Training Log Archive: BrandNewMe

Couldn't sleep last night.

Shi relays, forvie.

2nd leg. Jenny did really well on leg 1. I didn't do her justice at all by being crap the whole way.

I was really tired after not getting enough sleep, and a stressful week- family stresses getting to me. No adrenaline, the terrain was draining, there were no discernable gaffles, and it was for the first 5 me legging it after Anwen, then for the rest leading Anwen and a Czech girl around. Make a hesitation, concertina back together. Very tiresome. And the controls were not in the middle of the circles either, which made swear more than I have done on a course for ages. Moan, moan, moan, moan. A week of good sleep and I'll be smiling again.

This orienteering / training competition phase of training is over, just in time for me to get into some winter running. Good. It has been fun and productive but I need a break from it.

Balmoral sol.

Loadsa sleep as we were staying so close to the assembly, and the kids had a tv in their room and can work the remote. Nice.

I'm not sure what us wrong with me just now, but after a stressful sprint to the start, I wasn't really up for this race. I was tired and a bit demoralised to the first control, but got it cleanly. Just felt like I was going slow, which I wasn't really. Then to number 2 I went right, which was hilly, and I was feeling crap again, but by the time I had got to the top of the hill I was getting quite excited by the nice forest ahead, so started to get into it on the way down. I was a bit left, but picked myself up nicely. To 3 I stopped too soon as there were lots of rocks that must have been on the map but I couldn't see them (they were under the line).

I couldn't see a fast easy to 4 so I took a bearing, and after the last line of crags it was just in front of me - perfect. 5 again hesitated near the end of the leg before seeing it. Picked up Galina here. On the way to 6 Maja caught me. She was too far left though, and I got it, and got ahead a bit. Gel at the drinks. Maja went ahead here. up the gorge and over the bridge, by the cairn at the top to the left, path, control, easy. 8 I didn't like the veg mapping at all, and struggled with agility. 9 easy, 10 easy. Maja misses and I get ahead, but am poor on the descent, going over on my ankles in the rocks and she gets ahead to 11 which was easy.

12 fine, and 13, the drinks point and spectator control. I am very confused here. Gel, punch, drink, where is the new map? The woman at the drinks point said she didn't have one. Check the back of the map - not there. V confused. The lady tells me the exchange is not there, so I pick up the map I had chucked away, saw there was another control on the map, and ran on. V v confusing. The oob near the spectator control / finish area had made the line coming out of 13 harder to spot, but confused as to why the map exchange was in the forest, when one at 13 would have been fine, and then you wouldn't have needed manpower in the forest either.

14 ok, but flustered still. 15 I went along the open ride and bearing off the end - easy. 16 the plan was to the top of the hill then relocate off the knobbly bits. The knobbly bits weren't really talking my language unfortunately. Confused. Time lost here. 17 easy, 18 bearing. Contours didn't quite fit on the knolls still.

19 bearing, then ran through number 1 and on to the path beyond. Tried to remember which crag number one was on the map, and remembered the wrong one, so I thought I was bang on line, but I was too far left, and ended up near 7. Relocated quickly and got the control well, but time loss in the mid section.

To 20, and I thought I had climbed at least one contour, so saw a clearing, thought this must be the spur, but no control. Hmm. Dropped down, as I thought it couldn't be up any more, but hit the path, so I had been too low, so climbed back up. The clearing I had been in was on the map, just obscured by the circle.

Getting down to 21 seemed to take ages...


Pleased with some bits:

Felt v strong and perky for the whole of the course, except for the first control and the hill of the second. Did not tire really at all.
Navigation is much much better than before. I am approaching most controls confident that the kite is going to be where I think it is.

Disappointed by others:

Mistakes at 3, 19 and 20 turned a good run into an average run.
I'm not such a fan of running with others, and a 2 min start block makes it inevitable
I need to get more agile
I should have been more up for it at the start. Family stresses made me think I was running late. Sprint to the start, to find I had time, but overall started feeling stressed, tired and distracted. I need to remove myself from the family environment sooner to give myself time to clear my head and relax.

Great course, great area!

Run to the start. Hard as I thought I was late. Oh dear.

More vomit from Lozza in the night. Nice.

Jok chasing sprint.

Prologue

Poor start, dropping 30 secs at 1, 1 min at 3, then improving to overtake Nick's splits (!) by mid course and come in 1 min behind Hollie.


Chase

Good. A bit off line to 3, but I didn't have a clue what the descriptions meant at 4. Was it a crag or a thicket? There was only a crag on the map, so I was looking for a crag. Dropped time here as I didn't realise it was supposed to be an overgrown crag (basically just a pile of bras hinges - mean bras gongs, no BRASHINGS, but predictive texts is great!). A good 30 secs dropped here. Apart from that, going well and closing in on Hollie, but to get close to her id have had to hammer it up the last hill, and a sprint finish was in neither of our interests, so I kept the pace relaxed.

No garmin as it ran out of battery. Woke at 5:30 to the sound of Laurence being sick. Nice!

Moor of Dinnet middle training. Nailing every control, except for one near the end where i was thinking about how damn good my navigation was, so I got flippant, and stuffed it up. We've all been there!

I would have liked to have done more training, but Laurence needed cuddles really, so I was a bit stuck

Glen fearder, training. Nice to have kites. Tough and my body wasn't up for it, but good accurate nav.

Another run around Wallington. Morning, easy. I'm trying to get some hard days in before easing off before the weekend.

Much as I love road running, that's about as much as I can take. 3days, 5 runs, 31miles all in the rain. Ready for the forest!

2 x catching features then a look at Deeside. Trying to get the thought processes right.

Great day today. Everyone else went on an outing and I had 6 HOURS to myself (the most time to relax since woc week!).. Running done, response to mike done, training for the next 6 weeks planned. Shame everyone got back just before I was about to take a nap.

Late night run after a looong day in London. Nice to get out. Same as yesterday, with a bit extra due to getting lost.