Training Log Archive: Mark3

Despite my knee being a bit sore and legs generally feeling destroyed from yesterday, this went really well and I was leading when I left.

Interesting mix of urban and woodland which normally would annoy me, but it was very well publicised as such and so I was suitably prepared for it.actually worked quite well, made me think about how in an urban, the best way in to a control is always the best way out if you want to get back to the same place, but the same thing isn't true in the forest.Interesting.

No big mistakes but missed a few route choices.1 I think cutting through the woods is faster, although it was the right choice to go around at the start since it was questionable from the map. Still need to work on planning better as route to 7 involved an extra hill as left 6 in a bad direction.very lucky on 9, none of the features I was expecting happened and then I saw the control, it's a good job my bearing was good otherwise I'd still be out there.
15-16 went south, think north was better since I missed seeing a cut through, but pretty marginal.

24, cut through wood as per 1 which was the right decision as I'd seen it now.But then for some reason on 26 failed to cut the identical corner?! Just tired I guess.

Probably didn't lose more than a minute or so from choices but could've been a bit faster on fresh legs, maybe.felt like I was orienteering pretty well in general though, slowing down for the technical controls in the forest and speeding up on the easy bits.encouraging.

http://tourofpendle.co.uk/results-2017/

52nd - really good race! Top 10%ish. I usually aim to beat the first woman so was disappointed when I saw I was half an hour down on her today...until I googled Victoria Wilkinson and saw she was junior world mountain running champion in the past. She was 3rd, only 4mins off winning outright.

Spend a lot of time yday prepping a map and then never looked at it since the field was so packed,but it helped it know how far along the course I was. Lost a lot of places deliberately walking up the first hill, which was pretty runnable, but thought I'd save some energy. Took most back on the lovely 4k descent from 1-2; terrain was slightly muddy grass on a shallow gradient which is basically what I'm best at.

Energy bar climbing from 3-4 after about an hour, even though I didn't fancy it at all,I knew I'd be thanking myself later on. Tim Harvey caught me at this point - I was surprised he'd been behind me at all, but I think he'd started much further back.I expected to not see him again.

Even the steep descents weren't too bad, especially after the lakes. They tended to have a sufficient grass/mud ratio so you could still do them reasonably fast, still lost time through general fear, but not too much. Caught Tim again 7k later going down into 7; very pleased with that. Ate another energy bar walking up to 8 and was constantly starting to pass people now. The climb up from 9 definitely saved the most brutal until last, I'd say it was a 1.3Bl* climb. Again passed a couple of people though; I don't walk uphill that fast so I think purple just hasn't been eating enough throughout and were now bonking. But I felt alright.

Another easy descent all on grass and then a mile or so on track run-in where I passed a load more people with some sub 4min k pace - although it was downhill.

Pretty pleased with performance which like last week went well in the 2nd half,I think getting used to all the long distance stuff has definitely paid off.also nothing feels majorly injured which is always nice after an AL. My knee is a bit sore but I have no long races planned for ages now so should recover ok.


*SI unit of steepness = 1 Blorenge

C • Victoria Wilkinson 2

C • SI Units 2

C • 1.3Bl 2

Was going to run tonight and then I looked at the map for tomorrow. It's going to be a tough one.

Found a good hill rep to rep once I can make myself do that kind of thing again, only 600m from front door.
Mainly just exploring.

Wristband to hold the pen and selotape to hold answer sheet round left arm worked like a charm; found this much more satisfying than last time as a result.

Ran about a mile further in the same time as well, although it was very flat tonight. Also 10 degrees warmer than last night, but I'd packed last night so had to wear tights. It wasn't too bad.

Tactic this time was still to have no real plan in advance, but to run around as before but this time ignore anything 10 or 20 points unless it was directly en route to a higher scoring one. Looking forward to the results to find out if this worked or not.

Much better quality of meal in pub afterwards too, and met a few more MDOCers.

Body felt ok too other than knee started niggling a bit in the last 5 mins, also the toenail I ripped off this morning was ok for the race but is very painful now I've stopped! Not sure I want to de-sock and see what state it's in.