Are you sure ... 5

Stayed up to watch the election results come in - so pretty weary and pretty depressed today. Then down to Gatwick in the evening.

With MC, along to vote and back.

Looong day travelling to Reading and back. Couldn't stay down ahead of the weekend as I had to come home so I can vote on Thursday!

From home. Thought I had dodged the monsoon. It returned after I had been out for 20mins....