Training Log Archive: BrandNewMe

Not feeling too bad this morning considering last night's intervals.

Lovely morning, and saw some new ducklings on the canal, which even made up for cycling over dog shit and getting it on my leg, and forgetting clothes to change into.

Martin's intervals

Decided to stick to Graeme for my first reps session back, then I'd have a pacer.

Rep 1 - gritting my teeth in the expectation of pain from the start, but actually it was quite easy, very easy in fact. Was graeme putting his usually effort in or going easy? He seemed to be breathing fairly hard though. Jog along behind or push on? Stay behind, as it is only the first rep. 4:39

Rep 2 - also really easy. Stick behind still. 4:41-ish

Rep 3 - almost from the start things are getting painful. Calves are tightening. By middle meadow walk it is getting pretty bad. Drop out? Nah, it's not achillies or soleus, so dig in. Pain. Hanging on to Graeme's back now. 4:44

Rep 4 - now it is my quads that are killing. Ow! Getting tighter and tighter. Drop out or dig in? Dig in. The breathing is actually quite easy. The muscle pain is not. 4:45

Rep 5 - the last one. Surely I can manage one last rep? I sit behind Graeme's sweaty back and grit my teeth again - and go slower still. 4:46.

Did it! Yay! No serious pain, just tightening. If I could actually stop the tightening I could run quite fast. When I have been running really well in the past I have been able to do 5 sub-4:30 reps. That doesn't seem too far off. Just need to work out how to stop my legs hurting. Hmm.

Warm up and down

Oh dear. Woke at 1:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. On the bright side, plenty of ironing done, pretty little pre-woc training plan started, article for ESOC magazine on EOC started, bubo cup entry fees paid. I should do this more often.

Unfortunately I am so tired today I am having problems walking straight. Jogged the first 18 controls of the old gits big weekend city race. Nav was woeful, but it was just a reason to get out of the house. I enjoyed it. It was refreshing to do some sprint for a change.

Run next to the kids on their bikes over to fran's.

7:12, 7:28, 7:36, 7:13, 7:02
7:11, 7:21, 7:34, 7:38, 8:09

9:26, 8:58, 8:53 (pace).

10 miles hard-ish then jog the rest. Started at fran's, then Harrison park, rose burn cycle path to leith, then to portobello. Along the prom to bath street then home. 10mikes took me to portobello high street, then I jogged the long, weary, uphill route back home. Great. Stiffening Achilles and calf but no pain. Cool.

Oh so tired! Lethargic all day. In the afternoon it was either a trip to b&q to look at wood, or to go running. Exhausted, but running was the only option. Up the gutted haddie to the seat, and then the 7 hills route but straight on home when I got to the royal mile. Yawn! Early night tonight.

Achilles and calf a bit sore. Realistically the haddie route always was going to be a bit ambitious.

Insomnia. Woke up after having a nightmare about a sprint race. A true orienteering geek!

The damp air was getting to my joints this morning, and my hip was not really functioning at all. Achilles and calf fine. Heel a bit sore. Did some rolling with a golf ball. Better.

Competitive cycle - the best way to start the day. Oh what fun!

Intervals. 6x3mins w/1min off. Along the canal. Achilles got a bit stiff coming back, heel ok and calf fine - GREAT!

C • touch wood 2

Heriot Watt loop. First time for ages, but I thought my legs might appreciate the softer surface. Not sure it made much difference, but nice to have a change. Heel getting tight in the last mile. Felt wiped out all morning at work, but had more energy than expected. Keeping it easy on purpose though.

After 37 years of constant battering, can my body survive a 38th one? Lets hope so. The first run of my 38th year went well. Just seeing where the land lies today. Legs feeling ok. First Tarmac run for a few weeks and no pain, just slight stiffness afterwards. New medication. Really bad stomach ache.

Nice drive back from Bolton. Resisted the urge to go running on lovely looking SELOC-shire, the Howgills and the Borders.

JK long

Insomnia. I often find insomnia good before races as a way to clear the mind of peripheral stuff. I tired mind can only focus on the job in hand, it can't get distracted.

So today the legs were going to be a bit long to do just on bearings. The emphasis was gong to me on running straight and planning what to pick up on the way, then push check push check etc etc.

I've been working on direction a lot recently and it is paying off. Thinking about turning my whole body and focus, looking towards a new horizon when I make even slight directional changes. It sounds basic but t is more than just taking a bearing and running, but visualising the new direction and discarding the old one. Hard to explain without descending into gibberish.

