Training Log Archive: Dooby

IOC Relays, Magilligan

After yesterdays results it meant that I was only good enough for the 2nd CorkO team. I was chosen to run 1st leg. Didn't have a good nights sleep, my left knee was really painful and kept me awake until after 1am. Not sure what the problem was but could have been a reaction to something that I ran through during the classic.

I didn't have the best of warm-ups but felt relaxed on the start line. Lad doing count down wasn't the best, wasn't able to give an accurate idea of how long till 10am!

Route to 1 was straight forward, left of the hill with the start triangle and then used the earth walls as a guide into the control. Long running leg to 2, very easy, and at this stage I was out in front with Boyzone just behind. Again another long leg to 3, was a bit unsure of the crossing point until very close, couldn't see it. Boyzone and Seamus went lower to their 4th, on a different gaffle, but mine was higher. Again I was leading at the crossing point to 5. The gaffles were very different for the next 3 controls, and then back into the only somewhat technical area for 10 and 11. Still in the lead at the crossing point to 11. After that my course had longer gaffles so fell behind Boyzone and Seamus. 16 was a bit vague and then my calf started hurting. 17 was easy and so was the last control.

I handed over in 3rd place so very pleased with that and generally the speed I ran at. The only dissappointing thing was that my calf didn't last. Off to physio again...

Garmin says I covered 5.92km and 85m climb.

Need sleep, shattered.

Too tired to write up my IOC runs, just about downloaded from Garmin and will export .gpx file in case routegadget is up tomorrow and I can upload my routes then.

Plan for this week is rest or might go for short spin on the bike tomorrow, followed by physio whenever I can get an appointment.

Must consider wheter to do Dingle Challenge next Saturday and also get my application in for time off from work for June/July orienteering trip.

I must be happy with weekend even though position wise I didn't achieve as high as i'd have liked, but speed wise i'm not that far off the pace, so if i'd been able to train properly for last 2 months then I could only have done better. I also orienteered better than what i'd been doing recently, so another positive.

IOC, Classic, Magilligan

Felt good at the start line, had an idea what way to go to the 1st since I saw Bill start. Picked up the map and went, but didn't hit 1 spot on, was standing right next to it but it was hard to see. 2 and 3 were fine, and lost a small bit of time at 4, too far left, thought I might have run too far but worked out ok. 5 was easy, run to fence, cross over and follow it along. Went out onto beach to 6 and cut back in early, and knew where I was. On the long leg to 8 I ran hard but ended up too far north, so lost some time. 9-11 were again easy. Took the easy option on the long leg to 12, back the route to 7 then in off a re-entrant. Felt tired at the water station and took my energy gel before the water, then across the road to find a big pond blocking my route to 13. Didn't run as fast as I would like here. 14 as easy and the long leg to 15 was easier again. Made a mistake to 16, ended up in the big depression to the right of the one I wanted to be in but thought I was right, relocated and then got it, lost most time at this control. The rest of the course was straight forward.

10th overall. I'm happy with the time I ran rather than the position, would have obviously have liked to have been higher, but time behind winner is much better than last year.

Garmin says I covered 14.83km.

Warm-up

Mixture of jogging, walking and stretching.

Warm down.

Walked a bit of road back to assembly/parking and then jogged the last bit. Went back with Colm Rothery.

Event: Irish Orienteering Championships
 

Warm-up

Included jogging and stretching, not all captured on GPS. Blood sugar was low before the start so that caused a bit of trouble to sort out, so stomach was a bit fuller than i'd have liked starting.

IOC Sprint, University of Coleraine.

Had first 2 controls figured out before the start! After that it was a very sloppy run, lots of trouble in the circle. Ran hard and caught Magic but saw him early and should have been up with him sooner. Then when I caught him I made small mistake after small mistake, then made a right mess of the last control.

Lessons to be learnt would include knowing what you are looking for, didn't concentrate too much on control description which proved to be fatal.

Finished 7th, but close to 3rd, so could easily have done much better by being a bit cleaner. But that being said a lot of mistakes were made this evening.

Garmin says I covered 3.77km.

All ready for the trip now, car packed and leaving work for Donegal in less than an hour. Better use my remaining time here to charge my Garmin for tomorrow, should have done it earlier!

Gear packed for IOC, well almost.

Plan is to leave work tomorrow at 4 and head for Stranorlar, hotel booked there for the night. Small lie in Friday morning before heading for NI, first stop Giants Causeway to be a tourist for the morning/afternoon.

Physio this evening. She worked on both legs and calf has improved a lot and is fixed. Need to stretch my hip flexors, bit on the tight side.

Rest now until Friday. Have hotel booked in Donegal for Thursday night so all set for travelling.

Tralee-Farranfore-Castlemaine-Tralee

Not the most enjoyable of evenings for a couple of reasons, tired and windy. Set off at a steady enough pace as body felt tired. Had some wind behind me on road to Farranfore so that made the first part easy enough, but wicked headind on the downhill by climbing lane. Road from Farranfore to Castlemaine was into a headwind all the way and then a crosswind out from Castlemaine. Did not enjoy these sections at all. Up the hill was good, fast tempo in a low gear, but then the descent was awful, cold and slow. Blood sugar was low when I finished so that didn't help matters.

On the big roads I covered 40.46km at an avg speed of 27.7kph. One interesting state is climb today was 374 but was 412 last week, Thursday!