Training Log Archive: Frostbite

Hill walking with Stanley. From above Dyffryn Ardudwy to Pont Scethin and onto the ridge west of Diffwys. Our original plan was to climb Diffwys and Yr Lethr, but they were both in cloud so we headed the other way and followed the ridge down to Barmouth. A very nice walk once we were on the ridge, but the track via Pont Scethin is a bit of a drag.

Having trouble with palpitations from the first climb. It doesn't slow me down too much when I'm walking but annoying and uncomfortable.

Beer trail in the hills above Harlech. Running ok but struggling against the others on the hills. Got ahead of Charlie and Nick when they overshot a dubiously placed control, and ran most of the rest with Mikey until the last significant hill when he jogged away from me. Charlie overtook me again on the same hill and I chased them both to the beer, a minute or two behind.

Easy running in the sand dunes at Harlech with Evie. We lost our way a bit and got into some spikey stuff before getting out into the nice dunes and then the beach. Pleasant.

Stepping stones.

Feeling better than yesterday. Trying hard but very tired, legs not really responding.

Nice day, I thought it was going to be a hard frost but it wasn't. The only ice was on the roads. The woods were wetter than ever and the stepping stones were under water.

I need a rest for a couple of days.

On standby, so laps of Meanwood and the Hollies. Never felt great, sort of conked out on the third lap and jogged home. Starting to get a cold I think.

Slow, blubbery, flatulent post-Christmas-dinner run. Weetwood Lane, St Helen's Lane, Otley Road.

Just for the sake of doing something really.

Butcher Hill, Newlay, Kirkstall. Not really 100%, couldn't really get going. After an enforced rest crossing Abbey Road I managed to pick the pace up coming up the hill.

Still a bit tired from a hard weekend I think. Well, not that hard, but I'm not used to it.

Two big laps of the Hollies and Meanwood, with a 10 minute jog in between. I didn't feel too bad considering I was a bit tired from yesterday, but I am just too slow on hills. 16:48 and 17:11. Quite pleased that the second wasn't a lot worse - I was struggling.

The last time I did this, July 2011, I did 13:40 twice. A long way to go yet.

to the park, and jogging up to the weir in between laps

Hunger Hills. Nice and steady, but it was hard work in places. Very wet.

Easy-ish Gledhow Park and Chapel Allerton. A bit uncomfortable on account of the enormous pizza I had for lunch.

warm up

Tempo - Weetwood Lane and Lawnswood. ok.

Spen Lane and Adel

Much easier tonight. None of that nasty heather or silly controls to find. Decent speed without having to try too hard.

C • Running with others? 3

Ayton Moor Brown course. Mostly quite happy, it was fairly easy orienteering but quite physical running - lots of heather. Had a disaster at 17. I attacked from an obvious knoll which had a very visible control on it, looking for a depression that should have been 110 metres away. I went 110 ish metres and hunted around for ages and ages. I tried again from the opposite direction and got to the same place. The control was actually only about 60 metres from the knoll, and I had run straight past it. I never actually found the control - I could always see the knoll and I was never going to go back as close as 60 metres to it. In the end I gave up and went to the finish. Nobody else had missed the control, so I went back to have a look, took a bearing from the knoll and found it straight away - I must have run within sight of it the first time. Then I walked back up again with the planner and he agreed with me the map was wrong, although perhaps not as much as I thought it was.

Not happy, not least because I should really have been able to deal with it, but I was very tired by that stage.

Just seen the split times and I was doing fairly poorly anyway - 7 minutes behind Alistair McKenzie at 16, 11 minutes behind Nigel Wright. I'll just have to face up to the fact I'm just a bit shit.

Edit:

Having surveyed the results a bit more, 3 people on the Blue course also failed to find this control.

To add insult to injury, the controller says he has paced it all out and it is 15-20 metres wrong.

Don't they know who I am?

C • Grumpy old man? 5

Nice and easy to Adel Crag. Diverted at the end through the allotments to Highbury Mount and did 6 x 20 secs sprinting, then jogged home. Highbury Mount is about 1 in 10, but not very long. 20 seconds is about half the hill.

Warm up round Clarendon. Also did a couple of looseners up Moor Drive

Weetwood Lane and Lawnswood tempo. Having to try a bit harder than last week. There or thereabouts.

oooooh. Very stiff and sore this morning. I don't understand why I found last night's run so hard.

Butcher Hill, Newlay, Kirkstall. I won't have time to run tomorrow night or Thursday, so I thought I would push the pace a bit tonight. It wasn't really happening, feeling a bit laboured and too much like hard work. Not particularly quick in the end. Another stinky wet slimy night.

Edit : forgot to say I saw a badger in Hawksworth Wood. At least I think I did.

Dob Park, Blue course. Very steep and physical area with lots of bog and rocks. Very enjoyable, found all the controls without any problems, but couldn't find the finish. I lost maybe 30 seconds getting confused by confusing tapes.

Slower than Tasha on the two significant uphill legs in the second half.

Kirkstall and Gotts Park. Just a plod in the sunshine. Saw a kingfisher along the canal. Lovely clear cold morning.

Had a couple of beers last night. Ok, three. Result was palpitations all night and not much sleep. So that seems fairly conclusive. Fine again by the time I woke up, and during the run today.

No more beer then. No problem.

Woke up in the night with palpitations. Still got palpitations, 6 hours later.

Just a blip.

10am. I can now report the palpitations have stopped. I might skip going for a run tonight, although I suspect the real problem is too much DIY.

C • Have you tried.... 6

Went for a run anyway. Adel Crag, a bit tired but no problems.

Weetwood Lane and Lawnswood tempo. OK. Max HR is a bit high.

Warm up jog round Clarendon

Spen Road, Spen Lane and Adel. Seemed much easier tonight, possibly because it was nice and clear and the pavement was dry.

November has been my best month of training since last November. Looking back, they are virtually identical - 18:32 this year vs 18:35 last year, 101 miles vs 98 miles, and lots of similar sessions.

December didn't turn out so great last year.