Training Log Archive: Jon X

Chocolate. Wine. Rest.

JK Relay, Newtyle Hill. M120+ with Fraser and Ben, 5th place.

Couldn't have done much more today, no mistakes and ran hard. Could perhaps have pushed harder on the first butterfly in the heather had I realised the rest would be less physical. A minute down on the leg but came from 14th to 5th. Must have been quite quick as Ben not ready at the changeover!

Ben got past one team but couldn't hold Andy Dale for the ECKO team (Tullster and all) who changed over right behind me. The other teams were out of reach including Jase for the other FVO team who ended 3rd and on the podium - great first leg for them from Roger.

Warmed up okay and legs actually not too bad. Done in afterwards but managed a short shuffle with Jase.

JK 2012 Day 3, Craig a Barns. M45L, 12th place and 9th overall.

Frustrated at the finish as a nearly-pleasing run ruined by a 5min error at #16. Missed a minute failing to use the compass off the start, a bit under a minute losing track of the intermittent path above the crags en route to #12 and (it seems) a minute following the wall to #14 rather than the path for some of the leg. At the time thought I had lost hardly any time in total until #16 - at #16 I couldn't relocate in amongst all the rock and rhodies and elephant tracks, in the end I had to go right back up the hill to relocate and come back down. The mistake at the end only cost two places overall but I would have felt a lot better about my run without it!

Warm up mainly to the start. Too hacked off to warm down.

JK Day Two, Dunalastair. M45L, 11th place.

Pretty steady but missed 1.5min at #4 when I hit the spur too low and ran up without paying enough attention and ended too high. Seem to have dropped a minute on the downhill leg through the heather to #7 (struggling a bit at that point). Donkey miss on the easiest control of the course at #9 when I lost concentration and ran right past and lost 2 mins for no good reason. Solid if not spectacular from there back, couple of iffy routes and hesitations but nothing too bad. About 4 mins away from a top 5 place.

Start team leader so an early start to the day, but managed a decent warm up for a start around midday. Finished and 3km back to the start for the rest of my shift - ran it with Fraser and Jon M and was struggling to keep up!

Event: JK 2012
 

JK Sprint, Livingston. M45, 2nd place.

A good but not amazing race, well pleased with the result against a very strong field though!

Knew it would be quick decision making early on in the housing estate and did that fairly well right from the start. Spotted the traps and avoided them although I did have to stand still for 5-10secs at #4 to pick a route. Did what I didn't do at the British Sprints and didn't take any bad routes.

Against a big field every hesitation or wobble shows up on the splits and there are a few 5 sec losses in the first 14 controls, then a 10sec loss when I missed my turn heading for the underpass and ran round an extra block. Good route to #16 spying #17 on the way, but then on the last 'proper' control at #19 I wanted to run above the skatepark with the black wall to my left, came over a knoll and saw a wall covered in grafitti ahead so swung right to keep it on my left. Ended up at a dead end above a crag at the right hand corner of the skatepark, swore a LOT and had to backtrack. 20secs lost and finished 18secs down (although to be fair Martin missed more than me on this leg). Still a bit puzzled as the skatepark on the map is surrounded by a fence!

Finished a bit gutted and more gutted when I saw 16:13 on my watch as I knew sub 15:30 was needed to contend and thought I would have been closer even with the error at the end. Much happier when I downloaded and remembered I had started my watch a minute before the start!

Dave P ran 14:39 but declared himself non-comp, Martin W ran late on and came in with 14:55. Fun race (thanks Graeme) and nice to start the weekend well!

Good prep - headed off to the start in good time for warm-up and drills and found that it was handily next to a large field! Met RobB who gave me a copy of the sprint training map so ran round the field getting brain switched on to map reading and quick decision making. Felt good and ready and focused by the start.

Warm down back to start and round the field with the FVO elite boys. Then another lap with Tessa. Felt like I had tried!

I am definitely resting today.

Easy FVO session on Polmaise. Visited a few control sites, checked out the Wellingtonia trees, had a play around and in the quarry, finished off with the SEDS loop round Murray's Wood.

Still not feeling very lively.