Training Log Archive: Mark3

Yet another day with no exercise!

Dull packing.

Wrote some stuff about Jukola:
http://www.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_13651/...

Vaguely tried to pack some house stuff although still pretty tired so it was a struggle. May have to miss the o tomorrow :( also my knee is still a bit sore and want to give it the max time to recover before Saunders as I don't want to do something bad to it. This is the last big thing I have planned before S6D - so I figure it can recover properly after this weekend :)

Saturday has caught up with me; feeling very tired today and every muscle in both my legs and arms is unhappy when asked to do anything!

Pretty happy I was able to run. Didn't feel significantly slower at the time although retrospectively, Pete Ward beat me by miles and I was slower than Jason on quite a few splits, so maybe yesterday has had some impact. Also lack of sleep, since I left my alarm set to 2:30am from yesterday...

Took safe routes due to fears about bracken etc which was a good choice in some places and a bad one in others. Generally didn't make any mistakes though, other than finding a few extra routestocks on 8, cutting in too early on 9 and running the whole way around the tree on 10 (before realising it was inside).

We tried to come up with balanced teams which were:
Dec, Jase, Trudy
vs
Chris, Me, Keith

Dec only came back a few secs ahead of Chris which and I gave Keith a 13 min lead - which he didn't even need; he's clearly a natural and did much better than Trudy on the Orange so it wasn't even close. Also Jase was dq'd for the second time this week! Punched 106 rather than 105. I told them to check the codes!

I think we were 2nd team, which isn't bad for a team including a total novice. Miles behind 1st though.

C • Rootstocks. 1

I entered this quite some time ago; I can't quite remember if it was because I watched the video on the homepage (http://www.vegan-welsh-3000s.co.uk/) or because Jack said he was doing it, or a combination of both. Either way, I've never been up Snowdon or indeed been to any of Snowdonia before (since I was 5 or something) so this was a good way of seeing everything in one day.

It was only later on that I found out it would be 55k and 4000m of ascent, and I'd been nervous about it ever since. Unfortunately Jack was injured so couldn't join me anyway (although it's not like we'd have been running together anyway so this only made a social difference).

The race briefing and comprehensive kit-check didn't finish until 9pm, so only arrived at my Airbnb at 9:30pm and then took another hour sorting everything out for the morning; got up at 2:30am so only 4 hours sleep! Then left at 3am to arrive for 3:30 to get the 4am bus to start at 5...

Pretty straightforward up Snowdon and happy with my time up there. Unlike anyone else, I actually visited the very top since I'd lost sight of any flags and wasn't sure of the route off the top. So a few minutes could've been saved there.

Crib Goch was terrifying. The rocks were extremely slippery after the rain the night before, and the mist in the air (it wasn't raining, but there was jog condensing in my hair and on all the moss etc). I took this very gingerly. The Fellraisers did not handle wet rock well. Someone commented that the inov-8 rubber compound was stickier and better for wet rock, so maybe made the wrong shoe choice. The Fellraisers were better on the roads and they were fine on the dry rock later in the day. Anyway I lost a signifcant amount of time being extra careful and was at least 20% slower here than people I eventually beat. Definitely another 5 mins to be saved here on a drier day.

Did quite well on the downhill bit to the first aid station, and only stopped for three-or-so vegan protein balls (no idea what was in them or how they stuck together, but they were lovely). Actually quite happy with my splits for the rest of the race. Didn't enjoy coming down Tryfan as it was so rocky and steep, but the rocks on that bit were drier so don't think I could've done it much faster. Spent a few minutes on various sections hunting for the next flag as they were quite hard to see in the mist sometimes. Didn't lose too much time though. The run down to the finish from the last summit was pretty quick as I had someone to catch (which I did Jean Brown, although I was very lucky you stopped for a quick toilette otherwise it would've been much closer!).

Definitely over-nutritioned for the race. I took 15 energy bars and ate 4, and 2 packs of shot-bloks and ate 1.5. I hadn't accounted for quite how well stocked the aid stations would be and how much I would eat! Filled my water bottles up from near-empty at the second aid station and they were pretty much empty again at the end, so drank 2 litres over the race. Ate a lot at the second aid station including another 4 protein balls, various bits of vegan cake and things. It was all good stuff.