Time loss:

Took ages to put my map in the bag at the start but glad I did before I set off.

2 was perfect but lost it at the very end and veered right. Boo. Relocated off a boulder.

6 was lots if checking but good.

13 I was pretty nervous. I was on the right line the whole way but didn't believe in myself so was v hesitant.

14 not great. Too far right.

17 tired stagger up a hill to a bingo control. Luckily Sasha nailed it just I was getting near.

18 - stopped a bit early. Nervous and hesitant.

Overall I wasn't buzzing, or powering around, but navigating defensively and cautiously. It wasn't the most fun style of orienteering but it did the job and I won the day and overall. Pleased with that.

Achilles aching a bit tonight.

http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/doma/show_map...

C • Hurrah! 2

JK middle. W21E.

Not up for this, so just went out for a compass bearing exercise. This seemed to do the trick and I won. A few misses (15 secs at 4, 30secs at 5, 20secs at 7, 30secs at 15) and a blind, planless hesitating blunder to 18 which I got away with. Plan, check, push and direction tomorrow if I want to win.

http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/doma/show_map...

Jog to the start w Sarah. Nice. Chatty.

JK sprint. W21E.

Completely unable to sleep, to think straight and do much that doesn't involve crying. Certainly not able to orienteer. Dropped loads running from 9-16 (got to the fence) went back and did the others, got to 16 and got caught by tessa and had had enough. I think this is just tiredness. I hope this is just tiredness. And yes there is nowhere I want to be less than at the JK tomorrow, but it looks like I'll be there. Great! :-(

Bed late, up with the kids at 6, pack up, drive to Wales, so tired and melancholy the day ends in tears and beers. Great! I can't believe this is my life. I can't believe I usually make it work without becoming a pathetic exhausted cry-baby.

EOC 2014

I survived EOC 2014. EOC 2014 survived too. After the first few days we were trying to decide how they would c*ck things up next. Nobody ever guessed that they would leak the courses. Incredible. But they pulled off some decent courses, planned and printed in under 12 hours. The original control sites were used. All athletes think the finals were all fair so Portugal pulled it it off. All team managers placed the blame squarely at the feet of the arrogant, overbearing Swiss IOF controller btw.

I was v tempted to pull out of EOC as I had been feeling really shit after the test races, but workd ranking points are so useful I had to go. Glad I went. I enjoyed the races, handled the fast terrain better than I thought I would, the team atmosphere was fun. I haven't enjoyed orienteering as much for ages. The terrain was not v technically challenging, and the courses were not all that exciting, but it inspired me lots.

First leg relay was a new experience too. Pleased to be so close to the lead despite tired legs. My performances were much worse than 2012 in Sweden, but a lot has happened since then and I am confident that I can get back to 2012 form and better between now and woc.

Since the selection races:

1. Enjoying orienteering. Mojo on the horizon. Not quite there yet, but big step forward.
2. Physical training. Going to plan some tonight. Virtually pain free races all week - how exciting.
3. Getting technical help. I've had some this week and it has been really nice. Need to sort something out going forward still.
4. Being less miserable in general. Improvement this week.

http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/doma/show_map...

First time on first leg. I was very not keen on running anything other than 2nd leg as that is my comfort zone, and I was a bit exhausted after the middle and the long and first leg would be brutal, and I am not feeling 100% fit and it was going to hurt, a lot. But you get what you're given, and it would be interesting to be in the mix the whole time.


Not much sleep last night, as at 2:30 my legs were still throbbing too much to sleep. They felt ok-ish when I woke up though. Warming up was pretty painful, so I only did 5 mins. I didn't really want to know how bad it was going to be.

I haven't done an XC race for over a year and this showed in the start. Everyone was sprinting, really sprinting the 400m to the start, and I was at the back. Was this ok? I hoped so as thre was nothing I could do about it. I had noticed Baptiste was off the back of the men's mass start and he's git a few medals in the bag so i was not too concerned. Then the start kite, and the pace noticeably dropped and I was back in the race. Phew.

