Training Log Archive: Bashman

WU
Various drills and jogging.
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Junior Home International Relay - 1st on leg by 4:30, 1st team by 15 minutes

"Scotland are crap at relays" was stuck in lots of people heads today, but thankfully everyone remained confident. The main events that happened before my start were as follows.

4 W16s clear ahead of the pack - 2 E and 2 S, although they were our 3rd and 4th teams.

Alex returns with a clear lead in M16 - Ewan appears soon after, not too far off the front.

W14s keep the pace on the english girls and finish in the front pack once more, setting two 15s running as w18s on last leg against 2 very strong english girls.

2 M14s return with mine being 10s down, and another 6 minutes behind.

And then I was off chasing Angus by 10s. I was hoping Daniel wouldn't be too far behind so that we could somehow secure top 2, as long as the girls secured a draw and Scotland would win. I chased Angus down and punched 1 at about the same time as him. Down the marsh to 2 and I was leading him by a little bit. It was clear though that as I hit 2, he was concerned about something and I ended up dropping him by the time I got to 3. Saw the 2 girls fighting to stay in the w18 pack and spurred them on, they looked strong. I then continued to have a very lonely, chilled out run, checking behind every now and then, hoping Daniel would pop up somewhere.

Flowed through doing some of the best orienteering I've done all year. One small mistake on 9 where high bracken hid a fence from me but I was quite confident that I was still alone. Headed to 11 and sae the girls again. Began to concentrate more on their race and motivated them to go on, they were both running impressively fast! Through spectator with a roaring crowd (as the girls were just behind me) and onto the last loop which looked very easy indeed.

I invested more time into thinking how I would showboat rather than my actual orienteering since it was so easy. I knew I had a gap of at least a minute (from spectator) so was still very relaxed. I eventually rose out of the hill to the penultimate with my arms out wide, jogged over to the last control to meet my team. Then slowly walked down the run in, chatting about how the girls were doing and being told that no one else had passed spectator for the guys. Rolled over the line and the nervous wait began.

The girls soon appeared and it was E, S, S, E. Everyone went absolutely mental because the girls had done enough and it was now down to Daniel. A few more nervous minutes and he appeared a few seconds in front of Mikey at spectator. Mikey headed the wrong way and everyone began to get really exited. Dan soon appeared and with the crowd going nuts, he soon realised what he had done, even with an awful run. Daniel crosses the line, atmosphere goes nuts, Scotland win by 2 points.

Definitely one of the highlights of my ScotJOS career. Wasn't complaining being boy's team leader either and ended up getting a lot of photos with a very big trophy. Brilliant way to end the summer, and finally, after 12 years, Scotland (and I, for the first time) have a good JHIs.

http://www.ecko.org.uk/results-files/2014-08-31-jh...

C • Cracking! 5

Easy WD

Event: JHI Weekend
 

WU
Start wasn't 3km away so I decided to run the route a few times to make up for it. Also a few drills stuck onto the end. Flying up the hills nicely.
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Junior Home International Individual - M18 - 1st by 6mins

I knew the Scots would have this race wrapped up with it being in home terrain and us all being on top form so I went into this race quite confident. I did have a bit of a worry that the cold would slow my running down a bit and that the past week's training would be in my legs but the warm up cleared up any worries that I had. Gave Maureen a high five, went through the boxes, and was off down the path.

I started nice and safe following an easy route to make sure I nailed 1. Was aware that the 16 that I had started with was right on my tail for part of the way but soon dropped him, unaware that our first 6 controls were the same. Got into the circle, went up the wrong re-entrant (seeing Natalie doing the same), 40s down the drain but soon back on track. I was confident that even though I had wasted this time, I was still going to have a good run, so got my head back in the game and nailed 2. Thought I had chosen an awful route to 3 but it turned out to be the best one. Didn't execute very well though and Daniel got me by 40s on speed alone.

