Training Log Archive: olsoran

Really struggling this week - mainly on account of time. Need to re-energise. Out to Glen O'Dee feeling heavy and slow.

Arthurs Seat - social family walk. Bumped into RB as he did his lunchtime 5 loops on a bike.
No other time.
Graduation

To Edinburgh. Drummond Street to col, loop of Hunters Bog, then Radical Road down to Holyrood with K and back. Smashing.

Wedding, no time

In Glen O'Dee - steady. Tired.

Journey to Lancashire

7 mins spinning warm up
12 x 60s/30s skate ski
A fairly rapid half a weights session
Put a lot of effort in tonight in a relatively short session. Felt much better after it.

R&R miles with Roland round Hazlehead - cracking day.

Enjoying a couple of days R&R. Too drained by the whole experience! :-)

Travelling back...got home 30 after midnight.

Event: Jukola Relay Kytäjä-Jukola 2010
 

Travel to Jukola. Watched Venla, supported GB teams etc etc. Jukola preparation. Soaking up the atmosphere.

Everyone fit and well - quite a feat in itself.

Never been as nervous as this for an event before...ever, definitely. And I wasn't alone.

1500 teams, full on Finnish wilderness with no paths, and worst of all it was raining making reading the map detail extremely difficult for us over 50s that were out early.

Warm but lifa and O-top for me. Discarded the bi-focal sports glasses plan because of the rain and took magnifier instead. Spare compass and headtorch in the bum bag. Got in the changeover pen early. Waited for Dixie.

Good steady start from Dixie on leg 1 and nice smooth changeover at 1 am. How did I get leg 2 ?

Scary map, scary course, scary long legs, no paths, dark…and raining. A long way to the start kite, already pretty much a quagmire. Martin Ward (SYO3) overtook me for the first time on this bit but he headed off on forest road left from kite – I went straight.

There then followed 2 hours of probably the most demanding orienteering I’ve ever done. Climbing up and down crags, fighting through green cack, smelly and clinging mud in the marshes and ditches. Lots of head lights about, elephant tracks heading various directions but very little clear running. Apart from start and finish, only approximately 200m of forest road or path running in whole course. Not able to read the map detail, magnifier useless. Can’t confess to knowing quite where I was all the time but had a rough idea and plan most of the time. Reasonably clean to most controls, partly through other people’s efforts, and partly my own. Impossible to move fast because or terrain and also other competitors. Wombled about in the vicinity of 4 or 5 gaffled controls a bit trying hard not to panic too much, and not worrying unduly about time loss. Overtaken by MW for SYO a few times, saw a JOK team out there somewhere, no other Brits. Got better at understanding Finnish language numbers as other folk “talked” control codes. Mighty relieved to get to last 4 controls where leg length was short, and I couldn’t go too far wrong; when it was starting to get slightly lighter and I could hear the comforting arena sounds. Great vantage point from 4th last control on promontory at top of high crag overlooking arena.

Into the changeover; so well organised; picked up Steve’s map and handed it over in exchange for his cag. Chat to Dixie, compare very similar wild stories, both mighty relieved and “satisfied” (I think). SYO 1 and SEDS going well up ahead. We were ahead of all GB teams we’d really hoped for although MW got in about 5 mins before me. Lost 7 positions – happy enough that Skotlanti 50 hanging in there in about 600th. Felt fine physically, but mentally shot to pieces. Tough to prepare for a race like this - not exactly like the DNC.

Very similar story from Steve on the “long night” - came in just behind Jason and FVO looking completely knackered. A few more places gained.

Went to bed for a while whilst Rob and Graham got the business done in sterling fashion through legs 4 and 5. Close race going on with FVO. Team up into the lower 300s at times. Then Donald put in another good stint whilst FVO dropped back. Team didn’t quite avoid the mass start at 09:10 (only about 200 teams did) so Jethro had the unenviable task of a mass start with 1300 others on the long last leg. A pretty wrecked Jethro returned 2+ hours later and closed the team out in 409th – ahead of all GB bar the elites of SEDs, SYO1 and the strong SYO2. Really immense effort to get around in that stuff.