42nd / 149 finishers. I thought I'd done better than this position-wise; didn't realise quite how many people were in the pack that disappeared at the beginning. But I'm pleased with the time (official time 10:10:20, not chip timed or anything so I guess everyone is a couple of minutes out) - didn't really know what to 'aim' for but looking at last year's results I decided 11 hours would be a good target. If I'd done the same time last year I'd have come 21st; I think the Skyrunning series is gradually getting more and more of a big following.

Food at the end was brilliant and it's probably worth doing the race again just for that.

My knee is a bit sore again in the same way as after I've done super-long things in the past; probably haven't been doing my hip exercises for long enough for them to have made enough of a difference. No other injuries though, which is good. I think I coped with it mentally okay. I broke it up into 11 parkruns which seemed to help. What did not help was thinking after 13k - "only a marathon to go!".

If I did this again, 10 hours would be the obvious target time and I think it's achievable with knowledge of the route and a dry day. The winning time of 7:45 is incredible.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1051876275

Lots of driving, found somewhere to live in Manchester and arrived at V3K registration. Ulp...

C • Good luck with new chapter.... 5

Uncomfortably hot once more; felt horrible but pace obviously not too bad comparatively;think everyone was feeling it.

Realised after the first bridge/gate combo that it was going to be faster to cross the ditches. Wasted some time at #3 reading the description for #4 and looking for a bridge rather than a tree,but only 10s or so.

Missed a few route choices, 7 looks marginally faster S. Faffed a bit on 11 looking for a viable route, and was slow to make a decision on 18 (and came to the wrong one, although Adam and Owain did too).W on 21 was faster, that was quite obvious, should've pre planned better.south on 25 similarly.and finally West on 30.so a few seconds with bad choices here and there, but nothing major.

Not seen results yet but probably 4th behind Adam, Owain and Tom.

7th: http://www.westonac.co.uk/results/2017/Beacon_Batc...

Somehow, nearly 90s faster than last year which I am unbelievably pleased with, given the conditions (1,000 degrees*) and the fact that I only got to bed at 1am and also spent the whole day outside painting the railings at Portishead Lido (as you do).

Deliberately set off steadily on the first climb and gradually passed people coming down; repassed by a few along the second ascent to the trig, but then got them back and a few more people on the final downhill.

Got the Strava CR for the final descent by (currently) a 16s margin, which is pretty massive; very happy with that.

Will write up my Jukola experience when I have time!

*The car said 34, and these are pretty much the same.

http://routegadget.jukola.com/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?a...#

Stayed up to watch the start at 11pm and watched the big screen as they all went through the first TV control, expecting to see the UBOC top of Matt Whipple come through for our first team. Phil and I could not believe it when Owain came through in the top 300 and ahead of Matt. I don't often get excited on other people's behalf, but it was pretty amazing. Went back to the tent and to bed but kept checking the splits every so often and Owain just kept gaining places. Must've got to sleep for a bit since Owain woke me up when he came back and I blearily congratulated him. Then it seemed like no time at all before Clare (leg 4) woke me.

Checked the splits again and saw that everyone had had pretty solid runs. Made the decision at this point to take very careful choices - the training events hadn't filled me with confidence in my navigational skills and I now wasn't expecting to be in a pack and didn't want to let the team down.

Waited in the start box for slightly longer than expected as Phil made a small mistake near the end of his leg - but he still set me off in 292nd place after reaching the team's highest position of 271st at one point.

A very different experience this year, setting off totally on my own. There were a lot of people around nearer the start, but none of them on my leg, and this thinned out to barely anyone at all at some points.

Safe path route to #1, but was still trying to go too fast and not paying enough attention to where I needed to leave the path and found another control before mine. Learnt from this and did better on #2. Then #3 was a big mistake - at least 2 mins - mistook the first path for the one near the control (not sure how since they are a long way apart!) and started looking in the wrong set of rocks a good 300m away from where I thought I was - it didn't help that there were lots of controls in this area. Did the right thing though and relocated rather than wandering around, realised what had happened and then found the control easily. But I was very worried about making mistakes by this point and so chose a very long path route to #4 - I wouldn't normally go quite that far from the straight line and I doubt anyone else did, but it gave me chance to plan a lot of the rest of the course and also relax a bit and get over the mistake, so it was probably the right choice.