Bit odd to one. Came over the saddle, and everyone seemed to be heading to number 2 already. Then i realised Russia was going my way, and the two Swiss teams. Punched it, and on to number two but we were firmly at am the back of the pack now. 2, 3 and four and we seemed to be gaining ground. 3 and 4 were common i think. Still lots of people ahead going and they didn't seem to be going out to 5. The Swiss girls were and I sat in. At 6 we hesitated. I was the wrong side of the bush and dropped about 10 secs. I could see the athletes I was with ahead, so 7, 8 and 9 were easy. (Maja went straight from 8-9 over the hill on last leg. Crazy stuff. You can tell she hadn't done the long). Going into 9 the other gaffle seemed to have merged with ours. I could see tessa ahead, and when she dropped time at 10, I was back with her. 10-13 was running, and my legs were not cooperating v well. Pain! I was glad not to have the gaffle that took in the hill SE of 15. They had it shorter at 13 but still, it would have been nasty!

Over to HP who did a good job on leg 2, then Charlotte on leg 3 who ran strongly and was only just reeled in by the first team.


It was pretty painful, but I was pleased with my performance. I kept my cool with the gaffles and kept navigating. I didn't let what the others were doing distract me. I couldn't have got much more out of my body, and the only wobble was 6, and that was very minor. So yes, quite pleased. And no injury pain. How exciting. I think this racing training is good for me. Just as well. One day off, then three more races in three days.

The warm up confirmed that i had sore feet, ankles, knee, hips, glutes. I kept it to 5 mins as I didn't want to know more...

http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/doma/show_map...

Eoc long.

After the farce if last night we were not quite sure what to expect at the start, but they pulled it off. I think they used the same controls as the original, just in a different order and actually it was better. Respect to the organisers. We were suitably laid back at the start.

Start to one, a long leg up the pylons. Checked out the rest of the course. The track was pretty sandy so not great running but the terrain here was knee to waist deep grass. Off the pylon bend, and down to the fence crossing. We didn't have to use the fence crossing and I ignored them after this as they were easily cross able. Down the reentrant and in. Easy.

To 2 it was just contouring across. V long grass. Easy as you could see for miles.

3 was tucked away a bit. I was online but hesitated a bit.

4 veered right a bit, then went through the gate. Then it was easy. V long grass in all of this section. Was a bit hilly to 5 again long grass. Bit left by 10m at the end.

6 uphill through the grass. V easy. Could see it a mile off.

To 7 I went up and along the fence. Hit some fast terrain after crossing the fence and could run. Through the fence / road junction on a bearing into the most fast terrain I have ever experienced. Down past 9 and from the bottom of the valley I could see the control in the wet pit.

8 and9 and 10 and 11 all very very easy. 12 could see from 200m away. Getting hot and tired and a bit bored but trying to push on.

To 13 got a bit offline on a bearing through the brashes eucalyptus.

14 bearing from the crossing but it all got very bushy and vauge. Missed the control as I was left and continued left. Relocated on the small paths.

15 hit the reentrant to the right before relocating.

16 and 17 easy.

18 ouch!!!

19 couldn't see the big spur from 18 so hard to make things fit. Tired here.

20 thought it was a different knoll I was going for. Ok-ish though.

21 just a control in a massive re entrant.

22 racing Peter bray. Got him

Peter chasing me down.

So it was dull, but I enjoyed it. The big mistake was a shame, and I wish I had done better in the qual to avoid the long grass. Fitness to work on. Looking forward to it.

Brilliant result for cat. We are all thrilled.

http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/doma/show_map...

Eoc middle.

Feeling quite sick this morning. Really nervous before the start. Didn't really want to be there.

Start to 1 - the plan was to run on a bearing, cross two tracks, the up onto the hill. I was a bit left if the line, and a second track appeared (not on the map) and a spur that was half way along the leg, and I looked for the control here, but couldn't see a hill. Really confused. Took a while to relocate and calm down. 1:30

1 - 2 up the valley, and over the col (drew my route on wrong). A bit left. 10secs

2-3 fine

3-4 fine. Actually noticed the significant tree.

4-5 easy. Left the track early as it was sandy.

5-6 easy but came up the hill a bit left of the top. I knew I was left so should have just turned right but let myself be distracted by the non-existent track and weird veg. Dropped 30

6-7 white course control.

7-8 orange course control.

8-9 found a gap in he gorge and went through.

9-10 lots of bushy crap here. Bearing. Crossed halfway at the track. There were loads of tracks coming in here, and no earth banks. Lost confidence. Went to the boys control. Then decided to continue on the original line and found it. 20secs

10-11 south. Ok. Straight or north was quicker.

11-12 bit offline as followed the men's tracks. ALL girls did this. 20secs

12-13 fine.

13-14 so easy.

14-15 too far right. Poor direction. Then control was badly mapped. 30secs.

Rest fine.

