Training Log Archive: Bashman

WU
To the start, back to get descriptions, and to the start again.
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MAROC Redburn - Brown - 7.8km - 310m climb - 1st by 3.5mins.
One of the rare local open areas so quite good practice for the JK. People were coming back from their runs saying it was very fast because of the burnt areas of heather. It was fast but none of those people were on the brown so I sort of got my hopes up a bit much. Start was almost straight into the burnt stuff. Still pretty slow running though as all the stems remained and opposed running to an extent. Through 1 ok although a bit of an S.. Long leg to 2 which looked good. Used the track junction as a checkpoint and I thought I was going well but then I noticed I was a good 200m down the hill... Callum made this mistake too and it was a bit confusing. Wading through the unburnt heather which was energy sapping. Refocused into 3 and it was fine, 4 and 5 also no real problem. Lost a bit of time to 6 because it was quite slow going and I probably should've dropped into the depression.
Long leg up to 7 went well except I looked in the re-entrant before. Up to 8 felt horrible and I was barely running, trying to catch my dad and Ewan. 9 was dodgy too, ankle breaking stuff. Then came 10, probably the trickiest leg. I was focused on overtaking Ewan (my dad was already behind) and I could see he was hesitating short of the control. Swooped down, probably a bit too sharply and got the control just ahead. Down to 11 was easy although I banana'd a bit. Across to 12, bearing to 13 and I nailed it. Banana to 14 but it was round some shrubs so no real harm.
Really struggled climbing to 15. Not much of a hill but my legs were still dead from Friday. Found it, and heading down to 16 was good. Blister began to hurt around here which was slightly off-putting. 17 was quite cool, easu stuff all the way to the control but once I got there, it was awesome. Heather was all burnt away as well as the bottoms of the trees. Everything was black with soot except the bright orange control. Thought 18 would be horrible but managed ok in the burnt stuff.
Happy with my route to 19, although I might have descended too early because I found myself climbing a little bit up to the control. 20 was a bit like 17, would have made a great picture with all the soot and the kite. Easy to spot, and so was 21. Finished feeling pretty fresh but throwing another hill into it would have killed me.
Another 3.5km would have been fine today (JK Long) and -60m of climb sounds good too. Of course it's going to be a lot quicker and probably easier to an extent, although it depends on how evil the planner is. A good 3 and a half minutes ahead of Jon but still too close for comfort ;-).

http://www.marocscotland.org.uk/documents/results/... - Looking at splits: Lost time at 2 as expected, but half a minute on 10?! Maybe could have used the power line/lake as a cheat but decided on ignoring them on purpose for a bit of a challenge. Probably more hesitant than I thought I was. Good spree of fast splits at the end though.
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WD
Sore blister so left it at this. Had a long walk with Alfie from Muir of Dinnet above Loch Kinord and that was a good WD as any. Drove to and from the event too which was an added workout.

Easy
Not as long as I wanted to be out for but enjoyed it nonetheless. Up into Murtle Dam and explored a few more tracks there. Some unbelievable scenery, will need to take a camera up there some time. Plenty of wild animals around too. Cut up into an area I'd like to call Hillhead Moor which is good enough for an extension of the Kingshill map. Across the terrain and into Foggieton. Took a nice route through although it was getting dusky by now, and even colder. Got a bit lost in Bieldside exploring some new paths. Raced the 5min/km back down the hill home, topping 2:45/km at one point for a good while.

12 mins stretching,
Then 80 crunches, various bridges, 80 crunches.
Final stretches to finish off.

Well volume seems to be decreasing very well... not... Will try to take it more seriously from now on, although I am definitely going into more quality stuff at the moment.

Tempo WU
Plan was to do 1km warm up and then a tempo but I sort of went into a tempo pace straight away from the start. Quick descent from the school, along to the bridge through the park, and a long climb up to Scolty car park. Much more climb then downhill. Foot began to really hurt by the end and I wasn't sure why. Tried loosening the shoe but it still felt really tight. Took off my sock and it felt much better straight away. So did the rest of the session without both socks, risky but definitely better than wearing them.
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Hills
That was the plan, and not much more. I had already done a good 12mins of tempo so took that in consideration when wanting to total up to about 25mins of intense stuff today. So after doing an initial 45s rep, I decided on this:

6 x ( 45s [walk down = ~80s], 90s [60s] ) plus a one minute burst at the end.