What a competition, what a weekend. Great team effort – really sound all round. That's one to stick in the memory - thanks guys.

Good also to watch the race unfolding up front particularly during the first three legs with Nixon, DC and DougT holding off Jamie, Craney and Ollie to get up to 26th. Extremely impressive. Those midnight sessions at Birsemore, Balnagowan and Glen Dye in early June obviously did the business!

Next year?

C • wow 3

Doing the tourist bit with the team in Helsinki.

Pre-Jukola training near race site near Hyvinkaa.
Really challenging terrain - scared stiff if Jukola was to be like this. Fairly gently round 6 or 7 controls. All ok, apart from one where the green got too much.

Public races alongside World Cup.
Rather disappointing terrain after the mornings training area. Very straightforward with planning constarints necessitated by World Cup making it somewhat unsatisfactory. 2 or 3 very poor route choices but no significant misses.
Good to watch some of the World Cup racing.

5 am start to Helsinki.
Bit of fairly leisurely walking from our cabin, to he beach then round the fence perimeter with JT and then to find some nosh.

Nil time.

10 mins spinning
20 mins skate ski
20 mins S&C

Gym to myself.

Scotjos coaching at Balmedie - didn't exert myself in any way. Tired after the midnight headlamp testing at Crathes.

Hmm..shouldn't go lifting tile boxes.

Control hanging and coaching with Scotjos at Glen Dye. Lots of midges turned out too.

Night training at Crathes, Last minute fine tuning of kit etc :-)

Second race in the Deeside Forest Sprint Cup. Time approximate as brikke malfunctioned (or I did).

Good blow out chasing folk through and over the sharp brashings.

5 mins spinning warm up
S&C - usual weights session
10 x 60 secs/30 secs level 10/12 skate ski - good tough series.

Impromptu run from dc's flat. A gesture as far as getting used to running late at night.:-)

To Commonwealth Pool, up Arthurs Seat pretty direct, down to Holyrood, and then back over Radical Road. Nice evening.

Really enjoyable spin round Glen Dye. Should have been 2 minutes plus quicker. Overshot number 2.

Saunter in the rain round Hazlehead. No calf twinges.

Prudence. No lasting hangover from Scolty though.

Event: Scottish O League 4
 

Pre Sol

Clean 1-3 then got rather confused by the vegetation at 4.
5,6 ok and then drifted left at 7.
Misread contours at 8 and then stood at unmarked boulder at 9 for a bit.
Should have used local knowledge more from 9-10, instead took a daft route through the heather.
11 was slow and too high.
Tweaked my calf just before 11 so took it very carefully after that. Then banged my knee on the wall just before 14 and wombled my way back in.

No long term damage I think! No Jukola worries.

Good tough challenge and a bit disappointed to lose the plot a little from 8 onwards.

In the rain at Dess with K

After inter-area relays had a crack at the longest course.
Pretty clean. Nice that the bracken is still low. Beat IM by 5 secs and only lost out to MN, DT and DC by 7 mins.:-) Wish I could run that quick.

Putting out controls at Shooting Greens for forest sprint. Lovely evening.

Collectig controls. Thanks AT for the rest.

About 20 turned out. ...I suppose the DNC started small! Nice to get some very fast times from DT and DC. DT round in 17.52 for 2.7km.

With K at Cambus

Nice conditions at Cambus - dry and sunny. Started off just behind Dave S (-20s) and Derek C (-15s) and caught them too quickly and paid for it. Took it easy mid race and pushed on towards the end. OK time but 20s off PB of June last year.

Meal in Aberdeen last night so left the car at work and got a lift home.

Bike from home, road then along the railway from Crathes. Still mighty chilly first thing.

Spot of control site checking for Deeside Forest Sprint Series Race 1 at Shooting Greens.