Training Log Archive: rcro

Shorter day on the Downs. Legs weren’t really up to anything and with paths muddy and overgrown made for a fairly slow day. Overcast and windy but still warm and humid.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5536814135

Earlyish run around Whitbourne whilst relatively cool, dry and overcast. Sticking mostly to road after overnight rain.

Started over to the hall and did a fair bit of trespassing and ignoring all the new signs saying private. Would have done more but found some Evanses I don’t know setting up for the “summer fayre” where the old drive crosses the brook and thought it better if I took the footpath instead - but they didn’t appear to mind anyway.

Did a bit of nosing around the Sapey Bridge and what’s left of the Wheatsheaf, checked on the graveyards and put in a single effort along Boat River (reduced grip) to match my PB. Loop around thd block to finish. Was looking forward to the novelty of being passed by a car that wasn’t an E type Jag but it didn’t happen. Stopped short as bumped into some people and not worth restarting.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5530645547

Parked at Stanford Bishop church to do a road link between Paunton and Linley Green, starting with the hillier side.

Very little out and about - no cars at all for 6k, just me, the birds, the snails, and unusually, one squirrel - but that was getting a lot of attention from above and appeared to be lunch. Quite hard to miss all the snails coming back up the hill -maybe unlucky to pick such a busy day to cross the road.

Second half was faster and helped by the wind behind me going out. Coming back was against the wind and sun had come on strong - and felt I had to work quite hard.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5526546813

Side of Cleeve Hill MapRun, starting from Woodmancote. As ever, not going in super seriously but looked at map and realised it should come in at under 10k so set about getting them all. A couple of tracks being Xed off meant some sites were awkward and needed clever planning to string up a good route - and to commit to getting them all from the start as it wouldn’t be easy to go back for one later.

S-1-3-2-23-10-21-17-5-8-26-13-19-11-15-27-9-25-12-7-24-29-16-4-28-30-20-14-18-22-6-F. 600 points and back more than 9 minutes earlier.

Started out with loop to north as felt it would be easier to fit into a route now rather than at the end, and would allow for a fast downhill finish. Quite a lot of climb and paths not quite as I expected so questioning the wisdom a little, but I wasn’t far behind 10pts/min after 3.

Along way to 23 worked out the plan for 19 and 15 - to get both of these efficiently I needed to run pretty much past the start again to do a loop before I got to them - makes the plot look fairly silly with so much zigzagging.

Road to 19 was busy, but definitely faster than the footpath after which was dense nettles. Would have been quicker to double back and stay on tarmac. Getting to 27 again footpath was quite hidden and not exactly as I expected.

Starting to climb now and was pretty slow and walking more than I used to around 25, and unspectacular heading up the main road. Better along the top and from then was downhill road and able to pick some speed up heading in to finish.

Another big win - nobody else committed to getting all of them, and I don’t think managed to optimise their routes so well as similar ballpark on elevation and only slightly shorter distance than me.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5523145853

http://p.fne.com.au/rg/cgi-bin/SelectResultFileFor...

Needed to be at the track for officiating from 5 so had to slot the run in at lunch. Relatively steady to the Ridgeway and back. Pretty warm though. Legs quite tired compared to yesterday.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5515965778

Got to the track and learned I was down to lead my event - which was a not unpleasant experience. Everything seemed to go well and competitors behaved. Found out afterwards that one of my judges is the president of WA as she was very enthusiastic about supporting new officials. Also had a track judge come up to me and tell me they hoped I was down to do Yate on Sunday (which I'm not) - as I said before, the T&F community does a lot more to show appreciation for its volunteers than orienteering does!

5x 1km with 1 lap recovery, followed by 3x 200m with 1/2 lap recovery.

Aim to take things a bit more steady than last time as it was such a struggle and I already wasn't feeling too good just from the warm up. End result was consistently faster than last week - with pace increasing generally (unless I made an effort to be slower) - roughly by 10s/km. 200s were all around 2s faster than my fastest last week.

Positive signs, maybe helped by better conditions (although windier) - it's the fastest I've managed to be since I had the vaccine 6 weeks ago.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5512501507

Another couldn't be arsed day. Work seems to do that to me, or just it's running from home is too boring now.

Relatively hilly to Gaer. Off road, ground still very hard and uneven so having to be careful with my ankle.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5507135900