Training Log Archive: duncanarcher

Went to see Physio. Kevin at Old Pit Practice. Not been there before, usually go to Connect at Maiden Castle, but they were busy till the weekend. Anyway this guy seemed to know his beans. It is a tear at the top of the gastroc calf muscle, on the inside of right leg, where it goes into the tendon. His prognosis was gentle running again in 2-4 weeks. Proved fairly accurate. He couldn't do much as it is still very tender, and I can't walk at all normally, have to really protected it (can't straighten that leg without being very very careful).

OMM day 2. Arse. Started off ok, #1 and #2. Closing in on #5 (bad weather courses so missed #3 and #4) we could see two teams up the hill about 6 mins in front of us (seeming to be slightly missing a stream control?) - Oli/Neil, and Steve/Adam. So we had lost 1-2 mins to them since the start, but about par for the course given previous day's speeds.

But my body felt wrecked from exertions the day before, and a poor night's sleep (strong wind flapping the tent), and various things aching (maybe worsened by a long track run 1-2). Then coming downhill out of #5 I landed the wrong side of a big tussock (one of hundreds...), and something went in my calf. OUCH! Fuck that hurts. I tried to hobble on through #6 and #7 hoping maybe it would ease off, but no (and it was grim along the Pennine way to #7 in the wind). I really wasn't enjoying life. For #8 we started off round on a track/road route, but I was seriously limping and the slightest step in the wrong direction would be shooting pain. We stopped at a cattlegrid contemplating the hill to #8, and I decided it was over. Maybe we could have limped on, and if Steve/Adam were DQ for losing dibber maybe we could have scraped 3rd overall (which would be best ever for Jim, and some OMM vouchers woo hoo). But it would have been agony, and probably knocked me out for weeks. As it is I can't really walk now (Monday) and the physio beckons tomorrow.

So a disappointing end to something I'd be looking forward to and psyching up for since dropping out of OMM 2013 with a hamstring pull the week before (and before that since coming second in OMM 2012 after winning OMM 2011). Another year maybe, although two things are pretty clear. To do the OMM elite (and the training leading up to it) your body needs to be very robust. And for me to win I either need to be fitter than now (hard to see that happening), or rely on other teams getting things wrong somehow (always possible)....

C • Bad luck 1

OMM day 1 with Jim in the Cheviot.

We had a somewhat tentative build up.
-- My right hamstring had been twinging and feeling generally tight without signs of getting better since a hill reps session 3 weeks ago. I was really worried it was going to go properly on the race (like the other one did just before OMM last year). As it turned out it was almost no bother once I got in some proper OMM terrain, but sadly something else went instead...
-- Jim had phoned up last weekend to say he'd done something to his back and he could barely walk. I contacted a couple of people in case a standby was needed. But after a successful trip to the physio, where in his words he "hobbled in and strode out" things looked much better, and again in the race he said with a few painkillers it hardly troubled him.

Then my heart sank on Friday evening to be given map bags at registration because the map lamination was apparently a bit dodgy / not waterproof, and then see the sample map with OS Explorer 1:25 map data shrunk to 1:40 making it very hard to read. WTF?

Anyway on to day 1. Odd wave system of starts where you had a 15 minute start block, but no specific time. Anyway, Jim and I seemed to creep under the seeding radar, so were off in the first block, and thankfully missed the train that say three top teams 2-3 mins apart in the last block (it isn't just how it affects the outcome of the race, but it is the enjoyment of being out there on your own too, making your own decisions etc.).

All in all we had a good day. The nav was good. We were happy with the routes we took. Tactically things were good (eating, drinking, getting waterproofs on when the weather turned foul). And physically we both put in a good effort (each had ups and downs). All things considered I was pleased with 3rd/4th place (depending on Steve B lost SI card thing), and 14 mins down on the leaders. That is just a reflection of fitness and training I think (although I sometimes wonder how I won OMM 2011, when I felt less fit than now, but I think we took advantage when others got other stuff wrong...).

Steady run round the river and the woods. Feeling ok for the weekend. And I saw an owl in Houghall Woods. That must be a good omen?

Steady run in woods and over to the wicker man. Saw a badger doing this awesome hill rep just inside Houghall Woods.

Steady run round the woods with some drills on the playing fields.

Core stability

SHI relays, Forvie sand dunes. 2nd leg. England 3rd team, and we were quite some way behind after 1st leg, but I was very happy with my run, clean, almost no mistakes, and reasonable pace through the heavy sand dune undergrowth. Nice orienteering on my own, just overtook two Irish and a couple of randoms on the way round. 7 mins off the very fastest leg times, but they were they very best in the world!

SHI individual Balmoral. Pleased to be in the England SHI team again for an 11th time out of the last 12 years (rarely in the first pick team, but a reliable reserve!). Had a good run, fairly clean except one control, but a little way off the pace. Should have been 5 mins quicker if I'd really put my mind to it

Steady run in Durham

Steady run round Houghall and Shincliffs. GPS ran out near end so just adding on another couple of km and a dozen minutes.

Massage

BL orienteering event at the Beacon, Penrith. Mostly a good steady race. Set off 2mins behind Shane, 4 behind Steve B, and about 6 behind Pippa. Shane and Steve made mistakes in first couple, caught at 5, passed by 7, and Pippa too. Lots of little fiddly controls in pitted areas and other detail, interspersed with legs through deep heather / billberry. Felt fairly strong running. One miss near the end, looking for a 0.5m boulder in 1m bracken - seem slightly unfair and lots of other people making mistakes (except Pippa who nailed it from a different attack point). Pleased to win.

Core stability.

Bike ride with Pippa and Tasha. Slayley, Blanchland, Derwent Reservoir. Mostly on roads and a few big tracks in Slayley. Nice day to be out. Cake half way round.

Steady run round the woods.

Steady run to Frankland prison and Aykley Heads.

Very late for OO, so did some core exercises in the morning.

October Odyssey day 2. Doctors Gate etc. Nice mixture of fun detail in the quarries, and then legs across the moorland (you could pick a line that was usually not too heathery, although sometimes it was). Felt good.

Control collecting. Feeling very tired by now!

October Odyssey day 1, black course. My orienteering was a bit sloppy, was getting wrong spurs and re-entrants on the hillside (although it felt to me like one near the end was not in the right place). Feeling fairly strong, although hamstrings aching (still from Monday's hill reps??).

Tagging again at Eston. Nice steady jogging after this morning, and great clear views out across Teesside to the sea.

Long run out to Sunderland bridge and Croxdale Woods. Did three hills in Croxdale, was going to do more, but right hamstring and Achilles feeling tight, so decided to take it easy. Bit frustrating. In hindsight, it seems I pushed a bit hard in the hill reps earlier in the week, and maybe tweaked something in my hamstring, as it was still niggling 2 weeks later.