Training Log Archive: Thraws

Drizzle out, windy back.

Warm sunshine promised for inset day. I had to take a walk, although I had nowhere in mind. Ended up parking at Stedham and following the best of the Serpents Trail to Heath End, before crossing the river at Rotherbridge. Had intended following ST from Tillington to Woolbeding Common then Lipchis Way to Iping, but I’d underestimated distance and cut it short via Lodsworth and Woolbeding church. Afternoon was therefore a bit of an anti-climax. Hips/legs/right foot never felt right either.

First orienteering since May. Had three requirements: not to fall over, get poked in the eye, lose map contact. And the planning needed to be good. No worries on that score, the courses were excellent. So my watchword was caution. And the keywords handrail and attackpoint ran through the front of my brain like a mantra throughout. Wasn’t bothered about speed or ‘attack’ but actually felt light, fast and skippy the whole way round. Most of the area was fairly fast, too, so it was pretty good to be moving quickly through the trees. Struggled to read the map at speed in the poor light under the trees and some of my simplified routes may not have been ideal. But the main thing was I never ended up ‘lost’. 1 was long-ish (through light green) so I decided just to go round on the paths and get a feel for the forest (and the sport!). That went ok so repeated the procedure for 2. Missed a path and overshot 5 then couldn’t find a safe AP for 7 so lost a minute at these two. It was basically ‘handrail then attackpoint’ over and over, the compass coming increasingly into play as I grew in confidence. By 14 I may even have been visualising, and when I found a control with the wrong code at 16 I worked out where I actually was in seconds. I was very clean through 18 to 21 and finish and still running strong, so when I downloaded and hadn’t mispunched I was both relieved and pleased with things. 60 minutes seemed slow for 5.5 km but on the printout I was 4th from 21 so felt happier still. I guess I do have a lot of orienteering experience and it’s all about putting what I know into practice. And definitely benefited from being the right side of 11 stone.

C • Back with a bang 2

Chilly morning, beautiful afternoon.

Little bit cooler. Last of shorts?

Playing Russian Roulette with punctures.

Followed this up with first stab at Lu's core workout. Reverse curl ups, 'passing legs' and supermen. Looked and felt the right kind of thing for dealing with my back problems, although main muscles worked were in the stomach. Just 5 mins made a big difference to the way I perceived the various bits of my lower back and hips. Encouraging.

What can I say? Felt fit and fast and pretty comfortable on hills, flats and descents, but finished 45 secs slower than last year. I'm just going to have to forget the clock and run for the feeling. And today it felt like there were more downhills than ups. Nice and steady for first climb, then overtook five on the first descent. Only the woman passed me again. Nice tailwind blew me up second hill and I was alone. Walked a bit on Levin Down (admiring the flowers!) then tried to float to finish. Thought I might get a pb leaving Charlton in 52 mins, but sadly no. Nice little race.

Lane End, Radnage, Rout's Green, Flowers Bottom, Naphill Common, West Wycombe. Hot 'n' hilly LDWA Challenge Event. Chosen to test back/hips over the longer distance whilst enjoying a beautiful area. We kept going wrong though, mostly because the route description was sometimes a bit vague at speed. Which cost us momentum as well as time. Still running pretty comfortably at the end though. And sitting in the car on the M25 probably more uncomfortable than knocking out the miles.

Punctured on the way home and replaced a very old patched rear inner with an old patched inner.

Stayed an hour over at work.

Warm and windless. Perfect.

Took an ibuprofen the night before and hips/back felt better. Might have been placebo though? As usual, at the moment, wasn't sure how this would go. Started quick-ish but Steve took a huge lead. Struggled a bit on early hills, but overtook on descents and later hills too, which was nice. Was catching him near the finish but he was almost 30 secs ahead. I was the same sort of time down on last year. In terms of bigger 'marathon' picture, this was ok though.

Actual timings were Out 33 mins, Home 34 mins. Conditions almost perfect. Felt a little bit better than Tuesday.