Training Log Archive: Old Daniel

Yesterday I was getting up (and twisting) and tweaked my ankle. Same injury that has plagued me last year so cancelled plans to run today in the hope that tomorrow is ok

Purdown short but hilly version

Concorde Chase, Short brown rather than Brown -a good result. Missed path junction so came other way around thicket and missed clearing at 3. Then made a bit of a mess of route to 7 and in the circle at 14 but the rest pretty clean - bias to using track options seems good tactic here. Felt quite strong on late track run

Swineford, just the minimum route - Round hill via race course -ran early in day

Blaise from Dingle end. Thursday had been a bad day so good to get out and run -just steady. Not done this the 'standard' run for some time -seems like quite a long one now - I wonder why?

Purdown & Frome Valley I have been struggling with the possible onset of a cold so ran but kept it very gentle, no hills or wood on Purdown and no efforts

Good warm up

BAOC event at Longmoor -felt better and running seemed much more natural in the easier terrain as a consequence really enjoyed the race. All seemed to go quite well (except for ill advised bog crossing) until 12 . A short leg I ended on top of a hill (near 13?) where I should have been at the bottom so not only did the compass work go bonkers but also the map reading and contour appreciation. I really only found control by elimination but also left in the wrong direction ending up in a thicket (near 11?) so spent 12 mins on a section of course that should have been <5 mins. Some minor hestiations and errors on next couple but then back into the race.

Just a gentle run around the top of Purdown. Feeling quite knackered

Planning actually in New Beechenhurst. These are just token times because lots of standing around/ walking -on feet for much longer

Warm up

Danby Lodge galloppen - ran a few legs, missed control, hunted around, lost momentum, caught and passed by others, ran a few legs etc.
Could not find no 4 in green -not exactly sure where I went in
Could not find no 9 in green - not exactly sure where I went in
Could not find no 19 in green -not exactly sure where I went in
Could not find no 21 in open forest -knew exactly where I went in -took 10 mins whilst others took 5
Surely I can do a bit better than this. Physically testing course and really quite interesting - a bit of an opportunity lost. Need some time to recover

Just a short walk in Blaise Castle

Pippingford Park - including the open. It was -4 C, bright sunny etc. Changed ponds description to glacier. Great day
Token time and distance

Pippingford Park -looking at sites and legs but not in the bits where they were shooting. Very good pass from the planner so a bit easier and more productive/ enjoyable than recent events. Sharp but sunny day -could have been in Scandi, other than a few more contour wiggles
Token time and distance

Mytchett - a nice crisp day, a bit of a wasted opportunity for a good run.
(1) spent 10 mins mostly in gorse looking for broken down car -others did not I was stupid here.
(2) lost time on several controls - by underestimating the difficulty and not paying enough attention to the detail on the map. e.g. both 2 and 3. This meant I was not in the right mindset when I reached the car
(3) lost other bits of time, particularly after the car needlessly e.g. going to the right spur, not seeing control, going away and having to come back.............grrrr .
So lots to address.
It may seem odd but this was a really good enjoyable day out.

Warm up / to and from start

My back was quite sore so decide that discretion was the better part of valour and decided on a zero day

A damp Purdown - tired and lacking enthusiasm - still 3 hills though

Back a bit sore - I fell a couple of times yesterday perhaps I have tweaked it

Warm up, run to start, collecting controls

BOK galloppen -Cannop Ponds. Extensive churning of the ground by the pigs has made the forest softer and more challenging to run through. The race started in a new and most welcome addition of nice woodland cut through with steams in deep re-entrants. I was slow up and down the slippery slopes. I also found it difficult to take the right lines on multiple occasions having to slow/ stop and correct to find the flag. To 2 too far N, to 3 too far N inc extra stream crossing, to 4 too far E additional climb and drop, to 6 too far N additional climb and then still got to S of the line. Left 6 in not quite the right direction so banana. All of this probably adds up to 5 mins lost. The going got easier and 7 to 15 went well. Then a huge horlicks. (knowingly?) too far on long diagonal leg but did not correct by using one of the forest roads that were crossed, so ended in a parallel block of green. After relocation seriously overshot so probably another 5 mins? A bit disappointed I let this happen but picked up and ran the rest to 28 quite well if not particularly fast.
Could have done better -tired afterwards

NGOC Event at Cranham and Coopers hill. The introduction of the later makes the area much more interesting as the former had been well used.
Banana (and quite an over ripe one at that) to no 1, offline at 3 and stopped short at 17 -otherwise ok. A pleasure to run in nice woods with a cleat map and well chosen legs and sites. A bit disappointed by weakness on hills both and down. Dobs hurt my left foot but for me essential on this type of proper forest terrain may not help overall pace

Warm up etc

From Priory at Portbury. Sunny afternoon but with a nippy wind and very occasional patches remnant from this mornings snow. Started again with four layers and had to stop to take off a couple. (Time decremented). Suspected time would be longer (it seems quite along 6) so quite pleased

