Training Log Archive: Dooby

Weather was way worse today. Some tiredness in my legs.

IOC 2014 - Classic
Lough Firrib

I didn't have high expectations coming into this race results wise, I haven't classic training done, especially after how I felt the JK went, but was going to give it my best shot nonetheless.

Was surprised by the 1st control, didn't expect to leave the start in that direction, not that the start control could be seen from the start line! Passed lorrieq at 2 and then headed to 3, lost a few seconds. Then a big long leg. Plan was to run on a bearing until I hit the big re-entrant with the stream. Worked out ok, got the control cleanly enough. Met Boyzone here surprisingly.

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Edit: Remembered that there was something I forgot to mention that happened on the way to 4, fell and landed on my right hand. Hurt at the time but not enough to worry about, was only a slight throb, but got a lot worse afterwards, especially when it became swollen. Think my hand landed on a tuft of grass which spread the fingers.
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Another bearing to 5 and got lucky I reckon. 6 was fine too, some rock detail on this hill of bog. Then came my 2014 IOC classic disaster. Took a bearing, like I was for all controls. My routegadget has to be examined to see the debacle that followed for the next 25 or so minutes. Came back towards 6 and met Boyzone looking for it, I was still looking for 7. Reckoned I knew where I was so tried a different tack, find 8 and work back to 7. That didn't work either. Ended up off the map, twice!!! Got stuck in a few nasty bogs too which I was concerned about getting out of. Had no clue of where I was. Decided i'd take a bearing to escape the mountain and home, I really was fed up, another IOC Leinster disaster, no idea what mountain I was on, could have been back in Kerry mountains for all I knew, apart from they are nice, Leinster mountains are shit, fact.

On my random bearing towards Lough Firrib I ended up back near 6. So decided to give it another go to find 7 and then spotted Boyzone and Roar getting it, I was very pleased to see them. Chased after them to 8 and then towards 9. On the way to 10 Magic surfaced through the mist. Loads of unmapped stuff before 10, rock detail, why wasn't this mapped? Lads were confused too.

Leaving 10 I tried to run hard to stay behind Magic but lost sight of him in the mist. Followed my bearing and then found the lake, to my left, not right as it should have been. But at least with the lake I knew where I was. Still got 11 at the same time as Roar. Saw a lot of Roar between this control and 27. Got ahead of him through the next few controls, but then he'd catch up when I'd miss a control. Missed 12 by a small bit.

To 18 I went low to hit the cliffs lower down before climbing up. Met roar again here. Saw the lake again going to 19. To 22 i'd planned on not visiting the water station but ended up there so took a drink. Got ahead of Roar again here. Stayed ahead until 26. Fell in a big hole going down the hill, not a nice hole, and right hamstring cramped. Long leg to 27 I was with Roar but then he fell back, I was running away from him. That can't be right, i'm wrecked at this stage.

The planner was very cruel to us in the end, sending us down the hill before bringing us back up to 28, got it ok though. Missed 29, hit the last control before it!

And then to finish after a long long time on the mountain. It was the worst orienteering conditions I have every experienced. I have run in mist as thick as this in the past, but not on a map which was as random as this to run on. The map got covered in mud at times, so hard to read as a result, ink also wore off in some places with no idea what was in the circle for 24.

Was very happy to have finished in the end. Not so happy to discover I was in the lead at 6, but then again, I blew that lead in such spectacular fashion. That really was my only mistake of the day, got away with the rest of the course more or less apart from a few misses.

Cramped a small bit changing but nothing like what happened when I got out of the car back at the accommodation.

Results
Routegadget

C • company 3

Long 1 - Splits

Felt much better today than I did yesterday.

Warm-up for middle race. Legs feeling grand but weather not looking great. Was at the event early so was hoping it would improve as the day went on, it didn't.

IOC 2014 - Middle
Camaderry-Glenealo

Started ok, drifted a bit right to 1 but used the fence. The next few controls until 4 were grand, used the rocks to 4. But then bad direction leaving 4 to 5, went more east than southeast, lost 2 minutes here. Wasn't happy but still pushed. Approaching 6 I was a bit unsure but then remembered the control description change advertised at the start. That helped.

Tough uphill to 7 but got it fine. Based on splitsbrowser I was catching Focus at this point, gained back the time I lost on 5 between there and 8. But then 9 happened. Saw Colm Moran in front of me and what looked like a boulder. Colm was climbing up to it. Ran to the boulder but no control beyond it. At this point I didn't have a clue! Got stupidly confused and blindly ran around the place for a while with the mist having descended even more. That boulder wasn't mapped, thank you mapper. Decided that giving up was sensible since i'd no clue how to relocate, and race was over at this stage. Then met Colm who'd just got the control, thank you Colm.

After that I switched to cruise mode, no point in expending unnecessary energy. 11 was tough. Lots of ups and downs to 12, and approached 13 from below. At 14 I saw Conor and then at 15 I saw Magic. WTF. Didn't expect to see them around here. Upped the pace with the company up the hill to the finish.

Very surprised with the result, just shows the randomness of the race, and the map! My aim again was very simple today, WIN. But again I failed in that goal. I really should have done better and could have had better direction to 5 and climbed more to 9, sticking to my bearing.

Anyways, another race tomorrow.

