Training Log Archive: Bashman

The transition begins

WU
Short one.
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SHI Relays - 1st Leg - 5th

A tough one, and probably the most XC-like orienteering event I've ever run. Began navigating at about half way when it had spread out a bit. Little wobbles to check controls even though I knew they weren't mine and was 99% I was left/right of my one. Ran with Halden for most of the first half and then dropped him when he completely messed one up. Maybe breathing to hard (he was taking about 2 breaths/step. Anyway good nav on the spot and a better physical shape than I expected after two days of racing already resulted in a pretty decent result. Got my own back on Aidan and beat him by a good 2 minutes. Won the SHIs Relay, 3rd in the event, and Scotland won. Job done and season officially over.
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WD
With Alex and Chris.
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WU
Good one at the start next to the Queen's hoos.
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SHI Individual / Balmoral SOL - 2nd, 5min behind Aidan

And he definitely deserved it today. I was drained on the hills from the start and O was good, but not good enough. Caught quite a few guys including 2 Welsh and 2 Irish in the first loop, Adam, Irish 3 and Josh <- who stuck to me till the end which was good fun. Was 10th last starter and 3rd finisher :) . Lots of work to be done to narrow that gap known as Delta-Aidan in the Long discipline.
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WD
Start and back after a long gap.
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Event: JOK Chasing Sprint
 

"WU"
2km walk up the hill to assembly was all I really needed. Ran out of time so just did some strides.
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JOK Chasing Sprint - Prologue - 19th, 5.5mins of D.Hubmann

Was always going to be a bit of a steady WU before tomorrow, but I ended up blasting it out the start. Slipped picking up my map which Tam thought was hilarious and then swerved too far left to 1. No biggie, quick adjustment and then off towards 2. Seemed to take ages but got it after only a small hesitation. Contoured over to 3 but then I realised it was actually 20 lower than 2, -20s.... Good to 4 though, avoiding the worst bracken and finding it easily.
Out to the path at 5 and had a bit of a break. Hesitated before the control and then missed it too, as lots of people did. Died going up to 6, killer of a leg but hit it well. Then over to 7, a slight banana in the wrong direction. Nice to 8 and 9 but then huge banana to 10. Pushed quite hard to 11 and 12, finishing fast.

Time losses on the first few were bigger than expected but I still ended up in a nice group of people on the results. GG and Jegor 4 and 6s behind, James 9s in front, Andrew and Murray 30s in front, and Oleg and Ralph about a minute ahead. The chase was going to be fun.

http://www.jok.org.uk/system/files/prologuesplits.... - splits
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WU
To the toilet and back which was a bit of a trek. Running a bit late so had to push it up the hill. A little bit more tired than I would have liked on the start line. Gave Ralph, or should I say Jonny (took his entry), some trash talk which seemed to work.
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JOK Chasing Sprint - Final Chase - 14th overall, 13th on course - 4 mins down on M.Hubmann

Oleg and Ralph 1 min ahead, Murray and Andrew 30s ahead, Jegor 6s behind, Raffael Hubber 20s behind.

Very quick of the start line with 3 tasks in mind. 1, catch Andrew, 2, Beat Andrew, 3, Beat Oleg if possible. So I rushed off after Andrew pretty much full pace. Almost messed up 1 as I wasn't guided in as I expected but quickly relocated and pulled a good race face as GG took some pictures. Didn't even see Jegor just behind me and smashed it up the hill. Surprised to suddenly see Ralph just ahead (apparently went over his ankle) but he was getting away. On the plus side he was pushing me on to slowly catch Andrew and Murray. Noticed the three of them swerve left entering the circle so I took a nicer line and punched the control just behind them both and ahead of Ralph. Also just behind Oleg who messed this up pretty badly. The train had formed.

Murray pulled away and the 4 of us were left to chase. Small hesitation before 3 looking at 8 without realising but corrected soon enough. Nice to 4, just behind Oleg still. At this point saw Raffael, Swiss elite and he joined the train to 5. Let Oleg and Ralph do most of the nav but I did notice were were too far right to 6. They went off too far right to 7 as well and I got a small gap by taking my own line, very proud of that. This allowed me and Ralph to pull away up the mental climb to 8. Ran just on Ralph's tail to 8 before pipping in front of him into the control. Side by side most of the way to 9. But then we both hesitated when we both realised we weren't sure what spur we were on. Saw Raffael and chased him, think Ralph went the wrong way here, then eased off anyway.

Murray had missed 9 badly so me and Raffael pulled away. Took a very bad line up a crag with lots of water running down it and Raffael pulled away a little bit. Oleg also caught up a bit. But gunned it to 11 and opened up a gap. Raffael beat me, then Oleg not far behind, Andrew, Ralph and Murray behind him.

