Training Log Archive: Mark3

Terrifyingly icy on the corners which meant it wasn't possible to run that fast, and route was pretty bad as per. But found everything I looked for; took a risk on an 80-pointer and sprinted back from it about 2k, and got back with 8 seconds to spare. Possibly the first time where I've cut it fine and got it right.

John Embrey didn't run because his wife wouldn't let him, so I might even have done well!

Fingers extremely painful due to the cold (-1). Rest of body fine.

So naturally went for a lunchtime run in the snow. Drifts about a foot deep on the way to Lyme Park, and reduced visibility combined with snow blindness meant that I never actually got there.
Good fun though, and nice to be out in the daylight.

Various injuries felt ok; could be cushioning of the snow or just that it was cold! Although actually; not that cold.

Snowy - I deemed it too treacherous. Plus I'm lazy.

Tough after the weekend. Foot not hurting as much as expecting, although still a bit.
Tempted not to go out on a chilly evening, but forecast tomorrow is freezing rain/snow so can't imagine that happening.

Realised in the first few hundred metres that the XC yday had taken rather a lot out of me. Found this a struggle.
Largely into a strong headwind. Very good vis though so just followed the whole way around, no need for any nav. Think I was 67th or somesuch, bit of a come down after the victory last week ;)

Destroyed by Nathanael by about 8 minutes.

There were trods the whole way around. In bad vis this race would be at least a mile further since you wouldn't find them.

318th; well inside the top half.
Went pretty well considering. Nice course, good conditions, good temperature for running. Paced pretty evenly I think. Exhausted afterwards.

https://results.sporthive.com/events/6494904039783...

C • Parkrun 2

Warming up again. Easy pace, being careful with my foot. Massage is definitely helping though, feeling better than last week I think.

Fairly long one for the fell group; Shutlingsloe in the snow. Clear, no wind, lovely.
Plantar feeling better after constant spiky ball massage all day (finally,a useful thing to do at work!)

British orienteering event safety workshop. One has to do one of these if one wants to plan/control/organise. I don't really want to any of those things - but will probably end up doing so at some point...

Quite a long one for the road group. Feeling good because race yesterday was only short, so felt easy for a change. Put in a proper effort on the hill for 8th on the segment; 2nd would definitely be achievable with another go, but first would be a bit much I think.

Still getting the plantar pain; being doing plenty of stretching and stuff which seems to be helping.

Had been disappointed when I saw this was only going to be 4k - but actually, glad I travelled to it as it was great fun.probably the best middle distance even I've done.

Did really badly; 3 mistakes but totalling 6 mins
http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d...

On each of them, found another control, looked it up on my control descriptions to find out where I was and then navigated perfectly to my actual control.

Tried to go too much on compass (after yesterday's triumph) and didn't think enough about actual features; missed a load of obvious attack points through just not looking for them. Basically tried to go too fast. But very enjoyable nonetheless.

C • Attack points 2

FIRST!!! My first fell race victory.

After coming 4th last year due to 2nd place getting lost I had resolved to take my own bearing and ignore everyone else.

Getting up to the trig, route largely obvious and I was hanging off the back of the second group, about a minute behind the first group, think I was in about 15th ish. About an inch of snow on the ground which meant it was faster conditions than last year, where it was just mud. It was technically a couple of degrees colder than Trigger at 2ish, so wore the thermashall, but was a bit toasty since there was no wind at all. There was also no vis, which turned out to my advantage...

Got to the trig and then there was a bit of a trod to Wolf Stones, then everyone seemed to diverge. Decided the couple of guys I could see weren't really on the right line and so went off on my own. Hard going through the heathery snow, but again faster than last year since a lot of the water had a layer of ice over it - there were ominous creaks and I went through a few times - not as badly as a few people I saw with bleeding shins at the end.
Got to a fence and was overtaken by a few people who had clearly been following me - neither had their map or compass out - one of them said "is this the right way?". Hmm. They overtook me and then started going too far left; I went slightly right and saw a large post looming out of the fog, which I vaguely remembered from the checkpoint on the way out. As I got a bit closer, I saw the marshall and gave him my number. "Well done mate", he said, "you're the first one through". I did a double-take. What had happened to everyone else?! Started running down the flagged section and saw people over to my right, who then saw me and started running towards me to get back to the CP... one guy overtook me and I did my best to stay with him, but he was too quick down the hill... went as hard as I [safely] could for my first 2nd place finish... then spoke to the guy at the end, "wow, lots of people missed that checkpoint didn't they?" "Errm... what?" turns out he'd missed it too -> victory!!

