Training Log Archive: Cruachan

Woke early so decided to brave the chill (-2c plus more in wind); legs didnt appreciate either that or the 2 days in terrain. Through town to Lisle, down to sorting office, into Pocket and back along river, CH and home via Cromwell Rd. Left tendon and right hammy particularly tender and stiff/sore... will have to take it easy (or head to the Med for 2 weeks in the sun!).

Afternoon trot through golf course and kings on the LT path to Braham Farm (aka The Turkeys) and back. Lovely n sunny but cold with wind. Felt awful - knot in hammy needing shifting with Deep Heat before run n then just generally laboured. Struggled to keep with Dylan!

Warm up before and easy afterwards...

JK Relay at Hambleden: first leg on Men's Open: narrowly avoided the carnage at the start and tried to maintain contact with the leading pack; however the route to the first control put paid to that - straight up 90m of climb and just couldn't keep up. Made a few slight misses to 4, 5 and 9 also cost me time and more places - scrappy and imprecise again. Cleaner in second half, although still managed to get beaten by Dylan on 2 splits! Lovely to hand over to the boy and even better he had such a great run on Leg 2.

Interesting analysis: post-JK been reflecting on my apparent drop in performance over the last few years. I am sure it is partly fitness, but I suspect the simple lack of orienteering training/racing is more to blame. Since 2008, when I started using Attackpoint the hours I've spent in terrain/navigating etc has steadily declined from 36 (in 2009) to a mere 22 in 2012. Would you seriously expect to be competitive or achieving highly at soemthing with such little 'purposeful practice'? Can you imagine a musician performing well on the equivalent of 3.5 mins practice a day!?! On a positive note, I have spent over 12 hours orienteering in the first 3 months of 2013 so it's looking likely to be a bumper year.

An easy jog around the car parking... Leg felt ok so -

JK Day 3 (Cold Ash): Thigh felt ok yesterday evening so decided to come down and run around to enjoy the terrain and occasion; found out am running Leg 1 for Men's Open so that confirmed I would take it easy to give me some legs for mad burn up tomorrow. Very relaxed and took it steady - sort of comfortable training pace (i.e. 7.00 min miling on roads equivalent) with the aim focused on being accurate and running straight. Still made some errors (#4 and #6, where I lost a min). Took it straight to #8 though lost a few secs at end being too far right. Found the vegetation at #13 confusing and ended up by the track. All the way I was keeping myself nice and relaxed and enjoying the sensation of running again. Felt some stiffening in thigh after about 45 mins so made sure pace was gentle. Realised as I approached #18 that I was heading for a sub 70 (i had said to Sue i would be pleased with 90) and then blew 5 mins at #19 - faffing around in the green and confused by numerous rootstocks. Kept on thrashing there and was furious to find the knoll down the hill in white forest! Lost a little more time at #21. Jogged the last few and even chatted to folk up the run-up. Utterly amazed at time in relation to others. Perhaps we put too much pressure on ourselves when treating it as a serious race and make mistakes galore (or I am seriously fitter than thought). Legs still felt heavy afterwards but that's bound to be the case - no such thing as an easy run through terrain!

From car on Richmond Rd into Cam and back; managed to avoid the worst of the snow! Put in a few short jogs to test leg and although there was some discomfort/stiffness, there was no real pain. Will try a jog later and maybe a training hop on the course tomorrow if all ok today.

Event: JK 2013
 

Walked from car to assembly and around a bit then back afterwards. Generally ok whilst walking but even that was uncomfortable. Did a couple of short jogs trying new Inov8s on but thigh was sore doing that. No JK which continues my dismal record in that comp - still only one completion since 2005.

Still sore walking and breaking into a short jog was painful...

Painful...