Training Log Archive: Magic

BOC Relays, Summer House Knott, M40,
Steady run, a bit sloppy in a few places (too low for #4 and missed the best route to #5) so maybe a minute down on what I could have done. On the other hand I ran much harder today and was able to attack it a bit, though obviously this was on tired legs.

Fortunately RogerG and DaveG handed me a huge lead so all I had to do was keep in sensible and I knew that SYO weren't going to catch us. Managed to punch all the controls despite not having SI air... Great to see the second team finishing third as well.

Event: British Long Championships (UKOL) / Relay Championships
 

BOC Long, High Dam, M21E, 14.9km, 710m, 32 controls.
Looking forward to this as I think the '98 World Cup was the last time that I ran on High Dam! It's been a long time since I did a high quality race on an unfamiliar area in England, so this was really good. Struggled to read the 1:15 map through the detailed bit at the start (losing a couple of minutes in hesitations) but was fine once in the easier to read bits.

Technically actually fairly sound, one stupid parallel error at #6 which cost me a couple of minutes and the faff through #2-4, but only a few small wobbles after than, probably adding up to a minute or two. Could see Tom F for much of the race, although we rarely took the same lines but ended up back together a lot.

Legs weren't with me today, still tired from last weekend, which was a shame as it was a race that I really enjoyed and would have liked to be able to have given it more. Reckon I probably lost 6-7 minutes on potential pace, so although not disappointed with my 8th place, I could certainly have done better with fresher legs. (My new shoes were also a bit big and didn't give me confidence descending).

IW. Another grand morning and the wind mostly behaved.

HFW. Less people around an hour earlier. Wind helpful again.

IW. Unusual morning headwind, but not too bad. Nice morning otherwise.

HFW. For once the wind didn't change direction so a nice easy ride home (apart from though the industrial estate).

At Spot with Mark P. Really noticed not having been for a few weeks, but plenty of new problems to work on, was fun but arms didn't have much in them.

The minimum allowed to count as exercise - just a few strength exercise and some work on my quads. Body is tired and wanting a bit of rest.

IW. Nice and easy on a lovely morning, although it appears to have rained here over the weekend.

HFW. Needing to get home to make the MDC run but not wanting to put any effort in. Matched my recorded of seeing 97 other cyclists on this evening trip.

MDC run from pen y fan Pond. Lovely evening and a nice gently pace made it very enjoyable. A few diversions from the planned route when brambles/map indicated that it would be a better idea. Up to the trig in Mynydd Pen y Fan for a photo with Pen y Fan in the distant background.

IOC Relays, 3rd leg with Dooby and Boyzone.

Dooby had a great first leg, dropping the rest of the field at #1 and coming back with a 3 minute lead against our main rivals. Boyzone retained this and handed over to me with a clear lead (although I obviously didn't know exactly what it was).

Started steady but couldn't have gone that much faster either. All in control until #10 (which I had seen earlier) when it suddenly wasn't where I was expecting, lost 40 seconds and, more importantly, my focus so headed to the next one with no plan. Headed for some boulders that I had seen earlier without really knowing which ones they were and then suddenly all the knolls and boulders looked the same and none of them looked like the one that I wanted!

Relocated off of the wrong crossing point before realising that I was too far to the south, headed north and was relieved to both see my control and not see a chasing Conor (although 2 minutes lost). Sorted myself out and got back to running safely as thought I still had a bit of a gap.

Very easy few controls and then, at the bottom of the last hill, I suddenly saw Conor. Bit of an effort up to the penultimate control to ensure that he didn't close further and then had enough not to have to kill myself on the run-in.

Great to have another Cork O win, but very annoyed with myself for losing so much time on two controls that should have been straightforward. How much longer can we keep this team together and competitive in the Open???