C • Well done 5

I don't like the chest track.

Overdressed. Took it easy. Slightly worried about the plantar pain.

Double-migraine this morning. Work was a struggle. Yawning a lot. Decided a rest day was a good idea.

Flat. Mistake at the start, running down the wrong road, and again not being able to find a hydrant, and a telegraph pole... but other than that went ok; probably lots of sub par decisions as usual for score events, but definitely getting better at being able to judge how long distances will take and hence back a respectable 38 secs early.

Running felt really hard again, definitely need a rest day. If it rains tomorrow or Thursday, I think it's justified.

Run followed by a disappointing falafel salad with passable sweet potato fries in the pub. Had two mince pies and clotted cream when I got home though, so that was alright.

No major issues although found this really really tough.

Edit: 48th/182
If I'd have run last year's time I'd have been 8th, so the conditions did at least affect other people too.
___


Hmm...45 minutes slower than last year and a full hour behind my target.

But

Conditions were grim. Raining and 50+ mph wind throughout. Wore baselayer and thermashell under coat which was too hot for the first bit on the track and then definitely erring on the side of too cold for the whole rest of the race. 3/4s were too optimistic too; realised this at the start when 95% of the field was wearing full length.

New OMM overmitts worked well and kept my hands dry although impossible to eat anything while wearing them. The wrist loops I added worked, though.

Deliberately set off slowly along the track and never really got going. The slabs up to black hill were as slippery as an ice rink, running next to them was ok when it was possible but often wasn't, so reduced to a walk. Nearly fell over a few times; many people did fall over.
Stayed with the group I was in faffing about trying to get the right map out of the bag and we all came of black hill trig straight, rather than staying on the PW, which is definitely against the rules. Otherwise, good line down the Crowden brook and then into Crowden apart from the last steep rocky track where some people gained a load of time following the wall which was more grassy; going to have to look into that.

Took the track up to Lawrence Edge which was a terrible idea; lost lots and lots of time here. Ended up rock climbing through waist deep heather which took ages. Strava implies I only lost 5 mins here but it felt like much more! Took the edge track all the way around to get to Wildboar rather than cutting across the moor like last year. If I do this race again I think I'd go the standard way up Lawrence but take the edge path again. Strava implies edge was slightly faster (and easier in bad conditions, and navigationally). Bit lucky Wildboar to Bleaklow, basically remembering last year. Then from Bleaklow, followed someone rather than using the map which was a bad call. Rescued it to Hern Stones; couldn't find the trod but took a bearing to the trig which worked beautifully. Vis was not good.was getting a bit worried.

Trod from higher shelf came out a bit high but not too bad, then extremely windy such that you could lean your entire bodyweight into it and be fine. I think this was windier than Langdale.
Stayed on path for too long before cutting to PW, saw the cut but didn't trust myself enough and was having a grim day, wanted to take no chances.

Bearing way off from corner of PW down Red Enough; actually came down a different enough. Really bad. Running was lovely on Fetherbed Moss though, so feeling really good until I came out in the wrong place. Had no idea what I'd done. Looking at it now, left the PW WAY after I thought I had and so was actually on the opposite site of Red Clough where I thought, which explains the mistake. Actually my bearing was ok...

This lost at least 10 mins. Ok after that, but really slow along Kinder Plateau due to the wind. Kinder Downfall was flowing uphill; I got drenched. Had to keep stopping to walk to avoid being blown off the edge or into rocks. Route from Noe Stool down fine, although would like to explore from below and try the path up from JL on the other side of the stream. I still think going down and around is faster than staying at the top - and today especially I wanted to get off the top asap.

Overall, poor performance. Caused by:
(1) bad choices (Lawrence)
(2) bad navigation (Red Clough)
(3) terrible conditions

I didn't enjoy most of it. Going to have to do it again, though.

On the plus side the slight plantar fasciitis I felt before the start didn't turn into anything, and my Achilles was fine. Every cloud...

C • (4) 2

Was expecting flat and not muddy; actually mildly undulating and mildly muddy. Good course though; no overtaking issues, would be a bit faster in the dry.
Feeling pretty dreadful after my warm up, felt ok when running but could definitely feel the effects of the gym last night.
Down into 6th after about 1k, then slowly gaining on 4 and 5 eventually passing them with 700m to go and holding on in the sprint finish. Quite proud of that.

Edit: 155th/466

Mudclaws; can't believe they are still going from pre-AP days.
Xtalons would've been fine today, not that muddy.
Excellent course, my favourite XC course yet I think. A real combination of wide open bits and windy singletrack through the woods.

