Training Log Archive: Jay-T

No takers for tennis. Didn't fancy badminton and knew I would find an excuse if I headed home so explored Barnsley a bit in my tennis shoes. Started extremely slow before my back eased off slightly around 6km in and gradually wound it up (to fairly slow).

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/673966272

Event: EMOA League Event The Outwoods
 

LEI Outwoods
New area to me; bit brambly in places but pleasant for a Sunday morning outing. Rushing things slightly and not reading ahead particularly well.

#4 Attack from SE very grotty; SW preferable [15]
#8 'Distinctive' tree on the edge of rough open scattered trees... Too far east initially [15]
#10 Knoll was hidden beneath undergrowth, flag tucked in too [15]
#13 Higher line would have avoided most of the undergrowth [10]
#17 Disorientated after exiting thicket; ended up north of OOB; my route was longer and didn't save any climb [30]
#19 Attacked control in latter half of leg well, but lost time due to poor exit direction from the previous control again [15]
Penultimate / antepenultimate controls seemed dodgy, but didn't really lose any time.
3rd; 7mins down on (cruising) Kris, 15s behind Ant.

On the way back north dropped in to Harlow to meet up with Controller. Courses predominantly excellent(!) Couple of hours further checking in the wood afterwards.

Checking / tagging sites at Harlow for forthcoming event (22nd February).
The snow / frost has knocked back the brambles (mostly) and the bracken will soon have disappeared; looking much better! Extensive map update including a technical low visibility section will offer a new challenge.

C • Ooooooh 4

Away Match vs Wakefield Warriors A playing with Mick.
Sam is now unable / unwilling to play meaning that I have been promoted to the 1st team 'permanently'...
Scene of my injury before Christmas so slightly apprehensive beforehand.
Got there early and went for a quick warm up jog / stretch before starting. Generally back felt ok whilst playing, although glutes suffered for the rest of the weekend.
Played as 2nd pair to avoid cooling down between matches, but they had three courts so it didn't really matter.
Opposition 2nd pair were solid but eminently beatable. However, we (agonisingly) lost in 3 close ends.
1st pair was Lee (coach) and Jon. Surprised them (and ourselves) in the first end by winning to 17 or so; 7-6 or so up in the second, but then we started making simple errors (clears landing just long / wide) and they recovered to take that end and the decider fairly easily.
3rd pair we edged a close first end, before threatening to run away with the second (12-2 or so), however, they recovered, then overturned this deficit! Fortunately we were able to refocus and win the end to 17 or so.
Brent / Tom won all three, Sean / Abid didn't get any; 5-4 defeat a good result when considering the bigger picture, but on the day we really could and possibly should have won...

Event: Night Urban Score
 

Trying to loosen off the legs after a day sitting.

Fun 'treasure hunt' style evening score in the centre of Sheffield. Answering clues rather than standard controls.
Took a half decent route overall, although left one control (#18) out early on, and there was no realistic way of getting it later on, despite finding that I had ample time spare. Also went to the station control at a non-optimal point and got a number of micro route choices wrong.
Wasted quite a bit of time at several sites (being in the wrong place for some) and never found one answer (#13 – despite searching on both map levels for ages!)
Actually enjoyed this much more than anticipated; good to do something a bit different. Probably need to get some shoes better suited to road running though.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/669205460

Match on Friday to prepare for, not comfortable tonight but possible at least.

Orch.