Training Log Archive: Whitesheep

Cassiobury Park XC 10k - 5th
Good race in whippendell woods, which I've orienteered on but didn't recognise. There were quite a few short hills and one long drag, and the ground was pretty soggy in places.
We were told the race would start after a 1 minute silence but everyone decided they would go on the whistle to end the silence instead. So made a bit of a banter start to catch up. First k in the park was 3:36. After that it was into the woods and I managed to pick off a couple of guys before settling into my 5th place with biggish gaps in front and behind. Glad there was no sprint for the line as I was feeling it in my legs.
They have plotted it out on mapmyrun as the full 6.22 miles but it does feel like it may have been short. Maybe my garmin struggled with the twists and turns under the trees - will be interesting to compare routes.
37:46 would be a pb I think but this must have been a couple of minutes slow with the hills and terrain, and am I really in sub 36 shape on a flat road course? Guess we will find out in a couple of weeks at the bass belle 10 mile...

Event: SE Night Championships
 

SE night champs
Not my best. Found the area q tricky with lots of vague veg, small paths and depressions. So a few wobbles were inevitable, but I really lost time on 8-9-10. To 8 I should have been careful from the fence corner, there wasn't much to be gained by pushing. But that's what I did, missed the control, and in the end had to loop back round and do it again. 3 mins lost. Then lacked a bit of confidence, taking the safe route to 9 and running away from 10 when I didn't see the flag in the depression straight away.

lunchtime steady with some strides

Quite tired from the weekend. Always a bit tricky to know when that is just the right feeling and when to hold back, but since I am struggling to get up in the mornings I'm going for holding back this time. With a few races coming up I can call it a taper of sorts.