Training Log Archive: murraystraining

Leg loosener - Harrison Park.

Well. Interesting race. Thought I was going well, no calamities through the first 10. Deliberately slowed down in the tricky control pick but still wobbled - Schorah got back infront of me. good again after that until 18 where I missed it (not by much - tracking shows me go right to it) but then climbed too high. Over a minute binned there and Schorah ahead again. On my own through 20-22, really slowed down but got them right. noticed that I was on 74' at the radio - thought I heard HH was 77' so took that as a good sign.
Then it went really wrong.
I caught Ant going up the hill to 23. We were running along the wall so I thought I would just sit in and deal with an energy gel before starting the push for home. That was a bad move as I lost the place and didn't have a plan. Cue much headless chicken impersonating concluding with me finding #118, checking code, seeing I had it, punching and heading on to 24. Only problem: #118 was 24. Took me 100m to figure that out then backtracked and sorted it out. 4+mins binned. Fine from there to the finish, chasing Ant down again. 5th behind a great run from Doug, 5th overall as well.
Map no route (but with mud - we need map bags!)
Map with route
So what have we learnt? I'm still not precise enough in the technical stuff. But remarkably I am quick. Despite CaB being one of the roughest bits of forest around WinSplits has me as being "fastest without mistakes". How the hell did that happen? I've not stepped in terrain since January! I spend hours each week squashing tarmac! Eh?

C • sorry 2

Right glut really tightened up overnight so after a fair bit of stretching I pottered down the road to loosen it off. Right knee was pretty sore during the race, my guess is the tightness in the glut was pulling the knee out of alignment or something.

To start

I knew it was going to be tricky at the start. Everyone I talked to said it was vague or nebulous and had lost time. So I took care, checked off the veg boundaries and still binned over a minute on #1. Then I ran off without checking my my compass and found myself at three rather than two. Whoops. Janne would not have been impressed.
From two onwards I had a real "surrogate" Janne in the shape of Oli who punched just ahead of me. Since I knew where 3 was I surged ahead and from then on kept the pace fairly high and managed to keep Oli behind me. Apart from my knee hurting and a small wobble on 18 I really can't find fault with the rest of my race - I just need to sort my start out!
Map no route
Map with route

C • Oh man! 3

Jogging with Oli.

Shakeout round Harrison Park. Feeling good: it won't be my legs that stop me winning today.

A few controls on the Dedridge training map.

Clean race, easy running and forward planning. I'm getting the hang of this sprinting malarkey.
Map without Route
Map with route
Now, challenge for the rest of the weekend: orienteer as if you are showing Janne Salmi the way...

C • Whoop whoop! 1

Edinburgh Old town, a few controls just to get the systems sharpened up. I made some mistakes but they weren't my fault.

AZ on pause for a taper week (next target is way out west) so a trip back to the old school rugby run route.

Study break through the snow/hail to Burlington Street in Leith.

Home via the Ferry Road cycle path for some intervals: 7x 3/1. More of a tempo pace than flat out intervals but a good session to break a long day at the books up.

Recovery run round Burgess Terrace (off Dalkeith Road) and Burghtoft at the far end of Gilmerton. Pretty soggy by the end.