Training Log Archive: Thraws

Two laps of the PBM circuit, although slightly less than 40 miles as I missed the out and back to Tilford on the second lap, but did divert on the first lap to a new bridge over the A3. Walked about as fast as I could all day as I wanted to see how much ground I could cover. Felt alright at the end apart from badly blistered feet, caused by the soft sand on Hankley Common getting inside my trainers and thin socks and acting like a sort of abrasive. I was lucky the light rain wasn't heavier, as wet feet would have been likely to blister even more badly. Great scenery, and doing laps meant I didn't have to carry water/so much food.

Oh my goodness! Messed up almost 90 per cent of controls but still managed a respectable place. What a challenge this was. The area was pretty rough, but Mike succeeded in making almost every leg as difficult as possible. At least we got our money's worth. I ran up a perpendicular ditch near 1 and lost a minute and a half, then took 2 real careful to get that one safely. I used the overgrown ride to 3, then stayed on the paths to get as near 4 as possible, when the attack from the west was more straightforward. I had no plan for 5 and when I found ditches to relocate on I couldn't make them out on the map in the gloom. The next two were too cautious, and the tower at 8 was no easier the second time. Then I made the ridiculous mistake of noting what other people were doing (when they were actually lost and useless) and made a complete pigs ear of 9 and 10. I ran up the wrong path for 12 and went way off line, and got confused looking for 13 because I couldn't find my AP! Some of the thicket controls (like 14) were a bit dodgy, and the mapping of the clearings round 15 seemed suspect. After that I was OK, but reckon I lost 11 or 12 minutes all told. Got a bit fed up with some of the evil vegetation in places, but think on the whole the course was a proper fun one.

Collected in the furthest seven controls afterwards. They were easy to find at a walking pace, but the thickets (holly?) in the light green areas were only really identifiable by the adjacent flags. Probably covered about 3 kilometres.

Rear tyre almost bald in patches. Doesn't take long to run up 200 miles-plus without actually doing any 'training'.

Spent a couple of hours in Selhurst Woods checking the vegetation for the event in October. Brambles have worsened (thicker and more extensive), but the steeper slopes seem to be entirely free. Some of the brashings have broken down a bit too, so should be OK. Picked up two ticks, first of the season.

This was the reason we came and I was really looking forward to it, even though I was a bit tired after the rigours of yesterday. Hung back a little from the frantic dash at the start, and when I entered the trees people were swarming away in every direction. It was a case of looking up for your route then following the right group. Map reading was tricky as it was dark, there were lots of control circles close together, and they clashed a bit with all the squiggly contours. But my 1, 2, 3 and 4 came up just fine and I was just about managing to juggle the navigation and running. The next leg was a bit longer and I did it mostly on the compass, desperately trying to make the contours fit the numerous small hills. It was always such a relief to check the right code and not become one of the many people who unfolded their maps then groaned when they realised they were in the wrong place. Most of the younger runners on my gaffle had got away by the road crossing but I was still in touch with a sort of group. There were more mistakes made in the next bit and we started to spread out. I underestimated the distance to 11, the spur, and lost a bit here, but was still pretty good back over the bridge. But on the path to 15 I neglected the map and ignored the huge reentrant to my right so when I got to the corner of the field I realised I had passed a control at the top of the hill and had to run all the way back up. Three costly minutes lost. The last section was much quieter and I was navigating mostly alone (and not very well), but all the flags came up and I was puffing up the field to the finish. Mine was one of the slowest times on a very fast first leg, but I'd kept in touch and Nick got us up from 31 to 14 and Neil ran a storming last leg for 6th, which was alright. If I hadn't rushed 15 we'd have been fourth. Massively enjoyable event on an unpromising area which turned out to be brilliant.

Was hoping for a top 30 finish but was a bit unsure about the area. I was literally the very last starter and had seeded runners ahead of me so didn't expect to get much help or see many at all, but there were plenty around in the central part of the map, near the start and finish. Messed up 1 by confusing two path junctions and lost 3 mins, and I'm blaming that on 1:75 maps. Then I messed up 3 by failing to see the veg boundary didn't go right up the slope and climbing too high. Early mistakes made my legs feel heavy already, and it was probably fatigue that caused me to mistake a clearing with the field edge and stop too early for 9. I went to the wrong control near 11, then noticed the long leg coming up with a certain amount of dismay. Running through the forest was physical and dispiriting and not much fun so I opted for a mix of rides and tracks that took me about 500 metres south of the red line. (People with better times took equally long, if slightly better, detours.) But I also lost quite a lot of height down to the pylons. The man-made object I was looking for next turned out to be a platform, but my biggest mistake was 15, which would have been fine if I'd used the path to the west. Instead I climbed straight up the hill and tried to attack from a path junction, and when I looked up for my boulder there were millions of them. I was too high and it took me 8 minutes before my wanderings brought me down to the control. I couldn't face the straight line through the rubbly forest to 16 so climbed right back up to the track then dropped a long way down for the area of mining activity which was mapped in a way I couldn't figure. It just felt like an assault course after that, although I didn't have any more big misses. I decided I didn't like the courses much as it wasn't really clear how you were supposed to use the map to find the controls. Hitting 21 was a fluke. Overall lost about 16 minutes and finished just outside top half. Me and Sheffield areas don't really get on.

Course 14 - Splits

The week on the bike (c.70 miles) meant I started this feeling much 'tougher' than usual. Not necessarily fitter, just better prepared for an effort. Then I made a slight hash of 6 of the first 7 controls and lost almost two minutes. I undershot 1 then left it in the wrong direction (rushing!); I overshot 4; I took a wrong path to 5; I got confused near 6 and left that one in completely the wrong direction as well and ended up at a dead end. Then I thought I'd made a poor route choice to 8 but got it clean and did 9 and 10 OK too. I almost caught Lu on the way to 11, but she wouldn't let me overtake and led very well through the tricky section to 16, actually increasing her lead on most legs. I was focussed on not mucking up and there were quite a few confused people around. Then we got into a really good head-to-head en route to 18, taking slightly different lines, but I couldn't catch her. I deliberately went the other side of the trees to 19 and ended up with the fastest split for the leg, but she had the second fastest and was still ahead. We both spiked 20, but I had the better exit strategy and was able to get a gap on the long uphill run to 21. I was slower and more careful in the thickets. Generally felt pretty good and enjoyed the course and was grateful the planner hadn't avoided the climbs as they gave the event its character.

Hoping to cycle to work next week, so had a run out to see how long it took at a steady pace. 33 mins out and 33 mins back. Fresh wind.