Lost a bit more time on #5 by not going to the control I could see because I was sure it wasn't mine (wrong!) as it looked to be on the top the hill whereas I wanted an outcrop lower down. Looking at it now, not for the first time, I had been fooled by the excessive Finnish use of form lines which makes hills look twice as big as they actually are! And also I guess I just couldn't see the rest of the hill through the trees.

Some good tracks had formed to 6 and 7 so just needed to ensure I was on the right ones.

I had planned this leg already and I think I made a good choice, although struggling through the green near the start of the leg was very slow as no track had formed yet (or I failed to find it). But the control was easy. Similarly I had planned to go round the path to 9 and happy with that choice too; found another control before mine as AP wasn't very good but didn't lost a lot of time. 10-13 all fairly straightforward. 14 I cursed myself halfway through for not having a good enough plan, but relocated really well on the knoll in the open and navigated perfectly from there. Small miss on 15 as I found another control as I was contouring round the hill and went to it, luckily I checked the code!

16-18 all good legs including another long one around the paths. 19 is near where Phil got lost so I'm glad I took a very safe route here - I was thrown by the ride which didn't seem to be on the map and just went on compass and feel and it worked - looking at it now the ride is a very narrow strip of rough open with no distinct boundary; didn't see this on the map at the time. It looked no different on the ground to the ride mapped as a ride!

20 was my other big mistake, planned to take the path to the E but was running so fast, missed the turning and ended up on the path going round to the W. Decided to go with it rather than turning around or cutting across - but the AP wasn't as good from the W and I was far too low down. Learning point - this time and on other occasions I have tried to contour first and then ascend/descend, and this has worked out badly. On this instance it would have been much better to ascend first to the obvious contour feature and then contour from there. Anyway I came out on the path and didn't know where I was along it, went back in still without knowing, and was lucky to see some other people coming out and use them. Lucky not to lose more time here; maybe 3 mins.

Pretty good on the easier controls to the finish although lost a few seconds on the last control since the control (which I could see) was on the opposite side of the path to the feature (which I could not see) and therefore I panicked a bit thinking I was in the wrong place. This lost me the chance of out sprinting someone on the run in!

Overall a pretty solid run I think, not sparkling by any means but I didn't lose as many places as I was worried I had; in fact actually gained 7 to finish in 285th.

My leg position of 501st is better than it sounds I think; anyone in the mass start will have had a massive advantage, and that would be most of the field.

The Jukola analysis file reckons I made 27(!) mins of mistakes. I dispute this.
http://www.suunnistus.info/sf/anal/vertailu.viesti...
3 of these minutes were for instance on #8 - I'm sure I lost time here vs people in the pack, once a track had formed, but I couldn't really have avoided it being slow through the green at the time when I was doing it!

The rain started 5 minutes after I finished :)

Waited in the tent until it stopped then quick outdoor shower (very hot! The Finnish know what they're doing with showers) before the walk back to the car. Really happy with the way the whole team performed and with our finish position, there were some great runs in the other teams too and everyone got on well, etc; there was good team spirit. An excellent trip basically; looking forward to the next one (although not sure if I'd make the A team if Owain is going to be there again!).

C • You're too kind 2

Event: Jukola 2017
 

Lots of walking. 3.5k from car park to Assembly then another km to tent. 2k each round trip from tent to Arena, so 7.5k so far; 9.5k planned...

Because Owain went to both islands yesterday.

Also knocked 40s off my time from yesterday, but still behind dammit.

Kayak to the island and back before breakfast... Because how often do you have chance to do that?!

Did my hip exercises on the island. Realised halfway through I was lying unreasonably close to an ants' nest.

Pre-breakfast map-jog around the peninsula.

Five intervals which Alice, Ifor and I started at the same time.Ifor beat me 4-1, Alice beat me 3-2...well deserved.

There was one really nice one with runnable forest, and some isolated other nice bits, but a lot of it was tough with low visibility and brashings everywhere.navigated reasonably well; made some mistakes but probably would've taken some safer routes in a race.

