Training Log Archive: duncanarcher

JK Long distance (M21E), Bigland. 77th out of 137. I was in two minds whether to run because of the hole in my foot from the stick through shoe incident yesterday. It was hurting a lot still, and I couldn't walk normally as it was painful every time I put my heel down. However, I found that jogging on the balls of your feet, and going uphill in particular, were not so bad, so I decided to man up, took some painkillers, and went for it. Glad I did as I enjoyed the race. Good varied course, pleasant first half across the rough open, where I had a good flow and hitting all the controls fine. Then through the spectator, and into the last loop on the rocky slope. Mostly pleased with that, taking some good routes and on an out and back to 23-25 I saw various people coming the other way suggesting I wasn't doing badly. Then the wheels just came off in the last couple, getting tired, and I lost 5+ mins between #29 and #30. Shame, but overall I was pretty happy.

JK Middle distance (M21E), Ulpha Park and Barrow Fell. 98th out of 152. Disappointing. Physically I felt rubbish, puffing my way round most of the course - I think I've done a certain about of training, but not enough hard efforts, and also not enough time in the forest. This forest was quite rough and stony, and lots of weaving around which is hard if you aren't used to it. I also made quite a few errors, including finding #2 before #1, again on #5, and then tried to go to #19 instead of #13. And also on the way to #10 I stood on a tree trunk that had a sharp branch sticking out which went straight through the sole of my shoe and into my heel. Very painful, and putting me off the rest of the race (and when I came to take my shoe off there was still a bit of stick in my foot). All in all not a very satisfying day.

JK Sprint distance, Lancaster University. Running M21, against a very large field including many internationals. 69th out of 142. I guess only just above half way! Seems pretty disappointing when you look at it like that. But I have hardly done any short sprint / interval training recently, and no sprint orienteering (and I made a few little hesitations and errors where that showed). Otherwise I was quite happy with the flow, just not fast enough to be higher up.

Loosening the legs before the weekend.

Steady round the river and woods. Saw one large rodent (rat?) by the river, and a fox in the woods.

Steady run in the woods, with some drills, and 3 * 3mins tempo. Just keeping things ticking over for the JK.

Climbing at Sunderland. First time in ages, since I pulled something in my finger back in January. But it still aches. Annoying.