Training Log Archive: ColmM

up with Kev

IOC Middle - 8th

Maybe I can say the quality of my bad races is improving, but this was bad.
Started alright through to 5, but I think I was maybe letting myself get away with the 5sec losses, and struggling a bit with the slightly rocky ground & lack of confidence in terrain.

Turned up to 6 and was feeling alright. Got pulled left by the other depression even though I knew it was funny, back in and correct - 20s.
Struggling a lot up to 7, and misread the rocks (there were a good few more than on the map - but I completely ignored the fact that I knew the green seemed funny relative to where I was going), and ended up way above the control. 1min lost.

After that I started battling a bit mentally, and was struggling some more with the climb. Lost time to 8.

Slightly scrappy on 10, but just struggling uphill, not losing time until the top.

Turned back down and got moving a bit better, but still not fluid navigation, and uncomfortable in the rocky ground.

Kept going down the hill alright - 5s on 13, 10s on 14, 10s on 15 (+ poor descent), 10s on 16, clean from here home (aside from 10s on 22), but just a bit ew, and not really moving well. Not enough heart.

Worst ever IOC result, far from worst performance, but sure howiye.
Really strong runs from most of the field - that is good, very good.

Need more middle work to catch up, but there is a lot of work to do. Not fluid at all, no nice plans, maybe a little cf would help too.
Mostly I need to get back into terrain.

Conor smashed it despite having mistakes. Respect.

warm down with Kev

2nd (almost identical) warm down with Laurence, Cillín and Jonny.
Some brief admiring of Conor's flow.

short jog around tramore to try and find my legs again. helpful.

Course 1 - Splits

Event: Irish Orienteering Championships
 

IOC Sprint - DSQ

Better course and area than I anticipated - very good actually, but it was offset by poor mapping, which maybe should have been anticipated more having seen the sample map.

Started alright, not the most fluid through the first section, but largely error-free. Made a questionable decision on 7 (see below).

Caught the fence control at 8 early, read the description and got it fine. Very unsure about my route to 9 resulted in some hesitancy, but ended up going back the way I had come to 8 (North). 9 was my second questionable decision (see below).

Missed the gap in the hedge to 10, so went down the steps.
Fine through the next section, but struggling to get up gears at all so far.
Coming into the spectator control, flipped the map, and felt like I figured out 17 quickly enough, but not the most fluid again, just hesitant.
18 was fine, wasn't expecting it above me, but saw it up there.

19 I spotted the hedge gap I'd missed to 10, so went for it and straight down the earth-bank into 19 (through the olive green). Starting to move a little better here.
Flew back up the earth-bank to 20, and read the crossable fence on 20 fine, so made the most of hopping it.
Just tried to keep working for the remainder of the course, it wasn't very hard. Took the right-hand route to the last control.

A race filled with a good bit of hesitance, and held-back a bit, certainly lacked flow, but generally error-free which is a positive but should be a given in this sort of sprint.

Mostly surprised my time was the quickest, lacked a bit of speed today I felt, and it wasn't the most clean.
I can't figure out whether to put that down to an improvement in my speed or a decline in the form of our sprint orienteers this year, most of whom have been injury-stricken.

Told Andrew that I had crossed the olive green when I realised after talking to Shea, should be DSQ. Didn't mind at the time, I was never very focused on sprint, but was initially told the olive green was dodgy so it wouldn't be DSQ. The whole process was made a bit of a mess of, when a protest went in I was always going to be disqualified which was fair because I had crossed the olive green, but naturally it was still a little disappointing.

Of course there may have been some grounds for some appeal against the decision as the olive green area was vague, I suppose proven by the sheer number that crossed it, and since they had said they would tape questionable uncrossables - but I do believe if you cross forbidden area you deserve to be DSQ, and if you can see it while stopped you should be able to see it while running.

The final results are the fair result, although probably a little annoying that not everybody who crossed the olive was DSQ, even if they were only for minor positions.



Questionable decisions

Made a number of questionable decisions during the race, not including the olive green. Going to note these as maybe I should think more about this in future.

Coming to 7 I made my first questionable decision. The control was on a path, in between two flower beds which wasn't marked on the map. On the map the two flowerbeds connected. I punched it coming in from one side, and went out the otherside. This was a risky decision, but it was (and is) hard to imagine anyone doing otherwise.

Second questionable decision: Into 9, didn't see any gap in the hedge on the map but didn't check properly enough. There was a gap coming from the north, so I took it without properly checking the map. On the way out of the control I checked properly and saw there was a very small gap on the map, so went back out that way.

12: reached in and punched it form the outside because the other side was taped, and they had said they'd tape dodgy uncrossable. Maybe a questionable decision, because (just on memory) I think this may have had uncrossable green too.

