Training Log Archive: roar

Easy week with more races this weekend.

Monday: easy run. Skipping climbing to do some useful things
Tuesday: 2/3 session on the track
Wednesday: easy run ~40 mins
Thursday: am run - travelling to Sweden pm
Friday: easy o-training (possibly also an interview, but it seems a bit silly to do that)
Saturday: WRE + selection races long
Sunday: WRE + selections races middle

Easy Monday run. Went up Stoneybatter to the Broombridge train station. From there I followed the canal back towards town, then down Phibsborough. Passed a total of three Tescos. A very nice run and a pleasant enough evening. At the start I felt totally terrible but by the first Tesco I was feeling ok. Then felt good along the canal and down home.

Event: Leinster Orienteering Championships, Carrick Mountain
 

Racing weight eh?
Jogging around and to the start. Small bit of faffing watching nothing happening and tying my laces at the start. Got some dynamics and strides done on the little path which was kinda fun

LOC Carrick Mtn.
Map. Mine is in too much of a state for it to be worth scanning.

1 was a fairly easy leg so I had a chance to plan ahead. Noted that the first 4 controls were uphill. I had looked at the old map last night so I knew that this was about 80% of the climb for the day done by that point. This meant I needed to climb hard and hang on for the rest of the course. I buried myself as much as I could for these controls and got a nice shortcut through the felling to 3. 4 was horrific up the road and seemed endless but I got there. A small bit hesitant going into the control though, struggling to read the detail well. Hit the road for 5 and my chest started to get a bit sore as I pushed it down there. It held me back slightly before I realised it was my HRM which I slid down to my waist just as I arrived at 5. Took a gel here too. Looked at the green for 6 but it was manky so I went around. I had been thinking about 7 for a bit and I was sorely tempted to go under the crags but it just looked too risky so I went for the ride in the green. This was more risky it turns out. Found an animal track but the going was slow. For 8 I finally got to use my downhill game. Down to the road for 9 where I caught Christoph and James. Legs were not feeling good here and I was starting to have a bad time running on even very slightly uphill. Looked at the forest and it looked ok so I decided to go up for 11. Another gel on the hour mark, just punching 9. For 10 the plan was to go left but I could see the green was fine so I went straight. Had to jump some brambles but it was fine. I climbed out of 10 and immediately regretted it. The control was actually quite low and the forest was bad. I foolishly stuck to my guns though and executed the poor route choice losing perhaps 30s. Small hesitation in the circle didn't help.
For 12 I went straight to to the top of the hill. Saw someone bashing through some trees but was really unsure where the actual top was. Went to the appropriate side of what I thought was the top and it was slow through thickish forest. Thought I was right so I turned left. Found some features and back again to discover I had been < 5m away but unable to see it. Arg. 13 was uphill and boy was I feeling this. So much so they when I encountered the tiny track perpendicular to my direction I convinced myself it was the road. Ran back down towards 14 before telling myself I was dumb and climbing back up. Feeling really ragged now and the descent to 14 wasn't great. Bit low on 15 but not too bad. I was surprised to get the fastest split to 16 as I hesitated really badly about my route leaving 15. Once I decided to go low though I did it well. Got some help from susan when she cut in on a path and then I jumped past her in the rough stuff only to fall. Leaving 16 was slow. And painful. Eventually hit the road and tried to run but not a whole lot happened. 17 was easy with the fallen trees in front of it. I was very glad of the downhill to 18 and got lucky with getting onto the road. 19-> finish was just a matter of suffering. Legs were not doing a whole lot but I tried to dig deep.

Overall not totally sure how I feel about this. I thought I was in a better place physically but also it was a fast course with lots of climb which isn't my forté. At the same time orienteering was far from perfect but my attacking of controls was mostly good. At least I'm still good at downhill too. Still, disappointed with 4th (again), though at least I got a prize.

Cool down to the car keys, then chatting to Niamh, Killian and Angus I forgot to stop my watch a bit then with Johnny up the path to the start.

