Training Log Archive: rcro

Last day in Scotland. 6.8km with 370m climb M21S course.

Start was very messy as was at least 15 starting on my minute and nowhere near enough space. Played it safe around paths to 1 - the veg on the hillock was not at all like it was mapped but I saw no alternative hillock nearby so went for it. Straight to 2 fine but short leg to three was well off.

Really unsure of myself after the road crossing. Hesitant on 9, big balls up of 10. Ok on 11 and 12 and found a nice track across the marsh toward 13. Then disaster. Hill was covered in 8ft deep bracken and there was nothing at all to help get to the control. Found a rock, it had no control, went on a bit further and found a re-entrant like the one next to the control - but it wasn't the mapped one. Spent another few minutes hashing about through green veg and marsh before relocating on a control half way between 13 and 14, decided I didn't want to go back in the crap so went on - GPS says that I must have been within 30 yards of the control when I thought I was about right.

Basically all of 13-16 was battling through marsh and I probably would have had more fun and got less wet by standing in a puddle instead. Went towards 17 but saw no point doing the last loop so headed on into the finish.

Thought the bottom half of the map was alright even if I wasn't - would have preferred it if the courses were planned to keep us in the nicer bits.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/353255355

Scottish Day 5 at Roseisle. 6.8km M21S course.

Hesistant start as first control only about 100m from the start kite. Then went straight line to 2 and 3. Beach to 4, turned in at the right place. Back on the beach for 5, nearly overshot but turns out I was about right - sadly thought I'd gone too far so lost 45s or so looking on the wrong side for it. Okish on the short legs at the top.

Made a mess of 12. I think it was in the depression where the circle was broken and not the mapped one as it was at the end of the open - I'd gone into the grot too early to find it. Lost another 90s or so on 13 as was too close to 3 and thought it was top of hill not bottom.

Good for start of second part of map. Via the beach again. In the rough open, first control good, second control was near enough inpenetrable gorse and I was about 30 yards off but took forever to get through to it. No idea where I was going on 22 and guessed where the rides were but hadn't found them. Overshot 23 by some margin. Had to speed up towards the end to break the hour. Was looking out for the ride before 24, think there was a gap in the trees of 6 inches or so.

Better run than I had expected. Nice area. Ankle behaving too. Still lacking energy but seem to be taking well to the speed advantage of weighing so little.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/352309789

Scottish day 4 at Loch of Boath. 6.3km M21S course.

After feeling faint for the last two days made sure to have eaten even more and wasn't going to push too hard.

From the start, led everybody down the ride and across the stream. Clean to 1 and 2 - for 3 went down to the path and along as thought it was quickest for me. On 6 went path in, straight out.

Straight on 7-8, skirted the marsh by going over the lumpy bit. The stream crossing was very deep and muddy - ankle tape didn't survive so I knew to be careful from there on in. Small mistake on 8 - went to a smaller, unmapped, adjacent hillock first, must be used to the 2.5m contours rather than today's 5m. 20-30s lost.

Knocked off course of 10-11 so in the green. Found it easier to cross the stream and go along to the north side of it as far as the road. Got foot trapped under the end of a fallen branch and tripped quite badly - hurt left wrist and cut the hand such that there'll be yet another new scar - still all swollen from pre-Harvester so unsure what damage has been done.

12-13 went onto the path to the east, didn't expect the elevation change to be so much but still think it was best route for me. Right foot landed awkwardly on a bit of wood and jarred a bit. Hurts a bit still this evening but maybe lack of painkillers to suppress. Then onto 14 and the finish - very rough underfoot so quite slow.

Ran much better than I had expected. Maybe 2-3 mins of errors compared against a perfect day. Still lacking energy somewhat so left pretty soon after finishing. Didn't really notice the climb - much easier going than the Forest of Dean but much more like what I'm used to than the previous days.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/351826540

Walked around a bit of Loch Ness in the morning then a little trip into the mountains in the afternoon. Started feeling very faint again - may have to write off tomorrow's run if things don't improve.

To the start as running a bit late

Scottish Day 3 at Culbin. 6.4km M21S course.

Started into a really complex bit. Had no real trouble where it was hard but my bearing from the start to it was off. Went through the first patch of bush so knew exactly where to go to find the second. Lots of other people looking lost. 2-3 went too far down, relocated pretty easily - +30s at most.

Very slow on 4, went round open. Rough underfoot. Straightish to 5 but bearing off - hit a path and stuck with it. Again very rough underfoot so slow. Hit control pretty well and again got 6 bang on.

First real mistake at 7 - matching up the wrong depressions so too far west. Lost a minute or so. On long leg 8 had choice of beach or path, took the path and went pretty quick until the sun took the energy out of me. Bit unsure on 9 but got it before everybody else who was heading to it.

Full on sprint on path toward 10 then slowed right down into the heather. Good straight route on down to 12. Little energy for the path run 13-14 and once off it it was incredibly rough and I couldn't risk my ankle. Slow out toward 15 for same reason.

15 a hillock in a patch of dark green - lesson learned from Sunday, go in the exit route. Bang on. Dash to the finish, hope everybody else had the same controls. No problem.

1-2 mins of mistakes pretty good. Nice course and area. Shame that the forecast rain didn't happen when I wanted it to and the cooling drizzle just after I finished fizzled out before I got to download. Struggling with the heat a lot - eating about 4 times as much as I usually do yet I still managed to faint when I got back to the hotel. Very glad of tomorrow's rest day.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/350861656

Scottish Day 2. 7.3km M21S course.

Nice for some sunshine but really seemed to be struggling in the heat. Better run than yesterday and running pace was good when I was running.

Slightly to the left on 2 but didn't lose any time. Unsure at 4 but close. Went round the paths to 6 - good route. 7-8 quite good.

9. Didn't pay any attention to the yellow/white veg boundary and overshot by some margin - 2 mins maybe. 13 was going to the wrong hill and went back - 30s. 14 took a long time to come. All fine the rest of the way.

Less than 5 mins of mistakes overall. Fairly happy with run today but still miles off the course leader. Any area where running pace was more important than fine navigation?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/350358839

Event: Scottish 6 Days
 

Scottish 6 Days at Lossie in the pouring rain. 6.1km M21S course.

Started out slowly (and was waiting for GPS to find itself). Small mess on 1. 4 so easy I disregarded actual control, misread CDs for 5 so thought it was a knoll. 8 took some time to get to.

Lost some time at 11 as so many unmapped bike tracks that looked just like the mapped one was a bit off. Circuitous route to 12 but led into it by lots of people exiting.

Then the long leg. Bravely went cross country before landing on a N-S ride that I took to be the mapped one. Ran down it and was very surprised when it ended. Carried on a bearing and soon found I'd gone down an unmapped one. Got to the vicinity of 13 pretty quickly but couldn't match the form lines to any feature. Spent ages walking around before stumbling on control 181 - which was my 14. Went off to the west, spent a while finding nothing before re-reading CDs to find the order was 181 then 180 rather than the reverse so ran back frustrated. 7 mins lost?

Then another 3 mins lost on 14. Don't know what happened as my bearing was perfect. Running hard afterwards to make up time. Fine until the green at the end - control was south of the first clearing. Got to the first clearing then went south and spent several minutes looking around before going out to the path to the south to find I was 150 yards too far west - unmapped clearing! Then finding the control from the south was trivial.

About 15 mins lost. 25 mins down on winning. Very disappointed.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/349711602