Training Log Archive: Jon X

Warm up around the car park and start area, watching the family with the OS map trying to decide if they were really going to try and continue their countryside walk straight through the middle of the Red Start.....

JK2013 Individual Day Two, Cold Ash
M45L, 3rd place. 2:52 behind Jan Olm in second, 5:22 behind James Logue (I got a bit closer today as James ran off the map briefly….).
Finished 4th overall behind James Logue, Jan Olm and Alan Velecky. A tantalising ten seconds behind Alan!

Pleased with today – very different from the clean forest of Saturday, this was a scrappy sort of area with lots of veg changes and minor paths, and mess on the forest floor. Didn’t feel as fast and lively in my running as yesterday but still pretty strong through the terrain.
#4 – stopped short and right at a wrong control (-10s)
#6 – got confused leaving #5 and v surprised when I hit a road as had forgotten I was supposed to be crossing one! Ended up bashing through rubbish then overran the control and had to drop back down to it (-25s)
#8 – decided to use the path past #9 as my approach route, but too defensive and roundabout in my route to get there, plus briefly ended up running down the wrong path, realised just in time. Had a decent split but should have been a lot better (-30sec/1min)
#11 – defensive route choice again, could have gone straight and cut through the green (-20s)
#16 – dropped off the embankment further left than intended, meant to be on minor path so followed unmapped one even further left. Realised quickly but had to bash through a lot of brashings to get to where I should be (-20s/30s)
#19 – have the fifth fastest split here which is a travesty as I headed further SE than intended out of the control, so went way off the red line plus did some unnecessary climb, and didn’t know where I was for half the leg. Kept running hard and sorted it out. (-30s).
Only #6 was a split outside the top 10 today – that and the run-in where my best efforts today secured me 25th place…

Three weeks today until London - much encouraged by the weekend results in terms of my fitness levels :)

Tired and calf muscles complaining/tightening.

Day 3, Course 13 - Splits

Bit of jogging about then run to start. Quite a climb at the end which was handy as expecting quite a hilly course….

JK2013 Individual Day One, Hambleden.
M45L, 5th place. 1:52 behind 2nd place (Jan Olm just ahead of Alan V) and 7:43 behind James Logue’s outrageous 51:02….

Nearly a really good race. Felt fit and able to push hard, pretty strong on the early climbs.
#8 – no plan leaving #7 meant I climbed slightly when I didn’t need to and went a bit far from the red line (-30s)
#16 – pushed on hard round the NW loop and right in the mix for 2nd leaving #15, just passed the Interlopers duo of Robin Galloway and Colin Eades. Climbed too high and went to the very visible wrong control a bit early, then ran above the correct control and almost on to another wrong control. Engaged brain enough to look at map and turned round, there it was (- 30s/40s)
#17 – though I had kept control rather than dashing off after error, came past the veg change but then seemed to cross the line feature where it was a path not gully so thought I was a bit high. Came into re-entrant near the top, couldn’t see flag above me do headed down to the visible one below. As I ran down I realised it was further down than I had thought and felt wrong…..it was! Painful hill rep back up three contours to the correct control and a welcome back to the two Interlopers! (-1min 10s)
Strong to the finish although suffering on the last part of the climb on the long leg to #18, had to concede that walking the last 30m would be quicker than continuing to run.

Only those three legs with splits outside the top 10 other than the run-in where I tried my hardest and had the 27th fast split!

Managed a short warm down.

Day 2, Course 13 - Splits

Event: JK 2013
 

Jog back to car parking and back, with some stretching and drills. Took a sprint map of somewhere else (another campus and at same scale) to warm up my brain too.

JK2013 Sprint, Reading University Whiteknights Campus
M45, 5th place. Only 5secs from 2nd place (Jan Olm) but 43secs behind James Logue who won in 12:45.

Pretty straightforward course, both routes and control locations. Ran well but not perfect….
#3 – think left is better plus hesitated, (10-15s)
#13 – left is better but I never saw the gap (in fact I looked and thought there wasn’t a gap, not sure it was the clearest cartography (no need to show a thin pavement line across where the paved path goes through tiny gap in the hedge onto paved car park). Also faffed in circle in amongst the low walls. (-15s)
#16 – planned to go right but changed to go left. Think right was quicker and that was enough for me to go from 3rd to 5th on the leg to the final control :(

Satisfied when I finished, felt like a decent start to the weekend.

Trot round the lake to warm down.

Day 1, Course 04 - Splits

Drive down to Stafford via Glasgow. Wanted to do a short run today but couldn't fit it in. My JK will probably benefit from the day off anyway!

Gentle trot from the Uni - up into Hermitage Woods just before dark which were looking fantastic higher up, widely spaced trees and virtually clean underfoot. Just like Saturday will be!

Feeling pretty good at that stage but once I headed into Bridge of Allan mostly I just felt starving, cut things a bit short and headed home for dinner!

Warmup lap of the loch with the recuperating Rosco.
Then two short courses on south part of Stirling Uni map to get some campus sprint prep in for the weekend - getting a bit dark for the second one which made it hard to see the map let alone be disciplined on planning ahead. I do know the area rather well too!
Then jog down to track for 1x800 then 2x400. Was planning on finishing with 4x200 but left foot still not quite right after Sunday and started protesting, so was cautious and called a halt there. Other than that, feeling good.

First full session for weeks. Not too stiff following yesterday either.

Easy round Dunblane with Rog, then off to the end-of-pilates-term meal at Village Inn - and a very tasty home made burger mmm.

C • Horse or beef? 3