Results
Routegadget

Short warm-down reflecting on another shite IOC race.

Middle 1 - Splits

Event: Irish Orienteering Championships (4 days)
 

Warming up for the sprint, been a long day getting this far. Some laps of the field. My HR data doesn't seem right, I would've been warming up slowly. Not feeling 100% this evening though.

Anyone ever figure out what sort of pitch was marked out on the grass?

IOC 2014 - Sprint
NUI Maynooth

I'd a simple goal for this race, WIN. And I didn't achieve it so as a result I was pissed off afterwards with myself. The fact that I got beaten by 2 seconds and lost them on the run-in is irrelevant, I lost this race due to a lack of focus in the middle of the race and not reading my control descriptions. I had a 16 second lead at 8 and an 18 second lead at 16.

Race started ok and wasn't sure how I was running, getting the controls mostly ok, and seems was faster than the others at this point. Took a while getting used to the buildings and the layout, on more than one occasion I was confused by where I was and hoped it was the right direction I was going in. Was happy with the controls around the middle of the race but then lost focus, got distracted in my head before the spectator control, my own fault. Didn't help that I fell at the spectator, but i'm still to see any photographic evidence of this mishap.

After that I tried to run hard but was tiring, then didn't read my descriptions to 19, and lost 14 seconds plus the race.

So disappointed with my own race, but very close at the top which is a positive sign for Irish Sprint Orienteering.

Results

Few laps of the field after the sprint, on my own for a bit and then with some company. Not feeling too happy with myself.

Sprint 1 - Splits

Car packed for IOC. Heading home to Cork this evening for a birthday party and will head up from there tomorrow morning to Maynooth. Must think of an idea of what to do for the afternoon, gotta be something worth seeing in Kildare to pass the time. Will head around 10, have some lunch when I get to wherever, and then dinner at around 4.30. Then head to NUIM.

C • Kildare 7

I have now entered pre-IOC rest phase! Legs feeling grand after the few days training last weekend, so with the rest they'll be ready to run come Friday evening.

Plan is to drop my bike in for a service later. Get the gears tuned and cables/brakes checked out.

Saw a group from Killarney Cycling Club out last night. Think i'll email them to see about joining and/or what sort of training they offer. Their new cycling gear is an improvement on the old jersey which had a lot of pink going on, new one is more black, so that's one barrier to joining them broken.

C • But..... 2

Ankle tape order arrived, 15 boxes. I last ordered tape at the end of March 2013, so got through 14.5 boxes of Leukotape in 13 months!

I've also contacted a new cycling club to see what they have to offer me.

Ross Island

Nice handy run on a fantastic evening. Killarney looking at its best. Sun shining and nice views of the lakes and mountains. Ross Island is a nice place to run. Stuck to the smaller paths mainly along by the lake. Got rough at times.

Legs feeling ok.

Some fallen trees on the paths but nothing that wasn't bypassable or duckable.

Now just rest before IOC.

At least today I can write more positive than I did a year ago. The countdown is on to IOC 2014. Will be resting later in the week, taking a couple of days off and the plan is to travel to Maynooth from Cork on Friday morning. Have training maps printed, was thinking of using them today or tomorrow but decided i'll skip that now. Main reason I don't want to go orienteering is that I'm feeling lazy about taping my ankles. I've run the last 3 days and don't want to run again today, weather is nice so definitely going with the bike. That leaves tomorrow as my last session pre-IOC, going with bike idea but might change my mind and go orienteering instead. Orienteering would only be Ross Castle, just to train with a map and direction changes.

Monday - Cycling
Tuesday - Bike (indoors or out depends on the weather)
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Rest
Friday - IOC Sprint
Saturday - IOC Middle
Sunday - IOC Classic

Got a phone call from Ed Murphy last night, was I interested in National League. 1st round is on in May, the 18th, so only thing on that day is Munster League in Tramore. Haven't run a track race in a long time, Goal Mile at Christmas doesn't count. I said I was interested! Not sure what distance i'll be racing if I go. The team is a Ríocht/Gneeveguilla mix.

Glenflesk/Barraduff

Lovely evening for cycling. Tried out my new An Post gear for this spin, nice, although the white ends of the shorts look a bit weird to me anyways.

Flags were blowing in Killarney so was concerned about wind but can't say that it upset me too much out cycling.

Level crossing was down in Minish so cruised in to it but train passed and barriers went up as I was passing the cars that were stopped so no need to stop myself.

Disappointed with the spin now. Put a decent effort into Glenflesk-Barraduff section, tried for a KOM for the strava segment and missed out by 1 second, balls, same avg speed. Gutted. To be fair the lad who has the KOM wasn't going solo! Although avg HR was only 163 so there's more that could be given but wind that was there was probably at my back.

Plenty of signs up around Glenflesk and Barraduff for a World Record attempt at Wellie walking/running.

Took it easy then coming back from Barraduff to recover. Legs felt tired in Barraduff after the effort.

Decided to stop at the Little Bike Shop going back through Woodlawn, get my bike serviced. So will drop it in later in the week.

A red squirrel crossed the road into Bluepool at the middle track. Happy to see red squirrels running around the place. Met a fox on Sunday on Crohane Lake, he/she was up pretty high too, good distance from civilisation.