Training Log Archive: Magic

Open5, Forest of Dean, Running. Bit of a mess at the start as I didn't realise that some of the controls were removed and didn't alter my route to take that into account. Pretty happy with the route though, one skipped one control (an out lying 10 pointer) and only failed to find my path once (down the steep slope in the NE), dropping about a minute. Some lovely forest and interesting sites but spent most of the time on hard trails.
Map

C • Woods North of the Wye 3

Open5, Forest of Dean, Biking. Last time I did an Open 5 (5 years ago?) I spent nearly 20 minutes in transition, this time was about 5 minutes which was a whole lot better, helped by carrying proper food so not needing to eat then, just changing the kit and drinking.

Only my second time on the mountain bike for over 4 years (first time in any anger) so was well wobbly, especially due to the lack of suspension (see yesterday) and having new cleats that didn't like releasing my feet! Also having hard tyres made the it slippery in places, particularly the singletrack.

Opted not to drop all the way to the river for the 15 pointer and think it was the right decision, what wasn't was the fact that I had to hold my map in my hand and kept missing things as I could rarely read it while riding (unless on a good track).

Missed a small tack after the road crossing and ended up making a massive detour, costing maybe 5 minutes. Also failed to plan ahead enough (had planned most of the route while running) and completely forgot about a 20 pointer which was easy to get along a B road.

Otherwise only a few wee problems, mostly caused by the inadequacies of an OS 1:50k map in an area like this. New I was going to be home early from quite a way out but not far enough out to be able to get any more controls, and got to the finish 18 minutes early - would have taken 10-15 minutes to get that 20 pointer!

Pleased enough with the race, no conditioning for this sort of thing at all and a lot less tired afterwards than I have been in the past. Ended up in third (won a beanie), 5 point behind the Powell brothers - who tied on 540 points but one (I don't remember which) was 1 second quicker! Good fun day.
Map

C • open 5 3

Not a planned rest day but sort of ran out of time to do anything, was actually one of those annoying days when you're busy all the time but never actually achieve anything.

Got into a boo because I'd forgotten that I had broken my map board for my bike (Open 5 tomorrow) and when I tried to inflate my shocks the valves gave up so I now have zero suspension.

Struggled to get going and then struggled on all the hills, luckily I didn't have too many. A nice little trot around Caerphilly Mountain and a bit of an explore. How can 10 minutes of running have such an effect?

Hill intervals with the MDC boys, 6 of us this week, if this growth rate keeps going we're going to have major issues finding a big enough venue in a few months!

The guys opted for short hills so we did 5x120m/30m, had a wee break and then did it again. Felt pretty good for 4 and a half, then the legs gave up. Kept consistent for the second set but nowhere near as quick as the first few.
0.50
0.55
0.57
0.55
1.01

1.01
1.02
0.59
1.00
0.59

Rest day. Discovered on the weekend that I don't have much of a thigh-gap, yet something else that I'm just going to worry about continuously...

IW, cracking morning, first ground frost of the winter and sunrise as I ran across the park, unfortunately my legs wern't joining the party and felt worse than yesterday. A chore, but good to have done.

HFW. Effort, especially to get going, but it was a nice night so I didn't have much choice. Quads already suffering from the hard surfaces, looking forward to being able to run somewhere nicer on the weekend already.

IW. After a dry week the grass has dried up enough to enable some softer running, much appreciated by my slightly tired legs. Still took forever to get going; was glad I made the effort but wouldn't go as far as to say that it was enjoyable.

HFW. Not wanting to do this and as the legs were still complaining I opted for quite a short route, though it did feel like it went on forever. No complaints about the nice dry and cool evening though.