1 - Splits

Easy run up Stoneybatter and behind the zoo for a lap. Just easing out the legs and feeling really good. Put in a few strides and dynamics to loosen out some more muscles. Just caught the last of the sun. Was delayed getting out but was happy to do it before lunch.

Hmm overslept today. Woke up 30 mins early. Rolled over to think about breakfast and woke up 30 mins late.

Walked into work with Gina then instead of my am run and I will run home. Sure why did I even make a plan?

Run home from work. Unfortunately I live too close to work so I had to add in extra loops. Started by going up Macken street and laughing at all the chumps in their cars. Then Fenian St. and down Westland row. It got busy with pedestrians here and I had to do a bit of dodging. Just think of them as moving trees. As I was having so much fun with this I decided to go through Temple bar. That was actually fun. When I did get home I still hadn't gone far enough and did an extra loop around the hole.

Further plan deviation. Running to and from climbing

Easy run to Gravity. Went past James'. Felt like I haven't gone that way in ages which was pleasant. Went on the other side of the road from usual which made a surprisingly large difference. A bit weighted down by dinner but feeling good.

Social comp in Gravity. All on the comp wall. Climbed pretty well but missed a flash or two that I should have got. Did some ones I thought were proper hard too (they probably weren't). Good strength but pretty drained at the end.

A tired run home. Feeling pretty sluggish at first but started moving ok after a bit. This is why recovery runs are a thing I guess. Not much of interest going on in Dublin at 22:00.

Was warm enough to have some ice cream when I got home. Nom.

Godawful night's sleep.
Decided to cycle to the hill run today.

Cycled out to the Killiney Hill run. Took the coastal route. There were a lot more serious cyclists on this commuting route than on my usual one so I had some fun cycling with some of those. Nice evening and it managed to not rain even though it seemed like it would so a very enjoyable cycle. The last bit fairly ramped up though it got very steep and I didn't want to kill myself before the race.

Jogging about waiting for my 1st and 2nd legs to finish. At the first spectator point we were in last place. At the end of the first leg we were in a solid last place. It wasn't looking good. At this stage I took some of the sweets for after the race and put them in my pockets as I wasn't sure there would be any left. I had time to do some strides while the second leg held his position... maybe gaining a slight bit.

IMRA GOAL Relay in Killiney

A very short race so I started hard. Also I was in last place on last leg so there was some work to do. There was a small pull at the start and my legs immediately knew about it. Small bit of relief quickly on the downhill to the coffee shop where we turned up into the forest. Then 44m climb in 400m in the forest I pushed hard here knowing it was where I had a chance of gaining on people. Just when I wanted to I saw a guy and kept working to the top. He summited just in front of me and we were marshalled to the downhill. I passed him pretty quickly then. Nice down actually, a bit muddy and slippery and then around to the bay path. Tried to keep the effort high along here but the legs were tightening up a bit and there was some lactic. Once it started to creep uphill the HR did too though. Saw my next target here and caught close to him once we turned onto the narrow steep path to climb to the summit. He had a second wind though and I had a tough time closing the last 5m but then once I got within 4m he broke and I pushed past him. Legs burning then hitting the steps and I saw another lady two flights above me. Some suffering later I caught her just before the top. Legs were not responsive on the flat top path where I passed John Shiels taking photos. Then a nice descent to the finish.

A nice fun social event with lots of snacks and stuff after. Team was happy I took them out of last place. Cycling to it definitely took a little out of me but I was happy with the effort level.

Cycle home again after the race. It was starting to get dark. Went back the N11, which is net downhill but there certainly were some uphills. Some nice sections where I could cycle for a few minutes before reaching traffic lights which really kill your average speed. I could see it dropping on my Garmin. It was surprisingly warm too.

3x 800m 90s 3x 600m 75s 3x 300m 75s

HR monitor on the fritz again. Just the session I don't want it to be. What a pain. Gorgeous evening though. Second 800m was too fast and it killed me for the the last one and the 600s I was suffering big time for and the 3rd one I was having a bad time. 300s were consistent anyway.

2:46 2:43 2:48
2:10 2:10 2:13
59 59 59