Training Log Archive: Magic

Morning on the beach in Aix followed by an afternoon of travel home to Sheffield.

C • swimming 2

WOC relay, third leg with Nic and Dave. Nic started well but lost a bit in the middle section of the course leaving Dave with some chasing to do. He also started well but lost a bit towards the end but still pulled us up from 29th to 24th.

I went out with no one around me and was determined to run my own race, started slow but steady (it was too hot in the open assembly area to do a good warm up) but couldn't make the map fit around #3 and lost 3 minutes going in and out again trying to work out where In was losing contact, found the control still without knowing what was happening.

Was pretty clean from then on and really enjoyed the course, saw two other runners (Belgium and NZ I think) before the spectator but ignored them. Last loop was mostly easy (aside from the pit in the semi open) and was expecting to be caught, but instead I heard noises in the bushes ahead. Never saw the Runner (Romanian) until a better route to the last control put me 10m behind him, unfortunately it was too much as he legged it as soon as he saw me, which left us 22nd, which was the same as last year (and I think also the same as the last two times that I've run the relay - '04 and '01). A solid result but we were easily capable of 5/6 places higher, but I guess most the teams were saying that.

A great bit of orienteering to finish the week, as good an area that I can remember running in. In fact all the finals were good, it was just the qualifiers that were disappointing.

WOC Training, back on the relay model map for a quick blast with Nic. Managed without problems, took controls in a different order to yesterday though forest now much faster due to the spectator races there in the morning.

Afternoon watching the middle final in mighty heat. Terrain looked amazing and was what I came to France for, unfortunately I wasn't able to experience it today. Good result from Miss Aislinn to finish 41st (but not as good as my WOC best of 40th ;-) ).

WOC training, Relay Model. Different type of woods than we've been in so far; visibility limited and lots of green about but the running underfoot was reasonable enough and not very stony. Had a few issues deciphering the difference between 100% yellow clearings and 50% yellow clearings (none) but otherwise found the 10k map easy to read. Could feel the leg a little towards the end but think that the heat is much more likely to be an issue than that.

Long and hot but very enjoyable day watching the Long WOC final. Super hot, glad I didn't have to run in it, respect to all those who did. Leg now absolutely grand walking so will run on it in the relay model event tomorrow - have been selected to run third leg with Nic and Dave.

Watching the WOC sprint; qualifications and finals. Not a good day for the Irish but a decent enough result from my old flatmate. Leg getting much better. Hot out again.

Leg still too hurt to do much so went up to the spectator event and caught up with the parents. Walking is mostly okay now (only a slight limp) so should be running again in a few days, however I'm more concerned about the heat than anything else now as it's due to hit the mid 30's over the next few days and I find it hard work to spectate in those conditions let alone run (but I don't need to worry about that now anyways!). Relay is on Saturday which I'd still like to have a run in though (team not selected yet) but I don't know how much use I'll be is it stays this hot.

Leg still really sore but has improved, going to give the race a try as I don't think that I can really do any extra damage (it's only a massive bruise). Hopefully will have me moving a bit more fluently once warmed up.

WOC warm up. Did a short run from the quarantine to check out the leg; it hurt a lot more running than walking, particularly when moving a bit quicker on roads and going down hills. Had a 19 minute call up so plenty of time then to get more movement into my leg; worked well, was feeling as good as could be expected by the time I started.

WOC Middle qualification. Obviously feeling a bit apprehensive going into this, but decided to see what would happen anyways. Unfortunately it was much like yesterday with another rough forest and lots and lots of track running, not what I've been looking forwards to over the past year at all.

Easy first few controls had me going okay but I wasn't moving great and not feeling strong at all. A few less than ideal routes and a minor miss over the first half had me doing okay but I died over the more hilly second half and then a cartographic error (failing to mark a depression with an index contour) caused me to leave a track early and lose 5 minutes in a parallel error right at the end. Disappointing end to the race (when it wasn't really my fault) but not as disappointing as the area or the course.

An excellent result from Aislinn saw her make the final, but otherwise the team didn't live up to expectations again today.

C • index contour 4

Event: WOC 2011 + O'Festival Savoie Grand Revard
 

WOC, warm up for classic qualifier. A bit along tracks a a little in terrain on the warm up map. Very hot in the open but okay in the forest.

WOC Classic Qualification. Not much more could have gone wrong with this than actually did. Firstly I was hugely disappointed with the terrain, the run along the road to the first control was enough to look at the whole course and see that there was nothing interesting in it; several km of open meadows followed by a lot of rough, green and very steep forest with little in the way of detail. Such a let down compared to what the adjoining areas offer.

Race wise, I was suffering with the heat from about 15 minutes, was hoping that i would feel better once in the forest but my heart rate never went down so I was reduced to walking all the tough bits. Was doing okay until an hour out when I slip on some lose rocks and landed on a big rock with my quad. massive dead leg and it soon became apparent that it wasn't going to stop hurting. Being a WOC race I wanted to finish but every step from there to the end hurt a lot, I couldn't run up or down hills (at least the heat wasn't a problem! then) and didn't have any focus on my orienteering. Did make the finish but dropped a lot of time. Not disappointed not to qualify though as this was not the orienteering that I had been hoping for - great to have a lot of support from a missive irish crowd though.

Being last start meant that everyone was gone by the time I finished and the first aid people wouldn't even give me any ice as I had a bit of blood on my impact. Then got car sick on the drive back and this together with dehydration, heat exhaustion and tiredness meant that I was feeling right rotten by the time I was back.

Still entered for tomorrow (too late to change anything) so will have to see if the soreness has decreased enough by then to be able to run.

C • Unlucky 5

WOC Training. Quick jog around the middle model map to loosen the legs out and have a look at a few things.