Probably went out too soon after lunch before the sugar had been released into my bloodstream; only planned to get 6 or so controls but didn't even manage that many!
Feeling ok by the end though.similar to the sprintervals, one very nice bit of forest but the rest was a bit grotty.hopefully like two years ago, they've saved the best bit for Jukola :)

Running straight after dinner a bit uncomfortable!

Easier today but made some bad route choices.need to plan in advance better and think about the whole leg rather than just the exit direction.some good contour interpretation though.

Phil and Matt both a few mins ahead.

10th/13 (finishers)
https://rasti-vihti.sporttisaitti.com/@Bin/332012/...

Tough. Tried to focus on contour interpretation. Struggled a bit with the veg boundaries, and being sure of the bare rock/open areas. Two big mistakes, otherwise good but (necessarily!) slow.

34 seconds to #1 was not a great start... Great fun though!

About 6th/20.

Slightly worse today; probably didn't have quite enough Lemsip yesterday.

C • Whisky, honey, lemon, candle. 1

Couldn't decide whether to race this or not; in the end decided against it telling myself it was because of Jukola... But probably more likely since I knew it was unlikely to be a good time.

Paced Rhys and Phil to sub 42, despite not seeing them for the whole race.we started way further back from the line that I thought, and it was gun to chip, but we were so far away I didn't hear the gun, so it was all a bit of guesswork hence why I was 30s under.
Good race though; even flatter than i remembered. Didn't feel easy exactly but certainly wasn't taxing, which is good news!

It was probably better conditions than when I last did it which makes me a bit annoyed I didn't go for it...but I don't think it would've happened.

Pump #53

Cold improving quite a lot (Lemsip clearly did it's job)

C • No; your cold clearly isn't a bad one 1

RG: http://www.bok.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#132&cour...

Pretty pleased with this especially given the marathon yday.

Lost time on 8 - not because I wanted to run over the new bridge (although I did) but because I didn't see the other route at the time.

Also on 16 I went the straight way with the steps,but I think round to the S is faster.

Small time loss at a hedge dead end leaving 22. Went straightish to 25 but I think S is better.checked a different tree on 26 since the one at the end of the didn't 'feel' right someone - should have overridden this feeling with logic!

First proper mistake on 27,expected to see an alleyway and didn't (didn't notice the entrance was an odd shape) and then had no confidence as to where I was as was suddenly unsure which of the first alleys id come through.lucky for the control I saw to be mine.30s mistake.should have visualized better.

Lost time on 29 faffing with changing control descs round since they were too long,and missed the best route.should have thought about this on a long leg and done it before it became necessary.

32- south was probably a bit faster.33 came all the way around the outside since a bit flustered by naving to 36 and only just realising in time;didn't see the alley.38, round to the roundabout is probably faster,I took the steps.didn't even see the ramp,but think it's similar to the stairs.

Good planning (thanks Paul) kept me concentrating all the way around. With no errors or hesitations at all could maybe have been 2 mins faster but in a 39control course that's an unrealistic expectation at my skill level!

Felt pretty bad this morning and it was touch and go whether I went. But dragged myself up at 6:15 and had a Lemsip which made me feel better, then had some ibuprofen after the 2 hour drive and for the actual race, felt fine.

The runners started 15mins before the horses,I was wondering how they were going to work it with the timings but I think we just had a longer/more difficult route at the start; saw my first horse after about 40 mins coming along a track left to right which we joined from a T junction, and we'd just gone through some horse-impassable terrain - very narrow through very low trees etc.

It was extremely wet.raining throughout and gradually getting heavier all the time.it would've been terrible in winter; luckily it was 15° so even with the wind chill on wet skin it wasn't too bad if you were moving.the entire course was splashy, and quite a lot was knee deep.there was a bit of mud, but it was so wet it was mainly water.

Very pleased with my performance, even two thirds of the way around I was feeling pretty strong and passing people.at the end of the long downhill near the end, caught Ciaran (which I never expected to do) and finished a couple of mins up (I think; hard to tell since he wasn't running as himself).also finished over 5mins ahead of Dan Sandford which I was very happy with.conditions suited me I think;I don't like running in the rain but at least I didn't have any overheating issues.