C • 12 5

Sprint Course 1 - Splits

on the pitches with Róisín. Pleasant.
Thesis done.

pre-UCDO Agm with Laurence.

A very capable team taking over next year.

8 * 200m, with 1min jog, on the pitches with lorrieq.
Good to get done, legs need some faster stuff.
Classic pre-race session.

33s-35s, with 32 to finish.

Easier week pre-IOC

Easy on the pitches again. with ruadhan and Daly.
No barefoot this time.

A little tired now, time to make the runs shorter.

another alright week done.
mileage below-par a few of these last few weeks, but acceptable given commitments.
looking forward to proper summer.

Solo on the pitches.
Mad into this barefoot business.

Easy with Corbett round Deer park.

barefoot on the pitches.
with some of the athletic club lads, up until about 45mins.
too nice a run.
Summer ☀

Bray Head hill race - 4th (unofficially)

Seem to have lost my number, so all my races are unofficial until that's resolved.
Started quick enough so as not to get blocked in. Moved alright up to the summit, but losing ground on Conor & James. Hit the cross about 40sec behind Conor, initially thought it was more like a 50sec - 1min.
Rallied on and started passing people along the trail beetween the two hills.
Caught James just after the second summit, up to 5th.
Moving well on the way back, felt I was gaining on Conor & Iosac, definitely gaining on 4th, and caught him leading back up the cross.

At the cross looks like I was maybe 25sec behind Conor again, so had gained a little but not loads.
took a wrong turn, as did most because it wasn't marked, came out onto the trail and Mikey Fry had caught back a lot because of that, and he whipped out just in front of me.
Passed him in the technical descent, and didn't have to worry on the road.

Probably slightly slower on the final descent than Conor.

Good race, happy enough with my run, and thoroughly enjoyable when you get weather like we did.
Still work to do on the climbs.

long wd with conor & James

Solo session.
6 * 1min on, 1min off, on the pitches.

Not overly in the mileage mood, so cut back a bit early.
This week will probably be a semi-down week.

Event: Leinster Orienteering Championships, Carrick Mountain
 

Leinster Champs - 2nd

Solid enough, but a bit scrappy in spots, and a little weaker at the end than I would have liked.

Started a bit slow, evident in the splits, but seemed a bit more respectable in my head, in reality maybe a bit too slow.
Fine through the first few, and felt I was climbing alright, however 2mins down to conor at 4.
Bad route to 7, mainly got stuck in the green and didn't find that ride. Although expected it to be a bit worse.
Solid enough to 8 & 9.
Dropped a lot on 10, a bit scrappy, quite wide, but can't fully justify a minute - not sure.
Silly route & a little scrappy physically to 11 - bad decision going straight affected a little by seeing James faffing on the road while I went to 9, and I wanted to avoid that, but the marsh was a bit brutal.

Fine through most of the next controls, small misses on 12, 16, 19, tried to push on a bit, and shows a little in splits, lacked a little oomph.
Still had the endurance for the end, but just not quite strong enough.
Don't think it was a big thing.

Generally, good race, happy enough.

Long-ish warm down with Rois, then Conor.

1 - Splits

Got out for a short one. Went for the bare minimum, and did a little extra.
Adding some to my map.

Laps over the viewing hills round the track - half with Davy

Intervarsity outdoor 10km - 6th

Jaysus, this was grueling.

One lad went from the gun. Felt really slow early on, so I went off on my own for a bit, then got reeled in, then started to suffer in the middle.
Lads went by me ~2km, gave me a little pull. Then by myself & battled with myself mentally (and a little physically) for a long time.

Was clock-watching the whole way for the last few km, mental mathsing, and did my best to try go sub-35 with a big finish - successful but only barely.

Another off the goals list ✔️

Watch the commentators rightly give me abuse here. Race starts 35:20ish, abuse starts probably about a kilometre in, maybe earlier.

Laps:
79, 81, 82, 83, 82,
81, 80, 81, 84, 84,
85, 86, 85, 85, 85,
86, 87, 86, 84, 85,
87, 86, 85, 83, 74.

kms:
3:22, 3:27, 3:21, 3:29, 3:35 (17:15)
3:33, 3:37, 3:33, 3:39, 3:19 (17:42)

Garmin got 10.73km - lol.

C • Quack quack quack 3

Long warm down in the park to get a bit.
Did part with David Scanlon. Good to chat again.

Jelly legs.

short & sweet

Lap of cmapus with Cillín, with a few relay for life laps thrown in here & there.

lap of campus, with 5 * 200ish on the remnants of the track.
dark enough that seeing the trails was a minor struggle, but lovely temperature.

Run round the gaff, mostly with Cillín. våt.

Event: Djouce Woods
 

Djouce local event.
Raced hard, and tried to treat it like a middle distance.
Started hard, and felt I was moving well. But started struggling from 7 on, as expected with the fast start.

