Training Log Archive: SarahD

From work through the field to H'head and back the usual route.
Green light from physio to do the 11-person relay ;-]

Along the track, below C+C, to the waterfall and back. Felt ok, but calf slightly achy after.

Shadowed E round the white course - jogging a little bit, then let him go towards the end. He'll soon be doing it on his own ;-}

Jogged along the track behind the house to test the calf out. Felt fine ;-}

Had a brisk walk round Crathes following E on his bike.

From home, round the loop by Belwade, then back on the railway. On my own so worked a bit harder.

On calf

Calf loads better - feel like I could almost run

E wanted to do the same as yesterday - so we did.

Back to basics session

More calf work

feeling much improved today

Had a really nice bike ride with E along the DW from the gliding strip to the middle of Aboyne and back. Good to get some fresh air.

Lots more calf work

on calf

Calf not good. Must have strained the muscle trying to run through the cramp. Physio tomorrow.

Right calf is very sore today. Suspect I was over-working it with the pain in my left ankle tendon (which I can't feel now). Ice, rest, stretching and massage needed.

GWC 25 miler. Ouch! Tough conditions into a strong headwind for most of the race. Set off steady and felt pretty comfortable until the top of the 2nd climb. It was really wild up there and I went through a rough patch and worryingly felt the first twinges of cramp (less than half way). In addition the tendon in my left inside ankle was giving me gyp. Just before the causeway I had to stop with cramp in my right quad and then the battle began. I kept running albeit slowly and was alright then until part way across the bog before the forest when I caught my foot, tripped and both legs seized completely, cramping everywhere. As I lay screaming on the ground I looked up to see Ben (66) in the distance skipping towards me fresh as a daisy. A kindly walker worried by my screams helped pick me up and get me on my way again. Ben soon caught me in the forest and kindly ran with me - the distraction of having someone to chat to helped a lot. We then ran together until near the road when Ben went ahead to make sure he didn't lose a place and I struggled on to the finish.
A painful experience with a pw by 22 mins but actually I was pretty chuffed just to finish and very pleased to be 1st lady (ok - not the strongest field in the world!).
Need to get the legs hardened up a bit better before I run any more races like this though.

Had planned a wee run today, but somehow it never happened.

Steady round H'head. Still feeling rubbish - hope I perk up a bit before Sat.

Back to H'head. Did 10 x 1' + 1' to try and get the legs moving a bit quicker. Felt very sluggish.

To and from H'head

Along the railway and up the track towards Mortlich but turned left and did a short loop of the woods before returning by the same track. Felt very lethargic.

Run round the woods after we got home.

Stopped overnight at Han sur Lesse. Took a while to find anywhere that looked good for a run but eventually stopped at Gendron further downstream on the Lesse. Ran out along the riverside which turned out to be tarmac for the first 3km and then a sticky clayey track, before turing back the same way. Tried to push the pace a bit to make it a bit more interesting.
Never seen so many incompetent kayakers as on this stretch of river - good business venture.

Oops - first stretching session this week.

Travelling north. Weather broke over night but dried up enough for a short walk up to some rocks on the hill above St Die.

Northern section of the Route de la Crete from the Lac Vert road to Col de Calvaire taking in the PP of Gazon de Faing. Took a bit of a wrong turn at one point so took rather longer than it should.

Went out on the lake again for another hour of paddling at E's suggestion.

Did a slightly whacky "Sentier a pied nus" at the Col de Calvaire which involved walking barefoot round a forest path designed to make you feel various different surfaces etc. Not sure E was too impressed - especially with the spiky bits.

Feeling tired so settled for walking today. Took in a couple more PPs (le Moutier des Fees and Pierre Des Quatre Commune near La Bresse) as well as some unusual rock formations.

Short swim in the afternoon.

Did something of a relay along the Route de la Crete with J. My running section was north from the col below Le Grand Ballon and took in the PPs of le Storkenkopf and le Lauchenkopf. Really nice run, never far from the road but through some lovely bits of woodland etc. Felt longer than it was.

Walked with J and E up le Grand Ballon then E and I met J on his run at the top of Rothenbachkopf and continued all together up le Rainkopf. Another 3 PPs and somewhere along the line I managed to convince E that he could start collecting points. Not sure if it was that or the jjelly babies that got him up his 4th hill of the day....

Early morning swim in the lake was perfect. Also enjoyed another splash after we got back in the afternoon.

With J and E on the lake. Out for a couple of hours. Weather not great but E enjoyed his first canoeing trip.

From the Lac de Lispach to La Bresse along the ridge taking in the PP at 1202 m. Nice run but in the forest most of the time so views were a bit limited.

Also a walk round the Lac de Lispach with E while J out running.

Travelled up to Gerardmer in the Vosges. Enjoyed a short splash in the lake after setting up camp.

WMOC long final. Bah - not my day. Started nervously but found the first few controls ok. Passed by a flying Anna Gornicka (2') after number 3. Didn't worry me too much but maybe made me fight a bit more than I should. Never really settled into the terrain. Small miss at 5 and a bigger one (1') at 9. Then not quite sure what happened going into 10 but can't have checked my direction and attacked off wrong path (2-3'). Then was fighting the forest too much and missed 1' at 12 too. Easily 5' wasted plus some poor routes.
Finished a disappointing 11th. 4th would have been easily achievable. Impressive time by Anna.

Snuck in a prominent peak on the way back with a short walk to the viewpoints above Laviron.

Some reflections on the WMOC week after a couple of glasses of vino:
+ve = technical orienteering in new territory for me; lucky with the race day weather; highly competitive fields
-ve = sprint qual download; long qual 1 bus queues; finish remote from assembly on all days except last; general lack of atmosphere; courses too short; planning unimaginative; extortionate Swiss prices ( just as well we're staying in France)

Touristing

Long qual 2 at Les Cernil. Wow - what an amazing area. Very uptight before the start knowing it was going to be really tricky. Took it really carefully and kept good map contact all the time. It worked and I had a virtually clean run to finish 2nd to Sabrina. Dead chuffed - just need to try and do the same on Friday now.
Feeling very tired after even though I seemed to be walking for a lot of it I was on edge throughout the race and it was physically tough.

C • Good luck 1

Didn't get such a good warm up spending a good while slowly working my way round the warm up area. Was feeling too uptight so focussed on relaxing instead. Warm down never really happened.

Long qual at Les Breuleux. Tricky. Took a while to settle and had a few hesitations early on. Then seemed to get into it well. Got a bit confused heading for 9 but caught myself and only missed ~30s. Can't have missed more than 2' in total but finished 4' down on Sabrina. Felt better running today (just sub 7' / km) and pretty pleased with the race.

Bit of an extra warm up to get away from E bugging me. Short warm down waiting for J to finish.

Model event at Le Prevoux. Forest well trenched by others and no difficulty in finding controls but terrain was quite vague and touchy feely. This is meant to be more like LQ2 and the final - going to be tricky. Chucking down with rain all day.

Sprint race final in Neuchatel. Finished 9th. Felt I ran this pretty well. A few little hesitations but pretty much got the right routes. Just wasn't fast enough on the day. Can't complain.

Good warm up, jog back from the finish and a glorious swim in the lake. Enjoyed relaxing by the lake side.