Finished 38th overall - behind 17 horses and 4 relay teams - so 17th individual human.
https://resultsbase.net/event/4000/results?page=1
This means I beat c.43 horses which is not too shabby.

Being overtaken by horses was terrifying.they literally overtook at a gallop within touching distance.there was an insanely high risk of injury in this race.I'm not surprises they suggest you get your own insurance since they don't have any.it was great though, getting passed by then on the tracks only to get them back on the steep muddy downhills, or the rocky stream crossings, or near the top of hills where they'd gone too hard at the bottom.

Really made me appreciate what it must have been like as infantry facing cavalry though - ie; no chance.

Definitely need to find a better nutrition solution than energy gels as very nearly had a Paula Radcliffe moment near the end.will probably use my MM method of alternating shot bloks and energy bars for the V3K. Also had some chafing issues which I never get when it's dry; must buy Vaseline beforehand...

Pump #52

Bit of a cold; hoping Lemsip will kill it.

C • Lemsips don't kill colds, stoopid. 3

Jog with Daryl around Purdown and back. Will miss having someone to run with living opposite :(

http://www.bok.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#130&cour...

Winsplits agrees with my 2mistake analysis. Nice to see I won a leg! Now just need to work on beating Ben on the other 20.
http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d...

________

Good at the end, poor at the start. Running well considering, orienteering badly.

Happy with 1-3 but 4 was dreadful, the alleyway I wanted led off the end of a road but there was a driveway afterwards in the olive which I must've been stood in and couldn't work it out, eventually went all the way around and ran much further than necessary - 1 min.

Took the easy, long route to 6 which cost some time but at least I didn't do what I did on 7 - went the complicated slightly shorter way and missed an alleyway - another 30s of confusion.

Kit then overtook me and I managed to more or less stay with him for 8,9,10 - went round and up the bank on 11 and got ahead, didn't last for long and he passed me again just before 11.stayed just behind for 12 but he got away from me on the next few controls... Very surprised, then, for him to pass me for the third time between 19 and 20... I was just behind on 21 and there was a 2-sides-of-a-square choice;I deliberately took the other choice to confuse him and it worked! But he overtook me again down to 21 and I had nothing left on the run in.

Shame about 4 and 7 near the start, but a good performance after than, and great to have some head-to-head racing!

Pump #51
I think there might only be chance for 2 or 3 more :(

http://www.lamm.co.uk/2017/results/Day2/multistage...

http://www.lamm.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#34&cour...

Chasing start teams (within 90 mins of the leaders) were given numbers to wear on both front and back - this seemed OTT at the time, but actually made it really exciting to know which teams you were catching... especially when we had caught the 8 mins on B5 by halfway to number 1! We had been really going for it along the track because there were not many track opportunities!
Unfortunately I got into it a bit much and made another nav error, getting two streams mixed up and going my own route rather than following B5. This resulted in us cutting a corner but across slower ground, and they got away again. However we did have a good line into the control.

Up to 2 we could see B5... and then B4! We couldn't believe it as we were 12 mins behind them at the start. Both of us passed B4 up to #2, and then we took a lower line across the bare rock on the first half of the leg up to #3 and got stuck on some crags, so B5 got away from us again...but they were still in sight, and we put in some effort to catch and pass them on the saddle just before the Munro. Then we powered up to the top in order to put some distance on them, and we got a bit of a gap to go down off the other side. I had stopped earlier in order to study this route choice and decided that it was too far to go round, and we had to do a steep descent somewhere, so we may as well go straight as possible. This was a good choice; managed to picked up some animals tracks on bits of the descent which gave us confidence it wasn't going to cliff out.

Then one little mistake when I started navigating to the wrong lochan (the line went through another control) but only a few mins lost. Took a good line through the cliff crossing point (ie, didn't fall down anything) and then some reasonably easy legs into the finish. Phew! 4th place.

We came 2nd today although less than a minute ahead of third, so even without the issues of Day 1 I think 3rd place would still have been the best we could have hoped for. Although if we'd have been able to see them in the chasing start, who'd have known...

We were roundly destroyed by Quentin and Zoe Harding though, in a way reminiscent of the Bunns in the Saunders last year! 24 mins down on day 2 and a massive 1 hour 11 down on day 1; kudos to them.