Proud of that although it's a shame that most elites probably weren't going all out. Would hope that Ralph was going full pace for at least the middle section, and reckon most of the others in our train were going quite hard too. Very pleased to have beaten Oleg. Always a win although he's still a bit ill and coming back from a few weeks of rest. Awesome experience in with some rapid elites, great relay/middle simulation, and brilliant fun. Be ashamed if you missed this, an opportunity like this doesn't come round very often at all.

http://www.jok.org.uk/chasing_sprint/2014/results/ - overall
http://www.jok.org.uk/system/files/chasesplits.htm... - splits, beat Daniel.H to number 2, claim to fame

Straight into it today
Forgot the order but:
Threading the needle
Inch worm to hip drop
Push ups
Pull ups 4x5
SL Bridge - 2x6+6 working glutes then hams
Seated Jumps - 2x6+6 then another 6 double
Measured my max jump with a jump plate - 21.8 inches
4 x 5 DL - (40, 50, 55, 60kg) technique crumbling on 60
4 x 5 BP - (40, 40, 42.5, 45kg) had to get mark to save me on 45
Bulgarian squats
Press ups
Core circuit
Stretching
Dead. But getting noticeably stronger.

WU
Down to the meadows. Feeling good and running well, ready to pump out a mini sesh.
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Drills
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Solo Intervals - 1km [90s] 0.5km [60s] (5, 10, 15, 15, 10, 5)s, 1 every ~40s

Just a quick sesh to set me up for the weekend. It worked for JEC so was hoping it would work again. Did the 1km relatively hard, hams were burning from this morning and yesterday. Then had a reduced recovery from 2 mins just to test myself. 500m again, relatively hard at pretty much the same pace as the 1km. Sprints were good, felt very strong. Bring in the upcoming 4 races in 3 days with some tough competition (JOK chasing sprint tomorrow with some world class stars, then SHIs).

Splits - 3:09, 1:33 - much faster than pre JEC at what felt like a similar, comfortably hard intensity :)
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WD
Still pretty fresh, not much warming down involved, but felt easy.

"7 Hills of Holyrood"
A little bit dead this morning and this took quite some effort. Did the 7 in height order so Dunsapie, Crags, Whinnie x 2 and then the 3 at the top. Some good steep climbs in there and really feeling them by the end. Beautiful weather and scenery, took a few minutes at the very top to observe. That's all for today I think.
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C • Holyrood 2

A few hours of tennis this PM and nothing else. Easing down to the final comp of the season anyway so no worries. Big Mosque Curry to cheer me up.

WU - drills and bike
Core
Seated jumps and lunge jumps
3 x 8 OH squats on 10kg, find these really tough but apparently technique is bang on
4 x 5 BS getting into 55, should be higher but apparently, again, good technique
Lots or rolling and stretching to finish.
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WU
Big loop of Pathhead. Heels both very sore probably from standing up for so long painting a fence and lungs got very cold. Eased off once I started the o.
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Sprint-O/Intervals - (Tempo/Strides/Tempo)

Great session thought up by Oleg. First, a 2km sprint loop starting at his house and ending at a field, taking it steady. Then 10 x football pitch strides with minimal recovery, usually 20s stride with 10s recovery. Not all out just to get the lactate up, which definitely happened. Then final sprint loop after a very short recovery with the aim of keeping my head under anaerobic conditions.
First loop went well except for one point where I thought I went OOB by jumping a fence, turned out to be fine. Final loop felt unsurprisingly tougher and only lost my head once by running past a control, lost in thought of how well I was doing. Also missed route choice at the end. Really good session, enjoyed it a lot, and also a nice new sprint map.
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WD
Perhaps a bit quick but felt alright.
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Full Rest, not feeling tired but not wanting to hit the wall at any point this week either.

WU
Quite a short one again, running a little bit late, round and up to the castle plus drills.
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Race the Castles - Stirling Castle - WRE Men's Elite - 4.3km opt. - 140m climb - 20th, 2:46 down

Brilliant start scene. Just outside Stirling Castle front entrance which had broken through the early morning mist. Hazy sunshine and awesome views of the clouds below and hills in the distance. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling anywhere near as good as the weather was after 4 hours of sleep and a 6:20 get up. Sort of assumed a bad race was coming up and relaxed a bit because of this.

Headed of the start line after slipping a good metre backwards trying to take my first step. Into the castle and I could hardly make out the map, eyes couldn't focus on it. So I headed up through the first two gates, looked left, ah first control - nice surprise. Nailed it and knew exactly where to go for 2. Unfortunately didn't see the cheeky ride the wall to three and instead blew 35s nearly running directly into a dead end, as many others did. Back round and I was raging, but cheered up a bit as I hit 4 well and saw Hector, obviously more than a minute behind (he started 1 min behind) going to 3 as I was heading to 5. Had seen the tunnel already so knew where I was going. Quick dip into 6, knowing that Ross was probably giving us such an easy leg just to prepare for the hardest control of the course: 7. The thing that threw most was the non-obvious multi level mayhem that wasn't too clear on the map. I was expecting a straightforward in and out but quickly realised when I saw the upper level. So ended up nailing it.

