Training Log Archive: Mark3

This did not go well.

Okay up to 6; in 6th place at that point. Slight issue leaving the map to 7 but I don't think that was really my fault...RG shows lots of people did it (very obvious path just off the edge; never found path on map). Didn't correct until long after other people did though.
Route to 9 was far too safe and lost a bit of time there. Similar on 10 except failed to implement my safe route by not having an AP and assuming control would be obvious; actually 'rough open' had quite a lot of vegetation and contour features which weren't mapped and I wasn't accurate enough.
Straight route didn't look unreasonable on the map but it would've been far faster going round - I blame the map here - but can't blame it for getting lost at the end of the leg; didn't know where I'd come out and didn't pay enough attention to relocate.
A few more small mistakes and then a big one at 17 which definitely wasn't my fault - I was chased by a barking, jumping, mental dog for about 400m; whose owner was not in control at all; since Phil's horror story I was very afraid it was going to bite me and therefore I was concentrating and running as fast as I could whilst at the same time preparing to kick the bloody thing - I would have done that earlier but I didn't want to anger it. Anyway eventually I tired it out and it stopped, but then I had no idea where I was and guess wrong. I deserved to lose a lot more time than I did since I just stumbled on the control when not expecting it. But I now wasn't in the mood. Saying that the next few controls went ok, but I took a long path route near the end which didn't pay off.

Basically not a fun day out - I shouldn't have come back down South! Actually I only did since it was more on the way to Bristol than the AIRE alternative, and I needed to go and clear the garage out in preparation for selling the house. Shouldn't have to go back to Bristol again (other than to visit people/stay with people that live conveniently for races...)

3rd; slower than last time but it was much muddier, nearly fell over on the downhill hairpin.
All my splits are ok except for the first hill, need to really attack that I think.
Definitely cemented my opinion of it as the best parkrun, though.

Despite this being a score, really enjoyed the format. 30 controls, prescribed first and last but get the rest in any order, except can miss a certain number depending on age class; M21 miss 1, M35/M20 miss 2, M40/M18 miss 3, M45 miss 4 (on the long course).

This is an equally 'unfair' but much more fun way of handicapping than just multiplying times by a factor, and I think it should be done for club champs and things.but I digress.

Everyone was looking at the map before the start so I did too; enough to choose a route to 1; I went long but easy. I was first to number 1. Boom. Unfortunately I'd done no planning whatsoever and so left number 1 in totally the wrong direction. Alistair Thornton had gone short and hard and he'd got there 5s after me, he probably thought that he then followed me out of 1, but actually I was following him even though he was behind me (ie I thought since he was there,I must be going the right way).anyway we lost about 2mins on anyone who took a reasonable route to the next control.

The route was reasonably straightforward it was just deciding witch to miss,I went for one of the early ones to try and catch Alistair up again, which worked to a degree (ie he was in sight) but soon disappeared again. Really enjoyed the rest of the run and didn't really do anything wrong - shame about the error right at the start which was just due to lack of planning.

Put some effort in going up the steep hill and then again on the way down, where I guessed there would be a segment, and there was, and I'm winning it. Hooray!

Ran a long way, didn't get many points.
On one occasion, went to a control I'd already got but from a different direction, and also missed several opportunities to cut corners across grass or get to a control from a better direction. In short - Leon is going to have destroyed me.

C • Not really! 1

Hill reps session, massive group of about 15. This meant long recoveries and we didn't actually do that many reps or that much climb...but it still beat training on my own!
We did a 1k loop as a 'race' where I destroyed everyone on the downhill,so that was ok.
Weight carried = 2kg, definitely noticeable on the uphill.

Jog to pick up a club buff. It looked like it was going to be really grim in the rain but as usual, 30 seconds in and it was fine.

Could've been 6k but extended so as to maintain my lead in the steps competition this week at work...

Boom, 1st place, great start to 2018 :)
http://www.derwentvalleyorienteers.org.uk/results/...

Took a bad route to 1 essentially following Noah who I don't know but he was wearing an OK Ravinen top and that's usually a safe bet - but we'd started on the worse side of the starting enclosure and so went all the way around an unnecessary lake. Still top 3 to 1 with Connor and we stayed in a close group until 6 with some different choices but always coming back together.

About two thirds of the way to 7 I realised we were all heading to the wrong side of a fence and so deviated without actually getting to the wrong side, the other two were just behind and this confused them enough for me to get a 10s or so gap which I maintained until 10.

Didn't see them for a few controls and was lucky on 13, didn't read the map in detail just guessed the level it would be on and was right.saw Connor coming out of this and I think the gap was a bit bigger.

Saw them again on the 18-19-20 loop and I probably had 60s now so started to go a bit more steadily and ensure I didn't do anything daft, this helped me get the route choices right on the long leg and for the last few controls.

Really pleased with this especially with the extra pressure at the beginning.

Hokas were good on the hard surfaces but terrible on muddy grass (as expected).