Lost a bit on 3, deciding to stay a bit high and go left, but quickly decided the open wouldn't be very crossable, right decision in the moment, but then climbing up from the trail I was just a little scrappy - 20s.
Lost a bit of time to Ruairi descending in general it looks like, would explain 4 & 5 which felt good, no mistakes there.
Caught & passed Aonghus at 5, and was strong up to 6, decent to 7, but not quite as fluid as I'd like.
Struggled a lot on the straight climb to 8, based on Laurence's route, maybe around would have been better, or some in between.
Hesitant on 9 as I wasn't confident it was the right track, maybe 10-15s but not more.
Good to 10. Lost a bit on 11, just cut up too early, kept confident and moved along, but lost maybe 20s in shite that could have been avoided. Small hesitancy on 12, and rough final climb, but in general the rest was fine.

Decent run, but not exactly the trickiest, can't take it too seriously.
Was behind roar at 5 which surprised me after the hard start, but do think I lost time descending in and out of 4. May need to be looked at a bit, but ankle tape would give a lot more confidence to start.
Strength is good, but need a few more races and still some work to do.

C • Behind me 4

250m
w/ Róisín. Gives the legs that super fresh feeling.

Evening run with a summer-y feel, to hit the marker. Short shorts out, and breeze on the legs.

Long - Splits

Up & around first leg of glacier lakes.
Started with the pack, but was soon in 4th place which wasn't too bad.
tried to stay on St. Kevin's way when it met the road, but couldn't find it (does it exist?). So ended up going through marsh for a while there. Then when st. Kevin's way reappeared I went onto the road for a bit, and hopped into the terrain on the otherside. Was tempted by Tonlagee until the terrain started eating at me, so I just dropped down to the change over point.
Searched for James' shoe for a bit, and then headed back to the car via the road and st. kevin's way.

Just generally very enjoyable, and nice day out.

C • Kevin's way 5

Round campus and deer park with Corbett.
Threw a bit on at the end to get a bit of cushion.

meant to do more but caught up in verilog.

8 * 1min hill reps with UCDAC - just me & the 3 girls this evening.
Running alright, good to get back to a hardish session.
Maybe could have worked harder. Good though.

stiff & heavy-legged, but loosening out a bit.

fresher this evening.

supposed to be a mileage week after the last two "easy" weeks, but with all the racing, I'll take it as it comes I think.
Understandably, a bit tired today.

100 for club-100.
w/ lorrieq, pine forest - fairy castle, with loop in cruagh.
Very nice evening, timed perfectly to catch a v pretty sunset.

Colours - 5km
Showed up, and got going.
Chat at the start about various times, and I think a few of us agreed under 17 would be good, but maybe I misunderstood.

Sure, we got going and turned out me & Jonno from trinity were pretty similar. Mixed and matched the lead a good bit. At times I felt comfortable, but he made some moves which put a bit of pressure on too.
We kept it consistent though.

Heard one or two shouts of "you have him for speed, just hang in Jonno", which worried me a little - maybe he did have me for speed.

So, with about 800-900m to go, I made a pretty hard move. Tried to run it from distance and ramped it up a little every 200m or so.
Glad not to hear him on the home straight.
Opened up and took the W.
Turns out Jonno dropped out with 600 to go, but sure I wasn't to know.

Glad I finished hard enough cos jaysus I snuck under the 16:30.

16:29.7 - new PB.

Laps: 37, 78, 80, 78, 80, 81, 80, 80, 81, 81, 80, 76, 73
kms: 3.15, 3.23, 3.19, 3.25, 3.07
3km: 9:57

Some room for improvement based on the weekend, and other factors, but ain't no complaining. Good benchmark.

C • Goals 4

w/ lorrieq

In the words of Ammar Moussa "It could be any one of us that finishes where I finished, that's what makes this team special".

Intervarsity classic
Men's A - 1st
Was feeling off physically early on, tried to push on, instead of relaxing. Mentally a bit off, and a few bad misses. Pulled it together and better 2nd half, and despite still having some small misses, just scraped a victory.
9sec ahead of LQ.
16sec ahead of Corbett.
UCDO in good shape. 5 of top 6.
Don't really feel I deserved this the most/

Looking back:
Really good course. Not the trickiest area, but vague in places, and made the most of the area with plenty of scope for routechoice time-loss, which corbett & quinn suffered a bit.
Lost maybe 20s on 1, 15s on 5, 40s on 6, 15s on 9, and 20s on 26.
Other small things, mostly <10s.

C • Dope 2

Brown - Splits

Event: Irish Orienteering Student Championships, John F. Kennedy Arboretum / Kilmo
 

Intervarsity Sprint Relay - B class gold.

w/ corbett

Quick lap outside the golf course.