Training Log Archive: Chas

Stood out JK day 3. Achilles sore and obviously I've not fully recovered from the 'flu.

JK Day 2, Hambledon.
Set off quite hard, but achilles was sore from the start and the hills were hard work. Ground to a halt after 7 controls.
Looking at the splits I was well off the pace even before I ground to a halt. Need more time to get over my illness.

C • Disappointing 3

Jog back to the finish. Body suffering.

Event: JK 2013
 

JK Sprint. M45.
Didn't push flat out but still pretty hard and chest sore by the end. Quite pleased to be within 1 minute of second (although a lot more behind James). Achilles OK.

Achilles a bit more niggly this morning. More self frictions and ice.

No adverse reaction to yesterday's run, so thought I'd try again. Yateholme circuit. Snow mostly quite shallow; just the odd deep drift. Achilles took longer to start hurting than yesterday, but was sore after about 25 mins. No worse as I continued. Ice afterwards.

Just feeling strong enough to contemplate a run; mainly to see if Achilles would ease off after a bit. It is pretty difficult to find anywhere to run round here at the moment; any roads or tracks running roughly perpendicular to the wind are many feet deep in snow. The road to Digley was OK, but the road up to Holme was drifted to wall height and meant running was intermittent. I went as far as the road closed sign and came back down the main road. Achilles didn't get any worse or better. Ice afterwards.

Still improving. Tried a little jog to see if Achilles still hurt. It did. Although the general swelling has gone down, there is still a very noticeable lumpy area. Self frictioned this area, which only hurt a bit. Tried some stretching but right hamstring sore for some reason.

Got out of the house for the first time in a week. Tried shovelling snow but had to give up as quickly felt overexerted.
Feeling stronger (ie legs don't buckle under as I go up and down stairs) but still way too weak to consider proper exercise. Obviously I've given up on any aspirations regarding the JK now. I'm just hoping that I'll be well enough to have a jog round. I'm also hoping this extended rest will leave my Achilles in a much better state than before I was ill.

Finally starting to feel a bit better. Still very weak and won't be running for a while yet.

C • :( If Phil isn't sick, he ... 2

Still no improvement. I'm not good at being ill...

No noticeable improvement. Just heard my Physio is in hospital with pneumonia. Worried now...

C • Get Well Soon, Mr Adams. 2

No improvement. Very disappointed not to able to run at the Trossachs. Over 10 years since I last ran there, but at least the kids coped reasonably well.

Event: FVO Middle & Long, UK Orienteering League races
 

Properly ill now. Didn't make it out of the car at the FVO UKOL race. Cold, achy and weak. Paracetamol helping me to function at very basic level.

Coming down with something. Small chance I'll be able to run in a day or two so travelling to Scotland anyway.

Well, after 2 days rest I couldn't resist. Cold, but sunny so wrapped up well and set off up over Hades, around the tops to Upper Cumberworth, then Emley Moor and Grange Moor before dropping down into Mirfield. Back into Huddersfield on the Calder Valley Greenway and back up the Holme Valley. Achilles didn't like it much when I had to dig in on the steep hills, but better than if I'd been running. Ice. Also a few gentle heel raises, but achilles a little sore.

Physio session. More fun with her metal torture tool. Apparently I need to rest it a bit. She doesn't say that too often, so I'll have a couple of days off. Don't particularly fancy cycling at the moment either so perhaps a proper rest...

Interland, 't Zand, southern Holland. Course 2, M40/45, 8.0km, 70m.
Similar to yesterday but less paths, rougher underfoot and lower visibility. All classes were starting at 1 min intervals so packs were formed. I ended up doing 2/3's of the course with the Belgium guy who caught me a minute. We came 2 and 3rd, 1 and 2 minutes down on the leader respectively. No real mistakes, just perhaps a slight lack of urgency before I got caught.
Achilles getting quite sore by the end and I struggled a bit to keep up. Not ideal then having to sit on a coach for the long drive home. Luckily I have the physio booked for tomorrow.