Purdown standard run twice through the wood -forecast seem to be driving snow so ran early to avoid but dressed more appropriate to a blizard. Of course it did not snow just damp so very over dressed. This may have contributed to what was seemed a real plod

Warm up

If you were to critique my 'O' races over the years -you would probably say it was the inability to concentrate for whole races, many being marred by the odd poor and often atypical leg.
BAOC event at Minley. I had been quite excited to go to a new area and a look at an old Routegadget revealed an area perhaps 4x than the postage sized used. So although I confess a little disappointed I had resolved to concentrate through the 29 controls. I was ok to 13 here I found my thoughts drifting away from the race, I had to determined to cross some semi open at an angle, I had actually gone a little further and now needed to run N but the angle was in my head and no compass so too far East. The control was just N of a small path or just S of a large one and I misinterpreted by picking up an unmarked path further south so a 3 min leg to an easy control became 7+ A bit angered I stompted off through the terrain rather than the safe path route and attacked the next a clearing in some low visibility from a major track junction. I was a little to far east and then circling randomly too soon -went out of the back and relocated. Came in again to same place and perhaps not surprisingly still no flag. Went back to the track junction ran 50 m along track -accurate compass to distinct clearing and flag. This time 3 mins had become 9+ and although other controls were ok, the zip had gone and a reasonable performance was now rubbish.
In US sports speak man v forest I am at 2-2 this year so things to work on.
Overall quite a nice little area, of which the 'control picking' style made good use and well worth a visit.

Oldbury Court session 11 x 2 mins with 90 secs. Chest not completely cleared -not very pleasant

Still just not feeling right -so abandoned thoughts of the BOK run

Blaise from the car park - seems a bit of a favorite at the moment - I guess it avoids Purdown mud. Wet day, waited for it to clear and ran late

West Woods - extensive felling/ thinning has left much of the wood a bit horrid and the tracks muddy. The wood has much more bramble than its earlier usage when much was glorious. Did almost no warm up as they were running out of maps and I am still 'running steadily' because of the cold. Good news was that the ankle was fine -perhaps running in dobs helped. As for the race looked at the wood which seemed a bit grim so went round the track, which made Glastonbury look dry, until I reached a near dead stop and then took to the brashings for some relief, so that slit won't be great. I also made a complete dogs breakfast of No 16. Mostly went quite straight despite mud, brashings, bramble - yes I did enjoy the outing! Not very quick!

Lowland walk with Charlie around Purdown 2.5 miles in 70 mins

Jog to and from the car which I had parked near the church

BOK Event Leigh woods - biggest issue was that the side of my ankle hurt quite a lot quite early on making it very difficult tp push off and hence go up steep hillsl Perhaps not quite 'in the zone' at the start -could not quite match the paths on the ground near no 1 on the first attack or after I returned from relocation or eventually on exit to 2. Saw a control in a depression at 5 but did not realise it was actually another one of the three in that particular line of depressions until I reached 6, so needed to redo. Went to the circle at 9 but no control went down the steep slope and punched one I could see. Control 11 hunted around Rhodo bushes on top on the hill where the map had tricked me into going rather than the conifer clump closer to the road where the flag was hung. Although now somewhat lacking in enthusiasm I decided to plod on around the rest and reserve by curses for the ankle.
Not a good day at the office

A social group run from Burrington Combe. Inevitably not the fastest we will ever do this route but still worthwhile training and suits me as I still have a cold. Basically started the Tinsel Trot but came straight back through Burrington Ham from the Trig. Very much enjoyed the company and being out in the Mendips rain just about stayed off.

Blaise Castle from car park - still go at cold so not pushing it at all. So time better than expected, perhaps the frozen ground helped. Cold, dry winters day

BAOC event at Hankley Common. This is argueably the nicest army orienteering area from the runnability aspect. Vegetation free woods, low heather, sandy paths - really fun to run in. Its also one of the furthest. Despite which I was keen to go and despite my lingering cold I went. But I did compromise by wearing an additional layer and deliberately not being aggressive and keeping heart beat low. (Also minimised the warm up) Started weakly but breathing and running generally improved as the race went on. Only really screwed up no 17 partly because I was looking for the wrong feature in a complex area -otherwise reasonably clean (Easy course?)
Good day out

Dosed up with Lemsip and ran around Ashton Court. A good thing to do - took it easy yet perhaps not surprisingly breathing was rubbish. Still it was a run.

Still got stinking cold and now cough so as running seemed out went for lowland walk on Purdown about 90 mins and three miles - nice sunny but cold day

Really felt rough today - cold full on so did not go to Score event.
2016 has ended in a fizzle rather than grandstand but overall not to bad a year and really looking forward to 2017 with much I would like to do.
Miles/ annum
2013 1167 in 242 hours at 4.82 mph
2014 1275 in 272 hours at 4.68 mph
2015 1334 in 280 hours at 4.76 mph
2016 1315 in 293 hours at 4.48 mph
I am getting slower!