Training Log Archive: Frostbite

6 day reflections.

Well, the first 2 days were ok. The result on the 3rd day was better than I expected given how slow I felt I was going. After that I had nothing left. I would obviously be better off doing fewer days and getting more rest, but I was happy enough to do all days and accept the results.

On a positive note, I only had one pink on Winsplits in the whole week - #7 on day 6 where I lost 39 seconds. Obviously I did make a few more mistakes than that, including missing a control out, but on the whole the navigation was pretty good.

Overall results
1,Sascha Dammeier,4
2,Alistair Landels,8
3,Jason Inman,9
4,Ben Stansfield,23
5,Richard Barrett,23
6,Laurence Townley,23
7,James Logue,24
8,Juha Tilli,31
9,Richard Parkin,31
10,Brad Connor,39
11,Fraser Purves,40
12,Neil Conway,41
13,Chris Dibben,47
14,Simon Hunter,47
15,Kevin Fielding,53
16,Andy Dale,55

Day 6, Glen Fearder West. I could barely raise a jog on the way to the start. I ran about 100m of the way to #1 where there was a nice elephant track, then walked all the rest. Just kept moving at the same walk/jog pace the whole way round.
I lost about 30 secs at #7, stood within 3 metres of the boulder I couldn't see it or the flag and wandered off uphill before spotting somebody punching it behind me. Also did something similar at #18, stood by the edge of the boulder field but not spotting the flag until Tasha punched. Then I had to race Tasha and Evie back through the fields. I lost, although I did have to climb highest up the hill for my second last control.

19th place, which reflects the fact that a few people weren't running rather than an ok result. 22 minutes behind Jason.

Day 5, Glen Feardar East. Very easy navigation and lots of elephant tracks because of a late start, so I trundled round to an ok result. I was never moving very quickly but better than yesterday. Laurence overtook me just before the rough heathery bit at the end which gave me a bit of a boost.

16th place.

Day 4, Creag Choinnich
Very tired now, even after the rest day. Too many hills for me and I struggled the whole way round. The biggest problem was having a brain failure and missing out number 6. I was reading my way out of 6 as I left 5 and everything looked plausible for a while, it just took me a very long time to reach the path up the hillside. Funnily enough I did the same thing on day 4 of the Welsh last year, although that ruined my best run of the week. Today would have been my worst run even if I hadn't been DQd.

Day 3, Birsemore. Feeling pretty weary but slogged it out for a steady result. Hesitations in the circle at 18 and 21, otherwise good, just slow. 9th place.

Day 2, Balfour Forest. Late start, plenty of paths to follow and running strongly. Got slightly too low on #2, maybe lost 30 seconds, otherwise very good.

3rd place.