Training Log Archive: Mark3

34th / 281 (men)
http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2016/RedBullSt...

This went basically perfectly.

Was getting worried before I started that the standard was going to be much higher than expected; there was a definitely absence of the older generation that you normally get at trail races. Looking at the results there are a few MV40s but about 90% of the field looked young and fit. Ulp.

I knew there would be people going off crazily fast, but I also knew that 8 miles and 500m meters of climb to the first elimination was not insignificant, so I paced myself to a 4min k along the road at the start. Most people did not do this. Unfortunately the next k was a narrow climb that a lot of people were walking up and there was no chance to overtake, so lost quite a bit of time here (2 mins?) but not overly concerned as still ages to go.
Went through first timing in 74th place, so knew I was easily inside 220 and thought was probably safe for the 100 too, and that 20 was out of the question, so it became just about getting as high as possible.

Some of the coast path is genuinely stunning. I was very glad to have trained enough to be able to appreciate running through scenery like that.

59th by the first knockout - was very happy with top 60 and by this point could only see one person ahead so thought that was going to be it. Great fun overtaking people on that they probably thought was a mountain but after doing a fell race...it was a reasonable slope, but no more than that. I overtook a lot on the technical downhill as well.

Then the wheels started to fall off...everyone else. I just kept running at the same speed and was up to 50th, then 45th, then 41st, then 35th by the end. My last split coming into the finish was 15th fastest - I'm very pleased with this.

I was amazed to see Kit at the finish and to find out I was only 27 seconds behind him - I hadn't seen him since the start line. He was 6 and a half minutes ahead of me at one point. He was nursing a bit of a calf issue but I'm still taking this as a good result. An extra couple of k and I'd have had him...

9 minutes away from top 20 - not bad over 18 miles. Due to some very dubious maths (never do maths while running - I got from 16k being 10 miles to 32k being 16 miles...) I was expecting 33/34k, so was pretty surprised when it ended at just under 30. The good news is I would've been happy with the extra - legs starting to ache a bit but otherwise good.

Results afterwards show I was 4 mins ahead of someone with a 2:44 marathon time - I think this shows I've definitely improved at hills!

Race-wise; very good organisationally, there was one and only one place I'd have put an extra route marking sign; hoodie included and also stew, bread, cream tea... And unlimited red bull. Will definitely be entering next year.

Good use of SIACs for the timing as well, with boards that showed your position as you passed them.

Up early to arrive for 8am to put some controls out for Phil. Pretty straightforward apart from one where I'm not convinced the feature existed... I don't think I have ever actually orienteered here before?

1st/3 when I left. This was the first day of a long-o weekend; most people were doing the 1, 2 or 3 hour score, but I don't like scores - luckily they put a blue and a green on too. Didn't push too hard due to being conscious of the race tommorow, but still, was nice to be out running on Dartmoor. This bit of it was very rocky, and the non-rocky bits were pretty rough. Going round the paths was much faster when it was possible; there was one leg near the end where I should've done this. Only really one mistake on #3 where there was a lot of contour detail not on the map - because it was too low, undoubtedly, but the control feature when I did find it did not look to be any larger to me than the unmapped bit. But not fussed really; was just a nice day to be out running :)

Finally got around to writing up the RAB MM :) 2 weeks late!

Packing; etc

Probably should have done the Coombe Dingle session really but it was a bit too much effort to drive there :(

4x1500m(2mins),(5mins),8x100m(100m)

1500s: 5:27,25,26,23

Beautifully paced.

100s: 17,18,17,17,16,16,17,16
These weren't flat out; each one was concentrating on a different aspect of running form. Tried pretty hard on the last one though, and it was about a second faster (which rounding has destroyed).

Planned all weekends for rest of year; was going to crosstrain afterwards but it took ages!

Couple of efforts; only one proper one since that's the only segment I could remember exactly where it was. 2nd of 300ish; miles away from Ciaran at the front though.