Training Log Archive: Dooby

Ballyseedy Woods

Putting out and taking in controls, time and distance are a bit on the rough side, time more than distance.

Damp start to the day but 2nd half of the event went better weather wise. Lacey Cup i'd say was utterly miserable.

I'd say close to the 60 turned up with their leaders. Everyone enjoyed themselves so that's good. Definitely a few more DNFs on the 2nd course which was a small bit trickier but 1st course had only a few.

Can't complain about HR today, new strap arrived so wore it this morning for the 1st time. Bit higher than I was hoping for the run considering the time was slightly slow too. Conditions were a bit muddy in places so that didn't help.

Also was running pre-breakfast as had to be at something in Killarney at 11. Worked out ok though timewise. But awkward running 1st thing taking inhalers. Not bad training though every now and again. Feeling a bit hungry at times and think I didn't start too fast either. Was wondering how my legs would feel, some left achilles issues but nothing to note. Will try and avoid physio for another week or so.

Some snow on the ground higher up on the run. Could see more on the mountains. Chilly morning but I escaped the odd showers that were going.

My shoes have only got 155 km done on them but i've noticed some wear on the right upper, hole formed already. Think that's decided things, next pair of runners I will switch brands. Nervous about that sort of switch as i've trained in Mizunos for 6 years now!

Avg Cadence = 89rpm

Discovered that I need to increase the resistance a bit on the turbo, make life a bit harder. But not today.

2 episodes of My Name is Earl.

Going to have to be pre-breakfast training on a Saturday.

Avg Cadence = 87rpm

Just watched some telly as I spun my legs for a bit. Reduced the gear for this recovery session. Felt ok. Tired though, just generally, no where specific, and lacking energy.

Didn't sleep great.

Tired after Portugal.

No pain in the legs. Will run on Saturday and decide after that if I need physio.

Some running around the arena to warm up. Legs are tired today after last 4 days.

POM 2015 - Day 4 - Long

WOW. I ran a good cross country race today.

Ended up in the mass start since my other days results weren't great. A few of the bigger names that were supposed to be in the mass start didn't take the line but Bertuks did.

I hadn't really thought that i'd be anyway competitive today as I was tired but once I got running and into the flow I was happy enough with trying to hang on for as long as I could.

Followed the train towards 1, with the slower starters it seemed. Punched a wrong control to start with, saw others punch so copied, but a check of the code revealed I needed to look again. Kept going after the train towards 2 and then on towards 3. This was the start of a butterfly, phi loop of some sorts. Swiss lad and another chap in front so went with them. Navigation here was straightforward, simple enough loop really.

Then it was back into a bigger train leaving 9 towards 10 and back into the same course. I was a few runners back at this stage but still in touch. Probably around 6-8 runners in the pack now. Stayed with it to 13 and then on towards 14. Thought I might have lost them leaving 14 but caught sight of them on the track in front of me. I wasn't losing time in the green.

Made sure to catch up towards 15. At this stage I was hoping for the tow as far as the spectator control, thinking beyond that was hard. Kept in touch still through the green to 17 and then towards 18 I took a gel. Hard to do so moving at this speed. Was at the end of the Bertuks train at the spectator, maybe 10-15m behind. Around the green and then along the tracks to 20, which was the start of a butterfly. 2 options. Bertuks wasn't going my direction but an Austrian was. Caught a Nydalens lad too who wasn't in the mass start. Again this loop was straight forward enough. And was behind the austrian heading towards 30. Myself and the Nydalens lad got stuck in the dark green after crossing the road trying to find a better route so lost 30 seconds here. I punched 32 after the Nydalens chap but he left it a funny direction and I was more direct. I put the head down here and ran hard for the last control, got there ahead and stayed in front of Mr Nydalens to the finish.

Felt fantastic after crossing the line but not much left.

Fair enough, the amount of independent navigation that I did today was minimal, made sure I was going in the right direction but other than that I didn't make much choices for myself. On the other hand I was able to stick with the group of runners that I was with. That is the one thing I will take home from POM. I just need to be able to orienteer at that sort of speed for an entire race.

Results
WinSplits
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Overall Results

To say I'm tired after the last 5 days of orienteering is an understatement. Definitely disappointed with Day 1 and the WRE yesterday, both contained a 10 minute mistake for different reasons, stupidity being the common element.

As a result I didn't make the mass start today. So the also rans had a mass start. A few of the big names skipped the race today though.

http://arquivo.pom.pt/2015/PreResults/pom2015_prer...

Think I finished POM on a really high note.

Pretty pleased with my run today, but it was mainly just a run, spent 0 time on my own. But still was able to keep up.

Need to rest now.

(Written a day late)

Monday - Orienteering (POM)
Tuesday - Orienteering (POM)
Wednesday - Rest (Travelling)
Thursday - Turbo (20-30 minutes recovery)
Friday - Turbo
Saturday - Run
Sunday - Rest/Orienteering (organising an event for scouts)

Thursday/Friday could turn into rest days yet of some sort. Will see how the body is after POM.

Jog to the start with Roar. Feeling ok, not much I can do about it anyways.

Distance is guessed as no GPS today. Nice morning for a race.

POM 2015 - Day 3 - Long WRE

Since it was a WRE the plan of course was to race at 100%. There was the issue that it was a long race but that was just extra running so more time in the forest.

Didn't start very well. Got 1 ok but lost time to 2, messed around in some green getting a bit stuck and off line. But then moved on to the next set of controls. Some longer legs. Stayed on the track to 6 a lot and got passed by some lad, stuck with him to 8 and then towards 9. Slight hesitation before 9 but nothing really lost.

Leaving 9 I took a gel and my plan was to hit the track to the north and then go from there. I don't know what happened for the next 7 minutes or so. No idea when or where I crossed the tracks between 9 and 10. Ended up on a north-south track so followed that north. Saw the road to the north and assumed I was on the track to east of 10. So cut into the forest and then found a drain. Stopped dead and decided to find this drain on the map. Turns out I was west of 10, oops. Alarm bells should've rang earlier when I saw a SE at the track junction heading southwest. So another 10 minute mistake today due to a lack of concentration. STUPID.

But again like Saturday once the mistake was made I put it behind me and kept racing. At around 17 or 18 I got caught by a german lad so held on to him until after the spectator control. He lost some time after this control so I got ahead of him so we finished close together.

Missed 24 slightly. Some tough green down in this part of the course. And then had to revisit this area on the last part of the course.

So some small misses here and there but the 10 minuter was the killer. Fitness got me around so that is something I can take away from POM.

Results
WinSplits
WRE Points
Map

Jogged back to the car plus some extra running as far as the bus, then turned around. Very very tired. Tough day at the office.