Out of the castle slipping about everywhere and through 2 easy controls, again, expecting something mean coming up. 11 was the result and I feel like I only did well on it because I planned ahead and was confident on my route. Even though I didn't take the quicker high way, I hardly lost any time by running along the bottom and up. Good to 12 and 13 and I was clearly catching my 1 and 2 minute men. Latvia and Ireland. Second long leg and again, confident with my route, even though it wasn't the fastest. Caught the two guys as we were heading into the graveyard and only 15s off the best on a 3.5minute running leg. Battled the two guys down to 15 but we all made the mistake of not seeing the multi levels again. Lost 15s fannying. Down to spectator, pretty much ice-skating and 17, racing the Irish. Began to drop them on the final few cool in-out controls and finally the run in. Small hesitation thinking the Si air hadn't registered the last control but made for it by diving across the line since there wasn't any punch and instead some sort of Si-Air gate.

Much happier with my performance today compared to yesterday. This is weird though since I felt much less focussed, very tired and a lot less physically prepared than yesterday. Another race which shows the direct relationship of relaxation and performance. Something to work on over winter I think, and think about a lot. Ended up beating a few good names including last year's WOC champ and Oleg by multiple minutes (don't think the night before was as nice on him as it was for me). It's a very tempting thought to think where I could have been if the ~minute of mistakes-I-don't-normally-make was taken off....

http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d...

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Sunset Run
Was planning on a light match of tennis with a friend but that didn't happen. Got tempted by the crags when I saw the sunset slowly climbing them and ended up "racing" the sunset edge to the top with my phone as a camera. Spent a few minutes watching/taking photos and then headed down and back along Pleasance. Not too tired but think all I'll do tomorrow is some tennis.

C • we saw you 4

Event: Race the Castles
 

WU
Short one - to the start a drills. Running a bit late. Unfocused.
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Race the Castles - Edinburgh Castle - WRE Men's Elite - 4.5km optimum - 34th - 3.5 mins down

Off the start completely unfocused and excited at the same time. Bagpipes playing me out. Already a small hesitation at 1, certain that we can't possibly be going down that alley... Quickly realised we could, punched (it was actually SI air but I only started using the advantages of it at the end.....) and shot off in the wrong direction to 2. Binned a few hours searching for two and at this point, I knew I had cocked up. Annoyed, I trudged round 3 and 4, going the crap way to 4, and on to 5, 6 and 7 quite cleanly but slowly.

Already dead by 8, and we hadn't even climbed the vertical km of steps up from Grassmarket. Legs jellidified and I slid slowly down the slope to 9. Went round 10, 11 and 12 at an ok pace but I was feeling so spent. Back down the slope once again and began to catch Calum. Into spectator and a sudden moment of shear rage caused me to backslap the control firmly flat on the ground.https://picasaweb.google.com/108744356399445848928...

Overtook Calum and actually did some OK orienteering towards the end. Caught up with Andrew which I found hilarious and completely tanked the finish to beat him to the line. Was winning out of 6 when I finished so I had a nice seat in the winner's chair as the last 15 starters lined up in front of me for a presentation. Soon kicked off though and I spent the next 4 hours doing a spot of control setting, watching and collecting. Saw a few friends though and that cheered me up. Thank god it was a nice day.

I guess I should be a bit more positive though. I got a good workout from all the stairs and hills. It was nice having such a big event on home soil. And I made a few good decisions.

http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d...
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WD/RageDown
Round the seat with Paul. We both wanted to get a bit more in today, the only difference is that he had already done a 60 mile cycle! Chatting the whole way, really easy run to get the speed up somehow. Felt better by the end.

C • After short races 3

WU
With Will and Mikey to the fun.
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Multi Level Mayhem - Edinburgh Edition - i.e Race the Castles Prologue - MOPEN - 2.1km - 14th

Was always going to be quite a relaxed race (physically). Out the start quite cleanly and was rewarded by taking Will and Jack by 1 and 2 mins by number 3. It was mayhem. A few easy legs, one messed up, and then Will caught up as his torch went out. He stuck to me like glue after this. We went pretty well until 18 where we binned 2 minutes by finding 2 dead ends and swearing a lot. Eventually nailed it back and he got me on the run in, ensuring me a 1s victory over Mikey. Lots of fun and a brilliant new little area. Respect to Purkylurky for beating multiple world class athletes.

http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d...
http://www.soa.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#41 - Course 1
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WD
Crawl back with Will and Mikey. Followed by a demon curry.
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