Training Log Archive: Dooby

Clydach Terrace
SHI Relayn 2011, 3rd leg on Team 1

Hugh ran well, and handed me over just behind the 3rd English team and ahead of the 3rd Scottish team (they'd a woman on 3rd leg!).

So since there wasn't much between us I legged it down the hill towards the start triangle trying to catch up. Followed the fence to 1 then cut across but was a ridge too early, bit confusing. 2 was straightforward enough, around the flat area and then over to the re-entrant. I'd caught the English (Lithuanian) lad at this stage. We'd a different gaffle to 3 and 4, and I got ahead of him. Tried to orienteer these controls simply, as there was a lot of detail. Missed 5 by a bit, think I ended up a couple of re-entrants north of it. 6 had a bit of climb and then across the marsh to 7. The English lad was catching back up with me now, my legs found it tough going.

I lead to 8 and punched 9 at the same time but missed 10 slightly. 11-12 was rough but got 12 first as Engerland man went too low. Then back uphill towards 13 and 14. Went slightly different routes to 15 and he got there ahead of me. From here until the end I just couldn't get ahead, legs weren't there. 10 surprised me, thought it'd be a another bit further. Knew the way to 20 as i'd been close-by going to 7. I was hoping the English lad might overshoot but no such luck.

Very pleased with this run. First time running with no watch in a while, battery died before the start. Also ran with socks around my ankles, decided I didn't need to tape them! Luckily there were no prickly things to scratch my legs.

Back in Kerry and very tired, a good dinner and dessert at home in Cork helped me get back.

Body is very tired this evening, 2 races in 2 days is a bit of an ask after illnesses in September. I think my main goal for the weekend was to try and make 1st relay team, so happy to have achieved that.

Event: Senior Home International
 

Merthyr Common
SHI 2011, Individual

Glad cagoules were enforced, chilly on the hill.

Didn't really understand the map ro 1, ended up slightly low, and heading back uphill found the control, lucky. 2 was ok, knew what was going on. Then a long leg to 3. Took a bearing and ran on it. No idea where I was for the first half almost. Then started to make some sense. Did get lucky close to the control as I saw some people leaving the area, still had to find the control and lost time, overshot sligtly. 4 was fine but drifted slightly right to 5. Hesitated before 6 and hoped I was on the spur with boulders either side, continued on and went sligtly left and past the control, looked back to see the yellow area and went back to find the control.

Took 1st gel to 7. Ok once I figured out the contours. The next loop through to 13 were all ok, slightly right of 11 where Scottish (Russian) Jegor caught me. Took another gel leaving 13 and the Scot started to get away from me. Did use him for direction heading to 14. When I hit the slope I thought i'd hit the stoney area before the control, went on but no control. Decided to keep going and after another stoney area I saw the control above me. Was glad to hit it ok as body really had run out of energy by now.

Felt better going to 15 but was hesitant downhill to 16 so lost a couple of seconds. To 17 I could see a group of girls ahead of me who took a straighter route, but I went right as I wanted to use the flat area as an AP for the control as there were a lot of pits. Hit 18 ok but ended up at the girls last control. Struggled to figure out where it was relative to mine so lost some time. Checked my codes a couple of times to be sure it wasn't mine. Then decided it was uphill, which was heathery. Legs really tired by now and a hint of a cramp in my right leg, side of it.

Glad to be finished and was pleased with how I did, 2nd of the Irish. Did lose some time today but struggled to understand the vagueness of the map. It all lookd the same!

Garmin said I ran 17.04km and climbed 284m.

Results

Flying to Bristol en route to the SHI around now, should be in the air. So taking it easy today too. Not a bad idea to rest before 16km tomorrow plus is it 7km on Sunday. That's going to be a lot of orienteering. Lots of pits tomorrow and Sunday looks fast.

Bought new Inov-8s in Cardiff:-)

Taking it easy today as i'm heading to Cork this evening.

Gear packed and ready to go, passport, driving licence, o shoes, compass, and si card (for the captain). Bag seems a bit heavy/full so i'll see what I can take out. If it's anything like France i'll have too many pairs of socks packed!

Avg Cadence = 83rpm

Had physio this morning, just to make sure the calf is alright for the weekend, it and the rest of my legs are fine. Been advised to stretch more after racing.

Another episode of Game of Thrones.

Need to increase the resistance on the bike for next time, if it's a proper session, get the legs stronger. Also might see if I can do some sort of workouts in Garmin and set them up on the watch to do intervals, when i'm bored.

Had a look at the EOC 2012 video before lunch, forest in the video looked very nice. So maybe EOC 2012 might be a competition worth considering going to. It will have been 10 years since my 1 and only EOC next year, EOC 2002 in Hungary.

Glanageenty
1 long lap plus a bit more at the end. Time for the lap was 31.42, fast.

There were 5 of us tonight, John L, another lad from last week (Dave I think), plus 2 Gerry's, and that's 2 quick Gerry's. Handy pace to start off with but once it hit the path with us being single-file the pace increased, 1st hill was ok but was still fast. The pace stayed high, only chance to relax was on the downhills. Thought i'd suffer more on the 2nd hill but got through it ok, HR was high. Then the descent in the open was nice, didn't last long and then into the forest for the last bit.

I was 3rd in line at this point, John L and Dave had been distanced. On the bigger track half way through the last bit of forest I powered past the slower of the Gerry's and caught the faster Gerry. He was unsure about the last bit of the slippy path so i went ahead and lead him down to the end. I think fast Gerry may have won the short Killarney adventure race so is decent.

Then we did a bit more running, to the road and then back to the cars. I stuck to fast Gerry along by the river but on the steep section up to the road he powered ahead and I couldn't be bothered sticking with him, the lad is strong. Had gotten very dark in the forest at that stage.

Plan for this week is turbo trainer this evening, nothing too hectic. Then tomorrow i'm going to run with the John Lenihan (Ríocht) Group so that'll be a steady enough run. No plan yet for Wednesday, probably bike of some sort. Then resting Thursday (heading to Cork after work) and also Friday (travelling to Wales). I also need to get some physio this week too, left calf needs work, not feeling too bad today but a lot of stretching will be done.

Avg Cadence = 81rpm

Watched 2nd episode of Game of Thrones, not bad. But needs a bit more fighting.

Legs felt ok on the bike but I think for last 10mins I could feel some tiredness creeping in.

Have physio sorted for Wednesday morning, pleased with the timing of it.