Training Log Archive: BrandNewMe

Warm up / down

Sauchie. Some middle training Jase sent me a while back (ta). Nice. Just seeing how the nav is going, and how mr Achilles likes terrain. He prefers it to sprint training. It's an odd little area, which I think I have been to most often as a night o. In the day you realise that the boulders are TINY and the dot knolls are actually just old root stocks with moss on them, and there are plenty of newer unmapped rootstocks around. I think the area might be easier at night. Good training for next winter...

No BSBM for me. Too injured to want to enter sprint races, and it is a heck of a long way to run a middle.

Achilles. Resting it. Hoping that terrain might be ok tomorrow.

I was planning on orienteering on Sunday in a Stirling direction(Sauchie poss). Anyone interested in joining me?

Got to work at 6:40. That must be a record.

I had an unexpected sliver of time. Blackford, braids and home. Calf and Achilles not happy. I'm not sure if its going to get worse again.

I am really clever these days. I know what will wind my achilles up. Like doing a sprint race with no warm up or warm down, then road running, every day, after not doing much road running for a while.

I wish I was clever enough to know how to stop myself from doing things that I know will wind my achilles up. Its not bad, just v slightly niggly. But frustrating all the same.

Lunch time bike ride. This was the usual HW, Currie, Harlaw Balerno route. Faster than usual. I'll have to extend it, maybe by repping the hill, next time.

My tiring morning run was made tolerable by thinking of the inspiring performances of Jo Pavey last night. The paper had some interesting quotes about her take on being a mother and an athlete.

She hasn't been to training camp in 6 years, and thinks she wasted a lot of training doing a lot of travelling. This time two years ago one of the things that was stressing me out was that I thought that I couldn't give everything I wanted to be able to give to orienteering as I couldn't commit to going on the training camps that I thought that I ought to be going on. Now I am much more laid back about this. I did the European Champs and WOC this year, never having been in the terrain beforehand. I don't think my performances sufferred massively as a result. If I have not trained in the terrain before, I automatically give the navigation more focus than I would otherwise, and the masses of geeking I did with Nick before the Norweigian world cups and WOC ensured that I stood on the startline with the confidence in my abilities to navigate well. The other advantage in not going on training camps is that your training is much more consistent. No missed days from travelling, when the kids are at school, and I am at work, it is the same training week in week out. Consistency really does make a difference, but it is hard in the school holidays, and times like now when the school are 'easing' Lucy in by only going in for half days...

The other thing she said that was interesting was that it was nice that she no longer thought about whether she ought to be stopping and having children. I never had any desire to go to WOC when I was having my kids, and certainly didn't have the problem of deciding when to break off an illustrious international orietneering career to have kids, but its great having had them, that I can just enjoy orienteering, and not think about having to do well this year as it will have to be my last because I'll have to stop mucking around and have kids. So she's 40, and is thinking of Rio 2016 when she'll be 42, does that mean I ought to be thinking of WOC 2019?

C • agree 1

Lucy starts school today, which means I have to work 7:30 - 11 to be back in time to pick her up, which means a v early start. She woke me even earlier (5am) crying that she doesn't want to go to school. Oh dear.

Same run as yesterday. Feeling less tired (I went to bed at 7 last night, so despite being woken twice by Lucy in the night I had some much needed sleep), a bit perkier, but slight knee inflamation and calf feeling slightly dull. Ibuprofen.

More good sleep tonight and more junk mileage and I'll soon be a bit more upbeat again.

Run home from work, taking in Corstorphine hill, ravelston dykes and the roseburn path. Calf dead still, and I sort of hit the wall at corstorphine (maybe sleeping through dinner last night was not such a good move afterall), but I picked up on Ravelston Dykes. Love a bit of junk mileage when I'm feeling shit / stressed / down. Mmmmm. Running into work tomorrow too, then I'll have to calm down or my niggles will start flaring up.

C • Too specific 2

HW loop. Tired and grumpy, like my knee, and calf a bit. Trying to run all three of us happy. The jury's out as to whether it worked.