4 seemed like it could be tricky but I took it steadily and made sure I nailed it, with a good plan for 5 upon exit too, 15s BS. Continued this good flow into 5 picking a clean route, in terms of bracken, around the hill and through the marsh. Easy to 6, obviously a control to allow us to plan 7. Planned well but executed poorly. Got stuck in a load of bracken just before the final approach. Daniel took a few seconds out of me here but we probably could have both chopped off at least 40s. Nice into 8 and a very nice run to 9 with a top notch split, even though I got stuck in some green. Today was a race where my stamina obviously paid off late in the course.

Only one more time loss to 11 where I got my direction totally messed up, thankfully corrected to only lose 30s though. A bit of a fluke to 12 as I took a stab in the dark, avoiding-the-climb route and it paid off. Fast on the final few and finished comfortably. I was sure Daniel would beat me but unfortunately he, with the other Scots, had a nightmare but thankfully still secured 2nd. It wasn't a great race for me but with that winning gap, and by the way I felt in the terrain given the circumstances, it felt like a great victory. Enjoyed the 1:15 map but wasn't sure on having the same first 6 controls as the m16s, rumours of following spread like wildfire. Scotland 6 points behind. The 18s had to remain optimistic that we would smash last leg in the relay and defeat all doubt tomorrow. The presentation that Tam and I had given the day before had to pay off anyway!

http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d...
http://www.ecko.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#104

WD

Victory one with Dan after he secured 2nd place 20 minutes later.

WU
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Sprint Relay

4 legs for boys, 3 for girls. First one with the scots, drove round it with Tam and Alex before pipping them to the line. 2nd one went horrifically and I just couldn't see the flags. Lead Ali round the third before blistering the last one with Grey who got me on the line....

"WD"

WU with Ravinen

Quick Relay

Terraintervals like never before - 6 x 3mins (2mins)
Various jumping over trees, ducking under tapes, punching, scrambling, sharp turns, crazy! Stayed with Alex for most of the first 5, not actually getting as tired as I would be doing them on flat. Died on the last one and Alex nailed it away.

Tempo WD to the lake plus sauna.

WU
Quick One

Luffarligan
After spending a few hours with Ralph doing a few hundred entries, I headed out feeling pretty cold. Started off messy to a vague number 1 but then really got into it. Smashed my leg at 5 however and after this my shin just put me off and I trudged round the rest of the course. Second to Tam but it wasn't a race ;-) .

WU with Tim and Drills

Stockholm Junior League - M17GB - 2nd
Made a big deal of the "looking at the map before you start" to the joy of the rest of the squad so wasn't very focused going into this. 1 and 2 were just panicked a bit but then began to focus and nailed it all until 11 where I had a 1 minute lead. Lost this lead and gave Tim the win by messing about a bit. Would have been 3rd M16... doh...

"WD"

WU
Round the uni. This included breaking into the 1912 Olympic Athletics Arena, sliding across a huge high jump mat and falling off the other side (slippery from rain). Not sure if it was worth it as I was soaked for the training...

Course 1, standard

But slower due to forest.

"Forest Sprint"

Wasn't an extremely fast forest... and I spent a good few minutes on 3 , 4 and 5. Luckily this allowed Alex to catch me and we had tonnes of fun racing until the end. Got him after some crafty route choices at the end, good relay practice I guess..

"WU"

Ravinen Tuesday Training

Mass start format which was exciting. Punched my number 1 gaffel first but was a bit behind the rest. Slowly made my way up after smashing my knee at 2 until I was in the chasing pack with Alex. Unfortunately I got a bit tired and dropped off, as well as making a big mistake to 7 (map folded across actual location). Thought I was last and slowly made my way round the technical stuff. Then at 11 I saw a group of good people behind me so I kicked again. Round through spectator, all alone, and I found Ali just after it. Dropped him quickly, after giving him a quick moon, and finished by overtaking the Frenchman and giving Kirsten and quick sprint finish (she was on another course though).