The A course looked a bit more runnable, especially on day 1, so might have suited us a bit better. We noticed that we no faster than other teams on the ups, but were gaining on the flats and downs. More practice needed. A course next year though!

Looking forward to the Saunders next month.

C • 3 to 4 2

http://www.lamm.co.uk/2017/results/Day2/multistage...

http://www.lamm.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#31&cour...

Good travel to the event; paid for a Kia Picanto and got a Mercedes GLC 220 Sport. #winning

2nd MM of the season; high expectations of a good result after looking at the start list and seeing only a few sets of orienteers we thought might beat us (the Hardings and Iain Embrey+Jon Marsden) we hoped for a top 3.

Good weather at the start and a reasonable forecast. Midges annoying but not overly so. Bussed to a separate B/C course start to the very East of the area. I did vaguely try and persuade Tom to move up to A (mainly because the competition looked less fierce) but he wasn't keen, so B it was. I was secretly happy with this.

Probably contoured a bit too early to 1. I have discovered I have a tendency to want to contour first and then gradually climb to the right height; others seem to climb to the right height first perpendicularly and then contour afterwards. I think this means they go less distance, but do the climb more steeply. Thoughts on which is best?

Anyway we lost time right from the start finding the 'island' because there were far more streams than mapped so we thought we were on the island when we weren't. But not a major mistake (or anything we could've done anything about). The OS map was not as good as Harveys.

2,3,4 all good. We could see other teams in front and behind us, but we were taking our own lines.

5 was a major down-up-down or around leg. Around would avoid just over 300m climb but looked significantly further... I judged it too far and went for the former. The planner's "suggested" route was around, but I didn't speak to anyone who did it.
Anyhow - the top part of the climb was very steep and turned into scrambling up a gully right at the top - not quite climbing but definitely needed both hands to pull yourself up on every step, because the footholds weren't good enough to support your weight. I made it to the top and was watching Tom ascend to within about 10m of me... when suddenly the rock he was holding onto gave way and he was sliding back down the gully towards a particularly steep section... I could do nothing but watch as he finally managed to stop himself only a few meters away from a serious drop, after sliding at least 30m. He'd managed to get himself onto his back so his bag took most of the damage. I shouted to ensure he was okay; and got the response... "yes... but get out your first aid kit..."
One of his arms was covered in blood and it was difficult to tell the extent of the injury. I tried to clean it with an antiseptic wipe and apply an adhesive dressing (note - they are rubbish; they don't stick when everything is covered in blood) so we gave up on that and wrapped it in a bandage which we safety-pinned on. And we were good to go. If a little shaken. Split analysis reveals that we only lost about 13 mins here, but it felt like far more.

Finding the control was pretty trivial after that.

Then we had a long contouring leg where I messed up the nav at the end and did an extra 200m climb. It had got a bit misty/rainy at this point and I just wanted the leg to be over; I was trying to do some more climb and minimise the distance, but I thought we were further around the hill than we were. I thought the altimeter was wrong because the weather was changing...turns out it was just me. Relocated well using a nice round hill in the distance but we lost another 13 mins here. Straightforward to the end.

I made Tom go and see the first aid guys after he commented "oh look, my hand has swelled up a bit", and presented one hand nearly twice as big as the other one.
Luckily the cuts weren't as big as we thought and didn't need stitches or anything. Could have been so much worse!

Finished the day in 6th place; without the nav and the first aid issues we'd have been about 3rd equal, or a solid 4th with only one issue. So we were a bit upset but hopeful we could catch the 8 mins to 5th in the chasing start.

A bit of heavy rain in the evening but didn't last for very long. Overall an enjoyable day! Not one we'll forget in a hurry.

This race feels faster every year, but I always seem to do about the same time :(

10s slower than last year. Quite warm, but otherwise I think the conditions were possibly better than last year, fewer mud/puddles etc.
I think I was about 8th - 3rd B&W behind Ben and Tom, and just ahead of Andy Malloy. Was behind Paul Jefferson and two other B&W guys until the top, caught them on the flat and got past on the downhill. Won the team prize; hooray!

The flat bit at the end lasts for ages and there was someone just behind me to keep me pushing; this was good otherwise I'd have been even more slower than last year.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1772359...