Interland 'training' Middle Distance Race, Vrachelse Heide. Course 2, 5.0km.
Pleasant urban sandy forest with complicated path/track network and some contour detail. Tried to cruise round getting into the map and practice using my magnifier to read detail in the circle. Didn't really happen though. Got confused by paths coming out of no.3 and lost track of where I was for a minute or so, otherwise a good steady run. Winner took 27.
Achilles starting to complain by the end (fastish running on flat sandy ground?)

Rest day of sorts: drive, bus, ferry and bus to Holland.

Standard Hades Clough route. Achilles sore to start but eased off. Still niggly for the rest of the run though. Pleased to get time down to 50 mins for this run, but did have to push quite hard. Ice afterwards.

Into Huddersfield, Marsden on the canal towpath and up Wessenden.

Around the Bradley area of Huddersfield from Fartown, inc some of the Kirklees Way and some canal tow path. Achilles pretty stiff to start but eased off after a while to end up merely grumbly. Not sore though and my whole body was still feeling tired from Sunday's effort. Ice and stretching afterwards.

Achilles not too sore today, so may have got away with yesterday. Pretty tired legs generally though, so rest day required. Heel-raises and ice.

Event: SROC Tim Watkins Blodslitet, Hutton Roof
 

Tim Watkins Trophy, Hutton Roof. Men's Vet, 11.4km, 380m.
Men's Vets and Juniors started together and for some reason everyone followed the youngsters the wrong way from the start. I therefore found myself on my own with a 1 minute lead at the first control after only 2 minutes! Enjoyed the pressure of the chase for the next 6 controls, but no.8 was in a depression in a vague limestone pavement area and I struggled to find it. The pack caught me (interestingly they all seemed to think the control should have been where I initially was looking) but I worked it out quicker and sneaked away again on my own. Kept a clear lead to no.15 where I had to turn over the map. I then started navigating as though I was at no.16. I got more than half way to no.17 before I realized. Met the pack coming away from no.16 as I went back to it. I was then playing catch up, just at the time I was beginning to tire (and my achilles was getting a bit sore). I caught some of the pack going into no.22, but stupidly wasn't doing my own navigation, instead relying on a least one of the pack finding it. Lost further time at no.23 where I had to turn my map over again to re-locate which was a bit annoying. Struggled round the rest of the course, just holding off Mikey and Martin. 3rd Vet Man, about 8 mins down.
Further analysis of the splits reveals that I lost about a total of 15 minutes in mistakes! Dreadful. 3 mins at no.8 (depression in dodgy bit of map?), 1 min at 12 (loop as I failed to see flag at first attempt), about 4 mins due to missing out no.15, another 4 mins at no.22 (tired and relying on others giving it away), 2 mins at no.23 (trying to get away from Mikey and Alistair Thornton) and 1 more minute with a dodgy route to no.35. Disappointed with myself with what seems to be an increasing trend of messing up badly. I don't think I can blame it all on my eyesight.
Decided not to bother with a contact lens after last night's experience (and knowing how treacherous the limestone pavement can be). Achilles intermittently quite sore towards the end. Ice when I got home. Worried.

Event: Northern Night Championships, Great Tower
 

Northern Night Champs, Great Tower. Blue course (M40+), 3.8km, 255m
Really struggled. Completely lost track of where I was on way to no.2 and couldn't relocate. Eventually found no.3 which helped! After that not as bad but still very sloppy. Contact lens didn't seem to help and was more of a hindrance as my eye wouldn't stop watering such that I was struggling to see where I was putting my feet.
Well beaten by Steve Watkins and Martin Ward, but 8 mins down on Helen Winskill who beat us all.

Another visit to the optician. I'm going to try a slightly stronger prescription. For interest, I first tried a +1.75 lens (left eye only) for an hour or so which made me all woozy. For the last week I've been trialing a +0.75 lens which has been OK but with hardly any noticeable effect. Now I'm trying out a +1.25 for the next week. Will get a good test in Great Tower tomorrow night;)