Could feel parkrun this morning and the gym yesterday, but still did ok. Not back to previous form yet, though. Really struggled into the wind on the third lap. Doubt I made the top 100; massive field. Nice to be running in vest and shorts in midwinter! Not even gloves. About 8 degrees.

C • old style mudclaws 2

Mainly easy, some effort on the hill. Foggy, so much better to be on the road. A balmy 5 degrees.

Generally easy but put in some effort on a few of the climbs.
Freezing at the outset but fine after ten mins or so; standard.

Bit longer than usual as we got a bit lost, all good fun on a nice evening :)

Blood pressure still high at 140/90. I'm pretty sure it's the temperature. Going to just buy a monitor since they're so cheap.

This damn achilles is really starting to get annoying; painful for the first few km and then basically fine. Doesn't seem to be improving at all, but not doing anything for 3 weeks didn't fix it either. On the basis that last time it went away after about a year, will assume that that will happen again. Probably.

Shouted at by a Hindle for crossing an uncrossable bit of white, which in fairness, I realised I had done. Resolved to be a cheater and carried on... Then my conscience got to me, dammit, and I did an extra loop to get back to the place I'd been before, but the right way. Conscience clear; phew! The map was quite bad quality and it was a very narrow bit of white, so don't even feel bad about making the error in the first place.

A few little mistakes from not concentrating properly but think my route was pretty good. Also one control was very hard to find ('number on small boundary stone') - didn't help it wasn't quite in the right place. I'd given up, but one of the three people id been looking with found it and called out as I was leaving, luckily. Still lost 3mins maybe.

Pleasant evening; worth the massive drive to get here.

Went for cholesterol, blood glucose and blood pressure tests, expecting to be told I'm very healthy.

Actually told that my blood pressure is extremely high (160/100). Going back tomorrow for a retest, if it's still high will need to see my GP. Very confused as it was fine 6 weeks ago when the hospital took it >12 times.

Googling afterwards suggests that being cold can increase it significantly - I'd been literally shivering in the waiting area so I'm hoping that was it. Will be wearing lots of clothes tomorrow.

C • 160/100? 3

Fairly speedy for a Monday. Feeling ok despite the three pieces of Christmas cake.

Had another three when I got home.

Froze the remainder of the cake to stop me eating any more.

Birthday rest day.
Walked up some hills; The Lawley and Nancy back near home. Also wandered around Shrewsbury and ate a really good falafel salad.
#middleage

Not prepared for the downhill start which loses 25m elevation in the first 150m or so! Rest of the course is then mostly flat with gentle undulations, and then some climb just before the finish. Relatively fast course I guess.
The guy who outpaced me up the hill at the end kept me going by breathing down my neck for the whole race so fair play to him. I'd like to think if I'd known exactly where the finish was going to be I might have been able to stay ahead...
I don't think I thought about my foot the whole way around; but just prodded it and there's still large areas where it's totally dead. Weird.

I think I'm starting to regain some fitness. Didn't feel anywhere near as bad after the gym as I have the last two times, either :)

Birthday walk from Church Stretton, up Ragleth and then round to the Carding Mill tea room for lunch and then another short loop; probably 10k total. Good weather and views.

Not even done this yet, just really early so killing time :)
My new year's resolution is one strength class per week - Friday is pretty much the only day there's one on at a reasonable time that doesn't clash with other running - so Saturday morning running is going to be rough for a bit.

Brisk run for a chilly evening. Felt warm in two layers after a while though, despite the 1°C.

Getting used to hills again.

Not as cold as expected due to lack of wind.

Drizzly. Bit hilly/undulating; slightly too long since they marginally cut the corners in drier conditions so they aren't so sharp, whereas the grass was muddy today so no cutting.

Standard course-in-a-park; nice and wide so ok for overtaking though; one small and then two big laps.

Felt to be running ok, still slow though.

Pleased with the running speed here but just indicative of most of the course being dull/easy.

Only one hard control that was half way along a road-crossing bridge;despite having 300m to work out that it was on the upper level, didn't, and then let myself be distracted by other confused people rather than working it out sensibly. The leaders got away (although they were always going to anyway).

Stayed with 4th through the interesting section up to 15 but as soon as it became just running he got away. Took a gamble on a 50/50 route deliberately going the opposite way from him, but turned out more like 60/40 against and never saw him again. Happy with my other route choices, such that there were any.

Distance/time are guesses - with Pete, Dave and Ant.