A bit complicated but it made sense giving the circumstances. I didn't want to do the same hill over and over again and decided to instead slowly make my way up Scolty in a two steps forward - one step back type pattern.
Felt really powerful today on the hills and slowly made some progress up the valley path, up to the saddle, and up past the big rock. Got to the parallel top just as the 6th set finished (Final 90s was saddle to the top, good one to remember). Stuck in one final 60s rep to the tower from there. Good work today, would have been a good day for a hill race.
Splits pretty unimportant, path was so varied in incline and quality.
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Hill Sprints - 6 x 10s, walk down recovery
Felt I hadn't done anything extraordinarily fast today (although tough). So finished with some sprints up a pretty steep section.
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WD
Up the big stone path to the tower, down the north face pretty quickly. May have bruised my heal a tiny bit but it's fine now. Picked up my socks which I left at the bottom and ran back. Got a blister on the way down, my fault obviously, thankfully not a bad one though. So put one sock back on and hobbled back. Mostly descent so that explains the alright pace+ probably the cause of the blister. Good day's training.

Easy
Out with 2 friends from school into Hill of Banchory and back through the newly discovered trail. Very easy stuff, hardly built up a sweat. Just as well because I'm pretty sure that I'm still fighting off a cold.

6 x 20s, 1 every 70s, jog back recoveries.
Various effort patterns. Feeling pretty good.

Core/Conditioning/Stretching
Huge set in which I did just about everything, even stuck in some squats which haven't been done for a good while. Feeling pretty good although crumbling at the end.

Easy
Morning run into Bieldside along the new paths I found and into Foggieton. Back through Dalmunzie/Hillhead.

C • rest 5

WU
Mile block with Ewan
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Drills and Strides
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400, 1200, 800, 200 starting at 0, 3, 10, and 15 mins from the start
Fast session tonight and to be honest I'm not sure why I went. I guess it complimented Monday's Long and Slow intervals but today just felt too short....
Started the 400 and could tell already that it wasn't going to be fun. Relaxed behind Ewan the whole way, pretty sure we started off too fast. Finished it and felt fine and ready to go. But as soon as the 1200 started I felt pretty rough again. Was sure that everyone had gone off to quick so sat back a bit, first lap 75 and that's exactly where I wanted to be. Then sped up from then on and finished just behind speedy Ewan. 800 next and I felt like calling it a day, stomach just wasn't agreeing with it. First lap in 70, ah that's why...., so slowed right down only to sprint at the end ahead of Ewan. Then the last 200 was fine.
Hmm today was not the day for this. Legs not right after a rest day or morning run and everything felt too rough. Won't be going to such a short session anytime soon. Saying that I finished this and felt great all evening, confusing....

65, 3:44, 2:26, 29

WD
With Jordan

Felt like I needed a good 48 hours off running so rest day today. Could hardly get through this regular set. Stretching after.

WU
Up the road to the forest and then recce'd the two loops.
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Solo Trail/Terraintervals
No real structure to this but I knew what I wanted to achieve when I started. My aim was to do a loops at interval INTENSITY (i.e the pace was not important because it was on rough trails/in terrain).
Decided after the WU to do a loop of one side of the forest, and then a loop of the other. These were on or around 2 minutes so I gave myself a 90s walking recovery. Did 2 sets of 2 loops (backwards the second time) before I did 2 big loops of terrain, one in each patch of forest. This first section went well and my second set of trail loops were quicker than the first. Running in the terrain was brilliant, lots of bumps and branches to be mindful of but quite enjoyable, amazing forest too. The first terrainterval was good but got caught in some scratchy dense stuff in the second so the intensity couldn't be kept.
5 x 15s [30s] - [2:00] - 5 x 20s [40s] Sprints in terrain, got the legs turning and managed to get through without breaking any ankles.
Then did a final set of the orginial trail loops, ended with two fastest times and pretty exhausted.
Quite a complicated session but felt like a got a lot from it. Even felt stronger absorbing all the dips in the trails/terrain by the end than I did at the beginning. Might do another set like this next week.... Splits can be seen through the link.
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Recoveries
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WD
Through some more trails and back down to the school.
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Easy Core stuff, then 100 crunches and stretching.