Training Log Archive: Thraws

Last minute decision. I've been feeling frumpy and idle, waiting for my knee to improve, and was planning on missing the opening race after the poor showing at the 10k. So glad I went, though. Atmosphere was fantastic as usual. Almost thought about entering the B race as I wasn't sure I'd make the sub-18 mins cut-off for the A race, and started steady at the back, but actually felt OK and was amazed to go through first lap just outside 4 mins. Eased back to a pace all my own that I felt comfortable with for laps 2 and 3, then put foot down a bit for last lap and overtook quite a lot of people. Pretty amazed at time and inspired to do a bit of speedwork and try and get time down into 16s. Splits: 4.05, 4.25, 4.30, 4.03.

Weather conditions ideal, late-ish start, tidy car park, so far so good. Carrying a little fatigue from yesterday so minimal warm up and steady start. Slightly overshot 2 looking for 'green' forest which turned out to be as runnable as it gets, but was good thereafter. Wasn't planning ahead much but forced myself to look at the map a bit more and tried to collect features. This was easy in the rhododendron area which was incredibly well mapped. Small misses identifying clearings and distinctive trees. Couldn't keep it up when we got on the steep slope, despite spotting prominent earthbanks and other brown features. It's interesting that the map of this area has changed a fair bit since we were last here 3.5 years go, even though the ground can't have changed at all. Subjective mapping! Anyway, made max use of compass and tried to visualise, and flags when they came up turned out to be mine. Was pleased with time and result and even more pleased with improving consistency.

Perfect little event. Lovely area and map, thoughtful courses (and a decent length), some warm sunshine at the finish, less pain from the knee and a good result. Followed my minuteman to 1, good route to 2 but hesitant near the circle, cautious to 4, caught SJ near 5 and was behind him through 6 to 8 but overtook on the long leg to 9 and had the motivation then to get away. Thought I had after I spiked tricky 10 and 11 but left the latter badly and had no AP for 12 (20 secs lost). Was pleased to spike 13 and 14 in the low-vis stuff. Generally just felt much better. Bruising is going away and there was a hint of spring and I was stronger in the terrain. About 90 secs off a victory. I'd been right to look forward to this event. Now for tomorrow.

Was in plenty of time and pretty composed at the start. Sunshine helped. But still managed to fluff 1 after leaving track early to spare knee and emerging from trees a bit north of where I expected. Quickly relocated but got caught by minute man here (dropped him again by 3 though). After that was pretty clean and pushed hard given that course was shorter than usual. Planning was v. good and sometimes the obvious route included up-and-down that could have been avoided. Area is technical and physical but I knew this already and tried to just concentrate on nailing next control. Wasn't at all sure about mapping of contours or vegetation on new bit of map, but nav was easy here. Time seemed slow at finish but result was OK. An area and course well worthy of CompassSport Cup. Glad we're not going to the final though: that's usually rubbish.

Bit of a last-minute half term decision. Knee still sore and motivation lacking. Nor can I afford the petrol. Pain interfered with concentration right from the start but the woods were lovely and runnable. Was easily distracted by dogs at 5, 6 and 7 and lost a couple mins, and then got all the paths confused on the way to 9 trying to avoid the hill (which would have simplified the leg). Had sort of company to 13 but got away then missed easy path out of 15 and got overtook. Fell over on route to finish, thankfully on left rather than right knee, but wrist took a bit of a hit. Good course but unsatisfying experience.

Thank goodness for the snow and ice. Without the freezing conditions almost the whole of this course would have been under water! I was handicapped again by my right knee, which hurt throughout and was very painful when I fell on it. Afterwards the joint seemed to be covered in a sac of fluid which I can move about with my hands (hope it's part of the healing and not part of the injury!). It seems likely the knee actually did cost me a minute or even two in the 10k last week. Was going OK today till 4, a small depression near a contour line which I read as a large reentrant and thought would be easy to spot. When it failed to come up I took ages to relocate, completely missing the major form line and lost 6 mins and any chance of a decent run. I was also confused running into the open en route to 7 as I came out some way from where I was expecting to, and eventually relocated on a bridge still about 400m short of the control. Enjoyed the event, and thought the planning was OK, but trying to avoid the water and mud made a mess of some bearings. And I was averse to terrain running on account of my knee and wasn't attacking. You need a clear clear head to orienteer well and I didn't have one. Preoccupied?

Chip time was 42.20. Was pretty disappointed with time at km splits and finish, as it's about 7 mins down on my last 10k, but that was almost twenty years ago, and I felt better after I saw the other V50 results. Age has taken much more out of me than the lack of training or surplus pounds. Didn't really know what pace to run at, but if I felt tired I just said 'training run' to myself and hit a speed I thought I could keep up. After a bit of this I was happy surging again. Didn't have a lot left at the end so probably got it about right. Was overtaken a fair bit, but did my share of overtaking too. Really enjoyed the atmosphere and the course (pretty quick) and forgot all about the knee after a few minutes. Passed Lu between kms 1 and 2 and thought she was just behind, but actually opened up a bit of a gap so don't need to retire just yet. Might replace some o events with the occasional 10k when the field is big enough to generate this sort of atmosphere.

I was more concerned about tomorrow's road race this weekend to be honest, but was worried my right knee would not bear running on at all after Thursday's crash. It's massively bruised and hurts. But this was an unused SO area for me, so not to be missed. I slightly fluffed 1 (couldn't see it) so was in a flap through the killer tussocks and dead bracken to 3 then settled down. Caught a huge group near 8 and tried to get away but had a naff bearing leaving 9 and lost a minute at 10 after running to the wrong copse. Then misread the map on the way to 11, still trying to recover time. Second half was generally smoother, but lost 30 secs through rushing near 16 and was distracted at 23. Knee was sore after a while and probably affected my concentration. Good courses on challenging little area, but about three mins of mistakes cost me a few places in results.

Thought I'd brave the cold as it is practically light now, but got hit by a car that pulled out of a side-junction without looking and knocked me right across the road. I was more shocked than anything, though I've sort of been expecting this. Bike seemed to come off worse, but as the day wore on and the shock off, the pain in my wrist and knee just got worse and worse. The nurse at school advised me to get an x-ray and the hospital diid it there and then straightaway! Nothing broken; painkillers prescribed. The driver gave me and the bike a lift to work and her details so I could charge her for the bike repairs. Got home slowly and quite painfully.