So not a great run. Some points:

I managed to drag myself back from a bad start to motivate myself to finish the course.
I came with an aim to qualify. I qualified.
It tracked up but didn't get all that much physically quicker, so hopefully I can still get a good result tomorrow.
I actually enjoyed it in the end. I don't feel all that fit now, so it was hard to enjoy it but I did. It wasn't as bad as the pre-race nerves made me thought it was going to be.

The downside was that the strategy was compass, contours and direction, and it would have worked if I had followed it. I needed to ignore paths and vegetation, and didn't. I will follow this tomorrow.

Best news, this is possibly the first race since before I can remember that I had no pain from injuries. Wow. Totally inspiring.

Warm up. No warm down. Not really in the mood. Oh well.

Long model, then a bit of middle model. Long was hillier than the middle and covered in knee high gorse / busy stuff. Slightly impedes the running, but not too scratchy. It does obscure the shape of the contours. The final will be flatter than this. Direction is crucial. Distinctive trees are not distinctive. Paths are hard to spot. Straight is fairly great. The middle model was flatter, and lightning fast. Grass with widely spaced trees.

Getting myself together again after a day spent lazing around yesterday. Back to being an athlete.

The middle qualifier voided. As an athlete, this is crap. Final start list is by world ranking. My world ranking is dire.

http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/doma/show_map...

Insomnia last night.

Eoc long qualification

15th. Winner did 54.

The plan was probably a bit too vauge. Have a plan, treat the dark green as impenetrable (for the early starters like me it truly was), and be careful with the direqction.

To one I went around the paths, though they were sandy, and the last path was v hard to spot. Got it safely though. To two I was on a bearing. Not a very good one. I realised where I was when I could see the track coming down the other side of the vally, so went left. Was relying on seeing the water but couldn't due to the grot. I over shot it, then had to come back. I should have used the orange/ yellow open area on the spur near the control as that was obvious. 2:30 dropped here.

Three ok. Four was always going to be tough as an early starter. Nothing had been tracked so far, so I had to assume the brambly green was going to be impassible. Picked my way to the oob, then all the way round on a track. Nearly ran off the map near a field and had to back track. 44 secs lost here. Then tried to follow the small paths to the controls. They didn't really exist. I did a heck of a lot of thrashing around in brambles. I could see the white trees that the control was in but couldn't get there. Oh dear. Made it eventually but dropped about 3 mins here.

5 fine. Achilles starting to hurt here, and the sandy paths are starting to give me blisters. 6 tried to follow the little paths from about half way. Couldn't pick them up and there was no way through so I had to back track. Fine after that but lost more than a minute on the back track probably. 7 I was a bit flippant as I had run past the drinks point already. The bearing in from the drinks point was not good enough and I was a bit right. 30secs. 8-11 were easy. I was a bit left to 11. The underfoot conditions were tough though, as there was a layer of waxy plants underfoot.

To 12 I was thinking of going straight ish down through the impenetrable and up the yellow. I had a look and it was impossible, so I took plan b and rejoined the road. Slightly off line at the control. This whole area was buried in brambles. Lost 20secs having a look, and a bit more in the circle. 13 was ok. The boys had my number 12 I think, so there was a slight track through the impenetrable. It was still really rough, but do-able with scratched. Went flying into a gorse bush here. Nice! The rest was all pretty straightforward. Offline to 19 was flippancy. I thought I knew the area after yesterday. I was wrong. 30 secs.

So at the finish I was pretty certain I would not qualify. My aim coming in to EOC had been just to qualify for both. One of the other aims had been to work on handling disappointing outcomes in a positive way. It's all to easy to beat myself up over the woulda shoulda coulda of orienteering, but I am trying to move away from that, in order to start enjoying the sport again and get my mojo back. So I was pleased not to be that upset by missing qualification. Also that was a really shitty forest, and if that's what orienteering here is like, I'll gladly skip the final and concentrate on middle and relay. The final forests are all meant to be really nice however.

There were no results around, so I was shocked when one of the Canadians was one of the last finishers in the course, and she was 15th when she finished with about 10mins longer than me. That's what happens in women's qualification races though. I'm through to the final. Time to think about plans for that us maybe Sunday. Models tomorrow, Sunday off. This afternoon siesta.

http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/doma/show_map...

Eoc middle qualifier.

Pretty nervous but the plan was to plan, and check and plan and check and plan and check. It felt good having a plan, something to focus on. Made me think about orienteering.

