Training Log Archive: Dooby

Event: Scottish Six Days Tay 2009
 

Scottish 6 Day, Day 1, Dalrulzion, WRE. Not happy with this race. Area was a physical forest, lots of contours, few paths, with a small section of open area which wasn't that interesting. 1st orienteering event in a long time but I started with the amibition of scoring some WRE points. Started out ok, got into the map on the way to the 1st control, but did make a small mistake at the 2nd, not much time lost. Long leg from 15-16 after the open, I chose to follow the edge of the forest, easier orienteering. Next 2 controls went fine until 18-19. I reckon I lost close to 10 minutes on this leg!!! It really upset me and did throw me for the rest of the course as it took the wind out of my sails, ran out of steam due to fitness at the end and mistake didn't help with motivation. I had a plan for the leg, contour until the flat area with the drain. Started with the contouring and then came to a hill with a control on it, thought I knew where I was, but I wasn't making much sense of the veg changes. Headed off in the direction of the control up a hill which was white. No control so went back down the hill. Didn't really know where I was but there was a drain in the green looking area at the bottom of the hill, in fact I found a drain junction. Looking at the map I couldn't see any drain junctions in the general area that I knew I was in. I really didn't know what I was doing, and was not happy with myself for getting myself into this situation. Then another elite passed so I started following him and he went back up the hill where I was but slightly more to the right and there was the control. I was very close to the control but didn't really know it was there. I had done what I had planned but didn't realise it. Next few controls went fine but lost motivation at the end, with a very slow run in. If I hadn't lost that time at 19 I would have been very happy with the run. But after the race I didn't dwell on it too much, decided to focus on the rest of the week.

My thoughts before I head to Scottish 6 Day. I am happy with the condition of my numerous aches and pains. Achilles isn't doing too badly and hamstrings which cause trouble after soccer are behaving themselves this week. Over the last couple of months I have been doing a lot of cycling so I feel that I do have some level of fitness, probably at my fittest for the year so far. My worry for Scotland is that I don't know how I will feel running on terrain, have not been doing much of that. Shamrock went ok at the start of June but not been running on terrain since apart from Tramore which was also in June. So will have to see how I feel during the races. Day 1 is a WRE over 8.5km so that is a race I intend to push hard in. Long day on Day 3 will be one where I just intend to get around. With chasing starts on Day 4 it should be fun. I have set myself a target for the week but I don't want to reveal that until I see how Sunday goes, not a very ambitious one though.

Tralee-Farranfore-Castlemaine-Tralee. Not exactly sure of the stats for the cycle as the battery on my Garmin died a few km from home. Didn't take it that easy but legs were tired after last two evenings. Was upsetting cycling on roads which had recently been subject of a downpour so that meant I got soaked, it did also rain heavily on me. That cooled me down on the road to Fieries but I did manage to motivate myself to keep going.

Lot of lads turned up tonight. 14 expected it ended up being 7 against 7. The 14th lad was a bit late turning up, on my team, so we played for around 15mins with a man down. Didn't make a difference as we were the better team on the night. I sort of scored another goal tonight, not sure if i'm allowed claim it, took a shot, came of the keeper then against the legs of one of the opposing players before it went in. Could be considered to be an OG but I'll do the player a favour and claim it!

Tonevane-Iron Man-Tonevane. My new o shoes had to be broken in before Scotland so tonight was the night. Only realised the distance I ran now, surprised as I thought it would've been longer. It's basically just up and down. Uphill was tough due to grass and heather. Did walk a good percentage of the uphill after I left the path. Suffered a shower of rain which made me think twice about whether I should continue up the mountain. Happy that I did continue. Windy up on top but wasn't hanging around. Descent different to ascent. Didn't push hard, paranoid about doing myself an injury. Felt fine afterwards which I was happy with, no pain.