To 1 I was with Liis and Helena J, and we all had the same one which was odd. Number two compass. Fine. Number three, distinct veg and right of hill. 4 could nearly see if from four. 5 bearing, reading the shape of the land. Left of tree and no control. I was confident I wasn't too far left, so I turned right and got it. 6 straight. The terrain was v visible. 7, bearing, not great. Relocated fine off the cairn and in. 8 blundered down and relocated. Straight. The veg after the track was obvious so ok. 10 was getting distracted now. Thought I was going for a pit on the edge of a large depression. Veg everywhere. Thought I was on the side of a depression but was on a slope. Hit the small path, thinking I was on the big path. Really confused, but decided to go east to get some visibility to relocate, and realised what I had done. Pleased I stayed calm and made some good decisions. 11 the paths were indistinct in the mid section, and veg was everywhere so a lot of checking. Last bit was easy. 12 was easy, and the last bit was all v easy. The last loop was a big felled area, as was most if the open areas from start to 7. Not a fantastic area.

So, lots of protests are in for the wrong controls. This is ridiculous. An iof controller in theory should have checked all control sites. What went wrong? Very disappointing. We finish the race without the certainty we deserve. Poor.

Now putting this behind me and starting to look at tomorrow. What will happen will happen.

Warm up

Post epic drive jog around the glories of the London borough of sutton's streets. Felt in bad form. Doesn't mean to say I am in bad form though, and if I get the nav right qualification should not be a problem, in theory...

Run from James's in mytholmroyd. It was dark, so just around the streets. Up the crag vale road until it got steep, then 5 x 2min on 30secs off on the flat. Good. Achilles niggling on the drive down, but fine tonight, merely a slightly tight calf.

11 hour day at work. Was going to turn up to mpc for the first time ever but to late. Think a rest day might be best as I have loads to do.

http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/doma/show_map...

Sol 2 middle faskally

Fun. Scrappy. Shite to 7, v tired to 6, 19 slightly wrong? Tired, so so tired afterwards. something about orienteering just now seems to leech all energy from me. Insomnia not helping. FFS.

V lame w/up

Promised graeme that I would go back to martins after the JK. Thought I would give some a go just to check I can still run that far. So I did 2 (4:51, 4:41) which were respectable enough solo efforts. Then some (4) 1min on 30secs off. When I have been running well before this is what I have done. Martin's long reps on Tuesday, 20x1min on 30secs off on Thursdays, and something fast at the weekend. Hopefully I will be able to get a good 10 weeks of training like that post jk. I think I'll have to do 2 min reps not 1min for a bit, just to be on the safe side. Did all this in my trainers, not flats, and 5 mins after having lunch, so pleased it wasn't slower.

I'd be lying if I said it felt good to be running hard again. It felt horrific. But it is a positive step and that's good. Think I can plan some training now.

Jogging around. Up too early (lucy) Think I am getting a cold.

Insomnia not a problem last night, just a little girl wanting to play, not go to sleep, at 11 and 2:30. Good to see weight loss from doing no training and eating chocolate. The Shankland Slovenly diet.

Feeling much better today, so back to work. Run home from work, with a pretty heavy bag on my back (a major physio no-no). i had to do it as I had lots of wet, rotting running kit in my drawer at work. Achilles aching, then sore under heel. Better after a golf ball massage.

Friday afternoon i always spend with the kids (Edinburgh schools have half day fridays). It's always staggeringly exhausting. Relaxing and refreshing to get out later.

Pollock, Duddingston, Meadowbank, Waterloo place, home. Felt great except for Achilles which was maybe only 5/10. Icing and prufen gel and golf ball.

Another day off work. Feeling a bit better though.

Running didn't really fit in today, so I didn't do it. Back to the drs today. More medication, to start post jk.

Back to work, being mother, being an athlete etc etc tomorrow. Until then, slovenly still rules.

Off work as depressed - not good. The head of tax is really understanding though. I don't make a habit of being off work due to depression - I think it's best just to get on with it rather than sit at home moping - but today was much worse than usual. Insomnia and stress catching up with me.

Up to Sula's and around the seat with her. Good to get some chat. Spent the rest of the day being slovenly.

Selections were good I think. Pretty much what we agreed in the car on the way home from Keswick.

C • selections 1

A disasterous morning meant titting about doing mother things in the horrible weather and waiting in shorts in the rain for a bus to work rather than running. Got out this lunchtime. Feeling quite flat, not at all bouncy. Think the weekend took a lot out of me. It was quite draining. Injuries ok though.

Jogged home feeling gah.